Browsing by Subject "Student experience"
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Item An assessment of retention, student experiences, and student success in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech University(2011-08) Dudley, Lori R.; Akers, Cindy; Irlbeck, Erica; Fraze, StevenStudent retention is an issue for every institution of higher education. It is more and more important for universities to see undergraduate students complete bachelor’s degrees as college dropout rates continue to increase and financial support is decreasing (Tinto, 1993). Tinto stated 1.5 million out of 2.4 entering undergraduates will drop out before receiving a bachelor’s degree. Tinto’s Departure Theory (1993) was used as framework for this study. This model describes student departure over a longitudinal period and the decision process involved. The key factors from Tinto’s model used in this study were academic performance, faculty/staff interactions, and peer group interactions. These factors are in the middle of the decision process and are critical to retaining students. Over one million students who leave college will never complete any type of degree program (Tinto, 1993). Students departing from universities prior to completing a degree limit their potential career opportunities as well as costs universities in lost revenue (DeBerard, Spielmans, & Julka, 2004). This study assessed students’ experiences, academic success, and use of retention programs at Texas Tech University College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. By identifying students who are at risk of dropping out or having academic difficulties, CASNR can increase student success, student experiences, retention rates, maintain retention programs for students who are struggling, and develop additional programming that may come out of this study. This study concluded that a program is needed multiple times throughout an academic year to bring all the CASNR departments together. Faculty advising should continue based on the positive response by interview participants. Some of the current retention programs had positive comments and should be continued for future incoming CASNR students. This study also found that students need some guidance on degree program choices during their freshman year.Item The seminary experience: conceptual worlds of first-career and second-career seminarians(2009-08) Lincoln, Timothy Dwight; Somers, Patricia (Patricia A.)This study explored the conceptual worlds of first- and second-career seminarians enrolled in the M.Div. program at New Creation Theological Seminary (NCTS), a mainline Protestant school. Research questions were: 1) What themes do first- and second-career seminarians use to describe their seminary experience? 2) How do first and second-career seminarians relate these themes into a system of thought (mindmap)? 3) How do the systems of thought described by first- and second-career seminarians compare? 4) Do first- and second-career seminarians identify an over-arching message to their theological education? Using interactive qualitative analysis, the researcher discovered 12 key themes common to the conceptual worlds of first- and second-career students. For both types of students, school bureaucracy and church requirements were drivers that influenced many aspects of the seminary experience. The outcomes of the seminary experience were transformation in knowledge, pastoral skills, and sense of vocation. Students became satisficers to meet the competing demands of school, church, and family. Students reported that theological education required vigorous engagement and self-discipline. Students affirmed that God was active in their life worlds. The life worlds of younger and older participants were similar in terms of themes and in the way that these themes combined into mindmaps, although second-career students were more frustrated than first-career students about the way that seminary shrank life outside of school. First-career students reported that the seminary’s over-arching message was about community. Second-career students concluded that the over-arching message was about training for ministry. Ecological theory suggests that students received the over-arching messages that they did because of how they had been shaped by involvement in various social microsystems. Two distinctive findings of the study were the importance that participants placed on fulfilling church requirements for ordination and the role that campus facilities played in assisting or hindering their theological studies. Based on the study’s results and previous literature about seminary students, the researcher proposed a model to describe student experience in seminary.