While interviewing seniors at our university, we came across a curious and disturbing trend. Students of color were less active in any local church. This finding pushed us to ask: does this gap exist throughout Christian college campuses? We answered this question using survey data from over 800 seniors at Baylor University and a national sample…

Despite the strong criticisms, mass student surveys play an important role in the quality assurance process of national higher education systems. While some national higher education systems have a long history of using student surveys to inform teaching and course quality improvement (e.g. the UK, Australia), in Italy, where the quality assurance…

Despite studies on the perceptions of benefits and costs of joining a professional body little empirical evidence is available on the deciding factors for joining one specific professional body, let alone multiple ones in an emerging economy. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) theoretical lens, this paper investigates, through surveys,…

The present research featured the operational component of the psychological readiness to cope with stressful events in the workplace and its development in senior university students. The authors believe that only practice-oriented technologies can provide the experience that will help new grades to overcome adversities they might face at work…

A goal of introductory physics for life sciences (IPLS) curricula is to prepare students to effectively use physical models and quantitative reasoning in biological and medical settings. To assess whether this goal is being met, we conducted a longitudinal study of the impact of IPLS on student work in later biology and chemistry courses. We…

The role of communication variables such as communication apprehension (CA), self-perceived communication competence (SPCC), and intercultural willingness to communicate (IWTC) in improving L2 WTC has rarely been compared or even considered in detail in project-based learning (PBL) classroom contexts. Given this research gap, a mixed-methods study…

This paper investigates what instructional factors influence conceptual understanding (CU) of signals and systems for senior undergraduate engineering students. Previous results show students in signals and systems courses typically gain little CU, though evidence-based instructional practices, such as active learning, can increase gains in CU.…

International students are an important and growing population of the U.S. undergraduate student body for at least two reasons. First, they enrich diversity in U.S. higher education as they bring various cultural backgrounds and values (Calleja, 2000). Second, they generate considerable revenue not only for U.S. institutions of higher education…

Colleges increasingly emphasize the importance of socioeconomic diversity, but little work examines the link between such diversity and outcomes important to the campus climate. Using a national dataset, we test the link between two measures of socioeconomic diversity and cross-racial interaction, an outcome paramount to triggering the benefits of…

A student's college experience includes relationships that they establish at the two-year or four-year university that they attend (Strayhorn, 2012). The purpose of this study is to identify personal and institutional characteristics of transfer student-athletes that have significant associations with sense of belonging. In addition, the study…

An increasing number of faculty have brought up questions and concerns about supporting international students' academic engagement and success. However, little is known about faculty's approaches to international student engagement and how they may differ from international students' self-reported engagement at four-year institutions. Using data…

It is rare for learners to reach high level of communicative ability from engaging in entirely language form either implicitly or explicitly. Likewise, focusing primarily on content may be a hindrance to embrace target language features. The integration of form-focused instruction in content-based classrooms has been effective because such an…

Utilizing data from the 2009 College Senior Survey, this study measured and compared social agency and civic awareness among undergraduate students enrolled at four types of institutions: Baptist, CCCU, Catholic, and nonsectarian. Comparisons were made through paired-sample t-tests and ANOVA analyses. A series of separate multiple regressions were…

This study investigates findings from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), comparing various aspects of student engagement between honors college and general education students. Responses from 1,339 honors college students and 7,191 general education students across 15 different universities suggest a positive impact for honors…

Team projects can optimize educational resources in a laboratory, but also create the potential for social loafing. Allowing students to choose their own groups could increase their motivation to learn and improve academic performance. To test this hypothesis, final grades and feedback from students were compared for the same course in two…