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Interactive Student Planner is a web based application that will be used by students of California State University San Bernardino. The proposed system replaces the manual planner given to students by the school. This would allow a student to select courses for a quarter, keep track of homework due dates, create and manage project, create notes, create reports, prompts student for upcoming events, save and keep records of other students. A student can send project report as email to the professor, upload and download files easily. The manual way of storing information is not effective, since the student is limited in what to write and how to keep it safe. The on-line application fixes all these limitations in the manual system. The application is developed in APEX and runs on Oracle 11g as the back-end database. APEX is a data centric and a PL/SQL web application, and the application is built and runs on Windows Server 2012. The system is a mobile web based application and is compatible with most mobile phones irrespective of the operating systems and very responsive on tablets, and pc. In this project the required functionalities of the system will be explained, which includes APEX, web listener , Glassfish Server and how they will help in the deployment of the system. The system will provide a more efficient way of information processing with all the necessary security measures enforced.

The purpose of this study was to gather descriptive data on the experiences of Black female student athletes. A better understanding of the experiences of Black female student athletes as students, as athletes, and as developing young women may help student affairs practitioners better understand their collegiate experience; provide them with information to make decisions about student affairs programs, policies, services, and practices; and offer a subgroup of students who have historically been underrepresented in research an opportunity to share their stories. The study addressed the following research question: What are the college experiences of Black female student athletes during athletic eligibility at a large, predominately White, Division I, Midwestern, public university? Eight Black female eligible college student athletes were purposefully selected to participate in the qualitative study. Participants' ages ranged from 18-23 years and they self-identified as Black (n=3), Caribbean (n=3), and West Indian (n=2). The women were drawn from two sports: Basketball (n=2) and Track (n=6). Participants participated in two hour-long interviews. Data were coded and analyzed into categories. A process analysis enabled the key themes from the findings to be identified. Credibility and dependability were accounted through member checks and the use of three outside auditors. Four major themes emerged: Unfulfilled expectations during the college experience as an athlete, student, and developing young person; perceptions of being treated differently from her White female peers; complex relationships that deeply impacted participants' experiences in college both positively and negatively; and positive and negative forms of resistance in which participants' engaged in response to experiences during college. Themes were analyzed and divided into 13 major findings: Misleading recruitment; negative experiences with coaches; difficult transition from high school to college athletics; negative experiences with White teammates, coaches, and staff; social support among Black female athletes; difficult academic transition from high school to college; stereotyping and discrimination in the classroom; no meaningful relationships with faculty; involvement in co-curricular activities; complex relationships with Black men; complex relationships with White women; experiences with depression; and developing a stronger sense of self. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice are discussed in detail.

This study involved administering two rating forms (student self-rating on commitment and student rating of teacher rapport) to approximately 1,400 secondary students taught by 12 different teachers at two different high school Latter-day Saint (LDS) released time seminaries along the Wasatch Front in Utah. Seminaries and Institutes of Religion (S&I) function within the Church Educational System (CES) of the LDS Church, providing religious education for secondary students between the ages of 14-18. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between student, teacher, and course characteristics on student ratings of teacher rapport and to explore a possible relationship between student self-assessments on their own commitment to learning with student ratings on their rapport with their teacher. Evidence suggests that teacher characteristics such as the teacher's age and experience have little to no impact on student ratings of teacher rapport. Female students tended to rate their teacher more favorably on rapport than male students, although practical significance was minimal. Younger students reported greater interest in seminary and higher-grade expectancy. They also tended to rate themselves higher on commitment. A statistically significant difference was found for teacher rapport scores between two groups based on the order of test administration. Group 1--self-first (student self-rating before student rating of teacher rapport) reported higher levels of rapport than group 2--comparison (student rating of teacher rapport prior to student self-rating). Students tended to rate their teacher more favorably after completing a self-rating on commitment. Practical significance between study groups was minimal because findings were small. Further research is suggested based on these findings to seek more understanding regarding the relationship between student self-evaluations and student ratings of their teacher.

Many interacting factors need to be considered when contemplating the optimum conditions for the creation of a learning environment that is compatible with the aims of tertiary teaching and learning. In the current economic climate, the costs of creating learning environments that foster these aims is also a major consideration. Further, in this era of rapid technological development and change, there are increasing numbers of students of divergent age, experience and ability entering the tertiary sector. Teachers at this level are therefore faced with real problems in providing students with interesting and innovative learning environments that influence and encourage the use of a deep approach to learning and the development of real understanding.This longitudinal research project sought, through the development and introduction of various teaching and learning interventions, to influence nursing students' attitudes towards microbiology and consequently their approaches to learning and achievement. The instruments used in the intervention practices were developed as a result of suggestions by students and staff during the course of this study and were fashioned along the lines of two models of student learning developed by Kember and Gow (1989) and Biggs (1993a). The study also attempted to elucidate the major factors affecting student attitudes towards teaching and learning with multiple media and the relationship between students' attitude, achievement and their learning approach.Significant relationships were established in the study between positive attitudes towards microbiology, higher scores for higher level learning approaches and higher academic grades.The major factors that appeared to influence students' attitudes towards microbiology included: (1) students' interest in microbiology; (2) the relevance students perceived microbiology had to nursing; (3) ++ / students' perceptions of the quality of the microbiology unit and learning materials, (4) the nature of the pastoral care provided; (5) the availability of independent study options; (6) students' perceptions of the degree of difficulty of the unit; (7) the credit point values for the unit and (8) students' perceptions of overload.In this study, freedom of choice of learning materials and the factors interest in, and relevance of microbiology to nursing practice appear to be major forces associated with increased use of deep approaches to learning by the different student groups. Perceptions of a heavy workload, overload of information, lack of pastoral care and perceived inadequate credit point value given to the microbiology units demonstrated little effect in increasing the use of surface learning approaches by students. However, when students' ratings for interest and relevance were low, and these factors were present as a group or individually, they were shown to influence an increase in surface approaches with a corresponding decline in use of deep approaches to learning.Overall, the results derived from this study with regard to learning approach and attitude suggest that if interest in microbiology and the perceived relevance of microbiology to nursing is high, these factors will have a greater positive effect on the use of higher level learning approaches than the variables of overload, inappropriate credit point values and nomenclature problems will have in increasing the use of lower level learning approaches by students.Part of this investigation involved the possible identification of learning strategies that were used more often by students who tended to utilise higher level learning approaches in contrast to students who used lower level approaches. Strategies that evolved from the data collected across the quasi-experimental cohort included (1) ++ / discrimination between specific learning materials that best fitted with students' lifestyles and learning preferences; (2) discrimination between specific learning strategies that better suited different subject areas; (3) interrelating microbiology theory with patients' clinical presentations in the hospitals; (4) using self-assessment, working in groups or with a friend; (5) the use of organised and consistent study habits; (6) the use of mnemonics, note taking, rote learning and continual revision of facts to establish a base knowledge of the subject before linking of material across areas could be made; (7) use of graphs, diagrams and flow charts; and (8) the use of more interactive learning materials such as the CAL.

This program of research had two related aims: (1) to explore the problem of student attrition in the context of an Australian higher education institution, and (2) to investigate the efficacy of peer-mentoring as a retention strategy. Participants in this program of research were students commencing first-year studies in the School of Applied Psychology across two cohort years: 1996 and 1997. In 1996, a classic pre-test/post-test experimental design was adopted, with students (N = 118) randomly assigned to either a peer-mentoring treatment group or a control group. In 1997, while a classic pre-test/post-test design was also adopted, all students from this year (N = 162) participated in the peer-mentoring program. Thus, it was intended that the 1996 control group would be utilised for comparison with both the 1996 and 1997 treatment groups. Students were surveyed pre- and post-intervention across a number of personal, demographic, and academic achievement (e.g., tertiary entrance rank, and grade point average) variables. Students’ academic integration, social integration, institutional commitment, and goal commitment were measured using the Institutional Integration Scales (adapted from Pascarella and Terenzini, 1980). Students participating in the peer-mentoring program also completed a range of measures in order to evaluate its efficacy. The first part of the research program focused on the measurement and prediction of student retention and academic performance. The results of confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a six first-order factor solution provided the most parsimonious explanation of students’ responses to the Institutional Integration Scales. The six Institutional Integration Scales demonstrated moderate to good levels of reliability, with results being comparable to those achieved in previous studies. The results of structural equations modelling analyses suggested that students’ peer group interactions influenced their interactions with faculty, and both of these factors, along with their faculty concern for student development and teaching, influenced students’ academic and intellectual development, which in turn influenced students’ institutional and goal commitments. These results were taken to indicate the potential value of peer-based processes in aiding students’ institutional and goal commitment and subsequently reducing levels of student attrition. Given that significant differences were found between the 1996 and 1997 cohorts on a number of pre-test measures and other key indicators, investigations regarding significant predictors of students’ re-enrolment into second year and their first year grade point average were conducted separately for the two cohorts. The results of logistic regression analyses indicated that students’ first year grade point average was the only consistent and significant predictor of their re-enrolment into the second year of study across the two cohorts. Multiple regression analyses revealed that students’ tertiary entrance ranks and previous university attendance were consistently significant predictors of their first year grade point average across the two cohorts. Equipped with a better understanding of the factors that affect student attrition and academic performance, as well as the relationship between those factors, the second part of the thesis focused on the efficacy of two formal, group-based peer-mentoring relationships in assisting first year students make a successful transition to university. However, given that significant differences were found between the 1996 and 1997 cohorts on a number of pre-test measures and other key indicators, it was not possible to evaluate the efficacy of the 1997 peer-mentoring program relative to either the 1996 peer-mentoring program or control group. Nevertheless, the 1996 treatment and control condition groups were found to be equivalent on pre-test measures and indices, and thus were able to be compared. Overall, the results of a series of one-way ANOVAs revealed that the 1996 peer-mentoring program was found to have a positive effect on enhancing students’ re-enrolment into second year, persistence intentions, academic performance and self-reported adjustment, which was consistent with the direction of findings in previous studies. However, for a range of reasons, the effect of the 1996 peer-mentoring program on a number of these variables was not strong enough to reach statistical significance. Although there were trends towards significant differences between the 1996 treatment and control groups on a number of variables (i.e., students in the 1996 peer-mentoring program evidenced higher grades in PB11002: Introduction to Cognitive and Biological Psychology; and PB11008: Research Methods and Statistics; as well as higher scores on the Peer Group Interactions scale than students in the control group), the only significant positive difference of the 1996 peer-mentoring program was the improvement of students’ academic performance in one first year subject (i.e., PB11006, Introduction to Research in the Behavioural Sciences). Finally, exploratory factor analyses and reliability analysis of a mentoring functions scale revealed strong support for the presence of one, highly reliable, general mentoring function. Both the 1996 and 1997 program participants’ ratings of the performance of this general mentoring function were significantly and positively correlated with their self-reported academic and intellectual development. In addition, the 1997 program participants’ ratings of the performance of this general mentoring function were significantly and positively correlated to their self-reported peer group interactions, institutional commitments, goal commitments, and persistence intentions.

During the past fifteen years there has been increasing interest in the role of reflection in professional development, especially amongst teacher educators. Yet although many preservice programs now place considerable emphasis on encouraging and assisting student teachers to reflect on their practice, reflection remaings a problematic notion. There is little consensus, for example, about what constitutes reflection, how it might be identified, and whether it can be promoted. This thesis reports a longitudinal study conducted over four years which explored the above issues within the context of an early childhood teacher education program, in Sydney (NSW), Australia. The specific purpose of this study was to investigate changes in student teachers' reflection on their professional development and practice during their enrolment in the Guided Practice component of their preservice program. A strength of this study is its focus on reflection as a multidimensional phenomenon involving far more than the processes of analytical thought typically addressed by most previous research in this area. Drawing on an eclectic range of literature, this thesis argues that emotion, imagination, intuition, and contemplation can also play an integral role. As such, it asserts that reflection can be seen, in effect, as a complex and holistic search for meaning. Conceptualising reflection in this holistic manner raises numerous methodological challenges. These challenges and the methodological decisions made in response to them are outlined prior to developing profiles of the participants' reflection. These profiles indicated that there was little consistent change in the reflection of eight of the 18 participants. For four student teachers, on the other hand, there was some change, while for six, there was considerable change. Several factors which appeared instrumental in hindering or promoting these student teachers' reflection are identified. These include commitment (or lack of) to teaching and to reflection; an epistemological perspective of received or constructed knowing; and the extent to which the learning environment was perceived as supportive. The study concludes with a discussion of some of the implications for teacher educators and for those intending to undertake further research into reflection.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 135-144). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 114-122). Also available in print.

<p>The aim of this study is to investigate the notion of pupil influence in English teaching at level 1 and 2 at High-School level. The study focuses on how the students and teachers experience the possibility of influence in their English classes. Empirical data has been collected through questionnaires from two classes at year 1 and two classes at year 2 in English. The study also includes interviews from four teachers and four students. The study is both qualitative and quantitative. The results show that the majority of the students consider their possibility of influence in their English- learning to be very high in all schools to a great extent, even though the results showed that their influence in their teaching was not very extensive.</p><p>The way the students mostly influenced their teaching was when discussing the planning of their courses and through regularly made evaluations of their courses.</p><p>The teachers´ view on the pupil-influence was mostly linked to personal views and opinions of the matter as well as the referred information in the national curriculum for teachers. Overall the results show that the students´ and the teachers´ view on the influence seems to coincide very well.</p><p>The differences in year 1 and 2 at high-school in this investigation can mostly be seen by the fact that year 2 increasingly can influence their curriculum of their courses and that they also can influence how examinations are to be carried out in a more extensive way than the students in year 1.</p><p>The hypothesis of this essay, that pupil-influence should increase with age and level at</p><p>high-school proved to be a partly correct assumption, mainly because the majority of the students expressed that this was partly true. Nevertheless, both the teachers and the interviewed students claimed that influence increases with age, so maybe it is hard to make a clear conclusion out of these results.</p>