Beyond graduation: The educational and employment experiences of graduates of an elective studies degree program

This study describes the results of a questionnaire follow-up study of the employment and educational experiences of the graduates of a nontraditional elective studies degree program. Graduates of the experimental Bachelor of Elected Studies (BES) program at the University of Minnesota were compared with regular liberal arts graduates in terms of their postgraduation educational and employment experiences as well as their attitudes toward their undergraduate education. Results showed that although there were some differences between BES and regular liberal arts graduates in their attendance at graduate school, job history, and attitudes, goals, and expectations toward their undergraduate education, there were many similarities between the two groups. In most cases, BES graduates compare rather favorably with regular liberal arts graduates on most of the indicators examined in this study.     

Developing an online justice studies degree program: A case study

Online technology allows higher education to reach additional students. Because of its convenience many universities will offer a variety of criminology and criminal justice courses online. This paper presents a case study of the transfer of a graduate justice studies degree program from traditional instruction to online delivery. The transformation must involve the coordination of several university departments. Online course instruction includes development, instruction, and assessment stages that are distinct from traditional courses. The lessons learned from this process are discussed.     

Impact of degree program satisfaction on the persistence of college students

Many theories on college retention recognize the significance of student satisfaction as a positive factor in students’ persistence. Yet, there are few theories that address the relationship of degree program satisfaction to study behaviour and dropout. This paper explores the impact of degree program satisfaction on academic accomplishment and dropout. The impact of degree program satisfaction was studied within a multitheoretical framework. The results of the study show that student accomplishment not only depends on differences in academic ability but also on degree program satisfaction. Decreased degree program satisfaction appears to diminish both study motivation and study behaviour. The authors discuss some implications for current educational practice.     

Investigating the experiences of foundation degree students progressing to an honours degree: an integrated approach

Progression from a foundation degree to an honours degree has become an increasingly popular pathway through higher education. The route creates dual institution scenarios in which students can progress from a further education institution to a higher education institution. This paper reports on research into the academic and social integration of progression students into a higher education institution to complete their honours degree. It highlights the ways in which progression students face many first year issues whilst completing the final stage of their higher education studies and possible ways of addressing these issues. The evidence presented here suggests an explicit need to recognise not only the academic and social issues of progression, but also how these relate to the wider physical and cultural changes experienced. It also suggests that these issues are often overlooked by research which focuses almost exclusively on variables affecting the retention and attrition of traditional first year students.     

Sources of self-efficacy of community college students enrolled in developmental mathematics

The need to improve student success in community colleges has resulted in a growing interest in developmental mathematics. Yet there remains a need to understand the motivations and beliefs of developmental mathematics students in order to cultivate their success. Self-efficacy has been identified to be a predictor of student success. Little is known about the antecedents or sources of self-efficacy of students enrolled in remedial courses at community colleges and how their self-efficacy can be bolstered through such courses. An instrument was developed to measure sources of mathematics self-efficacy and was originally tested with middle school students. Using a sample of 439 students, it was found that a scale which measures sources of self-efficacy is psychometrically acceptable for adults completing mathematics remediation. Our results indicated that the four theorised sources of self-efficacy explained a large percentage of the variance in mathematics skill self-efficacy for our sample. As hypothesised by others, mastery experiences was the best predictor of self-efficacy but all sources influenced mathematics skills self-efficacy.     

Foundation degree to honours degree: the transition experiences of students on an early years programme

This article focuses on an exploratory study, undertaken in 2009–2012, which explored student transitions from a foundation degree (level 5) into the third year of a BA honours degree (level 6). Direct entry students and staff from an early years programme at a post-1992 British university and second-year foundation degree students and staff from the corresponding foundation degree at nine dual-sector further education colleges took part and completed online questionnaires about their experiences (N = 156). A sample of students and staff (N = 20) was subsequently interviewed about themes that arose from the questionnaires. Three themes emerged: (1) the difference between studying at foundation degree and at honours degree level; (2) student emotions about progression and issues around personal identity (students spoke about ‘not being good enough’, ‘feeling guilty’ ‘not fitting in’ and ‘trying to balance it all’); and (3) ways in which the transition process could be improved upon, including building prior relationships between university staff and students and more information being made available. Our findings on the emotional nature of progression as well as the challenges that face personal identity offer significant contributions to the research literature. Furthermore, we suggest that improving the progression experiences of students is not only important in terms of retention and student experience but also in light of recent changes to student fee structures which may make foundation degrees more attractive to students. This could potentially increase the numbers of students progressing to university for the final year of their degree.     

Evaluating an individualized science program for community college students

Two classes of community college students having less than the usual minimal preparation required for admission were taught half of a basic science course using individualized instruction and half using traditional instruction. The course was divided into chemistry and physics segments and random halves of each class received the individualized treatment in one segment and the traditional treatment in the other. The individualized treatment was found to yield superior achievement gains and more positive attitudes toward science than the traditional treatment while both resulted in equivalent student satisfaction. No differences between segments were obtained. Of the four treatment-segment combinations, individualized physics appeared to yield the greatest achievement. Individualized instruction was concluded to be effective.     

人格与大学生失业

与工作环境相适应的人格通常伴随着较高的工资水平.人格与就业之间(自然人格与失业之间)存在着某种必然联系.论文从学生的人格出发,建立了人格和就业之间的关系架构,探讨了人格和大学生失业之间的关系,研究表明人格和人力资本一样在个人的求职乃至就业的成功方面具有较大的影响.个体所受教育的差异所导致的劳动产出的差异已经越来越小.人格特征对劳动产出的影响越来越明显.     

综合性大学工程训练模块式选课方案的创建

为满足综合性大学学生个性化工程训练需求,创建了阶梯型多模块工程训练选课方案。依托武汉大学电力行业优势,搭建大工程、大系统、全过程的具有先进能源特色的、多学科交叉为特征的大工程认知实训平台,构建新生引导性工程认知课程,改善了工程实践技能训练环境,以"机电综合"模块为建设龙头,采用阶梯型项目式个性化训练,实践教学运行成效显著。     

Personality characteristics of engineers

The objective of the current study was to investigate the personality characteristics of a group of engineers with a variety of years of experience. It was executed to remedy shortcomings of the literature concerning this issue and to produce suggestions for a postgraduate training programme for engineers. A total of103 engineers were tested with the five-factor personality inventory (FFPI), a ‘big five’ personality test of Dutch origin. The engineers were shown to score lower on the factor agreeableness, and higher on the factors extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and autonomy than a national comparison group. The older the engineers, the more conscientious and autonomous they were. In addition, engineers with lower degrees were more conscientious than engineers with higher degrees. A practical implication of the findings for the postgraduate training of engineers is that more attention should be paid to the development of interpersonal skills.     

Promoting social competence in deaf students: the effect of an intervention program

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a social skills training program on the social skills and social behaviors of deaf children in a mainstream setting. The study used a pretest/posttest design. The participants consisted of 18 severely and profoundly hearing-impaired children (ages ranged from 9;1 to 13;6) who were enrolled in three elementary schools in the Canary Islands. Results indicated that the intervention succeeded in improving students' social problem-solving skills, especially in making comprehensible the steps implied in the solution of interpersonal problems; the intervention also led to significant improvement of deaf students' assertive behavior as rated by their teachers and by themselves. Significant differences in social or academic integration as judged by companions in a sociometric questionnaire were not found.     

大学生法语公选课的学习动机与激发

动机是推动人从事某活动的内在需要。学习动机是推动人从事学习活动的内在需要。学生们选修法语公选课的学习动机不同,不同学习动机对学习效果产生的作用也不尽相同。笔者根据以往教学经验,分析不同学习动机对法语学习效果的不同作用,并对如何保持和培养学生学习动机谈了几点认识。     

Who succeeds? II. Perceptions of graduates and inactive students of a nontraditional bachelor of arts degree program

A questionnaire was returned by 241 (79%) graduates and 75 (31%) of the inactive students of a nontraditional BA degree program. A profile of each type of adult learner was presented and differences between the profiles in age and ethnic affiliation are discussed. The two groups did not differ in primary reason for seeking a degree or a nontraditional program, but graduates gave more reasons in each case. Graduates were more likely to perceive dispositional, communication, and program variables as assets. Inactive students were more likely to perceive time to study and cost of courses as problems. Results are compared to the concept of educational barriers.Dr. Losty is Associate Dean of the Faculty at Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri. She has served as Associate Director and Director of Stephens College Without Walls. Ms. Kreilick is a graduate of Stephens College.     

Learning style preferences of external degree students

Thirty learning style preferences are profiled for a group of adult male students enrolled in an external degree program. The Canfield Learning Style Inventory was used to assess the adult students' learning styles. These external degree students had eleven significantly different learning preferences compared to Canfield's norm group. Correlations between learning styles and traditional learning environments also were examined. Implications of the results, strengths and limitations in the research are discussed.