The purpose of this study is to investigate how a group of students experience their learning when working in groups, and determine if they prefer to work individually or in groups. This study will also investigate what the students believe that they learn when working in groups. The study is based on these two questions: How and what do students perceive that they learn from working in groups? Do the students in my study prefer to work in groups or individually? The method I have used to retrieve information has been to interview four different students. The interviews were individual; I did so to get a deeper view of how students perceive their own learning in groups. I chose a selection of students, two girls and two boys ranging in the ages from 15 to 16 years old, these pupils were all attending the same school. Social Constructivism is the theoretical perspective that my essay is based on. The key concepts of my essay are based on the terms "the horizon of understanding" which come from the hermeneutic research tradition and life-world which is a central concept in the phenomenological research tradition. The results from this study show that students believe that the spoken interaction in groups is important. The students believe that their individual learning can be developed further with the help of oral interactions, an example given is when students embrace new ideas and thoughts by talking to each other in groups. Based on the results of the interviews, students feel that their individual learning is affected positively when working in groups. This study shows that when students are being asked if they prefer to work in groups or individually, the answer is evenly divided, but with a small majority favoring to work in groups. However, almost all students who participated in my study believe that working in group is almost all the time a fun method of working and studying.

Belonging is a fundamental human need and this need is universal (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). How a student perceives their own belonging within a school and classroom can be predictive of their future engagement, motivation, achievement, and success of their interpersonal relationships. Students who feel connected are found to be less likely to engage in risky behaviours, be absent from school, or drop out of school entirely (Nichols, 2006; Anderman, 2003). Recent research on belonging has sought to examine the relationship between belonging and its outcomes on student behaviour (Anderman, 2003; Clegg, 2006; Goodenow, 1993; Ma, 2003; Osterman, 2000). There is an increasing need for belonging research to examine the development and incidence of belonging in children at school (Johnson, 2009; Osterman, 2000). This study has three research questions: a) What are students’ experiences with belonging in the school? b) What are teachers’ perceptions of students’ belonging in the school? c) How do the students’ experiences and teachers’ perceptions of student belonging in the school compare? The comparison of teachers’ and students’ responses will provide more information as to whether the students’ experiences and teachers’ perceptions of student belonging are aligned or if they are disparate. This data will make it possible to begin to target specific belonging factors in school programs and teacher practices. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-04-24 11:48:13.315

This ethnographic study has been undertaken to address a literature gap relating to rural students’ experiences of distance education in developing countries. It gives an account of teaching and learning practices at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT), describes the needs, challenges and coping strategies of students and makes recommendations for improving teaching and support practices in rural areas. An ethnographic approach was used to enable the generation of rich, contextual data from four OUT regional centres. Data generation methods included interviews, observation and document review, while themes were inductively generated through thematic analysis. Bourdieu’s concepts of field and habitus were used to guide the conduct of the study and interpretation of the findings. The study shows that the OUT does not significantly address the problem of the educational divide between the rural and urban populations of Tanzania. This is mainly due to the urban location of regional centres and to students’ inadequate access to relevant teaching and support services such as tutors, library resources and Internet services. The existence of poor infrastructure and the many technological challenges encountered in rural areas further exacerbate the situation. Such limitations may make it difficult for students to develop the intellectual inquiry and critical commentary skills necessary to make informed decisions, and to acquire the competencies expected of graduates of higher education programmes. This study presents rich data based on the immersion of the researcher in the everyday lives of students at the OUT, and proposes a series of recommendations addressing the development of future policy and planning for the university.

Institutions have implemented many campus interventions to address student persistence/retention, one of which is Early Warning Systems (EWS). However, few research studies show evidence of interventions that incorporate noncognitive factors/skills, and psychotherapy/psycho-educational processes in the EWS. A qualitative study (phenomenological interview and document analysis) of EWS at both a public and private 4-year Florida university was conducted to explore EWS through the eyes of the administrators of the ways administrators make sense of students’ experiences and the services they provide and do not provide to assist students. Administrators’ understanding of noncognitive factors and the executive skills subset and their contribution to retention and the executive skills development of at-risk students were also explored. Hossler and Bean’s multiple retention lenses theory/paradigms and Perez’s retention strategies were used to guide the study. Six administrators from each institution who oversee and/or assist with EWS for first time in college undergraduate students considered academically at-risk for attrition were interviewed. Among numerous findings, at Institution X: EWS was infrequently identified as a service, EWS training was not conducted, numerous cognitive and noncognitive issues/deficits were identified for students, and services/critical departments such as EWS did not work together to share students’ information to benefit students. Assessment measures were used to identify students’ issues/deficits; however, they were not used to assess, track, and monitor students’ issues/deficits. Additionally, the institution’s EWS did address students’ executive skills function beyond time management and organizational skills, but did not address students’ psychotherapy/psycho-educational processes. Among numerous findings, at Institution Y: EWS was frequently identified as a service, EWS training was not conducted, numerous cognitive and noncognitive issues/deficits were identified for students, and services/critical departments such as EWS worked together to share students’ information to benefit students. Assessment measures were used to identify, track, and monitor students’ issues/deficits; however, they were not used to assess students’ issues/deficits. Additionally, the institution’s EWS addressed students’ executive skills function beyond time management and organizational skills, and psychotherapy/psycho-educational processes. Based on the findings, Perez’s retention strategies were not utilized in EWS at Institution X, yet were collectively utilized in EWS at Institution Y, to achieve Hossler and Bean’s retention paradigms. Future research could be designed to test the link between engaging in the specific promising activities identified in this research (one-to-one coaching, participation in student success workshops, academic contracts, and tutoring) and student success (e.g., higher GPA, retention). Further, because this research uncovered some concern with how to best handle students with physical and psychological disabilities, future research could link these same promising strategies for improving student performance for example among ADHD students or those with clinical depression.

Sex and relations has an important role in society. Students have the right to sex education. Studies have shown that Swedish sex education is inadequate. It is important to strengthen youth’s ability to conscious and responsible choices regarding sexuality and relationships. To raise a student perspective on how the education can be improved. The study was conducted using qualitative, semi-structured interviews. Six students were interviewed, and the data was later analyzed through a content analysis. The result showed that students are satisfied with the biological aspects of sex education. However, the students lacked a psychological perspective. Few students had received sex education in other subjects than biology. Students want more time for sex education, and that the education has a greater depth. They believe that young adults need to learn more about consent, sexuality, relationships and how to talk about sex. Students want to study the subject from a broader perspective. Students also want to have a greater influence over the education they are given. Teachers have an important role to play in counteracting the fact that sex is a taboo area, and they need to talk more with students about these topics.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / The COVID-19 pandemic challenged higher education institutions to close their campuses for the purpose of managing and controlling the spread of the coronavirus during the national lockdown. Institutions had to migrate from blended learning and teaching to emergency online learning and teaching only, posing challenges to the learning experiences of student social workers. This study aimed to explore and describe the experiences of student social workers and educators regarding online learning and teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the influence of socioeconomic factors on student social workers’ academic experiences.

The Swedish upper secondary school is becoming more digitalized, and the use of digital teaching materials is being questioned and debated by many, including the Swedish school minister. Therefore, with this study, we aim to investigate how upper secondary students experience the use of digital teaching materials in the subject of Swedish. We also aim to study the challenges and possibilities students are experiencing connected to the use of digital teaching material. The theoretical framework of this study investigates the students’ experiences with a phenomenological approach with the theoretical concepts ”digital literacy” and ”spatial stability”. Seven upper secondary students participated in semi-structured interviews, then a thematic analysis was conducted. The findings of the study show that upper secondary students have varied experiences with digital teaching material, and that digital teaching material has both positive and negative implications. In the study, it became evident that both the students and the digital teaching material is engaged in, and interacting within a digital ecology. This digital ecology is created and navigated by the teacher, which furthermore could lead to challenges for the students’ digital literacy development. Some students are also experiencing spatial instability due to the teaching material’s fragmentary form. Lastly, the study shows that while working with digital teaching material, students sometimes experience challenges with digital distractions. Some students have developed a strategy of ”digital pauses” to encounter these distractions.

The purpose of this study was to generate in-depth understanding and descriptions of secondary students' experiences of safety in the public schools. Quantitative research has demonstrated that students self-report feeling unsafe in school (Utah State University: Center for the School of the Future, 2006). School violence is decreasing, yet many school districts have sponsored and implemented heightened security measures. It seems a contradiction, but amidst heightened security secondary public school students self-report feeling unsafe in school. This study investigated this phenomenon to provide rich and detailed data, utilizing a grounded theory approach to qualitative research and design. The perceptions and experiences of secondary students in public school were described in focus groups comprised of eighth grade students. Five central and unifying themes emerged from the data informing how and why secondary students feel safe and unsafe in school. Results indicated that students feel most safe in schools when students have trusting relationships with school personnel and peers and when school adults adhere to procedures and policies and respond in meaningful ways to student concerns.

<p>The purpose of the first paper is to serve as a critical review of the international student research. Particularly, the paper will explore current barriers in international student research specifically for Asian international students. The paper will use three frameworks for the critical review: neo-racism, critical race theory, and postcolonial theory and suggest three main barriers in international student research because of this: homogenization, overemphasis on individual factors, and the impact of stereotypes present about Asians in the U.S. Based on the frameworks used for critical review and the identified barriers, the paper will explore systemic racism in the experiences of Asian international trainees and suggest recommendations to support trainees in counseling psychology.     </p> <p>The study within the second paper explored the experiences of neo-racism for 13 Asian international doctoral student participants at Purdue University using qualitative thematic analysis. The study demonstrated a wide variety of experiences with racism, including interpersonal racism and the impact of racism that participants viewed as occurring to other Asian and Asian international students in the U.S. Results indicated that participants’ experiences of neo-racism were different based on social identities, language abilities, and nationality. The study proposes implications of these experiences, including ways higher education institutions can better support doctoral students during this sociopolitical time. </p>

The investigated problem relates to the need to know the characteristics of the young people attending the first course of university life. It seeks to explain some sociodemographic reference to them in order to identify experiences and changes that occur during the first two years studied. These references enable to show how they build their own university life provisions, new context will demand changes in the way to perceive, see, think and act different from their own secondary level. The research methodology is qualitative and quantitative, selecting as instruments of data collection survey, individual interviews and group interviews. We worked with populations sophomores of different careers belonging to a University of Cordoba. / El problema indagado se relaciona con la necesidad de conocer las características de los jóvenes que cursan el primer trayecto de la vida universitaria. Se pretende dar cuenta de algunas referencias sociodemográficas de los mismos a los fines de identificar experiencias y cambios que se van produciendo durante los dos primeros años de cursado. Dichas referencias permitirán mostrar cómo se van construyendo las disposiciones propias de la vida universitaria, nuevo contexto que demandará cambios en los modos de percibir, apreciar, pensar y actuar distintos de los propiosdel nivel secundario. La  metodología  de  investigación  es  cualitativa  y cuantitativa,  seleccionando como instrumentos de recolección de datos la encuesta, la entrevista individual y entrevista grupal. Se trabajó con poblaciones de estudiantes de segundo año dedistintas carreras pertenecientes a una institución universitaria cordobesa. / O  problema  investigado  relaciona-se  com  a  necessidade  de  conhecer as características dos jovens que frequentam o primeiro curso da vida universitária. Ele procura explicar alguma referência sócio-demográfico para eles, a fim de identificar experiências e mudanças que ocorrem durante os primeiros dois anos estudados. Estas referências habilitar para mostrar como eles constroem suas próprias disposições vida universitária, novo contexto vai exigir mudanças na maneira de perceber, ver, pensar e agir de forma diferente de seu próprio nível secundário.A metodologia da pesquisa é qualitativa e quantitativa, selecionando como instrumentos de pesquisa de coleta de dados, entrevistas individuais e entrevistas em grupo. Nós trabalhamos com populações sophomores de raças diferentes pertencentes a uma universidade de Córdoba.