Student engagement, while widely recognized as both important to outcomes of higher education institutions and critical to student learning, is still missing a unifying model addressing students both inside and outside of the classroom. This mixed-methods paper will explore the existing models of student engagement and propose a model which better…

A high percentage of bachelor test-takers who failed the unified entrance examination test in 2021 demonstrated the lack of adequate reading strategies such as contextual guessing for improving exam performance. The study aims at evaluating the use of contextual guessing strategy during extra-curriculum EFL classes as a way to improve students'…

This study details the mentored research component of a program intended to recruit, retain, and transfer students attending a two-year college (2YC) to four-year geosciences programs. Eighteen of 20 students who started the program were from minoritized backgrounds: 12 women, six racial/ethnic minorities, 12 low-income, and 13 first-generation…

This study continues an earlier (2021) examination of a program's move from an admissions framework that used standardized test score thresholds to a test-blind holistic review. While the initial study evinced holistic review as a more equitable gateway to honors education for students from underserved backgrounds (as compared to admission…

Heavy use of digital media is known to reduce psychological well-being. A recent campus Common Read program, which included reading "Irresistible" (Alter, 2017) and attending a series of events, attempted to promote more conscientious relationships with technology, thus supporting psychological well-being. Changes in mobile phone…

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…

This qualitative descriptive study explored the college preparatory experiences of African American male students who participated in a Northwest Louisiana TRiO Upward Bound program before college enrollment. Specifically, the students in this study perceived that TRiO Upward Bound programming influenced their college readiness and enrollment. The…

This exploratory study addresses a gap in the literature for the potential in assessing domain-specific self-efficacy within the context of Higher Education (HE). Focusing on HE students' participation in extracurricular activities (ECAs), the study builds on the authors' previous research which recognised the impact of ECAs on HE students' lived…

This research examines the relationships between first-year college students' attendance at campus-sponsored extracurricular events and grade point average, persistence from fall to spring, and retention to the second year. Students' attendance at various campus life events over the course of an academic year was tracked by scanning students'…

Undergraduate student participation in out-of-class activities yields a range of documented benefits and represents an area of study that can inform efforts to increase persistence in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) majors, particularly for underrepresented groups. This study was designed to explore the impact of selected…

Video-gaming has become a popular extracurricular option for students in higher education. More than 70 percent of undergraduate students reported they played video-games at some level with heavy-video-gaming students reporting they invest over 14 hours a week on games. When extracurricular activities take 14 or more hours of commitment, students'…

Taking action is crucial at all stages of career development learning to develop skills and employability with no particular career goal, or for specific career ambitions. This article explores the concept of grand challenges in the context of education for employability through the case study of an extra-curricular programme at a UK university.…

For higher education students, feelings of belonging play an important role in their academic success and overall health and wellbeing. However, few studies to date have examined the contributors to and impacts of belonging experiences among post-secondary students within a qualitative paradigm. Written descriptions of belonging experiences were…

With so many positions in campus activities requiring advanced degrees, campus activities practitioners begin their careers with a depth of understanding of current scholarship in the field. Once arriving to these positions on campuses, however, many practitioners may be challenged to stay engaged when faced with the limitless priorities of daily…

In this qualitative feminist narrative analysis of eight women's reflections on their co-curricular involvement as cast members in Eve Ensler's iconic feminist play "The Vagina Monologues," I seek to understand the ways that participants ascribe meaning to these experiences five or more years later. While evidence in the literature…