To this day, Columbia College maintains one of the most robust liberal arts curriculaa mong the tertiary education landscape, an institutional decision that has been both lauded and denounced by students, professors, and cultural critics alike. As this dissertation examines, high tensions from all angles largely stem from the Core Curriculum’s dual commitment to two seemingly oppositional values: its original mission and its ongoing evolution. My interpretive study of this unique undergraduate program begins with an examination of the cultural tradition from which Core derives—the West—considering how the notion of the liberal arts has evolved from antiquity to present day by pinpointing artifacts that demonstrate each era’s practices and priorities. Atop this foundational context, whose relevance persists in its establishment of citizenship, reciprocity, self-determination, and amateurism as underlying values of the liberal arts, I then examine university archival records dating back to the Core’s inception in 1919 and engage with personal stories, collected through interviews with alumni and former instructors of the program. These retrospective and interpersonal examinations are further complemented by the weaving in of my own experiences from my time as a student in the program, adding an introspective angle. In service of determining what is, was, and should be at the core of this curricular phenomenon, I neither defend nor rebuke the Core’s existence, but rather wonder and imagine its universal potential, ending with a call for more finite iterations of the program’s long-lasting values.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University. / Typescript. Sponsor: Karl W. Bigelow. Dissertation Committee: R. Freeman Butts, Ralph R. Field, . Type C project. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 419-437).

No description available.

The purpose of the thesis is to investigate planning processes for academic library buildings and the outcomes of such processes. This is accomplished through a case study utilising discourse analysis. The main question is: How is a vision of an academic library implemented in and through a building? The case study is retrospective and focused on the building of a newlibrary at Kalmar University, Sweden, at the end of the 1990s. During this period, technological and educational developments and general societal change transformed the context of library planning and made way for renegotiations of the librarian profession.A critical realist approach characterises the study of visions, processes and the analysis of the various functions of the building. Results reveal the proactive nature of the activities of thelibrary director in Kalmar. Early in the process he formulated a vision in which he presents the library as an information resource, a meeting place between different user groups and a workplace intended to promote learning and knowledge. From a professional point of view, the vision implied a dehierarchisation of relations both within the library staff and between library staff and visitors. The vision was based on an interpretation of Swedish national educational policy, and architecturally manifested by an ambition to reduce the physical and psychologicalboundaries between library staff and visitors. The early formulation of the visiontogether with the clients’ use of architectural expertise facilitated the choice of architects.However during the process a need arose to anchor the decision in the library field. Efforts were made to address library expertise and to collect user comments from a broader academic field. Discourses concerning the university library as a workplace and a meeting place wereespecially evident in the strategies of the leading agents. The discourses uncovered in the study correspond to more general discourses which became prominent in society and higher education during the period in question. The library itself has met growing appreciation by users both from within and outside the university.The proactive leadership demonstrated by the library director in Kalmar was based on hegemony rather than coercion. This corresponds to contemporary tendencies. Hegemonic consent may persist even after changes in leadership. In Kalmar however, architectural solutions with insufficient support from the library staff have been reconstructed after changes in leadership.Future research on architectural planning processes may pay further attention to different discursive resources, social fields and the positions within them. / Akademisk avhandling som med tillstånd av samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten vid Göteborgs universitet för vinnande av doktorsexamen framläggs till offentlig granskning klockan 13.15 fredagen den 4 december 2009 i sal D207, Högskolan i Borås, Allégatan 1

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

As the cost of higher education continues to grow at astounding rates, research shows that, in most cases, students and their families face some level of debt to pay for their undergraduate degrees (Layman, 2011). This research study will use an engaged scholarship approach to address the reason some students repay their educational debt and some students’ intent to repay their debt is quite different from the desired behavior. Additionally, we review the factors that affect students from underprivileged socioeconomic backgrounds that are, unfortunately, the largest contributor of delinquent student loan debt. Specifically, this study will identify elements using qualitative measures that influence the student’s intent and behavior to act that will assist universities in policy development to change the perceived value and the academic sustainability of the student while understanding the student’s behavior related to socioeconomic barriers and self-sacrificing influences. Additionally, two theories are used as lenses to ground this study. The theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) is used as the focal theory, and place attachment theory (Scannell & Gifford, 2010) is used as an instrumental theory. The empirical results of this study offer factors that influence educational debt repayment and policy design.

This study presents the results of a usability test of reusable learning objects currently in development in the Instructional Services Department of the UNC-Chapel Hill University Library. The learning objects are Web-based learning modules that are part of a new project, Stories of the American South, and they aim to make digital primary source material more accessible by breaking it into manageable units and providing contextual information. Seven undergraduate students viewed three prototypes, each focused on a unique theme related to the history of the American South. The results suggested that the learning objects are generally usable in design and function, and participants’ responses to design and content were positive. Several changes are suggested to optimize the usability of the learning object prototypes, and further usability testing with other audiences is recommended.

This study evaluates monograph acquisition decisions at an academic health sciences library using circulation and acquisitions data. The goal was to provide insight regarding how to allocate library funds to support research and education in disciplines of interest to the library user base. Data analysis revealed that allocations in 13 subject areas should be reviewed as the cost of circulation was greater than the average cost of circulation of the sample and the average cost of monographs was higher in these subject areas than the average cost of monographs in the sample. In contrast, 13 subjects returned cost of circulation rates lower than the average cost of circulation of the sample. These subjects merit stable budget allocation or increased allocation depending upon collection needs. Overall, this study found that this library is allocating a majority of resources to subjects with above average rates of use.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1991. / Bibliography: leaves 251-255.