Open AccessWho Improves Most? The Differences in First-Year Students’ Learning Attitudes and Behaviors Measured by College Success Factor Index
Author(s) -
Masha Krsmanovic,
Thomas D. Cox,
Jamil D. Johnson
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the journal of scholarship of teaching and learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1527-9316
DOI - 10.14434/josotl.v20i2.27446
Subject(s) - multivariate analysis of variance , psychology , test (biology) , persistence (discontinuity) , mathematics education , social psychology , medical education , medicine , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , machine learning , computer science , engineering , biology
Utilizing a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design, this study investigated the impacts of participation in a First-Year Seminar (FYS) course on student learning attitudes and behaviors. Using the sample of 1,231 freshmen students in a large, public, research university in the Southeast, the study examined if FYS participation promoted students learning attitudes and behaviors in the following ten areas: responsibility, competition, task-planning, expectation, wellness, time-management, college involvement, family involvement, precision, and persistence. Additionally, the study tested for the differences in changes of students learning attitudes and behaviors among five student populations enrolled in the seminar: first-time in college, summer bridge, international, out-of-state, and teacher pre-professionals. Hotelling's T2 test revealed statistically significant differences in learning attitudes and behaviors between pre and posttests for each of the 10 measured factors, while a two-way mixed design MANOVA indicated that changes in students’ learning attitudes and behaviors were not significantly different for any of the factors depending on the subgroup. The lack of between-group differences demonstrated that the FYS course participation was equally beneficial for students from all populations examined in the study.