scholarly journals High Impact Educational Practice through First Year Experience: Case of Undergraduates in UNIMAS

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 2296-2304
Author(s):  
Shafinah Rahim Et.al
Keyword(s):  
Soft Skills ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
High Impact ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
University Environment ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Campus Activities ◽  
People Skills

A compulsory course known as Soft skills and Basic Volunteerism offered at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) adopted the High Impact Educational Practices (HEIPs) through First Year Experience. This course aims at imparting soft skills among all students in UNIMAS, taken in their first semester of their program. The main course learning outcomes are to develop personal and social skills, academic skills, and conduct volunteerism activities. The course learning units were designed to assist students adapting smoothly to the new university environment while improving academic and people skills. A survey to gauge students’ perception about their learning skills was conducted before the course began and another survey was conducted after the course ended. In the assessment, the students reported group activities relating to meeting faculty members and academic advisors as reflections in e-portfolio platforms. In terms of personal gain, the majority admitted to increased self- confidence to communicate in English as a result of participating in public speaking, presentations and a variety of volunteering projects. Suggestions for future include out campus activities, use of high technology digital training materials and diversification of assessment reflective of the complete soft skills course.

High-Impact Practices

2016 ◽  
pp. 337-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Philippe Faletta ◽  
Jo A. Meier ◽  
J. Ulyses Balderas
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Cultural Sensitivity ◽  
High Impact ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Freshman Seminar ◽  
Global Learning ◽  
Diversity Awareness ◽  
Spring Semester ◽  
Freshman Students

This chapter explores how combining carefully selected high-impact educational practices in the critical first-year of college can benefit students, particularly traditionally underserved student populations, and promote cultural sensitivity and communication with a wider campus audience than is typically available to the traditional college freshmen. The First Year Experience Study Abroad (FYESA) program combines three high-impact educational experiences; freshman seminar, service-learning, and global learning, in one innovative program targeting freshman students in their second semester. The purpose of the program is to provide students with an extension of the Freshman Seminar through their entire first-year, coupled with strategies for increasing diversity awareness and sensitivity in the classroom and abroad by engaging in experiential learning in the form of service-learning. As part of the program, freshman students will plan a service-learning project in the host country over the spring semester and then deliver the project during the travel abroad portion of the course.

scholarly journals Use and users of the Minrva mobile app

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 472-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Hahn
Keyword(s):  
Interface Design ◽  
Application Programming Interface ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Content Type ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Support Tools ◽  
New Students ◽  
Application Programming

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate new undergraduate student library engagement in the Minrva mobile app during the months of May 2015 through December 2015. Design/methodology/approach This research investigated what parts of a mobile app new students were using in their first semester after downloading the app. The quantitative study used application programming interface log analysis to better understand what parts of the app new students use in the mobile app. Findings By undertaking this study, the author has a better understanding about what students are finding useful within the app and what tools are not being used by this cohort in their first semester. Originality/value The value of this research is in helping system designers and first-year experience planners know what mobile support tools students are finding useful in their first semester. Implication for mobile interface design based on module popularity are discussed.

Using Student Drawings to Understand the First-Year Experience

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele C. Everett
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Study Data ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Visual Research ◽  
Students First ◽  
Undeclared Students ◽  
First Year Seminar

This article reports on an exploratory study that investigated the use of student drawings as a visual research method to understand the first-year experience. A total of 31 undeclared students enrolled in a first-year seminar participated in the study. Data generated from pre- and postdrawings of students’ first semester paths were analyzed to identify emergent themes and understand experience at the group and individual levels. Findings provide novel insights about the first-year experience from the student’s perspective. These new understandings have important implications that may help institutions shape and strengthen retention efforts at the student, classroom, and program levels.

scholarly journals One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Students’ Perceptions of FYE Approaches

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dahliani Reynolds ◽  
Loren Byrne ◽  
Jennifer Campbell ◽  
Becky Spritz
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Academic Preparation ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
Habits Of Mind ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
General Education Courses

First-Year Experience (FYE) programs have become a focal point for efforts to transition and retain all students, as numerous studies suggest that such initiatives deepen students’ academic preparation for college and support their emotional investments in the campus community. Using quantitative and qualitative data gathered from 842 students in 54 courses during Fall 2013 and 2014, this article considers the comparative merits of Living Learning Communities (LLC), “habits of mind” First-Semester Core (FSC) courses, a hybrid-model (LLC-FSC) initiative, and non-FYE courses by considering students’ perception of their academic gains and social engagement. Survey results indicate that students perceive very different benefits across the various FYE models, especially when the FYE is housed in disciplinary rather than general education courses. The comparisons suggest the need for an intentional, goals-oriented approach to FYE programs, as a “one-size fits all” approach may not result in both academic growth and community engagement for students. For institutions with limited faculty and curricular resources, the choice of which type of FYE model to adopt is particularly important. 

scholarly journals Predicting Undergraduate Level Students’ Performance Using Regression

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-139
Author(s):  
S Akuma ◽  
H Abakpa
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
First Year ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
University Environment ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Cumulative Grade Point Average ◽  
Moderating Factors ◽  
The University

Students’ academic performance in the university environment changes from one academic year to another as they climb up the ladder of their academic programme. Predicting students’ academic performance in higher educational institutions is challenging due to the lack of a central database of students’ performance records. The other challenge is the lack of standard methods for predicting students’ performance and other moderating factors like physical, economic and health that affect students’ progress. In this work, we predicted students’ performance based on previous academic results. A model to predict students’ performance based on their Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) was developed using Linear Regression Algorithm. A dataset of 70 undergraduate students studying Computer Science was analyzed and the results show that the model was able to predict the 4th year CGPA of the Students using the previous Cumulative Grade Point of the past three years with an accuracy of 87.84%, and a correlation of 0.9338. This study also identified students’ second semester CGPA in the first year and their first semester CGPA in the second year as the most important CGPAs that affect the accuracy

scholarly journals Taking A Pulse: Student-Athletes Descriptors For Their First Semester Of College

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 253-260
Author(s):  
Jeanne L. Higbee ◽  
Jennifer L. Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Student Athletes ◽  
Warning System ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester

This paper summarizes the responses of 103 student-athletes enrolled in a first-year experience course when asked, What adjective best describes your first semester in college? Not surprisingly, the most frequent descriptors were busy, fun, stressful, and different. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of collecting this type of data as a form of early warning system.

scholarly journals Actively promoting student engagement within an online environment: Developing and implementing a signature subject on ‘Contemporary Issues in Sex and Sexuality’

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 47-57
Author(s):  
Gillian Fletcher ◽  
◽  
Gary W. Dowsett ◽  
Lilian Austin ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Student Response ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
University Environment ◽  
Sex And Sexuality ◽  
Student Demand

La Trobe University is committed to improving the first year experience, and to developing its online teaching portfolio in response to increasing student demand. This article will acknowledge that these two objectives will remain contradictory if online learning systems are used predominantly as repositories of information with little thought given to their specific pedagogic possibilities. The article will then present a case study of an ‘Signature Subject’ that was developed to actively promote learner-material, learnerlearner and learner-lecturer engagement in an entirely online environment, through use of synchronous and asynchronous sessions. Background to subject development will be provided, followed by discussion of challenges faced, responses to challenges and outcomes in terms of student response. The article will conclude by arguing that, as universities increase their use of online learning due to the changing university environment, this does not have to lead to reduced student engagement or poorer first year experiences.

Integrating the First-Year Experience into Philosophy Courses

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-470
Author(s):  
Matthew P. Schunke ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Meaning In Life ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Philosophical Inquiry ◽  
University Environment ◽  
The University

This article argues that integrating philosophy courses and the first-year experience can address the problem of attracting students to the philosophy major and make philosophical material more accessible and engaging. Through a reflection on teaching a first-year honors seminar on the topic of meaning in life, I show how we can use the philosophical tradition to help students with the transition into the university environment and, in the process, give them a sense of the value of philosophy as a tool to think through and evaluate their current experiences. The article demonstrates the value of philosophy to first-year students and shows how philosophy faculty and departments are well-suited to contribute to first-year programming at their institutions. Furthermore, it shows how addressing these issues can help departments recruit students into their major and minors while also sparking a genuine interest in philosophical inquiry.

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