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This study examined the notion of respect in the college classroom. While pedagogical researchers had previously studied the phenomenon, each found challenges in defining it. Moreover, communication scholars do not examine respect as a primary pedagogical factor with learning implications. Focus groups provided venues for topic-specific discussion necessary for better understanding the diversity of students' worldviews regarding respect in the college classroom. Grounded theory allowed for searching theoretical relevance of the phenomenon through constant comparison with categorical identification. The most practical contributions of this research identifies as several major notions including, the importance of relationships within the process, student self-esteem, and global-classroom respect. In addition, implications emerged from the data as learning, motivation, and environment. One other practical contribution exists as a respect communication model for the college classroom. Further, examining students' worldviews of respect in the classroom provides benefits for pedagogical scholars, students, and instructors.

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Unpacking Voice and Silence: A Phenomenological Study of Black Women and Latinas in College Classrooms

Though referred to as "non-traditional students", older students have, in fact, become prevalent in university classrooms, and the number of non-traditional students is expected to continue increasing (Bishop-Clark & Lynch, 1993). Yet, stereotypes that students of different ages hold towards each other may interfere with creating an optimal learning environment for all. This study explores age-based stereotypes students may have of each other. Undergraduate students were randomly assigned to review a scenario about a college student who was described as either traditional (20 years old) or non-traditional (40 years). Participants rated the student in the scenario using the Reysen Likeability, Expertise, and Honesty Scales, the Academic Motivation Scale, and a Student Behavior Questionnaire. Both traditional and non-traditional participants rated the traditional student in the scenario as more likeable. All participants rated traditional students higher in traditional-based stereotypes and the non-traditional student higher in the nontraditional based stereotypes. Evidence of the existence and nature of such stereotyping can be a step toward addressing and alleviating tensions within the mixed-age classroom and working towards support and understanding.

Women student veterans have been an understudied student population for decades. Although researchers have explored women student veterans' transition to higher education from the military, challenges relating to their peers, and mental health and service-related disabilities, there is virtually no literature on their lived experiences in the college classroom (Atkinson et al., 2018). The field lacks research on the narratives and counternarratives of the women student veterans' lived experiences in the classroom and on campus, and how their gender and veteran identities add to or hinder those experiences. Addressing this gap in the literature, this qualitative study explored the following research questions: 1) What experiences do undergraduate cisgender women student veterans have in the college classroom? and 2) How do gender and student veteran identity influence cisgender women student veterans' experiences in the classroom? Veteran Critical Theory (VCT; Phillips and Lincoln, 2017) was used as a guiding framework for this qualitative study. The tenets of the theory provided guiding principles that assisted in understanding and evaluating how policies, procedures, and practices in the military and higher education marginalize and oppress women student veterans. Narrative inquiry was used as the methodological approach for data collection and analysis, which allowed the women student veterans to express themselves and their lived experiences through dialogue and stories (Creswell, 2014). Participants included seven undergraduate women student veterans (five from large, public research universities, and two from community colleges), between the ages of 23 to early forties, and were veterans from various branches of the military (Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps). Data was collected through a participant questionnaire and semi-structured interviews and analyzed using initial and second-cycle coding procedures. In response to the study's first research question (What experiences do undergraduate cisgender women student veterans have in the college classroom?), the theme of classmates emerged with the sub-themes of organic reveals, microaggressions, indifference, inability to relate, and ignorance. The participants shared they refrained from informing their classmates of their veteran identity unless it came up organically in conversation. They also shared that on occasion, when they did share their veteran identity, they experienced various forms of microaggressions or indifference. The participants described their inability to relate to their civilian peers due to differences in age, marital/parental status, and general life experiences. The participants also shared their frustrations regarding their classmates' ignorance of veterans and the military. Another theme that emerged was faculty and included sub-themes of indifference and positive interactions. The participants discussed how they only revealed their veteran status to their faculty if it came up organically in class conversation, and their faculty responded either positively or were indifferent to the news. None of the participants had negative experiences with their faculty regarding their veteran identity or military affiliation. Several participants spoke of specific positive interactions they had experienced with faculty members and how those interactions had a lasting and influential impact on their classroom and academic experiences. The final theme that emerged was experiences with the campus environment beyond coursework, which included sub-themes of "veteran-friendly" campus, disability support services, "you don't look like a veteran," and liberal environment. Regarding having a "veteran-friendly" campus, participants described having both positive and negative experiences. Many mentioned they did not participate in veteran-related activities on campus due to their busy schedules, and they also did not know of other women veterans on campus. Some described the ease of using their GI Bill benefits, while one participant talked about the gender inequity of having to rush against the clock to finish classes before her GI Bill benefits expire due to multiple stop-outs from having her children. A couple of participants also described their experiences working with disability support services on campus. One participant had a positive, easy, and simplistic experience obtaining an accommodation letter for her military-related disabilities, while another participant described multiple challenges in trying unsuccessfully to get accommodations for her military-related disabilities. The women in the study also described multiple instances where their peers on campus and other veterans in the community would comment "you don't look like a veteran" when they would reveal their veteran identity. Additionally, participants described their campuses' geographical areas as being liberal environments. Several of the women shared that they felt anti-military and anti-veteran sentiments from their classmates while on campus, resulting in their desire to "blend in" and not advertise their veteran identity. When referring to campuses being liberal environments, the findings in the study also found that the participants were not referring to a geopolitical ideology, but rather an undercurrent of privilege and a negative peer culture that exists on campus. In response to the second research question (How do gender and student veteran identity influence cisgender women student veterans' experiences in the classroom?), several themes emerged: gender identity, sexism, and veteran identity. The first theme, gender identity, was a consistent theme throughout each of the participant's interviews. They described how being a woman had a significant impact in their military experience as they experienced various forms of gender inequities, sexual harassment and assault, as well as having to work twice as hard to earn respect and acknowledgements. The women also discussed how those experiences impacted their desire to want to "blend in" on their campuses and be "regular" students. Although they shared that being a woman in class made no real difference in their in-class experiences, the findings showed that gender played a key role in the way they approached their veteran identity, which influenced how they engaged with their classmates and faculty in the classroom and on campus. The participants did clarify, however, that they felt age, marital status/parental status, and a difference in general life experiences from their civilian peers were more influential to their classroom experiences than their gender. The next theme that emerged was sexism. The participants discussed how they experienced various forms of sexism and gender inequities in the military. They shared numerous anecdotes of their experiences in the military due to their gender. Another theme that emerged was veteran identity. Three sub-themes also emerged: blending in, fear, and reactions to "thank you for your service." With regard to blending in, the participants described their desire to blend in on their campuses and not advertise their veteran status. The second sub-theme of fear was in reference to the participants' feelings when anticipating the responses of their civilian classmates and faculty after revealing their veteran identity. The third sub-theme that emerged was reactions to "thank you for your service". Several participants discussed how the well-intentioned statement of gratitude makes them uncomfortable because they do not know how to respond. Overall, the participants described how they typically felt the need to keep their veteran identities to themselves unless it came up organically in conversation, but their veteran identity was not as salient as some of their other identities (i.e., student, mother, friend, etc.). In conclusion, this study offers implications and recommendations for policy and practice. These include training faculty and staff on veterans and military culture; providing additional resources and staff for on-campus resources like veteran resource centers and disability support services, improving classroom environments, peer culture and the liberal environment, and improving campus policies and procedures to better support student veterans. Further research should explore how to better serve women student veterans on college campuses, undergraduate women student veterans from other parts of the country and other types of higher education institutions; and the harmful effects of "thank you for your service" and similar comments. / Doctor of Philosophy / Women student veterans have been an understudied student population for decades. Although researchers have explored women student veterans' transition to higher education from the military, challenges relating to their peers, and mental health and service-related disabilities, there is virtually no literature on their lived experiences in the college classroom (Atkinson et al., 2018). The field lacks research on the narratives and counternarratives of the women student veterans' lived experiences in the classroom and on campus, and how their gender and veteran identities add to or hinder those experiences. Addressing this gap in the literature, this qualitative study explored the following research questions: 1) What experiences do undergraduate women student veterans have in the college classroom? and 2) How do gender and student veteran identity influence women student veterans' experiences in the classroom? Seven participants participated in an interview where they shared details about their experiences serving in the military, interacting with civilians as veterans, and their experiences in college classrooms and on campus. In response to the study's first research question (What experiences do undergraduate women student veterans have in the college classroom?), the findings included the theme of classmates with the sub-themes of organic reveals, microaggressions, indifference, inability to relate, and ignorance. Regarding the second research question (How do gender and student veteran identity influence women student veterans' experiences in the classroom?), several themes emerged: gender identity, sexism, and veteran identity. The theme of veteran identity also included sub-themes of fear and participants' negative reactions to the phrase, "thank you for your service." This study offers implications and recommendations for policy and practice and recommendations for further research. Such efforts may not only assist in the support of women student veterans, but all student veterans and other marginalized and underrepresented students.

An increase in nontraditional student enrollment continues in community colleges nationwide. Little is known about the interactions between mixed-age groups of students. This qualitative collective case study explored the academic and social influences of non-traditional students on their traditional peers in the community college classroom at a large, midwestern 2-year college. Tinto's interactionalist theory framed the study. Purposeful sampling was used to select 30 participants (13 traditional students, 13 non-traditional students, and 4 instructors) who represented the college population in terms of gender and racial and ethnic diversity. Interview questions were guided by the research questions, and data were also analyzed through inductive analysis. Data were hand-coded and a constant comparative method was used to categorize data into common themes. Findings indicated that non-traditional students play a positive role in community college classrooms. They serve as mentors to their traditional classmates, building relationships and sharing life and work experiences, as well as positive behaviors that contribute to traditional students' overall success. The positive influences the data revealed from interactions between nontraditional and traditional students included improvement in learning, retention, engagement, and confidence. Findings contributed to social change as nontraditional students' influence on traditional students could serve as a catalyst for practices that will benefit all community college students.

The purpose of this study is to use a constructivism as a referent to investigate how students learn physics in a Taiwanese career college classroom. Forty-nine first year, engineering major first students participated in this study of teaching and learning in my college level classroom. The theoretical framework for the study was based on the five dimensions of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) (Taylor & Fraser, 1991: Taylor, Fraser & White, 1994; Taylor, Fraser & Fisher, 1997), namely Personal Relevance, Student Negotiation, Shared Control, Critical Voice, and Uncertainty. These dimensions were employed as analytic themes to examine the qualitative data. / A total of six lessons were observed: two lecture classes, two laboratory practice sessions, and two group discussion sessions. My qualitative observations, supplemented by video- and audio-recordings, of these six lessons were used to produce six classroom narratives. These six narratives were analyzed individually and then comparatively using a cross case analysis whereby the five dimensions of the CLES were employed as analytic themes. The CLES questionnaire was administered at the commencement of the semester and again at the end of the semester in order to determine any quantitative changes in students’ perceptions of their classroom environment. The various analyses were used to make several propositions about the constructivist nature of my classroom. I conclude the study with a discussion of the implications of the study and my reflections on the thesis experience. / The study found that, in my Taiwanese career college physics classroom, (a) the teacher plays a central role in establishing the overall classroom learning environment, (b) student group dynamics are important in the classroom learning environment, (c) the central role of content often works against the establishment of a constructivist classroom, (d) cultural factors play a large role in determining the constructivist nature of the classroom, (e) language plays an important role in the construction of the learning environment, and (f) the students’ learning attitude affected the classroom environment.