Papers by Reed T Curtis
Teachers and students at Stockholm university quickly had to adjust to online course delivery in ... more Teachers and students at Stockholm university quickly had to adjust to online course delivery in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Despite the challenging circumstances, the spring term 2020 provided an opportunity to collect data on how both students and teachers experienced an emergency transition to online teaching. This report provides a summary of findings and recommendations of the “Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis on teaching and learning” project delivered by researchers at the Department of Education, Stockholm University. The questionnaire originated from Stanford university, and was translated and adapted to Stockholm University conditions. The findings suggest course teachers and leaders devoting particular attention to issues regarding student participation, both in the formal context of the course and informally, in connection with the course.
Economic pressures and a challenging labor market have placed a higher value on obtaining a maste... more Economic pressures and a challenging labor market have placed a higher value on obtaining a master's degree and increased the financial difficulty students have in earning one. While a master's degree experience is somewhat short in tenure, typically two to three years in ...
BACKGROUNDMany institutions of higher education have adopted programs that allow incoming student... more BACKGROUNDMany institutions of higher education have adopted programs that allow incoming students to register for courses prior to orientation (Black zoo7, Cunningham zoo6). Prompted in Z009 to do so, the University ofNorth Carolina Wilmington (uncw) developed the Pre-Orientation Registration Process (porp) to address several registration challenges, including informing students about curriculum, allowing students to register prior to orientation, and relieving the need for on-campus computer labs during orientation.To better understand the background and context of the PORP program, it is important first to review the research on registration processes.REGISTRATION PROCESSESColleges and universities consistently seek to provide the consumers of education with the best possible services. Consumers include students, parents, and government agencies (Thelin Z004). Some in higher education believe that prescribing a course schedule for incoming students is the best way to manage enrollment, provide students with appropriate courses, and complete the registration process. Typically, the prescriptive registration method involves academic advisors registering on behalf ofincoming students. Many institutions also utilize block scheduling as a means of providing entering students with a pre-packaged set of courses (Black Z007). In contrast, the developmental philosophy is built on the understanding that college students are adults who should have the freedom to choose their own courses; as they do, they engage in autonomous development. Boyer (1987), Chickering and Reisser (1993), and Pascarella and Terenzini (zoos) found autonomy to be an important area of growth and development for college students. Autonomous development involves a type of "learning which is characterized by personalization, self-directedness, and less dependency on the educator for affirmation" (MacDougall zoo8). The research presented here focuses on developmental methods that enable incoming students to play an active role in their registration and academic planning.The earliest form of mass registration took place in large open areas where students waited in the hope of securing a seat in a particular course. Cunningham (zoo6) found that it was common during the 19th and zoth centuries for registration to occur in large arena settings. These were one-stop shops where students were advised, registered, and charged for courses; however, they often engendered frustration-primarily because they were unorganized (Cunningham zoo 6).In an effort to address issues related to space limitations and student frustration, many institutions moved to a distributed method of registration in which students were assigned different registration appointments and locations (Cunningham 2006). This method reduced the chaos associated with arena registration and shortened Unes, but students demanded (and technology enabled) further improvements to the process.In the 1980s, telephone and touch-tone registration systems became the norm at u.s. higher education institutions. By the end of the 1990s, web-based registration systems soon replaced all others. Online registration systems simultaneously enhanced institutional abilities to manage enrollment, registration, and students' academic records (Cunningham 2006).In 2000, Duke University introduced a web-based registration system based on the concept of "book bagging" (Cunningham 2006): Each student is given an online "book bag" that functions like the virtual "shopping cart" on various retail websites. Prior to meeting formally with an academic advisor, students are required to fill their online book bags with courses that meet all established policy limitations (e.g., no time conflicts, course availability, prerequisites, etc.) related to course scheduling. In addition, students may identify up to 25 alternate courses that could fill their schedule if their preferred courses were not available. …
In 1809, the trajectory of Swedish history and the identities associated with the country changed... more In 1809, the trajectory of Swedish history and the identities associated with the country changed after Finland was lost to Russia. Swedish General von Dobeln explained that the loss left the natio ...
Given that tuition and fees at colleges and universities are rising at a pace higher than the cos... more Given that tuition and fees at colleges and universities are rising at a pace higher than the cost of living, students face an increasingly difficult burden of funding their educational pursuits. Since the 1980s, the cost of higher education has skyrocketed; college tuition and fees have ...
Economic pressures and a challenging labor market have placed a higher value on obtaining a maste... more Economic pressures and a challenging labor market have placed a higher value on obtaining a master's degree and increased the financial difficulty students have in earning one. While a master's degree experience is somewhat short in tenure, typically two to three years in length, the ramifications of students' financial management decisions during this period can last a lifetime. The financial reality students face can be difficult to cope with and can affect their academic performance, physical and mental health, and the overall stability of their future. The researcher investigated the financial conditions that master's degree students face, the financial aspects that cause them the most concern during graduate school, and the methods universities are utilizing to address these financial circumstances.
Many institutions of higher education have adopted programs that allow incoming students to regis... more Many institutions of higher education have adopted programs that allow incoming students to register for courses prior to orientation (Black 2007, Cunningham 2006). Prompted in 2009 to do so, the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) developed the Pre-Orientation Registration Process (PORP) to address several registration challenges, including informing students about curriculum, allowing students to register prior to orientation, and relieving the need for on-campus computer labs during orientation.
This study concluded that the registration process for incoming students during orientation can be daunting given the complex and extensive academic information and the traditional short duration of registration. Often, the registration process provides insufficient time for students to process information that will prove vital to their academic success and retention. Cuseo (2011) encouraged first-year administrators and professionals to raise institutional consciousness regarding policies that do not provide students with adequate time for academic discovery and personal growth. By giving students additional time to consider course options and future curricular plans, universities can encourage them to be actively engaged in and knowledgeable about their academic future. Further research about programs similar to the one in this study may help higher education institutions determine how they can best prepare incoming students for the registration process.
Conference Presentations by Reed T Curtis
The UNI 201: Transfer Seminar at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, a four-year institu... more The UNI 201: Transfer Seminar at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, a four-year institution with a growing transfer population, addresses the needs of students while also meeting graduation requirements. The presenters will discuss the evolution of this course from a two-credit elective with general student success topics to a three-credit, general education course with learning outcomes specific to the needs of transfer students, including military students. Participants will consider the rationale and challenges of a transfer-specific seminar, receive materials for developing curriculum, and have a blueprint for advocating for inclusion of a seminar into general education requirements.
Books by Reed T Curtis
Doktorsavhandlingar från Institutionen för pedagogik och didaktik; 61, 2020
In 1809, the trajectory of Swedish history and the identities associated with the country changed... more In 1809, the trajectory of Swedish history and the identities associated with the country changed after Finland was lost to Russia. Swedish General von Döbeln explained that the loss left the nation "without mast, without sails, without compass." The research within this dissertation is not of war but of a similar sense of loss. The loss of the folk-home.
Through an abductive case-study of present-day students entering higher education, the author explores the sociocultural history of Sweden, the Swedish education system, student self-efficacy beliefs, and the educational trajectories students experience on their way into higher education. This research uses a mixed methods design where a quantitative survey and qualitative narrative interviews complement each other. First, students within an introduction to university learning summer course at a large research university in Sweden completed a psychosocial survey measuring their self-efficacy beliefs about their academic skills and career decision making abilities. A statistically significant correlation was found between the two measures.
Second, 11 students from the same course participated in narrative interviews where they detailed their educational trajectories between upper-secondary education and higher education. The author constructed, analyzed, mapped, and discussed each narrative using careership and social cognitive theory. Students within this study suggest that their transition between compulsory education and upper-secondary education was particularly impactful and shaped their self-efficacy beliefs and educational trajectories into higher education. Students describe a lonely process of upper-secondary education decision making at the age of 15 when they were sent to market without preparation, without support, and without the necessary tools. The majority eventually changed academic programs and schools during upper-secondary education. This led to lengthy ruptures outside of formal education that significantly delayed their progress towards graduation. Students only later decided to pursue a non-traditional trajectory into higher education after the negative self-efficacy beliefs they developed during these ruptures were challenged externally.
Lastly, previous research, theory, and the empirical findings were systematically combined through an interactive process of abduction. First, the author developed the concept of the folk-market, which better represents the current neoliberal welfare model present in late modern Sweden. The folk-market must be understood as a duality. The folk-market is both a market for folk and a market of folk. Citizens are both the consumers and the consumed. Second, the author presents folk-market theory, which suggests that neoliberal reforms that embed markets within welfare systems alter transition regimes, redirect state responsibility, and distance the connections citizens have with the state. Therefore, the findings suggest that notions of statist individualism misrepresent late modern Sweden. The relationships individuals and families have with the state are now indirect and filtered through the folk-market. This study also indicates that though Swedish, neoliberal, and adolescent narratives of "autonomous youth" are unrealistic, they directly shape educational policy in Sweden. As such, many students in Sweden are left navigating a competitive folk-market without mast, without sails, without compass.
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Papers by Reed T Curtis
This study concluded that the registration process for incoming students during orientation can be daunting given the complex and extensive academic information and the traditional short duration of registration. Often, the registration process provides insufficient time for students to process information that will prove vital to their academic success and retention. Cuseo (2011) encouraged first-year administrators and professionals to raise institutional consciousness regarding policies that do not provide students with adequate time for academic discovery and personal growth. By giving students additional time to consider course options and future curricular plans, universities can encourage them to be actively engaged in and knowledgeable about their academic future. Further research about programs similar to the one in this study may help higher education institutions determine how they can best prepare incoming students for the registration process.
Conference Presentations by Reed T Curtis
Books by Reed T Curtis
Through an abductive case-study of present-day students entering higher education, the author explores the sociocultural history of Sweden, the Swedish education system, student self-efficacy beliefs, and the educational trajectories students experience on their way into higher education. This research uses a mixed methods design where a quantitative survey and qualitative narrative interviews complement each other. First, students within an introduction to university learning summer course at a large research university in Sweden completed a psychosocial survey measuring their self-efficacy beliefs about their academic skills and career decision making abilities. A statistically significant correlation was found between the two measures.
Second, 11 students from the same course participated in narrative interviews where they detailed their educational trajectories between upper-secondary education and higher education. The author constructed, analyzed, mapped, and discussed each narrative using careership and social cognitive theory. Students within this study suggest that their transition between compulsory education and upper-secondary education was particularly impactful and shaped their self-efficacy beliefs and educational trajectories into higher education. Students describe a lonely process of upper-secondary education decision making at the age of 15 when they were sent to market without preparation, without support, and without the necessary tools. The majority eventually changed academic programs and schools during upper-secondary education. This led to lengthy ruptures outside of formal education that significantly delayed their progress towards graduation. Students only later decided to pursue a non-traditional trajectory into higher education after the negative self-efficacy beliefs they developed during these ruptures were challenged externally.
Lastly, previous research, theory, and the empirical findings were systematically combined through an interactive process of abduction. First, the author developed the concept of the folk-market, which better represents the current neoliberal welfare model present in late modern Sweden. The folk-market must be understood as a duality. The folk-market is both a market for folk and a market of folk. Citizens are both the consumers and the consumed. Second, the author presents folk-market theory, which suggests that neoliberal reforms that embed markets within welfare systems alter transition regimes, redirect state responsibility, and distance the connections citizens have with the state. Therefore, the findings suggest that notions of statist individualism misrepresent late modern Sweden. The relationships individuals and families have with the state are now indirect and filtered through the folk-market. This study also indicates that though Swedish, neoliberal, and adolescent narratives of "autonomous youth" are unrealistic, they directly shape educational policy in Sweden. As such, many students in Sweden are left navigating a competitive folk-market without mast, without sails, without compass.
This study concluded that the registration process for incoming students during orientation can be daunting given the complex and extensive academic information and the traditional short duration of registration. Often, the registration process provides insufficient time for students to process information that will prove vital to their academic success and retention. Cuseo (2011) encouraged first-year administrators and professionals to raise institutional consciousness regarding policies that do not provide students with adequate time for academic discovery and personal growth. By giving students additional time to consider course options and future curricular plans, universities can encourage them to be actively engaged in and knowledgeable about their academic future. Further research about programs similar to the one in this study may help higher education institutions determine how they can best prepare incoming students for the registration process.
Through an abductive case-study of present-day students entering higher education, the author explores the sociocultural history of Sweden, the Swedish education system, student self-efficacy beliefs, and the educational trajectories students experience on their way into higher education. This research uses a mixed methods design where a quantitative survey and qualitative narrative interviews complement each other. First, students within an introduction to university learning summer course at a large research university in Sweden completed a psychosocial survey measuring their self-efficacy beliefs about their academic skills and career decision making abilities. A statistically significant correlation was found between the two measures.
Second, 11 students from the same course participated in narrative interviews where they detailed their educational trajectories between upper-secondary education and higher education. The author constructed, analyzed, mapped, and discussed each narrative using careership and social cognitive theory. Students within this study suggest that their transition between compulsory education and upper-secondary education was particularly impactful and shaped their self-efficacy beliefs and educational trajectories into higher education. Students describe a lonely process of upper-secondary education decision making at the age of 15 when they were sent to market without preparation, without support, and without the necessary tools. The majority eventually changed academic programs and schools during upper-secondary education. This led to lengthy ruptures outside of formal education that significantly delayed their progress towards graduation. Students only later decided to pursue a non-traditional trajectory into higher education after the negative self-efficacy beliefs they developed during these ruptures were challenged externally.
Lastly, previous research, theory, and the empirical findings were systematically combined through an interactive process of abduction. First, the author developed the concept of the folk-market, which better represents the current neoliberal welfare model present in late modern Sweden. The folk-market must be understood as a duality. The folk-market is both a market for folk and a market of folk. Citizens are both the consumers and the consumed. Second, the author presents folk-market theory, which suggests that neoliberal reforms that embed markets within welfare systems alter transition regimes, redirect state responsibility, and distance the connections citizens have with the state. Therefore, the findings suggest that notions of statist individualism misrepresent late modern Sweden. The relationships individuals and families have with the state are now indirect and filtered through the folk-market. This study also indicates that though Swedish, neoliberal, and adolescent narratives of "autonomous youth" are unrealistic, they directly shape educational policy in Sweden. As such, many students in Sweden are left navigating a competitive folk-market without mast, without sails, without compass.