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- Genre: Academic theses
Surveys and interviews with adjuncts, along with a focus group with staff were the sources of data for this study. A repeated measures Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) model was utilized. Analysis of data showed that there was a positive and statistical significance of change in perceptions of adjuncts who participated in all trainings towards fulfilling their needs, as compared to those who did not participate in any trainings. Adjuncts perceived an improvement in their professional growth based on Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory and the trainings also fulfilled their higher-level growth needs based on Maslow’s hierarchical needs theory. A large practical significance was also found which measures the practical impact of such trainings at local communities of practice.
To explore these potential networks, I utilized Comparative Case Study (Bartlett and Vavrus, 2016), which allowed for more unbounded cases; Actor-Network Theory (Latour, 1999; Latour, 2005) which allowed for agency among non-human actors that also coexist, transform, translate or modify meaning; and relational network analysis methods (Herz et al. 2014; Heath et al. 2009; Clarke 2005), which helped to explore and make sense of complex relational data. This was in the effort to construct an understanding of the “processual, built activities, performed by the actants out of which they are composed” (Crawford, 2004, p. 1). I mapped actors within each site who were performing their local and contingent processes of internationalization.
The results indicate the formation of complex and far reaching webs of actors and activities that accomplish a form of internationalization that is highly localized. While each program under investigation responded to similar pressures, such as funding shortfalls via student enrollment declines, the responses and networks that were created from these constraints were wildly different. Indeed, the study found these programs engaged in international activities that enrolled various external actors, from campus departments to local community groups. In engaging in relational connections that moved beyond their primary instructional purpose, English language instruction and cultural acclimatization, the IEPs in this study were able to 1) contribute to the internationalization of university departmental curricula, 2) serve their communities in dynamic and impactful ways and 3) develop their own sense of internationalization in a university setting.
The cost of education is increasing, and the use of mandatory fees to offset costs is increasingly becoming more prevalent. Mandatory fees in higher education are not a new occurrence and have been associated with higher education institutions since their inception. However, the use and number of mandatory fees have grown, especially within the last decade, to include more fees that support core initiatives that were once covered by higher education institutions. Despite the vast amount of research concerning costs associated with attendance at higher education institutions, there is less research on how undergraduate students understand these costs, and how understanding of educational expenses may influence students’ behavior. Moreover, there is a dearth of research that explores students' engagement in services and programs supported by mandatory fees at higher education institutions.
This investigation fills the gaps, as it studies undergraduate students’ understandings of and attitudes toward mandatory fees while addressing their engagement in fee-supported services and programs. The data collection process utilizes a survey given to undergraduate students at a large research institution in the southwest United States. The survey uses multiple formats (i.e., Likert-scale, open-ended questions, multiple choice), to measure students’ understandings of costs and information about mandatory fees, frequency of use of services, and students’ prior knowledge about higher education institutions before enrollment.
Students’ perceptions of costs differ by individual and family, and the costs associated with fees can be a surprise for many students entering institutions of higher education. While fees are utilized to help retain and graduate all students, increasing fees change the total price for students. There are relatively few studies that measure the extent to which students engage in services or programs funded by the mandatory fees. While price is at the forefront for many federal and state policymakers, the need to make college more affordable for everyone without losing quality services and programs, must be addressed.