The model for observation is a "package" of salient dimensions of an ideal computer-supported language learning environment: (1) opportunities for learners to interact and to negotiate meaning; (2) an authentic audience; (3) authentic tasks; (4) opportunities for exposure to and production of rich and varied language; (5) opportunities for learners to formulate ideas and thoughts; (6) learner intentional cognition; (7) an ideal-anxiety atmosphere, and (8) learner control. Learner perceptions of these factors are captured via questionnaires before and at the end of two computer-supported interventions. Responses answer the following questions: How do adult community college ESL learners perceive their classroom environments? When computer technology is added to support a drill-and-practice environment or to create a cooperative environment, how do the learners perceive these new environments? To what extent and how do the patterns of perceptions and the relationships between variables change from the initial to the intervention environment? Multi-dimensional scaling constructs maps of learners' perceptions in the pretest and posttest conditions; this systemic analysis shows changes in relationships between the factors and provides an overall picture of these changes. Repeated-measures multivariate analyses of variance are used to determine significant differences both between and within the participant groups for each factor; this analytic data complements that of the MDS maps. Results indicated that learners perceive their learning environments in unexpected ways and that the technology has an impact on these perceptions in that it allows the classroom to be "individualized" in ways not possible without it. Also discussed are implications for task construction and grouping and the importance of learner perceptions to an understanding of the language learning environment.

Graduate student recruitment has received relatively little attention in the literature. Most of the research has been quantitative and narrowly focused on factors related to student choice. While graduate student enrollment has remained essentially stable for over ten years, demographic shifts and anticipated needs for doctoral prepared faculty and scientists give cause for concern. The goals of this research were to understand how four departments at a large research university approach graduate student recruitment and what influences how departments recruit students. In addition, the study sought to understand how students experience the recruitment process and how that experience may differ by ethnic group, by gender, and by department. One hundred faculty, administrators, and graduate students were interviewed and a wide variety of documents were analyzed. Findings indicate graduate recruitment has been left to the departments, in contrast to undergraduate recruitment where coercive mechanisms have been applied centrally, through access and equal opportunity initiatives. Departmental goals related to recruitment focus primarily on getting the best students, while central administration goals are centered on increasing diversity among students and enhancing the quality of research. The numbers and characteristics of the customers, suppliers, and competitors have a significant impact on departmental recruitment. Experiences of students differed widely by department and by level of study. Generally students did not feel recruited. Masters students had different experiences than did doctoral students, and women had different experiences than male graduate students. The practical implications are: (1) Because graduate student recruitment is a student-initiated process, communication about graduate school must improve; (2) Departments must take better care of students, both undergraduate and graduate, so that students will want to continue their education at the graduate level; (3) Faculty involvement in recruitment is important; (4) Recruitment can be enhanced by strengthening connections among units on campus; (5) Departments lack expertise in recruitment; (6) Departmental efforts to increase ethnic minority enrollment need to be improved; (7) External sources of potential graduate students need to be explored; (8) Ways to decrease the financial obstacles must be developed and maintained; and (9) Consideration should be given to increasing graduate student enrollment in particular disciplines.

Counselors are currently being scrutinized as to their place in a community college setting. Administrative units are questioning whether counselors are necessary, and whether they should maintain their past role. But before changes are made, the full scope of the role needs to be examined. Previous studies have concentrated on role definition, looking primarily at which tasks counselors perform and their job satisfaction. I first examine the counselor's role using a role definition format to provide a baseline of data to compare with other studies. Then I considered three other elements--intangible services, professionalization, and the bureaucratic setting--that I proposed were contributing to the uncertain position of counselors in community colleges. This is a qualitative case study of community college counselors. Personal interviews with counselors were utilized as the primary source of data. The case study institution is a large, urban, multi-campus community college. Results indicate that counselors are satisfied with their generalist role of providing primarily career and academic counseling, providing a very small percentage of personal counseling and providing a variety of other services. This is unlike the literature which suggests that counselors are dissatisfied with the generalist role and prefer a more specialized personal counseling role. The counselors in this study were frustrated by their perceived role by other groups. They felt misunderstood and unappreciated. Consequently, they searched for ways to make their services more visible and understandable. They also relied heavily on their professional status to validate their role. But rather than emphasizing their traditional professional counseling characteristics like the use of a theoretical body of knowledge or specialized training and certification, they underscored their similarity to the instructional faculty who command the highest professional status in community colleges. The counselor's role was also highly effected by bureaucratization. The very nature of bureaucracies induces human interaction that is brief and efficient, but not necessarily meaningful. Improving human interaction is where counselors need to focus their efforts, rather than dwelling on professional status. And, administrators must also consider human interaction rather than just dividing tasks and measuring the number of students served.

Increasing demand coupled with declining resources make it impossible for community colleges to realize their comprehensive mission without employing part-time faculty. This study examined the impact of the part-time faculty upon the mission of the community college by interviewing board members, administrators, national experts, and by surveying full-time and part-time faculty. Empirical data were gathered regarding load and student credit hours generated in each mission function by part-time and full-time faculty. Financial allocations associated with salary were reviewed. Responses from those interviewed were determined to be imbedded in four themes: position within the organization, the concept of "appropriateness," mission support activities other than teaching, and the personal goals of faculty. Experts, board members and administrators indicated that the use of part-time faculty was more acceptable in some mission functions than in others. They endorsed the use of part-timers in the community/continuing education and occupational/career functions but they had strong reservations about their use in the transfer function. They indicated that while part-timers had limited impact on the counseling/guidance function they had strong impact on the remedial/developmental, occupational/career, and community/ continuing education functions. Intergroup faculty responses were more divergent. For all mission functions, the full-timers indicated that part-timers had less impact than part-timers indicated for themselves. Based on direct instruction, the empirical data evidenced that the impact of part-time faculty varied with the mission function. Ranked from least to greatest part-time faculty impact, the mission functions were: counseling/guidance; community-continuing education; general education; academic transfer; occupational/career; and, most heavily impacted, remedial/developmental. Financial data affirmed that the use of part-time faculty had saved millions of dollars and that it costs two-and-one-half times as much for a full-timer to generate one credit hour of instruction as it does for a part-timer. Full-time and part-time faculty did not differ greatly in their goals for teaching students. However, full-timers placed higher intrinsic value on participation in collegial activities than did part-timers.

Description of students as at-risk became a trend in educational policy and programming in the late 1980s. The term at risk was originally part of the specialized discourse of medicine and psychology, and related subfields of education such as special education and educational psychology. Due to the influence of national reform reports, the term at risk became more common in the discourse of policymakers and practitioners. It was used as a descriptor of students, often low-income and/or minority students, likely to fail or drop out of school. This study employed methods from sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and policy analysis to trace the uses and meanings of at risk through national reports, state education policies in Arizona, and district policies in a medium-sized Arizona school district with both rural and suburban schools. Analysis of reports and recorded interviews with state policymakers, district administrators, principals, and teachers identified differences in the meanings of at risk at different levels of the educational system. Groups at each level had particular interests in students, as reflected in their definitions of the problems of at-risk students and their policy recommendations. The most common consequences for students of being labelled at-risk were to be removed from the mainstream for special treatment, despite arguments of some researchers and theorists that educators need to rethink such approaches.

Kresge College is located on the innovative and interdisciplinary campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz. Kresge was begun in the early 1970's as an experiment in undergraduate education that was deeply influenced by humanistic psychology and encounter and sensitivity training groups. During the late 1970's, U. C. Santa Cruz was transformed into a mainstream liberal arts university, in which disciplinary boards of study became predominant. At the same time Kresge College was redefined as a humanities oriented liberal arts college, focused upon the modernist and post-modernist perspectives. This ethnographic study suggests that, in the late 1980's, students and faculty at Kresge College still maintained some remnants of the original founding ethos. The elements which have persisted include: a personal classroom interaction atmosphere open to intimacy between teachers and students; the use of a consensus decision making process by student organizations; an array of educational values focused upon the realization of human possibilities; and the display of awareness of the power of personal and social transformation, in the celebration of public ritual occasions.

During the last decade the term "economic development" has been widely used in community college policy statements and literature, but the meaning of the term has lacked clarity and consistency in interpretation. Additionally, there is little empirical information regarding the design of community college economic development programs. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, to determine community college faculty and administrator perceptions of the term "economic development". Second, to analyze the actors, processes, organizational structures, role of faculty and external forces affecting economic development programs at community colleges. A political/pluralistic framework and qualitative research methods were selected to capture the dynamics of a complex, multi-college community college district. The study found that college constituents hold varying interpretations of the term "economic development". Full-time faculty define economic developments in terms of employable skills and job training for students. Administrators, almost without exception, perceive economic development as serving the needs of business, primarily large, corporate businesses. The organizational structure for economic development programs includes a centralized district economic development department and some college-level business and industry institutes. These structures are primarily "stand alone" entities, largely administratively run, operating parallel to but separate from the traditional, main educational functions of the college. The purpose of the district economic development department is to help recruit large, corporate businesses and to hire and train a work force for relocating or expanding companies. The economic development role of the community colleges is primarily industrial training. Few full-time faculty participate in the development and implementation of economic development courses or programs which are primarily designed and taught by independent contractors, many times employees of the company receiving the training. The study raises the question of whether community college economic development programs are driven by state or local interests because of the emphasis on serving primarily large, corporate companies in lieu of small to middle size local companies. Also, in light of diminishing state and local resources and additional demands placed on community colleges, policymakers must reevaluate their role in economic development and existing methods of funding such programs.

The purpose of this case study was to explore, from the perspective of students enrolled in a baccalaureate evangelical nursing program, the process of learning to care as a professional nurse. A modified symbolic interactionist perspective guided the study. The specific research questions focused on identification of student conceptions of caring, social processes that may have an effect on student conceptions of caring, and the effect that diverse clinical rotations may have on student conceptions. Initially, a content analysis of selected institutional documents was conducted and a detailed description of the institution was reported to contextualize the distinctive nature of the evangelical institution. Following this analysis, students and faculty members were observed during clinical experiences and interviewed both formally and informally during one academic year. Twenty-three nursing students enrolled in medical/surgical, maternity and community health clinical nursing courses and their respective faculty members participated in the study. The process of learning to care was, for many students, influenced by their life experiences and Christian worldview. As students developed conceptions of professional caring, they identified issues and tensions related to trust, respect, and interpersonal balance. In relationships with patients, staff nurses and faculty members, students identified conflicting messages regarding professional caring. The reality and challenge of providing care as a nurse was most meaningfully realized and negotiated in the clinical settings. The general conceptions of caring students held remained stable in each of the clinical settings, although students identified selected clinical characteristics that had an effect on the implementation of professional caring.

Restructuring student services from a silo model to a one-stop model requires a paradigm shift in philosophy by training specialists to be generalists. These generalists must have a greater breadth of knowledge to provide a wider range of services. Although they are not required to have complete knowledge of the department and college, generalists are required to know enough to provide general services, as well as make referrals. However, the perceptions on the effectiveness of the model may differ when viewed through the perspective of administrators versus the perspective of staff. Because of this, the cultural and interpersonal implications of departmental integration can be a challenge.

Female-nontraditional undergraduate students do not fit well within traditional student persistence models. This limits our ability to address persistence issues and likely contributes to the fact that non-traditional students are more than twice its likely to leave school in their first year. This research created a persistence model designed to more accurately reflect predictor variables associated with this population. It also measured the contribution to explained variance in a persistence model incorporating a new consistent-identity variable. This variable was built upon Gilligan's (1982) theory of moral development for women. Student retention theory, moral development theory and existing conceptual persistence models served as the foundation for this research. The results of this research indicate the strong impact of factors external to the institution on persistence for this sample of female-nontraditional undergraduates. A student's level of outside encouragement, head of household designation, and consistency of identity played important roles in persistence within this sample population. For this sample, a student's consistency of identity was strongly related to persistence. Women who presented a set way of interacting in interpersonal relationships were more likely to graduate than women who had no clear pattern in their interpersonal relationship interactions. An implication of the results is that institutions may need to examine possible methods of accommodating or counteracting factors external to the institution to increase student persistence among this population.