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<p>Recently, scholars in rhetoric and composition (e.g., Bruce McComiskey) have argued that their field has a key role to play in schools’ efforts to fight fake news. This field already engages with questions of how communicators build credibility and persuade audiences, and of how first-year writing courses (which many rhetoric and composition scholars teach) already often focus on skills like source evaluation and critical thinking. Thus, scholars like McComiskey have argued that rhetoric and composition can and should exert an influence on universities’ civic education efforts in the 21^st century. However, despite an uptick in scholarly interest in fake news, empirical study of whether first-year writing courses impart civic skills is scarce.</p><p>An exploratory study examined whether students who take first-year composition courses experience any growth in Civic Online Reasoning (COR) when those courses’ learning outcomes invoke the notions of critical thinking, source evaluation, and digital literacy. It also investigated whether students’ COR gains differed between course sections and identified curricular features that might contribute to those differences. COR assessments developed by the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) were administered to students before and after completing a first-year writing course. Participating instructors’ course documents (syllabi and major assignment sheets) were also analyzed via a qualitative coding procedure.</p><p></p> <p>Students’ scores for the COR component skills of Ad Identification and Lateral Reading increased significantly after one semester of first-year composition instruction. However, students’ scores for the Claim Research and Evidence Analysis skills did not improve. Moreover, no significant differences were observed between sections. These results suggested the possibility that, even absent explicit COR instruction, first-year composition courses can impart some COR skill gains, but that the particular approach the instructor uses does not matter much. However, several methodological problems prevented the study from offering firmer conclusions. In addition to making a case for additional research, this dissertation argues that if scholars in rhetoric and composition wish to have a hand in defining universities’ approaches to civic education in the future, they should strive to generate robust, generalizable evidence of the benefits of their courses. This will require them to embrace empirical and quantitative methodologies and to engage with work in other fields more frequently.</p>

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Published Article / First-year university students make judgements about their capabilities in mathematics which mainly stem from their past school experiences. It is against this background that the researchers decided to conduct a study with the aim of assessing the academic behavioural confidence of first-year students enrolled in the B.Ed. (FET): Natural Sciences programme and the B.Ed. (FET): Economic and Management Sciences programme offered by the School of Teacher Education at the Central University of Technology, Free State. Bandura's (1986) Social Cognitive Theory is the overarching theoretical framework of the self-efficacy construct and therefore also for this study. A quantitative approach was followed and the Academic Behavioural Confidence scale (ABC) designed by Sander and Sanders (2006), was adopted for use in the study. The study sought to first of all determine whether a significant difference in the academic behavioural confidence of the first-year students within the Natural Sciences and Economic and Management Sciences programmes does exist. It furthermore wanted to determine if a significant difference in the academic behavioural confidence between male and female students within these two programmes exists. The results indicated that there is a significant difference in the academic behavioural confidence of the NS and EMS groups. There is, however, no significant difference between male and female students within and between the two groups. Based on the findings some recommendations on dealing with first-year students have been made.

This study examines how community was created in a community college FYE 105 Achieving Academic Success course and the impact of classroom community on students’ perceptions of transition and persistence. Community colleges increasingly are focusing on student success as measured by persistence and goal completion such as transfer or attainment of credentials. The classroom learning environment is critical to student success but is a neglected area in retention research. Therefore, it is important to expand the research on initiatives that support students in their quest for success and educational goal completion. This research focused on one course section of FYE 105 taught at a community college; the students and the professor of the class are the participants for the study. New insight and understanding into classroom sense of community was gained through classroom participant-observations throughout the duration of a semester (16 weeks), faculty and student interviews, and review of materials related to the course. The data generated from the study were analyzed using thematic analysis. In order to explore how community is constructed and the role it plays for students, McMillan and Chavis’s sense of community theory and the academic communities component of Braxton, Hirschy, and McClendon’s conceptual model of student departure in commuter colleges and universities were used as the theoretical and conceptual frameworks for the study. Study results reveal that the professor concentrated efforts during the first class sessions on communicating the classroom rules, engaging in active learning, establishing emotional safety and belonging, and facilitating student interdependence, which were critical elements in establishing a sense of community in the classroom. Additionally, the findings show that students perceive the professor, classmates, classroom environment, active learning, and course content as components that contribute to a sense of community that impact their transition. Students were less clear of the role that sense of community played in their college persistence. Findings suggest that faculty would benefit from professional development to enhance their pedagogical skills. Suggestions for future research include a focus on students’ external and campus support systems,electronic technology, classroom diversity, and longitudinal and departure data collection.

Curricular decision making is foundational to teachers’ practice—every facet of the instructional process is the result of teachers’ decisions. For new teachers, learning to make curricular decisions that will satisfy institutional, public, and professional demands and facilitate learning in their classrooms can be especially challenging given today’s standards-based educational climate. In the primary grades, teachers find themselves having to manage competing demands of accountability and their own beliefs about effective instruction for young children. Despite the field’s renewed interest in studying teachers’ thinking as it relates to post-NCLB curricular decision making, few studies examine curricular decision making among beginning primary grade teachers who share the same accountability issues as their more experienced colleagues. Utilizing case study methodology, this investigation explored how five novice primary grade teachers approached curricular decision making for the core content areas within accountability-driven Texas public schools. Data included classroom observations, interviews and post-observation conversations, lesson planning think-alouds, and curricular documents. Cross-case analyses indicate that participants' curricular decision making was characterized by professional judgment in response to various dilemmas they encountered while attempting to address personal, professional, administrative, and organizational expectations. In many ways, the standards-based contexts in which participants taught made teaching especially difficult for these teachers who were only beginning to accumulate the wisdom of practice. Findings also suggest that participants' curricular decisions were informed by a combination of internal and external influences. Most significantly, curricular decisions were deeply rooted in who teachers are and who they hope to become as professional educators. Professional identity permeated all five teachers' approaches to curricular decision making, from the types of decisions they chose to address to the actual decisions they made in the classroom. Concomitantly, these teachers' conceptions of the teaching profession helped shape the nature of their curricular decisions. The study also reveals that professional colleagues played a strong role in guiding curricular decisions among the participants, although not all support offered to novices was necessarily beneficial for their development as effective decision makers. Finally, the study raises questions about incongruities between teacher preparation programs and the expectations graduates will face as beginning teachers. / text

Each year, as more school principals retire, other leaders take their place--many of them becoming principals for the first time. While this change in leadership can be disconcerting to the students, parents, teachers, and other staff members, it is most taxing for the new principal, who is immediately inundated with the various demands on his or her time. In order for the new principal to navigate these challenges effectively, it is important that he or she is ready and equipped for this transition and prepared to participate successfully in the day-to-day interactions with others. Using ethnographic qualitative methodology, this study sought to examine the first-year principal's interactions with parents and staff members. Telling the stories of two first-year principals, the study explored the issues and challenges faced by these principals as they interacted with the various institutional stakeholders. In its treatment of interpersonal interactions, the study assembled a broad archive, including oral accounts, interviews, personal journals, calendars, and emails. The data were then examined through Bolman and Deal's (2008) "frame" theory, which was offered as a comprehensive approach for looking at organizations from more than one theoretical perspective. Viewing the data through the structural, human, political, and symbolic frames provides a more in-depth examination of the principals' various interactions with parents and staff members during their first year as principal. Dissecting a first-year principal's interactions in the setting of a school, this research extends Bolman and Deal's four-frame theory (2008) by analyzing three types of principal/stakeholder interactions through each of the four frames. A problem-solving interactions protocol and a set of guiding questions are offered to assist new leaders as they prepare for various interactions of each type. / text

High attrition during the first few years of teaching is a long-standing dilemma. Research findings vary somewhat according to specific studies, but it is estimated that about 30% of new teachers do not teach beyond two years, and within the first five years of teaching 40-50% leave the profession.Traditionally, discussions of new teacher induction have not considered the role of the school principal as significant (Carver, 2003). However, Brock & Grady (2001) found that beginning teachers identified the school principal as the most significant person in the school, as well as a key source of support and guidance. A recent exploratory case study of the supportive behaviors of four principals resulted in a structural framework of recommended practices (Carver, 2002); however, the importance of those behaviors in the retention of first-year teachers has not been studied.This mixed methods research study examined the relationship between principal support behaviors and the likelihood of first-year teachers remaining in the teaching profession. Q sorts, detailed questionnaires, and follow-up interviews were conducted with first-year and fifth-year teachers.Findings indicated that principal support was important to some first-year teachers in making retention decisions; additionally, specific principal behaviors that have the most influence on the likelihood of first-year teachers remaining in the profession were identified. Analysis resulted in the development of a list of 10 principal support behaviors that are most likely to influence first-year teachers to remain in teaching. These findings could prove beneficial in stemming the attrition rate of new teachers.

Higher education systems are imperative to social and economic upliftment in any society, the ability of the national labour force and income disparity differentials between members of the populous are directly associated to academic achievement and associated pass rates in higher education. The apparent utility of higher education is however overshadowed by poor student retention, academic performance and consequent pass rates and is an issue of concern at both an international and local level. The identification of factors that could potentially improve student academic performance and consequent attainment of a tertiary qualification is becoming an increasingly important field of research. Research into such factors would have wide reaching implications in South Africa, where high unemployment rates and talent migration plague efforts to build a strong national economy. The primary imperatives of this research undertaking were to investigate the relationship between hope, social support, fluid intelligence and academic achievement in the form of grade point average (GPA), as well as determine the extent to which hope and social support moderate the relationship between fluid intelligence and GPA. The research method is comprised of a literature review and empirical study. Data collection was conducted via a cross-sectional survey design, with an availability sample (N = 308) being taken from first year students at a higher educational institution. The Hope Scale (HS), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Abstract Reasoning Test (ART) and biographical questionnaire were administered. Statistical analysis was carried out with the SPSS 20.0 programme. Principle component factor analysis provided confirmation of a four factor structure for the MSPSS, with the resultant factors being labelled Friend Support, Significant Other Support, Family Support and Lecturer Support. In this study the original 3 factor structure of the MSPSS was supplemented by adding the fourth dimension of lecturer support. A two factor structure for the HS was confirmed, with the resultant factors being labelled Agency Hope and Pathways Hope. All utilised scales indicated acceptable levels of reliability, with the resultant Cronbach alpha statistics ranging from 0,75 to 0,89. Pearson correlation coefficient correlations gave indication of a statistically and practically significant correlation of positive medium effect between fluid intelligence and grade point average. Social support from lecturers showed statistically and practically significant correlations of medium effect with social support from friends. Pathways hope was statistically and practically related to agency hope with a positive medium effect. No practically significant relations in this sample could be established between hope and grade point average and social support and grade point average. Statistically significant relations were established between lecturer social support and fluid intelligence and between agency hope and social support from significant other sources. The ability of fluid intelligence to predict grade point average was proven via regression analysis in which fluid intelligence was found to be a statistically significant predictor of grade point average. Proposed moderating effects of hope and social support on the relation between fluid intelligence and grade point average were tested via multiple regression analysis. Results indicated that within the parameters of the research sample in this study, no statistically significant moderating effects could be established for hope or social support. Based on these findings, a hypothesised cause for such relations was established based on the characteristics of the current research sample and research literature. Recommendations for future research were made, as well as organisational recommendations for the participating higher educational facility. / MA, Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Students’ intention to stay within the higher education system is decreasing by the year, and even though more students are enrolling at universities annually, the percentage of students completing their studies is not satisfactory. The low completion rate is a concern not only in South Africa, but worldwide. Trends are identified as to why students do not complete their studies. This study seeks to focus on perceived social support, the students’ academic fit, the psychological conditions of meaningfulness and availability as well as the students’ engagement levels, and then to investigate if these constructs will influence their intention to stay. The proposed engagement model of May, Gilson, and Harter (2004) originally designed by George Kahn (1990), was used to determine whether social support and academic fit correlates positively with the psychological conditions, which may lead to engagement and increase a student’s intention to stay. A quantitative research design was used to investigate the universal challenge at hand, and it was descriptive in nature in order to gather specific information from the first-year students. A crossectional design was used. The research method consists of a literature review and an empirical study, presented in one research article. A convenience sample was used, and a total of 304 students completed the questionnaires. These questionnaires were based on the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Psychological Conditions Scale, Academic Fit Scale, the Work Engagement Scale and the Intent to Leave Scale. Structural equation modelling methods were used, and implemented in AMOS to test the measurement and structural models. The fit-indices used to test if the model fit the data included the absolute fit indices such as Chi-square statistic, the Standardized Root Mean Residual (SRMR), and the Root-Means-Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). The incremental fit indices which were used included the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) and the Comparative Fit Index. It was found that social support did not have an impact on the psychological conditions of meaningfulness and availability, but it had a direct and indirect (via academic fit) effect on intention to stay. This implies that the amount of support students receive has an influence on their intention to stay, and also increased their sense of belonging in their field of study. Academic fit was positively associated with the psychological conditions of meaning and availability, which means that if the student’s personality and field of study is aligned the student will feel that the course is meaningful to him, and he will invest more energy in his studies. Academic fit had direct effects on students’ intention to stay, which means that students who feel they belong in their field of study will also be more likely to stay at the educational institution. It was also found that if students experience a sense of psychological meaningfulness and availability they will be more engaged in their studies, which impact their intention to stay / MCom, Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012