This paper reports the development of an Academic Social Comparison Scale (ASCS) to measure students' tendencies to socially compare themselves with other students in an educational setting. The 27-item ASCS was then measured in relation to academic self-confidence in a sample of University students, using the Individual Learning Profile…

Countless mothers and fathers have left behind familiar landscapes, beloved family and friends, and the comfort of certainty to give their children lives better than their own. It is no coincidence that many of these parents chose as their new home the United States of America, a country founded on the promise of public education. The proud home…

The flipped classroom has shown a positive effect on academic performance and student satisfaction. However, there are relatively few studies that help us understand when or why this method has a positive effect on students, so as to aid the design of a flipped class. In this study, an instrument for assessing the student learning experience in…

Rural college students are an important, integral part of the current urban labor force. This article uses a group comparison perspective to study the professional career opportunities and their impacting factors of rural college students and other related groups. Analysis of 2010 Chinese General Social Survey data shows the following: (1) college…

Little research examines protective behavioral strategies (PBS) use among college high-risk drinking sub-groups. A secondary data analysis of the 2011 National College Health Assessment (n = 18,483 drinkers [13% Greek]) revealed fraternity and sorority members used PBS significantly (p < 0.001) less and reported significantly (p < 0.001)…

University students often report high stress levels, and studies even suggest a recent increase. However, there is a lack of theoretically based research on the structural conditions that influence students' perceived stress. The current study compared the effects of Karasek's demand-control dimensions with the influence of neuroticism to address…

Recent scholarly discussions about massive open online courses (MOOCs) highlight pedagogical and practical issues that separate MOOCs from other learning settings, especially how theories of learning translate to MOOC students' motivation, participation, and performance. What is missing from these discussions is the purpose of the MOOC. We report…

Motivated by an increasing number of international students in UK higher education, this study investigates the effect of year-long placements on the academic performance of 268 accounting and finance students enrolled between 2006 and 2009. The results show differences between UK and international students although both statistically and…

The use of smartphone for socialising and learning has become a norm among students in Singapore. Educational institutions are creating lessons and applications for use on mobile platforms. However, the effectiveness of smartphones for learning has not been well studied in Singapore. This study was conducted to understand the association between…

For the institution and its regional campuses under review, the amount of outstanding student liabilities (i.e., monies owed by the student to the institution for educational-related expenditures not satisfied by the end of the term) grew at an alarming rate between 2000 and 2014, with some of the institution's regional campuses experiencing over…

In order to understand variability in second language (L2) acquisition, this study addressed how individual differences in cognitive abilities may contribute to development for learners in different contexts. Specifically, we report the results of two short-term longitudinal studies aimed at examining the role of cognitive abilities in accounting…

This study sought to describe the correlation of academic, financial, and social supports to the persistence of a military student population: veterans, active duty and their families. The study also contrasted these relationships with those of nonmilitary students and looked at the results of both groups together to determine how supports…

In order to improve transfer following training, it is important to understand what the training alters for each individual. We sought to develop a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms implicated in successful training. A questionnaire modelled on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (ToPB) was used to compare two distinct, academic skills…

Aptitude tests should predict student success at the university level. This study examined the predictive validity of the General Aptitude Test (GAT) in Saudi Arabia. Data for 27420 students enrolled at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University were analyzed. Of these students, 17565 were male students, and 9855 were female students. Multiple…

Cloze tests have been the subject of numerous studies regarding their function and use in both first language and second language contexts (e.g., Jonz & Oller, 1994; Watanabe & Koyama, 2008). From a validity standpoint, one area of investigation has been the extent to which cloze tests measure reading ability beyond the sentence level.…