The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how the social and academic integration of first-time college students from a midwestern university influenced their decision to return to college. This qualitative descriptive study explored two research questions: RQ1: How do first-time college students describe their role of…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to gain an understanding of how attitudes, perceptions, and subjective norms influenced professors' lived experiences of intentions to use digital game-based learning (DGBL) in the Western region of the United States. The theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the technology acceptance model (TAM)…

This capstone will discuss the research and development of a document intended for university stakeholders, defined as community partners. A review of academic literature has shown that experiential learning, in the form of internships, can have a positive impact on student learning and job attainment beyond graduation. The promotion of…

Colleges may not be prepared to support veteran students transitioning from the military to higher education, resulting in more significant attrition levels for veteran students struggling to adapt to their new surroundings. This qualitative phenomenological study examined the experiences of post-9/11 veteran students as they transitioned from the…

For decades, schools nationwide have collected household income data to identify those eligible for free and reduced-price lunch programs. State leaders have long used this information as a proxy for student economic disadvantage--yet this data is insufficient to understand and address students' needs. Measures based on FRL data lack critical…

Professional development provides opportunities for teachers to acquire the knowledge needed to become experts in their classroom content and to improve their instructional skills to meet the needs of today's student learners. While districts and curriculum leaders work to improve professional development design, teachers' dissatisfaction with…

While women have made great strides in leadership and academia over the last several decades, women continue to lag behind men in executive leadership positions. In universities, women students are vastly underrepresented in executive leadership roles; however, at community colleges the trends are reversed as women are actively taking on executive…

Substitute teachers organize the classroom and instruct students in the absence of the regular teacher. An expectation placed on substitute teachers is to ensure learning experiences continue (Duggleby & Badali, 2007); however, this charge may exceed the preparation. Three central research questions and four sub-questions guided this case…

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of Afghan women refugees in community colleges. Using Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth theory, the study explored Afghan women's motivation for attending college, the experiences that brought them to the college, the challenges they experienced while navigating the institution,…

The field of information literacy (IL) suffers from a gap between theory and practice, meaning that librarians, as practitioners, do not adequately use and apply the theory of information science in their work (Hider et al., 2019; Julien et al., 2013; Nguyen & Hider, 2018). Specifically, IL is theorized as a social practice, yet practitioners…

This study looked to determine if being classified as a Cinderella Story team in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, led to a statistically significant change in NCAA Division I men's basketball spending for that team's respective institution one, two, and three years after being labeled. The purpose of…

The 2019-2020 school year started traditionally with the majority of students learning in a face-to-face model. By the end of March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic (Mahase, 2020; Nayak et al., 2021), and all schools in the United States shut down due to the pandemic (Decker et al., 2020). Though the origins…

This qualitative descriptive study was conducted to explore and describe the training and professional development needs of instructors moving from in-person to online-only instruction. The intent of the study was to encourage administrators to assess these needs and develop training and professional development programs that will meet need these…

Schools today are facing unprecedented demands for school accountability and student achievement. Effective school leadership is recognized as a critical component for overall school success. Consequently, researchers have extensively explored school leadership and identifiedtransformational leadership as an appropriate style for schools…

Due to the shortage of nursing faculty, clinical experts with no expertise in educational methods are onboarded into the role of adjunct nursing faculty. Many adjunct nursing faculty members have trouble in the transition and find themselves unprepared to carry out their academic faculty responsibilities. The purpose of this qualitative study was…