Involvement In Academic Activities Research Articles

Standard ophthalmology residency training in China: an evaluation of resident satisfaction on training program in Guangdong Province

BackgroundNational standardized training for resident doctors (STRD) in mainland China has been formally established since 2014 as a kind of postgraduate education. The purpose of this survey was to assess the satisfaction of the training residents in Guangdong Province on the ophthalmology STRD program after a duration of 5 years.MethodA 48-item survey was sent to all postgraduate ophthalmology residents from bases in Guangdong Province to inquire about their attitude towards the program. The survey contained questions about demographic and work-related information, job satisfaction, psychological resilience, and job performance. All responses were verified, and invalid questionnaires were excluded. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software version 22.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL). Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the factors (demographic information, working environment, clinical exposure, supervision and hands-on training opportunities, and involvement in academic activities) impacting the overall satisfaction. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsA total of 471/635 (74.17%) valid questionnaires were returned from all the STRD bases of Guangdong Province, which included 38 hospitals. 60.3% of the respondents reported overall satisfaction with their training. The satisfaction with operative teaching (60.7%) was slightly lower than the other settings of teaching experience (above 65%). Meanwhile, the satisfaction on different secessions of operative experience was all below 70%, of which in the areas of cornea and orbit were 55.42% and 57.53%, respectively. Some potential factors were found to affect general satisfaction, including the training grade, marriage, working time, income level, the doctor-patient relationship, family members working as doctors, the time proportion spent on writing medical documents during clinical work, and the frequency of attending academic meetings. Improvement was observed in both performing and reporting clinical examinations in the last year of training in comparison to the first year. Finally, 82.8% of the residents acknowledged this training was helpful for future clinical work. The first five career preferences for residents were cataract (67.1%), refractive surgery (42.3%), vitreo-retina (36.5%), optometry (28.7%), and oculoplastic (27.2%).ConclusionOphthalmology residents in Guangdong Province expressed comparable satisfaction with the STRD program. To further improve satisfaction, factors such as resident subsidy, harmonious marriage, the patient-doctor relationship, and chances of attending academic conferences should be emphasized.

Academic Future of Interventional Radiology Subspecialty: Are We Giving Enough Space to Radiology Trainees?

The aim of this study was to investigate willingness and barriers to academic activities of radiology trainees interested in interventional radiology subspecialty. Radiology trainees and fellows were called to participate a 35-question survey via online platforms and radiological societies. The research survey investigated on involvement in academic activities, willingness of a future academic career, and challenges for pursuing an academic career. Research participants interested in interventional radiology were selected for analysis. Analyses were performed by using either Fisher's exact or chi-square tests. Of 892 respondents to the survey, 155 (17.4%) (112/155, 72.3% men and 43/155, 27.7% women) declared interest in interventional radiology. Active involvement in research and teaching was reported by 53.5% (83/155) and 30.3% (47/155) of the participants, respectively. The majority is willing to work in an academic setting in the future (66.8%, 103/155) and to perform a research fellowship abroad (83.9%, 130/155). Insufficient time was the greatest perceived barrier for both research and teaching activities (49.0% [76/155] and 48.4% [75/155], respectively), followed by lack of mentorship (49.0% [75/155] and 35.5% [55/155], respectively) and lack of support from faculty (40.3% [62/155] and 37.4% [58/155], respectively). Our international study shows that most trainees interested in interventional radiology subspecialty actively participate in research activities and plan to work in an academic setting. However, insufficient time for academia, mentorship, and support from seniors are considered challenges in pursuing an academic career.

Effect of Poverty on Students' Participation in the Class at Community Schools in Nepal

To analyse the effect of poverty on households towards class participation at community schools is the main objective of this study. A cross-sectional survey is conducted within two districts among five hundred thirty students adopting random sampling. Data on class participation are collected from semi structured survey questionnaires and analysed using bivariate and multivariate analysis with help of Stata 14. It is found that poverty hinders involvement in academic activities and managing learning facilities. Parents with poverty have been involved in nonacademic activities and are unable to manage the academic home environment. As a result their children were irregular and absent, and they were involved in nonacademic activities, which are more favourable for the poverty zone except for extracurricular activities. By addressing students’ diversity and local context, students living in poverty may have done better class participation.

Investigating the Effectiveness of Professional Development Presentations in Language Institute: Needs More or Enough

The concept of professional development has grown immensely in universities especially after the pandemic, with studies showing that presentations improve teacher efficiency, teacher and student motivation, student learning, and teacher involvement in academic activities. They may, however, be viewed as a facilitating device and as part of a culture of 'improvement,' which suggests a lack of interest and commitment, less or no involvement in academic activities, lack of autonomy, and more expectations. However, there is a relatively little known study in this field. This article attempts to fill up the gaps in our understanding by using data from teacher participants who attended presentations as a part of the teacher professional program at the English language Institute, Jazan University. The follow-up survey includes male and female (n=169) teachers working in various colleges. The findings suggest teachers considered the presentations extremely essential and provide significant guidance and support for routine teaching and research. They did emphasize, however, the implication of the professional development initiatives to accomplish teaching and learning outcomes, enhance collaboration and communication between decision-makers and teachers, between teachers, and across institutions, and also create a mechanism that will include topics related to unresolved teachers’, students and classroom problems. Also, the article advocates for a PD paradigm in which teachers are actively engaged in teaching and learning activities that push them to apply content, reflect, and solve problems both individually and in groups inside and beyond the classroom.

Measuring conscientiousness in Brazil and disentangling its relationships with subjective well-being, and academic involvement.

Providing a valid and reliable measure of conscientiousness constitutes a worthwhile endeavor to allow research and intervention in Brazil. This study aimed to adapt the Chernyshenko Conscientiousness Scales (CCS) into Brazilian Portuguese, evaluate their psychometric properties, and investigate the relationship between conscientiousness and academic involvement, taking into account the possible confound effect of subjective well-being (SWB). Two samples were studied to cross-validate the CCS's internal structure. Participants were university students (N1 = 332, N2 = 684) who answered the CCS and measures of SWB and academic involvement. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the CCS presented a five-factor solution corresponding to the previously replicated facets of industriousness, orderliness, self-control, traditionalism, and virtue. Most facets related positively to life satisfaction, positive affect, and involvement in academic activities, and negatively to negative affect. A structural model indicated strong associations of conscientiousness with SWB and academic engagement, suggesting more conscious students are happier and engage more in academic tasks. These results support the use of the CCS in Brazil.Trial registration number and date of registration 32732820.6.0000.5334, July 8th, 2020.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-03552-7.

PERCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON LISTENING ACTIVITIES IN A SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOM IN A REMOTE SCHOOL IN MALAYSIA

Most English language teaching classes do not teach language listening strategies nor skills. Due to this, most students especially those in rural areas will not be able to perform well in listening activities and tasks. This research looks at the perceptions and understanding of students in a rural school on their listening strategies. Open-ended questionnaire was used along with focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews looking at their awareness and usage of listening strategies in ESL classrooms. Most of the students are indigenous, therefore, they mentioned that they hardly use any strategies and they are not aware of those strategies. Findings also indicated they find the strategies to be not useful since they do not see the reasons for using these strategies due to their background. Although they felt that they have no reasons to use or study these strategies, they do admit that it will be useful as this could help to sharpen their listening skills.

Development Of Digital Literacy Assessment Scale To Measure Student’s Digital Literacy

The COVID-19 pandemic requires lecturers to change learning strategies through online learning. The use of technology which has grown exponentially in the world of education requires students to be proficient in using technology in finding information as a source of knowledge. To be able to prepare competitively students in this 4.0 education era, an instrument is needed to find out to what extent students' digital literacy abilities are. This research is development research (R&amp;D) which aims to develop a Digital Literacy Assessment Scale (DLAS) instrument to measure students' digital literacy skills. The procedure of this research includes determining the construct and specifications of the instrument, writing the items, and analyzing the items. Based on the results, the DLAS instrument has a total of 52 items consisting of 3 aspects including access to information (access), student involvement in academic activities (behavioral engagement), and socio-emotional (socio-emotional). The results of content validity carried out by 5 expert judgments showed that the DLAS instrument was proven to be content valid with the acquisition of Aiken's V index of 0.87.

La vida comprometida académicamente de los estudiantes orientados al dominio: orden causal entre emociones positivas, metas de dominio y compromiso académico

Although prior research shows that well-being is linked to effective learning, there is scarce evidence on how positive emotions relate to achievement goals and objective measures of school engagement. Drawing from the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this study examines the reciprocal associations of positive emotions with mastery-approach goals and teacher-reported academic engagement (using a two-wave longitudinal design. A survey comprising measures to assess students’ positive emotions (i.e., Modified Differential Emotions Scale) and mastery-approach goals (i.e., Achievement Goal Questionnaire – Revised) was administered to 411 Filipino high school students at two separate time points (i.e., 1-month interval). Ten classroom advisers also filled in a teacher-reported measure of academic engagement to provide a more objective estimate of each student's involvement in academic activities. Results of cross-lagged panel structural equation modeling via maximum likelihood estimation approach showed that positive emotions had positive concurrent relationships to mastery-approach goals and all engagement dimensions. Contradicting previous research, positive emotions did not predict subsequent mastery-approach goals and engagement after controlling for auto-regressor effects. Mastery approach goals positively predicted subsequent positive emotions, behavioral engagement, and cognitive engagement. Engagement dimensions did not relate to succeeding positive emotions and mastery approach goals. Results of this investigation highlight the emotional and academic benefits associated with students’ intrinsic drive to learn in school contexts.

The academically engaged life of mastery-oriented students: Causal ordering among positive emotions, mastery-approach goals, and academic engagement

Although prior research shows that well-being is linked to effective learning, there is scarce evidence on how positive emotions relate to achievement goals and objective measures of school engagement. Drawing from the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this study examines the reciprocal associations of positive emotions with mastery-approach goals and teacher-reported academic engagement using a two-wave longitudinal design. A survey comprising measures to assess students’ positive emotions (i.e., Modified Differential Emotions Scale) and mastery-approach goals (i.e., Achievement Goal Questionnaire – Revised) was administered to 411 Filipino high school students at two separate time points (i.e., 1-month interval). Ten classroom advisers also filled in a teacher-reported measure of academic engagement to provide a more objective estimate of each student’s involvement in academic activities. Results of cross-lagged panel structural equation modeling via maximum likelihood estimation approach showed that positive emotions had positive concurrent relationships to mastery-approach goals and all engagement dimensions. Contradicting previous research, positive emotions did not predict subsequent mastery-approach goals and engagement after controlling for auto-regressor effects. Mastery approach goals positively predicted subsequent positive emotions, behavioral engagement, and cognitive engagement. Engagement dimensions did not relate to succeeding positive emotions and mastery approach goals. Results of this investigation highlight the emotional and academic benefits associated with students’ intrinsic drive to learn in school contexts.

Academia in cardiovascular radiology: are we doing enough for the future of the subspecialty?

To explore barriers to academic activities that cardiovascular radiology-oriented radiology trainees face worldwide. An international call for participation in an online survey was distributed via social media and radiological societies to radiology trainees. Questions covered barriers and involvement in academic activities during radiology training. Participants interested in cardiovascular radiology were selected for analysis with appropriate statistical methods. Of the 892 respondents, 120 (13.5%) reported an interest in cardiovascular imaging. The majority (63.3%, 76/120) were from Europe and 57.5% (69/120) were men. There were gender discrepancies in academic involvement and in perceived gender-related barriers (perceived gender barrier in academic work between women and men: 15/48 versus 5/69, respectively, p=0.001). The main barriers were lack of time, mentorship, and support. Most did not have protected academic time for research nor for teaching (61.7%, 74/120 and 57.5%, 69/120, respectively). Nonetheless, 40% (48/120) published as first authors, 77.5% (91/120) were involved academically in conferences, 71.7% (85/120) were positive about academic activities, 70.8% plan working in an academic setting, and 78.3% (94/120) would consider research training abroad. Although the majority of respondents are positive about academic activities and plan to continue in the future, most do not have protected time. Lack of time, mentorship, and support were the main barriers. Fewer women declare involvement in academic work and output. There are significant perceived gender barriers to academic activities.

Student Motivation and Why It Is Essential in Building a Successful Career

Student motivation is an essential tool that is required to provide an incentive for students to acknowledge and habitualize because it is a determining factor towards identifying yourself and what career path you want to be able to take given the opportunity. The mindset you apply with how you perform tasks and assignments whether that would be at school, university, or work will define how likely you are to be successful. The concept and idea of student motivation underlies upon having a form of desire to willingly participate in the learning process while also stressing about the reasons behind their decision to be involved or lack of involvement in academic activities (Lumsden, 1994). Academic outcomes heavily influence student behavior and their decision- making in the future and different socio-demographic characteristics very much means individuals have their own form of preparation and procedures on what is the best approach with assignments and examinations (Roebken, 2007). We often think to ourselves what aspects of life are our sources of motivation in building the road to success when choosing what career path is best for us and what can we do to reach our goals &amp;amp; achievements. Without motivation students simply will not be able to perform at their very best on an academic standpoint and while it is disputable that there have been many successful individuals that have been high school or university drop outs, the undisputed factor that have contributed to their success is clearly their incentive and motivation of having to work every day to achieve what is best for them. The ultimate challenge is essentially adaptation and facing tough obstacles because the university environment is not so easy as they say and having a mindset dependent on academic performances can deteriorate your state of mind leading to a loss in motivation so it is imperative for a student to acquire a positive way of thinking because by just having that can give you a direction on how you can improve academic performances and build your own pathway towards your degree. Student perception of the quality of a specific program can determine a student’s rate of success (Langevin, 2013). Moreover, Social connection is a crucial factor when discussing student motivation as having a person to talk to and have daily conversations with about how they are doing is so necessary to maintain that positive and stable mindset for a university student. In addition, a student obtains this sense of recognition and support from other individuals through social connection and various experiences of university dropouts have stressed upon not having any friends to communicate with can heavily affect his way of thinking and day-to-day habits which in most cases can result on a severe loss of motivation. Social support enables an individual to gain self-esteem and a form of emotional intelligence between themselves and other people therefore obtaining various insights and perspectives from numerous individuals which is such a crucial element during adolescence (Asif, 2019).

Parental Involvement in Academic Activities of Children in Tea Communities of Assam

Parental Involvement in Academic Activities of Children in Tea Communities of Assam

Residents Feedback on Faculty and Working Environment: the Urology Training Program in India

The purpose of our study was to know the residents’ feedback regarding urology residency in India. Such information is presently scarce. The feedback included evaluating domains like faculty participation in academic activities and resident-friendly learning workplace. It also asked residents what change they wished to see in faculty and an overall rating of their residency program. An online survey was conducted using SurveyMonkey® platform. E-mails with an online link to survey were sent to 1469 associate members of Urological Society of India. There were 12 queries. The responses between residents in M.Ch. and D.N.B. programs, the two officially recognized teaching programs in India, were also compared. Seventy-eight current residents or those who completed residency within 1 year finished the survey. The unfavorable responses towards faculty involvement in academic activities, teaching and creating a friendly work place varied from 20 to 30% for most questions. When asked about what change in faculty the residents wanted, 45.5% reported “better involvement in teaching” followed by creation of a friendly workplace environment (37%). The overall mean satisfaction rating with the program on a scale of 0–100 was 66.04 ± 22.51. The responses of residents from the M.Ch. and D.N.B. programs were similar (p > 0.05). Our results provide some insight on the resident’s perspective of their training/teaching programs in Indian urology centers. Although, a comprehensive validated questionnaire was not used but our observations can be used to improve the learning of students doing residency in urology.

Academics’ motivations explain time-allocation and well-being at work

IntroductionLittle is known about the determinants of Faculty members’ well-being and the temporal distribution of academics activities (research, teaching, and collective tasks). We linked well-being in the sense of PERMA (Seligman, 2011) to an inventory of academics’ motives and to measures of relative involvement in work activities. AimTesting the hypothesis that an inventory of academics’ motives could explain inter-individual variations in well-being and in time distribution of work activities. MethodTwo hundred and twenty-two senior lecturers from French universities filled in a questionnaire of professional motives, a collection of well-being scales implementing PERMA. They also provided a measure of their relative time-distribution by means of a tool designed for this purpose. ResultsA seven-motive structure was extracted and confirmed by CFA. It explained 81.7% of the variance of the 21 final items: (1) Contribution to Progress by Research; (2) Teamwork in Teaching; (3) Self-esteem through Teaching; (4) Autonomy in Research Activities; (5) Positive Relationships with Students; (6) Autonomy in Teaching; and (7) Collaboration. The motives explained membership to six Relative ‘Temporal Allocation Profiles’ extracted by k-means (Cox and Snell pseudo-R2=.332). In path analyses, the motives explained from 40 to 52% of the variance of the five PERMA elements. ConclusionThe study provides three contributions: an original inventory of the structure of academics’ motives; a first use of the PERMA model for measuring academics’ well-being; and a new tool for measuring differential involvement in academic activities.

Regrouping: Organized Activity Involvement and Social Adjustment Across the Transition to High School

Although organized activities (OAs) have been established as important contexts of development, limited work has examined the role of OAs across the high school transition in buffering adolescents' social adjustment by providing opportunities for visibility and peer affiliation. The transition to high school is characterized by numerous changes and OAs may provide an important setting for establishing and maintaining peer relationships during this tumultuous time. This study included 151 8th grade U.S. students (58% male) who were assessed across the transition to high school (spring of 8th and 9th grade). Continuous involvement in academic activities across the transition and becoming involved (i.e., initiation) in community/service activities following the transition was associated with fewer depressive symptoms in the spring of 9th grade. Continuous involvement in sports and initiation of academic activities was associated with having more friendships. In addition, links between OAs and loneliness were only evident among females. There appear to be significant social benefits for OA involvement.

Influence of Involvement in Sports on Students’ Involvement in Academic Activities at Ndejje University

This study was carried out to establish whether students&#8217; involvement in sports activities affected their involvement in academic activities. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analysed using percentages and means. Spearman&#8217;s correlation coefficient was used to test the hypotheses that guided the study. The findings showed that there is no significant relationship between students&#8217; involvement in outdoor sports activities and their involvement in academic activities. However, there was a significant negative relationship between students&#8217; involvement in indoor sports activities and their involvement in academic activities.Keywords: Extra-curricular activities; Sports management; Ndejje University

Academic adjustment across middle school: The role of public regard and parenting.

In the current longitudinal study, we examined associations between Black and Latino youths' perceptions of the public's opinion of their racial/ethnic group (i.e., public regard) and changes in academic adjustment outcomes across middle school. We also tested combinations of racial/ethnic socialization and parent involvement in academic activities as moderators of this association. We used a 2nd-order latent trajectory model to test changes in academic adjustment outcomes in a sample of 345 Black and Latino urban youth across 6th, 7th, and 8th grades (51% female). Results revealed a significant average linear decline in academic adjustment from 6th to 8th grade, as well as significant variation around this decline. We found that parenting moderated the association between public regard and the latent trajectory of academic adjustment. Specifically, for youth who reported high racial/ethnic socialization and low parent academic involvement, lower public regard predicted lower academic adjustment in 6th grade. For youth who reported both low racial/ethnic socialization and low parent academic involvement, lower public regard predicted a steeper decline in academic adjustment over time. Finally, among youth who reported high racial/ethnic socialization and high parent academic involvement, public regard was not associated with either the intercept or the slope of academic adjustment. Thus, the combination of high racial/ethnic socialization and parent academic involvement may protect youths' academic motivation and performance from the negative effects of believing the public has low opinions of one's racial/ethnic group. Implications for protecting Black and Latino youths' academic outcomes from decline during middle school are discussed.

Family and personal correlates of academic achievement.

Researchers and educators raise the question of whether pupils' academic performance can be improved through parental involvement in academic activities. The main objective of the following study is to verify whether parental involvement in school activities and family socioeconomic status are associated with children's academic achievement. 150 Spanish seventh grade pupils completed intelligence tests, and their teachers assessed parents' involvement in the school and estimated parents' cultural levels. To measure academic achievement the pupil's overall grade was taken from the Pupils' Final Evaluation Registers. The education and professional level of the mother and father and home size were obtained from the Pupil Personal Register; these variables define the family socioeconomic status. The data, analyzed through application of structural equations, suggest that academic achievement is directly influenced by the cultural level of the family and the child's intelligence but is indirectly influenced by parental involvement in school activities and the socioeconomic status of the child's family.

A Longitudinal Investigation of the Relationship between Educational Investment and Adolescent Sexual Activity

The relation between educational investment and sexual behavior was examined longitudinally in a sample of479 rural adolescents. Surveys were administered to the subjects twice-once when they were in the 8th, 9th, and 10th grades, and again 2 years later, when they were in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. Results indicated that among girls, educational investment predicted sexual activity, with academic grades in school significantly predicting reportedfrequency of sexual activity 2 years later. In contrast,forboys, sexual involvement predicted later educational investment, particularly involvement in academic activities. These findings suggest different developmental pattems for boys and girls. For girls, academic involvement may limit their sexual activity. However, sexual activity does not seem to reduce educational involvement. In contrast, sexual activity is associated with less involvement in academic activities for boys. The possible reasons for these gender differences are discussed.