Dynamics of undergraduate student generic problem-solving skills captured by a campus-wide study

The ability to effectively problem solve is a highly valued competency expected of university graduates, independent of their area of study. Evaluation of problem-solving skill (PSS) development is hindered by a shortage of available tools for monitoring student progress and by lack of defined instructional strategies for development of these skills. Our research is aimed at addressing these problems. We have developed an evaluation tool, which we applied to study the dynamics of undergraduate student PSS. We tested first- and upper-year students from 26 different courses (total enrollment of 2229 students). Overall improvement of PSS was detected for the first-year students over their first term of study. There were no significant differences between the PSS of first- and upper-year students, and no improvement was detected over a single term by measuring PSS in upper-year students. Only three courses were effective at facilitating PSS. Our data indicate that most of the standard lecture approaches do not develop undergraduate student PSS and that universities and individual instructors must take active steps to advance this critical skill set in university students.     

Students achieve more when teachers have time to do what they know works best

Literacy skills acquired during the first years of schooling have been recognised as the key to students’ learning success. However, despite the continuing efforts by the New Zealand government and teachers there is still a large proportion of students who struggle to become literate. To address this issue the Ministry of Education funded selected New Zealand schools to take part in 10-week programmes designed to provide an intensive intervention in literacy (i.e. reading and writing) and numeracy. This article summarises the results from the part of the programme which focused on reading. The findings indicate that Year 1 and Year 2 students significantly increased their reading ability over the 10 weeks. The survey data, interviews and teachers’ journals revealed that the critical aspect of this success was teachers having time to meet individual students’ specific learning needs. At the school level the programme was lauded as successful. Importantly, these findings have implications not only for how principals allocate teacher time but also for policy-makers when considering how to support schools in addressing the needs of those students who have not made the expected progress in their literacy development in their first years of education.     

Comparison of student marks obtained by an assessment panel reveals generic problem-solving skills and academic ability as distinct skill sets

Generic problem-solving skills have been identified as one of the key competencies valued by professional programmes, university students and their future employers. A lack of widely available and simple testing tools prevents assessment of the development of student problem-solving skills. As part of a research study, a generic problem-solving test was administered to 130 third-year science students during three consecutive years. A comparison between the scores students achieved in this test with their six academic marks obtained in this course showed no significant correlation. Lack of correlation between the problem-solving skill test scores and academic marks of students was confirmed in a larger population of students participating in a campus-wide study of generic problem-solving skills (n = 830). Problem solving and academic performance may represent two independent skill sets of students; testing problem-solving skills of students could be introduced to achieve a more comprehensive evaluation of undergraduate student progress and achievement.     

Improvement in Generic Problem-Solving Abilities of Students by Use of Tutor-less Problem-Based Learning in a Large Classroom Setting

Problem-based learning (PBL) was originally introduced in medical education programs as a form of small-group learning, but its use has now spread to large undergraduate classrooms in various other disciplines. Introduction of new teaching techniques, including PBL-based methods, needs to be justified by demonstrating the benefits of such techniques over classical teaching styles. Previously, we demonstrated that introduction of tutor-less PBL in a large third-year biochemistry undergraduate class increased student satisfaction and attendance. The current study assessed the generic problem-solving abilities of students from the same class at the beginning and end of the term, and compared student scores with similar data obtained in three classes not using PBL. Two generic problem-solving tests of equal difficulty were administered such that students took different tests at the beginning and the end of the term. Blinded marking showed a statistically significant 13% increase in the test scores of the biochemistry students exposed to PBL, while no trend toward significant change in scores was observed in any of the control groups not using PBL. Our study is among the first to demonstrate that use of tutor-less PBL in a large classroom leads to statistically significant improvement in generic problem-solving skills of students.     

Factors explaining the learning of generic skills: a study of university students’ experiences

ABSTRACT

Although generic skills have received widespread attention from both policymakers and educationalists, little is known regarding how students acquire these skills, or how they should best be taught. Hence, the aim of this study was to identify what kinds of pedagogical practices are behind the learning of eight particular generic skills. The data were collected from university students (N =?163, n?=?123) via Internet questionnaires. The findings from regression analyses showed that teaching practices involving collaboration and interaction as well as features of a constructivist learning environment and integrative pedagogy predicted the learning of generic skills – such as decision-making skills, different forms of creativity, and problem-solving skills. In contrast, the traditional forms of university teaching – such as reading, lecturing, and working alone – were negatively associated to learning generic skills. Overall, this study offers detailed information about the pedagogical practices that nurture learning generic skills in university contexts.     

Occupying a ‘third space’: research trained professional staff in Australian universities

Despite the expansion and professionalisation of university administration over the past 20 years there has been no scholarly study on the extent to which universities, which promote the value of generic skills from research degrees to prospective research students and their employers, capitalize on the research and transferable skills of PhD graduates later employed in the university sector as professional staff. Findings from this study of research-trained professional staff at one research-intensive Australian university suggests that these professionals are using their research and generic skills in management roles, to the benefit of the university. In the context of the knowledge based economy, this study suggests that universities could benefit from actively targeting the products of their own system for professional roles.     

Generic skills assessment: A new problem for tertiary students with learning disabilities

Abstract

A simmering controversy has been running in the United States since 1995 over the perceived conflict between the maintenance of academic standards and the rights of disabled university students. Recent developments are set to raise the same issue in Australian universities. The first of these developments is the shift in the emphasis of academic standards with the implementation of the Generic Skills Assessment (GSA) program. The second is the release of draft disability standards for education to streamline enforcement of the Commonwealth's Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

The DDA protects disabled people against discrimination in education. Amongst the many types of disabled people protected are those who are unable to read, write or communicate effectively because of learning disabilities, and others who are unable to concentrate and pay attention properly because of mental disorders. Hitherto, universities have found ways to comply with the DDA without compromising academic standards by providing these types of disabled students with accommodations that take the form of alternative methods of examination, extra exam time, technological assistance, scribes, readers, etc. However, the GSA has been designed for standardised implementation and doesn't allow for this type of flexibility. Further, generic skills testing specifically discriminates against students with learning disabilities and some mental disorders because it is the inability to master particular types of generic skills that defines these types of disabilities.     

The effectiveness of problem-based learning on teaching the first law of thermodynamics

Background: Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching approach working in cooperation with self-learning and involving research to solve real problems. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but that energy is conserved. Students had difficulty learning or misconceptions about this law. This study is related to the teaching of the first law of thermodynamics within a PBL environment.

Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of PBL on candidate science teachers’ understanding of the first law of thermodynamics and their science process skills. This study also examined their opinions about PBL.

Sample: The sample consists of 48 third-grade university students from the Department of Science Education in one of the public universities in Turkey.

Design and methods: A one-group pretest–posttest experimental design was used. Data collection tools included the Achievement Test, Science Process Skill Test, Constructivist Learning Environment Survey and an interview with open-ended questions. Paired samples t-test was conducted to examine differences in pre/post tests.

Results: The PBL approach has a positive effect on the students’ learning abilities and science process skills. The students thought that the PBL environment supports effective and permanent learning, and self-learning planning skills. On the other hand, some students think that the limited time and unfamiliarity of the approach impede learning.

Conclusions: The PBL is an active learning approach supporting students in the process of learning. But there are still many practical disadvantages that could reduce the effectiveness of the PBL. To prevent the alienation of the students, simple PBL activities should be applied from the primary school level. In order to overcome time limitations, education researchers should examine short-term and effective PBL activities.     

Unmasking the teaching quality of higher education: students’ course experience and approaches to learning in China

The quality of teaching in higher education is a topic which has generated heated debate in China, though there has been a remarkable paucity of empirical research into the characteristics of teaching and learning in Chinese universities. This study examined Chinese university students’ course experience and its influence on their approaches to learning. A sample of 2529 students from 15 full-time regular universities responded to the questionnaire. Results indicated that the Course Experience Questionnaire could be a promising instrument for assessing the teaching quality in Chinese universities. Chinese undergraduate teaching was characterised by the dominance of developing students’ generic skills, but a lack of emphasis on students’ independence. The study revealed some desirable influences of university teaching on students’ approaches to learning, but an increase in instructors’ effort and commitment to teaching was found to facilitate a surface rather than a deep approach to learning. These findings highlighted the need to reflect on the teacher-centred nature of undergraduate teaching in China.     

Differential pathways to generic skills development of male and female college students in Korea

This study analyzed a stratified random sample of 1,707 senior students at 60 four-year universities in South Korea to explore the gender-specific pathways to Korean students?? development of generic skills??analytical thinking and problem-solving skills. Multiple regression analyses were performed to investigate the involvement factors differential effects on the development of students?? generic skills. The findings suggest that college student involvement plays a critical role in developing the important generic skills. Furthermore, male and female students do have different routes to the development of such skills. In the case of Korean students, at 4-year institutions of higher education, male students tend to develop generic skills more through formal and independent activities in and out of the classroom, whereas female students do so typically in an informal and interdependent way. These results call for additional scholarly investigation into gender influence on college impact and gender-dependent activities during college; moreover, they encourage institutions of higher education to adopt more gender-specific approaches to relevant institutional policies and practices.     

Successful development of generic capabilities in an undergraduate medical education program

The development of generic capabilities or graduate attributes in communication, teamwork, critical analysis of information, problem solving and ethical practice is widely recognised as a desired outcome of higher education. This emphasis on generic capabilities has emerged despite ongoing debates about the concept and development of such capabilities. A recent review of comprehensive audits of Australian universities has found little evidence that such outcomes are being achieved. We used data from four different evaluations, both qualitative and quantitative, to explore whether these important generic capabilities are being learned by undergraduate students in the University of New South Wales (UNSW) new Medicine Program. University of New South Wales medical students are significantly more positive than other UNSW students that their university experience is developing several generic capabilities. Measurements concerning generic skills development from the Australian 2009 Learning and Teaching Performance Fund process support these findings. Analyses of qualitative data from two methodologically different student surveys found consistent evidence that medical students value generic capability development in the UNSW program. Furthermore, we report evidence that current UNSW medical students rate their clinical learning in professional placements as a significantly better experience than students in the previous discipline-based program. We believe this is a consequence of generic capability learning in the early years of the new program, such that our students are better prepared to maximise the value of learning from professional experiences. Our results represent consistent evidence of successful generic capability development as a result of a program-wide innovation in undergraduate education. To validate further our conclusions, external assessments of our graduates' generic capabilities in-action in the workplace are currently being obtained.     

Characterizing Learning Environments Capable of Nurturing Generic Capabilities in Higher Education

There has been wide recognition that today’s graduates need the type of generic capabilities necessary for lifelong learning. However, the mechanism by which universities can develop these generic skills is not clearly established. This study aimed to investigate the mechanism for their development. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test a hypothesized model of capability development through a suitable learning environment with 1756 undergraduates at a university in Hong Kong. To triangulate against this model and more fully characterize the learning environment, focus group interviews were held with five to six students from three programs with good records of capability development. Analysis of the interview data resulted in a set of categories, describing a learning environment, which were consistent with the SEM model. The learning environment which seemed conducive to capability development aimed for understanding of key concepts through a variety of assessment methods and active engagement in learning activities. Teacher–student relationships were developed through interaction, feedback and assistance. The promotion of peer–student relationships led to a high degree of collaborative learning.     

Can Low-Cost Online Summer Math Programs Improve Student Preparation for College-Level Math? Evidence From Randomized Experiments at Three Universities

Every year many students enter college without the math preparation needed to succeed in their desired programs of study. Many of these students struggle to catch up, especially those who are required to take remedial math courses before entering college-level math. Increasing the number of students who begin at the appropriate level of math has become an important focus for educators and policymakers. We conducted randomized experiments of low-cost online summer math programs at three universities to test whether this type of intervention can increase access to math preparation, improve placement and enrollment in fall math classes, and improve performance in first-year math courses. Students who received the intervention engaged with the platform, though at relatively low rates, and were more likely to retake the placement test and improve their scores than students in the control group. However, these improved scores did not translate into enrolling in higher level math courses, obtaining more math credits, or improving grades in math-related courses during the first year of college. Thus, providing students access to this online tool did not improve their math skills.     

The assessment of learning skills in nursing student selection: A scoping review

Abstract

Higher education student selection has significant societal, institutional and individual impacts. Thousands of applicants apply only for nursing, one of the major higher education disciplines. As the nursing profession is characterised by cognitive requirements, higher education institutions assess the learning skills of nursing applicants. However, there has been no comprehensive analysis of learning skills assessment for nursing student selection. The purpose of this scoping review was to describe the assessment of learning skills in undergraduate nursing student selection. Five databases were systematically searched, and 24 studies published between 2006 and 2016 were included. Learning skills were most commonly assessed using standardised tests in the areas of language and communication, reasoning, mathematics and natural sciences. Overall scores of onsite selection methods were found to best predict future academic performance. The results indicate that higher education institutions may benefit from comprehensive assessment of learning skills in their selection processes. This assessment should focus on a wider range of cognitive aptitudes, including reasoning skills. This review focussed on nursing education, but the results may benefit other higher education disciplines due to the generic nature of learning skills and similar cognitive requirements of higher education studies. The results support the development of more comprehensive and valid methods for assessing learning skills.     

Team-Based Testing Improves Individual Learning

In two experiments, 90 undergraduates took six tests as part of an educational psychology course. Using a crossover design, students took three tests individually without feedback and then took the same test again, following the process of team-based testing (TBT), in teams in which the members reached consensus for each question and answered until they were correct. Students took the other three tests individually with feedback. All students were individually tested over a portion of this content two weeks later and again after two months. Independent samples t tests revealed that TBT students scored higher when retested two months later than those who took the test individually. Finally, three-fourths of the students reported that they enjoyed TBT more than individual testing. Although TBT requires more class time to administer, it appears to be beneficial for long-term student learning.     

Approaches to studying and perceptions of the academic environment among university students in Pakistan

There has been a paucity of research on the experiences of students at Pakistani universities. A survey of over 900 students at two universities examined their approaches to studying and perceptions of their courses. Evidence was obtained for a deep approach, a surface approach and two aspects of a strategic approach. Their perceptions were based upon the instructional practices, the acquisition of generic skills, the appropriateness of the assessment and of their workload, and the available learning resources. A higher‐order analysis revealed two broad dimensions of the student experience in Pakistan. Students who had positive perceptions tended to adopt a deep approach, to prefer courses, teaching and assessment that supported their understanding and to be engaged and reliable in their studies. However, students who had negative perceptions tended to adopt a surface approach and to prefer courses, teaching and assessment that reinforced this approach through the bare transmission of information.     

The potential skills contribution of international students to South Africa

Abstract

There has been a significant increase in the number of international students, especially in those from other African countries, at South African universities over the last ten years. This has elicited some research, notably from Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999); Hall (2004); and Snowball and Antrobus (2005; 2006). However, none of these scholars considered the possibility of exploiting the skills potential of international students in South Africa, especially at a time when the country faces skills shortages. The authors conducted a survey at six higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2008, which sought to determine the skills profiles of international students in South Africa. It was found that the majority of international students are registered in disciplines where skills shortages exist, that a significant number of these students are young and that many would like to remain and work in South Africa. Labour policy makers in South Africa seem to be unaware of this, hence policy is ill-adapted to derive economic benefits from international students.     

学生自主学习的概念及其培养

教育目标不仅要使学生获取知识,更要使他们学会学习。近年,各地较多强调通过不同科目或学习领域的学习与教学,可以培养学生的共通能力。这些能力都是培养学生自主学习的重要条件。本文对自主学习的定义和概念作出一些分析,对有关研究和教与学作出一些简介。文中提及学生自主学习定义包含三个特点:他们采用自主的学习策略、他们面对自我学习成效回馈的积极响应、以及他们互动地推动学习过程。自主的学生选择和采用自主学习策略,在反思学习成效与技巧的基础上,争取理想的学术成果。笔者最后提出建议:(1)如何应用学习动机、课室管理、教师教学和教师期待以探讨自主学习在课堂教学过程中的实践;(2)如何以自主学习这个概念贯彻于各科或各学习领域的课程设计的各个课程要素中。笔者期望,研究自主学习能有助学生学习。     

Pathways to performance: an examination of entry pathway and first-year university results

Although diversity at universities has increased dramatically over the past 150 years, many groups are still under-represented relative to their proportion in the general population. Initiatives to improve diversity have included the increased use of entry pathways other than direct admission from secondary school. As admissions via these alternative entry routes have increased, concerns have grown that alternative-entry students are not well prepared for university study. Here, we describe the outcomes for students entering university via one alternative entry pathway and compare them with those of students entering from secondary school. We used quantile regression with restricted cubic splines to examine the relationship between secondary school performance (quantified by the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank; ATAR), pathway of entry to university, and performance during first year university. Entry pathway significantly affects the conditional distribution of first-year marks. Outstanding performance is largely confined to students entering university from secondary school (Year 12 entry), rather than from an institution for technical and further education (TAFE). Concomitantly, for any given ATAR, the risk of failure is higher amongst Year 12 entry students than among TAFE entry students. The results have substantial implications for changes in admission criteria and for the public funding of universities.     

Rural Undergraduates at Elite Universities: Learning Experience and Identity

Abstract

The decline in the proportion of rural students at major universities has caused widespread social concern. Special enrollment programs in recent years have increased the proportion somewhat. However, the situation at elite universities in China’s transition period is different than before. There are few studies addressing the learning experiences of rural students in the new period. This study uses qualitative methods to research 32 case studies of rural undergraduates at four elite universities in Shanghai. Based on Bourdieu’s concepts of capital, field, and habitus, this study finds a mismatch between the habitus of respondents and that of elite universities, which leads to an awkward initial school experience. In accordance with the operating logic of the academic field, they are able to achieve an increase in cultural capital by virtue of their own efforts. This complex class experience also has a far-reaching impact on identity through the individual’s response to their own emotions. This conflicted identity is expressed as feeling like either a “country bumpkin” in the big city or a “city person” from the country.