Brief Research Report - An Analysis of the Relationship Between Secondary and Tertiary Psychology Performance

1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-29
Author(s):  
Cynthia Fan ◽  
Bernadette Hood
Keyword(s):  
Psychology Students ◽  
Research Report ◽  
First Year ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
First Semester ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Psychology Courses ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Psychology Course ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTThis study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) secondary psychology course in preparing students for studying psychology at a tertiary level. First semester results of 228 first year psychology students at Victoria University of Technology were analysed. Of these students 60 had completed VCE Psychology in 1992. No significant differences were observed in overall semester one psychology performance between students who had completed VCE Psychology and those who had not. Regression analysis suggested that VCE aggregate score was a better predictor than the VCE Psychology score of overall performance in the first year psychology course. Subsequent correlation analyses demonstrated that VCE Psychology scores correlated significantly with tertiary psychology examination results but not with coursework requirements. VCE aggregate scores correlated with both examination and coursework requirements. These results suggest that completion of VCE Psychology does not advantage students entering tertiary psychology courses and educators need to analyse both the content and process of both secondary and tertiary psychology courses to facilitate more effective articulations for students.

scholarly journals Are Psychological Beliefs built on the Ideology of Early Christian Fathers?

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cirilo H. García Cadena ◽  
Adrián Valle de la O ◽  
César Augusto Carrascosa Venegas ◽  
Laura Karina Castro Saucedo ◽  
Leopoldo Daniel-González ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation Modelling ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Equation Modelling ◽  
Cognitive Beliefs ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cognitive Neuropsychological

The aims of the present study were to investigate the relationship between: a) Patristic ideology and mentalist and behaviorist beliefs, and b) the relationship between mentalist and behaviorist beliefs and cognitive, neuropsychological and interbehavioral beliefs. The beliefs were assessed through an instrument purposely built for this research. A sample composed of 284 university students of first-semester psychology (84 men and 200 women; mean ages M = 17.82 years, SD = 2.34, range 16-38 years) were enrolled. After performing structural equation modelling (SEM), results show that patristic ideology is not related to behaviorism (β = .09, p = .387), but it is related with mentalism (β = .26, p = .042), also the mentalism is related with cognitive beliefs (β = .72, p =.001) and neuropsychological beliefs (β = .87, p = .014), while behaviorism is related with interbehavioral beliefs (β = .42, p = .014). It was found that first-year psychology students show less acceptance of the early patristic ideology (M = 75.28), it is less successful than mentalism (M = 86.33). The conclusion is that mentalism, successor of Patristic ideology, continues to be related to cognitive and neuropsychological beliefs.

scholarly journals Online lecture recordings and lecture attendance: Investigating student preferences in a large first year psychology course

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Yeung ◽  
Sadhana Raju ◽  
Manjula D. Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Intention To Use ◽  
Learning Resources ◽  
Student Preferences ◽  
Lecture Recordings ◽  
Online Lecture ◽  
Psychology Course

<p>While blended learning has been around for sometime, the interplay between lecture recordings, lecture attendance and grades needs further examination particularly for large cohorts of over 1000 students in 500 seat lecture theatres.  This paper reports on such an investigation with a cohort of 1450 first year psychology students’ who indicated whether they frequently attended lectures or not. The division helped ascertain differences and similarities in preferences for utilising online recordings.  Overall, non-frequent attendees were more likely not to use lecture recordings (48.1%) to make up a missed lecture than frequent attendees (34.3%). Surprisingly, in the last week of semester, 29% of students reported not yet accessing lecture recordings. Students had the intention to use lecture recordings as they envisaged these to be helpful for learning and commented that they would be adversely affected if recordings were not available. In fact, students are passionate about lecture recordings. Analytics show that after lecture 7, each lecture recording attracted 600 or less unique visits (hits) supporting the finding that most students make strategic use of learning resources available within the blended learning environment.</p>

scholarly journals Psychological Well-being of First-year Psychology Students Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Getrude C. AH Gang ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
University Life ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Social Media Platforms

University life is always colorful, filled with a plethora of memorable moments, both academic and non-academic. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, however, first-year university students’ academic experiences might be slightly different from their expectations due to being fully conducted in online learning. The COVID-19 pandemic denied first year students the opportunity to join the face-to-face classes and become involved in university’s activities in the real setting. All activities were replaced with virtual setting and they could only contact their course mates and lecturers via social media platforms. This derailment of their expectation to experience real-life university settings may dampen their enthusiasm and impact their motivational and happiness levels. To explore the phenomenon, a study was conducted with 143 first-year psychology students to examine their self-reported motivational and happiness levels before and after seven-week of online classes. This study included 113 females (79%) and 30 males (21%) with a mean age of 20.68 (SD=1.88). Data collected revealed that students’ motivation and happiness levels declined significantly after their online classes. According to their extent of agreement with the single statement ‘Overall, I am happy with my university life’, 48 (33.60%) students agreed, 76 (53.10%) were neutral, and 19 (13.30%) indicated dissatisfaction. This study may assist the university and relevant authorities in understanding students’ perceptions of dealing with academic and life challenges through online classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, psychological strategies should be considered to enhance first-year students’ motivation and happiness levels when faced with online classes in their new first semester.

scholarly journals REFLECTIVE OBSERVATIONS ON THE DESIGN AND STUDIO ART PROGRAMME AT A UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lebogang Nthejane ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Studio Art ◽  
First Year ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Paper Report ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Current Curriculum

The Central University of Technology (CUT) in South Africa compels that all programmes without a Mathematics module to offer Numeracy to first-year students. Initially, the Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at CUT was requested to facilitate this module from 2014 within the first semester. However, Numeracy was offered in a general manner without considering the applicability to the Design and Studio Art programme. The aim of this study was to revise the current curriculum and modify it to be applicable to the Design and Studio Art programme. Thus, the objectives of this study were firstly, to identify the gap in the current curriculum, which related to mathematical concepts within the Numeracy module which seemed to be not applicable to this programme. Secondly, to identify the mathematical concepts within the Numeracy module that could possibly be applicable to this Programme and modify them, accordingly. These concepts were identified as geometry, ratios and proportions, scale drawings, grid system, units and conversions. The final objective of this study related to the teaching of these concepts into the programme. The purpose of this paper report on the reflective observations on the revision and modification of the curriculum, more specifically on the application of these concepts in the Drawing module of the Design and Studio Art programme. A qualitative research approach was employed through reflective observations by the lecturer in the drawing lesson of 38 students who were enrolled on this programme. An analysis was further done on students’ abilities to apply mathematical concepts in their drawing project and what they have learnt in the Numeracy module. Findings revealed students’ abilities to apply mathematical concepts with ease- this after the lecturer explained the relations amongst these concepts to drawing. It appeared as though this intervention benefited mostly the students who were struggling with drawing. A key recommendation is that the application of the stated mathematical concepts be practiced in other modules within the Design and Studio Art programme at CUT.

scholarly journals Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions of and Engagement in Research Participation to Fulfill an Introductory Psychology Course Requirement

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-83
Author(s):  
Vanessa Beanland ◽  
Erin I. Walsh ◽  
Kristen Pammer
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Research Participation ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Educational Benefits ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Psychology Course ◽  
Actual Learning ◽  
Grounded Theory Approach

It is a common, if controversial, practice to recruit undergraduate psychology students as research participants. There is substantial research concerning putative educational benefits for students, but as students increasingly have freedom to choose between studies to meet participation requirements, factors underlying student choice of participation activities have been understudied. This research was designed to gain insight into what influences students’ choice of research participation activities. Respondents were first-year psychology students at a research-intensive university. In Study 1, 43 students provided open-ended responses reflecting on their participation experience. A grounded theory approach was used to identify themes. In Study 2, 135 students completed a short questionnaire designed using the themes extracted in Study 1, with additional questions to probe self-reported and actual learning via questions about study contents and procedure. Across both studies, the dominant reasons for choosing a particular study were interest and convenience. However, 29% of respondents in Study 2 indicated that they had not learned anything during participation. This suggests that it is beneficial to offer a wide range of potential studies as students can tailor participation to match their interests, but improved debriefing strategies may be required to ensure students derive educational benefit and understand what they learned.

scholarly journals Academic Advising and Maintaining Major: Is There a Relation?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maram S. Jaradat ◽  
Mohammad B. Mustafa
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Advising ◽  
Major Change ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Advancement Opportunities ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of academic advising on changing or maintaining majors in university degrees. It is also a goal of the study to determine which semester of the course study is most likely or less likely witness the change of major and whether advising contributes to that change. Through this correlational study, the researchers explored students&rsquo; perceptions about the academic advising they received and the relationship of its absence on students&rsquo; major change. The participants were 1725 undergraduate students from all year levels. One survey is used to collect the data for this study: Influences on Choice of Major Survey. Based on the findings, it is found that university advisors have a very poor effect on students' decisions to select their majors as 45.6% of the 1725 participants indicate NO influence of advising in their survey answers. Whereas career advancement opportunities, students' interests, and job opportunities indicate a strong effect on their majors&rsquo; selections as they score the highest means of 3.76, 3.73, 3.64 respectively. In addition, findings show that students are most likely changing their majors in their second year and specifically in the second semester. Second year major change scored 36.9% in the second semester and 30.9% in the first semester. More importantly, results indicate that there is a positive significant correlation between college advisor and change major in the second year (p = 0.000). It is to researchers understanding based on the findings that when students receive enough academic advising in the first year of study and continues steadily to the next year, the possibilities of students changing their majors decreases greatly.

scholarly journals FROM NEEDS ANALYSIS TO DESIGNING ACADEMIC WRITING MATERIALS FOR DIPLOMA STUDENTS OF MARA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (UITM), MALAYSIA

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-86
Author(s):  
Nancy Chiuh Noemi
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Undergraduate Studies ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Administration Students

When students begin their undergraduate studies, they will need to adjust to the demands of the undergraduate studies with regard to academic English at university level. Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998, p.37) maintain that “their English tuition up to the tertiary level will generally have been in the area of General English, and is unlikely to have included specific preparation for study at university level…” Barker (2000, p.8), in his study on first year students’ perception of writing difficulties, found that the students “come to realise during first semester that they are not adequately prepared for the writing demands required at university”. Pecorari (as cited in Phakiti & Li, 2011) found that Asian ESL students had problems in academic writing; “the students begin their aca-demic writing from ‘copying’ which implies a lack of training in academic writing and arouses accusations of plagiarism in their writing” (p.232). Being an English-medium public university in Malaysia, MARA University of Technology (UiTM) poses challenges to both its students and instructors, as a good command of English is essential. In its attempt to equip its undergraduate students with language skills, UiTM has introduced credit-bearing English courses. This paper presents the findings from a research project to identify the academic writing needs of first-year Diploma in Public Administration students in UiTM Sabah. A total of 110 Diploma in Public Administration students and six instructors responded to the questionnaires. The research examined the students’ and instructors’ perceptions of the importance of academic writing skills the students need in order to complete their undergraduate programmes, assessment of the students’ academic writing skills, and the difficulty of academic writing skills. The findings indicated that there was consistency of response between the students and instructors. The follow-up interviews and focus groups with instructors and students confirmed this. The findings from the needs analysis are then used as the basis for developing academic writing materials to complement the existing English courses in UiTM.

Faking the Desire to Learn

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 939-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoît Dompnier ◽  
Céline Darnon ◽  
Fabrizio Butera
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Social Desirability ◽  
Achievement Goals ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mastery Goals ◽  
Standard Format ◽  
Mastery Goal ◽  
The Relationship

Research on achievement goals has demonstrated that mastery goals positively impact achievement-related outcomes, but paradoxically hold an inconsistent relation with academic achievement. We hypothesized that this relationship depends on the reason why students endorse mastery goals—namely, to garner teachers' appreciation (social desirability) or to succeed at university (social utility). First-year psychology students completed a mastery-goal scale in a standard format, with social-desirability instructions and social-utility instructions. Participants' grades on academic exams were recorded later in the semester. Results indicated that students' perceptions of both social desirability and social utility related to mastery goals moderated the relationship between the endorsement of mastery goals and final grades. This relationship was reduced by the increase of perceived social desirability of mastery goals, and strengthened by the increase of perceived social utility of these goals.

scholarly journals A Holistic Approach to Establishing an Effective Learning Environment for Psychology

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Cohen ◽  
Paul Chang ◽  
Julie Ann Pooley ◽  
Lisbeth Pike
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
First Year ◽  
School Students ◽  
Psychology Course

The impetus for the Enhancing Quality and Learning (EQUAL) programme evolved out of concerns held by the staff in the School of Psychology at Edith Cowan University (ECU) regarding the difficulties encountered by first year psychology students and the subsequent low retention rate of these students in the psychology course. The EQUAL programme focused on easing the transition of high school students into university studies by enhancing the social support networks of commencing students. The programme was designed to be an holistic approach to enhancing a sense of belonging to the School of Psychology and comprised seven components. These are peer mentoring, the formation of learning communities, curriculum reforms, tutor training, orientation, the development of student portfolios and school liaison. EQUAL is now an integral part of the learning experience for all psychology students at ECU. Evaluations of the EQUAL programme indicate greater student satisfaction with the psychology course and increased retention rates.

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