The purpose of this study was to investigate if there were predictors for student participation in university governance; voting rates in particular. The variables examined were citizenship status, gender, age, basis of admission, program level, and program delivery model. The location of the study, Royal Roads University, offers the majority of its programs through a blended delivery model: an online format combined with short residencies. A regression analysis was performed on voter participation rates in elections for student representatives on the Royal Roads University Student Association, Academic Council, and the Board of Governors. Results indicate low voting rates overall with the highest frequency of voting amongst those in blended delivery programs; correlations exist between age and citizenship status, and between program delivery model and program level, but statistically significant predictors of voting behaviour were peculiar to each election dataset. / Graduate

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Learn how to expand online offerings and to move from being regional institutions to being national and international institutions. We will discuss how to create plans involving student services, marketing, and academics to develop course and program offerings, to obtain reciprocity agreements, and to market these programs successfully.

abstract: For more than 30 years, social science researchers have studied how students in online learning environments interact with each other. This has led to the development of a construct called social presence. Studies have shown that high social presence can lead to improved student retention, engagement, and satisfaction. The literature explores how social presence has been measured by faculty or researchers, but lacks insight on how other university staff can affect social presence in online graduate students. This is an action research mixed-methods study conducted by an academic advisor and attempts to measure social presence through a webpage intervention for an online graduate business program. A pre-and-posttest were conducted in a five month span, as well as semi-structured interviews with students of the program. Results suggest that overall, the intervention did not increase social presence in the program. It also suggests that social presence is developed between students in a variety of ways, and can even be developed between their academic advisor and themselves. Overall, this study acknowledges how academic advisors can explore social presence to improve academic advising techniques and interventions for their programs, while also adding to the literature a different perspective through the eyes of a university staff member. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020