Learner engagement, loosely defined as the extent of a student's cognitive and emotional investment in both academic and co-curricular activities, is argued to make a positive impact on both the student experience at university and student learning outcomes. Universities often implement co-curricular activities and programs to drive learner…

One strategy to encourage college students to meet physical activity and public health guidelines is the Exercise is Medicine on Campus Initiative (EIM-OC), whose goal is to promote physical activity as a vital health sign within universities. To develop, implement, and evaluate the EIM-OC Initiative, it is critical to understand the mechanics of…

Objective: To investigate the physical activity levels of students enrolled in a standard fitness walking class versus a service-learning dog walking class. Participants: College students (N = 65) from a university in the Southeastern United States (71% female; 85% White; 72% seniors). Methods: Students wore NL-1000 pedometers twice a week for 50…

Purpose: This study used the design process (analysis, development, and evaluation) to understand and refine the process, dimensions, and outcomes of a multi-year, whole-institution approach to social justice education for preservice teachers (PSTs) at one institution. The authors used shared governance to establish a cross-disciplinary…

In 1993, an increase was observed in the spatial IQ scores of the volunteers who listened to Mozart's sonata K448 for 10 min, and this phenomenon entered the literature as the "Mozart effect." Other studies have shown that this effect is particularly evident in spatial skill tests. A large body of research has provided evidence that…

Digital Gender-Based violence (DGBV) is a social problem affecting overproportionally younger people, especially women and LGTB. Training programmes to combat DGBV are recommended but we lack evidence-based evaluation of them. We evaluate a series of trainings at university for all participants (N = 190), taking into account gender and sexual…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cooperative learning (CL) on the academic achievement of student teachers. A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was implemented in which quantitative data were collected first, followed by qualitative data to clarify the results of the experimental study. Achievement test,…

As beef industry trends have evolved, beef producers are looking for value-added beef practices and marketing strategies. To ensure that a new value-added beef Extension program framework at Iowa State University aligns with beef producers' needs, a needs assessment instrument was created. We developed a needs assessment tool focused on program…

High-impact practices (HIPs) are anticipated to engage both traditional and nontraditional students in different ways, providing substantial educational benefits and correlating with better retention and engagement. This study reports on the development of an analytical tool to assess the impact of individual and collective HIP participation on…

This paper examined the role of honor codes and severity of punishment on the students' perception of cheating seriousness in order to assess the effectiveness of institutional policies on preventing the academic misconduct. In order to further put into perspective the obtained results, two moderating factors were included in the empirical…

Objective: Both aerobic exercise and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) improve depression, but perceptions of their credibility and efficacy are underexplored. These perceptions can contribute to treatment seeking and outcome. A previous online sample ranging in age and education rated a combined treatment higher than individual components and…

Objective: College students report high rates of alcohol use and negative alcohol-related consequences (ARC). Many studies document that protective behavioral strategy (PBS) use is negatively associated with ARC. Few studies examine consequence severity and PBS helpfulness, both of which may provide nuance to this relationship. Participants and…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to propose a research model based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to explore whether gamification and personalization as environmental stimuli to learners' learning engagement (LE) can affect their learning persistence (LP) in massive open online courses (MOOCs) and, in turn, their learning…

Direct Admissions is a system developed and piloted recently in the US that defaults graduating high school students into post-secondary admittance by data-matching their profiles (transcripts, standardized test scores, and prerequisites) with institutions' preset eligibility criteria. As applicant and institutional interest in direct admissions…

This dissertation explores the transformative impact of short-term study away courses on women's leadership development in graduate education. Through a qualitative, case study approach, it investigates the experiences of women graduate students (n = 8) participating in an all-women study away course, aiming to uncover the factors that contribute…