scholarly journals Supporting postgraduate taught students through tailored maths workshops and Q&A sessions

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Morgiane Richard

Maths Support at the University of Aberdeen was established in 2012, and has been offered to all students, whatever their discipline and level. Early on, interest was raised amongst the Postgraduate population, which represents about 20% of the whole student population at the University of Aberdeen. Maths Support for Postgraduate students, however, will necessarily take different shapes to Maths Support for Undergraduates. Their time constraints are different; their timetable is often very full, with little opportunity to fit in potential extra sessions for Maths Support during the semester; they need to clarify their Maths queries early in order to be able to keep up with the pace of study. In addition, a significant proportion of Postgraduate students are mature students, coming back to studying a Master a number of years after completing their first degree, who may also be part-time, having to balance between study, work and family time. This paper will discuss the range of tailored Maths Support services developed at the University of Aberdeen for PGTs on Business, Engineering and Geosciences Masters programmes. Student and staff feedback on the usefulness of the service, gathered anecdotally, will also be presented.

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 594-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiobhan Alice Smith ◽  
Antje Lubcke ◽  
Dean Alexander ◽  
Kate Thompson ◽  
Christy Ballard ◽  
...  

Purpose The University of Otago Library conducted a review of its postgraduate support program in 2018. The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings of a questionnaire and follow up focus group undertaken as part of the review. It highlights postgraduate student preferences for learning about support services, their ideas on marketing these services effectively and the kind of engagement that works best for them. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was developed and deployed in July 2018. It contained 20 questions and was emailed to 2,430 enrolled Otago doctorate and master’s students by the University of Otago (GRS). A total of 564 responded, 391 completing all questions. A follow-up focus group was held in August 2018. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed using Qualtrics software and qualitative data were coded and analyzed using NVivo software. Findings Respondents highlighted the difficulty they have learning what support services are available to them. In some cases, they also feel a stigma when seeking help because of their status as postgraduate students. They suggest practical ways libraries can better reach out to them. The findings confirm previous literature about the need for libraries to improve marketing of their services to postgraduate students, communicate via supervisors and departments where possible and provide a variety of engagement options. Originality/value Before (re)developing postgraduate programs, libraries can gain valuable insights and test assumptions by surveying students.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-74
Author(s):  
Md Faizus Sazzad ◽  
Mohammed Moniruzzaman ◽  
Dewan Iftakher Raza Choudhury ◽  
Arif Ahmed Mohiuddin ◽  
Raafi Rahman ◽  
...  

Background: The number of postgraduate students in Cardiac surgical discipline is increasing day by day with incremental proportion are measurably suffering from the unnecessary lingering of the present course curriculum. The primary objective of this study was to find out the last 5 years’ of results of Masters in Surgery course under the University of Dhaka from a student room survey. A secondary objective was to find out positive changes that could show us the way of a step toward up-gradation. Methods: It is a retrospective analysis of all examination results of Cardio-vascular & Thoracic Surgery published since January 2008 to January 2013 from the University of Dhaka with in depth interview of 11 participants. Results: 85.24% students failed to pass part-I of Masters in Surgery for Cardio-vascular & Thoracic Surgery course while, 82.18% in part-II and 71.28% failed to pass the final part. Average 2.51 attempts needed to complete each part of the designed course resulted into lingering of course duration for 42.18 months/student. In the thoracic surgery discipline the number of students alarmingly reduced up to 0% in the recent academic sessions. Conclusions: Masters in Surgery is resulting in unnecessary prolongation of the course. We should step forward to meet the next generation challenge. Journal of Surgical Sciences (2019) Vol. 23(2): 71-74


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-60
Author(s):  
Treinienė Daiva

Abstract Nontraditional student is understood as one of the older students enrolled in formal or informal studies. In the literature, there is no detailed generalisation of nontraditional student. This article aims to reveal the concept of this particular group of students. Analysing the definition of nontraditional students, researchers identify the main criteria that allow to provide a more comprehensive concept of the nontraditional student. The main one is the age of these atypical students coming to study at the university, their selected form of studies, adult social roles status characteristics, such as family, parenting and financial independence as well as the nature of work. The described features of the nontraditional student demonstrate how the unconventional nontraditional student is different from the traditional one, which features are characteristic for them and how they reflect the nontraditional student’s maturity and experience in comparison with younger, traditional students. Key features - independence, internal motivation, experience, responsibility, determination. They allow nontraditional students to pursue their life goals, learn and move towards their set goals. University student identity is determined on the basis of the three positions: on the age suitability by social norms, the learning outcomes incorporated with age, on the creation of student’s ideal image. There are four students’ biographical profiles distinguished: wandering type, seeking a degree, intergrative and emancipatory type. They allow to see the biographical origin of nontraditional students, their social status as well as educational features. Biographical profiles presented allow to comprise the nontraditional student’s portrait of different countries. Traditional and nontraditional students’ learning differences are revealed by analysing their need for knowledge, independence, experience, skill to learn, orientation and motivation aspects. To sum up, the analysis of the scientific literature can formulate the concept of the nontraditional student. Nontraditional student refers to the category of 20-65 years of age who enrolls into higher education studies in a nontraditional way, is financially independent, with several social roles of life, studying full-time or part-time, and working full-time or part-time, or not working at all.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 886-900
Author(s):  
O. A. Zolotina ◽  
M. A. Serpukhova

Aim. The presented study aims to determine the key employment parameters that allow bachelor’s and master’s degree students to combine work with professional education in the optimal way and help people enrolled on further professional education to maintain a balance between work and family functions.Tasks. The authors analyze surveys of bachelor’s and master’s degree undergraduates and graduates of continuing professional education (CPE) programs of the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU).Methods. This study uses general logical methods: dialectical, logical, comparative, and systems analysis; methods of sociological research, including public surveys.Results. The authors identify major employment characteristics that help working students maintain high academic performance and positively affect the work-family balance of older people receiving further professional education.Conclusions. Increased flexibility of the labor market in the form of more part-time job offers could make a significant contribution to maintaining and improving the quality of training of students who combine work and studies, which is especially relevant for bachelor’s degree students. Diversifying the available forms of employment can positively affect the decision to gain intitial professional experience while studying at the university. Due to the development of remote employment, the forms of occupation available to students need to be further studied in detail.


2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062199641
Author(s):  
Ilias Nitsos ◽  
Afrodite Malliari ◽  
Rodopi Chamouroudi

The use of reference management software in the context of academic work and research is the main subject of this study. The study focuses on the extent to which postgraduate students at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, one of the largest Greek universities, make use of – or avoid using – reference management software tools to organize their bibliographic databases and to automate the process of creating references and citations. The study also tries to find out which are the key factors for their choices and whether certain background characteristics affect their behavior. It should be mentioned that no previous studies have been conducted in Greece regarding the use of reference management software in the academic environment. An online questionnaire was sent to the postgraduate students at the University and a result set of 545 responses was collected and analyzed. The majority (almost two-thirds) of the respondents identified themselves as non-users and one-third identified themselves as reference management software users. Among the latter, Mendeley was found to be the software used by more than two-thirds of the users and was followed by EndNote and Zotero. It is worth mentioning that Mendeley is the software officially recommended by the University’s central library to its users but most of the students (more than 60%) were not aware of this fact. In terms of background characteristics, the analysis revealed, among other things, statistically significant relationships between degree level, student discipline and preferences, reference management software features, and potential future use of reference management software.


2020 ◽  
pp. 107780042091889
Author(s):  
Erin Leach

This autoethnographic poetry collection provides an entry into the socialization of part-time doctoral students by centering the lived experience of the author, a part-time doctoral student employed full-time at the university where she studies. In the writing of this poetry collection, the author sought to enter into conversation with the doctoral socialization literature and to uncover the various parts of her fractured identity. Through an examination of her own fractured identity, the author engages with the places where scholarly identity formation is stalled in part-time doctoral students especially in comparison with their full-time peers and considers affective dimensions of the work of scholarly identity formation.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Teresa Milbrodt

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This novel is the story of Tianne, a twenty-eight-year-old stained glass artist. She works two part-time jobs as a clerk at a stained glass supply store, and as an adjunct instructor at a community college. Her boyfriend Jeremiah is an academic adviser at the same college, but wants a career performing in comedy clubs. He uses a wheelchair due to spina bifida, and is cheerfully blunt that he could die from an undetected kidney infection. Tianne wrangles her own invisible disability, since endometriosis causes her to have awful cramps during her period that can keep her home from work. Tianne loves her jobs but worries about bills after her car breaks down. She envies Jeremiah's financial stability until he's fired for speaking his mind too many times to administration. Tianne fears for his health insurance coverage, while Jeremiah debates careers as a high school guidance counselor or touring comedy clubs. Throughout the book Tianne tries to chart a path though the instabilities of her body, Jeremiah's body, their career paths, and their romantic relationship, knowing that nothing is permanent. Hers is a story not of looking for stability, but coming to terms with instability, and finding spaces of adaptation to constant change.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 91-107
Author(s):  
Teoh Sian Hoon ◽  
Geethanjali Narayanan ◽  
Raja Normi Raja Mohamad ◽  
Gurnam Kaur Sidhu

This study was conducted to investigate the postgraduate students’ perceptions towards their experiences of completion of their studies. The population of this study consisted of postgraduate students in a public university in Selangor. The sample comprised 104 randomly selected postgraduate students from the university. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was administered to the samples. The questionnaire consisted of four domains, namely student factor, supervisor factor, institutional factor and challenges faced by the students. This study discovered that (1) the postgraduate students perceived supervisors as a determinant factor that contributes toward conducting research. (2) they perceived their academic competencies in research writing as moderate and (3) the supervisor factor has a significant and inverse relationship on challenges faced by the postgraduate students, i.e. the efforts and competencies of supervisors reduced challenges of the postgraduate students to complete their research. Based on the findings, it was suggested that higher learning institutions should highlight on the construction of knowledge through active interaction between lecturers and students. This type of assistance has become a platform for the students to cope up with the learning challenges they were facing in higher education.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Henning

In a search for ways to capture foundation phase children’s competence in mathematics, a small research team was put together at a South African university four years ago. At first, working only in a single school where the objective was to model 80 learners’ growth in competence over four years, the team transformed into a very different entity. This article narrates the founding and development of a community of research practice, which eventually included undergraduate- and postgraduate students, researchers from institutions in Germany, Switzerland and South Africa, teachers at local schools close to the university, and an educational research and survey company. Supported by funding from four different sources, the project is fairly close to reaching the goal of delivering a standardised mathematics competence test for 4-8 year-olds, which is a first of its kind for the country where educational measurement seems to be at a crossroads. In the story line of this community of practice, it is evident that progress can be assessed best by the learning that has been taking place in a community with a notable diversity of people and interests, but with the shared goal of investigating children’s mathematical behaviour on a measure that can be trusted.


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