Investigating Academic Success Factors for Undergraduate Business Students

Student academic performance is of major interest to all stakeholders of higher education institutions. This study questions whether or not statistical analysis of information that is readily available in most universities' official records system can be used to predict overall academic success. In particular, this study is an attempt to understand factors that affect academic success for business students by examining gender, age, ethnicity, and performance in two required core knowledge courses as predictors of academic success for a large sample of undergraduate students at a Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business–accredited business school. The results suggest that student performance is significantly related to some basic demographic variables, but the strongest predictors of overall academic success are the grades the students receive in core knowledge courses that are typically taken in the earlier semesters of business students' plans of study.     

The role of the library in higher education and the implications for the external mode of study: An Australian perspective

The role of the library is necessarily dependent upon the educational objectives of the institution. Frequently, these are unstated or inadequate. Reference is made to some definitions of objectives for higher education, and the consequences for libraries are discussed. The view is urged that libraries, and therefore librarians, should be treated as integral and active parts of the educational process, and the latter be involved in course planning and development.The role identified for libraries in traditional higher education has not been transferred to the thinking about the external mode of study. The problems of providing any library service to external students in a country as vast and sparsely peopled as Australia are enormous. To extend services and opportunities equivalent to those available on campus may be impossible, but great effort should be made. Otherwise it may be impossible to match the educational experiences of external and internal students, in which case the equivalence of their qualifications is in serious question.     

Associations between socio‐economic status (including school‐ and pupil‐level interactions) and student perceptions of school environment and health in English secondary schools

This article examines interactions between school‐level and pupil‐level measures of socio‐economic status for pupil reports of the school environment and a range of risk behaviours and health outcomes. The baseline survey for the INCLUSIVE trial provided data on pupil affluence and pupil reports of the school environment, smoking, drinking, anti‐social behaviour at school, quality of life and psychological wellbeing for over 6,000 pupils (aged 11–12 years) in 40 schools within a 1‐hour train journey from central London. The level of socio‐economic disadvantage of the school was measured using the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals. Multilevel regression models examined the association between pupil affluence, the socio‐economic composition of the school and the interaction between these with the school environment, risk behaviours and health outcomes. Our findings provide some evidence for interactions, suggesting that less affluent pupils reported lower psychological wellbeing and quality of life in schools with more socio‐economically advantaged intakes. There appears to be a complex relationship for anti‐social behaviour. Where pupil affluence and school socio‐economic composition were discordant, pupils reported a higher number of anti‐social behaviours. This article provides further evidence that less affluent pupils are more likely to engage in a variety of risk behaviours and experience worse health outcomes when they attend schools with more socio‐economically advantaged intakes, supporting some of the mechanisms described in the theory of human functioning and school organisation.     

Modeling black student academic performance in higher education

Recent research has noted differences in the predictive efficacy of educational attainment models produced for whites as opposed to blacks; and called for more resolution in the findings on blacks in advance of further comparative analyses. The National Study of Black College Students (NSBCS) is employed to develop a model that distinguishes between high- and low-performing black undergraduates attending public, four-year institutions. In the NSBCS sample (N=695), discriminant function analysis identifies several institutional and student characteristics which are related to black students' educational outcomes. Specifically, students with both high occupational aspirations and high academic performances tend to be male, attend comparatively larger schools, and, to a lesser degree, be relatively well-adjusted upperclassmen. When academic performance is the sole issue, it is positively correlated with institutional quality, but the advantage belongs to black females. Contrary to the suggestions of previous research, black community sentiment did not have relationships with educational outcomes to the extent expected. These results suggest that future models of black educational attainment marry traditional Wisconsin-type measures with institutional and student attributes.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1983 meetings of the American Sociological Association, Detroit, Mich.     

Basic needs: New approach to development — But new approach to education?

The article is an examination of what has been called the basic needs approach to development and the implications of adopting such an approach for education.The authors trace briefly the sequence by which the basic needs approach reached the corridors of international development policy. This sequence, together with an analysis of some of the conceptual underpinnings of the basic needs approach, suggest that the approach may be biased toward the experience of the Western industrial nations, and some aspects may be inappropriate for the social realities found in developing countries.The authors take up the question of how education relates to the basic needs philosophy. They look at attempts to fashion a conception of education for basic needs and how such conceptions compare to the prevailing notions of basic education. Finally, the authors identify some key issues where, conceivably, education for basic needs could emerge as distinct from basic education and become consistent with the aspirations of the basic needs approach taken as a whole.

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Zusammenfassung In diesem Artikel werden der sogenannte Grundbedarfsansatz zur Entwicklung und die Implikationen seiner Übernahme auf das Bildungswesen untersucht.Die Verfasser zeigen kurz den Weg auf, auf dem der Grundbedarfsansatz in die Korridore der internationalen Entwicklungspolitik eindrang. Dieser Weg sowie eine Analyse der konzeptuellen Untermauerungen des Ansatzes deuten darauf hin, daß er vorrangig auf die in den westlichen Industriestaaten gemachten Erfahrungen ausgerichtet ist, und daß einige seiner Aspekte für die soziale Wirklichkeit in Entwicklungsländern ungeeignet sein dürften.Dann greifen die Autoren die Frage auf, wie sich das Bildungswesen zur Grundbedarfs-Philosophie verhält. Versuche, eine Konzeption der Erziehung für Grundbedürfnisse zu erarbeiten, werden besprochen und Vergleiche solcher Konzeptionen mit den bestehenden Vorstellungen von Grunderziehung angestellt. Schließlich identifizieren die Verfasser einige Schlüsselgebiete, auf denen sich möglicherweise die Erziehung für Grundbedürfnisse als unterschiedlich von der Grunderziehung erweisen und mit den Bestrebungen des Grundbedarfsansatzes als Ganzem übereinstimmen könnte.

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Résumé Les auteurs de cet article examinent ce qu'il est convenu d'appeler l'approche du développement sous l'angle des besoins essentiels ainsi que les répercussions que pourrait avoir l'adoption de cette approche sur l'éducation.Ils relatent brièvement comment l'étude des besoins essentiels en arriva, par des étapes successives, à déboucher sur la voie de la conception du développement international. Ce cheminement et l'analyse de quelques uns des fondements conceptuels de l'abord des besoins essentiels, amènent à penser que l'approche pourrait être prédisposée en faveur de l'expérience des nations industrialisées de l'Occident et que certains aspects ne sont peut-être pas appropriés aux réalités sociales des pays en développement.Les auteurs envisagent la question des relations entre l'éducation et la philosophie des besoins essentiels. Ils considèrent les tentatives d'élaboration d'une conception de l'éducation réondant aux besoins essentiels et la confrontation de cette conception avec les notions prédominantes de l'éducation de base. Enfin, ils identifient quelques points clefs où, d'une façon concevable, l'éducation répondant aux besoins essentiels pourrait se dégager de l'éducation de base, devenir distincte et compatible avec les aspirations de l'approche des besoins essentiels que l'on envisagerait alors comme un tout.

     

Cognitive Theory and the Use of Computers in the Primary Classroom

Research investigating the role of computers in the primary classroom is closely linked to the body of knowledge concerned with theories of learning and child development. Research is presented as an attempt to provide scientifically supportable reasons why computers are effective in education. Having established a theoretical base for computer use in primary classrooms, this paper then examines the educational application of cognitive theory to classroom instruction.     

Third-year College Retention and Transfer: Effects of Academic Performance, Motivation, and Social Connectedness

We studied the effects of academic performance, motivation, and social connectedness on third-year retention, transfer, and dropout behavior. To accommodate the three outcome categories and nesting of data within institutions, we fit a hierarchical multinomial logistic regression path model with first-year academic performance as a mediating effect. Our sample included 6,872 students representing 23 four-year universities and colleges. This work expands the current state of persistence research by (1) considering the effects of motivation and social connectedness on college persistence beyond the first year of college, (2) testing whether the effects of motivation and social connectedness on third-year retention and transfer are direct, indirect, or both, and (3) testing whether the effects of academic performance, motivation, and social connectedness are different for retention and transfer. We found that academic performance has large effects on likelihood of retention and transfer; academic self-discipline, pre-college academic performance, and pre-college educational development have indirect effects on retention and transfer; and college commitment and social connectedness have direct effects on retention. Academic self-discipline led to greater first-year academic performance, which suppressed its effect on retention and transfer. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed. A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2nd Annual National Symposium on Student Retention, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 2006.     

e-Voting intent: A comparison of young and elderly voters

The ability to vote online has the potential to increase voter turnout for elections due to increased convenience over traditional voting polls. This study examines factors that can affect a citizen's intent to vote online. Survey subjects came from two different age groups: young adults, 18–25 years of age; and senior citizens, ages 60 plus. Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the study found that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, trust in the internet, and computer anxiety were significantly related to intent to use online voting. Trust in the government was insignificant. Performance expectancy, social influence, and computer anxiety were related to intent to vote online for both young adults and seniors. Effort expectancy was related to intent to vote for the seniors but not young adults, and trust in the internet was related to intent to vote for young adults but not seniors.