Prerequisites for the successful group mentoring of first-year university students: a case study

In this article we present a case study on a group mentoring practice proven successful in earlier studies in terms of student self-regulation and collaboration. The purpose of our study was to uncover the factors behind the success by interviewing the mentor teachers. The findings showed that the group mentoring focused on four main themes: (a) promoting social relationships, (b) providing personal support, (c) providing study guidance, and (d) strengthening the agency of students. The findings suggest that the leading ethos of group mentoring was related to a humanistic approach to mentoring. However, successful mentoring also seemed to require both situated apprentice and critical constructivist perspectives in addition to the humanistic approach. It is concluded that the combination of multiple goals and contents in group mentoring is the main contributing factor behind the success of the mentoring model examined. Additionally, the teachers reported a variety of positive impacts of group mentoring on teachers’ work.     

Information literacy for first-year students: an embedded curriculum approach

The ability to access, evaluate and synthesise high-quality research material is the backbone of critical thinking in academic and professional contexts for Engineers and Industrial Designers. This is the premise upon which teaching and library staff developed Information Literacy (IL) components in Engineering & Industrial Design Practice—a first-year unit of study in the School of Engineering at the University of Western Sydney. This paper documents the IL teaching and learning experience and evaluates and reflects upon how effective it was at helping students navigate their first tertiary level research tasks. It concludes that library sessions and assessment tasks were effective in introducing IL skills in concurrent development of critical thinking, based on feedback from library sessions, an online IL test, and assessment results.     

Motivating first-year university students by interdisciplinary study projects

ABSTRACT

In order to increase student commitment from the beginning of students’ university careers, the Technische Universität Darmstadt has introduced interdisciplinary study projects involving first-year students from the engineering, natural, social and history, economics and/or human sciences departments. The didactic concept includes sophisticated task design, individual responsibility and a differentiated support system. Using a self-determination theory framework, this study examined the effects of the projects based on survey findings from two projects with more than 1000 students. The results showed that the projects were successful in fulfilling students’ basic psychological needs and in promoting students’ academic engagement. Basic psychological needs were found to be significant predictors of academic engagement. These findings suggest that interdisciplinary study projects can potentially contribute to improving higher education as they fulfil students’ basic psychological needs for competence, relatedness and autonomy and enhance students’ academic engagement.     

Achievement among first-year university students: an integrated and contextualised approach

This paper presents a prospective study aimed at identifying the predictors of academic achievement among first-year university students. It tries to develop an inclusive view of academic achievement by taking into account the possible differential impact of several predictors in two different faculties of the university. Some 317 university students from the two faculties (science and physical education), who were in their first year at university, participated in the study. During the academic year, these students completed a questionnaire. The outcome variable was their average academic mark at the end of the year. Multiple regression analyses were performed to identify the most powerful predictors of achievement. The results showed that past school failure, parental education and self-efficacy beliefs predicted achievement in both programs. Age, secondary-school specialisation, reasons for choosing the program, deep processing, time spent studying and intention to persist have also been highlighted as significant predictors of success, but only in one of the two faculties. Self-efficacy was the most powerful predictor of achievement in physical education courses, whereas intention to persist was the most powerful predictor in science. These results show the importance of adopting an integrated and contextualised approach to exploring the predictors of academic achievement at university.     

The learning and study strategies of Norwegian first-year college students

In this study, we examined the learning and study strategies of 173 Norwegian first-year college students and compared the resulting profiles to those of the American students who established the norms for the selected strategy measure (i.e., Learning and Study Strategies Inventory [LASSI]). In addition, we compared the strategy profiles of students with different levels of perceived ability, gender, and age. It was found that the profiles of the Norwegian students were remarkably similar to the profiles of the American norming sample, with only the Motivation subscale of the LASSI showing a large difference between the two samples. Moreover, students with high perceived ability reported using more strategies than students with low perceived ability, and female students, on the whole, reported using more strategies than males. Finally, the age differences in reported strategy use were rather small among the Norwegian students. The results of this study are discussed in both cross-cultural and practical perspectives.     

The subjective well-being of first-year tertiary students during an induction programme

This article describes the perceptions of first-year students’ subjective appraisal of ttheir wellbeing before, during and after participation in an induction programme at a higher education institution (HEI). Twenty-two first-year students participated in focus group discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured individual interviews. Thematic and interpretative analyses suggested shifts in the students’ levels of well-being: high before, low during, and increased after the induction programme. Low levels of well-being were linked to experiences of fear, feeling disrespected, and disillusionment with university life, leaders, and a perceived loss of autonomy, independency and social-relatedness. An increase in well-being was associated with social integration, support, the ability for self-reflection and perspective taking. Wellbeing is a relational and collective matter which is embedded in broader contexts. Therefore, historical legacies of oppression and inequality should be challenged through constructive debate, involving previously neglected voices intentionally; and creating opportunities for the expression of students’ needs and growth potential     

The role of first-year seminars and first-year college achievement for undeclared students

Higher Education - It is commonly stated in both literature and news outlets that undergraduate college students, who are undeclared (i.e., have not declared a major), are at a higher risk of...     

Differential adoption of study approaches within individual students

It has been claimed that the study approach adopted by a student will vary dependent, in part, upon the nature of the learning task at hand. The same student will change approaches from one task to another. The prime evidence for this claim seems to derive from two sources; reports from interview studies, and questionnaire studies comparing separate groups of students enrolled in different courses. In the present study questionnaire responses were collected from students asked to report comparatively on their learning approaches in two course units taken concurrently, and on their perceptions of how those same two units had been presented. The general support which was indeed found for the approach versus learning context claim was thus qualitatively different to, and genuinely strengthened, that from interview studies and that from between-groups studies. Moreover, relationships found between marks and both approach and learning context, within each compared course unit, provided support for a context to approach to performance model of influence.The research reported in this paper was supported from the recurrent funds of the Higher Education Advisory and Research Unit, Monash University.     

The anatomy of agency: Improving academic performance in first-year university students

The transition from secondary to tertiary education can be challenging, as students must adapt to independent learning. For students in the allied health and nursing disciplines, this transition may coincide with compulsory first-year courses in anatomy, which are traditionally difficult to master. Students' agency—their capacity to make intentional choices to alter the path of their learning—may play a role in their successful completion of first-year anatomy courses. This study aimed to develop a measure for agency and to determine whether agency is associated with academic achievement. First-year students (n = 131) completed open-ended questions measuring each aspect of agency. Student responses were quantified using rubrics and then combined to create an overall agency score. Three factors of agency were determined: action, metacognition, and self-efficacy. Students with higher agency scores were significantly more likely to have higher academic achievement in anatomy compared to students with lower agency scores. The relationship between agency and academic achievement was strongest for action. These results suggest that encouraging students to be active participants in their learning may help them to achieve at university.     

Hope,optimism and loneliness among first-year college students with learning disabilities: a brief longitudinal study

The goals of the study were to examine personal resources and social distress during the first month in college among students with learning disabilities (LD) and to compare their experiences with non-LD peer. The sample consisted of 335 first-year undergraduate students falling into two groups: 85 students with LD and 250 non-LD students. Questionnaires assessed hope, dispositional optimism and loneliness. We hypothesised that, after participation in a single-session hope intervention workshop, the hope and optimism levels of both students with LD and without LD would increase, while their loneliness would decrease. However, after a month of facing the academic and social demands of their new college environment, we expected that the hope and optimism scores of students with LD would be lower than their peers without LD and that their loneliness scores would be higher. As hypothesised, both groups reported enhanced hope and optimism, as well as lower loneliness, immediately after the workshop. However, students with LD – but not their peers – returned to baseline levels of hope and loneliness after a month. Loneliness after a month predicted lower hope, after controlling predictors from the beginning of the year.     

Value orientations and action conflicts in students’ everyday life: An interview study

The assumption that today’s German students are able to successfully combine synthesis achievement values and well-being values appears to be overly optimistic when regarded from the perspective of motivational psychology. The results of a qualitative-quantitative interview study with 25 students indicate that achievement and well-being values may come into conflict in everyday life. Incentives for achievement and well-being rarely co-occur in the same action domains. Whereas the school context is dominated by achievement incentives, leisure time is dominated by well-being incentives. Since both achievement and well-being are appreciated by most students, they should be prone to experience frequent everyday action conflicts. The motivational characteristics of postdecisional action conflicts are described on the phenomenal level and their possible impairing effects for learning processes are pointed out. Finally, alternative forms of value synthesis, which might be realized more successfully, are discussed.     

Negotiation of learning and identity among first-year medical students

The demand for medical schools to produce competent doctors to meet health needs in South Africa has increased. In response to this challenge, the Faculty of Health Sciences at a relatively elite university introduced a problem-based, socially relevant curriculum in 2002. The classroom environment is designed to facilitate a learning context where students from diverse backgrounds engage critically and learn from each other. This study draws on data from a larger qualitative case study to describe how a group of ‘black’ students who failed their first semester experienced the school–university transition. Drawing on post-structuralist theory, this article analyses how the students negotiated learning and identity. The argument is made that the students re-positioned themselves in deficit, outsider subject positions in order to survive their first year. This article ends with a consideration of the implications for developing a learning environment which recognises difference and fosters diversity.     

Exploring reasons and consequences of academic procrastination: an interview study

In the present study, we broadly investigated reasons and consequences of academic procrastination. Additionally, we explored whether students seeking help from student counselling services to overcome academic procrastination (counselling group) report more serious reasons and consequences of academic procrastination than students who procrastinate but seek no counselling support (non-counselling group). We conducted standardized interviews with university students (N?=?36, of which 16 belonged to the counselling group) and analysed these using qualitative content analysis and frequency analysis. The reasons and consequences of academic procrastination, each summarized in a separate category system, were manifold. The category systems consisted of 20 main categories in total, subsuming 81 subcategories, of which 32 were inductively developed. The counselling group reported more serious reasons and consequences of academic procrastination than the non-counselling group. Our results suggest considering academic procrastination as a self-regulation failure and contribute to constructing interventions tailored to students’ specific needs.     

Attitudes of pre-service mature age women students towards teaching primary science: An interview study

During the first semester of their teacher education degree mature age women improved significantly in their attitude towards teaching primary science compared to other sub-groups. The reasons for this difference were explored by interviewing several of the mature age women. An interpretation of these interviews and possible implications for pre-service science education are reported. Specializations: primary science and environmental teacher education.     

Guiding a diverse mix of first-year business students: implications for university administrators,instructors and students

This article describes a collaborative research project by the institutional research group and a team of faculty members at a Canadian university. In response to an increasingly diverse mix of students, the researchers set out to develop an understanding of relationships between student characteristics, categorized as demographic differences, personal attributes and academic preparedness, and student outcomes measured by both grades and student perceptions. Significant differences were found in grades outcomes based on characteristics such as international status, secondary school grades, study habits and writing skills. However, these differences were not evident in student perceptions of course value or learning achievement. This study has important implications for university administrators (recruiting, intake assessment and student support), instructors (understanding of diversity characteristics and how students perceive learning experience) and for students, who can be given an opportunity to better understand how their own personal characteristics might affect their learning experiences and outcomes.

     

Guiding a diverse mix of first-year business students: implications for university administrators,instructors and students

This article describes a collaborative research project by the institutional research group and a team of faculty members at a Canadian university. In response to an increasingly diverse mix of students, the researchers set out to develop an understanding of relationships between student characteristics, categorized as demographic differences, personal attributes and academic preparedness, and student outcomes measured by both grades and student perceptions. Significant differences were found in grades outcomes based on characteristics such as international status, secondary school grades, study habits and writing skills. However, these differences were not evident in student perceptions of course value or learning achievement. This study has important implications for university administrators (recruiting, intake assessment and student support), instructors (understanding of diversity characteristics and how students perceive learning experience) and for students, who can be given an opportunity to better understand how their own personal characteristics might affect their learning experiences and outcomes.     

Poor English language proficiency hinders generic skills development: a qualitative study of the perspectives of first-year medical students

A number of generic skills have been identified as outcomes of higher education, largely to prepare graduates for the unpredictability of their professional practice. Generic skills include – but are not limited to – information-handling, managing learning, communication and presentation, computer literacy, critical thinking and problem-solving. After completing a quantitative validated skills audit, three cohorts of new medical students at a Gulf university (English second language learners) were surveyed for their self-identified strengths and deficiencies in terms of these generic skills. A year later, again, after completing the skills audit, they were provided with their skills list from the previous year and asked to identify factors that had promoted or hindered skills development. Students identified information-handling and communication and presentation skills as two skills categories in which considerable development had taken place. Despite these gains, due largely to the activities in a Medical Communication and Study Skills theme (English for Special Purposes) and extra-curricular activities such as research, students acknowledged that poor English language skills (e.g. vocabulary deficiency, difficulty reading) had hindered the development of their communication and presentation and information-handling skills. For some, poor English language proficiency had affected their behaviour in terms of classroom participation and approaching their teachers. With English as the international language of higher education, the implications of language deficiency amongst English second language learners in terms of the development of some generic skills as well as recommendations for remediation are discussed.     

Concept maps for assessing change in learning: a study of undergraduate business students in first-year marketing in China

This paper explains the application of concept mapping to help foster a learning-centred approach. It investigates how concept maps are used to measure the change in learning following a two-week intensive undergraduate Marketing Principles course delivered to 162 Chinese students undertaking a Bachelor of Business Administration programme in China. Using four scoring procedures (breadth of knowledge, relational quality, structural quality and holistic quality), student learning is assessed in terms of prior and new knowledge, as well as improvement in knowledge structure. Concept map scores are correlated with conventional measures of overall student performance. The results provide strong evidence for improvement in students’ ability to externalise new learned concepts resulting from intensive instruction. Incorporating concept maps as a contemporary method of learning in the curriculum potentially enriches student learning, provides a measure of the impact of teaching on students’ learning and adds value to students’ higher education experience.