Traditional Undergraduates Research Articles

Computer Games are Scalable and Engaging Alternatives to Traditional Undergraduate Mathematics Homework

Exercise is essential for mastering mathematics, but it faces two major hurdles. First, students are often not motivated to do their homework. Second, checking traditional homework is a manual and labor-intensive process that becomes harder to support as the number of students increases. We argue that computer games could alleviate both problems. In contrast to homework, students are willing to spend many hours playing video games. And because video games keep track of the gamers' performance, they offer a scalable solution to the problem of checking the homework. We describe an experiment to augment traditional homework with a computer game that we have developed for exercising the topics of symmetry groups in an undergraduate college course. We describe the mathematical background of the subject matter, how we have embedded the mathematics into the game, the empirical results of playing the game, and the insights we have gained from this experiment.

The Experiences of Female Student Service Members and Veterans as Depicted Through Photovoice

Purpose: This study investigated the experiences of female college student service members and veterans (FSSM/V). Methodology: Photovoice was employed through photographs, interviews, and focus groups. Results: Analysis revealed that FSSM/V experience both supports and poses barriers to their academic success, including challenges associated with balancing role demands, experiences of stress necessitating coping strategies, social disconnection from traditional undergraduates, and positive experiences of support from FSSM/V peers. Limitations included a relatively small sample size that was lacking in diversity. It was concluded that FSSM/V have distinct attributes and experiences that present strengths and needs relative to academic success and wellbeing.

Research on problems of engineering textbooks construction for applied undergraduates

Textbooks are the carriers of knowledge, and superior textbooks are the key factors for universities and colleges to carry out high-quality teaching activities. There are significant differences between applied undergraduate and traditional undergraduate in engineering education. From the aspects of content and system, engineering application, novelty, and textbook resources, the problems and their causes of the current engineering textbooks for applied colleges are analyzed in this paper. Only by fully recognizing the defects of existing textbooks in the use process, can we contrapuntally adjust their construction path, innovate the writing style and form, and the role of textbooks can be better played in talent training.

Investigating the Use of Learning Management System (LMS) for Distance Education in Malaysia: A Mixed-Method Approach

Technology acceptance research explains the adaptation of learning technology by accounting for the use of technologies. This mixed-method study investigated the use of Learning Management Systems (LMS) for distance education in Malaysia using the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Limited studies on LMS for Malaysia higher education studies focusing on distance learning are warranted due to the diversity of resources, maturity, and education as working adults contrasting from traditional undergraduates. The survey on 205 respondents revealed that the extended TAM, which includes perceived resources, explained variance in attitudes (R2= 56.2%) and actual use (R2= 34.5%) adequately. Concurrently, indicating perceived ease of use and perceived resources as a determiner for the attitude which predicts actual use. Subsequently, a semi-structured interview on 15 respondents supported this as it was inferred that respondents’ attitude was mainly determined by their perception of the role of LMS to facilitate learning activities. Furthermore, inconveniences in accessing learning contents and lack of interactive learning activities are the respondents’ primary concern, reflecting on the predictive role of perceived ease of use. The findings also provide appropriate guidance for the pedagogical design and LMS implementation for distance education based on affordance and inclusivity.

Looking Back to Look Forward: The Promising Profession of Academic Librarianship

Looking Back to Look Forward:The Promising Profession of Academic Librarianship Rebecca S. Albitz (bio) In a Forbes op-ed piece in July 2018, Panos Mourdoukoutas, an economics professor from Long Island University in New York, suggested that Amazon bookstores should replace our local public libraries to save taxpayer dollars.1 He was not, by any stretch of the imagination, the first nor the last to predict the demise of libraries, and by association, the passing of the librarian. But, if my professional history is any indication, librarians' career opportunities continue to grow. We in academic libraries have an amazing array of options when we create a career trajectory that is uniquely our own. We can choose to work in small colleges or large universities, either public or private. We can consider a position that offers the opportunity to earn faculty rank and tenure. Do you want to become a manager? You can select roles that will prepare you to become a department head or even a head librarian. In the following essay, I explore the three areas mentioned—large and small libraries, tenure, and management roles—through the lens of my varying experiences to consider the ever-evolving opportunities available to an academic librarian. To offer context to this perspective, I need to provide a brief outline of my career thus far. My first position was media services librarian at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, which included managing the media and microforms department, building and cataloging the video collection, providing reference services for media and film studies, and serving as liaison with the film program. This was truly a unique position: I did everything—acquisitions, cataloging, reference, collections, microforms, department management, and instruction—in a large research library. My next position, archivist for media and the performing arts at New York University (NYU), was more focused on video, collection building, reference, and instruction for all the performing arts departments except music. Following two positions focused on media and reference/instruction, my next role was the first shift in my career. I became the head librarian (and the only librarian for [End Page 1] part of my tenure) at Penn State Shenango, a regional campus in Sharon, Pennsylvania. The differences in this role from my previous positions were numerous, but the most obvious was the type of campus. Shenango was nonresidential, with a student body split between traditional undergraduates and returning adults. Although four-year programs were just being established, most students either earned an associate's degree or took core courses with the intent of transferring to Penn State's main campus for their junior and senior years. In addition, librarians at Penn State have faculty rank and status. The tenure process closely follows that of teaching faculty, with an expectation of publication, presentation, and professional service along with librarianship, which takes the place of credit teaching in the dossier. My husband's career prompted me to apply for my next position—the inaugural electronic resources and copyright librarian for Penn State. The job required that I move from Sharon to University Park and involved a dramatic change in the library's size and scope of services. I no longer had management responsibilities, and my public service duties diminished dramatically (though for much of my tenure in this position, I did provide copyright instruction programs for the entire university). I went from being a public services generalist in a small library to a highly specialized technical services librarian in one of the largest research libraries in the country. After 11 years, my next position took me once again to a small library at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where I was responsible for collections and budgeting. From Bates, I moved to my current position as library director at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, a master's-level institution with a focus on graduate professional education. Size of Institution I have worked in small and large libraries, both public and private, and am now employed at a master's-level institution. Size does make a difference in work environment and upward mobility, as I discovered. Large Research Library In a study of job-hopping, Kelly Steenackers and...

Creating Inclusive Campus Communities: The Vital Role of Peer Mentorship in Inclusive Higher Education

Across the country, colleges are opening their doors to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. At University of Rochester (UR), we coordinate one such initiative called “Transition Opportunities at University of Rochester (TOUR).” Inclusive higher education at UR is based on the philosophy that ACCESS + SUPPORT = SUCCESS. In order to help our campus grow in intellectual diversity, we cannot simply open our doors to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).We must also provide support to help students thrive academically and socially during their college education.At the heart of TOUR are symbiotic mentoring relationships. When traditional undergraduates mentor fellow students with IDD, they gain academic and teaching skills, greater disability/diversity awareness, and an understanding of how and why inclusive communities are valuable. In turn, students with IDD find greater inclusion on their campus and invaluable academic and social skills that will launch them into self-determined lives as contributing citizens of their community.This paper will focus especially on the growth of academic inclusion on our campus, strategies for training and supporting undergraduate academic coaches, and stories about the impact of these peer mentoring relationships on traditional UR students, their colleagues with disabilities, and our campus as a whole.

Should We Continue to Provide Life Support to the Traditional Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory or is it Time to Let it Go?

Should We Continue to Provide Life Support to the Traditional Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory or is it Time to Let it Go?

Academic technology confidence levels vs ability in first-year traditional and non-traditional undergraduates

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the technology confidence, skills, and post-skills-test emotions in traditional (younger than 24 years old) and non-traditional (24 and older) first-year college students at three undergraduate campuses in the Northeastern USA. Design/methodology/approach Totally, 39 college freshmen from three college campuses were recruited for the study. An online test environment and screen recording software were used to measure student proficiency in using PDFs, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, Gmail, and Windows. Data were collected in September 2013. Findings The majority of the students struggled with at least one facet of academic software. Traditional students were more confident than non-traditional students in their technology skills, but they did not score any higher on the skills test. Students who placed at the high end and low end of the test results curve most accurately assessed their technology skills, and their post-test feelings were the most appropriate in light of their test results. A large percentage of the traditional aged students were overconfident about their skills and self-identified as “happy” or “wonderful” even after performing poorly on the test. Originality/value Having concrete data about student technology skills, rather than anecdotal data from Reference Desk interactions, can help librarians design improved instruction and tutorials that target areas of student technology weakness. In addition, there have been no studies that examine student immediate emotional response to test performance in this type of testing environment.

Integrating MOOC and Flipped Classroom Practice in a Traditional Undergraduate Course: Students’ Experience and Perceptions

The purpose of this experimental study was to redesign a traditional undergraduate course by integrating MOOC content and flipped classroom practice and to see its effectiveness through students’ experience and perceptions. The course named “Internet and Distance Education” was taught in Winter Semester, 2013 at the Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China to 15 undergraduate students majoring in education. E-learner satisfaction surveys found that students were generally satisfied with many aspects of the redesigned course, including instructor response timeliness, instructor attitude toward the technology, e-learning course flexibility, technology quality, Internet quality, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived e-learner satisfaction, while learner perceived interaction with others was not so satisfactory. Based on the findings, several suggestions to improve the course design are offered.

Information Literacy and Adult Learners

Information literacy (IL) skills are essential for adult learners in higher education, especially those unfamiliar with information systems. Citing a lack of literature assessing such skills in adult learners, this article examines the IL abilities of adult learners in an IL course. Using a rubric and annotated bibliographies from study participants, the authors rank the IL abilities of adult students. Similar to studies assessing IL skills in traditional undergraduates, the authors found that adult students struggled to articulate their evaluations of sources. The authors make recommendations for improving IL instruction for adults and suggest future research.

Liberties, Letters, and Lives: The Many Voices of Early American Women

Liberties, Letters, and LivesThe Many Voices of Early American Women Alison Tracy Hale (bio) Cherokee Sister: The Collected Writings of Catharine Brown, 1818–1823 Catharine Brown Edited and with an introduction by Theresa Strouth Gaul Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2014 289 pp. The Coquette and The Boarding School: A Norton Critical Edition Hannah Webster Foster Edited by Jennifer Harris and Bryan Waterman New York: Norton, 2013 435 pp. Female Quixotism: Exhibited in the Romantic Opinions and Extravagant Adventures of Dorcasina Sheldon Tabitha Gilman Tenney Edited with notes by Richard S. Pressman, introduction by Mary Mcaleer Balkun San Antonio, Texas: Early American Reprints, 2013 323 pp. Margaretta Martha Meredith Read Edited with a critical introduction by Richard S. Pressman San Antonio, Texas: Early American Reprints, 2012 333 pp. In the opening letter of Hannah Webster Foster’s 1797 novel The Coquette, Eliza Wharton famously exclaims over the “unusual sensation” that “possesses her breast”—the sensation of “pleasure; pleasure” at her newfound [End Page 535] freedom (4). Released by his death from her unwelcome engagement to the dutiful Mr. Haly, Eliza’s first missive celebrates her unfamiliar liberty from obligation and expectation. While Eliza’s subsequent (mis)use of her freedom and the pleasures thereof remains contested among modern-day scholars, her joyful embrace of newfound independence resonates with many contemporary readers, especially those who are themselves experiencing college life, newly freed from the restrictions of their own “paternal roof” (4). In a typical semester’s teaching, my students generally find Mary Rowlandson’s story fascinating and admire Phillis Wheatley, but they genuinely like Eliza Wharton; she, among the figures they encounter in early America, fictional and historical, seems most to resemble them. Her dilemmas—overeager but inappropriate romantic partners, judgmental friends, old-fashioned parents who seem determined to constrain her unreasonably, and the desire for a stable future, just not yet—are theirs as well. Eliza’s popularity among today’s students is both blessing and curse: given their strong identification with her, or, more accurately, their identification of her with them, how do we as teachers awaken them to the distinctly different systems of assumptions and values that shaped the lives of Americans in the first decades after independence? To students born, as today’s traditional undergraduates largely were, after 1991, the world has always encompassed discussions of women’s rights and provided examples of prominent, powerful women; many of my students, male and female, identify themselves as “postfeminist” in the erroneous belief that women have achieved parity with men in every significant social, economic, and political dimension. Is it any wonder, then, that they often approach literature by and about women “back in the day” as testament to the restricted and outmoded beliefs long surmounted in our more sophisticated era, finding in it merely anachronistic instances of protofeminism or repetitive examples of the cultural misogyny they insist we’ve long since eradicated? Eliza Wharton’s very popularity encapsulates a long-standing dilemma: how best to help students grasp the complexity of the positions, identities, and thoughts women held in early America? How can we recreate in our classrooms the richness and variety of female experience from the limited materials in our archive and within the pragmatic parameters of textbook price and availability? As Cathy Davidson reminds us, the American novel was “[b]orn in [End Page 536] scandal,” “[m]oralistic and sensational,” “[p]olitical and sentimental” (Revolution 9); it was also deeply reliant on plots that revolved around the circulation of young women who “were often misled or mistreated by the rich and powerful” (10). Given its historical popularity and function as index of the health and moral fiber of the young nation, the seduction novel, especially its most familiar examples, continues to feature prominently on syllabi—a fact confirmed by even a brief look at course syllabi provided by the Society of Early Americanists’ “Syllabus Exchange” on its website on teaching resources.1 In a recent review essay in these pages, Karen Weyler asked whether we as teachers of early America have ourselves been “seduced by the seduction novel, by its very familiarity and availability?” (241). Weyler laments our collective overreliance on several staples of early...

Simulation and mock code: A safe way for nursing students to learn

Introduction: It is better for students to experience stressful clinical events in a simulation lab rather than to experience the event in a clinical setting where a patient’s life is at stake. Aim: The aim of this study was to discover if participation in a mock code with a simulation manikin would result in increased knowledge in nursing students as well as a safe way to learn the nursing interventions required during a code. Methods: Students were given a 10-item multiple choice pre-test. The Advanced Cardiac Life Support guidelines were reviewed in a lecture format, readings regarding cardiac resuscitation and computer assisted instruction involving multiple code situations were assigned. Students were assigned a role and were given the expectations and activities of each role. The code was then experienced and video-taped with a simulation manikin. Debriefing was experienced and students completed a post-test. Results: Scores were significantly greater on the post-test than on the pre-test overall (7.9 vs 5.2; p < .001), for the traditional undergraduate (7.6 vs 5.2; p < .001) and second degree students (8.6. vs. 5.5; p < .001). The post-test scores were significantly greater for second degree students than the traditional undergraduates (8.4 vs 7.5; p < .001). The simulation experience is truly a safe environment for the nursing student to learn the nursing interventions needed during a real code situation.

“Polyester Pants and Orthopedic Shoes”

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; This article describes several in-class exercises that can be used to introduce basic age studies concepts to students within one class setting. These exer- cises, built around the Age Assumptions Survey and grounded in age studies theory, are designed for use with traditional (late-adolescent) undergraduates but could be used with other populations and across disciplinary settings, such as graduate or professional students in fields ranging from the human- ities to the social sciences to the healthcare professions. These engagement exercises are intended to (1) introduce age as an identity category that is vari- ably defined and, at least in part, socially constructed; (2) reveal students’ basic assumptions and stereotypes about aging and old age; and (3) pro- vide a limited introduction to ageism. The exercises are designed so that the students generate both content and analysis, structurally forcing students to confront the limitations and ageism in their own assumptions about aging and old age. The self-generated nature of the critique encourages students to accept their own biases rather than profess their impartiality.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Comparison of Second-Degree and Traditional Undergraduate Nursing Students' Sense of Belonging During Clinical Placements

Second-degree undergraduate nursing programs are proliferating throughout Canada. Although these shorter programs are attracting students from a variety of disciplines and professions, a sense of belonging and the meaning or implications of belongingness have not been examined for this unique nursing student cohort. A survey design, using the Belongingness Scale-Clinical Placement Experience questionnaire, explores second-degree nursing students' sense of belonging, compared with that of 4-year undergraduate nursing students. Overall, second-degree nursing students experienced a sense of belonging during clinical placements to a lesser degree than their counterparts in a traditional nursing program. Providing second-degree students with opportunities to know and create partnerships with nurse educators and staff while on placements, as well as providing them with feedback presented in positive terms, will help these students flourish and engender a greater sense of belonging.

Digital Immigrants, Digital Learning: Reaching Adults Through Information Literacy Instruction Online

As information literacy programs become more robust, finding methods of reaching students beyond the traditional undergraduate has become a priority for many institutions. At Duquesne University, efforts have been made to reach adult learners in an accelerated program targeted to nontraditional students, much of which is provided online. This article will detail how theories of adult learning have helped the authors to create a multimodal approach to information literacy instruction online for adult learners in both undergraduate and graduate programs.

Exploration on necessity of establishing global health undergraduate program in China

With the rapid development and increased integration of Chinese economy with global economy, China assumes more responsibilities and obligations for global health, resulting in great poten- tial needs for professionals in global health. From the angle of global health talent need, this article deeply illuminated that the global health talent training was helpful to take advantage of international resources to solve the problem of health, serve China＇s peaceful development strategy, comply with development trend of public health, and remedy limitations of traditional medicine undergraduate. Training undergraduates in global health who are China-specific and global competent is the only way to meet the talent demand of China＇s future. Multi-level global health education will become an important part of medical education in future in China. Key words: Global health; Undergraduate program; Necessity

The Financial Literacy of Social Work Students

The financial literacy of social work students has become the focus of curriculum development and research, but no study to date has attempted to assess the financial knowledge possessed by social work students. This study addressed that gap by assessing the level of objective financial knowledge reported by social work student respondents (N = 1,506) to an Internet-based survey. Results indicated that the majority of social work student respondents scored more than 70% correct on a 48-item measure of financial literacy. Multiple regression analysis explained 33.7% of the variance and suggested that the dominant pathway to acquiring objective financial knowledge is through personal experience. Accordingly, financial education programs for social work students may be most appropriate for traditional undergraduates.

Beyond the Reference Desk: A Study on the Effectiveness of Low-Cost Distance Library Services at California State University San Marcos

Many of our reference interactions are face-to-face at a desk or in our offices. Unfortunately, not all of our students are on campus. Whether a non-traditional student or a traditional undergraduate, more of our patrons are attending online classes or attending satellite campuses with no librarians on site. It's difficult to reach these students, but it's even more difficult to reach them when libraries are facing tremendous financial hardships and have limited their technology budgets. Fortunately technological advances such as programs that offer free virtual “face-to-face” time with our patrons are becoming more available. Programs such as Skype, Jing, Moodle and Spark offer librarians and patrons the freedom to interact with each other at low or no costs. Sadly many librarians are either uncomfortable with the new technology or don't feel the quality of service is as good as high-priced tools. This paper will share the basic set-up of various free or low cost online programs, outline the benefits and drawbacks of some of those programs, and provide effective interaction techniques to use with distance learners to help make the reference interview and information literacy sessions a more positive and comfortable experience for librarians and students.

A Comparison of Large Lecture, Fully Online, and Hybrid Sections of Introduction to Special Education

This study evaluated the effectiveness of flexible learning options at a university serving multiple geographic areas (including remote and rural areas) and age groups by teaching an introduction to special education course to three large groups of pre-teacher education majors using three modes of instruction. The university offered sections as (a) a traditional large lecture class, (b) a fully online asynchronous course, and (c) a hybrid course with lecture and asynchronous online instruction. Data analysis centered on course performance, perceptions of instructional effectiveness, and perceptions of preparedness for future role as teachers of students with special needs. The researchers noted no statistically significant differences in students’ perceptions of instructional effectiveness; however, the presumed attractiveness of the flexibility of online instruction did not appear to extend to traditional undergraduates who required more support in developing personal responsibility and organizational strategies. Results also indicated that face-to-face interactions with instructors positively impacted perceptions of preparedness for teaching.

Differences in College Student Typical Drinking and Celebration Drinking

Objective: The purpose of the study was to determine whether students consume alcohol in greater quantities when drinking in celebration of an event or holiday versus typical drinking use. Celebratory occasions include tailgating during football games, holidays, and the beginning and ending of academic semesters. Participants: Traditional undergraduates, ages 18 to 24, who attended the university full time in the Fall 2007 and the Spring 2008. Methods: Eight hundred participants were randomly selected to participate in the study. A stratified random sample was drawn according to class rank and sex. A total of 287 survey responses were collected. Results: Alcohol consumption was greatest during typical weekend drinking, followed by celebration drinking and then by typical weekday drinking. Conclusions: Celebration drinking was expected to be greater than typical drinking; however, typical weekend drinking episodes were greates than celebratory drinking. Intervention efforts should focus on reducing weekend alcohol consumption.