Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Social Networking, Higher Education'

Social networking websites can have a positive and negative, psychological impact on individuals who use them, especially if these individuals have previously experienced depressive symptoms. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) informs the curriculum in master's and doctoral level counseling graduate programs, yet the extent to which social networking websites and their psychological impacts is explored in these programs is unknown.

This is an exploratory, mixed methods study that explores the extent to which CACREP graduate programs address this topic and prepare mental health professionals to address this topic in their practice as well as exploring the extent to which, and how, mental health professionals are seeing social networking sites impact their clients. Thirty-two participants completed an online survey that consisted of open-ended and closed-ended questions. The data collected was analyzed through frequency distributions and by developing themes using in vivo coding. These themes were then used with the frequency distribution results to inform the findings in this study.

Conclusions were drawn from this study that CACREP programs are not formally addressing social networking websites psychological impacts on clients in their curriculum and mental health professionals shared that clients are being psychologically impacted by social networking websites. Mental health professionals are experiencing a need for education and/or training in this area in order to address this area with clients. Lastly, from this study there are several recommendations for additions to the CACREP curriculum in relation to social networking websites psychological impacts as well as suggestions for interventions to address these issues.

Social networking sites (SNS) have become the major media through which millions of college students develop and maintain their personal online networks. Several recent studies have explored why college students use social networking sites and the factors that affect users joining these sites. However, little is known about the relationship between the amount of SNS use and an under-represented community college student's academic success. The main objective of this study was to examine relationships between SNS activities, academic performance, the type and frequency of SNS use, student engagement, and other socio-psychological characteristics that may affect school achievement. This study surveyed 567 low-income students enrolled in six community colleges in Southern California. This cross-sectional structured survey used a sample of 567 low-income students enrolled in six community colleges in Southern California that are predominantly attended by low-income students. Both bivariate (ANOVA and Chi-Squared test) and multivariate (logistic regression) techniques were employed. The present research study clearly detected a strong association between SNS and college performance among community college students, even after demographic and socio-economic characteristics were held statistically constant. This study documented an excessive use of SNS is associated with poor performance in college. While it was expected that the excessive use of SNS associated with college performance; however, it is interesting that many college students realized this potential negative association between inappropriate use of SNS and college performance. Yet, it seems that motivation and skills to modify their behaviors associated with excessive use of SNS are not in place. SNS usage has great potential to prepare students for college by bridging their online social life with the world of academic discourse. It is important to design, develop, and implement educational curriculum that encourage use of SNS as an alternative and substitute for excessive use of SNS for non-educational purposes. Educational interventional projects are needed to promote knowledge and awareness of students of potential negative impact of SNS on their college performance, particularly among students that are using SNS extensively for non-educational purpose. Leadership at higher educational institutions also needs to be encouraged to promote use of SNS for educational use.

This study seeks to understand higher education leadership overall by exploring how mid-level leadership is enacted by career services directors. Given that higher education institutions are facing a wide range of challenges that require an equally wide range of skills to address them, colleges and universities may need to become more inclusive regarding who contributes to institutional leadership. Mid-level leadership is defined in this study as a process of social interaction that originates with a middle manager and that cuts across functional areas and/or hierarchical levels to impact institutional goals. Three research questions frame the study: 1) How do career services directors develop the capacity for social influence within their institutions, 2) How do career services directors use their social influence to cut across functional areas and hierarchical levels, and 3) What institutional goals are advanced when career services directors enact mid-level leadership? A collective case study methodology was employed. Twelve career services directors whose profiles matched the study’s selection criteria for individual characteristics (e.g. years working in a director-level position in career services, years working at the director level at their current institution, minimum of master’s degree, evidence of engagement in leadership activities on- and off-campus), unit characteristics (e.g. unit size, staff configuration, and scope of services offered), and institutional characteristics (e.g. geographic location, institutional size, four-year public or non-profit status) took part in interviews for the study. Study findings indicated that career services directors developed the capacity for social influence by creating internal networks, involving staff in increasing the visibility of the unit, and establishing themselves and/or their unit as a critical institutional resource. They utilized their social influence by deliberately leveraging their networks, providing access to information and resources, and framing issues for institutional stakeholders. The study found that when career services directors enacted mid-level leadership, the institutional goals they impacted included the development and/or implementation of the institution’s strategic plan, curriculum development and student learning, and the advancement of diversity initiatives.

Contemporary social issues, such as poverty, inequality, and climate change, exceed the capacity of a single sector to solve and require the collaboration of the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. In this context, universities play a unique and increasingly comprehensive role in educating students, generating new knowledge, and advancing the social and economic conditions in their communities.

Over the past decade, explosive growth has occurred in social entrepreneurship and social innovation initiatives on university and college campuses. Whether offered through a center, initiative, or program, a groundswell of curricular, co-curricular, and convening activities has emerged that educates and engages students, faculty, and a range of stakeholders in the pursuit of solving pressing social issues in innovative ways.

Using qualitative research methodology and a grounded theory approach, the purpose of this study was to explore the broad phenomenon of and the proliferation of university-based social impact centers in the United States. Through the perspectives and lived experiences of 43 social impact leaders, from multiple higher education institutions, this study developed a grounded theory model which explains the forces driving the emergence and evolution of the university-based social impact centers. The phenomenon can be explained by these “windows of opportunity” where internal, external, and cultural forces intersect, interact, and overlap with one another, within institutional-specific contexts, to produce new centers. While each institution boasts a unique culture and contextual characteristics, the data demonstrated that mission-driven students, market pressures on higher education institutions, and donor support were the most significant forces driving the expansion of social innovation on college campuses. Akin to the double-bottom line, it was both mission and markets that catalyzed the university-based social impact phenomenon.

While the social impact phenomenon initially evolved out of elite graduate business schools, it has expanded cross-campus into public policy schools and central administrative units, and across all institutional types. Social impact education now expands across and down the curriculum and co-curriculum. Some universities now even have multiple social impact initiatives within their own institutions. Participants described the need to differentiate themselves and to compete for resources, students, and attention given the plethora of existing civic and socially-oriented programs on their campuses.

This study filled a distinct gap in the literature by studying university-based social impact centers, framed in the broader historical context of the evolutionary role of university engagement in their communities, coupled with the recognition of the realities of contemporary market pressures on higher education institutions. Social impact centers exhibit the intersectionality of a host of issues plaguing higher education, such as resource constraints, access, academic silos, specialization, and bureaucracy versus innovation. Finally, social impact centers are a microcosm of the tension that exists between the marketization of higher education and the pressure to hold true to public purposes—and ultimately, whether or not institutions can effectively mediate those two pressures.

The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experience of undergraduate students who use online social networks such as Facebook while serving in paraprofessional roles on campus. The researcher conducted a qualitative study to address a primary research question: What is the interplay between college students’ participation in online social networks and campus-based paraprofessional roles? The study identified themes that can be used to understand this student experience. These themes contribute to the growing theoretical understanding of how online social networks and paraprofessional roles impact the college student experience.

A semi-structured interview protocol was devised in light of pertinent literature in the areas of college students in paraprofessional roles, peer mentoring, and computer-mediated relationships. Eleven resident assistants at a large, public research university in Central Pennsylvania agreed to participate in semi-structured interviews to discuss their experiences. They were asked to describe their involvements as resident assistants and users of Facebook. Participants discussed how they understood how their employment as resident assistants and their use of Facebook influenced each other, and their overall experience in their paraprofessional roles.

Through data analysis, three themes emerged: Facebook functionality and use, relationships, and discretion. Participants spoke of dynamic and complex experiences in their roles that were amplified by Facebook. The researcher proposed a Model for Online Social Network Mediated Role Conflict that describes tensions that represent the experience of paraprofessional staff members who use online social networks. Implications for practice and recommendations for additional research are provided.

The purpose of the qualitative study was to gain a better understanding of the perceptions, expectations, and communication styles injured student-athletes have for their teammates, coaches, and athletic trainers. One-on-one interviews were utilized to gather data from 20 student-athletes representing two separate institutions, who competed in six different sports and ranged in classification from freshman to graduate students. Data analysis was guided by the Social Support Model developed by Richman, Rosenfeld, and Hardy (1993).

Five major findings were identified from the study that helped provide insight on the three research questions. The findings revealed that there was tremendous stress placed on athletes throughout the injury process, including feelings of loneliness while their teams continued to compete, as well as, anxiety surrounding returning to competition, financial assistance, and medical treatment. Many of these stressors were perceived as individual-specific, requiring different forms of support based on the injured student-athlete's connection to support providers both inside and outside of the athletics arena. In most instances, injured student-athletes wanted the attention to remain on the healthy players and overall team success, thus they viewed their injuries as their own personal responsibilities and limited certain communication with teammates, coaches, and athletic trainers. However, the vast majority of participants noted relying heavily on the support of teammates, who they viewed as brothers, throughout the injury process.

Observations from the study led to four primary recommendations for practitioners. These recommendations focused on providing injured student-athletes with the encouragement, knowledge, and resources to manage the challenging emotions associated with athletic injury. Implications for practice included: (a) Increased awareness surrounding the topic of athletic injury, (b) Better integration of student-athletes into the larger university community, (c) Greater emphasis on teambuilding opportunities, and (d) Early engagement of professional support providers such as counselors and sports psychologist. Results of the study provided insight on a unique and hard to reach population of division I, male, collegiate student-athletes. Furthermore, the study provided additional information on their perceptions surrounding athletic injury and how best to support injured student-athletes.

This study examined the relationship of Internet-Mediated Social Network, the formation of adult Christian community, and its affect on adult Christian growth. The researcher compared and analyzed three types of adult Christian learning communities: traditional, hybrid, and virtual. Each week over the course of six weeks, the three types of learning communities met weekly. Participants were pretested and posttested, utilizing instruments that evaluated spiritual maturity. Analysis of interactions on Internet-Mediated Social Networking was conducted. Findings were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Results indicated the usage of Internet-Mediated Social Network offers potential for adult Christian education and should be further explored.

The primary purpose of this study was the exploration of social media utility as a crisis communication practice on three selected university campuses. The overarching research question for this study was “How and what social media technologies are selected, planned for, implemented, and monitored in crisis management in selected universities?”. This study examines how these institutions used social media during crisis, pinpoints the emergent themes, analyzes the engagement between the selected universities and their social media audience, and analyzes the effectiveness of social media during campus crisis situations.

The findings of this study include the documentation of institutional practices that contribute to successful social media crisis communication integration. These elements ultimately coalesce into the identification of a series of best practices that can help inform the field and contribute to the establishment of best practices for social media use during campus crisis situations. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

This qualitative research study examined higher education administrators experience with social media as it pertains to their profession and work. As social media use among students and the general public continues to grow, this new technology has found its way into universities in administrators’ professional and private lives. The relatively young age of social media as a technology has raised many questions for administrators about how to adapt and adopt it as a tool to ultimately improve the student experience at colleges. In this qualitative study, eight administrators at California State University, Long Beach were interviewed to explore their views, concerns, and challenges related to social media. Findings from this study show that administrators had privacy concerns utilizing social media and faced challenges navigating the dual relationships that could form on social media platforms. Administrators see the need for social media competency training that can increase the effective use of social media on a college campus. The results of this study clearly call for universities to assist administrators with adopting and adapting to new technologies, and for further research to be done on how student-teacher relationships are changing due to social media. Implications include social media use by administrators improving the universities relationship with the community, as well as developing online privacy training sessions for administrators.