Graduate-level Students Research Articles

Exploring the Self-Concept of Post Graduate Level Students: A Critical Study

Self-Concept is the overall perception of individuals about their own personality and behaviours. It is a very common indicator of students’ academic achievement. Self-Concept can be considered as the sum total of persons’ thoughts and beliefs about how they are. The present study puts emphasis on the Self-Concept of Post Graduate level students in Purulia district of West Bengal. The objectives of the study are to express the differences between the Self-Concept of Female and Male students; Urban and Rural students & Arts and Science students of Post Graduate level respectively. Descriptive survey method is followed to conduct the study. The researchers have selected 200 Post Graduate level students from Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University of Purulia district as the sample of the study by using stratified random sampling technique. ‘Self Concept Scale’ developed by Dr. (Mrs.) Pratibha Deo was used to collect the data. No significant difference was found in the Self-Concept of Post Graduate level students in respect to their Gender (Female and Male) and Stream (Arts and Science group); but there was a significant difference in their Self-Concept on the basis of Residence (Urban and Rural). Keywords: Self-Concept, Post Graduate level students, Gender, Residence, Stream.

Perceptions of conducting academic ELT research: the case of Iranian graduate-level students

ABSTRACT Research is an indispensable part of any educational endeavour generally and graduate/postgraduate studies particularly, since the Iranian educational system requires M.A. and Ph.D. candidates to submit a thesis or dissertation as partial fulfilment of the requirements for attaining their respective academic degrees. However, a review of the related research reveals that students’ perceptions of ELT research have largely gone unexplored. The current study is a step forward in attempting to fill the mentioned gap through an examination of Iranian graduate students’ perceptions of conducting ELT research. In this line, 32 Iranian graduate-level ELT students were initially selectedbased on convenient sampling. Their perceptions of ELT research were collected through interviews and later analysed using the framework of Grounded Theory Analysis (GTA). The data collected in the form of participants’ answers to interview questions were grouped into three general themes: a) definitions and conceptualisations, b) motivational drives, and c) challenges of conducting ELT research. The results revealed that by removing impediments to the way of conducting ELT research, the quality and quantity of research conducted by Iranian M.A./Ph.D. ELT candidates may be greatly improved. The findings may yield some implications for Iranian ELT policymakers, practitioners, instructors, researchers, and graduate students.

Infusing Sustainability into Graduate Level Higher Education and Student Affairs Coursework

Infusing Sustainability into Graduate Level Higher Education and Student Affairs Coursework

Equity bank: repositioning as a fintech

Learning outcomes The learning objectives of this case include: ▪ Outline the brand repositioning approaches that Equity Bank used in its various stages of growth. ▪ Identify the impact of Equity’s brand repositioning in supporting its growth. ▪ Develop a brand repositioning framework for Equity bank as a fintech. ▪ Identify the theoretical frameworks that informed Equity’s brand repositioning during the various growth stages. ▪ Suggest a theoretical framework that would help Equity to reposition the new brand in the market. Case overview/synopsis In March 2020, the Government of Kenya declared a lockdown to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdown of entire economic sectors put pressure on the adoption of technology to deliver services such as education, training and financial services. Banks had to innovate ways of supporting customers transactions with minimal physical and cash contact. Equity Bank had been implementing a digital banking strategy which had demonstrated successful adoption. Covid-19 accelerated the adoption and usage of Equity Bank’s digital banking by consumers. The bank found itself in a new territory competing fiercely with new and more agile fintechs. Consequently, Dr James Mwangi, the Group Managing Director and CEO of Equity Group, was contemplating the possibility of bringing forward the bank's strategic intention of repositioning as a fintech. He was convinced that such a move would bring massive success to the bank’s digital banking strategy, achieve enhanced efficiency, improve customer experience and attract a new segment of digital-savvy customers. But he needed to carry the Board, his management team and customers along in this repositioning strategy without sacrificing the gains made in the consumers' minds about Equity's brand as a bank. Complexity academic level This case can be taught to graduate-level students of marketing courses. It can also be taught to participants of executive education undertaking short courses in in business management and entrepreneurship. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing.

Students as policymakers and policy advocates: Role-playing evidence-based health policies

Background Role playing has been increasingly utilized as a teaching strategy in the health discipline. However, the utilization of role playing within the field of health policy and systems research, while imperative, remains limited. Thus, this study documented and described a role playing activity and explored students’ experiences within the context of evidence-based health policy. Method The role playing activity was conducted as part of a course assessment – evidence-based health policy brief at a university in Saudi Arabia. Six graduate level students who were enrolled in the course participated in the activity. Through a mixed method approach, the study collected data from different sources including assessment forms, surveys, written reflections, and observational notes, to explore students experiences with the role playing activity. Data analysis included descriptive statistics for quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative data. Results Students reported an overall positive experience with the role playing activity. The activity provided them with an experience mimicking real scenarios, while playing roles of policy advocates and policymakers. Additionally, the activity contributed to students’ knowledge acquisition and expansion as well as skills development relevant to policymaking. Conclusion The study’s findings contribute to the current literature on the utilization of simulation within the health discipline, with valuable contribution to the field of health policy and systems research. Implications of the study require attention from respective policymakers, practitioners, and academicians.

Expanding interprofessional teams: Training future health care professionals in screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT).

Substance misuse persists and is undertreated across the United States (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2021). Further enhancing the skill sets and capacity of interprofessional members of primary care teams to include proficiency in the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) model could help to alleviate the "treatment gap" (those requiring treatment, but not receiving it) by enhancing interprofessional teams at the pregraduate level (e.g., health educators, health coaches) to expand capacity and meet the volume of patients with substance use-related needs. In this study, SBIRT knowledge, training satisfaction, and efficacy were evaluated among undergraduate and graduate health and behavioral health students before and after exposure to a series of online training modules. On completion of the training, there were positive percent increases in overall mean knowledge and self-efficacy when compared with pretraining. At posttraining, graduate level students, regardless of discipline, reported greater knowledge than undergraduate students; there were no differences in efficacy or satisfaction among the groups. Additional analysis at the graduate level evaluated differences between behavioral health and medical trainees. No differences were found in knowledge or efficacy between groups at posttest, despite medical trainees reporting significantly lower efficacy at pretest. The findings of this study reinforce the need and potential to incorporate SBIRT training into higher education curricula for interprofessional health care professions to begin expanding the integrated care team's knowledge and efficacy in the provision of SBIRT to address the treatment gap. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A study on the attitude of post-graduate level students towards online open book examination system at COVID - 19 situation

The subject of research is to investigate a study on the attitude of post graduate level students towards online open book examination system at COVID-19 situation. The three purposes for which I have studied are - To know the attitude of post graduate level students towards Online Open Book Examination System at COVID – 19 situation, To know the attitude of Boys and Girls students towards Online Open Book Examination System in COVID-19 situation, To know the attitude of rural and urban students towards online open book examination system in COVID- 19 situation. Descriptive survey research method has been used for a study. The results I obtained through the self- constructed attitude scale are - There is no significant difference between the attitude of Boys and Girls students towards Online Open Book Examination System in COVID-19 situation. And There is significant difference between the attitude of rural and urban students towards online open book examination system in COVID- 19 situation. 58.8% of students are Disagree, 26.5% of students are Strongly Disagree and 14.7% of students are Agree with the opinion that Online open book examination system is an effective evaluation method. 42.6% of students are agree, 30.9% of students are strongly agree and 22.1% of students are disagree with the opinion that the use of Online Open Book Examination System is not suitable for Practical exam. 58% of students are agree, 27.9% of students are strongly agree and 11.8% of students are disagree with the opinion that Online Open Book Exam reduces the power of problem- solving among the students. 55.9% of students are agree, 25% of students are strongly agree and 14% of students are disagree with the opinion that Online Open Book Examination is not acceptable for Post-graduate students. 52.9% of students are agree and 41.2% of students are strongly agree with the opinion that in the case of Online Open Book Examination System, technological problems make students' anxiety level high. 57.4% of students are agree, 33.8% of students are strongly agree and 8.8% of students are disagree with the opinion that the students are to face with different problems due to the lack of knowledge about Technology.

Cultural Partner Program: Enhancing Intercultural Interactions and Transition Outcomes for International Graduate Level Students

International students, especially graduate-level students, experience unique challenges as they make a transition to a new social and cultural environment. This study examines the impacts of the Cultural Partner Program on transition outcomes for incoming graduate-level international students. Of the 171 participants recruited from a public research university in the southeast U.S., 39 participated in the control group and the rest in the experimental group. Although the regression analysis did not reveal significant results, supplemental standardized mean difference analyses was conducted considering the wide 95% confidence intervals and the relatively small sample size in the regression analysis. The standardized mean difference analyses revealed that in comparison with the control group, the experimental group performed better on specific transition outcomes (i.e., intercultural interaction enjoyment, self-esteem, stress, perceived social support, social and academic integration, and attitudes toward seeking professional help) but performed worse on other intercultural sensitivity subscales and cultural identity. Higher education professionals need to foster inclusive and creative environments for international students to enhance their transition experiences and outcomes.

Doing it step by step: a flipped classroom approach to teaching statistical analysis in social work

ABSTRACT Social workers should be trained in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, irrespective of whether they aspire to conduct research on their own or use research to inform their practice. The apparently problematic position of quantitative research methods in social work suggests, however, a need to explore new forms of teaching statistical analysis. In this article, we propose a flipped classroom approach to teaching statistical analysis for social work. In the empirical analysis, we investigate how students perceive this way of learning statistical analysis at a Norwegian university. The data are based on 3 years of evaluation data from a course on statistical analysis for master’s level graduate students of social work, with 2 years of data taken from before the COVID-19 pandemic and the last data point being during a period of lockdown. We discuss the most important factors for succeeding with this approach and explore if and to what extent the perceptions of students differed during the pandemic compared to the two previous years. Based on the findings, we argue that a flipped classroom approach to teaching statistical analysis may be one way of changing the apparent problematic position of quantitative research methods in social work.

Global Enterprises: contemporarisation of khadi products in India

Theoretical basis This paper aims to explain the theory of stakeholder, value chain analysis and triple bottom line sustainability approach. Research methodology The present case was developed from both primary and secondary data sources. The primary sources included visits to Global Enterprises and collected data through a structured interview. The secondary sources included enterprise annual reports and websites. Case overview/synopsis This case presents the innovative approach adopted by a for-profit social enterprise, utilizing locally available resources, changed products and an improved business model to deliver the desired social impact. It highlights the challenges social entrepreneurs face and how the people at the grass-root level are uplifted through the success of a social entrepreneurial venture. The case study is based on an interview conducted with the founder and managing director of Global Enterprises and other stakeholders (farmers, women artisans and employees). An interview schedule was used for conducting the interviews. The researchers tried to understand the business model deployed, stakeholders involved, challenges faced, competencies needed and strategic decisions made by the social entrepreneur that helped the enterprise become sustainable. The social problems identified by the entrepreneur include unavailability of quality raw material at a reasonable price on time; financial scarcity and massive dependence on non-institutional financial sources; lack of product development, market research and production; and the high price of handmade products compared to factory-made products. The case explains how the entrepreneur addressed the problems of cotton farmers, women artisans and local youths through his enterprise. The case also explains how he could make a social venture sustainable in the long run. Complexity academic level This case targets graduate-level students and is designed to be taught in Entrepreneurship, Social entrepreneurship, Rural entrepreneurship, Business administration and Entrepreneurship development. It can also be used for other programmes, where problem identification, opportunity recognition, stakeholder analysis and porter's value chain analysis are taught.

Who gets a job sooner? Results from a national survey of master’s graduates

ABSTRACT This study investigates the factors that influence how long it takes for master’s-level graduate students to find employment. The original contribution stems from questioning whether the structure and content of university programmes play a role in graduates’ ability to secure jobs. To this end, we focus on three dimensions at three points in time after graduation: competence acquisition, teaching methods and programme characteristics. The dataset comes from a large-scale study on graduates’ employability by the Observatory for University Employability and Employment (OEEU) and contains detailed information about master’s degree graduates in Spain. A multinomial logit estimated by the maximum likelihood method is used to identify the critical factors influencing the likelihood of acquiring a job sooner. The findings indicate that educational programmes fail to provide the necessary competencies to ensure a smooth transition from the university to the job market and that study programme initiatives related to active learning and internships make a difference in this transition. We believe that these results shed light on specific characteristics of academic programmes and should be considered during programme design to enhance graduates’ employability and faster labour market insertion.

Future Public Health Anti-trafficking Training: An Exploratory Inquiry among Public Health Graduate Students to Understand their Levels of Awareness, Knowledge, and Self-efficacy in Order to Prevent, Identify, and Assist Survivors of Human Trafficking

ABSTRACT Human trafficking (HT) is a violation of human rights and a serious public health concern. Recently, efforts have focused on training frontline personnel, among others, to identify, intervene, and assist survivors of HT. Yet, there is scant research among public health students and practitioners about their awareness, knowledge, and self-efficacy in addressing HT. Training the future public health workforce is essential for addressing this problem. This cross-sectional mixed-methods study collected data utilizing a 33-item survey among current graduate students (N = 85) of public health enrolled at a U.S. Northeastern University. The primary aim of this study was to assess public health graduate level students’ awareness, knowledge, and self-efficacy regarding HT intervention. A secondary aim was to gather students' recommendations for curricula development purposes. Statistical analyses included univariate and binary analysis of quantitative data and a thematic two-step coding process for the analysis of the qualitative data.. Findings revealed study participants had a strong awareness of HT, but a low level of knowledge and self-efficacy in identifying and assisting victims. Most study participants desired to integrate HT-related training into current courses. Results may be used to inform the development of curricula at higher level education and public health institutions.

A Web-Based Metallographic Atlas for Teaching Materials Science

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many higher education institutions to offer their courses online, which is quite challenging when implementing laboratory sessions. Here we describe a web-based teaching resource consisting of a metallographic atlas with more than 200 micrographs corresponding to pure metals, binary alloys, steels, cast irons, and light alloys. The atlas is designed for majors and graduate level students in materials science disciplines, and it focuses on the interpretation of optical micrographs. The web page metrics, the impact on academic scores, and the results of an anonymous and voluntary survey indicate a very positive response to this online teaching resource material.

A BP Neural Network Model for Evaluating the Literature and Art Career of College Students’ Political and Ideological Education

The evaluation of the literary and artistic carrier of the political as well as the ideological education of college students is an important research topic in contemporary college education concepts. Since it consists of multiple variables, there are still many difficulties in evaluating the ideological productivity of college students. The same statement is true for political education as well. This paper builds a model for the literary and artistic carrier of the political as well as the ideological education of college students based on the backpropagation neural network (BPNN) structure. Furthermore, we study the current status of the literary and artistic carrier of the political along with the ideological education of college students. This paper implements the BP neural network to model the literary and artistic carrier of college level graduate students’ political and ideological education in order to analyze the dynamics of contemporary college students’ ideological differences. Finally, we provide an adequate theoretical basis for inquiry, from qualitative description to quantitative analysis. The suggested approach may successfully avoid the old model’s instability and sluggish convergence issues as well as significantly increase the correctness of the evaluation findings for literary and artistic carrier of the political as well as the ideological education of college students.

Role of Communication Technology in Students Learning at Graduate level in District Lahore

The Role of Technology in students learning at Graduate level in Lahore. The objective of the current study was to; (1) identify the technology being used by the students for their learning. (2) To find out the uses of Communication Technology in learning at graduate level students in the city of Lahore. The population of the study was all Towns of the city of Lahore. The simple random sampling technique was used for the study. Through the simple random technique, 4 graduate colleges and 100 students were selected for B.S Program. Data is gathered through a research tool from students (20 items). Through statistical analysis results show that most students (87%) prefer the use of communication Technology in learning, they have developed confidence in practising learning (74%), and the interdisciplinary nature of support functions of technology helps students to integrate their learning (68%). On the other hand, most students lack communication resources in their institutes.

Impact of First Language Transfer on the Use of English Prepositions by Arab English Learners

This study aims to investigate the overuse of English prepositions by Arabs caused by first language transfer among high school, university, and graduate-level students who study English as a foreign language in Saudi Arabia. The researcher developed the research tool of multiple-choice questions to be responded to by the study participants, including five hundred thirty-one persons of the mentioned research community. It has been found after the analysis of responses of the study participants that the greater the students' competence level, the less impact the first language transfer has on second language acquisition. In this study, the researcher recommends that the student should be taught more about the different meanings and usage of prepositions in English and Arabic. In addition, more comparative linguistic research between English and other languages, such as Arabic, should be encouraged to help students understand how prepositions are used in each language.

Mixed-Method Research On EFL Graduate Students’ Academic Writing Practices

This study aims to identify (i) how EFL graduate-level students at various Turkish universities regard the level of difficulty in terms of the different sections of a scholarly work in their academic writing practices, (ii) whether their perceptions concerning the difficulty of the various sections show a significant difference depending on their demographics, (iii) the solutions they employ when they are challenged with difficulties in academic writing and (iv) their views about the process of academic writing in general. Data from 34 graduate EFL students were reported. The study adopted a mixed-method research design, and the data were collected with Academic Literacies Questionnaire (ALQ) (Chang, 2006; Evans & Green, 2007). The participants also responded to open-ended questions about the challenges they face in academic writing and their solutions. The results revealed that EFL graduate students had problems with academic conventions, and found expressing themselves succinctly problematic. However, they were familiar with the mechanics of the target language. 
  

An estimate of awareness skill level in financial instruments among management students

The financial literacy is the requisite for development and growth of the economy. The pedagogy for the delivery of financial knowledge in Indian management schools is both with e-technology and traditional methods. The financial instrument is a contract that gives rise to a financial asset of one entity and a financial liability or equity instrument of another entity.The awareness of financial instruments and skill to invest in these instruments is awareness skill. The study is designed to estimate the awareness skill level of financial instrument of management students'. The research design formulated for the study is descriptive with a sample of 131(10 percent of the sample) drawn randomly from students of post graduate level pursing professional management courses. The schedule with 24 items is administered and the results are analyzed with percentages and ANOVA. The first null hypothesis of low awareness skill is accepted and other two null hypotheses are rejected. There is a significant variation of awareness skill level of financial instruments with focus on gender and specialization. The awareness skill level is confined to fixed deposits and recurring deposits.

Trauma & the Brain: Student Experiences With a Case-Based Training Series for Social Work Students

ABSTRACT This qualitative study examines “Trauma & the Brain”—a case-based training series for graduate-level social work students focused on the neurodevelopmental impact of childhood trauma. Four focus groups were conducted with 17 participants from the Trauma & the Brain training series. Reflexive thematic analysis identified six themes regarding students’ application of training series content to their field work: nurturing a learning community, bridging content and curriculum gaps, understanding “the why,” taking the toolbox into the field, confident communicators, and field challenges. Implications for social work education are discussed, including the necessity of preparing students for fluent communication about complex trauma in multidisciplinary settings, and building learning communities that connect students across cohorts and micro- and macro-practice tracks.

Effects of Partner vs Individual Restudy Techniques on Knowledge and Confidence While Learning Anatomy

For health science students to learn huge amounts of information they must optimize their ability to retain information. Quiz‐based learning has been shown to be more effective than passive restudying, a phenomenon known as the “testing effect.” In medicine, appropriate self‐assessment of ones’ own knowledge is an important quality to limit medical error. We hypothesized partner study groups (PG) would outperform individual groups (IG) on knowledge tests based on increased adherence to quiz‐style learning. We thought PG would appropriately indicate their confidence on answer choices since they quizzed with and received feedback from their partner on incorrect answers while studying.Graduate level students recruited from Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences were given information on a novel anatomical topic in an initial study session. They then were split into groups: IG restudied the material by themselves and PG as student pairs. Following the restudy session, students’ knowledge of the topic was assessed by a 15‐question test. Follow‐up tests occurred 1 week and 3 weeks later. Each test item required the student to indicate if they felt confident or not in their answer. Answers marked as confident that were incorrect were labeled as “misinformed” answers. Students filled out surveys to report prior knowledge, study habits, and reflections on their learning experience on day 1 of the study. Data were analyzed using SPSS software with p < .05 via two‐sided testing considered statistically significant using repeated measures ANOVA and Mann‐Whitney U tests.Day 1 surveys completed (n = 17) showed PG and IG were not significantly different for age, gender, memory scores, or prior knowledge. PG reported feeling the material was easier to learn compared to IG (p = .024). Knowledge tests at day 1, week 1 and week 3 were completed by 15 students. PG had lower average test scores than IG on each of the 3 tests; the difference between groups was not significant (p = .302), but there was a moderate effect size (ηp2= .082). PG reported more confidence on answers (p = .272, ηp2 = .092). The number of misinformed answers was more for the PG compared to IG; while not significant, there was a moderate to large effect size measured (p = .205, ηp2= .121). For all students, confidence on answers dropped significantly between day 1 and week 1 (p < .0001), and on average had less misinformed answers (p = .0854).This study found, contrary to our initial hypothesis, students who studied alone were more likely to do better on knowledge tests. However, the findings also suggest that students who studied in partner groups found it easier to learn and felt more confident while taking the tests despite performing worse. There was an increase in misinformed answers for partner groups compared to individuals, likely because they were more confident overall. This corresponded with total student data; participants were more accurate in their assessment of their knowledge after day 1. When total confidence decreased, there were fewer misinformed answers. A follow up study is warranted to evaluate why there was higher confidence seen in partner groups, even when they did not know the correct answer. The limitations of this study include a low sample size and students were from a single institution.