Search Results (282)

Early warning systems grounded in learning analytics offer a practical route to identifying students at risk of failing, yet their adoption in Chilean undergraduate STEM courses is constrained by limited infrastructure and data availability. This study proposes a parsimonious methodology based on univariate logistic regression with the first partial grade as the sole predictor—a deliberate choice prioritising interpretability, actionable timing, and replicability without specialised analytical infrastructure. The approach was tested on two introductory mathematics courses (Linear Algebra and Mathematics I) at two Chilean universities across 2022 and 2023 cohorts. Models trained on 2022 data were externally validated on 2023 data without retraining. Discrimination was high at both institutions (AUC 0.85–0.93 in external validation). At the institution where approval prevalence remained stable across cohorts, operational metrics (PPV, NPV, balanced accuracy) were consistent between years. At the institution where prevalence shifted markedly—because the second semester is composed mainly of students who previously failed—the model preserved its discriminatory capacity but PPV and NPV inverted substantially, illustrating that operational metrics are functions of prevalence rather than indicators of model failure. A gender equity audit revealed systematically lower sensitivity for female students, indicating under-identification of at-risk women under a uniform threshold and underscoring the need for periodic equity monitoring in any deployment. The methodology offers a replicable, low-overhead floor for early warning practice in comparable courses. Full article

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the relationship between academic motivation and mental health remains unclear among Canadian undergraduate students. This study examined associations between academic motivation and mental health, sociodemographic, and COVID-related factors in Canadian undergraduate students during the period of returning back to in-person learning (third stage of the pandemic from January–March 2022). A sample of 1868 undergraduates across British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec completed a cross-sectional online survey in Winter 2022. Regression models revealed that depression was associated with lower academic motivation (βs ≥ 0.12, ps < 0.001), whereas stress and resilience were associated with higher academic motivation (βs ≥ 0.07, ps ≤ 0.001), controlling for related sociodemographic or COVID-related factors. Results also identified some sociodemographic (e.g., year of study, gender, English as first language status) and COVID-related factors (e.g., preference for in-person vs. online learning) for academic motivation. Results highlight factors associated with the academic motivation of students when returning back to in-person learning. Full article

The transition to university is a major life shift shaped by academic, social and personal change. Guided by Schlossberg’s Transition Theory, this study provides rare insight into pre-arrival nervousness among first-year undergraduates (UG) entering an English university. This paper reports findings from the qualitative component of a wider study exploring students’ pre-arrival experiences and expectations. A total of 1578 incoming UG students across twelve academic schools at a UK university provided qualitative responses to an open-ended survey question designed to capture self-reflective accounts of nervousness prior to enrolment. Using an inductive content analysis approach, four key themes were identified: social integration and belonging, academic adjustment and workload, health and wellbeing, and financial and practical concerns. Findings highlight the multi-faceted and anticipatory nature of transition, demonstrating that students’ perceptions of readiness are formed before direct engagement with the university environment. The study extends existing literature by positioning nervousness as an integral component of the transition process rather than a reaction to it. These insights offer evidence-based guidance for institutions to implement proactive, inclusive pre-arrival strategies that support early engagement, enhance student confidence and promote successful adjustment to higher education settings. Full article

This retrospective study examined group-level trends in science self-efficacy among undergraduate students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups (URGs) over four years (2017–2020) at a public university in California. The study investigated the effectiveness of an undergraduate research experience program designed to increase URG participation in STEM fields. Using propensity score matching to control for selection bias, the final sample included 3146 students (344 intervention participants, 2802 non-participants) who completed the Student Annual Follow-up Survey. The Rasch measurement method was used to convert Likert scale responses into linear logit scores, which enabled group-level trend analysis using linking and equating techniques. A repeated measures analysis examined changes in science self-efficacy while controlling for first-generation status, URG status, and gender. Results revealed a significant overall increase in science self-efficacy across all four years. Intervention participants consistently demonstrated significantly higher science self-efficacy scores than non-participants. The interaction between time and intervention participation was statistically significant, indicating that intervention participants showed greater improvements over time. These findings support the effectiveness of culturally responsive undergraduate research experiences in fostering science self-efficacy among URG students. The study contributes to understanding how structured interventions can address persistent disparities in STEM education and career pathways. Full article

Background/Objectives: Undergraduate nursing students consider bioscience courses essential to their education and clinical practice, yet they often find them challenging. This study explored the associations among achievement goal orientations, perceived stress, and self-esteem to examine factors associated with bioscience learning in nursing education. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted with undergraduate nursing students enrolled in the first-year courses “Biology–Clinical Biochemistry” and “Genetics”. Data were gathered using the Perceived Stress Scale-14 (PSS14); the Achievement Goal Questionnaire-Revised (AGQ-R), divided into four subscales, each representing a goal type (mastery-approach or AGQ MA, mastery-avoidance or AGQ MAV, performance-approach or AGQ PA, performance-avoidance or AGQ PAV); and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Univariate and multiple regression analyses were conducted using SPSS v26.0, with significance set at p < 0.05. Results: Perceived stress was negatively associated with self-esteem in both Biology–Clinical Biochemistry and Genetics (p < 0.001). The assessment of potential links between quantitative variables and the study topic using univariate analysis showed an association of course category with the PSS14 score (p = 0.008). This finding remained significant in the regression analysis (p = 0.004), which also identified an effect of gender on the same scale (p = 0.029). Multiple regression further revealed associations between AGQ MA and the subject of study (p = 0.047), AGQ MAV and gender (p = 0.001), AGQ PAV and gender (p = 0.016), and RSES Total and type of secondary education (p = 0.007). Conclusions: Psychological factors interact dynamically with the demands of bioscience education within tertiary nursing curricula, varying according to demographic and academic traits. Full article

The transition to university is a critical period of academic, social, and emotional adjustment. Social media plays a central yet complex role, offering opportunities for connection while also posing risks to wellbeing, productivity, and social integration. This study explores how first-year undergraduates experience and interprets their social media use during this transition. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, nine focus groups were conducted with 40 first-year students at a UK university. Analysis generated a model conceptualising social media as a ‘double-edged sword’ within the broader social transition. Five interrelated themes were identified: social transition, polarised attitudes, quality of social connection, wellbeing support, and quantity and form of use. Social media supported early connection-building, maintaining peer ties, and accessing support, yet excessive or passive use intensified social comparison, fear of missing out, and academic distraction. Students recognised problematic use themselves, often prompting peer intervention to restore balance. Form, purpose, and perceived impact shaped experiences more than time spent. Findings highlight the importance of student agency, peer networks, and institutional support, offering implications for promoting healthy social media practices, wellbeing, and smoother transitions to university life. Full article

Engaging students in sustainability challenges is often easier in theory than in practice. This study examines first-year French undergraduates’ patterns of engagement with the TEDS module (Transition Ecologique pour un Développement Soutenable), a nationwide programme developed in France to promote ecological transition and sustainable development. Data were collected through an online questionnaire comprising 24 closed- and open-ended questions exploring students’ self-reported familiarity with, understanding of, concern about, and self-reported intentions to engage in sustainability-related actions, as well as perceived learning needs and background characteristics. Only 18 questions (143 items) were included in the present analysis, covering all dimensions except those related to the evaluation of the training programme. Results indicate that environmental concern is the factor most strongly associated with self-reported engagement intention, despite persistent gaps in conceptual understanding, particularly regarding the Anthropocene and alternative socio-economic models. Knowledge score and concern are structured hierarchically according to issue visibility, with climate change ranking highest. Engagement depends not only on concern but also on perceived opportunities for action, yet students struggle to identify concrete pathways. The absence of significant differences across gender and disciplines points to a strong generational convergence that reshapes the determinants of environmental engagement. Overall, the key challenge for sustainability education is linking systemic knowledge to concrete contexts of learning and everyday life. Full article

The primary objective of this research was to evaluate the oral health habits, dietary practices, and knowledge regarding cariogenic diet among University Dental students. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among students attending the integrated undergraduate and graduate Dental Medicine (DM) program. Data analysis was performed by stratifying students according to the year of study. In total, 114 questionnaires were collected. Three questionnaires were subsequently excluded, resulting in a final sample size of 111 students for analysis. Results: Over 75% of students from the 2nd (83.3%) to 6th (91.3%) year used a combination of a toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste, whereas 50% of 1st-year students reported using fluoride-free toothpaste (p < 0.05). The majority of senior students (34.8–100%) correctly identified xylitol and sorbitol as non-cariogenic (p < 0.05). However, a notable knowledge gap persisted in the final year, with over 30% of sixth-year students failing to identify them. Furthermore, over 60.0% of third-year and 90.0% of fifth-year students recognized the protective dental effects of hard cheese, cranberry, and green tea (p < 0.05). Regarding cariogenic potential, 45.8% of first-year and 57.1% of second-year students were unable to identify the most cariogenic saccharide (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The study reveals an improvement in oral health habits and knowledge, particularly regarding the use of fluoride toothpaste and the identification of cariogenic saccharides. However, significant knowledge gaps persist across all years, most notably the high prevalence of fluoride-free toothpaste use among first-year students and the inability of a substantial portion of senior students to identify non-cariogenic sugar substitutes and protective foods. Full article

Background: Loneliness is prevalent amongst university students and may be influenced by social eating behaviours. This study explored associations between loneliness and social eating habits and practices and examined whether loneliness varies by demographic characteristics and mealtime behaviours. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted amongst 255 undergraduate and postgraduate students at a UK campus-based university. Loneliness was measured using the UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-8). Self-reported social eating habits, emotional experiences during mealtimes, and technology use while eating were assessed. Results: The mean loneliness score was 18.27 (SD = 4.90), with 16.1% of participants experiencing severe loneliness. Loneliness did not differ across most demographic groups, except by year of study, with first-year undergraduates reporting higher loneliness than PhD students. Higher loneliness was reported by students who felt embarrassed or lonely when eating alone, were apprehensive about eating with others, or lacked someone to eat with. Greater use of electronic devices or television during meals was also associated with higher loneliness. Conclusions: Loneliness is common amongst university students and is associated with social eating habits/practices and emotional experiences during mealtimes. Interventions promoting social eating could address discomfort and anxiety related to eating alone or with others. Full article

Understanding student artificial intelligence (AI) literacy in the context of higher education is crucial as technology advances and AI use increases. The purpose of this study is to better understand how university students perceive, define, and apply AI literacy within their own educational experiences and from their own disciplinary lens. Collecting electronic survey responses from 130 graduate and undergraduate students across several disciplines including First-Year Writing, Communication Studies, and Education, this study attempts to elucidate how students articulate and perceive their own degree of AI literacy—Access, Understanding, Critical Thinking, Application, and Ethics—in the educational context. Overall, students reported infrequent use, using ChatGPT most often. Education students reported a lower understanding of AI than non-education students. Undergraduates reported higher rates within ethics than graduate students. No significant differences in AI literacy were found between students who were or were not first-generation students, students who did or did not receive financial aid, or by gender. Students reporting higher rates of use also reported higher rates of AI literacy. Crucially, this study provides key qualitative and quantitative insights exploring how students perceive their own AI literacy. Understanding the current state of students’ AI literacy is important to facilitating holistic student success in academic environments and career readiness as institutions of higher education adapt and prepare curricula, programs, and interventions addressing AI literacy across disciplines. Full article

This study investigates how ongoing low-stakes quizzes and other learning management system (LMS)-based activities relate to performance on a summative course quiz in higher education. We analyzed course data from 37 first-year undergraduate students. Data were extracted from Moodle and covered weekly quiz scores across ten quizzes, number of attempts, attempt duration, latency between quiz release and first attempt, and student engagement with course materials. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and partial correlations were used to examine these relationships. The findings consistently point in the same direction: when and how often students engaged with quizzes mattered far more than how well they scored on them. Longer latency—that is, delaying the first quiz attempt after release—was strongly negatively associated with final quiz performance, while students who attempted quizzes more frequently and completed them more quickly tended to perform better. Among course materials, viewing the core lecture handouts showed the strongest positive association with final scores, while additional reading, Moodle lesson completion, and Padlet participation showed weaker but statistically significant positive associations. Topic materials were not significantly associated with final quiz performance. Partial correlation analyses confirmed that latency, number of attempts, and handout views each remained independently associated with final performance after controlling for average quiz score, suggesting these behavioral indicators capture something that raw accuracy alone does not. These results align with testing-effect and self-regulated learning research and point to a clear practical implication: course designs that encourage early, repeated engagement with structured core materials are likely to support better student outcomes than those that rely primarily on quiz scores as a proxy for learning. Full article

Self-efficacy—one’s belief in their ability to take the actions necessary to succeed—is a critical determinant of student success and retention, particularly during the transitional first two years of undergraduate study. Learning communities that incorporate peer mentors have been identified as promising structures for fostering self-efficacy, yet the mechanisms by which intentional peer mentoring within structured career development contexts shapes students’ self-efficacy beliefs remain underexplored. This study examined the following research questions: (1) How does participation in a career-focused Learning community course shape first- and second-year STEM students’ sense of self-efficacy regarding academic and career decision-making? (2) In what ways do peer mentors and peer support networks within the learning community contribute to students’ self-efficacy development? (3) How do students describe feeling empowered—or not—to pursue their career goals as a result of this experience? Using a mixed-methods design that combined pre- and post-course surveys, semi-structured focus groups, and phenomenological one-on-one interviews, we investigated the self-efficacy development of first- and second-year STEM students (N = 53) enrolled in a semester-long learning community course at a large, predominantly White public institution in the Midwest. Of these, 25 students completed both the pre- and post-course Career Self-Efficacy surveys and were included in matched statistical analyses. Three major findings emerged: (1) the learning community class environment created a space where self-efficacy was prioritized and developed; (2) peer support groups and peer mentors positively impacted students’ self-efficacy; and (3) students felt empowered by the experience in pursuing their chosen career goals. These findings have practical implications for the design of learning communities in STEM, highlighting the value of intentional peer mentoring structures and career-focused activities as tools for promoting student confidence, retention, and long-term academic success. Full article

International literature has documented a sustained increase in female representation in higher education; however, less is known about how this process unfolds in segmented and highly privatized systems such as Chile’s. Evidence also remains limited on how gender parity varies across institutional types and disciplinary fields. This study examines the evolution of the Gender Parity Index (GPI) in Chilean universities between 2010 and 2024, disaggregating trends by institutional subsystem and field of knowledge. Using administrative data from the Higher Education Information System and a longitudinal panel of 49 universities, the analysis combines descriptive indicators and mixed-effects models to identify long-term trajectories. The results show a sustained increase in female participation in first-year enrollment, total enrollment, and undergraduate graduation. Institutional patterns differ markedly: increases are strongest in non-traditional private universities, more gradual in state universities, and relatively stable in traditional private institutions. At the disciplinary level, persistent horizontal segregation remains evident, with female overrepresentation in education, health, and social sciences, and male predominance in technology-related fields. These findings provide novel longitudinal evidence on gender stratification in Chilean and Latin American higher education and underscore the need for institutionally differentiated gender equity policies aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 5. Full article

This study investigates how teacher-education undergraduates in Greece use, evaluate, and trust Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education, with particular attention to the gap between widespread adoption and limited epistemic trust. The topic is important because generative AI is rapidly entering universities, reshaping learning practices, academic integrity, and the legitimacy of knowledge, while learners often rely on systems whose outputs are not easily verifiable. The study focuses on future teachers because they are both current users of AI in higher education and likely future mediators of its use in school settings. Addressing this problem, the study contributes empirical evidence on how AI adoption relates to epistemic authority and institutional legitimacy within teacher education rather than across university students in general. A mixed-methods design was employed using a structured questionnaire completed by 363 teacher-education undergraduates from the University of Patras and the University of Ioannina in Greece; the sample was predominantly women (86.0%) and first-year students (92.6%). Quantitative responses were analyzed statistically, open-ended answers were examined thematically, and factor analysis was used to identify latent attitudinal dimensions. The findings indicate very high AI use in everyday life (92.6%) and study practices (81.3%), but only moderate trust: 1.4% reported complete trust and 12.1% generally trusted AI-generated answers. Six dimensions explained 61.73% of total variance, pointing to a layered attitudinal structure within this teacher-education population, consistent with an adoption–trust paradox and with the need for transparent, verifiable, human-supervised educational AI. The observed verification-based trust calibration may partly reflect an emerging pedagogical orientation toward source checking and responsibility for knowledge mediation, but given the strong concentration of first-year students, this should be interpreted as characteristic of early-stage teacher education rather than of university students more broadly. Full article

Leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) is associated with positive self-rated health (SRH); however, evidence regarding different practice patterns and potential racial differences among university students remains limited. The objective of this study was to estimate the association between LTPA patterns and positive SRH among university students who entered higher education in 2025 at a public university in Brazil. This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 1143 first-year undergraduates. Positive SRH (defined as reporting “good” or “very good” health) was used as the outcome. LTPA (walking and activities of moderate and vigorous intensity) was classified as inactive, insufficiently active, weekend warrior, or regularly active based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on physical activity. The analyses were stratified by self-reported race/skin color (White students vs. students from other racial/ethnic groups). Prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were estimated using Poisson regression. The prevalence of positive SRH was 44.6% among White students and 41.1% among other racial/ethnic group students. Among White students, positive SRH was associated with walking performed at weekend warrior (PR = 2.08; 95% CI: 1.33–3.24) and regular levels (PR = 1.51; 95% CI: 1.06–2.14), as well as with vigorous-intensity activity in a weekend warrior pattern. Among other racial/ethnic group students, positive SRH was associated with regular walking (PR = 1.34; 95% CI:1.05–1.71) and with vigorous-intensity activity at both insufficient and regular levels. LTPA was positively associated with SRH, with variations according to intensity, practice patterns, and race/skin color, indicating that benefits are not homogeneous across groups. Full article