scholarly journals Alcohol and substance use among first-year students at the University of Nairobi, Kenya: Prevalence and patterns

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. e0238170
Author(s):  
Catherine Mawia Musyoka ◽  
Anne Mbwayo ◽  
Dennis Donovan ◽  
Muthoni Mathai
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
The University

scholarly journals The prevalence of substance use among first-year students at the University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-94
Author(s):  
Maja Nižić ◽  
Tanja Penava ◽  
Ines Perić
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Social Work Faculty ◽  
The University

The aim of this paper is to examine the prevalence of substance use among fi rst-year stu-dents at the University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to determine differences with regard to the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants. The study was conducted in June 2012 by teaching assistants at the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Mostar, in collaboration with social work students who were previously trained to conduct the research. The study included 420 participants from six faculties. The research is designed to determine which substances are most frequently used among fi rst-year students and to determine whether there are differences in the frequency of alcohol consumption, smoking and drug use among students with regard to their socio-de-mographic characteristics. The results show that the most frequently used substance among students is alcohol; cigarettes are in second place and marijuana (as the only drug with si-gnifi cant frequency of consumption) in third. Some socio-demographic characteristics have proven to be signifi cant in the frequency of substance use.

Refining Contrapuntal Pedagogy: Reflections on Teaching Warsan Shire’s “Home” and W.H. Auden’s “Refugee Blues” to First-Year Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Grogan
Keyword(s):  
Racial Identity ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Poetic Voice ◽  
Teaching Poetry ◽  
Approach To Teaching ◽  
The University ◽  
The Way

This article reports on and discusses the experience of a contrapuntal approach to teaching poetry, explored during 2016 and 2017 in a series of introductory poetry lectures in the English 1 course at the University of Johannesburg. Drawing together two poems—Warsan Shire’s “Home” and W.H. Auden’s “Refugee Blues”—in a week of teaching in each year provided an opportunity for a comparison that encouraged students’ observations on poetic voice, racial identity, transhistorical and transcultural human experience, trauma and empathy. It also provided an opportunity to reflect on teaching practice within the context of decoloniality and to acknowledge the need for ongoing change and review in relation to it. In describing the contrapuntal teaching and study of these poems, and the different methods employed in the respective years of teaching them, I tentatively suggest that canonical Western and contemporary postcolonial poems may reflect on each other in unique and transformative ways. I further posit that poets and poems that engage students may open the way into initially “less relevant” yet ultimately rewarding poems, while remaining important objects of study in themselves.

Criteria and indicators associated with adaptation to the educational process of first-year students at the university

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-93
Author(s):  
Evgeniya N. Popova
Keyword(s):  
Research Topic ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
First Year ◽  
Higher Education Research ◽  
Adaptation Process ◽  
Adaptive Potential ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Self Development ◽  
The University

The issue of adaptation of modern first-year students to the educational process at the university is one of the current pedagogical tasks. Successful adaptation significantly affects the quality of received education, the degree of formation of personal and professional qualities, contributes to the development of motivation, self-education, and self-development. The purpose of the research is to substantiate the criteria, indicators, and levels of adaptation of first-year students to the learning process at the university. The material for the study was the domestic scientific sources of studying the peculiarities of the adaptation process of students to educational activities in higher education. Research methods: analysis and generalization of psychological-pedagogical and educational-methodical literature on the research topic. We determine as the main criteria for the adaptation of first-year students to the university, the adaptive potential and professionally important qualities of students, consider these concepts, their structure, and their basic properties. On the basis of the analysis and generalization of the existing indicators of the implementation of the adaptive potential, we formulate the author's indicators for determining the level of its development. The degree of formation of professionally important qualities of students are low, medium, and high levels of development of emotional intelligence, negative communicative attitude, intellectual lability, and stress tolerance.

Analsis e-learning status in Palestinian universities, a case study of Palestine Technical University KadoorieTulkarm

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 154-178
Author(s):  
Heba Almbayed
Keyword(s):  
Learning System ◽  
Simple Random Sample ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Academic Level ◽  
Computer Course ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Technical University ◽  
Palestinian Universities ◽  
The University

The study aimed to analyze the reality of e-learning at Palestine Technical University-Khudouri/Tulkarem, and to identify the most important challenges facing students when using the education system, as well as to analyze the extent to which university students interact with the e-learning system, and to show the differences between the average opinions of the study sample on e-learning according to the study variables due to the nature of the study, the descriptive analytical approach was used, in order to reach practical results, and to achieve and analyze the reality of e-learning  a questionnaire consisting of (34) paragraphs was designed, where the study community consisted of (6,559) students, and a simple random sample of (522) students was taken, and the questionnaire was distributed electronically because it was not able to be distributed manually due to the prevailing conditions _ the spread of the Corona pandemic- at the time of the preparation of the study. The results of the study showed that (63.136%) of the researched believe that the reality of e-learning at the university suffers from different problems. The study indicated that (87.97%) among respondents, complaints have increased in the e-learning system after the Corona pandemic and that (81.36%) among the researchers, the infrastructure was one of the most barriers in e-learning. While (63.934%)of the researched that e-learning has a role to play in achieving Interaction among students, as the results of the study showed no differences Statistically significant to the reality of e-learning according to the gender variable, and there are no differences depending on the variable of the scientific qualification except in the field of e-learning reality, there are also no differences Statistics according to the variable of the academic level ,except for the field of Interaction with students. In the light of the results of the study, a series of recommendations were made, the most prominent of which were: 1.Include an e-learning system item in The computer course assigned as a university requirement for first-year students 2. Provide opportunities to train and develop the capabilities of all educational parties to use and apply E-learning.

scholarly journals Error Analysis of Students Essays: A Case of First Year Students of the University of Health and Allied Sciences

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Benjamin Amoakohene
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Error Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
The University

Writing is considered as a daunting task in second language learning. It is argued by most scholars that this challenge is not only limited to second language speakers of English but even to those who speak English as their first language. Thus, the ability to communicate effectively in English by both native and non-native speakers requires intensive and specialized instruction. Due to the integral role that writing plays in students’ academic life, academic literacy has garnered considerable attention in several English-medium universities in which Ghanaian universities are no exception. It is therefore surprising that prominence is not given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS). In this paper, I argue for much time and space to be given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills, a programme that seeks to train students to acquire the needed skills and competence in English for their academic and professional development. This argument is based on the findings that came out after I explored the errors in a corpus of 50 essays written by first year students of  UHAS. The findings revealed that after going through the Communicative Skills programme for two semesters, students still have serious challenges of writing error-free texts. Out of the 50 scripts that were analyzed, 1,050 errors were detected. The study further revealed that 584 (55.6%) of these errors were related to grammatical errors, 442 (42.1%) were mechanical errors and 24 (2.3%) of the errors detected were linked to the poor structuring of  sentences. Based on these findings, recommendations and implications which are significant to educators, policy makers and curriculum developers are provided. This study has implications for pedagogy and further research in error analysis. 

scholarly journals Bridging the Gap: Understanding the Differing Research Expectations of First-Year Students and Professor

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Raven
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Instruction Strategies ◽  
Research Instruction ◽  
The University

Objective: This study sought to better understand the research expectations of first-year students upon beginning university study, and how these expectations differed from those of their professors. Most academic librarians observe that the research expectations of these two groups differ considerably and being able to articulate where these differences are greatest may help us provided more focused instruction, and allow us to work more effectively with professors and student support services. Methods: 317 first-year undergraduate students and 75 professors at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, NS were surveyed to determine what they each expected of first-year student research. Students were surveyed on the first day of term so as to best understand their research expectations as they transitioned from high school to university. Results: The gulf between student and professor research expectations was found to be considerable, especially in areas such as time required for reading and research, and the resources necessary to do research. While students rated their preparedness for university as high, they also had high expectations related to their ability to use non-academic sources. Not unexpectedly, the majority of professors believed that students are not prepared to do university-level research, they do not take enough responsibility for their own learning, they should use more academic research sources, and read twice as much as students believe they should. Conclusions: By better understanding differing research expectations, students can be guided very early in their studies about appropriate academic research practices, and librarians and professors can provide students with improved research instruction. Strategies for working with students, professors and the university community are discussed.

scholarly journals Features of Adaptation of Non-Resident Students to the University Learning Environment

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-58
Author(s):  
Olga Viktorovna Bodenova ◽  
Lyudmila Pavlovna Vlasova
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
First Year ◽  
Adaptation Period ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
State University ◽  
Student Survey ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Resident Students ◽  
New Type ◽  
The University

The article is devoted to the overview of one of the most current problems that arise in the process of supporting the adaptation of students. The paper reveals the content of the adaptation process, its content and procedural characteristics, describes the types and stages, and directions of diagnostics. The aim of the work is to identify the features of adaptation in first-year students, including the description of the specifics of difficulties of non-resident students’ adaption. The study was conducted at the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology “Petrozavodsk State University” with first-year students studying in the fields of education 44.03.02 Psychological and pedagogical education, 44.03.01. Pedagogical education, 44.03.03 Special (defectologic) education. The following methods were used to test the hypothesis: «I am a student» survey, «Scale of subjective well-being» method, analysis of documents (medical records of students), quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results of the study. Analysis of the results of the study showed that non-resident students have both general and specific difficulties of adaptation due to the breakdown of previous family and friendships, lack of emotional support, difficult living conditions, a new neighborhood, a new type of settlement, etc. The obtained results are used for development and implementation of measures to support students during the adaptation period.

scholarly journals THE DYNAMICS OF THE SUBSTANTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VALUE-MOTIVATIONAL COMPONENT OF STUDENTS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL READINESS FOR PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY AT VARIOUS STAGES OF STUDYING AT THE UNIVERSITY

2016 ◽  
pp. 120-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. S. Morozova ◽  
E. V. Voronova
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Future Orientation ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
First Year ◽  
Life Meaning ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Semantic Component ◽  
The University

The paper discusses the problem of studying the relations of substantive characteristics of the value-semantic component of students’ psychological readiness for professional activity at various stages of studying at the Universityand presents the results of a longitudinal study of this issue. The results of the study indicated that the content characteristics (objective, process, result, overall rate of life-meaning orientations) are the basis of the value-motivational component of students’ psychological readiness for professional activity at various stages of studying at the University. According to the results of the study the axiological component of students’ psychological readiness of for professional activity into which first-year students includes orientation to the professional knowledge, skills. Students have 2 years of training to increase the value of the chosen profession, the desire to become a professional. In the 3rd year students’ valuemotivational component is represented in the experience of the crisis of professional development. In their 4th year of study, students have changing views about their professional future, orientation to future professional development.

scholarly journals The efficacy of a reading aloud task in the teaching of pronunciation

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Martínez Adrián
Keyword(s):  
Basque Country ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
First Year ◽  
English Studies ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
The University

Empirical studies have shown that explicit instruction leads to the improvement of perception (e.g. Strange and Dittman 1984; Jamieson and Morosan 1986; Cenoz and García Lecumberri 1999) and oral production (e.g. Couper 2003; Derwing and Munro 2005; Smith and Beckman 2005). Nonetheless, it is necessary to test different types of activities intended for the explicit teaching of pronunciation. This action-research study aims to test the efficacy of a reading aloud task with a noticing and an awareness component in the teaching of pronunciation, and to gauge learners’ beliefs regarding the use of this learning tool. Twenty first-year students of the BA in English Studies at the University of the Basque Country participated in the investigation. Ten written texts were selected by the instructors in order to practice reading aloud for ten weeks. Students went through two phases when doing this task in class: noticing and awareness. They were tested on articulation of sounds, stress placement and intonation through two different texts at two different times. Students were also administered a questionnaire to analyze their opinions regarding the usefulness of this learning task. The assessment of the recordings revealed that learners obtained better means in the case of the second text analyzed. Similarly, the analysis of the responses given to the questionnaire indicated that students considered the reading aloud task a good instrument to improve their pronunciation in English.

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