University of New England DUNE: DigitalUNE All Theses And Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 12-2016 Students' Perceptions Of Leadership Skills Gained At A County College Kevin R. Dalina University of New England Follow this and additional works at: https://dune.edu/theses Part of the Community College Leadership Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, and the Educational Leadership Commons © 2016 Kevin Dalina Preferred Citation Dalina, Kevin R., "Students' Perceptions Of Leadership Skills Gained At A County College" (2016). All Theses And Dissertations.edu/theses/90 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at DUNE: DigitalUNE. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses And Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DUNE: DigitalUNE.
For more information, please contact bkenyon@une. STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS GAINED AT A COUNTY COLLEGE By Kevin R. Emporia State University 2012 A DISSERTATION Presented to the Affiliated Faculty of The Department of Education in the College of Arts and Sciences At the University of New England Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Education Portland & Biddeford, Maine December, 2016 Copyright by Kevin R. Dalina 2016 ii Kevin R.
Dalina December, 2016 Educational Leadership STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS GAINED AT A COUNTY COLLEGE ABSTRACT Many colleges offer leadership programs or multiple ways students can develop leadership skills like participation in student clubs or working on campus. Institutions do not always assess or evaluate where or how students learn leadership skills. This dissertation study investigated what leadership skills students are learning and where they learn them at a county college located in Central New Jersey. This study employed qualitative research methods where 9 students who participated were a sample of 45 students who participated in the county college’s leadership development program.
The 9 students first participated in a focus group interview about what leadership skills they were learning through participation in different activities. Students then participated in a one-on-one interview where they explained where they were learning what skills they developed. Interview questions reflected Kouzes and Posner’s (2012) Leadership Practices and Commitments which was the conceptual framework for the study. Interviews were transcribed and coded to find themes.
The research found four types of leadership skills students were learning including 1) Communication, 2) Confidence, 3) Encouragement, and 4) Teamwork. Each theme had four subtopics that informed these themes. This study demonstrated the importance of students becoming involved on campus by either working or participating in clubs so they can develop leadership skills. iii University of New England Doctor of Education Educational Leadership This dissertation was presented By Kevin Dalina It was presented on December 7, 2016 And approved by: Michelle Collay, Ph., Lead Advisor University of New England Suzan Nelson, Ed., Secondary Advisor University of New England Terri Orosz, Ed., Affiliate Committee Member Middlesex County College iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is with the utmost appreciation and thankfulness that I acknowledge the support of the people who have guided me along this road towards receiving a doctoral degree.
Without each individuals guidance, honesty, time, help, and leadership I would have not made it through this process. I am very thankful for the efforts of Dr. Michelle Collay, from the beginning of the program to the end, Dr. Collay has been there helping me.
Her guidance, feedback, and commentary has helped me progress through this program and keep me on track. With the encouragement and edits to my dissertation, Dr. Collay has helped me develop as a researcher. I would also like to thank Dr.
Suzan Nelson who has been there with positive feedback on all aspects of the dissertation process. I would also like to thank Dr. Nelson for her time and edits as we went through each chapter. Because of Dr.
Nelson I am a better writer today. Finally, I would like to thank my affiliate advisor, Dr. Without her guidance and positive comments I would have not been able to make it through this process. I would also like to thank my family for their continuous support through my academic career.
Without motivation from my parents, Rick and Carol Dalina, I would have not been able to get to where I am today as a student and educator. The skills they have taught me have lasted a lifetime. Lastly, to my girlfriend Alyssa – you deserve a special thank you and recognition for the continuous support you have given me and the weekends we lost during this time. I could have not done this without you and I am so grateful that you were my support system throughout this journey.
v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION. 1 Statement of Problem……………………………………………………………… 3 Purpose. 4 Significance of Study. 7 Definition of Terms.
8 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERAURE. 9 Review of Literature. 9 County College Students. 10 Types of Leadership Programs.
13 Student Leadership Practices Inventory. 20 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY. 27 Focus Group Interviews. 28 One-on-One Interviews.
30 Conflicts with Participants Schedule. 30 Relationship of the Researcher with the Participants. 30 Time of Study Taking Place. 31 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS.
33 Artifacts Used for the Study. 37 Theme One: Communication. 38 Theme Two: Confidence. 40 Theme Three: Encouragement.
44 Theme Four: Teamwork. 49 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION. 56 Limitations of Study. 59 Time Frame of the Study.
60 Relationship of the Researcher with Participants. 60 Limitations of Conducting Qualitative Research. 61 New Student Orientations. 61 Student Activities Office.
62 Leadership Development Program Administrators. 78 ix LIST OF TABLES 1. Kouzes and Posner’s (2012) Leadership Practices. 2 x LIST OF FIGURES 1.
Leadership Skills Learned. 37 xi 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Development of leadership skills is an important aspect of college for students. In higher education the need for students to develop leadership skills is imperative to prepare them for transferring to other universities and employment. Many colleges offer leadership programs and training to their students so they can learn the necessary skills to become quality leaders.
Often, leadership skills, programs, or student’s leadership experiences are not assessed after students graduate, leaving the institution not knowing if participants benefitted and enhanced their leadership skills (McDade & Lewis, 1994). Every spring semester a county college in New Jersey offers their students the opportunity to participate in a leadership development program. Students apply to the program and are admitted by a committee made up of several college administrators. The leadership program, named the Student Leadership Collaborative, accepts up to fifty applicants.
Students who apply to the program have participated in service learning student organizations, are members of student clubs, employees of the college, or students who are interested in developing their leadership skills. The Student Leadership Collaborative ran its fourth cohort during the spring semester in 2016. Posner (2009) studied how college seniors participating in a leadership development program had grown from their freshman year to senior year and developed greater leadership skills compared to students who did not participate in the program. Posner’s (2009) study focused on students who had four years to develop leadership skills.
On the contrary, students who attend county college may only have one or two years to develop leadership skills effectively before graduating or transferring to a four year university. County colleges can be described as two year colleges that offer an array of different certificate programs and associates degrees. Students can take one course for personal enjoyment or take part in a degree program that they can complete and transfer to a four year university. In almost every part of America a county college is always within an hour away.
County colleges are served to help out the community and are mostly funded through the local or state government (AAAC, 2016). Keys to success for students who attend county college are involvement in extracurricular activities and interactions with professors and peers (Miller, Pope, & Steinmann, 2005). County colleges provide students with the necessary skills to succeed; more impactful ways such as leadership development opportunities need to be examined in order for county colleges to gain a better understanding of skills gained other than academic. This research used the following leadership practices and commitments as the conceptual framework for this study: Table 1 Leadership Practices & Commitments Leadership Practice Leadership Commitment Model the Way 1.
Find your voice by clarifying your personal values. Set the example by aligning actions with shared values. Inspire a Shared Vision 3. Envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling activities.
Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations. Challenge the Process 5. Search for opportunities by seeking innovative ways to change, grow and improve. Experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from mistakes.
Enable Others to Act 7. Foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust. Strengthen others by sharing power and discretion. Encourage the Heart 9.
Recognize contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence. Celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community. 6) Developed by Kouzes and Posner (2012), the leadership practices and commitments are behaviors that effective leaders use. Kouzes and Posner (2012) have researched leadership skills of effective leaders for many years and synthesized into the aforementioned.
The practices and commitments are those of a transformational leader. Gallagher, Marshall, Pories, and Daugherty (2014) believed “the model of transformational leadership is ideal for educational institutions such as universities since it fits well with the ideals and goals associated with growth and improvement within academic institutions” (p. Statement of Problem A county college in Central New Jersey conducts leadership training and provides leadership experiences, but does not understand student’s experience leadership. College leadership needs to understand in which settings students are experiencing leadership opportunities and how students perceive leadership.
Development of leadership skills is vital as it promotes personal development (Urso & Sygielski, 2007). County colleges face challenges to keep students actively engaged in activities or participation in clubs and activities, making it difficult for students to develop leadership skills. Actively engaged students who participate in extracurricular activities are more likely stay in college until they have reached their academic goal (Kuh, 2001 as cited by Torres, 2008). In order for students to become actively engaged and become more involved, county college leaders need to understand how students perceive leadership skills in order for them to evaluate their leadership program and students experiences.
3 Program evaluation will help county college leaders understand what they can do to offer more leadership opportunities to their students. County colleges are often more focused on developing underprepared students academically so that they are college-ready when they transfer to a four year university (Boroch, Hope, Smith, Gabriner, Mery, Johnstone, & Asera, 2010). Students who are in remedial courses need to become college ready, but they also need to be presented with opportunities to further develop their leadership skills by participating in clubs or student organizations, who work on campus, or engage in other leadership opportunities. Research has shown that students who participate in student organizations or leadership development programs learn leadership skills such as decision-making, how to work effectively with groups, administrative skills, how to program events, and budgeting skills (Berman, 1978).
Barbatis’s (2010) study showed that participation in extracurricular activities helped students who were in remedial classes succeed in developing better social and academic skills. Therefore, county colleges should understand student’s leadership perceptions so they can help students build a repertoire of skills that four year universities desire. To understand students’ perception of leadership, program evaluation is necessary. Purpose The purpose of this study was to document students’ perceptions of their leadership development experiences at county college.
Students attending college have many opportunities to gain leadership skills; even if they are unaware they are doing so. This study looked at student’s perceptions about their roles as leaders and the nature of leadership.