scholarly journals The Role of Self-Efficacy in the Thesis-Writing Experiences of Undergraduate Honors Students

2022 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Medaille ◽  
Molly Beisler ◽  
Rayla Tokarz ◽  
Rosalind Bucy
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Honors Students ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Academic Tasks ◽  
Regulatory Strategies ◽  
High Level

Writing a thesis is often the culminating experience for undergraduate students enrolled in university honors programs in the United States. Because writing a thesis is one of the most difficult academic tasks that an undergraduate student may undertake, it requires a high level of self-efficacy, or belief in one’s capabilities to achieve certain results. However, the factors that contribute to students’ efficacy expectations when writing a thesis are not fully understood. This qualitative study followed 11 honors students over the course of several months in order to understand their experiences as they completed their theses. Data was gathered through a series of four questionnaires and two interviews. Analysis revealed six themes: previous research experiences, emotions, project timelines, structure, advisors, and support networks. These themes suggest that students’ abilities to manage their emotions and employ self-regulatory strategies play a critical role in their self-assessments of efficacy during work on challenging academic tasks, findings which have implications for a variety of academic programs and campus support services. In addition, this study reveals that faculty mentoring of undergraduate students may require greater attention to cultivating emotional awareness and regulation than does the mentoring of graduate students.

Bilingual and Monolingual Students' Perceptions of the CSD Major: A Qualitative Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flora Keshishian ◽  
Rebecca Wiseheart
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
School Setting ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bilingual Students ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Diverse Environment ◽  
Language Pathology ◽  
Areas Of Interest

There is a growing demand for bilingual services in speech-language pathology and audiology. To meet this growing demand, and given their critical role in the recruitment of more bilingual professionals, higher education institutions need to know more about bilingual students' impression of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) as a major. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate bilingual and monolingual undergraduate students' perceptions of the CSD major. One hundred and twenty-two students from a large university located in a highly multicultural metropolitan area responded to four open-ended questions aimed at discovering students' major areas of interest (and disinterest) as well as their motivations for pursuing a degree in CSD. Consistent with similar reports conducted outside the United States, students from this culturally diverse environment indicated choosing the major for altruistic reasons. A large percentage of participants were motivated by a desire to work with children, but not in a school setting. Although 42% of the participants were bilingual, few indicated an interest in taking an additional course in bilingual studies. Implications of these findings as well as practical suggestions for the recruitment of bilingual students are discussed.

Mark-UP

2010 ◽  
pp. 278-294
Author(s):  
Mark McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Academic Skills ◽  
Information Design ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
Regulatory Strategies ◽  
High Level

While reading skills are an accepted key skill both for life and study, the capacity to read critically and apply reading concepts to solve problems and develop higher order conceptual understandings requires a high level of cognitive self-regulation that students do not always have. This chapter describes the development of and research into an environment, Mark-UP, designed to promote the self-monitoring inherent in regulating reading comprehension. The environment consists of a range of tools to assist learners in monitoring their comprehension through annotation, discussion, problem-solving and so on. The tool was applied to a class of undergraduate students in Interface and Information Design at an Australian university. The research involved questionnaires of the whole cohort as well as case studies of a number of student experiences with the environment, using interview and analysis of the students’ portfolios. The study found that, concerning students with weak academic skills, Mark-UP provided some support for their learning, but for stronger students it replicated cognitive strategies that they had already developed. The product was most effective for those students with moderate existing academic skills as it articulated and modeled strategies for reading that they could apply and go beyond to develop their own cognitive regulatory strategies for reading.

How Social Anxiety and Reduced Self-Efficacy Induce Smartphone Addiction in Materialistic People

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Kang Lee ◽  
Chun-Tuan Chang ◽  
Zhao-Hong Cheng ◽  
You Lin
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Smartphone Addiction ◽  
Mediating Effects ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Research Stream ◽  
The Individual ◽  
High Level

Recent research has suggested that materialism influences consumers’ usage of technological communication devices, especially smartphones. The current study contributes to this evolving research stream by examining more closely the dynamics of mechanisms that might potentially cause smartphone addiction. We propose self-efficacy and social anxiety as two underlying mechanisms and further test whether their mediating effects are consistent across people with differing levels of power distance belief (PDB). We also examine the moderating role of PDB at the cultural level (Study 1: China vs. the United States) and at the individual level (Study 2: Taiwan). The empirical data are analyzed using the parallel multiple mediator model proposed by Hayes. The results confirm that these two mediators explain the relationship between materialism and smartphone addiction. The mediating effects are stronger for people with a high level of PDB than for their counterparts with low PDB. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Influences on Faculty Willingness to Mentor Undergraduate Students from Another University as Part of an Interinstitutional Research Training Program

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. ar35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle X. Morales ◽  
Sara E. Grineski ◽  
Timothy W. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Research Training ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Career Stage ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Willingness To Serve ◽  
Research Training Program ◽  
Primary Institutions

In 2014, the National Institutes of Health invested $31 million in 10 primary institutions across the United States through the Building Undergraduate Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) program; one requirement of BUILD is sending undergraduate trainees from those primary institutions to partner institutions for research experiences. Mechanisms like BUILD are designed to broaden research opportunities for students, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds. However, to our knowledge, no studies have examined faculty willingness to mentor undergraduates from other institutions through structured training programs. Survey data from 536 faculty members at 13 institutions were collected in Fall 2013 and analyzed using multiple statistical techniques. Results show that faculty who valued the opportunity to increase diversity in the academy and those who believed that mentoring undergraduates benefited their own research expressed greater willingness to serve as research mentors to visiting undergraduates, and faculty who perceived that they did not have the ability to accommodate additional students expressed less willingness to do so. Most respondents viewed student and faculty incentives as motivating factors in their willingness to mentor, but their perspectives on different types of incentives varied based on faculty career stage, discipline, and research funding status. Results have important implications for designing multi-institutional undergraduate research training programs.

scholarly journals Changes in Pre-Service Teachers’ Values, Sense of Agency, Motivation and Consumption Practices: A Case Study of an Education for Sustainability Course

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen Merritt ◽  
Annie Hale ◽  
Leanna Archambault
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Consumption Practices

Teacher education has a critical role to play as people around the world strive to reach the Sustainable Development goals. Education for sustainability (EfS) aims to motivate and prepare educators to create a more sustainable future through education. The purpose of this case study was to explore pre-service teachers’ changes in their values, sense of agency, consumption practices and motivation after participation in a required EfS course. Students were enrolled in a hybrid course that conveyed content through digital stories followed by reflections, in-class discussions and activities. Ninety-one undergraduate students completed pre- and post-course surveys. Students reported significant changes in their beliefs about the relevance of sustainability education, attitudes toward sustainable development, self-efficacy, locus of control and sustainable consumption practices. Qualitative analysis of an open-ended question served to triangulate quantitative findings. Results support the need and potential for EfS courses for educators, particularly in the United States where such courses are not typically required or even offered at most universities.

scholarly journals Motivational Effects of Enhanced Expectancies for Motor Learning in Individuals With High and Low Self-Efficacy

2019 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 263-274
Author(s):  
Saeed Ghorbani ◽  
Andreas Bund
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Motivational State ◽  
Knowledge Of Results ◽  
Motivational States ◽  
Male Undergraduate ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
High Level

Previous research has shown that enhanced expectancies can foster a person’s motivational state and facilitate motor learning. However, the effects of enhanced expectancies on motivational state and subsequent motor learning in individuals with varied motivational states (e.g., self-efficacy; SE) are not well understood. This study examined the effects of enhanced expectancies on motivational state and motor learning in individuals with high and low SE by manipulating the type of knowledge of results (KR). We selected 60 participants from 251 male undergraduate students, based on their SE level, and assigned them to four groups: (a) Good Performance KR and High SE, (b) Poor Performance KR and High SE, (c) Good Performance KR and Low SE, and (d) Poor Performance KR and Low SE. We asked participants to throw beanbags at a target with their nondominant hand during an acquisition phase (10 blocks of six trials each) and during subsequent retention and transfer tests. During acquisition, the Good KR groups received KR from their three most accurate trials in each training block, whereas the Poor KR groups received KR from their three poorest attempts in each block. We measured accuracy scores and changes in SE as dependent variables. Results showed that KR from good trials, relative to KR from poor trials, led to better accuracy scores during acquisition and retention and transfer tests, independent of participants’ initial SE levels. Moreover, KR on good trials enhanced SE in the Good KR and Low SE group and kept SE at a high level in the Good KR and High SE group during acquisition and on the retention and transfer tests. These results provide support for the OPTIMAL (optimizing performance through intrinsic motivation and attention for learning) theory of motor learning, and we discuss results in terms of the potential effects of positive feedback on motor performance in professional athletes.

scholarly journals Musings about the Importance of Comparative Psychology: Reflections from Undergraduate Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather M. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Comparative Psychology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Hispanic Serving Institution ◽  
Psychology Today ◽  
Hispanic Serving ◽  
Psychology Course ◽  
Almost All

The sub-field of comparative psychology has ebbed and flowed since the establishment of the field of psychology. Today, comparative psychology is taught rarely as an elective, much less as a required course within psychology departments around the United States. Based on responses on a beginning of semester reflection assignment about the field of psychology, when first or second year undergraduate students are asked about their knowledge of psychology and the various fields within, most have never heard of comparative psychology. Those that have heard of comparative psychology from a high school course, the students rarely mention it freely. The purpose of this essay is to share the reflections of students who have completed an upper division elective comparative psychology course at a primarily undergraduate, Hispanic-serving institution. In this course, the students were asked to reflect on what they know about comparative psychology at the beginning of the course and to return to those early reflections at the end of the course. One major finding is that the majority of the students state that this course should be a required course or a capstone for psychology as it integrates all of their required coursework together into a common experience. This synthesis enabled the students to see the importance of comparative analysis and the role understanding animals plays in understanding humans. Comparative psychology should not simply be a historical facet of the field of psychology, but should continue to play a critical role in shaping the experiences of students of psychology. Whether it is simply to make students of psychology aware of the role animal research has in understanding almost all aspects of psychology (clinical, learning, health, development, personality, social, biopsychology, neuroscience, behavioral economics, cognition) or to highlight the need that investigating the same question in different subjects is valuable, comparative psychology has a vital role in our field today.

scholarly journals Relationship between internet self-efficacy and internet anxiety: A nuanced approach to understanding the connection

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narmada Paul ◽  
Michael Glassman
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
General Education ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Constructivist Learning ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Constructivist Learning Environment ◽  
Unique Predictor ◽  
The Individual

The present study makes the case that the individual constituents of internet self-efficacy – search self-efficacy, communication self-efficacy, organisation self-efficacy, differentiation self-efficacy, and reactive/generative self-efficacy – may be of differential importance in predicting internet anxiety within web-assisted learning environments. Two hundred and eighty-nine undergraduate students enrolled in a blog-centric general education course on child development at a large mid-western university in the United States participated in this study. Based on inferences drawn from the socio-cognitive perspective and cognitive load theory, it was hypothesised that in a blog-centric constructivist learning environment, reactive/generative self-efficacy or the belief in one’s ability to react meaningfully to others’ posts and generate educationally valuable posts, would emerge as a unique predictor of internet anxiety after controlling for all of the other facets of internet self-efficacy. The results of a two-step hierarchical regression indicated that both reactive/generative self-efficacy and search self-efficacy are unique predictors of internet anxiety. The findings have several implications for researchers seeking greater insight into the relationship between internet self-efficacy and internet anxiety as well as instructors seeking to create a constructivist learning environment utilising the potential of the web.

scholarly journals A Crisis in Civic Conscience in the United States? Knowledge and Understanding of the U.S. Bill of Rights among a Group of Undergraduate Students Citizens of the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Porter E Coggins ◽  
Janet A. Heuer ◽  
Michael A. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Group Discussion ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Honors Students ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Bill Of Rights

Three groups of undergraduate student citizens of the United States at a regional public university were surveyed regarding their knowledge of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States. Additionally, the findings of a focus group discussion of Honors students regarding this same topic are presented and discussed. A fifteen-statement questionnaire was administered to 66 First Year Experience (FYE) undergraduate students, 50 senior students, and nine Honors students. Ten of the statements were quotes from the Bill of Rights amendments and five statements were foils which were not among the Bill of Rights amendments. A focus group discussion with the Honors students revealed several themes including those of rights and responsibility for educational curricula on the Bill of Rights. Analysis of the data indicated that these three groups did not present evidence of deep knowledge of the Bill of Rights by amendment number. We interpret the general lack of knowledge of the Bill of Rights as a warning regarding of the lack of value of the Bill of Rights and citizenship by state and federal governments and raise a concern of the possibility of a growing crisis in civic conscience of the citizenry of our country unless significant educational-policy countermeasures are taken. 

scholarly journals Honors Students and Thesis Research: A Study of Information Literacy Practices and Self-Efficacy at the End of Students’ Undergraduate Careers

2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Ann Medaille ◽  
Molly Beisler ◽  
Rayla Tokarz ◽  
Rosalind Bucy
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Honors Students ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Challenging Research ◽  
Conducting Research

This study explored the information literacy practices of undergraduate students conducting research for their Honors theses in their final year of study. Data was collected from 11 Honors students during several months through four rounds of open-ended, journal-style questionnaires and two rounds of interviews. Honors students’ sense of confidence varied throughout the thesis process, and several practices were identified that influenced students’ sense of self-efficacy. This study suggests that instruction librarians can help to increase students’ self-efficacy by modeling advanced research strategies, designing opportunities for students to practice challenging research tasks that build on previous skills, and addressing the affective and self-regulatory aspects of conducting higher-level research.

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