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- All Subjects: Dissertations, Academic
- All Subjects: Tempe (Ariz.)
- Creators: Spindler, Rob
- Creators: Johnson, Melissa
Thesis Launch was a six-week intervention that was designed to provide support for students in the critical early steps of thesis work such as brainstorming topics, examining professors’ research interests, reaching out to professors, preparing for meetings with potential thesis committee members, and writing a thesis prospectus. Thesis Launch offered web-based resources, weekly emails and text message reminders, and was supplemented by in-person advising options.
A mixed methods action research study was conducted to examine: (a) students’ perceptions of barriers that prevented beginning thesis work; (b) self-efficacy towards thesis work; (c) how to scale the intervention using technology; and (d) whether participants began the thesis early. Quantitative data was collected via pre- and post-intervention surveys, journals, and prospectus submissions. Qualitative data came from student interviews, journals, and open-ended questions on the surveys.
Quantitative data showed that after students participated in Thesis Launch, they had higher self-efficacy to work with professors, perceived fewer barriers to thesis work, and greater proportions of students began thesis work early. The qualitative data were complementary and showed that participants overcame barriers to thesis initiation, built self-efficacy, preferred an online intervention, and began thesis work early. Findings also showed that a primarily technology-based intervention was preferred by students and showed promise for scaling to a larger audience.
Thesis Launch provided a framework for students to begin work on the honors thesis and have mastery experiences to build self-efficacy. Strategies that fostered “small wins” and reflective efforts also assisted in this aim. Participants accomplished tasks tied to thesis work and customized their personal thesis timelines based on work begun during Thesis Launch. Finally, a discussion of limitations, implications for practice and research, and personal reflection was included.
Presentation slides regarding the history of Victory Village, the trailer park built in 1945-46 to provide housing for WWII Veterans and their families at Arizona State University's Tempe campus. A presentation of research from University Archives records conducted in the summer of 2018. The presentation was videotaped as a lecture for Professor Volker Benkert's online World War II history class.
Historical research produced for a portion of the exhibit entitled Civil Rights in Arizona, which was displayed at the Luhrs Gallery, Hayden Library in 2012-2013. The action at the ROTC Building was one of the largest protests in Arizona State University history, resulting in the arrest of ten individuals. The second file, entitled "Who Were the Tempe Ten?", describes the arrested students and unaffiliated persons.