<p> The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize a list of implementation risk factors and suggested mitigation measures for the development team of the California Community Colleges (CCC) Online Education Initiative (OEI) to improve the probability of successful implementation. This study led to the development of an authoritative and comprehensive prioritized list of risk factors and user-recommended mitigation strategies for the risks of a large-scale shared learning management system (LMS) implementation. The data collected and the conclusions derived from surveying college administrators and faculty are intended to augment the literature as well as advance the understanding of how to successfully implement a new shared LMS of this scale successfully. The participants in the policy Delphi study were 10 administrators, 10 full-time faculty members, and 7 adjunct faculty members from the cohort of the first colleges accepted to adopt the OEI. Two rounds of questionnaires were administered using the online electronic survey program SurveyMonkey. The first round asked participants to prioritize software implementation risk factors and make mitigation suggestions for the highest priority risks. The second round asked participants to rank the mitigation suggestions for the top 10 risks identified in the first round. Only 2 of the top 10 risk factors were statistically significant: underfunding of maintenance and support, and lack of faculty and staff responsibility, ownership, and buy-in for the project. There were no statistically significant differences in risk factor assessments based on job type, length of time in job, legacy LMS, legacy LMS experience, or size of college. OEI leadership and colleges should evaluate and implement the top mitigation suggestions for at least the first 2 risk factors and preferably all of the top 10. Engaging the early adopters in assessing potential implementation risks, prioritizing them, brainstorming mitigation measures, and prioritizing those measures yielded an actionable list the team can use to reduce implementation risks and improve the probability of success of the new OEI system.</p>

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of students with disabilities who contact the school counselor for college information. Self-determination was the theoretical framework guiding this study. Self-determination refers to a student's ability to (a) act autonomously, (b) identify goals, (c) engage in problem solving activities, (d) appraise strengths and limitations, and (e) capitalize on opportunities. The current study used the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002), a nationally representative database that tracks high school students as they transition from high school to postsecondary options. The dependent variable was whether the student went to the school counselor for college information. The independent variables included student characteristics (i.e., sex, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability type, self-determination) and school characteristics (i.e., school enrollment, number of school counselors). This study has conveyed significant information about the relationship between students with disabilities and professional school counselors. The results of this study provided a wealth of information about students with disabilities who contacted the school counselor for college information. This results marks the first time research addressed the characteristics of students with disabilities who visited the school counselor for college information by utilizing the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002). The recommendations to school counselors as a result of this research are to develop comprehensive school counseling programs that embody the characteristics of students with disabilities. One logistic regression model was conducted to determine the influence of sex, race, socioeconomic status, disability type, and self-determination on whether students with disabilities were likely to visit the counselor for college information. Predicted odds were calculated to demonstrate the statistically significant, predictive quality of the variables on visiting the counselor for college information. The theoretical framework of self-determination demonstrated an important relationship in whether the student visited the counselor for college information. Finally, a Pearson correlation (r) that was used for enrollment and number of school counselor variables produced a positive correlation between the number of school counselors and whether the student visited the counselor for college information. / Ph. D.

This study examined the use of information sources in college choice processing of historically-under-represented students from four different types of colleges who traditionally have not been studied in previous research. Historically under-represented types of students included students who were older than 24 years of age, African-Americans, Latinos, and low SES. The four types of colleges included a traditional public university, public community college, proprietary university, and proprietary college. Students from similar college programs of study were surveyed regarding their demographics to determine their categorization as historically under-represented and their use of information sources. Administrators from the selected colleges were interviewed and surveyed. Five students from each college were then interviewed. While most college choice processing research and the development of models are based on traditional college students, this study demonstrated that historically under-represented students generally utilize information sources and perform their college choice processing differently from traditional college students. These differences question the applicability of college choice processing models, such as Hossler and Gallagher's three stage model, without revisions. These revisions include redefinition of the stages and how they are executed in order to embrace the lack of college choices of historically under-represented students due to their lack of college informational motivators. The use of alternate information sources by historically-under-represented students and their motivational impact that differ from those utilized by traditional college students demonstrated the need to employ these sources within traditional colleges in order to increase college access for historically-under-represented students. This includes the utilization of non-traditional college informational motivators, such as the media, spouses, employers, and children, access to college informational motivators for students and their parents at all levels of schooling, and greater college access for older adults/parents. This study provided evidence that historically-underrepresented students still experience deficiencies in their access to college due to their lack of access to traditional information sources and their resulting compensation by utilizing alternative sources which were motivational as well as informational.

This qualitative case study utilized interviews with community college students enrolled in at least one developmental course to describe how students accessed college information and used this information to solidify or adjust their educational aspirations. College information sources included relatives, friends, classmates, professors, advisors, and other college personnel. Bourdieu's cultural capital and Tinto's integration frameworks were used as guiding theories. This study utilized semi-structured interviews with 15 first-time, full-time, remedial students at a suburban community college in the northeastern United States. Interviews conducted in the fall and spring semesters explored students' perceptions of college information sources in order to gain insight into how students viewed information and its implications over time. This study identified four categories that broadly characterize students' information seeking and application behavior: students were classified as dreamers, drifters, passengers, or planners. Students classified as dreamers had difficulty aligning their career and educational goals. While college information was an issue for dreamers, they required more intensive guidance about their larger educational picture before information about intermediary steps would be meaningful for them. Drifters had informed educational goals, but possessed incomplete information or had difficulty applying strategies to reach these goals. Passengers and planners were well-informed and had specific strategies to accomplish their educational aspirations. Planners actively sought out information. Passengers benefited from a guide, such as a dedicated advisor or mentor, who helped them to interpret and apply the information. This study suggests that just presenting students with information is insufficient; to get students on surer footing, colleges should explore both decreasing the need for information in the first place and providing students assistance with applying information to their unique situations. / Educational Administration