How Can We Help You?
An Exploration of What Institutional Websites Reveal About First-generation Support Services
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18060/23360Keywords:
first-generation, college students, expectancy-value theory, content analysis, rubricAbstract
Institutional websites are powerful tools that communicate wide range of information. Providing access to higher education requires institutions to consider how services are communicated with a goal of engaging students from diverse populations. This study utilized a conceptual content analysis to review university and college websites to determine how information about support services for first-generation students is electronically communicated. The researchers constructed an evaluative study to assess 14 institutions to formulate a critique and extend the work of Eccles’s expectancy-value theory (1984), which suggests that achievement-related choices are motivated by students’ expectations for success. The results of this study found salient factors to indicate that institutions sought to provide support for first-generation students, but relevant information was not always explicitly conveyed on websites, particularly in ways most likely to engage diverse populations.
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