Academic Performance

From dispositional affect to academic goal attainment: the mediating role of coping

by Isabelle Soucy Chartier

Publication Performance of Economists and Economics Departments in Turkey (1999–2003)

by Murat Cokgezen

The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement.

by Reynol Junco

Computers & Education, 58(1), 162-171. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2011.08.004

Educators and others are interested in the effects of social media on college students, with a specific focus on the... more Educators and others are interested in the effects of social media on college students, with a specific focus on the most popular social media website Facebook. Two previous studies have examined the relationship between Facebook use and student engagement, a construct related to positive college outcomes. However, these studies were limited by their evaluation of Facebook usage and how they measured engagement. This paper fills a gap in the literature by using a large sample (N ¼ 2368) of college students to examine the relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Student engagement was measured in three ways: a 19-item scale based on the National Survey of Student Engagement, time spent preparing for class, and time spent in co-curricular activities. Results indicate that Facebook use was significantly negatively predictive of engagement scale score and positively predictive of time spent in co-curricular activities. Additionally, some Facebook activities were positively predictive of the dependent variables, while others were negatively predictive

Too much face and not enough books: The relationship between multiple indices of Facebook use and academic performance

by Reynol Junco

Computers in Human Behavior, 28(1), 187-198. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.08.026

Because of the social media platform’s widespread adoption by college students, there is a great deal of interest in... more Because of the social media platform’s widespread adoption by college students, there is a great deal of interest in how Facebook use is related to academic performance. A small number of prior studies have examined the relationship between Facebook use and college grade point average (GPA); however, these studies have been limited by their measures, sampling designs and failure to include prior academic ability as a control variable. For instance, previous studies used non-continuous measures of time spent on Facebook and self-reported GPA. This paper fills a gap in the literature by using a large sample (N = 1839) of college students to examine the relationship among multiple measures of frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and time spent preparing for class and actual overall GPA. Hierarchical (blocked) linear regression analyses revealed that time spent on Facebook was strongly and significantly negatively related to overall GPA, while only weakly related to time spent preparing for class.Furthermore, using Facebook for collecting and sharing information was positively predictive of the outcome variables while using Facebook for socializing was negatively predictive

Esposito, A. & Sabulsky, G. (2011), Time-on-task in e-learning: key issues in the development of the students' time regulation competencies

by Antonella Esposito

Unpublished paper, submitted for the requirements of the thematic research seminar 'Time Factor in e-learning', Doctoral Program Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, March-June 2011.

Determinants of International Students' Academic Performance: A Comparison between Chinese and Other International Students

by Gang LI

Li G, Chen W, Duanmu J. (2010) 'Determinants of International Students' Academic Performance: A Comparison between Chinese and Other International Students'. Journal of Studies in International Education, 14 (4), pp. 389-405.

With the increasing number of international students travelling to well-developed countries for higher education, such... more With the increasing number of international students travelling to well-developed countries for higher education, such as the USA and the UK, there has been a growing interest in exploring the factors that influence their academic performance during their overseas studies. This study aims to give an insight into international students’ learning experience by investigating the differences between Chinese and non-Chinese cultural groups, which leads to the identification of the key predictors of their academic achievement via multiple regression analysis. The results suggest that the perceived importance of learning success to family, English writing ability and social communication with their compatriots are significant predictors for all international students. As the predominant group, Chinese students display some distinctive characteristics. For example, Chinese students who studied abroad for the first time are likely to perform better than their compatriots who had studied overseas before. A less active learning strategy is observed among Chinese students in relative to others, but no evidence has found that this negatively affects their academic achievement.

Physical Education, Obesity, and Academic Achievement: A 2-Year Longitudinal Investigation of Australian Elementary School Children

by Robert Fitzgerald

Telford R, Cunningham R, Fitzgerald R, Olive L, Prosser L, Jiang X & Telford R. (2011). Physical Education, Obesity, and Academic Achievement: A 2-Year Longitudinal Investigation of Australian Elementary School Children. American Journal of Public Health. Sep 22. [Epub ahead of print].

Objectives. We determined whether physical education (PE) taught by specialists contributed to academic development... more Objectives. We determined whether physical education (PE) taught by specialists contributed to academic development and prevention of obesity in elementary school children.

Methods. Our 2-year longitudinal study involved 620 boys and girls initially in grade 3 in Australia, all receiving 150 minutes per week of PE. One group (specialist-taught PE; n=312) included 90 minutes per week of PE from visiting specialists; the other (common-practice PE; n=308) received all PE from generalist classroom teachers. Measurements included percentage of body fat (measured by dual-emission x-ray absorptiometry) and writing, numeracy, and reading proficiency (by government tests).

Results. Compared with common-practice PE, specialist-taught PE was associated with a smaller increase in age-related percentage of body fat (P=.005). Specialist-taught PE was also associated with greater improvements in numeracy (P<.03) and writing (P=.13) scores. There was no evidence of a reading effect.

Conclusions. The attenuated age-related increases in percentage of body fat and enhanced numeracy development among elementary school children receiving PE from specialists provides support for the role of PE in both preventive medicine and academic development. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print September 22, 2011: e1-e7. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300220)

Setting Lower Limits High: The Role of Boundary Goals in Achievement Motivation

by Katherine Corker

Corker, K. S., & Donnellan, M. B., In Press, Journal of Educational Psychology. Accepted for publication October 7, 2011.

Boundary goals specify the minimum performance level that an individual must attain to subjectively experience... more Boundary goals specify the minimum performance level that an individual must attain to subjectively experience success. The current research integrates boundary goals into the hierarchical model of achievement motivation (A. Elliot, 2006) by positing that boundary goals are a sub-goal in the goal hierarchy. We predicted that performance approach goals would be associated with higher boundary goals, whereas performance avoidance goals would be associated with lower boundary goals. We further predicted that boundary goals would mediate the association between achievement goals and performance, independent of other target goals (i.e., levels of aspiration). We also evaluated whether boundary goals served a similar role in explaining associations between mastery goals and performance. We tested these predictions by tracking the performance of 347 college students across the semester. As predicted, performance approach goals were positively associated with boundary goals (beta = .32) whereas performance avoidance goals were negatively associated with boundary goals (beta = -.11). Further, we found that mastery approach goals had positive associations with boundary goals (beta = .29) whereas the opposite pattern occurred for mastery avoidance goals (beta = -.25). Boundary goals were positively linked to exam scores (beta = .32) and mediated the associations between performance approach, mastery approach, and mastery avoidance goals and grades. These statistical effects were independent of the effects of level of aspiration. In short, boundary goals seem to play an important role in the achievement motivation process and may therefore serve as a potentially useful focus for interventions.

Family structure, schoolmates, and racial inequalities in school achievement

by Carl L Bankston

Conscientiousness in the Classroom: A Process Explanation

by Katherine Corker

Corker, K. S., Oswald, F. O., & Donnellan, M. B., Accepted August 2011, Journal of Personality

Although the research literature has established that Conscientiousness predicts task performance across a variety of... more Although the research literature has established that Conscientiousness predicts task performance across a variety of achievement contexts (e.g., Barrick & Mount, 1991; O’Connor & Paunonen, 2007), comparatively less is known about the processes that underlie these relations. To the latter end, the current research examines effortful strategies and achievement goals as mediating factors that might explain why people with higher levels of Conscientiousness are predicted to reach higher levels of academic performance. In a longitudinal study, 347 college students completed measures of personality and achievement goals at the beginning of the class, followed by measures of effortful strategies multiple times throughout the semester. Results support the hypothesis that effortful strategies mediate the association between Conscientiousness and academic performance. Moreover, the statistical effects of Conscientiousness were generally independent of achievement goals, but a small portion of the effect was mediated through approach, but not avoidance, achievement goals. These results highlight the importance of examining mediating processes between personality and outcomes, and in the case of Conscientiousness, our results suggest that effortful strategies might serve as a useful target for performance-enhancing interventions.

An investigation into the concept of mind mapping and the use of mind mapping software to support and and improve student academic performance.

by Lynda Holland

Co-authored with Holland, B. published University of Wolverhampton

This project set out to investigate if the technique of mind mapping could be used to improve the study and planning... more This project set out to investigate if the technique of mind mapping could be used to improve the study and planning skills of second year Digital Media students from the School of Art and Design (SAD) and first year students on the History of Computing module from the School of Computing and Information Technology (SCIT). Both sets of students were shown how mind mapping could be used to plan the different types of work that they needed to undertake for their modules. MindManager software was installed in selected computer labs and the students were given tuition on how to use the software.

Correlates of substance use and psychopathology with academic performance and life functioning among college students

by Jonathan Freedlander

Presented at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Conference for the Dissemination of Research on Addictions, Infections Disease, and Public Health, Baltimore, MD.

Substance use, both licit and illicit, is strikingly common among college students. While a number of studies have... more Substance use, both licit and illicit, is strikingly common among college students. While a number of studies have investigated the effects that substance use has on functioning among college students, there is little consensus as to the nature of the correlations. The present study investigated the correlations among a detailed range of drug use behaviors, trait anxiety and depression, academic performance, and life functioning among college students. Trait anxiety and depression proved the most predictive of problems in life functioning and academic performance, followed by frequency of drug use variables, then age of first use variables. Life functioning measures were considerably more sensitive outcomes than measures of academic performance. The results of this study have important implications for designing behavioral intervention programs for college students.