Academic entitlement, an attitude marked by students' beliefs that they are owed something in the educational experience apart from what they might earn from their effort, has received attention recently in the literature. In previous work, academic entitlement has been shown to be related to parenting styles and personality constructs. The current study departs from previous research by taking a phenomenological approach to understanding academic entitlement. Focus groups were conducted with a total of 52 first-year students. Responses were coded into six facets of academic entitlement: product value of education, social promotion, role of professors, teaching assistants, administrators, and shoppers or scholars.

With technology at the fingertips of most undergraduate students, it has been difficult for instructors to fully engage students in the classroom, which has resulted in the creation of several innovative assessment platforms, such as mTuner. mTuner integrates several cognitive learning strategies within an assessment, with the goal of actually enhancing learning, as opposed to just measuring it. In the current study, students’ level of engagement and performance with mTuner were compared to their final multiple-choice paper and pencil exam mark to determine the efficacy of mTuner in achieving improved learning outcomes. Results indicated that students had high performance scores on the mTuner assessment despite their limited engagement in the cognitive learning features, putting to question mTuner’s facilitation of long-term learning. Implications and future recommendations of mTuner implementation in educational environments are discussed.

Two new courses at the University of Windsor are opening a door to thinking about information literacy and curricular integration in very different ways. The courses, Ways of Knowing and Mentorship & Learning, were originally designed to help with retention and transition issues. They were also founded on the concept of peer-led learning at the university level. In this model students are able to organically connect with their peers in a way that is not always possible with faculty and librarians. It did not take long to see the potential in using peer mentors as conduits in the transfer of information literacy skills. This article tells the story behind the development of two information literacy courses and the mistakes that had to be made before the connection between mentors and information literacy could be seen. It also shows that by involving faculty and students in the design and delivery of an information literacyintegrated curriculum the library can accomplish far more than any one-shot, tool-based session.

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This paper reports the results of a multi-stage effort to develop a measure of Academic Entitlement. An empirical/rational approach was taken to develop items and reduce the item set for a final version of the Academic Entitlement Scale (AES). The measure includes seven dimensions: Accommodation, Reward for Effort, Responsibility Avoidance, Grade Haggling, Customer Orientation, Customer Service Expectations, and General Academic Entitlement. Fit, using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, for the seven-factor correlated model and a bifactor model including General AE and the six specific factors, was good. The full measure is reported along with descriptive statistics for the scale and preliminary validation evidence.