Browsing by Author "Audrey Jaeger, Committee Co-Chair"

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    Mothers, Workers and Students: Examining the experiences of single mothers transferring from community colleges into universities.
    (2010-04-20) Robinson, Emily Erin; Audrey Jaeger, Committee Co-Chair; Alyssa Bryant, Committee Co-Chair; Mary Wyer, Committee Member; Paul Umbach, Committee Member
    Single parent households are on the rise, and female headed households are more likely to live in poverty than other single parent households (Holyfield, 2002). Many single mothers who do not have an undergraduate degree see education as a way out of poverty (Holyfield, 2002; Heller & Bjorklund, 2004). This research was undertaken to highlight areas where universities are assisting single mothers to attain a degree. This qualitative study utilized semi-structured in depth interviews of 16 single mothers who transferred from community college to a university. Three themes emerged regarding the educational experiences of single mothers who work and attend college. The first theme, “Finding my way to and through college†; highlights their motivating factors, their support network(s) and their feelings of pride. The second theme, “Struggle for legitimacy as a parenting student†focuses on the challenges that confront mothers as students: invisibility within the institution, and the fact that motherhood is a full time job which she cannot neglect. The final theme, “Striving for balance between multiple roles†centers around how they cope with their multiple obligations: knowing herself (honoring abilities as well as limits), and overcoming time scarcity (by managing multiple priorities). Women in this study were challenged by financial need not met by aid packages, finding appropriate child care, insensitive instructors and class schedules which made working difficult. These women were proud of their academic accomplishments and felt supported by institutional recognition of success. They were also supported by student health, counseling services and academic support programs.
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    Motivational Predictors of Academic Cheating Among First-Year College Students: Goals, Expectations, and Costs.
    (2009-04-13) Sieman, Ashley Mouberry; Audrey Jaeger, Committee Co-Chair; Joy Gaston Gayles, Committee Co-Chair; Alyssa Bryant, Committee Member; Larry Moneta, Committee Member
    Academic cheating is a persistent and pervasive problem that threatens the core values of higher education (Burnett, Rudolph, & Clifford, 1998; McCabe, Trevino, & Butterfield, 2001a; Whitely & Keith-Spiegel, 2002). While a significant amount of research has been devoted to exploring the problem of student cheating, much of what exists is descriptive in nature and lacks an overarching, theoretically-based, conceptual framework. This study aimed to fill this gap in the existing literature by proposing and testing a theoretically-based conceptual model of the motivational predictors of academic cheating using a population of first-year college students. The model used in this study was developed based on the combined work of Murdock and Anderman (2006) and Harding, Mayhew, Finelli, & Carpenter (2007) and relied generally on expectancy value theory and, specifically, on the theory of planned behavior, to explore how goals, expectations, and costs influence first-year college students’ decisions to cheat. The proposed model was tested using a quantitative web-based survey instrument that was administered during the spring of 2008 to all 4,462 full-time, second semester, first-year students attending a large, public, land grant, institution located on the east coast of the United States. Data were analyzed using a variety of quantitative statistical techniques including multiple and hierarchical regression, general linear modeling, and structural equation modeling. Results provided support for the use of expectancy value theory and, specifically, the theory of planned behavior, as a theoretical model for understanding how motivational factors influence students’ decisions to cheat. Results showed that goals and expectations are important for understanding how students’ perceive the costs associated with cheating and that attitudes toward cheating and past cheating behavior are among the strongest predictors of intention to cheat and actual cheating behavior. Implications for practice and future research are presented and discussed.