Academic Performance Enhancement Research Articles

Using the CTL Learning Model assisted by Flipbook to improve student learning outcomes at SMPN 7 Surabaya

This classroom action research investigated the enhancement of student engagement and academic performance in a class VIII cohort at SMPN 7 Surabaya, utilizing a contextual learning model augmented with flipbook media. The study spanned two cycles and involved a group of 32 students. The first cycle's findings indicated a moderate level of student learning completion and an average achievement score of 69.44. In the subsequent cycle, there was a marked improvement in learning outcomes, with a significant rise in the average score to 80.40, reflecting the increased efficiency of the learning process. These results demonstrate that the incorporation of flipbook media into the contextual learning framework notably benefits student participation and academic success, particularly in understanding the Position and Function of Pancasila material. This approach was thus concluded to be effective in fostering better learning experiences and outcomes for the eighth-grade students at SMPN 7 Surabaya during the first semester of the academic year 2023-2024.

The Impact of Student Response Systems (SRS) on Student Achievements: A University-Scale Study with Deep Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

The integration of Student Response Systems (SRSs) into classroom teaching is a pioneering progression in social sciences research that has shown potential in boosting student engagement and elevating academic success. However, no extensive study has examined the impact of its use on academic achievement within a sizable number of students of diverse cofactors, such as scientific discipline and study levels. The current study aims to conduct a comprehensive score analysis investigating the effect of SRS use on academic performance. It involved a total of 6047 male and female undergraduate students from four scientific disciplines, seven colleges, four campuses, and 13 courses covering all study levels within King Saud University. The student’s scores along with their attributes were anonymously collected from the university system. A voluntary anonymous survey was distributed to collect students’ perceptions of SRS along with their personal attributes, such as learning style, and class interaction preferences. Upon data collection, the Python programming language was exclusively implemented for comprehensive data analysis including grouping, validation, random sampling, visualization, and statistical analysis. The overall score analysis study showed a non-significant effect of SRS use on student scores compared to the control (non-SRS) group, while the survey findings proved a significant enhancement of students’ scores (in courses that utilized SRS) compared to their overall GPA. In addition, the differential score and survey analysis within various study subcategories showed significant positive effects in certain subcategories, particularly science and community colleges, and four of their representative courses. SRS showed higher levels of overall student satisfaction (average—4.4/5.0), yet it was also significantly influenced by scientific discipline, preferred interaction methods, and study levels. Overall, SRS provides a highly engaging tool with excellent student acceptance and potential academic performance enhancement.

Performance and Daily Bread: An Action Research

Agricultural education teaches students about agriculture skills, food and natural resources. While feeding program is always been important for providing of nutrients and enhancement of academic performance. This study investigated the outcomes of daily bread intervention to learners’ performance in agricultural subject. The study is action research utilize the framework of pre-experimental approach, particularly the pre-test and post- test design. The respondent of the study is the Grade 7 Learners of Daanbantayan National High school. The data were obtained from the learner’s performance in agriculture subject and their body composition. Through presentation, Analysis and interpretation of the data it was determined that the average performance of the learners in agriculture subject increases. While Learners body composition changes from severely wasted to normal body composition. The association between the two variables were analyzed through the body composition specifically the Body mass index (BMI) of the learners. Result showed that the daily bread intervention increases learners’ performance in agriculture subject. It also means that School based feeding program contributed to learners’ performance. Learners are more motivated to be on School daily by the help of the feeding program.

Enhancement of Academic Performance through Developing Cross-Cultural Communicative Competence: A Case Study of Students Majoring in Economics

Background. The article questions the possibility to increase the level of foreign language command through developing cross-cultural communicative competence (CCC) in students of non-linguistic universities. Despite extensive literature on intercultural communication, there are obviously gaps in investigating the way it can and should be built and the potential impact it may have towards students’ academic performance in general. 
 Purpose. The paper aims to find out the possible correlation between the level of CCC formation and a command of a foreign language in general. To pursue the goal, an in-depth research into the CCC structure was carried out and the idea to simultaneously develop all its components was proposed.
 Method. The paper reports on the results of the mixed-method research aimed at gathering the data and evaluating them both qualitatively and quantitatively. Senior students of the Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, were selected and divided into the control and experimental groups with the subsequent training on the pre-designed curricula, with a primary focus on developing all the components of the CCC in the latter. To assess their performance, the method of experimental verification, self- and peer evaluation, educational observation, questioning method were employed. In-depth data analysis and verification provided post-active phase of the experiment conducted.
 Results. The results of the carried-out experiments, first, proved the hypothetical assumptions on the efficiency of developing all the four CCC simultaneously and, second, showed that the targeted CCC development contributes to improving foreign language acquisition in general, which is supported by the increase in 5 out of 6 didactic units of the final testing where the experimental group participants surpassed the students in the control group. 
 Conclusion. The study provides evidence for the impact CCC development has on the linguistic communicative competence. The devised methodology can be borrowed and customized for teaching foreign languages to university students and, in particular for developing intrinsic motivation through CCC. Further, future research should address particular components of the CCC.

Disciplinary Roles of the Deputy Principal that Enhance Students’ Academic Performance in Secondary Schools: A Study of Secondary Schools in Bungoma South Sub-County, Kenya

The administrative duties performed by the deputy principals tend to obscure their academic responsibilities. The purpose of this study was to explore the deputy principals’ disciplinary role in enhancing students’ academic performance in secondary schools, in Bungoma South Sub-County, Kenya. A student’s academic performance is the sum of all curriculum implementation achievements as depicted from formative, continuous and summative evaluations, both internal and external. This study was necessitated by the need for an elaborate framework that could recognize the disciplinary functions of the deputy principal’s office in secondary schools that occasion academic success. The study was grounded on Hargreaves’ Capital Theory of School Effectiveness and Improvement of 2001. From the findings, there was an equivalent 79.55% agreement with suggested academic performance enhancement indicators. The Pearson’s correlational coefficients between the independent variables and the dependent variable ranged between 0.005 at 0.01 confidence level and 0.023 to 0.029 at 0.05 confidence level. This implied that a significant correlation between students’ academic performance and the disciplinary role of deputy principals in secondary schools in the Bungoma South sub-county was found to exist. The findings of the study have implications for policy, research, and practice.

The Students’ Well-Being in Online Speaking Class During Pandemic (A Quasi-Experimental Study in Academic Speaking Class)

Student welfare has an important function. Pandemic completely affects the world, especially teaching and learning activities. This study focuses on the impact of student prosperity on student academic performance in the learning process Speaking in online class during pandemic, find out students’ academic performance enhancement after conducting online speaking class using Zoom platform, and know students’ responses in the use of Zoom platform in online speaking class. This course uses One Group Pretest-Posttest Design through which 32 students in the fourth semester of the English Education Department are reviewers. The instruments used to research are student prosperity questionnaires, student pretest-posttest papers, and student response questionnaires. Obtaining a student t prosperity questionnaire before and after the use of Zoom platform tested correlation brings up numbers 0.038 and coefficient of relationship 0.41. The students' pretest and posttest scores were tested through the paired sample T-test, which was significant 6% giving a score of 0.003. The student's idea acquisition is ≥ 630% in accordance with the provisions. So it can be concluded that students’ well-being is well-maintained in speaking online class during a pandemic using the Zoom platform.

Analysis of the home-based online teaching and learning policy during the COVID-19 second wave in Brunei: a joint parent/teacher perception

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the traditional face-to-face forms of educational instruction and has led to increased involvement in online learning. Consequently, online learning has gained popularity and has become the norm worldwide today, because it offers a safe learning environment as well as convenience and flexibility. During the pandemic, school campuses in Brunei were closed, classes were conducted online, and parents/guardians were expected to cooperate and assist their children with home-based online learning. However, online teaching posed a different set of challenges for teachers and students, which warrant research and policy attention at the national level. This study provided a review of the literature on the policies and best practices for online teaching and learning and formulated three key objectives. The first was to identify the policy initiatives and guidelines introduced by the government of Brunei to facilitate and ensure the effectiveness of online teaching and e-learning. The second referred to obtaining the perceptions of teachers and parents on three specific dimensions, namely, the implementation of blended learning, the use of online pedagogy, and enhancement of the e-learning experiences of students. The last objective was to identify the challenges associated with these dimensions and to propose actions and policy recommendations for improvement. This study employed document analysis, interview, and data collected from public social media. The implementation of online teaching and e-learning in Brunei was met with many challenges due to the poor network infrastructure and weak knowledge and content development of ICT. Thus, this study serves as a basis for improving innovation and governance in education, which focuses not only on the enhancement of academic performance but also on the digital divide. The paper was first presented at the 21st International Conference on Education Research (ICER) at the Seoul National University, Republic of Korea on October 21, 2021, by the first author. This research is part of the research project entitled: Pandemic Policies and Governance in Small States in the Southeast Asian Region.

Effectiveness of Board of Management in Enhancement of Students Academic Performance in Public Mixed Day Secondary Schools in Bondo Sub–County, Kenya

The government of Kenya provides trained teachers, allocates financial resources, establishes Quality Assurance Directorate and facilitates in-service training for principals and teachers. However, with all these measures in place, students’ academic performance in Public Mixed Day secondary schools in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education has remained low for the last five years of 2017 - 2021. The study examined the perceived effectiveness of Board of Management in enhancement of students’ academic performance. This study was grounded on the theory of Educational System planning with emphasis on Combs (1970). The study used mixed method approach and specifically concurrent triangulation research design. The study population included 38 principals, 38 Deputy Principals, 38 Director of studies, 38 Board of Management chairmen, 38 Parents Association chairmen, 1 Sub County Quality Assurance and Standards Officer, 1 Sub-County Teachers Service Commission officer and 3 Sponsor church education secretaries giving a total of 195 respondents. Saturated sampling technique was used to select 38 principals, 38 Deputy Principals, 38 Director of studies, 38 Board of Management chairmen, 38 Parents Association chairmen, 1 Sub County Quality Assurance and Standards Officer and 3 Sponsor church education secretaries. Data was collected by administering questionnaires and interview schedules. Validity of the research instruments was ensured by use of experts from the department of Curriculum and educational management who were also consulted and their input incorporated in the final document and it was tested using Amin’s formula which gave content validity index of 0.66. Further, piloting the instruments was done on a population of 24 from 3 Public Mixed Day Secondary Schools in the neighboring Rarieda Sub-County. Reliability was tested using both split-half (r SB = . 808) and Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient formula (average coefficient value=.746) which indicated sufficient external and internal consistence reliability. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis, while qualitative data were analyzed using thematic Analysis. The study found that there was statistically significant positive correlation of (r=.624, n=72, p< .05) between perceived effectiveness of BoM and enhancement of students’ academic performance. This implied that the perceived effective BoM enhanced academic performance in public mixed day secondary schools. In light of the findings the study also made recommendations for further research on influence of other stakeholders, such as students and community, on academic performance, and to replicate this study on boarding secondary schools.

Information and communication technology (ICT) utilisation, skillfulness and students’ academic performance in Liberian Universities

Information and communication technology (ICT) has been found to be very important in enhancement of academic performance of students in tertiary institutions. This study investigated the influence of ICT on the academic performance of students in two selected universities in Monrovia, Liberia. Primary data was collected from 110 randomly selected students from both universities. This was carried out by using a well-structured questionnaire. Descriptive Statistics and OLS regression analyses were used to analyze the data, while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used for test of hypotheses. The findings from results indicate that many (88.2%) of the students have smart phones; majority (78.2%) has access to internet facilities at home; a good number (56.4%) used internet services on daily basis; about 40% spent 1-2 hours on internet each day. Considering computer-related activities, an average student was skillful mainly in email, Microsoft word and Powerpoint. The study shows that possession of laptop and access to university desktops had positive significant influence on students’ academic performance. However, possession of smart phones and tablets had negative significant influence on students’ academic performance.

Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement: Current Situation and Perspectives

Pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE) refers to the use of biochemical enhancers for achieving improved mental performance in healthy individuals. One particular use of PCE prevalence is the misuse of these enhancers among university students for academic performance enhancement. The prevalence rates demonstrate the use of a broad spectrum of substances for PCE that can be classified as OTC, prescription, and illegal drugs. Given that certain substances have been widely used for years, their long-term effectiveness and side effects in the healthy population are essential to know. The question of safety and efficacy or benefit versus risk is not only of individual and societal interest but also bears implications for regulatory and policy decision-making. As far as safety is concerned, there is a particular problem with healthy children, whose brains are still in development. Soft enhancers, such as energy drinks, might be commonly used worldwide. Performance pressure, stress, and psychiatric disorders may be associated with PCE use and need to be considered when planning anti-PCE-themed educational activities. In an increasingly complex information society, demands for cognitive functioning are growing; however, it is doubtful whether we should welcome the use of PCEs for the support of work productivity or the improvement of our life quality. Societal discussions on PCE might give an opportunity to consider a meaningful life in all aspects.

Prevalence of methylphenidate use by Master of Medicine students at a South African university

BackgroundMethylphenidate is mainly used for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactive-disorder (ADHD). Its effect of increased attentiveness leads to the potential of off-label use by students for academic enhancement—previously demonstrated in undergraduate...

STUDENTS’ WELL-BEING AND GAME IMPLEMENTATION IN LEARNING CHEMISTRY IN MERDEKA BELAJAR ERA

Students' well-being takes a primary role. Innovation to enhance students' well-being is game implementation as learning media. This research aims to discover students' well-being consequences on students’ academic performance in learning chemistry in Merdeka Belajar era, know students’ academic performance enhancement after game implementation as learning media in Merdeka Belajar era, and know students responses in games implementation as learning media in Merdeka Belajar era. This study uses One Group Pretest-Posttest Design with 33 XI-MIA students at high school in Gresik, East Java as a research subject. Instruments used in this study were student well-being questionnaire, student pretest-posttest sheets, and student response questionnaire. Student well-being questionnaires result before and after game implementation was tested correlation resulting significance value 0.043 and correlation coefficient 0.36. The pretest and posttest students' outcomes were tested by paired sample T-test significance 5% resulting significance value 0.002. The students' responses result are ≥ 60% in agreement.

MD-MBPLS: A novel explanatory model in computational social science

The newly emerged field of computational social science has witnessed unprecedented opportunities in the past decade with the explosion of data collection. However, these data are of different types, usually consisting of constant attributes (scalar data), temporal dynamics at the individual level (functional data) and group summaries at the collective level (compositional data). Consequently, existing models are substantially challenged by difficulties encountered in data aggregation. Moreover, previous studies excessively focus on the predictive power rather than interpretative power of models, while the latter is genuinely more crucial for developing profound theories and disclosing in-depth mechanisms in social science. This paper proposes a novel model named mixed data multi-block partial least squares (MD-MBPLS) to overcome these difficulties. Four real-world datasets are considered to evaluate the model. These datasets arise from large-scale collections of smart-card sensors, high-frequency trading systems and online social media, representing trending topics of student campus behaviour, stock market volatility, fake news circulation and personality in tweeting. The empirical results congruously reveal the prominent advantages of the model with respect to data fusion and explanatory power. Specifically, interesting patterns are reliably revealed which supplement new insights and help decision makers to obtain guidelines for interventions, such as student academic performance enhancement or precautions against fake news propagation. Our model will enhance the interpretative ability of computational social science studies by fully leveraging mixed types of data.

An Investigation into the Role of Extracurricular Activities in Supporting and Enhancing Students' Academic Performance in Tertiary Foundation Programs in Oman

Sensing the pulse of globalization and the job market, the most recent trends in Oman’ s tertiary education are about teaching methods and education practices’ improvement. Recognizing the multidimensional and dynamic nature of the tertiary education learning environment, especially its foundation program cluster, and identified benefits of extra-curricular activities in having a positive impact on students, this paper reports on a study that examines the role of extracurricular activities as channels of support and foundation program students’ academic performance enhancement. In more detail, using the example of the extracurricular activities offered by the Centre for Preparatory Studies at Sultan Qaboos University, it focuses on the student-perceived factors related to the value of participation in the extracurricular activities and subsequent effects on the tertiary foundation program students’ development. The study employed a mixed study research design. The data was obtained from two instruments, namely student survey and student reflections which were then auto-analyzed using Google forms software. The findings revealed that extracurricular activities could provide a platform for new ways of learning, academic support, extra practice, variety and fun, and student skills’ improvement. Specifically, they showed some improvement on the foundation program students’ linguistic competences, critical thinking and time management skills. Also, involvement in structured extracurricular activities boosts students’ self-confidence and self-esteem, and mitigates their transitional challenges.

EFFECTS OF MOBILE INSTRUCTIONAL APP ON UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ECONOMICS IN SOKOTO STATE, NIGERIA

Mobile instructional app (MIA) is a set of instructions put together as a program usually installed on mobile devices to facilitate learning and improve academic performance. MIA helps to motivate students for the enhancement of positive academic performance, thus, it could be utilized in an individualized or in a blended learning environment to supplement traditional teaching-learning process. This study investigated the effects of mobile instructional app on undergraduate students’ academic performance in economics in Sokoto State. The study adopted quasi experimental with a pre-test and post-test, non-equivalent comparison involving 2x2 factorial design.All undergraduate students in Sokoto State formed population of the study. A total of 61 undergraduates formed the sample for the study, 34 for experimental group one (23 males and 11 females) from Sokoto State University (SSU) and 27 for experimental group one (22 males and 5 females) from Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS). Pilot study was carried out at Federal University Birnin Kebbi using twenty 100 level undergraduates. Economic Principles Test Instrument (EPTI) was used for data collection. Reliability coefficient of 0.78 using Kuder Richardson 20 (K-R, 20) was obtained. Research hypothesis one was tested using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), while hypothesis two was tested using t-test statistics. The study found among other that the app was academically effective. There was significant difference in the achievement of the undergraduate students exposed to mobile instructional app and those taught using blended approach (F (1, 58) = 13.649, p<0.05) in favour of experimental group 2. There was no significant difference in the academic performance of the undergraduate students taught in a blended learning environment based on gender. The study concluded that the mobile instructional app (MIA) enhanced the academic performance of undergraduates from the two universities (UDUS and SSU) irrespective of gender. It was established by the study that the undergraduates taught in a blended learning environment out-performed those exposed to MIA alone. The study therefore recommended that lecturers should endeavour to develop and utilize mobile instructional apps that are in line with new NUC benchmark to supplement teaching process.

Motivational Enhancement Therapy and Academic Self-Efficacy Training in Enhancing Academic Performance of Underachievers in Junior Mathematics in Ibadan, Nigeria

The study investigated academic performance of underachievers in junior mathematics in Ibadan using motivational enhancement therapy and academic self-efficacy training in enhancing academic performance of junior secondary school students in Ibadan. To ascertain the degree of its effectiveness, a randomized sample of 90 junior secondary school students with 30 participants in each from three different junior schools in three different local government areas in Ibadan were chosen The quasi-experimental study employed a randomized sample that undertook training in motivational enhancement therapy and academic self-efficacy training compared with control group. Mathematics achievement tests prepared by National Examination Council (NECO) for 2017 and 2018 objective mathematics papers were used together with parental academic support Scale with reliability coefficient of 0.72. A pair of pre-test and post-test data was obtained from each participant who formed the basis of the findings using ANCOVA for data analyses. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested at α = 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that there were significant differences in the treatment with motivational enhancement therapy being more significant in enhancing mathematics achievement among junior school students. Also, the results showed that gender and parental support have to do with enhancement of academic performance among junior secondary school students. It was therefore concluded that motivational enhancement therapy and academic self-efficacy training can be used to enhance junior mathematics academic performance of underachievers and recommendations are also offered.

Advanced Learning Analytics in Academic Education

The integration of innovative data mining and decision-making techniques in the context of higher education is a bold initiative towards enhanced performance. Predictive and descriptive analytics add interesting insights for significant aspects the education. The purpose of this article is to summarize a novel approach for the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques towards forecasting of academic performance. The added value of applying AI techniques for advanced decision making in education is the realization that the scientific approach to standard problems in academia, like the enhancement of academic performance is feasible. For the purpose of this research the authors promote a research in Saudi Arabia. The vision of the Knowledge Society in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a critical milestone towards digital transformation. The human capital and the integration of industry and academia has to be based on holistic approaches to skills and competencies management. One of the main objectives of an academic decision maker is to ensure that academic resources are adequately planned and that students are properly advised. To achieve such an objective, an extensive analysis of large volumes of data may be required. This research develops a decision support system (DSS) that is based on an artificial neural network (ANN) model that can be deployed for effective academic planning and advising. The system is based on evaluating academic metrics against academic performance for students. The model integrates inputs from relevant academic data sources into an autonomous ANN. A simulation of real data on an ANN is conducted to validate the system's accuracy. Moreover, an ANN is compared with different mathematical approaches. The system enables the quality assurance of planning, advising, and the monitoring of academic decisions. The overall contribution of this work is a novel approach to the deployment of Artificial Intelligent for advanced decision making in higher education. In future work this model is integrated with big data and analytics research for advanced visualizations

The Enhancement of Academic Performance in Online Environments

Distance education has been gaining popularity for the last years. The proficiency in online environments of both learners and teachers explains the success of this methodology. An evaluation of graduate students’ performance within numerical analysis is discussed. In order to improve the marks obtained by the students, specific actions have been performed over the years and data from different classes has been analyzed using statistical tools. The results show that the actions proposed seemed to help the students in their learning process.

Systematic Review: Nonmedical Use of Prescription Stimulants: Risk Factors, Outcomes, and Risk ReductionStrategies.

To review all literature on the nonmedical use (NMU) and diversion of prescription stimulants to better understand the characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes of NMU and to review risk-reduction strategies. We systematically searched PubMed, PsycINFO, and SCOPUS from inception to May 2018 for studies containing empirical data about NMU and diversion of prescription stimulants. Additional references identified by the authors were also assessed for inclusion. A total of 111 studies met inclusion criteria. NMU and diversion of stimulants are highly prevalent; self-reported rates among population samples range from 2.1% to 58.7% and from 0.7% to 80.0%, respectively. A variety of terms are used to describe NMU, and most studies have examined college students. Although most NMU is oral, non-oral NMU also occurs. The majority of NMU is associated with no, or minor, medical effects; however, adverse medical outcomes, including death, occur in some individuals, particularly when administered by non-oral routes. Although academic and occupational performance enhancement are the most commonly cited motivations, there is little evidence that academic performance is improved by NMU in individuals without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. NMU of stimulants is a significant public health problem, especially in college students, but variations in the terms used to describe NMU and inconsistencies in the available data limit a better understanding of this problem. Further research is needed to develop methods to detect NMU, identify individuals at greatest risk, study routes of administration, and devise educational and other interventions to help reduce occurrence of NMU. Colleges should consider including NMU in academic integrity policies.

Monitoring Student Activities with Smartwatches: On the Academic Performance Enhancement

Motivated by the importance of studying the relationship between habits of students and their academic performance, daily activities of undergraduate participants have been tracked with smartwatches and smartphones. Smartwatches collect data together with an Android application that interacts with the users who provide the labeling of their own activities. The tracked activities include eating, running, sleeping, classroom-session, exam, job, homework, transportation, watching TV-Series, and reading. The collected data were stored in a server for activity recognition with supervised machine learning algorithms. The methodology for the concept proof includes the extraction of features with the discrete wavelet transform from gyroscope and accelerometer signals to improve the classification accuracy. The results of activity recognition with Random Forest were satisfactory (86.9%) and support the relationship between smartwatch sensor signals and daily-living activities of students which opens the possibility for developing future experiments with automatic activity-labeling, and so forth to facilitate activity pattern recognition to propose a recommendation system to enhance the academic performance of each student.