<p> Student retention has been studied more than any higher education subject (Vlanden &amp; Barlow, 2014). Attempts to better understand the retention process through predictive modeling have become more common (Bingham &amp; Solverson, 2016). However, modeling efforts have failed to properly account for elements of social integration and sense of belonging, both of which serve as key tenants in Astin&rsquo;s (1975, 1999) theory of student involvement and Tinto&rsquo;s (1982, 1993) model of college dropout and theory of student departure (Bingham &amp; Solverson, 2016). In this study, social integration was evaluated in isolation using <i>z</i>-tests. Several forms of social integration were found to have a statistically significant difference in the proportion of retained participants versus non-participants including campus fitness programs, fraternity or sorority programs, recreation facilities, and student activities. Participants in intramural sports and on-campus living were not found to have statistically significant results. Additionally, binary logistic regression was used to analyze how social integration variables interplayed with demographic, student attribute, and academic performance inputs. The model produced through the analysis successfully met previous goodness-of-fit standards established in prior research (Bingham &amp; Solverson, 2016; Jia &amp; Maloney, 2014). Findings of this research are especially relevant to higher education administrators. A key method to the promotion of persistence and student retention is the ability to predict attrition (Harvey &amp; Luckman, 2014). By including social integration data, higher education leaders could seize upon the opportunity to more accurately identify those students who are less likely to persist than their peers (Bingham &amp; Solverson, 2016). </p><p>

Simulation holds enormous potential for medical education, where patient safety concerns have made practice on patients less acceptable. However, there is no unequivocal evidence of simulation training translating to improved performance in vivo. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to add to the literature on simulation training by a) synthesising the current evidence on the effectiveness of simulation training in healthcare, b) investigating the effectiveness of different ‘doses’ of mannequin training in learning laryngeal mask airway placement and c) assessing the effectiveness of a simulation course on managing life threatening illness. This thesis has added to the literature in the field of medical education a review of reviews of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of simulation training in medicine and surgery, and two RCTs evaluating different simulation training courses. The review of reviews highlighted that simulation training can be effective, but there was little consistent evidence across tasks or types of simulator. The two RCTs reported nil results, reinforcing that simulation alone is insufficient to ensure effectiveness. These results highlight the importance of recognising when simulation training is appropriate, how simulation interacts with other elements of a training programme and how the simulation can be made maximally effective.

This thesis explores the implementation of academic servant leadership in a faith-based university in Indonesia. The exploration includes the academic leaders’ understanding on the concept and practise of servant leadership. Their perceptions are analysed in order to construct the theory of academic servant leadership in the HE sector. The case study method was chosen as the methodology since it is able to explain the academic servant leadership phenomena from the leaders’ perspective in their context. Data was collected from thirty higher education leaders who participated in a semi-structured interview. The analysis shows that servant leadership is driven by three motives: service, influence and improvement. The motives for servant leadership influence their characteristics which consist of spiritual, intrapersonal and relational characteristics. These concentric characteristics are then manifested into five servant leadership actions namely ‘pergumulan’, individual meetings, institutional meetings, dealing with conflicts and fostering collaborations. The researcher argues that academic servant leaders need to have a pure motive and strong character in order to enact their servant leadership. The manifestation of their characters into actions cannot be separated from three contextual matters at the case campus, namely hierarchical academic leadership, organisational changes and external challenges and opportunities.

This thesis is focused upon and examines the experiences of students with dyslexia in higher education. At the time of the research project started not much was known about the experiences of higher education students with dyslexia. An insight into their lives and experiences with a further overview of their past is evaluated. The participants of this study were undergraduate and postgraduate students studying for a degree in Higher Education and were assessed as dyslexic. The sample consisted of students that were studying in three universities in the city that the research took place. In order for the data to be collected interviews were used, as it would be very difficult to describe experiences and feelings with numbers. The words of the participants were used to support the categories and findings of the study. The students of these particular universities were overall satisfied with the provision and support they were receiving from their institutions although further investigation needs to be done on the attitudes and perceptions of the lecturers with regards to dyslexia.

This corpus-based, exploratory study attempts to fill a gap in the realm of knowledge on writer’s self-representation in academic writing. It aims to examine the writer’s discoursal self manifested by the utilisation of first person pronouns, focusing on the functional roles they occupy in multi-genre texts (paragraphs and essays) generated by non-native, undergraduate students at different levels of the College of Nursing in the cities of Al-Ahsa (CON-A) and Jeddah (CON-J) in Saudi Arabia. The students’ texts were compiled in two sub-corpora: CON-A (27160 words) and CON-J (15413 words). The data have been analysed quantitatively and qualitatively employing a data-driven framework of writer discoursal self, which includes the categories of the roles inhabited by the writer ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the text. The results mainly show the strong presence of writer as a person, who performs roles outside the text, and the rare use of writer as an academic, who occupies roles inside the text. A number of other observations have been made, which will help form a better understanding of students’ writing and their perception of identity in writing. Factors that appear to have influenced the students’ discoursal choices and acts have been proposed. Taking the findings into account, the thesis concludes with proposing some practical suggestions for raising awareness in L2 writing pedagogy, and identifying some future research.

This study postulates that there are currently four main dyslexia paradigms. These paradigms are: a) the Positivist-Intrinsic-Dyslexia-Paradigm, which reflects positivist studies on dyslexia that hold the etiological view that dyslexia exists intrinsically to the individual (of constitutional origin), b) the Interpretivist-Intrinsic-Dyslexia-Paradigm, which holds the etiological view that dyslexia exists intrinsically to the individual c) the Positivist-Extrinsic-Dyslexia-Paradigm, which reflects studies on dyslexia that hold the etiological view that dyslexia exists extrinsically to the individual (not of constitutional origin), and, d) the Interpretivist-Extrinsic-Dyslexia-Paradigm, which reflects studies on dyslexia that also hold the etiological view that dyslexia exists extrinsically to the individual. This study moves beyond the four main dyslexia paradigms by combining the I-E-D-Paradigm with elements of Burrell and Morgan's (1979) sociological Radical Humanist Paradigm, thus creating a Radical I-E-D-Paradigm from which to conduct the present study. From the position of a Radical I-E-D-Paradigm this study develops an alternative perspective on dyslexia, i.e., a non-constitutional perspective on dyslexia (N-C-PoD), and, emancipatory intervention aimed at assisting 'dyslexic' students to explore their perceptions of dyslexia. This study explores the influence that the N-C-PoD and emancipatory intervention has on the descriptions of dyslexia, in relation to self-concept, of two 'dyslexic' students studying in tertiary education.

As one participant of my study said, "Yes, I was hazed, and following my induction, I hazed others. That's the way it is and that's the way it will always be." This is how he justified his involvement with hazing within his fraternity.;"For over seven hundred years in higher education, and over two hundred years in American higher education, some form of hazing has existed, a systematic means of indoctrinating new members of the university community through a rite of passage. It is within this culture that fraternities were started" (Kimbrough, 2003, p. 39), including African American organizations. From their beginning, "African American fraternities were created in an effort to provide Black students with the interpersonal, social, educational, and professional support denied to them in many American social and political structures; however, they did not autonomously create the process of violent initiation" (Ross, 2000, p. 6). Even still, hazing has become such a significant problem for African American fraternities that these destructive practices are raising questions regarding the continued existence of these Greek organizations. Individual students, their parents, local chapters, national organizations, legislatures and courts are all affected by the devastating results of hazing and the unwillingness amongst African American fraternity members to eliminate it from their practices.;Through an investigation of the membership intake process for African American fraternities, this research provides a better understanding of the meanings behind hazing activities that occur within that process or even after membership (post-pledging). The problem of this qualitative study was to explore the reasons that African American fraternity members engaged in or allowed themselves to be hazed during their initiation process. I wanted to create a better understanding of the role hazing continues to play within African American fraternities. to accomplish this, my study focused on members of one of the NPHC fraternities, dividing them into three distinct cohorts based from the year they became a member of their fraternity (1990-1995; 1996-2000; and 2001-2006).;Based on my analysis, distinct characteristics define each cohort in a general sense with each cohort having their own individual reasoning for hazing activities within their fraternity. Many similarities were apparent among all the men involved in the study; however, equally, extreme differences emerged as to why they allowed themselves to be hazed. Each cohort, although comprised of five individuals, shared some commonalities unique only to their cohort.;Within this dissertation, I discuss eight distinct areas discovered in my analysis, giving pertinent information relating to each cohort and the overall group as well. The eight areas are: (1) the significance of masculinity and manhood in the induction process; (2) the escalation of violence within hazing activities; (3) intra and inter-fraternity relationships; (4) the relevance of the shift from pledging to the membership intake program; (5) hegemonic versus Afro-centric interests in deciding to join the fraternity; (6) pledging versus hazing; (7) definitions of respect; and (8) attitudes toward hazing.

For more than five decades the British government suppressed the work of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in India during 1941--1946. The SOE was a secret body engaged in sabotage, subversive activities, and black propaganda in enemy, enemy controlled, and neutral countries during the Second World War. Through the perspective of subalternity, this study reconstructs the career of Shottyendro K. Ghosh, an Indian member of the Indian Civil Service, a tiny administrative elite, overwhelmingly British in composition that was responsible for overseeing all government activity in British India. Ghosh became a quisling and leader of a fierce guerilla force for the SOE during World War II in order to protect his homeland from Japan's imperial conquests. Much of Ghosh's life continues to be an untold story. This study also examines the current World War II curriculum at a flagship university in Bengal, India, where much of the SOE operations were based, to evaluate the state of curricular affairs, the level of familiarity and scholarly activity amongst active historians and to learn to what extent SOE operations in India is included in the World War II curriculum that is taught to undergraduate history students at this institution. The contextual framework for this examination is nested in the sociology of knowledge. This study will illuminate both a precise historical moment and the ways it has been narrated in academic discourse. In doing so, it will fill a gap in Indian history.

This study investigates the variance in critical thinking dispositions between arts and non-arts undergraduates using quantitative data from the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), a survey instrument. Data were collected from a sample of 141 undergraduates at a large, urban, public university on the east coast. The population consisted of four groups: freshmen non-arts students, freshmen arts students, junior and senior non-arts students, and junior and senior arts students.;of the four groups which were compared, the junior and senior arts subjects showed the greatest mean total score on the CCTDI. This mean was significantly higher than that of freshmen non-arts students. Junior and senior arts students were also found to have significantly higher mean scores on several of the CCTDI subscales.;A consensus of findings in research literature on higher education and critical thinking indicate that an inquiry-based curriculum positively influences gains in critical thinking in undergraduates. Research shows, as well, that learning in the arts is largely inquiry-based. The synthesis of those findings and the results of this study indicate that exposure to learning in the arts positively influences students' disposition to think critically.

Articulation was the topic of some educational leaders within Virginia over twenty years ago. More recently, however, the Commonwealth developed statewide articulation.;The procedure used in this research to present the findings of this study involved an examination of various documents. Some of these documents were produced by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the State Board of Education, Minutes of State Council meetings, as well as Minutes of Board of Education meetings. Interviews were another source of data. Interviews were obtained from persons involved in educational articulation in the Commonwealth. A few of the persons interviewed included a former Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System, a former Secretary of Education for Virginia, a former State Superintendent for Public Instruction, college presidents and many other individuals involved in educational articulation between 1966 and 1990.;In order to conduct this research in a scholarly way, the years covered, 1966 through 1990, were examined in a systematic way. The entire span of years was broken down into five time periods. Then each period was examined by searching the three educational segments--the secondary school, the community college and the senior college. Within each agency, the key persons involved in articulation, if any, were noted together with any significant influence of the agency. If articulation policy was developed, it was noted also. at the end of each period under discussion, the key forces which were found to influence educational articulation during that time were summarized. However, the period between 1988 and 1990 was discussed first to give insight as to where articulation is now in the Commonwealth.;The Commonwealth made tremendous strides between 1988 to 1990. During this time, statewide articulation policy was developed in the form of Dual Enrollment Agreement.;Many of the public secondary schools have developed articulation agreements with community colleges, and some four-year institutions have articulation agreements with community colleges. Many factors can influence the development of articulation policy. Yet, articulation policy can be developed between educational agencies; however, it requires the support of educational leaders and the actual work of faculty. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).