Undergraduate Degree Programs Research Articles

Design of Moodle-based collaborative learning activities to enhance student interactions

PurposeThis article explores the impact of systematically designed online collaborative activities in two engineering undergraduate modules and key considerations for student interaction in Moodle.Design/methodology/approachThe educational design research approach was chosen to improve educational practices through iterative needs analysis, design, development and implementation. The study followed design-based research (DBR) approach, with a mixed-method research design used to uncover the critical factors in designing, developing and implementing online collaborative learning activities for improving student interaction. Two iterative cycles of online collaborative learning activities were implemented using the Moodle learning management system for two modules of an engineering undergraduate degree programme at a state university in Sri Lanka.FindingsResults indicate that students had demonstrated increased motivation for collaborative activities, and they had not experienced any significant difficulties in accessing materials or instructions. This study emphasizes that the design of learning activities has a greater influence on determining the level of interaction between the learner interface and the learner content. Also, a higher number of interactions on the wiki page improved learner-learner interactions, likely due to clear instructions and reduced complexities compared to previous Moodle activities. Overall, appropriately designed online activities can enhance students' motivation and improve communication, collaboration, cooperation and a sense of community among peers.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's constraints included a small sample size of 93 students in two courses, which limits generalization of the results. The study's findings should be carefully considered before being applied to courses with nontechnical content. The second constraint was the number of courses on which the activities were carried out. The activities were designed specifically for two Earth Resources engineering courses, and the developed activities addressed technical course content. The effect of the activities on students' engagement and motivation in various courses with nontechnical content must be investigated, and a complete generalization of the study's results may be called into question. As a result, careful consideration must be given to generalizing the study's findings.Practical implicationsThe study found that authentic collaborative learning activities using online technologies increased student participation and helped them discover their engineering design skills. Future research can focus on developing activities for other technical courses and incorporating additional tools into the instructional process. The use of a design-based research approach was recommended for future studies to obtain more comprehensive results than traditional comparative study designs.Originality/valueThe findings of this study suggest mechanisms to improve student interaction through online collaborative activities, particularly for delivering technical content. Such an understanding of learner interactions with course content, peers, teachers and interfaces will assist in the effective transformation of traditional technical content to online delivery mode. This is a unique study of converting in-class delivered engineering module content to online delivery within an equal time frame under restricted facilities and conditions resulting from a pandemic environment.

Metric cake shop: A serious game for supporting education on ISO/IEC/IEEE 15939:2017 – Systems and software engineering – Measurement process in the context of an undergraduate software engineering course

The educational use of serious games has increased in recent years and their pedagogical benefits have been widely documented, especially for teaching specialized knowledge on Software Engineering at undergraduate level. The results achieved by several studies in this area show that it has been possible to increase the student interest and motivation in learning complex topics that tend to be difficult to understand when knowledge is imparted through traditional lectures, as is the case with software process standards. In this regard, the ISO/IEC/IEEE 15939:2017 standard describes a software measurement process, one of the main topics that must be addressed in any curriculum for undergraduate degree programs in Software Engineering. However, despite their relevance in industry, many students are leaving university without basic software measurement skills. With the aim of identifying serious games for teaching the software measurement process at undergraduate level, a Systematic Literature Review was conducted in order to collect, classify and analyze information which enabled the authors of this study to propose a serious game that improves the understanding and education on the ISO/IEC/IEEE 15939:2017 standard. The results from an empirical evaluation involving Computer Science undergraduates provided evidence that positive learning experiences occurred when playing the created serious game.

Supporting Economic Understanding and Student Success Through Peer Assistance in an Economics Learning Center

This paper provides an overview of a peer-assistance resource for students in the undergraduate degree programs in economics at the University of California (UC), Irvine. UC Irvine is a large public research university with approximately 1900 undergraduate economics majors. The Economics Learning Center (ELC) is a walk-in help facility for students in principles of economics, intermediate economics, statistics, and econometrics courses. The ELC is staffed by trained undergraduate students with strong academic records. The ELC was opened in 2014 in response to growth in the ratio of undergraduate majors to faculty and graduate TAs and growth in the share of economics students who are from outside the United States. The author discusses the effectiveness of the ELC, describes lessons learned since its inception, and provides suggestions for improvements to the model.

Factors that influence university graduates’ choice of postgraduate study

ABSTRACT Enrolments in university certificate and postgraduate programmes have grown considerably during recent decades. This study assesses the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics, characteristics of the university trajectory and the salary received after graduation and the decision to pursue postgraduate studies. Data for the analysis were obtained from a survey of graduates of 11 Chilean universities during 2021. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to estimate the effect of the various characteristics. The decision to enrol in a certificate or graduate programme was associated primarily with the field of the undergraduate degree programme, family income and current salary. The decision to enrol in a postgraduate degree programme was associated with parents’ education level, field of undergraduate study and academic performance, and current wage level. First-generation university graduates and those from low-income families were less likely to continue postgraduate studies. Overall social inequality among university graduates was reproduced in postgraduate education and increased in Education and Social Sciences programmes.

Evaluating an Undergraduate Human Physiology Curriculum Using the Physiology Professional Skills Curriculum Mapping Tool (PS-MAP): A Case Report

Introduction: The Physiology Majors Interest Group (P-MIG) recently proposed recommendations for professional skills development at the undergraduate level across four domains: (1) critical thinking, (2) communicating effectively, (3) behaving in a socially and scientifically responsible manner, and (4) demonstrating laboratory proficiency. Subsequently, the Physiology Professional Skills Curriculum Mapping Tool (PS-MAP) was developed as a freely available, customizable Qualtrics-based survey instrument for programs to assess the extent to which professional skills from each of the four domains are incorporated across the curriculum. Faculty who teach core and elective courses in a large undergraduate Human Physiology degree program completed the PS-MAP during the Fall 2023 semester. Methods: PS-MAP survey responses were exported into Excel then sorted according to core or elective course designation. Experiential and applied learning courses such as internships, laboratory research for course credit, and independent study projects were excluded from analysis due to variations in individualized experiences. Next, a table was generated to summarize professional skill inclusion by course (taught and/or assessed) and target level of proficiency: skills were (1) introduced (presented and practiced for the first time), (2) reviewed (reinforced after prior introduction), or (3) advanced (demonstrated a high level of proficiency). The overall percentage of courses that teach or assess each professional skill was calculated. The intended level of proficiency per course was also evaluated. Results: Data were reported for 21 out of 24 core and elective courses. The two professional skills reported as most frequently taught or assessed in major coursework were: (1) critical thinking: develop arguments, hypotheses and/or conclusions using critical analysis of the scientific evidence (81% of courses) and (2) critical thinking: apply, analyze, and/or integrate information to generate evidence-based solutions to physiological problems (81% of courses). Laboratory proficiency and communicating physiology orally and in writing were domains reported as taught or assessed in fewer than half of major courses. Discussion: The PS-MAP was a relatively easy-to-implement tool to map professional skills development across an undergraduate Human Physiology curriculum. The main outcome was a visual representation (i.e., table) depicting patterns of professional skills incorporation across core and elective courses. This table will be shared with faculty to guide subsequent curriculum discussions. Proposed areas for future curricular exploration include (1) formally embedding specific professional skills development within program learning goals, (2) strategically and intentionally aligning coursework (course activities and assessments) with program learning goals to scaffold professional skills development across the curriculum, and (3) reviewing course-level learning goals for internships, undergraduate research, and independent study projects to emphasize laboratory proficiencies and oral and written communication skills. No funding sources to report. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Uncovering common elements among undergraduate leadership degree programs

PurposeThis research sought to determine if there existed a common set of courses amongst undergraduate leadership degree programs, provide guidance for new program development and program revision, promote discussion about future leadership curriculum development and provide a starting point for developing common leadership curriculum expectations nationally.Design/methodology/approachContent analysis was performed.FindingsProgram course similarities appear to represent the organic development of unofficial common core requirements within undergraduate leadership programs. Further, there appeared to be no significant trend as to which academic department leadership programs were placed.Originality/valueThis study identifies commonly occurring classes in traditional leadership degrees, offering insights for the development of new programs and assessment of current leadership degrees.

Evaluation of undergraduate academic programs through data envelopment analysis and time-to-degree estimates at Spanish public universities

This article proposes nonparametric and parametric methods for conducting meaningful evaluations of academic programs. In particular, it proposes the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA) along with regression analysis for the evaluation of Spanish public universities' undergraduate curricula. Unlike the radial DEA models, which assume an equiproportional expansion of all outputs to achieve efficiency, the current study also relies on the use of non-radial DEA models for assessing the efficiency of Spanish public universities. A non-radial DEA measure (the so-called Russell measure) allows for unlike proportional augmentations in each positive output. In this study, non-radial DEA measures allow us to identify different levels of inefficiency for each output considered (social sciences and non-social sciences degrees). Specifically, the results show that the inefficiency in the production of scientific and technical degrees is greater than that in the production of humanities and social sciences degrees, although there are differences among institutions. Bachelor's degree production time is also estimated, and a duration analysis explains the time to degree. A worrying result is the "excessive" time it takes for a university to produce four-year undergraduate degree programs. The mean graduation time is 5.7 years. The Cox proportional hazards regression shows that a shorter time to graduation is associated with higher teaching quality as well as a higher faculty-to-student ratio. Parametric survival analysis using a lognormal distribution with gamma frailty also verifies these latter results.

Embedding sustainability education into hospitality, tourism, and events management curricula - a preliminary best practice model

With over seventy percent of millennials preferring to spend disposable income on experiences rather than consumer goods, organizations operating in the tourism, hospitality, and events sectors are predicted to see increasing demand. Despite being recognized as a major contributor to economic activity, these sectors have been criticized for being a root cause of environmental degradation, acculturation, economic leakage, and migration. The recent collapse of international travel firms with far-reaching consequences for employees, suppliers, and destinations has highlighted the vulnerability of organizations to volatility in the business environment and calls for a reassessment of business and leadership models. Since the adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, sustainability initiatives are becoming more embedded into corporate strategies with an increasing focus on the triple bottom line. Following the creation of the Global Reporting Initiative Standards and sector-specific standards, there is a growing expectation that organizations demonstrate accountability for their sustainability initiatives. In Western societies, this reflects a shift away from the liberalist notion of the “Theory of the Firm” towards the sustainability paradigm. The purpose of this exploratory paper is to propose a preliminary framework for embedding innovative sustainability education in undergraduate degree programs. The paper first reviews UK-based guidelines for sustainability education at the university level. It then proposes a framework for the development of a corresponding curriculum audit tool that assesses how comprehensively sustainability education is embedded into undergraduate curricula. The University of Gloucestershire’s degree programs in International Hospitality and Tourism Management and Event Management are used as case studies to demonstrate how an audit tool design based on relevant principles can be used in practice for assessing and enhancing sustainability education. The paper recommends the further development of the tool into a best practice model integrating graduate attributes, key learning outcomes and skills, and an appropriate learning and teaching infrastructure. Transferability across subjects and transnationally is identified as an area for further research.

Building conceptual and methodological bridges between SSE's diversity, equity, and inclusion statement and educational actions in evolutionary biology.

The field of evolutionary biology must bridge the gap between its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments and data-driven educational actions in the nation's undergraduate classrooms and degree programs. In this article, we discuss the urgent need for the adoption of equity frameworks and why they are centrally important to data-driven DEI efforts in evolutionary biology. We describe why equity indicators (e.g., measures) must be anchored in and aligned with equity frameworks. We introduce a specific equity framework for learning (the enhanced educational debt framework) and illustrate how it may be leveraged to document, interpret, and improve outcomes in evolutionary biology. We apply the equity framework and associated indicators to >3,500 students' first college-level experience with evolutionary biology at a public, 4-year institution in the Northeastern United States to demonstrate how these conceptual tools and empirical perspectives may be used by faculty, departments, and degree programs to better understand their roles in mitigating or perpetuating inequities. We end by discussing how this framework may be applied to a range of evolution concepts and courses in the educational hierarchy and used to help evolutionary biologists better understand the extent to which a core aspect of SSE's diversity statement is being realized.

The academic, social, and psychological experiences of Black men enrolled in STEM undergraduate degree programs

This qualitative manuscript examined N=20 Black male undergraduate students’ racialized interactions with non-Black higher education administrators, professors, and peers and how those select interactions either encourage or hinder their academic, social, and psychological well-being and success as science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) majors. This manuscript utilized W.E.B. DuBois’ Condition of Double Consciousness to explore how Black men enrolled in college challenge the myth that Blacks are uneducated and other cultural stereotypes placed against them and how their intersectional identities are further impacted. Findings indicate that Black male STEM majors are affected by having to combat the myth of Black anti-intellectualism, remaining resilient while experiencing various forms of discrimination, and understanding how they view themselves versus how their non-Black higher education administrators, professors, and peers view them across their intersectional identities. To cope with the effects of discrimination and other stressors, Black male scientists believe it is crucial to heal from the racialized trauma they suffer and identify counseling services. However, many of the Black men in the study never sought out counseling services. Instead, they relied on their peers and mentors to provide advice on how they should navigate academia as Black men. Lastly, Black male scientists believe that counterspaces should be created to support the increase of Black men in STEM and that higher education institutions should provide more educational opportunities to amplify the different types of scientific careers that Black men can access.

Determinants of Intra-major Specialization and Career Decisions Among Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Students

Biomedical engineering is a broad and interdisciplinary field that prepares graduates for a variety of careers across multiple career sectors. Given this breadth, undergraduate degree programs often have formal or informal opportunities for students to further specialize within the biomedical engineering major to develop skills in subdisciplines of biomedical engineering. While previous work has explored factors that influence student decision-making of engineering major choice, including the role of gender, limited work has explored factors that influence intra-major specialization in biomedical engineering. The present study sought to expand on existing research to understand factors that influence biomedical engineering students’ choice of intra-major specializations and how, if at all, these factors are related to gender. Grounded in social cognitive career theory, the present study leveraged quantitative surveys from undergraduate biomedical engineering students to understand factors influencing intra-major specialization choice, including the impact that students viewed on their career plans. Participants rated multiple factors as important in their intra-major specialization decisions, with professors/classes rated as the most important influence and alumni as the lowest. Similarly, participants rated multiple outcome expectations of their specialization, although income was rated lower than other factors. Participants most commonly indicated interest in pursuing careers in industry and medicine. We found some differences in intra-major specialization, outcome expectations, and career interests by gender, with women students indicating a higher influence of professors/classes and higher expectations for their track decision to provide a career with a good income. Further understanding of how undergraduate students select specializations in engineering coursework will inform curriculum design and student advising.

Validation of intercultural competence scale in the Ethiopian context: Exploring the factor structure and psychometric properties among university students.

Although intercultural competence is a crucial factor for university students' academic achievement and inter-ethnic conflict resolution, psychometrically sound intercultural competence scale is not available in the Ethiopian context. The aim of the present study was to translate the original English version of intercultural competence into Amharic language and validate the scale in the Ethiopian context. In the processes of retaining culturally equivalent translated measure symmetrical approach was used. Data were collected from 476 (Male = 244 and Female = 232) arbitrarily selected university students with an age mean of 22.35 enrolled in undergraduate degree programs at Ambo University. The total sample was randomly split into two equal-sized group to execute exploratory factor analysis (EFA, N = 238) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA, N = 238). The result of the study showed that both EFA and CFA supported a significantly correlated four-factor model of intercultural competence (Attitude, Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills). Moreover, the Amharic version of the intercultural competence scale showed good psychometric properties in terms of content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and good fit indices to the data. This generally justifies the use of the Amharic version intercultural competence scale in the Ethiopian context. To satisfy the needs of the labor market, universities in Ethiopia should promote intercultural dialogues that improve the intercultural competence of university students.

Psychometric Properties and Factor Structure of the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale among Korean University Students during COVID-19

Background The Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) is a 14-item instrument that is extensively used in clinical and epidemiological studies to determine the presence of anxiety symptoms. Despite the widespread application of the HAM-A in research, it remains unclear whether the instrument’s construct is best represented as uni- or multidimensional. This study aimed to assess the reliability and construct validity of the Korean version of the HAM-A through its factor structure. Methods Accordingly, a cross-sectional design was employed to conduct an online survey with 252 university students enrolled in an undergraduate degree program for 4 years in South Korea during the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were employed to identify the two-factorial structure of the instrument, i.e., psychic/psychological and somatic. Results The results revealed that the reliability and item characteristics were favorable. Confirmatory factor analyses identified a two-factorial structure of psychic/psychological and somatic with a moderate correlation between the two latent constructs, thus suggesting a single overarching construct of anxiety. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the Korean version of HAM-A was found to be a valid and reliable instrument that can be employed to screen Korean university students for anxiety.

Readiness for New Ventures in South Africa Through Entrepreneurship Education: A Reflective Thematic Approach

The purpose of this research is to investigate what factors affect students' readiness to start their own businesses once they graduate from college. Case study research was conducted with an emphasis on an undergraduate degree program at a South African university. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 program participants and analyzed using a reflective theme analysis method. Our findings suggest that the experiential learning methodology employed at the university increases students' levels of self-efficacy in the realm of entrepreneurship, i.e., their belief in their own abilities to create and run successful firms. They look at the benefits of going into business for themselves with optimism. However, our findings suggest that certain students may lack the confidence to take initiative and try new things, making the social support system of teammates and teachers all the more important for helping them feel safe enough to try new things and succeed.

Reflecting on why transformation students in a comprehensive bursary programme may be academically unsuccessful

It is imperative that higher education institutions reflect on the success of transformation initiatives aimed at providing students with academic, financial, and other support. Programmes such as the Thuthuka Bursary Fund aim to provide students with a comprehensive bursary programme that offers multi-faceted support. By conducting interviews with 11 students who were previously in the Thuthuka bursary programme between 2017 and 2021, and lost their bursary at various stages of their undergraduate degree programme due to poor academic performance, this study qualitatively examined the effectiveness of multi-faceted bursary programmes in an attempt to determine, based on student reflections, what factors were the most prevalent in contributing to their poor academic performance. These students received a comprehensive bursary for student fees, accommodation, and other living expenses. The findings of this study suggest that various factors led to these students losing their bursaries, with the overarching factors including inadequately tailored mental health-focused support and mentoring based on the students’ specific needs. The interview participants noted that many of these support services were offered; however, the students opted not to make use of these. The findings suggest that academic success and the enhancing of wellbeing are interwoven; the specific context of bursary holders should be considered in programme design considerations. Of vital importance is the understanding of students’ backgrounds, as these present unique challenges to their integration into higher education institutions. The stigma ofasking for help should be eradicated as far as possible through specific design choices in the support offered to these students. The findings provide insight that can be used by various bursary programme planners to design their programmes better and to consider the effect of students losing their bursaries in the higher education environment system.

Building More Flexible Special Education Teachers: UDL Integration in a Dual-Licensure Program

In this article, we describe how our general and special education faculty collaborated to infuse the Universal Design for Learning framework into our special education preparation program, a dual-licensure special education and elementary education (K-6) undergraduate degree program. We describe the curriculum reform processes and outcomes of the UDL curriculum enhancement project, along with specific examples from multiple courses. Additionally, we highlight the need to continuously evaluate such efforts so that areas for improvement can be identified and addressed. For instance, we realized that our teacher candidates still needed more support to transfer what they learned about UDL from their coursework to their planning and practice in student teaching. In sum, we did not just create a plan, implement it, and consider it completed. We recognized a gap in the original plan, made improvements, and re-assessed, just as we would expect our teacher candidates to do when evaluating their own practice.

Operationalising the concept of recontextualisation: leveraging pedagogy and learning strategies in higher education practical courses

This interdisciplinary paper brings together scholarship from the fields of education, psychology, sociology and performance to shed light on three pedagogy and learning strategies to support learners recontextualise knowledge between higher education and work contexts. These strategies include offering multiple different types of performance activities and modes of engagement with different types of people (learners/experts, different cultures, ages, etc.). Secondly, it provides spaces to fail and enables testing of personal strategies with limited risk. Finally, it supports students in connecting ideas and experiences from the past, across educational experiences of different performance practices and into wider contexts such as professional work.The research, which is a pilot, recognises the ways in which these strategies align with and operationalise Guile’s (2010) concept of recontextualisation, offering pedagogues tools to support learning in a similar way in which the concept of scaffolding might be seen to operationalise Vygotsky’s notion of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).This pilot study uses semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis approach with five graduates from an undergraduate drama degree programme in London. We recognise drama as a practical degree subject and as such consider our findings as generalisable to wider practical fields and disciplines, such as engineering and nursing education, and as having international relevance. The work offers a novel approach to conceptualising and evaluating the ways in which students deploy taught knowledge beyond the classroom, in work. It offers and augments arguments around the ways in which students bridge practice and learning from within the HEI and beyond it.

Enhancing Diversity in Undergraduate Degree Programs in Forestry and Related Natural Resources: a Brief Review of Critical Issues and Promising Actions

Abstract Although forestry and related natural resources (FRNR) undergraduate degree programs in the United States have become increasingly diverse in recent years, women and minorities remain underrepresented in multiple disciplines; this is particularly true in forestry undergraduate programs. We reviewed over one hundred reports and publications to help understand the critical issues that must be addressed to enhance diversity in FRNR undergraduate programs. Based on that review, here we summarize eight critical issues in recruiting and retaining a more diverse FRNR undergraduate student body, and we also present promising actions to address the issues. Our goal is to more widely communicate validated ideas and practices, thereby prompting further discussion and effective actions to make more tangible gains in enhancing the diversity of FRNR undergraduate degree programs in the United States in the future. Study Implications: To be effective managers and stewards of forestry and related natural resources (FRNR), professionals must be effective in developing, communicating, and implementing plans and actions. From recommendations for a single stand or forest, to community-level natural resource issues, to state, regional, and national policy decisions, FRNR professionals must be trusted by increasingly diverse stakeholders in our society. FRNR professions can become more diverse in terms of gender as well as race and ethnicity by developing and implementing actions that address specific critical issues in undergraduate enrollment. A more diverse and society-ready cadre of leaders in FRNR will help to ensure healthy biotic communities are restored, sustained, and valued while meeting long-run societal needs.

Using Industry Certifications to Improve the Marketability and Skill Development of Accounting and Finance Students

This article focuses on optional business certifications that students can obtain while they are completing their undergraduate degree program. These certifications can benefit students in the job market and be helpful in supplementing real world business training in curriculum and address any skill gaps. Several business certifcaitons are represented with pertinent information on the process and benefits of certificate completion. The list of certificates is not meant to be exhaustive, but gives a starting point for business faculty looking to provide opportunities for student career development.

Applicants' success in the ethics entrance exam: A cross-sectional study.

Student selection is the first step in recruiting future social and healthcare professionals. Ethically competent professionals are needed in social and healthcare. It is important to select applicants who have the best possible abilities to develop their ethical competence in the future. Values-based recruitment has been used to inform the recruitment and selection of higher education applicants. However, objective and valid tests in student selection are needed. To assess social and healthcare applicants' success and related factors in the ethics section of the universities of applied sciences digital entrance examination (UAS Exam) to undergraduate degree programmes. A cross-sectional design was used. Social and healthcare applicants needed to identify ethical situations in the ethics section of a national digital entrance examination (UAS Exam) in autumn 2019 (between 29 October and 1 November) in 20 Finnish universities of applied sciences. The process for the responsible conduct of research was followed in the study. Ethics committee approval was obtained from the Human Sciences Ethics Committee in the Satakunta region (27 September 2019). Approval to undertake the study was obtained from the participating universities of applied sciences. Participation to the study was voluntary and based on informed consent. The applicants' (n = 8971) mean scores were 7.1/20 (standard deviation 6.5), and 22.7% of the applicants failed the ethics section. Age, previous education, and place of birth (own/parent) explained the applicants' success in the ethics section (total score and failed exam results). Applicants' success in the ethics section varied indicating that future students may have a different basis to develop their ethical competence. This may impact on (new) students' learning, especially in practical studies.