Education, Higher

Excelencia in Education (2016) reported that 21% of traditional age college male students were Latino males, second only to White males. The report further noted that Latino males are ranked the lowest in degree attainment – of whom only 20% have earned an associate’s degree or higher (Excelencia in Education, 2016). As an insufficient number of Latino males are graduating with post-secondary degrees, more research must be conducted to explore their educational journey from the community college to the university and how to best support them through their transition. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative narrative research study was to explore the stories of Latino male students as they transfer from a community college to a university. To capture the essence of Latino male students’ stories through the community college transfer experience to university, the research questions focused on what motivated and influenced their journey through the community college to a university. The research questions that guided this study were: What motivated and influenced Latino males’ decisions to enroll in a community college? What motivated and influenced Latino males’ decisions to transfer from a community college to a university? How do Latino male transfer students describe their transition from community college to a university? In this qualitative narrative research study, 10 participants participated in in-depth, semi-structured virtual interviews and completed two journal prompts. To assist in triangulation and validity, participants reviewed the data for accuracy, and thick rich descriptions were used to provide breadth and depth to their narratives. Once the data were collected, it was organized through the qualitative research data management software MAXQDA and analyzed using in vivo, descriptive, and pattern coding. The conceptual frameworks that informed this narrative study were the hero’s journey by Joseph Campbell (2008) and transition theory by Nancy K. Schlossberg (2011).

Cover title: Mr. Barnard's address before the literary societies of Rutgers College.
"I shall have occasion to speak of what I suppose to be the true uses of literature, and the true advantages of the literary character, and what particularly is required and demanded of literature and literary men in this country, and at the present day."--page 7. FAU Libraries' copy edges trimmed to 20 cm.

This mixed methods research study examined the relationship between faculty mindset and their perceived use of instructional technology in the higher education classroom. Recognizing the growing importance of technology-mediated learning interventions, the researcher sought to gain a deeper understanding of how mindset influenced the use of technology particularly amongst college of education faculty in Florida public 4-year universities.
Data analyses revealed the following findings: (a) Although participants shared a range of integration patterns, faculty predominantly integrated technology for knowledge transmission, backstage activity, and communication purposes; (b) Participants predominantly occupied the integration phase of technology implementation, suggesting that they used technology committedly, but in ways that were familiar and common; (c) The way participants perceived and approached technological realities influenced their patterns of technology integration; and (d) Faculty shared similar concerns about the challenges and benefits associated with technology integration in their classrooms.
The key implications that emerged from this study were that student-centered technology implementation practices were underrepresented, and that faculty seemed ill-equipped or underprepared to implement strategies surrounding accessibility.

This phenomenological study examined the experiences of Black male alumni in higher education to gain an in-depth understanding of the aspects that facilitated or impeded their desire to persist to degree completion. This study situated the internal and external aspects that supported or inhibited Black male persistence. And, this study examined how Black male alumni navigate race and racism in higher education. Critical race theory (CRT) is used in this study to examine the lived experiences of Black male alumni at predominately white institutions (PWIs) in higher education. The focus on alumni aids in implementing an anti-deficit approach to highlight Black male success. Anti-deficit research rejects the perpetuation of at-risk research, which presents Black males as incapable of thought production, lazy, criminal and violent. Instead, an antideficit approach illuminates Black male academic achievement and is strategic in replicating success for future Black male collegians. This approach was deemed necessary to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of Black male alumni at PWIs.

The purpose of this study was to describe the campus sustainability performance at four exemplary higher education institutions, i.e., Doctoral, Master’s, Baccalaureate, and Associate’s, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). The case-by-case analysis and the cross-case analysis demonstrated the similarities and differences that emerged across the four cases in the area of the institutional dynamics, sustainability performance, the journey of campus sustainability, and challenges, as well as drivers. In addition, the research aims to provide some implication to other institutions that intend to advance sustainability on their campuses.
A multi-site case study was used to investigate the sustainability performance of four exemplary institutions that participated in the STARS program. Two forms of data collection techniques used for this research study were document analysis and in-depth interviews. Nurturing the student, serving the community, taking social responsibility, and making changes was the internal motivations which drove the four institutions to what they have achieved today. They shared the same purpose of helping students become more aware and informed on how they could apply sustainability into their work, business, and many other places to make the change.

Although temporal issues affecting organizations and leaders have been researched, time orientation (preference for one or more of the present, past, and future time frames) and visioning ability of change agents within organizations remain open for additional investigation. This exploratory survey study compared self-reported time orientation (TO) and visioning ability ratings of administrators and faculty at a community college. The research added to the extant literature by contextualizing the measures of the key constructs and extending the research to a novel setting.
Scores for all three time frames were assessed in contrast to studies that emphasize future orientation. In addition, TO measures were obtained using an instrument constructed specifically for organizations (Fortunato & Furey, 2009). An adapted version of a visioning ability by Thoms and Blasko (1999) was constructed to address a specified time depth (the distant future) and domains relevant to higher education.
Administrators reported significantly higher ratings than faculty on Future TO and visioning ability measures. Future TO scores for faculty were lower in relation to scores on the other two TO scales, but no within-group TO differences were found for administrators. A multiple regression model indicated that Future TO was the best predictor of visioning ability. Faculty teaching in the Associate of Science areas had higher Present TO scores than those teaching in the Associate of Arts programs. TO
and visioning ability did not change as a function of gender, age, culture, and years of experience in higher education.
The interpretation of the findings was limited by the lack of benchmarks that allow for meaningful comparisons across organizations, and by a continued need to establish construct and predictive validity for the key measures. The research has implications for hiring decisions, for staff development, and for temporal profiling in organizations interested in envisioning the distant future.

One of the ways students with an intellectual disability (ID) can reach their fullest
potential is by attending an institution of higher education; too few universities and
colleges offer programs for these students. There are over 3,000 universities and colleges
throughout the United State, yet only 272 of them offer programs for students with an ID
(Think College, 2017). Within the identified programs, there is variation in location,
length, goals, and methods (Grigal, Hart, & Weir, 2012). This study used an iterative
classification process to first identify the programs serving students with ID located on
college campuses, then analyze program websites to determine how they increase selfdetermination
(SD). Phase 1 of the study used categorical sorting to identify programs
that (a) served students with identified intellectual disabilities who had exited the school
system; (b) were located on a college campus; (c) were run by a college; and (d) followed
a college semester/quarter calendar. Phase 2 involved reviewing the websites for the
programs meeting those criteria to identify self-determination activities and classes. In Phase 3 of the study, an online survey was sent to program administrators to verify and
expand the description of self-determination activities. Results of this study show college
programs for students with ID promote SD through instruction; however, the teaching
methods vary from program to program. SD instruction is delivered by staff, peer
mentors, and faculty. Programs measure SD outcomes; however, the tools used vary
from program to program, and they are not applied systematically. The examination of
college program practices and outcomes is central to further program development.
Future research is needed to determine long-term independent living and employment
outcomes of students with ID who attend college programs.

This study examines effective strategies of communication with Hispanic students through the use of printed material, specifically recruitment viewbooks used by colleges and universities. The Hispanic market is significant in south Florida. As colleges and universities begin to seek to communicate the benefits of their institutions to this population, it is important to produce printed communication in a manner that appeals to members of the Hispanic culture. Using a qualitative approach through focus group research, Hispanic freshmen students of a community college and upper division students at a public university were asked a series of open-ended questions about their preferences in the use of language, photographs and several design elements of three publications. One college viewbook represented a majority enrollment of Hispanics. The second viewbook represented a university that is culturally diverse. A third viewbook represented a university that has Hispanic enrollment of less than 4%.

The purpose of this study was to investigate demographic and academic variables that may contribute to the persistence of students at a mid-size, public, four-year institution in southeast Florida. A discriminant analysis was performed using 16 demographic (gender, age, ethnicity, permanent address location, residential or commuter status, and types/amounts of financial aid received) and academic variables (major, high school GPA, SAT verbal scores, SAT quantitative scores, ACT composite scores, total credits attempted first semester, and type of orientation program attended) as predictors to differentiate between classification as a persister or a leaver. The predictive accuracy of the analysis was assessed using a one-tailed z test that compared the results of the analysis to the proportional chance expectation (Huberty, 1994). Analyses were also completed to investigate the contributions of individual and subsets of variables on predicting the criterion. The research questions considered were: Can a predictive model based on student demographic and academic variables known to an institution of higher education prior to a student's matriculation correctly classify students as potential persisters or leavers with greater accuracy than chance? Is there a significant relationship between the criterion and any of the individual variables or subsets of variables in the model that correctly classify students as potential persisters or leavers? The findings indicated that the model failed to classify students as persisters better than chance; however, it was able to provide some predictive accuracy in the classification of leavers. In the most parsimonious model, it was found that persisters were more likely to receive moderate student loan amounts and attempted greater numbers of credit hours than leavers. Since a large number of students at this institution expressed an intention to transfer from the onset of their studies and because student intent could not be used as a variable, the predictive accuracy of the model was affected. A recommendation of this study is to link student intent to the data to create a more successful model.

This descriptive research study attempted to identify practices currently used by postsecondary educational institutions to accommodate adult learners and to identify the factors that determine whether or not institutions offer a means by which adults my earn college credit through individual assessment of their experiential learning. Data were collected from postsecondary institutions with clearly defined general management (GM) and hospitality management (HM) programs. The study gathered demographic information concerning responding institutions (size, area, degrees awarded, accreditations, and type of institution) as well as activity variables: (a) practices in place to accommodate adult learner needs, (b) methods used to acknowledge and, when warranted, credit experiential learning, (c) policies and procedures concerning prior learning assessment programs, and (d) beliefs blocking and supporting the concept of evaluating and awarding credit for experiential learning based A majority of respondents indicated interest in accommodating adult learners by (a) providing small classes and individual attention; (b) eliminating institutional barriers relating to inconvenient time and place scheduling of classes; and (c) conducting some type of prior learning assessment. However, respondents indicated strong preference for traditional testing methods and a low level of acceptance for individual assessment certificates of achievement, or American Council on Education Guidelines. Portfolio-based, assessment had greater acceptance among private institutions than among public institutions. One focus of the study was to determine why institutions do or do not offer portfolio-based assessment opportunities. The most highly rated reasons supporting PLA programs were: (a) the possibility of finding favor with potential adult students and thereby increasing enrollments, (b) the pointlessness of expecting adult students to re-learn what they already know, and (c) the opportunity to meet educational missions. Other responses relating to the support of portfolio-based PLA concerned valuing the portfolio preparation process, building favorable reputation through innovation, and a comparison of costs between the assessment of prior learning and the conduct of internships.The most highly rated reasons blocking adoption of PLA programs were: (a) students' inability to document learning outcomes, (b) difficulty in assessment of learning outcomes, and (c) lack of faculty trained in assessment techniques. GM respondents placed greater emphasis on the value of formal classroom learning over experiential learning, the value of traditional teaching methods, and the preference for experience to follow the learning of theory.