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- All Subjects: Admissions
- Creators: Barnett, Jessica
Description
The Barrett Honors College website contains a lot of information that isn’t easily accessible by Honors Students. Many honors students have trouble finding the correct information they need. Important information is scattered all over the website making it difficult for honors students to find and understand the information they need. One example of this is the requirements for Lower and Upper Division credit. This website displays the upper and lower division credit needed for a student to graduate from the honors college via a noninteractive flowchart. Many high school seniors find it difficult to understand the mundane flowchart outlining the required honors credit that is required for graduating from Barrett at Arizona State University. Also, it is confusing for many transfer students with unique circumstances to determine the necessary requirements for them to graduate as a Barrett student.
These difficult flowcharts and confusing websites have a huge impact on a student’s ability to adequately receive the information they need and, in the end, can have a negative impact on their ultimate decision when deciding if Barrett is right for them. A better user experience can be a more effective way of displaying information to students. A better design that allows to user more interaction would allow for the user to better understand the information they are presented. Instead of a monotone flowchart displaying the requirements necessary to graduate with honors status, A web application where a user can input their information and get an output of the necessary requirements tailored to the unique circumstance would be more informative, useful, and easier to use. The web app would take information such as a student’s year, whether it be an incoming freshman or transfer student, and their current and previous course credit to determine the specific number of honors credits, The Human Event courses, and Thesis project required for this user to complete the requirements for Barrett Honors College. This application would give the user a better understanding of what is required of them and in turn lead to a better user experience.
These difficult flowcharts and confusing websites have a huge impact on a student’s ability to adequately receive the information they need and, in the end, can have a negative impact on their ultimate decision when deciding if Barrett is right for them. A better user experience can be a more effective way of displaying information to students. A better design that allows to user more interaction would allow for the user to better understand the information they are presented. Instead of a monotone flowchart displaying the requirements necessary to graduate with honors status, A web application where a user can input their information and get an output of the necessary requirements tailored to the unique circumstance would be more informative, useful, and easier to use. The web app would take information such as a student’s year, whether it be an incoming freshman or transfer student, and their current and previous course credit to determine the specific number of honors credits, The Human Event courses, and Thesis project required for this user to complete the requirements for Barrett Honors College. This application would give the user a better understanding of what is required of them and in turn lead to a better user experience.
ContributorsGandhe, Nikhil (Author) / Menees, Jodi (Thesis director) / Barnett, Jessica (Committee member) / Davis, Jonathan (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
More underrepresented minority (URM) healthcare professionals are needed to improve health equity. Although holistic review in admissions has the potential to increase URM participation in health professions, recent data suggest that its impact varies substantially. The purpose of the dissertation research described here was to identify interventions to increase diversity among healthcare professionals and explore holistic review use in physician assistant (PA) program admissions to advance understanding of effective practices. PA programs were selected as an important prototype for exploratory studies since the extent of holistic review use in PA programs was unknown; at the same time, URM representation among PA students has decreased over the last 15 years.
A critical review of the literature revealed that various holistic review practices have been used by several health professions programs to successfully increase URM enrollment and that organizational culture may be a factor that promotes success. Following this, 2017 Physician Assistant Education Association survey data were analyzed to assess the frequency of holistic review in PA programs and examine its association with URM matriculation. Results from 221 of the 223 PA programs accredited at the time showed that 77.5% used holistic review, and its use modestly correlated with proportion of first-year students identified as ethnic minorities (rs = .20, p < .01). Of particular interest, some programs using holistic review had substantially higher proportions of URM students than others. This finding laid the foundation for a qualitative multiple case study to explore the role of organizational culture as a hypothesized antecedent to effective holistic admissions processes.
Survey study responses were used to select two PA program ‘cases’ that met criteria consistent with a proposed conceptual framework linking organizational culture that values diversity (or ‘diversity culture’) to holistic admissions associated with high URM enrollment. Directed content analysis of data revealed that diversity culture appears to be a strong driver of practices that support enrolling diverse classes of students.
Overall, this mixed methods program of research advances understanding of holistic review, its utility, and the influence of organizational culture. The research generated important insights with ramifications for current practice and future studies within PA and across health professions programs.
A critical review of the literature revealed that various holistic review practices have been used by several health professions programs to successfully increase URM enrollment and that organizational culture may be a factor that promotes success. Following this, 2017 Physician Assistant Education Association survey data were analyzed to assess the frequency of holistic review in PA programs and examine its association with URM matriculation. Results from 221 of the 223 PA programs accredited at the time showed that 77.5% used holistic review, and its use modestly correlated with proportion of first-year students identified as ethnic minorities (rs = .20, p < .01). Of particular interest, some programs using holistic review had substantially higher proportions of URM students than others. This finding laid the foundation for a qualitative multiple case study to explore the role of organizational culture as a hypothesized antecedent to effective holistic admissions processes.
Survey study responses were used to select two PA program ‘cases’ that met criteria consistent with a proposed conceptual framework linking organizational culture that values diversity (or ‘diversity culture’) to holistic admissions associated with high URM enrollment. Directed content analysis of data revealed that diversity culture appears to be a strong driver of practices that support enrolling diverse classes of students.
Overall, this mixed methods program of research advances understanding of holistic review, its utility, and the influence of organizational culture. The research generated important insights with ramifications for current practice and future studies within PA and across health professions programs.
ContributorsCoplan, Bettie (Author) / Lamb, Gerri (Thesis advisor) / Evans, Bronwynne (Committee member) / Todd, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019