Matching Items (10)
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- All Subjects: Education (Higher)
- Creators: Mcintyre, Lisa
- Creators: Ewing, Kris
Description
This study examined the experiences of first-generation college students who were enrolled in online degree programs at a traditional brick-and-mortar university located in the western United States. These students were viewed as "double first-generation" because they were not only the first in their family to pursue a bachelor's degree, but were also among the first generation in the history of American higher education to pursue public, postsecondary education in an entirely online format. The research was designed as a multiple methods case study that emphasized qualitative methods. Being exploratory in nature, the study focused on participant characteristics and the ways that they responded to and persisted in online degree programs. Data was collected through research that was conducted entirely online; it included an e-survey, two asynchronous focus groups, and individual interviews that were conducted via Skype. Grounded theory served as the primary method for data analysis, while quantitative descriptive statistics contextualized the case. The results of this study provide a window into the micro- and macro-level tensions at play in public, online postsecondary education. The findings indicate that these pioneering and traditionally underserved students drew from their diverse backgrounds to persist toward degree completion, overcoming challenges associated with time and finances, in hopes that their efforts would bring career and social mobility. As one of the first studies to critically examine the case of double first-generation college students, this study extends the literature in meaningful ways to provide valuable insights for policymakers, administrators, faculty, and staff who are involved with this population.
ContributorsShea, Jennifer Dawn (Author) / Fischman, Gustavo E. (Thesis advisor) / De Los Santos Jr, Alfredo G. (Committee member) / Ewing, Kris (Committee member) / Archambault, Leanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Females and underrepresented ethnic minorities earn a small percentage of engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees awarded in the United States, earn an even smaller proportion of master's and doctoral degrees, and are underrepresented in the engineering workforce (Engineering Workforce Commission, [2006], as cited in National Science Foundation, 2012; United States Department of Education, [2006], as cited in National Science Foundation, 2009a; United States Department of Education, [2006], as cited in National Science Foundation, 2009b). Considerable research has examined the perceptions, culture, curriculum, and pedagogy in engineering that inhibits the achievement of women and underrepresented ethnic minorities. This action research study used a qualitative approach to examine the characteristics and experiences of Latina students who pursued a bachelor's degree in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU) as part of the 2008 first-time full-time freshman cohort. The researcher conducted two semi-structured individual interviews with seven undergraduate Latina students who successfully persisted to their fourth (senior) year in engineering. The researcher aimed to understand what characteristics made these students successful and how their experiences affected their persistence in an engineering major. The data collected showed that the Latina participants were motivated to persist in their engineering degree program due to their parents' expectations for success and high academic achievement; their desire to overcome the discrimination, stereotyping, and naysayers that they encountered; and their aspiration to become a role model for their family and other students interested in pursuing engineering. From the data collected, the researcher provided suggestions to implement and adapt educational activities and support systems within the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering to improve the retention and graduation rates of Latinas in engineering at ASU.
ContributorsRobinson, Carrie (Author) / Mcintyre, Lisa (Thesis advisor) / Hesse, Marian (Committee member) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam G. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This study provides an understanding of how administrative leaders make decisions regarding enrollment management within academic units at a major research university in the southwestern United States. Key enrollment management functions of recruiting, admissions, marketing, orientation, financial aid/scholarships, academic advising, student engagement, retention and career services were identified from the literature. Typically applied at the institutional level, this study provides an understanding of how leaders in academic units decide to implement enrollment management. A case study was conducted using qualitative data collection methods which emphasized interviews. Senior administrators, such as associate deans within academic units who have responsibility for enrollment management, served as the sample. Three main theoretical constructs were derived after analysis of the data: Theoretical Construct 1: To meet enrollment and retention goals, leaders strategically plan structures and manage resources for enrollment management functions in their academic units. Theoretical Construct 2: To increase retention, leaders intentionally strive to develop a sense of community through customized programs and services for students in their academic units. Theoretical Construct 3: To achieve enrollment objectives within a school-centric model, leaders build relationships with centralized enrollment management functions and other academic units. The discussion and analysis of the study suggests that academic units follow a similar evolutionary model to institutions as they develop enrollment management functions. Five recommendations on how leaders in academic units can more strategically utilize enrollment management principles in decision making are offered.
ContributorsDeBiaso, Nick (Author) / Mcintyre, Lisa (Thesis advisor) / Hesse, Marian (Committee member) / Faris, Kay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Research on the impact of stress on the academic performance of Hispanic undergraduate students is limited, leaving institutions of higher education without needed information about how to better support this growing population of students. The purpose of this study was to identify stressors that have a negative impact on academic performance of Hispanic undergraduate students. Themes were derived from focus groups and interviews regarding stress, stressors and related academic performance impacts of Hispanic undergraduate students attending a large multi-campus urban university and incorporated into a survey addressing common stressors, their impact on academic performance, stress impact on other areas of life, stress management ability, and demographic characteristics. The survey was administered to a random sample of Hispanic undergraduate students using an online format (n = 169). Descriptive statistics were used to examine frequencies. Stressors were placed into themes and tested for reliability of fit using Cronbach's Alpha. Pearson's Chi-Square and Cramer's V were used to measure association. Significance was set at ¡Ü .05. Overall stress of respondents resulted in serious performance effects among 32.5% of respondents and moderate performance effects among 43.8% of respondents. Stress impeded academic performance at least weekly among 36.1% of respondents. Stressors resulting in the most serious stress and academic performance effects included family, time factors, finances, and academics. Moderate stress and academic performance effects were evident in stressors related to mental health, technology, commuting, personal concerns, physical health and legal problems. The majority of respondents indicated doing a fair (n = 84, 49.7%) or good (n = 52, 30.8%) job managing stress. The remaining 20.0% (n = 33) of respondents did a poor job managing stress. Students with lower grade-point averages managed stress poorly compared to students with higher grade-point averages, X2 (6, N = 163) = 15.222, p = .019, Cramer's V = .019. These findings provide evidence that stressors related to family, time factors, finances, and academics, and overall stress have considerable negative effects on the academic performance of Hispanic undergraduate students. Institutions of higher education can improve academic outcomes among this student population by addressing and reducing the impact of common stressors affecting these students.
ContributorsMoses, Karen S (Author) / De Los Santos, Jr., Alfredo G. (Thesis advisor) / Ewing, Kris (Thesis advisor) / Melnyk, Bernadette (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
With budgets on the decline, university officials are seeking alternative methods to maintain and increase the type of services provided to students. By incorporating social entrepreneurial competencies in the daily actions of university staff members, staff members will be able to perform their work more effectively and help students acquire skills such as innovative thinking, which is needed in today's society. Social entrepreneurs are defined as change agents for society; these individuals seize opportunities missed by others, improve systems, create solutions, innovate and adapt, leverage resources they do not control, and advocate for what they and others need to be successful (Ashoka, 2010a; Bornstein & Davis, 2010; Dees, 1998). Universities will be more successful in respect to helping students with a workforce of social entrepreneurs capable of leveraging resources. Through action research, this study utilized a phenomenological perspective with both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis to introduce social entrepreneurial competencies to the live-in housing professionals (pro-staff) at Arizona State University (ASU) and then examined the incorporation of the competencies into the pro-staff's daily work. Ten current pro-staff participated in two phases of the study, each of which consisted of surveys and workshops. Participants' responses indicated that there are five competencies and three strengths related to social entrepreneurship that are significant to the pro-staff position and their daily work at ASU.
ContributorsVela, Alicia L (Author) / Mcintyre, Lisa (Thesis advisor) / Cook, Kevin (Committee member) / Hesse, Marian (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The purpose of this action research study was to determine the effectiveness of two online college success courses: CPD 150 (College Success, 3 credits) and CPD 115 (Success Strategies, 1 credit), at Rio Salado College, a Maricopa Community College in Arizona. The goal of these courses is to prepare students to be college-ready by examining college readiness and learning skills. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire measured students' perceptions of their own college readiness in a pre-test/post-test format. Understanding students' perceptions of their own college readiness is the college's first step in understanding the effectiveness of these courses. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to compare the pre- and post-tests to determine whether the average student scores changed after completion of the college success course. Paired samples t-tests (or repeated-measures test) were conducted on 2 scales consisting of 13 subscales of the MSLQ of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Data analysis revealed that students reported that they had better study skills after the course than before completing the course. Particularly, learning strategies, test anxiety, self-efficacy, effort regulation (self-management), control of learning beliefs, study skills, and time and study environment stand out as showing substantial improvement for the students.
ContributorsAbts, Melanie (Author) / Mcintyre, Lisa (Thesis advisor) / Hesse, Maria L (Committee member) / Wukash, Barry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
As enrollment in postsecondary education increases, colleges and universities increasingly rely heavily on the use of the Internet as a means of communication with their students. Upon students' admission, institutional webpage messaging shifts to messages about students' new affiliation with the institution in their situated identity - a college student. Unlike continuing-generation students, first-generation college students are not institutional legacies and must learn how and what it means to be a college student through other means. This study examined the situated identity construction and website experiences of 23 first-year first- and continuing-generation college freshmen attending a summer transition program at Western University (WU). Using a multifaceted approach, this study analyzed how first-generation students made meaning of and used institutional website messaging as they constructed their college student identities. The following steps were used to collect data: a questionnaire, eight observations, a focus group with first-generation participants, one-on-one interviews with two focus group participants, and three interviews with WU staff members responsible for their college or unit webpages for first-year students. Findings utilizing critical discourse analysis revealed answers to several guiding questions focusing on situated identities construction and enactment; multiple and salient identities are at work; the Discourses and impact of WU webpages on first-generation students; how first-generation students experience, make meaning of, and use WU website messaging as they construct their situated identity; and feelings of belonging, marginalization, and mattering experienced by first-generation students through website messaging. Results highlighted differences between the first-generation and continuing-generation students' perception and enactment of the situated identity. Although first-generation students used the website as a tool, they used different ways to gain access into the WU Discourse. Both students and staff members enacted multiple salient identities as they enacted their situated identities, and the multiple salient identities of the WU website designers were highly influential in the website Discourse. Findings have implications for WU institutional practices that could facilitate earlier and more simplified access to the WU Discourse, and findings generated a new model of situated identity construction in Discourse.
ContributorsSumner, Carol A (Author) / Rund, James A. (Thesis advisor) / Ewing, Kris (Thesis advisor) / Gee, James P. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Many students spend a significant portion of their college life outside of the classroom, yet very little is known about the learning they experience as a result of their interactions outside of the classroom. Intentional out-of-class educational experiences offer educators a powerful window into not only understanding the college student experience, but gaining insight into what students are learning that has meaning for them. This research study employed a qualitative approach to examine how students make meaning of their intentional out-of-class educational experiences at a small, Catholic, liberal arts college. Four recent graduates of the college were interviewed on two separate occasions to garner a broad picture of what they learned beyond their classrooms. All four participants were members of the college's honor society whose membership criteria included not only excellence in the classroom, but excellence in the out-of-class arena as well. The students represented athletic teams, honor societies, service societies and clubs in their out-of-class educational experiences. While the participants discussed an array of outcomes as a result of their out-of-class educational experiences, each participant identified specific events that lead them to make new or revised meaning from their internal and external understandings of their world. Labeled as turning points, this research study found that there was a powerful interaction when combining out-of-class educational experiences with the opportunity to cognitively reflect on what each student was experiencing both in understanding how they viewed themselves, as well as the world around them. Consequently, student affairs practitioners, at least in this campus setting, can routinely discover cognitive gains of students implementing opportunities for college students to reflect on out-of-class educational experiences.
ContributorsIsett, Kerry Lynn (Author) / Appleton, Nicholas (Thesis advisor) / Ewing, Kris (Committee member) / Kline, Karen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The transition experience for students who are transferring from community college to university can be an overwhelming experience for any typical student, but can be even greater for students with vulnerable backgrounds. This phenomenological action research study followed the five-month community college to the university transition experience of five students in a scholarship program. The students participated in a three-part intervention in support of their transition experience. Three theoretical perspectives framed the study: community cultural wealth, transition theory, and transfer student capital. This framework enabled me to first identify the strengths the students possessed, despite their vulnerable backgrounds, through participation in individual interviews. The students then participated in pre- and post-focus groups and completed pre- and post-questionnaires. Through these, they identified which transition coping skills were their strongest and which transfer capital they possessed from their community college experience. They also shared how they applied those prior learned skills and capital at the university. This study revealed how these students utilized their strengths at moments when they lacked certain coping skills and transfer capital during their transition experience. One particular strength was how the students accessed the resources of the scholarship program at the center of this study to help them with their sense of the ability to succeed at the university.
ContributorsMartinez, Jo Ann Lopez (Author) / Harris, Lauren M (Thesis advisor) / Mcintyre, Lisa (Committee member) / Plinske, Kathleen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Academic advisors play a critical role in student success within United States institutions of higher education. Although uniquely positioned to contribute to important institutional and student outcomes, academic advising is identified in the literature as an emerging profession, often delegitimizing advisor authority and limiting their contribution to institutional objectives. A review of the literature explores the history academic advising, and the current state of professionalization of the field. Additionally, entrepreneurial mindset is introduced as a framework of practice for professional agency. As a field working to professionalize itself within the higher education context, academic advisors must be able to fully participate and contribute to the process of developing innovative practices within the contexts of their institutions. This mixed-methods study drew upon proactive work behavior as defined by Hackman and Oldham to understand how academic advisors demonstrate and perceive their professional agency and ability to make decisions when working with students in the context of their role. Findings suggest professional agency as a construct exists not as a stand-alone concept, but rather as part of an ecosystem within the institution that includes layered systems, structures, and cultures which influence advisor behaviors and how they navigate decision-making. Implications include considerations for academic advising leaders and administrators, specifically related to departmental structures and advisor perceptions of their professional agency. This study contributes to the advising literature in the area of professionalization, with implications for scholarship and practice that can address gaps in the current scholarship.
ContributorsRudd, Melissa (Author) / Basile, Carole (Thesis advisor) / Kim, Jeongeun (Committee member) / Mcintyre, Lisa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021