Given the significant growth in the Latino population in the United States (U.S.), including within the Mexican subgroup, there has been a need for more research that examines the experiences of Latino students in higher education in the U.S. However, extant scholarship in this area has been largely centered on the community college and…

Over the last few decades, there has been an enormous increase in scholarship attending to the ways social concerns shape ontologies of language and subsequently our understandings of language acquisition. Given the increasing awareness that language is always a socially situated, local practice, the importance of attending to the ways that power…

This research study analyzes how the predictor variables sensing-intuitive learning style, verbal-visual learning style, gender, major, and degree level of adult learners predict student intrinsic motivation-to know, extrinsic motivation-external regulation, and amotivation to pursue an online graduate degree. The primary research question states:…

This study sought to examine the state of media literacy in higher education across the United States. More specifically, this study aimed to describe various working models of media literacy within college and university minors, specialization/concentrations, and certificate offerings at the undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education…

Although the purpose of this qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was to investigate how low-socioeconomic high school graduates describe their lived experiences in secondary schools and how their experiences influence them to graduate from high school and enroll in college. A purposeful sampling protocol was utilized to select 12…

Writing studies and writing center scholars have recently focused much- needed attention on how graduate student writers are taught, mentored, and supported. This scholarship also points to a persistent and stubborn conundrum: Graduate students must write their way into disciplinary belonging, yet most advisors lack a language for, or even…

Nationwide, many students who enroll in community college programs fail to persist in postsecondary education or complete a credential. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) Two-Year Occupational Grant Pilot Program (the Occupational Grant) was a financial aid program designed to increase persistence and completion rates through…

Many changes were made to all learning environments during the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes involved moving from traditional, face-to-face, learning to on-line learning, wearing masks while testing, social distancing while preparing for the licensure test, decreasing the number of questions on the National Council…

Online learning is increasingly prevalent in higher education. The current study explores how learning takes place in online discussions; an activity often found in online courses. Activity Theory is used to understand the contributions of individuals to the process of socially constructing knowledge within small groups. The Community of Inquiry…

The underlining purpose of all career and technical education (CTE) strives to prepare students for the world of work. Schools throughout the country offer CTE programs, yet manufacturing, healthcare, and STEM industries struggle to fill entry-level employment vacancies. This exploratory narrative qualitative study aimed to explore the stories of…

Clinical education is integral in preparing students in allied health professions such as Speech-Language Pathology (SLP). Increasing numbers of university programs in SLP and changing requirements for clinical competencies and the workforce have required alternative clinical learning modes. Alternatives like the use of simulation for SLP…

Recent literature and think tank organizations alike point to the notion that the master's degree is the new bachelor's degree. Additionally, universities are experiencing an increase in first-generation college student enrollment as well as graduate student enrollment. This growth in both student populations raises the question: What happens when…

The future outlook for STEM jobs in the U.S. is projected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to have a 10.5% increase from 2020 to 2030, with 11.3 million STEM jobs projected in the U.S. by 2030. During the same time interval the projected rate of increase of STEM jobs is higher (at 10.5%) compared to non-STEM jobs (at 7.5%). Engineering,…

Youth voter turnout remains stubbornly low and unresponsive to civic education. Rigorous evaluations of the adoption of civic tests for high school graduation by some states on youth voter turnout remain limited. We estimate the impact of a recent, state-mandated civics test policy--the Civics Education Initiative (CEI)--on youth voter turnout by…

In the context of increased concerns about student engagement across the higher education sector, which have intensified subsequent to the rapid transition to online delivery in March 2020, this small-scale research project aimed to explore the motivations for student engagement in self-selecting learning development (LD) online tutorials. The…