Online Networking

2013 ◽  
pp. 189-210
Author(s):  
Josh McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
National Survey ◽  
First Year ◽  
University Culture ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Design Students ◽  
Local Students ◽  
The University

This chapter explores the use of Facebook in helping immerse international students into Australian university culture at a first year level by furthering the development of academic and social relationships between peers. The study was initiated in response to a national survey that found 65% of international students experience periods of loneliness and isolation when studying in Australia; moreover, one of the key triggers for this loneliness is an inability to develop academic relationships with peers, particularly local students, during the early stages of their university careers. 100 first year design students (including 23 international students) took part in the semester-long study, as part of the course “Imaging Our World” at the University of Adelaide. Every two weeks, students were required to submit images to an online gallery in Facebook and to provide critiques on peers’ submissions. The gallery topics were broad in nature, and open to the students’ own interpretations, allowing for a concurrently wide range of images in each. The galleries gave students the opportunity to connect with their peers in a virtual environment, and develop academic relationships freed from the constraints of the classroom and their own inhibitions. Discussions between students often evolved from formal, academic critiques to informal social interactions as embryonic online connections were formed. The study was considered to have been a success, due to Facebook’s engaging and interactive qualities, the students’ existing interest and experience with the software, and their eagerness to connect with their peers.

scholarly journals Learning in Facebook: First year tertiary student reflections from 2008 to 2011

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Online Learning Environment ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Online Forum ◽  
Student Cohorts ◽  
Design Students ◽  
The University ◽  
Technological University ◽  
Student Reflections

<p>This paper reflects on the use of Facebook as an online learning environment for first year design students from 2008 to 2011. Between 2008 and 2010 three student cohorts from the University of Adelaide engaged with their peers through forums hosted by Facebook, submitting work-in-progress imagery and critiquing peers' submissions. In 2011 the study expanded to include national and international collaborators with first year cohorts from Swinburne University in Australia, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore also participating, allowing students to interact with their global peers. The online forum facilitated increased peer interaction, particularly between local and international students, and improved academic performance as a result of consistent feedback from a range of sources. At the end of 2011 students from the four participating cohorts between 2008 and 2011 were invited to take part in a survey reflecting on and evaluating the learning experiences in Facebook. The results highlighted many positive outcomes regarding the online forum, and have led to the establishment of a series of recommendations for the future use of Facebook as a learning tool, outlined at the conclusion of this paper.</p><p> </p>

scholarly journals Developing “SotonSmartSkills”: A Reflection on Scaffolded Independent Learning Programmes

2016 ◽  
pp. 209-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Mar-Molinero ◽  
Christian Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Professional Life ◽  
Independent Learning ◽  
Language Resources ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The University

By focussing on the physical and virtual space of a Language Resources Centre and the development of a wide set of digital literacies skills, this article discusses the SotonSmartSkills (Mar-Molinero & Lewis, 2014) programme developed at the University of Southampton, UK. Through a wide range of scaffolded courses designed to support the transition to the learner autonomy required of students in Higher Education, the programme equips students with skills, strategies, techniques and tools vital for success in their language learning (for international students) and more generally, in their academic achievement and professional life. In this paper we illustrate this initiative with the specific example of an integrated SotonSmartSkills module on our Pre-Sessional English programmes

scholarly journals INCORPORATING A COMMUNITY-BASED RAPID MANUFACTURING FACILITY INTO A FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING DESIGN COURSE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Wlodyka ◽  
Bruno Tomberli
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
First Year ◽  
Design Tools ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Laboratory Equipment ◽  
Manufacturing Facility ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Design Students ◽  
Manufacturing Technologies ◽  
The University

University engineering departments are often challenged to maintain state of the art manufacturing facilities due to the rapid technological changes that are occurring in industry. Older or obsolete engineering laboratory equipment, manufacturing machines, and design tools are difficult to replace due to limited department budgets, space, and staff resources.At Capilano University, where a hands-on project-based one semester first year engineering design class is offered, the Engineering department has taken a novel approach to meet the above challenge.The Engineering Design students are required to design, build, and test original prototype electrical circuits, and mechanical structures as part of their design projects. Construction of these student-designed units requires a rapid turnaround manufacturing facility to meet the peak demands of the students, capabilities that smaller universities are often limited in their ability to provide.To meet this specific requirement, a community-based private rapid prototyping design and manufacturing facility, Zen Maker Labs, was approached, and a partnership agreement has been developed. The agreement consisted of cooperation between the university and the Zen Maker Lab to support up to 60 engineering design students. The students were provided with tools, safety training, and support for manufacturing. The facility has provided CAD design stations, several 3D printers, laser cutters, and numerically controlled milling machines to support manufacturing of student designs. Access to the manufacturing facility was initially provided on subscription basis, where students used the library to “sign-out” membership cards, and access the facility on a controlled,  supervised basis. The controlling of student numbers through the  university library provided a method for managing student access to themanufacturing facility over a period of 8-10 weeks. This arrangement for laboratory access has recently been expanded through a revised collaboration arrangement, and has provided engineering design students with handson experience with several manufacturing technologies and CAD engineering modelling and design tools.

scholarly journals Atomic orbitals and their representation: can 3-D computer graphics help conceptual understanding?

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-325
Author(s):  
Jorge Trindade ◽  
Carlos Fiolhais ◽  
Victor Gil
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Visualization Techniques ◽  
The University ◽  
First Year University ◽  
Partial Success

Quantum mechanics is a non-intuitive subject. For example, the concept of orbital seems too difficult to be mastered by students who are starting to study it. Various investigations have been done on student's difficulties in understanding basic quantum mechanics. Nevertheless, there are few attempts at probing how student's understanding is influenced by appropriate visualization techniques, which are known to help conceptual understanding. ''Virtual Water'' is a 3-D virtual environment we have designed and built to support the learning of Physics and Chemistry at final high school and first-year university levels. It focuses on the microscopic structure of water and explores, among others, atomic and molecular orbitals. Having asked a group of first-year students of Sciences and Engineering courses at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, to describe how they conceive electrons in atoms we found some common misconceptions. We have tried, with partial success, to overcome them by making students explore our virtual environment. The most relevant characteristics of the virtual environment which contributed to student's conceptual understanding were 3-D perception and navigation.

scholarly journals Adaptation Challenges Faced by Pakistani University Entrants

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-51
Author(s):  
Fareeha Javed
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Environmental Adaptation ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
University Culture ◽  
The University

This paper reports on a study conducted to explore the challenges faced by Pakistani university entrants in adapting to university culture. Several studies have been conducted on first-year experience and challenges faced by students in adaptation to university culture globally. However, this was the first study conducted on this topic in the Pakistani context. Key adaptation categories studied were: academic, social, linguistic, and environmental adaptation. The data was collected through a quantitative questionnaire dispensed to 180 first year undergraduate students enrolled in a public-sector university in Pakistan. The findings revealed that many of the adaptation challenges faced by the Pakistani university entrants in this study are similar to those in the Western contexts and other international settings. However, this study also found that some demands of the university culture pose bigger challenges to the Pakistani university entrants.

scholarly journals Teaching English for Academic Purposes in the KU Academic Accelerator Program

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Marcellino Berardo ◽  
Kellie Smith Herrod
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
International Students ◽  
General Education ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
The University

The Kansas University Academic Accelerator Program (KUAAP) is new to the University and brings with it a reconceptualization of the first year experience for newly arrived international students who have not yet fulfilled the University’s English as a second language requirements. In their first two terms, international students in KUAAP take classes in English for academic purposes (EAP) alongside General Education (Gen Ed) courses. By their third term, students no longer take EAP classes.

Spinning Stories: Communicating Internationalization Through Organizational Storytelling

2019 ◽  
pp. 102831531989365
Author(s):  
Melissa Laufer
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Change Processes ◽  
Intended Audience ◽  
University Environment ◽  
University Culture ◽  
Organizational Storytelling ◽  
Local Students ◽  
Internal Stakeholders ◽  
The University

Despite the positive outcomes often associated with internationalization, internal stakeholders do not always welcome the changes it brings. This reaction is echoed in the numerous studies highlighting the problematic relationships between international and local students and the critical to resistant reactions among faculty members. In response to these challenges, this study explores organizational storytelling as a method for communicating internationalization within universities. Organizational storytelling has been found to be a powerful tool for sensemaking, reducing resistance, and generating support during organizational change processes. This study follows how a university taskforce employed three story templates—the Principle Story, the Approval Story, and the Unexceptional Story—to communicate about and implement a large-scale internationalization project in a diverse and change resistant university environment. Although sharing similarities, these storylines were given different “spins” by storytellers depending on their position and the intended audience as well as influenced by the university culture.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Stress Perception in International and Local First Semester Medical Students Using Psychometric, Psychophysiological, and Humoral Methods

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 2820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Huhn ◽  
Carolin Schmid ◽  
Rebecca Erschens ◽  
Florian Junne ◽  
Anne Herrmann-Werner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Professional Efficacy ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Hair Samples ◽  
Stress Levels ◽  
Students First ◽  
Local Students ◽  
First Year Medical Students

(1) Medical doctors and medical students show increased psychological stress levels. International medical students seem to be particularly vulnerable. (2) We compared different methods of assessing stress levels in international and local first year medical students. First, study participants completed questionnaires related to stress, depression, empathy, and self-efficacy (MBI, PSQ, PHQ-9, JSPE-S, and GSE) at three separate points in time (T1 to T3). Second, their heart rate variabilities (HRVs) were recorded in an oral examination, a seminar, and in a relaxing situation. Third, hair samples were collected at the beginning and at the end of the semester to assess the cortisol concentration. (3) Included were 20 international and 20 local first semester medical students. At T1, we found considerable differences between international and local students in the JSPE-S; at T2 in the MBI factor “professional efficacy”, the PHQ-9, and in the JSPE-S; and at T3 in the MBI factors “cynicism” and “professional efficacy”, the PHQ-9, and in the JSPE-S. International and local students also differed concerning their HRVs during relaxation. Over the course of the semester, international students showed changes in the MBI factors “emotional exhaustion” and “professional efficacy”, the PHQ-9, and the GSE. Local students showed changes in the GSE. No effects were found for students’ hair cortisol concentrations. (4) All participants showed low levels of stress. However, while international students experienced their stress levels to decrease over the course of the semester, local students found their stress levels to increase.

scholarly journals Blended learning environments: Using social networking sites to enhance the first year experience

2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
University Culture ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Meaningful Relationships ◽  
The University

<span>This study explores blending virtual and physical learning environments to enhance the experience of first year by immersing students into university culture through social and academic interaction between peers. It reports on the progress made from 2008 to 2009 using an existing academic platform, the first year design elective course </span><em>Imaging Our World</em><span>, in the School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Adelaide. Over one semester, 120 design students, including 27 internationals, engaged with their peers through an online forum within the host site </span><em>Facebook</em><span>, in addition to the traditional teaching mechanisms of lectures and tutorials. Students were required to submit work online to </span><em>Facebook</em><span> and provide critiques of peers' submissions. Resulting discussions were then transferred into the physical classroom with the aim of building meaningful relationships between peers based on the embryonic online connections. The evaluation process involved pre and post semester questionnaires, weekly feedback from students and project-specific reflections at the completion of the semester. The findings are discussed in light of the conflicting attitudes and assumptions regarding the 'digital native' student cohort, and the use of social media to support learning and teaching in higher education.</span>

scholarly journals A Sense of Belonging

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanda Hadley
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disability ◽  
Student Development ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Students With Learning Disabilities ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Culture ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The University

First-year students that identify as having a learning disability are an at-risk subgroup of students self-identifying on college campuses. Many of these students choose not to disclose their learning disability upon admissions to the university because of their concern about being accepted in the university culture. This research is from a two year study of the experiences of a group of first-year students with learning disabilities transitioning to a private, selective, coeducational, 4-year University in the Midwest. Qualitative data of focus group interviews and semi-structured individual interviews present the findings of the study. Chickering (1969) and Chickering and Reisser’s (1993) stages of student development theory are presented through Hadley’s (2009) interpretation of their experiences.

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