Call number: LD2668 .T4 1953 E3 / Master of Science

<p> This qualitative research study explored the career-decision making process of first-generation Vietnamese college students. The number of Vietnamese students enrolling in postsecondary education continues to be one the highest among all Asian groups. Yet, the educational attainment and graduation numbers of Vietnamese college students are much lower compared to their Asian peers. The unfamiliarity of the significance of various sociocultural values impedes practitioners to help this group of students achieve their educational goals, specifically during career decision-making process. Findings suggest culture, family, and campus support and resources contributed to first-generation Vietnamese college students&rsquo; success and career decision-making process. Implications and recommendations for policy and practice are discussed.</p>

<p> Higher education institution performance has been brought to the forefront of the public policy arena by the spread of performance funding, the articulation of the Completion Agenda, and Congressional hearings on higher education. Debate over which entities should be responsible for monitoring the performance of higher education institutions as well as which measures are to be used has intensified. Currently, this oversight falls to institutional accrediting agencies that require institutions to meet established criteria, including the development of a culture of evidence and the pursuit of institutional effectiveness. To achieve and maintain accreditation, institutions must provide evidence demonstrating their adoption of a continuous improvement process. </p><p> Higher education institutions have a variety of continuous improvement frameworks from which to choose to improve quality and effectiveness in their processes and ultimately, their outcomes. There is; however, little research to identify how a framework might relate to organizational effectiveness performance. Accreditation provides a unique framework to higher education. The Higher Learning Commission-North Central Association (HLC), a regional accrediting agency, has created the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP), an integrated approach to developing a culture of continuous improvement and supplying institutional accountability information. </p><p> This study investigated the relationship between higher education institutions&rsquo; continuous improvement planning processes and institutional performance measures of graduation, transfer out and first year retention rates for AQIP participating institutions, using a correlational explanatory research design and publicly available secondary data sets. The target population for this study consisted of US higher education institutions utilizing continuous improvement frameworks or similar professional standards. The sample selected was a purposeful convenience sample consisting of all 186 institutions currently participating in the AQIP accreditation process in the Higher Learning Commission region. The AQIP Systems Appraisal Reports were analyzed and the continuous improvement planning evaluations aggregated to develop independent variables. </p><p> The dependent variables of graduation, transfer out and first year retention were selected to represent organizational effectiveness measures. Graduation, transfer out and retention rate data are collected annually as part of the IPEDS survey. Findings showed that institutional characteristics such as sector, size and location had a greater impact on organizational effectiveness measures than continuous improvement practices. In addition, this study explored a unique approach to inter-rater reliability with respect to team generated documents.</p>

<p> A single case study design was used to explore the affiliation need of career college adjuncts and their lived experiences and the influence that their working conditions have on their professional growth, motivation, commitment, sense of loyalty, and connectivity to the institutions they serve involving student achievement and retention. Constructivist theory was the theoretical framework selected for the study based on the concept that individuals construct knowledge and understand more effectively based on reflections of their personal experiences. The aim of the study was to develop a thorough knowledge of the psychological influence of the working conditions of adjuncts regarding their affiliation and connection with the institutions for which they teach. Additionally, the study included an exploration of the types of professional support programs or activities perceived by adjuncts to be beneficial for their needs for affiliation and teaching performance within their institutions. A qualitative method was used, with nine participants in a single case study, and one focus group. The findings showed that regardless of the lack of fellowship, interaction, and participation in professional development activities, adjuncts are still loyal to their students and motivated to teach and change lives. The participants acknowledged their need to be affiliated with their institutions, and strategies to increase their senses of loyalty, commitments, and motivations. </p>

<p> The demand for innovation in nursing education has increased the use of technology and expanded growth in online courses (Hoffman &amp; Dudjak, 2012; Sword, 2012; Valiga, 2012). Many faculty embrace online learning while others perceive knowledge and skills associated with navigating online learning as a barrier to education (Hoffmann &amp; Dudiak, 2012). A lack of research exist related to faculty efficacy in the use of technology for teaching in the online environment (Chang et al., 2011; Petit Dit Dariel et al., 2013; Sword, 2012). The purpose of the descriptive correlational pilot study was to investigate educational technology competencies and efficacy in teaching online. Additionally, the relationship was explored between educational technologies and online teaching efficacy. Bandura&rsquo;s self-efficacy theory served as the conceptual framework for the study. Two instruments were used to collect data: the Michigan Nurse Educator&rsquo;s Sense of Efficacy for Online Teaching Scale (MNESEOTS) and the Duke University School of Nursing Self-Assessment of Educational Technology Competencies Scale (DUSAETCS). The sample consisted of 64 nurse educators teaching at least 51% of course content online within a baccalaureate or graduate level program. A significant relationship was found between self-assessed competency in the use of educational technologies and nurse educators&rsquo; sense of online teaching efficacy (r = .56, p &lt; .001). Additionally, findings from the study revealed that nurse educators reported a sense of efficacy for online teaching from &ldquo;some&rdquo; to &ldquo;quite a bit&rdquo; on subscales addressing student engagement, instructional strategies, classroom management, and uses of computers with a mean of 28.94 on the total scale with a range of scores from 19-35. Participants indicated that they were &ldquo;somewhat competent&rdquo; to &ldquo;very competent&rdquo; in the use of educational technologies based upon responses on subscales addressing: competency, helping students achieve, implementing principles of good teaching, and creating learning experiences with a mean of 145.40 on the total scale ranging from 100-174. An OLS regression was run with predictor variables including online teaching efficacy, online teaching experience, faculty mentoring, instructional design support, and technology competence total score. Technological competency was the only significant variable predicting online teaching efficacy (b = 0.112; p &lt; 0.001) with 36.8% of the variance in online teaching efficacy explained by technological competence. Nurse educators with high online teaching efficacy beliefs value instructional designer support, preparatory course, and peer or mentor support. Additional research is needed to establish reliability and validity for the use of the DUSAETCS tool. Replication of this study is suggested using a larger sample size of online nurse educators to verify variables affecting faculty self-efficacy in the online teaching environment. With additional supporting evidence strategies can be developed to enhance self-efficacy and technological competencies of nurse educators.</p>

<p> <b>Background:</b> Advanced nursing education needs to be pursued along the continuum of the nursing career path. This education process is indispensable to the role of the nurse as educator, manager, nurse leader, and researcher who will effect policy changes and assume leadership roles as revolutionary thinkers in addition to implementing paradigmatic shifts. </p><p> <b>Purpose:</b> This grounded theory study sought to unearth the critical factors that motivate nurses to advance academically. The study aimed to gain an understanding of the social processes associated with the decision of diploma and associate degree nurses to advance their nursing education. </p><p> <b>Philosophical Underpinnings:</b> A qualitative methodology in the tradition of grounded theory using the constructivist and interpretivist approach was used to conduct the study. </p><p> <b>Method:</b> Data were collected from two groups of participants using a face-to-face semistructured interview. The first group was diploma and associate degree nurses, and the second group was a focus group comprising of baccalaureate, masters, or doctoral degree nurses who have progressed academically from diploma or associate degree level. </p><p> <b>Results:</b> Emerging from the thick rich data that were collected from the research participants were the following core categories that ground the theory: rewarding, motivating, and supporting for diploma and associate degree nurses to advance academically. </p><p> <b>Conclusions:</b> The study concluded by elucidating that professional advancement was the social process that grounds. Hence, the emergent theory was; <i>The Theory of Professional Advancement.</i></p>

<p> Nearly half of all college students in the United States begin at community colleges, including higher numbers of students coming from backgrounds which have been historically underrepresented in higher education. Despite record numbers of new students enrolling at community colleges, the number of students who are retained at the institution long enough to be deemed successful, either through transferring or graduating remains largely unchanged and is inadequate to reduce the achievement gap. One theory is that some students enter college with little confidence in their ability to be successful and faculty members are in a unique position to impact student self-efficacy, which ultimately may impact student success. A literature review explores the different ways self-efficacy is tied to college student success and ways the classroom can be used before quantitatively assessing whether a relationship exists between confirmation behaviors employed by faculty members in the classroom and changes in reported academic self-efficacy of students. The research was conducted through a causal comparative matched pair design with Midwestern community college students during their first semester. The results support a relationship between change in self-efficacy and perceived faculty confirmation (r_s= .212, n=70, p=.039^*), particularly for female students (r_s=.331, n=35, p=.026^*) and for those students where neither parent completed a degree higher than high school (r_s=.316, n=46, p=.016^*).</p>

<p> High-stakes testing in undergraduate nursing education are those assessments used to make critical decisions for student progression and graduation. The purpose of this study was to explore the different ways students experience multiple high-stakes tests for progression in one undergraduate BSN program. Research participants were prelicensure senior baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in their final semester of the nursing program. A descriptive qualitative design, using the framework of phenomenography, captured the various ways a group of prelicensure BSN students described their experiences with multiple high-stakes to progress throughout the nursing program towards graduation. Phenomenography is designed to examine the various ways in which a group individuals experience or perceive the same phenomenon. Analysis revealed five major categories of descriptions, including values, stress, inconsistency, high demand/expectations, and transfer of learning. Each category included various sub-categories. The findings provided a rich understanding of the student's point of view of high-stakes tests that is lacking in the nursing education literature. In addition, the results were used to develop a structure of learning model as a useful tool to guide nursing faculty in developing program-specific strategies that promote student success with high-stakes testing throughout nursing curricula. </p>

<p> This inquiry investigated four design educators&rsquo; perspectives and beliefs of global competence teaching and learning, and aimed to inform effective global competence curricula planning and instruction across disciplines. The literature uncovered multiple reasons to warrant design educator reflections: (a) similarities among global competence and design thinking characteristics, (b) design education accreditation emphasis on globally oriented standards, and (c) design thinking as a resource to improve practices across disciplines. Accordingly, the inquiry employed a qualitative design and a multiple case-study approach. Data collection methods included: (a) interviews, (b) image artifacts, and (c) researcher reflective memos. A comparative analysis used systematic coding to reveal core theme statements grounded in the data. </p><p> The inquiry revealed all four design educators believed: (a) active learning and information gathering activities were effective ways to teach global competence, (b) interaction with others from different backgrounds contributed to global competence development, (c) a formal education experience changed the ways they view the world and empathize with others, (d) the critique was an effective global competence teaching and learning tool, and (e) the role of perception processes fostered ability to recognize qualities of other people and places. All four design educators&rsquo; image artifacts represented meanings and interpretations of global competence as human-centered, and expressed physical connection. Ultimately, three overarching discoveries emerged: (a) design educators use mindshifts to develop global competence, (b) design educators are makers of their global competence development, and (c) design educators are mature motivators of global competence development. </p><p> The inquiry concluded with a model for design education global competence development grounded in the data and the literature. Implications for action connected to three higher education teaching and learning areas: (a) mindfulness, (b) the maker movement, and (c) mindsets. Overall, the four design educators&rsquo; information-rich narratives and practical curricula design applications presented in this inquiry aim to encourage other educators to relate the global dimensions of their own disciplines to current teaching and research practice.</p>

<p>Given the frequently observed disconnect between people's learning experiences and their subsequent behavior or practice, this research inquired into the factors that contribute to coherence or congruence between learning and practice as perceived by graduates of ISTEL (Instituto Superior de Teologia Evang&eacute;lica no Lubango), an interdenominational theological college in Angola, Africa. </p><p> Characteristics of African indigenous knowledge systems and general cultural characteristics were taken into consideration when analyzing these findings. Twenty seven graduates of ISTEL who completed their bachelor's degree in theology between 1997 and 2012 were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. Research questions for this study inquired into graduates' perceptions regarding their learning experiences prior to ISTEL. They were also asked to recount how their learning at ISTEL differed from previous schooling. Finally graduates were asked to recount how their learning experiences were influencing their present ministry practice. It was found that the most frequently mentioned factors that contributed to coherence were: 1. The modeling of qualities of Christian life by faculty; 2. Experience in small group fellowships for spiritual formation; 3. Apprenticeships and "hands on" practical ministry experience; 4. Critical thinking skills. </p>