Institutions of higher education are increasingly highlighting community engagement activities to make the benefits of higher education more visible. The most transformational community engagement is linked to curriculum, so it is faculty who must incorporate community-engaged pedagogy. This content analysis of faculty narratives about community…

This position paper discusses the existent research focused on STEM centers at colleges and universities, focusing on their critical role to support students from racially minoritized backgrounds. The objective of this work is to present a potential framework to recast the role of these institutional STEM centers at both community colleges and…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to illustrate the experiences of transfer students interacting with community college librarians for instruction and research assistance. This research study was guided by one research question: (RQ1) How do transfer students at community colleges who frequently meet with their community college…

The purpose of this research was to determine what a school district in Texas does to have consistent bond approval passages. The qualitative research consisted of three interviews that included six questions to district senior staff participants who closely work on school bonds. Research showed that the district relies on guided and established…

A Dissertation in Practice was conducted which connected theories of action and Yosso's (2015) community cultural wealth framework to address the absence of diverse parental perspectives and oversight at Freedom Middle School in South Texas. Platicas with seven parent volunteers and a parent engagement survey available to all Freedom Middle School…

Despite the growing popularity of WBL, the community college and workforce development fields need greater transparency and clarity on the design of these programs to broaden workforce pathways, ensure the transferability of exemplary program models, and support the advancement of equitable outcomes for all students, especially learners from…

This report presents the results from the third biennial Texas OER Landscape Survey, administered in 2023 and commissioned by the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex) and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). The survey aimed to explore the open educational resources (OER) landscape, policies, and practices at…

This report presents the results of a biennial independent survey commissioned by the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex), in collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), to examine the landscape of Open Educational Resources (OER) programs, policies, and practices at higher education institutions in…

Although there is high enrollment in online college courses, there are concerns about student engagement (Martin & Bolliger, 2018; Dumford & Miller, 2018). Gamification has been shown to have the potential to improve student engagement. The purpose of the study was to describe how academic student engagement is impacted by Nicholson's…

Student retention and lack of encouragement are post-secondary institutional barriers that play a critical part in why African Americans are represented in small numbers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) (National Science Foundation, 2017). Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have always promoted a supportive…

At least 38 states have created service areas or "districts" for each of their community colleges. However, little is known about the geographic boundaries of community college districts, the political process that defines them, and how they relate to institutional racial segregation. Given this dearth of knowledge, we studied nearly 150…

In this paper, we describe an innovative design for a multidisciplinary service-learning course on supply chain management in the industrial distribution program housed in the College of Engineering at a large research university in Texas. The purpose of this course was to increase students' technical expertise and build a mindset and skills…

This report presents the results of an independent survey commissioned by the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex, formerly the Virtual College of Texas), in collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), to examine the landscape of Open Educational Resources (OER) programs, policies, and practices at…

This study examines how administrative burden is evolving in college classrooms to meet external pressures focused on student success. Through a mixed methods analysis of data from a 2018 survey, this work tests how faculty and administrators view ownership of the responsibility to meet these mandates and whether it is affecting classroom…

A sense of mattering among college students has been found to have positive outcomes, including lower levels of anxiety and depression as well as increased self-esteem, wellness, happiness, and job satisfaction. However, the feeling of mattering among Resident Assistants (RAs) has received little attention in literature. This quantitative study…