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.     

Readiness and expectations questionnaire: a cross-cultural measurement instrument for first-year university students

The readiness and expectations questionnaire (REQ) assesses first-year students’ expectations and preparedness for their first year in university. This measurement instrument is useful for educational policy and curriculum development; it can also be used to predict the outcomes of the first year of college. This instrument was initially developed to compare students enrolled in programs in the Netherlands and New Zealand, with predominant populations of domestic students. However, the Bologna process and globalisation trends also have increased the availability of international degree programmes. This raised the question whether the REQ can be used to compare groups of international students. Therefore, this article aims to assess the cross-cultural measurement equivalence of the REQ in international bachelor degree programmes in economics and business in a Dutch university, taught in English. The results indicate that not all aspects of the instrument achieve measurement equivalence, but most of its scales, with some adaptations, can evaluate students’ expectations and preparedness and thus encourage a better match between student and institution.     

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.     

Personal,career, and learning skills needs of first-year university students

This study investigates the personal, career and learning skills needs of first-year university students. Consenting first-year South African students completed structured questionnaires assessing these needs in 1993 (n=1,817) and 1994 (n=2,209). The need for assistance with personal, career and learning skills concerns was found to be much higher in the South African student samples than for North American students.     

Gender role preferences and perceptions of university students,faculty, and administrators

Gender role preferences for Ideal Woman and Ideal Man and perceptions of Most Women, Most Men, and Self were surveyed among women and men students, faculty, and administrators at a large state university. All groups preferred an androgynous Ideal Woman, but preferences for the Ideal Man were largely masculine sex-typed. All groups described sex-typed perceptions of Most Women and Most Men. Women's groups largely defined themselves as androgynous, while most men's groups saw themselves as masculine sex-typed. A general trend toward expression of higher levels of masculine gender was noted in university professionals when compared to student groups.     

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.     

针对当代大学生群体的高校辅导员素质要求的探讨

高校辅导员肩负着大学生思想政治教育的使命,对于我国高校人才培养有着至关重要的作用。但随着社会的发展,大学生的生活环境也在发生变化,不同时期大学生的特征也不一样。这种情况就使得当前高校辅导员的素质跟不上大学生群体的变化,出现了各类问题。本文也从这方面入手,详细的分析针对当代大学生群体的高校辅导员素质要求。     

Formal Academic Mentoring: A pilot scheme for first-year science students at a regional university

This article describes a pilot academic mentoring program carried out over one semester in The Faculty of the Sciences at a regional Australian university. The program employed a science and education specialist in the faculty to provide an avenue of help to first-year science students at risk of failing, to identify some of the barriers to their performance, and to thereby enhance student success and retention. The mentor found that many students who had already failed one major exam were at least as motivated, and studying as many hours, as their more successful counterparts, though they attended fewer lectures and found their units of study more difficult. Despite relatively low numbers of self-referring students, the program was viewed favourably by all students that sought mentoring assistance. On the basis of the pilot, the mentor program has been continued for a further three years.     

Perceptions of college of education students in Turkey towards organizational justice, trust in administrators, and instructors

In this research, the perceptions of college of education students in Turkey regarding organizational justice, trust in administrators, and trust in instructors were determined. In the present study, the answers to three research questions were sought. The research was done using the survey method. After choosing six universities of various sizes and from different geographical regions, 1,872 students were selected randomly as participants. As data collection instruments, “The Organizational Justice Scale”, developed by Hoy and Tarter (Int J Educ Manag 18(4):250–259, 2004), and the “Student Trust in Principals” and “Student Trust in Faculty” scales, developed by Forsyth et al. (Collective trust, Columbia University, New York: Teachers College Press, 2011), were used after being translated into Turkish. The results show that while statistically significant mean differences are found between at least two groups (p < 0.05), there is a high positive relationship between organizational justice and trust in both administrators and instructors.     

Perceptions of tutoring roles and psychological distance among instructors,tutors and students at a Korean university

This study explores issues related to the tutor’s role when initiating tutoring as an institutional strategy at a conventional university. Based on a pilot tutoring program implemented in four college courses, we investigated the perceptions of instructors, tutors and students regarding the role of tutoring and whether it affected the psychological distance between the different types of participants. The results indicated that instructors’ perceptions of the tutor’s primary role and the psychological distance from the students and the tutors differed from the perceptions of the tutors and the students, perhaps because the instructors perceived tutors as a source of instructor support rather than student support. Implications and suggestions are discussed.     

Relationships between learning approach,procrastination and academic achievement amongst first-year university students

Individual differences in student learning influence academic performance, and two aspects influencing the learning process are the particular learning approach the students use and procrastination behaviour. We examined the relationships between learning approaches, procrastination and academic achievement (measured 1 year later as the grade point average (GPA)) amongst 428 first-year university students. Deep and strategic learning approaches positively predicted GPA, and a mediation analysis showed that the strategic learning approach also partly mediated the effect between deep learning approach and GPA. Less procrastination was associated with a strategic learning approach, but procrastination tendencies did not predict GPA. Recommendations are made for educating new students in cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies, helping reduce their procrastination and facilitating the use of deep and strategic learning approaches.     

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.     

Pre-enrollment factors and academic performance of first-year science students at a Nigerian university: a multivariate analysis

Multi-group discriminant analysis is used to identify the pre-enrollment demographic and academic factors which best separate out the success classes in the first-year examinations of science students at a Nigerian university. Each science-based faculty is separately analysed to control for faculty differences in all the variables used. The pre-eminent predictor of success is performance in the specialist subjects of the universitys matriculation examination. Other variables selected for use in the discriminant functions depend on the faculty group. Misallocation rates are generally low and, exept for one faculty group, discrimination is uni-dimensional.     

The effects of feedback from students to university instructors: An experimental study

This article reports the results of an experimental study of the effects of students' evaluative feedback to university instructors. Data obtained indicated that feedback from students did not have any significant effects on the instructors' teaching performance and their perception of teaching. Some limitations of the study are discussed with suggestions for further exploration of the problem.     

Viability of university service learning to support movement integration in elementary classrooms: Perspectives of teachers,university students,and course instructors

This study examined the views of elementary classroom teachers (CTs), preservice CTs (PCTs), and course instructors who were involved with a university course that drew upon principles of constructivism and SL to prepare preservice CTs to use MI. Focus groups were thematically analyzed using constant comparison techniques to identify perceived successes and challenges of the course. Findings centered on three major themes, including real-world context, learning embedded in a social context, and scaffolding. This study adds to the emerging research base on school-university partnerships to support both preservice and inservice educational initiatives to generate and sustain physically active school communities.     

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.     

Gender-group differences in the learning behaviour of entering first-year university students

This study explores the existence of structural gender differences in the learning behaviour of first-year students on entry to university, based on responses to an extended form of the Approaches to Studying Inventory. The focus is on underlying dimensions of variation, that distinguish between the manner in which male and female students recalled and reported on their most recent experience of studying Science in their final secondary school year. Such differences as emerge are only partially interperatble in terms of classic deep or strategic structures. It is argued that gender-sensitive sources of variation, as manifested, are worth of further investigation and are of potential strategic value to university departments insofar as they are able to locate difficulties that students bring with them early in their undergraduate studies.     

Early, late and non-participants in sexual intercourse: A profile of black South African first-year university students

This study investigated the differences among early-, late-and non-participants in sexual intercourse. 1817 first-year black South African university students completed a structured questionnaire, which tapped their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices about sexuality. The results revealed significant differences among the three groups with regard to their sources of sexual knowledge, approval of pre-marital sex, first intercourse partner relationship, number of sexual partners, contraceptive use, satisfaction with first sexual intercourse and parental communication about contraception.     

Learning styles and approaches to learning in excellent and average first-year university students

We assessed the learning approaches and learning styles of a sample of 148 excellent students selected from 11 degrees from nine centers of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), and we compared the results with those of a sample of 133 average students from the same centers. We found that excellent students took deeper approach than average students and that they preferred reflective and theoretical learning styles. Average students adopted a more surface approach, and they preferred active and pragmatic learning styles. Greater academic achievement was related to the deep approach and to the reflective and theoretical learning styles. Poorer academic achievement was related to the surface approach and an active style. University professors may reinforce the deep approach by placing high aims for students which go well beyond reproducing knowledge but use other complementary methods other than expository teaching: problem solving, case studies, designing projects, raising questions, discussion and negotiation in the classroom, etc. To accomplish this, teachers must encourage students to be committed, and these methods help do that. It also helps to introduce more demanding evaluation procedures which do not merely involve repeating what has been learnt, but include training guidance that offers students feedback.