Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1964. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Educat.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1985. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-02, Section: A, page: 0395.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2440. Adviser: Debra Bragg. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-222) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D..)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Vita. Printout. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0445. Adviser: Debra D. Bragg. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-171)

Students who first enroll in a community college may experience barriers to attain a bachelor’s degree if they lose credits in the process of transferring to a four-year institution. Statewide articulation policies establish curricular agreements between state colleges to prevent credit loss. Although there are various articulation approaches, few studies have disentangled differences in their effectiveness or examined their effects on directing students to optimal transfer pathways. This dissertation features two papers employing difference-in-differences strategies to estimate the articulation impact in this effort. In the first paper, I examine whether an articulation approach featuring the associate degree as a transfer mechanism compels community colleges to increase degree completion. Using institution-level data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, I exploit variation in the introduction of these policies across multiple states as a natural experiment. I find that such policies increase rates of associate degree completion but the magnitude of this effect varies across states. In the second paper, I investigate the effectiveness of course guides to help students identify transferrable prerequisite credits. Using student-level data, I exploit variation in the rollout of guides across Ohio colleges in 2005 as another natural experiment. I find that effects on prerequisite course-taking differed across academic majors, and the effects were lower for students enrolled in their first year compared to returning students. The findings from both papers suggest that articulation policies may redirect students’ transfer pathways, but the effect may vary contextually—across states, as well as by the preparedness level of students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship, if any, between teaching styles of selected community college faculty and retention of African-American students with comparable learning styles. Other questions investigated were: (1) Was there a relationship between the match of students' learning styles to teaching styles and the student's expectation for success? (2) Did African-American students show a preference for a particular context of instruction? The study focused on teaching styles of full-time college faculty who teach core courses and learning styles of African American students enrolled in selected Massachusetts community colleges. Two companion instruments were used to gather data. They were: (1) The Canfield Instructional Styles Inventory (ISI) and (2) The Canfield Learning Styles Inventory (LSI). The ISI measured teaching style preferences; the LSI assisted in determining the student's preferred learning style. Faculty and student participants in this study were asked to complete a questionnaire prepared by the writer. The faculty questionnaire consisted of: (1) Biographical data and (2) questions concerning the faculty's learning and teaching styles. The student questionnaire consisted of: (1) Biographical data, and (2) questions concerning students' perception of classroom environment and students' classroom interaction with their instructors. Assumptions 1, 2, and 5 were not supported by the results the study. This study's findings supported Assumptions 3 and 4. According to the results, there seemed to be no correlation between learning and teaching styles matches and student classroom success. There was also no correlation between student expectation for success and matches of learning and teaching styles. A majority of faculty participants in this study indicated their belief that learning was primarily the student's responsibility. While a majority of the faculties' teaching style preferences clustered around a "mixed" or "pure" conceptual typology, a majority of the students' learning preferences clustered around the "mixed" or "pure" social typology. Student participants indicated minimal "in-class" and "out-of-class" interactions with their instructors. Faculty participants revealed a preference for utilizing reading as a primary method of information dissemination; students revealed a desire to obtain new information through visual, kenetic, and tactile approaches.

No description available.

<p> The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of students of color at an urban commuter university as they relate to the constructs utilized within the engagement literature and to the noncognitive student characteristics literature. Data were collected using the following instruments: William Sedlacek's Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ), items from the Beginning College Student Survey of Engagement (BCSSE), items from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), and individual and small group interviews. The key findings of this study revealed that noncognitive characteristics assisted students in (a) internalizing messages, (b) understanding systemic processes, and (c) identifying motivating factors. These findings underscore the importance of moving away from a monolithic understanding of engagement to a more complex consideration of the ways in which students interact with the campus environment. Furthermore, this study showed the importance of providing incoming students with the opportunity to build on noncognitive personal skills, experiences, and characteristics&mdash;assets that are not measured by traditional college entrance requirements such as high school grades or standardized test scores and that often have not been seen as being directly related to academic success. This can be accomplished through the development of curricular and co-curricular experiences that include comprehensive programs and activities as they pertain to internalizing key messages, determining motivators, and understanding systemic processes.</p>

The author’s previous research into the learning experiences of mature, workingclass students undertaking a professionally endorsed qualification in Community Education, was overly negative in its view of the students whilst underplaying the role of curriculum in their learning. Reinterpreting their undergraduate experience more positively leads to thinking about how their educational needs could be reconciled with the programme’s aim to produce critically competent graduates. Four principles derived from the Habermasian concept of communicative action can inform thinking about an appropriate pedagogical approach. The first directs attention to the acts of reciprocity that underpin learning. The second focuses attention on how knowledge can be constructed through redeeming claims. The third signals the necessity of safeguarding participation and protecting rationality in argumentation, and the fourth points to the idea of competence as a constructive achievement. Taken together, the four principles express the ideal of a discursive pedagogy in which teachers and students socially construct knowledge appropriate to the subject area. Because it involves active participation based on a commitment to open communication and argumentative reasoning, approximating the ideal conditions of a discursive pedagogy could address the student’s learning needs whilst meeting the programme’s aim. Anticipating and considering the likely issues and challenges involved in attempts to realise these idealised conditions suggests ways in which a discursive pedagogy could be given practical form.

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which reference librarians of the 28 Florida community colleges are educationally prepared to teach and promote information literacy. / A survey instrument (questionnaire) was designed and distributed to 110 reference librarians in the 28 Florida community colleges; a total of 74 (76.2%) were returned and 69 (62.7%) were usable. Using the Likert-type scale, respondents indicated strength and weakness of abilities and preparedness to teach and promote information literacy. The data were tabulated using SPSS. / Forty-nine (71.0%) of the respondents were females, 18 (26.1%) were males (two, 3%, did not indicate gender), and 83% of the librarians were 41 years or older. Sixty-one percent (61%) of the male librarians had 15 years or less experience, while 73% of females had 16 or more years of experience. Eighty-seven percent of the librarians had a master's degree in Library Science, 3% had an advanced master's/specialist degree, and 3% had their doctorate. Four percent (4%) had a subject master's degree only. Three percent (3%) had a subject master's degree and certification in Library Science or either a subject master's degree and a master's degree in Library Science. While 96% of the librarians use the new technology on their job, only 31% of the libraries have a computing lab within the library for student use. / The findings of this study included the following: (1) Ninety percent (90%) of the librarians indicated that they were well-prepared for the skills of locating sources, using periodicals, indexes, reference sources, and performing reference queries. (2) Eighty percent (80%) of the librarians indicated that they were well-prepared to use manual and online catalogs, CD-ROM databases, knew search strategy skills, selected appropriate access points, and worked effectively with diverse patrons. (3) Seventy percent (70%) of the librarians indicated that they were well-prepared for communication, thinking and cognitive skills, and met the needs of target user groups. (4) They were least prepared to work with Internet, Interactive Video, Hypercard/Hypertext, and tape-loaded databases. (5) They perceived themselves as lacking in the skills of measurement and evaluation, teaching methodologies, budgeting and planning, management, instructional design, and the use of online databases. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2617. / Major Professor: Mary Alice Hunt. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.