The Relationship between Increasing Enrolment and Student Academic Achievement in Higher Education

This article reports on a study of which the main aim was to provide insight into whether increasing the enrolment of large classes influences student academic achievement at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), City, South Africa. The massification of higher education has led to greater numbers of students being enrolled in contact programmes. there is a widely accepted inverse relationship between class size and academic achievement for small class sizes and it would be speculative to extend the same understanding to larger class sizes. It is within this context that a cross-sectional study was conducted during which student achievement was analysed against increasing the enrolment of already large classes, in selected undergraduate modules at UKZN over a period of four years. convenience sampling and judgemental sampling were used to select modules in the discipline of Supply Chain Management (SCM). The findings revealed that while the average class size increased significantly, the pass rates remained constant. Based on the study findings, it was concluded that an increase in the enrolment of already large classes does not influence student academic achievement. It is recommended that the study be replicated in other schools and faculties where disciplines have experienced similar increases in the enrolment of large classes, thereby presenting an opportunity to either validate or dispute the study results. It is further recommended that the role of peer effects be subjected to further study to establish whether they have any influence on academic achievement. These results are expected to encourage future debate on how faculties manage increasing student enrolments at higher education institutions.     

Student Learning in Higher Education

There has been relatively little systematic experimental investigation of individual differences in student learning. The findings of mainstream laboratory‐based research are of limited value, though they are generally consistent with the results of surveys of student performance. Nevertheless, it has been possible to demonstrate qualitative and commensurable variation among individual students in both the outcome of learning and the process of learning, and in both formal experimental tasks and in normal academic studies. There has been limited success in attempts to manipulate cognitive processing by varying the anticipated form of assessment or by inducing variations in motivational factors. However, there are radical effects of matching the instructional procedures to the subjects’ cognitive approaches. More recent research has demonstrated considerable variation within individual subjects across different learning situations. Current discussion concerns the consistency, variability, and flexibility of individual learners, the identification of causal relationships, the validity of introspective reports and the adequacy of traditional research methodology.     

Approaches to Learning,Cognitive Style,and Motives as Predictors of Academic Achievement

The purpose of the present study was to analyse the relationship between approaches to learning (deep, strategic, and surface), cognitive style, motives, and academic achievement. A sample of 192 undergraduate psychology students with a mean age of 21.7 years participated. Motives and styles were related to the three approaches to learning in theoretically meaningful ways. Moreover, approaches to learning were found to predict academic achievement, while styles and motives only had indirect effects on achievement. Among the approaches to learning, the deep approach unexpectedly did not predict achievement, while the surface and strategic approaches as expected significantly predicted achievement.     

Cognitive Style,Gender, Attitude toward Computer‐assisted Learning and Academic Achievement

This paper reports an investigation of cognitive style, gender, attitude toward using computer‐assisted learning (CAL) and academic achievement among university students. A Group Embedded Figures Test was used to assess students’ cognitive style and a questionnaire was used for the evaluation of students’ attitude toward CAL. The results revealed that students have positive attitudes toward CAL but they were not prepared to rely entirely on CAL. A 2 x 2 ANOVA was used to investigate the effect of cognitive style and gender on the attitude toward CAL. The results revealed that male students preferred using CAL significantly more than females and field dependent students were more prepared to rely entirely on CAL than field independent students. On the other hand, there was a significant difference between males and females in their achievement scores in favour of the male group. But there was no difference between field dependence and field independence groups in their achievement. The results also revealed no significant relationship between students’ attitudes toward CAL and their achievement in these courses.     

初中生认知灵活性与学习风格的关系及其对学业成绩的影响

采用《认知灵活性问卷》和《所罗门学习风格自测问卷》对273名初中生进行调查,考察认知灵活性、学习风格对学业成绩的影响,结果表明：（1）认知灵活性与学习风格关系密切,认知灵活性高的学生偏爱直觉型、沉思型的学习风格;（2）认知灵活性与语文、数学及各学科总成绩均呈显著正相关,并对语文、数学及各学科总成绩均具有显著的正向预测作用;（3）学习风格各维度中,信息输入对数学及各学科总成绩具有显著的正向预测作用,信息感知对数学成绩具有显著的正向预测作用。     

Academic Standards and the Assessment of Student Learning: Some Current Issues in Australian Higher Education

This paper reports a recent national studyby the Centre for the Study of HigherEducation into contemporary practices in studentassessment in Australian higher education and theissues of quality assurance facing thesector in the light of public speculationand concern about academic standards. Amajor issue emerging from the project isthe importance of defining the relationshipsbetween approaches to student assessment andgrading, quality assurance and academic standards. The paper discusses the issues surrounding academicstandards in Australia in the context ofthe new national framework for highereducation quality assurance and the role of theAustralian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA).     

Student Learning in Higher Education: a Commentary

This commentary begins by summarizing the five contributions to this special issue and briefly recapping the background to the topic of student learning in higher education. Narrative and systematic reviews are compared, and the relative value of different bibliographic databases in the context of systematic reviews is assessed. The importance of measures of effect size is stressed. The relationship of the five contributions to early research on levels of processing and approaches to learning is discussed, along with the presage–process–product model of student learning and historical discussions that are relevant to the current theoretical discussions. This field has benefited from the development of more robust instrumentation, but researchers must continue to develop new kinds of measure, including online measures of students’ strategy use. Researchers need to consider ways of enhancing the quality of student learning through the use of problem-based curricula and other student-centered approaches. Finally, it is suggested that researchers into student learning need to evaluate whether their concepts, methods, theories, and findings are valid in online environments and to investigate how curricula in higher education can build upon those in secondary education.     

感知学习风格与中学生英语学业成就的关系

基于问卷调查和统计分析,本文探讨了中学生感知学习风格的现状及其与英语学业成就的关系,从中学生感知学习风格的分布及各种类型风格概况、高低分组学生学习风格的分布与差异、感知学习风格与英语学业成就的关系等角度进行了统计分析,并就有关发现进行了讨论.     

美国高校学生的学术不诚信现象、理论解释及其对策

美国高校中普遍存在着学生学术不诚信的现象,对此,学者们从不同的角度做了理论解释.总的看来,它受个人道德发展水平、个体特征和环境等多方面因素的影响.美国高校从这些方面着手寻找治理对策,在创造良好的学术环境、纠正学生学术不诚信行为方面积累了宝贵的经验,对我国高校的诚信教育具有一定的借鉴意义.     

Social-Economic Factors,Student Factors,Student Academic Goals and Performance of Students in Institutions of Higher Learning in Uganda

This article evaluates the relationship between social-economic factors, students’ factors, student academic goals and performance of students. The study adopts a cross-sectional survey, with largely quantitative approaches. A sample of 950 students was randomly and proportionately drawn from undergraduates in four institutions of higher learning. A response rate of 61% was recorded. We observed significant positive relationships between student factors (except competence in quantitative subjects and grades earned in high school) and student performance, as well as student learning goals and student academic performance. We did not observe a significant relationship between socio-economic factors and student performance at higher institutions. The model was significant, and explained 47% of the variation in student performance. The study recommends that higher institutions should place considerable emphasis on inculcating a reading/preparation culture among students, enforce attendance at lectures and encourage students to set learning goals, if they are to improve the performance of their students.     

Factors Influencing Student Acceptance of Mobile Learning in Higher Education

The purpose of this study was to explore the acceptance of mobile learning by students in a higher education setting. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was extended to include hedonic motivation, operationalized as enjoyment, as well as social influence in a field study involving the adoption of iPad mobile devices. Survey data were collected from 171 college students and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicated that enjoyment and performance expectations were important factors influencing the acceptance of mobile learning in this context. For those engaged in the mobile learning pilot project upon which this study was based, the use of the UTAUT and the results provided a theory-based empirical approach to support an assessment that the pilot project goals were achieved. Overall, students perceived iPads to be useful and enjoyable tools for accomplishing educational tasks and improving learning outcomes.     

A Qualitative Student Evaluation of Group Learning in Higher Education

The importance of group learning has increased significantly in higher education in the past two decades (Houldsworth and Mathews, 2000 Houldsworth, C. and Mathews, B. P. 2000. “Teaching Group Process Skills to MBA Students: A Short Workshop”. Education + Training, 42(1): 40–53.  [Google Scholar]). The primary focus of this study is to explore the feelings and experience of students regarding group work and group assessment in higher education. The study is exploratory based on a qualitative focus group approach. Interestingly, students felt that group work is a significant method to foster the development of critical thinking through discussion, clarification of ideas, and evaluation of others' ideas. Students consider “poor communication” and “poor attendance at group meetings” as the main challenges they face when working within a group. Also, students identified “dedicated assignment seminars” as the most effective tool, which could be used to enhance the effectiveness of group work. This study reinforces the findings of previous research into group work suggesting that the experience is a generally positive one for students. Results are discussed in the context of current theoretical and empirical work on group‐based learning, education implications and areas for further research are discussed.     

Effectiveness of the Student Success Course on Persistence,Retention, Academic Achievement,and Student Engagement

ABSTRACT

Despite a great increase in the numbers of students enrolling in higher education, specifically at community colleges, the successful completion rates for these students has remained static since the 1970s. When reviewing strategies to increase student retention and successful completion, the Student Success Course (SSC) has emerged as a promising and prominent strategy for community colleges. Given that, the purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to determine if participation in a SSC influences persistence, retention, academic achievement, and student engagement on a community college campus. Data were collected from a purposeful sample of 197 SSC participants at a middle sized community college in southeast Texas and compared to a matched sample of 235 non-SSC participants. Twelve former SSC participants were also interviewed in an attempt to build a more empirical understanding of the impact of the SSC on student engagement and, thus, the students’ decisions to remain in college. Results of this study indicate that a relationship exists between participation in the SSC and persistence, retention, academic achievement in English and mathematics, and student engagement. Additionally, participants claim that taking the SSC not only altered their perceptions of the importance of the course, but their social and study skills as well.     

成就目标、自我效能、学习策略和学业成就的关系研究

对545名中学生进行测量，以探讨成就目标、自我效能、学习策略与学业成绩的关系。结果表明：掌握目标、成绩目标与自我效能、学习策略有显著的正相关，回避目标与自我效能、学习策略存在显著的负相关，自我效能与学习策略有显著的正相关；掌握目标、自我效能和学习策略与学业成绩有显著的正相关，而回避目标与学业成绩则有显著的负相关；学习策略直接影响学业成绩，成就目标和自我效能对学业成绩的影响是间接的。     

Student Learning and Performance in Information Systems Courses: The Role of Academic Motivation

Despite the need for information technology knowledge in the business world today, enrollments in information systems (IS) courses have been consistently declining. Student performance in lower level IS courses and student assumptions about the level of difficulty of the courses seem to be reasons for lower enrollments. To understand how student motivation may explain learning outcomes in introductory IS courses, this study investigates the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic academic motivations as framed by self‐determination theory on two measures of learning outcomes: (1) student self‐reported measures of learning and (2) actual grades obtained in courses and course components. Using 269 student responses collected in a second‐year undergraduate core course and a first‐year MBA core course, both of which are offered in a traditional face‐to‐face classroom environment, study hypotheses are analyzed. Results indicate that the motivational model explains both the affective and cognitive perceptions of learning held by students. In examining overall grades and grades in course components, the motivational model, however, was unable to sufficiently explain student performance. Data also indicate that there are significant differences between undergraduate and graduate students in terms of their motivation and learning outcomes.     

Perceived Classroom Control,Self-Regulated Learning Strategies,and Academic Achievement

Relations between perceived classroom control, self-regulation strategies and academic achievement were investigated in a sample of 302 sixth grade students. Four distinct perceived classroom control styles were determined, based on the balance between teacher and student control over learning. It was hypothesised that student mathematics achievement would be contingent on the combined effects of teacher and student control: it would be highest when both teacher and student control is high, and would be lowest when both of them are low. Student adoption of self-regulated learning strategies would be linked to the net effect of student control: they would be highest when student control is high and teacher control is low, and would be lowest when teacher control is high and student control is low. The data tended to support these hypotheses, indicating that both achievement and self-regulation strategies were contingent on classroom processes.     

Methodological Issues in Questionnaire-Based Research on Student Learning in Higher Education

Students' scores on questionnaires concerning their approaches to studying in higher education exhibit reasonable stability over time, moderate convergent validity with their scores on other questionnaires, and reasonable levels of discriminating power and criterion-related validity. Nevertheless, the internal consistency of the constituent scales and the construct validity of these instruments are variable, their content validity within contemporary higher education is open to question, and their wording may need to be revised when they are used with students from different social or cultural groups. Future research should investigate the possibility of response bias in such instruments and the validity of self-reports concerning study behavior.     

加拿大高校学生学习成果评估的内容、方法及启示

作为全球第二个实现高等教育普及化的高等教育强国,加拿大高校学生学习成果评估体系富有特色:在评估内容方面,构建起了高等教育系统、院校以及学科(专业)等不同层面的学生学习成果体系;在评估方法方面,形成了由标准化测试、评价量规、表现性评估以及问卷调查等四种类型构成的多元化学生学习成果评估方法体系。其对我国的启示是:构建和完善高校学生学习成果评估的内容体系,为学生学习成果评估奠定共识基础;开发多元化的学生学习成果评估方法与工具,提高评估活动的科学性;加强以结果为导向的评估制度建设,促使学习成果评估常态化。