Student Choice Research Articles

Study Destination Choice and Career Preferences of International Students at China Pharmaceutical University.

This study had two main thematic aims: first, to determine the factors that influenced the choice of international students at China Pharmaceutical University (CPU) to consider China as a study destination; second, to determine the career preferences of international students upon completion of their various programs of study. As a cross-sectional study, relevant data were collected from undergraduate pharmacy students and postgraduates using a self-administered questionnaire. On the whole, the five most important pull factors that influenced the choice of China as the study destination for the respondents were: (1) quality of education, (2) quality of academic staff, (3) security, (4) desire to obtain a certificate from a foreign country and (5) availability of scholarship opportunities. With respect to the career choices, the top three career preferences of the international students were: (1) to work in the pharmaceutical industry (i.e., pharmaceutical manufacturing companies), (2) to practice clinical pharmacy and (3) to seek employment opportunities outside their countries. This study provides additional details on why China has gradually become a study destination of choice for international students. The career preferences of students could be useful in the design of academic programs that could meet their job aspirations.

Impact of urban schoolyard play zone diversity and nature-based design features on unstructured recess play behaviors

In urban low-income neighborhoods, child wellbeing is highly dependent on the school ecosystem. The schoolyard, specifically, provides opportunities for physical and social development during recess. The purpose of our study was to examine the impact of various schoolyard design features and green space on unstructured recess play behaviors according to gender and age. Individual and population-level physical activity and social interactions were recorded with validated direct observation tools across five Title I Los Angeles elementary schoolyards (N = 2275). More students were observed sedentary in schoolyards with fewer unique play areas and in play areas with higher student density. Observations indicate that girls prefer noncompetitive activities in nature-filled spaces while boys prefer competitive ball games in either hardscape or grass. The play areas that appealed to and promoted moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and prosocial interactions in students of both genders and age groups included intentional physical separation from other areas, tree-provided shade, and/or balance and climbing obstacles. Results suggest that increasing the square footage of the schoolyard devoted to grass sport fields or traditional playground painting is not sufficient to optimize student benefit. In conclusion, there is potential to concurrently address environmental urban heat island effects and the rise in childhood obesity with large-scale green schoolyard renovations that allow for more student choice and creative play and include age-appropriate motor skill challenge. Future studies should examine how schoolyard design features conducive to positive recess play behaviors intersect with student attendance, outdoor learning, as well as additional mental and physical health outcomes.

Promotion of Communication Access, Choice, and Agency for Autistic Students.

Families and professionals often consider augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) a "last resort" for persons with communication challenges; however, speaking autistic adults have reported that they would have benefited from access to AAC as children. This tutorial discusses the history of this "last resort" practice and its perpetuation within the medical model of disability. The tutorial focuses on communication access, choice, and agency for autistic students. We provide a brief overview of the AAC community and their preferred terminology, review the history of traditional approaches to research on AAC and autism, and then examine the relationship between disability models and ableism to views of spoken language as a priority of intervention. Studies on this topic are rare, and resisting ableism requires acknowledging and honoring disabled people's experiences and expertise. Therefore, we promote autistic expertise within the framework of evidence-based practice and discuss the experiences of autistic people and spoken language. Finally, we consider the role of the speech-language pathologist (SLP) in assessment and offer autistic-based strategies and recommendations for communication support. Speaking autistic students who could benefit from AAC may not have access to AAC due to the prioritization of spoken language and lack of awareness of the benefit of AAC. We recommend that SLPs and school-based professionals support and facilitate access, communicative choice, and agency by implementing multimodal communication strategies to include AAC use for autistic students regardless of their spoken language status. Promoting all types of communication and ensuring opportunities for communication across multiple modalities are paramount to a child's agency and self-determination, as is normalization of AAC.

An authentic learner-centered planetary health assignment: A five-year evaluation of student choices to address Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action).

A Code Red has been declared for the planet and human health. Climate change (e.g., increasing temperatures, adverse weather events, rising sea levels) threatens the planet's already declining ecosystems. Without urgent action, all of Earth's inhabitants face an existential threat. Health professions education should therefore prepare learners to not only practice in a changing world, but authentic educational activities should also develop competencies for global and planetary citizenship. Planetary health has been integrated across the five-year Bond University (Australia) medical curriculum. It begins in the second week of Year 1 and ends with a session on Environmentally Sustainable Healthcare in the General Practice rotation in the final year. The purpose of this article is to describe the outcomes of the first 5 years (2018-2022) of a learner-centered planetary health assignment, underpinned by the 2030 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in the second year of a five-year medical program. Using systems and/or design thinking with a focus on SDG13 (Climate Action) plus a second SDG of choice, self-selected teams of 4-6 students submit a protocol (with feedback) to develop a deliverable "product" for an intended audience. Data analysis of the first 5 years of implementation found that the most frequently selected SDGs in addition to SDG13 were: SDG12 Sustainable Production and Consumption (41% of teams), mostly relating to healthcare emissions and waste; SDG3 Health and Well-being (22%), generally involving the impact of air pollution; and SDG6 Clean Water and Sanitation (15%). A survey at the concluding conference garnered student feedback across various criteria. The planetary health assignment is authentic in that teams provide solutions to address climate change. Where appropriate, final "products" are sent to local or federal ministers for consideration (e.g., policy proposals) or integrated into the curriculum (e.g., learning modules). We believe that the competencies, attitudes, and values fostered through engagement with planetary health. Throughout the medical program, as evidenced by their evaluations, stands students in good stead to be change agents, not only in clinical practice but in society. An awareness has been created about the need for planetary citizenship in addition to global citizenship.

To Marvel and Imagine: Literary Monsters and Critical Analysis

By utilizing a process-based approach guided by student choice, a teacher educator reimagines literary research and critical analysis.

The Profession of a Psychologist: the Ideals of Applicants and the Validity of the Choice of Students

The main problem is the frequent mismatch of ideals when choosing a future profession and various aspects of subsequent professionalization of a person. As a result, there may be a loss of interest in the profession and an individual's alienation from his professional choice. This article touches upon the issue that the idealization of the profession of a psychologist coincides with certain values of applicants, and then during their studies at the university, students make adjustments to their ideas based on obtaining the necessary knowledge and skills. This allows to achieve the effect of the right professional choice and "join" the profession. The purpose of the study is to show how the professional choice of future psychologists is formed and how it is related to the value orientations of individuals. At the same time, psychology of professions and sociology of professions became the main methodological approaches. The empirical study was conducted in 2018-2021 and was based on the method of semi-structured interviews with applicants and later with university students who are receiving the profession of a psychologist. The sample was determined by a combination of "applicant-student" in the system of universities that train future psychologists (42 applicants and then 20 students from this group). As a result of the study, the following results were obtained: the idealization of the profession of a psychologist is associated with the need to help people, while applicants are guided in their ideas about the profession by their value stereotypes: respect for the individual, following moral principles, responsibility for themselves and others, etc. Idealization of the profession of a psychologist is also connected with its cognitive capabilities in two main directions: human cognition and cognition of the surrounding reality and the world.

Mix and match: student choice in accessing digital or face-to-face academic skills support

Given the choice, will students opt for a face-to-face or online learning session? The 301 Academic Skills Centre at the University of Sheffield provides academic skills training (including study skills and maths and statistics support) to students in the form of workshops, 1:1 appointments and online resources. The transition to online learning during spring 2020 acted as a catalyst for us to develop our digital offer, which proved extremely popular with students studying remotely. As teaching has returned to the classroom we have been keen to retain some of the positive impacts of our online support and to continue to offer students a choice in how they access our extracurricular service. Throughout the 2021-22 academic year we have provided the option of attending 1:1 appointments and workshops either online or face-to-face, which has provided us with a dataset of student preferences. We have been surprised by the ongoing scale of demand for online training and support and student feedback on the service has provided us with an insight into the reasons behind this demand. This conference session presented data collected during the 2021-22 academic year to explore how and why some students may prefer an online learning alternative and how we intend to develop this delivery model in the future.

Living City project: Integrating Education 4.0 content and experiences into the STEAM classroom

The World Economic Forum’s Education 4.0 initiative has identified critical characteristics of high quality learning in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including content that fosters global citizenship, innovation, creativity, and technology skills, as well as experiences that incorporate, among others, problem-based and student-driven learning. The Living City project for high school students is presented as a demonstration of the integration of Education 4.0 characteristics into the STEAM classroom in a design-centered fashion that allows for student choice and creativity and considers the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Online Unproctored Clinical Examinations: The Perceptions and Performance of Final Year Dental Students.

Take home, or open-book, examinations (OBE) are designed to be completed at a location of student choice, whilst providing comprehensive assessment of learning outcomes. Supporters of OBE refer to their authenticity, in that they reflect real-world practice where use of external resources is routine and encouraged. A contrasting view is that efficient practice requires a solid base of knowledge upon which to draw. The aim of this evaluation was to elicit learners' perceptions of the open-book, unproctored examination approach; we sought student views on authenticity, assessment preparation, use of resources, and anxiety. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered using an online, self-administered survey. We sought to determine the correlation between student views and examination performance via consideration of final examination marks. Heightened anxiety levels tended to increase assessment preparations and were found to be inversely related to learners' perceptions that the OBE was an authentic test. An inverse relationship was seen between learners' OBE examination performance and consulting resources during the examination. Examination marks were not significantly related to endorsement of continued online delivery of learning, time spent preparing for OBE in comparison to other types of assessment, greater anxiety than usual, perceptions of test authenticity, or experiencing a supportive test environment. The results of this study may inform curriculum and assessment development, learning and teaching practices, and support student voice and experience.

Career Choice of The Students, What is Important?

This study aims to determine the factors considered by students in choosing a career after graduating from college. The research population is students of the 4 largest universities in Malang, they are Brawijaya University, State University of Malang, University of Muhammadiyah Malang and State Islamic University of Malang. The sample of the study was 200 respondents with details of each university 50 respondents, respondents who filled out the complete questionnaire were 134. The analysis tool was factor analysis with 24 variables originating from the voice of respondents. From the data analysis process, 16 variables were worthy of analysis and grouped into 6 factors. The results showed that there were 6 factors for student career choice are: financial, job information, opportunity, social environment, challenge and interest, with financial being the dominant factor.

Online Learning

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trend to the use of online learning more extensively as well as our experience with many new, and often unusual, situational variations. This article reviews what we know about the important factors affecting effective online learning, summarizes the extensive research findings about online learning, reviews some of the overall gaps in the research in terms of moving the state-of-the-art forward, and provides a summary of types of initiatives that departments, colleges, and universities can take to upgrade their online teaching/learning offerings. It also provides a summary of complementary opportunities/strengths and challenges provided by online teaching. Challenges include additional skills to be learned by faculty, various challenges in implementing integrity tools, mode selection issues, lowered perceived learning experience, increased faculty workload, student choice “traps,” and faculty satisfaction conflicts.

Impact of Eating Context on Dietary Choices of College Students: Evidence from the HEALTHY-UNICT Project.

While personal characteristics have been evaluated as determinants of dietary choices over the years, only recently studies have looked at the impact of eating context. Examining eating context, however, can be challenging. Here, we propose the use of a web-app for the Ecological Momentary Assessment of dietary habits among 138 college students from Catania (Italy) and therefore for examining the impact of eating context on dietary choices. Eating away from home was associated with lower odds of consuming vegetables, fruits, and legumes and higher odds of consuming processed meat, salty snacks, and alcoholic drinks compared with eating at home. Eating in the company of other people was associated with higher odds of consuming vegetables, red meat, fish, legumes, milk, and sugar-sweetened beverages and lower odds of consuming nuts than eating alone. This study proposed a new way to capture and assess how eating environment might affect dietary habits. Based on our results, meal location and social context have significant effects on the dietary choices of college students, pointing to the need to incorporate these aspects into further epidemiological studies.

Conceptualizing university students’ food choices based on theory of planned behavior

Background: Several students use hostel facilities offered by their colleges and universities while pursuing higher education. A crucial change is witnessed in their food habits during their stay at the campus, which is vastly different from their home experience. Method: The study employs the theory of planned behavior to conceptualize and understand food choices of university students, while following the qualitative research methodology and the phenomenological approach. The snowball sampling method is applied to select participants for the study. We selected twenty-six undergraduate and postgraduate students pursuing programs in technical and health science from a private university at Udupi with residence in the university campus for two to four years. Interviews with candidates were conducted online and audio-recorded with participants’ consent. Results: The transcribed interviews were coded and categorized to obtain themes, which were then conceptualized to develop the model based on theory of planned behavior. The duration of their stay in campus allowed students to gain a perspective on the food events and the food they consumed at university dining facility (UDF) guided by factors, such as taste, price, availability of time(during academic activity), accessibility to healthy food, academic stress and lack of knowledge on nutrition. Two factors emerged from the interviews, one, there was no display in the dining facility about the nutritional value of the food served; and, second, students preferred to dine out on unhealthy food rather than at the university because food from outside the campus , even though unhealthy, was easier on the pocket. Conclusion: The study provides insights into the role of UDF in serving healthy and nutritional food to students for better health and improved academic performance. This work brings to light the relationship between students’ food choices and their impact on academic performance.

The Voting Behavior of Kyai And Santri on the Legislative Election of 2019

Background: Kyai and Santri have a long history in the political dynamics of the Indonesian nation. In addition, the number of Islamic boarding schools and students has experienced significant development, so it is not surprising that Islamic boarding schools are land to gain votes in the general election of legislative candidates. Aim: This study aims to describe the behavior of Kyai voters in the 2019 Legislative Election and the behavior of Santri voters in the 2019 Legislative Election. Method: The research uses descriptive qualitative with a case study at the Wisma Wisnu Islamic Boarding School, Madiun Regency. Data analysis was carried out using the approach of sociological theory (The Colombia Study) and rational choice. Findings: The results showed that; 1) The behavior of Kyai voters in the 2019 Legislative Elections showed a rational choice approach. Kyai was able to assess the quality, competence, and integrity of legislative candidates through vision, mission, and programs; 2) The behavior of Santri voters in the 2019 Legislative General Election showed a sociological approach (The Colombia Study); Santri did not know the vision and program of the future legislative because the students were not involved in the campaign stage, so the consideration in determining the choice of students was due to the direction of the Kyai and partly because of the supervision of the parents.

The impact of volunteering with a student-run free clinic on medical student specialty selection

BackgroundThe shortage of primary care physicians in the United States is expected to grow to 17,800–48,000 physicians by 2034. Student Run Free Clinics are an increasingly popular component of medical schools and may provide an avenue for increasing medical student interest in primary care specialties. However, there is limited research on the impact of Student Run Free Clinics on medical student specialty choice. This investigation sought to determine whether volunteering with the Interprofessional Community Clinic (ICC), the Student Run Free Clinic associated with Chicago Medical School, was associated with an increased likelihood of matching into primary care specialties. Secondarily, the authors investigated associations between volunteering and matching into family practice. Finally, the authors explored associations between volunteering and the competitiveness of specialty choice.MethodsThis retrospective review utilized data on medical school graduates from 2015 – 2021 including their matched specialties, the number of ICC shifts they volunteered for, and whether they held an ICC leadership position (executive officers). Primary care specialties were defined as internal medicine, family practice, pediatrics, or combined internal medicine/pediatrics. Residency fill rate was used as a proxy for competitiveness.ResultsThis analysis included 506 medical students (254 ICC volunteers and 252 non-volunteers). Among ICC volunteers, 47.2% matched into a primary care specialty compared to 36.5% of non-volunteers (RR 1.29, 95% CI 1.05–1.59). Each additional shift worked at the ICC was correlated with increased odds of matching into family practice by a factor of 1.042 (95% CI 1.005–1.079).ConclusionsMedical students who volunteered with the ICC were more likely to match into primary care residencies. Students who volunteered more frequently were more likely to match into family practice. Further investigation is warranted to determine whether these associations are causative and could thus be leveraged to encourage medical students to pursue primary care careers.

The clinical elective course and its effects on medical students and graduates of Jordanian medical schools

BackgroundThe elective course is part of the 6th-year medical school curriculum in Jordan. Students choose the specialty in which they wish to spend 8 weeks and choose their location even if it is outside their university’s affiliated hospitals. In this study, we try to understand student choices regarding the country of elective, chosen specialty, type of placement (observership/clerkship), and elective general value from participants' perspectives.MethodsThis paper used a cross-sectional study. The survey was distributed through social media platforms (mainly Facebook and WhatsApp) targeting 6th-year medical students and doctors who graduated from one of the 5 Jordanian medical schools (the University of Jordan, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Mutah University, Yarmouk University, and Hashemite University).ResultsThe majority of participants had an international elective (69.6%), mainly in the USA, followed by the UK. Internal medicine was the primary field of interest for 14.8%, followed by general surgery. Of these, 241 (62.6%) actively participated in work at their chosen hospitals as they had a clerkship/hands-on experience. In contrast, 142 (36.9%) were observers. The majority indicated that the elective is worth the time, money, and effort. Moreover, they had adequate supervision throughout the course and could achieve their preset objectives.ConclusionsThe elective course gives a unique experience to our students. General satisfaction is an indicator of the success of the course in actively exposing medical students to clinical practice.

People, Not Programs: Improving Diversity in the Family Medicine Workforce.

Patients are best served by a health care workforce that reflects the diversity of their community. Increasing diversity of family medicine requires a long-term effort to recruit more medical students from underrepresented in medicine (URiM, defined as people of Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American or Pacific Islander heritage) backgrounds into family medicine residencies. This paper examines factors that influence URiM medical students to choose family medicine residencies. Data were collected via a Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) survey of family medicine clerkship directors. Correlations examined associations between the percent URiM faculty, percent URiM preceptors, percent clerkship cases addressing health equity, and the percent of URiM students choosing family medicine residencies. t tests determined associations between clerkship director race, preclinical electives on health equity, department faculty champion for diversity, and department diversity activities; and the percentage of URiM students choosing family medicine residencies. Survey response rate was 49%. Two factors had a positive relationship with the percentage of graduating students who were URiM choosing family medicine residencies: having a higher percentage of faculty who were URiM (r=0.33, P=.004) and having a higher percentage of preceptors who are URiM (rs=.386, P=.001). We found no such association for having cases addressing health equity, offering preclinical electives, departments with a faculty champion for diversity, clerkship director race, or a department's diversity activities. The presence of teaching faculty and community preceptors from URiM backgrounds is correlated with the rate at which students who are URiM choose family medicine. People, rather than activities, seem to influence the career choices of students from URiM backgrounds.

How much does degree choice matter?

We use a large and novel administrative dataset to investigate returns to different university ‘degrees’ (subject-institution combinations) in the United Kingdom. Conditioning on a rich set of background characteristics, we find substantial variation in returns across degrees with similar selectivity levels, suggesting students’ degree choices matter a lot for later-life earnings. Returns increase with university selectivity much more at the top of the selectivity distribution than further down, and much more for some subjects than others. Returns are poorly correlated with observable degree characteristics other than selectivity, which could have important implications for student choices and the incentives of universities.

Factors Associated with Medical Students' Career Choices Regarding Internal Medicine in Uganda.

BackgroundThere is an unmet need for internal medicine physicians in Uganda owing to the growing burden of diseases. This study aimed at evaluating the factors associated with career choices of undergraduate medical students regarding internal medicine in Uganda.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study in the first 3 weeks of October 2021 via WhatsApp messenger. Medical students in the 3rd to 5th year of study who had completed internal medicine clinical rotations and pursuing a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree at 7 Ugandan universities (4 public and 3 private) were enrolled. Multivariable logistic regression model was constructed to determine factors associated with a career choice in internal medicine.ResultsWe enrolled 418 participants, median age was 24 (interquartile range (IQR): 23–26) years, 67.7% were male, and 36.1% had a family member or relative who was a doctor. Most of the students (84.0%) were interested in research. The top three most preferred specialties were internal medicine (52.6%), surgery (51.2%), and obstetrics and gynaecology (51.0%). Overall, 186 (44.5%) participants reported plans to pursue a Master of Medicine degree in internal medicine. Interest in research was the only factor independently associated with 2.5-fold higher odds of pursuing a career in internal medicine (adjusted odds ratio: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.4–4.6, p = 0.003). About 73% of the participants strongly agreed that internal medicine requires wide reading.ConclusionThere is a strong interest to pursue a career in internal medicine among Ugandan medical students. We recommend an increase in training opportunities in Internal Medicine, especially in view of the growing disease burden and increasing population growth.

Factors Influencing Undergraduate Students' Preference of Health Sciences Specialties.

BackgroundIt is necessary to determine what motivates students to pursue a particular specialty of their choosing to maintain a balance of medical practitioners from various disciplines.ObjectiveThe study aims to assess factors influencing undergraduate students of Applied Medical Sciences in choosing a specialty or discipline.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted among first-year students of the faculty of applied medical sciences at Taibah University. One hundred and twenty-five participants were enrolled in the study. The students were asked to respond and complete the designed 9-item questionnaire. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (BM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0, Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) was used to analyze the data. A comparison between departments of the faculty was carried out.Results125 participants were satisfied with their current faculty or discipline. They stated that medicine was the first choice (43.2%), followed by clinical nutrition (11.2%), dentistry (8%), diagnostic radiology (7.2%), and clinical laboratory (5.6%). The most important factors that affect students’ choice of discipline were helping patients and the community (32.8%), personal desire (30.4%), personal desire and helping patients (22.4%), and job opportunity and prestige (9.5%), with gender variations. Family enforcement and finances were less frequent factors affecting students’ specialty preferences.ConclusionThe human medicine specialization was the first choice for most female and male undergraduate students who entered the faculty of applied medical sciences. Furthermore, the most influencing factor affecting students’ choices was helping patients and the community.