Welcome to Vtext at Valdosta State University
Vtext is Valdosta State University's institutional repository, providing open access to the scholarly, creative, and administrative works of the University community. It also houses digitized materials from the VSU Archives and Special Collections.
Faculty, students, and staff can register and deposit their work directly into Vtext, ensuring that it is securely preserved, permanently accessible, and discoverable worldwide. Each item receives a stable, citable URL designed for long-term reliability—supporting both academic visibility and digital preservation for years to come. Please contact the VSU Archives and Special Collections for more information.
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Item Basic Descriptive Study of Mentoring Programs in Accredited Christian High Schools(2026-06-01)The purpose of this qualitative study was to provide practical guidance for educators and school administration on implementing and maintaining effective student mentoring programs within NCSA high schools. This study addressed the problem that while mentoring programs are mandated to support students’ holistic well-being, implementation often reflects compliance rather than intentional relational practice. This study employed a qualitative multiple case study design. Data were collected through interviews, focus groups and observations for the selected schools. Participants represented NCSA-accredited Christian schools of various degrees of functioning mentoring programs. Findings from collected data revealed that the most effective mentoring programs were mission driven rather than accreditation driven. Schools with successful programs viewed mentoring as a natural extension of their commitment to discipleship, community, and whole child development. The study also found that mentoring programs play a critical role in addressing post-pandemic challenges related to students’ social skills, communication, and future orientation. Consistent with existing literature, mentoring supported goal setting, fostered hopefulness, and helped students navigate academic and personal challenges. Overall, the findings suggest that when mentoring programs are intentionally designed, mission aligned, and relationally focused, they not only meet accreditation expectations but also strengthen school culture and student well-being. This study contributes practical insights for school administration seeking to move mentoring programs beyond compliance toward sustainable and transformative practice.Item Assessing the Use of Open Educational Resources by University System of Georgia Faculty(2026-06-01)The current study surveyed 175 full-time USG faculty across 13 different USG institutions regarding the impact of the pandemic on Open Educational Resources (OER) use, differences in OER awareness and use among different demographics, faculty incentives for OER adoption, as well as barriers to OER adoption. The surveyed results include faculty from all four institutional groups within the University System of Georgia (USG). There was a significant increase in OER use among surveyed USG faculty during the COVID pandemic. There were differences in OER awareness, years of OER adoption, and perceived impact of OER across different demographic groups. Among demographic groups, age appeared to be the most significant factor regarding faculty OER adoption incentives. Significant incentives mentioned included increased student access, narrowed student attainment gaps, improved student performance, enhanced faculty innovation, positive perceptions of OER, and administrative encouragement. Regarding faculty barriers to OER adoption, instructional modality was the most significant demographic impacted. The face-to-face instructors noted barriers such as increased course preparation time, negative perceptions of OER, and a lack of technical support. Overall, the current study raises awareness of OER use amongst USG faculty, the impact of the pandemic, and what incentives and barriers faculty might experience. Suggestions for OER practices, increasing incentives for faculty to adopt OER, and lowering barriers to its adoption are provided. A more comprehensive USG faculty survey, including qualitative methods and an expanded sample size, is recommended for future research.Item Exploring the Relationship between Undergraduate Student Employees’ Workplace Experiences and Leadership Capacity(2026-06-01)This study investigated the relationship between undergraduate student employee workplaceexperiences and the development of socially responsible leadership capacity using a quantitative, cross-sectional design. Grounded in the Social Change Model of Leadership, a sample of 81 student employees were surveyed at three public universities to examine how the frequency of 19 distinct workplace experiences influenced scores on the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS-R2). Data analysis involved a sequential approach, using bootstrapped regressions and Kruskal-Wallis H tests to explore relationships between experience frequency and leadership outcomes. The findings identified a standardized workplace environment within this specific sample, as variables such as collaboration, problem-solving, and task repetition were omitted from the final analysis due to a lack of variance among respondents. While informal supervisor interactions and feedback were associated with higher scores in Commitment, Congruence, and Change, and idea experimentation emerged as a factor for Consciousness of Self and Controversy with Civility, the small sample size limits the generalizability and interpretability of these results beyond the research sites. These findings offer localized evidence that intentional supervision and opportunities for innovation may serve as potential drivers of student employees’ leadership development, though further research with larger populations is necessary to confirm these relationships.Item Elementary Teachers’ Experiences with Applications of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy(2026-05-31)Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) has been widely promoted as an equity-centeredinstructional framework; however, limited research has examined how elementary teachers understand, enact, and sustain CRP within contemporary classroom contexts marked by sociopolitical constraint. This narrative inquiry explored the lived experiences of eight fourth- and fifth-grade teachers working in Title I and non—Title I schools to examine how culturally relevant pedagogy was learned, interpreted, and implemented in practice. Guided by Ladson-Billings’s framework of academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness, the study centered teachers’ narratives to illuminate how CRP functioned as a lived and meaning-making practice rather than a prescribed set of strategies. Findings revealed that while collaborators expressed strong moral commitment to equity and student success, preparation related to CRP within teacher education and professional development was inconsistent and often minimal. As a result, culturally relevant pedagogy was often enacted through fragmented, surface-level practices rather than as a comprehensive pedagogical framework. Teachers’ meaning making processes were shaped by identity, belief systems, and political context, with many describing fear, hesitation, and professional isolation when engaging issues of race, culture, and equity. Five cross-case themes emerged, highlighting representation as literacy empowerment, community integration, critical dialogue as civic engagement, belief in students’ unlimited potential, and the role of teacher identity and spiritual commitment in sustaining CRP. The findings highlight the need for systemic support, collaborative professional learning, and intentional leadership to sustain culturally relevant pedagogy as a shared instructional responsibilityItem “The Professor Actually Really Cares, and They Want You to Know Why You’re Doing It”: Exploring Traditionally Underserved Students’ Experiences With Transparent Assignment Design(2026-05-31)The purpose of this study was to explore how first-year college students from traditionally underserved populations describe their sense of belonging as a function of being in a freshman seminar course that implemented transparent assignment design (TAD). Degree attainment has been associated with many individual and societal benefits (Davis et al., 2025; Phillips et al., 2020; Wilson, 2023). However, traditionally underserved students are less likely to attain a degree (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2024a), a phenomenon that has been described as the equity gap. This gap is due in part to noncognitive factors such as sense of belonging and self-efficacy (Tinto, 2017a). To address this gap, a variety of high-impact practices have been implemented in higher education to support students at risk of attrition (Kuh, 2008). Transparent assignment design is one such practice that has been shown to improve self-reported academic success indicators such as sense of belonging and self-efficacy, especially among traditionally underserved students (Winkelmes et al., 2016, 2019). I used narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of six first-year students from traditionally underserved backgrounds in freshman seminar courses that implemented TAD at California State University, Northridge in Fall 2024. Major findings suggest that despite some negative student experiences with TAD, the framework addresses the equity gap by supporting students in overcoming the hidden curriculum. TAD clarifies assignment expectations to students from traditionally underserved communities, especially for complicated or novel tasks. Results may inform faculty and administrative decisions in higher education, with broader societal implications.