Success or Failure in a Core University Unit: What makes the difference?

Dickson, Judith; Fleet, Alma; Watt, Helen Margaret Gilchrist

doi:10.1080/07294360050020471

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Thus the implied age effect is such that performance declines with age (the negative coefficient on Ln(AGE)), but there are returns to maturity, in the sense that this decline sets in at a higher level from age 21 and age 30. 13 Such an implied age effect may go some way to explaining the inconclusiveness in the literature with regard to the impact of age on student performance. That is, there is not a simple relationship between age and performance, with declining performance by age not necessarily being inconsistent with there being some benefits deriving from maturity.…”

Section: Multivariate Analysis Of Student Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, while there is a general acceptance that mature students adopt a 'deeper' approach to their learning, there is some uncertainty as to how this translates into performance. Dickson et al [13] refer to evidence that suggests that mature students outperform younger students in humanities subjects, but not in sciences. They quote other evidence suggesting some confusion with regard to the impact of age.…”

Section: Agementioning

confidence: 99%

“…That is, there is not a simple relationship between age and performance, with declining performance by age not necessarily being inconsistent with there being some benefits deriving from maturity. The remaining variables (the number of IT seminars attended over the semester 13 A range of non-linear variants of the age variable were tested, including quadratic and cubic formulations, but the formulation used here was the only one that proved to be consistently statistically significant. (ITSEMINARS)), and whether or not the student had matriculation qualifications (MATRIC -takes on the value 1 if a student has a matriculation qualification, 0 otherwise) 14 appeared not to have a statistically significant influence on achievement.…”

Section: Multivariate Analysis Of Student Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Widening participation in higher education: student quantitative skills and independent learning as impediments to progression

Pokorny

2005

International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and

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The UK government's widening participation strategy, and the concomitant development of a mass higher education system, has imposed a variety of pressures on higher education institutions. Not least of these is the changing nature of the student population, and the assumptions that can be made about its skills and knowledge base. It should not be surprising that this rapid expansion of the higher education system has resulted in declining student progression and retention rates. This paper takes a case study approach and attempts to identify the range of factors that might explain the variability of student performance on a first year undergraduate introductory statistics module. The paper concludes that there are no simple predictors of success or failure. However, there is evidence to suggest that any innovations in delivery need to take account of individual student development and that the presumption that students can rapidly become independent learners upon initial entry to higher education is an unrealistic one.

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Section: Multivariate Analysis Of Student Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Multivariate Analysis Of Student Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Widening participation in higher education: student quantitative skills and independent learning as impediments to progression

Pokorny

2005

International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and

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“…The methodology is transferable to other courses and universities in New Zealand. Other courses would require a different mix of factors depending on the specific requirements of each institution (Dickson, Fleet, & Watt, 2000). In terms of application beyond New Zealand, the measure would depend further upon the availability of national or other relevant data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The development of a pre-enrolment screening tool to inform targeted support services in the first year in health sciences

Kokaua¹,

Sopoaga²,

Zaharic³

et al. 2014

Int J FYHE

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Pacific students are from a minority group in New Zealand who like minority groups in other countries find transition to university difficult and success elusive. Nowhere is that successful transition more important at the University of Otago than in Health Sciences First Year (HSFY) which is a competitive entry pathway to health professional courses. Retention for Pacific students is similar to other students but poor academic achievement remains. Tinto argues that students' pre-entry attributes are major contributors to success in first year of university study. The aim of this paper is to describe the development of an instrument which predicts the performance of prospective students in the first year at university. The purpose of the instrument is to inform the development of tailored interventions aligned with students' needs. The instrument also provides an early proxy for student engagement and a benchmark for evaluating ongoing interventions.Please cite this article as: Kokaua, J., Sopoaga, F., Zaharic T., & Van der Meer, J. (2014). The development of a pre-enrolment screening tool to inform targeted support services in the first year in health sciences.

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“…Studies of possible age-related decline in cognitive abilities that could limit options of field changes with aging have suggested a slowing in some aspects, particularly in response speed and memory, but have also highlighted compensatory behaviours such as attention to detail and association strategies for memory recall (Greller & Simpson, 1999;Shimamura et al, 1995). The approach to study of mature-age students, especially with previous university qualifications (Dickson, Fleet, & Watt, 2000), and their perseverance, are superior to those of younger students (Richardson, 1995), and they can outperform younger students in humanities courses but not in science (Smythe, Knuiman, Thornett, & Kiiveri, 1990). Mature-age university students can also do well in mathematics courses but in a British study, success was related to having the necessary prerequisite level of maths (A-levels) and being under age 35 (Hirst, 1999).…”

Section: Person-in-situation Factors Influencing Occupational Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifelong career mobility and change options in knowledge occupations: career pathway implications of initial degree choices

Eggins¹

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Because of the social, personal and financial benefits of paid work activities, occupational choices, and lifelong career options warrant careful consideration. Rapid social, technological and organisational change is theorised to produce changes in the world of work where future, or 'new careers' will be characterised by high levels of mobility; and the demand for knowledge workers (with a university qualification) in a 'knowledge economy' with be high. Paradoxically there is some agreement that the level of mobility varies between levels of occupations, and is inversely related to education level, so that mobility would be lowest in knowledge occupations. However, from inadequate definitional precision, the type of workforce mobility referred to in these predictions and observations is unclear. In the 'new careers', individuals are increasingly seen to have the freedom and opportunity to construct and manage their own careers lifelong by adding skills and knowledge to an existing set, changing sets, or changing mode of practice, for example to self-employment, or relocating. However knowledge occupations tend to be bounded by mandatory qualifications and other controls, which could make the option of mobility by changing skills and knowledge sets at level, costly in time and money. Factors such as age and gender have also been found to affect choices of field of study and employability on graduation.Information about the level and nature of future mobility options is important for individuals contemplating high initial investments of time and money in their education for labour market entry and lifelong career development. The populist current and future mobility discourse propagated politically and in the media, has the potential to misinform university aspirants about the type and level of their lifelong career pathway options, and warrants clarification.The present study examined the current situation regarding skills and knowledge-set adjustments and changes in knowledge occupations by Australian university graduates, by focusing on skillsand-knowledge-based mobility and change among knowledge occupations. Fields of qualifications, rather than self-reported names of occupations were used as more accurate indicators of actual skills and knowledge sets. The fields of past and recent qualifications of individuals who had undertaken further credentialing were compared to determine the extent to which people with qualifications in a particular field actually chose further study in a different field, as an indication of future occupational intent and of perceived change options. This research also explored the motivations for studying a different skills and knowledge-set, and the influence of demographic, contextual and social factors. A mixed method design was employed and undertaken in two phases. Phase 1, a quantitative study, sourced the Australian Graduate Survey responses as a large secondary data base iii from which patterns of change between educational fields were examined together with their as...

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Success or Failure in a Core University Unit: What makes the difference?

Cited by 16 publications

References 9 publications

Widening participation in higher education: student quantitative skills and independent learning as impediments to progression

Widening participation in higher education: student quantitative skills and independent learning as impediments to progression

The development of a pre-enrolment screening tool to inform targeted support services in the first year in health sciences

Lifelong career mobility and change options in knowledge occupations: career pathway implications of initial degree choices

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