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This study examined differences between Extenders (students who extended their continuous full-time enrollment beyond eight semesters) and Completers (students who completed their degree within eight semesters of continuous full-time enrollment). Student perceptions of the influences of faculty on the enrollment pattern of students were also investigated. Subjects included 81 Extenders and 211 Completers enrolled in a large research university in the southeastern United States. Demographic independent variables included student gender, ethnicity, verbal and math Scholastic Achievement scores, and college affiliation. Measures of student environmental press, characteristics of faculty, student-faculty interaction, and faculty concern for teaching and student development were independent perceptual variables. Other independent variables related to development of a major, average weekly out-of-class faculty contact and career orientation of students. The dependent variable was pattern of enrollment (Extender/Completer). / Ed. D.

Understanding how prospective students make their final choices of colleges or universities is important to students, their parents, and to the institutions. When it comes to academically advanced students, or Honors students, there is a question as to whether the same factors are influential to their higher education decisions. The purpose of this study was to compare the responses of Virginia Tech Honors students with current literature to determine the influences associated with college or university selection between the two data sets. The methodology used in this study included qualitative focus-group interviews of Virginia Tech Honors freshmen who had been admitted into the Program for the fall semester of 1992 and had remained Honors eligible for the spring semester of 1993. six interview sessions were arranged for 50 students. An interview protocol was designed to ask six questions to the participants, focusing on how they made their final decisions to attend virginia Tech. Thirty-six students actually participated in the interviews. Six conceptual categories emerged from the interviews. These categories included: (1) Academic Programs; (2) Campus Atmosphere/Life; (3) Influential People; (4) Location; (5) Money; and (6) Recruitment. Seven conceptual categories were discovered in the literature. These categories were discovered included: (1) High School Grade Point Average; (2) Tuition; (3) Geographic Location; (4) Parental, Peer, and Alumni Influence; (5) Academic Reputation; (6) Job Placement; and (7) Campus Visit. The results from the study indicated that most students, regardless of their status, consider similar factors in their choices of colleges. Most important among the factors included the cost, campus visit, and reputation. / Master of Arts

The decline of trade unionism is a well-documented phenomenon. Possible causes for this decline include the changing demographic composition of the workforce and effective anti-union campaigns by employers. Unions and employers share several common avenues in their respective efforts (1.c., increasing union membership and continuing effective anti-union efforts) including issues of importance to employees and socializing new labor market entrants. Such issues of importance include employment rights issues (e.g., drug testing, polygraphs, privacy, and scheduling work). Such groups of new labor force entrants include forthcoming college graduates. This study, therefore, investigates employment rights issues and attitudes toward unions in a sample of college students. More specifically, the study is formulated as a test of the classic Fishbein and Ajzen theory of beliefs and attitudes. Fishbein and Ajzen proposed that one’s attitude regarding an issue (e.g., drug testing) or object (e.g., unions) is a function of one’s factual knowledge regarding that issue or object and one’s socialization experiences regarding that issue or object. Thus, attitude toward unions is a function of factual knowledge about unions and socialization experiences. This study extends this model by proposing that attitudes toward employment rights issues should be related to attitude toward unions, such that individuals valuing employee rights should be more pro-union or view unions as protectors of employee rights. In this sample, factual knowledge about unions was not found to be related to attitude toward unions. However, personal experience with activities such as drug use was found to be inversely related to attitude toward an employer’s right to engage in activities such as drug or polygraph testing. Furthermore, work experience was found to be negatively related to attitude toward an employer’s right to engage in typical business activities such as scheduling work and determining pay. Factual knowledge regarding the legality of employer activities was also found to be negatively related to attitude toward an employer’s right to engage in personal inquiries. Finally, consonance between attitude toward unions and attitude toward employee/employment rights issues was demonstrated with respect to attitude toward an employer’s right to engage in activities such as personal inquiries and employer’s right to engage in normal business activities. / Master of Science

The student perspective is a largely ignored element of educational research. This study used the college student viewpoint to assess the influence Black high school educators have on their pupils. Given today's reality of racism in this society, the existing literature addressing this topic is inadequate. Using an open-ended questionnaire, the responses of 272 students enrolled in speech communication and education courses at a Northwestern land grant institution were analyzed using a descriptive methodology. Students having no experience with a Black educator answered the questionnaire from an imagined standpoint. Results indicated a large majority of the predominately White subject pool found their Black high school educator(s) to be credible. Aspects of institutionalized racism emerged when students deemed their Black educator(s) credible by measuring them against an assumed "White standard of credibility." Findings from this study provide additional evidence of the racism, albeit covert, in our public school classrooms. / Graduation date: 1998

A qualitative study of how first year foreign language students perceive different interactions in an online environment. In depth interviews were conducting with ten students after the completion of an online second semester Spanish course. Individual case studies recorded the unique experiences of each study participant and those experiences were then compared and analyzed for common themes. Emerging themes included the value of explanatory feedback programmed into the course, the use of message boards for making interpersonal connections, the difficulty of conducting online chats, the role and value of announcements and the importance of immediacy behaviors for creating social presence. The themes were then applied to the following research questions: 1) What is the effectiveness of the available interactions in a web-based Spanish course as perceived by community college foreign language learners? 2) How do these interactions work together to facilitate learning based upon their purpose? 3) How do these interactions work together to facilitate learning in an online foreign language learning environment based upon with whom or what the student is interacting? The results of this study included three attributes of effective interaction. The participants indicated a need to make a connection between their personal learning goals and the available interactions. Timeliness was also identified as a key component of effective interactions. Automatic feedback, archives for previous information and a quick turnaround on email correspondence were listed as important aspects that created a feeling of timeliness. The third attribute was identified as a low level of frustration when compared to the potential benefit of an interaction. The study participants indicated a willingness to endure some frustration if they thought it would be worth it in the end. Final recommendations suggested that designers of online foreign language courses should include non-linear instructional activities, carefully designed chat opportunities, quality automatic feedback and reading and listening passages that are level appropriate. Instructors should engage in behaviors that enhance the effectiveness of interactions by making regular announcements, helping learners draw connections between the interactions and their learning goals, maintaining and organizing archives and keeping response times as close to 24 hours as possible. / text

The purpose of this study was to gather more information about the process of internationalization in U.S. counseling psychology programs. Participants included 26 training directors and 83 doctoral students, representing 32 of the 63 APA-accredited, active counseling psychology doctoral programs. Results suggested that the presence of international learning opportunities did not increase from 2007 to 2010, with the exception that internationalism was increasingly being incorporated into the definition of multiculturalism. Results also suggested that training directors perceived opportunities to gain international experience in their programs integrated to a greater extent compared to their doctoral students. Doctoral students, however, perceived greater institutional commitment to international learning opportunities compared to their training directors. Finally, results suggested that both sets of respondents’ attitudes were generally favorable toward internationalization. Implications for counseling psychology training programs, as well as recommendations for improving internationalization efforts are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

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The purpose of this study was to identify differences in attitudes of vocational teacher education majors based on age, sex, marital status, earner status, educational level, vocational program area, mother's work history, and familial attitudes. Data for the study were obtained from 1,182 vocational teacher education majors. The more contemporary attitudes were held by those who were female, aged 26 - 35, currently members of dual-income families, graduate students, identified as homemaking education majors, from families whose mothers had worked outside the home when they were growing up, and who were not brought up to believe that a woman's place is in the home.While females had more contemporary attitudes than males, both could be described as having moderate attitudes toward the dual-income financial support of the family. Both females and males felt that women should contribute financially to the support of the family, that it is just as important for a woman to be able to earn a living as it is for a man, and that women should expect to be permanent members of the labor force.

This research examined the relationships between international students' acculturation levels and their motives for study abroad, residency intentions regarding the United States, English proficiency, and length of residency in the United States. Implications are discussed, including how the understanding of students' motives can be used in counseling and recruitment of international students.