Matching Items (4)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Automotive
- Creators: Henderson, Mark
Description
Honors colleges have offered an academically rigorous option for growing numbers of diverse students. This study took place at a large, public university that required undergraduate students to complete a thesis to graduate from the honors college. In 2017, 97% of students who began the honors thesis prior to senior year completed it. Thus, the aim of this study was to help more students begin the honors thesis process early.
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.
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.
ContributorsEardley, Trisha Lynn (Author) / Buss, Ray (Thesis advisor) / Henderson, Mark (Committee member) / Johnson, Melissa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Education abroad participants worldwide are often positively transformed by their experiences and, as a result, gain a great deal of knowledge, resources, ideas, and high levels of inspiration which can positively impact the individual, and local and global communities—contributing to global development. However, education abroad participants face challenges and are often not prepared for making lasting positive change in their local and global communities post-education abroad, known as the reentry phase. Moreover, they do not fully understand the potential positive impacts they can have on society as a result of their education abroad experiences. This is of significant importance for a world that continues to rapidly globalize, advance technologically faster than ever before, and faces challenges and opportunities that require globally experienced people. Through surveys and interviews with 156 participants from 32 countries, this transformative mixed methods research provides strong evidence for the high levels of benefits participants gain, and how they are positively transformed and motivated to make local and global impacts after their education abroad experiences. The data provides insights into participant perceptions, ideas, opportunities, and challenges surrounding these topics, and identifies differences and similarities in participant and program types that best prepare, support, and enable participants during the re-entry phase. It also provides insights on how stakeholders (e.g. educational, public, private, non-governmental, civil society, and personal support systems) can transform current research, models, and policies to be able to support participants in becoming social entrepreneur change agents, and forge a more holistic approach towards global education mobility and global development. The more than 4.5 million people that currently engage in education abroad annually is a population projected to increase to more than 8 million participants by 2025. They represent only 0.06% of the world’s 7 billion population from almost all countries, including developing, emerging, and highly developed. Therefore, this unique population of highly educated and globally exposed future world leaders and decision-makers represents a comparatively uniquely privileged group that have the potential (and responsibility) to make important global development impacts after their education abroad experiences.
ContributorsCuriel, Katharine Lee (Author) / Parmentier, Mary Jane (Thesis advisor) / Henderson, Mark (Committee member) / Singh, Moninder (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Today, the United States consumer vehicle market consists of about 276 million legally registered units, a prime candidate for service skulduggery (BTS, 2019). It raised some concerns when research conducted by the author revealed that about half of United States survey participants state they feel uneasy about approaching either a mechanic they know or one that was new to them. Additionally, when only 10% of participants from the same survey fully trust mechanics, this raises the question, why are so many drivers of consumer vehicles wary about bringing their cars in for service or repair? Furthermore, the author determined that trust within the automotive repair industry is a worldwide issue, and countries with scarce resources have additional struggles of their own. The success of repair centers in countries closer to the equator weighs heavily on the mechanic's knowledge and access to repair resources. The author found that this is partially due to the rapid acceleration of the car market without a proper backbone to the automotive repair industry. Ultimately, this resulted in repair shops with untrained mechanics who perform poor quality labor for an inflated rate (Izogo, 2015). The author focuses on this global industry through the example of the Maasai Automotive Education Center (MAEC), a proposed facility and school located in Talek, Kenya. MAEC is designed to bring automotive customer and repair resources to a rural community that needs it the most to save their land, culture, and people. The author uses various recently conducted global studies, news articles and videos, and personal research to determine the crucial steps and considerations the MAEC development team needs to ensure project sustainability and success. This study's conclusion lists 11 essential attributes recommended for the MAEC repair facility for ethical and high-quality operation.
ContributorsMiller, Miles (Author) / Henderson, Mark (Thesis advisor) / Martin, Thomas (Committee member) / Rogers, Bradley (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Sport Utility Vehicles have grown to be one of the most popular vehicle choices in the automotive industry. This thesis explores the history of SUVs with their roots starting in the 1930s up until 2020 in order to understand the essence of what an SUV is. The definition applied to the SUV for this thesis is as follows: a vehicle that is larger and more capable than the average sedan by offering more interior space, cargo area, and possibly off-road capability. This definition must be sufficiently broad to encompass the diverse market that manufactures are calling SUVs. Then the trends of what current (2020) SUVs are experiencing are analyzed from three major aspects: sociology, economics, and technology. Sociology focuses on the roles an SUV fulfills and the type of people who own SUVs. The economics section reviews the profitability of SUVs and their dependence on a nation’s economic strength. Technology pertains to the trends in safety features and other advances such as autonomous or electric vehicles. From these current and past trends, predictions could be made on future SUVs. In regards to sociology, trends indicate that SUVs will be more comfortable as newly entering luxury brands will be able to innovate aspects of comfort. In addition, SUVs will offer more performance models so manufacturers can reach a wider variety of demographics. Economic trends revealed that SUVs are at risk of losing popularity as the economy enters a hard time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Technological trends revealed that hybrids and electric vehicles will now move into the SUV market starting with the more compact sizes to help improve manufacturer’s fleet fuel efficiency.
ContributorsMarske, Trevor Holmes (Author) / Henderson, Mark (Thesis director) / Contes, James (Committee member) / Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05