College of Education
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item Predictors of feelings of depression among Asian American college students(2016) Koo, Katie; Park, Julie J.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between various collegiate experiences including substance use, religiosity, campus climate, academic life, social life, self-concept, satisfaction with college, and perceived feelings of depression among Asian American college students compared to other racial groups. Employing Astin’s (1993) I-E-O model, the study utilized the 2008 Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) the Freshman Survey (TFS) and the follow up College Senior Survey (CSS) in 2012 with the final sample of 10,710 students including 951 Asian American students. Descriptive analysis, cross-tabulations, blocked hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the equality of the unstandardized beta coefficients from the regression analyses, and a one-way ANOVA were conducted for the data analysis. Asian American students who are female, from low SES backgrounds, academically less achieved, frequent substance users, less religiously involved, and less satisfied with overall college experiences showed higher levels of feeling depressed. For the rate of feeling depressed across racial groups, Asian American college students showed the highest rate of feeling depressed while White students reported the lowest rate of feeling depressed. For Asian American college students, feeling depressed in high school, hours spent per week on studying and homework, and self-confidence in intellectual ability were the most significant predictors of feelings of depression while drinking beer, drinking liquor, spirituality, failing to complete homework on time, hours spent per week on socializing, self rated self-confidence in social ability, and satisfaction with overall college experiences were significant predictors of feelings of depression. Asian American college students spent the longest hours on studying and homework, reported the highest GPA, but showed the lowest self-confidence on intellectual ability. For all four racial groups, feeling depressed in high school and self-confidence in intellectual ability were significant predictors of feelings of depression in common. Implications for practice and directions for future research emphasize the need for better understanding the unique cultural background and impact of academic life associated with feelings of depression among Asian American college students and developing customized psycho-educational and outreach programs to meet unique needs for psychological well-being for each racial group on campus.Item Evolution of Occupational Interests in First-year College Students from 1971 to 2012(2013) Hong, Vanessa Lauren; Gottfredson, Gary D; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Since the 1970s, the roles of women and men in the workforce have evolved. Crossing traditional gender barriers in occupational choice has become more commonplace, particularly for women who have seen domestic role changes interact with professional progress. The 1971 through 2006 data for college students from the Higher Education Research Institute's The American Freshman: Forty year Trends, and The Freshman Survey annual reports from 2007 to 2012 are analyzed to determine trends in first-year college women's and men's occupational aspirations classified according to Holland's occupational types and level of complexity and to determine whether first-year college students have increasingly crossed traditional gender career barriers. The results indicate that the aspirations of female and male first-year college students follow similar trends over time, and the gap between the occupational aspirations of female and male first-year college students has decreased from 1971 to 2012, although it still exists.Item Predictors of Sense of Belonging for Students with Psychological Conditions(2013) Mackie, Michele Matteo; Strein, William; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to develop a portrait of students with psychological conditions, to determine the predictors of sense of belonging for these students, and to draw comparisons between the collegiate experiences of students with, and those without, psychological conditions. Using data from the 2009 Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, a sample of students who self-reported having a psychological condition and a randomly selected comparative sample of students without psychological conditions were drawn. Descriptive statistics were used to develop a portrait of students with psychological conditions relative to gender, class standing, academic performance, and co-curricular student involvement. Chi-square tests for independence and independent groups t-tests were used to make comparisons between students with psychological conditions and those who did not report having a psychological condition. Using a hierarchical multiple regression, framed in Astin's (1993) I-E-O model, predictors of sense of belonging were identified for students with psychological conditions and the comparative sample. Equality of beta coefficient testing was conducted to determine if the variables that predict sense of belonging for students who self-reported a psychological condition differed significantly from the predictors of sense of belonging for the comparative sample. Results indicated that the distribution of students with psychological conditions differed significantly across categories related to gender, class standing, college GPA, and involvement in specific types of co-curricular activities. Additionally, students who self-reported a psychological condition reported lower perceptions of sense of belonging compared to those who did not. The regression analyses and equality of beta coefficient testing revealed that there are no significant differences between the variables that predict sense of belonging for students with psychological conditions and the comparative sample. Implications for practice and directions for future research emphasize the need for better understanding the issue of college student mental health and developing interventions that can be applied in and outside of the classroom to assist students with psychological conditions in collegiate success.Item Fostered Learning: Exploring Effects of Faculty and Student Affairs Staff Roles Within Living-Learning Programs on Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Growth in Cognitive Dimensions(2012) Long, Nicole; Komives, Susan R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to explore effects of faculty and student affairs staff roles within living-learning programs (LLPs) on perceptions of growth in critical thinking/analysis abilities, cognitive complexity, and liberal learning among LLP participants. This study used two data sources from the National Study of Living-Learning Programs (NSLLP), a multi-institutional study of LLPs that included data on student background characteristics, experiences, and outcomes. Data sources included the 2007 baseline study and data from the Living-Learning Programs Survey. The 2007 NSLLP administration contained data from 48 institutions and 11,606 students living in LLPs. The General Causal Model for Assessing the Effects of Differential College Environments on Student Learning and Cognitive Development (Pascarella, 1985) served as the conceptual framework for this study. This model proposed that learning and cognitive development were functions of institutional characteristics, student background/pre-college traits, interactions with agents of socialization (peers and faculty), institutional environment, and quality of effort. An adapted form of this model was used in this study to include the potential effects of LLP characteristics, such as the involvement of faculty and student affairs professional staff. The cognitive outcomes used in this study were critical thinking/analysis abilities, cognitive complexity, and liberal learning. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the direct and differential effects of faculty and student affairs professional staff roles on the study outcomes. Study results showed that numerous curricular and co-curricular experiences shared positive and negative relationships across all three cognitive outcomes. Student affairs mentorship had a negative direct association with cognitive complexity and liberal learning, while increased student affairs socio-cultural involvement contributed positively. Faculty involvement in socio-cultural activities also contributed positively. Student affairs mentorship, student affairs socio-cultural activities and faculty socio-cultural activities accounted for differential effects on sense of belonging for cognitive complexity. Only student affairs mentorship yielded a differential effect for sense of belonging when examining liberal learning. A primary implication for practice was the importance of designing integrative curricular and co-curricular experiences, such that faculty and student affairs staff not only work together to in the design, but also participate in these efforts within LLPs.Item Reframing Responsibility for Academic Success: A Causal Model Measuring the Impact of Student Attributes in the First Year of College(2006-09-07) Murray, Michele C; Milem, Jeffrey F.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this single-institution study was to investigate the predictive power of student attributes in a path analytic model for academic success in the first year of college. Student attributes were defined as academic self-concept, social self-concept and self-determination; academic success was measured by cumulative college grade point average. The conceptual model tested in this study blends psychological theories of student attributes with Astin's (1991) input-environment-outcome (I-E-O) model, a sociological model of college impact. Using descriptive and path analytic techniques, this study contributes to assessment philosophy by demonstrating that student attributes predict academic success beyond what can be explained by prior achievement and involvement. By examining the contributions of student attributes to academic and social involvement and to subsequent achievement, this study describes higher education as a partnership between student and institution for which both have responsibility. The findings of the study suggested at least through conclusions. First, accounting for student attributes contributes to an understanding of academic success. Rather than focus on the institution's responsibility to engage students, this study demonstrates that academic and social involvement and achievement are products, at least in part, of students' academic self-concept and self-determination. Second, results from this study indicate that measurable change in student attributes occurs during one year, a portion of which is attributable to students' academic and social involvement. These findings substantiate previous research on the impact of involvement on students' personal development (Astin, 1994; Berger & Milem, 1999) and affirm the benefits of college attendance. Third, this study demonstrates that the effects of the environment within the classic I-E-O model (Astin, 1991) are mediated through academic self-concept. These findings reframe responsibility for student success by highlighting students' dispositions toward the academic enterprise as the strongest predictor of involvement and success. Consequently this study offers a different perspective of students' academic and social involvement. Rather than referring to involvement as an indication of the environment (Astin, 1994; Kuh, 1991), this study suggests that involvement behaviors are a measure of students' responsibility toward their collegiate experiences. The findings of this study have implications for future research, practice, and policy.Item Using Comprehension Strategies with Authentic Text in a College Chemistry Course(2004-11-24) Cain, Stephen Daniel; Holliday, William G.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)College science students learn important topics by reading textbooks, which contain dense technical prose. Comprehension strategies are known to increase learning from reading. One class of comprehension strategies, called elaboration strategies, is intended to link new information with prior knowledge. Elaboration strategies have an appeal in science courses where new information frequently depends on previously learned information. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an elaboration strategy in an authentic college environment. General chemistry students read text about Lewis structures, figures drawn by chemists to depict molecules, while assigned to use either an elaboration strategy, namely elaborative interrogation, or another strategy, rereading, which served as a placebo control. Two texts of equal length were employed in this pretest-posttest experimental design. One was composed by the researcher. The other was an excerpt from a college textbook and contained a procedure for constructing Lewis structures. Students (N = 252) attending a large community college were randomly assigned to one of the two texts and assigned one of the two strategies. The elaborative interrogation strategy was implemented with instructions to answer why-questions posed throughout the reading. Answering why-questions has been hypothesized to activate prior knowledge of a topic, and thus to aid in cognitively connecting new material with prior knowledge. The rereading strategy was implemented with instructions to read text twice. The use of authentic text was one of only a few instances of applying elaborative interrogation with a textbook. In addition, previous studies have generally focused on the learning of facts contained in prose. The application of elaborative interrogation to procedural text has not been previously reported. Results indicated that the more effective strategy was undetermined when reading authentic text in this setting. However, prior knowledge level was identified as a statistically significant factor for learning from authentic text. That is, students with high prior knowledge learned more, regardless of assigned strategy. Another descriptive study was conducted with a separate student sample (N = 34). Previously reported Lewis structure research was replicated. The trend of difficulty for 50 structures in the earlier work was supported.