First-year Course Research Articles

Use of healthcare consumer voices to increase empathy in nursing students.

Nurses need to be well prepared to address the needs of a diverse population and facilitate positive experiences in an equitable and inclusive approach to care. The aim of the study was to determine whether the integration of consumer lived experience interviews into the content of a first-year course influenced empathy in nursing students. A one group pre-test, post-test design was used. A convenience sample of first-year undergraduate nursing students (N=32) from a regional Australian university was recruited for the study. The pre and post tests were conducted using the Kiersma Chen Empathy Scale and t-tests performed to analyse the data. Results showed overall that nursing students demonstrated moderate levels of empathy; pre-test score of (M=75.53; SD=5.76). After the intervention the post-test results showed that there was a statistically significant increase in students' empathy towards vulnerable, disadvantaged and stigmatised population groups. The healthcare consumer voice has the potential to strengthen current teaching practices that promote caring behaviours in nursing students.

Awakening the Learner Within: Purposeful Prompts and Lifelong Learning Measures in a First-Year Composition Course

Lifelong learning skills have been shown to benefit students during and after college. This paper discusses the use of the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) in a first-year composition course. Reflective writing assignments and pre- and post-semester ELLI data were used to assess student growth as lifelong learners over the course of a semester. Statistically significant gains in lifelong learning dimensions were made by students in the study as compared to those in a control group who received no direct instruction. The authors reflect on the outcomes of the project for students and instructors and question the general assumptions often made about the outcomes of a college education, namely, whether students gain lifelong learning skills simply by virtue of attending college, or is more instruction on these “intangible” qualities needed?

Students’ use of online feedback in a first-year tertiary biology course

Students’ use of online feedback in a first-year tertiary biology course

Are Clinical Vignette Questions Harder than Traditional Questions in Gross Anatomy Course?

The increased integration of clinical scenarios throughout the first-year gross anatomy course is widely supported in the USA. This early introduction of clinically relevant material has created a need for new assessments of relevant knowledge that include questions based on clinical vignettes. However, little is known about how dental/medical students handle these clinical vignette questions (CVQ) in gross anatomy examinations. Thus, using meaningful ways to compare CVQ with traditional questions (TQ) could justify validation of the CVQ assessment format for this course. This study compared student performance on matched sets of CVQ and TQ test items before and after training on CVQ items in a summer 2014 and 2015 pre-matriculation program gross anatomy course. The subject matter for this course consisted of two blocks (back and upper limb; head and neck), accompanied by cadaveric dissection. Our data show that, in comparison with the TQ format, students fared poorly in the CVQ format (P < 0.05) under two conditions: (1) no advanced training on this format, or (2) unprepared for the test. However, an encouraging finding of our study suggests that training on CVQ items before testing may greatly improve student performance on this specific format for high-performing groups (grades ≥ 70). Training did not seem to exert any beneficial effect on low-performing groups (grades < 70) in this study. Thus, our current study recommends the early familiarization/training on CVQ items in the gross anatomy course and possibly other basic science courses.

Design, Implementation, and Outcomes of a Three-week Pharmacy Bridging Course

Objective. To evaluate the design, implementation, and outcomes of a three-week pharmacy bridging course (PBC) covering five math and science areas for first-year doctor of pharmacy students in fall 2015. Methods. Each topic was taught as a separate module. All five modules used pre- and post-module assessments to measure student knowledge and confidence. Course grades for subsequent first-year courses (PY1) were collected to examine relationships between PBC and PY1 courses. Results. Scores on the post-knowledge assessments increased for all five subject areas compared to scores on pre-PBC knowledge assessments. Student confidence also increased pre-/post- in applied mathematics, biostatistics, and organic chemistry. Students agreed that PBC enhanced their level of academic preparation and increased their motivation to continue in the program. PBC performance was strongly correlated with first-year grade point average. Conclusion. A bridging course is both feasible and effective for helping students prepare for and transition into a doctor of pharmacy degree program.

Faculty perceptions of teaching information literacy to first-year students: A phenomenographic study

This study examines faculty perceptions of teaching information literacy and explores the influence of these perceptions on pedagogy. The study adopted an inductive phenomenographic approach, using 24 semi-structured interviews with faculty teaching first-year courses at an American public research university. The results of the study reveal four qualitative ways in which faculty experience teaching information use to first year students that vary within three themes of expanding awareness. The resulting outcome space revealed that faculty had two distinct conceptions of teaching information literacy: (1) Teaching to produce experienced consumers of information, and (2) Teaching to cultivate intelligent participants in discourse communities. When information experiences are intentional, and involve using and teaching information use while learning the discipline content, this becomes “informed learning”, which is a pedagogical construct developed by Christine Bruce (Bruce and Hughes, 2010) that involves experiencing information in new ways while learning disciplinary information behaviors and content. This study gives new insight into the nature of this “informed learning” in first-year college courses and reveals that faculty create cultures of inquiry in their classes and, in so doing, treat information literacy as central to their disciplines. In addition to providing a more substantial understanding of faculty perceptions of teaching information use, the study indicates that the new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy and the changes to SCONUL Framework reflect an approach to teaching information literacy that will be welcomed in the college classroom.

Learning Skills Workshops Supporting First-Year Courses

Student Services support, including learning skills assistance, can be integral in empowering learners. First-year students are expected to be self-directed in their learning, yet may have neither been challenged nor experienced negative consequences for a lack of perseverance. Academic skills professionals can be partners with teaching faculty in student success by helping to build transferable learning skills, especially for high-fail introductory courses. In this paper, I report on supplementary workshops developed to target fundamental skills with course-specific examples. This partnership included incentivizing academic support with both carrots and sticks; instructors in introductory biology strongly urged students receiving D grades or below on the first test to approach Student Services for support, while sociology faculty incorporated workshop attendance into the introductory course with participation grades. Following such incentivizing of learning skills, workshop attendance increased by 45%. In both courses, first test scores and high school averages for students attending workshops did not differ from students not attending workshops. However, students who attended learning skills workshops had significantly higher course grades, persistence, sessional grade point averages (GPAs), and cumulative GPAs than students not attending workshops. Controlling for high school average, each learning skills workshop attended was associated with a 0.11 to 0.27 increase in sessional GPA on a 4.3 point scale.

Communicative sensitivity in palliative care: a case on the “Happiness Angels” of Rajbala Foundation

Subject area The subject areas are business communication, human resource management and health care. Study level/applicability The case was designed for use in a first-year MBA-level course in business communication but would serve well in a course for executives or for advanced undergraduates. It might also be assigned in general management courses to evoke discussion on communication skills required in sensitive and critical situations; human resource courses; and course on health care. Case overview Palliative care is a specialized medical care focussing on improving the quality of life of patients suffering from life-threatening illnesses. It addresses symptom management and psychosocial and spiritual concerns of the patient and its caregivers. With the intent to alleviate the sufferings of terminally ill patients, Rajbala Foundation, a non-government organization (NGO), works at the psychosocial and spiritual levels. While training their volunteers in effective palliative care communication, it often encounters challenges such as socio-cultural variations, organizational challenges, appropriate verbal and nonverbal communication, etc. This teaching case focuses on the communication challenges faced by the volunteers of Rajbala Foundation. It would lead to a broader discussion on communicating empathically during critical situations. The case has a focus on NGOs, and non-profit organizations, public sector management, health-care management and human resources management. There is significant literature on communication skills for medical practitioners in palliative care. As an increasing number of NGOs step in to provide the second level of care to critically ill patients in non-physical domains, there is a need to understand the role of effective communication for such care providers. This case deals with non-medical care providers in palliative care; the issues of communication they face as they interact with patients; and the skills they require to address the emotional and spiritual needs of patients and their families. Expected learning outcomes The aim of this case is to raise awareness of the complexities involved in the communication process during an emotional and sensitive interaction. It aims to encourage volunteers involved in palliative care to reflect on good communication practices when communicating with patients and family members. After reading this case, the students should be able to discuss the complexities involved in the communication process when communicating in situations with high emotional involvement; understand the core elements of emotional interactions for effective practice; and emphasize the need for the development of communication skills within palliative care. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 6: Human Resource Management

Understanding phospholipid function: Why are there so many lipids?

In the 1970s, phospholipids were still considered mere building blocks of the membrane lipid bilayer, but the subsequent realization that phospholipids could also serve as second messengers brought new interest to the field. My own passion for the unique amphipathic properties of lipids led me to seek other, non-signaling functions for phospholipids, particularly in their interactions with membrane proteins. This seemed to be the last frontier in protein chemistry and enzymology to be conquered. I was fortunate to find my way to Eugene Kennedy's laboratory, where both membrane proteins and phospholipids were the foci of study, thus providing a jumping-off point for advancing our fundamental understanding of lipid synthesis, membrane protein biosynthesis, phospholipid and membrane protein trafficking, and the cellular roles of phospholipids. After purifying and characterizing enzymes of phospholipid biosynthesis in Escherichia coli and cloning of several of the genes encoding these enzymes in E. coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, I was in a position to alter phospholipid composition in a systematic manner during the cell cycle in these microorganisms. My group was able to establish, contrary to common assumption (derived from the fact that membrane proteins retain activity in detergent extracts) that phospholipid environment is a strong determining factor in the function of membrane proteins. We showed that molecular genetic alterations in membrane lipid composition result in many phenotypes, and uncovered direct lipid-protein interactions that govern dynamic structural and functional properties of membrane proteins. Here I present my personal "reflections" on how our understanding of phospholipid functions has evolved.

A Framework for Levels of Student Participation and Stages of Relevant Curriculum

Seven instructors at five institutions adopted process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) activities for their first-year courses. These POGIL activities were designed to prompt students to reflect on the relevance of the curriculum to their own lives. Students were significantly more comfortable with computers after taking the POGIL courses, even compared to students taking the same course from the same instructors. However, there was no overall effect on students' interest in taking more CS classes. Based on these findings, the authors developed Levels of Student Participation and Stages of Relevant Curriculum to help POGIL faculty make their classrooms more inclusive and their curriculum more relevant. Follow-up interviews with seven instructors demonstrated a marked increase in their plans to make their course content relevant to students.

Framing of transitional pedagogic practices in the sciences: enabling access

ABSTRACTEducational literature shows that students from working-class backgrounds are significantly less likely to persist to completion in higher education than middle-class students. This paper draws theoretically and analytically on Bernstein’s ([1990. Class, Codes and Control, Volume IV: The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse. London: Routledge; 2000. Pedagogy, Symbolic Control, and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield]) thesis that, through differential framing of pedagogic practices, the curriculum has capacity to accommodate all groups of students. Pedagogic practices in both a science foundation course and four first-year mainstream science courses in a higher education institution in the South African context are examined. Whilst the foundation course exhibits modalities that generally favour access, the mainstream courses have some modalities that appear to be constraining. It is argued from a social justice perspective that holistic curriculum transformations that better enable epistemic transitions are an urgent imperative, and that consideration of differential framing of pedagogic modalities offer a close-up empirical means of conceptualising such reforms.

Using a Case-Progression Approach to Mapping Learning Outcomes and Developing Assessments

Faculty from all parts of the law school curriculum - first-year courses, legal research and writing, academic support, upper level doctrinal courses, and clinic - have developed a tool that explores how the courses in law school relate to the representation of a client. Using this tool, these faculty have begun to map the ABA-required learning outcomes to the law school curriculum at the program level. These faculty explain how a variety of assessments, incorporated into the curriculum and designed around the skills needed to represent a client, can be used to determine if learning outcomes are being met. Because the faculty represent all aspects of a law school program, the mapping and assessment structure is comprehensive, collaborative, cohesive and intended to reach the ultimate program outcome: students who can practice law. The geneses of the tool is the recent American Bar Association (ABA) changes. As a result of these changes, faculty may be wondering how to incorporate the requirement of learning outcomes and assessments into the curriculum. Law schools must have learning outcomes. A learning outcome describes how students will make use of information, with the focus on what the students can do with what they have learned. The flip side of a learning outcome is an assessment. An assessment gives the student an opportunity to consider what he has learned, demonstrate his knowledge, and receive useful feedback about the level of his knowledge and skill. It also gives those evaluating the law school program an opportunity to consider what the students have demonstrated and determine if they have achieved the learning outcome sufficiently so as to have met the program learning outcome. The faculty-authors provide examples of a number of different of assessment designed around the tool and that help others see how to easily incorporate assessments into their own courses.

Computer programming in the UK undergraduate mathematics curriculum

abstractThis paper reports a study which investigated the extent to which undergraduate mathematics students in the United Kingdom are currently taught to programme a computer as a core part of their mathematics degree programme. We undertook an online survey, with significant follow-up correspondence, to gather data on current curricula and received replies from 46 (63%) of the departments who teach a BSc mathematics degree. We found that 78% of BSc degree courses in mathematics included computer programming in a compulsory module but 11% of mathematics degree programmes do not teach programming to all their undergraduate mathematics students. In 2016, programming is most commonly taught to undergraduate mathematics students through imperative languages, notably MATLAB, using numerical analysis as the underlying (or parallel) mathematical subject matter. Statistics is a very popular choice in optional courses, using the package R. Computer algebra systems appear to be significantly less popular for compulsory first-year courses than a decade ago, and there was no mention of logic programming, functional programming or automatic theorem proving software. The modal form of assessment of computing modules is entirely by coursework (i.e. no examination).

Can Low-Cost Online Summer Math Programs Improve Student Preparation for College-Level Math? Evidence From Randomized Experiments at Three Universities

ABSTRACTEvery year many students enter college without the math preparation needed to succeed in their desired programs of study. Many of these students struggle to catch up, especially those who are required to take remedial math courses before entering college-level math. Increasing the number of students who begin at the appropriate level of math has become an important focus for educators and policymakers. We conducted randomized experiments of low-cost online summer math programs at three universities to test whether this type of intervention can increase access to math preparation, improve placement and enrollment in fall math classes, and improve performance in first-year math courses. Students who received the intervention engaged with the platform, though at relatively low rates, and were more likely to retake the placement test and improve their scores than students in the control group. However, these improved scores did not translate into enrolling in higher level math courses, obtaining more math credits, or improving grades in math-related courses during the first year of college. Thus, providing students access to this online tool did not improve their math skills.

Formative feedback and scaffolding for developing complex problem solving and modelling outcomes

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses the use and impact of formative feedback and scaffolding to develop outcomes for complex problem solving in a required first-year course in engineering design and practice at a medium-sized research-intensive Canadian university. In 2010, the course began to use team-based, complex, open-ended contextualised problems to develop problem solving, communications, teamwork, modelling, and professional skills. Since then, formative feedback has been incorporated into: task and process-level feedback on scaffolded tasks in-class, formative assignments, and post-assignment review. Development in complex problem solving and modelling has been assessed through analysis of responses from student surveys, direct criterion-referenced assessment of course outcomes from 2013 to 2015, and an external longitudinal study. The findings suggest that students are improving in outcomes related to complex problem solving over the duration of the course. Most notably, the addition of new feedback and scaffolding coincided with improved student performance.

Medical Student Perception of the Impact of Early Ultrasonography Education on Experiences during Clinical Rotations

Teaching medical students ultrasonography has a positive impact on their confidence in its use. The study institution has integrated ultrasonography education into the first 2 years of its 4-year curriculum. The first-year ultrasonography course taught students how to use ultrasound equipment and identify a number of structures in the neck, abdomen, pelvis, chest, and extremities. A pass/fail elective course during second year provided more opportunities to practice ultrasonography skills and use ultrasonography training models for guided procedures. The objective of this study was to investigate student perception of early ultrasonography education as related to their experience during clinical rotations. After completing third-year rotations, students were surveyed on their perception of how ultrasonography training impacted their clinical decision-making abilities, how often they engaged in ultrasonography activities, the obstacles that prevented them from using ultrasonography, and the specialties in which they used ultrasonography most. Eighty-five students from the class of 2015 and 162 students from the class of 2016 participated. Students agreed ultrasonography training aided their clinical decision-making abilities (P<.001) and their ultrasonography skills were used during third-year rotations (P<.001). Many students experienced at least 1 obstacle, most commonly lack of permission. Ultrasonography was used most during obstetrics and gynecology rotations. Despite obstacles, ultrasonography was used in a variety of specialties. These results support the inclusion of ultrasonography in the medical school curriculum to improve clinical decision-making skills and promote the development of ultrasonography skills.

Developing skills versus reinforcing concepts in physics labs: Insight from a survey of students’ beliefs about experimental physics

Physics laboratory courses have been generally acknowledged as an important component of the undergraduate curriculum, particularly with respect to developing students' interest in, and understanding of, experimental physics. There are a number of possible learning goals for these courses including reinforcing physics concepts, developing laboratory skills, and promoting expert-like beliefs about the nature of experimental physics. However, there is little consensus among instructors and researchers interested in the laboratory learning environment as to relative importance of these various learning goals. Here, we contribute data to this debate through the analysis of students' responses to the laboratory-focused assessment known as the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics (E-CLASS). Using a large, national data set of students' responses, we compare students' E-CLASS performance in classes in which the instructor self-reported focusing on developing skills, reinforcing concepts, or both. As the classification of courses was based on instructor self-report, we also provide additional description of these course with respect to how often students engage in particular activities in the lab. We find that courses that focus specifically on developing lab skills have more expert-like postinstruction E-CLASS responses than courses that focus either on reinforcing physics concepts or on both goals. Within first-year courses, this effect is larger for women. Moreover, these findings hold when controlling for the variance in postinstruction scores that is associated with preinstruction E-CLASS score, student major, and student gender.

Stereotype Threat, Role Models, and Demographic Mismatch in an Elite Professional School Setting

Ten years of administrative data from a diverse, private, top-100 law school are used to examine the ways in which female and nonwhite students benefit from exposure to demographically similar faculty in first-year required law courses. Arguably causal impacts of exposure to same-sex and same-race instructors on course-specific outcomes such as course grades are identified using a two-way (student and classroom) fixed effects strategy. Impacts of faculty representation on long-run, student-specific outcomes such as graduation are identified using an instrumental variables (IV) strategy that exploits transitory variation in the demographic makeup of the faculty. Having an other-sex instructor reduces the likelihood of receiving a good grade (A or A-) by one percentage point (3%) and having an other-race instructor reduces the likelihood of receiving a good grade by three percentage points (10%). The effects of student-instructor demographic mismatch are particularly salient for nonwhite female students. The IV estimates suggest that the share of first-year courses taught by nonwhite instructors increases the probabilities that nonwhite students persist into the second year and graduate on time. These results provide novel evidence of the pervasiveness of role-model effects in elite settings and of the graduate-school education production function.

University of Virginia Health System: The Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Project

This case is best taught in a first-year MBA finance course and with a series of cases based on cash flow analysis. Its primary objective is to portray the major differences in project analysis for nonprofit organizations compared to for-profit companies and to highlight the unique issues relevant in a health care environment. Students must decide, based on cash flow analysis and nonfinancial factors, whether or not to propose a long-term acute care hospital (LTAC) project to the board of directors of the U. Va. Health System. Students must use the assumptions outlined in the case to create a cash flow analysis and then compute a net present value (NPV) calculation and internal rate of return (IRR) for the project. After assessing the base-case results and sensitivity analysis of the assumptions driving those results, students must decide if the project should be taken to the board of directors.

Improving the academic reading proficiency of university students in Ghana: an Educational Design Research approach

ABSTRACTThis study evaluated the effectiveness of a reading intervention in first-year university courses (Chemistry and Linguistics) in Ghana, emphasising text structure, vocabulary and reading motivation. A between-group design was used to compare experimental (n = 51) and control groups (n = 33) in a pre-test post-test setup. The experimental manipulation consisted of a weekly tutorial session including homework (one semester). The purpose was to investigate the effect on (1) the mean difference between pre- and post-test reading scores; (2) the mean differences between pre-and post-questionnaire results for reading behaviour, attitude, and self-concept, and (3) the final score on the course exams. By the end of the intervention the Linguistics experimental group had improved significantly on their academic reading proficiency. Time spent on reading had increased significantly more for the experimental group than for the control group. Chemistry students’ attitudes towards reading changed positively. Quantitative data were enriched with classroom observations and interviews.