Undergraduate Students’ Perception on Assessment Experience in a Malaysian Medical School: Comparison among Gender, Ethnicity and Phase of Study

INTRODUCTION: It is a well-known fact that assessment influences learning and study behaviour. Assessment affects what and how students learn, either positive or negative learning behaviour. This study was aimed to determine students’ perceived assessment experience and the comparison among different gender, ethnicity, and phase of the study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study. Assessment Experience Questionnaire (AEQ) version 3.3 was distributed to 324 undergraduate medical students of Universiti Putra Malaysia. The AEQ score among different gender, ethnicity, and phase of the study was compared using independent t-test and one-way ANOVA. RESULTS: Female students were found to develop a surface approach to learning, learn new things from the assessment, and be satisfied more with the teaching compared to males. Chinese students tended to put higher effort into learning compared to Malay. Clinical students valued more the feedback received and had clearer goals and expectations for their work than preclinical students. However, preclinical students tended to put a higher quantity of effort, learn wider coverage of syllabus and develop a surface approach of learning than clinical students. The respondents commented that feedback is lacking and suggested having more feedback sessions with their teachers after assessment. CONCLUSION: There were different assessment experiences and learning found among different gender, race, and phase of the study. These may affect their academic performance and are probably due to the curriculum setting. Understanding student assessment experience and its impact helps the faculty to improve the assessment structure for a conducive assessment environment and meaningful learning experience for the students.

Learning activities in the University of Rwanda’s distance teacher education materials: Some lessons for designers

Learning activities constitute a very important component of distance education materials. They are associated with active learning and learning by doing, which are widely accepted as effective learning approaches. Learning by doing is particularly significant in distance education because distance learners have to teach themselves or learn on their own through doing and reflecting. This article reports and reflects on research which focused on the distance education materials designed by the University of Rwanda’s College of Education to provide professional development opportunities for high school teachers of English in Rwanda. Findings from a textual analysis of the materials and from interviews with a sample of teachers who had used these materials indicate that most of the activities were designed solely for ‘assessment of learning’ purposes and encourage a surface approach to learning. It is argued that activities which encourage a surface approach to learning limit learners’ engagement with, and understanding of, the content in the materials and improvement in quality teaching, a key goal of teacher professional development.

STUDENT'S CONCEPTS OF AND APPROACHES TO LEARNING AND THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THEM

The study attempted to characterize students’ conceptions of learning and approaches to learning and revealing the correlation between the students’ concepts and approaches to learning. The researchers used qualitative content analysis and a descriptive approach. The study population comprised 90 male and female students of the Faculty of Educational Science in the HU University, Jordan, during the 2019/2020 academic year. The quantitative concepts were dominating among students (87.77%), especially the concept of learning as a knowledge increase (33.33%). On the other hand, the qualitative concepts of learning were low (12.22%), especially on the person change (2.22%). In addition, there was an emergence of a new concept of learning outside the traditional concepts, namely learning as exam preparation. The results showed that the deep approach to learning was low, and the surface approach to learning was high. The results further showed a correlation between the quantitative concepts of learning and the surface approach to learning, as well as a correlation between the qualitative concepts of learning the deep approach to learning. Hence, the general conclusion implies that if teachers are to place learners at the heart of the learning process, they must be aware of the concepts of learning and learning approaches of the students.

The Relationship Between Academic Trait Boredom, Learning Approach and University Achievement

This study explored factors that influence academic achievement and hence, future career prospects. The relationships between the factors, academic trait boredom, approach to learning and academic achievement were examined using data collected from university students at a small English university and from their student records. The initial statistical analysis revealed significant effects of gender on learning approach and two of the three academic trait boredom subscales. Female students proved to be less prone to academic trait boredom than their male counterparts. A model was then developed that showed how a student’s choice of learning approach was influenced by academic trait boredom and impinged on academic achievement. This modelling also confirmed that students who are more prone to academic trait boredom are also more likely to adopt a surface approach to learning rather than a deep or strategic one. The results of this investigation have implications for students, lecturers, course designers and learning support staff both here in this one location as well as elsewhere across the higher education sector.

Akademickie ocenianie i jego niezamierzone konsekwencje. Od wymiaru ukrytego do nowej kultury oceniania

The aim of the article is to present selected aspects of academic assessment as an element of a hidden curriculum. Based on the literature on the subject, the results of the research will be presented showing how the assessment system, deep rooted in educational environment, generates unplanned educational outcomes, including a surface approach to learning and various strategies of coping. Proposals of alternative solutions in evaluation procedures will be presented, involving active involvement of students in designing, managing and checking the effects of their own work. The new assessment culture should support the learning process and reduce the gap between the explicit and hidden curriculum.

A degree of studying? Approaches to learning and academic performance among student ‘consumers’

The marketization of higher education and focus on graduate employability and earnings data has raised questions about how students perceive their roles and responsibilities while studying for their degree. Of particular concern is the extent to which students identify themselves as consumers of their higher education, for example, whether they view their degree as a purchasable commodity to improve future earnings. This is because research has found that a stronger consumer identity is related to lower academic performance. This study examined whether this relation could be explained by the impact of a consumer identity on the extent to which students adopt deep, surface or strategic approaches to learning. The hypotheses were that the relation between consumer identity and academic performance would be mediated by approaches to learning, whereby a consumer identity would be related to adopting a more surface approach, a less deep approach and less strategic approach. Undergraduates completed an online questionnaire that assessed the extent to which they identified as a consumer, their approaches to learning and academic performance. The analysis partly supported the hypotheses: a stronger consumer identity was related to a more surface approach to learning. However, a surface approach to learning did not mediate the relation between consumer identity and academic performance. Conversely, a deep approach to learning mediated the relation between consumer identity and academic performance, whereby a stronger consumer identity was related to lower academic performance through its negative impact on a deep approach to learning. There was no relation between consumer identity and strategic approach to learning. Implications of students identifying themselves as consumers of their higher education are discussed.

Calculus Self-Efficacy Inventory: Its Development and Relationship with Approaches to learning

This study was framed within a quantitative research methodology to develop a concise measure of calculus self-efficacy with high psychometric properties. A survey research design was adopted in which 234 engineering and economics students rated their confidence in solving year-one calculus tasks on a 15-item inventory. The results of a series of exploratory factor analyses using minimum rank factor analysis for factor extraction, oblique promin rotation, and parallel analysis for retaining extracted factors revealed a one-factor solution of the model. The final 13-item inventory was unidimensional with all eigenvalues greater than 0.42, an average communality of 0.74, and a 62.55% variance of the items being accounted for by the latent factor, i.e., calculus self-efficacy. The inventory was found to be reliable with an ordinal coefficient alpha of 0.90. Using Spearman’ rank coefficient, a significant positive correlation ρ ( 95 ) = 0.27 , p < 0.05 (2-tailed) was found between the deep approach to learning and calculus self-efficacy, and a negative correlation ρ ( 95 ) = − 0.26 , p < 0.05 (2-tailed) was found between the surface approach to learning and calculus self-efficacy. These suggest that students who adopt the deep approach to learning are confident in dealing with calculus exam problems while those who adopt the surface approach to learning are less confident in solving calculus exam problems.

Reflection as a Process From Theory to Practice

Over the years, the education system in India has been following a surface approach to learning that is characterised by lecture-based classroom teaching and rote learning. However, there is a growing clamor for intersection of theory and practice in the field of management education. A shift in focus from a teacher-centric approach to a student-centric, learning-focused approach is required. There are many learning models that enable students to develop their cognitive abilities and to learn from experience. Several of these models are based on the practice of reflection. Reflection as a process is meant to facilitate self-awareness in the context of practice. This chapter aims at understanding the significance of reflection. It also proposes to throw light on the practice of reflection as understood by students and the role of the instructor in creating a learning environment in which reflective learning is facilitated.