The purpose of this study was to determine faculty participation in and approval of professional growth and renewal activities in the Dallas County Community College District. The population consisted of 526 full-time faculty employed by the district. The DCCCD Survey instrument, which was used in the study, included activities grouped into seven categories: career development, leaves, international activities, instructional renewal, grants, reward, and a miscellaneous category. Faculty members identified participation in activities; they also identified their approval or disapproval of all activities on a five point Likert-type scale. The population was grouped by teaching field, age, years-of-experience and campus for statistical analyses. A Chi-square test of goodness of fit was conducted to determine if significant differences existed between expected and observed participation among groups in each of the seven categories. An analysis of variance was completed to determine significant differences of opinion. The findings of the study indicated significant differences between expected and observed participation in the following categories: international and instructional activities when faculty were grouped by teaching fields; reward activities among years-of-experience groups. Significant differences of opinion were reported in all but the miscellaneous category when faculty were grouped by teaching field. Other significant differences were reported in career development among age groups, in leaves and grants among years-of-experience groups and in career development, reward and the miscellaneous category among campus groups. Based on the findings in the study, the following recommendations were made. The career development program should be broadened to appeal to faculty. Leaves and travel funds must be provided for faculty. International and instructional activities must be expanded to include appropriate activities for all teaching fields. Further study should be conducted in specific areas of professional growth to determine if these activities influence the effectiveness of faculty.

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The concept of teaching effectiveness is challenging for researchers to define. Hypothesized as a multidimensional construct, it encompasses content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, personality characteristics of the teacher, and classroom dynamics. No single dimension, trait, or behavior, however, fully captures what it means to be an effective teacher. Measures, such as peer observation, self-report surveys, and student evaluations, assess teacher effectiveness in higher education. Student evaluations of teachers (SETs) assess multiple areas, including: course content, objectives, organization, and the nature, difficulty, and value of a course; teacher preparation, enthusiasm, and subject knowledge; teacher goals for structuring classroom activities and engaging students in academic pursuits (Cashin, 1995; Feldman, 1996; Marsh, 1984; Midgley, 1998). SETs can be seen as expressions of students’ perceptions about an instructor, a course, and a class, but what influences those perceptions? One concept, classroom community, hypothesizes that students’ sense of community is influenced by the quality of interaction with their instructors, fellow students, and course content. Investigations of classroom community associate higher sense of community with more positive academic outcomes. Teachers’ goals for structuring class activities and engaging students is another concept hypothesized to influence students’ perceptions. Teachers’ goal orientation towards their own teaching is also a factor that appears to influence academic outcomes. Using goal orientation theory, Kucsera, Roberts, Walls, Walker & Svinicki (2009) identified three orientations that influence how teachers approach teaching. To date little research has explored how teacher goal orientation might influence students’ perceptions. This study examined whether there is a relationship between teachers’ goal orientation towards their teaching, students’ perceptions of teacher goals for classroom structure and student engagement, sense of community, and student ratings of teacher effectiveness. Undergraduate business communications faculty completed a survey about their goals for their own teaching while their students took a survey about their sense of community in the classroom, their perceptions of their teachers’ goals for engaging them in academic work and an end-of-semester course instructor survey. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the data. Results generally indicated that students’ perceptions are associated with SETs outcomes while teachers’ goal orientations are not. / text

This study surveyed the opinions of academic administrators of associate degree nursing programs, community college social science programs, and community college biological science programs regarding major benefits and concerns associated with the employment of part-time faculty. This study found that most part-time social science faculty teach in the classroom, half participate in non-teaching faculty activities, and most are paid a contract amount per course or credit hour. Part-time biological science faculty differed only in that most teach a combination of classroom and lab/practicum. Part-time nursing faculty differed in all three areas. Most part-time nursing faculty teach in lab or practicum settings, most participate in more non-teaching activities than other part-time faculty, and most are paid an hourly wage. However, the benefits and concerns associated with the employment of part-time nursing faculty were not significantly different from those identified by academic administrators of the other programs with one exception. Academic administrators felt that part-time nursing faculty expose students to the latest technologies in specialty areas and part-time social science faculty do not. The benefits cited by the respondents, that were in addition to the benefits most frequently cited in the literature, include increased interaction with the community and the ability to "try out" prospective full-time faculty. The concerns cited by respondents, that were in addition to the concerns most frequently cited in the literature, include the inability to find qualified part-time faculty to fill available positions and the concern that the employment of part-time faculty causes resentment among full-time faculty. The results from this study indicate that the literature pertaining to the benefits and concerns associated with the employment of social science and biological science part-time faculty in community colleges can be used to develop policies regarding part-time faculty in associate degree nursing programs.

Student attrition prior to the completion of a credential is an issue that has increasingly demanded the attention of stakeholders in higher education, particularly in the community college sector, in which less than half of all students complete a credential after six years. The costs of student attrition are high and widespread, ranging from the financial costs for institutions and federal and state governments to the personal and monetary costs paid by those students whose personal and professional goals are not achieved. With the ever-increasing focus on accountability for institutions of higher education and the growing movement toward performance-based funding, institutions are seeking to find ways to support all students on the path to completion of a credential. Building upon Braxton’s theory of powerful institutional levers that serve to promote student completion, Rendon's validation theory, and Schossberg's theory of marginality versus mattering, this two-part companion dissertation seeks to progress conversation beyond levers of retention as programmatic approaches to increasing student success. Through interviews with community college students serving as peer mentors in a student ambassador program and community college faculty identified by peers and supervisors as high performing in the area of student retention, the researchers seek to identify common characteristics, behaviors, backgrounds, conditions, and values possessed by effective human levers of retention. In doing so, the researchers hope to identify common characteristics among successful human levers of retention in the form of peer mentors and faculty members. This dissertation was created in collaboration with Kyle Barron, whose dissertation “It’s Not the Programs; It’s the People: Building Human Levers of Retention in Community Colleges” serves as a companion to this dissertation.

The purpose of this study was to develop information and understanding concerning the use of instructional resources, including library materials, by community junior college vocational-technical instructors. The study sought to determine whether the kinds and amounts of instructional resources used by vocational technical instructors in their courses were related to their: (a) level of formal education, (b) number of courses in Higher Education completed, (c) years of teaching experience, and (d) teaching status (full or part-time). Further, the study sought to determine whether the attitudes toward use or non-use of the library were related to such instructor characteristics. The analyses of the data revealed that vocational technical instructors at Tarrant County Junior College utilized a wide variety of instructional resources in their courses. Instructional resources used in at least 50 percent of vocational-technical courses were: audio-visual materials, 88 percent; departmental books, 73 percent; personally owned books, 72 percent; manufacturers' literature other than service manuals, 63 percent; information from notes of previously taken courses, 63 percent; departmentally prepared syllabi, 58 percent; personally owned journals, 56 percent; self-prepared syllabi, 53 percent; manufacturers' service manuals, 52 percent; and association publications, 50 percent.

The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of community college professors regarding education for sustainable development (ESD). In-depth interviews with 14 professors from different disciplines were conducted. The participants taught at Miami Dade College, Florida, a Talloires Declaration signatory since 2006, and all had attended Green Studies professional development workshops. Written documents such as assignments and samples of student work were used for triangulation. The annual report of the college’s Earth Ethics Institute and its Web site served as additional sources. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for common themes. The Talloires Declaration’s 10-point action plan and the key characteristics of ESD (UN DESD, 2006) served as the conceptual framework. The study found that the professors considered ESD an essential issue. The majority discussed the economic and social aspects of ESD; however, the environmental aspect was mentioned most frequently. The professors’ conceptualizations of ESD were influenced by their experiences and evidenced by the metaphors they used. Although their engagement with ESD differed, the professors expressed optimism toward ESD related teaching and learning. They regarded ESD as compatible with their subjects, and most had already been infusing sustainability into their courses or planned to do so. Additionally, the participants’ teaching practices reflected many of the characteristics of ESD. Even though the professors considered ESD challenging, they believed that they could make contributions to the college’s effort. The metaphor of “Planting a Seed” was frequently used to describe this holistic approach. The study also found that many professors regarded interpersonal relationships and communication significant factors for the advancement of ESD. The participants described several challenges to integrating ESD at their college. These related to time constraints, density of curriculum, institutional size and fragmentation, dearth of administrative support and incentives, students’ lack of academic preparation and sustainability awareness, students’ inability to focus on ESD because of personal, social, or economic circumstances, and professors’ frustration about a divisive atmosphere as a result of their engagement with sustainability. Despite these obstacles, the professors believed that ESD could be successfully woven into the community college experience.

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship, if any, between the socioeconomic backgrounds of educators and their attitudes toward women as academic administrators, including a comparison of the attitudes of male and female educators toward women as administrators. The population consisted of all full time faculty and administrators in 25 colleges and universities holding membership in the Association for Higher Education (AHE) of North Texas during the 1984/1S85 academic year. This group of institutions consists of 10 community/junior colleges and 15 senior colleges and universities. Data generation was achieved through the administration of a research package mailed to a sample of 300 subjects selected by a proportionate random process from the defined population. The instruments consisted of a modified version of the Women As Managers Scale (WAMS) and the Hollingshead Factor Index of Social Status. Useable data from 209 respondents were subjected to multiple regression techniques. The hypothesis that socioeconomic background of educators will be positively related to attitudes toward women as academic administrators was not upheld. It was however determined that attitudes toward women as administrators are explanable by a combination of job and non-job related variables, with women having more positive attitudes than men. The findings that 1) younger subjects have more positive attitudes, 2) experience under a female superordinate, generated favorable comments, and 3) educators as a whole had a highly favorable attitude lead to the conclusion that opportunities for advancement of women into adminstrative positions are brighter than often reported. It is suspected that the legislative activities and the feminist movement of the 1960s may have had a positive influence.

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