Feel the Progress: Second-year Students’ Reflections on Their First-year Experience

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to explore first-year students' academic emotions and how they relate to their study progress. A mixed-method approach was used. The data consisted of deep interviews with 43 students. The number of their study credits was used as an indicator of their study progress. The results revealed that students expressed a wide variation of emotions. In addition, the study found significant relations between students' emotions and study progress. Results show that slow and fast-pace students significantly differed from each other regarding their emotional experiences. Slow pace students experienced significantly more negative emotions than fast pace students. Slow and fast pace students differed especially regarding their feeling of competence. The implications of the study are discussed.

What counts as success? Constructions of achievement in prestigious higher education programmes

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Impact of Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance in the Dropout of Higher Education Students

“…The students who have better academic performance show more favorable perceptions about the university experience (Hailikari, Kordtsk-Freudinger, & Postareff, 2016). Good academic performance gives support to motivation and self-efficacy beliefs, leading students to new cycles of success and greater self-regulation of learning (Bandura, 1997;Hailikari et al, 2016). At the same time, high academic performance is associated with satisfaction with the course (Biner, Barone, Welsh, & Dean, 1997), understood as the subjective assessment that the student makes about his experience.…”