<p> The purpose of this qualitative research was to (a) explore the issues that international undergraduate students face during academic experiences at U.S. colleges and/or universities, (b) study the relationship between U.S. professors and international undergraduate students as measured by the extent of congruency between U.S. professors' and international undergraduate students' online survey results, and (c) propose appropriate guidelines for U.S. Teacher Leaders in adult classrooms to enhance international undergraduate students' learning satisfaction. The researcher used convenience sampling that included 96 participants at Lindenwood University, Saint Charles. The researcher conducted a focus group discussion with 14 international undergraduate students from 10 countries, an online survey with 70 international undergraduate students and five U.S. professors using the Modified Instructional Perspective Inventory (MIPI), and the in-depth interviews with seven faculty experts selected from the Education Department and the International Students and Scholars Office. </p><p> The results showed international undergraduate students are faced with five major issues including language, isolation, discrimination, professors' instruction techniques, and professors' behaviors in the classroom. The emerging themes in the focus group discussion were financial support, positive experiences, and suggestion for improving teacher leadership in the classroom. There was no congruency between U.S. professors' and international undergraduate students' perceptions on four factors of the MIPI&mdash;teacher empathy with learner, teacher trust of learners, planning and delivery of instruction, and accommodating learner uniqueness. However, there was congruency between U.S. professors' and international undergraduate students' perceptions on three factors of the MIPI&mdash;teacher insensitivity toward learners, experience-based learning techniques, and teacher-centered learning processes. This congruency level, however, did not indicate a good relationship between U.S. professors and international undergraduate students, but instead the professors' inability to balance the practice of learner-centered and teacher-centered teaching approaches in the classroom. The proposed Guidelines for U.S. Teacher Leaders in Adult Classrooms suggested processes to enhance International Undergraduate Satisfaction as follows: application of professors' beliefs (teachers' trust of learners and teachers' accommodating learners' uniqueness), professors' feelings (teachers' empathy with learners and teachers' insensitivity toward learners), and professors' behaviors (delivery of various instruction techniques and appropriate use of learner-centered and teacher-centered learning processes in the right context).</p><p>

<p> In the United States, colleges and universities are under pressure from multiple sources to improve course completion and graduation rates and to reduce the cost of obtaining a degree. This qualitative phenomenological case study, underpinned by the social constructivist perspective, explored second-year manufacturing degree students&rsquo; perceptions of the impact of their teachers&rsquo; servant leadership behaviors on their successful course completions at a Midwest technical college. Servant leadership was the theoretical base for the study, which consisted of Q sorts by, and interviews with, students from two manufacturing degree programs. One program had higher course completion and graduation rates and the other had lower course completion and graduation rates. The responses were coded using data from an extensive literature review and were analyzed for themes according to the perspectives of the participants&rsquo; Q sorts and responses to interview questions. While the study did not reveal a simple, straightforward solution to the very complicated student success problem in technical college manufacturing programs, it did identify the elements of an emergent model recommended for manufacturing teachers: servant teaching.</p><p>

This study utilized the Beginning Postsecondary Student (BPS) longitudinal data set (2004-2006) from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), which will follow for six academic years a nationally representative sample of students who began their postsecondary education during the 2004-2005 academic year. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of paid employment during the first year of college on first-generation academic success and first to second year persistence as compared to non first-generation students enrolled at 4-year institutions. First-generation students were observed to have a higher average number of hours worked in a week as well as GPA scores than non first-generation students. An independent samples t-test was performed in order to determine whether there was a significant difference between the groups. Considering the number of hours worked by the student, it was found that there was again a significant difference between the first-generation and non first-generation students, t = 8.57, p < .05. In fact, first-generation students would work almost four more hours on average than non first-generation students would. There was a significant relationship between the number of hours worked per week and the persistence of the student, t(200) = -9.25, p < .01. In fact, the model predicted that those who were still in their persistence track worked 10.82 fewer hours a week than students who are not in their track anymore. This indicated that students who were still on track did not work as many hours a week (not including study hours) as students who did not continue with their track. Based on this information, it was found that there was a significant relationship between the persistence track and the generation of the student, χ2(n = 1490, df = 1) = 23.15, p < .01. This indicated that whether the student was still on track depended on whether the student was a first or non first-generation student. In fact, those students who were first generation students were expected to be still on track more frequently than were observed (expected value was greater than observed value).

<p>The American public&rsquo;s interests are well-served by a strong, effective postsecondary education system. And yet the industry&rsquo;s predominant learning and service paradigm, one that credentials learning by measuring student&rsquo;s time on task and that treats all learners largely the same from a pacing and a requirements perspective is inconsistent with the realities, circumstances, and expectations of 21st century students. Competency-based education, with its emphasis on the attainment of mastery through the measurement of learning, not time, and its focus on operational efficiency and effectiveness, has the potential to evolve and shape the postsecondary education industry by introducing simplicity, convenience, accessibility, and affordability where complication and high cost are the status quo. </p><p> The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory study was to understand and describe the competency-based education practices of American higher education institutions within the context of Christensen&rsquo;s theory of disruptive innovation. The practices and programs of eight institutions that offer accredited, competency-based certificate and degree programs were examined. An exploratory, qualitative review of publically available artifacts that describe the competency-based approaches employed by these eight institutions provided the primary data for this study. Prominent industry reports on competency-based education published from September 2014 through January 2016 were examined and are described. The researcher &rsquo;s professional responsibilities and observations while engaged in the design and delivery of competency-based programming also informed this study. </p><p> Specific characteristics, practices, and two distinct methods for the delivery of competency-based education were identified and are described. Consistent mission, tuition, and student demographic realities were found to exist among the examined institutions and are discussed. Variable findings related to program design practices, the nature of assessment, the role of faculty, and provider-specific outcomes emerged and are also presented. The current state of the practice was found to be consistent with Christensen&rsquo;s theory of disruptive innovation. The practice was further found to be workforce aligned but only minimally deployed within the postsecondary education industry. Characteristics of examined programs were found to be non-distinct. Program evaluation criteria and outcomes were determined to be unclear at this time. </p>

Thesis (M.T.S.C.)--Miami University, Dept. of English, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], vii, 65 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references.