Modern composition instructors often use and teach research methods for Internet search engines and electronic databases. It is not their intent to turn back the clock. However, if they can help students connect the world of Internet searches and the university library, they can promote information literacy in its broadest sense by developing…

Student retention in online education is a concern for students, faculty and administration. Retention rates are 20% lower in online courses than in traditional face-to-face courses. As part of an integration and engagement strategy, a face-to-face orientation was added to an online undergraduate business information systems course to examine its…

Perhaps one of the most underemphasized strategies for achieving student success within the community college is the development and implementation of an intentional, comprehensive approach to orienting new students to the college environment. Orientation can be considered as any effort by an institution to help students make a successful…

Improving student outcomes requires better tools for assessing program effectiveness. Student success courses are offered on most college campuses. However, extant research is overwhelmingly summative, of mixed rigor, and focused on four-year colleges, providing limited support for improving practice in community colleges. This study examined…

This longitudinal study (2001-2005) considers the impact of a freshman orientation course on the persistence of black and white students at a mid-southern university, as well its relationship with college achievement (GPA). Controlling for gender, race, high school GPA, and decided on major, logistic regression was used to assess persistence;…

A newly developed measure of the quality of students' involvement in cocurricular activities was used to assess the relationship between quality of involvement and adaptation during the transition to university. Results indicated that the higher the quality of students' involvement, the better their adjustment to university. The relationship…

Rising middle level students face many new situations when they enter middle school. Stress is not uncommon for new students in any grade, but it is most acute during middle level years when students are dealing with the rapidly changing physical characteristics and emotions associated with early adolescence. The community of adults at a middle…

In this study international and domestic students were compared on variables such as accommodation and financial satisfaction, social support, mismatched expectations, academic stress, dysfunctional coping, and psychological distress. International and domestic students (N = 86 for each group), enrolled at a large Australian university based in a…

The transition from high school to college can be very difficult for many students. At the University of Pittsburgh School of Engineering, we have developed a freshmen seminar and concurrent system of mentoring that addresses the changes and difficulties students experience during this transitional time. All first-year University of Pittsburgh…

This paper investigates one aspect of the transition of students from high school to college. It assesses whether students who had an academic ethic in high school performed better in their first semester of college than students who did not possess an academic ethic in high school. Survey data were collected from students at a medium-sized state…

The present research was a two-year longitudinal study on the effects of a six-day, optional, pre-semester, freshman orientation program on academic credits earned, GPA and college retention. Regression analyses were used to remove the variance associated with other possible predictors of academic success (gender, age, race, developmental need,…

Faculty of Engineering Technology of the Open University of Sri Lanka has been offering engineering programmes at a distance for the last two decades or so. However, completion rates in Faculty of Engineering Technology are lower compared to the other faculties of the University. This paper investigates the reasons for low completion rates in the…

Over the years researchers have attempted to gather information on outdoor orientation programs. Past researchers used different sampling techniques to locate programs, but all concluded more outdoor orientation programs probably existed than they were able to find. In the fall of 2005, a research group for the present study set out to create a…

This paper reports findings from research into the benefits of e-mentoring for mature students (21 years old and above) preparing for university study through taking Access courses. The research was carried out at Kingston University in the UK in the context of current policies of widening participation in higher education (HE). It was aimed at…

Transformation of South African education has had profound systemic effects. Various constraints have led to inconsistent policy implementation, which have contributed to the underpreparedness of students for higher education. Internationally, the complex transition from school to university has highlighted the need for new approaches to…