Digital learning environments provide opportunities to support learning in higher education. However, it is yet unclear why and how learners use these opportunities. We propose that learners' achievement goals and their beliefs regarding the instrumentality of e-learning tools to achieve those goals are predictive for learning behavior within…

Student mobility in higher education has garnered much interest by researchers and institutions alike as enrollment, persistence, and graduation rates continue to be areas of interest and concern. Reverse transfer is a unique type of mobility wherein students begin at a 4-year postsecondary institution and subsequently transfer to a 2-year…

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…

Background: Mastery and performance goals are typically measured as trait-like abstract goals. However, in their daily academic pursuits, students pursue more concrete goals. The pursuit of these goals is replete with obstacles that can lead to an action crisis. Aims: We examined how mastery and performance goals affect progress, effort and…

Heterosexism, the belief that heterosexual identities are superior to homosexual identities, is deeply embedded in educational institutions, including school-based agricultural education (SBAE). Negligible research exists developing impactful practices for queer students in SBAE programs. This study sought to describe the attitudes of…

Students' view of intelligence (i.e., their mindset beliefs) has been found to be related to their self-efficacy and goal orientations as well as to influence their course outcomes. Comparisons of students' chemistry mindset between different groups found that organic chemistry I students held more of a growth mindset than general chemistry I…

An abundance of literature has examined barriers to women's equitable representation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, with many studies demonstrating that STEM fields are not perceived to afford communal goals, a key component of women's interest in future careers. Using Goal Congruity Theory as a framework, we tested…

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…

Adolescence is a time in which peers gain in importance and more time is spent engaging in social interactions with them. Within these interactions, adolescents will also be confronted with moral dilemmas, in which moral decisions need to be taken. The aim of the current study was to examine two factors that may influence moral decisions, namely…

This qualitative case study investigates two early-stage doctoral students' developing conceptions of research in their situated context. Drawing on data collected from in-depth interviews and informal conversations with the participants over two years, the study showed that the participants' research conceptions were in a symbiotic relationship…

Despite the growing visibility of equity and access work in higher education, increasing the college degree attainment of Native Hawaiian students remains an urgent goal. The University of Hawai?i-West O?ahu, a regional public university, has the vision and location to realize this kuleana. Colonization and the illegal occupation of Hawai?i led to…

The purpose of the study was to validate a writing motivation questionnaire that consists of four scales for first-year college writers--students with low writing skills in basic writing classes and students in typical first-year composition (FYC)--to investigate differences between these two groups and to examine the relationship of motivational…

Autonomous learning is extensively acknowledged as a desirable goal in undergraduate education as it is found to comply with learner-centered approaches and enable learners to pursue life-long learning. However, very few empirical researchers have closely examined the actual practices of autonomous learning in the Afghan context. Therefore, the…

Academic procrastination generates several problems and negative consequences both individually and collectively: low student performance, increased stress, negative effects on physical and mental health, and general waste of resources. Therefore, it demands to be studied and understood in its different forms, so that mitigating mechanisms can be…

This study aimed to learn the subjective experiences of higher education business students pursuing intercultural development goals. As part of their academic programs students completed the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) assessment and received intercultural competency scores. Subsequently, they created personal goals to further…