Skills Of Undergraduate Students Research Articles

Development of critical thinking skills of undergraduate students throughout the 4 years of nursing degree at a public university in Spain: a descriptive study

ObjectiveTo analyse the critical thinking skills of students enrolled in the four academic years of the nursing degree at a public university belonging to the European Higher Education Area.DesignCross-sectional, quantitative,...

Adoption of Scholarly Databases in a Developing Country

The study revealed that awareness and acceptance of scholarly databases by undergraduates is still relatively low in Nigeria. Three hundred questionnaires were distributed exploring perceptions of students. Descriptive analysis, one-way ANOVA, and cross-tabulation were carried out in the analysis of data using statistical package for social science (SPSS) software. Science Direct was revealed to be the preferred scholarly database of students with the highest satisfaction level. Findings showed that Agora and Teal were used by agricultural sciences while JSTOR and Ebrary were used more by business and social sciences. However, factors that limited acceptance were challenges of information retrieval skills and student preferred interest for general search engines persist. Undergraduate students were also noted to be more interested in the relevance of the information source than the currency and authority and accuracy of the source. There is a need to improve the information literacy skills and the information retrieval skills of undergraduate students.

Value for Learning Communication Skills in Undergraduate Students

Students should develop proficient interpersonal skills, including communication. The need for developing communication skills has been explicitly identified in national reports for undergraduate students in STEM and healthcare related programs, which includes anatomy. To help students develop effective communication skills throughout their education, instructors need to consider the value students give to learning these skills. According to expectancy-value theory (EVT), students’ motivation for learning and persistence with completing a task is tied to how they value the task. Previous work looking at student value for learning communication skills focused on mainly verbal communication in a graduate and medical school context. We developed a survey to measure and investigated how undergraduate students value learning communication skills. The Student Attitudes Toward Communication Skills Survey (SATCSS) consists of 36 items including 12 items for each mode of communication (verbal, written, and non-verbal). The 12 items for each mode are divided among each of the four task values proposed by expectancy-value theory (importance, interest, relevance, and cost). Students (n = 260) in two different anatomy and physiology courses over two semesters in 2019-2020 completed the SATCSS. We analyzed the SATCSS for reliability using Cronbach's alpha and validity using Principal Components Analysis. Further, we compared student responses among the task values using a general linear model with post hoc Tukey tests for multiple comparisons. We found the SATCSS to reliably measure total value (α = .946) and the four task values individually (α ≥ .819).There was a significant difference in sub-scores among the four task values (F(2.2,259) = 370.413, p < .001, η2 = .589) such that students thought that learning communication skills was important and relevant, but were less interested in it and found it to be costly. This two-component grouping was consistent with our validity findings that importance and relevance items loaded as one component and interest and cost items loaded as a second component. Students with high total value scores valued communication skills across all four task values. As total value scores decreased, it was first due to students finding learning communication skills to be time prohibitive and then a lack of interest in learning communication skills. Our results suggest that, instructors should incorporate communication skills training that increases interest and considers cost concerns to help motivate students to value and learn communication skills. This work helps to inform instructors how to motivate their students to learn critical communication skills. Additionally, the SATCSS could be disseminated and analyzed in instructors’ courses to guide their instruction more precisely in communication skills training.

Low versus high level of physical resemblance in simulation for the acquisition of basic surgical skill: a meta-analysis

BackgroundMany studies explored the use of simulation in basic surgical education, with a variety of devices, contexts and outcomes, with sometimes contradictory results.ObjectivesThe objectives of this meta-analysis were to focus...

Back to Basics: e-Learning Pedagogical Model for Identifying Entrepreneurship Skills in Undergraduate Students

Back to Basics: e-Learning Pedagogical Model for Identifying Entrepreneurship Skills in Undergraduate Students

Effects of SMS Texting on Academic Writing Skills of Undergraduate Students at a Public Sector University in Pakistan

The growing concern about the use of texting endangering the standard forms in language prompted the present research to determine the presence or absence of SMS features in the academic writing of the participants. Triangulation was used for data collection i.e. questionnaires for learners and educators and samples of the learners’ English written work were examined for SMS features. Simple average and ratio were used for descriptive analysis of the data. Contrary to the expectation, there were no significant evidences of these features in the sample. It seems being proficient in standard forms, these learners are context conscious and can switch to the appropriate register or style when writing formally .Thus the present study has demystified the popular belief about texting adversely affecting writing and thus destroying Standard English. Moreover, the evidences of one punctuation mark used in place of another indicate there can be other factors like carelessness or lack of knowledge of students and the lack of training, feedback or emphasis by educators or the system. So the matter of concern should be the general neglect of punctuation even out of the context of texting. It is found that the higher the exposure to the SMS, more the negative effect on the writing skills of the university students. The excessive use of this medium is leading students towards writing wrong spellings and using SMS language’s short abbreviations that are not standard in examinations and daily academic work that is very harmful in academia. Keywords: Orthography, Phonetic Transcriptions, SMS (texting), Writing skills DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/75-05 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

The Use of a Creative Problem Solving Based Genetic Mutation Module in Higher Education

The creative problem solving (CPS) based on genetic mutation module provides students with an opportunity to identify problems, design a problem-solving plan, choose the right path, and effectively evaluate the solution. This research aims to examine the effectiveness of CPS-based genetic mutation module to improve problem-solving skills in undergraduate students of biological education. Furthermore, the CPS module was developed on the basis of research and development (R&amp;D) according to the Borg and Gall method and presented as a mutation module for genetic material. A group pre-test and post-test design was applied by undergraduate students of biological education at the university of Sebelas Maret in Surakarta using random sampling techniques. A total of 17 students from 5th semester were accepted as participants and treated for pre-test and post-test. The instruments used for the collection of data was an essay test design based on Polya's indicators of problem-solving skills. In addition, this module was considered as an advantage in using large database storage technologies such as NCBI and ExPASy in order to solve the problem-solving process. The application of the module has been shown to be effective in improving students' problem solving skills from a very low to a moderately high level.

Salud mental, habilidades de afrontamiento y rendimiento académico en estudiantes universitarios

El ambiente universitario es un contexto que ofrece retos a los estudiantes y probabiliza la presencia de problemas de salud mental si estos no cuentan con habilidades necesarias para hacerles frente, fenómeno que afecta diversas áreas. Partiendo de los objetivos, identificar la presencia de indicadores de problemas de salud mental y habilidades de afrontamiento en los estudiantes universitarios, y analizar las diferencias entre las variables relacionadas a problemas de salud mental y habilidades de afrontamiento entre grupos de rendimiento académico en estudiantes universitarios, se estructuró una investigación cuantitativa y transversal, con una muestra de 688 estudiantes, a los cuales se les aplicó dos instrumentos, uno de salud mental y otro de habilidades de afrontamiento; se analizaron los resultados a nivel global y por carrera, además de buscar si presentaban diferencias con el rendimiento académico. Los resultados demostraron que más de la mitad de los estudiantes presentó problemas de salud mental, así como problemas en la ejecución de habilidades de afrontamiento; no hubo diferencias significativas en el análisis comparativo, se discuten los resultados.

START Reading Comprehension Skills for Undergraduate Students: An Empirical Study

This study aimed to scrutinize the effect of the Students and Teachers Actively Reading Test (START) framework on Al al-Bayt undergraduate students' reading comprehension. The study pursued a quasi-experimental design that involved two cohorts: intervention and control. The intervention cohort included 33 students and the control cohort contained 34 students. These students came from various backgrounds and reading levels but were all enrolled in English (101) during the 2nd term of the 2019-2020 school year. To collect data, the researchers developed both an educational program depending on the START framework and a pre-posttest. The tools were presented to a jury of 10 referees to prove their validity. They were also piloted to prove their stability. The instructional program encouraged the teacher to use scaffolding techniques and reading strategies to instruct the students. Data were extracted according to the statistical packages program (SPSS). Based on the statistical analysis, the pre-posttest showed significant discrepancies among the participants of the two groups. The learners in the intervention group showed better performance than those of the control one. Therefore, the START framework helped learners interact with the reading text and it enhanced students' achievements in reading comprehension.

Classroom Wildlife Research Expands Undergraduate Student Skills

Classroom Wildlife Research Expands Undergraduate Student Skills

ASSESSING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP COURSES: Developing the Global Leader

The leaders of the future will have to lead with intercultural competence and with the ability to facilitate this development of competence in others. The development of skills in undergraduate students to meet this challenge is paramount to the establishment of effective leadership for the future. Within this study, researchers address the challenge by quantitatively examining intercultural competency outcomes students derive from leadership-based study abroad experiences. For five years, researchers utilized a pre-post intercultural competency survey of student participants in a leadership education study abroad program in Zambia, Africa. Using the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES), data was analyzed for seventy-eight students who participated in this five-week study abroad course. The results demonstrate statistically significant growth on students’ intercultural competency across all ten measures of dimensions and sub-scales. Recommendations provide a framework for leadership educators to employ pedagogies that influence intercultural development within study abroad as a means of developing global leadership in their students.

Growing Public Health/Community Nutrition Skills in Undergraduate Students Participating in an Innovative Experiential Nutrition and Gardening Community Engagement Course

Describe the benefits of a nutrition and gardening community engagement course on knowledge and confidence of public health/community nutrition skills among undergraduate students.

Game-based activities targeting visual literacy skills to increase understanding of biomolecule structure and function concepts in undergraduate biochemistry.

Introductory biochemistry courses are often challenging for students because they require the integration of chemistry, biology, physics, math, and physiology knowledge and frameworks to understand and apply a large body of knowledge. This can be complicated by students' persistent misconceptions of fundamental concepts and lack of fluency with the extensive visual and symbolic literacy used in biochemistry. Card sorting tasks and game-based activities have been used to reveal insights into how students are assimilating, organizing, and structuring disciplinary knowledge, and how they are progressing along a continuum from disciplinary novice to expert. In this study, game-based activities and card sorting tasks were used to promote and evaluate students' understanding of fundamental structure-function relationships in biochemistry. Our results suggest that while many markers of expertise increased for both the control and intervention groups over the course of the semester, students involved in the intervention activities tended to move further towards expert-like sorting. This indicates that intentional visual literacy game-based activities have the ability to build underdeveloped skills in undergraduate students.

Использование креативного потенциала языка в формировании творческих способностей студентов

Использование креативного потенциала языка в формировании творческих способностей студентов

COmmunication’s ROugh NAvigations: ‘Fake’ news in a time of a global crisis

“Disinformation can cost lives” (Ursula von der Leyen, 2020). The current pandemic of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 has created an environment of diverse challenges facing humanity, including ‘Stay at Home’ global strategies, isolation, social distancing, school and border closures, and widespread travel bans. The risk of this biological threat, its multiple unknown health aspects, social and economic impacts, and the inability of humanity to control it at present makes it difficult to predict how this situation will evolve. Unfortunately, such a global crisis gives rise to the manipulation of people by opportunistic groups through the falsification of information and news reporting. Loosely moderated social media platforms have largely contributed to an explosion of news referred to as ‘fake’. Global occurrences like the current COVID-19 pandemic reinforce the importance of developing critical thinking skills in undergraduate students as a fact-finding strategy to address the rising popularity of misinformation and disinformation found on social media sites. Consequently, this paper aims to highlight the importance of building a capacity to recognise fake news while seeking out reliable and valid information sources. Strategies to address fake news by international and local organisations will be explored using examples from Greece and Australia, as both of these countries demonstrated strong government leadership in the swift containment of the virus. Greece was quick to impose lockdowns that were respected and dutifully exercised by the Greek people. Similarly, Australia also imposed strict lockdowns strategies in the initial stages of their first reported COVID-19 cases and were also dutifully enacted by Australian citizens. Greece and Australia have been proactive in addressing disinformation and misinformation through comprehensive data analytics and fact-checking strategies, which are reported on through official platforms. Specifically, the authors aim to: Discuss the severe and even fatal problems that misinformation can cause, especially in the case of a global pandemic, like COVID-19, provide an audit and access to reliable sites, provide an outline of simple strategies that all individuals (including undergraduate students) can implement to source valid and reliable information surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Web Information Seeking Behavior of Undergraduate Students in Kwara State Nigeria

The study examined Web Information Seeking Behavior of undergraduate students in Kwara State Nigeria. The study evaluated the web information seeking behavior of undergraduate students by considering search engines, scholarly databases and educational blogs. Private, State and Federal Universities were fully represented in the study. 100 questionnaires’ each were distributed to three universities in Kwara State which represented each category of university. Descriptive analysis, One-Way ANOVA and Cross-tabulation were carried out in the analysis of data using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. Results showed that the major evaluating criteria of information sources by undergraduate students were the relevance of the information source with only few students giving consideration to the author and currency of information source. The study further evaluated search engines, scholarly databases and educational blogs, results showed that search engines remains the proffered information source for undergraduate students with more than 50% of undergraduate students rating search engines authoritative, accurate, accessible and relevant. The study further showed that accessibility, authority and relevance significantly influence students’ preference for search engines. This study evaluates the web information seeking behavior of undergraduate students by focusing on the role of information literacy. This study has implications in improving the information literacy skills of undergraduate students in Nigeria.

Implementation of Simulation: A Contemporary Strategy to Enhance Clinical Skills of Undergraduate Students in Mental Health Nursing

Simulation is an innovative teaching strategy that supports student centered learning. It improves therapeutic communication skills with clients. Additionally, it enhances critical thinking, problem solving, and confidence among students, in a non-threatening and safe environment, without posing a risk to actual patients. This paper describes the process of application of simulation for undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a mental health nursing course. The project aimed to determine the significance of simulation to improve the communication skills and confidence level, and to decrease the anxiety of undergraduate nursing students, prior to attending mental health clinical. The Experiential Learning (ELT), by Kolb in 1984, was chosen as a framework for the simulation strategy. The simulation experience was a stepwise process that comprised a briefing session with students to explain them the process and purpose of the simulation activity, followed by a two-day simulation experience. The experience comprised students’ interaction with Simulated Patients (SP), who had been prepared to manifest symptoms of depression, mania, and schizophrenia. The later part of the experience was a debriefing session, in which students were provided an opportunity for self-reflection and for thinking a way forward, to enhance their clinical competency, using their video recording. The students’ evaluation regarding the simulation experience was positive and they suggested that it be integrated in the mental health nursing course.

Voices and Choices: Critical Information/Media Literacy and Behrman’s Practices

ABSTRACT Studies on information and media literacy focus on describing activities and frameworks individually, and most of the time, connect within the field of library science. However, other frameworks and practices can be used. This case study presents the application of Behrman’s Critical Literacy Practices to information and media literacy to engage students to think critically about information within their field of study. The purpose of this research is to model the information behavior of education students through the perspective of constructivist learning. The study used a qualitative method with six upper-level undergraduate education majors. Activities that comprise practices and theories in both education and library sciences are presented to form a continuous exposure to critical thinking. Factors that influenced how students perceived the validity of information came from personal, educational, and societal factors. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion about critical thinking skills in undergraduate students, presenting a model that describes how practices from other fields can be used and incorporated with information and media literacy.

Relationship between Willingness to Communicate in English and Classroom Environment among Libyan EFL Learners

Oral communication skills can be regarded as core and significant skills in foreign language learning. English language teaching (ELT) educators have always been concerned with finding appropriate ways that can help English as a foreign or second language learners (EFL/ESL) to improve their oral communication skills. Such skills are closely related to the learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC). Currently, researchers in ELT have focused their attention on the significance of classroom environmental factors in developing learners’ WTC. Therefore, this study examines the association between classroom environmental factors and Libyan EFL students’ WTC. The results of the descriptive analysis indicated that the individual’s level of WTC and classroom environment among Libyan EFL students is at a moderate level. Analysis using correlations indicated a positive relationship between WTC, students’ cohesiveness, and task orientation. Multiple regressions analysis revealed that only students’ cohesiveness and task orientation were significant predictors of WTC. However, for teacher support, there was no apparent correlation and prediction relationship between teacher’s support and learners’ WTC. The study has implications for EFL university instructors and the academic authorities who are concerned with enhancing the oral communication skills of undergraduate students and enable them to become better communicators in the future.

Writing in the Discipline: A Writing Mentorship Program to Enhance Student Writing Skills in the Leisure Field

Written communication skills are essential in today’s world; yet, there is a perception (real or perceived) of a decline in the writing skills of undergraduate students. There is a recognition that there are systematic issues within the landscape of higher education that make teaching writing challenging at certain institutions. A writing program – based on the theoretical foundations of peer reviewing, scaffolding, mentorship, and authentic learning – was created to enhance undergraduate student writing skills while simultaneously train graduate students to teach writing as future faculty in the field. This article describes the program designed to improve overall undergraduate writing skills through a structured intervention, and will discuss ideas of how to move forward with similar programs.