This qualitative study explored the narratives of ten post-traditional students enrolled in a degree completion program in a small, regional public university. The narratives provide insight of post-traditional students and their experiences with self-authorship: a way of knowing that empowers people to skillfully navigate life from consciously constructed epistemological, intrapersonal, and interpersonal paradigms. The findings in this study revealed that 6 of 10 of the participants demonstrated decision-making at lower levels of self-authorship, with half those indicating movement toward self-authorship and the other half exhibiting no indication of self-authorship. The participants also demonstrated the same patterns of self-authorship development as that revealed by traditional students. Self-authorship does not automatically generalize across situations or developmental dimensions, and it is not a permanent attribute once attained. Its presence fluctuates throughout life and requires ongoing reflection and exercise to remain active.
The majority of the participants revealed some degree of underdeveloped self-authorship, which reflected the already established research, and demonstrated the same struggles with self-authorship development as traditional students. The findings of this study suggest the need for holistic developmental models of support to the growing post-traditional student population in higher education, specifically in the area of self-authorship development. Extending support for self-authorship development to the growing population of post-traditional students in college can address concerns that many adults do not exhibit self-authored behavior. Lack of self-authorship may limit successful interaction with complex and/or ambiguous situations in professional and personal settings. Such support can also help students realize the self-development potential in the journey toward earning a degree and hopefully lead them to understand their own self-authorship as an ongoing life-learning project.
","abstract_html":"<p>This qualitative study explored the narratives of ten post-traditional students enrolled in a degree completion program in a small, regional public university. The narratives provide insight of post-traditional students and their experiences with self-authorship: a way of knowing that empowers people to skillfully navigate life from consciously constructed epistemological, intrapersonal, and interpersonal paradigms. The findings in this study revealed that 6 of 10 of the participants demonstrated decision-making at lower levels of self-authorship, with half those indicating movement toward self-authorship and the other half exhibiting no indication of self-authorship. The participants also demonstrated the same patterns of self-authorship development as that revealed by traditional students. Self-authorship does not automatically generalize across situations or developmental dimensions, and it is not a permanent attribute once attained. Its presence fluctuates throughout life and requires ongoing reflection and exercise to remain active.</p> <p>The majority of the participants revealed some degree of underdeveloped self-authorship, which reflected the already established research, and demonstrated the same struggles with self-authorship development as traditional students. The findings of this study suggest the need for holistic developmental models of support to the growing post-traditional student population in higher education, specifically in the area of self-authorship development. Extending support for self-authorship development to the growing population of post-traditional students in college can address concerns that many adults do not exhibit self-authored behavior. Lack of self-authorship may limit successful interaction with complex and/or ambiguous situations in professional and personal settings. Such support can also help students realize the self-development potential in the journey toward earning a degree and hopefully lead them to understand their own self-authorship as an ongoing life-learning project.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Myers, Lisa Wardlaw"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Education (EdD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Carol Burbank","Shelley McClure","Glenda Ballard"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:21:05Z","subjects":["Educational Leadership","Educational Psychology","Higher Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dune.une.edu/theses/119","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Carol Burbank","Shelley McClure","Glenda Ballard"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Myers, Lisa Wardlaw"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-05-18T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Education (EdD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Educational Leadership","Educational Psychology","Higher Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dune.une.edu/theses/119"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This qualitative study explored the narratives of ten post-traditional students enrolled in a degree completion program in a small, regional public university. The narratives provide insight of post-traditional students and their experiences with self-authorship: a way of knowing that empowers people to skillfully navigate life from consciously constructed epistemological, intrapersonal, and interpersonal paradigms. The findings in this study revealed that 6 of 10 of the participants demonstrated decision-making at lower levels of self-authorship, with half those indicating movement toward self-authorship and the other half exhibiting no indication of self-authorship. The participants also demonstrated the same patterns of self-authorship development as that revealed by traditional students. Self-authorship does not automatically generalize across situations or developmental dimensions, and it is not a permanent attribute once attained. Its presence fluctuates throughout life and requires ongoing reflection and exercise to remain active.
The majority of the participants revealed some degree of underdeveloped self-authorship, which reflected the already established research, and demonstrated the same struggles with self-authorship development as traditional students. The findings of this study suggest the need for holistic developmental models of support to the growing post-traditional student population in higher education, specifically in the area of self-authorship development. Extending support for self-authorship development to the growing population of post-traditional students in college can address concerns that many adults do not exhibit self-authored behavior. Lack of self-authorship may limit successful interaction with complex and/or ambiguous situations in professional and personal settings. Such support can also help students realize the self-development potential in the journey toward earning a degree and hopefully lead them to understand their own self-authorship as an ongoing life-learning project.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Exploring Self-Authorship In Post-Traditional Students: A Narrative Study In Students’ Meaning-Making"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Carol Burbank","Shelley McClure","Glenda Ballard"],"dc:creator":["Myers, Lisa Wardlaw"],"dc:date.available":["2017-05-18T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This qualitative study explored the narratives of ten post-traditional students enrolled in a degree completion program in a small, regional public university. The narratives provide insight of post-traditional students and their experiences with self-authorship: a way of knowing that empowers people to skillfully navigate life from consciously constructed epistemological, intrapersonal, and interpersonal paradigms. The findings in this study revealed that 6 of 10 of the participants demonstrated decision-making at lower levels of self-authorship, with half those indicating movement toward self-authorship and the other half exhibiting no indication of self-authorship. The participants also demonstrated the same patterns of self-authorship development as that revealed by traditional students. Self-authorship does not automatically generalize across situations or developmental dimensions, and it is not a permanent attribute once attained. Its presence fluctuates throughout life and requires ongoing reflection and exercise to remain active.
The majority of the participants revealed some degree of underdeveloped self-authorship, which reflected the already established research, and demonstrated the same struggles with self-authorship development as traditional students. The findings of this study suggest the need for holistic developmental models of support to the growing post-traditional student population in higher education, specifically in the area of self-authorship development. Extending support for self-authorship development to the growing population of post-traditional students in college can address concerns that many adults do not exhibit self-authored behavior. Lack of self-authorship may limit successful interaction with complex and/or ambiguous situations in professional and personal settings. Such support can also help students realize the self-development potential in the journey toward earning a degree and hopefully lead them to understand their own self-authorship as an ongoing life-learning project.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://dune.une.edu/theses/119"],"dc:subject":["Educational Leadership","Educational Psychology","Higher Education"],"dc:title":["Exploring Self-Authorship In Post-Traditional Students: A Narrative Study In Students’ Meaning-Making"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Education (EdD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:21:05Z"}