Online learning in higher education offers a variety of options to meet the needs of students. Asynchronous online learning, in particular, provides flexibility, yet frequently falls short in terms of opportunity for encouraging connections between students when compared to traditional face-to-face educational experiences. Studies have determined…

The purpose of this qualitative study, using an interpretivist phenomenological approach, was to gain an understanding of experiences of first-generation college students at a mid-sized, private, religiously affiliated institution that allowed them to thrive. This was accomplished by utilizing two rounds of semi-structured interviews, with…

In the context of the post-pandemic era, characterized by the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a growing recognition of the importance of a supportive community and academic focus for students, both in the United States and globally. The whole-learner approach acknowledges that students require a sense of belonging to excel academically, behaviorally,…

This dissertation explores the impact of racism, the campus racial climate, and the racial climate of graduate programs on the lived socialization experiences of Black students in doctoral programs. This dissertation utilizes a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to explore the experiences of Black doctoral students, discusses the historical…

This study explored the use of hybrid online learning methods as employed in an alternative school environment in the rural Midwest. Using Self-Regulative Theory as a theoretical lens, this study discusses how self-regulative abilities play a role in the academic success of students of varying backgrounds. Findings suggest that both alternative…

This multi-manuscript dissertation comprises two interconnected articles that collectively explore the experiences of college students with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) engaging in wellness interventions within inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) settings in the southeastern region of the United States. Wellness…

K-12 schools in Ohio are partially evaluated on their ability to successfully graduate students with their four-year cohort. Educators have been tasked with improving graduation rates. This study examined one urban high school to understand and provide insights to increase its graduation rate. This school recently received a poor score from the…

The campus built environment is an omnipresent force at an institution of higher education. That force is influential during a student's transition into the post-secondary system. Literature on this subject suggests that understandings of the relationship between the campus built environment and the student experience are limited and demand…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how college students described their experiences with academic advising as it pertained to cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence at a community college in Southern California. Cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence are elements of the…

This research explored the lived experiences of Black girls in schools with a focus on racial discrimination and the impact it has on their mental health. Grounded in Black feminist thought and phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST), this study used qualitative research to understand the lived experiences of Black girls.…

The general problem to be addressed by the current study is the increasing percentage/count of dropouts of non-traditional students from online college degree programs. Guided by the theory of Perceived Organizational Support (POS), the purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate how POS is related to perceptions of faculty support,…

Adult students with dyslexia have academic challenges with reading, writing, and phonological skills. The problem addressed by this study was adult students with dyslexia in universities have lower success rates in e-learning courses than students without dyslexia. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to explore the lived…

The current set of studies examined whether two common appraisals that students make during learning (whether they have control over their learning and whether they place value into learning the material) give rise to common types of thoughts students also experience (mind wandering, personal connections, and freely-moving thought). Study One…

Despite decades of initiatives, engineering education continues to lack diversity. The proportion of women, BIPOC, LGBTQA+, low-income, first-generation, and disabled students in engineering education remains below national population levels. The culture of engineering is a barrier to increasing participation in engineering for students from these…

A student's sense of belonging can affect many aspects of their achievements, and their academic and social life (Freeman et al., 2007; Hausman et al., 2007; Hoffman et al., 2002; Strayhorn, 2012). Vaccaro and Newman (2022) contended only by understanding the process of belonging development, one can develop a sense of being as students navigate…