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Student affairs professionals seek innovative methods to enhance academic achievement for students. A recent study highlighted the need to bridge student development work with course curricula (Kilpatrick, Stant, Downes, & Gaither, 2008). This study also linked the importance of nonacademic cognitive variables, such as locus of control, to academic success. Group work in particular has been shown to promote academic achievement (Wegge, 2000). Counselors provide academic support groups and consult to apply group work in these settings. A solution-focused goal-setting group demonstrates a dynamic example of an academic support group that is interactive, student-focused, and useful in improving academic skills related to self-regulated learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which compared the co-curricular experiences of freshman college students who used and did not used the Live It web site and program. The variables considered include familiarity with experiences, social contagion of experiences and the quality of experiences. The challenges associated with the transition from high school to college are mentioned.

Service learning can help students to engage in the community while applying lessons learned in their coursework. Using self-determination theory, we evaluated the relationship among self-efficacy, self-regulated motivation, and civic learning in service learning courses. Participants included 242 college students (122 females, 120 males) across 28 service learning courses at a large, research-intensive university in the American Midwest. A conceptual framework was developed and tested using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that self-efficacy for community service has a positive impact on civic learning directly and indirectly through self-regulated motivation. The direct effects in the model were stronger than the indirect effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing Bennett's genres of multicultural education, the authors examine whether diversity course content clusters influence students' civic engagement. Diversity course content clusters were predicted to influence White students and students of color differently, given principles identified by social development, cognitive development, and social identity theory. Findings indicate that diversity courses that emphasize multicultural competence positively influence all students over a period of 4 years. Courses that emphasize societal equity, however, have a greater effect on students of color when compared to White students. Implications for faculty, undergraduate curriculum committees, research, and theory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student participation in short-term study abroad programs has increased at a rapid pace; however, little is known about students' post- study abroad practices regarding negotiating meaning of their experiences. The purpose of this study is to explore students' post-study abroad participation and reification of their experiences using the theoretical framework of communities of practice (Wenger, 1998). Findings from this study indicate that student learning is truncated by the practices students employed post-study abroad and the opportunities available to them to negotiate the meaning of their study abroad experiences. Recommendations include providing students with structured, programmatic opportunities and assistance in processing, articulating, and negotiating the meaning of their study abroad experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

White undergraduate students matriculating at an HBCU express less overt evidence of social adjustment barriers than Black students at predominantly White institutions. Although White students reported a sense of underrepresentation, they reported no direct experiences of overt racism and reported good relationships and strong support from HBCU faculty. Differences between the social adjustment experience of White undergraduate students and a similar study of White graduate students are discussed. Student affairs practitioners are challenged to consider racial-consciousness raising cocurricular and curricular educational programs that can assist White students in enriching their "temporary minority" experience. The eight student participants averaged 19 years of age and (with one exception) had attended the HBCU for at least one year. Data were gathered through focus groups, a Racial Identity Scale and a Faculty Support Scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are emerging student affairs professionals prepared to respond to undergraduates' growing interest in spirituality? This study explored that question through interviews with 32 graduate students in three college student personnel programs, one at a state university and two at religiously affiliated institutions. Students reported that authenticity, connectedness, purpose, and transcendence were themes evident in their curriculum. However these emphases were not uniformly identified as spiritual nor were they typically recognized as preparing them to work with undergraduates' spiritual quest. Additionally, how faculty mediated institutional and program context had significant influence on graduate students' exploration of spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers typically focus on the defining features of learning communities and frequently examine how those features influence student achievement. Occasionally, researchers evaluate whether structural and programmatic variations across different types of learning community programs have an effect on academic and social outcomes. In this study, the focus is on differences among the sections within one first-year learning community program and the associations between these differences and measures of student achievement. These learning community sections vary considerably, and persistence and grades are higher for first-year students from learning communities that provide a strong sense of community, in which instructors are engaged and approachable, and where a strong and visible linkage exists between instructors, subject matter, and course organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]