Student Perception

Previous investigations into career and subject selection have provided insights into the range of influences on such choices. However, few studies have been carried out focussing on the process and context over time in which students make decisions about school subjects, post-school courses and careers. The current research initiated by the Tertiary Entrance Procedures Authority (TEPA) addresses similar issues from

The Blackboard Learning System™, a Web- based server software system, is widely used on many college and university campuses today. This paper explores the use of the Blackboard system as a teaching and learn- ing tool. Particular emphasis is placed on the online chat feature available through the Blackboard interface. During the fall 2002 pilot semester, students enrolled in an

Student perceptions of classroom management practices and policies employed by college educators have not been widely studied.  Faculty have broad discretion to determine classroom management practices and policies, and faculty are generally evaluated at least annually with student evaluations of teaching as a significant component of  the evaluative process.  The focus of this paper is whether students perceive faculty as having the freedom or discretion to adopt specified behaviors or policies unrelated to course content decisions. 

How do students' conceptualize the causes of their own academic successes and failures? Taking a phenomenological approach, students identified the causes of their performance immediately following return of a graded examination. We then used factor and item analyses to organize causes that were identified by a substantial number of students into meaningful conceptual clusters, and confirmed those empirically derived clusters in a different sample of students using confirmatory factor analysis. That analysis indicated that ...

Student perceptions of classroom management practices and policies employed by college educators have not been widely studied. Faculty have broad discretion to determine classroom management practices and policies, and faculty are generally evaluated at least annually with student evaluations of teaching as a significant component of the evaluative process. The focus of this paper is whether students perceive faculty as

The increase of violence in present-day society calls for adequate crisis interventions for students with behavioral problems. Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) is a systematic and formatted response to a student's crisis, based on cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic and developmental theory. The following research article evaluates a LSCI Program with students referred to special schools with residential treatment because of severe behavioral problems. The evaluation was conducted using a quasi experimental pre-test-post-test control group design. Thirty-one match paired students were pre-tested before the interventions started and post-tested after a period of 11 months. Five standardized questionnaires were examined to assess the effectiveness of the LSCI Program. General Linear Model (GLM) with repeated measures was used to analyze all data. For the total group of subjects (n = 62) it was found that students' perception about their athletic competence decrease significantly after 11 months in residential care. A positive effect of LSCI was found on direct aggression and social desirability.

Metacognition refers to an individual's knowledge, control and awareness of his/her learning processes. An important goal of education is to develop students as metacognitive, life-long learners. However, developing students' metacognition and evaluating whether classrooms are oriented to the development of students' metacognition are difficult and often time-consuming tasks. Further, no instruments that measure key dimensions related to classroom factors that specifically influence the development of students' metacognition have been available. This article describes the conceptualisation, design, and validation of an instrument for evaluating the metacognitive orientation of science classroom learning environments. The metacognitive orientation of a learning environment is the extent to which that environment supports the development and enhancement of students' metacognition. Social constructivism was the guiding referent informing the instrument's orientation and development. This instrument measures students' perceptions of the extent to which certain psychosocial dimensions, evident in learning environments where interventions have resulted in enhanced student metacognition, are evident in their science classrooms. Findings from the use of this instrument complement what is already known from research studies to be generally the case in relation to science classrooms' metacognitive orientation.

Understanding student perceptions of future employment opportunities is important to educators and recruiters. Knowledge of the student perceptions can be used to guide instruction, advice, and recruiting tactics. Prior research has identified that governmental accounting ...

The present study explored the developmental changes of teacher–student interpersonal relationships as well as that of academic motivation among first-grade secondary school students. In addition, the link between teacher–student interpersonal behaviour and academic motivation across the school year was investigated. The data were collected 5 times within a school year, from 566 students of 20 mathematics and English classes, from 3 secondary schools in The Netherlands. Multilevel growth curve modelling was applied. Analysis of within-year changes in teacher–student interpersonal relationships revealed that the quality of relationships decreased over time. The decrease was more pronounced for Proximity than for Influence. Moreover, students' controlled motivation increased slightly, while autonomous motivation decreased systematically over time. Teacher–student interpersonal relationships are significant predictors of autonomous motivation. Several determinants like subject taught, class type, teacher gender, and student gender can explain differences in developmental trajectories of both interpersonal behaviour and academic motivation over time.

This study used a modified version of the Perception of Science Classes Survey (Kardash & Wallace, 2001) to survey 7,885 grade school and high school students in different provinces in the Philippines regarding their perceptions of their science classes. Factor analysis revealed five dimensions of the students ’ perceptions that relate to different aspects of the teacher ’s pedagogy and the learning environment created by the teachers: (a) Learner-Centered Pedagogy, (b) Science Inquiry Activities, (c) Positive Affect and Attitudes, (d) Grades as Feedback, and (e) Support for Self-Learning and Effort. Factor scores were compared across grade levels and genders. The results indicate a decrease in science inquiry activities and the use of grades as feedback in the higher grades, but an increase in support for self-learning and effort, and also positive affects and attitudes. These trends were discussed in relation to possible problems related to teacher practices that may contribute to low student achievement levels in science.

This study was conducted to investigate contemporary effects of instructor attire (specifically, graduate teaching assistant attire) on students' perceptions of college teachers in a live lecture context. Effects of three dress conditions, formal professional, casual professional, and casual, were tested under tightly controlled experimental conditions. Results indicated that more formal dress (business suits, dress shoes) was associated with increased ratings of instructor competence, particularly for female students rating female instructors. However, contrary to common assumptions, the most positive influences of instructor dress were found in the highly casual condition (faded jeans, T‐shirt, flannel shirt). Perceptions of homophily accounted for a small amount of variance in instructor ratings, but there was no significant effect of dress condition on ratings of homophily. Overall findings suggest that caution be used in drawing conclusions regarding potential payoffs of professional classroom dress based upon literature not specifically concerned with the classroom context.

Dialogue is often advocated as a way to engage students in active learning. Yet, most studies of dialogic teaching focus on small classes where discussion is relatively easy to encourage. Additionally, very little is known about students' perceptions of dialogue and its ...