Exploring Students’ Perceptions and Understanding of Life-Altering Suffering: An Interview Project

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Braband, ◽  
Rebecca Gaudino, ◽  
Anissa Rogers,

Learning how to respond to others’ suffering is a significant challenge for undergraduate students in caregiving professions. An interprofessional-directed interview project related to suffering was implemented. Students (N = 247) completed a post project survey. Descriptive statistics indicated that students rated their interview-based learning experiences highly. Narrative theme analyses generated 4 main themes: a) developing self-awareness, b) expanding views of suffering, c) grasping spiritual aspects of suffering, and d) learning compassionate and supportive presence. From these preliminary findings has emerged a potential pedagogical model of suffering to prepare students to compassionately support those who suffer.

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Ricke

Background: Although past studies of service-learning focus on assessing student growth, few studies address how to support students in applying theory to their service-learning experiences. Yet, the task of applying theory is a central component of critical reflections within the social sciences in higher education and often causes anxiety among undergraduate students. Purpose: This article identifies a pedagogical model that helps students navigate the selection and application of theory to their service-learning experiences. Methodology/Approach: The pedagogical model is based on a case study of an upper-division anthropology service-learning course, which included survey and interview data to assess the model’s effectiveness. Findings/Conclusions: The findings indicate that a familiar framing analogy, combined with a specific set of scaffolded in-class activities that takes into consideration Perry’s scheme of learning, is useful for bridging the gap between understanding theory and selecting and applying a particular theory to service-learning projects. Such an approach helped relieve student anxiety and confusion surrounding theory application and service-learning. Implications: To grow as scholars, students must be able to match theory to real-world situations on their own. By combining a framing analogy with scaffolded activities, instructors can help students transition from memorizing theories to applying them to their service-learning.


Author(s):  
Mona Saad Alamri

Online learning has unquestionably shaped contemporary education. The emergence and spread in recent months of the COVID-19 virus, with the attendant preventative implementation of social distancing, has significantly enhanced online learning’s influence. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where strict social distancing precautions were implemented early in the pandemic, thousands of college students were rapidly shifted from conventional to online instructional environments. Now that these students have a semester of experience with online learning, the time is propitious to explore these students’ online learning experiences. One concept in connection with which students’ online learning experiences have not been extensively studied is that of academic self-efficacy. The present study seeks to investigate Jeddah University students’ experiences with online learning in light of their assessments of their academic self-efficacy. Employing a combined descriptive/correlational research design organized around a pair of survey instruments—one designed to query students’ online learning experiences and a second designed to measure their senses of their academic self-efficacy—the present study investigates attitudes of a population of 1,167 Jeddah University undergraduate students randomly selected from the available pool of 16,893 individuals. The study finds that student attitudes with respect to both online learning and self-efficacy are high. It shows, furthermore, significant statistical correlation between students’ highly positive experiences with online instruction and their high senses of their academic self-efficacy. By developing the understanding regarding student attitudes and self-efficacy, this research opens avenues for further research into the connections between online learning and students’ self-perceptions. Moreover, the study’s findings hold significant implications for bettering Saudi Arabian e-learning, an outcome fully in keeping with the policy goals outlined in the 2030 vision.


Author(s):  
M Melvina ◽  
Nenden Sri Lengkanawati ◽  
Yanty Wirza

The present study sought to scrutinize undergraduate EFL students’ learning autonomy in a state university in Indonesia. This study employed a triangulation study of mixed-method design by distributing questionnaires and conducting interviews to get quantitative and qualitative data. The questionnaire was distributed to 40 second year participants enrolled in listening, speaking, reading, and writing for academic purposes classes, whereas 15 participants were selected for the interview Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data collected from the questionnaire and the interview. Findings revealed that the level of students’ learner autonomy was classified as moderate level of autonomy. This indicated that Indonesian undergraduate students were considered somewhat autonomous learners. In addition, the Indonesian undergraduate students defined learner autonomy as independent learning with or without the teacher’s assistance, students responsible for their own learning, and learner autonomy was the student’s self-awareness and self-initiated to learn outside the classroom to find ways of learning and collaborate with others. The study recommended that teachers should consistently develop learner autonomy in their teaching practice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Gina Sakinah ◽  
Bagio Mudakir

Financial management failure occurs when students do not have good financial literacy. Students must have good knowledge, attitude, and behavior in managing their personal finances. This study aims to analyze the level of financial literacy of undergraduate students of the Faculty of Economics and Business at Diponegoro University class of 2014 to 2017 and the factors that influence it. Financial literacy in this study uses a financial literacy index consisting of components of the knowledge, attitude, and financial behavior of students. The research data uses primary data with questionnaires and sample of 100 students. Meanwhile, the method used in this study is descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression test (OLS). As a result, the level of student financial literacy is categorized as quite literary, that is 50.4%, influenced by age, GPA, parental education, and length of study. On the other hand, gender and income do not affect student financial literacy.


2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 743-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu-Feng Liu ◽  
Yong-Cong Shao ◽  
Ye-Bing Yang ◽  
Sheng-Jun Wu ◽  
Hai Yang ◽  
...  

In this study a Chinese version of the Situational Self-Awareness Scale (SSAS; Govern & Marsch, 2001) was developed and tested for validity and reliability. Participants were 1,244 undergraduate students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and other statistical methods yielded results indicating a good correlation of items in the Chinese (C-SSAS) and English version of the scale. When private self-awareness was assessed in a private setting the score of participants was significantly greater and likewise the public self-awareness scores were higher when the scale was completed in a public setting. Test-retest reliability was significant across situations and time. The reallocation of one item to public self-awareness in the C-SSAS from private in the SSAS was indicative of differences between Eastern and Western cultures and this is discussed. In general, the results indicated that the Chinese version of the SSAS has good reliability and validity. The scale should, therefore, be suitable as a reference to develop scales for evaluating personnel working in specific occupations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-103
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Halpin ◽  
Ann E. Donahue ◽  
Kathryn M. S. Johnson

Experiential learning experiences (ELEs), opportunities for students to apply knowledge and skills critically in a hands-on environment, are fundamental to the apprenticeship model of biological and biotechnological sciences. ELEs enhance student-learning gains, increase career readiness, and provide important networking opportunities. However, students do not often recognize the benefits of ELEs. Reflection is a highly effective tool to articulate learning gains and connect new content with established knowledge. Therefore, senior undergraduate students ( n = 23), majoring in biological sciences or biotechnology, wrote required reflective essays about their ELE, in response to an intentionally vague prompt. Qualitative assessment of the reflective essays identified themes present in the reflective essays that typically included descriptions of what students did, with whom they worked, and what they learned during their ELE, but lacked critical analysis or deep reflection about their experience. Differences were also present between different types of ELEs. These results provide a foundation for guiding students to deeper reflection, ultimately resulting in greater benefits from their ELEs. To promote more robust reflection, and, therefore, theoretically enhance learning gains from ELEs, we suggest multiple iterations of reflection, instructor feedback and coaching, and ELE-specific prompts that focus on the placement of ELEs within students’ personal and professional trajectory.


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