Thesis
Working smarter, not harder: first-year student engagement in educational practices
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
05/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/100684
Abstract
Strong-performing higher education institutions put policies and practices in place to promote academic success and engagement. Students greatly benefit from resources and services that institutions provide for their learning and development. Student engagement is a two-way relationship. If students expect to benefit from the services a college or university has to offer, they must invest the time and effort towards academic engagement. However, recent studies suggest that large numbers of college students are academically disengaged. The goal of this study is to understand how today's first-year college students understand and make meaning of educational practices, both in terms of their independent academic patterns of behavior and their use of institutional resources that promote academic success. Personal Investment Theory is used in the study to explore students' understanding and use of educational practices. The study includes data from seven first-year students gathered through semi-structured interviews and data from observations of three introductory courses. The findings from the study reveal that some students invest the minimum amount of time and effort that is necessary to accomplish their desired outcomes. Some students' motivation for attending college is to obtain a well-paying career, in which they only need to pass their classes, as opposed to exceeding grade requirements. The methodological framework provides thick descriptions about students' understanding and use of educational practices.
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Details
- Title
- Working smarter, not harder
- Creators
- Evelyn Michelle G. Martinez
- Contributors
- Kelly Ward (Chair)XYANTHE NICOLE NEIDER (Committee Member)Susan Poch (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Educational Leadership, Sport Studies, and Educational/Counseling Psychology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Number of pages
- 111
- Identifiers
- 99900525150801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis