Student engagement in a Human Anatomy and Physiology course: a New Zealand perspective

The population diversity of New Zealand is due to the unique fusion of indigenous peoples of Polynesian origin (Māori), western European colonization (Pākehā), and more recent (20th century) immigration from the Pacific region (Pasifika). However, disparities in tertiary education indicate that Māori and Pasifika students are more likely to drop out during their first year of study and are less likely to complete their qualification than their Pākehā peers. Higher levels of course engagement may increase first-year grades, elevate academic performance, and encourage persistence between the first and second years of study. Therefore, a Student Course Engagement Questionnaire was used to quantify engagement in a compulsory first-year undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology course in a New Zealand university. A data mining technique was used to assign students into a low-engagement/low-achievement cluster, and a high-engagement/high-achievement cluster. The skills, emotional, and participation-interaction components of engagement were lower in Pasifika students: these students’ academic grade was lower than those of both Māori and Pākehā students. The strongest predictors of cluster membership were skills engagement and emotional engagement, suggesting that these components outweighed other aspects of course engagement. Māori and Pasifika students were overrepresented in the low-engagement/low-achievement cluster, and underrepresented in the high-engagement/high-achievement cluster. We suggest that embedding study skills within course delivery, and constantly emphasizing their importance, would likely increase student course engagement. Also, we report that both Māori and Pasifika students remain more disengaged than their Pākehā peers.

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Introductory anatomy and physiology in an undergraduate nursing curriculum

AJP Advances in Physiology Education ◽

10.1152/advan.00112.2016 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 56-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

S.J. Brown ◽

S. White ◽

N. Power

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Nursing Students ◽

Human Anatomy ◽

High Achievers ◽

First Year ◽

Grade Point ◽

Anatomy And Physiology ◽

Undergraduate Nursing ◽

Human Anatomy And Physiology ◽

High Achieving

Using an educational data mining approach, first-year academic achievement of undergraduate nursing students, which included two compulsory courses in introductory human anatomy and physiology, was compared with achievement in a final semester course that transitioned students into the workplace. We hypothesized that students could be grouped according to their first-year academic achievement using a two-step cluster analysis method and that grades achieved in the human anatomy and physiology courses would be strong predictors of overall achievement. One cohort that graduated in 2014 ( n = 105) and one that graduated in 2015 ( n = 94) were analyzed separately, and for both cohorts, two groups were identified, these being “high achievers” (HIGH) and “low achievers” (LOW). Consistently, the anatomy and physiology courses were the strongest predictors of group assignment, such that a good grade in these was much more likely to put a student into a high-achieving group. Students in the HIGH groups also scored higher in the Transition to Nursing course when compared with students in the LOW groups. The higher predictor importance of the anatomy and physiology courses suggested that if a first-year grade-point average was calculated for students, an increased weighting should be attributed to these courses. Identifying high-achieving students based on first-year academic scores may be a useful method to predict future academic performance.

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Student engagement in a compulsory introductory physiology course.

Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning ◽

10.14434/v17i1.20066 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 52-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Stephen Brown ◽

Sue White ◽

Alex Bowmar ◽

Nicola Power

Keyword(s):

Student Engagement ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Human Anatomy ◽

Latent Factors ◽

First Semester ◽

Anatomy And Physiology ◽

Human Anatomy And Physiology ◽

Course Engagement ◽

Good Internal Consistency ◽

Sport And Recreation

Appropriate instruments are required to determine student engagement on an undergraduate course, and in this study we evaluated a 23 item Student Course Engagement Questionnaire (SCEQ) administered to undergraduate students studying a Bachelor of Sport and Recreation degree. These students were in the first semester of a 3 year degree, and were enrolled in a compulsory introductory Human anatomy and physiology course, as part of their degree. Responses (n=115) were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, and this indicated that 4 latent factors explained >49% of the total variance. These factors were described as ‘study habits’ (7 items), ‘performance’ (6 items), participation (4 items), and emotional (4 items). Two items did not align with any latent factors. Each scale had good internal consistency, with all Cronbach’s alpha values >0.7. The factors identified in this study are consistent with those identified in a previous SCEQ evaluation, and we suggest that this instrument is appropriate to quantify course engagement in Sport and Recreation degree students. Moreover, we suggest that the scales identified within the SCEQ may be used to quantify aspects of engagement in undergraduate students studying a course in introductory Human anatomy and physiology.

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Undergraduate Student Course Engagement of an Ethnically Diverse Population in Auckland, New Zealand

World Journal of Education ◽

10.5430/wje.v10n6p74 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 74

Author(s):

Stephen James Brown

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Student Engagement ◽

Cooperative Learning ◽

Tertiary Education ◽

Drop Out ◽

Student Experiences ◽

First Year ◽

Attrition Rates ◽

Course Engagement ◽

Pasifika Students

Increasing student engagement leads to improved educational outcomes, promotes positive student experiences, and reduces attrition rates. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), Māori students now account for 20% of university enrolments, but first-year attrition rates are approximately 17%. Both Māori and Pasifika students are more likely to drop-out during their first year of study than Pākehā students. To address the question Are Māori and Pasifika students less engaged than Pākehā students when studying in their first year of university? we measured student engagement during a compulsory first-year course delivered by a university in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). Questions were from the National Survey of Student Engagement, and students identified their ethnicity as either Māori, Pākehā, Pasifika, or Other. Information on the campus of study was also collected. Three scales within the questionnaire were (1) Cooperative Learning, (2) Cognitive Development, and (3) Personal Skills, and both total score, and score for each scale, were compared between ethnicities and across campuses. Total engagement for Māori students was higher than all other ethnicities on all campuses, and at the South Auckland Campus, Māori students scored higher in Cooperative Learning than all other ethnicities. These encouraging scores for Māori students reflect a commitment of inclusion and support for Māori enrolled at this large tertiary education provider in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. The questionnaire was convenient to use and scales showed good internal consistency. We suggest that regular measures of student course engagement are made so trends can be shown for all student groups enrolled at universities throughout Aotearoa.

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OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED PRACTICAL EXAMINATION IN HUMAN ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY PRACTICALS IN PHARM D CURRICULUM- A PILOT STUDY

10.14293/s2199-1006.1.sor-.pppesvj.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

arin natania ◽

M. Umamaheshwari ◽

A.T. Sivashanmugam ◽

P. Jagannath ◽

T.K. Ravi

Keyword(s):

Pilot Study ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Direct Observation ◽

Human Anatomy ◽

First Year ◽

Skill Sets ◽

Private Pharmacy ◽

Anatomy And Physiology ◽

Practical Examination ◽

Human Anatomy And Physiology

Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE) can be used to assess practical competencies in an appropriate, stepwise, methodical, objective and time-oriented manner with direct observation of the students performance. The present study was undertaken in the Human Anatomy and Physiology practicals with the First year Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm D) students at a private Pharmacy college. A set of 15 students were assessed using OSPE at 15 stations for a duration of 3 hours. The merits of OSPE include integration of knowledge, practical as well as communication skills with majority of the topics covered, transparent evaluation that covers most of the topics and was found to be student friendly. The demerits are, it requires planning, more number of examiners, time consuming and observers fatigue.Students indicated that the assessment using OSPE covered most of the topics and skill sets. Feedback from the students indicated that OSPE provided improvement and transparency in assessment and 90% of the student was in favour of OSPE. They felt the fear of facing the examiner relieved their anxiety.The students felt that the OSPE is an objective, unbiased and consistent mode of evaluation, deserving a place in Pharm D curriculum.

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