Comparison of Students’ Marks Between Block and Semester Based Schedules and Its Factors in Introduction to Statistics Course: The Case of Two Departments in Ambo University, 2018/19

Alemayehu Siffir Argawu

doi:10.7176/jep/11-16-05

Abstract

An attempt has been made to assess the comparison of students’ marks between block and semester based schedules and its factors in introduction to Statistics course in the case of two departments in Ambo University, Ethiopia. In the study, the average mark of the total students was 56.7% and 69.4% of semester based scheduled students scored greater than or equal to the average mark but only 45.3% of block based scheduled students scored greater than or equal to the average mark in introduction to Statistics course assessment. And, From the Chi-square test of association illustrated that variables like schedule type, gender, father’s education level, class attending status, group activity participation of 1to5 and friendship status have significant association with students’ marks in introduction to Statistics course. But, religion and region types of the students haven’t association with students’ marks in the study. Results from the logistic regression uni-variable analysis showed that schedule type, gender, age, father’s education, Face book time, grade 12 entrance result, class attendance status, group activity participation of 1to5 and friendship status concerning to love were statistically significant factors for students’ marks in introduction to Statistics course achievement at 5% level of significance. And, results from the multi-variables analysis in the logistic regression model indicated that only four out of nine variables like schedule type, student’s gender type, grade 12 exam results, and Face book used time were significant factors for students’ marks in the course achievement. Ambo University was recommended that introduction to Statistics courses and some other numerical courses should be given by semester based schedule type rather block based schedule. And, curriculum designers in ministry of education need some curriculum changes on the schedule types of some numerically related courses in public universities. Keywords: Students’ marks, Schedule types, Binary logistic regression, Ambo University. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-16-05 Publication date: June 30th 2020

Highlights

Many researchers determine the quality of university or college student experiences is to examine the effort level students commit in different educational programs
Many researchers found that face book users studied less and got lower grades than non-Face book users which supports the results found in this study that the students’ marks were decreased when the students wasted more times on face book
Results from the multi-variables analysis in the logistic regression model showed that only four variables from nine were significant factors at 5% level of significance

Summary

Introduction

Many researchers determine the quality of university or college student experiences is to examine the effort level students commit in different educational programs. Policy and program changes have an effect on students; an important factor would be to determine if the change(s) creates positive differences in student effort. Any change in the education process is most likely to affect students in some manner (Astin, 2016; Pascarella, 2006; Schwartz & Tinto, 1987). They have researched the effects that higher education has on students, when examining the effort level exerted by students. Understanding student success factors, and the quality of the college experience, that affect college/university students can help stakeholders make better decisions in designing college programs

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Results

Conclusion