Undergraduate Subjects Research Articles

Are extension requests an opportunity to support student self-management skills?

ABSTRACTSelf-regulation, self-management, and coping skills are essential personal attributes for social work graduates who often work with clients with complex and traumatic histories. This study explored self-management skills in students applying for extensions of time to complete assignments. Participants were 117 students enrolled in a second-year undergraduate social work subject. Requests were analyzed in two ways: (1) did the request meet the university policy criteria for approval; and (2) thematic analysis of requests that did not meet criteria to identify the reasons students were providing to support their request. A quarter of students in the course applied for an extension. The overwhelming majority of requests did not meet the university’s policy criteria for approval, with only two having a valid reason and the required documentation. The primary reason for extension requests in this cohort was poor self-management skills, specifically time-management and coping. Despite not meeting university policy requirements, all requests were approved. The results from this study confirm that most students applying for extension requests are not eligible for an extension. The reasons provided demonstrate problems coping with course requirements because of self-management problems. Implications for supporting students and staff are discussed.

LIS Students at a Japanese University Use Smartphones for Social Communication more often than for Educational Purposes

A Review of:
 Lau, K. P., Chiu, D. K. W., Ho, K. K. W., Lo, P., & See-To, E. W. K. (2017). Educational usage of mobile devices: Differences between postgraduate and undergraduate students. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 43(3), 201-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2017.03.004
 Abstract
 Objective – To discover how undergraduate (UG) and graduate (G; “postgraduate” [PG] in the original article) students of library and information science (LIS) use mobile devices and to understand preferences and perceived barriers to educational use.
 Design – Survey questionnaire.
 Setting – University in Japan.
 Subjects – Ninety undergraduate students (30 male, 60 female) and 30 graduate students (13 male, 17 female). Nineteen additional recruits were excluded from the study due to incomplete surveys. Almost all subjects (>98%) were born between 1982 and 2002.
 Methods – Subjects were recruited without incentives from one LIS department. An online survey was conducted with the purpose of gathering information on how often devices were used for various activities, perceived barriers to mobile learning (m-learning), and demographic data. The survey was modeled on a 2015 study of LIS students in Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan (Ko, Chiu, Lo, & Ho, 2015). The Mann-Whitley U test was used to investigate possible significant differences between UG and G responses.
 Main Results – 94.2% of participants had smartphones with Internet access; both UG and G subjects reported weekly to daily use for social communications (email, short message service [SMS], chat, and social media) and for querying search engines. Both UG and G subjects reported using finance and banking services less than once a month. Other activities (shopping, finding locations, entertainment, sports, tools and productivity software, casual reading, academic reading, accessing reference materials, accessing libraries) for both groups fell within the range of less than once per month to weekly use. Unlike G subjects, UG subjects reported significant (p < 0.05) engagement with social media and marginal (p < 0.10) engagement with accessing libraries, and productivity tools.
 In terms of educational use, neither UG nor G subjects reported daily m-learning behaviors, instead reporting monthly to weekly browsing of online information and social networking sites, with far less (i.e., less than once a month) engagement with professional articles, e-books, learning management platforms, and several other activities (listening to podcasts, viewing videos, “other”). UG subjects reported significant marginal (p < 0.10) engagement with “other” materials, unlike G subjects. Library catalogs and databases were less likely to be used when compared to reference sources, with UG and G subjects reporting monthly or less use for these. When asked if they would use mobile library services, respondents answered “maybe interested if available”, with UG subject reporting significant marginal (p < 0.10) engagement vs. G subjects for several of these services. Regarding productivity activities, both UG and G subjects reported monthly or less use of note taking, word processing, and scheduling tools. For communication and sharing activities, subjects reported monthly or less activity for communicating with classmates, using email for study-related issues, posting to discussions on learning management platforms, posting or commenting about their studies on social networking sites, sending photos or videos to social media, moving document files, and scanning Quick Response (QR) codes. UG subjects were marginally (p < 0.10) more engaged in communicating with classmates than G subjects.
 Barriers to m-learning were not considered “high” barriers, with “low” to “medium” barriers for both UG and G subjects being small screen size, non-mobile format, difficulty typing, challenges with authentication, no Wi-Fi, difficulty reading, lack of specialized apps, and slow loading times.
 Conclusion – This study provides a snapshot of how participants used mobile devices at the time the survey was conducted. Both UG and G subjects used their devices for social communication more than for educational purposes.

Aligning an undergraduate psychological medicine subject with the mental health needs of the local region

BackgroundThe James Cook University (JCU) medical school recently revised its Year 2 human development and behaviour module to be more relevant and practical for students, and more aligned with the mental health priorities of the local region (north Queensland). This study reports medical students’ level of preparedness conferred by the re-designed ‘Psychological Medicine and Human Development’ (PMHD) subject for their later 4-week, rural clinical placement in Year 2.MethodsNon-randomized, controlled ‘naturalistic’ study with pre- and post-intervention surveys. The patient mental health experiences of Year 2 students who went on clinical placement after undertaking the PMHD subject were compared to those who went on placement before undertaking PMHD.ResultsA total of 209 JCU Year 2 medical students completed surveys from a possible 217 (response rate = 96%). Compared to students whom had not taken PMHD before going on placement, students going on placement after undertaking PMHD were significantly more likely to report: feeling comfortable discussing mental health issues with patients (p = 0.001); being prepared for mental health discussions with patients (p < 0.001); having an actual mental health discussion with a patient (p < 0.001); and, volunteering an opinion on the appropriateness of their supervising doctor’s response (p < 0.001). Students reported subject content involving information and classroom instruction on assessing and interviewing patients for mental illness to be of most use.ConclusionsProviding medical students with psychological medicine information on locally prevalent mental health conditions plus practical classroom experiences in conducting mental state exams better prepares them for interacting with patients experiencing psychological distress. This novel methodology – aligning formal teaching in a subject with an evaluation utilizing a proximate student placement to provide useful feedback on the curriculum content and assess the relevance of the material taught – could be used to revise other content areas of a medical course to be more locally relevant and practically focused, and then to evaluate the success of this revision.

The impact of an iPad-supported annotation and sharing technology on university students' learning

iPads, or more generally tablet computers, have received rapid and widespread uptake across higher education. Despite this, there is limited evidence of how their use affects student learning within this context. This study focuses on the use of a tablet by the instructor to support the annotation and in-class sharing of students' work to create a collaborative learning environment within a first year undergraduate subject. This paper reports the results of an empirical study looking at the effect this tablet technology has on student performance using a sample of 741 first-year accounting students. The study uses data from enrolment and attendance records, end of semester examination results and student perceptions from a survey. Results indicate that class sharing of the instructor's and students' annotation of homework through the use of a tablet is associated with an improvement in student performance on procedural or equation-based questions as well as increased student engagement. However, contrary to expectations, the introduction of in class annotations was associated with a decline in student performance on theoretical, extended response questions. The authors argue that affordances of the tablet, when used in a student-centred way, can introduce a bias towards some kinds of interactions over others. This large-scale study of in-class tablet use suggests that though the tablets may be positively associated with student engagement and satisfaction, caution must be exercised in how the use by the instructor affects the classroom environment and what students learn. These findings have particular relevance to university learning contexts with equation-centric subjects such as those in Business and STEM.

An effective teaching plan to introduce professional and practice-based education at tertiary institution

Nowadays, the notion of professional and practice-based education (P&PBE) is a hot topic at tertiary education. P&PBE prepares the learners for profession oriented practice. It is always very challenging to introduce a P&PBE component within a service teaching subject in any academic fields. This paper focuses on the development of an effective teaching strategy for practical classes of a subject having highly technical and professionally applied contents at the university that directly tackles the challenge of introducing the P&PBE element in it. A case study has been conducted with an undergraduate level service subject in statistics for the science programs at the Charles Sturt University. Findings reveal that in the scientific subject a P&PBE component can be introduced as practical classes which foster profession oriented practice based problem-solving skills of students through a collaboratively effective and joyful learning environment. These findings are supported by some of the existing literature and the students' evaluation.

Going native on Facebook: a content analysis of sponsored messages on undergraduate student Facebook pages

This paper examines the prevalence and nature of sponsored messages on Facebook. Results of a content analysis of desktop and mobile Facebook pages from 52 undergraduate student subjects showed 53% of sponsored messages in the desktop sample and 100% of sponsored messages in the mobile sample would be categorised as native advertising, as they were located in the user's news feed. Approximately 12% of all news feed posts were sponsored posts and almost 90% of sponsored news feed posts were based on the user's or user's friends' actions. The majority of the sponsoring advertisers were from companies established after the year 2000, and only 11% were leading US advertisers.

Cultura e qualidade na Educação Física a partir de interlocutores uruguaios

Este texto discute como a cultura e a qualidade na educação são tematizados na educação física, no contexto uruguaio, tomando como base orientadora incursões por referenciais teóricos que atentem para essa problemática e colaborações de pesquisadores da área vinculados à Universidad de la República do Uruguay. As análises indicam que o tema cultura é secundário em relação às tradicionais abordagens da educação física uruguaia e que a qualidade da educação/educação física, apesar de complexa e orientada por interesses neoliberais, pode ser entendida como forma de acesso ao tratamento atualizado e crítico do conhecimento pelos sujeitos em formação.

Exploration and practice of scientific research ability training of students majoring in medical labo-ratory technology

The new training standards of medical laboratory technology demand the graduates of medical laboratory technology should have the basic scientific research ability and quality. In order to com-plete the teaching work better and achieve the above training objectives, the members of the research group have made some attempts, adopting PBL, CBL and other teaching methods in theoretical teaching, develop-ing open experiments and comprehensive design experiments in experimental teaching, organizing students to study extracurricular undergraduate subject in spare time, in order to provide some basis for the training of students majoring in medical laboratory technology. Key words: Application type; Laboratory technology; Scientific research ability

Mass casualty education for undergraduate nursing students in Australia.

With the increasing risk of mass casualty incidents from extreme climate events, global terrorism, pandemics and nuclear incidents, it's important to prepare nurses with skills and knowledge necessary to manage such incidents. There are very few documented accounts of the inclusion of mass casualty education within undergraduate nursing programs. This paper is the first to describe undergraduate mass casualty nursing education in Australia. A final year Bachelor of Nursing undergraduate subject was developed. The subject focused on initial treatment and stabilisation of casualties predominantly within pre-hospital environments, and included a capstone inter-professional mass casualty simulation. Students experience of the subject was evaluated using the Satisfaction with Simulation Experience Scale (Levett-Jones et al., 2011) and a subject evaluation survey. Student satisfaction and evaluations were extremely positive. As a tool for developing clinical skills, 93% (n=43) agreed that the simulation developed their clinical reasoning and decision making skills. In particular, the simulation enabled students to apply what they had learned (77%, n=35, strongly agree). Due to the frequency of mass casualty events worldwide, there is a need for educational exposure in undergraduate nursing curricula. We believe that this mass casualty education could be used as a template for development in nursing curricula.

Inspiration From the Classroom: A Mixed Method Case Study of Interdisciplinary Sustainability Learning in Higher Education

AbstractWithin higher education there is widespread support for developing students’ interdisciplinary skills. Despite this, evidence for, and practice of, cross-faculty interdisciplinary sustainability learning remains in its infancy. Recent articles have shown that Australia is no exception. This article provides a case study of interdisciplinary learning and teaching within a cross-faculty Education for Sustainability (EfS) undergraduate subject involving science, arts, business, and health students at an Australian university. A description of the subject and its theoretical context provides a platform for presenting the findings of a mixed method enquiry into how pedagogy supports interdisciplinary sustainability learning. The sequential explanatory research design involved a post-subject quantitative survey analysed using SPSS, augmented by qualitative student journal data (n = 67) using phenomenological analysis within NVivo. The study found that students, regardless of discipline background, valued the processes and pedagogy used to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and awareness. The experience left students feeling more skilled and confident of their ability to contribute to future interdisciplinary sustainability collaboration. This case study, replete with a subject description, theoretical context for an innovative pedagogical approach and study results, provides higher education professionals with a template for deliberative curriculum and pedagogy that promote interdisciplinary knowledge, skills and confidence that may contribute to transformative learning that supports EfS goals. The article presents a strong case for future EfS curriculum frameworks and strategic education policy to include deliberative interdisciplinary pedagogy. It also challenges higher education institutions to create flexible systems that facilitate cross-faculty interdisciplinary learning that is necessary for preparing students for the future.

In God we trust? Neural measures reveal lower social conformity among non-religious individuals.

Even in predominantly religious societies, there are substantial individual differences in religious commitment. Why is this? One possibility is that differences in social conformity (i.e. the tendency to think and behave as others do) underlie inclination towards religiosity. However, the link between religiosity and conformity has not yet been directly examined. In this study, we tested the notion that non-religious individuals show dampened social conformity, using both self-reported and neural (EEG-based ERPs) measures of sensitivity to others’ influence. Non-religious vs religious undergraduate subjects completed an experimental task that assessed levels of conformity in a domain unrelated to religion (i.e. in judgments of facial attractiveness). Findings showed that, although both groups yielded to conformity pressures at the self-report level, non-religious individuals did not yield to such pressures in their neural responses. These findings highlight a novel link between religiosity and social conformity, and hold implications for prominent theories about the psychological functions of religion.

Phishing suspiciousness in older and younger adults: The role of executive functioning.

Phishing is the spoofing of Internet websites or emails aimed at tricking users into entering sensitive information, with such goals as financial or identity theft. The current study sought to determine whether age is associated with increased susceptibility to phishing and whether tests of executive functioning can predict phishing susceptibility. A total of 193 cognitively intact participants, 91 younger adults and 102 older adults, were primarily recruited through a Psychology department undergraduate subject pool and a gerontology research registry, respectively. The Executive Functions Module from the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery and the Iowa Gambling Task were the primary cognitive predictors of reported phishing suspiciousness. Other predictors included age group (older vs. younger), sex, education, race, ethnicity, prior knowledge of phishing, prior susceptibility to phishing, and whether or not browsing behaviors were reportedly different in the laboratory setting versus at home. A logistic regression, which accounted for a 22.7% reduction in error variance compared to the null model and predicted phishing suspiciousness with 73.1% (95% CI [66.0, 80.3]) accuracy, revealed three statistically significant predictors: the main effect of education (b = 0.58, SE = 0.27) and the interactions of age group with prior awareness of phishing (b = 2.31, SE = 1.12) and performance on the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery Mazes test (b = 0.16, SE = 0.07). Whether or not older adults reported being suspicious of the phishing attacks used in this study was partially explained by educational history and prior phishing knowledge. This suggests that simple educational interventions may be effective in reducing phishing vulnerability. Although one test of executive functioning was found useful for identifying those at risk of phishing susceptibility, four tests were not found to be useful; these results speak to the need for more ecologically valid tools in clinical neuropsychology.

The impact of a sense of self-efficacy on the level of stress and the ways of coping with difficult situations in Polish nursing students

IntroductionDuring their first practical classes at a clinical ward nursing students face a new environment; they take on new roles which is associated with stress and a need to handle it. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a sense of self-efficacy on the level of stress and the ways of coping by Polish nursing students during the first practical classes at a clinical ward. Material and MethodsThe study included 394 undergraduate subjects studying nursing at two universities in Southern Poland. The study used the method of diagnostic questionnaire and estimation. The research tools included: an original questionnaire, Stress Scale (PSS10), Inventory to measure coping with stress (Mini Cope) and Generalized Self-efficacy Scale (GSES). Data analysis was performed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 21 for Windows. The verification of differences between variables was performed using χ2 independence test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The level of significance was accepted at α=0.005. ResultsThe level of stress and a sense of self-efficacy in majority of tested nursing students were high. The people with low levels of perceived stress had a significantly higher sense of self-efficacy (rhoSpearman=−0.196; p=0.0001). The people with a higher sense of self-efficacy significantly more often used active strategies in stressful situations, such as Active coping (rhoSpearman=0.284; p<0.0001), Planning (rhoSpearman=0.318, p≤0.0001), Positive revaluation (rhoSpearman=0.228, p<0.0001), Acceptance (rhoSpearman=0.188; p=0.0002), Seeking Emotional Support (rhoSpearman=0.123; p=0.0143). ConclusionsA sense of self-efficacy had a significant impact on the level of stress and the ways of coping with difficult situations in nursing students.

The importance of assessing clinical phenomena in Mechanical Turk research.

Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) website provides a data collection platform with quick and inexpensive access to diverse samples. Numerous reports have lauded MTurk as capturing high-quality data with an epidemiological sample that is more representative of the U.S. population than traditional in-person convenience samples (e.g., undergraduate subject pools). This benefit, in combination with the ease and low-cost of data collection, has led to a remarkable increase in studies using MTurk to investigate phenomena across a wide range of psychological disciplines. Multiple reports have now examined the demographic characteristics of MTurk samples. One key gap remains, however, in that relatively little is known about individual differences in clinical symptoms among MTurk participants. This paper discusses the importance of assessing clinical phenomena in MTurk samples and supports its assertions through an empirical investigation of a large sample (N = 1,098) of MTurk participants. Results revealed that MTurk participants endorse clinical symptoms to a substantially greater degree than traditional nonclinical samples. This distinction was most striking for depression and social anxiety symptoms, which were endorsed at levels comparable with individuals with clinically diagnosed mood and anxiety symptoms. Participants' symptoms of physiological anxiety, hoarding, and eating pathology fell within the subclinical range. Overall, the number of individuals exceeding validated clinical cutoffs was between 3 and 19 times the estimated 12-month prevalence rates. Based on the current findings, it is argued that MTurk participants differ from the general population in meaningful ways, and researchers should consider this when referring to this sample as truly representative. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Impact of Technology-supported and Triangulated Writing Tasks on a Pilot Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Subject for Construction Disciplines

Abstract This article presents findings from the technology-supported implementation of triangulated writing tasks in a pilot interdisciplinary subject for construction disciplines in a Hong Kong university, and discusses these findings in relation to the broader issues of collecting, assessing, and reporting evidence of student learning in higher education. The writing tasks were writing-intensive activities delivered through Blackboard Learn 9.1, including 5 ePortfolio-based (TreeDBNotes 3.38) individual writing assignments, at least 1 individual blog entry, and 1 end-of-semester group report. 53 students from all departments within the Faculty of Construction and Environment participated in the study. The study was driven by two questions: (i) how might these technology-supported writing tasks provide triangulated data to demonstrate student learning? (ii) what kinds of other learning evidence could be collected from these writing tasks? The directed content analysis of these writing tasks found that (i) a longitudinal inclusion of various technology-supported writing tasks had a positive effect on the attainment of the subject learning outcomes, and that (ii) the educational issues associated with student learning processes and others could also be determined from them. These results suggest that the writing tasks piloted here can serve as a rigorous alternative for demonstrating evidence of student learning. More studies are needed on the generalizability of such an alternative.

Core Content for Undergraduate Medical Education in Spain: Recommendations of the Instructors’ Group of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV)

BackgroundSkin problems are among the most frequent reasons for seeking medical attention in primary care. In recent years, as a result of the process of adapting medical curricula to the requirements of the European Higher Education Area, the amount of time students spend learning the concepts of dermatology has been reduced in many universities. Material and methodsIn order to reach a consensus on core content for undergraduate education in dermatology, we sent a survey to the 57 members of the instructors’ group of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV), asking their opinions on what objectives should be set for a dermatology course in Spain. A total of 131 previously selected objectives were listed. We then applied the Delphi method to achieve consensus on which ones the respondents considered important or very important (score ≥4 on a Likert scale). ResultsNineteen responses (33%) were received. On the second round of the Delphi process, 68 objectives achieved average scores of at least 4. The respondents emphasized that graduates should understand the structure and functions of the skin and know about bacterial, viral, and fungal skin infections, the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and the 4 main inflammatory dermatoses. Students should also learn about common complaints, such as itching and bald patches; the management of dermatologic emergencies; purpura and erythema nodosum as signs of internal disease; and the prevention of STDs and skin cancer. During clinical clerkships students should acquire the communication skills they will need to interview patients, write up a patient's medical history, and refer the patient to a specialist. ConclusionsThe AEDV's group of instructors have defined their recommendations on the core content that medical faculties should adopt for the undergraduate subject of dermatology in Spain.

Selection process for psychiatry residents in India: Does it need reorganization?

The selection process for Psychiatry Residency Training Programmes in India is quite different from Western developed nations. The Indian medical graduates are required to take a multiple-choice question based competitive entrance examination that covers all undergraduate subjects for entry to all postgraduate specialties. Residency position allocation is conducted through “counseling” based upon the rank or percentile secured in this examination. This process of resident selection is fraught with certain risks which are discussed. The alternative possible selection systems are also evaluated for their advantages and potential concerns. Residency selection procedure needs are constrained by the practicalities of local resources, social structure, and system of medical education. And changes, if any should be implemented after careful and cautious consideration. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Systems-based practice, Professionalism, Interpersonal skills and communication.

Contenidos fundamentales de la Dermatología en el grado de medicina en España. Recomendaciones del grupo de profesores de la Academia Española de Dermatología y Venereología

BackgroundSkin problems are among the most frequent reasons for seeking medical attention in primary care. In recent years, as a result of the process of adapting medical curricula to the requirements of the European Higher Education Area, the amount of time students spend learning the concepts of dermatology has been reduced in many universities. Material and methodsIn order to reach a consensus on core content for undergraduate education in dermatology, we sent a survey to the 57 members of the instructors’ group of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV), asking their opinions on what objectives should be set for a dermatology course in Spain. A total of 131 previously selected objectives were listed. We then applied the Delphi method to achieve consensus on which ones the respondents considered important or very important (score≥4 on a Likert scale). ResultsNineteen responses (33%) were received. On the second round of the Delphi process, 68 objectives achieved average scores of at least 4. The respondents emphasized that graduates should understand the structure and functions of the skin and know about bacterial, viral, and fungal skin infections, the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and the 4 main inflammatory dermatoses. Students should also learn about common complaints, such as itching and bald patches; the management of dermatologic emergencies; purpura and erythema nodosum as signs of internal disease; and the prevention of STDs and skin cancer. During clinical clerkships students should acquire the communication skills they will need to interview patients, write up a patient's medical history, and refer the patient to a specialist. ConclusionsThe AEDV's group of instructors have defined their recommendations on the core content that medical faculties should adopt for the undergraduate subject of dermatology in Spain.

Hidden in Plain Sight: Locating, Validating, and Advocating the Stigma Experiences of Women of Color

In this commentary, we reflect and expand on Remedios and Snyder’s (2015) target paper “How Women of Color Detect and Respond to Multiple Forms of Prejudice.” We, initially, address the perceived lack of available women of color participants for human behavior studies conducted in the United States. We offer remedies to this expectation of deficits in order for researchers to retool their recruitment plans for traditional undergraduate subjects. Specifically, we highlight the changing demographic profiles of U.S. undergraduate students and we draw attention to potentially overlooked campus-based sources of women of color participants. Next, we discuss validated measures for researchers interested in assessing individuals with multiply-stigmatized group identities. The individual difference measures (double consciousness and chronic ostracism experiences) as well as an explicit evaluation (Strong Black Woman schema) may inform pending research examining group processes, health-related indicators, and predicted behaviors. Moreover, we identify critical areas of psychological research that can inform administrators of public policies and enlighten stakeholders for institutional transformations. In particular, we focus on factors that affect representation and retention of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields in the Unites States. In sum, these suggestions have extensive implications for enhancing research on the stigma experiences and responses to prejudice for women of color, by providing U.S. researchers with practical solutions for recruiting women of color and measuring their experiences.

The Role of Prior Warning on Test Performance: How Effective Is It to Improve Students' Grades?

Students' use of test information to prepare for a test in a controlled or supervised test environment has been examined in studies outside Australia. This paper reports the findings of the use of test information and its value, in terms of an improvement/decline in marks, in an actual test of an undergraduate subject taught at an Australian university. Using a questionnaire survey of students, the study finds that students overall don't perceive test information useful, there is no statistically significant difference in performance between known and unknown questions, students' scores improve from the use of information and in some instances the improvements are statistically significant between students with different characteristics. The paper contributes to our understanding of students' willingness to use information and the benefits of such information to study and perform for improved test scores. The study has implications for educators making test information available as a preferred practice or universities using it as part of a policy to improve student retention rates or supplement evaluation of students' learning.