Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Higher education policy'

As the gap between the haves and have-nots widens, the call for reform in higher education in the United States intensifies. Policy actors, philanthropists, and academics from across the political spectrum work on various policy solutions, creating a policy environment that is complex and often contentious. Incrementalists claim that major policy reform is unlikely since unknown variables and inexplicable events can stall or dismantle policy initiatives. In such environments, policy entrepreneurs—those individuals who advocate for policy innovation, work for change, and help shape policy solutions from within and without government—try to break through the barriers of incremental politics. As important as this role is to the influencing and structuring of higher educational policy, it has not yet been explored. This study fills this gap in the extant literature by cataloging the characteristics and skills that enable higher education policy entrepreneurs at the state and national levels to persevere and accomplish sustainable and innovative higher education reforms over time.

The study employed a descriptive, revelatory, single-case study research design (Yin, 1994) interpreted from the postpositivist paradigm (Creswell, 2007). The major source of data, drawn from 23 interviews with policy entrepreneurs from across the United States, was triangulated with document reviews and a multi-level coding strategy. Then the data were framed by the research questions and juxtaposed against nine propositions extracted from the extant literature to derive the study findings.

The policy entrepreneurs in this study are creative political leaders with a passion for improving educational opportunity. They are adaptable, pragmatic on details of policy shaping, and use the means available to them to influence. Policy entrepreneurs don’t work in isolation; rather, they are network dependent. They value collaboration and seek to develop relationships and create opportunities to advocate for policy innovations that benefit students before institutions or organizations, taking calculated risks with interminable patience, and making sacrifices for their cause. They have learned to listen, compromise, reach across the aisle, strategize, and recognize windows of opportunity. They work hard to build credibility and trust. Workplace mentorships and peer relationships are a major source of their learning and development.

Online education is growing in response to demands of increased access, quality, and affordability. However, implementation and expansion are often challenged by faculty resistance, due in large part to perceived lack of quality and administrative support. This case study sought to determine how the presence or absence of quality elements, as defined by the Online Learning Consortium Quality Scorecard, in institutional structure, policy, and practice influences (motivates or inhibits) faculty decisions to teach online at Frostburg State University, a comprehensive, public university in western Maryland.

This mixed methods, sequential explanatory research collected data from three sources: an online survey of 387 faculty, a review of institutional documents, semistructured interviews with nine key university stakeholders and 13 faculty. To analyze these data, the study used descriptive statistics, logistic regression, application of the Online Learning Consortium Quality Scorecard rubric, and triangulation of data from all sources.

Findings suggest that faculty’s initial motivation to teach online was intrinsic, enhanced by extrinsic institutional factors–those within the control of the university. However, institutional factors played a more significant role in faculty decisions to continue/expand online teaching. Additionally, the findings suggest that faculty were most likely to teach online when their intrinsic motivation was aligned with the institution’s mission of online education and a shared strategic value of online education that balances the shared interests of the institution, students, and faculty.

The key finding in this study was that quality was a significant concern regarding online education. However, administrative support for online education was central to shaping faculty’s definition of quality in online education. These findings suggest that quality in online education is defined by faculty as the presence or absence of administrative support which creates institutional structure, policy and practice to support faculty to deliver quality instruction.

Higher education can present many challenges for students including managing and scheduling classes, assignments, projects, and professional and social obligations. This experience can be even more difficult for students living with chronic illness, many of whom face the additional challenges of debilitating pain, fatigue, social misconceptions, and frequent medical care. To succeed some students with chronic illnesses will need support and accommodation in order to achieve their goals and complete their degrees. In this thesis I explore the barriers I faced as a student with chronic illness in higher education and what accommodations may help remove those barriers for future students. With this thesis I hope to participate in social, political and academic conversations as a means to increase understanding among fellow students, faculty, staff, and administrators. It is my hope that these conversations will contribute to a movement that will help support and encourage students with chronic illnesses.

This exploratory dissertation investigates and describes 1) the habits of U.S. college students’ use of mobile devices in the classroom, and 2) U.S. college students’ perceptions on policy which bans mobile device usage in the classroom. The study also examines how students’ demographics influence their usage of mobile devices in the classroom and perceptions on the banning policy. The purpose of this study was to determine how frequently college students self-reported the use of mobile devices in the classroom whether for communication or for activities unrelated to class content and how college students feel about policies banning the use of such devices during class.

The following research questions framed this quantitative methods study: 1. To what extent do college students use their personal mobile device(s) during class for activities that are not related to class content? 2. Which mobile device activities not related to class content do college student access most often during class time? 3. To what extent do college students feel that mobile devices are a distraction from learning during class time? 4. How do college students perceive banning of mobile device use during class time? 5. To what extent are student demographics related to attitude about mobile devices in college classrooms?

This study utilized descriptive statistical analysis to summarize and analyze the survey results that were collected from 584 randomly selected U.S. college students. A questionnaire with 13 questions was distributed and collected through SurveyMonkey to the target audience who are: 1) 18–39 years old, 2) college students, and 3) studying in U.S. The survey results indicated a majority of college students don’t perceive using a personal mobile device during class as a substantial distraction nor did the students who completed the survey prefer their instructors implement a policy banning the use of mobile devices for personal reasons in the classroom. In addition, the study found that most students use their personal mobile devices in the classroom for text messaging, social networking, and checking e-mail as those activities not related to the class content.

The purpose of this study was to explore policy as it exists amongst literacy professors working with linguistically diverse students in higher education. The goal of this study was to provide research-based guidance on how explicit and implicit policies are created and implemented within a higher education setting. This study explored the declared, practiced, and perceived language policies related to the literacy instruction of linguistically diverse students at a four-year, post-secondary institution.

The design was a qualitative, embedded case study. Semi-structured interviews of professors, a student diversity survey, and an artifact review were performed. Study results found that higher education’s management of its program provided ample space for policy interpretation. Professor practices were influenced by their knowledge of teaching and influenced student learning. Also, although professors believed in improving student literacy, ideologies around power and bilingualism complicated this goal.

Cross-border state distance higher education policy is a complex web of complicated and often contradictory regulations stretching across 50 states and 14 US territories. This study examined the applicability of strategic choice theory to state higher education policy innovation in the context of the adoption of polices that regulate the distance education operations of out-of-state, regionally accredited higher education institutions. Using Event History Analysis, the role of power structures and the political and social environment in which policy adoption decisions were made were examined alongside established policy adoption predictors. Significant applicability of strategic choice theory to state distance higher education policy adoption was identified. Findings indicate that cross-border distance higher education policy adoption diverges from established trends in state higher education policy adoption, and that public and non-public institutions have the potential to play key roles in shaping future policy adoption.

This study investigates the legitimacy of policies to import cross-border higher education (CBHE) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study compares two of the UAE’s higher education subsystems – Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah – to understand how higher education stakeholders in the UAE interpret foreign involvement in higher education and investigate how those interpretations contribute to stakeholders’ assessments of the legitimacy of the country’s CBHE policies. The legitimacy of cross-border higher education policies is a potentially contentious issue because the higher education resources that are imported into host countries under CBHE policies are usually intended to supplement existing higher education systems whose stakeholders may not welcome foreign involvement in higher education. Given the multiple actors and national contexts that are active in the UAE’s higher education systems, there are potential legitimacy challenges facing local CBHE policies. The purpose of this study is to explore this area of possible disconnect in the legitimacy of CBHE to more clearly understand how host country higher education stakeholders evaluate the legitimacy of CBHE policies within their own systems and to arrive at a theory of policy legitimacy for cross-border higher education.

This study approaches policy legitimacy in higher education by investigating how higher education stakeholders evaluate CBHE policies and derives a theory of CBHE policy legitimacy from the study’s findings. The following research questions guide the study:

1. What are the goals of CBHE policies? How do these goals serve to increase the legitimacy of the higher education subsystem?

2. How do resident higher education stakeholders evaluate the legitimacy of CBHE policies?

3. How do the findings of this study on legitimacy in a non-democratic environment resonate with existing policy legitimacy theories?

This qualitative study is a two-case comparison of CBHE policy in the emirates of Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), each of which has implemented CBHE policies in their private higher education sectors. Forty-five higher education stakeholders were interviewed across the two emirates between January and April 2012. Site visits and document analyses were conducted in both cases and an additional 40 higher education actors were interviewed in other UAE higher education systems, providing background context for the two cases analyzed in this study.

Support was found for the model of CBHE policy legitimacy proposed in the study. Salient components of CBHE policy legitimacy include the procedural elements of legality, decision norms, and representation, as well as normative legitimacy of the policies.