Freshman Course Research Articles

Enhancing undergraduate nursing students' global health competencies in South Korea.

As the need for greater global health competency increases for health care professionals in South Korea, educational efforts for nursing students have begun. This study examined the effectiveness of two educational courses for freshmen and sophomores that were designed to improve students' global health competencies. A trend study was conducted for all undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a 4-year undergraduate nursing program in 2013 and 2014. We assessed students' global health competencies (1-knowledge and interests in global health and health equity, 2-global health skills, and 3-learning needs) in 2013 and 2014 and analyzed variance between mean scores by year and by course exposure, using 95% confidence intervals. Students who took both global health courses (sophomores in both years) reported higher global health-related knowledge and interests than did freshmen (p<.01); these scores were not sustained a year later. The two courses may have improved students' global health competencies. Reinforcement of knowledge in later courses may be needed to build on the global competencies.

The effect of music listening on the anxiety of nursing students during their first blood draw experience

BackgroundNursing education is a process aimed both at theoretical knowledge and skill development. The Fundamentals of Nursing is a course that furnishes students with professional knowledge, concepts and technical skills, and, also, is the keystone of nursing education in our country. Students experience a great deal of anxiety as they face basic nursing practices for the first time. Studies have revealed the effectiveness of music in relieving anxiety in many patient groups. However, no previous studies were found where music was used with the intent to lower the anxiety that students experience over the course of skill learning. The experimental study is aimed at determining the effect of music in decreasing anxiety during the first nursing practices of students in a laboratory setting. MethodsThe experimental study was conducted on nursing students of Akdeniz University attending Fundamentals of Nursing, a freshman course, during the 2013–2014 academic year. A total of 73 students, of which 34 were assigned to the experimental group and 39 to the control group, participated in the study. Data collection was carried out using (a) the student identification form prepared by the authors, (b) skill control lists and (c) the Situational Anxiety Scale. The students in the experimental group listened to music during blood draw skill practice in a laboratory environment. The students were assessed with respect to their performance of blood drawing through skill control lists using the statements “True”, “False” and “Forgotten”. The anxiety levels and vital signs of students were assessed before and after the practice. ResultsThe mean age of the students was 19.08. 64.7% of the experimental group and 82.1% of the control group were female. The age group of 64.7% of the students in the experimental group was female. The age group of 82.1% of the students in the control group was female. After music listening, the mean anxiety score of the students was 38.70±3.83 in the experimental group and 39.76±4.72 in the control group. The difference between the mean anxiety scores of the two groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). The evaluation made before and after the blood draw revealed a statistically significant difference in diastolic blood pressure values in the experimental group that listened to music(p<0.05). ConclusionsThe results of the study showed that listening to music decreased the anxiety levels of nursing students during their first blood draw experience.

Engineering Ethics:Decision Making Using Fundamental Canons

An engineering professional's work demands that the technological solutions designed to solve practical problems of society are addressing the safety, health and welfare of the public. An engineer thus works in an environment where equally competing considerations for different stakeholders need to be accounted for before providing uncompromised solutions. In such a professionally obligatory setting, ethical dilemmas come into foreplay which will decide the course of action which the problem solver will seek to take. However, the ethical problems are ill-structured and lack a set of prescriptive and enumerable solutions. Thus, the professionals need to be trained in exploring the solution space of problems related to engineering ethics during their formative four years. An aim to achieve this will require engineering educators to include of the principles of Engineering Ethics is the curriculum. The objective of this paper is to explore the existing solution space for the curriculum design, content and assessment of ethics instruction. It also presents the approach followed in designing a module on Engineering Ethics in an introductory freshman course in our university. We have designed an assessment in which the students are required to provide a resolution to the ethical dilemma by basing their decision on fundamental canons of National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). From the results we conclude that students are able to identify and resolve ethical dilemmas which lie in the domain of public welfare, health and safety more than the others.

Integrating the development &amp; usage of Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in the Communication Classroom: Perceptions and Impact

Freshman communication course focuses on the application of critical thinking and problem-solving through the development of the engineering students' speaking and writing skills. Students synthesise, analyse, make critical evaluation of reading texts and integrate them with their freshman year experiences in their writings. Although these objectives attempt to lead students to incorporate higher order thinking skills (HOTS), most students' writings demonstrate more of the lower order thinking skills (LOTS), i.e. summarising, informing, describing and not enough evaluating and synthesising. The challenge remains for teachers to incorporate teaching practices and the corresponding assessment of students' writings that meet the course objectives and improve the acquisition of HOTS. This research plans to assist students in making the connection of LOTS and HOTS taught through an intervention that substantiates the effort to develop and increase the usage of HOTS in their writings. Based on a pilot research conducted in autumn 2013 and published as a conference proceeding, we plan to follow an improved version of the methodology used in the pilot study, as an attempt to find systematic solutions that would expand the repertoire of students' HOTS in their writings.

Teaching Students to Formulate Questions

As STEM educators, we know it is beneficial to train students to think critically and mathematically during their early mathematical lives. To this end, the author teaches the College Algebra/Precalculus course in a flipped classroom version of an inquiry-based learning style. However, the techniques described in this paper can be applied to a variety of freshman and sophomore mathematics courses (and above). In particular, in this model the students read the textbook before class and formulate questions, submitted prior to class via a learning management system, about the material to be covered in class the next day. During class they solve problems about that topic, and solutions are presented and discussed before the end of the period. After class, students complete standard homework about the topic, and are encouraged to bring any unresolved homework, worksheet, or reading questions for the next class period. This paper will discuss this method of engaging students, focusing on how student questions evolve during the semester, and student feedback.

Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum: A Vision

This essay offers a comprehensive vision for a higher education program incorporating critical thinking across the curriculum (CTAC) at hypothetical Alpha College, employing a rigorous detailed conception of critical thinking called “The Alpha Conception of Critical Thinking”. The program starts with a 1-year, required, freshman course, two-thirds of which focuses on a set of general critical thinking dispositions and abilities. The final third uses subject-matter issues to reinforce general critical thinking dispositions and abilities, teach samples of subject matter, and introduce subject-specific critical thinking. Subject-matter departmental and other units will make long-range plans for incorporating critical thinking in varying amounts in subject-matter courses, culminating in a written Senior Thesis/Project involving investigating, taking, and defending a position, which reinforce critical thinking abilities and dispositions and increase subject-matter knowledge. Teaching approaches used in the program are involving and based on the principle, “We learn what we use.” Both summative and formative assessment are employed as appropriate. Coordination and support are extensive. Objections and concerns are discussed, and alternatives, including possible transitions, are considered. An extended review of research supports moving toward CTAC.

The scheme and application of educational reformation during pre-medical training of medical education for eight-year program

Central South University began to implement the eight-year medical education in 2004, and has accumulated rich experience in the pre-medical education through continuous reform and improvement. Since 2012, Central South University has made a series of reformation, which is more conducive to the all-round development of medical students, on the pre-medical education. Through adding freshman courses, humanities courses, bilingual teaching courses, and applying academic adviser institution, early scientific research training and open courses during the pre-medical education, Central South University has exercised and strengthened students' scientific research ability, the humanistic quality, English level, and made the pre-medical comprehensive examination for the shunt selection of students. Thus Central South University has improved the eight-year medical students' comprehensive quality, and provided an example of the reformation for medical education. Key words: Pre-medical education; Freshman course; Academic adviser institution; The early training of scientific research; Open course; Comprehensive examination

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effects of the COPE Online Cognitive-Behavioral Skill-Building Program on Mental Health Outcomes and Academic Performance in Freshmen College Students: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study.

Despite the increasing prevalence of mental health disorders in university students, few receive needed evidence-based treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and preliminary effects of a seven-session online cognitive-behavioral skill-building intervention (i.e., COPE, Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment) versus a comparison group on their anxiety, depressive symptoms, and grade performance. A randomized controlled pilot study was conducted from September 2012 to May 2013 with 121 college freshmen enrolled in a required one credit survey course. Although there were no significant differences in anxiety and depressive symptoms between the groups, only COPE students with an elevated level of anxiety at baseline had a significant decline in symptoms. Grade point average was higher in COPE versus comparison students. Evaluations indicated that COPE was a positive experience for students. COPE is a promising brief intervention that can be integrated effectively into a required freshman course.

Stakeholders’ Perceptions of ‘Use of English’ Programme at the University of Buea, Cameroon

&lt;p&gt;The ‘Use of English’ (UoE) or ‘English Composition’ is a freshman course taught in many universities around the world. In Cameroon, an officially bilingual (French/English) country, UoE is taught at the University of Buea, one of two English–Speaking Universities as a compulsory course for all students, irrespective of their major. The present investigation was undertaken to assess stakeholders’ perceptions of the relevance of this course, as well as to determine its strengths and weaknesses in view of future improvements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To accomplish these objectives, structured questionnaires were applied to 500 students who had taken the course. Focused interviews were also conducted with the Coordinators and teachers of the course. Finally to validate the responses, pre- and post-diagnostic tests were conducted with a cohort of 200 students taking the course, marked and their performances compared.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The questionnaire survey indicated considerable stakeholders’ positive appreciation of the course while identifying weaknesses such as insufficient availability of course materials, inadequate pre-course preparation and inadequate emphasis placed on grammar during course delivery. Analysis of the results supported the positive impact of the UoE. We concluded that the UoE course is a necessary requirement that needs to be improved upon and applied in similar learning environments.&lt;/p&gt;

Moeilijker, langer, serieuzer

Abstract Difficult, lengthy, serious: First-year students’ assumptions about writing in an academic settingThis study explores assumptions and expectations expressed by novice university students about writing in an academic setting. Knowledge of these notions and beliefs among students at the transition of secondary to higher education may help university teachers to design learning activities that enable academic newcomers to distance themselves from naive or biased renditions of texts and writing, and to come to grips with the intricacies of the discourse practices in their new environment. The data are drawn from a corpus of meta-writing assignments performed by 118 students in their first year at university during the first week of a freshman course in academic communication skills. Our findings confirm and substantiate the presumption that, when expressing their thoughts about writing in an academic setting, novices predominantly convey issues related to ‘surface features’ (e.g. text length) or broad, general characteristics that are not specific for writing in an academic context. When considering ‘deep features’, some novices emphasize their unfamiliarity with, or even anxiety about writing practices in their new environment. A minority articulates quite realistic notions about the instrumentality of texts in academic communities.

What helps learning in this class?Assessing Teaching and Learning in Predominantly Freshman Courses

What helps learning in this class?Assessing Teaching and Learning in Predominantly Freshman Courses

Using Social Networking Sites for Teaching and Learning

This study investigates students' involvement in Facebook® as a course management system (CMS), Facebook acceptance, and the relationships between the two. The study used Facebook as a CMS in two freshman courses and employed mixed method as part of an action-research approach. Forty-two students participated in the study, and 12 of those students were selected for face-to-face interviews through maximum variation sampling. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires and course Facebook page logs. Qualitative data were collected through the interviews. The quantitative data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics and correlation analyses. The findings indicate that the relationships between course Facebook page involvement and Facebook acceptance differed according to the course. The findings support that Facebook as a CMS has the potential to increase student involvement in discussions and out-of-class communication among instructors and students.

Developing a university-wide course on sustainability: a critical evaluation of planning and implementation

Sustainability is an issue of increasing importance in today's world. Institutions of higher education are undergoing change towards incorporating sustainable development principles within their teaching, research, service, and community outreach efforts. This article presents a case study of the development and implementation of one such initiative: a university-wide freshman course centered on the topic of sustainability. The objective of the course was to expose freshman students to important sustainability issues in a common course team-taught by faculty from various disciplines. The article presents experiences and recommendations as a guide to administrators, faculty and researchers at other institutions of higher education that plan to undertake similar endeavors. Based on experiences with the course, it is recommended that institutions that attempt a similar course should allocate significant time to develop the course, ideally a year in advance. The course concept was predicated on faculty members from widely differing disciplines coming together to teach a cluster topic. While this led to an interesting diversity in perspective, and introduced students to the multi-dimensional aspects of sustainability issues, it also resulted in divergent expectations among faculty and a lack of coherence in achieving the goals of the course initially set forth. A mechanism needs to be in place to coordinate faculty and their lectures within a cluster, and to prevent divergent expectations. An additional challenge that should be taken into consideration is the level of preparedness of freshman students to participate in a course that required high levels of critical thinking and analysis. In conclusion, the course has much potential to create a culture of caring for sustainability issues at an institution, as well as being a bonding experience for incoming freshmen. However, some restructuring is necessary to nurture the students to the point where they can engage in meaningful discussion of sustainability issues.

Introduction to this special section: Sensor technology and nanotechnology

Geophysics students taking their first seismic data processing course during their freshman year often wonder how we seem to be perfectly happy with single-component data in a three-dimensional world, the single component being either vertical geophones on land or hydrophones in water. Some students ask the question but then are happy to accept an answer that multicomponent is not covered in the freshman course. They quickly get busy learning what material is in the course and will be on the final exam. Deconvolution, NMO, and migration — all applied to single-component data — will determine their grade. Childhood innocence lost! Years later, sometimes at an SEG honorary lecture, it comes back. It is a relief. They always knew that one-component data could not be complete. They are glad that somebody else cares. It is then usually assumed that in a three-dimensional world, three-component data would be complete. Right? No. Seabed systems record four components, not just three. Why do we need four components in a 3D world? If four components are more complete than 3C, then would 5C be more complete than 4C? How about 6C? Where will we stop … at 7C?

Impact of values on the learning approaches of Chinese construction students in Hong Kong

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of personal values on students’ learning behaviours. Hong Kong construction students are often criticized, by both practitioners and educators, as rote learners. To improve students’ learning processes, extensive research on a variety of aspects of construction education has been conducted. However, limited attention has been paid to the influence of personal values on students’ learning behaviours. The impact of personal value factors on the learning approaches of Chinese construction students in Hong Kong is investigated. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was conducted to ethically Chinese construction students in four universities in Hong Kong. A total of 820 questionnaires were distributed and 431 valid returns were collected. Findings – The survey identified six influential values (namely, personal integrity, conservatism, determination, discipline, interpersonal relationships, and achievement), and shows that students who emphasize the virtues of personal integrity, determination, and a positive attitude toward achievement are better able to handle their interpersonal relationships, which will eventually lead them to engage in deep learning. Originality/value – Work to develop appropriate value systems is thus recommended in freshmen courses, as is the use of cooperative learning approaches. Such value systems will have a long-term influence on the learning approaches of construction students.

Beyond the literary uses of poetry: A class for university freshmen

The purpose of this paper is to explore the development and implementation of a university course: Beyond the Literary Uses of Poetry. This freshman course allowed students to learn about the nonliterary uses of poetry using experiential, hands-on techniques that helped them to develop new communication and analytical skills. The nonliterary uses of poetry were simultaneously the topic and method of class sessions and experience.

The Critical Inquiry Imperative: Information Literacy and Critical Inquiry as Complementary Concepts in Higher Education

Sharing a variety of characteristics and theories, critical inquiry and information literacy have the potential to complement one another in a higher education setting. This article explores an initiative at the University of South Carolina Aiken to help students with their critical thinking and reasoning skills through the implementation of a new, one-credit, freshman seminar course. The class, entitled Critical Inquiry, would address three student learning outcomes, including one directed at information literacy. A case study of how the initiative was implemented is discussed.

IMPACTO DE UN PROGRAMA DE RENOVACIÓN METODOLÓGICA EN LAS ESTRATEGIAS COGNITIVAS Y EL RENDIMIENTO ACADÉMICO EN CURSOS DE FÍSICA UNIVERSITARIA

The present work aims to share the educational implications that arise when implementing a program of methodological renewal, which considers the use of conceptual maps and Gowin's V diagrams to teach and learn the contents of a general physics course for freshmen of the civil engineering major at the University of Bio Bio in Concepcion, Chile. The impact of the intervention program on learning strategies, interests and creative achievement and academic performance are analyzed. This research is quasi experimental with three independents groups and pre and post tests. The experimental group was involved with active methodologies and heuristics (Gowin's V and concept map), while the control groups worked through problem solving guides and teaching assistants. The results indicate that the experimental group obtained better results in academic performance and developed deep processing strategy

Using Low- and No-Stakes Quizzing for Student Self-Evaluation of Readiness for Exams

Introductory level materials and methods courses in Construction Management programs require students to acquire an enormous new discipline-specific vocabulary in preparation for future courses. Students are often not prepared for the self-directed studying they must do to be successful in these types of courses, particularly in their first year of college. To assist students in more accurately gauging their readiness for an exam, online low- and no-stakes quizzes were implemented in a freshman course, giving students an opportunity to practice their new language with little or no grade-related consequences. This quizzing strategy provides students an opportunity to self-assess their current level of knowledge. The quizzes also provide feedback, helping students adjust their behavior to ensure that acquisition of the missing knowledge is successful. This research evaluated (1) whether quizzing helps students better prepare for medium and high-stakes exams; (2) whether quizzing increases mean exam scores compared to previous semesters with no quizzing; and (3) whether quizzing should be required to be effective, or whether it can be optional and still benefit students. It was found that quizzes helped students prepare for exams, increased mean exam scores for seven of twelve exams, and, based on student feedback, optional quizzes are recommended.

The impact of supplementary hands-on practice on learning in introductory computer science course for freshmen

Introduction to Computer Science (ICS), which is a compulsory theoretical course for freshmen of the electrical engineering (EE) department, lays the foundation for more advanced courses. Nevertheless, since ICS covers a wide variety of concepts that are difficult to completely comprehend, incomplete understanding and a loss of learning incentive are possible problems. The aim of implementing hands-on practice (HOP) activities was to prepare the students for the actual hardware manipulation in the field of EE and also to enhance their performance in the future advanced practice courses. Through organizing optional evening hands-on practice (HOP) activities, this study investigated whether the first-year college students who participated in HOP would exhibit a better understanding in ICS compared to those who did not. The enrollment in HOP was optional in which the performance did not affect the score in the ICS course. The results showed that HOP participants not only had significantly higher academic scores (p < 0.05), but were also less stressed toward the ICS course (p < 0.05) than the non-participants. The former also showed increased interest in accepting challenges (e.g. Two HOP participants later entered the National Microcomputer Design Competition and were awarded the third prize). In conclusion, the introduction of optional HOP for freshmen of electrical engineering not only alleviated the stress that they face in response to the ICS course, but also improved the students' academic performance and class attendance rate as well as raising their interest and boosting their confidence in further challenges in the field of electrical engineering.