1,720,980 research outputs found
Exploring connections between college students' purpose and deliberate outdoor adventure activities.
No full textThis phenomenological qualitative research study explores possible connections between traditional-age college students’ engagement in deliberate outdoor adventure activities and their understanding of their life purpose. Data collection methods include in-depth interviews and journal prompts of seven traditional-age college students and one graduate student from various postsecondary education institutions within the United States. A two-phase manual coding process used to analyze the data identified four major ways that participants found engaging in deliberate outdoor adventure activities influenced their understanding of their life purpose. Participants viewed engagement in these types of pursuits as: (1) a means for purpose reflection, (2) a medium to refine and hone skills and attitudes necessary for purpose fulfillment, (3) a way to motivate and re-energize for living purposefully, and (4) a foundational element of purpose. Limitations and implications for practice and future research are provided in the concluding chapters
The importance of what students care about : a grounded theory exploration of student preferences and pathways.
No full textStudents make countless decisions in college. Yet, few studies on student pathways through college consider the importance of what students care about. A review of the higher education literature devoted to student pathways through college revealed a segmented view of student identity, a dilemma-based view of moral evaluation, and a tendency to overemphasize either student agency or social structures in the evaluation of student pathways. This study is based on the premise that exploring what students care about—as conceptualized by Frankfurt (1988)—could contribute a more human understanding of students and their pathways to the field of higher education. More specifically, this qualitative, grounded theory study explored what students cared about and how those cares shaped their pathways through college. Despite subtle nuances and emphases, the top three categories of student cares were the same across all the student sub-groups I explored—students cared about relationships and community, academics and learning, and personal growth and wellbeing. These cares, in turn, laid the foundation for an exploration of the process by which these cares informed student pathways. I found that students pursued what they cared about in a four-stage cycle wherein the final stage of one cycle became the first stage for the subsequent cycle. Derived from these findings, the theory of fluid coherence describes how each student’s pathway can be understood as a coherent string of care pursuits and prioritizations through time. The findings of this study suggest that student cares were not clashing moral principles as depicted in Kohlbergian (1981) dilemmas, but matters of internal, individually and contextually situated, evaluations unique to each student. Therefore, this study demonstrates the ability to conduct empirical research assuming a more functional understanding of humanity that draws upon the arguments of scholars (e.g. Atkins, 2010) who eschew an abstract, a-practical conceptualization of identity in favor of one that motivates human decision-making in moral space (Taylor, 1989). The decisions students make in college are bound up with deeper decisions about what to care about and how those cares construct an understanding of who they are
Cheating at Baylor.
No full textIn the Fall of 2018, Baylor University announced changes to its honor code that it made in order to combat the rise of internet cheating. This thesis project is a phenomenological study, and it explores the motivations, self-justifications, and methods that Baylor students use to cheat in their classes using semi-structured interviews with current Baylor students. Through a coded analysis of the interviews, I found, among other trends, that some Baylor students believe in the mutual exclusivity of cheating and learning and that they use such a belief in order to justify behavior that their professors would likely consider to be academic integrity violations. After analyzing my findings through the lens of the current academic integrity literature, I suggest to Baylor and the Office of Academic Integrity changes to make to classroom and university policy that would work to decrease internet cheating as well as the current disillusionment with the honor code
Social support and its influence on college students' understanding of moral expertise.
Get PDFColleges and universities offer environments conducive to moral development, which is seen as essential for cultivating civic engagement, intellectual growth, and virtuous character. As part of a larger study on character and religion at Christian universities, this article provides a longitudinal case study analysis of students at a mid-size, faith-based research university, exploring how students seek moral expertise through social support from faculty, staff, peers, and social, as well as religious, communities. Fourteen students were interviewed in their first and third years of enrollment, culminating in 28 total interviews. Data were coded and analyzed to discern how students understood moral expertise. The findings suggest that students sought out guidance from a variety of social groups and that students' relationships with religious organizations and peer mentors influenced how students articulated their views of moral expertise. Students' understanding of moral expertise was shaped by social supports, particularly moral exemplars and mentors
Tradition richness : a theory of campus traditions and culture.
No full textCampus traditions are a common feature on college and university campuses across the United States; however, there is little literature examining these cultural features. Though there seems to a skepticism around traditions, Christian colleges and universities offer a positive vision for what campus traditions can be. Operating from the premises that deep-seated habits are spiritually formative and that traditions—when done well—function as liturgies of celebration, it is important to understand how traditions relate to campus culture in order for Christian institutions to engage student in such formation. As such, this study sought to describe the nature and intensity of the relationship between tradition and culture by presenting an interdisciplinary theory of tradition richness, approaching traditions as a form of interaction ritual. This theory is then clarified through a collective case study of five governing members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. The findings from this study reiterated existent literature on campus traditions and rituals but adds clarification and expansion on elements to the theory presented. The study points to the importance of structural elements for traditions to exist in abundance on a campus and functional elements that allow traditions to permeate the culture and perpetuate so as to in turn structure culture. Further clarification is also presented on the networks of memories and symbols resultant from traditions that are connected to emotional energy and group unity and identity, which can exist at multiple functional levels of a campus community and so structure life and culture
Social support and its influence on college students' understanding of moral expertise.
No full textColleges and universities offer environments conducive to moral development, which is seen as essential for cultivating civic engagement, intellectual growth, and virtuous character. As part of a larger study on character and religion at Christian universities, this article provides a longitudinal case study analysis of students at a mid-size, faith-based research university, exploring how students seek moral expertise through social support from faculty, staff, peers, and social, as well as religious, communities. Fourteen students were interviewed in their first and third years of enrollment, culminating in 28 total interviews. Data were coded and analyzed to discern how students understood moral expertise. The findings suggest that students sought out guidance from a variety of social groups and that students' relationships with religious organizations and peer mentors influenced how students articulated their views of moral expertise. Students' understanding of moral expertise was shaped by social supports, particularly moral exemplars and mentors
Community college success coaching : a phenomenological exploration.
No full textThe purpose of this study was to develop an in-depth understanding of the essence of the emerging success coach profession and to understand how these community college student affairs staff members articulate and analyze the process of developing their students’ success. The role of community college success coach only recently emerged and these practitioners’ perspectives about what comprises student success in this context remain underexplored. Furthermore, the empirical community college student affairs literature continues to remain “downright skimpy” (Creamer, 1994, p. 9). This study was especially poignant in light of the Community College Completion Agenda’s work to increase community college student success rates, which are commonly quantified by increased retention, GPA, and transfer rates. Most of the current theories about community college student success do not entail a thorough understanding of the roles that community college student affairs professionals fill in helping their students to become successful. In turn, the dominant theories about student success primarily concentrate on promoting student academic success, and do not typically explore what it may mean for students to be successful outside of their educational endeavors. This study aimed to present a robust understanding of what community college student success means from the perspectives of those employed to facilitate this construct: the community college success coaches themselves. By using an interpretative phenomenological approach, this study gathered the experiences of community college success coaches to promote their students’ success. I also explored my participants’ perspectives about the ultimate goals of success coaching,especially regarding the relative lack of information about the success coaches’ potential roles in developing their students’ success outside of their academic endeavors. Through interviews, supported by document analysis, I provided a more holistic understanding of the ultimate purposes of this emerging student affairs function within the community college setting. I compared my participants’ perspectives to the current philosophies about community colleges success to understand how these theories may need to be modified to account for my participants’ lived experiences. I concluded by making specific recommendations as to ways that this practice should be augmented by current theories about community college student success
Incompatible? : How Christian faith informs Title IX policy and practice.
No full textExtensive literature exists on the integration of faith and learning, or faith and practice, in Christian higher education (e.g., Beers 2003; Beers & Beers, 2008; Dockery & Morgan, 2018; Glanzer et al., 2020a; Guthrie, 1997; Harris, 2004; Hasker, 1992; Holmes 1977, 1987; Herrmann et al., 2018). However, the literature is largely void of the connection between Christian faith and Title IX policy or practice. This study contributes to closing this gap in the literature. The purpose of this study was to understand how Christian faith informs Title IX policy and practice at Christian colleges and universities. This study employed interpretative phenomenological analysis as a qualitative methodological approach (Smith et al., 1999; Smith et al., 2009), and used Glanzer and Robinson’s (2019) modification of Benne’s (2001) Christian institutions typology. Three data collection methods were utilized to understand the experiences of Title IX coordinators at Critical-mass and Orthodox Christian institutions (N = 228): (1) qualitative survey, (2) in-depth interviews with survey participants, and (3) Title IX policies as provided by survey participants. In all, 88 Title IX coordinators completed the survey, of which 20 participated in an in-depth interview, and 59 Title IX policies were provided for analysis. The findings of this study demonstrated that Title IX coordinators’ faith influenced their Title IX work in a spectrum of ways, but generally fell into three major themes: (1) the positive influence of their Christian worldview on their Title IX work in how Title IX coordinators view and care for students and the campus community; (2) the complicating factors other institutional policies bring to Title IX work, specifically regarding the topic of consent and policies that inhibit reporting; and (3) the challenges and pushback on Title IX due to campus culture steeped in purity culture and unhealthy views of Title IX. From these findings, five implications for practice emerged related to the need for sex education from a Christian perspective, amnesty provisions, appropriate Bible application to Title IX-related situations, language-use in policy and practice, and the necessity to discuss consent and biblical sexual ethics in appropriate contexts
Moral and civic education and the public value of religious schools.
No full textThis dissertation will argue that it is in the American public's interest to make lightly regulated religious schools available as a common school alternative through some manner of school choice. My argument recognizes that religious beliefs are generally the core source of meaning, understanding, motivation, and order for the individual. I claim that the public advances its educational goals when this core source is engaged in publicly supportive "private" school settings to nurture the moral and civic identities of children. I develop this argument in three segments. First, through historical analysis, I demonstrate that nineteenth century common school leaders generally viewed the nurture of moral and civic values as religious in nature. Education leaders desired to form a common "American" identity. However, within a common school committed to honoring religious conscience, this religious formation became increasingly secularized. In accord with educational secularization, the nurture of moral and civic values became dependent upon secular curricula that have not proven to be more effective than religious school curricula. Second, with a preliminary conclusion that public interests support the expansion of schooling that engages religious views, I survey the scholarly arguments opposed to the inclusion of religious schools within a system of public funding. I conclude that concerns regarding autonomy, deliberation, equity, public unity, and the adequacy of secular schools do not inhibit consideration of the public values associated with religious schools. Finally, I present the public value of religious schools. It follows that religious schools and the communities they form are favored toward the nurture of deep moral and civic identities as well as social capital. They protect the state against claims that common schools standardize ideas and represent a form of religious establishment, and they can advance public unity by providing a means by which religious groups can reaffirm support for public education. In conclusion, I offer a general structure for a school choice system that protects both the public's educational interests and the integrity of religious schools
Conceptualizing a vision of the good life among mid-career faculty.
No full textThis qualitative study examined how mid-career faculty defined and pursued the good life and what they perceived as helping or hindering that quest. Using Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory within a critical realist ontology, the research sought to uncover the conceptual structures and generative mechanisms that shaped their vision of the good life. Thirty post-tenured faculty from diverse institutions across the United States participated in semi-structured interviews designed to elicit both personal and professional understandings of the good life. Analysis followed iterative coding, memoing, and constant comparison, culminating in a grounded conceptual framework composed of seven ends and five means. The ends represented valued states and pursuits that faculty sought to achieve or sustain, including good work, peace, community, family, happiness, expression of faith and hobbies. The means represented the antecedent methods and conditions that enabled those outcomes, including agency, balance, self-care, stress reduction, and intellect. Viewed through a critical realist lens, the means functioned as generative mechanisms operating in the deep domain of social reality, activated in the actual domain through contextual interactions, producing the ends as observable outcomes in the empirical domain. The resulting framework is humanistic and descriptive, depicting the good life as a dynamic integration of state and pursuit. Situated within philosophical, psychological, and higher education theories, it provides a theoretically grounded and empirically rich account of how mid-career faculty enact flourishing as whole persons within academic life
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