<p> This dissertation explores the ways that instructors at a community college perceive instructor-student rapport in online and face-to-face classes. While instructor-student rapport has been shown to play an important role in student retention and success (Benson, Cohen, &amp; Buskist, 2005; Granitz, Koernig, &amp; Harich, 2009; Murphy &amp; Rodriguez-Manzanares, 2012), it has only recently been examined in the context of online education, and generally only from the student&rsquo;s perspective and not from the point of view of faculty. This study utilized grounded theory methods to create a theory of online instructor rapport building to improve best practices in both online and face-to-face classrooms. Interviews with 22 instructors at a large community college indicated that online rapport-building is often more time-consuming and difficult than face-to-face rapport-building, with autonomy, media richness, and uncertainty reduction, all playing a role in establishing rapport between instructors and their students. Using the collected data, I built on Joseph Walther&rsquo;s Social Information Processing Theory (SIPT) by placing it in the context of higher education, and created a Theory of Instructor-Student Rapport Online (TISRO) to explain what makes rapport feel strong, weak, or non-existent, from the perspective of instructors.</p><p>

This exploratory descriptive study examined the factors that influence Registered Nurses (RNs) to return to school to pursue a Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing degree (BSN) and the factors that contribute to the decision to remain in school to complete the degree. Students (N=226) enrolled in RN-BSN programs in three different universities in southeast Florida participated in the study by completing researcher developed questionnaires. The study group included 140 students who were newly enrolled in an RN-BSN program and 86 students who were preparing to graduate from an RN-BSN program. The instruments used in this study were two researcher developed questionnaires, the Corbett Nursing Educational Motivational Inventory - Form A (CNEMI-A), administered to the newly enrolled students, and the Corbett Nursing Educational Motivational Inventory - Form B (CNEMI-B), administered to the graduating students. The questionnaires included researcher-developed items in addition to items derived from a modified form of the Educational Participation Scale used by other researchers. Demographic data were also collected. Findings indicated that changes in health care, career goals, personal satisfaction, and flexible curriculum patterns are the major reasons why RNs return to school for the BSN. Less significant factors were social support, salary increase, and employer expectations. The factors considered most significant in the decision to remain in school to complete the degree were ranked in the following order: personal achievement, changes in health care, career change/advancement, enrollment options, faculty support, social support, and employer support. Implications for nurse educators related to the changing roles of RNs and the need to continue to assist RNs to adapt to new roles in health care. Recommendations for future research on RN-BSN nursing education included studies to identify the courses considered most useful by RN-BSN students as compared to courses considered repetitive of basic nursing programs. Studies were also recommended to examine the differences between the needs of RNs related to experience as an RN and recency of education. Additional studies were recommended to determine the feasibility of dual-enrollment ADN/BSN programs for last semester ADN students.

<p> This dissertation examined community college transfer students&rsquo; perceptions of how mental health concerns interfere with academics, the ability to stay in school, graduate, and transfer to a 4-year university. The study also examined if community college transfer students perceive that mental health counseling improves their ability to stay in college, graduate from community college, and overcome barriers that interfere with the ability to transfer to a 4-year university. The study employed descriptive statistics and one-way between subjects ANOVAs to examine the effects of demographic characteristics and presenting mental health concerns on the ability to remain in community college, graduate from community college, and transfer to a 4-year university. Eta squared post hoc test revealed medium to large effect sizes. The participants were 65 transfer students consisting largely of white, female community college graduates between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four from a mid-sized, southeastern United States university. Significant findings for differences in perceptions were found based on students&rsquo; presenting concerns for counseling and demographics.</p><p>

This research study examined the importance of trust between instructor and students learning developmental mathematics in classrooms at 15 community colleges across Massachusetts. The study involved gathering new data using focus groups, field notes, surveys, and follow-up interviews with instructors and departmental chairs. Qualitative analysis was used to find emergent themes and connections to math anxiety and motivation. The study identified seven salient qualities of trust: respect, safe environment for students, belief in student's ability, care for student, competence of instructor, building over time, and destruction by betrayal. Instructors reported that increased classroom participation and student connection to instructor were factors that indicated trust was established. They also suggested teaching strategies to build trust: encouragement, mindful pedagogy, humanistic instruction, enabling student-to-student respect, situated applications, flexibility with assessments, and ensuring success. The causal impact of math anxiety was acknowledged: negative past experiences can block learning; lack of trust breeds hatred; fear and prejudice are barriers to learning; lack of trust can cause math anxiety; and trust lowers math anxiety and allows improved achievement. Instructors reported a "wall" as a metaphor that students use to describe their difficulties learning mathematics. Finally, the study recommends strategies for instructors to use to improve motivation for students learning mathematics: help establish a learning community, encourage self- efficacy, affirm students' questions, nudge students toward understanding, be a cheerleader, and utilize math support services.

The focus of this study is to examine the factors that comprise convenience for distance education students. The prevailing assumption regarding student selection of distance education is that the choice is directly related to convenience and the ability to control the time and place of their learning. Students are selecting and repeatedly taking distance education courses; this research sought to understand the reasons behind this selection. The premise of this study is there are many bundles that underlie the convenience in distance education and they are related to factors other than anywhere, anytime learning. Previous studies have relied on the use of survey data regarding students' preferences regarding distance education. This study utilized a qualitative approach to allow the students to tell their own stories. Nine distance students attending community college were interviewed for this research. The student stories and experiences provide the data and basis for the findings of this study. Implications for future research are discussed.

This dissertation describes a qualitative, participatory action research study conducted in western Massachusetts from the spring of 1997 through the spring of 2000. The study investigated the educational experiences of a group of fifty-five low-income female students in one western Massachusetts community using interviews, focus groups, writing activities, and surveys. The study examined how participants were affected by contemporary social and economic issues, particularly by the policies commonly known as “welfare reform” that were legislated in the United States in 1996. Welfare reform created new challenges in the lives of many low-income women and their families by severely limiting the amount of assistance recipients are eligible to receive in their lifetimes and restricting their access to education and to the supports needed in order to pursue education. All of the study participants were raising families, were current or former welfare recipients, were either enrolled in graduates of Adult Basic Education programs, and the majority were Puerto Rican women who spoke Spanish as their first language. Thus, the main contexts framing this study were welfare reform and adult literacy, as well as the implications of race, language, gender, and class on low-income women's educational experiences. Because the study employed a participatory action research approach, participants were full partners in all aspects of the research, including its design, methodology, analysis, and a variety of presentation activities. The study described in this dissertation explored three key topics in order to understand the educational experiences of participants: the wide range of meanings participants associate with education; the impact of welfare reform on their learning and achievement; and the variety of ways they made use of and created support systems in order to reach their goals as parents and learners. Finally, an important aspect of the study was that it employed metaphor analysis in two ways: (1) as the study's main tool for analyzing data and (2) as an innovative pedagogical strategy for the writing classrooms in which much of the data was generated. Thus, in addition to the study's findings related to participants' educational experiences, the study also generated findings related to educational practice.

With the growth in the adult student population over the past few decades, better serving this student population has become a focus of many institutions (Altbach, 1999; Witt, Wattenbarger, Gollattscheck, & Suppiger, 1994; Cohen & Brawer, 1996). In addition, studies show that introductory English courses function as gatekeepers to persistence towards a degree (e.g., Sommers & Saltz, 2004; Michaud, 2011). Given the importance of English composition to adult learners’ success, the purpose of this study was to explore and understand how adult learners in an introductory English composition course experience and understand the classroom. The study was designed under the conceptual framework of andragogy, which upholds a model of adult learning (Knowles, 1984; Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2005), as a lens through which to examine data. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology, in keeping with a constructivist stance, allowed for a deep exploration of the phenomenon as a lived experience that adhered to the tenets of van Manen’s (1990) research approach. A community college campus site served as the site of data collection, and one course, ENG 111, English Composition I, figured as the course considered the shared phenomenon. Nine adult learners, defined as those students aged 25 and above, participated in two semi-structured interviews, one at the start of each term and one at its completion. The interviews solicited their individual understandings of their experience, allowing for a rich collection of narratives. Using thematic coding in keeping with van Manen’s (1990) methodological approach of interpreting of spoken narratives as text, the narratives yielded individual themes, which were then compared across cases to generate larger themes that represented the shared understandings of all participants. These overarching themes were: (1) Applying background experiences to learning attitudes and approaches, (2) Navigating outside responsibility conflicts, (3) Appreciating supportive and equitable interpersonal relationships, and (4) Experiencing greater confidence in academic writing. While the study design sought to elicit deeper understandings of a particular phenomenon and so cannot be generalizable (Creswell, 2007), the findings nevertheless suggest conclusions and recommendations that provide useful direction and insight to this student population and future research, which close this study.

Digital humanities study applies technological tools to the study of humanities topics and allows for the exploration of new questions in ways that were not possible using traditional research models. Librarians have been active participants of the field since its inception, as they explore new ways to critically engage with information organization and information literacy instruction, and most research that focuses on the intersection between these fields takes place within research universities . In contrast, there is very little research examining digital humanities work at the community college, which primarily offers associate degrees, vocational certificates, and other workforce based training. This dissertation details the results of a nationwide survey of community college librarians and their perception and current engagement of digital humanities. The results indicate that while community college librarians are often knowledgeable about digital humanities subjects, many do not actively participate in digital humanities projects at their institutions because of barriers such as limited staffing, burnout, and the perception of the community college and its students, among others . While digital humanities practice presents multiple opportunities for the community college, practitioners must be mindful of how (and why) they engage in this work to create sustainable and relevant projects.

Community colleges have always played a crucial role in providing access to college, especially for students with disabilities. At the same time the rate of completion is exceptionally low for this particular population (Belch, 2004). In order to improve persistence and achievement measurably, colleges may seek clues in successful transitions by students with disabilities. This project presents a qualitative research study to illuminate factors that contribute to semester-by-semester success of community college students with disabilities during their first year. A conceptual model of successful transitional processes was developed from theoretical constructs reported in the literature and was expanded by data from individual case studies. Seven very strong stages emerged as a result of the research. These stages were: (1) pre-college experiences that influence academic involvement, (2) initial encounters that created first impressions, (3) transition shock, (4) support-seeking and strategic adjustment (5) prioritizing and balancing of college and non-college commitments, (6) recognizing success, and (7) a sense of belonging to the college community. These results indicated a successful transition into college is an important first step in persistence for students with disabilities. Persistence of students with disabilities requires further attention and research in order to improve graduation rates of these students at community colleges.

The purposes of this study were to provide an historical overview of the development of post-secondary technical education in Puerto Rico within the framework of the expansion of higher education; and to examine the implications and consequences of the development of technical education as it relates to social stratification, social division of labor, and social class conflict. During the 1940s, Puerto Rico began, for it, an unprecedented economic development program with the objective of industrializing the Island. This industrialization process brought about a rapid transformation of the occupational structure of the labor force on the Island. This process also influenced changes in the structure, orientation, and curriculum of public post-secondary education. In the 1960s, the University of Puerto Rico underwent a rapid and remarkable transformation. An important part of this process was the establishment and development of a system of regional colleges that became responsible for the development of two-year technical programs. The apparent shortage of technical personnel necessary to sustain the process of industrial development, and the high unemployment rate among four-year college graduates were two of the most influential arguments that sparked the establishment and development of these programs. The findings show an imbalance in the social demographic composition between regional college students and those in the more prestigious campuses. Students from the higher social class are over-represented at the main institutions, while the lower social class is better represented throughout the regional college system. Data used in this study do not support the claim of a technical personnel shortage nor the allegation that technical education yields economic success, facilitates upward social mobility, and helps to alleviate unemployment among four-year college graduates. Finally, the data do not support the existence of a social-class tracking system within the regional college institutions.