ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: CHEATING AMONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

Cheating in community colleges is not uncommon and is one of the most unfortunate problems faculty and administrators attempt to solve. As the focus of community colleges shifts from teaching to learning, it is important to study the more unpleasant issues facing the community college family. This article defines and identifies attitudes and situations that encourage academic dishonesty. It further discusses strategies for prevention of academic dishonesty, offers suggestions on how to discourage the practice, and advances recommendations for dealing with cheating. Also included is an inventory of sources about "paper mills," and a listing of cybercheating preventive and investigative software programs.     

PREFERRED LEARNING STYLES OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE CAREER AND TRANSFER STUDENTS

The purpose of this study was to ascertain differences in learning styles of 400 community college students in career and transfer programs as measured by the Canfield Learning Styles Inventory. Independent variables were program area and sex. Dependent variables were scores regarding each of the Learning Style Inventory Scales for the following categories: (a) conditions, (b) content, (c) mode, and (d) expectation. The data indicated: (1) female students have greater interest in areas of qualitative, people, and listening, (2) male students have a greater interest for the inanimate, (3) career students have greater interest for inanimate, greater expectations for average and below average performance, and (4) transfer students have greater expectations for above average performance.     

EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS AND THEIR LEARNING PROCESSES

The study reported in this article explored the association between students' epistemological beliefs and learning processes. Schommer's theory of epistemological beliefs has 12 components (e.g., seek single answers, avoid integration, learn the first time) that form four factors (Fixed Ability, Certain Knowledge, Simple Knowledge, and Quick Learning). Schmeck and colleagues argue for multiple routes to academic achievement through Deep, Elaborative, and Agentic processing. The authors predicted that relationships among Schommer's four factors and Schmeck's Deep Processing, Elaborative Processing, and Agentic Processing would be observed. Results indicate that there are relationships between belief in Fixed Ability and Agentic, Deep, and Elaborative Processing and the belief in Simple Knowledge and Agentic Processing. The implication of the study is students' epistemological beliefs impact their learning processes, which may impact their engagement and performance.     

ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY

The literature suggests that most studies on student retention have focused on student satisfaction at 4-year institutions where students tend to be more traditional in nature. The study discussed in this article investigated how Tinto's (Tinto, Russo, & Kadel, 1994) model of retention could be applied to 2-year institutions. It explored academic and social integration and their effects on student withdrawal rates as well as the effect of background skills on withdrawal rates. Study participants were 462 second-semester degree-seeking community college students who completed a survey regarding their satisfaction with the academic and social climate of the community college. Performance on Computer Placement Tests (CPTs) were correlated with withdrawal rates to determine the association between background skill levels and withdrawal patterns. No correlation was found between academic and social integration and withdrawal rates. However, findings did show that the poorer the CPT performance, the more likely students were to withdraw from courses.     

CONFIDENCE AND COMPETENCE AMONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS: SELF-EFFICACY AND PERFORMANCE IN GRAMMAR

Proper grammar is crucial for effective communication. Two surveys of students in an introductory writing course sought to identify predictors of grammar ability. Students demonstrated a limited grasp of the language, struggling with such issues as the distinction between “it's” and “its.” Women performed better than men at the beginning of the semester, but the gap later narrowed. There was a correlation between self-efficacy (confidence in one's ability to perform a particular task) and grammar ability at the end of the semester. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study to empirically link grammar self-efficacy and grammar performance. High school grade point average also predicted grammar ability at the end of the semester.     

ACADEMIC SUCCESS AMONG MEXICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN A COMMUNITY COLLEGE

This field study examined a model of attrition in young Mexican American women at a community college. It was hypothesized that those who achieved low academic performance would drop out in response to a series ofpsychosocial and sociocultural barriers in education. The model in vestigated a process by which Mexican American women matriculate into the community college system and either bring with them or encounter for the first time a set of well‐documented barriers to education. At this juncture, they either possess or do not possess the personality characteristics and background that help them overcome the consequences of the barriers. If the students are able to sustain themselves through the difficulty posed by the barriers, they are more likely to experience depression, which may manifest as somatic symptoms. To the extent that a student succumbs to depression, her academic performance would fall and she would opt to leave school. The results of this study suggest that the greatest impact of educational barriers was not on academic performance directly but on the psychological and emotional well‐being of the student. This study found no significant relationship between academic performance and depression. The relationship between somatization and depression in this population was corroborated.     

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE TRANSFER STUDENTS AND "NATIVE" STUDENTS AT A LARGE STATE UNIVERSITY

Students were randomly chosen from the class of 1998 and 1999 at a large public university. Fifty in each class were community college transfer students who transferred to the university in the fall of 1996 and fall of 1997; 50 in each class were native students who had entered the university in the fall of 1994 and the fall of 1995. All students were from the College of Arts and Sciences. These groups of students were compared by GPAs at the end of the lower division work (sophomore year for natives and at the end of the second year of community college work for transfers). Students also were compared at the end of their first semester in their academic major to determine if transfer shock was evident for transfer students and if a GPA decline was evident for natives. Lastly, the students GPAs were compared at the end of the spring semesters of 1998 and 1999 to determine if there was recovery from transfer shock for the transfers and from the possible decline in GPA for native students. Retention and graduation rates for both groups were compared.     

PERSONALITY,LEARNING STYLE AND COGNITVE STYLE PROFILES OF MATHEMATICALLY TALENTED STUDENTS

Clear personality differences were found for a sample of academically talented students when compared to a general population of same age students. On the Myers‐Briggs dimensions, the academically talented students differed significantly from the comparison group on all four dimensions. Specifically, the academically talented group expressed greater preferences for introversion, intuition, and thinking. Although there were more judging types in this group than in the comparison group, overall more academically talented students expressed a preference for a perceptive style. They also tended to be higher on achievement motivation and lower on interpersonal and social concerns. In particular, a cognitive style that empasizes a thinking over a feeling mode appears to mediate gender differences in mathematics ability and achievement.     

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED LEARNING STYLE AND TEACHING STYLE OF JUNIOR COLLEGE EDUCATORS

This study examined the relationship of perceptual learning style and teaching style of 138 junior college educators. The Perceptual Learning Style Inventory developed by James and Galbraith (1984) was used to determine learning style preference. The authors modified the inventory to assess preferred teaching style. The Spearman's rho procedure was employed to determine if a correlation existed for the entire group of educators and for each subgroup by major teaching area, sex, years of teaching experience, and by educational attainment. A high correlation existed for all variables except in three subgroup variables. Findings indicate that junior college educators tend to teach the way they prefer to learn. Implications for practice are provided that encourage educators to examine the teaching/learning process in an effort to make it a more effective and rewarding experience for instructors and learners     

MODELING RELATIONSHIPS AMONG LEARNING,ATTITUDE, SELF-PERCEPTION,AND SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT FOR GRADE 8 SAUDI STUDENTS

The purpose of the present study was to examine the validity of modeling science achievement in terms of 3 social psychological variables (school connectedness, science attitude, and active learning) and 2 self-perception variables (self-confidence and science value). Two models were tested: full mediation and partial mediation. In the full-mediation model, effects of the 3 social psychological variables upon science achievement were hypothesized to be completely mediated through science value and self-confidence. In the partial-mediation model, however, those 3 variables were hypothesized to affect achievement directly as well as indirectly through the mediating roles of science value and self-confidence. Data were obtained from Grade 8 Saudi students (N = 4,099) who participated in TIMSS 2007. The relationships among constructs were examined with the use of structural equation modeling software Mplus7. Results indicated that both models performed adequately in terms of fit indices, but the partial-mediation model was retained due to its superiority over the full-mediation model in representing the sample covariance matrix as tested through chi-square difference test. The mediating role of self-confidence in the relationships of science attitude and active learning to achievement was substantiated, but the mediating role of science value was not supported.     

BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS AS PREDICTORS OF ACADEMIC SELF-CONFIDENCE AND ACADEMIC SELF-EFFICACY AMONG GRADUATE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING STUDENTS

This study uses data from the 1995-96 Graduate Experience Project to explore differences among, and possible predictors of, academic self-confidence, academic self-efficacy, and outcome expectations of entering graduate students in science and engineering. The results suggest that at time of entry, women and U.S. minority graduate students entered with similar academic credentials and academic expectations as their Anglo male peers. Further, gender was not found to be a significant factor in predicting academic self-confidence, academic self-efficacy, or careerrelated outcome expectations. Rather, student perceptions of academic preparedness, status-related disadvantages, and expectations about faculty/student interactions emerged as significant predictors of academic self-efficacy and career-related outcome expectations.     

CORRELATES AND PREDICTORS OF ACADEMIC SELF EFFICACY AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between academic self efficacy, ethnic identity and spirituality in African American STEM students. We hypothesize that there will be a significant relationship between three dimensions of spirituality and outcome expectations in African American STEM students and that there will be a significant relationship between outcome expectations and ethnic identity. 165 African American undergraduates in STEM disciplines enrolled at a historically-black university comprised the target population for this study. A regression and correlation analysis revealed that one dimension of religiosity was significantly related to and predicted academic outcome expectations among African American STEM students.     

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DEVELOPMENTAL AND NONDEVELOPMENTAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of developmental courses in a rural community college. The Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test, Blue Level, Form A, Stanford Test of Academic Skills English Subtest, Level 2, Form E, and the Stanford Diagnostic Mathematics Test, 3rd Edition, Blue Level, Form G were administered to two groups of entering freshmen in the fall of 1987. Group 1 included all students whose diagnostic test scores indicated a need for at least one developmental course. Group 2 consisted of all students whose diagnostic test scores did not indicate a need for developmental course work. Results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in the mathematics mean Quality Point Averages with the developmental students attaining higher mean Quality Point Averages. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in English mean Quality Point Averages; however, developmental students obtained a higher Quality Point Average     

JOB SATISFACTION AMONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE COUNSELORS

This study examined job satisfaction and factors influencing job satisfaction among community college counselors. Findings revealed that counselors are generally dissatisfied with their leadership, and that teaching load, job title, incompatible demands, unclear explanations, and conflicting resources all significantly affect counselor job satisfaction.     

BURNOUT AND HUMOR USAGE AMONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE NURSING FACULTY MEMBERS

This study assessed the correlation of burnout among community college nursing faculty members and their use of humor to mediate academic stress related to burnout. Sixty-three community college nursing faculty members were studied using an academic profile survey, the Coping Humor Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Forty percent of community college nursing faculty members surveyed reported high to moderate levels of emotional exhaustion, with 73 % experiencing low feelings of personal accomplishment. Differences in burnout between high versus low humor usage respondents showed a higher sense of personal accomplishment with high humor usage. Of those with low humor usage, workload was related to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.     

大学生网络成瘾与生活事件、人格特质的关系研究

采用整群随机取样的方法,抽取680名大学生完成“中文网络成瘾量表”、“青少年生活事件量表”、“艾森克个性问卷”的调查,以期探讨生活事件、人格特质与网络成瘾的关系及其预测性。结果表明：不同程度网络成瘾的大学生在生活事件的总分和各因子上存在显著差异;不同程度网络成瘾大学生在神经质、精神质人格特质上存在显著差异,内外向与网络成瘾没有显著的关系;生活事件、人格特质可以直接预测网络成瘾,人格特质可以通过生活事件间接预测网络成瘾。     

REFROMING WRITING AMONG STUDENTS IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES

ABSTRACT

The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) movement, which swept through all levels of American education during the 1960s and 1970s, seemed a logical remedy for student writing deficiencies. However, the impact of WAC has not lived up to its promise. The WAC movement, as currently implemented in many community colleges, may be ineffective at best. To significantly improve student writing, systemic reform in pedagogical practice in English composition courses and throughout the disciplines is imperative. With no reform, we may unintentionally rob writing of its ability to be a tool for learning, thus negating the movement's primary goal. This article provides an historical perspective of writing across the curriculum, alongside a suggested reform model that includes essential components.