Current Semester Research Articles

The degree to which high school students apply life skills gained from family education subject outside of school hours: درجة تطبيق طالبات المرحلة الثانوية للمهارات الحياتية المكتسبة من مادة التربية الأسرية خارج ساعات الدراسة من وجهة نظر أولياء الأمور

This study aimed to identify the degree of application of secondary school student's life skills acquired from family education outside the hours of study from the perspective of parents in Saudi Arabia, to achieve the objective of the study, the researcher adopted the descriptive analytical approach. In the current semester of the academic year 1440 AH - 1441 AH. The researcher used a questionnaire as a data collection tool to achieve the study goal. The questionnaire included 26 items divided into four areas: communication and communication skills, problem solving skills, academic skills, and critical thinking skills... the most important results reached by the researcher: The degree of application of secondary school students for life skills acquired from family education outside of school hours from the point of view of parents came to a medium degree and the support rate of 54.17%, where The highest score for the application of secondary school students for life skills acquired from family education outside the school hours from the point of view of parents was in the "communication and communication skills" with a moderate degree of support and 55%, while the lowest score for the application of secondary school students for life skills To gain from the family education outside the school hours from the viewpoint of parents was in (critical thinking skills) with a medium degree of support 53.1%. In the light of the results of the study, the researcher recommended that the Ministry of Education should pay attention to the subject of family education because of its impact on the lives of students, especially secondary school students in the situations they direct outside school hours. In addition, making decisions.

Effects of Reciprocal Peer Teaching on Student Learning Outcomes in a Multi‐Campus Physical Therapy Gross Human Anatomy Curriculum

Health professions education is undergoing dramatic curricular reform to better integrate basic and clinical sciences. These efforts present unique challenges to human anatomy courses involving cadaveric dissection which require significant student contact hours and faculty trained in anatomical sciences education. To overcome these challenges, institutions have implemented peer‐to‐peer presentation of content via reciprocal peer teaching (RPT), a technique shown to be successful in many studies. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of RPT on student learning outcomes in a physical therapy human anatomy curriculum delivered simultaneously across multiple campuses.Sixty‐six first year physical therapy (PT) students (50 at the home site and 16 at the satellite site) were organized into two RPT groups and directed to alternate between peer teacher/learner roles for cadaveric dissection laboratories in the 16 week anatomy course. RPT was employed for the first 30 minutes of each dissection laboratory, at the end of which the peer teachers would leave the laboratory and peer learners would stay to continue the dissection. Student learning outcomes were assessed by three written (MCQ) and practical (constructed response) unit examinations. PT student performances were compared to 66 first year physician assistant (PA) students (50 at the home site and 16 at the satellite site) who concurrently attend the same didactic lectures and take the same examinations but attend all cadaveric dissection laboratories and do not participate in RPT. All satellite students simultaneously receive the didactic lectures via live two‐way video communication and have disparate but comparable laboratory experiences.Statistical analysis of group means was performed for both written and practical examinations. Units I (upper extremity and superficial back) and II (head and neck) examination data show PA students outperforming PT students in both written (Unit I: 80.47% vs. 74.93%; Unit II: 81.54% vs. 73.31%) and practical (Unit I: 82.45% vs. 77.44%; Unit II: 80.04% vs. 73.35%) examinations (p<0.05). Due to ongoing data collection in the current semester, initial analyses are limited to units I and II examination data. Additional comparison of performances between RPT groups (relative to their separate dissection experiences), home and satellite populations, written and practical examinations, and combinations therein will be completed with final course data. Additionally, student evaluation feedback regarding RPT will be analyzed to identify common themes.RPT has been shown to be successful in many studies; however, preliminary results of this study suggest RPT decreases learning outcomes for students. Many variables could contribute to this finding, including the theory that time spent dissecting leads to increased student learning outcomes. Effectively and comparably implementing RPT in a dissection‐based cadaveric human anatomy course across multiple campuses poses exceptional challenges. A multifaceted analysis of these variables will help quantify RPT efficacy and better understand student motivations and learning strategies.

EVALUATION OF DENTAL SCHOOL STUDENT’S SATISFACTION REGARDING THEIR OWN SMILE ESTHETICS AND FACIAL PROFILE

Introduction: Facial aesthetics is especially important in a person’s life. However, what is considered aesthetic by the orthodontist does not always correspond with the patient’s opinion, since aesthetics is very subjective. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the perception of dental graduate students in relation to their ownsmile and facial profile, analyzing if there would be any difference between this self-evaluation associated with the year students are attending in dental school and the technical knowledge progressively acquired. Materials and methods: A transverse observational study was performed, in which a questionnaire wasapplied to all dentistry students at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. The questionnaire inquired about: student’s current semester, age, gender, nationality, and previous history of orthodontic treatment. It also contained a Likert scale of satisfaction about their smile, the aesthetic component of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) for students to compare with their smile, and a scale for facial profile comparison. The chi-squared test was applied using the SPSS 13.0 software and all analyzes were performed with 95% confidence (p < 0.05). Results: A total of 253 questionnaires were distributed and 166 were filled out. Among those, 103 people reported having had orthodontic treatment before. The level of satisfaction with their own smile was high, reaching 78% in the first year of the course, 63% in the second, 87% in the third, and 72% in the fourth year. There was a preference for a slightly convex profile for both genders. It is observed that 62% of the sample reported having been submitted to orthodontic treatment before and the percentage of white students who had received previous orthodontic treatment was substantially higher than other ethnicities. The qui-square test found a significant statistical difference in ethnicity among students that had received previous orthodontic treatment (p=0.008). Conclusion: There was no difference in the aesthetic perception of the smile and profile in relation to the year attended by dental school students, with the level of satisfaction with their own smile being high.

The effect of using flipped teaching in project management class for undergraduate students

Teaching Project Management module to undergraduate students is important and has been globally considered in multiple academic disciplines by many higher institutions. Students in undergraduate level encounter difficulty in understanding the topic of project management since there have no prior knowledge before the course. This paper aimed to determine the effectiveness of flipped teaching and active learning in Project Management module for undergraduate students in Civil Engineering. However, the paper discussed the effective practices in teaching and learning project management and their impacts into students’ learning experience, and assessments development and marking. The Padlet and SurveyMonkey e-tools were used to collect students’ feedback on the instructor practice; either by tagging comments or filling questionnaire. The results indicated that the use of multiple in-class activities and digital technology in a flipped classroom are important to enhance students’ performance. It is also observed that the use of multiple assessments engaged students deeply with the course and provide deeper learning. Students’ performance in summative assessments showed that there is a noticeable improve in student’s scores in the current semester in contrast with previous semester where traditional teaching was practiced.

Load balancing clustering on moodle LMS to overcome performance issue of e-learning system

In dealing with the rapid growth of digitalization, the e-learning system has become a mandatory component of any Higher Education (HE) to serve academic processes requests. Along with the increasing number of users, the need for service availability and capabilities of eLearning are increasing day by day. The organization should always look for strategies to keep the eLearning always able to meet these demands. This report presents the implementation of Load Balancing Clustering (LBC) mechanism applied to Moodle LMS in an HE Institution to deal with the poor performance issues. By utilizing existing tools such as HAProxy and keepalived, the implemented LBC configuration delivers a qualified e-learning system performance. Both qualitative and quantitative parameters convince better performance than before. In four months of the operation there is no user complaint received. Meanwhile, in the current semester has been running for two months, the up-time is 99.8 % of 52.685 minutes operational time.

Intrinsic Motivation of Medical Students from a College with Active Methodology in Brazil: a Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT A cross-sectional study based on the Self Determination Theory to identify intrinsic motivation in the tutorial group scenario, and its associated factors in 276 medical students from a college in the Northeast of Brazil between October and December 2016. The Intrinsic Motivation Inventory was utilized following its adaptation and cross-cultural translation. Variables studied: age, gender, marital status, financial dependents, number of attempts at the university entrance exam for the medical course, current semester of study, previous undergraduate training, living with parents, choice of course by parental influence or pressure. Uni and multivariate Poisson analysis were carried out to assess the factors associated with intrinsic motivation; p &lt;0.05 was considered as the significance level for statistical purposes. Average motivation score was 3.8, which indicates motivation. In 2 nd , 6 th and 10 th semester medicine students, the final model maintained as the variable associated with intrinsic motivation those who attempted the medical school entrance exam once or twice compared to those who had had three or more attempts (PR = 0.88, 95% CI (0.79-0.97), p = 0.011). In the analyses assessed by semester, in the second semester, students who had prior undergraduate training before medical school compared to those who had not was the remaining variable (PR = 0.92, 95% IC (0.87-0.97), p = 0.005). In the sixth semester, no statistically significant difference was found, and in the tenth semester the variable of those who attempted the medical school entrance exam once or twice remained (PR = 0.65, 95% IC (0.47-0.88), p = 0.006). The students seemed to be motivated in the group tutorial activity. The fewer number of medical school entry exam attempts and having previous undergraduate training were variables that showed association with intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic Motivation of Medical Students from a College with Active Methodology in Brazil: a Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT A cross-sectional study based on the Self Determination Theory to identify intrinsic motivation in the tutorial group scenario, and its associated factors in 276 medical students from a college in the Northeast of Brazil between October and December 2016. The Intrinsic Motivation Inventory was utilized following its adaptation and cross-cultural translation. Variables studied: age, gender, marital status, financial dependents, number of attempts at the university entrance exam for the medical course, current semester of study, previous undergraduate training, living with parents, choice of course by parental influence or pressure. Uni and multivariate Poisson analysis were carried out to assess the factors associated with intrinsic motivation; p &lt;0.05 was considered as the significance level for statistical purposes. Average motivation score was 3.8, which indicates motivation. In 2 nd , 6 th and 10 th semester medicine students, the final model maintained as the variable associated with intrinsic motivation those who attempted the medical school entrance exam once or twice compared to those who had had three or more attempts (PR = 0.88, 95% CI (0.79-0.97), p = 0.011). In the analyses assessed by semester, in the second semester, students who had prior undergraduate training before medical school compared to those who had not was the remaining variable (PR = 0.92, 95% IC (0.87-0.97), p = 0.005). In the sixth semester, no statistically significant difference was found, and in the tenth semester the variable of those who attempted the medical school entrance exam once or twice remained (PR = 0.65, 95% IC (0.47-0.88), p = 0.006). The students seemed to be motivated in the group tutorial activity. The fewer number of medical school entry exam attempts and having previous undergraduate training were variables that showed association with intrinsic motivation.

Pengembangan DeanLEP Application pada Fakultas Sains dan Teknologi UIN Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh

The existence of digital technology should be able to provide a positive and productive impact, rather than the passive and negative one. Technology is enabler that facilitates ubiquitous all human activities both for personal gains and for the public and professional interests. This study aims to develop the DeanLEP application of the Faculty of Science and Technology of UIN Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh. DeanLEP is an acronym for Dean Live Event Page Application that is used to assist the dean in monitoring all daily activities and performance in the faculty. Dean LEP Application contains information about the number of lecturers who teach in the current semester and academic year; recapitulation of active students, on leave students and alumni; lecturers' research, lecturers' ranks, employee permits and leave, study center, lecturers with additional assignments, guest lecturers and guest lectures, women's activities, and cooperatives. In addition to dynamic information updated at any time, Dean LEP Application also provides static information such as information on leaders, lecturers, staff, and contract workers of the faculty.

Internal diseases encountered by dental students while treating dental patients during undergraduate training

BackgroundThe number of internal diseases, disorders and syndromes (IMDDSs) encountered in dental practice is increasing. Dentists report to feel ill prepared by their undergraduate dental training for the management of IMDDSs. To increase the effectiveness of internal medicine training at dental school it might be necessary to focus on IMDDs encountered by dental students. The aim of our study was to identify IMDDSs dental students come across while treating dental patients during the clinical years of their undergraduate training.MethodsAll dental patients treated between April and July 2015 by 116 dental students enrolled at the Medical Faculty of Hamburg University in the semesters 7 to 10 were anonymously analysed retrospectively with respect to age, gender, smoking habits, drinking habits, current or previous diseases, allergies, current medication, dental diagnoses, and dental treatment in the current semester. Identified IMDDSs were clustered and evaluated.ResultsThe 116 dental students treated 511 patients with 559 IMDDSs with a median of one IMDDS per patient. The IMDDSs encountered most frequently could be assigned to the subspecialties cardiology, endocrinology/diabetology, and rheumatology. Arterial hypertension occurred most frequently in dental patients, followed by diabetes mellitus type 2, and chronic bronchitis.ConclusionsWe identified the spectrum of IMDDSs encountered by dental students in the clinical years of their undergraduate dental education. Further studies are needed to test the effects of learning internal medicine with an internal medicine course based on the IMDDSs encountered by dental students and including additional IMDDSs specific relevance for dentists.

Perancangan Aplikasi Presensi Dosen Realtime Dengan Metode Rapid Application Development (RAD) Menggunakan Fingerprint Berbasis Web

The fingerprint is one of the biometric methods which is can be used in the education field. Attendance monitoring system using fingerprint will make the leaders easily to monitor the attendance of the lecturer and to make decisions. The fingerprint attendance is used to easy students detecting quickly and accurately the lecturer in the classroom. This system aims to provide the lecturer status information, entry or exit for teaching when every lecturer performs a fingerprint scanning. This study uses rapid application development (RAD) method to develop attendance system and involves the lecturer who have a teaching schedule in the current semester. To test the system, the lecturer was required to record the fingerprint in fingerprint machine. The result shows that the application of lecturer attendance in real time web-based can be a system provides the lecturers attendance information effectively and efficiently.

Analysis and prediction of student placement for improving the education standards

Students’ academic success can be evaluated based on their performance in the exams conducted by the institutions. In this paper, we propose a scheme where prediction of student final placement can be done based on the marks scored by them in the previous semesters. In order to predict the placement of the student we need some data to analyze. For this purpose we will supply students basic details and their previous academic information into the system which will be used to predict the placement of the student. This is done by generating association rules using apriori algorithm. Admin and user will use this system. Here user will be the student. Admin and user will use their login to access the system. Admin will add academic details of the students, like their SSC, HSC, Graduation marks (up to current semester, Back logs etc.,). User will be the student. Admin and user will use their login to access the system. Admin will add academic details of the students, like their SSC, HSC, Graduation marks (up to current semester, Back logs etc.,). This system can be used in schools, colleges and other educational institutions. This evaluation system is more accurate than other conventional methods. We are using a university data set to predict the placement of the student.

Students ’performances analyzer using C4.5 algorithm and digital signature in validating report

Data mining methods have been implemented in many advanced universities nowadays to analyze and extract the information which can help in decision making. In this study, a website system in the platform of PHP and Laravel is presented. The system can predict the students ’academic performances in Management and Science University (MSU) based on C4.5 data mining algorithm. The main objective of this study is to analyze and predict the students ’grade for each subject taken by the students in the current semester before come to end of the semester for maintaining and improving purposes. By using this system, the potential MSU Dean's List award recipients can be predicted before come to end of the semester as well as the students that might be failed or get low grade. Apart from that, this system also help the lecturers to monitor their students ’academic performances as statistical pattern of current and previous GPA achieved and to generate a report for further references. However, the integrity of the report generated can be validated based on digital signature. This system has number of benefits for a high institution as the students ’result can be improved before come to the end of the semester which can affected the future of the students ’academic performances in the institution.

Association Update

Saint Joseph's College in Indiana announced Feb. 3 that it will suspend all operations on May 6, 2017, after the end of the current semester. As a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference in Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the school offers 16 sports and has more than 350 student‐athletes.

SACET::Result Management System

To solve the problems of managing the results that are obtained whenever the results are released from the University of a certain Semester Examination, the project presents a model for maintaining the records of results obtained in every semester for every year. The results are maintained in the form of records using pdf format and are maintained by the exam cell of a college. Those results are send to each and every department in the college for analysis like to know the details of the passed and failed candidates in the examination. This project contains Admin for uploading the results, Head Of the Department for viewing the results of students in their respective department as well as other department results also, Faculty for viewing the results and generating the analysis, Student for viewing the results of their own from first semester to the current semester. Experiments show that the model can effectively maintains the records of results.

Impact of paid work on the academic performance of nursing students.

Background. Little research exists on the impact of paid work on academic performance of students of health sciences. No research exists on this subject for students in Colombia.Objectives. This paper seeks to analyze the impact of paid work on academic performance among nursing students. Design, settings and participants: cross-sectional research, involving 430 of nursing students from the National University of Colombia (N = 566).Methods. Variables analyzed: sex, age, work activity, attendance, current semester, degree subjects studied and unavailable, lost credits, grades during the second semester of 2013, and delayed semesters. Subgroups analyzed: (i) according to labor activity: do not work, work up to 20 h and work more than 20 h per week; (ii) Grade point average: failing is considered as less than 3.0 and passing 3.0 or above out of 5.0. Percentage of delayed semesters were calculated. Qualitative and quantitative variables were analyzed for groups by work activity. The percentage and probability of students getting a grade point average less than 3.0 and delaying semesters were calculated by multivariate logistic regression.Results. A total of 219 of the students work (50.9%), the main reason is socioeconomic, of which 99 (45.2%) work more than 20 h per week and have an increased risk of failing, which is higher in the first semester. They also get lower grades, lose more credits and take longer to finish the degree. The logistic bivariate regressions of success (grade point average, credits gained, courses gained and not having delayed semesters) reduce with work, above all in those who work more than 20 h per week and increase as the number of semesters completed increases, independent of sex.Conclusion. A high percentage of nursing students work more than 20 h per week. The compatibility of paid work with studies in university nursing students has a negative impact on academic performance, more so when they work more than 20 h per week. This negative impact diminishes as the student completes semesters, irrespective of the sex of the students.

Sexual-orientation differences in drinking patterns and use of drinking contexts among college students

BackgroundEvidence suggests there are important sexual-orientation differences in alcohol consumption, particularly among women. Little is known about where gay/lesbian and bisexual college students drink or differences in drinking patterns derived from graduated frequency measures between heterosexual, gay/lesbian, and bisexual students. The goal of this analysis was to examine patterns of alcohol consumption—including drinking prevalence, quantity, frequency, and contexts of use—by sexual orientation. MethodsData on sexual identity, gender, drinking behaviors, and drinking contexts were examined from repeated cross-sectional samples of undergraduate students attending 14 public California universities from 2003–2011 (n=58,903). Multivariable statistical techniques were employed to examine sexual-orientation differences stratified by gender. ResultsGay males, lesbians, and bisexual females were significantly more likely to report drinking alcohol in the current semester than their same-gender heterosexual peers (relative risks ranged from 1.07 to 1.10, p-values <0.01). Among current drinkers, bisexual females consumed 7 or more drinks and lesbians consumed 10 or more drinks on significantly more days than heterosexual females. On the other hand, gay male drinkers consumed 8 or more drinks on significantly fewer days than heterosexual male drinkers. Compared to their same-gender heterosexual peers: lesbian/gay and bisexual students drank less frequently at Greek parties (incidence rate ratios [IRRs] ranged from 0.52 to 0.73, p-values <0.01); lesbians (IRR=0.84, p=0.043) and bisexual males (IRR=0.82, p=0.009) drank less frequently at off-campus parties; and gay males drank more frequently outdoors (IRR=1.63, p<0.001) and at bars/restaurants (IRR=1.21, p=0.013). ConclusionsAlcohol prevention programs and future research should consider sexual-orientation differences in drinking patterns and use of drinking contexts.

Energy Drink Consumption and its Relationship to Risky Behavior in College Students

Background and Purpose: Energy drinks have become popular among college students, with over half reporting consumption of at least one energy drink per month in the current semester. Risk of negative physiological and psychological effects has been linked to energy drinks consumed alone or mixed with alcohol. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between energy drink consumption and other risky behaviors among college students at a large southeastern university in the United States. Method: A convenience sample of 277 college students was recruited during January-February 2012 via e-mail through undergraduate academic courses. Participating students completed an online survey that assessed energy drink consumption (with and without alcohol) and participation in other risky behaviors. Results: Energy drink users participated in risky behaviors more often than non-energy drink users within the past year (p = 0.00). Energy drink use was significantly related to the risky behaviors of tobacco (p = 0.00), marijuana (p = 0.00), amphetamine (p = 0.00), and alcohol (p = 0.02) use, as well as missing class (p = 0.05), performing poorly on a test or important project (p = 0.05), and participating in an extreme sport (p = 0.03). Conclusion: These findings suggest that energy drink consumption is associated with other risky behaviors among college students. The benefits of health promotion efforts related to energy drink consumption may be furthered through co-occurrence with other education and prevention programming on the topics of substance use and abuse.

The Advisor Quality Survey: Good College Advisors are Available, Knowledgeable, and Autonomy Supportive

Most US institutions of higher education do not assess advisor quality. We report a scale development effort informed by the developmental prescriptions of self-determination theory (Deci &amp; Ryan, 1985, 2000). The 15-item Missouri Advisor Quality Survey assesses advisor knowledge, advisor availability, and advisor autonomy supportiveness. Across 3 studies the three factors were distinguishable, and each contributed independently to predicting students’ global satisfaction with their advisor’s performance. Autonomy support was the strongest of the three variables, predicting not only student satisfaction but also the amount of time advisors spend with the student, student cumulative GPA, and student current semester GPA controlling for cumulative GPA.

Unconventional Computing for Estimating Academic Performance

One of the relevant tasks of the teaching-learning process is that of evaluation. In this sense, estimating the academic performance exhibited by the final evaluation of a student, at the end of the current semester, has become of particular interest for students, parents, educators, educative managers and researchers alike. More specifically, the cur- rent paper is focused in determining whether a first semester engineering student at the Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira, Colombia, will pass or fail the Mathematics I course. This paper proposes the use of the Gamma Classifier together with Wilson Editing to solve the problem. Results observed are competitive against classic models of pattern recogni- tion.

A Survey on the Attributions of Students’ Exam Performance

A peculiar tendency has been recently observed in the training process of would-be engineers. Passing Mathematics and the majority of the core subjects means such hard work for our students that only few of them are able to fulfill the requirements in the current semester when the subjects should be completed. A direct consequence of this phenomenon is that the number of students signed up for these subjects accumulates in the 2nd and the 3rd semester and as a result, compared to a normal situation, a multiplied number of engineering students wants to do, redo and ‘re-redo’ the above mentioned subjects. Our survey tends to have a picture about how engineering students think about this phenomenon, the underlying reasons for their exam performance, how much the reasons are affected by the results of the exams, the personal factors and the amount of time spent in higher education. The calculated ranking order of attributions has been compared to the results of another similar survey undertaken among the students of the Humanities at Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest in 1998-99.