Final Grades Of Students Research Articles

An assessment of evaluation techniques in higher education: the experience of macroeconomics / La evaluación de las técnicas de evaluación en la enseñanza universitaria: la experiencia de macroeconomía

In this paper we will focus on the effects of continuous and final assessment on students’ final grades. In particular, the aim is to quantify the degree of improvement that the qualification criteria of written tasks entails, and to ascertain whether continuous assessment is crucial for the final grade of students who have passed the continuous assessment process. The results suggest that the way in which the final grade is calculated is crucial for the results. The findings indicate that continuous assessment activities (practical activities in class and submission of written papers) are more relevant for the final grade than the completion of tests throughout the course.

Using software simulators to enhance the learning of digital logic design for the information technology students

ABSTRACTMaking the students understand the theoretical concepts of digital logic design concepts is one of the major issues faced by the academics, therefore the teachers have tried different techniques to link the theoretical information to the practical knowledge. Use of software simulations is a technique for learning and practice that can be applied to many different disciplines. Experimentation of different computer hardware components/integrated circuits with the use of the simulators enhances the student learning. The simulators can be rather simplistic or quite complex. This paper reports our evaluation of different simulators available for use in the higher education institutions. We also provide the experience of incorporating some selected tools in teaching introductory courses in computer systems. We justified the effectiveness of incorporating the simulators into the computer system courses by use of student survey and final grade results.

PREDICTING STUDENTS«¤?? GRADE SCORES USING TRAINING FUNCTIONS OF ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK

The observed poor quality of graduates of some Nigerian Universities in recent times has been traced to non-availability of adequate mechanism. This mechanism is expected to assist the policy maker project into the future performance of students, in order to discover at the early stage, students who have no tendency of doing well in school. This study focuses on the use of artificial neural network (ANN) model for predicting students«¤?? academic performance in a University System, based on the previous datasets. The domain used in the study consists of sixty (60) students in the Department of Computer and Information Science, Tai Solarin University of Education in Ogun State, who have completed four academic sessions from the university. The codes were written and executed using MATLAB format. The students«¤?? CGPA from first year through their third year were used as the inputs to train the ANN models constructed using nntool and the Final Grades (CGPA) served as a target output. The output predicted by the networks is expressed in-line with the current grading system of the case study. CGPA values simulated by the network are compared with the actual final CGPA to determine the efficacy of each of the three feed-forward neural networks used. Test data evaluations showed that the ANN model is able to predict correctly, the final grade of students with 91.7% accuracy.ª¤?

Faculty narcissism and student outcomes in business higher education: A student-faculty fit analysis

We examined the relationship between personality congruence on faculty and student narcissism with student perceptions of professor status, the perceived difficulty of the class, and student performance in the classroom. Data were collected from business students and faculty at an AACSB-accredited business school at a comprehensive state university. Results indicated that narcissism congruence was significantly related to a student's final grade in the class such that less congruence was associated with lower course grades and that this negative association was partially mediated by perceived professor status and perceived class difficulty. Particularly concerning was the finding that more narcissistic faculty were associated with detrimental outcomes for less narcissistic students. Considering the well-documented and profoundly negative implications of narcissism for workplace environments, this finding suggests a need for future research on the impact of narcissistic faculty on business students and on successful intervention strategies.

The Relationship between Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies and Success of Science of the 5th Grade Students in Secondary School

In this study, the relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and success of science of 5 th grade students in secondary school is aimed to reveal. In this sense, using levels of students' reading strategies, the relationship between these strategies and their success of science and also whether these strategies varies according to certain demographic characteristics is investigated. Turkish version –adapted by Ozturk (2012)- of reading strategies scale which was originally developed by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) was used for that purpose. 5 point likert scale consists of 30 items. The scale consists of three factors including General Reading, Problem Solving Based Reading Strategies and Supportive Reading Strategies. The study was conducted with the participation of 241 secondary school students in the 5th grade. The final grades of students in science classes were taken as a basis as a measure of success. In this study, methods of descriptive statistics including; frequency, percentage and averaging analysis, T-test, Anova and Scheffe tests for the detection of differences between independent variables and Pearson correlation analysis to determine the level and direction of the relationship between the two variables were performed. As a result of analyses, i t was found that students have moderate levels of metacognitive awareness about each reading strategies. I t was seen that students have higher levels of metacognitive awareness in terms of Problem Solving-based Reading Strategy rather than General Reading Strategies and Supportive Reading Strategies. Students' metacognitive awareness of reading strategies were found to vary in favor of girls and moderate and meaningful relationships have been identified between their awareness and success in science classes

Evaluation of a leadership and intrapersonal development subject for university students in Hong Kong: findings based on 2 years

AbstractThe present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a general education subject entitled “Tomorrow’s Leaders” using the Student Feedback Questionnaire (SFQ) and student final grades in the subject in 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 academic years at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. A total of 1406 and 1283 students in 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 academic years, respectively, completed the online SFQ. Results revealed that despite a slight decrease in student ratings in the second year, students generally expressed positive perceptions of the subject over 2 years regarding subject attributes, teacher attributes, and subject benefits. Results also showed consistent faculty differences in students’ satisfaction across 2 years. Students in the Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles and the Faculty of Engineering had more positive evaluations for the subject compared with students from the Faculty of Construction and Environment. Significant relationships amongst the three dimensions of course evaluation as well as between course evaluation and students’ final grade in the subject were also observed. Students’ perception of teacher attributes was a significant predictor for their final grade. The present study demonstrates the favorable effects of the subject on students’ positive development over time.

Timing of Emergency Medicine Student Evaluation Does Not Affect Scoring

BackgroundEvaluation of medical students rotating through the emergency department (ED) is an important formative and summative assessment method. Intuitively, delaying evaluation should affect the reliability of this assessment method, however, the effect of evaluation timing on scoring is unknown. ObjectiveA quality-improvement project evaluating the timing of end-of-shift ED evaluations at the University of Arizona was performed to determine whether delay in evaluation affected the score. MethodsEnd-of-shift ED evaluations completed on behalf of fourth-year medical students from July 2012 to March 2013 were reviewed. Forty-seven students were evaluated 547 times by 46 residents and attendings. Evaluation scores were means of anchored Likert scales (1–5) for the domains of energy/interest, fund of knowledge, judgment/problem-solving ability, clinical skills, personal effectiveness, and systems-based practice. Date of shift, date of evaluation, and score were collected. Linear regression was performed to determine whether timing of the evaluation had an effect on evaluation score. ResultsData were complete for 477 of 547 evaluations (87.2%). Mean evaluation score was 4.1 (range 2.3–5, standard deviation 0.62). Evaluations took a mean of 8.5 days (median 4 days, range 0–59 days, standard deviation 9.77 days) to complete. Delay in evaluation had no significant effect on score (p = 0.983). ConclusionsThe evaluation score was not affected by timing of the evaluation. Variance in scores was similar for both immediate and delayed evaluations. Considerable amounts of time and energy are expended tracking down delayed evaluations. This activity does not impact a student's final grade.

Online versus traditional classroom instruction: an examination of developmental English courses at an Alabama community college

A study was conducted at a community college in northeast Alabama to determine how the format of developmental English courses impacted student withdrawal rates and final grades. The two course formats examined were online/hybrid and face-to-face courses. Data were obtained from a 4-semester time frame: fall 2012, spring 2013, summer 2013, and fall 2013. It was determined that students enrolled in the online course were far more likely to withdraw from the course or attain a nonpassing, nontransferable grade than their counterparts who chose the face-to-face course format. The researchers found similar results to larger studies at community colleges in Virginia and the state of Washington.

The influence of effortful control and empathy on perception of school climate

The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive power of effortful control (EC) and empathy for perception of school climate. Self-report measures of EC, dispositional empathy, and perception of school climate were obtained for 398 students (204 females) aged 12 to 13. Sociometric status was peer-evaluated, and academic achievement was based on students final grades at the end of the school year. The structural equation model that was developed confirms the influence of EC and empathy on perception of school climate. The model manages to explain 39 % of the variance in perception of school climate and confirms that for males and females alike, the predictive power of EC and empathy is greater than for other variables studied such as academic achievement and sociometric status. Further, EC and empathy are found to have a positive influence on academic achievement. The importance of developing activities to foster EC and empathy in order to facilitate interpersonal relationships and enhance perception of the school climate is discussed.

Estudo e implantação de projeto de monitoramento de vazão das principais nascentes do Lajeado Erval Novo

A captação de água perfaz o conhecimento das vazões mínimas de dado corpo hídrico, a demanda de uso, bem como de sua qualidade. Num primeiro momento, este trabalho teve por finalidade monitorar as vazões de sete nascentes no município de Três Passos - Rio Grande do Sul. As nascentes se encontram cercadas por áreas de lavoura e próximas ao antigo campo de pouso do município. As vazões foram medidas com um cano de PVC de 15 cm de diâmetro e um balde, e a vazão foi dada pelo volume acumulado no balde no período de um minuto. As nascentes foram monitoradas de setembro a novembro de 2013. A vazão variou tanto espacialmente quanto localmente. A maior vazão foi de 3,07 l/s na nascente 2 no mês de novembro, e menor 0,37 l/s na nascente 1 no mês de outubro. Com exceção da nascente 2, as outras possuem alguma forma de barramento sendo utilizada para irrigação e dessendentação. O volume de água nas nascentes resulta de seu uso direto e do uso do solo no entorno, o que favorece a diminuição da vazão e reforça a necessidade de proteção dessas áreas, principalmente com a recomposição da vegetação ciliar próxima a elas.

Aplicación académica de mensajes de texto en un curso de primeros auxilios: estudio piloto en una universidad privada de Lima, Perú

The aim of the study was to develop and evaluate the impact of an educational intervention with the use of text messages (SMS) in a first aid course. A prospective study and intervention was conducted. Two steps were implemented: 1) a qualitative study to design the SMS and 2) the intervention with the sending of the SMS messages. The outcome variable was the final grade of students. Multivariate models were constructed, prevalence ratios and confidence intervals at 95% were calculated. The first phase revealed that the SMS should be educational-theoretical, motivational, and multiple choice. In the intervention there were 66 participants in the control and intervention group. The average age was 17.7 (± 1.2) years. The intervention group obtained higher scores compared with the control group (PR = 4.82; 95% CI: 1.58 to 14.72). In conclusion, SMS with informative and motivational content is useful in the formation of undergraduate medicine.

Practice of standardized question library based separation of teaching from testing system in integrated life sciences curriculum

Department of Regenerative Medicine of Tongji University School of Medicine introduced the standardized question library construction-based separation of teaching from testing system into integrated life science course. By establishing the question library, professional teachers in the assessment center are responsible for making and correcting test papers of final exam for students. In addition to the separation of teaching and testing, regular quiz during the semester is also involved in the final grades of students. The results show that high-quality question library effectively promotes implementation of separation of teaching from testing. The question library construction is a dynamic and long-term task that requires real-time updates along with knowledge updates. This preliminary practice of separation of teaching from testing system in the integrated life sciences curriculum has proved to be useful for improving teaching style and the style of study significantly. Key words: Separation of teaching from testing; Standardized question library; Question bank; Teaching reform

Using Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction to Enhance Student Performance and Course Evaluations in Undergraduate Nursing Course.

Teaching large numbers of students can be a challenge for both teachers and students. Implementing new teaching strategies may be 1 way to address the problem. This article presents the impact of using Gagne's 9 events of instruction on student learning and course evaluations over a 3-semester period. Student evaluations indicated enhanced teacher mastery, effectiveness, and enthusiasm. Overall student final grades increased.

Final Grade Prediction of Secondary School Student using Decision Tree

Every educational institution around the globe maintain student result repository which contain information about student marks, grade in different subjects and examinations. This repository contains important hidden pattern/knowledge which can be uncovered through data mining. A decision tree classifier based on divide and conquer rules is widely used for data exploration in such repository. In this paper J48 decision tree algorithm is applied on student previous result data to build a model in the form of decision tree. This model can then predict the student final grade. This will be helpful for teacher, student and their parents to know in advance about student final predicted grade and will enable them to take preventive measure. Keyword: Data Mining, Educational Data Mining (EDM), Classification, Prediction, Decision Tree, J48, Data repository, Student Grade

Study skills in anatomy and physiology: Is there a difference?

Many factors influence the way individual students study, including but not limited to: previous coursework, attitudes toward the class (motivation, intimidation, risk, etc.), metacognition, and work schedules. However, little of this research has involved medical students. The present article asks the question, "Do individual medical students study differently for different classes?" Study skills surveys were given to United States medical students at an allopathic medical school and an osteopathic medical school. Students were surveyed near the end of their first year gross anatomy course and again near the end of their first year physiology course. Survey items included Likert scale and open-ended questions about study habits and basic demographic information. The survey responses were correlated with each student's final grade percentages in the courses. Analysis revealed that the four most common study habits were reviewing lecture notes, taking practice examinations, completing learning exercises, and making drawings and diagrams. The two surveys (anatomy and physiology) from each individual were also compared to see if students reported different study habits in anatomy versus physiology. A negative correlation was found between changing study habits between courses and final anatomy grade percentages. Additional analyses suggest that those students who do change their study habits between courses are increasing the number of study strategies that they attempt. This increase in the number of study strategies attempted may not allow the student to reach the same depth of understanding as their colleagues who utilize fewer strategies.

Evaluation of Effectiveness of Time-Series Comments by Using Machine Learning Techniques

Understanding individual students more deeply in the class is the most vital role in educational situations. Using comment data written by students after each lesson helps in the understanding of their learning attitudes and situations. They can be a powerful source of data for all forms of assessment. The PCN method categorizes the comments into three items: P (Previous learning activity), C (Current learning activity), and N (Next learning activity plan). The objective of this paper is to investigate how the three time-series items: P, C, and N, and the difficulty of a subject affect the prediction results of final student grades using two types of machine learning techniques: Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The experiment results indicate that the students described their current activities (C-comment) in more detail than previous and next activities (P- and N-comments); this tendency is reflected in prediction accuracy and F-measure of their grades.

English

The purpose of this study is to determine the perception level of pre-school pre-service teachers concerning lifelong learning and to verify if there is a meaningful relationship between lifelong learning perception and gender/grade levels of students. The study group of the research designed by scanning model is made up of Abant Izzet Baysal University Bolu Preschool Education Teaching program students (N= 217). The research data were obtained from the application of Lifelong Learning Perception Scale. Mean, standard deviation and t- tests were used in data analysis. As a result of the research, it was concluded that pre-school pre-service teachers do believe in the necessity and importance of life-long learning, but show no interest concerning lifelong learning activities in cultural terms aside of their profession. On the other hand, no significant correlation was found between the students' perceptions of lifelong learning and the gender variable. In terms of grade variable, final grade students have presented more favorable opinion compared to lower grades. Key words: Life long learning, adult education, pre-school education, pre-service teachers.

Performance of at-risk students in dynamics following a statics class with additional recitation time

Comparisons are made between the final exam and final course grades of at-risk students in dynamics who took one of two versions of the same statics course. A standard version of the statics course met 3 hours per week over the course of a 15-week semester, while a second version met 4 hours per week. During the 11-year timeframe covered by this study, the 4-hour statics course was populated by students identified as ‘at risk’ using an informal screening procedure. For comparison with this group, using the same enrollment data, a second group of at-risk students was identified from the 3-hour statics class using a more formal screening procedure, based on logistic regression. A performance comparison of the two groups shows that the extra contact hour had a minor, statistically insignificant effect on student final exam and final course grades in dynamics. As a result of this study and a related study examining the effect of additional class time on statics performance, the 4-hour statics class is no longer offered.

Use of New Methodologies for Students Assessment in Large Groups in Engineering Education

In this paper, a student evaluation methodology which applies the concept of continuous assessment proposed by Bologna is presented for new degrees in higher education. An important part of the student's final grade is based on the performance of several individual works throughout the semester. The paper shows the correction system used which is based on using a spreadsheet with macros and a template in which the student provides the solution of each task. The employ of this correction system together with the available e-learning platform allows the teachers to perform automatic tasks evaluations compatible with courses with large number of students. The paper also raises the different solutions adopted to avoid plagiarism and to try that the final grade reflects, as closely as possible, the knowledge acquired by the students.

Peer assessment of small-group presentations by medical students and its implications.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among medical students' assessments on peers' group presentations, instructors' assessments of those presentations, and students' educational achievements in other assignments and tests. A total of 101 first-year students from a medical school participated in the study. The students' educational achievements in a 4-week long integrated curriculum were analyzed. Student's final grades were comprised of the following education criteria: two written tests (60%), 15 group reports (25%), one individual report (7%), and four group presentations (15%). We compared scores of the group presentation assessed by the peers and the two instructors. Furthermore, we compared peers' assessment scores with each component of the evaluation criteria. Pearson correlation analysis showed significant correlaton for the assessments between peers and instructors (r=0.775, p<0.001). Peer assessment scores also correlated significantly with scores for the group assignments (r=0.777, p<0.001), final grades on the curriculum (r=0.345, p<0.001), and scores for individual assignments (r=0.334, p<0.001); however, no significant correlation was observed between the peer-assessed group presentation scores and the two written test scores. Peer assessments may be a reliable and valid method for evaluating medical students' performances in an integrated curriculum, especially if the assessments are used to academic processes, such as presentations, with explicit evaluation and judgment criteria. Peer assessments on group presentations might assess different learning domains compared to written tests that primarily evaluate limited medical knowledge and clinical reasoning.