Browsing by Author "Ross, Roxanne"

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    The Academic Support Peer Program: How developmental advising creates mutually beneficial mentorship
    (2013-05-15) Ross, Roxanne; Huggins, Carina; Stewart, Julie; Elliot, Claire; Siu, Jack
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    Supporting Student Well-being in Formal Learning: Post-secondary Student Stories of Well-being and Academic Challenge
    (2023-04-13) Ross, Roxanne; Groen, Janet; Boyce, Melissa; Burwell, Catherine
    Within the higher education scholarship on persistence the changing landscape of student participation has been widely acknowledged (Smit, 2012). Increases in student diversity within post-secondary institutions have prompted evidenced-based concerns regarding higher education’s ability to equitably meet the needs of all students (Michalski et al., 2017; Museus & Quaye, 2009; Tamtik & Guenter, 2020). Alongside these issues in student persistence, is the growing awareness of a rise in well-being challenges and the impacts they may have on students’ academic achievement (Eisenberg et al., 2009). This qualitative inquiry generated from my own experience as a student affairs professional within academic support services and the emerging scholarship highlighting the significant connections students make between their well-being and the formal learning environments they participate in (Stanton et al., 2016). While initiatives supporting student well-being outside of the postsecondary classroom have been investigated (Scobie & Picard, 2018), there has been considerably less research addressing “well-being as a teaching and learning issue” (Crawford & Johns, 2018, p. 3). This inquiry augments the limited scholarship in this area. In particular, this study engaged students who had previously encountered academic challenge in a narrative inquiry exploring aspects of their formal learning that helped or hindered their well-being. Employing a conceptual framework informed by ethics of care (Held, 2006) and whole student pedagogies (Mondey et al., 2017), results of this study shed light on how students perceive caring pedagogical stances within formal learning as supportive of their well-being. Findings support existing research that demonstrates the intricate relationship between academic challenge and assessment practices and emotional well-being. In addition, participants’ perceptions of instructors’ care for their learning and care for their future selves as demonstrated through relational pedagogical practices were also found to be supportive of student well-being. Importantly, this study aimed to resist deficit-oriented approaches to student persistence and instead “reverse the gaz[e]” (Patel, 2016, p. 35) to consider how post-secondary classrooms may better support student well-being for a population of students, who arguably, have experienced some of the most significant challenges in their efforts to achieve academically.