College of Education

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Leveraging Complexity Science to Promote Learning Analytics Adoption in Higher Education: An Embedded Case Study
(2024) Moses, Phillip Scott; Ketelhut, Diane J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) defines learning analytics as “the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs” (SoLAR, n.d.). To fully realize the potential of learning analytics, especially in its perceived ability to reveal previously hidden aspects of the learning process, researchers have called for more intentional approaches in order to harness resources and affect change. These researchers argue that without this coordinated effort to integrate learning analytics into the fabric of higher education institutions, the field will continue to languish, with learning analytics tools and approaches left forever incapable of affecting more systemic change. At the same time, other researchers focused on leadership and change management have recognized the difficulty, if not impossibility, of such top-down approaches. Instead, many researchers have pointed to the need to view higher education institutions through the lens of complexity science, and, in particular, to consider higher education institutions as complex adaptive systems (CAS) in which change tends to happen through the process of emergence. Within such a paradigm, change occurs from the ground up, as a result of countless interactions among many different agents (students, educators, and administrators, to name a few). Recognizing this conflict between the sort of top-down approaches suggested by many learning analytics researchers, and the ground-up reality recognized by many complexity science researchers, this dissertation project investigates how learning analytics usage is happening within a higher education institution. Using an embedded case study methodology to examine current learning analytics practices across multiple academic units and stakeholders within a single higher education institution, I apply a CAS framework to determine how this institution might expand and grow their approach to learning analytics across key areas.
Postsecondary Stratification and the Democratization of Education: Using stratification theories and national data to examine stratification, the community college, and the transfer mechanism in postsecondary institutions
(2020) Patricio, Kalia Raquel; Malen, Betty; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Stratification in postsecondary education has been a persistent issue since education became widely available to women, racial and ethnic minorities, and low-income students. This unequal access to education has significant consequences on where people end up in the labor market because of the strong connection between education and job attainment. Decades of policy have attempted to reduce educational stratification, with expanded community college access being a popular approach. Theoretically, expanded community college access increases the use of the transfer mechanism to reach the restrictive four-year institution and its associated degrees. In the past few decades there have been changes to the demographic make-up of the US and a variety of policy efforts aimed at the k-12 system and higher education funding, yet there is a dearth of recent research to indicate how the transfer mechanism is operating in the current educational environment. This three-paper dissertation uses sociological theory to hypothesize about the potential utility of the transfer mechanism to reduce stratification and uses complex samples logistic regression and recent data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 to analyze the current effectiveness of the community college transfer pathway in reducing stratified patterns of enrollment and outcomes at four-year institutions. Findings from these analyses show that the transfer mechanism is at best an unreliable solution to stratification in higher education. While there is some evidence to suggest that low-income students are utilizing the transfer pathway at greater rates compared to traditional four-year enrollment, the transfer mechanism is doing little to facilitate access to four-year institutions for first-generation and racial and ethnic minority students.
Embargoed Exchange: A Critical Case Study of Study Abroad Programming Between the United States and Cuba
(2018) Woodman, Taylor C.; Klees, Steven J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Internationalization continues to remain a central focus within the U.S. university environment. Internationalization motives are under question as neoliberal policies continue to limit sustained, long-term state funding for public universities and undermine the academic mission of these universities. Universities are leveraging internationalization practices, like study abroad programming, in response to the pressures of neoliberalism. Using both an academic capitalist and post-colonial lens, this dissertation seeks to understand how study abroad programming, specifically in non-traditional locations (viz., Cuba), operates within and is shaped by political and economic contexts. In this study, qualitative case study methods were used to critically examine study abroad programming between the United States and Cuba before, during and after the Obama Administration’s announcement changing diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba on December 17, 2014. The perspectives of 12 of the main actors in the field, including educational administrators and faculty from U.S universities, Cuban universities, and study abroad program providers, were captured to provide a more comprehensive view of U.S. study abroad implementation in Cuba. The findings illustrate four key aspects of the political and economic context that significantly impact study abroad programming. First, the U.S. blockade (embargo) on Cuba is shown to hinder academic operation and impede international relationship building. Additionally, the neoliberal and neo-colonial university environment in which study abroad programming is situated leads to the reproduction of colonial dynamics and amplifies inequities and power dynamics within North-South study abroad programs. Yet, in the face of neoliberal and neo-colonial pressures, solidarity building emerged as a key area for resistance within these programs. Thus, two opposing approaches, market-based and solidarity building, are dictating how study abroad programming is developed and implemented. The tensions between these approaches provide insight into the liminal space within which educational administrators and faculty develop and facilitate study abroad programming. Therefore, this dissertation critically analyzes the political and economic environment in which study abroad operates to determine implications for internationalization practice and policy in an effort to guide the future international dimensions of the university.
Taiwanese College Graduates' Employability in the Global Context
(2019) Peng, Yuyun; Lin, Jing; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
College graduates’ employability has been one of the focal objectives in higher education globally since the 1970s (Brown & Lauder, 2011; Hillage & Pollard, 1998; Brown et al., 2003). Under the massive impacts of globalization, technology revolution, and knowledge-based economy, the essence of graduate employability is shaping the curriculum design, as well as the career paths of Taiwanese college graduates. While current Taiwanese college graduates’ employability research focuses on the demographic description of graduates', educators' and employers' perception regarding employability, in-depth qualitative research that examines Taiwanese college graduates' experiences and perceptions regarding their employability readiness is scarce in the literature. Moreover, employability research in Taiwan needs to be addressed using a more holistic and cultural relevant approach where graduates' social, emotional, and professional development needs are taken into consideration. This study aims to investigate Taiwanese college graduates’ employability building, in terms of whether and how Taiwanese college graduates are well prepared for the knowledge, skills, and competency for the fast-changing world of work in Taiwan's particular social and economic context. To address the gap in the literature, this study focuses on the graduates’ narratives and digs into their perception of how college experiences, including college curriculum, work-related experiences, engagement with extracurricular activities, and career coaching resources contribute to graduates’ formation of competitive employability. In addition, this study also attempts to re-envision higher education to extensively accommodate graduates' professional and developmental needs in a more holistic manner. The study uses criterion-based sampling to reflect certain demographic characteristics of the graduate population. Eleven recent graduates from various geographic locations, disciplines, professions, and types of universities were invited to participate in the study. All participants received undergraduate degrees from departments of a Taiwanese higher education institution within two years; and had worked for more than one year. For male participants who needed to fulfill compulsory military service, the time served in the military is excluded from the two years limit. For recruitment of the participants, the research also put in effort to achieve balance in terms of gender, profession, discipline, and geography. The researcher conducted eleven individual interviews and two focus groups, and collected participants’ written reflections for analysis. In the study, graduates reflected upon how effectively the college curriculum, involvement in extracurricular activities, work-related engagement, career services, and other relevant college experiences contributed to employability building. Findings indicate that Taiwanese graduates perceive the existence of a gap between the preparation in university and the real world of work. The study also points to the context-bounded career transition struggle facing Taiwanese graduates. The researcher carefully examines graduates' experiences and proposes constructive solutions to enhance college students’ and graduates’ learning outcomes in all aspects of their college experiences. Based on the finding, the researcher proposes to redefine employability in a culturally relevant way, acknowledging unique Asian work ethics, and identify the critically needed employable skillset demanded in the participants’' professional fields. Besides mending the current campus-workplace gap, the study further discusses how higher education should prepare students and graduates for challenges brought upon by the fast-advancing technologies, and contemplate on the core values of the 21st century higher education.
The Triumphs and Tensions of Transfer Articulation: Investigating the Implementation of Maryland's Associate of Arts in Teaching Degree
(2018) Maliszewski Lukszo, Casey Lynn; Cabrera, Alberto; Espino Lira, Michelle; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This dissertation study investigated the implementation of the Associate of Arts in Teaching (A.A.T.) degree at two, public four-year universities in Maryland. Using Honig’s (2006a) Framework for Policy Analysis as a conceptual framework, I used higher education and policy implementation research to expand the conceptual model’s three dimensions: the Policy Dimension, the Places Dimension, and the People Dimension. Using an interpretative case study design, I used multiple data sources, including semi-structured interviews with state and university administrators and faculty, interviews with A.A.T. students, observations of state and university meetings, and a review of federal, state, and university documents. This study revealed that administrators and faculty generally perceived the A.A.T. degree to be an effective method to recruit diverse students into teaching professions and to create more efficient transfer pathways into education baccalaureate programs. However, administrators and faculty acknowledged a number of challenges associated with implementation, including: 1) confusion surrounding admissions policies into education programs; 2) trouble completing the Basic Skills Test requirement; and 3) miscommunication, misadvisement, and misalignment with regard to transfer courses in the A.A.T. program, which often led to transfer credit problems. Three factors were found to influence implementation challenges: 1) state and organizational governance structures and culture; 2) state and university leaders (particularly how they interpreted the A.A.T. policy and how they communicated those interpretations to others); and 3) external pressures, such as accreditation and state workforce demands. Some challenges associated with transfer credit articulation can be attributed to differences between community college and university priorities and values. Overall, the findings from this dissertation provide additional understanding of the promise and the challenges associated with subject-specific state transfer articulation degrees, such as the A.A.T. While subject-specific transfer policies can yield some positive effects on transfer pathways, they are not the sole solution to fixing transfer credit problems. To conclude, I provide recommendations for state policymakers, considerations for university practitioners, and directions for future research.
From Counting Women to Ensuring Women Count: A Qualitative Study of University and Early Career Experiences of Women Secondary School Teachers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from a Capabilities Perspective
(2016) Ashtari Abay, Negar; Stromquist, Nelly P; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
At the heart of this study is a concern with moving from counting women—from a quantitative focus on gender parity—to having women count—ensuring conditions exist that allow women teachers to fully participate in quality teaching and the positive transformation of the teaching profession. Women comprise less than 20% of secondary school teachers in Ethiopia (MoE, 2014), reflecting similar patterns of under-representation elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study uses in-depth interviews and field observations over a period of 15 months in Addis Ababa to shed light on why many women in Ethiopia who enter university do not make it into secondary school teaching and why many of those who enter teaching, in urban areas where most teachers are concentrated, do not stay in the profession. Drawing on a capabilities perspective, the study goes further to examine the cumulative disadvantage—in terms of well-being and agency—that women experience during the process of their university (undergraduate and teacher) training and in their early years of working in urban secondary schools, as well as the ways in which women contend with disadvantage. This study shows that such disadvantage and the responses to it have implications not only for whether women enter and stay in teaching but also for how they engage in their work. Utilizing the rich qualitative data collected and the analysis afforded by using the capability approach, the study concludes by recommending how different actors, including government, universities and schools, can foster institutional conditions of possibility (Walker, 2006a) and educational arrangements that enhance rather than limit full and equal participation in the teaching profession. Foregrounded throughout this study are the voices and experiences of young women, offering a perspective which disrupts the presumed norm of the single male teacher and highlights some of the limits of gender-neutral teacher policies.
AN EXPLORATION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITMENT: A GROUNDED THEORY INVESTIGATION OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS
(2015) Pepin, Sean C; Drezner, Noah D; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
As part of the project to create a more democratic society, social justice work is a critical component, especially within higher education. Social justice work comes with a wide array of deeply challenging issues and obstacles to remaining engaged. The purpose of this study was to expose those challenges and understand how individuals traversed those challenges. By looking at what the challenges were and how individuals navigated them, this study also dove into the personal reasons why social justice work can be incredibly challenging. Through this grounded theory investigation, a model for social justice commitment emerged, which illustrates the iterative nature of social justice commitment. The result is that one’s commitment is a cycle of growth, beginning with one’s internal and external engagement. As individuals engage in social justice work, nine distinct challenges emerged from the data. These challenges interrupt a person’s engagement, and can either be resolved through the use of three identified motivating forces or can cause a person to retreat to a time of pause. Finally, one of the unique findings within this study was the relationship commitment has with the concept of hope. As challenges increase, individuals have a decreased sense of hope. Hope is a fundamental component of long-term engagement, and individuals appeared to move to towards the edge of hope throughout their long-term engagement; however, they did not appear to ever fully leave hope or commitment behind. Finally, this research moved from the discovery of a social justice commitment model towards the practical implications for such a model. By weaving the identified challenges and the emergent commitment model together, applications were created for individuals, institutions, and future research. The resulting implications focused primarily on critical self-reflection for individuals, an increase in robust content and reflection for institutions, and a new direction for social justice research to explore the affective domain of development.
MI LUGAR ES AQUÍ (MY PLACE IS HERE): LATINO MALE VOICES AND THE FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THEIR SUCCESS IN COLLEGE
(2015) Rivera, Jason; MacDonald, Victoria M.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
In this collective case study, the voices of 10 academically successful Latino males were privileged to uncover the factors they believe contribute to their success in college. The participants in this study range in age from 18 to 24 and are from diverse Latino backgrounds including Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, and Peru. Each Latino male participant maintained a grade point average of 3.0 or greater and began his higher education experience at the local community college. Using extant literature on various forms of capital, care, and patterns of transition, a conceptual model created to explore how participants' describe and understand academic achievement. Through individual interviews, focus groups, a survey, and participant selected artifacts, the power of care and the importance of social capital and community cultural wealth emerge as salient factors in academically successful Latino male experiences. In this study, care was redefined by drawing on the scholarship of Noddings (2005), Gay, (2010), and scholars who articulate critical conceptions of care. Other salient factors that contributed to participants' collegiate academic achievement included Latino cultural traditions (i.e., familismo, consejos, and bien educado), caring teachers and professors, coaches and mentors, and the role of the community college and community-based organizations. This study also found that because of care, and the values inhered in caring relationships (i.e., trust, support, and care), participants were able to gain access to a variety of capital as well as other important resources (i.e., transition strategies such as code switching and discerning expectations) that they were able to leverage toward their academic achievement in college. Implications for theory, research, and practice are presented with an emphasis placed on creating caring spaces that cultivate and nurture the academic achievement of Latino males in higher education environments.
RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS, IDENTITY, AND DISSONANCE AMONG WHITE WOMEN IN STUDENT AFFAIRS GRADUATE PROGRAMS
(2012) Robbins, Claire Kathleen; Jones, 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 investigate racial identity among White women enrolled in student affairs and higher education (hereafter, SA/HE) master's degree programs. Guided by a social justice epistemology encompassing constructivism, feminist inquiry, and Critical Whiteness, this grounded theory study included the following research questions: (1) how does racial identity develop over time among White women; (2) how do White women construct racial identities; (3) in what ways do educational and professional experiences, including those that occur in SA/HE master's degree programs, influence White women's racial identities; and (4) in what ways do multiple layers of social context, including power and privilege, influence White women's racial identities? Data sources included two interviews with a sample of 11 White women in SA/HE master's degree programs, and data analysis procedures were consistent with grounded theory for social justice. The outcome of this study was a grounded theory of racial consciousness, identity, and dissonance among White women in SA/HE graduate programs. The emergent theory consisted of two core processes: changing one's perspective and the emergence of racial dissonance. The first core process, changing one's perspective, foregrounded a series of developmental shifts through which participants became conscious of whiteness and developed racial identities. These shifts or "lenses" corresponded to a series of visual metaphors, including not seeing race, peripheral visions, and "opening my eyes." The second core process, the emergence of racial dissonance, disrupted the developmental process of changing one's perspective. When new insights threatened preexisting worldviews, participants were forced to confront racial dissonance, or discomfort and ambiguity about race, identity, and privilege. In response, participants developed strategies for resisting, engaging, and transforming racial dissonance. Navigating racial dissonance was a performative process that gave participants the capacity to resume the developmental process of changing one's perspective and to adopt a new lens with two regions, "a conscious lens of whiteness" and "a vision for my life." This grounded theory of racial consciousness, identity, and dissonance among White women has implications for SA/HE graduate preparation programs, social identity and student development theory, and future research.
A Case Analysis of a Model Program for the Leadership Development of Women Faculty and Staff Seeking to Advance Their Careers in Higher Education
(2011) Calizo, Lee Scherer Hawthorne; Komives, Susan R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The purpose of this case study was to explore a model of leadership development for women faculty and staff in higher education. This study is significant because it explored the only identified campus-based program open to both faculty and staff. The campus-based Women's Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) program at the University of Cincinnati evolved over a few years and became a regionally-based program subsequently called the Higher Education Collaborative (HEC). These two programs at the University of Cincinnati served as the foci of this case study research. Using methods consistent with case study research, I interviewed six past participants of the programs (three from each), plus the program coordinator, and several other campus administrators. Document reviews were conducted on marketing materials, progress reports, websites, budgets, status of women reports, and other documents found in university archives. A focus group was conducted with the primary informants of the study as a way to check identified themes with the participants. Findings suggest that elements of the leadership development programs did have influence on the participants in terms of their leadership self-efficacy, career aspirations and career paths. A comparison of the WILD and HEC programs suggest that the regionally-based HEC provided a solid opportunity for skill development and training, while the campus-based WILD program excelled at providing opportunities for participants to develop meaningful relationships and gain insights into the operations of the University. Participants in the HEC program engaged in the experience to learn about ways to advance in their careers, unlike the women in WILD who participated in order to be better in their current positions. WILD alumnae had changed positions, taking on more responsibilities and in some cases higher ranking titles since participating in the program. It was too soon to tell the career path implications for the HEC participants. Other universities wishing to create a pipeline for women to advance into leadership can learn from the University of Cincinnati. Elements of both the WILD and HEC programs serve as valuable models for creating effective leadership development opportunities for women. Making sure women understand the purpose of an all-women experience is an important component that was missing from the UC programs.

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