Developing competence- A qualitative inquiry of college student l

University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 2013 Developing competence: A qualitative inquiry of college student leadership in university outdoor orientation programs J David Starbuck University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Starbuck, J David, "Developing competence: A qualitative inquiry of college student leadership in university outdoor orientation programs" (2013) Doctoral Dissertations 710 https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/710 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository For more information, please contact Scholarly.Communication@unh.edu DEVELOPING COMPETENCE: A QUALITATIVE INQUIRY OF COLLEGE STUDENT LEADERSHIP IN UNIVERSITY OUTDOOR ORIENTATION PROGRAMS BY J DAVID STARBUCK Bachelor of Science, Bryan College, 2004 Master's of Divinity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2009 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education May 2013 UMI Number: 3572927 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion Di!ss0?t&iori Piiblist’Mlg UMI 3572927 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013 Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC All rights reserved This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2013 J D avid S tarbuck This dissertation has been examined and approved I/kJL Dissertatii>r Co-Director, Brent J Bell Associate Professor of Kinesiology dissertation Co-Director, Ann Diller Professor Emerita of Education Ml fU> _ Michele M Dillon Professor of Sociology Barbara E Houston Professor Emerita of Education Jruce L Mallory Professor of Education ^ ip r ,7 Date V \ 13, DEDICATION For Tara I love you iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My mother and father sacrificially invested in my education since the day of my birth Leaving her career as a teacher within the public school system, my mother poured her time and energy into my learning every day through the end of high school My foundation for learning was established im m ediately as a home schooled student, and I learned to take responsibility for my education at a young age After high school, my father encouraged me to pursue the private school education I w anted even though it m eant enduring a significant financial burden Mom and Dad, thank you for giving me the foundational knowledge and skills that have allowed me to be academ ically successful, and for instilling a love of learning within me Thank you for em powering me to pursue my dreams I love you both so much The education departm ent at the University of New Hampshire is truly an incredible place Mike Middleton, thank you for your encouragem ent as I was struggling to articulate research questions I rem em ber com ing to you feeling frustrated and overwhelm ed by the task ahead, and leaving your office confident in my ability to successful fa ce the challenge Eleanor Abrams, thank you for providing me with the information I needed to be successful in this program, and for having fun in the process! Mike Gass and Jayson Seaman, thank you for caring deeply about your students, and for caring about me I continually draw on foundational knowledge gained in your courses, and expect to continue to so throughout my career The individuals who served on my dissertation com m ittee have gone ab ove and beyond the call of duty in supporting me throughout this program Words cannot express the gratitude I feel tow ard each of you Ann Diller, the im pact your im pact on me as an educator, learner, and father cannot be overstated When I met with you before applying to the Ph.D program you suggested I take your class and get a feel for the program I had no idea that your course would transform my understanding of teaching, learning, and educational philosophy Thank you for mentoring me as I taught my own courses Our weekly meetings throughout my first year teaching were invaluable as I brought questions, frustrations, and ideas to you Thank you for patiently guiding me as I developed as an educator, and for regularly reminding me to slow down and spend time with my family Bruce Mallory, thank you for agreeing to be a part of this project despite an overwhelming slate of professional responsibilities You have shaped my identity as a qualitative researcher, and heightened my understanding of the value of this work Thank you for investing valuable time in our meetings You truly guided me through this project Michele Dillon, I am so thankful you graciously a c c e p te d a role on my dissertation com m ittee Thank you for generously serving even though I am not in your departm ent Your input allowed me to expand the sample and increased the value of this study Andrew Bobilya, despite schedule conflicts that m ade it impossible for you to attend the defense, your input on this project has been incredibly valuable Thank you for the advice you shared throughout the interview process I have a great deal of respect for you as a researcher, and I value your friendship Barbara Houston, like many who have com e before me, I thank you for changing my thinking Your challenging courses transformed my ability to think critically In my own courses, I find myself echoing your words often I hope to maintain the same balance of rigorous expectations and unrelenting support you m odeled for me I will forever be more open to the possibility that I might be mistaken about a given perspective, and I will not stop striving for precision in my writing Brent, w hat can I say? I have utmost respect for your professional work I feel very privileged to have studied with you, and I am proud to call you my friend Thank you for pushing me tow ard excellence Thank you for challenging me to relentlessly question findings in search of the truth in the data Thank you for dozens of long, post-midnight phone conversations about this project Thank you for im m ediate revisions of multiple drafts that allowed me to maintain my unreasonable schedule and write “ the fastest dissertation ever." I ordered a case of Diet Mountain Dew to be delivered to your office You earned it And you will need it—I'm looking forward to working with you on many future projects! A special thank you is in order for the four program directors who invited me to research the student leaders Thank you for your willingness to help me gather d a ta during the busiest season of your year Thank you for graciously hosting me as I traveled to du ct interviews, and for going out of your w ay to acco m m o d a te my needs during my visits Without your help, this project would not have been possible Val Gin, thank you for your support and encouragem ent Thank you for entrusting me with responsibility over a program I value This degree has required numerous sacrifices from my wife and children, and their toil deserves recognition Jackson, you've brought so much joy to our life I love you, buddy And for my 3-year-old daughter Anna, who has for months asked: "Daddy, when are you going to be done with your dissertation?" I am finally finished! Let's go play! Tara, thank you for your consistent love and encouragem ent through tw o post-secondary degrees After eight years of marriage, we can finally experience life without work an d school responsibilities You are the love of my life I am so excited to venture into an unknown future with you and our tw o wonderful children the non-faith students questions about whether they experienced spiritual growth from their trip leadership experience It would also have been interesting to explore students’ understanding of spiritual growth more thoroughly There is a body of literature that examines intrinsic spiritual benefits of the wilderness context (Nagle, 2005; Uhlik, 2009) and ways the wilderness context can be used to foster spiritual growth (Bobilya, Akey, and Mitchell, 2009; Bennion & Olsen, 2002; Heintzman, 2009) Marsh (2008) provides an in-depth examination of backcountry recreation enthusiasts’ conceptual understanding of spiritual growth that they attribute to time spent in the wilderness Within this study, evidence did not support the claim that the wilderness context autom atically fosters spiritual growth Instead, it appears that the curriculum matters most in determining outcomes from the outdoor orientation experience (Bell & Holmes, 2011) Future research could examine this issue in more depth The post-trip response essay may be utilized in other contexts where research questions are designed to understand the value or significance of a specific event or experience occurring within a predictable timeframe, but researchers should be aw are that sacrificing Seidman's (2006) three interview structure does inhibit ability to pursue areas of interest within the d a ta in subsequent interviews with research participants 166 Limitations It is possible that trip leaders who op ted to participate in this study may have skewed the findings of the perceived student experience in at least tw o ways First, information about the lived experiences of the participant trip from those who self-selected to return to the program to lead trips is likely to be positively biased In other words, students who had positive participant trip experiences were probably more likely to return as trip leaders However, this was not always the case, as illustrated by the counterexam ple in Chapter Some student leaders who participated in this study did not have a positive participant experience The negative participant experience did not inhibit leadership developm ent opportunities for that specific student as she be cam e a trip leader Second, students w ho perceived positive personal developm ent as a result of their trip leadership experience may have been more likely to participate in this research study Given the fa ct that within one program, of the 10 leaders participated, and within another, all who were asked to participate chose to so, this is unlikely to be a significant limitation within at least tw o of the programs included in the study I wish to advise caution against generalizing the lived experiences of these students to all student leaders of outdoor orientation programs This project exam ined the lived experiences of 36 individuals within four specific programs 167 Future Research More research is needed to determ ine the im p act of student perceptions of im portance and responsibility upon both student developm ent (Chickering & Reisser, 1993) and leadership self-efficacy Findings from the current study affirm previous work by Fields (2010), indicating increases in leadership self-efficacy am ong student trip leaders in five distinct programs Further research is needed to determine whether leadership self-efficacy is increasing for all outdoor orientation program student leaders Further study is also w arranted on the specific ways these experiences are a ffe cte d by the backcountry context How are the outcomes of this study changed by the wilderness environment? Future quantitative studies should consider measuring leadership developm ent constructs across student leaders in multiple campus contexts (i.e athletics, residence life, peer mentor programs, etc.) to determ ine similarities and differences in outcomes for student leaders Another im portant finding is that the focus on the program's curriculum matters As the focus of the curriculum changed, specific outcomes such as whether or not students perceived spiritual growth also varied This is im portant to program directors as many positive or negative messages could be prom oted depending upon the consideration of the outdoor orientation programs curriculum 168 Conclusion Student leaders from this study believe this role was im portant in their personal developm ent, increasing their confidence to handle future challenges, confidence in the value of their perspective and offer it in groups, and confidence toward future leadership opportunities They also perceived an increased ability to resolve interpersonal conflict Higher education devotes substantial resources to leadership developm ent and values this goal Providing students with engaging opportunities to a c c e p t responsibility and ownership over experiences they value could strengthen leadership developm ent programs em ployed across university campuses nationwide Students described the outdoor orientation leadership role as one of the most im portant educational experiences in college 169 REFERENCES Allen, T D„ Poteet, M L., & Burroughs, S M (1997) The mentor's perspective: A qualitative inquiry and future research agenda Journal o f Vocational Behavior, 51, 70-89 Annis, L F (1983) The process and effects of peer tutoring Human Learning, 2(1), 39-47 Astin, A (1993) What matters in college? 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