PSYCHOSOCIAL INFLUENCES ON FIRST-YEAR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS LEARNING OUTCOMES IN CHINESE UNIVERSITIES

This study examined the psychosocial state of international students and the resultant effect on the students' first-year learning outcome. Of interest was whether participants first-year experiences would influence learning. We grounded this study on student involvement and psychosocial theories. A total of 600 international students from 83 Chinese Universities participated in an online survey. The psychosocial factors were measured with both the First Year University Experience Questionnaire and 12-point GHQ questionnaires and analysed with hierarchical multiple regression. The result was statistically significant explaining 24%, 27% and 33% variance on international students' learning outcomes, after controlling for all the psychosocial factors. Moreover, the results suggested the need for University administrators to provide counselling support and promote sustainable psychosocial oriented programs. KEYWORDS: First-year experiences, international students, learning outcomes, psychosocial influence

Fact or fiction? Library leadership of a campus-wide intellectual theme

Every year Illinois Wesleyan University organizes a campus-wide intellectual theme. In 2019, the Ames Library at Illinois Wesleyan proposed the topic of fact or fiction for the annual intellectual theme. This program is noteworthy to the profession because the intellectual themes are truly campus-wide, engaging students at all levels and integrating curricular and co-curricular components. These intellectual themes go beyond the more common shared first-year experiences or One Book, One School programs. This article is a brief case study of the library-led Fact or Fiction intellectual theme.

Credo’s Interactive FYE Guide: Practices for Enhancing Instruction

This FYE guide offers 5 chapters that cover first year experiences: orientation, collaboration, information literacy, assessment and student engagement.