This paper considers the topic of student wellbeing using the lens of a different type of support mechanism -- 'dog borrowing' -- which builds on prior research about emotion work and human-animal interactions but in the context of student transitions and pastoral care in higher education. This novel study was about the experiences of students…

This research explores the effect of orientation advice (OA), which is an instrument aimed at supporting pupils during their first transition from middle to high school. We investigate whether being 'ambitious' (i.e. rejecting OA and choosing a more challenging track) influences grade 9 retention probability. Data from 28 schools from Piacenza…

Research routinely suggests that international students often struggle in engaging with other student groups. This study, therefore, examines to what extent and how the intercultural attitudes and intentions of new international students in three Dutch educational institutions related to their acculturation orientation preferences (AOPs) during…

This Education Leadership Portfolio (ELP) documents my efforts to enhance the transition experiences of international students at the University of Delaware by optimizing orientation programming. Orientation programming for international students consists of pre-arrival orientation, upon-arrival orientation, and extended orientation, which are…

Online graduate degree program offerings are increasing in popularity, and online graduate students need support to acclimate to their degree programs. Online orientations have been effective in undergraduate programs; however, there is limited research on the effectiveness of online orientations in online graduate degree programs. The problem…

The current study examines if participants completing an early online academic orientation display significantly higher levels of achievement in anatomy and physiology (A&P) compared to those who do not complete this orientation. The study involves a sample of first year nursing students in a private Catholic college in a major midwestern city…

Context: Clinical immersion experiences allow students to gain firsthand, authentic experiences to help them successfully matriculate into the profession. Preceptors supervise athletic training students during these experiences and are critical in the student's clinical competence development. It is important to understand their needs to help…

Higher education has seen an increase in first-year students who arrive with significant early college credit. There is a gap in research about how first-year seminars meet the transition needs of students with college-level experience obtained during high school. This qualitative study, guided by Schlossberg's (1989) transition theory, explored…

Within OECD countries, 20% of university students continue no further than the first year. The objective of this research is to analyse the antecedents of student commitment, so as to design action plans for reducing dropout rates within higher education. Educational engagement, student--university identification and perception of performance were…

This dissertation explores the evolving landscape of graduate business education, highlighting the growing significance of specialized master's programs alongside traditional MBAs at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. It recognizes the changing demographics and needs of students, emphasizing the critical importance of fostering a…

This action research study followed a sample of first-generation, first-year college students through the summer 2021 orientation process at Towson University (TU), a large public institution in Maryland. Little recent research has been conducted to understand the student experience of the orientation process. First-generation college students are…

In order to guide educators step-by-step through an orientation process for an online team-based learning (TBL) course, this chapter describes principles for creating an orientation module for an online higher education course that employs online delivery following both standards from the Quality Matters Rubric for Higher Education and essential…

The transformation of higher education practices needs to be accompanied by the deployment of university guidance. This is especially important when activities have to be carried online and remotely. Online students expect to receive precise information to be successful learners, just as they would if they were in a face-to-face setting, but even…

Retention for online learners is declining so much that higher education institutions are graduating more learners than they are enrolling. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to find ways to improve retention for first-term non-traditional learners in an online undergraduate program. Fourteen non-traditional learners participated in the…

Linley's (2017) article on peer socialization agents (PSAs) defines PSAs as undergraduate students charged with the socialization of new students on campus (e.g., resident assistants, orientation leaders, and peer mentors). PSAs have complex jobs, and student affairs educators contend with several forces in the design and implementation of PSA…