Publication Date

2015

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Rose, Amy D.

Degree Name

Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)

Legacy Department

Counseling, Adult and Higher Education

LCSH

Higher education; Students; Foreign--Attitudes--Research--United States; Education; Higher--Research--United States; Motivation in education--Research--United States

Abstract

In the context of internationalization of higher education, the examination and understanding of international student experiences is increasingly important. Student engagement is a lens through which to examine a variety of beneficial student experiences on campus. Student engagement represents student behaviors and institutional practices, which are associated with desirable outcomes in college such as persistence, learning, and development (Kuh, 2004).;The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the engagement of international students both as a unique group and in relationship to domestic students. This study examined and compared the levels of engagement of international and domestic students as measured by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) benchmarks and deep approaches to learning scales. This study also examined the relationships between race/ethnicity and major as measured by the NSSE benchmarks and the deep approaches to learning scales among international students and between international and domestic students.;Student engagement and deep approaches to learning was measured using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) collected in 2009. Engagement among international students and between international and domestic students was measured by profile analysis of Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Factorial MANOVA.;The findings indicated that freshmen and senior international students were statistically significantly more engaged than domestic freshmen as measured by the NSSE benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice. The findings also revealed that freshmen international students were more engaged than domestic students in deep approaches to learning. Among international freshmen, results of the profile analysis of MANOVA indicated no statistically significant differences by race/ethnicity and engagement. However, among international seniors, Black international students were statistically significantly more engaged as measured by the NSSE benchmarks and overall deep approaches to learning than other race/ethnicities. Factorial MANOVA results revealed that the relationship between engagement and race/ethnicity was different for international and domestic students overall. Statistically significantly lower levels of Student-Faculty Interaction (SFI), Enriching Educational Experiences (EEE), and overall deep approaches to learning were found among international seniors in business majors.;This study is situated at the intersection of two critical issues in higher education: student engagement and internationalization. Results of this study contradict a deficit view of international students and reinforces the need to more clearly examine and understand the experiences of nontraditional groups of students as they navigate higher education.

Comments

Advisors: Amy Rose; Thomas Smith.||Committee members: Teresa Fisher; Carrie Kortegast.

Extent

247 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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