Purpose: Unless higher education institutions ensure that first-rate academic programme offerings are supported with the provision of high-quality services, student satisfaction, retention, enrolment and ultimately, viability of the institutions will be adversely affected (Canic and McCarthy, 2000). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the…

Two research questions guided this study: (1) Is there a gap in customer service quality perception between librarians (service providers) and patrons (service beneficiaries)?; and (2) How do patrons perceive the relational service qualities of librarians who staff the reference desk? Quantitative results based on a Likert scale survey showed no…

This cross-case comparative study at Western Community College and the University of the Coast explored through a constructive lens the characteristics that lead to sustainable, high quality service-learning programs and how they are implemented at institutions of higher education. The researchers determined that both Western Community College and…

At the time of writing, the first community colleges in Ontario were preparing for transition to an accreditation model from an audit system. This paper revisits constructivist literature, arguing that a more pragmatic definition of constructivism effectively blends positivist and interactionist philosophies to achieve both student centred…

The researchers explored whether implementation of a systematic outcomes-based assessment process is necessary for demonstrating quality in service learning programs at a two-year and a four-year institution. The findings revealed that Western Community College and the University of the Coast maintained quality service-learning programs, which met…

The expansion of early childhood education programming has heightened the focus on teachers' educational preparation and its role in providing high-quality services for young children. The interest in teachers' education is especially relevant in early childhood since differentiated levels of preparation are commonly used in quality rating and…

Paraprofessionals play an important role in the education of young children with, or at risk for, disabilities. Yet, because few training programs sufficiently infuse content related to serving special needs infants and toddlers, paraprofessionals typically lack the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to address effectively the requirements of…

A framework widely used in the field of industrial-organizational psychology, the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) (Hackman & Oldham, 1976), was applied in the current study to measure the quality of students' service-learning experiences as they relate to student outcomes. It was hypothesized that service-learning projects with higher…

Purpose: The study investigates the factors that impact the adoption of learning management systems (LMSs) among educators for effective implementation of open and distance learning (ODL) environment in advanced technological institutes (ATIs). Design/methodology/approach: This study uses the extended technology acceptance model (TAM) and analyses…

The rising price of a year in college looms large on the American political landscape. Calls to make college free, or at least debt free, will figure prominently in policy and political debates going forward. To make sense of this debate, an understanding of the forces that have been driving the price of a year in postsecondary education upward…

How satisfied are students with the service they receive--and how important is it to them? This report documents significant strides that colleges and universities have made in recent years to improve service quality and their overall campus climate, yet also finds that campuses still have room for improvement. A few highlights: (1) While progress…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to understand administrator perceptions of student retention practices in community colleges. The sample for this study consisted of 11 administrators within community colleges in Arizona. The theoretical framework for this study was the Zeithaml theory of behavioral consequences of service…

This phenomenological exploratory study examined how community college advising coordinators described their roles as middle managers. This study was conducted in an effort to address the lack of empirical research regarding the perceptions community college advising coordinators have of the institutional and administrative challenges confronting…

The purpose of this study was to explore the student experience, in a One Stop Center at a public comprehensive community college located in the Mid-Atlantic region. This study utilized an explanatory sequential mixed methods analysis to assess the perceived impact of the centralization of functions on student satisfaction. Using expectation…

Objective/Research Question: The purpose of this research is to explore the way use of student services can mediate engagement among first-generation and transfer students who use disability services at community colleges. The following research questions guided the current study: (1) At community colleges, how does frequency of use of student…