While the number of Hispanic undergraduate students enrolled in higher education has more than doubled in the past 15 years, graduation rates for this population continues to be well below that of white students. Understanding the unique life experiences of bicultural Hispanic undergraduate students becomes vital for higher education professionals…

Science identity impacts undergraduates' persistence in their science courses and careers. Here, we investigated science identity in learning assistants, undergraduate peer educators who provide academic and social support in science courses. Understanding learning assistants' science identities has particular value because of their dual role as…

This study explored the notion of flow, which refers to a person's sense of being completely absorbed in a task, as it applies to second language (L2) learning and use. Previously, flow has been mainly examined through researcher-generated descriptions to which learners reacted using Likert-type scales. In this study, we examined flow through the…

Although online learning has been widely used in higher education, its impact on students' academic performance has not been well described. This study surveyed 2963 college students, and used structural equation modelling to determine the impact of college students' online learning engagement on academic performance. The serial mediating effect…

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) has been widely used as a strong indicator of loyalty and growth in organizations. However, despite extensive use in various industries, its application in higher education has been limited. To address this gap, we explore the use of NPS in the identification and investigation of the characteristics as well as…

For students, studying abroad has its advantages but might also have unwanted adverse effects, such as social isolation and loneliness. We comparatively analyse the role of emotional support in understanding loneliness among Chinese international students and local students in Germany from a gender perspective. Based on a unique sample, our…

Despite the growing interest to provide research engagement opportunities to undergraduate students, few studies have investigated how engagement "intensity" impacts measures of student success. A quasi-experimental, matched-subject design was employed to study differences between varying levels of research experience intensity (i.e.,…

Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted higher education in the United States (U.S.). During the first wave of infection and hospitalization, many universities and colleges transitioned classroom instruction to online or a hybrid format. In September 2021, classes largely returned to in-person after the COVID-19 vaccine…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) rapidly have become more common in biology laboratory courses. The effort to implement CUREs has stimulated attempts to differentiate CUREs from other types of laboratory teaching. The Laboratory Course Assessment Survey (LCAS) was developed to measure students' perceptions of how frequently…

Undergraduate research is a high-impact educational practice for which effective mentoring has been identified as a key factor in determining its success. Some researchers have argued that effective mentors help increase students' independence and ownership of the research project. This case study used conversation analysis to examine recorded…

This dissertation presents the first known Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) investigation of how marginalized students are included in syllabi. This study fills a gap in the literature due to the changing demographic of college students, the absence of faculty who share these marginalized identities, the syllabus being the first…

I present a comprehensive view of mentoring experiences of undergraduate students and faculty members in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In CHAPTER 1 I describe a brief outline of this dissertation. In CHAPTER 2, I present an interpretative phenomenological analysis of the lived experiences of former STEM undergraduate…

This qualitative case study was designed to collect and analyze the perceptions of youth who experienced foster care regarding their campus involvement experiences at Missouri higher education institutions. This study is designed to understand this population's experiences and evaluate their challenges and successes as they navigate the…

Higher education institutions in the United States are experiencing a paradigm shift in two areas. First, in response to the high prices of textbooks, there is a shift from traditional textbooks to Open Educational Resources (OERs). Second, the growing presence of International Undergraduate Students (IUSs) on college campuses is shifting the…

Inquiry-based learning as an instructional approach has been popular amongst STEM (i.e. science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines, but the practice specifically in engineering education deserves further exploration. Employing a case-study approach, the present study was aimed to explore POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry…