Accommodation For Students Research Articles

The Path to Becoming a Resident Assistant at a Japanese University

<p class="apa">Resident Assistants (RAs) are a mainstay of many universities worldwide that offer accommodation to visiting students. They look after both the administrative side and, more importantly, the emotional side of ensuring visiting students, including students from other countries, fit primarily into the university accommodation, and also the host culture as a whole. With an increase in the number of foreign students coming to Japan, it has become necessary at hosting universities to employ RAs at university-provided accommodation for non-Japanese students. This qualitative study used interview data from three RAs employed at a university in Tokyo and inductively produced six sub-headings of data. The aim of the study is to find out motivations for becoming an RA and participants’ perceptions prior to and during their jobs as RAs.</p>

Academic Guidance for Undergraduate Students in a South African Medical School: Can we guide them all?

Higher education institutions, including medical schools, still grapple with the challenge of poor academic performance of students. Some studies report the positive results of providing academic guidance for common challenges such as poor and/or ineffective time management, study methods, test- and exam-taking techniques and management, and the high academic workload of undergraduate medical students. However, limited detailed insights and understanding of medical students who experience more complex challenges are available. This study was conducted at a medical school in South Africa to determine undergraduate medical students’ perceptions of factors affecting their academic performance. A total of 89 semi-structured interviews were held with undergraduate medical students who were identified as having academic problems between 2012 and 2015. According to the results, more blacks, males and first- and second year students experienced poor academic performance. Prominent findings included the harsh realities and implications of lack of accommodation for black students; how poor academic performance can lead to an array of other social and psychological problems, such as withdrawal of bursaries and negative achievement emotions that some students experience. Compared to the usual objective measures of individual ability, the rich qualitative data of cases presented in this study reveal critical, real insights and understanding of students’ challenges from their own perspective.

The influence of a response format test accommodation for college students with and without disabilities

Standardised and other multiple-choice examinations often require the use of an answer sheet with fill-in bubbles (i.e. ‘bubble’ or Scantron sheet). Students with disabilities causing impairments in attention, learning and/or visual-motor skill may have difficulties with multiple-choice examinations that employ such a response style. Such students may request and receive testing accommodations that intend to mitigate these impairments, such as circling responses in a test booklet, which contains both the questions and corresponding multiple-choice answers. The current study evaluated this test accommodation as compared to using a bubble sheet or Scantron on a multiple-choice vocabulary test. College students with (n = 25) and without (n = 76) disabilities completed a vocabulary test under both booklet (accommodated) and bubble sheet (standard) conditions. Results demonstrated that answering in a test booklet, a much preferred response mode, allowed students to attempt significantly more items than using a bubble sheet, improving their overall test scores. Booklet responding tends to improve overall performance, even for students without disabilities, calling into question the specificity and validity of this accommodation.

The Calculator Effect

Calculators serve as general tools in mathematics classrooms; however, they also serve as a common accommodation for students with disabilities. Yet, their role as an accommodation is not without controversy. Using a single-subject design study, the researchers explored if students with disabilities solve more mathematics problems aligned to grade-level standards when they use a calculator than when they do not. The researchers also analyzed whether calculators assist students more with solving computation versus word problems. On average, students answered more questions correctly when they had access to a calculator. However, the tool was not generally an effective intervention given the low percentage of nonoverlapping data and, generally, small Tau-U for each student as well as instability and decreasing trends. The results lacked a consistent pattern of students benefiting from calculator use with regard to answering computation versus word problems.

Energy performance and indoor air quality in modern buildings in Greenland—Case study Apisseq

A new dormitory for engineering students “Apisseq” was built in Sisimiut, Greenland in 2010. Its purpose is not only to provide accommodation for students, but thanks to its complex monitoring system, it enables researchers to evaluate the building's energy performance and indoor air quality. Some of the installed technologies are not commonly used in the current Greenlandic building stock. Therefore, evaluation of their performance under local conditions is essential for further use and development. The first year of operation has disclosed some errors made during the design process and construction phase, which have negative effects on the energy performance and indoor air quality. The heat demand in 2011 was 26.5% higher than expected. One of the main causes of the extra heat demand is the fact that the ventilation system was over-dimensioned, and although it is running on the lowest fan power it maintains 1.1 ACH in the building. Reduction of the airflows and better frost protection of the heat exchangers are important issues to be dealt with in order to decrease the heat demand. This article describes the building and how it is evaluated after the first year of operation, and it explains some of the revealed problems.

発達障害のある大学生への「合理的配慮」とは何か

発達障害のある大学生への「合理的配慮」とは何か

Reply: Cost and returns related to medical education in rural and remote locations

The main educational aim of our primary care attachment is to advocate community primary care oriented to the health needs of the population. In the case of the Greek National Health System, only Rural Health Centres (RHCs) offer community based health care. In urban areas primary care services are delivered from private physicians and social insurance funds’ health units (polyclinics). The cost of travel and accommodation for medical students is a matter of continuous consideration, especially in a time of economic recession such as the one Greece is currently facing. Collaboration with RHCs in the areas of students’ family residence was preferred, as well as RHCs that could provide free accommodation. Even though such an approach might raise more organisational issues, it also drives to the increase of collaborating teaching RHCs, necessary in the case of medical schools where more than 300 students practise each academic year.

The Effect of a Word Processor as an Accommodation for Students with Learning Disabilities

The Effect of a Word Processor as an Accommodation for Students with Learning Disabilities

The Effect of “Read-Aloud” as a Test Accommodation for Students with Visual Impairments in South Korea

Students with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) have difficulty demonstrating their academic knowledge in standardized tests because of their limitations in accessing visual information. Therefore, in high-stakes tests, such as the SAT and the Graduate Records Examination, braille, large print, and the extension of time have been provided for them as basic and minimum accommodations, in consideration of their slower reading and writing speeds than students without disabilities. However, the barrier of vision loss for demonstrating what the students with visual impairments know may not be removed sufficiently with these accommodations (Sitlington, Clark, & Kolstoe, 2000). That is, because large print and braille are the basic literacy media for students with visual impairments, without these media the assessment of the reading comprehension or reading speed of those who are visually impaired may not be meaningful. The extension of time as a test accommodation for students with visual impairments can have an impact on students' reading performance. However, depending on the academic performance of each student, the level of difficulty of the reading materials, or the students' physical health (such as shoulder, back, or neck pain from an inappropriate posture while reading), the effects of an extension of time can be either positive or negative. Arguing the issue of fairness and the additional advantage for test takers with visual impairments, some professionals have expressed negative attitudes toward test accommodation (Sireci, Li, & Scarpati, 2003). However, researchers have found that the validity of test accommodations increases when the test scores of students who need a particular accommodation increases, while the scores of those who do not need it remain the same (Sitlington et al., 2000). The study presented here was conducted to examine the effects of read-aloud, the practice of providing a reader to read tests out loud as an accommodation for student with a disability. In this study, read-aloud was investigated in combination with commonly used accommodations for students with visual impairments like braille, large print, and extensions of time. The study was conducted as a pilot study before the investigation of the effects of read-aloud as a test accommodation on the academic achievement of students with visual impairments because of the paucity of previously conducted studies. METHOD Participants and settings The participants were 10 South Korean middle school students with visual impairments who were enrolled in a special school for students with visual impairments and a group of 10 Korean public school students without disabilities who were comparable in age and grade level in public schools. Two students in Grade 1, 4 in Grade 2, and 3 in Grade 3 were included in each group. Among the students with visual impairments, 3 had low vision and 7 were totally blind. The participants with visual impairments were familiar with commonly used accommodations, such as braille and large print, because as students in the special school, they always used these media. Also, they were familiar with time extension because unlimited time when taking tests is usual in special schools for students who are visually impaired. The tests for the students with visual impairments were administered in a classroom in their school, and the tests for the students without disabilities were administered in the conference room of a community church. The students without disabilities could not take the tests in their school because they did not attend the same school. Information on the participants and the settings is presented in Table 1. The variable for the study was the read-aloud accommodation. Therefore, to examine the effect of this variable, the test without read-aloud and the test with read-aloud were defined as Test Format 1 and Test Format 2, respectively. …

Ecology, Ontology, and Pedagogy at Camp Coorong

Ecology, Ontology, and Pedagogy at Camp Coorong

Disparity between the presence and absence of food allergy action plans in one school district

The Joint Task Force of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; the American Academy of Pediatrics; and the National Association of School Nurses all recommend emergency action plans (EAPs) that direct therapy of allergic reactions in children. This study investigated the school nurse's perception of food allergies and their use of EAPs in food-allergic students in a large, socioeconomically diverse school district. An electronic and paper survey was developed and administered to all elementary and middle school nurses in Greenville County, SC. Forty-three of the eligible school nurses participated for a response rate of 64% (43/67). All of the participants worked at schools that had at least one student with food allergies (mean, nine students with food allergies per school; SD, seven students). Forty-four percent (19/43) of schools had a written action plan for all their food-allergic students, whereas in 42% (18/43) of schools, one-half or less of the food-allergic students, had an action plan. Seventy percent (30/43) of schools made at least one accommodation for students with food allergies and 23% (10/43) of schools made multiple accommodations. At least three additional school personnel were trained in administering rescue medications besides the school nurse in 86% (37/43) of schools, but in 5% (2/43) of schools no additional adults were trained to give rescue medications. Although multiple organizations recommend EAPs for food-allergic students, our study highlights their inconsistent use in this school district.

Implementation of E-rental Housing via Generic Notification Message Through Mobile Phone

As UiTM increases its student enrollment, the number of students seeking accommodation inherently increases. This is particularly true with respect to off-campus accommodation since the number of students that the residential colleges can accommodate is limited. Unit Kebajikan NR (Non Resident) under Hal Ehwal Pelajar (HEP) has been set up to assist students looking for suitable accommodation. The unit is still implementing a manual- and paper-based processing to capture information. This is both highly inefficient and time consuming. This study provides a convenient platform for students and landlords to share updated information about available rental accommodation. A prototype web-based rental housing system, which is based on generic notification messaging, has been developed. This online system offers services to students seeking rental accommodation around the UiTM campus. Home owners can use this system to advertise their properties without the use of paper based forms or placing advertisements in newspapers, which is common practice. Communication between potential landlords and tenants can be done interactively via SMS once both parties have registered with the system. A System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), an iterative development, has been adopted for the purposes of evaluating this study. This research has the potential to aid in the development of an effective means by which accommodation for students and essentially any potential rentees can be found and attained.

Extended Time as a Testing Accommodation for Students With Reading Disabilities

Testing accommodations have become a common component of services for students with disabilities at all levels of education. This study examined the effect of a common testing accommodation—extended time—on the reading comprehension test performance of high school students. Sixty-four students, half of whom had learning disabilities (LDs) in the area of reading, were given the Nelson Denny Reading Comprehension subtest under various time conditions. Nondisabled students benefited more from the extended time than students with LDs did. However, extended time did allow students with LDs to attempt as many questions as their nondisabled peers did under standard time conditions. Implications for future research, as well as policy in this area are discussed.

Item-Level Effects of the Read-Aloud Accommodation for Students With Reading Disabilities

Research support for providing a read-aloud accommodation (i.e., having an individual read test items and directions aloud) to students with disabilities has been somewhat limited, particularly when merely examining effects of the accommodation on overall test scores for general groups of students with disabilities. We examined data on accommodated and nonaccommodated performances of students with specific reading disabilities on math test items anticipated to be highly sensitive to accommodation effects due to their level of reading and math difficulty. We conducted analyses across 3 consecutive years of data from an elementary and middle school statewide assessment program. Within the elementary data set we identified a significant Accommodation Group × Reading Difficulty interaction effect, such that the accommodation appeared to more positively impact student performance on items that were classified as difficult to read. We describe other identified effects and discuss limitations of the study, as well as implications.

Calculators for Students with Special Needs

A framework to aid instructional decision-making regarding classroom calculator use. The guide focuses on both teacher goals and the students' needs and abilities. The reader is challenged to rethink the possible role that calculators can serve for all students, in particular, as a classroom accommodation for students with special needs.

Medical students' and GP registrars' accommodation needs in the rural community: insight from a Victorian study.

Medical education in Australia is currently entering a new era, including support for the significant extension of medical students and general practitioner (GP) registrars' training programs in rural communities. This commitment to rural medical student and general practitioner recruitment and retention has made the provision of accommodation in rural communities a vital issue. This study has found that approximately half of all medical students on placement with rural GPs are currently accommodated with their GP supervisor or with other practice staff. This is a burden for many GPs and when the anticipated increase in the frequency and length of rural placements occurs what is currently a burden will become unsustainable. The changing gender and cultural demographics of medical students and rural general practitioners will also contribute to stresses on this accommodation system. It is important to have a systematic approach towards more appropriate and sustainable models of accommodation for both medical students and GP registrars.

Teacher Decision Making in Participation of Students with Disabilities in Large-Scale Assessment

This article reports on the findings of a study to test the effectiveness of an intervention with teachers and administrators to improve decision making regarding participation and accommodation for students with disabilities in large-scale assessments. Using a pretest/posttest, multiple measures design involving more than 80 teachers, the study assessed the impact of training on teacher's knowledge and confidence about participation and accommodation, accommodation decisions for hypothetical students, and actual accommodation decisions the following year. Results indicate that after training, there was a stronger relationship among participation/accommodation, curriculum, and instructional needs. Teachers expressed high confidence in their ability to make accommodation decisions after training.

Internships in Higher Education: Promoting Success for Students with Disabilities

This article examines how internships in higher education can benefit all students as they prepare for their careers beyond graduation and particularly students with disabilities. Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, universities have a responsibility to insure equal access and accommodation for students with disabilities during the internship process. Two particular issues faced by students with disabilities that have been identified through a review of recent case law include (1) meeting academic and technical standards for a program and (2) disclosing their disabilities and requesting accommodations. Key principles and support strategies which address the issues and concerns of internships for students with disabilities, developed as part of a comprehensive career-planning program for postsecondary students with disabilities at Virginia Commonwealth University, are discussed.

The Effects of Accommodations on Performance Assessments

Most states in the United States are implementing standards-based reform. A key component of this type of reform is the notion that higher standards are intended for all students, including students with disabilities. Performance on these higher standards is typically measured through large-scale assessment systems, from which many students with disabilities have been excluded. Without these students' participation in the standards movement, states will be lacking critical information on the efficacy of instructional programs for all students. In order to participate, some students with disabilities may require accommodations on these assessments. The issue of accommodations presents many challenges, from legal to psychometric. Given the high-stakes nature of these assessments when used as part of the state accountability system in which financial, legal, and instructional decisions are made, these challenges need to be addressed. This study examined the effects of providing the accommodation of reading the mathematics items to students on the fourth-grade version of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. Specifically this study addressed the question, Does reading the mathematics items allow students with learning disabilities to demonstrate their knowledge without affecting the validity of the test? Results provide support for the continued use of this accommodation for students with disabilities that affect reading. Further research is needed in this area, especially as stakes increase for both schools and individual students.

Extra Examination Time for Students With Learning Disabilities: An Examination of the Maximum Potential Thesis

Extra examination time is a common accommodation for college students with learning disabilities. However, the validity of test scores obtained under this condition is open to question because nonlearning disabled students might also benefit from extra examination time. Nevertheless, according to the Maximum Potential Thesis (MPT), only students with learning disabilities benefit from extra examination time. Nonlearning disabled students, in contrast, already perform at their maximum potential under timed conditions, and their performance will not significantly improve with extra time. An analysis of 5 studies that directly test MPT shows only weak support for it. Methodological problems in several of the studies further weaken its evidentiary basis.