Study Skills Course Research Articles

Lecturers’ perception of students’ information literacy skills versus students’ actual information literacy levels

The main objective of this study is to determine lecturers' perception of students' information literacy skills versus students' actual information literacy levels in a specialised federal university in Nigeria. Mixed qualitative methods of open-ended written interviews with lecturers and analysis of students' written assignment was employed. Twelve open-ended interview protocols were administered to twelve (12) lecturers in various departments in both Colleges of Science and Technology in addition to two librarians who teach the Use of Library and Study Skills Course. In the same vein, individual assignments of the entire 50, third year student of Electrical Electronic Engineering Departments were examined using a rubric prepared by the researchers (founded on the ACRL information literacy standards). The study presented herein is limited to only one department in the university and may not be used for the purpose of generalisation. It was discovered through the findings that students' information literacy level is quite low even in third year while the lecturers present an elevated impression of students' information literacy levels, rating them as excellent/advanced. The study recommends Quality Education in Developing Countries (QEDC)(2008) strategies and QEDC theory of change to serve as point of evaluation and genuine intervention in teaching and learning. The study also recommends regular information literacy education in-service programmes for the teaching staff to aid in enhancing their teaching capacity. The Nigerian Library Association (NLA) should work to develop an information literacy education policy and enforce it in Nigerian universities. The research unravels the status-quo of information literacy in the particular context and explicates the need for the ideal information literacy education. This paper fulfils the need to study the information literacy levels of undergraduates and the possible intervention programs. Keywords: information literacy, skills, lecturers' perception, students' information literacy, information literacy level

Innovative Pathways Through Developmental Education and Postsecondary Success: An Examination of Developmental Math Interventions Across Texas

ABSTRACTThis study assessed alternative course delivery for developmental education (DE) math and student outcomes in community colleges in Texas. We examined 2 innovative interventions: (a) study skills courses offered alongside DE math and (b) DE math courses that are shorter than a full semester. Our model leveraged detailed demographic information and DE placement exam scores to compare students in these interventions to similar students in traditional DE math. We found that students in shorter courses were 12% more likely to pass DE math and 2% more likely to pass a first college-level (FCL) math course within a year. Likewise, students also enrolled in a study skills course were 4% more likely to pass DE math, 1% more likely to pass FCL math within a year, and 4% more likely to persist to the next college year. These findings suggest that emerging reforms to DE show promise and deserve further study.

Developing Inclusive Technical Capital beyond the Disabled Students’ Allowance in England

The Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) is a government grant for students aged 18 years and over in English Higher Education. Amongst other things, this grant supports the provision of traditional assistive technologies. In April 2014, the UK’s Minister for Universities, Science and Cities proposed cuts to the DSA. Although a later announcement delayed these cuts until the academic year 2016−2017, a number of universities are already preparing alternative means to support disabled students. In this article, it is argued that cuts to the DSA will potentially reduce the cultural and technical capitals of students with disabilities and lessen social inclusion in Higher Education. In particular, less support will potentially lead to a reduction in the development of study skills. As a counter weight, this article proposes a new model of inclusive technical capital. This model originates in Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and habitus. The proposed model supports the use of native apps and settings in ubiquitous mainstream mobile technologies. It also espouses the use of m-learning for the passive inclusion of students with disabilities. This article also presents the early results of a project on the use of mobile technologies at the London School of Economics and Canterbury Christ Church University. This project found that students with disabilities and their lecturers already used mobile technologies alongside or instead of customized traditional assistive technologies. The project also found that students preferred not to attend, or found it difficult to attend, separate study skills courses using mobile technologies. However, they were more likely to access m-learning tutorial materials on Learning Management Systems. The study concludes that mobile technologies have the potential to develop a number of study skills that are at risk after cuts to the DSA. However, their use in this regard needs further research and support from universities.

The effectiveness of study skills courses: Do they increase general study competences?

The present longitudinal study aims to assess the effectiveness of study skills courses in improving students' general study competences. In a pre-study, an online questionnaire was developed which measured the learning process organization, motivation, planning, and stress management on four reliable scales. The participants in the main study were 45 students from five different German universities who attended such a course and a control group of 87 students who did not. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA's indicate an increase in general study competences for students in the intervention group. The change in competences between a pre-test and post-test differ significantly between the groups. 16.12.2015 | Verena Schmied & Martin Hanze (Kassel)

Using Learning Strategies to Improve the Academic Performance of University Students on Academic Probation

One half of all students who begin college fail to complete their degrees, resulting in wasted talents, time, and resources. Through use of mixed methods, but primarily qualitative, comparative case studies, this research reveals ways a 3-week course in study strategies improved the performance of students placed on academic probation. The participating students, from a large, public university, reported benefits from the study skills course and studied for twice as many hours after participating in the intervention. A case study of 1 participant illustrates the ways students learned to use varied and effective study strategies. The findings provide empirical support for the use of diverse advising strategies, including direct, specific study-skills instruction for students struggling academically upon matriculation.

Retention of First-Year Community College Students

Close to half of all community college students leave before obtaining their stated goals. In order to determine what student characteristics increase community college student retention, with a heightened interest on the predictive nature of taking a student success course, a post-facto quasi-experimental study was conducted to determine whether or not participation in a study skills course affects retention at a Southeast community college. Results indicate that successful completion of a study skills course increases fall-to-fall retention for students who enroll in the institution with an ACT COMPASS® (American College Test, 2006) score over those who do not participate in a study skills course. Results also show that while ethnicity/race and socioeconomic status were not significant, factors of retention, gender, age, and ACT COMPASS® Reading score significantly predict student retention. Recommendations for researchers and community college administrators and counselors are discussed.

Why a teacher centered medical school curriculum may result in a poor educational environment?

Context: Students’ achievements, satisfaction, and success have been found to correlate with their perception of their educational environment (EE). Objectives: The objectives of the present study were to identify (a) the medical students’ perceptions of their EE at a school with a teacher-centered curriculum (b) the reasons behind the items with low ratings and (c) ways to improve the EE at this school. Methods: In this article, the focus will be on the qualitative part of the mixed method of study, which was conducted at a large medical school in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during 2006-2007. A total of 1132 students filled out a bilingual (Arabic and English) version of the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) inventory. Five focus group discussions with 28 students were conducted. The low scoring areas of the DREEM were used as input for the discussion. Findings: The mean total DREEM score for the medical school was 94.7 (± 21.5) out of a maximum of 200. The main curriculum variables contributing to poor DREEM scores were curriculum overload, stress, lack of feedback, and poor teaching skills. The possible solutions to these problems, as suggested by the students were to involve the students in the learning process, courses to help the faculty to develop their teaching skills, assessments with provision of feedback, stronger student support system and introduction of study skills courses for student’s. Conclusions: This study provides insight into the reasons associated with a poor learning climate. The strategies to promote a healthy EE point to relatively more student-centered elements in the curriculum and the introduction of a study skills course in the 1st year.

Supporting Black Male Community College Success: Determinants of Faculty–Student Engagement

The purpose of this study was to examine determinants of Black male students’ engagement with faculty in the community college. Data from this study were derived from the 2011 three-year cohort of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). Using data from 11,384 Black male respondents within 260 community colleges, this study investigated faculty–student engagement using hierarchical, multilevel modeling. Among other findings, this study illustrated the importance of reading remediation, participation in learning communities, study skills courses, and college orientation in positively contributing to faculty–student interactions. Implications for college practice are discussed.

Bridging the Gap : A Program to Enhance Medical Students’ Learning Experience in the Foundation Year

Method: A Twenty-seven-item questionnaire was administered to foundation year students at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland – Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI Bahrain) after the completion of the first semester to explore whether these interventions enriched the students’ learning experience or not. Comparisons of pass rates in all modules over the four years were also included. Students’ perceptions of the academic study skills course were collected through a questionnaire activity (version 2007120102) via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

An evaluation of an exploratory intervention to improve progression in a first-year accounting course

South African universities face pressure to increase the throughput of accounting students, with a special emphasis on expanding the number of female and black graduates. To improve the progression of at-risk first-year second-semester accounting students, an intervention known as JumpStart was implemented at the Faculty of Commerce at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2010. JumpStart involved the allocation of skilled instructors, additional workshops, student mentors and a study skills course, thus employing a wide range of factors known to influence student success: academic, psychological and social. The intervention was evaluated using analyses of student academic performance and responses to a programme evaluation. In 2008 and 2009, only 23% and 29% of at-risk students performed well enough to progress to second-year accounting. By contrast, in 2010, 71% of JumpStart students were eligible to progress. For each gender and ethnic category, progression rates for JumpStart students were superior to those for non-JumpStart students, with the most significant improvements being made by female students and white students. An unexpected finding was a significant improvement in the progression rates of non-JumpStart at-risk students when compared with previous years, which may be at least partially explained by the weakest at-risk students choosing to join JumpStart. The responses to the programme evaluation indicated that students valued the allocation of skilled instructors and the provision of additional workshops above the other components of the intervention. A considerable difference existed between the way in which black and white students valued the study skills course and the mentor groups, with black students valuing these components of the intervention much more.

Evaluation of an online study skills course

This article describes the evaluation of an online study skills course unit designed, using evidence-based principles, to support undergraduate students. A mixed-methods approach was employed to establish the extent to which the unit was (a) fit for purpose and (b) effective. Data were obtained from an online survey ( n = 63) conducted on entry to the unit and on exit several months later and from face-to-face interviews with students ( n = 12). Moderate to large positive and statistically significant changes between entry and exit measures of student knowledge and confidence in a variety of study-related skills were identified in the survey data. Positive data regarding confidence were also evident in the interview data, which further revealed that, although the unit was generally seen as fit for purpose, there were some issues regarding feedback to students and the supporting face-to-face tutorials that were provided. The literature would benefit from larger-scale and more robustly designed research in this area.

The use of visual aids in first-year science textbooks used at the University of Botswana

This article discusses the way authors of three year first-year Science textbooks use visual aids. The study was undertaken to give an informed view on the use of visual aids in year one science textbooks for Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The investigation sought to ascertain the type of diagrams that the first year Bachelor of Science students at the University of Botswana encounter in their textbooks. This article covers the importance of visual aids and their role in science textbooks. The findings of this study indicate that first-year students in the Bachelor of Science programme at the University of Botswana are exposed to a variety of illustrations. One of the recommendations made in this study is that the Communication and Study Skills course offered to first-year science students at the University of Botswana should train learners to take note of illustrations in their textbooks as they do their reading.

Underachievement Among College Students

Many high-achieving students do not question their academic success. They do well and are content with the study skills they have developed to ensure that they achieve their goals. However, these students, whose high schools considered them achievers, experience difficulties and sometimes failure in situations where they had previously experienced success. Using a sample of college freshmen who had earned academic warnings or had been placed on academic probation, this research examined each individual and his or her causes of underachievement. Participants attributed their high school successes to minor efforts. Not needing to do much to earn the success they wanted, these students were never taught, nor ever taught themselves, how to work through challenging issues. When these participants encountered challenging coursework in college, they were unprepared to deal with it. Additionally, several other aspects of participants’ experiences contributed to their college underachievement: inadequate study skills, poor time management, and internal versus external motivation. Participants felt that the intervention that would best reverse college underachievement was improving their own attitudes and behaviors. Through counseling and other means, gifted students need to learn how to motivate themselves to work when grades do not come easily. Colleges should be aware that even their high-achieving applicants may lack the skills necessary to succeed. In addition to offering study skills courses to underachieving students, colleges should include preemptive strategies for all incoming freshmen, including motivational and time management strategies.

Same Size Doesn't Fit All: Insights from research on listening skills at the University of the South Pacific (USP)

Listening skills research has tended to focus on strategy use in classrooms and on theory and practice of second language (L2) teachers. This study examined the teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of listening skills in non-classroom learning situations. Five (n = 5) study skills teachers and 19 former learners in a distance study skills course at the University of the South Pacific (USP) were interviewed for this study. The interviews with the study skills teachers sought their expectations of their learners’ listening strategies, their views about the learners they taught, and the skills their learners used for listening. Former learners were similarly questioned about their perceptions of listening strategies they were taught and used. Data was collected and managed using NVivo, a computer assisted qualitative data analysis software. Besides revealing strategies that distance learners reported using their learning listening skills, the study identified a number of differences in views presented by researchers and L2 teachers, as well as differences in perceptions on listening skills between L2 teachers and L2 learners. The paper concludes that there exists a discrepancy between research and the practice of researchers, L2 teachers, and L2 learners on what works. The author also recommends further research in this area is needed, because research examining classroom-based learning situations will likely not apply to, nor fully inform, distance learning contexts.

Highly interactive online study skills course

This poster describes the most important aspects concerning design and development of an highly interactive web based study skills course called "Unstuck" which is a work in progress to be finished June 2008. "Unstuck" is a project started by both teachers and students from Gjøvik University College and Telemark University College in Norway. This project started in 2006 as a result of experience from more than 10 years of teaching students with insufficient study skills. In this course we aim to present the theory and practice of "How to study" in an exiting interactive multimedia environment. Telemark University College has since 2002 educated students starting with only a certificate of completed apprenticeship. In 2007, approximately 70% of all the students studying electrical engineering have this type of background, and insufficient study skills are a challenge. "Unstuck" will be used by students in secondary High school and University Colleges in Telemark, and Gjøvik in Norway from August 2008. What makes Unstuck different from other study skills courses? The content of Unstuck is similar to other courses; the difference is the way the content is presented for the students. Unstuck will contain intensive use of interaction with the student, which involves various active actions such as pressing buttons, placing objects to specific locations on the screen, marking key words etc. Videos are used to demonstrate how to study in practice and to illustrate class room and other study related situations. At the end of the course the student will have a short test (quiz). If the student don't pass, it is possible to immediately repeat relevant sections, and subsequently repeat the test. "Unstuck" will be an easy to use interactive multimedia study skills course on the weB.

Learning strategies sessions within the classroom in computing science university courses

This abstract describes a research project being conducted at a Canadian university in core first year undergraduate Computing Science courses. We are investigating the impact of integrating learning strategies instruction within the regular lab time of these courses to aid students' learning. Our concern, shared by educators and academic advisors, is that some students entering post secondary studies are unfamiliar with effective learning and study strategies. Our sense is that students most needing this support are those with a low grade level average. However, providing learning strategies instruction to these students only may be stigmatizing and counterproductive. Likewise,integrating learning instruction into regular course time may increaseaccessibility and inclusieness for students who are reluctant toseek support even if needed. At the same time this integration may benefit any student, particularly if sessions are short enough. Universities commonly offer generic study skills courses.However, increasingly, and in line with our approach, educatorsare recommending including study strategies instruction within the context of regular academic courses. Some forms of suchintegration include supplemental instruction, adjunct courses anddiscipline-based study skills courses (references are not providedhere due to lack of space). In contrast to these programs, ourlearning sessions are held within regular classes and are tied to course topics. Also, students are required to apply conceptsreviewed during the learning session to course assignments. Aswell, sessions involve both the course instruction and sessionfacilitator allowing for rich discussions about the application of learning theory to course assignments. We describe a representative semester offering in which we have run this project in two courses, including two academic strategies sessions per course. The first session, Learning Strategies, was graded and built into the courses' timetables. A second session, also specifically offered to the students in the courses, addressed stress and time management issues, which appear to interfere in the students' learning process. The Learning Strategies session introduced students to Bloom's taxonomy of learning levels [1] and demonstrated how this model applies to the course topics. Bloom's taxonomy is particularly relevant to the courses selectedfor our study, requiring that students be capable of applying the whole range of learning levels in Bloom's model. As a follow-up, students were required to develop questions at specified Bloom's learning levels, which were selectively included in the course exam. A second component of the Learning Strategies session asked students to consider ways of adapting for tasks of iffering time demands: working outside of class on weekly assignments and writing time-pressured exams. The Stress and Time Management session was optional and did not provide course marks. This session dealt with signs of burn out, strategies to deal with it, and resources students can access to get support. In anonymous and voluntary questionnaires we surveyed students about the usefulness of integrating learning strategies instruction into their courses. In the semester described here there were 140 students in both courses; 59% of the students submitted the questionnaires, 77% attended a Learning Strategies session. Our analysis includes self-reported prior grade level, course commitment level average and level of motivation to attend learning sessions. Survey responses reveal that students who were most motivated to attend these sessions have relatively low prior grades: from C to B. This is in fact our intended audience: students who struggle to improve in their studies. Students with higher grade levels were not as interested. Other analysis showed that those students who have a higher course commitment level are more interested and find these types of sessions more useful. Many students responded that they want more time spent on this type of session and more practical learning advice. We also surveyed students about stress and time management. A much higher percentage of stressed students are found within those reporting intermediate prior grades. Very interestingly, those who declare the lowest commitment level proportionally report being the most stressed. Students assessing themselves lower in time management and study techniques also indicated having low levels of commitment to the course, suggesting that our intervention is worthwhile. So far we have implemented these sessions for three semesters and have analyzed the data from one semester only. However feedback from students and academic advisors confirms our preliminary results that this approach is very promising. Furthermore, our departments are currently considering applying our model to more courses. For the future, we will continue to investigate incorporating these and other learning activities into computing science courses.

The impact of pre-entry study skills training programmes on students’ first year experience in health and social care programmes

The Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences at Kingston University and St. George's, University of London has provided a pre-entry study skills course since July 2001. The course runs over one weekend and although short, is comprehensive. An evaluative research study, using case study methodology was undertaken to examine the impact of this pre-entry initiative on the first year student experience. Data were obtained through focus groups with students and semi-structured interviews with both students and staff. The findings show that the study skills weekend programmes prepare students realistically for their first year university experience. In addition, the evaluation helped to develop insight into the first year experience which have informed a number of academic initiatives.

Doing away with ‘study skills’

This paper argues that the widespread approach to enhancing student learning through separate study skills courses is ineffective, and that the term ‘study skills’ itself has misleading implications, which are counterproductive to learning. The main argument is that learning how to study effectively at university cannot be separated from subject content and the process of learning. The role of ‘study skills’ within universities’ skills frameworks, and as a component of students’ long-term development is discussed. Then, it is examined, with a focus on academic writing, what learning at university entails, and what is needed to support this learning. Finally, effective approaches to the enhancement of learning at university and beyond are considered.

Alternatives to Questions: Language Use in UNIPREP Classroom Discussion

Student talk is linguistic output with potential for developing communicative competence (Bachman, 1990; Canale, 1983; Canale & Swain, 1980). In language classrooms turns of talk facilitate the meaning making process as students and teachers collaboratively come to understand the discourse of knowledge that they are co-constructing (Vygotsky, 1978; Wells, 1999) in their interactions together, teacher to student and student to student. Questions shape the essential teaching exchange IRE/F as a teacher initiates (I) the first move, a student responds (R) and the teacher again takes up a turn and evaluates (E) in the follow-up (F) move. As common and useful as this exchange is for managing classroom behaviour, during the pivotal third turn in the essential teaching exchange (Young, 1992) there is potential for teachers to facilitate student talk when the teacher provides alternatives to a follow-up question (Dillon, 1988).This case study of young adult English as a Second Language (ESL) users in face-to-face interaction in a university preparatory study skills course (UNIPREP) indicates a limiting influence of teacher questioning on student talk in discussions. Rather than talk being generated by a teacher’s questioning, alternatives to questions lead to the increased length of turns in students’ collaborative talk. This study brings a discourse analysis focus to whole class discussion between teacher and international UNIPREP students in the higher education sector and provides a context for second language acquisition researchers, teachers and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) trainers.

Description and Evaluation of an Innovative Course on Learning and Study Skills for the First Year Medical Students

The purpose of this study is to share educational structure and evaluation results of an innovative course on effective learning and study skills for the first year medical students. In Turkey, undergraduate medical education takes six years and each year nearly 5,000 high school graduates start medical schools. However, many students experience frustration and failure because of their lack in the learning and studying strategies. At the Ege University Faculty of Medicine, preclinical curriculum consists of the body function systems-based teaching blocks. Year one has three blocks. We implemented an effective learning and study skills course at the first and third blocks of the 2003-2004 curriculum. We evaluated the course by students' feedbacks derived from block questionnaires and students' homework performance analysis. At the first block questionnaire, out of 297, 163 students (54.8%) clearly stated that the course positively influenced their learning process. Structured analysis of the first block's students' homework showed that an average of 206 students (69.3%) can sufficiently describe their learning and studying approach, while 218 (73.4%) can identify the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum. The average student scores were 74 +/- 10 and 68 +/- 11 out of 100 for first and third blocks, respectively. We interpreted these results as students enjoyed the course and learned the content. In conclusion, a course on effective learning and study skills is likely to assist first year medical students in improving their learning and adaptation to the school.