Final Students Research Articles

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

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

A Comparative Study to Evaluate the Educational Impact of E-Learning Tools on Griffith University Pharmacy Students’ Level of Understanding Using Bloom’s and SOLO Taxonomies

Objectives. To design a series of e-learning tools within the framework of a defined educational pedagogy to complement the conventional pharmacology curriculum at Griffith University and evaluate the impact of this strategy on student level of understanding through taxonomic classification of student final exam answers.Methods. A series of 148 e-learning tools was designed for 3rd year undergraduate pharmacy students and incorporated into their curriculum during 2012. The educational benefits of the e-learning tools were evaluated by analyses of student level of understanding (by SOLO taxonomy) at the final exams between the control group (standard curricula) in 2011 and the intervention group (standard curricula + e-learning tools) in 2012.Results. Backward linear regression analysis demonstratedGPAto be the most significant predictor of level of understanding, while theinterventiongroup was a highly significant predictor for greater level of understanding in semester two.Conclusion. E-learning tools appeared to significantly improve student level of understanding as scored by the SOLO taxonomy when students engaged highly with the tools.

Cost Flow Diagrams as an Alternative Method of External Problem Representation - A Diagrammatic Approach to Teaching Cost Accounting and Evidence of Its Effectiveness

Undergraduate accounting students can have a difficult time conceptualizing manufacturing processes, the associated physical inventory flows, and the accompanying accounting cost flows. Traditional methods of teaching this material within managerial and cost accounting classes heavily stress the transactional and reporting requirements. Such approaches can leave students unclear as to the underlying nature and inter-relatedness of the issues and processes involved. This paper introduces and provides statistical evidence regarding a new visually-based diagrammatic approach that utilizes cost flow diagrams as an alternative method of external problem representation. As concrete examples of the technique, the paper includes diagrammatic solutions to three different traditional cost accounting problems. We hypothesize that the use of diagrams aids students in developing an innate understanding of inventory and cost flows across multiple cost accounting topics. Our approach is consistent with previous findings in the cognitive science literature that the use of diagrams allows students to process relationships and complex data in chunks, thereby processing more effectively. To study the effectiveness of a diagrammatic approach in teaching cost accounting, historical student final exam assessment data, segmented by course learning objectives, was collected and analyzed. The paper presents statistical and graphical evidence that indicates a significant improvement in student performance when a diagrammatic approach is utilized. Possibilities for generalization of visually-based diagrammatic techniques to other areas of accounting pedagogy are discussed and presented for consideration.

The Non-Impact of Paper Color on Exam Performance

ABSTRACTThis study attempts to determine if the conclusions of Fordham and Hayes (2009) can be confirmed to include exam performance (they study only quiz performance) by examining the impact of paper color on student final exam performance. One thousand three hundred seventy-two final exams were evaluated covering ten academic quarters, from the Winter 2007 through the Winter 2011. Over this time period, eight different paper colors were used, including seven pastel colors and white. The results show that paper color has no impact on student exam performance and that paper color and student exam performance are independent factors. If we assume that students are motivated to take a final exam and less so to take a quiz, then student motivation (as per Soldat et al. 1997) may be a plausible explanation for the differing results between this study and Fordham and Hayes (2009). The results of this study suggest there may not be a need to restrict the use of pastel paper color on exams, although we describe some evidence and opinions that suggest certain paper colors, including white, may impact those with certain disabilities (i.e., dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder [ADD], and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD]). Further, we determine that the widespread use of colored paper may be somewhat of a U.S. phenomenon.

Empirical model and analysis of mastery and performance‐approach goals: a developmental approach

This study used latent growth modelling (LGM) to explore the developmental course and longitudinal relationships between achievement goals (mastery and performance‐approach) and academic performance over a three‐year period (four time‐points of data collection). Three hundred and fifty‐two university students (152 women, 200 men) who first enrolled in 2006 took part in this study. Likert‐scale inventories were used to elicit relevant data from students. Academic performance was collated from students' course and final exam marks in two different undergraduate courses. LISREL 8.72 and SPSS 17 were used to test and evaluate the conceptual model proposed. Causal modelling analyses indicated the temporally displaced effects of mastery and performance‐approach goals on academic performance. The results indicated that individuals' mastery goals increased over time, whereas there was no increase in growth change with performance‐approach goals. Causal modelling also indicated: (1) performance‐approach goals → academic performance → mastery goals relationship and (2) mastery goals → academic performance → mastery goals relationship. Finally, the use of LGM provided a clearer perspective concerning the developmental trajectories of mastery goals over time.

Computer Aided Instruction: A Study Of Student Evaluations And Academic Performance

Computer aided instruction (CAI) encompasses a broad range of computer technologies that supplement the classroom learning environment and can dramatically increase a student’s access to information. Criticism of CAI generally focuses on two issues: it lacks an adequate foundation in educational theory and the software is difficult to implement and use. This paper describes the educational use of CAI in two different courses at a small, private university and the implementation and use experiences of the instructors. One instructor used Homework Manager in Principles of Financial Accounting and the other instructor used Aplia in Principles of Microeconomics. It is shown that the use of CAI is pedagogically effective and that currently available applications are easy to integrate into the student’s in-class experience. The paper also reports on the impact that using CAI has on student evaluations of both the course and the instructor and on student grades. For student evaluations, mean responses were compared on ten questions believed to be influenced by the switch from traditional homework assignments to CAI-based homework assignments. While differences were generally in the expected direction, it could not be shown that CAI had a direct impact on student evaluations of either the course or the instructor. For student grades, final exam grades were compared before and after the adoption of CAI. It is shown that the use of CAI significantly increased student final exam grades.

Teaching Literature Online to Arab Students

This article presents an experiment in teaching literature at Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman. As I was required to teach two sections of the same course, `Introduction to Drama', I decided to teach one section entirely face-to-face and to supplement my classroom teaching in the other section with online elements. While online teaching did not have a significant effect on the student's final exam results, it certainly seems to have helped them overcome some of the more intangible cultural restrictions that they function within and to have allowed them to engage in an active and uninhibited exchange of opinions and ideas across genders.

GIS Pedagogy, Web-based Learning and Student Achievement

The authors evaluate impacts of web-based learning (WBL) for a geographic information system (GIS) course in which self-paced interactive learning modules replaced lectures to prepare students for GIS laboratory activities. They compare student laboratory, mid-term, final exam and overall scores before and after introduction of WBL, analyzing for gender differences in performance. Laboratory scores improved significantly for both males and females, though course grades did not change significantly overall for either group. Gender results show females performing better than males with either method. Most students were receptive to WBL. Future research is needed to understand what combination of graphics and text is most useful to students.

Scholarship of teaching and learning

Based on extant pedagogical and research applications of fiction to communication studies, this essay argues that fiction not only engages students and entices them to read, but also builds critical thinking and writing skills. The author used Carl Hiaasen's Native Tongue and Christopher Buckley's Thank You for Smoking as “texts” in an upper‐division public relations class to enhance student learning outcomes. Student journals, class discussion, and final exam essays all indicated that the novels helped students reflect deeply on certain ethical issues in public relations and to think critically about course content. The essay includes suggestions for using this “novel” approach to textbooks.

The Effect of Software Facilitated Communication on Student Outcomes in Online Classes

Abstract This research project examined the question of the relationship between the frequency and method of software-facilitated communication employed and the student outcomes achieved in online university courses. This question directly addressed the issues of 1) the increasing focus by businesses on maximizing their employees’ educational outcomes and leveraging the corporation’s investment and 2) identifying Management Information Systems that support improved student outcomes. The research project was comprised of three related research studies, a preliminary proof of concept, a large-scale study and a validation study to provide a further measure of reliability and validity. The three studies combined incorporated data from 116 online courses and over 1700 students. The results indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between the method of software-facilitated communication utilized (basic or advanced) and the student final exam grade. The results of the research project indicated that the use of advanced software facilitated communication features, which provide an environment that fosters more sophisticated and feature rich interaction, is important in terms of determining student outcomes. It is not sufficient to create online interaction; rather it is the inherent quality of that interaction which is important in determining student outcomes.

Fantasy Echo: History and the Construction of Identity

The title of this paper is not a technical term. In origin it was a mistake, the result of a student's inability to understand some French words spoken in heavily accented English by a German-born professor of history. The student, who also had no familiarity with some of the grand themes of modern European intellectual history, tried to capture the sounds he had heard and render them phonetically, echoing imperfectly, though not unrecognizably, the professor's reference to the designation by contemporaries of the last decades of the nineteenth century as the fin de siecle. There were enough clues in the student's final exam for me eventually to figure out what he meant. (I was a teaching assistant for George Mosse at the University of Wisconsin then-it was 1964 or 1965). There was something about the student's choice of words that appealed to meperhaps their sheer linguistic creativity or perhaps the fact that they

A Study of the Relationship Between Student Final Exam Performance and Simulation Game Participation

Despite the proliferation and widespread usage of simulation games in the field of business education, the pedagogical value of this instructional aid remains unclear. The present study, using a controlled setting, sought to determine whether incorporating a business simulation game in a principles of marketing course improves the acquisition of marketing knowledge. The results suggest that simulation games are an effective means by which to improve quantitative skills but are not an effective means by which to improve the acquisition of applied or theoretical knowledge.