Evaluation of First-Year University Students’ Engagement to enhance Student Development

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis has dramatically impacted university education as well as created new challenges for tertiary learning institutions. The pandemic has exacerbated graduate unemployment and increased student dropout rates. In response to these unprecedented challenges, universities are formulating more student development initiatives to support new students to transition into university and produce holistic graduates with essential soft skills. Student engagement evaluation can help inform and enhance the implementation of student development programs. In this study, seven domains of first year university students’ engagement were evaluated namely Academic Engagement (AE), Beyond-class Engagement (BE), Intellectual Engagement (IE), Online Engagement (OE), Peer Engagement (PE), Student-staff Engagement (SE) and Transition Engagement (TE). This study found that university freshmen’s Online Engagement (OE) was the strongest while their Academic Engagement (AE) was the weakest. This study also discovered that first year university students’ engagement were weakest with regard to reading of textbooks before attending class, asking questions in class and borrowing books from the university library. Future student development programs targeted at first year university students could be enhanced by increasing the use of ICT in teaching and learning as well as increasing efforts in assisting new students to transition from school to university learning environments by inculcating good reading habits and encouraging active class participation.
 Keywords: Academic engagement, First year undergraduates, Student development, Student engagement, Transition to university

New University Students and Online Learning: Readiness, Challenges and Recommendations

“…Students also feel that more interesting materials should be provided as well as guidance on how to source for these materials like past year questions. Chong and Soo (2021) find that first year students need more assistance from lecturers and lack independent study skills, probably including how to use the university's online resources. Respondents also appeal to the lecturers to use the same platform or at least limit the number of tools and platforms so that they do not miss any notifications and can save storage space on their computers.…”

“…Some students find communicating with their lecturers difficult to do online and instead resort to other alternatives to solve their problems like using the internet to look for more information and asking their classmates to help aid their comprehension (Adams et al, 2021;Ferlazzo, 2020). This might be more prevalent among new university students who are still not used to a more relaxed communication in university compared to secondary school and are therefore afraid to ask questions (Chong & Soo, 2021) They also might find it difficult to get help from classmates who they have never met before. For students to be successful in online distance learning, they have to be independent and well-disciplined.…”

Towards a New Conceptual Model of AI-Enhanced Learning for College Students: The Roles of Artificial Intelligence Capabilities, General Self-Efficacy, Learning Motivation, and Critical Thinking Awareness

“…Student participation and engagement in university governance and decision-making processes are increasingly recognized as pivotal for enhancing educational quality and institutional efficacy. Such involvement can yield positive outcomes, including increased participation, academic achievement, and development [17][18][19][20]. Integrating student perspectives aids in comprehending their needs, thereby informing responsive and student-centric policies and practices [21,22].…”

Manajemen Berbasis Sekolah: Perubahan Sistem Offline Ke Online Pada Masa Covid-19

“…Pada masa pandemi Covid-19, hampir seluruh sistem berubah dan hal tersebut juga yang menuntut suatu manajemen berubah baik secara drastis maupun konservatif. Keadaan yang berubah tadi terlihat juga pada tata aturan pendidikan yang dimana pembelajarannya tidak lagi wajib dilakukan dengan datang langsung ke sekolah, melainkan sebagian atau keseluruhannya dilakukan di rumah masing-masing atau secara online (Chong & Soo, 2021). Pendidikan yang pada mulanya berbasis analog (Spinelli & Dreizzen, 2021), pembelajaran yang hanya berfokus pada buku dan lingkungan sekolah perlahan beralih ke dalam pendidikan digital yang semua kegiatannya dapat berjalan dalam jarak jauh (Beech, 2021).…”