A disparity in access to higher education exists between rural and urban regions of the world. Equal access to higher education for students from rural areas is a priority for government leaders in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. This study addressed the problem of lower-than-expected enrollment of students from rural areas at branches of the International Mountainous University (IMU, pseudonym) located in rural regions of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the experiences and perceptions of 10 IMU students about gaining access to higher education. Informed by the theory of habitus, the research questions focused on perceptions of (a) the experience of gaining access and (b) sacrifices related to gaining access to higher education. Transcripts of individual, open-ended interviews were analyzed using elemental coding and verified through member checking. Four themes emerged: (a) academic barriers, (b) information and communication barriers, (c) support, and (d) material and nonmaterial sacrifices. Findings led to the development of a white paper recommending that IMU establish partnerships with high schools, develop parent outreach programs, and introduce inclusive admissions practices. Positive social change may result from providing IMU with program and policy recommendations that support the institution's vision of increased access to education for rural residents of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The Problem. This study investigated whether or not a structured career development program, using a mobile guidance unit and operating on a limited time schedule, could provide a feasible means for facilitating the career development of ninth grade students in the rural school setting. Project MACE. MACE stands for "Mobile Assisted Career Exploration." Project MACE was a study developed by the research office of the Utah State Board of Education and conducted by Utah State University. The study used ninth grade students in sixteen selected rural Utah high schools and in two rural southeastern Idaho schools. Design of Research. The specific objectives of the study were measured in the form of the following null hypotheses: There is no significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of career attitudes as measured by the Vocational Development Inventory Attitude Scale. There is no significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of career values as measured by the Occupational Values Inventory. There is no significant difference between experimental and control groups pre- and post-test estimates of their aptitudes and interests as measured by the Self Ranking Inventory of Aptitudes and Interests. Since this study is an evaluation of an educational program still in some state of development, it is a formative evaluation. The format for the study is a research and development model rather than a true experimental design. Population. Project MACE selected those schools which were considered representative of rural Utah high schools, It was decided that project MACE could accommodate about one thousand students during the school year. Sixteen schools were selected for the study. In addition, two schools in Southeastern Idaho were chosen as a control population. Observational Design. Three objective tests were given on a pre- and post-test basis to all of the students included in Project MACE. In addition, subjective data were gathered through student, parent and faculty questionnaires. Program.The treatment program was designed to give each student an opportunity to evaluate and discuss his aptitudes and interests. The student was then assisted in relating this information to various occupations and training possibilities. Each student learned how to use occupational information sources and was encouraged to investigate several occupations of his choice. All students were involved in group and individual counseling, including a joint session with their parents. The major focus of the counseling sessions was to assist students in making tentative career choices which were realishc and obtainable for them. To carry out the program, a counselor and occupational instructor were employed. Conclusions. Hypotheses one and three were both rejected as the data revealed differences at a statistically significant level. Career attitudes and knowledge of aptitudes and interests were positively influenced by the experimental program. Hypothesis two, concerning career values, was accepted for the values of salary, security and demand, and rejected for the values of prestige, interest and satisfaction. Sex differences were noted on all the evaluation instruments. Recommendations. The treatment program should be continued in schools needing the service on a continuous basis. Several possible avenues for future research were suggested. Among the more important were: (1) a replication of this study using urban schools and comparing the treatment conducted in a mobile facility versus the same program in a classroom setting; (2) a study of the independent teaching variables to determine which are most effective; and (3) a study to determine the long range implications of the treatment.

This study investigated the perceptions of school from students of differing ages, genders, ethnic groups, and grade levels in a rural school environment. The ages were divided into four categories: 11–12 years of age, 13–14 years of age, 15–16 years of age, and 17–19 years of age. The ethnic groups in the school population were African Americans and Caucasians. The different grade levels were 7th through 12th. Wilson and Corbett (1999), in the Report for the Philadelphia Education Fund, “No Excuses”: The Eighth Grade Year in Six Philadelphia Middle Schools, discussed students’ views of what they want their teachers to be like. Later in another book, Listening to Urban Kids, School Reform, and the Teachers They Want, Wilson and Corbett (2002) stated that their overall purpose for conducting this study was to document students’ perceptions of their educational experiences and track how those perceptions evolved over the 3-year period. The investigators initially selected five middle schools from the Philadelphia School District. Wilson and Corbett used interview protocols and selected 50 students from each school who participated in the study. In this study, the researcher compared the results to those of Wilson and Corbett focusing on 10 areas. Students were asked to respond to a series of questions from each area on the survey, which included the following: (a) student’s perception on the transition to high school; (b) student’s perception on learning experiences; (c) student’s perception on success; (d) student’s perception on school safety; (e) student’s perception on the school culture and/or environment; (f) student’s perception on peer pressure; (g) student’s perception on getting good grades; (h) student’s perception on instructional differences; (i) student’s perception on challenging work; and (j) the student’s future plans. The students selected their best choice from the answers given. Using interview protocols, the students responded to the same categories. The results produced data that will enable teachers, administrators, parents, and policy makers to implement school reform effectively by better understanding the students’ perceptions from a rural school environment. Recommendations for further research include the following: (a) determine if the results found in this study are the same as those of students in other rural school environments, (b) gain a greater understanding of the perceptions that students have about school, (c) determine if there is a direct correlation between students’ perception of school and student achievement, and (d) determine if school districts will utilize the data to aid in improving instruction, policy, and procedures within the school district.

Earning a college degree has been shown to have a number of positive socioeconomic impacts on individuals and society as a whole. Although researchers acknowledge that the decision to attend college is a complex process involving multiple factors, studies have focused primarily on individual reasons as part of a linear college choice paradigm. Individual obstacles to college attendance that consistently emerge in this strand of research include academic preparation, socioeconomic status, cost, family background, parental influence, motivation, and guidance counselor support (Harris & Halpin, 2002). College attendance rates are particularly low among students living in rural areas. Nationwide, only 59 percent of students from rural America choose to attend college, compared to 62 percent of their urban counterparts and 67 percent of students from suburban areas. (National Student Clearinghouse, 2015). The purpose of this study was to examine the college decision-making process of high school students in rural Vermont to better understand why fewer than 61 percent choose to attend college, despite more than 90 percent aspiring to do so at some point during their K-12 academic career (VSAC, 2016). A qualitative ethnographic case study approach was used to provide a unique student-focused perspective on the complexities of the college-decision making process as they go through it during their senior year of high school. A series of in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 students at two rural high schools throughout their senior year as they wrestled with an influx of information from multiple sources creating a series of pushes and pulls from guidance counselors, family members and friends with varying motives. Individual case study analyses were conducted on the following three groups of students based on their level of commitment to attend college at the start of their senior year: College Confident, College Considering and College Conflicted. A cross-case analysis of those three groups was also conducted. The result is a detailed account of how students in each group internalized and acted upon new information about their post-secondary plans, which depended heavily on when they received it, who they received it from and its quality. In most cases, the experience proved to be a frustrating, convoluted process that waxed and waned with each new piece of information. Ultimately, students made final college-going decisions based heavily on a combination of information that was not always accurate, sometimes misleading, and on the advice of at least one parent they perceived as having their best interest in mind.

The number of studies related to students from rural backgrounds in higher education has waned in recent decades; however, over one-third of children in the United States continue to be educated in rural locales and their college-going and college-completion rates lag behind those of their urban and suburban peers. Because many rural students are white, they are typically considered part of the white majority on campuses, but they often encounter challenges unique to students from rural backgrounds and unlike those of their majority white peers from urban or suburban backgrounds. Therefore, a number of researchers have called for additional, qualitative studies regarding students from rural backgrounds as a unique cultural group and their experiences with higher education. The current study utilizes portraiture, the qualitative methodology developed by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot and Jessica Hoffmann-Davis, and a cultural framework combining social capital and critical standpoint theories to explore factors that affect students' enrollment, persistence, experiences, and perceptions related to higher education. Six students from one rural Texas high school who graduated in the top ten percent of their high school classes participated in the study, which included in-depth interviews, observations, and analyses. Each of the students collaborated in the creation of his or her portrait as well; these portraits portray the students' higher education experiences in considerable detail. Several factors are shown to have an impact on the experiences of rural students in higher education, including social capital, relationships, tacit knowledge, and finances. The study also demonstrates that female students from rural backgrounds face additional barriers related to higher education, such as romantic relationships, limitations on their future plans, and self-confidence. Implications for research, practice, and policy are also offered as opportunities to improve the experiences of rural students in higher education, and ultimately, their college enrollment and persistence rates. / text

First-generation students and students of lower socioeconomic status often prepare for postsecondary education without the benefit of information provided by their families, resulting in lower levels of college access (Lundberg, 2007). Few researchers have sought to understand how potential first-generation college students might go about obtaining the necessary information for a successful transition to college. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine to whom students talk about college and to explore the potential reciprocal relationship between resources for and information about college provided by others and students’ educational beliefs. This dissertation consisted of two empirical studies. In the first study, the composition of students’ networks and differences in social capital were examined among middle and high school students from a rural Appalachian school district (N = 388). Students reported to whom they talked about college and answered questions about each person that they named. Junior and senior high school students spoke to fewer individuals about college than middle grades students. Senior high school students spoke to individuals in their networks more frequently than middle grades students. Boys spoke to fewer individuals about college than girls. Boys received fewer pieces of information about college compared to girls. Potential first-generation college students had fewer individuals in their network who had completed a college degree. The purpose of the second study was to examine the relationship between students’ college information networks and students’ beliefs about college. Participants were 364 students in Grades 6-12 from a rural Appalachian school district. Information on students’ college information networks was collected to better understand the relationship among first-generation college students’ access to social capital, their college-going self-efficacy, and their educational aspirations. College-going self-efficacy and educational aspirations were both significant predictors of available social capital. Social capital was not a significant predictor of students’ educational beliefs. College cultural capital was a significant predictor of students’ social capital and educational beliefs. Results of this dissertation are discussed relative to social cognitive theory and suggestions for educational interventions and future research are offered.

The issue of academic undermatching involves students enrolling at colleges and universities below the level of selectivity to which their academic profiles indicate they could gain admission. Undermatching has received significant attention because students who undermatch have been shown to experience less favorable outcomes than their peers who match, including lower levels of satisfaction with the college experience, lower graduation rates, lower rates of full-time employment, and lower annual incomes. Undermatching has also been found to occur with much greater frequency among various populations of students, including those of low socioeconomic status (SES), underrepresented racial and ethnic minority identities, and first-generation college students. The extant literature focuses almost exclusively on students from those groups. Research has also, however, identified a geographic component to undermatching, as rural students have been found to undermatch at significantly higher rates than their urban and suburban counterparts. Interestingly, rural students are less likely than nonrural students to attend selective institutions even after controlling for SES and academic preparedness, as well as other demographic and high school achievement variables. While the nature of the academic undermatching that occurs among rural students appears to be distinct from that which occurs among nonrural students, there are no qualitative studies focused on the intersection of rurality and academic matching. In fact, students from rural backgrounds are largely ignored in the broader literature on access and equity in higher education. This study seeks to address current gaps in the literature by focusing exclusively on rural students and employing a qualitative design to explore more deeply their college choice processes and experiences at a large urban public research university. / Educational Leadership

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Challenges in the South African education system arise from inter alia inadequate training, social and environmental problems, parental inefficiency, insufficient professionalism among teachers, as well as negative attitudes of learners. An urgent need exists to establish “a moral underground, an army of volunteers” (Jansen, 2012) who would be willing to provide another chance to “abandoned children” in poorer schools to develop their full potential for a brighter future. To assist learners to achieve a better future, this study focused on teacher-students and to enhance their learning experiences and consequently their teaching performance. By motivating the teacher-students to develop their potential in order to achieve better, they could, in turn, break the barriers of mediocrity in the learners they taught. The aim of this study was to uncover how a social network service (SNS) like Facebook could be used as an academic tool to support and enhance the affective learning experience of open distance teacher-students in the rural Eastern Cape. The main research question which guided this study was: How can the affective learning of open distance learning teacher-students in the rural Eastern Cape be supported through academic Facebook? The research intervention which elicited data, comprised coaching and scaffolding of the learning content relating to research methodology, as well as guiding the participants to engage with an SNS as a learning technology in an academic environment. The researcher created a support group on Facebook where participants could, at any time, interact with peers and the facilitator. Non-probability purposive sampling selected the participants according to the following criteria: isiXhosa home language speaking teacher-students from the rural areas around Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, enrolled with NWU for a BEd Honours degree, and who owned cellular phones which could connect to the Internet. While 74 teacher-students were invited to participate in the research, only 34 attended some of the coaching and scaffolding sessions, and 22 joined the FaceFunda group page. This qualitative bounded case study was conducted from a postmodern pragmatic view. Data were collected through individual interviews, a focus group interview, text from the FaceFunda group page and the researcher’s reflective diary. The data were analysed with Atlas. ti™. Three patterns emerged which described participants’ affective experiences: (i) emotions while learning with technology, (ii) experiences with technology, and (iii) need for support. In each case, the patterns related to emotions of competence (codes that captured positive and enabling experiences), and emotions of incompetence (codes that captured negative and incapacitating experiences). A secondary analysis of the findings uncovered the guidelines for the academic use of Facebook for rural distance teacher-students. Four themes emerged as guidelines: i) coaching and scaffolding support, (ii) technological support, (iii) peer support, and (iv) communication with the higher education institution. The guidelines highlighted that the affective learning of open distance learning of rural teacher-students in the Eastern Cape can be supported through the academic use of Facebook. ODL teacher-students require support coaching and scaffolding in order to adopt the use of SNSs for academic purposes. Adult learners should be supported to overcome technophobia to enable engagement with learning content. With adequate supportive measures, SNSs can contribute towards positive learning experiences of rural students. / MEd (Learner support), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Challenges in the South African education system arise from inter alia inadequate training, social and environmental problems, parental inefficiency, insufficient professionalism among teachers, as well as negative attitudes of learners. An urgent need exists to establish “a moral underground, an army of volunteers” (Jansen, 2012) who would be willing to provide another chance to “abandoned children” in poorer schools to develop their full potential for a brighter future. To assist learners to achieve a better future, this study focused on teacher-students and to enhance their learning experiences and consequently their teaching performance. By motivating the teacher-students to develop their potential in order to achieve better, they could, in turn, break the barriers of mediocrity in the learners they taught. The aim of this study was to uncover how a social network service (SNS) like Facebook could be used as an academic tool to support and enhance the affective learning experience of open distance teacher-students in the rural Eastern Cape. The main research question which guided this study was: How can the affective learning of open distance learning teacher-students in the rural Eastern Cape be supported through academic Facebook? The research intervention which elicited data, comprised coaching and scaffolding of the learning content relating to research methodology, as well as guiding the participants to engage with an SNS as a learning technology in an academic environment. The researcher created a support group on Facebook where participants could, at any time, interact with peers and the facilitator. Non-probability purposive sampling selected the participants according to the following criteria: isiXhosa home language speaking teacher-students from the rural areas around Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, enrolled with NWU for a BEd Honours degree, and who owned cellular phones which could connect to the Internet. While 74 teacher-students were invited to participate in the research, only 34 attended some of the coaching and scaffolding sessions, and 22 joined the FaceFunda group page. This qualitative bounded case study was conducted from a postmodern pragmatic view. Data were collected through individual interviews, a focus group interview, text from the FaceFunda group page and the researcher’s reflective diary. The data were analysed with Atlas. ti™. Three patterns emerged which described participants’ affective experiences: (i) emotions while learning with technology, (ii) experiences with technology, and (iii) need for support. In each case, the patterns related to emotions of competence (codes that captured positive and enabling experiences), and emotions of incompetence (codes that captured negative and incapacitating experiences). A secondary analysis of the findings uncovered the guidelines for the academic use of Facebook for rural distance teacher-students. Four themes emerged as guidelines: i) coaching and scaffolding support, (ii) technological support, (iii) peer support, and (iv) communication with the higher education institution. The guidelines highlighted that the affective learning of open distance learning of rural teacher-students in the Eastern Cape can be supported through the academic use of Facebook. ODL teacher-students require support coaching and scaffolding in order to adopt the use of SNSs for academic purposes. Adult learners should be supported to overcome technophobia to enable engagement with learning content. With adequate supportive measures, SNSs can contribute towards positive learning experiences of rural students. / MEd (Learner support), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014