Semester Course Load and Student Performance

Huntington-Klein, Nick; Gill, Andrew M.

doi:10.1007/s11162-020-09614-8

Cited by 25 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the academic landscape and presented daunting challenges to how students take courses (Huntington-Klein and Gill, 2020). Because of the lockdowns caused by the pandemic, students are forced to study remotely at home supported by a variety of digital tools.…”

Section: Digital Competence's Importance For University Students' Psychological Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory

et al. 2021

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This study conceptualized digital competence in line with self-determined theory (SDT) and investigated how it alongside help-seeking and learning agency collectively preserved university students’ psychological well-being by assisting them to manage cognitive load and academic burnout, as well as increasing their engagement in online learning during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Moreover, students’ socioeconomic status and demographic variables were examined. Partial least square modeling and cluster analysis were performed on the survey data collected from 695 students. The findings show that mental load and mental effort were positively related to academic burnout, which was significantly negatively associated with student engagement in online learning. Digital competence did not directly affect academic burnout, but indirectly via its counteracting effect on cognitive load. However, help-seeking and agency were not found to be significantly negatively related to cognitive load. Among the three SDT constructs, digital competence demonstrated the greatest positive influence on student engagement. In addition, female students from humanities and social sciences disciplines and lower-income families seemed to demonstrate the weakest digital competence, lowest learning agency, and least help-seeking behaviors. Consequently, they were more vulnerable to high cognitive load and academic burnout, leading to the lowest learning engagement. This study contributes to the ongoing arguments related to the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and informs the development of efficient interventions that preserve university students’ psychological well-being in online learning.

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Section: Digital Competence's Importance For University Students' Psychological Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory

et al. 2021

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“…Other reports indicate that students taking courses in the summer perform better due to decreased overall course loads, less course material, and smaller class sizes that allow for more student–professor interactions in the summer as compared with full fall or spring semesters ( Allen et al, 1982 ; Lombardi et al, 1992 ; Fish and Kowalik, 2009 ; Fischer et al, 2020 ). However, most reports indicate that there are no differences between summer courses and standard spring or fall semester courses ( Scott, 1995 ; Anatasi, 2007 ; Huntington-Klein and Gill, 2021 ). These reports corroborate our results of no difference in final score between spring, summer, and fall semesters and no difference in the likelihood of students to be low performing.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of course format, sex, semester, and institution on student performance in an undergraduate animal science course

Vinyard

Peñagaricano

Faciola

2022

Translational Animal Science

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The transition of courses from in-person to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic could have potentially affected overall student performance in lecture-based courses. The objective of this case study was to determine the impact of course format, as well as the effects of student sex, time of year at which the course was taken, and the institution it was taken at on student performance in an undergraduate animal science course. The course used for this study was taught at two institutions (University of Florida; UF and University of Nevada, Reno; UNR) over seven years (2014-2017 at UNR and 2018-2021 at UF). Student performance (n = 911) was evaluated using both quizzes and exams from 2014 through the spring semester 2020 and only exams were used for summer and fall semesters of 2020 and the spring and summer semesters of 2021. The final score (out of 100%) for each student was used to evaluate student performance. In addition, students were classified as high performing students if they scored ≥ 95% and low performing students if they scored ≤ 70%. The variables that were evaluated were the effects of semester (spring, summer, or fall), institution (UF or UNR), sex (male or female), number of teaching assistants (TAs; 0 to 13), and course format (online or in-person). The course was taught in-person at UNR and in-person and online at UF. The spring semester of 2020 was taught in-person until March but was switched to online approximately nine weeks after the semester started and was considered an online semester for this analysis. As the course was only taught online at UF, the variable course format was assessed using UF records only. Data was analyzed using both linear models and logistic regressions. The probability that students were high performing was not affected by sex or institution. Interestingly, both fall semester, and the online format had a positive, desirable effect on the probability that students were high performing. The probability that students were low performing was not affected by sex. However, if a student performed poorly in the class, they were more likely to have taken the course at UNR, or at UF with many TAs. Thus, student performance was impacted by changing the course format, as well as institution, the number of TAs, and the semester in which the course was taken.

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“…Especially when students are not college-ready, advisors consider enrollment in too many courses to be risky. However, this impulse to protect students from too many courses has equity implications, as minoritized students are more likely to be underprepared for college-level work, but research shows they can benefit from an increased credit load and/or enrollment in summer courses (Attewell & Monaghan, 2016; Attewell et al, 2012; Huntington-Klein & Gill, 2020). Incentivizing enrollment in one more course may be a more inclusive strategy to promote increased credit momentum for community college students—many of whom must prioritize the present rather than longer-term opportunity costs when making enrollment decisions—than a traditional 15 to Finish program.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incentivizing Full-Time Enrollment at Community Colleges: What Influences Students’ Decision to Take More Courses?

McKinney

Burridge

Lee

et al. 2022

Community College Review

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Objective: Students’ enrollment intensity during their first academic semester and year are highly influential in their success and decisions to persist in community college. Limited research, however, has focused on understanding how students navigate the decision-making process of determining their credit load or how institutional support services, such as academic advising, influence these decisions. Our objective was to advance knowledge on this topic by examining the implementation of a 15 to Finish campaign to promote full-time enrollment at a large, racially/ethnically diverse community college system in Texas. Methods: We interviewed 24 students and eight academic advisors to identify key factors that influence recommendations for, and selection of, course load. The collection and analysis of the data employed the critical qualitative inquiry method, and data were analyzed through low- and high-level coding processes using reconstructive analysis. Results: The factors influencing student decision-making fall into three major areas: (1) academic performance, (2) financial considerations and other costs, and (3) advising experiences, with academic performance framing students’ discussion. Academic advisors agreed with the importance of full-time enrollment for students’ success and recognized the importance of reducing time-to-degree, but believed many students were not academically prepared or had too many commitments to enroll in 15 credits each semester. Conclusion: Consequently, a “one-more-course” approach may be more attractive for both students and advisors. We outline recommendations that better enable community college students to make optimal credit load decisions, which in turn can increase their academic momentum and chances for degree completion.

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Semester Course Load and Student Performance

Cited by 25 publications

References 68 publications

How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory

How Does Digital Competence Preserve University Students’ Psychological Well-Being During the Pandemic? An Investigation From Self-Determined Theory

The effects of course format, sex, semester, and institution on student performance in an undergraduate animal science course

Incentivizing Full-Time Enrollment at Community Colleges: What Influences Students’ Decision to Take More Courses?

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