Conference Participation as an Emerging High-Impact Practice: Experiences of Community College Criminal Justice Students

Résumé fourni par la source

Access to academic conferences and other professional-development experiences remains limited for many community college students. This exploratory, qualitative-dominant mixed-methods study examined how 15 community college criminal justice students perceived a fully funded, faculty-supported visit to a national academic conference. Participants completed a post-conference survey containing descriptive Likert-type items, a retrospective assessment of research comfort, and open-ended reflection questions. Descriptive findings indicated that students generally viewed the conference as valuable, engaging, and professionally relevant. Thematic analysis identified four central patterns: research became more visible and applied; professional interactions reduced the perceived distance between students and established members of the field; welcoming exchanges supported a sense of disciplinary belonging; and the one-day format limited participation through fatigue, scheduling conflicts, and insufficient time. Students described greater understanding of research but less consistent interest in personally participating in research. The findings suggest that conference attendance, when combined with financial support, preparation, and reflection, may provide a meaningful experiential-learning opportunity for community college students. Conclusions are limited by the small, self-selected sample, retrospective measurement, absence of a comparison group, and reliance on immediate self-reported perceptions.

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