The study looked back on the one-year experience of the first group of peer mentors of a university at northern Taiwan. Twelve peer mentors (six males and six females; with an average age of 21.45) took part in the study. A qualitative phenomenological approach and in-depth interviews were adopted. The results showed that participants deemed the…

Theories of college student and adult intellectual development have shown that learning to interpret, evaluate, and construct knowledge evolves in a developmentally predictable fashion, and have offered explanations for the difficulties some students face when asked to make their own decisions (Baxter Magolda, 1992; Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger,…

Student development has connections to important academic purposes in higher education (King, Baxter Magolda, Barber, Kendall Brown & Lindsay, 2009). In particular, a growing body of work on self-authorship, a social-constructive theory of development, has demonstrated relevance to the purposes of higher education (Baxter Magolda, 2001; King…

This study applies Baxter Magolda's theory of self-authorship (2001) from the literature of student development theory to examine the experiences of undergraduate adult learners. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of undergraduate adult learners enrolled in an adult degree program and whether their experiences were influenced…

In 2007, I embarked on a PhD study to explore diverse students' experiences, representations and understandings of personal development and personal development planning at one British university. The timing of this project was critical because universities were charged with a responsibility to provide opportunities for students to engage with…

The transition to adulthood poses one of the most complex challenges for young people with intellectual disabilities. In order to conduct a wide-reaching and in-depth study of this process, we need to know the views of these young people themselves and their families. This article presents research designed to collect the experiences and…

Qualitative interviews were employed to assess the effectiveness of a leadership program geared toward African American male personal and professional development, and to examine the relationship between program participation and connectedness. Elements of both social engagement (mentoring and being mentored, peer-to-peer relationships, and…

Students learn best when teachers get out of the way. Unfortunately, university classrooms continue to be intensely teacher-centric, are driven by the teacher's agenda and calendar, and embrace simple models rather than complex alternatives. These simple types of learning environments frustrate students' development of the risk-­taking and choice…

This paper describes international education at the University of Jordan (UJ). Specifically it investigates a random sample of international students comprising Americans, Europeans and Asians. A field survey approach with qualitative and quantitative dimensions was used. Questionnaires were used to solicit information from the students. In…

Despite much research into doctoral education over the past two decades, theorising the field remains challenging. Recently, identity has been taken up as a conceptualising frame. Views of identity vary but often privilege the reproductive features of society, downplaying how individuals can be intentional in pursuing their desires--with the…

This paper provides a case study of personal development planning (PDP) within an initial teacher training course for the post-compulsory sector, delivered through a large consortium in the north of England. The paper reviews conceptual and empirical studies of PDP in higher education and reports on the practice and perceptions of students and…

This paper discusses the background and key findings of a two-year Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded mixed-method research project (2006-2008) which was designed, within the context of university internationalisation, to provide an investigation of the experiences of first-year international students during their undergraduate…

This article presents an interview with Michelle McGuirk who is the University of Wolverhampton's Student Development Coordinator, and is in the process of consolidating its program of learning resources. This interview is intended to explore the British approach to the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education. First, Michelle…

"Depth interviews" reveal the development of autonomy to be a complex process characterized by a network of interrelated life experiences in multiple domains. Relational, personal, and educational events influence the pace and direction of developing autonomy. Six themes emerging from the data are discussed and related to developmental theories…

A study was done at the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) examining the experiences, concerns and interests of college freshmen. Of 65 entering students who agreed to participate, 37 signed up for the study in September, 1988, with 24 women and 4 men completing all study requirements: completion of a daily diary; bimonthly unstructured…