There is a lack of empirical research on the motivational regulation and reactions of higher education students enrolled in blended courses. Studies that target this focus with nontraditional adult learners enrolled in the community college are even more difficult to locate. In this mixed-methods exploratory case study, I explored in what ways…

During the 21st century Great Recession, college enrollments increased as displaced workers trained to advance their skills (Baum & Ma, 2012). At the same time, state funding to community colleges declined (Baum & Ma, 2012; Ehrenberg, 2012). Although higher enrollments increased tuition revenues, they were insufficient to cover the gap…

The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate a measure of motivation for use with basic college writers that would measure self-efficacy, achievement goals, beliefs, and affect. As part of a design research project on curriculum for community college developmental writing classes, 133 students in 11 classes completed the motivation…

Studies comparing virtual and physical manipulative environments (VME and PME) in inquiry-based science learning have mostly focused on students' learning outcomes but not on the actual processes they engage in during the learning activities. In this paper, we examined experimentation strategies in an inquiry activity and their relation to…

This study examined the hypothesis that mastery orientation would increase for college students enrolled in courses that incorporated self-assessment. Early in the spring 2013 semester, 216 community college students enrolled in 16 different general education and developmental courses volunteered to participate and completed a demographic/goal…

To address continually decreasing enrollment and rising attrition in post-secondary STEM degree (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs, particularly for women, the present study examines the utility of motivation and emotion variables to account for persistence and achievement in science in male and female students…

The community college as the entranceway into the baccalaureate degree is becoming a prevalent choice for students. This study was a qualitative approach to understanding attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge acquisition by successful community college transfer students. University students who transferred from a community college and were making…

Literature has postulated that noncognitive or psychosocial variables are a strong predictor of African American and international students persisting in college. Using a modified version of the Noncognitive-Revised (NCQ-R) questionnaire developed by Tracey and Sedlacek (1984), this mixed methods descriptive study investigated the relationships…

Twenty parents attending an urban community college were interviewed about how they respond to common questions children ask about sexuality. Parental responses to children's questions about sexuality were considered in relation to the authoritative and authoritarian patterns of communication identified by Baumrind (1967). The majority of parents…

According to the American Association of Community Colleges (2010), more than 40% of all African American students enrolled in postsecondary education are enrolled in two-year colleges. A review of the literature indicated that improving persistence and completion rates for African American students is a challenge that two-year colleges face. This…

Adult English as a second language (ESL) students learning English outside of traditional academic settings are an understudied population of second language learners. The purpose of the research reported here is to contribute to meeting the instructional needs of these students more effectively by investigating the relationships between their…

Many colleges continue to report high attrition rates among distance education students. This study included a survey of students at Coastline Community College to determine why they dropped or failed their distance-learning courses and to identify methods that might improve their success and retention. Questionnaires were sent to a group of…