The Cosmopolitan Club Movement began at the University of Wisconsin in 1903. By 1907, eight universities joined the Wisconsin club to form a national association called the Association of Cosmopolitan Clubs (ACC). In 1908, at the State University of Iowa (SUI) a cohort of engineering students from the Philippines and Mexico began the State…

The twenty-eight item Sense of Online Community Scale was completed by 293 online students at a midsized southeastern United States university to ascertain community importance and activities associated with its formation and maintenance on the program and institutional level. A large majority of these students believed that a sense of community…

This conceptual paper revisits a set of pivotal learning community notions filtered through sociological and community psychology perspectives to unravel representations of the community construct within learning contexts. A conceptual review of sociological and community psychology perspectives on the community construct is initially presented.…

The overall goal of this dissertation, comprised of three empirical studies, was to examine the role of social support as a source of resilience in the face of two chronic stressors: low socioeconomic status and first-generation college student status. Study 1 of this dissertation sought to examine neighborhood support from members of one's…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the ways in which reactive researcher collaboration helps to manage some of the challenges present in insider research. Design/methodology/approach: Employing (auto)biographical reflections from across two different case-studies, the authors explore the ways in which reactive collaboration is…

Background: The Dogwood Mountain School System (DMSS) faces the challenge of trying to address the apparent drop-off of female student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and increase female student interest and engagement in STEM. Purpose: The purpose of this action research study was to understand how individual…

This article examines spatiality in selected children's books about COVID-19. Spatiality is an important lens because the coronavirus pandemic is a crisis related to distancing and mobility restrictions--spatial matters. Benedict Anderson's notion of imagined communities was adopted as a framework to how children's books present community…

Video games have become a mainstream form of entertainment that are played regularly by many around the world, including a large number of youth with disabilities (YwD). Video games' popular presence in our society has created exciting new opportunities for student learning that educators who work with YwD can leverage for both skill acquisition…

This study contributes to the literature via a qualitative meta-analysis that illuminates the role of schools in preventing and countering violent extremism and hate crimes globally. By examining and analyzing recent studies at the intersection of peace education and countering or preventing violent extremism (CVE/PVE), the present study develops…

I argue that educators, by introducing young people to various ways of responding to wrongdoing, help prepare them for the task of acting in and taking responsibility for the world. I begin by (a) introducing Hannah Arendt's understanding of the world, the characteristics of action as unpredictable, boundless and irreversible, i.e. the frailty of…

Autistic people report greater comfort socialising and easier communication with each other. Despite autism being stereotypically associated with lack of social motivation, an autistic community has been described briefly in the literature but is not well understood. Autistic community connectedness may play a role in promoting wellbeing for…

Background: Often, people with and without intellectual disabilities do not mingle. Research has mostly focused on how to foster "convivial encounters" for social inclusion, but further thinking is needed on situations in which potential encounters do not take place. Method: Discussion of philosophical and urban sociological literature…

This study sought to understand motivations of individuals who offer unsolicited assistance to Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) thru-hikers. Referred to as "trail angels," these individuals provide supportive services (e.g., food, drink, transportation, and lodging) along the 2,650-mile footpath as it passes through California, Oregon, and…

Dance is an enjoyable activity among older adults, but motivations and determinants for successful engagement are less understood. Our aim was to assess these factors among community-dwelling older adults participating in a ballroom dance program. Twenty-one participants (71.4 ± 4.7, 66.7-76.1 years; males: n = 8, females: n = 13) engaged in an…

Although decades of research demonstrate the value of interactions in college, scholars have yet to explore how distinct interactions with faculty, staff, and peers predict holistic outcomes. This study explored such relationships through an ecological lens, demonstrating that academic, social, and deeper life interactions uniquely influence…