Session Information
11 SES 03 B, Higher Education Quality
Paper Session
Contribution
In this study, the researchers tried to explore factors that could effectively discriminate the high achievers and low achievers of college students based on their academic performances. As the growing numbers of colleges and decreasing numbers birth rate, it became much more easy to be admitted into a college in Taiwan. In the past decades, the number of colleges as well as the number of college students increased rapidly in Taiwan, that about 72.07% of young adults aged between 18 to 21 were attending colleges in 2005, and only 9.83% in 1981 (Huang, 2006). As a result, according to most college instructors, the learning achievements of college drop rapidly in recently years. It urged the researchers to study factors that contributed to learning achievements and to find out the way to improve the learning achievements of college students.
In general, factors related to students’ learning achievement can be classified into two categories, namely situational factors and personal factors. Situational factors referred to the nature of curriculum and the evaluation processes. Personal factors referred to the cognitive abilities (Case, 1991; Ginsburg, 1997; Hegarty, Mayer, & Monk, 1995; Jordan & Montani, 199; Lu, 2002), the gender (Jansne & Bruinsma, 2005), achievement motivation (Bandura, 1977; 1997;Chen & Zimmerman, 2007;McKenzie, Gow, & Schweitzer,2004; Schiefele & Csikszentmihalyi, 1995;Schunk, 1984;2000), and the fit of learning style to the curriculum (Eggens, van der Werf, & Bosker, 2008; Lin & Graf, 2009;Tully, Dunn, & Hlawaty, 2006). Some researchers have found that inexperienced learners applied different learning strategies than the good learners and strategy training could improve students learning achievement across different ages (Cassidy & Eachus, 2000; Mayer, 1981;Peniston, 1994). The learning strategies related to college learning including the strategies to enhance one’s cognitive and metacognitive processes, note taking strategies, time management strategies, strategies to enhance achievement motivations, exam preparation and test taking strategies (Cassidy & Eachus, 2000;Haynes, Daniels, Stupnisky, Perry, & Hladkyj, 2008; Haynes, Ruthig, Perry, Stupnisky, & Hall, 2006;Lindblom-Ylanne, 2004; Peniston, 1994). How college students evaluated their abilities in learning and how they applied those strategies could have effect on their academic performances.
In order to improve the situational factors to enhance the learning achievement of college students, the researchers tried to explore the maladjusted learning behaviors that differentiated the low achievers from the high achievers.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bandura, A.(1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. Bandura, A.(1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman. Cassidy, S., & Eachus, P. (2000). Learning Style, Academic Belief Systems, Self-report Student Proficiency and Academic Achievement in Higher Education. Educational Psychology, 20(3), 307-322. Chen, P., & Zimmerman, B. (2007). A Cross-National Comparison Study on the Accuracy of Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Middle-School Mathematics Students. Journal of Experimental Education, 75(3), 221. Eggens, L., van der Werf, M. P. C. & Bosker, R. J. (2008). The influence of personal networks and social support on study attainment of students in university education. Higher Education, 55, 553-573. Graf, S., Lin, T., & Kinshuk (2008). The relationship between learning styles and cognitive traits – Getting additional information for improving student modelling. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 122-137. Lin, T.-Z. & Graf, S. (2009). Coping with mismatched courses: students’ behaviour and performance in courses mismatched to their learning styles. Educational Technology Research & Development, 57(6), 739-752. Peniston, L. C. (1994). Strategies on Time Management for College Students with Learning Disabilities. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Center for Academic Support Programs, Nov. 3-4, Lubbock, TX.
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