Comparing the student profile characteristics between traditional residential and commuter students at a public, research-intensive, urban commuter university

The residential-versus-commuter student comparison has been contemporaneous in higher education research since Arthur Chickering\u27s classic study in 1974. However, the majority of these empirical comparisons were conducted at residential institutions or used a variety of institutions that were weighted toward residential institutions. Therefore, there is a need for further empirical research comparing traditional residential and commuter students at commuter institutions. This study compared the student profile characteristics, which were categorized as demographic, prematriculation, and matriculation, between traditional residential and commuter students at a public, research-intensive, urban commuter university. Status attainment served as the theoretical framework for this comparative classification study. By using secondary institutional data, the researcher employed a discriminant function analysis to examine how the student profile characteristics were classified between the two student groups. The results of the study suggest that compared to their residential student peers, commuter students were more likely to be Hispanic and were more likely to be in-state students. Compared to their commuter student peers, residential students were more likely to be African American, possess a higher socioeconomic status, have parents with a higher level of education, accumulate more grossed units (class credits), and use higher amounts of financial aid in the forms of work study, grants, and loans. There were no differences in prematriculation characteristics, which were defined as high school GPA and standardized tests, between to the two student groups. When comparing the academic success measures within the matriculation characteristics, there were essentially no difference between the residential and commuter students, as GPA, retention, and academic standing did not receive group membership. The only academic success measure that classified between the two groups was cumulative grossed units. Therefore, this study suggested that commuter students at this commuter institution were not disadvantaged in terms of academic success, which diverges from the greater body of previous research

Understanding and Creating the First-Year Seminar

Although students in higher education are increasingly becoming more diverse, one thing that students of all types have in common is that they struggle adjusting to college life (Keup & Petschauer, 2011 ). These struggles are most prominent during their first year of college (American College Testing, 2014). While many co-curricular programs have been deemed valuable in helping address first-year student challenges, a renewed and surging interest has emerged in an over-century old practice of providing face-to-face seminars geared toward helping students transition from high school to college (Keup & Petschauer, 2011). Today, first-year seminars are very common and exist in all types of higher education institutions - small and large, two- and four-year, public and private, not-for-profit and for-profit - and continue to find great success (e.g.. Keup & Petschauer, 2011; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Drawing from existing research, practical experience, and relevant examples, this chapter provides an overview of the first-year seminar while synchronously serving as a companion for creating and implementing a first-year seminar program

Gender, Tyranny, and Republicanism in England, 1603-1660

This dissertation examines how classical history and gendered conceptions of masculine governance and misgovernance shaped the political culture of seventeenth-century England, the distinctive character of English republican thought, and the cultural and intellectual origins of the English Revolution. By attending to a series of classical stories about lustful and incestuous tyrants, republican revolution, matricide, and Christian persecution, which were appropriated through imaginative literature and discourse, this dissertation argues that Englishmen developed a significant ethical and political vocabulary of tyranny that imagined and condemned misgovernance in highly gendered terms, characterizing the tyrant as effeminate, uxorious, idolatrous, violent, and enslaved. The following chapters maintain that this classical and gendered understanding of tyranny greatly affected English perceptions and public criticisms of King James and King Charles. Through an examination especially of John Milton’s writings, it further maintains that this discourse shaped the burgeoning republican vocabulary of seventeenth-century England, for conceptions of gender played a central and primary role in republican discourses of virtue, liberty, citizenship, and good governance, and marriage was envisioned as a significant republican institution. The study concludes by demonstrating the importance of classical and gendered conceptions of governance during the Interregnum, arguing that the grammar of tyranny developed in the Stuart period became a central criterion whereby republican writers understood, defended and criticized Oliver Cromwell and his government

Bridging the Information Literacy Gap: First-Year Students Reflect for Success

UNLV Context • Fall 2011: 22,138 undergraduate students; 72% were fulltime; 5135 freshmen with a 76.4% first-yr retention rate (2010 to 2011); 40.6% six-year graduation rate • Budget-induced movement to large-enrollment classes – Program eliminations and consolidations underway • General Education Reform developments – Articulation of University Undergraduate Learning Outcomes, especially Inquiry and Critical Thinking – New general education requirements extending vertically throughout the curriculum • Focus on enhancing the first-year experience for incoming student

The Smartphone in Self-regulated Learning and Student Success: Clarifying Relationships and Testing an Intervention

This two-part observational and intervention study addressed the role of the smartphone in self-regulated learning (SRL) and student success as measured by achievement. Smartphone usage among students has been identified as contributing to lower academic achievement in a variety of settings. What is unclear is how smartphone usage contributes to lower outcomes. This study surveyed participants’ self-regulated learning skills and smartphone usage at the beginning and end of the term for first semester undergraduates. A regression analysis demonstrated that when controlling for prior achievement, general SRL measures had a positive impact on first semester achievement. Smartphone related SRL did not have a direct impact on achievement. The second part of the study evaluated the efficacy of a brief intervention to ameliorate factors contributing to lower achievement. Students were presented with either SRL strategies, awareness and attention strategies or career planning guidance (control). A regression analysis of the brief intervention resulted in modest gains in SRL but did not influence achievement

Smartphone Usage and Studying: Investigating Relationships between Type of Use and Self-Regulatory Skills

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between self-regulated learning skills and smartphone usage in relation to studying. It is unclear whether poor learning habits related to smartphone usage are unique traits or a reflection of existing self-regulated learning skills. The self-regulatory skills (a) regulation, (b) knowledge, and (c) management of cognition were measured and compared to the smartphone practices (a) multitasking, (b) avoiding distractions, and (c) mindful use. First-year undergraduates (n = 227) completed an online survey of self-regulatory skills and common phone practices. The results support the predictions that self-regulatory skills are negatively correlated with multitasking while studying and are positively correlated with distraction avoidance and mindful use of the phone. The management of cognition factor, which includes effort, time, and planning, was strongly correlated with multitasking (r = −0.20) and avoiding distractions (r = 0.45). Regulation of cognition was strongly correlated with mindful use (r = 0.33). These results support the need to consider the relationship between self-regulation and smartphone use as it relates to learning

Division of labour and sharing of knowledge for synchronous collaborative information retrieval

Synchronous collaborative information retrieval (SCIR) is concerned with supporting two or more users who search together at the same time in order to satisfy a shared information need. SCIR systems represent a paradigmatic shift in the way we view information retrieval, moving from an individual to a group process and as such the development of novel IR techniques is needed to support this. In this article we present what we believe are two key concepts for the development of effective SCIR namely division of labour (DoL) and sharing of knowledge (SoK). Together these concepts enable coordinated SCIR such that redundancy across group members is reduced whilst enabling each group member to benefit from the discoveries of their collaborators. In this article we outline techniques from state-of-the-art SCIR systems which support these two concepts, primarily through the provision of awareness widgets. We then outline some of our own work into system-mediated techniques for division of labour and sharing of knowledge in SCIR. Finally we conclude with a discussion on some possible future trends for these two coordination techniques

Development of the Smartphone and Learning Inventory: Measuring Self-Regulated Use

Smartphone use in learning environments can be productive or distracting depending upon the type of use. The use is also impacted by the learner’s view and understanding of the smartphone and self-regulated learning skills. Measures are needed to specify uses and learner understandings to address the implications for teaching and learning. This study reports on the development of a multi-factor inventory designed to measure multitasking while studying, avoiding distractions while studying, mindful phone use, and phone knowledge. The inventory was completed by 514 undergraduate students enrolled in a first-year seminar. The results indicate good reliability and a three-factor structure with multitasking and avoiding distraction merging into one factor. The resulting measure can support research to improve self-regulation of smartphone use. Suggestions regarding instructional use are provided

Neurofeedback and the IVA+ in the Treatment of ADHD and Autism in an 8 Year Old Boy

Neurofeedback and the IVA+ in the Treatment of an Individual with ADHD and Autism Neurofeedback is a non-invasive computer based program utilized in the treatment of individuals with ADD, ADHD, Major Depression, Anxiety, Insomnia, mTBI, and Reading/Learning Disabilities. Neurofeedback involves training and learning self-regulation of brain activity to better control one’s mental state. The IVA+ is the assessment tool used to help identify auditory and/or visual processing challenges that are then treated with Neurofeedback sessions. This presentation will introduce the assessment process and how Neurofeedback works. A case study of an 8 year old boy diagnosed with ADHD and Autism will be presented including a discussion of the positive effect Neurofeedback has had on diminishing his ADHD behaviors and initiating emotional regulation and empathy- related to his Autism. Further research will need to focus on behavioral interventions along with Neurofeedback treatment

Benefits of Formative Teaching Observations

Formative teaching observations by peer teaching faculty can provide helpful advice about small changes to teaching that can improve teachers’ and students’ experiences during the term (see reference list). The researcher posits that the UNLV Teaching Observation project catalyzed real-time changes to the participating faculty’s teaching and generated short-term solutions to some of their teaching challenges.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/1057/thumbnail.jp