Academic performance & student engagement in level 1 physics undergraduates

At the beginning of academic year 2007-08, staff in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Glasgow started to implement a number of substantial changes to the administration of the level 1 physics undergraduate class. The main aims were to improve the academic performance and progression statistics. With this in mind, a comprehensive system of learning support was introduced, the main remit being the provision of an improved personal contact and academic monitoring and support strategy for all students at level 1. The effects of low engagement with compulsory continuous assessment components had already been observed to have a significant effect for students sitting in the middle of the grade curve. Analysis of data from the 2007-08 class showed that even some nominally high-achieving students achieved lowered grades due to the effects of low engagement. Nonetheless, academic and other support measures put in place during 2007-08 played a part in raising the passrate for the level 1 physics class by approximately 8% as well as raising the progression rate by approximately 10%.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Adaptability, Engagement, and Degree Completion:A Longitudinal Investigation of University Students

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. University entry and the passage through university is a time of great change. The extent to which students are able to adjust to successfully navigate this change (adaptability) is likely to influence their academic outcomes. Prior research has identified a link between university students’ adaptability and academic achievement via behavioural engagement. The current longitudinal study extends this research by examining whether university students’ adaptability predicts degree completion via behavioural engagement. Undergraduate students (N = 186) were surveyed for their adaptability and behavioural engagement at degree commencement. Their completion status was extracted from the University Records System at the end of the degree. Findings showed that adaptability predicts both positive and negative behavioural engagement, and that negative (but not positive) behavioural engagement predicts degree completion. Adaptability was also found to influence degree completion indirectly via negative behavioural engagement. These findings hold important theoretical and practical implications for educators and researchers seeking to understand how students manage the transition to university and the extent to, and mechanisms by which students’ adaptability is associated with university degree completion

Supporting student learning : case studies, experience & practice from higher education

"This key book describes responses to the unprecedented range of contemporary students' needs. It will help readers to develop a clear understanding of how the teaching and learning experience in higher education can be enhanced in order to effectively meet the needs of the student body, as well as the institution's goals. By taking the reader right to the centre of real-life situations, it focuses on heightening awareness of the learning environment and on developing realistic solutions."--cove

Outsourcing university degrees: implications for quality control

Education institutions worldwide have and continue to seek opportunities to spread their offerings abroad. While the provision of courses to students located overseas through partner institutions has many advantages, it raises questions about quality control that are not as applicable to other forms of international education. This paper uses a transaction cost approach to analyse quality control issues. Australian University Quality Agency reports supply the data. The paper concludes that there is a risk of opportunism and bounded rationality in license arrangements, thus universities need to monitor the contracts and their implementation very carefully. Specifically, systems are required to ensure equivalence of entry, teaching and assessment standards, the financial viability of the partners and the accuracy of their marketing material

Organizational structures for international universities: Implications for campus autonomy, academic freedom, collegiality and conflict

One significant form of transnational higher education is the International Branch Campus (IBC), in effect an 'outpost' of the parent institution located in another country. Its organizational structure is alignable with offshore subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs). The implications of organizational structure for academic freedom in teaching and research are discussed in this article. Drawing on examples from the literature, the investigation shows that over time as the IBC establishes its reputation locally, there is pressure for an increase in the academic freedom of academic staff. Our study suggests that over time and depending on the strategic choice of the parent university, the maturity of the offshore institution can be reflected in the increased academic freedom afforded to academic staff. In the interim, the limits to academic freedom and organizational constraints to intercampus collegiality can often lead to conflict

Language and learning: the learning dimensions of our work, Refereed Proceedings of the Third National Language and Academic Skills Conference, Monash University, 25-26 November 1999 / Glenda Grosling, Tim Moore & Sheila Vance (eds.)

Abstract not available

Transitions into Higher Education

The transition into higher education is internationally recognized as a critical developmental period characterized by changes in contexts, identities, relationships, roles, and responsibilities. Further, it typically coincides with the developmental progression from late adolescence to emerging adulthood, which brings its own challenges and opportunities for success as well as struggle. This confluence of disruption and change can contribute to psychological upheaval or reveal resilience. The entry begins with a discussion of the current state of higher education enrollment, and describes the transition to higher education within various key domains, including considerations of identity and development in emerging adulthood, relational and financial changes during this transition, and the impact on mental health. The entry concludes with a discussion of institutional programs aimed at supporting the transition into higher education, and recommendations for future programming

Engaging marketing students: Student operated businesses in a simulated world

Engaged students are committed and more likely to continue their university studies. Subsequently, they are less resource intensive from a university’s perspective. This article details an experiential second-year marketing course that requires students to develop real products and services to sell on two organized market days. In the course, students participate as both consumers and marketers in a simulated world. The current article explores the effectiveness of this experiential assessment in terms of its ability to engage students. Comparing student engagement to a traditional lecture course and National Survey of Student Engagement benchmarks, the results suggest that the use of a simulated marketplace is capable of engaging students. Specifically, the assessment reported encourages more active learning and collaboration, is more academically challenging, and permits more student–faculty interaction than a traditional lecture-based course. The course structure outlined in this article permits the dynamics of a live marketing environment to be introduced into the classroom. The authors provide practical advice for educators seeking to design and implement engaging pedagogy