Ed.D., Antioch University, 2023, Education

Online learning in the higher education sector has grown exponentially over the past 15 years. Whereas online learning was once a viable alternative for the nontraditional adult student, enrollment trends now show an influx in traditional students opting for virtual education opportunities especially in the last three years during the COVID-19 pandemic. While there has been exponential growth in online learning, the rates of attrition have also significantly increased, making it difficult for institutions to retain their online students. This qualitative narrative inquiry study will explore the impact of authentic relationships on student success, engagement, and overall persistence in online learning environments. The research used in this review is timely and relevant for the current student climate that continues to reflect increases in online learning as well as enrollment of both traditional and nontraditional students who have conflicting priorities (work, personal life, and scholarly pursuits). Data compiled here will seek to provide details that support a teacher culture while considering authentic engagement, collective ownership, communication, and human centeredness as avenues for increased student success. It will explore internal and external factors contributing to and/or hindering student success and seek to identify effective and innovative student service practices that foster increased engagement and retention in online student learning environments. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Cristy Sugarman Ed.D (Committee Chair); Ángel Martinez Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jonathan Eskridge Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education; Higher Education Administration

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, EDU Physical Activity and Educational Services

Abstract Over the years, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act (1944) and subsequent funding legislation has enabled vast numbers of American military service members and veterans to attend colleges and universities (Osborne, 2014). For institutions that experienced declines in traditional age students due to changing demographics, Post 9/11 veterans are an attractive enrollment target because of guaranteed government funding. Veterans are particularly appealing to private, online institutions as a viable revenue stream. We know that student veterans share many of the same attributes of nontraditional students (Navarre Cleary, M., & Wozniak, K., 2013) but often do not perform as well as their nonveteran counterparts in the areas of academic performance, retention and in bachelor's degree completion (Cate, Lyon, Schmeling, & Bogue, 2017; Durdella & Kim, 2012). While the amount of research into veteran transitions has increased in the past 10 years, previous studies have often focused on the provision of veteran services or on the mental and physical health issues of combat veterans. Little has been revealed about the lived college experience of Post 9/11 veterans and the difficulties they encounter. Although it has been established that student veterans tend to default to avoidance coping strategies (Romero, Riggs, & Ruggero, 2015), data about the effectiveness of their coping choices and the repercussions on their persistence in college is lacking. More research on veteran college transitions is needed, so this study seeks to address a critical gap in the literature. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to examine the lived experiences, academic challenges, and the coping strategies of Post 9/11 student veterans at a large, Midwestern university.

Committee: Edward Fletcher (Advisor) Subjects: Adult Education; Educational Psychology; Higher Education; Military Studies

Doctor of Education, University of Akron, 2018, Educational Leadership

Veterans are enrolling in higher education in increasing numbers. Many institutions are positioning themselves to receive these students by providing support services and personnel. Despite these efforts, the success rates of this student population have been called into question, and they report poor goodness of fit within the classroom. Professional development initiatives which specifically explore the needs of student veterans within the classroom environment have been limited, or not readily accessible to faculty. This study took place at a community college in the Midwest United States. The purpose of this qualitative study was to invite feedback from both student veterans and faculty who are veterans by asking them to provide context for, and direct input into, a proposed faculty professional development product. An interpretivist epistemology was used so as to capture the social reality of these stakeholders. This feedback served to validate and enhance critical content for three online training modules entitled The VET RESPECT CHECK. Each word within The VET RESPECT CHECK is an acronym for the content of three topic areas: first module: the veteran as student; second module: the classroom environment; and third module: resources. The development of these three modules was guided by Lawler and King's Adult Learning Model for Faculty Development, as well as Allen's CCAF best practice model for online learning. Both groups independently voted and agreed that content regarding the physical, emotional, and behavioral environment was the most important information for faculty to understand. Despite the fact that the topic of suicide was not directly brought forth within the program outline, both groups expressed clear concerns for the safety of veteran students. Furthermore, these groups believe that there is a need for faculty to be sensitive to the issue of veteran suicide and understand their role in facilitating access to resources.

Committee: Renee Mudrey-Camino Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Gary Holliday Ph.D. (Committee Member); Robert C. Schwartz Ph.D. (Committee Member); Nasser Razek Ed.D. (Committee Member); Wondimu Ahmed Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership

Master of Education, University of Toledo, 2011, Higher Education

The U.S higher education demographic has changed, and adult women constitute the fastest-growing segment in the higher learning environment. Increasingly, many institutions of higher education have come to recognize the important role of student services and support systems in the lives of adult women learners. Although much effort exists in creating supportive learning environments for adult women students, educators and higher education practitioners still know very little of these students' experiences with institutional support and student services, what services are beneficial to them and why. The purpose of this study is to enhance our knowledge of nontraditional undergraduate adult women students' experiences with the student services and support systems. An additional purpose of this study is to explore the types of institutional student services and support systems that are found useful and beneficial by these undergraduate women learners themselves and why they are found useful, as well as to explore the challenges, needs, and expectations of adult women learners regarding institutional support systems that they deem unavailable but necessary. A qualitative research method was employed in this study. The participants in this study were nontraditional undergraduate adult women students enrolled at The University of Toledo (UT). The research design used was a semi-structured open-ended interview questionnaire. The in-depth interviews were conducted face-to-face, and the data generated from the interviews were analyzed. The data analysis provided insight into adult women's experiences with the institutional support services in higher education, and captured adult women students' thoughts on the ways they used and benefited from the available academic support, student activities, and campus facilities. The data analysis also provided insight into the adult women students' challenges, needs, and expectations pertaining to their academic journey for success. T (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Snejana Slantcheva-Durst PhD (Committee Chair); Lynne Hamer PhD (Committee Member); Debra Gentry PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education

Master of Computing and Information Systems, Youngstown State University, 2023, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems

Co-curricular supports have been practice bias, which makes it difficult to understand need-based support for nontraditional students in STEM. Thus, the aim of this study was to use data analytics to understand student support in STEM for Nontraditional Students. Quantitative research method approach was adopted with a longitudinal survey of 366 students in the Fall and 218 students in the Spring. In order to understand the support system for non-traditional students, structural equation modeling was used. RStudio was used to screen and analyze the initial data, and the lavaan package in R was used to conduct latent variable analyses. To examine the latent correlations, all constructs were concurrently integrated in a single Confirmatory Factor Analysis model. Subsequently, the data analysis process moved on to robust full information maximum likelihood (RFIML) estimation of SEM and the non-significant pathways were removed until the final model was developed. The study found that though the omnibus support model, as well as the support model for traditional, were not confirmed in both Fall and Spring semesters, it was confirmed for nontraditional students in the Fall semester. The significant loadings for the nontraditional students in the Fall semester include academic integration, university integration, academic advisory support, faculty support, stem faculty support, student affairs support, and cost-of-attendance support & training. However, it was found that the support model for nontraditional students in the Spring semesters was not confirmed. Therefore, using structural equation modeling, this study provides important insights for understanding support for nontraditional students.

Committee: Cory Brozina PhD (Advisor); Alina Lazar PhD (Committee Member); Arslanyilmaz Abdu PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Engineering; Higher Education; Statistics

Master of Arts in Professional Communication, Youngstown State University, 2020, Department of Communicaton

This qualitative study explores the organizational communication strategies that target and engage nontraditional undergraduate students in higher education. Nontraditional students represent as much as 85 percent of the student population, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Still, there is a disproportionately low number of support services offered to this group within higher education. As a result, nontraditional students' persistence and graduation rates are lower than those of their traditional counterparts. Although communication barriers have been identified as impediments to academic success for this group, few previous studies have focused on communication strategies at effectively target and engage nontraditional students. Nontraditional undergraduate students were interviewed about their academic experiences related to university engagement through targeted communication. Additionally, case studies were conducted to explore two university programs that provided programs and services for specific student groups, analyzing how targeted communications were used to successfully engage these groups. Qualitative analysis revealed that although the participants' university did provide efficient and appropriate communication through email, some participants indicated distinct issues with the effectiveness/usefulness of communications related to financial aid and scholarship opportunities for nontraditional students, virtual learning environment challenges and frustrations, overcoming a feeling of disconnection from a social perspective, and giving nontraditional students a `voice' within their university. Participant responses and information learned from the case studies were used to create a framework guiding the creation of targeted strategic communications for nontraditional students by universities.

Committee: Shelley Blundell Ph.D. (Advisor); Thomas Flynn Ph.D. (Committee Member); Cary Wecht Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Continuing Education; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Higher Education; Organization Theory; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2019, College of Education and Human Services

Persistence to graduation for adult undergraduate students has been challenging for decades. Many adult learners enroll into the university with numerous sociodemographic characteristics that can hinder their success. Adult students must manage multiple roles and balance their personal, professional and student roles in order to succeed. Twenty-eight percent of first year undergraduate students will not return to college in their second year (American College Testing, 2012). The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between self-efficacy, academic success and persistence for undergraduate students through the lens of Donaldson & Graham's (1999) model of college outcomes for adult learners. The sample for this study represented 310 undergraduate students from two large urban public universities in the United States. This study measured the students' level of self-efficacy and academic persistence in college. The following surveys were employed for this study: the New General Self-Efficacy Scale (Chen, Gully and Eden, 2001) and the Social Integration and Persistence Scale (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980). Because this survey is nearly 40-years old, the researcher employed an exploratory factor analysis on the data which now suggest that there are six factors that measure academic persistence for adult learners in urban universities. These six factors include: (1) intellectual development, (2) peer group interaction, (3) non-classroom faculty interaction, (4) negative faculty interaction, (5) academic aspirations, and (6) university interconnectedness. This study suggests a significant positive correlation between five of the six factors, with exception to the factor: interconnectedness to the university. The findings suggest that there is a significant correlation between self-efficacy and undergraduate credit hours earned, but no significant correlation between self-efficacy and cumulative grade point average. The findings suggest that there is a posi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jonathan Messemer Ed.D. (Committee Chair); Anne Galletta Ph.D. (Committee Member); Catherine Hansman Ed.D. (Committee Member); Mittie Davis Jones Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2017, College of Education and Human Services

This study examined if and to what extent selected institutional services and special learning and credit opportunities in the 2-year private, for-profit college sector and community colleges in the United States are related to race, socioeconomic status and urbanicity. The researcher evaluated whether the institutional services and special learning and credit opportunities available to students at these 1,479 institutions are stratified by the socioeconomic and racial characteristics of their student bodies and their local communities, by institutional control, by the institution's degree of urbanization, and the student financial aid characteristics. The researcher also investigated the relationship among institutional services, special learning and credit opportunities and multi-institutional and multi-campus organizations. Findings indicate that private, for profit institutions offer substantially fewer institutional services and special learning and credit opportunities than public institutions. Students at for-profit institutions, individuals who are older, more female, lower-socioeconomic minorities, have the fewest available institutional services and special learning and credit opportunities. They are also paying inflated tuition prices at institutions that generally do not invest in services and opportunities that benefit nontraditional students. Conversely, students attending public institutions, individuals who tend to be younger and White and who live in urban and suburban areas, receive a more robust selection of services and opportunities at more affordable tuition rates. Additionally, students who pay higher tuitions at public institutions may receive more special credit options, including credit for military service and credit for life experience. Nationally, for-profit colleges and community colleges located in suburban and urban areas tend to be located in communities with similar racial and socioeconomic characteristics. There tends to be m (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jonathan E. Messemer Ed.D. (Committee Chair); Karla Hamlen Mansour Ph.D. (Committee Member); Catherine A. Hansman Ph.D. (Committee Member); Juanita Johnson-Bailey Ed.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2016, College of Education and Human Services

The research addressed factors affecting degree completion for adult male students. This qualitative case study explored factors that contributed to the persistence of undergraduate adult male students and their perception of their role within the campus community. The research considered: 1) how adult male undergraduate students described their ability to persist until degree completion; 2) what factors contributed to persistence; 3) what types of social interactions enabled participants to persist; and 4) how adult male undergraduate students described their relationship to the campus community. Data were collected through interviews with nine nontraditional male graduates who earned a baccalaureate degree within the last five years. The findings of this study showed that adult male students persisted by demonstrating grit. The campus community was about what they could contribute and the support they needed to graduate. The significance of this study demonstrated the need to consider the role of institutional resources in supporting mutual engagement and degree completion for adult male students.

Committee: Catherine Monaghan Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Marius Boboc Ph.D. (Committee Member); Brian Harper Ph.D. (Committee Member); Johnathan Messemer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Peter Meiksins Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Higher Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, Communication

Learning with technology is a challenge for both designers of and students in online degree programs. Due to new accreditation standards, pharmacists are returning to school. Pharmacy professionals, looking to update their skills, understandings and degree, find themselves overwhelmed with new information and are often without the capacity to incorporate it effectively into their practice. The implications for postsecondary education are profound. Information overload is the operative mode in which students and teachers now exist. Learning in this information rich environment requires different tools and pedagogical methods than are currently used in online learning environments. This dissertation is a report of how pharmacists can learn and communicate in new ways to become better practitioners and better learners. The practical work of developing and testing usable knowledge about online learning environments requires a fundamental understanding of the learning and technology experiences students bring with them to their learning environment, conceptual change processes, information visualization tools to help students visualize what they know, and collaborative learning pedagogies to facilitate sharing of students' understandings. This study explores the role of concept mapping as a tool to help students visualize what they know and to communicate their understandings with other students in an online learning community. While the pharmacists did concept map their understandings and acknowledged the benefits of working together, they did not share their concept maps. This study proposes a collaborative online learning community model for nontraditional students to explain these results. The model suggests the following. First, becoming an expert with a new tool takes time, hands on experience and may be a prerequisite to using the tool to learn and communicate in a learning community. Second, for students to move past public presentation of their ideas and into co (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Thomas McCain (Advisor); Anita Hoy (Other); Phillip Smith (Other); Stephen Acker (Other) Subjects:

Masters in Education, Marietta College, 2007, Education

My mom goes to college. This statement is becoming a popular answer for many children who are asked what their mothers do for a living. Today, women make up 56% of the undergraduate student population in post-secondary education settings. A growing subculture of this population is the adult female student who is enrolling in higher education for the first time. The number of adult female students in college has steadily increased to approximately 2,385,000 students in 2005. Colleges today need to identify and respond to the unique enrollment motivations of this population. This qualitative study examined the experience of one non-traditional female student's enrollment into a small liberal arts college in 1988. The study explored the questions of why she decided to enroll and what motivational factors contributed to that decision. The results of this study identified characteristics which deviated from those found in current research. The motivational forces of the subject were found to be more intrinsic then extrinsic in nature.

Committee: William Bauer (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Higher

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2007, Higher Education Administration

Research has extensively documented the impact of experience on learning.However, there are currently no studies within the physical therapy (PT) literature that address the relationship between work experience and clinical performance. The purpose of my research was to explore this relationship. The study, involving 155 students who completed a master of physical therapy (MPT) program between 2003 and 2006, examined differences in the clinical performance of two groups: nontraditional students who had worked as physical therapy assistants before entering the MPT program, and traditional students who had not. Clinical instructors used the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI) to record midterm and final evaluations of student performance on 24 professional skills. For most of the skills, the two groups did not differ significantly in degrees of change from midterm to final scores. Final evaluations showed that the nontraditional students scored higher than the traditional students on all 24 skills and significantly higher on half of the skills. They also had a significantly higher number of exceptional scores. Further analyses showed that the number of years of work experience, age, and cumulative grade point average of the nontraditional students were not significantly correlated with their scores on most of the skills. The qualitative data provided in the comment sections of the CPI, along with the responses to a survey completed by clinical instructors who had worked with both groups of students in 2006, supported the quantitative findings. That is, clinical instructors consistently indicated that the nontraditional students demonstrated better clinical performance than did the traditional students. The results of this study have implications for graduate programs in PT and other health care professions. Recommendations for practice include considering previous work experience in the admissions process and developing programs that help nontraditional students adj (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carolyn Palmer (Advisor) Subjects: