Academic Path Research Articles

Demographics, Purpose, and Dreams: Predicting Entering College as an Undecided Major Student

Undecided students who self-identify as uncertain of their academic path represent a unique population to support from an academic advising perspective. In a sample of 257,813 students who entered 243 four-year institutions nationally, this study examined the relationship between students who selected undecided as their intended college major and individual student characteristics. Results indicate a primary predictor of undecidedness is student acknowledgment of indecisiveness about their choice of major or career; however, undecidedness also is related to interpersonal and contextual characteristics previously unexamined. Advisors should assess students’ level of major and career certainty, concerns about financing college, and aspects of students’ identities that were predictive of undecidedness.

The relationship between English language proficiency and academic performance among English learners: A subgroup analysis by home language background

In U.S. K-12 public education, states' English language proficiency (ELP) standards and assessments have undergone changes in their content to correspond to the language demands of new academic content-area standards (e.g., Common Core State Standards). However, empirical investigations about how English learner (EL) students perform on the new assessments are limited despite the continued use of ELP assessments for making various decisions about students' academic paths. Addressing this gap, this study focused on criterion-related validity evidence by examining the relationship between ELP and content assessment performances of fifth-grade EL students in one state. We examined all EL students and EL home language subgroups. The results suggest that the ELP Reading subdomain was a significant predictor of content assessment scores in English language arts and mathematics; however, the patterns and magnitude of ELP and content relationship differed across different home language groups. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed. Educational relevance statementStates' standards-based ELP assessments play a vital role in making decisions about individual EL students' academic paths as well as in school planning for resources and instruction for EL students. The findings of the present study provide important validity evidence to support the intended use of ELP assessments. The study also underscores the importance of investigating within group variations, as the EL group is tremendously heterogenous in terms of their cultural and linguistic backgrounds, socioeconomic status, length of U.S. residence, and formal schooling experience. The results of the study shed light on a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between ELP and the academic performance of EL students from different home language backgrounds.

The effect of workplace vs school-based vocational education on youth unemployment: Evidence from France

We conducted a field experiment in France which shows that employers exhibit little preference when deciding whom to invite for job interviews: unemployed apprentices or vocational students, both of whom have earned the same diploma. By merging the results of this experiment with a search and matching model which accounts for the selection of apprentices retained by their training firms, we provide a framework to understand the ways in which apprenticeship influences youth employment. Our results indicate that the main positive impact on employment comes from retaining apprentices within their training company, while the productivity gap compared to vocational students remains minimal when the same skills can be acquired through the academic path or apprenticeship.

Revisiting the power of future expectations and educational path dependencies

Individuals from more advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and those with loftier future expectations typically have higher educational attainment. However, it is important to understand just how consequential future expectations are for educational attainment independent of socioeconomic origins—because these expectations might enable intergenerational social mobility. Moreover, it is unclear whether institutional structures moderate the influences of socioeconomic origins and future expectations on educational attainment. I address these questions by analyzing educational attainment as it relates to transitions in a system that offers multiple educational tracks. Using data from a 15-year longitudinal study conducted in Switzerland (N = 4986), I analyze transitions from lower- to upper-secondary education (academic vs. vocational tracks) and from there to university. Path models reveal that both socioeconomic origins and future expectations are significantly associated with individuals’ probability of moving along academic paths and into university, but future expectations have a strong unique predictive power even when controlling for socioeconomic origins. However, because the education system partially channels educational trajectories along distinct educational tracks, it minimizes the beneficial effect of future expectations on educational attainment and—by extension—intergenerational social mobility. I conclude that socioeconomic advantage and optimistic future expectations may only shape educational attainment to the extent that institutional opportunity structures allow such resources to take effect.

The increasing demand for TOEFL tutoring among graduate students: Understanding the motivations behind it

Private extra academic support, also referred to as shadow education has experienced growth, in Asian nations, such as Indonesia. However, despite its use this type of education often receives attention from the government compared to formal schooling. This research aims to explore the motivations that influence university students’ choices to seek academic support specifically for TOEFL preparation—a vital step towards achieving an internationally recognized English proficiency score. Involving 60 university students for the data collection using questionnaire, this study identified factors that drive the demand for private TOEFL tutoring among Indonesian graduate students. Despite concerns about the absence of standardization and potential student exhaustion resulting from tutoring it continues to provide personalized instruction and assistance. This study highlights the role that private supplementary tutoring plays in meeting the growing demand for success and its impact on students’ academic and career paths, in Indonesia.

Early Career Paths of Economists Inside and Outside of Academia

Economics job candidates face considerable professional and financial uncertainties when deciding between academic and nonacademic career paths. Using novel panel data, we provide a broad picture of PhD economists’ early career mobility and earnings growth–both in and outside of academia. We find that academic jobs have fallen to just over half of US placements, with growing shares in tech, consulting, and government. We document considerable early career job mobility and higher earnings growth among job changers, private-sector economists, and men. We also find an earnings premium for graduates of top-ranked PhD programs that grows over early career years in academia while shrinking in the private sector. These different earnings dynamics mean the opportunity cost (in terms of potential earnings) of remaining in academia is generally less for graduates of top-ranked programs, although there is significant dispersion in mid-career earnings among these academics.

A Study on the Effect of the Developmental Academic Advising Based on Student Engagement for University Freshman

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of the “Developmental Academic Advising Seminar” for first-year university students which was developed based on student engagement. To this end, the following three steps were taken. First, this study reviewed previous literature on academic advising and designed a developmental academic advising seminar centered on student engagement. Second, the seminar was provided to first-year university students for two hours per week for the first five weeks at “A” University in the Seoul metropolitan area. Third, the differences before and after the seminar participation were analyzed through the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test after conducting a pre- and post-test on learning motivation and educational effectiveness for participants. In addition, through interviews, the effects of the seminar were examined in terms of quality. The research results were as follows. First, developmental academic advising seminars showed a positive effect on increasing learning motivation, helping academic and career design, and improving satisfaction of faculty teaching methods and educational content. Second, academic advising focused on diverse student activities, helping them with self-reflection and their understanding of others. The results of this study suggest that teaching first-year university students should be conducted based on presentations and discussions focusing on student engagement, professional academic advising on self-reflection, and academic and career path designing, all of which are closely related to university life, rather than professor-centered lectures. This study is meaningful in that it was conducted for a small group of freshmen in order to analyze the contents of individual students' learning motivation and to make changes in educational effectiveness.

AI and big data-driven decision support for fostering student innovation in music education at private underground colleges

This study investigates the transformative impact of AI-based Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Big Data Analytics (BDA) on student innovation and employability skills in an era of rapid technological advancement, with a focus on the mediating role of technological acceptance and the moderating role of resource availability. This study, which draws on a wide range of educational contexts and data sources, gives complete knowledge of the complex links between technology adoption, student results, and contextual factors. The results of this study show how AI-based DSS and BDA have a significant impact on musical education. These technological advancements enable tailored instruction and foster students' creative thinking. In order to prepare students for a work market that is rapidly changing, they act as a catalyst for improving employability skills. The study, however, emphasizes the complicated dynamics at work. Technological Acceptance emerges as a major mediating component, underlining the significance of students and instructors freely and effectively accepting technological tools. Furthermore, as a moderating factor, Resource Availability takes center stage, emphasizing the need for equitable access to educational resources to ensure that technology-driven advantages are accessible to all. The results of this study have broad repercussions. The adoption of AI and BDA by educational institutions is encouraged as transformative technologies for enhancing the learning process. Policymakers must create regulations that support equal access to technology and promote an innovative culture in the classroom. This study highlights for students how important it is to adopt new technologies, realizing how important they are in determining both their academic and career paths.

A collection of scholarly articles: In the Fields of Applied Linguistics

This collection of articles in applied linguistics is dedicated to Prof. Meilutė Ramonienė‘s anniversary. The book is compiled of papers written by her students, colleagues, and friends from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Switzerland. These texts are from various fields and subfields of applied linguistics, i.e., family language policy, national language policy, linguistic attitudes, motivation to learn a second language, linguadidactics, text linguistics, and linguistic impoliteness. In the preface, a short overview of Prof. M. Ramonienė‘s academic path and her as personality is given, and there is one more non-academic text that presents and highlights her long lasting fruitful contribution to the networking of the Baltic scholars.

CONTINUATION OF ACADEMIC STUDIES AND SPORTS ACHIEVEMENT GRADUATES OF THE TALENTED SPECIAL CLASS IN SPORTS: A CASE STUDY

Academic learning and sports coaching are things that must be done by Sports Class (KKO SMA) students. Specific and well-planned training, coaching, competition and recovery will ensure optimal development throughout an athlete's career. Academic paths, self-development, and continuing studies from high school to university are factors in preparing for the future. so that academic education and sports skills development must be synergistic. The method used in the research was descriptive with the instrument being a questionnaire adapted from Renzully's three ring prize concept which was tested for validity and reliability on 20 respondents with Cronbach's Alpha with a result of 0.79. so that the results of interest in majors at KKO High School show KKO (M = 4.596, SD = 0.754), Learning and training process (M = 2.662, SD = 0.816), so it can be concluded that school and training schedules are the two lowest items, need to be given attention and special treatment to be scheduled in an organized manner so that training and education can complement each other and be synergistic.

Advancing Faculty Research in a “Bricolage” Environment"

In the typical, academic career path, individuals enter faculty roles immediately after graduate school, commencing their academic careers with research skills and a fledgling research agenda. Many faculty, however, take an indirect route to research. They may work in the commercial or nonprofit sector for years before joining the academy, allowing their research skills to fade. Some individuals who never completed research training are recruited as faculty due to their years of professional experience; this is especially true in business, engineering, and health care. When institutional expectations and personal goals change, however, these individuals may suddenly face the need to conduct research. They have the motivation but lack the necessary skills and confidence. This is especially true when institutions decide to seek accreditation that requires research activity among faculty. To help Bolivian faculty achieve research success, we developed a condensed workshop on qualitative, applied research and conducted it four times, in-person and online, following the action research model. The condensed workshop proved effective in helping faculty boost their research productivity, though participants expressed a desire for more extended coaching and support. Future workshops will include increased opportunity for collaboration. The workshop can be adapted to other regions.

Preparing Hematology/Oncology Fellows for Success: Implementing an Annual Career Development and Research Retreat.

Multiple factors, including job satisfaction, personality traits, and training experiences, influence the career trajectory of hematology/oncology fellows. In an effort to expose hematology/oncology fellows to (1) the various careers in oncology, (2) a diverse group of speakers for future mentorship, and (3) research opportunities, and grant writing experience, we established an annual career development and research retreat. During the retreat, we engaged speakers who covered a range of career trajectories, including academic, private practice, industry, government, and administrative paths. We introduced clinicians and researchers with a track record of providing top-notch mentorship to fellows with aligning interests and detailed research opportunities and grant writing. The sessions were led by senior fellows, and we adopted an in-person and virtual hybrid model to allow speakers from various institutions to participate. Feedback from participants, as gathered through surveys, indicated positive responses: all respondents reported that this retreat was "extremely" or "very helpful," and a majority expressed their intent to pursue academic careers. The curriculum and structure of this retreat may help to inform the development of fellowship career development and research retreats at other institutions.

Assessing the impact of a 6-year health sciences enrichment program for underrepresented minority youth on healthcare workforce diversity, career path, and public health.

Improving the quality of care for a diverse population requires a diverse healthcare workforce which necessitates high educational attainment among underrepresented communities. Programs aimed to address healthcare workforce diversity gaps also serve as a public health intervention by offering avenues to improve the health of local communities by providing students with the knowledge and skills to promote healthy behaviors, foster scientific literacy, and inspire future public health professionals - who in turn serve their local communities to advance health outcomes. We interviewed alumni of the New York Presbyterian Hospital Lang Youth Medical Program (LYMP), a high school health sciences mentoring and enrichment program for underrepresented minority youth in Upper Manhattan, from graduating classes between 2012 and 2021 to explore their perspectives on what aspects of the program had the most impact on their academic and career paths. This is a qualitative study using in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews. All interviews were analyzed using the constant comparative method for developing grounded theory, following a convenience sampling method. 106 codes were organized into 24 themes, which were further arranged into 4 topic areas: demonstrated program success, intangible program drivers, improvement opportunities, and barriers to program participation. Topic areas captured participants' perspectives on how the program is designed to foster an environment of personal, academic, and professional development; ways aspects of the program organically worked together to provide unanticipated positive facilitators; opportunities for program improvements, and external factors that influenced decision-making. Through this study, we found that the LYMP had a positive influence in helping participants set and achieve personal, academic, and professional goals. Alumni reported activities and experiences offered by the program that foster key youth development constructs linked to healthier and more resilient communities. Importantly, the vast majority of participants described how the synergism between program features, staff support, family involvement, and professional development and networking created an environment of achievement that went beyond the scope of the program design. Findings from this study offer a blueprint for other organizations to craft a similarly successful enrichment program that improves health outcomes, reduces health disparities, and promotes overall population health.

Maritime logistics optimisation for predictive maintenance at offshore wind farms

For offshore wind farms, a move from a preventive and corrective maintenance regime to a predictive maintenance regime requires new methods for modelling approaches for maritime logistics planning. This paper presents an overview of the maritime logistics planning problem for a predictive maintenance regime and introduces the current state-of-the-art for operational research in the field of operation and maintenance at offshore wind farms. Findings are that a combination of the vessel resource scheduling problem for operation and maintenance at offshore wind farms with predictive analysis and digital twins is a promising future research step. A framework for a decision support tool is presented that will help bridge the gap, both with respect to the academic path, and the gap between academic research and industry.

How to help students in their transition to middle school? Effectiveness of a school-based group mentoring program promoting students’ engagement, self-regulation, and goal setting

School transitions are labeled as challenging events in students’ academic paths likely to affect students’ development and engagement in school negatively. Grounded on extant research advocating the need to act preventively, school-based mentoring programs emerge as responses suited to provide students with developmental and instructional support during school transitions. Using a multivariate mixed-effects model for repeated measures quasi-experimental design, the present study assessed the effectiveness of a 12-session group mentoring program designed to promote fifth-grade students’ self-regulation, school engagement, and goal setting during their first school transition. Participants were 330 fifth graders in four schools randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. Students’ self-reported measures were collected in four moments. Data were analyzed using a multivariate mixed-effects model for repeated measures analyses with two covariates (age and gender) and considering the students’ level of prior mathematics knowledge. Results indicated that participating in the group mentoring program led to improvements in all dependent variables. The effect size found was large considering all dependent variables simultaneously. However, when considered individually, the effect sizes were medium, small, or null, depending on the dependent variable. Lastly, and contrary to expectations, the effectiveness of our program was not influenced by students’ level of prior mathematics knowledge. The relevance of group mentoring programs in addressing students’ engagement and self-regulation needs is discussed. Future research and educational implications for designing mentoring programs are provided.

Analysis of the evolutionary path of early civilization agriculture based on the plain Bayesian model

Abstract First, this paper focuses on the problem of nonlinear association between attributes and categories, combines inverse document frequency information and deep attribute weighting, improves the distance correlation coefficient, and proposes an attribute-weighted polynomial plain Bayesian text classification algorithm based on the improved distance correlation coefficient. Then a specific scheme for stage classification of early Chinese civilization provides a theoretical premise and expository framework for systematically exploring the relationship between primitive agricultural types and early Chinese civilization and also provides conditions for forming the agricultural revolution of early Chinese civilization in the Central Plains region. Finally, according to the research objectives, the 7000-year-old Ningzhen area was selected as the research object, and the attribute-weighted polynomial plain Bayesian text classification algorithm was used to analyze the data of the research object. The results show that: in the Neolithic burials of the North Yingying culture period alone, there are 240 burial relics with a total of 1,580 pieces of all burial relics, including 554 pieces of stone production workers, but the fundamental reason is the active change of human for the survival crisis. This study is a preliminary attempt to conduct an interdisciplinary study on the history of agriculture and civilization and provides an academic path for the sublimation of agricultural history to the study of the history of agricultural civilization.

Making it to the Academic Path in a Tracked Education System: The Interplay of Individual Agency and Social Origin in Early Educational Transitions.

Little is known about the role of agency in transitions in tracked education systems or whether it varies by socioeconomic background. This study addressed this gap by estimating structural equation models based on longitudinal data that are representative of the German- and French-speaking parts of Switzerland (N = 1273 individuals, surveyed from age 6 to 18, mean age at wave 1: Mage = 6.54, SDage = 0.50, female = 49%). The findings reveal that agency (captured by study effort and occupational aspirations) and socioeconomic background (measured by parental education and family income) significantly predicted students' transitions to academically demanding tracks in lower- and upper-secondary education. In the transition to upper-secondary education, students with fewer socioeconomic resources benefitted less than their more advantaged peers from ambitious aspirations, but they benefitted more from exerting effort. These findings suggest that both an optimistic forward-looking orientation and the exertion of effort are required to make it to an academic track. Effort may serve as a "substitutive" resource for less socioeconomically advantaged students, whereas ambitious aspirations may enhance the positive effect of family socioeconomic resources on academic educational trajectories. Overall, the evidence from this study calls for greater attention to investigating not only how agency shapes adolescents' educational trajectories and opportunities but also how its role differs across social groups.

The Spectrum of Human Factors and Ergonomics Careers

Most of us, if not all, during graduate school thought extensively whether we want to pursue an academic or industry career path. This decision has always been perceived as a binary choice between going to academia, where you will be mainly doing research, or taking an industry job where you will be stuck doing applied work all the time. What makes this decision even more difficult, is the thought that if you decide on going one way or another, there is almost no way back. This invokes a substantial amount of anxiety in graduate students, adding to the already challenging demands of graduate school. This discussion panel is aimed at assisting those currently embedded in this decision by hearing from some of the early career professionals in the field (less than 4 years of experience). This panel will primarily focus on 1) highlighting the various career options available, both in academia and industry, and 2) providing students with a better understanding of what to expect from each path, how to tailor their graduate career, and how to determine the best fit for them.

Transformative ecojustice pedagogies: Outcomes of sociology students mentoring high school service learners

This case study investigated the transformative learning outcomes for undergraduate students enrolled in two sociology courses taught by The State University of New York at Albany, at an urban ecoliteracy environmental justice center. Authors conducted participant observation and gathered data from surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups with university student, high school, and community stakeholders. In the short-term, sociology students exhibited an increased interest in civic engagement, an heightened awareness of community and environmental issues, and committed to adopting pro-environmental behaviors. Transformative learning outcomes were documented in relation to affirming/changes in longer-term academic, life, and career paths. This research contributes to the fields of urban environmental education and environmental sociology that advocate for a better understanding of the outcomes of programs that facilitate youth mentoring and experiential ecojustice pedagogies that emphasize social justice development, issues of power and justice, and the enhancement of civic engagement, action competencies, and critical consciousness.

Chilean and Finnish university-based teacher educators’ agentic approaches to academic career path development

ABSTRACT University-based teacher educators are key agents of educational and societal change. Yet their academic careers across institutions and countries have received insufficient attention. To bridge this gap, our empirical study collected data from 12 teacher educators in different Chilean and Finnish research-oriented universities. Drawing from Archer’s social theory, we examine teacher educators’ reflexivity as a decision-making process, offering them directional guidance to act in and over their (professional) lives. We identify three agentic approaches to career path development triggered by reflexivity modes – we-relationship, excellence-driven and value-oriented – that Chilean and Finnish teacher educators practice amidst workplace structural and cultural conditions. These approaches explain their diverse professional trajectories, even under similar circumstances, and contradict ideas of linear progression and ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions to career development. This study contributes to promoting more equitable career pathways for teacher educators in Chile, Finland and elsewhere.