Three-hundred ten non-returning and two-hundred nineteen returning Western Kentucky University freshmen were surveyed regarding contact with academic advisors, availability of advisors, and quality of advisement, as well as awareness, use of, and value of selected student personnel services. One-hundred eighteen (53%) returning and one-hundred fifteen (37%) non-returning students responded. Returning and non -returning students differed significantly regarding number of contacts with advisor and perceptions of advisor availability. Returners reported more contacts with their advisor than did non-returners ,and returners were more likely to find their adivisor readily available than non-returners. More non-returners used counseling services and developmental studies while returners used the recreational facilities more. Returning students evidenced higher levels of social support. They reported being associated with a close-knit group of friends, being in clubs or organizations, living on campus and perceiving their instructors as being personally interested in them as individuals.

Fifty students from English 055 and 50 students from English 101 were given the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, the Mooney Problem Check Lists, the Allport/ Vernon/Lindzey Study of Values, and the Willoughby Schedule to determine if any significant differences existed between the two groups in the areas of personality characteristics, values, or problems. A statistical analysis of the results was determined by means of a t value from a separate variance estimate. Results indicated that significant differences existed between the 055 students and the 101 students in the following areas: self-esteem, economic values, need for achievement, and number of problems. There were no other significant differences. Since colleges and universities are accepting more and more students who are academically too weak to pursue the traditional course of study, it is recommended that special consideration be given to the needs of these remedial students and that an attempt be made to educate each as a whole individual.

Samples from two populations, entering freshmen at Western Kentucky University who were either peer counseled/advised or professionally counseled/advised, were compared on three vairables: (i) retention rate as sophomores, (2) freshman grade point averages earned. and (3) client satisfaction with counseling/advisement services. The variance between the means of the two freshmen groups was analyzed using a two tailed t test. There was no significant difference between groups in retention or grade point average. There was, however, significant difference in client satisfaction between the peer counseled/advised freshmen and the professionally counseled/advised freshmen. Freshmen receiving peer counseling/advisement rated their helpers at a higher level of effectiveness than did the professionally counseled/advised group of freshmen.

A quantitative study was conducted to determine the preferences of undergraduate students for academic advisors as transformational leaders. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to undergraduate students enrolled in leadership classes at a major land grant university to determine importance ratings based on the variables including non-traditional and traditional students’ ages, classification, gender, number of times advised, number of visits to an academic advisor, membership in a collegiate military organization and athletics, and current leadership activities. Results indicated that undergraduate students preferred their academic advisors to use transformational leadership activities. There was no significant difference in the degree of preference of transformational leadership in their academic advisor based on gender, participation in athletics, traditional and non-traditional ages, classification, membership in a military organization and participation in a leadership position or number of times advised. However, inadequate representation of all groups within the number of times advised category prevented a comparative analysis. As a result of this study, a leadership education workshop was developed as a component for academic advisor training, academic advising activities were identified that corresponded to transformational leadership constructs and similarities were found between the developmental advising model and transformational leadership.

Given extensive research highlighting the benefits of need-supportive practices and need satisfaction, it seems likely that academic advisors who use practices found to be need-supportive in classroom, work, and other contexts, will foster students’ perceived autonomy and competence toward the academic major decision-making process and facilitate longer-term goals of enhancing motivation and satisfaction with their academic coursework. A longitudinal study was conducted in order to examine the stability in perceptions of college students' academic major decision-making experience over time as a function of need-supportive advising. The study also examined the stability in satisfaction and motivation outcomes as a function of need-supportive advising over time. Participants included undecided students who completed an online survey at three time points during either the 2012-2013 or 2013-2014 academic year. The online survey included measures assessing perceptions of advisors' needs-supportive practices, students' autonomous and competent decision-making, satisfaction with and motivation for coursework, and subjective well-being, as well as demographic characteristics. Analyses on several models were performed using Mplus version 6.12. Results suggest need-supportive advising at the beginning of the academic year predicts improved academic satisfaction, academic efficacy, subjective well-being, and value toward coursework toward the end of the academic year particularly when advising sessions satisfy students need for competence throughout the year which, in turn, provides students with increased competence about choosing an academic major. Implications and future directions are discussed. / text

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah Jane Fishback / Perceptions of online undergraduate students on academic advising experiences were informed by the community of inquiry (COI) theoretical framework and categorized by a modified COI survey. The COI framework focused on students’ perceptions of their online learning environment, and acknowledged both the organizational (structural), transactional (collaborative view of teaching and learning), and social (isolation versus connected) challenges within online education. Indicators of COI included a decision-making process, open communication, shared personal meaning, and focused discussion. Thirty-four Likert-style survey items were used to measure student perceptions of three constructs within the COI framework: teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Cognitive presence included several stages: a sense of puzzlement, information exchange, connecting ideas, and resolution. Surveys were completed by online degree-seeking undergraduate students (N = 374, n = 87, response rate 23.3%) enrolled in spring one 2018 at a research one, land-grant institution. The analysis explored if COI was perceived in academic advising experiences. Perception of COI was categorized through self-reported preference of communication technologies (phone/TDD and web conferencing), demographic factors, and importance ranks on each COI item. Participants reported COI items as important, with variances between somewhat important and very important. Participants confirmed their perception of COI within academic advising with survey and open-ended comments. Analysis of data was conducted using a comparison of descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, and qualitative coding of open-ended comments. Results of the data analysis revealed no significant differences (desirable) between advising technology (phone and web conferencing) and perception of COI. Descriptive characteristics revealed an increase in social presence with increased time with advisor and increased experience in completed online courses. This academic advising COI study found social presence was the highest perceived presence. Analysis of comments revealed themes confirming the rank of presence in the following order: social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive. The discussion of results focused on connections to current literature, as well as implications for future research and practice. Also, the new academic advising COI instrument (modified from original) offered a valid assessment tool for online advising, with the potential for use with a variety of advisor types, models, and institutions. Keywords: community of inquiry (COI), academic advising, higher education, online, assessment, web conferencing, social presence, teaching presence, cognitive presence, technology, online learning, student success, retention, and importance.

abstract: The impact of peer-leadership programs on undergraduate students has been studied since the inception of higher education. Programs such as peer-mentoring, peer-counseling, and peer-advising are regularly used within the college environment as there are proven benefits to both student leaders and mentees. However, there is limited content on students who plan to pursue higher education careers and experiential programs that prepare them for the field. Thus, this action research study is designed to examine the influence of a peer-advising program on participants who have identified their interest in various careers in the college setting. Employing a mixed-method approach to inquiry, the study connects Kolb’s (2005) Experiential Learning theory, and Chickering’s (1964) Vectors of Student Development to a hands-on learning experience designed to improve participants’ competency and clarity in their potential career choice. This study was conducted with the purpose of illustrating the role of experiential learning opportunities in higher education, particularly with a unique focus on undergraduate students desiring careers in the higher education field. Four senior students were positioned as peer-advisors assisting fellow students with academic related matters over one semester as a means of gaining competency and clarity in their pathway toward working in higher education. The results of the study indicate that peer-advising participants attributed program participation to increased career competency and clarity. There were also 64 student-advisee participants who found the program to be beneficial to their overall advising needs, as well as one professional advisor who found the program to be effective in decreasing her advising load during the study. The results of this study align with outcomes of pinnacle research and scholarship on experiential learning, and support the growing acknowledgment of the importance of applied learning experiences in higher education. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2017

abstract: To meet the increasing demands for more STEM graduates, United States (U.S.) higher education institutions need to support the retention of minoritized populations, such as first-generation Latinas studying engineering. The theories influencing this study included critical race theory, the theory of validation, and community cultural wealth. Current advising practices, when viewed through a critical race theory lens, reinforce deficit viewpoints about students and reinforce color-blind ideologies. As such, current practices will fail to support first-generation Latina student persistence in engineering. A 10-week long study was conducted on validating advising practices. The advisors for the study were purposefully selected while the students were selected via a stratified sampling approach. Validating advising practices were designed to elicit student stories and explored the ways in which advisors validated or invalidated the students. Qualitative data were collected from interviews and reflections. Thematic analysis was conducted to study the influence of the validating advising practices. Results indicate each advisor acted as a different type of validating “agent” executing her practices described along a continuum of validating to invalidating practices. The students described their advisors’ practices along a continuum of prescriptive to developmental to transformational advising. While advisors began the study expressing deficit viewpoints of first-generation Latinas, the students shared multiple forms of navigational, social, aspirational, and informational capital. Those advisors who employed developmental and transformational practices recognized and drew upon those assets during their deployment of validating advising practices, thus leading to validation within the advising interactions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2018

abstract: In college, students are continuously learning and maturing, prompting transitions, as they grow to enhance their academic, vocational, and personal development. As such, institutions of higher education must also consider how to support students in these transitions. At the Teachers College at Southwestern University, 59% (N=86) of students in Educational Studies, a non-certification major, transitioned from teacher certification majors. In an ecology that centralizes students pursuing teacher certification, students majoring in Educational Studies do not receive the adequate support, particularly in addressing their concerns and curiosities regarding their future career trajectories. This qualitative study drew on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological models of human development and Moos’ ecology model as the theoretical underpinnings to examine how students cultivated adaptability amidst the transition of changing majors. On the forefront of support as students change majors, this study utilized academic advising to highlight a career advising program designed with an ecological approach to reimagine academic advising support in proactive and responsive ways. Findings from a grounded theory approach suggested students adapted through a network of support, network of information, and network of self-concept. The career advising program designed to draw upon multiple systems in one’s ecology capitalized on the reciprocal dynamic between an individual and their ecology. Cultivating adaptability addresses economical, societal, and personal goals and needs, economical, societal, and personal needs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2018

A presente pesquisa tem por objetivo verificar o impacto do uso da estratégia de orientação didático-pedagógica denominada consultoria individual (al. Sprachlernberatung) como meio de promover a amenização da ansiedade de produção oral na língua estrangeira. O estudo compreende uma revisão da literatura sobre a relação entre a ansiedade de produção oral na língua estrangeira e o desempenho dos alunos no aprendizado da língua-alvo, tendo como ponto de partida a distinção entre ansiedade como um traço de personalidade e a ansiedade de produção oral na língua estrangeira como uma ansiedade específica. A partir de um levantamento via questionários escritos e orais dos fatores geradores da ansiedade de produção oral na língua estrangeira e da autoavaliação dos participantes, a pesquisa busca refletir sobre o efeito de variáveis afetivas como motivação, autoconfiança e ansiedade no aprendizado de uma língua estrangeira no ambiente acadêmico. O estudo de caso concentra-se no depoimento de dez alunos de um curso de Licenciatura em Letras com habilitação em Língua e Literatura Alemã. Através desse estudo, identificamos que a ansiedade de produção oral no alemão como língua estrangeira decorre da crença dos próprios alunos de que esta seria uma língua \"difícil\", bem como da pouca habilidade linguística que eles acreditam ter, o que acarretaria apreensão na comunicação em qualquer situação de produção oral espontânea. Outro fator em destaque é o valor atribuído pelos alunos ao erro no processo de aprendizagem decorrente de experiências frustrantes, anteriores, com o aprendizado da língua. A visão que se tem do erro leva os alunos ao sentimento de inferioridade diante dos colegas de sala e dos falantes nativos da língua alemã. Contudo, compreendemos ao final da análise que esses fatores decorrem em grande parte da deficiência dos hábitos de estudo desses alunos e de sua pouca preparação de estratégias de aprendizagem. Nesse contexto, a consultoria individual é apresentada com o objetivo de provocar a autorreflexão desses participantes perante seu processo de aprendizagem da língua alemã, instigando-os a agir ativamente sobre esse e outros empecilhos na aprendizagem da língua-alvo. / The aim of this thesis is to investigate the impact of the methodological instrument called academic advising (gm. Sprachlernberatung) as a resource to reduce oral production anxiety in a Foreign Language. The thesis then embraces a literature review about the relation of the oral production anxiety in a Foreign Language to the performance of students in the learning process of a target language, starting with the distinction between anxiety as a personality trait and the oral production anxiety in a Foreign Language as a specific type of anxiety. By focusing on both oral and written surveys on the trigging factors of the oral production anxiety in a Foreign Language and the self-assessment of students, this thesis reflects on the effect of affective variables such as motivation, self-confidence and anxiety in the learning process of a Foreign Language in the academic environment. Thus, the case study refers to the testimony of ten students from a Graduation Course on German Language and Literature. From the use of this method, it was possible to identify that the oral production anxiety in German as a Foreign Language comes from the belief that the language is difficult, as well as from the little linguistic proficiency that they believe to possess, which causes apprehension in communication in any spontaneous oral production situation. Another burning issue is the importance given to making mistakes in the learning process, which can derive from previous frustrating experiences with the language. As a result, the views that the students have on making mistakes make them feel inferior when facing classmates or German native speakers. Nevertheless, in the end of this analysis, it was possible to spot that these variables mostly come from the lack of study habits and the scarce learning strategies. In this context, the academic advising is presented in order to provoke self-reflection of these students in the learning process of the German language, instigating them to act more actively on this or any other barrier that can hinder their learning of a target language.