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Achieving Stakeholder Buy-In for Student Engagement in Higher Education: Fostering Campus Climate Grounded in Student and Institutional Voices

Nakonechnyi, Alexei
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1593266032495918

Abstract Details

2020, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Educational Studies.
Despite more than four decades of extensive research on student engagement and campus climate, researchers still do not know how to create undergraduate learning environments that promote student persistence. Undergraduate student graduation rate in the US has consistently hovered at around the 50 percent mark. In fact, the field of student engagement research is yet to arrive at consensus on how to define and measure campus climate and student engagement. The combination of the lack of definitional clarity and extreme complexity of some of the current models have made it challenging to translate student engagement theory into practice. The present dissertation takes a pragmatic approach to student engagement. First, it re-conceptualizes student engagement as a moderator of the relationship between student characteristics that predict academic success and their educational outcomes. The new conceptual model positions campus climate as the only component of student engagement that is within academic institutions’ control and thus should be leveraged by institutions to promote student engagement on their campuses. Campus climate encompasses many aspects of student lives, not only their academic experiences. Second, this dissertation contains a systematic literature review of how campus climate and its relationship to student engagement is defined, discussed, and measured in the literature. The literature review identifies a critical gap: campus climate is studied exclusively from students’ perspective and institutional perspective is not included. Third, a pragmatic action research study was conducted at a particular university and showed that substantial progress on promoting a pro-student campus climate can be achieved through the dialogue of all campus stakeholders. The results of this localized study were shared with a group of outside college administrators with a long term view of creating a community of practice as well as further refining the localized initiative. The dissertation concludes by unifying all of the studies together and suggests that if arenas for dialog are constructed – that is the perspective and needs of all stakeholders are integrated, progress in both the theory and practice of student engagement can be made and tangible improvements to student outcomes may come about.
Jacinda Dariotis, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Everrett Smith, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Lisa Vaughn, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
189 p.
School Administration
Student Engagement; Campus Climate; Student Retention; Student Success; Campus Culture; Learner Persistence

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Nakonechnyi, A. (2020). Achieving Stakeholder Buy-In for Student Engagement in Higher Education: Fostering Campus Climate Grounded in Student and Institutional Voices [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1593266032495918

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Nakonechnyi, Alexei. Achieving Stakeholder Buy-In for Student Engagement in Higher Education: Fostering Campus Climate Grounded in Student and Institutional Voices. 2020. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1593266032495918.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Nakonechnyi, Alexei. "Achieving Stakeholder Buy-In for Student Engagement in Higher Education: Fostering Campus Climate Grounded in Student and Institutional Voices." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1593266032495918

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1593266032495918
168
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.