Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
5-2024
School/College
College of Education (COE)
Degree Name
Ed.D., Educational Administration
Committee Chairperson
Lillian B. Poats
Committee Member 1
Dwalah Brown-Fisher
Committee Member 2
Ronnie Davis
Committee Member 3
Lacey Reynolds
Keywords
areas of study, Higher education, professional development competencies, Students’ assessed knowledge, workplace
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of college students regarding their knowledge of professional development competencies by classification and area of academic study. The study sought to answer the following questions: 1) was there a difference in the perception of college students towards professional development competencies (overall career readiness, professionalism, communication, critical thinking, and career & self-development) based on classification? and 2) was there a difference in the perception of college students towards professional development competencies (overall career readiness, professionalism, communication, critical thinking, and career & self-development) based on areas of academic study? This study used a casual comparative research design to achieve the preset goals. Specifically, an ex-post-facto research design was used. This design uses naturally formed groups with pre-existing data. This design posits that the phenomenon or activities have already occurred and therefore, does not permit the researcher to manipulate any of the variables. The ex-post facto design begins with the effects and an investigation into the effects to determine the cause, using a MANOVA statistical analysis. The population for this study consisted of current and former college students who attended an urban university in the Southern part of the United States. The sampling procedure used in this study was the purposive sampling technique. Secondary data from the institution's annual survey administered to university students classified as juniors and seniors were used for the analyses. The data was tabulated, scaled, and coded, which allowed questionnaire responses to be evaluated for every student respondent. The total number of participants (138) included undergraduate students from the junior and senior classification levels and various degree programs. Analysis of results indicated that career development competencies for juniors were higher than the mean values for seniors which was mostly likely indicative of the confidence that junior level students expressed after completion of internships, while seniors may be expressing more anxiety or ambivalence when recognizing that their entry into the professional workplace or advanced study is imminent. Likewise, the Natural Sciences academic area of study had a higher mean score than the Social Sciences which may be indicative of a concerted effort within the Natural Sciences programs to intentionally infuse educational support and to guide students toward internship/practicum experiences that further undergird their career development competencies foundation.
Copyright
Copyright © for this work is retained by the author. Any documents and information presented are protected by copyright under US Copyright laws and are the property of the author. All Rights Reserved. For permission to use this content please contact the author or the Graduate School at Texas Southern University ([email protected]).
Recommended Citation
Powell, Sophia M., "Students' Assessed Knowledge of Preparation for the Workplace Based on Professional Development Competencies in Higher Education" (2024). Dissertations (2016-Present). 103.
https://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/dissertations/103