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1 – 10 of 44Timothy J. Fogarty and Gregory A. Jonas
Although much attention has been devoted to the study of accounting students’ performance, little attention has been shown to the process of accounting students’ performance…
Abstract
Although much attention has been devoted to the study of accounting students’ performance, little attention has been shown to the process of accounting students’ performance. Attention to process necessitates that the subject of accounting students’ test-taking behavior be explored. This study invites attention to the amount of time students take to return their examinations. Time spent on this critical task can be understood as a measure of student ambition to do well, student preparation or cognitive engagement. Using data collected from many classes taught by several instructors at one selective private institution, the results suggest that there is a non-linear relationship between the order in which exams are returned and exam performance. Specifically, those who work on their exams for longer tend to score lower. However, those that return their exams relatively quickly do not necessarily score better. The middle range, wherein students complete their exams neither early nor late relative to others, is associated with better test performance. The relationship between exam return order and test performance also varies by the type of exam and by the matriculation level. The study offers to add to our understanding of accounting students, an achievement that may be an underappreciated prerequisite to effective instructional outcomes.
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Samuel Azasu, Rosane Hungria‐Gunnelin and Kristina Edström
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the use of assessment to manage some of the challenges diversity brings into the teaching and learning in international real estate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the use of assessment to manage some of the challenges diversity brings into the teaching and learning in international real estate degree programs.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a multi‐year case study of a course in real estate valuation in a Swedish University. The impact of assessment on student experience and performance was analyzed.
Findings
Changes in the timing and rules of assessment have an appreciable impact on differences in student performance. However, some diversity problems must be addressed also at the program level.
Practical implications
Real estate departments must exercise pedagogical leadership if they are to continue to effectively provide globally relevant education.
Originality/value
This paper analyses one of the consequences of the expansion of international real estate education into a non‐traditional destination for foreign students.
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Yamini Hariharan, Christopher Meiers, Catherine Robert and Marilee Bresciani Ludvik
The aim of this paper is to explore mindfulness and self-compassion teachings and practices embedded in a leadership course and their outcome on stress regulation of…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to explore mindfulness and self-compassion teachings and practices embedded in a leadership course and their outcome on stress regulation of doctoral-level students.
Design/methodology/approach
Eight valid and reliable pre-and post-assessment inventories were administered prior to the first week of class and following the completion of the doctoral-level class. The test scores were measured for improvement and for differences between various demographic groups.
Findings
The results suggest significant improvement on almost every mindfulness subscale with approximately 5–22% of the variance in subscale scores attributed to participation. Doctoral students over 40 indicated more score improvement than students under 40, and doctoral students of color indicated more significant score increases than White students.
Research limitations/implications
The research involves doctoral-level students which limits generalizability to other levels of education. Based on the findings, scaling analysis should be conducted on other types of students for generalization purposes.
Practical implications
Institutions looking to incorporate wellness practices into curriculum can embed these types of practices into their course design.
Social implications
Faculty can become more intentional in how they engage students in mindful compassion skills within their academic programs.
Originality/value
The paper adds a quantitative study into the literature surrounding efficacy of wellness practices in structured curriculum. Institutions looking to provide more resources to students to improve their wellness may find the model useful on their campuses, particularly for students over 40 and students of color.
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Notwithstanding the low level of tuition fees and absence of other access barriers, Italy is characterised by low educational achievement at university level. Possible reasons for…
Abstract
Notwithstanding the low level of tuition fees and absence of other access barriers, Italy is characterised by low educational achievement at university level. Possible reasons for this phenomenon are examined and a formal model is proposed predicting that families will invest more in their children the higher a child’s unobservable “ability”. Since family income provides an incentive for better student performance, richer parents internalise this effect by investing more resources in the education of their children. This study’s empirical analysis does not contradict this theoretical model. Using the Bank of Italy’s representative sample of the Italian population (1995), we observe that family income does not prevent enrolment at the university, whereas unobservable “ability” is more relevant, especially as it shapes the secondary education choices. Using administrative data on students enrolled in some faculties of the State University of Milan in 1995‐1996, we show that students’ performance is positively correlated with unobservable “ability” and with family income. We take this last evidence as supporting the idea of family networking – students from richer families tend to go quicker because they have better prospects when they leave university.
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In the fall of 1997 and again in the fall of 1998, the Iowa State University Library administered a computer‐based final exam to a special section of the library’s mandatory…
Abstract
In the fall of 1997 and again in the fall of 1998, the Iowa State University Library administered a computer‐based final exam to a special section of the library’s mandatory library skills class. To this end an effective Windows‐based test was created in‐house using Authorware. That the project was a success says much about the current state of computers and authoring systems: what once had been the purview of computer programmers has become increasingly accessible to computer‐literate librarians with some programming skills. The exam involved work at many levels: test appearance, keeping track of test answers, creating special features, recording scores in files, and network security. The exam was one more important step in making the class almost entirely computer‐based. It set a milestone for the library that was at once as significant as it was achievable.
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Heather Dillaway and Catherine Lysack
We explore the effects and interplay of physical and social environments on the inaccessibility of gynecological health care for women with spinal cord injury. We also explore…
Abstract
Purpose
We explore the effects and interplay of physical and social environments on the inaccessibility of gynecological health care for women with spinal cord injury. We also explore women’s responses to the inaccessibility of this care, in hopes of trying to understand better how women navigate their gynecological health and health care when faced with physical and social environmental constraints.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this phenomenological study were gathered using in-depth, qualitative interviews with 20 women living with spinal cord injuries in or around Detroit, Michigan. Each interviewee was questioned about overall health and physical functioning, accessibility of doctor offices, interactions with health care providers, gynecological health-seeking behaviors, and complementary and alternative medicine use. In this paper we report on data on women’s difficulties in securing gynecological health care experiences and related attitudes and practices.
Findings
Findings echo past literature about the inaccessibility of doctor’s offices, including the lack of suitable exam tables and medical equipment. Office staff varied in their willingness to help transfer women from wheelchairs to exam tables as well, often creating what we term an inaccessible social environment. Individual women in our sample found different strategies for navigating the environmental contexts of a doctor’s office and the encounters that they had with providers within medical settings. These strategies had varying impacts on individuals’ abilities to secure gynecological health care.
Originality/value
Our findings point to the possibility of an interplay between and intersection of physical and social environments within medical settings that needs to be explored further and, potentially, the primary importance of the social environment over the physical environment in determining whether an individual’s disability makes health care inaccessible.
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Greg Gaynor, Susan A. Lynn and Olaf Wasternack
To explore the effects of circadian rhythms on mental performance in the context of the high-stakes CPA exam and to give exam candidates and practitioners insights about ways to…
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the effects of circadian rhythms on mental performance in the context of the high-stakes CPA exam and to give exam candidates and practitioners insights about ways to better align rigorous mental tasks with the timing of peak mental performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical methodology using data on CPA exam candidate characteristics and performance.
Findings
We provide evidence consistent with the belief that circadian rhythms affect CPA exam performance. After controlling for other performance factors, we document lower CPA exam scores and pass rates for those exams begun in the early workday hours or in the afternoon, relative to those exams begun in the late morning.
Research limitations/implications
As is typical with empirical methodology, our findings may be due to factors/variables other than those under consideration.
Practical implications
Insights regarding circadian rhythms can potentially be used to better align rigorous mental tasks with the timing of peak mental performance, thereby yielding better performance by the CPA profession.
Social implications
Among the goals of the CPA profession is the protection of the public. Thus, improved performance by the CPA profession can yield benefits to society at large.
Originality/value
To our knowledge, ours is the first study to explore the possible effect of circadian rhythms on CPA exam performance. Given the high-stakes nature of the exam, we believe our chapter can give exam candidates and practitioners valuable insights about ways to better align rigorous mental tasks with the timing of peak mental performance. This can benefit them both for the CPA exam as well as during their careers.
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Martha Rodríguez-Villalobos, Jessica Fernandez-Garza and Yolanda Heredia-Escorza
The objective of this study was to compare three distinct methods of test monitoring in the context of distance education—non-proctored remote or online tests, traditional…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study was to compare three distinct methods of test monitoring in the context of distance education—non-proctored remote or online tests, traditional face-to-face proctored tests and remotely proctored tests using software—to analyze if the method in which tests are monitored influences the obtained grades.
Design/methodology/approach
The experiment was carried out at the postgraduate level in the Master's Degree in Administration program in the modality of distance education, with a total of 296 students during three terms wherein the monitoring method of the final exam varied, keeping the other variables constant. This study used a quantitative method in which the distribution of grades was analyzed; and the grades from each method were tested. Finally, using a multiple linear regression model with dichotomous variables, the impact on students' academic performance with each method was quantified.
Findings
The results indicated that the remotely proctored online test grades were seven points lower with respect to the traditional method. This result does not mean that the lower scores in the remote proctored condition were due to better adherence to academic honesty, maybe this could be due to test anxiety, technology interference or a number of other factors that would confound the validity of the final test score.
Practical implications
The results indicated that the non-proctored online test favored the grade in four points with respect to the traditional method.
Social implications
The authors conclude to support recommending non-proctored online test, this can be a closer substitute to the traditional method than remote application with software monitoring.
Originality/value
Not exist another paper to compare three distinct methods of test monitoring in the context of distance education.
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Franca Cantoni, Silvia Platoni and Roberta Virtuani
Frequently the universities' Placement Service is based on the student's hard profile at the expense of soft traits. On the other side, the “person–organization fit” axiom…
Abstract
Purpose
Frequently the universities' Placement Service is based on the student's hard profile at the expense of soft traits. On the other side, the “person–organization fit” axiom suggests firms are looking for profiles with specific soft skills to face the increasing level of environmental turbulence. This research aims to understand if high-resilience students also have high academic achievements and how the three components of resilience (emotional intelligence, positive thinking, planfulness) can have different impact on individual performances.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was conducted on students enrolled on different courses of studies and years in an Economics and Law faculty. A questionnaire was administered during the first exam session (ante-Covid) and the second and third exam sessions (post-Covid). This questionnaire consists of 84 questions related to planfulness, emotional intelligence and positive thinking, whose combination can be considered a measure of resilience. In fact, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was carried to identify these three new variables (the components) based on the 84 initial ones. Finally, an ordered logit model was implemented to verify whether, and in what direction, planfulness, emotional intelligence, positive thinking and Covid 19 (the independent variables) affected the students' performance (the dependent one).
Findings
While planfulness positively affected academic performance, emotional intelligence affected it negatively. The impact of positive thinking and Covid was not significant, and thus what emerged from the preliminary analysis of the grades is not confirmed.
Research limitations/implications
This is a case study of a university experience that is paying great care in preparing students to satisfy the firms' work demands. To confirm and refine results the sample will be expanded to other faculties and other life/soft skills will be investigated.
Practical implications
This soft trait approach—that studies how various measures of soft skills are related to course grades—has a two-fold significance by crafting universities' placement activities and facilitating firms' onboarding.
Social implications
This is a case study of a university experience; a university that is paying great attention to preparing students ready to satisfy the firms' work demands but also citizens capable of supporting the growth of their nation and society in general.
Originality/value
The research can be considered a first step towards the inclusion of the formal evaluation of the students' life skills in their academic path, creating a link with their achievements.
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