The Development of GENE 101 – A ‘Strategies and Skills for Academic Success’ Course for First Year Engineering Students at Waterloo

The University ◽

As a way to help ease the struggles thatstudents face in the transition from high school intouniversity, the Engineering Faculty at the University ofWaterloo started a reduced load program in 2010. Duringtheir first term at Waterloo, engineering students who arein academic jeopardy after midterms can drop twoprescribed courses to give the students an opportunity tofinish the term on a successful note. The two droppedcourses are taken during the following spring term alongwith a third course, GENE 101 – Strategies and Skills forAcademic Success. After successfully completing thereduced load terms, the students return to a full load.GENE 101 is considered a foundational success course.This paper will look at the curriculum and structure of thecourse and the impact it has had on engineering students.At the time of this writing, two groups of students who tookGENE 101 and the reduced load program have graduatedfrom Waterloo as engineers.

The Impact of High School Program Reform on First-Year University Students’ Academic Performance. Case Study: Biology

European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research ◽

10.26417/634lii87m ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 23

Author(s):

Mimoza Milo ◽

Anila Paparisto ◽

Flamur Bidaj ◽

Fatmira Shehu

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Academic Success ◽

University Students ◽

Curriculum Reform ◽

School Curriculum ◽

Academic Preparation ◽

First Year ◽

First Year University ◽

The Impact ◽

Students Success

The student transition from high school to university is a complex process in which various factors operate. One of these factors is the degree of the students’ academic preparation in certain subjects. This article analyzes the impact of this factor on the students’ success in the first year of university studies, in the conditions when the subject program in high school has been reformed. This impact on the students’ success, which is expressed both in the degree of academic preparation and in the students’ attitude in the relevant subject, has been assessed employing statistical analysis. The analysis covers a period of 3 years (2017-2020), and is based on a sample of first year students of the Bachelor degree in Biology. The results of the questionnaire, conducted with first year university students, show the impact of their high school academic preparation on the success they have in the first year of university. This success is measured by assessing the change in average grade and their pass rates. Evidence of the impact of this factor in teaching has helped to know in detail these intermediate phases of this process. The built model makes it possible to analyze the impact of the high school curriculum reform on the students’ success, creating the opportunity for further improvements. Despite the fact that the object of the study is the Biology curriculum and the evaluation of the impact in academic success of students who graduated from high schools where a competence based curriculum was implemented, this methodology can be used for the study in other subjects, especially life sciences.

The Importance of First Semester Seminars for At-Risk First-Year Students: Analysis of Student Skills and Time Spent on Class Preparation

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci11090510 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 510

Author(s):

David E. Reed ◽

Guinevere Z. Jones

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

At Risk ◽

First Year ◽

Social Changes ◽

Student Survey ◽

First Year Students ◽

First Semester ◽

High School To College ◽

The University

The high-school-to-college transition can be difficult as students are adapting to a multitude of academic and social changes simultaneously. The University of Wyoming has created a first-semester program targeted at development of student skills for at-risk students using paired first-year seminar classes. Using student survey data from both pre- and post-course series, students were asked how important they thought academic and non-academic skills were as well as how much preparation time they were spending outside of class. Results from this work show large changes in the importance of skills and time spent studying during the transition from high school to college. This highlights the need to focus specifically on teaching skills to help students through the transition and suggests that not all skills are equal and data shows that students take longer than one semester to match their expected and actual amounts of time they spend outside of class studying.

EXAMINING FOURTH YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF GRADUATE ATTRIBUTE COMPETENCIES: YEAR TWO

Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) ◽

10.24908/pceea.v0i0.5878 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Jillian Seniuk Cicek ◽

Paul Labossiere ◽

Sandra Ingram

Keyword(s):

Student Perceptions ◽

Engineering Students ◽

First Year ◽

Fall Semester ◽

Engineering Faculty ◽

The Past ◽

Exit Survey ◽

Application Analysis ◽

The University ◽

Graduating Students

As the Engineering Faculty at the Universityof Manitoba shifts its curriculum from an input-based toan outcomes-based pedagogy, data from diverse sourcesare being collected. Among them, indirect data are beinggathered from students using a student exit survey. Thesurvey has been developed over the past three years toexplore graduating students’ perceptions of theiraptitudes and their engineering program’s strengths andweaknesses in regards to the 12 CEAB graduateattributes. It is comprised of the 12 attributes, with eachattribute further defined by six indicators. Theseindicators reflect the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy ofEducational Objectives in the Cognitive Domain:knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis,synthesis and evaluation. The student exit survey was firstadministered to graduating mechanical engineeringstudents at the end of Fall semester 2012 and then at theend of Fall semester 2013. This paper describes thesecond year of the study, and discusses the datacomparatively with the findings from the first year. Thisstudy offers the Engineering Faculty an understanding oftheir Mechanical Engineering students’ experiences withand perceptions of the CEAB graduate attributes. It willbe used to provide feedback at instructor, program andfaculty levels as the University of Manitoba’s Faculty ofEngineering continues to implement its cycle of programdevelopment and improvement.

Measuring the Impact of a Weeklong Fall Break on Stress Physiology in First Year Engineering Students

The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning ◽

10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2018.2.9 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Ayesha Khan ◽

Heather Poole ◽

Elliott A Beaton

Keyword(s):

Academic Success ◽

Nous Avons ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Control Sample ◽

First Year ◽

Post Secondary ◽

Student Stress ◽

Before And After ◽

Lower Ratio ◽

Canadian post-secondary institutions are increasingly introducing a fall break into their term calendars, with the stated goal of reducing student stress and improving academic success. We conducted a pilot study around the time of this fall break during which we collected saliva samples to measure the ratio of two metabolic hormones (cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)) from first-year male engineering students in order to document possible changes in their stress levels before and after the break. Participants self-identified a particular day in the week prior to the break that they considered to be most stressful, followed by a day in the week after the break that was perceived to be equally stress-inducing. A control sample of student engineers was recruited from another university with equivalent academic rigour but without a fall break. Students who experienced the fall break exhibited a marginally lower ratio of cortisol to DHEA after the break than did those who did not experience the break indicating a difference in psychological stress. Since fall breaks are now increasing in popularity, we make the recommendation that it is imperative to empirically investigate their impact on student mental health. Un nombre de plus en plus grand d’établissements post-secondaires introduisent un congé d’automne dans leur calendrier, avec l’objectif déclaré de réduire le stress des étudiants et d’améliorer la réussite académique. Nous avons mené une étude pilote aux alentours de ce congé d’automne au cours duquel nous avons recueilli des échantillons de salive auprès d’étudiants mâles de première année en génie afin de mesurer le ratio de deux hormones métaboliques (le cortisol et la déhydroépiandrostérone - la DHEA)) et pour documenter les changements possibles dans leurs niveaux de stress avant et après le congé. Les participants ont identifié eux-mêmes un jour spécifique de la semaine avant le congé qu’ils considéraient comme étant le plus stressant, suivi par un jour particulier de la semaine après le congé qu’ils percevaient comme étant aussi stressant. Un échantillon témoin d’étudiants en génie a été recruté dans une autre université où la rigueur académique était équivalente mais où il n’y avait pas de congé d’automne. Les étudiants qui ont bénéficié d’un congé d’automne ont manifesté un ratio plus bas de cortisol par rapport à la DHEA après le congé par rapport aux étudiants qui n’avaient pas bénéficié d’un tel congé, ce qui indique une différence de stress psychologique. Étant donné que la popularité des congés d’automne est en augmentation, nous recommandons qu’il est impératif d’établir empiriquement leur impact sur la santé mentale des étudiants.

Why I Chose History

The Americas A Quarterly Review of Latin American History ◽

10.2307/978697 ◽

1952 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 475-492

Author(s):

Carlos E. Castañeda

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

World War I ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Public Speaking ◽

The United States ◽

First Year ◽

World War ◽

University Of Texas ◽

The Public ◽

The University

Back in 1916 the world was in the midst of World War I. When I graduated from high school in that year, the United States had not entered the great struggle yet. In the fall of 1917, I, registered in the University of Texas. There was as much, if not more, uneasiness and uncertainty among students as there is today. We were already in the war. No one knew how long it would last, nor when the draft call would come.With the lightheartedness of youth I chose engineering. In high school I had been good in mathematics, and everybody had said, “You are cut out for an engineer.” Dean T. U. Taylor of the Engineering School agreed, and I made a good record that first year. Engineering students in those days had to take public speaking and the public speaking teacher assured me the first day I came into his class that I would never make a public speaker. Time proved that if Dean Taylor was mistaken in his deduction as to my engineering vocation, the public speaking teacher was only half right.

FROM STEM TO STEAM IN ENGINEERING DESIGN

Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) ◽

10.24908/pceea.vi0.13752 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Chantal Rodier ◽

Mohamed Galaleldin ◽

Justine Boudreau ◽

Hanan Anis

Keyword(s):

Engineering Design ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Early Years ◽

First Year ◽

Arts And Humanities ◽

Curricular Design ◽

The Arts ◽

Design Activities ◽

The University ◽

Creativity, communication skills, interdisciplinary sensitivity, and cultural and civic responsibility are vital skills and perspectives to inculcate in contemporary engineering students. A number of studies have demonstrated the benefits of exposing engineering students to arts, as studying arts and humanities can open up their minds to creative ideas from great minds outside of science and engineering. In most cases, engineering students are exposed to the arts by taking a few non-technical courses as electives. Many students view these courses as less important and irrelevant to their field of studies. Integrating the arts into the technical engineering curriculum is challenging but critical to engineering design, particularly in early years, and represents a natural opportunity. This paper discusses the approach taken by the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa of exposing students to the arts through curricular and extra-curricular design activities. These include offering design challenges, a first-year engineering design course and summer internships. This paper also discusses the challenges that arise in delivering such curriculum and the impact of such exposure on the engineering students involved.

FROM STEM TO STEAM IN ENGINEERING DESIGN

Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) ◽

10.24908/pceea.vi0.13879 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Chantal Rodier ◽

Mohamed Galaleldin ◽

Justine Boudreau ◽

Hanan Anis

Keyword(s):

Engineering Design ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Early Years ◽

First Year ◽

Arts And Humanities ◽

Curricular Design ◽

The Arts ◽

Design Activities ◽

The University ◽

Innovative methodology at the university. Its effects on learning processes of university students.

Anales de Psicología ◽

10.6018/analesps.31.3.179871 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 901 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bernardo Gargallo ◽

Isabel Morera ◽

Eloïna García

Keyword(s):

Learning Strategies ◽

Evaluation System ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Team Work ◽

First Year ◽

Learning Approaches ◽

Self Assessment ◽

Learning Platform ◽

The University ◽

We wanted to assess the impact of learning-centered methodology on learning strategies and learning approaches of a students’ group of Chemistry. They were first year engineering students from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. We used a pre-experimental design with pretest and posttest measures by means of the CEVEAPEU and CPE questionnaires. The sample consisted of 20 students. The teaching methods included expositive methodology, questions, problem solving, development of a monograph, presentations, laboratory practices, team work, tutoring in the classroom and an evaluation system that made use of training procedures that returned feedback to students (two diagnostic tests, assessment of solved problems, self-assessment using the e-learning platform of the university, oral assessment in class, written tests, etc..). Significant improvements in learning strategies scores in the posttest and increasing in deep approach were found.

First Year at University: Perceptions and Experiences of Students

Canadian Journal of Higher Education ◽

10.47678/cjhe.v17i1.183008 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 47-63

Author(s):

Edward A. Holdaway ◽

Karen R. Kelloway

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

First Year ◽

Listening Skills ◽

First Year Students ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

University Experiences ◽

Library Skills ◽

University Experience ◽

The University

This study was initiated by concerns in the literature over freshman students and by the need to know more about students' perceptions of their university experience. In 1984, all 937 first-year students in the Faculties of Arts, Business, Education, Engineering, and Science who had come directly to the University of Alberta from high school were asked about their university experiences and the transition from high school. Family members, the University's reputation, and the University's proximity exerted the greatest influence upon the decision to attend. Preparation for an interesting career, obtaining a well-paying job, and learning about topics of special interest were the most important goals associated with their programs. Students considered that they were best prepared in reading skills, listening skills, and taking notes, and least well prepared in budgeting time, library skills, and study skills. Most assessed that they were working considerably harder than at high school, and many said that high school had not adequately prepared them for university. The greatest need to adjust occurred in amount of work, stress, difficulty of work, and methods of instruction. Students varied considerably in the extent to which their expectations were met and the time taken to feel "at ease."

Accommodations and academic performance: First-year university students with disabilities

Canadian Journal of Higher Education ◽

10.47678/cjhe.vi0.188985 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 41-56

Author(s):

Jeanette Parsons ◽

Mary Ann McColl ◽

Andrea K. Martin ◽

David W. Rynard

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Academic Performance ◽

Academic Success ◽

University Students ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

First Year ◽

Program Of Study ◽

First Year University ◽

The Relationship

Despite growing enrollment of university students with disabilities, they have not achieved academic parity with their non-disabled peers. This study matched 71 first-year university students with disabilities and students without disabilities on three variables: high school average when admitted to university, gender, and program of study. Both groups of students were compared on three measures of academic performance: GPA, failed courses, and dropped courses after first year of university. The relationship between accommodations and academic performance was also analyzed for students with disabilities. Evenwhen matched on admission average, gender, and program of study, students with disabilities had a significantly lower GPA and were more likely to fail courses in their first year than their peers without disabilities. While note-taking in the classroom was associated with being less likely to drop a course, it was also associated with poorer academic performance, as was using a calculator or alternate format during exams. The more accommodations students lost in the transition from high school, the worse they performed academically at university. Students who lost human assistant support in the classroom and theuse of a computer or a memory aid during exams had a significantly lower GPA and were more likely to fail courses in their first year of university compared with students who did not lose these accommodations. These findings have implications for accessibility offices and universities in supporting the access needs and academic success of students with disabilities.