Effects of staff and student tutors on student achievement

In the problem-based curriculum of the faculty of Law, students of the first year are guided by staff tutors or undergraduate student tutors in small tutorial groups. In this study, academic achievement of staff tutor-guided groups are compared with student tutor-guided groups. After an eight-week course students' level of academic achievement was tested by essay questions. Two methods of assessing students' performance are used: expert judgements and propositional analysis. Results of both methods used indicate that no differences in academic achievement occur. Students guided by student tutors perform as well as students guided by staff tutors. Several explanations are proposed to account for these results.     

Student outcomes associated with use of asynchronous online discussion forums in gross anatomy teaching

Asynchronous online discussion forums are increasingly common in blended learning environments but the relationship to student learning outcomes has not been reported for anatomy teaching. Forums were monitored in two multicampus anatomy courses; an introductory first year course and a second year physiotherapy‐specific course. The forums are structured with a separate site for each course module and moderated weekly by staff. Students are encouraged to post to new threads (initial post) and answer queries in threads started by others (reply post). Analysis of forums was conducted separately for each course and included overall activity (posts and views) for a full semester and a detailed analysis for one week in the middle of semester. Students were classified as zero, moderate, or high contributors to the forums based on the number of posts. Final mark for the course was related to level of forum contribution using nonparametric tests. Forum threads were characterized as task‐focused, administrative, or other. A higher proportion of second year (36%) than first‐year (17%) students posted on the forums and the postings were more likely to be task‐focused and student initiated. Second‐year students that posted frequently to the forum gained a higher final mark for the course than those that did not post or only posted a moderate number of times (P < 0.01). This relationship was not evident for first‐year students who had a much higher proportion of administrative threads. Forums in anatomy courses can be powerful learning tools encouraging deeper learning and improved learning outcomes. Anat Sci Educ 6: 101–106. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

The laboratory aims questionnaire—A new method for course improvement?

A simple method of diagnosing areas for course improvement in university science and engineering laboratory courses is described. A first year physics laboratory course is examined in terms of a set of aims. A questionnaire was used for staff and students to rate the importance of these aims in the cases (i) of each group's conception of what an ideal course in the subject should be, and (ii) each group's rating of the “traditional” and “non-traditional” components of the particular course under investigation. One means of identifying specific areas of improvement is out-lined. The potentialities of the technique are discussed.     

Student–authored Hypermedia in Veterinary Anatomy: Teaching and Learning Outcomes of Group Project Work

The Directed–Self Education programme (DSE) in the first year undergraduate course in veterinary anatomy seeks to support students in developing personal study and information technology skills. It also aims to move computer–assisted learning (CAL) towards offering tools for students to create a variety of computer–based materials of their own which subsequently can be repurposed by staff as teaching resources. This aspect addresses the issue that many British academics have little incentive to devote time to improving teaching through CAL methods, as innovation and excellence in teaching is not rewarded in career terms on par with excellence in research. The programme seeks to integrate a modest type of "problem–based learning" (PBL) methodology without demanding the total integration of pre–clinical with clinical teaching advocated by full–scale PBL. Since 1993 the outcomes of the programme have been that lectures in the first year veterinary anatomy course have been reduced by a third, with a slight change in the mean value of the final grades in the first year final examination in veterinary anatomy during 1994–5, as compared to the years 1991–3. Other benefits have included the rapid creation of a library of student–produced CAL which is recycled by staff into other forms of computer–based teaching. It has also led to involvement in the use of CAL by lecturers hitherto resistant to applying technology to teaching, and the vacation employment of current BVSc undergraduates from the programme in university and national projects producing CAL for medical teaching.     

Reply to Wilfred Carr on ‘Philosophy,Fantasies and Common‐Sense’

Abstract

A competence based approach to the Advanced Diploma in Education (FE) teacher training course was introduced at beginning of the 1989/90 academic year in the University of Ulster. The following year an evaluation of the course began which was completed in 1994. This included a survey of the attitudes of the staff involved with managing the implementation of the course. Included in this were members of the University Course Team, the college staff who carry out work based assessments and the Education and Library Boards who monitor such assessments. The results showed that all parties positively regarded the competence based approach both in relation to it as an initial teacher training course and as a tool in the professional development of vocational teachers. The study, however, highlighted the difficulties inherent in the maintenance of standards in collaborative teacher education and there are recommendations for the further development of future programmes.     

Improving Group Satisfaction: making groups work in a first‐year undergraduate course

Abstract

The value of working in groups as a strategy for learning, and the development of communication and interpersonal skills is acknowledged in most tertiary institutions. Academic staff tend to avoid introducing groupwork into crowded first‐year undergraduate curriculum, because of large numbers and, in many cases, staffing constraints. This paper outlines the establishment of a groupwork component in a first‐year undergraduate accounting tutorial programme. Although this component did not work well in the first year for about half the students involved, it proved a valuable support socially, as well as academically for the rest of the cohort, so was continued into a second year. To increase group satisfaction, structural and managerial changes were introduced, with positive results. Establishing groupwork early in an undergraduate course allows group skills to develop over time, encourages reflection on learning behaviour and can facilitate increasing expertise in the subject area.     

Language Across a Curriculum of Teacher Training: an instance of course development

This paper describes the ways in which the relationship between teaching and learning in schools, and pupil and teacher language, are explored by students and staff in the different elements of a one‐year postgraduate initial training course for Secondary teachers. It deals with how the staff of a quite large department attempt to keep the theoretical and practical expressions of the topic together by monitoring the manner in which the elements of the whole course structure interact.     

Addressing the Transition to Tertiary Education in Engineering

The transition to university is considerably more complex for both students and staff than it was a few years ago. For example, class sizes and the cultural diversity of students have increased, while the academic ability of students has decreased. If we are to produce engineering professionals who possess the necessary attributes for lifelong learning, then there needs to be a paradigm shift in the way first‐year students are treated. To this end, an orientation programme designed to break the ice between students and staff and among students, and a staff‐student mentoring scheme have been implemented in the School of Mechanical, Manufacturing and Medical Engineering at the Queensland University of Technology. A new course unit, Technology and Society, designed specifically to improve the teamwork and communication skills of students, has also been implemented. This unit is designed to increase students’ awareness of the university's facilities and its expectations and to provide an overview of the many facets of the engineering discipline. Each programme has been considered to be a success by both students and staff. This paper emphasizes the need to accommodate the growing cultural and educational diversity of first‐year students, the impersonal feeling of a university, the ‘little fish in a big pond’ feeling, the feeling of not knowing any university staff, especially academics, and not knowing what is really expected of them, especially in terms of learning strategies and how their chosen field of study fits into the more global aspects of the community.     

Assessment and prediction of success in first year physics at an Australian university

A method of assessment, involving six one-hour tests, with provision to repeat four of them, has been used with favourable student and staff reaction in first year, two semester undergraduate physics courses. The style of question and marking criteria used previously in a conventional examination are retained.The relationship between performance in Physics I, high school background and mark in the first physics test, held in the fifth week of the university course. are investigated through a series of regression analyses. An attempt is made to arrive at an appropriate entry criterion for admission to Physics I.     

Community,self and identity: participatory action research and the creation of a virtual community across two South African universities

Fourth year students in psychology and social work from two South African universities worked together across boundaries of race and class in a course which required them to engage in a personal reflexive way with issues of community and identity. A combination of face-to-face workshops and online tutorial groups was used. The course was demanding of both staff and students, but preliminary analysis suggests that the creation of virtual communities may be of benefit in assisting students in their preparation for the challenges of working in a diverse and unequal society.     

Vertical stream curricula integration of problem-based learning using an autonomous vacuum robot in a mechatronics course

Difficulties in teaching a multi-disciplinary subject such as the mechatronics system design module in Departments of Mechatronics Engineering at Temasek Polytechnic arise from the gap in experience and skill among staff and students who have different backgrounds in mechanical, computer and electrical engineering within the Mechatronics Department. The departments piloted a new vertical stream curricula model (VSCAM) to enhance student learning in mechatronics system design through integration of educational activities from the first to the second year of the course. In this case study, a problem-based learning (PBL) method on an autonomous vacuum robot in the mechatronics systems design module was proposed to allow the students to have hands-on experience in the mechatronics system design. The proposed works included in PBL consist of seminar sessions, weekly works and project presentation to provide holistic assessment on teamwork and individual contributions. At the end of VSCAM, an integrative evaluation was conducted using confidence logs, attitude surveys and questionnaires. It was found that the activities were quite appreciated by the participating staff and students. Hence, PBL has served as an effective pedagogical framework for teaching multidisciplinary subjects in mechatronics engineering education if adequate guidance and support are given to staff and students.     

Problems of Insularity and Specialisation within British Educational Culture: the case of Development Studies

Abstract

This paper reports some experiences of teaching a university third year degree level option paper on Equal Opportunities to students on an Applied Social Studies degree programme. It examines the social context in which courses on equal opportunities have developed, issues of course design and assessment, teaching materials, and the students and their response to the course. Among the observations drawn from the first year of teaching are the importance (and difficulty) of conveying to students the variety of concepts of equal opportunities, and the need to recognise an age gap in both knowledge and also often attitudes of staff and students, which meant that younger students tended to take equal opportunities for granted, as being simply the law, while lecturers started from the perspective that equal opportunities policies had come about as a result of struggles for equality by social movements such as the Civil Rights movement in the USA, the feminist movement and the disability rights movement. Experience of teaching the course also indicated, as anticipated, the importance of maintaining academic standards of objectivity in teaching and assessment of controversial social issues. There were also important presentational issues which emerged in teaching literature critical of the operation of equal opportunities policies in practice, since this literature can be misunderstood by students to imply that equal opportunities policies are ineffective and therefore not worth maintaining and defending.     

Use of interactive sessions and e‐learning in teaching anatomy to first‐year optometry students

Students enrolled in the Optometry program at the University of Manchester are required to take a functional anatomy course during the first year of their studies. Low mean scores in the written examination of this unit for the past two academic years energized staff to rethink the teaching format. Interactive sessions lasting 20 minutes each were introduced during the two hour lecture sessions. In these sessions students reinforced their anatomical knowledge learned in lectures, through playing games such as anatomy bingo and solving anatomical anagrams. In addition, five e‐learning modules were also introduced for students to complete in their own time. A pre‐ and postcourse questionnaire were distributed to obtain student views on their expectations of the course and interactive sessions. Comparisons were made between written examination results from 2008 to 2009 to written examination results from the previous five academic years to see if the interactive sessions and e‐learning modules had any impact on student knowledge. In addition, comparisons were made between student performances on the functional anatomy course with their performance in all of the other assessments taken by the students during their first year of study. Analysis of the questionnaires showed that student's expectations of the course were fulfilled and the interactive sessions were well received by the majority. There was a significant increase (P ≤ 0.01) in the mean examination score in 2008–2009 after introduction of the interactive sessions and e‐learning modules compared with scores in previous years. The introduction of interactive sessions has increased student enjoyment of the module and along with the e‐learning modules have had a positive impact on student examination results. Anat Sci Educ 3:39–45, 2010. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Racialising Discourses in Higher Education

The origins of the paper were from a small study initiated by a group of staff concerned about motivational problems among their first year undergraduate students. Researchers were invited to interview staff teaching on first year modules. As the data collection progressed it became clear that the discussion of motivation was overlaid by a racialising discourse, which allowed some staff to present the issue as an 'Asian problem'. We, therefore, felt the need to think more deeply about how issues of student learning are represented. The paper sets out the context of the study and reports on the data. However, rather than seeking to draw any firm conclusions, we have used our experience to reflect on issues of racialisation and to open up the area for discussion. The paper is intended to be part of a broader discussion about racialising discourses in higher education, which we believe should be critically addressed and debated.     

Supporting foreign language learning for a blind student: a case study from Coventry University

This article outlines the adjustments made to provide an accessible learning environment within the first‐year undergraduate curriculum of the languages degree course at Coventry University. Marina Orsini‐Jones, Kathy Courtney and Anne Dickinson describe how language staff collaborated with the Centre for Higher Education Development and the Teaching and Learning Support Unit both to raise awareness amongst all students about accessibility issues and to adapt materials for a blind student reading French, German and Spanish. The article includes a discussion of the challenges faced, and provides an action plan for future adjustments to the languages materials in line with the lesson learnt from the case study.     

Staff development in information technology for special needs: a new, distance-learning course at Keele University

Whilst information technology has much to offer people with special needs, the availability of staff training in the use of special-needs IT in the UK and Europe is sparse. Keele University, with over a decade of experience in research and in supporting and training staff in the use of information technology, has launched a new, distance-learning course. This article describes the course background, its structure, and feedback from the first cohort of students. Results suggest that the course strikes an effective balance between the need of distance-learning students for face-to-face contact with peers and tutors, and the difficulties faced by students wishing to attend training whilst in full-time employment who are geographically distant. The course structure appears appropriate for a wide range of special-needs settings and the curriculum seems to have an appropriate mix of background theory and practical application. Difficulties faced with computer conferencing became apparent, which need to be addressed in future. The course could be a model for further staff development opportunities in IT for special-needs professionals.     

Secondary school science predictors of academic performance in university bioscience subjects

In 2009 the Faculty of Health Sciences at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia is introducing a common first year for 11 different undergraduate courses in the faculty. Current prerequisite science entry requirements vary with course and range from none to at least two science or mathematics subjects and from ～50 to 99 in Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank (ENTER) scores. Under the previous structure, students in different courses completed a variety of different subjects at first year. Concern about the ability of such disparate groups to complete a common first year led to the current investigation of the relationships between year 12 (final year of secondary school) science subjects and performance in first year university bioscience subjects. Year 12 results for all science‐related units and ENTER scores were obtained for all Victorian students enrolling in a first year course in the Faculty of Health Sciences in 2005 and 2006. Regression and other analyses were conducted for five first year bioscience subjects. The ENTER score was the best predictor of academic performance in all units except regional anatomy. Performance in many secondary school science subjects was highly predictive of performance in physiology, combined systematic physiology and anatomy and biomechanics units, but again not for regional anatomy units. It appears that year 12 performance in science subjects and ENTER scores may be important predictors of success in physiology, but not regional anatomy subjects at university. It is possible that regional anatomy is an entirely new subject area that requires new types of learning unrelated to year 12 science subjects. Anat Sci Ed 2:113‐118, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Addressing First-year Issues in Engineering Education

Engineering education is being reviewed worldwide, for its approach to developing adaptive, creative, communicative engineers who can work effectively in a team and be aware of the broader implications of engineering on society. The first year has been a focus for many courses for several reasons, and this paper attempts to collate various approaches which have been made across the world relating to first-year issues. The literature is reviewed and discussed alongside the results of a survey, exploring the various difficulties faced in first-year courses and how the different institutions have addressed these concerns. Six major categories were identified: creating a short introductory course; additional help with one aspect of the course; developing a new or overhauled subject; introducing an entire curriculum change; mentoring/ tutoring by staff; peer tutoring. The effectiveness of such approaches is discussed alongside issues regarding implementation.     

Academics’ Views of the Relative Roles and Responsibilities of Teachers and Learners in a First‐Year University Course

University teachers often see first‐year as a training ground for students, acculturating them to university expectations and requirements following their secondary school experience. By later years, students are typically expected to know what is required of a ‘university student’. However, the assumption behind this is that different academic staff hold similar views of university teaching and learning and that those teaching first and later years would be in agreement on what is expected of a student at different levels — an assumption which was implicit in the university department described in this article.

The aim of this article is to present the range of views shown by academic staff within one department about the relative roles and responsibilities of staff as teachers and of students as learners at first‐year level. This is of interest because, at least in this department, the degree of variation which was found was unexpected, generating unrealistic expectations and assumptions about students. This led‐to‐the generation of departmental strategies for improving communication about such issues amongst staff, with the intention of making differing views explicit. The lesson which may be of general value is the importance of ensuring structured opportunities for staff within departments to share their views and expectations about teaching and learning.