scholarly journals Investigating Determinants of Student Satisfaction in the First Year of College in a Public University in the State of Qatar

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bothaina Al-Sheeb ◽  
Abdel Magid Hamouda ◽  
Galal M. Abdella
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Current System ◽  
College Experience ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Social Engagements ◽  
First Year Student

Purpose. A first-year student’s life is a web of interrelated academic and social experiences. Most universities have rigorous processes to achieve excellence or reach high-quality standards, with “Student Satisfaction” being the central focus of all of higher education aims for excellence. This study examined the influence of various academic, social, and environmental aspects on the overall satisfaction of first-year students. Design. A questionnaire was designed and administered to first-year students, and the resulting data were analyzed using correlation, linear regression, binary logistic regression, and artificial neural networks. Findings. The findings suggested that three of the five factors explored—100-level course satisfaction, a sense of belonging, and citizenship knowledge and skills—were the best determinants of the level of first-year student satisfaction. Originality. This study examined the influence of academic, social, and environmental factors on overall student satisfaction with the college experience. Many studies have focused on how factors such as student attitudes, perceptions, and academic and social engagements impact first-year student success and retention; however, few studies have attempted to explore the influence these factors have on student satisfaction and their overall perceptions of the college experience. Discussion and Conclusion. This study has provided a snapshot of some of the key determinants of the overall student satisfaction of the first-year experience. This study can assist college administrators and instructors in their quality assurance initiatives which may include reviewing the current system, setting college priorities, and planning and allocation of future resources to better achieve higher levels of student satisfaction.

scholarly journals How the Implementation of a First-Year Experience Program Could Improve Student Satisfaction and Sense of Belonging at an Urban Mid-Sized College

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Wilkin
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
College Experience ◽  
College Experiences ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
The Creation

This study gathered information from first-, second-, and third-year on-campus students to better understand their perceptions of their college experiences and how the creation of a first-year experience program could improve student satisfaction and sense of belonging at an urban mid-sized college. The qualitative data in this study revealed the importance of utilizing students’ perceptions to improve the college experience.

scholarly journals Student Perspectives on First Year Experience Initiatives Designed for Pre-service Teacher in their First Weeks of University Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-117
Author(s):  
Kevin Larkin ◽  
◽  
Leonie Rowan ◽  
Barbara Garrick ◽  
Catherine Beavis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Institutional Support ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Retention Performance ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Pre Service Teacher

Universities throughout Australia are increasingly investing significant amounts of time and money in efforts to improve the quality of first year students’ experiences and, by extension, increase retention, performance and student satisfaction. This paper reports upon a pilot research project conducted at a Queensland university that investigates student understandings of, and reactions to, a range of initiatives put in place to enhance their “first year experience”. The research showed that students had mixed reactions to the initiatives put in place to support them and that staff played a vital role in terms of how students responded to various forms of institutional support. In analysing the results the paper demonstrates the need for ongoing research into how a diverse cohort of students make sense of the first year experience they are offered.

Mentoring, Advocacy, and Leadership: Revisiting First-Year Student Advocate Award Recipients

NASPA Journal ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle M. White ◽  
Ralph G Anttonen
Keyword(s):  
Change Agents ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Length Of Service ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Resource Center ◽  
Campus Leaders ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Student Advocates ◽  
First Year Student

This study revisited research on award-winning campus leaders who were effective change agents working on the behalf of first-year students (Anttonen & Chaskes, 2002). Participants were recipients of the “Outstanding First- Year Student Advocate Award” given annually by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition from 1990–2004. The results of the revised survey revealed the female and male First- Year Student Advocates (N = 64) to be senior members in length of service at their institutions (M age = 14.9 years). The research gathered data concerning each Advocate’s perceptions of their own advocacy and mentoring backgrounds and whether they were passing these skills to the next generation of Advocates. The study validated that the Anttonen and Chaskes Skill Set (2005) from the earlier research on First-Year Advocate Award Recipients was passed on to their protégés and being a “change agent” was an important component in this process.

scholarly journals Re-building the first year experience, one block at a time

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trish McCluskey ◽  
John Weldon ◽  
Andrew Smallridge
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Retention Performance ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Strategic Initiative ◽  
Design Structure ◽  
University Systems ◽  
Unique Model ◽  
Seamless Transition

For many years, universities around the world have been developing and enhancing the First Year Experience (FYE), with a view to improving retention, performance and student satisfaction.  This feature practice report outlines a strategic initiative, launched in 2018 at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia that aims to transform the experience of Victoria University’s first-year students on an unprecedented scale. This unique model reconceptualises the design, structure and delivery of first year units of study in order to deliver a program that deliberately focuses on students’ pedagogical, transition and work/life balance needs.  This initiative required the disruption and redevelopment of all university systems to ensure students experience a supportive and seamless transition into, and journey through, their first year of study at university.

scholarly journals First year student expectations: Results from a university-wide student survey

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Crisp ◽  
◽  
Edward Palmer ◽  
Deborah Turnbull ◽  
Ted Nettelbeck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Student Survey ◽  
Student Expectations ◽  
Constructive Dialogue ◽  
First Time ◽  
First Year Student

Although much has been written on the first-year experience of students at higher education institutions, less attention has been directed to the expectations of students when they enter an institution for the first time. This paper provides additional insights into the expectations of students at an Australian university and highlights areas in which students’ expectations may not necessarily align with the realities of common university practices. By providing opportunities for students to articulate their expectations, staff are able to use the responses for a constructive dialogue and work towards a more positive alignment between perceived expectations and levels of student satisfaction with their experience.

scholarly journals Selective Planning of the First Year Experience in Higher Education: A Sweden-Australia Comparative Study of Support

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Michael Christie ◽  
Sorrel Penn-Edwards ◽  
Sharn Donnison ◽  
Ruth Greenaway
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
Fourth Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Satellite Campus ◽  
First Case ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The University

Literature on the support of the First Year Experience (FYE) in institutions of Higher Education provides a range of modelled approaches. However, we argue that institutions still need to selectively plan which approach/es and attendant strategies are best suited to their particular contexts and institutional policy and practice frameworks and how their FYE is to be presented for their particular student cohort. This paper compares different ways of supporting students in their first year in two contrasting universities. The first case study focuses on a first year course at Stockholm University (SU), Sweden, a large, metropolitan, single campus institution, while the second investigates a strategy for supporting first year students using a community of practice at a satellite campus of the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), a small regional university in South-East Queensland, Australia. The research contrasts a formal, first generation support approach versus a fourth generation support approach which seeks to involve a wider range of stakeholders in supporting first year students. The research findings draw conclusions about how effective the interventions were for the students and provide clear illustrations that selective planning in considering the institution’s strategic priorities and human, physical, and resource contexts was instrumental in providing a distinctive experience which complemented the institute and the student cohort. (212 words)

scholarly journals Using photo elicitation to understand first-year student experiences: Student metaphors of life, university and learning

2020 ◽  
pp. 146978742090838
Author(s):  
Ella R Kahu ◽  
Catherine Picton
Keyword(s):  
University Student ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
Photo Elicitation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Elicitation Method ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
First Year Student

The transition from school to university is challenging and a greater knowledge of the first-year student experience will enable staff to better support their students. University- and government-run student surveys fail to capture the depth and breadth of the first-year experience and so qualitative research is needed to get a more nuanced and holistic understanding of students’ lives. The study described in this article used a photo elicitation method. We asked students to choose four images that represented their first year at university. The data – the chosen photographs and the students’ explanations of their choices – were thematically analysed, focusing in particular on the diverse metaphors students used to depict three dimensions of their experiences: life, university and learning. The findings highlight the dual nature of the transition to university – learning to be a university student and learning to be an adult – as well as the challenges and stresses of that process. The lack of agency that students felt is evident. The students likened their journey to a rollercoaster and talked of not being able to keep up with the fast-moving curriculum. They depicted themselves as passive acquirers of knowledge. The findings offer new ways for staff to understand the challenges that potentially disrupt student engagement in the first year. Both students and staff could benefit from recognising the metaphors in their thinking and, potentially, seeking new metaphors that might reveal different and more positive ways of experiencing the first year in higher education.

Influence of Training on First-Year Nursing Department Students’ Attitudes on Death and Caring for Dying Patients: A Single-Group Pretest–Posttest Experimental Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgül Cerit
Keyword(s):  
Student Attitudes ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Attitudes Toward Death ◽  
Dying Patients ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Nursing Department

The study examined the influence of training on first-year nursing department students’ attitudes on death and caring for dying patients. Utilizing the experimental model, the study sample consisted of 81 first-year students attending the nursing department of a university. Death Attitude Profile-Revised and Frommelt Attitude toward Care of the Dying Scale were used for data collection. Data analysis included means, standard deviation, and t test for related samples. Student attitudes toward death were measured as 146.43 (16.741) and 152.75 (15.132) for pre- and posttraining, respectively. Student attitudes toward caring for dying patients were established to be 103.02 (7.655) during pretraining period and 111.02 (10.359) at posttraining period. The difference between pre- and posttests for mean attitudes toward death and caring for the dying patient was statistically significant. Study results determined that training was effective in forming positive student attitudes toward death and caring for dying patients.

scholarly journals A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Presentation Formats for Instruction: Teaching First-Year Students

2000 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Anne Germain ◽  
Trudi E. Jacobson ◽  
Sue A. Kaczor
Keyword(s):  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Class Session ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
New Students ◽  
Presentation Formats ◽  
The University

First-year experience (FYE) programs offer librarians opportunities to teach new students in a comprehensive fashion. However, large FYE programs can place demands on user education programs that are difficult to meet. Instruction librarians at the University at Albany sought to address this dilemma by developing a Web-based instructional module for one class session. The module was used by a segment of students in the Project Renaissance FYE program, whereas another segment received instruction by a librarian. The effectiveness of the two instructional methods was compared using pre- and post-tests, and was found to be equal. Analysis of the test scores also showed that instruction, regardless of format, makes a significant difference (p < .05) in the number of correct test answers.

scholarly journals The ‘Double Transition’ for First-Year Students: Understanding the Impact of Covid-19 on South Africa’s First-Year University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92
Author(s):  
Annsilla Nyar
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Student Transition ◽  
Double Transition ◽  
First Year University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Academic Cycle ◽  
Special Category ◽  
First Year Student

While all students are affected by the advent of the Covid‑19 pandemic, the first‑year student population remains a special category of vulnerability for higher education. This is on account of the way the Covid‑19 pandemic has disrupted their transition into university and complicated the nature of their entry into and through the formal academic cycle. This article uses the notion of a ‘double transition’ as a framework for positioning and locating the first‑year student transition within the context of the prevailing Covid‑19 pandemic. ‘Double transition’ refers to an additional transition coupled with that of the first‑year transition, with regard to the extraordinary situation of students navigating their entry into the unfamiliar terrain of academia while simultaneously navigating the Covid‑19 pandemic. The article provides a circumscribed summary of the effects of Covid‑19 on university students and looks to describe and explain the nature and shape of first‑year transitions in relation to the transition necessitated by the Covid‑19 pandemic. It concludes with four key strategies for supporting first‑year students as the pandemic continues.

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