Envisioning the Rural Virtual College Classroom

This chapter addresses intersecting challenges faced by rural college students as online learning becomes more widespread. The chapter begins by discussing the ways in which geography—specifically access to campuses and broadband—can impact rural student inclusivity. It then discusses the multifaceted challenges of rural students, whose disproportionate rates of class disparity and mental health issues can amount to personal crises during the semester. Because the boundaries between personal and academic life are less clear when taking classes from home, students may find that online learning is more difficult than traditional face-to-face classes. Therefore, the chapter offers some suggestions for professors related to simplicity and transparency. It then describes creative, flexible, and empathetic ways of approaching course construction in synchronous online courses. Finally, it offers broader suggestions for decision makers in order to maximize equity and inclusivity moving forward, as synchronous online learning becomes more normalized.

A Systematic Review of Research on Rural College Access Since 2000

Aligning with the NREA's "college and career readiness" research priority, this article presents a systematic literature review of 134 publications regarding the state of rural college access and choice research between the years 2000 and 2020. We use Perna's (2006) college choice model to guide our comprehensive summary of current themes as well as remaining challenges and opportunities. We find that publications generally failed to articulate the rural context in sufficient detail, that studies in the Appalachian region were overrepresented, and that a majority of publications focused on the roles of rural habitus or K-12 and community context in shaping college aspirations and enrollment for rural students. Future research should prioritize rural regions outside of Appalachia, rural youth of Color, rural forms of capital, and how higher education and social, economic, and political contexts impact rural college access and choice.

Unique Predictors of Intended Uptake of a COVID-19 Vaccine in Adults Living in a Rural College Town in the United States

Purpose: To explore public confidence in a COVID-19 vaccine. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: A rural college town in central Pennsylvania. Subjects: Adult residents without minor children. Measures: The primary outcome was COVID-19 vaccination intention. Secondary measures included vaccination attitudes, norms, efficacy, past behavior, trust in the vaccination process, and sociodemographic variables of education, financial standing, political viewpoint, and religiosity. Analysis: Descriptive statistics were used to describe quantitative data. Multivariate ordinal regression was used to model predictors of vaccine intention. Results: Of 950 respondents, 55% were “very likely” and 20% “somewhat likely” to take a coronavirus vaccine, even though 70% had taken the flu vaccine since September 2019. The strongest predictors of vaccine acceptance were trust in the system evaluating vaccines and perceptions of local COVID-19 vaccination norms. The strongest predictors of negative vaccine intentions were worries about unknown side-effects and positive attitudes toward natural infection. Sociodemographic factors, political views, and religiosity did not predict vaccine intentions. Conclusion: Fewer adults intend to take a coronavirus vaccine than currently take the flu vaccine. Traditional sociodemographic factors may not be effective predictors of COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Although based on a small sample, the study adds to our limited understanding of COVID-19-specific vaccine confidence among some rural Americans and suggests that traditional public health vaccination campaigns based on sociodemographic characteristics may not be effective.

Increasing Social Communication of Students With Intellectual Disability in Rural College Classrooms

As more students with an intellectual disability are attending postsecondary programs at colleges and universities, these students are presented with new opportunities for socialization (e.g., conversing with peers and faculty across campus environments, joining organizations of interest, and participating in campus events). The generalization of social skills to new settings and classrooms with unfamiliar people may be challenging for some individuals with an intellectual disability. We conducted a single-case study using a multiple baseline design across student and peer pairs to evaluate the effects of peer training on the social communication of students in rural college classrooms. Specifically, we collected data on students taking three or more turns during conversations, initiating or responding to their peer partners, and discussing academic or social topics (communication function) using partial interval recordings. After a brief training session with peers, all students increased the percentage of intervals taking three or more turns, with the majority of student responses focusing on academic content. We concluded the article by discussing key findings, limitations, future research directions, and implications for practice.

Tacit knowledge mediates the effect of family socioeconomic status on career adaptability

We explored the indirect effect of family socioeconomic status on career adaptability within the framework of career capital theory, by investigating the mediating role of human capital. We distributed the Family Socioeconomic Status Scale, Tacit Knowledge Inventory for College Students, and Career Adapt-Abilities Scale to 1,692 college students in China. SPSS 21.0 and Mplus 7.0 were used for data analysis. Results show that family socioeconomic status had a direct predictive effect on participants' career adaptability. Mediation model results show that this direct effect was full mediated by tacit knowledge. Critically, the mediation model results differed between urban and rural college student participants, such that the tacit knowledge of urban (vs. rural) participants had a more positive predictive effect on their career adaptability. Results are discussed within the framework of career capital theory.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON ANXIETY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS FROM RURAL AND URBAN AREAS

The objective of the present study was to compare the level of anxiety and difference between the rural and urban college students on the basis of dimensions of anxiety. A total number of 120 college students (Rural – 60 and Urban – 60) were selected from two Junior colleges in both rural and urban areas of Odisha State. In the present study, Sinha Anxiety Scale (1991) was used to collect the data. The obtained data was analysed by using ‘t’ test to find out the significant difference between rural and urban college students. Results revealed that in majority dimensions of anxiety, rural college students have more anxiety compared to urban college students