06. Pan-Commonwealth Forum 6 (PCF6), 2010
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Browsing 06. Pan-Commonwealth Forum 6 (PCF6), 2010 by Subject "Academic Performance"
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PublicationCorrelates of Academic Achievement for Master of Education Students at Open University Malaysia( 2010-11)The study employed Chi-Square statistics and odds ratios to test the association between students’ academic performance and their demographic profile. Additionally a logistic regression routine was used to predict the factors contributing to students’ academic performance. The predictor variables assessed for association with academic performance were gender, age and learning centre. The criterion variable was the CGPA attained for a minimum of five MEd courses (taken over a minimum of two semesters) and a maximum of eight courses (taken over a two-year period). At OUM, the cut-off point for awarding a ‘pass’ is a CGPA of at least 3.00. Students with an ‘incomplete’ or ‘deferred’ status were not included in the sample. -
PublicationEffects of Videotape Instructions on Primary School Pupils Achievement in Social Studies Owerri, Nigeria( 2010-11)Learning is an activity that starts at birth and continues throughout lifetime in classrooms and training centres. Facilities and personnel are employed to provide education for classroom learning, which aims at preparing students to contribute meaningfully to the society they live. However, empirical studies in Nigeria involving video- taped instructional strategy have been limited to the teaching and learning of science-based subjects. This study therefore, attempts to determine the effect of video-tape instruction on teaching of social studies in Nigeria Primary Schools. // A total of 102 students in two intact classes were the study participants. Three null hypotheses were formulated and tested. Four instruments namely: video-tape recorder of lesson used for the study, pupils’ attitudinal scale, the social studies achievement test (SSAT); and Teachers’ Guide for conventional teaching were used for the study. // The results revealed there was significant main effect of treatment on students’ achievement. Also, it showed that there was significant main effect of treatment on student’s achievement in social studies. (F(1,97) = 145.474’ P<.05). There was a significant main effect of treatment on the attitude of pupils to social studies (F(1,97) = 127.877 P<.05). However, there was no significant main effect of gender on pupil academic achievement in primary social studies (F(1,97) = 0.839, P>.05). There was also no significant main effect of gender on pupils’ attitude to social studies (F(1,97) = 0.640; P>.05). There was no significant 2-way interaction effect of treatment and gender on pupils’ attitude (F(1,97) = 2.041; P>.05). // Based on these findings, government should equip public primary schools with necessary hardware and software facilities, primary school teachers should be encouraged to uptake the challenge of using this strategy and learn how to use it through in-service training. Above all, seasonal educationists should develop video instrumental packages to be used in schools.
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PublicationIn Pursuit of Quality: UNISWA Lecturer’s Perception on the Academic Performance of Conventional and Distance Education Students( 2010-11)UNISWA students doing the B.A. degree in Humanities, which is offered in both the conventional and the distance education mode, proceed to become high school teachers in the country. As the quality of education that these prospective teachers receive will have a bearing on the quality of education that the high school students will receive, questions regarding the quality of education given using the DE mode have become common. This study was conducted to investigate the views of the lecturers in the Faculty of Humanities as regards their perceptions on the academic performance of the DE students vis-a-vis the ones in the conventional system. // Questionnaires were designed and sent to all the lecturers in all Departments in the Faculty of Humanities to solicit their views on this. Over 90% of the staff responded to the survey and the results were analyzed using frequency tables. The major finding of the study was that the IDE students’ performance in assignments, tests and the final examination was perceived to be below that of the conventional students by 59%, 64% and 68% of the respondents, respectively. The study recommends that further research needs to be conducted to determine if the perceptions of the lecturers are indicative of the situation on the ground. Such a study would compare the scores of the two groups of students on their assignments, tests and examinations to determine if indeed the scores of the students in the conventional system are significantly better than those of the students in the DE system.
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PublicationAn Investigation of the academic performance of distant and conventional students studying Commerce at the University of Swaziland( 2010-11)An approach to the early diagnosis of academic problems on courses for Distance Education (DE) students at the University Of Swaziland (UNISWA) is proposed. The first stage involved the analysis of the academic performance of three cohorts of Diploma of Commerce students to identify problem courses. This was followed up by brief interviews with staff exploring potential explanations based on Mayes’ (1995) conceptual framework. Finally recommendations to improve the courses can be made. // The findings showed that in general the DE students’ academic performance was significantly below that of their FT equivalents. From the data and the interviews it would appear that for the worse cases this poor performance could be explained by a combination of factors. First, many of the printed modules were out of date, and consequently face-to-face time was being used nearly entirely to provide additional lectures at the expense of tutorials. Second, the DE students did not receive any practicals for a number of key courses. And third, the students themselves neither wanted nor were fully prepared to undertake DE courses. This latter effect diminished over the years. // The continually reviewing and updating of printed modules is a slow and expensive business, but clearly if not undertaken creates very significant disadvantages for the DE student. One solution is to move more material online where it is easier to update, but access technology in Swaziland is still poor so web-based solutions are still some way off. In the meantime, lecturers are being encouraged to create supplementary handouts for students, and being positively encouraged not to use too much of their face-to-face time for ‘catch-up’ and updating lectures. // The overall approach seemed successful and there are plans to continue to use it to identify and rectify problems. One future development is to use the University’s computerised marking system to assist the analysis. This should make the task easier and less time consuming.
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PublicationPerception of Learners on Electronic Examination in Open and Distance Learning Institutions: A Case Study of National Open University of Nigeria( 2010-11)This study is aimed at evaluating the perception of the students of NOUN on the e-examination. It is believed that at the end of this paper, the students’ view of e-examination would be made known and it would be a good reference point for other open and distance institutions especially in the developing countries where the use of the computer may not be comprehensive among all the students population. Also, the findings would be found useful to planners and managers of Open and Distance Learning (ODL), especially towards a plan of a new ODL institution.
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PublicationUsing Portfolios for Guidance and Assessment purposes( 2010-11)Portfolio assessment is the systematic, longitudinal collection of student work created in response to specific, known instructional objectives and evaluated in relation to the same criteria. In many educational programmes, portfolio is used for evaluating student performance. Even in primary classrooms and in university degree courses it is effectively used for many purposes. Especially it can be used for instructional purposes, assessment purposes, administrative purposes and certification purposes. It can also be used for tracking growth of student achievement overtime. // Portfolios are very useful but they’re not quick and easy to evaluate, plus they’re hard to rank using a grade or score. Because portfolios are qualitative, many employers find them difficult to use as a determinant of candidates’ abilities. Employers would rather see a quantitative demonstration of a student’s best skills and work. There is no single way of preparing portfolios. Some create portfolios that serve as a representative sample of a student’s work, showing the range of performance and experience. // The Department of Early Childhood development and Primary Education of the National Institute of Education is conducting an Early Childhood Development Diploma course on an experiment level. It is expected to introduce new innovations to the field of teacher education in ECCD through this course. Therefore, it was decided to examine the effective ways of using portfolios for evaluating student performance and providing necessary guidance and advice continuously for them in the ECCD course.