scholarly journals A Proposed Plan to Implement Core Competencies and High-Impact Educational Practices in Saudi Universities in Light of The Experiences of Some International Universities

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 223-240
Author(s):  
Hisham Saad Zaghloul ◽  
Jehan Abd-Alwahab Alandejani ◽  
Yousef Khader Sanajlawe
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
High Impact ◽  
First Year ◽  
Educational Practices ◽  
Survey Analysis ◽  
Indiana University ◽  
First Year Seminars ◽  
The Impact

Although first-year seminars and experiences have been widely considered as a high-impact educational practice, which is used to enhance academic performance, retention, and acquisition of critical 21st Century outcomes, first-year seminars and experiences tend to be loosely defined and assessed in prior studies to highlight its importance in improving the education process as a whole; therefore, this study aims to assess the impact of highimpact educational practices (HIEPs) in preparatory years in Saudi Arabia and international universities, then proposing a plan for efficiently implementing HIEPs in higher education institutions. To achieve that, case-based analysis and the survey analysis method were used wherein qualitative examination of practices in University of California and Indiana University and quantitative assessment of (130) faculty members and students’ perception of Northern Border University was conducted. Case analysis revealed that international universities implement practices suited for their institution and not the stated one i.e., Health Professional Advising Center, undergraduate research programs, or Capital academic internship program in University California, while undergraduate research, service-learning practices, or learning community in Indiana University. Survey analysis on the other hand stated that consisting of the above (20_ years respondents, implementation of core competencies and HIEPs helps in exploring relevant issues and controversies, linking of knowledge and skills, and better students and faculty bond which raise teaching and learning experience. Results revealed that core competencies and HIEPs have a significant influence on the teaching and learning outcomes. As result, an efficient implementation the plan is proposed to activate HIEPs and core competencies in the preparatory year at Saudi universities.

scholarly journals Understanding the University and Faculty Investment in Implementing High-Impact Educational Practices

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison White
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
High Impact ◽  
First Year ◽  
Educational Practices ◽  
High Impact Practices ◽  
Completion Agenda ◽  
Cumulative Learning ◽  
The University

A variety of assessment options utilizing high-impact educational practices have emerged to assist faculty in higher education with college student learning outcomes. High-impact practices are defined as teaching and learning designs which have been demonstrated to increase student engagement and persistence. Practices such as first-year seminars, tech-rich learning communities, collaborative projects, undergrad research, global/diversity learning, service learning, practicums, and internships are educational tools making it possible to assess the practices’ contribution to students’ cumulative learning. However, utilization of these practices is unsystematic due in part to the required investment of time, training, and money. This paper describes high-impact practices that support course and program level learning outcomes in conjunction with the investments for implementation. Exploration into why these types of practices are effective and which students have access to them emphasizes the need for this investment to meet accreditation standards and the mandates of our government’s “completion agenda” geared towards preparing America’s future workforce.

scholarly journals 19. Evidence in Support of Removing Boundaries to Undergraduate Research Experiences

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Haave ◽  
Doris Audet
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Educational Practices ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Final Grade ◽  
Correlational Data ◽  
The Impact

Undergraduate research is one of several high impact educational practices used by educational institutions to increase student engagement and success (Kuh, 2008). Many studies on the impact of undergraduate research have surveyed students or faculty on their personal experience and its influence on students’ subsequent degrees and employment (Brownell & Swaner, 2010). These studies have documented the ability of high impact educational practices to have the greatest influence on those students who self-identify as belonging to a minority or disadvantaged group. Few studies, however, have documented the impact on students with lower grades.  The privilege of being admitted to an undergraduate research experience (e.g., an independent studies course) is typically reserved for upper-year students who have proven themselves academically. This paper presents correlational data from our campus showing that academically weaker students have a greater increase in academic performance between prior grade point average (GPA) and final grade in an independent studies course than academically stronger students. In addition, student annual GPA data shows that the impact of undergraduate research serves to raise student GPA in the year of an independent studies course. Although the findings are based on data from one small campus, they do raise the question that if undergraduate research has the greatest impact on academically weaker students and accelerates academic maturity, is limiting registration into these courses on the basis of superior GPA and years of study placing inappropriate boundaries on student learning?

scholarly journals Developing Faculty Communities of Practice to Expand the Use of Effective Pedagogical Techniques

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Hoyert ◽  
Cynthia O'Dell
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
First Year ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
Pedagogical Techniques ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Faculty Group

The scholarship of teaching and learning literature is replete with examples of pedagogical techniques that have been demonstrated to be effective in improving learning, motivation, and student success. The extension of these techniques beyond the original context has tended to be slow, difficult, and incomplete. The following paper examines an intervention designed to encourage the exploration and use of a variety of pedagogical techniques by faculty in a traditional, four-year college faculty within the context of the AASCU Re-imagining the First Year Initiative. Small groups of six to eight faculty, joined and created communities of practice. The groups were known as Pedagogical Interest Groups, or PIGs for short. The faculty read about and analyzed a series of pedagogical techniques and committed to introducing at least one technique into their courses to further explore the techniques. When the techniques were successful, the faculty members redesigned entire classes to expand the impact. The communities of practice were successful in encouraging faculty to explore a wide variety of techniques. The average faculty group explored eight different pedagogical techniques. Faculty were able to use the opportunity to experiment with techniques with the support from their colleagues in their PIG. A dozen techniques were explored across the PIGs and dozens of class sections have been completely redesigned. To date, over 2000 students have experienced redesigned courses. Measures of student success, satisfaction, and interest in those sections have increased. The effort has been accompanied by a robust increase in the campus-wide retention rates. ​

scholarly journals A Case Study on Experiential Learning in a First-Year General Education Course

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niki Weller ◽  
Julie Saam
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Student Success ◽  
General Education ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Collaborative ◽  
Indiana University ◽  
High Impact Practices

Experiential-learning provides opportunities for students that feature a variety of high-impact practices including first-year seminars, internships, community learning, collaborative projects, and capstone seminars. To offer these high-impact practices for students, faculty from across disciplines and majors must be willing to incorporate these opportunities within their courses and degrees. Indiana University Kokomo has offered two successful programs to support these high-impact practices. One program, the Kokomo Experience and You (KEY), supports faculty in the development and implementation of events and activities to support student learning. The other, the Student Success Academy Faculty Fellows Program, provided faculty members the opportunity to examine research and concepts so that they can better promote student success in their classrooms. Building on the success of these two programs, a third initiative, the Experiential Learning Academy (ELA), was launched in 2018, funded by a Reimagining the First Years mini-grant from AASCU.

scholarly journals Impact of first-year seminar on student engagement, awareness, and general attitudes toward higher education

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bothaina A. Al-Sheeb ◽  
Mahmoud Samir Abdulwahed ◽  
Abdel Magid Hamouda
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
First Year ◽  
Content Type ◽  
College Of Law ◽  
First Year Seminars ◽  
Campus Resources ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Year Seminar

Purpose This study intends to add to the existing body of literature on the impact of a newly implemented first year seminar in the College of Law and Business. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects the course have on students in regard to three aspects: student awareness and utilization of resources, interaction patterns, as well as, general interests and attitudes toward higher education. Design/methodology/approach The methodology of the assessment included analysis of a survey that has been conducted by the end of Spring 2014 semester. A quasi-experimental design was implemented to measure the impact of the intervention on students’ awareness and utilization of resources, interactions, general interests, and attitudes toward higher education. Through the SPSS application, the Mann Whitney U Test, and χ2 tests were used to check for significant differences while comparing the means or frequencies for both groups. For the three questions, the authors have used the 90 percent confidence level and the standard significance level p-value of 0.05 or less for statistical analysis. Findings The results indicated that the course had a highly significant positive impact on student attitudes and awareness of campus resources but had less significant impact on student interactions and utilization of resources. The results in this study reveal a positive impact for the first-year seminar course on student satisfaction and attitudes toward higher education as well as their awareness of campus resources. However, in terms of the course impact on student interaction, results conveyed that students who have participated in the first-year seminar course show a slightly better interaction rate with instructors, academic advisors, and close friends than those in the control group. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of this study was that the sample was small. Nonetheless, it has provided valuable insights into the understanding of the social and academic impact of first-year seminars on student engagement; through the use of comparison groups, this study increased the validity of prior research. Practical implications The first-year seminar course evaluated in this study demonstrated the potential to support and enhance student social and academic engagement during the first year of college. Based on the results in this study, the study team recommended some revisions to the current first-year seminar model (UNIV P100 Skills for University Success). The team proposed three models for subsequent first-year seminars at this university. Originality/value This study adds to the existing literature by examining the impact of a newly implemented first-year seminar course at the College of Law and Business at this university on both academic and non-academic aspects from the students’ perspective. These aspects were selected as retention and GPA effects have been widely explored; therefore, the focus is on the less studied emotional and social factors associated with student success and retention. The results from this study can act as a guide for universities intending to introduce a first-year seminar course as it gives clear guidelines on design, content, and course implementation, which can be useful in enhancing general student motivation and attitudes toward academic study and higher education in general.

scholarly journals Community, Connections and Innovation in Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-168
Author(s):  
Sandra Healy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
First Year ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Community Connections ◽  
First Year University ◽  
The Impact

The emergence of the Covid-19 virus had an enormous impact on all of our lives and significantly affected the lives of first-year university students in Japan who began their tertiary education during the initial lockdown. This chapter examines the impact the move online had on these students by analysing videos created by them as part of their academic English as a Foreign Language (EFL) coursework. The videos were analysed, and 12 themes emerged which were used as a foundation for new practices focusing on the development of community and connections in online courses, particularly the use of e-mentors.

The Impact of Curricular Interventions on Intended Second Year Re-Enrollment

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Keup
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Interactive Relationship ◽  
Second Year ◽  
First Year Seminars ◽  
Cooperative Institutional Research Program ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Curricular Interventions

Utilizing data from the national administration of a Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) baseline and follow-up survey of the first-year experience during the 2002–2003 academic year, this study explores the relationship between three curricular interventions—first-year seminars, service-learning, and learning communities—and the longitudinal process of first-to-second year retention. The findings from descriptive analyses showed that there are numerous positive relationships between these three interventions and integrative first-year experiences as defined by Tinto's (1987, 1993) longitudinal model of departure. Further, logistic regression suggests that service-learning courses have an indirect impact on the intent to re-enroll for a second year of college, while first-year seminars and learning communities may have an interactive relationship in their impact on the outcome measure.

The Impact of Clustering First Year Seminars with English Composition Courses on New Students' Retention Rates

2001 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Crissman
Keyword(s):  
Retention Rates ◽  
English Composition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
Independent College ◽  
Composition Course ◽  
New Students ◽  
First Year Seminars ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Year Seminar

Research has shown that two effective programs that positively impact upon new students' retention are first year seminars and clustering two or more academic courses together. This article discusses the results of one institution's approach to increasing student retention. The study analyzed the impact of clustering a first year seminar with an English composition course on new students' retention rates at a small, independent college in the northeast. The study, using multivariate regression models, showed no statistical difference in retention rates between students taking a clustered first year seminar and students taking a nonclustered first year seminar. This article discusses reasons that may account for the inconsistency with the literature, and closes with implications of the study and future research ideas.

Using US Tuning to effect: The American Historical Association’s Tuning Project and the first year research paper

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Belanger
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
First Year ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
High Impact Practice

While research has long been recognized as a high impact practice in undergraduate education, much of the scholarship on undergraduate research has focused on students in the final years of their degree. This article describes a study of the ability of first year students to undertake historical research in an introductory level course at a small liberal arts college. It discusses the challenges that first year student’s face in interpreting primary sources, working with multiple sources and crafting arguments based narratives about their findings. It also documents how a research paper assignment advances students’ historical thinking skills and contribute to the development of what the American Historical Association has termed the “core competencies” in the discipline.

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