Master of Science / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Fred Bradley / Outdoor orientation programs (OOPs) have the same goal as traditional first-year student orientation programs (e.g., First-Year Seminar), that is, helping facilitate the transition of first-year students to collegiate life. There are many challenges first-year students face while transitioning into college. Research shows that OOPs can increase retention rates of first-year students; help first-year students to grow personally, socially and spiritually; and increase friendship formation among this population (Davis-Berman & Berman, 1996; Devlin, 1996; Galloway, 2000). Today, there are approximately 164 higher education institutions in the United States that offer OOPs to their first-year students. Currently, Kansas State University has several programs that aid students in their transition to collegiate life. However, they do not currently have an OOP in place. A survey was conducted at Kansas State University to evaluate the level of interest in an OOP and/or an outdoor trips program. Survey results suggest that there are a significant number of current students on campus who would have participated in an OOP if one were offered when they first arrived. Recommendations for the development of an OOP at Kansas State University are made utilizing survey results and interviews with successful OOP program directors at several universities.

Syftet med studien är att skapa en djupare förståelse för hur introduktionen upplevs av nytillträdda chefer samt vilka aspekter som är av betydande relevans för denna upplevelse. Studien har genomförts på en svensk myndighet med omkring 1200 anställda. Studien är av kvalitativ art och empiri har inhämtats genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta verksamma chefer som har personalansvar. Vid tolkning av studiens resultat har vi inspirerats av en fenomenologisk ansats, varpå vi har fokuserat på likheter i respondenternas uppfattning av fenomenet. Av studiens resultat framgår att majoriteten av cheferna upplevt introduktionen som gedigen och informativ. Chefernas framträdande upplevelse har visat sig vara organisationens välkomnande klimat. Majoriteten av cheferna är av åsikten att organisationen möjliggjort för socialisationstillfällen i samband med introduktionen. Flertalet av cheferna föredrar att först installera sig i sin arbetsgrupp innan hela verksamhetsförståelsen kan erhållas. Avslutningsvis har den information som delgivits under introduktionen upplevts som tydlig. Ett flertal av cheferna har samtidigt upplevt den som överväldigande och svåråtkomlig. / The purpose of the study is to create a deeper understanding of how newly employed managers experience the orientation program and to explore which aspects that are of great importance in regards to this experience. The study was conducted at a Swedish authority with approximately 1200 employees. A qualitative research design was used in this study and data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with eight personnel managers. During interpretation of the results, we have been inspired by a phenomenological approach where we have focused on similarities in the respondents´ experience of the phenomenon. The result shows that the majority of the managers experienced the orientation program as solid and informative. The welcoming climate of the organization was found to be the most central experience of those investigated. The majority of the managers are of the opinion that the organization has enabled opportunities for socialization during the work orientation. Most of the managers prefer to first settle into their own work team before they are able to obtain an understanding of the business. Additionally, the managers have experienced the information that has been communicated during the work orientation as clear. Meanwhile, a number of the managers mean that the information was overwhelming and inaccessible.

Librarians at East Tennessee State University conducted a voluntary focus group of international students to better understand the academic needs of the growing population. Students participated in a full-day discussion concerning academic staples such as planning and studying, finding and reading, and writing and citing. After a long exchange on communication and cultural differences, the students endorsed a new workshop on academic writing proposed by the librarians. This workshop will become part of the existing sequence of nine graduate-level research support offerings given by the Library for graduate students and faculty.

O presente estudo pretende investigar como o Projeto Saúde nas Escolas proposto pela Secretaria Municipal de Educação em parceria com a Secretaria Municipal de Saúde de Duque de Caxias foi recebido e desenvolvido por uma Escola da Rede Municipal. Buscou detectar como a Escola planeja e desenvolve seu programa de orientação sexual e se este vem proporcionando aos/às alunos/as possibilidades plurais de construção de suas identidades sexuais e do exercício de suas sexualidades. A geração de dados se fez por meio de análise documental, entrevistas, questionário, observação e grupo focal. Levantou opiniões de 3 implementadoras, 3 responsáveis por ministrar oficinas, 2 orientadoras educacionais, 1 diretora de escola, 8 professores/as e 6 alunos/as. A análise dos resultados permitiu identificar a preocupação em desenvolver um programa de orientação sexual centrado no direito, respeito ao próximo e na cultura, enfatizando a importância do cuidado de si, da saúde e da prevenção de doenças, assim como as múltiplas possibilidades da sexualidade entre os/as jovens. Este estudo apoiou-se principalmente na concepção de identidade na pós-modernidade de Stuart Hall; na visão socioconstrucionista de identidade desenvolvida por Luiz Paulo da Moita Lopes e Tomaz Tadeu da Silva; nos conceitos de sexualidade desenvolvidos por Deborah Briztman, Guacira Louro, Jeffrey Weeks e Judith Butler; nos modos de pensar as masculinidades de Elisabeth Badinter e Robert Connell. A pesquisa constatou que o discurso e a prática preconizados pelo projeto saúde nas escolas, assim como o programa de orientação sexual, além de investirem na promoção da saúde, visam fornecer subsídios que apóiam a construção das identidades sexuais e autonomia no exercício das sexualidades. / This study aims at investigating how Health at Schools project, which is proposed by Caxias` Education Secretariat, in association with Health Secretariat, was accepted and developed by a government school. It attempted to understand how the school plans and develops its sexual educational program and if it offers the students a range of possibilities so that they can construct and experience automously their sexual identities. The data were collected by documental analysis, interviews, questionaries, observation and focus groups. It verified opinions of the three planners, three workshop leaders, two educational counselors, one school director, eight teachers and six students. The analysis of the results allowed us to identify a concern in developing a sexual orientation program focusing on human rights, respect towards the others and culture emphasizing self care, health care and disease prevention, as well as, multiple sexuality possibilities among youth. This research was mainly based on Stuart Halls identity conception, Luiz Paulo Moita Lopes` and Tomaz Tadeu da Silva`s socioconstructivist identity approach, Deborah Britzman`s,Guacira Louro`s, Jeffrey Weeks`and Judith Butler`s sexualities conceptions, as well as Elizabeth Badinter`s and Robert Connell`s ways of thinking masculinities. The study concluded that both discourse and practice emphasized during the development of the Health at Schools project and Sexual Orientation Program, besides aiming at health quality, also meant to promote sexual identity construction and sexual experiences.

O presente estudo pretende investigar como o Projeto Saúde nas Escolas proposto pela Secretaria Municipal de Educação em parceria com a Secretaria Municipal de Saúde de Duque de Caxias foi recebido e desenvolvido por uma Escola da Rede Municipal. Buscou detectar como a Escola planeja e desenvolve seu programa de orientação sexual e se este vem proporcionando aos/às alunos/as possibilidades plurais de construção de suas identidades sexuais e do exercício de suas sexualidades. A geração de dados se fez por meio de análise documental, entrevistas, questionário, observação e grupo focal. Levantou opiniões de 3 implementadoras, 3 responsáveis por ministrar oficinas, 2 orientadoras educacionais, 1 diretora de escola, 8 professores/as e 6 alunos/as. A análise dos resultados permitiu identificar a preocupação em desenvolver um programa de orientação sexual centrado no direito, respeito ao próximo e na cultura, enfatizando a importância do cuidado de si, da saúde e da prevenção de doenças, assim como as múltiplas possibilidades da sexualidade entre os/as jovens. Este estudo apoiou-se principalmente na concepção de identidade na pós-modernidade de Stuart Hall; na visão socioconstrucionista de identidade desenvolvida por Luiz Paulo da Moita Lopes e Tomaz Tadeu da Silva; nos conceitos de sexualidade desenvolvidos por Deborah Briztman, Guacira Louro, Jeffrey Weeks e Judith Butler; nos modos de pensar as masculinidades de Elisabeth Badinter e Robert Connell. A pesquisa constatou que o discurso e a prática preconizados pelo projeto saúde nas escolas, assim como o programa de orientação sexual, além de investirem na promoção da saúde, visam fornecer subsídios que apóiam a construção das identidades sexuais e autonomia no exercício das sexualidades. / This study aims at investigating how Health at Schools project, which is proposed by Caxias` Education Secretariat, in association with Health Secretariat, was accepted and developed by a government school. It attempted to understand how the school plans and develops its sexual educational program and if it offers the students a range of possibilities so that they can construct and experience automously their sexual identities. The data were collected by documental analysis, interviews, questionaries, observation and focus groups. It verified opinions of the three planners, three workshop leaders, two educational counselors, one school director, eight teachers and six students. The analysis of the results allowed us to identify a concern in developing a sexual orientation program focusing on human rights, respect towards the others and culture emphasizing self care, health care and disease prevention, as well as, multiple sexuality possibilities among youth. This research was mainly based on Stuart Halls identity conception, Luiz Paulo Moita Lopes` and Tomaz Tadeu da Silva`s socioconstructivist identity approach, Deborah Britzman`s,Guacira Louro`s, Jeffrey Weeks`and Judith Butler`s sexualities conceptions, as well as Elizabeth Badinter`s and Robert Connell`s ways of thinking masculinities. The study concluded that both discourse and practice emphasized during the development of the Health at Schools project and Sexual Orientation Program, besides aiming at health quality, also meant to promote sexual identity construction and sexual experiences.

This thesis analyzes how children and youth being resettled from Kenya and Sudan were prepared for their upcoming resettlement to Sweden, through cultural orientation programs (COPs). COPs are held for refugees who have been granted permanent Swedish residence and are undergoing resettlement to Sweden. The Swedish Migration Board, in charge of resettlement, carries out COPs as a means to inform and prepare refugees for the move to Sweden. This thesis is based on ethnographic work carried out during COPs held in Kenya and Sudan in 2011. Through video-based observation of the meetings between the Swedish delegations and children and youth, current thesis examines what notions of resettlement and refugeeness inform the delegations work, and how does the children’s agency come about during these meetings? The thesis includes three articles. Article 1 examines how the delegations make use of images in order to establish certain ideas of Sweden and the ideal citizen specifically tailored for the group being resettled. Article 2 explores children’s agency within the COPs, focusing on how the children and youth manage the meetings and sometimes resisting being positioned in certain ways by the delegations. Article 3 analyzes how notions of gender equality are drawn upon by the delegations during their work, a topic frequently highlighted by the delegations in various implicit and dilemmatic ways. The thesis shows how the delegations’ work is carried out in paradoxical ways. Their quest to bring forth the ideal future as a means to instill hope among the children simultaneously ends up categorizing them as different and as others. The representatives draw  n ideas that the children need to be socialized in order to be incorporated into another “us”. / Avhandlingen undersöker hur barn och ungdomar förbereds inför sin vidarebosättning genom så kallade Sverigeprogram. Avhandlingen är baserad på en etnografisk studie där video observationer genomförts av Sverigeprogram som hölls utav Migrationsverket i Kenya och Sudan för familjer som var på väg att vidarebosättas till Sverige. Som ett led i vidarebosättningsprocessen informeras och förbereds flyktingar inför flytten till Sverige. Syftet är att informera och presentera Sverige, skapa dialog och verka för flyktingarnas aktiva medverkan i sin vidarebosättningsprocess. Sedan några år tillbaka har speciella program genomförts för barn och ungdomar. Avhandlingen visar hur de två delegationerna arbetar med bilder och information med syftet att presentera en positiv bild av Sverige i ett led i att inge barnen hopp. Praktiken av att presentera idealbilden av Sverige hänger samman med socialiseringsprocess av barnen som stundtals positioneras som avvikande från svenskheten. Delegationernas arbete med att presentera bilden av den fria individen går hand i hand med en vilja att inkorporera barnen i en ny gemenskap, ett nytt ”vi”. I artikel ett undersöks hur delegationerna arbeter med bilder som visas upp genom olika praktiker för att förmedla en viss bild av Sverige samt den ideala medborgaren som ansvarstagande och aktiv. Artikel två fokuserar på barns agens och hur de under mötena med delegationerna förhandlar och gör motstånd mot stereotypifiering men också ställer egna frågor om framtiden när utrymme ges. Artikel tre fokuserar på hur delegationerna pratar om jämställdhet med unga tjejer som deltar i programmen med utgångspunkt i att stärka tjejerna och informera de om rättigheter men hur arbetet med att presentera ett liv i frihet går hand i hand med att även presentera hur detta liv bör se ut vilket paradoxalt nog positionerar tjejerna som ojämställda och annorlunda.

This dissertation presents a qualitative case study of students enrolled in online courses and how they perceived the orientation program they completed before starting these courses. The study was based on the perspectives of students enrolled in a fully online program at a small community college in western Maine. They were interviewed individually to find out: (a) what are the perceptions of participants toward the materials presented in the orientation after completing their first semester; (b) what aspects of the orientation resonate most with participants when it comes to completing a course (nature of online learning, how to use course management system, technical requirements or learning skills and motivation). Besides the interviews, data was collected from the college’s learning management system. The results of the study show that participants were satisfied with the content of the orientation; however, more information pertaining to specific aspects of the learning management system should be included for additional satisfaction. Participants requested additional information concerning navigating courses, turning in assignments, and posting on discussion boards. The information provided in the interviews was consistent with the theory presented by Rovai’s (2003) persistence model. Participants’ perceptions fell into tow categories, personal and technical. These results were consistent with the current literature pertaining to online courses, orientations, and persistence. The results and findings of this study add to the body of knowledge concerning what materials in an orientation program are most effective in helping students complete online courses. The participants in this study perceived information about the use of the learning management system to be most important. Academic Deans and Student Services coordinators can learn more about what students’ perceive to be the important elements of an orientation program. The study also contributes to the existing literature on attrition, persistence, and retention.