Improving student outcomes in community college online education requires understanding how institutional practices and student characteristics affect levels of student engagement in online courses. This study investigated community college online student engagement using an ex post facto quantitative methodology, reporting the results of an online survey administered to students enrolled in online courses at four community colleges and one statewide community college online consortium in the fall 2009 academic term. Online engagement levels were measured based on five constructs from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (Active and Collaborative Learning, Student-Faculty Interaction, Academic Challenge, Student Effort, and Support for Learners) and a sixth construct from the literature (Presence). The study measured the engagement levels of 906 survey respondents taking classes exclusively online compared with 1,179 survey respondents taking classes both online and on-campus. Differences in engagement levels also were explored in terms of student characteristics including gender, race/ethnicity, age (traditional/nontraditional), enrollment status; experience in online classes, and veteran status. The results of this study revealed the following: Community college online students are less engaged than students taking courses both online and on campus.Enrollment status is a strong predictor of online student engagement; online students enrolled part-time are substantially less engaged than online students enrolled full-time. Experience with online learning is another strong predictor of engagement; as students gain experience in online courses, they become more engaged online learners. Student demographics appear to play less of a role in student engagement online than on campus. Although measurably less engaged, online students scored high on Student Effort, suggesting respondents found courses taught exclusively online required substantial individual effort. Online students are isolated relative to other students and faculty, and are unlikely to reach out to make connections within the college community without assistance. Based on their distinctive experiences and characteristics, online students should be tracked as a unique cohort within community college student populations. This study concludes with recommendations for further research and strategies that community colleges could implement to increase online student engagement, retention, and ultimately success. / text

In order to explore the differences in engagement levels between entering and returning community college students, the researcher analyzed 13,300 surveys from the 2007 Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) pilot data set utilizing a quantitative methodology. This study focused on analyzing engagement levels of entering and returning students in six constructs: Active and Collaborative Learning, First Day, Student Effort, Student-faculty Interaction, Support for Learners, and Motivation. After the comparison between the two groups was performed, data were disaggregated by eleven groups to further explore differences. Differences in engagement levels were explored in terms of students’ characteristics such as remedial background, age, gender, full-time status, ethnicity, degree seeking, first generation, and traditional status. The results of this study revealed that returning community college students in general, are more engaged in educational practices associated with persistence than entering students. In addition, findings suggest that with the exception of one variable (overall high school grade average), students commonly categorized as “at risk” or “disadvantaged” (developmental, non-traditional, part-time, first generation, minorities) overwhelmingly held higher levels of engagement in all positive engagement variables of the six analyzed constructs. Furthermore, in an analysis of disaggregated data by eleven groups of students, the following was found: o Students who placed in three developmental courses were by far the most highly engaged group in all positive engagement variables of the six constructs. o Students with the highest level of engagement in the two negative variables of the Student Effort construct (skipped class or came to class without completing readings or assignments) were traditional, 18-19 year olds, not-first generation, and non-developmental students. o Students who reported that success courses had helped them to get the knowledge necessary to succeed in college were overwhelmingly disadvantaged students (developmental, non-traditional, females and minorities). o Developmental students showed higher levels of engagement with regard to college services. o Financial aid advising and skill labs (math, reading, and writing) were the two services with the highest number of statistically significant differences throughout the eleven groups. This study was concluded with recommendations for further research and strategies that community college stakeholders could implement to increase student retention. / text

Over the last decade, community college researchers and practitioners increasingly have focused on student engagement as a cornerstone of a successful student success agenda. This study investigated community college student engagement using an ex post facto quantitative methodology. This study reports the results of the five special-focus survey items from 2009 CCSSE national administration and data collected from institutional Facebook pages. This study measured student engagement levels based on five constructs from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (Active and Collaborative Learning, Student-Faculty Interaction, Academic Challenge, Student Effort, and Support for Learners), including more than 170,000 survey respondents. Differences in engagement levels were explored in terms of student characteristics including gender, race/ethnicity, developmental status, weekly preparation, commute time, age (traditional/nontraditional), and enrollment status (full-time/part-time). The results of this study revealed the following: •An institutional Facebook page can provide both academic and non-academic information. An institutional Facebook page is a central location that students, parents, fans, and others can go to ask questions about the college, either general or specific. •Students are using social networking tools for academic purposes. •Students who took honors course(s) and students who commuted six hours or more per week were more likely to use social networking tools to communicate about coursework. •Students’ use of social networking tools for academic purposes is associated with an increase in student-level benchmark scores. A proportional relationship exists between use of SNT and engagement scores. In general, students who frequently used SNT for academic purposes achieved higher engagement scores. •However, a corollary is also true: Student Effort scores tend to be lower among students who use SNT for any purpose multiple times per day. / text

Submitted by Stella Melaragno (stellamelaragno@gmail.com) on 2016-09-06T19:15:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Stella Melaragno _Thesis VF.docx: 97514 bytes, checksum: 5decbf34d47ed05f41914ca0dd99a9ec (MD5) / Rejected by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br), reason: Stella, boa tarde Seu trabalho está correto, porém, o arquivo precisa estar em pdf. Por gentileza, salvar e submeter novamente. Grata on 2016-09-06T19:19:30Z (GMT) / Submitted by Stella Melaragno (stellamelaragno@gmail.com) on 2016-09-06T19:46:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Stella Melaragno _Thesis VF.pdf: 755606 bytes, checksum: 1fa1151473709ebdb518f573d565b021 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2016-09-06T19:51:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Stella Melaragno _Thesis VF.pdf: 755606 bytes, checksum: 1fa1151473709ebdb518f573d565b021 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-06T20:02:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Stella Melaragno _Thesis VF.pdf: 755606 bytes, checksum: 1fa1151473709ebdb518f573d565b021 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-11 / Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar como o calendário escolar impacta o esforço dos alunos quando estão estudando para os exames de final do ano e na pontuação no Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (ENEM). Verificou-se que cidades com mais feriados tem menos alunos estudando nestas datas. Quando o ENEM aproxima, esse efeito se torna ainda maior. Cidades com mais feriados na vespera do ENEM estão associadas com menor nota. Usando o modelo two sample instrumental variable e considerando que os feriados impactam o ENEM exclusivamente por meio do esforço do aluno, estima-se que um maior esforço na vespera do exame leva a uma maior pontuação. / This study aims to analyze how school calendar impacts students’ effort when studying for end of year exams and how it impacts score in the Brazilian High School National Exam (Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio – ENEM). It was verified that cities with more holidays have less students studying during these dates. When the ENEM approaches, this effect is even greater. Cities with more holidays close to the exam are associated with lower scores. Using two-sample instrumental variable and considering the hypothesis that holidays impact the ENEM score exclusively by students’ effort, it can be inferred that more studying effort prior to the exam can lead to a higher score.