<p> This study explored the experiences of 10 adults who had experienced academic challenges during their studies, yet were able to return to academic studies and complete one or more graduate degrees. The participants were separated into two groups. <i>Group A</i> participants experienced academic failure and were asked to withdraw from their academic programs. <i> Group B</i> participants experienced significant academic challenges, but not to the point of being asked to withdraw from their academic programs. Members of both groups returned to studies, and completed at least one degree. The qualitative study applied narrative inquiry to gather the in-depth stories of the participants. The findings indicated that to succeed, all participants underwent either an internalization or transformation process that compelled them to commit to and succeed academically. The key difference between the two groups is that <i>Group A</i> members experienced unique, transformative experiences when asked to withdraw from their respective academic programs. All participants adopted study strategies to help them succeed. These strategies included the adoption of mastery and/or performance-based approaches to improve their academic performance.</p><p>

<p> Andragogy, defined as, &ldquo;the art and science of helping adults learn&rdquo; (Knowles, 1980, p. 43) has been used in education and organizations for more than five decades. This philosophy was examined in this study to explore to what extent Andragogy was being used, and perceived to be used, by the coach in a collegiate athletic program. Interviews, observations, and surveys of the coach, along with questionnaires, surveys, and focus group sessions of the student-athletes were used to determine whether an andragogically based coaching approach positively affected the performances and outcomes of the participants. By utilizing an adaptation of Henschke&rsquo;s (1989) Modified Instructional Perspectives Inventory (MIPI) the coach&rsquo;s as well as student-athletes&rsquo; perceptions of the andragogical model were examined, recorded, and scored. The coach and student-athletes were also asked to score their most important needs as a learner, using the assumptions Knowles employed to characterize the adult learner. The study concluded that although Andragogy and its principles and practices were not previously known or understood by the coach and student-athletes, there was a high degree of parity between the principles and practices of a successful sports coach and that of Andragogy. What appeared to be new revelations in concept and practice were the notions of the Learning Contract (LC) and Self-Directed Learning (SDL), both of which were being used by the coach in an informal manner. Although not categorically concluded in the study that Andragogy would guarantee better results, the coach confessed that he saw both Learning Contracts and Self-Directed Learning as a way of enhancing his approach to becoming a better coach with increased skill to help unleash the potential, responsibility, and independence of his athletes. The adoption of andragogical principles and practices were acknowledged as an approach that could greatly add to Coach Owen&rsquo;s style and approach in dealing with his athletes, especially the very competitive. Future studies of this nature will be useful in promoting Andragogy and in the education of coaches. </p><p>

<p> The purpose of this research is to better understand curricular and pedagogical strategies that can play a role in college retention rates and the first-year academic experience for new students. This research aims to contribute to a larger effort to create a learning environment in which first-year students would be engaged, learn, adapt, and accomplish learning outcomes needed to be successful in university level course work. The two research questions are; how do college faculty prepare to help first-year students&rsquo; transition in to university level coursework and how do college faculty view their role in teaching first-year college students? The method of this qualitative case study included one survey taken by Cadence State University (CSU) faculty who teach first-year college students and two interviews with one staff member and one administrative staff whom both work closely with faculty teaching first-year students. The results showed professional development/training and university support for faculty from CSU is needed to educate and keep faculty informed on first-year students. It was also found that transformed pedagogy with utilization of active learning and various teaching strategies plays a significant role in helping first-year students adjust to university coursework, as well as, faculty understanding the impact they have on first-year students. The conclusion to this study reveals there needs to be a teaching culture shift where faculty take action, learn what is needed, and implement transitional pedagogy to help first-year students&rsquo; transition into university coursework. Faculty must understand their impact on new students and that they set the foundation of university coursework in their first couple of days of class. Additionally, faculty using communication and being approachable, yet not compromising their higher education standards will help faculty view their role with first-year students as important and necessary.</p><p>

The thesis explores the origins of government concerns about the quality of UK higher education during the 1980s and traces legislative processes leading to the reform acts of 1988 and 1992. It demonstrates close links between higher education reforms and Conservative policies in the rest of the public sector and shows how quality assurance was used as an instrument of regulation to increase government control over the universities during the next decade. These developments coincided with the rise of a higher education ‘market’ in which quality assessment scores were translated into league tables to attract students as ‘customers’. The narrative then shows how the issue of student fees increasingly came to dominate the Labour government’s thinking from 1997 onwards and became a major theme in debates leading to the higher education act of 2004. The chronological narrative based on historical accounts and contemporary documents identifies four successive phases of quality assurance between 1992 and 2004. This is combined with a qualitative study which uses a constructivist approach to build up a picture of the unsettled period that followed the introduction of quality assurance systems into universities. A wide range of views from contemporary literature were supplemented by a series of ten semi-structured interviews with individuals who played significant roles in these events and reported their experiences in their own words. The narrative traces the growth of a quality ‘industry’ in higher education and a longrunning ‘quality debate’ among those affected by its impacts. Difficulties of defining ‘quality’ and the political desire for quantitative measurement led to the adoption of unsuitable methodology, emphasising accountability at the expense of improvement. This turbulent period was characterised by a recurring pattern of rising protests from academics which culminated in political intervention and subsequently further change. The thesis analyses the effects of quality assurance on university staff and students and on the developing discourse between higher education and the state. Summarising its impacts in a balance sheet of pros and cons leads to the conclusion that though concerns about quality were justified and some form of regulation was necessary in the expanded and diverse sector, the results of audit and assessment revealed little cause for concern about the quality of UK higher education. Furthermore, though quality assurance produced some benefits in the organisation of courses, staff development and information for prospective students, there was little evidence of benefits to teaching itself. Thus, quality assurance failed to deliver the government’s own aim of value for money, and the effort and time 3 required by the universities could have been put to better use; less insistence on regulation could have given academics more freedom to pursue improvements in teaching. A brief epilogue reflects on the status of quality assurance in 2015 and warns that separate plans for reform announced by HEFCE and the current government risk repeating old mistakes.

This thesis reports a study of academic identity in two English universities of different type and status during the period 2012 to 2013. It explores the effects on academic identity of policy developments which have reconfigured the relationship between academics, students and government since the late 1970s. These developments have resulted in a change to the university working environment from one in which academics enjoyed relative autonomy in their academic practice, to one in which work is increasingly directed by externally imposed performative and marketised priorities. The most recent policy developments were introduced by the 2010 UK Conservative Liberal Democrat Coalition Government and included major changes to the funding of university education in England. This has resulted in the withdrawal of government funding for non-laboratory based disciplines, the tripling of tuition fees to £9,000 per annum, and the transferal of the burden of funding from the state to students. Within this context this thesis aims to provide insights into the impact of performative and marketised policies on academic identity. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty academics in the arts and humanities disciplines at two contrasting English universities: a ‘new’ university, which was a teaching-intensive and locally focussed Post-1992 institution; and an ‘old’ university, which was a research-intensive and globally focussed Pre-1992 institution. These universities were chosen because they represented contrasting types of English university in a stratified system. Anthony Giddens’ theories of structuration and identity formation have been adopted as a theoretical framework to underpin the research design and subsequent analysis. His theory of structuration has been used because it allows investigation of the relationship between structure and agency in academic identity formation in the contemporary university. Several themes emerged from the interview data, highlighting common threads as well as divergences between the academics in the two different universities. It was found that all the academics are able to construct positive narratives of academic identity within the performative and marketised environment. These findings challenge a body of literature which presents a pessimistic view of the opportunities for academic identity formation in the contemporary environment. However, this positive identity is sensitive to environmental influences, with a key point of divergence for the two groups of academics being the freedom and opportunity to engage in scholarly research at their respective universities. Within this policy environment some academics in the teaching-intensive university were therefore faced with the choice of adapting their academic identity or of fostering a feeling of inauthenticity. These findings have important implications for universities and government in terms of the implications for academic practice, the relationship between academics and students, and conceptions of the purposes of higher education.

This study explores the potential use of mobile learning in higher education with a focus on student and academic staff requirements of a potential mobile application. The research examines the stakeholders’ new technology acceptance behaviour within a post-1992 university and examines how new mobile technologies are able to contribute to enhancement of the learning experience of students and additionally the roles of educators in facilitating enhancement of the learning experience. A post-positivistic paradigm has been used to explore a wider view of the stakeholders’ (academic staff and students) understanding of the new technologies and the potential benefits of mobile applications. An electronic questionnaire was sent to over 900 undergraduates for their views on the use of new mobile technologies and in what ways these could be used to support their learning needs. This was followed by individual interviews and questionnaires to academic staff (n=44) to identify whether they would be interested in the use of mobile applications in their teaching and learning. The research explores the learning, concepts, theories and models which influence mobile device adoption and proposes a mobile application that has the potential to support teaching and learning. The data collected provides an invaluable insight into the potential use of a mobile learning platform at the University’s Faculty of Business. The participants describe their uses of four distinct types of devices; potential frequency of specific use, and their views on the attraction and/or disadvantages of mobile use for learning. The research findings lead to the recommendation for a mobile learning trial within the Faculty with the potential for application to other academic subjects within the university. Two elements have emerged from the research carried out and comprise an original contribution of the study, namely: an enhancement of the Technology Acceptance Model and development of the existing PESTEL model into a PESTEEL model by including Educational Factors and hence identifying a number of areas currently not addressed by the PESTEL model. The uniqueness of the study and the development of this work`s original contribution to new knowledge was enhanced by approaching data collection and analysis within a Technology Acceptance Model and the PESTEEL model. This was also achieved by interpreting the gathered data within the broader concept of professionalism, sub-divided and conceptualised into examining the adherence of participants. It is acknowledged that a limiting factor is that the study examined only one academic school within an institution, but it is anticipated that future research will include a comparison with other similar academic institutions.

The aim of this study was to ascertain the experiences of D/deaf university learners who had been supported by a notetaker at some point during their studies. Whilst the number of D/deaf learners attending university is steadily increasing, notetaking support continues to be an under-researched area. The two primary research questions examined the current state of notetaking provision in higher education and what, from the perspectives of the co-researchers (D/deaf learners), comprised a successful and positive experience of being supported by notetakers. A transformative framework (Mertens 2010) was adopted to guide the data collection, foregrounding the voices of the learner and influencing the study as it was acknowledged that the co-researchers were the experts on the subject. Two sequential methods were utilised, firstly an electronic forum (n=7) which then contributed to the second phase, an electronic questionnaire (n=30). The findings showed that whilst the majority of the co-researchers’ experiences were positive, there was evidence of poor and variable practice which confirmed the need for common guidelines. The anonymous forum and questionnaire enabled the co-researchers to discuss and/or contribute their experiences in a non-threatening, and non-judgemental environment as suggested by Balch and Mertens: Focus groups for deaf and hard of hearing can be highly productive on even the most sensitive issues (1999:265). The intended outcome of the study was the development of the Notetaking Optimising Thorley Effectiveness Information and Guidelines – NOTE IaG which provides information for D/deaf learners, their teaching staff, notetakers and their non-D/deaf peers. An unexpected yet positive outcome of the study was the creation of a NOTE template which encourages D/deaf learners to add to, and personalise their notes provided by their notetakers.

<p> The underrepresentation of racial/ethnic minorities and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds in college majors that promote social mobility is problematic. Relative risk aversion theory predicts that disadvantaged students will choose college majors that promote social mobility since they are more secure educational investments. However, the theory of effectively maintained inequality predicts that privileged students, not disadvantaged students, will obtain more secure degrees. To test these theories, I utilized the NC Roots of STEM dataset to model choice of college major. The NC Roots of STEM dataset is a multivariate, longitudinal dataset that followed NC high school seniors from 2004 through 2010. This thesis utilizes a series of multilevel logit models to examine the relationship between race, SES, educational opportunities and students&rsquo; interest, odds of declaration and odds of graduation with a STEM degree. The results give evidence for both theories at work within STEM majors. Disadvantaged students, particularly Black students, are more likely to have interest in STEM majors but are the least likely to graduate in these majors, once controlling for declaring a STEM major. While SES did not appear to have much difference on STEM interest and major declaration, low-SES students were significantly less likely to graduate in STEM majors. These findings give support for effectively maintained inequality within higher education.</p><p>

<p> What are the effective ways to attract international students to your campus? One approach is to learn how foreign students obtain information that impacts their college choice decision. This need determined the goal of this study to explore the Social Network Site (SNS) component of a foreign student&rsquo;s college decision-making process. This qualitative study was conducted among undergraduate students from Russia State University for Humanities (RSUH). Participant selection was made through a questionnaire aimed to identify students who were in different stages of making a decision regarding transferring to a HEI abroad. The data analysis procedure was informed by the work of Creswell (2002) and Glaser and Strauss (1967). </p><p> Participants reported that language (Russian) and convenience were among the highest motivating factors for membership in specific SNS. The benefits of SNS included opportunities for instantaneous connections with individuals of similar interests; unbiased and multidimensional views presented by SNS members. Respondents searched SNSs for information about majors, culture norms abroad, the cost of education, and careers after graduation. They were applying SNS-specific criteria, such as the number of SNS&rsquo; &ldquo;likes&rdquo;, followers, and the ratio of followers to following, to evaluate HEIs&rsquo; worthiness. One of the emerging study findings was that participants with no connections abroad relied exclusively on SNSs for their college choice decisions. These individuals acknowledged that without SNSs they would not consider an opportunity to transfer to an HEI abroad, as they had no channels for obtaining such information. For participants with connections abroad, the advice of their international contacts played a major role in their college choice and SNSs played a supportive role. </p><p> Limitations related to the use of SNS included a dearth of current research, minimal control over content posted by third parties, time constraints related to mastering SNS features and maintaining a meaningful content. Recommendations for overcoming these obstacles and strengthening HEI professionals&rsquo; connections with international students include developing fluency and expertise in different features of various SNSs or hiring individuals with proven expertise in SNS; creating consistent and meaningful content on various SNS platforms and conducting more research about the use of SNS by international students. </p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to investigate first-generation students&rsquo; pathways to undergraduate research experiences, the forms of capital brought to their research that allow them to self-author, and the validation they gain as a result of research participation. First-generation students are often described via deficit-based perspectives and are cited as having persistence issues and lower academic efficacy. The success of first-generation students is critical to the economic mobility of lower socioeconomic populations. By determining how these students are navigating more rigorous academic pursuits, such as undergraduate research, this study identifies how first-generation students persist academically. Through 12 qualitative interviews, students revealed their first-generation identity to be a source of motivation. Findings emphasize the importance of familial support, campus resources, supportive learning environments, and validating interactions with faculty. Ultimately, students&rsquo; identities become a form of capital within the research experience, that acts on their self-authorship abilities and are further empowered through the validating experience of undergraduate research. The findings of this study suggest a theoretical foundation of first-generation students&rsquo; interaction with research through Yosso&rsquo;s Community Cultural Wealth theory, Rend&oacute;n&rsquo;s validation theory, and Baxter Magolda&rsquo;s theory of self-authorship. Recommendations for practice include early exposure to research experiences, more structured and formalized mentoring strategies, and more opportunities to connect to the campus research community.</p><p>