Increased digitisation in higher education requires the usage of various information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, studies have shown that ICTs induce technostress. The purpose of this research is to explore how technology characteristics influence students’ technostress, and in turn their perceived academic performance. To examine this, a survey was sent out to student’s at MAU in Sweden and a bivariate analysis was conducted to analyse the data. The results showed some technology characteristics were associated with technostress, while some were not. The students’ technostress could, however, not be determined to have an association with their perceived academic performance. The study discusses possible contributing factors to the results.

Objective: To evaluate the association between the use of a 3D virtual App and academic performance among Peruvian medical students. In addition, factors associated with academic performance were also assessed. Methods: We conducted an analytical cross-sectional study in students enrolled in the Musculoskeletal System course during the first semester of 2019. Students filled out a data collection form and the "Self-directed learning readiness scale" (SDLRS) questionnaire adapted by Fisher, King, and Tangle. Linear regression models were carried out to assess the association between the appropriate use of the application and academic performance. Additionally, the factors associated with academic performance were evaluated using nested models, and beta coefficients were calculated by manual forward selection. Results: A total of 187 medical students were included. The 61% were female and the median age was 21 [20-22] years. The average grade was 13.5 +/- 2 and 21% reported an adequate use of a 3D App. No association was found between the use of the 3D App and academic performance in the adjusted model (a beta = 0.17; 95% CI: -0.45 to 0.80). We found that age (a beta = -0.22; 95% CI: -0.39 to -0.06), performing extracurricular activities (a beta = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.25 to 1.24) and having failed an anatomy/physiology course before (a beta = -2.11 to 95% CI: -2.9 to -1.8) were factors associated with academic performance. Conclusion: The adequate use of a 3D application to study the anatomy of the musculoskeletal system was not significantly associated with better academic performance. / Revisión por pares

El presente trabajo desarrolla una propuesta de negocio innovadora, viable y rentable, la cual consiste ofrecer el servicio de reforzamiento educativo para niños de nivel primario a través de una plataforma virtual que aplica la metodología de gamificación. Esta idea surgió porque existen muchos niños de 6 a 12 años que tienen un bajo rendimiento académico en las escuelas, generando problemas que conllevan a la pérdida de tiempo y dinero, ya que los padres tendrán que llevar a sus hijos a clases adicionales y lidiar con los horarios que no son flexibles. Debido a ello, se creó Aprendo Jugando, un negocio que brinda el servicio de reforzamiento educativo a través de una plataforma virtual diseñada para satisfacer la necesidad que tienen los padres, quienes son hombres y mujeres de NSE B y C de Lima Metropolitana. Estas personas buscan reforzar el aprendizaje educativo de sus hijos, a través de la motivación, entretenimiento (Gamificación) y Self-learning, la cual permite que el aprendizaje se vuelva divertido, permitiendo mejorar la retención y memorización del material educativo. Esta es una experiencia divertida que garantiza la calidad del aprendizaje del niño. Con esta propuesta innovadora incursionaremos en un mercado existente, pero insatisfecho con los servicios actuales y tradicionales, aplicando nuestra estrategia de diferenciación para reducir a la competencia. Finalmente, también se elaboró los flujos de caja proyectados y se analizaron sus resultados, a partir de ello se concluyó que el negocio será rentable, viable y generador de valor para sus inversionistas. / The present work develops an innovative, viable and profitable business proposal, which consists in offering the service of educational reinforcement for primary level children through a virtual platform that applies the gamification methodology. This idea arose because there are many children from 6 to 12 years who have low academic performance in schools, generating problems that lead to the loss of time and money, since parents will have to take their children to additional classes and deal with the schedules that are not flexible. Due to this, Aprendo Jugando was created, a business that provides the service of educational reinforcement through a virtual platform designed to meet the needs of parents, who are men and women of NSE B and C of Metropolitan Lima. These people seek to reinforce the educational learning of their children, through motivation, entertainment (Gamification) and Self-learning, which allows learning to become fun, allowing to improve the retention and memorization of educational material. This is a fun experience that guarantees the quality of the child's learning. With this innovative proposal we will enter an existing market, but dissatisfied with current and traditional services, applying our differentiation strategy to reduce competition. Finally, the projected cash flows were also elaborated and their results were analyzed, from which it was concluded that the business will be profitable, viable and generating value for its investors. / Trabajo de investigación

Magister Educationis - MEd / Parental involvement in their children’s schooling has been found to be an important factor with regard to children’s experience of schooling including their academic performance. This quantitative study focused on parental involvement at a school of skills in the Cape metropole, Western Cape. Epstein’s (2009) six typologies of parental involvement in their children’s schooling provided the theoretical framework of the study and guided the formulation of the research instrument and the data analysis of the study. A survey research design was used and 74 parent/caregiver participants were conveniently sampled after all ethical protocols were followed. The findings indicated that participants: (i) indicated a very positive attitude towards being involved in the education of their children at the school of skills and were inspired to be involved in the education of their children, (ii) were highly involved in the following typologies of parental involvement: learning at home, parenting and collaboration with community, (iii) communication between school and the parents as a form of parental involvement was found to be at a moderate level, (iv) participants were found to be minimally involved in decision-making as a form of parental involvement, (v) volunteering as a form of parental involvement was represented by low to moderate levels of involvement, (vi) participants’ marital status, forms of kinship relations with the learners at the school of skills (e.g. biological mother, foster parent) and levels of formal education were not found to have a significant statistical relationship with their levels of parental involvement in their children’s schooling. (vii) The challenges that participants faced with regard to their involvement in their children’s schooling included the following: a) a fair number of about 30% participants frequently found language as a barrier for them to assist their children with homework, b) about 46% of the participants indicated that they were seldom or never recruited by educators to volunteer at the School of Skills, c) about half of the participants indicated that their challenge was that they were not trained on how to offer their talents for volunteering at the school, d) participants also found it difficult to share information with the school about their child’s cultural background, talents, and needs.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty Of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in the Department of Sociology at the University Of Zululand, 2018 / In spite of numerous initiatives, resources and infrastructural provision, the continuous decline in Learners’ academic performance remains a global phenomenon that threatens economic development. Scholars have therefore been interested in unravelling factors that enhance or impede academic performance. Self-regulated learning (SRL) refers to a self-initiated and directed learning process; this agentic angle of the social cognitive theory introduces human agency as a solution to students declining academic performance. Self-regulated learning encompasses motivation, self-judgement, self-efficacy, cognition and assessment feedback. Current literature on self-regulated learning and academic performance is limited to subject specific investigations, which seek to determine suitable learning strategies for specific learning areas. The present study investigated the relationship between components of self-regulated learning and academic performance. The purpose of the study was to determine whether self-regulated learning could improve, the academic performance of high school students. Learners’ perceived levels of motivation, self-judgement, self-efficacy, cognition, assessment feedback and their self-reported academic performance were collated using a self-report questionnaire. Motivation, self-judgement, self-efficacy, cognition and assessment feedback are components of SRL. Each variable provides a skill or strategy that is linked to academic success. In a survey, (n=101), data was collected using the Likert scale type self-report questionnaires from grade 10 learners at Qhakaza High School, KwaDlangezwa, in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province of South Africa. In the first order of analysis, responses were reduced using Principal Components Analysis (PCA), to determine how questionnaire items contributed to the variables of interest. Furthermore, bivariate correlations and hierarchical stepwise linear regressions were carried out to establish simple relationships between the dependent and independent variables. The results showed that cognition and assessment feedback were the only two variables of self-regulated learning which were positively related to Learners’ academic performance. The result thus indicated, contrary to many past, studies that the perceived level of motivation, perceived level of self-judgement and perceived level of self-efficacy were statistically insignificant as predictors of Learners’ academic performance. The results of this study thus showed that cognition and assessment feedback are learning strategies that should be fostered towards improving Learners’ academic performance in high schools. Cognition and assessment feedback are two variables, which are mostly facilitated or provided by teachers. This implies that contrary to the propositions of the SRL’s agentic component, Learners’ responsibilities for their own learning outcomes may not be relevant in the sample of this study as none of the self-directed variables of perceived level of motivation, perceived level of self-judgement and perceived level of self-efficacy were correlated to academic performance. The main conclusion of the study was that not all components of self-regulated learning influence academic performance. It was therefore recommended that the teacher-learner approach should be revised to suit the contemporary classroom environments, since students still struggle with self-directed learning. / Prestige Bursary

Between January and December 2014, 68% of full-time hospitality management students at a southeastern university in the United States worked for pay more than 15 hours each week. Fifty percent of these students had a GPA of 2.5 or below, reflecting poor academic performance as benchmarked by the institution. The purpose of this study was to achieve an understanding of how full-time undergraduate hospitality students perceived the role of paid employment in their academic performance. The study was grounded by Astin's student involvement theory that requires an investment of psychosocial and physical energy by students for a successful college experience. Using a qualitative case study design, semi-structured interviews with 12 student participants were conducted. After pattern coding and thematic analysis, the data revealed that students perceived that they had to work for pay but did not manage their employment, college studies, and other demands on their time effectively. The findings indicated the need to integrate employment into the students' academic plan of study for academic credit. These results led to the development of a 3-day professional development project designed to help students manage full-time college and employment. The project also provided strategies for faculty members to integrate hospitality work participation into the students' academic experiences for credit. This study has implications for positive social change because an effective balance of college and employment combined with the integration of work and academic experiences may improve students' overall academic performance, leading to increased graduation rates and improved post-graduation employment opportunities for hospitality management students.

Mexican immigrants living in the United States face academic challenges as well as being exposed to stereotypes. Additionally, Mexican immigrants tend to report lower self-efficacy compared to their American counterparts. This quantitative study aimed to fill a gap in the literature by examining the impact that stereotype threat (STT) has on Mexican immigrants' academic performance and social self-efficacy using a two-way between subjects design. Self-efficacy theory and stereotype threat theory provided the theoretical foundation for the study. Caucasian and Mexican immigrants were randomly assigned to one of two groups- a group exposed to STT (Caucasian n = 94, Mexican immigrant n = 10) or a group who was not exposed to STT (Caucasian n = 155, Mexican immigrant n = 21) for a total of N = 280. All participants were given quantitative analysis questions, analytical reasoning questions, and a social self-efficacy questionnaire. Results showed that Mexican immigrants in the stereotype threat group and Mexican immigrants in the no threat group underperformed on the quantitative analysis and analytical reasoning measures compared to Caucasians in both of those groups. Mexican immigrants in the stereotype threat group and the no threat group also reported lower social self-efficacy scores compared to Caucasians. This research highlighted the importance of the impact stereotypes may have on academic performance and social self-efficacy, especially among immigrants. The implications for social change include insight for Mexican immigrants about the types of challenges they may encounter upon moving to the United States. Additionally, this research could extend the conversation about the various negative effects that stereotypes may have on immigrants' lives.

Engineering dynamics is a fundamental sophomore-level course that is required for nearly all engineering students. As one of the most challenging courses for undergraduates, many students perform poorly or even fail because the dynamics course requires students to have not only solid mathematical skills but also a good understanding of fundamental concepts and principles in the field. A valid model for predicting student academic performance in engineering dynamics is helpful in designing and implementing pedagogical and instructional interventions to enhance teaching and learning in this critical course. The goal of this study was to develop a validated set of mathematical models to predict student academic performance in engineering dynamics. Data were collected from a total of 323 students enrolled in ENGR 2030 Engineering Dynamics at Utah State University for a period of four semesters. Six combinations of predictor variables that represent students’ prior achievement, prior domain knowledge, and learning progression were employed in modeling efforts. The predictor variables include X1 (cumulative GPA), X2~ X5 (three prerequisite courses), X6~ X8 (scores of three dynamics mid-term exams). Four mathematical modeling techniques, including multiple linear regression (MLR), multilayer perceptron (MLP) network, radial basis function (RBF) network, and support vector machine (SVM), were employed to develop 24 predictive models. The average prediction accuracy and the percentage of accurate predictions were employed as two criteria to evaluate and compare the prediction accuracy of the 24 models. The results from this study show that no matter which modeling techniques are used, those using X1 ~X6, X1 ~X7, and X1 ~X8 as predictor variables are always ranked as the top three best-performing models. However, the models using X1 ~X6 as predictor variables are the most useful because they not only yield accurate prediction accuracy, but also leave sufficient time for the instructor to implement educational interventions. The results from this study also show that RBF network models and support vector machine models have better generalizability than MLR models and MLP network models. The implications of the research findings, the limitation of this research, and the future work are discussed at the end of this dissertation.

Over the past decades, online learning has contributed to a large percentage of educational success in higher education and K-12 learning environments. It has not only allowed a number of opportunities for students to receive education due to flexibility, reachability, but also additional course offerings and educational advancement. As K-12 online learning has continued to soar as an option for educating students, concerns relating to students’ success in these courses have arose. Due to the concerns relating to student success, researchers have sought to determine what attributes can contribute to student success in online courses offered to students in elementary and secondary education. Therefore, this study examined the relationships between academic success and demographic characteristics of high school students enrolled in online courses in order to determine the predictability of various academic and demographic characteristics on students’ success. The demographic and academic characteristics examined in the study included: gender, ethnicity, attendance, grade level, GPA, previous online experience, and lunch code (free, paid, or reduced lunch). The population for this study included 987 students who enrolled in online high school courses at central and southern Alabama high schools between the semesters of fall 2015 through spring 2017. After the data were coded and analyzed using a multiple logistic regression, four variables -- GPA, gender, grade level, and lunch code were found significant in the predictability of students’ success in an online high school course. The results showed: a) students with high GPAs, b) upper-grade level high school students, c) female students, and d) students who paid for their lunch -- tend to be more successful in completing an online high school course. The findings of this study can benefit school enrollment counselors, principals, administrators, and advisors to better assist with student enrollments in online high school courses. Future research is recommended to examine if any relationship existed between online high school student’s success and other academic and demographic characteristics such as students with learning disabilities, economic status of parents, number of disciplinary infractions, etc.

No description available.