Different racial/ethnic groups often perceive the realities of the campus environment differently: This difference in perspective and the attendant reactions can be a factor in student satisfaction or dissatisfaction. A quantitative survey administered in 1996 and 1999 revealed that African-American students on the campus of a diverse two-year community college...
Research into community college governance has in the past centered on the formal aspects of decision-making of these institutions. These past studies often ignore the informal governance practices and policies that operate within all organizations. Staff perceptions of community
college governance have not been studied and possible disjunction between formal...
Strategic planning is a frequently used method for defining appropriate institutional responses to changing internal and external conditions. Numerous efforts have been made to adopt strategic planning styles that were originally developed in manufacturing businesses to the purposes of higher education. Despite theses efforts, community colleges have not yet developed...
The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe and communicate a student-constructed model of student services for electronic distance education (EDE). This study seeks to answer the following questions: Do students enrolled in EDE perceive a need for student services? If not, why not? Which services do students want/need?...
The purpose of this study was to: (a) determine the design features of the physical learning environment that support and enhance collaborative, project-based learning at the community college level; and (b) to gain an understanding of the rationale for the selection of the features. The characteristics of the physical environment...
Low completion rates have created serious "leakage points" (Astin, 1988) and "severe hemorrhaging" (Lango, 1996) in higher education to a large number of Hispanics. Traditional research on college persistence, which has blamed the students' culture for low performance, is inaccurate. Little research has specifically investigated academic persistence from a cultural...
This is a study of the process of collaboration between a community college and selected social service agencies for the purpose of developing an integrative social service and education delivery system, the One-Stop Center. Particular focus is on the interpersonal dynamics among the key stakeholders involved in a collaborative partnership....
Employers often lament that many American workers are not qualified for present and future jobs due to changing skills requirements and deficiencies of schools. In 1991, the Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report recommended educators use work sites to help students achieve foundation skills and workplace...
The purpose of this study is to describe the factors and issues surrounding development of one community college baccalaureate degree program, the three-year Bachelor of Manufacturing Technology at Westark College in Arkansas. This study probes three primary movements at play in the Westark baccalaureate program, which was developed to respond...
The purpose of this study is to identify the internal support systems that contributed to the success of community college faculty teaching in a distance education setting. How do those faculty who are perceived as being successful in this setting attain such stature? What are the contributing factors? If contributing...