The Role of Academic and Non-Academic Factors on the Development of a Sense of Belonging Among First-Year Students

Author(s):  
Cornelius M. Fourie
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-111
Author(s):  
Rosalind McFarlane ◽  
Marta Spes-Skrbis ◽  
Anne Taib

This session reports on Monash University’s recently developed Let’s Chat program, delivered at three campuses as a modularised, peer learning opportunity for students from first year to PhD. Involving 3,591 student participants and facilitators in 2015 and 2016, the program responds directly to student feedback and recommendations. Let’s Chat maximises opportunities for peer-to-peer interaction with the aim of increasing participants’ confidence and competence in spoken English and intercultural communication. Informed by current trends in student-centred and peer-assisted learning theory, TESOL and intercultural communication, Let’s Chat is quickly establishing itself as an effective approach to supporting student participation, engagement and sense of belonging in diverse teaching and learning contexts and communities. The session presents a snapshot of the genesis of the program; an evaluation of its implementation; and a summary of emerging outcomes. The session also engages participants in a conversation about how this model might be replicated in other settings.


Author(s):  
Deborah E. Bordelon ◽  
Colleen M Sexton ◽  
Ann M Vendrely

Building a general education program from scratch for a population of first generation and underserved students provided both a challenge and opportunity. Faculty who had limited previous experience teaching and assessing first year students engaged in study of the best practices and research. Faculty designed a four-year general education curriculum that began with a robust First Year Seminar (FYS) course, the focus of this study. This required three-credit hour interdisciplinary humanities course (FYS) was designed to embrace the understanding of what it means to be human, including understanding oneself in relation to the natural world and to others. Full time faculty from all disciplines were selected through a competitive process to teach the FYS course with embedded High Impact Practices (HIPs). Four years of teaching FYS has provided qualitative and quantitative data on the effectiveness of the design, the role of faculty, and application of HIPs. Through the course assessment process and data analysis, faculty have expanded their repertoire of pedagogical strategies to engage the first year student, and as a result, positively influenced teaching in their other courses. This report offers insights on strategies for course design, the role of faculty, and the power of selected HIPs that may be replicated at other institutions.


Author(s):  
A.V. Shishkin ◽  
◽  
L.A. Bekhovykh

The article shows the role of the student scientific society in attracting students to research work at the university. On the example of the student scientific society "Geosphere" of the Department of Geodesy, Physics and Engineering Structures of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering of the Altai State Agrarian University, a mechanism for involving first-year students in research work is presented. The structure, organization, directions and forms of work of the circle, the main projects being implemented, are also given, an assessment of the results of its activities and the most significant achievements are given. The positive role of the student scientific society in increasing the effectiveness of research work of students at the university is noted.


Author(s):  
С.А. Лысуенко

В статье обсуждаются вопросы, связанные с особенностями профессионального выбора выпускников общеобразовательных организаций. Представлены результаты исследования, позволяющие определить роль осознанной саморегуляции активности молодых людей, оказавшихся в ситуации профессионального выбора (на примере студентов педагогического вуза). В исследовании приняли участие 302 студента первого курса, обучающихся по направлению подготовки 44.03.01 «Педагогическое образование». В качестве инструментария были использованы методика «Мотивация учения студентов педагогического вуза» С. А. Пакулиной и М. В. Овчинникова и опросник «Стиль саморегуляции поведения» В. И. Моросановой. Данные, полученные в процессе исследования, были структурированы, обработаны и проинтерпретированы с применением математических методов. Было установлено, что студенты первого курса, совершившие при поступлении в вуз профессиональный выбор с учетом своих интересов и склонностей, обладают сформировавшейся потребностью продумывать способы своих действий и поведения для достижения намеченных целей, а план их действий отличается детализированностью и развернутостью. Также им свойственны самостоятельность при проектировании способов достижения индивидуальных целей, гибкость в случае возникновения непредвиденных обстоятельств, развитая адекватная оценка себя и полученных результатов. По итогам исследования был сделан вывод о том, что наличие сформированной системы осознанной саморегуляции произвольной активности у индивида, находящегося на этапе выбора профессии, позволяет совершить более правильный профессиональный выбор, что, в свою очередь, является одним из условий актуализации профессионально-личностного потенциала. The article discusses issues related to the peculiarities of the professional choice of graduates of public education organizations. There are results of the study presented, which allow us to determine the role of conscious self-regulation of the activity of young people who find themselves in a situation of having to make a professional choice (on the example of students of a pedagogical university). The research involved 302 first-year students studying in the field of training 44.03.01 «Pedagogical Education». As research tools, the «Motivation of teaching pedagogical university students» methodology by S.А. Pakulina and M.V. Ovchinnikov and the questionnaire «Style of self-regulation of behaviour» by V.I. Morosanova were used. The data obtained during the research were organized, processed and interpreted using mathematical methods. It was found that first-year students who, upon entering the university, made a professional choice more consciously, taking into account their interests and inclinations have a well-developed need to think through their actions and behaviour to achieve their goals and their action plan is detailed. They are also characterized by independence in designing an action plan to achieve individual goals, flexibility in the situation of unforeseen circumstances, an advanced adequate assessment of themselves and the results they achieved. As the main conclusion, the following is formulated: the possession of a developed system of conscious self-regulation of arbitrary activity in an individual who is at the stage of choosing a profession allows him to make an adequate professional choice, which, in turn, is one of the conditions for the actualization of professional and personal potential.


Author(s):  
Tripti Singh ◽  
Manish Kumar Verma ◽  
Rupali Singh

The purpose of this study is to see whether there is a relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement. The study respondents were B.Tech first year students from the Agra region. Sampling is stratified, making sure that gender, race, socioeconomic status, and abilities are appropriately represented. The respondents are given Emotional Intelligence Inventory (EII–MM), developed by S. K. Mangal and Shubhra Mangal. It consists of 100 items under four scales .The analysis suggests that there is a significant relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement. IQ alone is no more the measure for success; emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and luck also play a big role in a person's success. This study contributes in acknowledging the fact that even engineering students’ academic achievements are attached with Emotional intelligence. Thus, teaching emotional and social skills only at the school level is not sufficient; this can be taught in engineering studies, as well for accomplishing high academic achievements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darnell Cole ◽  
Christopher B. Newman ◽  
Liane I. Hypolite

For first-year students who carry traditionally marginalized identities, comprehensive college transition programs (CCTPs) can offer key wraparound services to help address some of the major academic, social, and financial barriers they may encounter. This article looks at one such CCTP implemented at three public college campuses serving a range of students, including those from low-income, first-generation, and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds. More specifically, this study uses regression analyses to look at two cohorts of first-year students’ experiences related to sense of belonging and mattering to their CCTP. The findings suggest that when considering students’ experiences in the CCTP, staff care and support and perceptions of grade check meetings were experiences that were significantly related to both sense of belonging and mattering.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 289
Author(s):  
Mariia L. Pysanko ◽  
Iryna V. Zaytseva ◽  
Olena A. Lysenko ◽  
Iryna A. Liahina ◽  
Maryna A. Zvereva

The efficiency of training of students of Philology Departments depends on the level of their communicative skills, that is, their abilities to participate in spontaneous discussion. This arises the issue of training these skills in the English majors. The research intends to determine and analyse the psychological background of Training English discussion skills in students of Philology Departments, to substantiate the difficulties that may arise at the initial stage. The authors analysed theoretical findings and practitioners’ experience on discussion skills training. The survey determined motives of Ukrainian university students for participation in discussions and the obstacles that may arise. The article identifies the attitude of students of Philology Departments towards the problems and issues to be discussed, and the most urgent, interesting and challenging topics for the discussion. The discussion is characterised by the role of communication, motivation, cotextuality, spontaneity, emotional colouring, and the topic of discussion. Age peculiarities of the first-year students have an impact on the learning process and may complicate it. As a social group, students are characterised by confidence in their future profession, a stable attitude towards the chosen profession, while the level of the students’ perceptions of their profession directly correlates with the level of their attitude towards the studies. The results of the survey prove the students’ high motivation, their readiness to communicate and participate in discussions organised by the teachers in class. The topics and problems suggested included personally, professionally, socially and socio-culturally related issues that can be discussed. The most part of the students chose ‘youth problems’ (57%) as the most urgent. The survey gives the opportunity to determine four groups of difficulties/obstacles that most of the students come across when participating in English discussion: psycholinguistic (caused by the nature of the dialogical speech); linguistic (caused by the language); psychological (caused by students); methodological (caused by teaching methods). The findings can be taken into account while conducting the further research on the problem of developing curricula, syllabus, teaching materials and manuals for teaching English as the major in the universities.


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
JOHN CLEMENTS ◽  
KATHI FISLER

AbstractMany computer science departments are debating the role of programming languages in the curriculum. These discussions often question the relevance and appeal of programming-languages content for today's students. In our experience, domain-specific, “little languages” projects provide a compelling illustration of the importance of programming-language concepts. This paper describes projects that prototype mainstream applications such as PowerPoint, TurboTax, and animation scripting. We have used these exercises as modules in non-programming languages courses, including courses for first year students. Such modules both encourage students to study linguistic topics in more depth and provide linguistic perspective to students who might not otherwise be exposed to the area.


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