scholarly journals Assessment in the One-Shot Session: Using Pre- and Post-tests to Measure Innovative Instructional Strategies among First-Year Students

2013 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 574-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacalyn E. Bryan ◽  
Elana Karshmer

Many studies focus on the use of different assessment tools within information literacy instruction; however, there are very few that discuss how pre- and post-tests can be used to gauge student learning, and even fewer of those published deal with pre- and post-test assessment within the one-shot paradigm. This study explores the effectiveness of using nonlinguistic representations—kinesthetic, graphic, and physical models—in one-shot library sessions for first-year students in SLU 100 Introduction to the University Experience. As hypothesized, the findings suggest that the use of such representations can enhance student learning and assist in developing research skills that are essential to acquiring information literacy.

Author(s):  
Семен Резник ◽  
Semen Reznik ◽  
М. Черниковская ◽  
M. Chernikovskaya ◽  
Е. Носова ◽  
...  

<p>The article is devoted to the problem of adaptation of first-year students to the conditions for mastering educational programs at the university. It is based on the results of monitoring of students of Russian higher educational institutions within the framework of the research "Change in Composition and Life Priorities of Students of Higher Educational Institutions and Their Social Stability ", executed by the Penza State University of Architecture and Construction. More than 400 students from 13 state universities in 5 federal districts of Russia took part in the monitoring.</p><p>The article features the results of monitoring of Russian students concerning their readiness for higher educational institutions. The results of the monitoring showed that the problem of adaptation of first-year students is a major issue, which still remains a subject for discussions while being the foundation of education in junior courses. The paper defines the concept of adaptation, presents the types and functions of the student's social adaptation and summarizes the conclusions of the study. Some proposals to improve the adaptation of first-year students have been developed and implemented.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-14
Author(s):  
Eva Costiander-Huldén ◽  
Linda Nisula ◽  
Anna Sundberg

How can information literacy (IL) courses be organized into the curriculum in the best possible way for first-year students at Finnish universities? This question has been discussed time and time again. At Åbo Akademi University we have, since fall 2015, developed a course in Academic study skills where IL is included in the course. This means that IL is now for the first time included in all study programmes at the university. The IL module is, however, implemented in different ways in different faculties. In this article, we will focus on the method of embedded learning of IL in the study programme of Chemical Engineering, as it was implemented during the fall semester 2015 for all freshmen. For the first time the library was involved in a “hands-on” project with practical tasks at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The students were motivated to learn how to search for information and how to improve their skills in reference management, and they passed the course.


2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasa Brouwer ◽  
Lilia Ekimova ◽  
Magdalena Jasinska ◽  
Leendert van Gastel ◽  
Eglė Virgailaitė-Mečkauskaitė

There is growing concern in Europe that some students are not well-equipped to start a Bachelor's or Master's programme, especially when the programme has a strong mathematical focus. In particular, attention is drawn to problems with mathematics in the transition from secondary to higher education. Higher education expects a certain level of algebraic skills and not all incoming students are able to comply with that expectation. Consequently, more institutes are developing preparatory and remedial courses to refresh or remediate algebraic skills in first-year students, and IT tools are often used to enhance their learning experience. This paper focuses on the use of frequent online assessment powered by a mathematical engine, Maple TA. The authors analyse two redesigns of mathematics courses using Maple TA at the University of Amsterdam. These courses were taken by 650 students in the Faculties of Science and of Economics and Business. In general, the students' response was positive, although the economics students were more positive than the science students. Teachers were pleased with the redesigns and indicated that the use of online assessment tools for innovation in classroom teaching was straightforward.


1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-63
Author(s):  
Edward A. Holdaway ◽  
Karen R. Kelloway

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."


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Grogan

This article reports on and discusses the experience of a contrapuntal approach to teaching poetry, explored during 2016 and 2017 in a series of introductory poetry lectures in the English 1 course at the University of Johannesburg. Drawing together two poems—Warsan Shire’s “Home” and W.H. Auden’s “Refugee Blues”—in a week of teaching in each year provided an opportunity for a comparison that encouraged students’ observations on poetic voice, racial identity, transhistorical and transcultural human experience, trauma and empathy. It also provided an opportunity to reflect on teaching practice within the context of decoloniality and to acknowledge the need for ongoing change and review in relation to it. In describing the contrapuntal teaching and study of these poems, and the different methods employed in the respective years of teaching them, I tentatively suggest that canonical Western and contemporary postcolonial poems may reflect on each other in unique and transformative ways. I further posit that poets and poems that engage students may open the way into initially “less relevant” yet ultimately rewarding poems, while remaining important objects of study in themselves.


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (_sup1) ◽  
pp. 81-97
Author(s):  
Thana Hmidani

This study took place at a medical college with 57 Arabic first-year students taking an intensive English course. The aim was to address the problems that learners experience when using the English tenses properly. The didactic model was developed and implemented in the study group only (27 students). Pre, mid-, and post-tests were administered to study and control groups at three points in time. The model is a selection of aspects from different methods combined aiming to lead participants to a higher level of linguistic competence in terms of language awareness, reading and writing skills, and vocubulary building. The results indicated statistically significant differences in the post-test between the two groups over time regarding the level of linguistic competence.


Author(s):  
Evgeniya N. Popova

The issue of adaptation of modern first-year students to the educational process at the university is one of the current pedagogical tasks. Successful adaptation significantly affects the quality of received education, the degree of formation of personal and professional qualities, contributes to the development of motivation, self-education, and self-development. The purpose of the research is to substantiate the criteria, indicators, and levels of adaptation of first-year students to the learning process at the university. The material for the study was the domestic scientific sources of studying the peculiarities of the adaptation process of students to educational activities in higher education. Research methods: analysis and generalization of psychological-pedagogical and educational-methodical literature on the research topic. We determine as the main criteria for the adaptation of first-year students to the university, the adaptive potential and professionally important qualities of students, consider these concepts, their structure, and their basic properties. On the basis of the analysis and generalization of the existing indicators of the implementation of the adaptive potential, we formulate the author's indicators for determining the level of its development. The degree of formation of professionally important qualities of students are low, medium, and high levels of development of emotional intelligence, negative communicative attitude, intellectual lability, and stress tolerance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 154-178
Author(s):  
Heba Almbayed

The study aimed to analyze the reality of e-learning at Palestine Technical University-Khudouri/Tulkarem, and to identify the most important challenges facing students when using the education system, as well as to analyze the extent to which university students interact with the e-learning system, and to show the differences between the average opinions of the study sample on e-learning according to the study variables due to the nature of the study, the descriptive analytical approach was used, in order to reach practical results, and to achieve and analyze the reality of e-learning  a questionnaire consisting of (34) paragraphs was designed, where the study community consisted of (6,559) students, and a simple random sample of (522) students was taken, and the questionnaire was distributed electronically because it was not able to be distributed manually due to the prevailing conditions _ the spread of the Corona pandemic- at the time of the preparation of the study. The results of the study showed that (63.136%) of the researched believe that the reality of e-learning at the university suffers from different problems. The study indicated that (87.97%) among respondents, complaints have increased in the e-learning system after the Corona pandemic and that (81.36%) among the researchers, the infrastructure was one of the most barriers in e-learning. While (63.934%)of the researched that e-learning has a role to play in achieving Interaction among students, as the results of the study showed no differences Statistically significant to the reality of e-learning according to the gender variable, and there are no differences depending on the variable of the scientific qualification except in the field of e-learning reality, there are also no differences Statistics according to the variable of the academic level ,except for the field of Interaction with students. In the light of the results of the study, a series of recommendations were made, the most prominent of which were: 1.Include an e-learning system item in The computer course assigned as a university requirement for first-year students 2. Provide opportunities to train and develop the capabilities of all educational parties to use and apply E-learning.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Benjamin Amoakohene

Writing is considered as a daunting task in second language learning. It is argued by most scholars that this challenge is not only limited to second language speakers of English but even to those who speak English as their first language. Thus, the ability to communicate effectively in English by both native and non-native speakers requires intensive and specialized instruction. Due to the integral role that writing plays in students’ academic life, academic literacy has garnered considerable attention in several English-medium universities in which Ghanaian universities are no exception. It is therefore surprising that prominence is not given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS). In this paper, I argue for much time and space to be given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills, a programme that seeks to train students to acquire the needed skills and competence in English for their academic and professional development. This argument is based on the findings that came out after I explored the errors in a corpus of 50 essays written by first year students of  UHAS. The findings revealed that after going through the Communicative Skills programme for two semesters, students still have serious challenges of writing error-free texts. Out of the 50 scripts that were analyzed, 1,050 errors were detected. The study further revealed that 584 (55.6%) of these errors were related to grammatical errors, 442 (42.1%) were mechanical errors and 24 (2.3%) of the errors detected were linked to the poor structuring of  sentences. Based on these findings, recommendations and implications which are significant to educators, policy makers and curriculum developers are provided. This study has implications for pedagogy and further research in error analysis. 


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