Bakgrund: Nyutexaminerade sjuksköterskor upplever övergången från student till yrkesutövningen som skrämmande. Det är av vikt att de praktiska utbildningsplatserna till studenterna ska finnas tillgängliga med resurser för praktisk utbildning och handledning. Syfte: Att belysa nyutexaminerade sjuksköterskors upplevelser av sitt första år i sin yrkesutövning. Metod: Allmän litteratur studie, där 14 vetenskapliga artiklar granskades. Resultat: Sex kategorier framkom: Farhågorna i den nya yrkesrollen; Att känna sig redo i den nya yrkesrollen; Arbetskläder- ökad status; Otillräcklig erfarenhet; Stressig arbetsmiljö och Brist på stöd och handledning. Diskussion: De tre viktigaste fynden var otillräcklig erfarenhet, stressig arbetsmiljö samt brist på stöd och handledning. Att vara oerfaren i den nya rollen upplevdes som en jobbig period. Konflikter i teamet ledde till stress och hälsoproblem. De nyutexaminerade sjuksköterskorna uttryckte en önskan om bättre handledning och stöd. Slutsats: Nyutexaminerade sjuksköterskor behöver stöd och handledning i form av introduktionsprogram under första året. / Background: Newly qualified nurses are experiencing the transition from student to profession as appalling. It is important that the training places to students shall be available resources for training and introduction. Aim: To highlight the newly graduated nurses ' experiences of their first year in their profession. Method: General literature study in which 14 scientific articles were reviewed Findings: Six categories were found: Fears of the new professional role; To feel ready in the new professional role; Uniform- increased status; Insufficient experience; Stressful work environment and Lack of support and tutoring.Discussion: The three most important findings was insufficient experience, stressful work environment and lack of support and tutoring. Being inexperienced in the new role was perceived as a tough period. Conflicts in the team led to stress and health problems. The newly graduated nurses expressed a desire for better guidance and support. Conclusion: Newly graduated nurses need support and guidance in the form of introduction program during the first year.

The growing Latino population is directly affecting institutions of higher education. Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), whose stated missions do not specifically address Latinos, are becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). As HSIs continue to emerge across the country, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are also responding to demographic shifts, especially in Texas. Although their historic mission focuses on educating African Americans, some Texas HBCU presidents and administrators maintain that their supportive campus environment could serve as a possible opportunity for Latino student success. HBCU outreach efforts offer a variety of areas for further investigation, but the intent of this study was to examine the first, critical year and perceptions of sense of belonging. Furthermore, since Mexican Americans represent the majority of Latinos in Texas, indeed the country, this qualitative study specifically focused on the first-year experiences of Mexican Americans in a Texas HBCU. The primary methods for data collection included two semi-structured one-on-one interviews, a student questionnaire, campus observations, and analytic memos. Thus, the current study sought to fully document the first-year experience and perceptions of sense of belonging as recounted by second- to fifth-year Mexican American students enrolled in a Texas HBCU. / text

Many higher education institutions offer first-year college students the opportunity to participate in second-year retention programs in order to support the persistence of college students who seek assistance in navigating the college experience. Research regarding the traits that characterize second-year students and what the second-year experience entails is still in progress. (Braxton, 2000; Hunter et al. 2009; Schaller, 2000, 2005, 2010; Schreiner & Pattengale, 2000). While the existing research has built the foundation for research around the second-year experience, additional research is required to compose a truly holistic picture of the second-year experience. The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of first-year students who choose to apply to second-year retention programs and why they choose to apply to such programs. The study will address three research questions. 1. What are the characteristics of students who apply to participate in a second-year retention program? 2. What student noncognitive variables reflect which students apply to participate in a second-year retention program? 3. What factors do first-year students consider when determining whether or not they will participate in a second-year retention program? A mixed methods explanatory design (Cresswell & Plano-Clark, 2007) was implemented to investigate the research questions. The research population was composed of 337 first-year college students, primarily first generation students and students of color, eligible for participation in a second-year retention program at a large research institution in the western United States. This study hopes to contribute to a greater understanding of the characteristics of first-year students who choose to apply to participate in second-year retention programs and why they choose to apply. The findings can inform universities as to how they can offer more effective support of second-year students in a manner relevant to their needs. / text

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performances on speaking assessments in a first semester Spanish course to determine if there are differences among four sections based on required speaking tasks and mode of class delivery. Two of the classes were conducted online in a distance education delivery mode and two of the classes were conducted in the classroom. One section of delivery mode was required to fulfill speaking tasks throughout the semester while the alternate sections were offered the same speaking tasks as optional activities. Furthermore, the study investigated testing items repeated prompts versus new prompts to determine if there were differences in performance. Finally, the study investigated student performance confidence and beliefs about course materials. The data were collected through quantitative methods (oral rubric scores) and qualitative methods (open-ended questions). A total of 64 students participated in the study. Eight students completed the distance education course with optional speaking tasks. Thirteen students completed the distance education course with required speaking. Eighteen students completed the classroom course with optional speaking, and 24 students completed the classroom course with required speaking. In general, all classes made improvement between the first assessment and the second assessment. However, the mean performance scores for three of the four speaking prompts did not show significant difference among the four classes. In addition, there were no significant differences in mean scores of performances at the introduction of the two new speaking tasks on the final assessment. Only with one speaking repeated measure was there a significant difference. The significant difference was between the classroom with required speaking section and the distance education with optional speaking section. With an analysis of the Target Language Use, it was determined that the differences were due to lexical complexity and morphological complexity. In general, the self-report of confidence levels on the final oral assessment showed no significant differences among the four classes. There was a significant drop in confidence on one of the two new assessment prompts for all classes. Student comments indicated that there were frustrations with cognitive overload and dealing with ambiguity. / text

The aim of this study was to examine first year teachers' experiences incorporating instructional technology into their teaching through the lens of Technology-Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Technology-Pedagogical Content Knowledge is a fairly new concept drawn from the concept of Pedagogical Content Knowledge, originating with Shulman. Participating teachers were graduates of a Southwestern University's College of Education laptop initiative that required all College of Education students to purchase a laptop. The laptop was used throughout their pre-service teaching course work. The first graduating cohort of this initiative was surveyed during their first full year of teaching. Ten of those surveyed then participated in interviews and journal writing related to their technology integration experiences. Results indicated that for the most part these new teachers are not facing access and support related barriers to technology use, though time constraints are still an issue. Results also indicated that the teachers are using technology in their instructional activities, and are continuing to grow in their technology integration skills. The basis in technology use from their College of Education combined with the technology-supportive school atmosphere in which they teach appears to be an environment that is fostering teachers who are willing to experiment with technology integration and are planning how to integrate it more in the coming school year. Their understanding of the connections between technology, content and pedagogy, their t-PCK, are developing and transforming. Impact on the field includes a greater understanding of how teachers come to design lessons for technology integration as well as a greater understanding of how graduates from teacher preparation programs with an emphasis on technology integration are able to apply their skills upon entering the teaching field. / text

The work writer: Gailė Mitkienė The work project: Teachers opinion about them first year job at the school and teachers preparation quality in the Lithuanian higher education establishments The place of work : Lithuanian University of Agriculture, Department of vocational pedagogy and psychology, Academy, Akademija, 2005 - 2006 The work composition are: 2 table, 23 pictures, 4 appendendixes Size of work: 78 pages Sources of literature: 40 Object of research: Teachers opinion about them first year job at the school and teachers preparation quality in the Lithuanian higher education establishments Method of research: 1. Scientific literature review; 2. questionnaire survey; 3. processing of statistics by paperless of „SPSS“. Results of research: 1. Teachers working from first to third and fifth and more year at the school opinion about them first year job at the school and teachers preparation quality in the Lithuanian higher education establishments 2. The results show that largest part (88 %) of beginners teachers affirmed that in the adaptation the first year job at the school was easy and semi-skilled. 3. Just a third part (38 %) of beginner teachers and quarter part of (20 %) teachers with experience affirmed that the fully stretched professional competence during study time. That result it is thawing make assumption that quality of teachers preparation is not good in Lithuanian higher education establishments. 4. The biggest part (92 %) of beginner teachers... [to full text]

Tyrimo objektas: pirmaklasių laikysena, jos sąsajos su kuprinės svoriu. Tyrimo problema: kiekvienais metais blogėja į mokyklą ateinančių pirmokų ir ypač vyresnių klasių mokinių sveikata. Sveikatos statistikoje nurodoma, kad vienas dažniausių sveikatos sutrikimų, pasitaikančių mokyklinio amžiaus vaikams – laikysenos sutrikimai. Šio darbo tikslas - nustatyti pirmaklasių laikysenos priklausomybę nuo mokyklinės kuprinės svorio. Tyrimo tikslui pasiekti buvo iškelti tokie tyrimo uždaviniai: 1) Nustatyti pirmaklasių laikyseną be kuprinės; 2) Nustatyti kaip pakinta moksleivio laikysena užsidėjus kuprinę; 3) Nustatyti pirmaklasių laikyseną, priklausomai nuo kuprinės svorio. Keltos dvi hipotez���s. Pirma teigė, kad „pirmaklasių, užsidėjusių kuprinę, laikysena, lyginant su jų pačių laikysena be kuprinės, pablogėja“. Antroji – kad „pirmaklasių, nešiojančių rekomenduojamą svorį atitinkančias kuprines, laikysena, lyginant jų laikysena be kuprinės, nepablogėja“. Pirmą hipotezę tyrimas patvirtino, antros – ne. Tiriamieji: 43 neatsitiktine tvarka iš Kazlų Rūdos pradinės mokyklos parinkti pirmos klasės mokiniai. Buvo atliekami mokinių matavimai (ūgio, svorio, kuprinės svorio, kojų ilgio) ir fotografavimas (frontaliniu, sagitaliniu ir dorsaliniu planu laikysenos be kuprinės įvertinimui bei sagitaliniu planu laikysenos su kuprine įvertinimui. Išanalizavus 258 nuotraukas, padarytos šios išvados: 1. Pirmaklasių laikysena, net esant be kuprinės, turi įvairių nukrypimų nuo normos, nei vieno tirto... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Object of research: the first year schoolchildren‘s posture and it‘s dependence of backpack‘s weight Problem of research: Children’s, who first comes to school and especially children’s in higher forms health becomes more bad every year. Health statistics notes, that one of most common health disturbancies in school age children is postoral deviations. The intention of this research is to find out the first year schoolchildren‘s posture and it‘s dependence of backpack‘s weight. To reach the intention of research we raise these tasks of research: 1) To establish the first year schoolchildren‘s posture without backpack; 2) To establish how changes the first year schoolchildren‘s posture after he/she puts the backpack on; 3) To find how changes the first year schoolchildren‘s posture, depending of backpack weight. We raised two hypothesis. The first said, that “first year schoolchildren‘s posture, when they has their backpack on, comparing with their posture without backpack, becomes worst”. The second – that “first year schoolchildren‘s, who carry the backpack which mach for his/her weight, posture, if compare with their posture without backpack, is changeless”. Research have proved the first hypothesis, the second was wrong. Exploratories: 43 first year school childrens of Kazlu Ruda primary school. To reach our intention of research we made childrens measuremensts (height, weight, packpack weight and legs height) and tooked photos of each child from frontal, sagital and... [to full text]

First year college student retention is important to colleges and universities nationwide (Bean, 2005). Most of the research on retention focuses on self-report data collected from students after they withdraw from the institution. The present study focuses, instead, on student stories about school, as well as at and about “home” during their first semester. The experiences of students who transition from high school to college are sometimes likened to those of individuals who enter a new culture for the first time. Thus, this dissertation is grounded in cross-cultural adaptation theory (Kim, 1988, 2001), which posits that successful adaptation occurs via a stress-adaption-growth dynamic and a gradual process of acculturation toward the new environment and simultaneous deculturation from the previous environment. Stories—in the form of in-class free writing assignments—were collected from 264 first-year college students three times during their first semester. These assignments were designed to capture students’ perceptions about their experiences and interactions at school, as well as their experiences and messages to, from, and about “home” as they evolved over the course of the semester. A thematic analysis revealed the majority of stories about events at school were negative and an overwhelming majority of the stories about events at home were positive. A longitudinal comparative analysis revealed no decrease in the percentage of negative stories about experiences and interactions at or about school. Moreover, stories focused on positive school related experiences decreased over time while stories about positive experiences at or about home gradually increased over the course of the semester. For students who did not enroll for spring semester, the results were similar but more dramatic. A large percentage of non-returners were female, about half were first generation college students, and a majority reported “home” as less than 100 miles from the university. More research ought to focus on what goes on during a student’s first year of college to better understand reasons for withdrawing. In doing so, college and university professionals will be able to work more effectively with high school officials, parents, and students to achieve success once they graduate from high school.

The focus of the present study was to determine the most effective assessment method to demonstrate beginning teacher competency as perceived by school administrators, teacher education faculty, and practicing teachers in Indiana. Earlier studies examined the compelling reasons why traditional assessments (such as Praxis I and II) were developed and the arguments that supported or negated their continued use. Research relating to nontraditional or alternative assessment (Assessment Portfolio) uncovered a different perspective toward teacher evaluation. The literature produced examples of portfolios used at a variety of levels to instruct and assess. Finally, several studies focused on the competencies needed by beginning teachers. The present study sought to investigate the perceptions of three categories of education experts as demonstrated by their selection of the assessment method(s) for each INTASC disposition competency. In addition, each participants' years of experience were included to allow a comparison between the method selected and the level of experience.Participants from 25 colleges and universities plus 119 school corporations (N=372) responded to the Beginning Teacher Competency Assessment Survey. The survey consisted of thirty-seven disposition competencies from the newly adopted INTASC Standards and a choice of one of the following assessment methods: Praxis, Indiana Beginning Teacher Internship Program, Assessment Portfolio, or None. Respondents were asked to select the best assessment method to provide evidence of each competency.The assessment method selected most frequently was the Indiana Beginning Internship Program (66%). Next, the Assessment Portfolio was selected by an overall 27%. Praxis was selected least by the participants (7%). Results revealed teacher education faculty were more likely to select the portfolio than either school administrators or practicing teachers for specific disposition competencies. No empirical evidence indicated that the level of experience influenced the assessment selection. Finally, differences within each category in relation to assessment method selection could not be computed through an interactive nominal logistical regression due to the low number of Praxis responses. However, a simple cross tabulated analysis suggested several within group differences. The meaningful differences within each category were between the Indiana Beginning Teacher Internship Program and the Assessment Portfolio based on four or more years of experience. / Department of Special Education

Higher education systems are imperative to social and economic upliftment in any society, the ability of the national labour force and income disparity differentials between members of the populous are directly associated to academic achievement and associated pass rates in higher education. The apparent utility of higher education is however overshadowed by poor student retention, academic performance and consequent pass rates and is an issue of concern at both an international and local level. The identification of factors that could potentially improve student academic performance and consequent attainment of a tertiary qualification is becoming an increasingly important field of research. Research into such factors would have wide reaching implications in South Africa, where high unemployment rates and talent migration plague efforts to build a strong national economy. The primary imperatives of this research undertaking were to investigate the relationship between hope, social support, fluid intelligence and academic achievement in the form of grade point average (GPA), as well as determine the extent to which hope and social support moderate the relationship between fluid intelligence and GPA. The research method is comprised of a literature review and empirical study. Data collection was conducted via a cross-sectional survey design, with an availability sample (N = 308) being taken from first year students at a higher educational institution. The Hope Scale (HS), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Abstract Reasoning Test (ART) and biographical questionnaire were administered. Statistical analysis was carried out with the SPSS 20.0 programme. Principle component factor analysis provided confirmation of a four factor structure for the MSPSS, with the resultant factors being labelled Friend Support, Significant Other Support, Family Support and Lecturer Support. In this study the original 3 factor structure of the MSPSS was supplemented by adding the fourth dimension of lecturer support. A two factor structure for the HS was confirmed, with the resultant factors being labelled Agency Hope and Pathways Hope. All utilised scales indicated acceptable levels of reliability, with the resultant Cronbach alpha statistics ranging from 0,75 to 0,89. Pearson correlation coefficient correlations gave indication of a statistically and practically significant correlation of positive medium effect between fluid intelligence and grade point average. Social support from lecturers showed statistically and practically significant correlations of medium effect with social support from friends. Pathways hope was statistically and practically related to agency hope with a positive medium effect. No practically significant relations in this sample could be established between hope and grade point average and social support and grade point average. Statistically significant relations were established between lecturer social support and fluid intelligence and between agency hope and social support from significant other sources. The ability of fluid intelligence to predict grade point average was proven via regression analysis in which fluid intelligence was found to be a statistically significant predictor of grade point average. Proposed moderating effects of hope and social support on the relation between fluid intelligence and grade point average were tested via multiple regression analysis. Results indicated that within the parameters of the research sample in this study, no statistically significant moderating effects could be established for hope or social support. Based on these findings, a hypothesised cause for such relations was established based on the characteristics of the current research sample and research literature. Recommendations for future research were made, as well as organisational recommendations for the participating higher educational facility. / MA, Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012