Keywords

Engagement (Philosophy), Interdisciplinary approach in education, Undergraduates

Abstract

This study explored interdisciplinary studies students‟ academic and social engagement. As the review of literature demonstrated, student engagement and satisfaction are important to retention and institutions can adopt policies and practices to foster student engagement. Because interdisciplinary studies programs often struggle to maintain relevance, fostering student engagement is one way to ensure maximum student satisfaction and retention. This study identified factors of student engagement that were positively related to satisfaction and confirmed that requiring core interdisciplinary studies courses had a positive impact on engagement. A quantitative instrument, the Interdisciplinary Studies Student Engagement Survey, was adapted from the National Survey of Student Engagement questionnaire to collect self-reported responses. The following eight factors of student engagement were found to be relevant: (a) diversity-related activities, (b) shared understanding and experiences, (c) interaction with peers, (d) interaction with faculty members, (e) active and collaborative learning, (f) integrated learning, (g) out-of-class experiences, and (h) academic challenge. Respondents reported the most frequent participation in integrated learning and the least frequent participation in out-of-class experiences. It was determined that students with nontraditional characteristics tended to participate more frequently in academic engagement, whereas students with traditional characteristics tended to participate more in social engagement. In addition, enrollment in mandatory interdisciplinary core courses was found to positively influence engagement in seven of the eight identified factors. Enrollment in core courses was also positively iv related to satisfaction. Finally, all eight engagement factors positively correlated with satisfaction to some degree.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2011

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Boyd, Tammy

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College

College of Education and Human Performance

Department

Educational and Human Sciences

Degree Program

Educational Leadership

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004168

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004168

Language

English

Release Date

December 2011

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Education, Education -- Dissertations, Academic

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