A face in a sea of faces: exploring university students’ reasons for non-attendance to teaching sessions

In the past 20 years, the landscape of Higher Education in the United Kingdom has changed considerably. With the prospect of tuition fees spiralling above £9,000 per year, per student, it is important to explore the impact this has upon the student experience. In spite of the vast financial investment current students make towards their education, student attendance and engagement remain low. The present study therefore adopted a qualitative approach using focus groups to explore reasons for non-attendance at university teaching sessions. Four key themes emerged; these surrounded issues about a sense of belonging to university, views of the teaching (material taught and the personality and method of the tutor), perceptions of being a consumer and external pressures. This research suggests that universities should pay particular attention to the reasons why students do not attend and possibly change practice, providing more support where appropriate.     

利用图书馆讲座教学心得论说

根据学生的心理特征和心理要求 ,论说了“怎样利用图书馆”讲座的组织结构 ,应贯穿情、理、用共融并重的教学原则 ,以期达到对图书馆基本知识宣传教育的同时 ,起到鼓动、激励和指导作用。     

A sense of belonging among Australian university students

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to explore what students perceive as essential factors influencing their sense of belonging. Gaining insight into what students perceive as influencing their sense of belonging enables design of interventions to foster that sense of belonging. Two hundred and nine students from a university in Sydney responded to the question: ‘What would help you to feel that you belong at Macquarie University?’ Results showed students most frequently identified people as instrumental in feeling that they belonged at university. Students also reported that places where there is respect, and where others are accepted, contributed to their feelings of belonging. Lastly, opportunities to interact with other students, such as within clubs, societies and at events, were reported by students to contribute to their feelings of belonging. Findings of the current study are discussed in relation to existing literature, to develop approaches that may enhance university students’ sense of belonging.     

填沟 拆墙 铺路--新建本科院校苦练"内功"刍议

随着教育体制改革的深入和现代化建设的发展，全国各地陆续新建了一批本科院校。这批新建本科院校从诞生之日起就面临着生源、品牌、质量和办学条件不佳等巨大压力。新建院校只有增强凝聚力，打破传统的封闭办学模式，优化资源配置，加强师资队伍建设，使毕业生顺利就业，才能尽快走入本科办学的正轨。     

试论地方本科院校的特色建设

地方本科院校的特色建设是学校生存和发展的关键。地方本科院校要客观分析影响特色办学的因素,从办学理念、办学定位、学科专业等方面下功夫,促进地方本科院校的特色建设。各级政府应注意扩大学校的办学自主权,改善评估制度,以创造良好的环境。     

浅析民办高校校园文化建设的认同感和归属感

民办高校在经历了二十几年的不断创新与发展之后,已经逐渐成为了教育行业的新生力量。但是面对着当前越演越烈的一个办学竞争现状,民办高校已经遇到了发展的瓶颈问题。到底应该怎么去做,才能让正处于蓬勃发展中的民办高校,能够顺利的从众多高等院校中脱颖而出,成为我们国家高等教育的重要组成部分,是一些相关人士一致探究的重要课题。本文就是从民办高校的实际情况出发,根据民办高校的办学特点,阐述民办高校校园文化建设的重要性,并通过文化建设构建出学生的认同感与归属感,从而推进民办高校能更快更好的发展。     

The motivation to study: an analysis of undergraduate engineering students at a Caribbean university

The link between motivation and success is well documented; however, there is still room to problematise motivation in regards to the individual and contextual levels. This study looks at motivation in relation to students studying undergraduate engineering courses at a Caribbean university and seeks to discover the factors that motivate them to study and the factors that keep them motivated. An online questionnaire was constructed using 19 Likert-type questions and 5 questions that allowed for open-ended qualitative responses. The findings reveal that participants tended to be motivated by the increased possibility of desired future careers and tended to stay motivated by a combination of goal-orientation and family support. It is recommended that departments, faculties and institutions deliberate on shared and contextually constructed understandings of why students choose to enrol in particular university courses.     

The effects of passive and active learning on student preference and performance in an undergraduate basic science course

Active learning is based on self-directed and autonomous teaching methods, whereas passive learning is grounded in instructor taught lectures. An animal physiology course was studied over a two-year period (Year 1, n = 42 students; Year 2, n = 30 students) to determine the effects of student-led seminar (andragogical) and lecture (pedagogical) teaching methods on students' retention of information and performance. For each year of the study, the course was divided into two time periods. The first half was dedicated to instructor-led lectures, followed by a control survey in which the students rated the efficiency of pedagogical learning on a five-point Likert scale from one (strongly disagree) to five (strongly agree). During the second period, students engaged in andragogical learning via peer-led seminars. An experimental survey was then administered to students using the same scale as above to determine students' preferred teaching method. Raw examination scores and survey results from both halves of the course were statistically analyzed by ANOVA with Newman-Keuls multiple comparison test. By the end of the study, student preference for peer-led seminars increased [mean ± SD: (2.47 ± 0.94)/(4.03 ± 1.36), P < 0.04], and examination scores significantly increased [mean ± SD: (73.91% ± 13.18)/(85.77 ± 5.22), P < 0.001]. A majority of students (68.8%) preferred a method that contained peer-led seminars and instructor-led lectures. These results may indicate that integration of active and passive learning into undergraduate courses may have greater benefit in terms of student preference and performance than either method alone.     

新建本科院校毕业论文指导应对策略

新建本科院校毕业论文存在诸多问题,为了有效提高高等教育质量,需要加强毕业论文的指导和管理,因此,从完善学校制度建设、发挥学生主体性、提高指导教师的监督作用等方面对现有毕业论文指导模式进行改进,切实提高新建本科院校毕业论文的质量.     

Early predictors of first-year academic success at university: pre-university effort,pre-university self-efficacy,and pre-university reasons for attending university

Given the large number of dropouts in the 1st year at university, it is important to identify early predictors of 1st-year academic success. The present study (n = 453 first-year students) contributes to literature on the transition from secondary to higher education by investigating how the non-cognitive factors pre-university effort and pre-university academic self-efficacy influence 1st-year retention at university. In addition, we examined pre-university reasons for attending university and whether these reasons were related to 1st-year retention. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that pre-university effort positively predicted 1st-year retention, whereas pre-university academic self-efficacy did not. With exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, we identified six pre-university reasons for attending university: career perspective, personal development, compliance with the social environment, attractiveness of the institution, recommended by others, and location. None of the pre-university reasons appeared to significantly predict 1st-year retention. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The Development and Validation of the University Belonging Questionnaire

Although belonging in K–12 school settings has been abundantly researched and clearly defined, at the university level the research and construct definition is still in its infancy (Tovar & Simon, 2010). The present study sought to develop and validate an instrument measuring university belonging—the University Belonging Questionnaire (UBQ). In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted with a sample of university students (N = 421), finding a reliable scale with three factors: (a) university affiliation, (b) university support and acceptance, and (c) faculty and staff relations. In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis on a new sample (N = 290), confirmed the final 3-factor, 24-item model. Further analyses demonstrated the convergent and incremental validity of the UBQ, as it positively correlated with measures of perceived social support, social connectedness, and general belonging. Implications and recommendations for university belonging research are discussed.     

美国斯坦福大学电子工程专业本科培养方案研究

介绍并剖析了美国斯坦福大学电子工程专业本科培养目标、推荐课程方案与课表以及暑假实践培养项目,总结了对我国高校电子工程专业人才培养的若干启示。     

我国研究型大学本科人才培养模式探析

人才培养模式从根本上规定了人才的特征,对一个学校的人才培养和自身发展有着举足轻重的作用,我国对人才培养模式的研究还不够成熟。本文选取研究型大学的本科人才培养模式作为研究对象,主要从人才培养目标、人才培养规格和人才培养的基本方式等几个方面来分析。     

Self-regulatory and demographic predictors of grades in online and face-to-face university cohorts: A multi-group path analysis

Predictors of academic success at university are of great interest to educators, researchers and policymakers. With more students studying online, it is important to understand whether traditional predictors of academic outcomes in face-to-face settings are relevant to online learning. This study modelled self-regulatory and demographic predictors of subject grades in 84 online and 80 face-to-face undergraduate students. Predictors were effort regulation, grade goal, academic self-efficacy, performance self-efficacy, age, sex, socio-economic status (SES) and first-in-family status. A multi-group path analysis indicated that the models were significantly different across learning modalities. For face-to-face students, none of the model variables significantly predicted grades. For online students, only performance self-efficacy significantly predicted grades (small effect). Findings suggest that learner characteristics may not function in the same way across learning modes. Further factor analytic and hierarchical research is needed to determine whether self-regulatory predictors of academic success continue to be relevant to modern student cohorts.

Practitioner Notes

What is already known about this topic

• Self-regulatory and demographic variables are important predictors of university outcomes like grades.
• It is unclear whether the relationships between predictor variables and outcomes are the same across learning modalities, as research findings are mixed.

What this paper adds

• Models predicting university students' grades by demographic and self-regulatory predictors differed significantly between face-to-face and online learning modalities.
• Performance self-efficacy significantly predicted grades for online students.
• No self-regulatory variables significantly predicted grades for face-to-face students, and no demographic variables significantly predicted grades in either cohort.
• Overall, traditional predictors of grades showed no/small unique effects in both cohorts.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• The learner characteristics that predict success may not be the same across learning modalities.
• Approaches to enhancing success in face-to-face settings are not automatically applicable to online settings.
• Self-regulatory variables may not predict university outcomes as strongly as previously believed, and more research is needed.

     

大学体育对发展学生个性作用之探析

分析了青年大学生个性发展中存在的一些问题。论述了大学体育与大学生个性发展与完善的相关联系，以及大学体育在大学生个性发展中所起的作用。     

大学制度与大学特色发展

独特的办学理念是学校特色形成的基础,理念转化为特色需要以制度作中介,大学制度是大学特色形成与发展的关键。大学制度的目的和主体是大学内部人的积极性、主动性和创造力的发挥。大学制度建设要坚持“以人为本”的价值原则。     

大学生品德不良的心理学分析及教育建议

品德不良同违法犯罪行为有本质区别,但并没有不可逾越的鸿沟.品德不良往往是违法犯罪的前奏,违法犯罪又常常是品德不良发展的结果.针对大学生品德不良的教育建议是:增强辨别是非的能力,形成正确的是非观;加强意志品质锻炼,增强抗诱惑能力;教师要进行道德情感上的心理矫正;培养符合道德规范的行为习惯.     

浅谈高校实验室的管理与建设

高校实验室在教学科研活动中起着十分重要的作用,它已成为高校教学管理工作不可缺少的重要组成部分。加强实验室的建设与管理是高校发展的重要标志。本文从三个方面探讨高校实验室的管理和建设。     

本科生专题研讨课教学的认识与实践

研讨课教学模式作为研究式教学的一种科学、有效的方式,在我国大学推广研讨课教学模式十分必要.基于开设本科生专题研讨课的教学实践,对组织好专题研讨课的一些教学经验,如教学和研讨内容的设计、研讨内容的组织与管理、教师与学生的作用、教学效果和问题等方面进行了阐述.     

Adaptability,engagement and academic achievement at university

University entry is a time of great change for students. The extent to which students are able to effectively navigate such change likely has an impact on their success in university. In the current study, we examined this by way of adaptability, the extent to which students’ adaptability is associated with their behavioural engagement at university, and the extent to which both are associated with subsequent academic achievement. A conceptual model reflecting this pattern of predicted relations was developed and tested using structural equation modelling. First-year undergraduate students (N = 186) were surveyed for their adaptability and behavioural engagement at the beginning of their first year. Following this, students’ academic achievement was obtained from university records at the end of Semester 1 and 2 of first-year university. Findings showed that adaptability was associated with greater positive behavioural engagement (persistence, planning, and task management) and lower negative behavioural engagement (disengagement and self-handicapping). Moreover, negative behavioural engagement was found to inversely predict academic achievement in Semester 1, which predicted academic achievement in Semester 2. The educational implications of the findings are discussed.