scholarly journals Sharing learning outcomes in chemistry teaching at HE level: Beneficial or detrimental?

2011 ◽  
pp. 31-35
Author(s):  
David Read ◽  
Joanne Boniface ◽  
Andrea E Russell
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
First Year ◽  
Chemistry Teaching ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Level ◽  
The University ◽  
Support Students ◽  
Academic Year

The sharing of explicit learning objectives and/or learning outcomes is considered to be good practice in schools, with OFSTED observation criteria indicating that this is a pre-requisite to a good or outstanding lesson1. Such practice does not appear to be widespread in chemistry teaching at HE level. Whilst a statement of aims/objectives/outcomes can normally be found in the documentation accompanying any given unit of teaching, these are typically in a less student-friendly format than those used in school, or are too vague to be useful. At the same time, many lecturers do communicate aims at the start of a lecture, but there may be scope for doing this in a more effective way. The extent to which students are exposed to „learning outcomes‟ varies greatly from institution to institution, discipline to discipline and from teacher to teacher, and as such it is difficult to discern the best approach.This article presents some background on developments at pre-university level that have influenced practice in this area, and outlines the findings of a research project carried out in the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton. The project probed the views of staff and students regarding the usefulness of learning outcomes. Several different approaches to sharing learning outcomes with first year students were trialled and evaluated during the course of the 2010-11 academic year. This work is part of an on-going initiative which aims to identify effective methods to support students in becoming independent learners when making the transition to university, and to improve retention rates.

Using Latent Profile Analysis to Harness the Heterogeneity of Nonretained College Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-473
Author(s):  
Tracey N. Sulak ◽  
Jennifer Massey ◽  
David Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Private Research ◽  
Key Variables ◽  
The University ◽  
Latent Profile

Universities struggle to raise retention rates among first-year students. Traditional analyses have not only focused on large-scale issues and addressed the needs of the majority but also done little to change overall retention numbers. The current study demonstrates the benefit of using a person-centered approach to retention research. Latent profile analysis was used to examine all nonretained, first-year students ( n = 515) from the 2011 cohort at a private, research-intensive university. The larger population of nonretained first-year students appeared to contain several smaller, subpopulations, and these smaller groups differed on key variables collected by the university. The differences in the subpopulations indicate a need for greater specificity in retention programming.

scholarly journals Development, Implementation and Students’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of an Interdisciplinary For-Credit Subject to Help Students Transition to University

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Schütze ◽  
Jenna Bartyn
Keyword(s):  
Student Retention ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
First Year ◽  
Transition To University ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Experience ◽  
First Year University ◽  
Support Students ◽  
Academic Demands

The first year university experience is inherently linked to student retention and success. First year students are often unprepared for the academic requirements of university, which can result in stress, poor student outcomes and low student retention rates. Although there is considerable literature on the challenges students face when transitioning to university, there is limited research on successful interdisciplinary for-credit transition subjects that support students, particularly in Australia. An interdisciplinary for-credit transition subject for first year university students was designed, implemented and evaluated to determine students’ perceptions of its effectiveness in preparing them for the academic demands of university. Thematic analysis of 36 qualitative interviews with students was conducted. Students reported having gained knowledge and confidence in the essential academic skills required for university and therefore felt more prepared. Implementing similar subjects in other settings may provide a strategy to support students’ transition to university.

scholarly journals Promoting learning with understanding: Introducing languaging exercises in calculus course for engineering students at the university level

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Alfaro Viquez ◽  
Jorma Joutsenlahti
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Teaching ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Mathematical Thinking ◽  
First Year ◽  
Logical Thinking ◽  
Mathematical Skills ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Basic Calculus ◽  
University Level ◽  
The University

The study of mathematics at the university level requires logical thinking and strong mathematical skills. Contemporary first-year students are not prepared for these demands and end up failing their courses. This study aims to present an instrument for enhancing mathematics teaching and promoting learning with understanding in higher education by a combination of symbolic, natural, and pictorial languages in different tasks. We analyze the 17 solutions of four languaging exercises administered in a basic calculus course for engineering students at the University of Costa Rica. The results suggest that these exercises promote the acquisition of skills necessary to be mathematically proficient and are a useful tool for revealing students’ mathematical thinking and misconceptions.

scholarly journals Trefasemodellen – didaktisk planlægning af lokalprogression

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (16) ◽  
pp. 18-30
Author(s):  
Claus Michelsen ◽  
Nadia Rahbek Dyrberg
Keyword(s):  
Phase Model ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Three Phase ◽  
Academic Courses ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Three Phases

Ved Det Naturvidenskabelige Fakultet, Syddansk Universitet, blev trefasemodellen anvendt som et didaktisk redskab til at understøtte progression i de studerendes læring lokalt i de enkelte faglige forløb på første studieår 2012/13. Artiklen beskriver baggrunden for og udviklingen af trefasemodellen og præsenterer med udgangspunkt i de studerendes evalueringer de første erfaringer med modellen.  In the academic year 2012/13 the Faculty of Science at the University of Southern Denmark, implemented a didactical tool called the three phase model. The model was used to track the progress of first year students on the university’s academic courses. The paper describes both the incentive for and the development of the three phases model and presents preliminary results based on the evaluations of the first cohort of students.

scholarly journals CREATION OF THE PROGRAM OF INTEGRATED TRAINING OF FIRST-LEARNING IN THE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 620
Author(s):  
Elena Zhestkova ◽  
Tatjana Luchina
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
First Year ◽  
Student Group ◽  
Educational Work ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
The University

Adaptation problems for first-year students are inevitable, they are social, pedagogical, psychological and subjective or objective. Teachers of the university need to be able to foresee them and some to prevent, classify and be able to organize assistance to students in solving these problems, and organize educational work as a curator of the student group. One of the objective problems is the change of the educational space and the measures of responsibility for learning outcomes. The article presents the experience of creating a program for the comprehensive support of freshmen at a pedagogical university. 

scholarly journals Methodology to Analyze the Effectiveness of ESD in a Higher Degree in Education: A Case Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocío Valderrama-Hernández ◽  
Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo ◽  
Lucía Alcántara-Rubio ◽  
Dolores Limón-Domínguez
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Primary Education ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
The Other ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University ◽  
Work Done

This paper presents a methodology to evaluate (1) to what extent students of a higher degree in the field of education acquire sustainability competencies, and (2) to determine whether the subjects that develop the ESD achieve their learning objectives. The methodology is applied to a case study. The instruments used are the sustainability survey and the sustainability presence map developed by the EDINSOST project. The survey consists of 18 questions, and has been answered by 104 first-year students and 86 fourth-year students belonging to the Bachelor Degree in Primary Education Teaching at the University of Sevilla. The Mann-Whitney U test has been used to compare the results of the two groups, and Cohen's D has been used to measure the effect size. Students only obtain significant improvements, with 95% confidence, in three questions (Q4, Q5 and Q6), all concerning critical thinking and creativity. An improvement is also detected in question Q11, with a confidence of 90%. However, no subject in the curriculum develops the learning outcomes concerning questions Q4, Q5 and Q6, and only one subject develops the learning outcomes regarding question Q11. On the other hand, up to five subjects declare development of the learning outcomes regarding questions in which there is no improvement in student learning. These results suggest that the subjects are failing to reach their ESD learning objectives, and that the students are either trained in sustainability outside the university or the subject learning guides do not reflect the work done by the students throughout their studies

scholarly journals Health Sciences (HSS) Buddy Program: Evaluation of its First Year

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Mostafa Abdul-Fattah ◽  
Rita Hafizi ◽  
Hiba Abdul-Fattah ◽  
Sonia Gulati ◽  
Raywat Deonandan
Keyword(s):  
School Administrators ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
First Year ◽  
Student Needs ◽  
Older Students ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year

<p>In the 2011-2012 academic year, the HSS Buddy Program pilot project was implemented in the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa. Intended to address rising student anxiety levels, the program teamed freshmen (first year) students with groups of older students to promote more instances of casual social interaction. Participants’ perceptions of the program were universally positive in terms of how enjoyable it was, its usefulness, and its relevance to student needs. Suggested improvements include recruiting of more male participants, liaising with school administrators to help avoid scheduling conflicts, starting the program earlier in the academic year, and forming social groups with fewer students. Overall, the approach undertaken by the Buddy Program was seen to be a valuable one worthy of continuation and growth.</p>

scholarly journals UNIVERSITY-LEVEL DESIGN ENGINEERING CHALLENGES WITH STUDENT FEEDBACK

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Bazylak ◽  
Peter Wild
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Interdisciplinary Teams ◽  
Student Feedback ◽  
First Year ◽  
Design Engineering ◽  
Electromagnetic Model ◽  
University Level ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year

The Design Engineering Challenge Series is a set of design events organized by the University of Victoria Design Engineering Office to enhance the undergraduate student design experience. The first of the two events run in the series was the First Year Design Engineering Challenge. This event challenged first year engineering students to design and construct a microcontroller-directed electromagnetic model crane, in a single day. The second event had students from across campus working in interdisciplinary teams to design video games. Both events were extremely successful with follow up events planned for the next academic year.

Cross-linguistic influence in an oral translation task by L3 French learners

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarit Mutta
Keyword(s):  
High Probability ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Multilingual Students ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Probable Source ◽  
University Level ◽  
French Words ◽  
The University

This article addresses multilingual students’ lexical retrieval in L3 French at the university level. The aim was to study how Finnish L3 learners construct the meaning of cognate words that induce a high probability of cross-linguistic or intra-linguistic influence. The task was to orally translate 40 French words into L1 words (Finnish). These words were used to deliberately activate L3, L2 or L1 cognates. The corpus consisted of the productions of 12 first-year students (480 cases). The results show that participants gave the correct answer to a given word in 40% of cases. The results also show that intra-linguistic influence is the most probable source of both negative and positive effects and that cross-linguistic influence from L2 English was more important than that of L1. Nevertheless, well-learned common words seemed to resist this (combined) cross-linguistic influence. On the basis of the task, it can be concluded that cross-linguistic influence can vary considerably and that the source of the influence is not always clear. The analysis also revealed that on an oral translation task, the participants had recourse to different strategies based on form or form and meaning at various levels of success.

On the Learning of Auxiliary Use in the Referential Variety by Speakers of New Brunswick Acadian French

2008 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Balcom
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
First Year ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Directed Motion ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Acadian French ◽  
University Level ◽  
The University ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

AbstractThis study investigates the learning of Referential French by speakers of Acadian French at the university level. One difference between the two varieties lies in their use of auxiliaries in compound tenses. In Acadian French,avoiris used categorically in compound tenses with verbs of inherently directed motion and pronominal verbs, while Referential French usesêtre. A controlled-production task and an acceptability judgment task were administered to 80 speakers of New Brunswick Acadian French who were students at a francophone university in New Brunswick, 40 first-year students and 40 fourth-year students. Results show that, while there is still variability in the fourth-year students’ auxiliary use, their performance is significantly closer to Referential French than that of the first-year students.

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