This study explored certain leadership methods that eSupervisors were utilizing with eInterns through the theoretical lenses of House’s (1971) path-goal theory of leadership and the effectiveness of these methods on learning outcomes. The overarching research question that guided this study was: How do eSupervisors contribute to the learning growth of eInterns? A qualitative multi-case study was conducted on a population of eSupervisors, current eInterns (students), and past eInterns (graduates) that were associated with the Virtual Student Foreign Service (VSFS) program. VSFS is a program aimed at exposing students to working opportunities in the government. The findings from this study imply that there are a number of ways in which eSupervisors can contribute to the learning growth of eInterns. These contributions will vary depending on the eInterns, the environmental characteristics, the leadership approach taken, and the motivational factors involved. The significance in applying this research today falls in line with the booming growth of distance education programs the trend of incorporating technology in the classrooms.

While scholars have used Schlossberg's transition theory for more than 35 years to study college-to-work transition, researchers have yet to establish if there are meaningful differences in the perceptions of traditional and nontraditional college students regarding transition preparedness from college-to-work. Following the career transition model, this quantitative study was conducted to compare traditional and nontraditional college students' perceptions of transition preparedness, specifically the concepts of readiness, confidence, control, perceived support, and decision independence. The nontraditional students in this study were military veterans. The dependent variables were measured by the Career Transition Inventory (CTI) survey. Participants were selected via a web-based method until 100 traditional and 100 nontraditional students were surveyed. The data were examined with multivariate analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of covariance. There were significant differences found in perceived transition preparedness. The CTI measure decision independence was significantly lower among nontraditional veteran students. Whereas, the CTI measure confidence was significantly higher among nontraditional nonveteran students. Based on the results of this study, three recommendations were made. If these recommendations are followed, this study can make a positive social change and might increase the probability of improving the career and academic transition services from college-to-work for non-traditional undergraduate veteran students.

This study examined adult students' perceptions of satisifaction levels within specific areas of the ETSU campus. The population surveyed included 106 undergraduate adult learners aged 25 years and older. The Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory, 4-year College and University Version was the survey instrument used to share feedback about the adult learners' collegiate experiences thus far. Responses received would give campus leadership feedback about the satisfaction levels of adult learners at ETSU. The purpose of this study was to determine if the adult learner at ETSU is satisfied with his/her overall learning experience. Adult students were asked to rank programs and services offered at ETSU and how they felt they may or may not have contributed to their overall learning experiences. Age was the determinant for the sample. Survey data from adult learners, 25 years and above, was included in this study. This study employed descriptive statistics using frequency distributions to analyze the data. Because this was a cluster sample, frequency distributions were used to report the number of times the value occurs and the percentage of respondents in each category. In order to analyze data received, questions were broken down and placed into one of seven categories used to answer the research questions. The seven categories were overall learning experience, bookstore services, food service, academic programs and services, administrative programs, caring campus, and campus commitment to student learning. Results of the data revealed that the majority of adult learners at East Tennessee State University were satisfied with all aspects surveyed on the campus and the institutions's commitment to adult learner programs and services. Although all aspects surveyed on campus received high satisfaction levels, areas such as food service, counseling staff, financial aid, and creating a sense of belonging indicated lower satisfaction levels. These areas could be researched further in order to increase adult learner satisfaction levels at East Tennessee State University.

Working while studying is a popular trend around the world and the number of nontraditional students are increasing. As a result of working and studying simultaneously, workschool conflict tends to occur. There is still some debate as to which characteristics across the personal and work domains most significantly influence work-school conflict. Similarly, the extent to which social support moderates the experience of work-school conflict is unclear. In this study, secondary data was used to examine a model of work characteristics consisting of job demand, job control and working hours, as well as personal characteristics which include marital status, gender and number of dependents. Further, the effect of social support, comprising of family support, co-worker support and supervisor support as a moderator in this work- and personal characteristics model was also explored. The respondents of this study (N = 367) were from either a South African or American context and the characteristics in both contexts were explored. The analysis revealed that the proposed work- and personal characteristics model is not significant; and social support does not moderate the relationship. Furthermore, this research study found that there are different significant predictors of workschool conflict across the two distinct contexts.

The purpose of this quantitative study is to assess if perceptions of academic and institutional support as well as demographic factors, predict intention to return to school amongst online first-generation college students enrolled at traditional higher educational institutions. To complete the causal-comparative study, the researcher analyzes data from students who completed the National Survey on Student Engagement during the Spring of 2018. Before data was analyzed, a literature review was conducted. The reviewed literature found that despite increasing popularity, retention rates between in-person and online courses vary (Bawa, 2016; Bacon, 2016; Cho & Tobias, 2016). Furthermore, past empirical assessments have provided a deep understanding of FGCS's intention to return to physical campuses (Adams & McBrayer, 2020). However, academic literature investigating the impact of academic and institutional support and demographic factors to predict intention to return to school in FGCS at online college settings is absent.Participants in this study were in their first (n = 141, 58%) and second years (n = 69, 28.4%) of college. The independent variables within this study include perceptions of academic and institutional support and demographic variables. The dependent variable is retention and will be the student’s answer to the question, “Do you intend to return to this institution next year?” with answers dichotomized as “yes” or “no/not sure.” The findings from this study indicate that perceptions of academic and institutional support, as well as participant age, significantly predict online FGCS intent to re-enroll in their current institution. Additionally, the data showed FGCS satisfaction levels with the entire online educational experience.

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Online learning courses are taken by nearly 31% of college students (Allen & Seaman, 2011). The majority of those enrolled in online learning are graduate and non-traditional undergraduate students. Survey data from multiple sources show a growing number of traditional students enrolling in online courses or online only universities. There is a lack of information about younger college students enrolling in online courses and those attending online only institutions. Without more research on the perceptions of this population, it is difficult to design an effective online learning environment. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has been used as a process model that defines, describes and measures the tasks supporting online learning. The core elements are the three overlapping presences of teaching, social and cognitive and the interrelationships among those presences. Through more than a decade of work on the framework, a methodology and survey instrument emerged for studying the potential and effectiveness of online learning. Will younger college students enrolling today perceive the CoI framework and the presences from the model, the same way that non-traditional students have in the last decade? Most CoI studies sample non-traditional adults aged 25 and older. American Public University System (APUS) is a for-profit online only institution which publishes research studies that contribute to the growing number of CoI studies available. In the last four years APUS has provided large samples to validate the CoI model and investigate how CoI relates to retention and course design. The limited purpose of the research is to determine whether the CoI framework and its current results, is applicable to a select group of traditional students aged 21 and under who enroll in only online courses APUS. Through an exploratory study using statistical tests including a factorial analysis, the first sample population (n=2,019) consisted of students', 21 and under, responses to the CoI questionnaire and the second sample (n=125,039) was the responses of students older than 21. The samples were compared to determine if there was any significant difference between the perceptions of non-traditional and younger college students on the CoI model. Results indicated that the comparative means of the two populations are highly correlated at .924 but the p value is .000 at the 95% confidence interval. The two populations are different. A factor analysis showed that both samples perceived a three factor solution. The total variance explained was very similar for both samples. For the students who were 21 and under, the three factors accounted for 77.16% of the total and for the older students, three factors accounted for 74.17% of the total. The factor analysis results from the younger students also show that each item from the questionnaire is associated with the appropriate factor. The factor analysis results correspond to previous validated research conducted on the CoI model. The results continue to support the validity of the CoI model, but the differences in the populations are significant. The significance tests are useful but may not be as meaningful as the factor analysis due to the size of the samples. This research adds to the body of knowledge on the CoI model, a dominant theory that describes what learners perceive in an online environment. The results inform the understanding of the CoI model as it applies to younger college learners' perceptions of an effective online learning environment.

Die Arbeit widmet sich der Gruppe der nicht-traditionellen Studierenden. Unter dem Begriff nicht-traditionelle Studierende werden dabei all jene Studierenden gefasst, die – ohne (Fach-)Abitur – auf der formalen Grundlage beruflichen Qualifikation eine Hochschulzugangsberechtigung erhalten haben. Einen Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchung bildet der Beschluss der Kultusministerkonferenz (KMK) von 2009 zum „Hochschulzugang für beruflich qualifizierte Bewerber ohne schulische Hochschulzugangsberechtigung“. Im Fokus der Untersuchung steht das Phänomen der Studienentscheidung. Gefragt wird: Wie und warum haben sich nicht-traditionell Studierende für ihr Studium entschieden? Empirische Grundlage bildet eine Interviewstudie mit insgesamt 82 nicht-traditionellen Studierenden, die bis zu viermal über den Verlauf ihres Studiums hinweg befragt wurden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Studienentscheidungen vor allem unter den subjektiven Eindrücken und objektiven Bedingungen der Erwerbsarbeit getroffen werden und dass Studienmotive stark von berufsbezogenen Orientierungen gekennzeichnet sind. Die Studienentscheidungen werden durch höchst individuelle Ereignisse und Entwürfe nicht nur angestoßen, sondern auch vollzogen. Allein die Tatsache, dass ein Übergang aus dem Beruf in die Hochschule keine gesellschaftlich genormten Präskripte aufweist, macht den Studienwunsch zu einer höchst individualisierten und selbstverantworteten Entscheidung. In Anschluss an Becks (1986) Individualisierungsthese wird die Studienentscheidung im Rahmen von Wahlbiografien durch das Zusammenspiel von Freisetzung, Entzauberung und Re-Integration als individualisierte Entscheidung rekonstruiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen zudem eine tiefe Verankerung einer Normalitätsvorstellung von Lebensläufen, die im Entscheidungsprozess als Orientierungsmuster wirksam sind. Schließlich wird die Studienentscheidung auch als ein Prozess des Abwägens rekonstruiert. Neben den als fallübergreifend zu rezipierenden Ergebnissen schlägt die Arbeit schließlich eine typologische Bestimmung der Studienentscheidungen im Kontext biografischer Orientierungen vor. / The present paper examines the group of non-traditional students in Germany. The term non-traditional students defines all those students who have received their university entrance certificate based on occupational skills without having a school-based university entrance qualification. One starting point of this survey is based on the determination of the German „Kultusministerkonferenz“ in 2009. Under these conditions, educational decisions gain importance in later phases of life, at least for the group envisaged here. The focus of this study is the phenomenon of the decision to study. The empirical basis of the work is an interview study with a total of 82 non-traditional students who were questioned up to four times over the course of their studies. The results refer to a complex bundle of different aspects that constitute the decision. First of all, it is revealed that the decision to study is made under subjective perceptions and objective conditions of gainful employment, as well as, reasons to study are strongly marked by job-related orientations. The decision to study was initiated and fulfilled through highly individual life events and drafts. Even a transition from a job to an institution of higher education is socially non-standard; this makes the desire to study a highly individual and self-responsible decision. Following Beck´s (1986) thesis of individualization, the decision to study is reconstructed by biographical choices through interaction of detraditionalization, disenchantment and reintegration as an individualised decision. Furthermore, the results indicate a deep establishment of beliefs in institutionalized life course which affect the decision process as a pattern of orientation. Finally, the decision to study is also reconstructed as a process of balance pros and cons. In addition to the cross-case results to be received, this paper proposes a construction of types of study decisions in the context of biographical orientation.

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