Life Skills in University Curricula

2020 ◽  
pp. 82-106
Author(s):  
Janaronson Nagarajah ◽  
Jagmohan Singh Mejer ◽  
Nancy Lee Ming See
Keyword(s):  
Life Skills ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Mental Health Issues ◽  
Curriculum Framework ◽  
Human Skills ◽  
University Curricula

Recognizing that emotional intelligence (EI) skills are vital in supporting students' personal and professional success, two Life Skills modules have been embedded as compulsory Life Skills Programme for all first-year students in the Taylor's Curriculum Framework. This is in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution where the rapid advancement of technologies requires more human skills than ever before in job employment. Also, students entering universities face huge challenges in their transition, and the inability to cope will result in stress and mental health issues. This chapter describes the development and implementation of an experiential learning approach for a set of Life Skills courses. Commentary from students yielded important insights into their learning where 87% of students found the programme beneficial for their personal and social development. The findings highlight that universities can make conscious decisions to embed affective attributes in their curriculum to enhance student's overall wellbeing.

scholarly journals Mental Health and Academic Success of First-Year College Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tammy Jordan Wyatt ◽  
Sara B Oswalt ◽  
Yesenia Ochoa
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
College Students ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
College Health ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Mental Health Issues

The prevalence and severity of mental health issues are increasing among college students, and such issues pose a threat to health and academic performance. Responses from 66,159 undergraduate students about mental health and academics from the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment II were examined using regression analyses. Differences in mental health diagnoses were found by classification with first-year students reporting higher rates of self-injury and seriously considering suicide. Upperclassmen reported higher rates of academic impact from mental health factors. Findings indicate one’s first-year of college as the prime time to promote awareness of and strategies to prevent mental health issues or negative academic effects; implications for first-year experience programs are discussed. 

Detection and intervention in emerging youth mental health issues: Outcomes from the first year of the CASPAR service

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Yang ◽  
Jackie Curtis ◽  
Candice Jensen ◽  
Philippa Levy ◽  
Karen Chown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Youth Mental Health ◽  
First Year ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Mental Health Issues

scholarly journals Using a VLE to enhance a Foundation Chemistry laboratory module

2006 ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
Gareth J Price ◽  
June Chalmers ◽  
Clare Goodfellow
Keyword(s):  
Chemistry Laboratory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
The Past ◽  
Short Video ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The University

For the past few years, we have been experimenting with an e-learning approach to our introductory laboratory classes for first year students. Our overall objective was to maximise students’ useful time in the laboratory. We considered that time spent with students gathered around a desk watching a demonstration is not an efficient use of staff or students’ time.It is well recognised that students’ performance in the laboratory can be enhanced if they are familiar with the background of the experiments which will be conducted, hence the use of ‘pre-labs’. We have been delivering our ‘pre-labs’ electronically by requiring students to work through a package before coming to the laboratory. As well as covering the theory and background to the experiment, short video clips have been included so that students will also have seen the experiment being performed. They should at least recognise the apparatus! The package concludes with a short assessment quiz which must be completed.The packages were mounted on the University network using WebCT and meant that students could undertake the exercises at a time (and place) of their choosing rather than being confined to set laboratory hours.This communication will describe the packages and our experiences as well as an initial evaluation of our approach. Although largely anecdotal, staff felt that they spent less time on more mundane aspects of laboratory work and more time discussing chemistry.Students also felt that they were better prepared for the experiments before they came to the laboratory. Some of the pitfalls and technical problems that had to be overcome willalso be described.

scholarly journals Use of Resources, People and Approaches by Accounting Students in a Blending Learning Environment

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Patricia O'Keefe ◽  
◽  
Jane H. Rienks ◽  
Bernadette Smith ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Accounting Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Unit Design ◽  
Accounting Unit ◽  
Flexible Resource ◽  
Low Levels

This research investigates how students used or “blended” the various learning resources, including people, while studying a compulsory, first year accounting unit. The unit design incorporated a blended learning approach. The study was motivated by perceived low rates of attendance and low levels of communication with lecturers which raised concerns that students were not managing their learning in this flexible, resource- and choice-rich environment. Students were surveyed to identify what resources and study approaches they relied on. The results showed that different students used resources and approaches in a diversity of ways to produce individual and distinctive “blends” even when several core strategies appeared to exist. This research demonstrates (1) that first-year students can choose and utilise resources in a great variety of ways when they control what and how they blend, and (2) the potential importance to students of genuine flexibility in how they interact with their learning environment.

scholarly journals Transforming Rural Family Medicine Curriculum From Experiential to Virtual: A Response to COVID-19 Limitations

PRiMER ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
James G. Boulger ◽  
Emily Onello
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
University Of Minnesota ◽  
Rural Medicine ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Rural Family ◽  
Second Year ◽  
The University ◽  
Rural Physician

Cessation of all classroom and clinical activities in the spring of 2020 for first- and second-year medical students at the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth campus both forced and enabled revision of rural medicine instruction and experiences. Creatively utilizing rural family physicians and third-year rural physician associate medical students to interact with first-year students virtually in a number of areas and using electronic connectivity enabled the institution to continue to emphasize rural medical health issues with the students.

scholarly journals Cognitive Growth Learning Model to Improve the Students’ Critical Thinking Skills

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-123
Author(s):  
Aprilia Nurul Chasanah
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Differential Calculus ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Inductive Reasoning ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Cognitive Growth ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Central Java

The ability to think critically and mathematically is strongly needed so that the students are able to face the challenges of 4.0 industrial revolution. By thinking critically, they are expected to be more adaptive in finding solutions to each problem. This study aims to identify the students' mathematical critical thinking skills in solving differential calculus problem solving based on some indicators of mathematical critical thinking skills in learning using cognitive growth model. This is a Classroom Action Research (CAR) which was caried out within four weeks in the odd semester of academic year 2018/2019. The subjects of this study were the first-year students of the Mathematics Education Program in one of higher education institutions in Magelang, Central Java who took the Differential Calculus course. Data collection techniques in this study were test, observation, and interviews. The test results were then analyzed quantitatively, and the indicators of critical thinking skills in each question were also described. Based on the results of the study, it can be shown that about 30% students who begin to think critically is initiated by achieving the indicator of analyzing the arguments. However, not all students who begin to think critically are also able to draw conclusions precisely through deductive and inductive reasoning. There are only five or 16.67% who have been able to draw conclusions correctly.

scholarly journals Peer support for undergraduate children’s nursing students

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Fiona Cust ◽  
Keeley Guest
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Students ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
First Year ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Staffing Levels ◽  
Support Programme ◽  
Clinical Support ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Pastoral Support

Background and objective: The provision of appropriate ‘pastoral’ support for nursing students is acknowledged to be problematic for a variety of reasons, (time constraints, staffing levels, unmanageable workloads). The need to initiate and access more suitable support is imperative – particularly in the light of the increasing number of students suffering with mental health issues. This study examines the dynamics of a student peer support programme over a two-year period. Twenty-one first year students (child field) gave fully informed consent to being involved in a peer support study. Nineteen second year students (again, child field) consented to being peer supporters for the junior students.Methods: The team, consisting of two academics and two clinicians, explored the relatively simple option of second year nursing students ‘peer supporting’ first year students in various aspects of their training over a two-year period – from social support, academic support, pastoral support and clinical support. An evaluation of the initiative was through a questionnaire at four separate intervals over the two-year period.Results: The results were hugely positive, and encouraging. Both cohorts of student found the intervention accessible, supportive, and sustainable. Peer support may be a relatively straightforward, and simple concept to assist junior nursing students in their often very complex, and overwhelming, transition.

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