Objective: Describe the experiences of students in an undergraduate Assistance Dog Training Program (ADTP) academic minor. Participants: Students enrolled ADTP at a large, public research university. Methods: Qualitative and quantitative survey data and historical program evaluation data were analyzed to describe student experiences. Furthermore, the PERMA (positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishments) theory of well-being was used as a theoretical lens to understand participant well-being. Results: ADTP provided opportunities for meaningful service learning, working with animals, developing career interests, fulfilling personal interests, and meeting degree requirements. ADTP participation positively influenced the undergraduate experience by advancing personal and academic growth and life skill development. Finally, the ADTP positively influenced student well-being. Conclusions: Lessons learned to strengthen the ADTP were identified and are discussed. The ADTP can be a model for replication on other campuses to meet the need for more assistance dogs and potentially to support student and community well-being.

Educator stress, burn-out and fatigue greatly affect faculty success and retention. The purpose of this research was to increase understanding of the lived experiences of educators and identify tangible strategies to help them thrive in higher education. Using an online open-ended cross-sectional survey and content analysis, this study explored qualitative data regarding nursing faculty experiences of stress, changes in pedagogy, and peer-to-peer faculty advice. Findings from 113 participants highlight recommendations from and for educators including pedagogical approaches as well as insights on compassion, compassion-fatigue, and self-compassion. Educator experiences are shared with the hope that faculty will use peer guidance to reflect on their own activities, make enhancements, and enact change.

Background: Microaffirmations are brief statements of support and inclusion that can have a powerful influence on students, particularly those who feel disconnected.Aim: The aim of this pilot study was to explore self-reports of microaffirmations from adult students in a nursing degree program offered in an online format at a large public institution of higher education.Methods: Responses from online students, collected as part of a larger study on microaffirmations among undergraduate students across all instructional modalities, were gathered and framed as a pilot study to appreciate experiences of virtual microaffirmations and to determine if a study focused specifically on microaffirmations among online learners would be feasible and fruitful.Results: Results indicated that students who received microaffirmations reported higher levels of connectedness and belonging as well as positive mood and self-efficacy.Conclusions: Implications for practice include infusing microaffirmations as part of discussion boards, feedback on assignments, and routine check-ins with students. Rich insights from analysis suggest that a large-scale study of microaffirmations in online learning environments would be productive and worthwhile.

Studies show that a nexus exists between racialized campus experiences, racial-ethnic identity, and engagement in campus activities for Black college men and shapes their perceptions about an institution's commitment to support the communities they represent. Yet, there is limited knowledge about how this nexus may unfold ecologically for this student population during their undergraduate experience. Using the Phenomenological Variant Ecological System Theory, this qualitative study describes how 31 Black college males leveraged their identities to manage self and societal appraisals, cope with stress experienced in university programs, and navigate feelings of marginalization and sense of belonging during their undergraduate experience.

Colleges and universities are under increasing pressure to retain students and increase degree completion amid multiple social and economic threats to undergraduate student enrollment. A sense of belonging, motivation, and confidence are foundational to student success and essential components of strategic approaches to enrollment challenges. Microaffirmations, brief acts communicating care, listening, and support, can be a powerful tool within these efforts for promoting belonging. This study examined how 350 undergraduate students experienced microaffirmations and the meaning of the microaffirmations to their educational lives. Findings indicate that students identify multiple forms of microaffirmations and that these promote positive benefits, including perceived improvement in academic performance, persistence to remain in college, and assistance in navigating challenges. In short, microaffirmations provide students with the confidence to continue by influencing their perspectives on self-efficacy and support.

Racial inequities in retention and graduation rates are a top concern in higher education, yet scholars and practitioners rarely look to racism to explain these disparities. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a vehicle to reveal and challenge power and oppression dynamics between racialized groups. This article proposes a practical model for student affairs professionals to leverage CRT concepts to address racial inequities in student outcomes and experiences.

Academic coaching is an increasingly prevalent form of student support in higher education, although empirical research on the intervention is relatively limited (Robinson, 2015). Academic coaching is intended to advance student learning, well-being, and success in a context external but complementary to the classroom (Richman, Rademacher, & Maitland, 2014; Robinson, 2015). This exploratory study used a randomized control trial design to investigate the effects of academic coaching on college students’ metacognition, a primary component of self-regulated learning. We recruited undergraduates who had not previously participated in academic coaching and randomly assigned them to three groups: in-person academic coaching, online academic coaching, and control. All participants completed a pre- and post-test instrument that included the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI; Schraw & Dennison, 1994). Results showed that students who received academic coaching had increased metacognition as measured by MAI subscales. Increases in metacognitive awareness occurred in both the in-person and online academic coaching conditions. However, repeated measures ANOVAs did not reveal differences between the three conditions. Overall preliminary results suggest that academic coaching may be a promising student support intervention for helping develop college students’ metacognition outside of the classroom environment.

The scientific literacy and conceptual understanding demands of the 21st century have necessitated fundamental changes in science education, including changes from traditional lecture to more active learning pedagogies. The affordances of such pedagogies can benefit students, but only when they are able to enact effective and efficient self-regulated learning processing. More research is needed to understand how and when students should self regulate during science learning, as well as how to help those students who struggle to do so. In this study, we leveraged multimodal online interaction trace data from 408 college students enrolled in an introductory biology class to investigate the temporal nature of self-regulation during science education. Using latent profile analyses, we found differences in self-regulatory processing predicted course performance, with implications for the development of systems for identifying and supporting students who are likely to struggle in active learning science education environments.

Using an embedded mixed methods design, a randomized control trial assessed the effects of in-person and online academic coaching professional development training on university faculty and staff behaviors and attitudes with undergraduate students. Results suggest there was widespread implementation of academic coaching behaviors including collaboration, asking open-ended questions, and creating an action plan. While both in-person and online training formats produced positive changes for participants, the in-person training resulted in greater behavior adoption.

First-year courses have been used to bolster college student success, but empirical evidence on their efficacy is mixed. We investigated whether a first-year science of learning course, focused on self-regulated learning, would benefit first-generation college students. We randomly assigned students to a treatment condition involving enrollment in the course, a comparison condition in which students had access to online course materials only, or a control condition. From this larger study, we recruited 43 students to participate in a laboratory task involving learning about the circulatory system with a computer. We found that treatment and comparison students experienced greater changes in conceptual knowledge than the control group, and we found differences in the enactment of monitoring and strategy use across conditions.

Traditionally, research promoting diversity within postsecondary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has focused on identity markers such as race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status in relation to student success. Fewer studies investigate the experiences of transfer students−a population that encompasses the identities previously investigated and whose enrollment in four-year institutions is growing exponentially. Using qualitative methods, this study explores post-transfer experiences of students who intended on majoring in a STEM discipline but subsequently graduated with a non-STEM degree. Drawing from Phenomenological Variant Ecological Systems Theory, this study highlights students' post-transfer challenges, coping responses, and influential relationships and associations that informed their decisions. Implications for improving transfer students' success in STEM at four-year universities are provided.

The main question that guides this work concerns the intentional use of microaffirmations in support of the inclusive education process. We will describe how microaffirmations can help to achieve significant goals for inclusive education both inside and outside the classroom (Ainscow 2015; Messiou et al., 2016). Specifically, attention will be focused on how support and recognition communicated through microaffirmations can improve sense of belonging as an essential element of creating safe spaces for learning (Mitchell, 2014). The theoretical overview provided here sets the groundwork for a research study, to be implemented in Italy and the United States, where inclusion and microaffirmation is the binomial investigated.

Internationally, institutions of higher education have been called upon to engage college students with learning disabilities in campus life, to provide effective learning supports, and to hold high expectations (Tinto, 2012). Model programs providing comprehensive support to college students with learning disabilities are few and far between. As the number of college students needing learningsupport increases across many countries, there is a critical demand to identify programs and approaches that produce optimal outcomes for students. This article provides an overview of the legal structures on which supports for individuals with disabilities are based in the United States in comparison to Italy.For nearly forty years, a U.S. program called Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques (SALT) Center has extended federally mandated supports in to higher education. As Italy grows its tertiary programs and supports for students with learning disabilities, the SALT Center may serve as a helpful model program.

Objectives: Studies have described the experiences of racial microaggressions in everyday life and on college campuses, yet prior research has not explored how microaggressions and microaffirmations are experienced by students who are first in their family to attend college. Method: This qualitative investigation of 296 open-ended survey responses described the lived experiences of first-generation college students at a large, public, predominately White institution. Results: Students experienced microaggressions in the form microinsults, microassaults, and microinvalidations, and microaffirmations in the form of microsupports, microcompliments, and microvalidations on campus. Conclusions: Study implications include the development and implementation of regular positive and intentional communications by faculty, staff, and peers on college campuses.

Growth mindset has gained popularity in the fields of psychology and education, yet there is surprisingly little research on the psychometric properties of the Growth Mindset Scale. This research presents an item response theory analysis of the Growth Mindset Scale when used among college students in the United States. Growth Mindset is the belief that success comes through hard work and effort rather than fixed intelligence. Having a growth mindset is believed to be important for academic success among historically marginalized groups; therefore it is important to know if the Growth Mindset Scale functions well among first generation college students. The sample consists of 1260 individuals who completed the Growth Mindset Scale on one of 5 surveys. The Growth Mindset Scale consists of 8 items, with responses ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). IRT analysis is used to assess item fit, scale dimensionality, local dependence, and differential item functioning (DIF). Due to local dependence within the 8-item scale, the final IRT model fit 4 items to a unidimensional model. The 4-item scale did not exhibit any local dependence or DIF among known groups within the sample. The 4-item scale also had high marginal reliability (0.90) and high total information. Cronbach’s alpha for the 4-item scale was α = 0.89. Discussion of the local dependence issues within the 8-item scale is provided.

Abstract:Students from rural communities face significant challenges due to low academic preparation, geographic isolation, and poor socioeconomic conditions (Byun, Meece, & Irvin, 2012). These challenges have the potential to hinder or deter rural students from entering four-year colleges or universities. With over nine million students living in rural communities or attending rural high schools (Johnson, Showalter, Klein, & Lester, 2014), research characterizing their college attainment process is necessary to better meet the needs of rurals students aspiring to attend college. Using focus group interviews situated in Coleman's (1988) social capital theory, we examined the perspectives and experiences of 10 high-achieving students who attend a rural high school. Throughout the interviews, students expressed fears, worries, and concerns regarding their ability to attend and be successful in college. Additionally, the students reported having limited access to resources needed for attending and completing college. Study findings have important implications for college access preparation, programming, and research.

The concept of grit is of interest in the field of education, particularly as it pertains to persistence to a 4-year college degree. This study offers an IRT analysis of the Grit Scale when used among first-generation college students (FGCSs) as well as recent first-generation college graduates and non-FGCS recent graduates. The Grit Scale was included in surveys administered as part of an array of other research projects within The Finish Line Project—a US Department of Education First in the World grant-funded project that seeks to improve FGCS access to, persistence in, and completion of postsecondary education through rigorous research into various programs and supports for FGCSs. The reliability and validity of the Grit Scale have not yet been analyzed for use with FGCS or overall with students at large, research universities. By comparing enrolled students and recent graduates, the psychometric analysis in this study offers insight into the measurement of student grit for use in program development and policy-making to improve student retention. Item response theory (IRT) analyses, analysis of differential item functioning (DIF), reliability analyses, convergent and discriminant validity analyses, and known groups validity analyses were used to examine the Grit Scale.

This qualitative study describes the experiences of 16 successful first-generation college students (FGCS) utilizing a theoretical lens, informed significantly by bioecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), which guided our qualitative analyses of interview transcripts to examine the activities, roles, and relationships of these students as they approached the finish line of college graduation. We responded to an omission in the literature on FGCS experiences: although researchers have examined the struggles of first-generation and low-income students, few studies have focused on the experiences of successful students. We offer a developmental paradigm for appreciating undergraduate retention. Recommendations from this investigation support the development and implementation of proactive retention and degree-completion strategies from a strengths-based perspective.