Grading practices at Dalhousie University have changed considerably over the past 120 years. From 1901 until the early 1970s, Dalhousie used a variant of the British system. Initially, a grade of 65% or higher was required for distinction. In 1937, Dalhousie moved to a 2-category system (Distinction vs. Ordinary Pass) and in 1942 the distinction…

Human anatomy is a key subject area within undergraduate kinesiology programs. However, literature detailing the course structures, available resources, and teaching approaches used to deliver anatomy education in kinesiology programs is lacking. The present study sought to address this deficit by surveying instructors in Canadian university and…

Bimodal grade distributions indicate a gap in learning, where the highest quartile of students is skilful in the subject matter, but the lowest quartile is not retaining course material that demonstrates a good level of understanding. Students in the lower quartile do not necessarily have the same challenges as remedial students (i.e., those that…

First-year mathematics instructors at universities across North America and the globe have been noticing a decline in the mathematics skills and preparation of their incoming students, who have been failing out of first-year mathematics courses at alarming rates. Though some universities have implemented placement or diagnostic tests to measure…

Many institutions rely upon prosection-based laboratories as more resource-efficient and time-effective alternatives to traditional cadaver dissection for human anatomy education. To facilitate growing enrollment numbers despite resource limitations, the University of Guelph (a non-medical institution) introduced a modified "stepwise"…

Unlike university classrooms, academic support services provide students opportunities for enactive mastery of a skill with immediate feedback in a low-risk learning environment. Given that this environment likely alters affective states, this study tracked support-seekers' perception (n=107) of their anxiety and confidence before and after…

Despite the importance of obtaining a university degree, retention rates remain a concern for many universities. This longitudinal study provides a multi-domain examination of first-year student characteristics and behaviors that best predict which students graduate. Graduation status was assessed seven years after students entered university.…

The current study investigated the impact of performance feedback on female students' motivation following a summative classroom assessment in STEM. Seventh through ninth grade students (N = 161) were randomly assigned by their math or science class to one of the following conditions: grades, written comments, grades and comments, and no feedback.…

Large-scale externally mandated exit exams are common in many education systems. Exit exams are considered medium stakes when exam scores are blended with school-awarded marks to determine a final course grade. This study examined the effects of policy decisions regarding the weighting of exam and school-awarded marks when calculating a student's…

Background: Much work has focused on "inattention" in the classroom, examining how episodes of task-unrelated thought (i.e., mind wandering) and engagement with various forms of media (e.g., media multitasking, smartphone use) influence retention of lecture material. However, considerably less work has examined factors that may…

Studies have demonstrated the presence of anxiety among undergraduate students. Some causal factors are academic, but many are non-academic. The pandemic changed the way education is delivered, requiring remote learning for all. This situation disrupted students' academic routines and presented significant learning challenges, causing anxiety. The…

Nearly all college students require some academic assistance throughout their learning experiences. Rather than a dependent act, help-seeking is a self-regulated and motivated strategy; however, there are mixed findings regarding the relationship between academic help-seeking and academic achievement. Thus, the current study used meta-analytic…

Objective: To systematically review available evidence focusing on the relationship between physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB), and educational outcomes (EO), among university students. Method: Articles published in English and up to April 2019 were eligible to be included in the review if they examined associations between either PA…

There are positive feedback loops between students' grades and emotions. However, subjective appraisals, not grades, are theorized to trigger emotions. We extended previous research by comparing the effects of objective score and subjective appraisals of the score (i.e., satisfaction) on emotions. We used an ecologically-valid quasi-experimental…

At an Ontario College of Applied Arts and Technology experiencing a rapid internationalization of its student population, three faculty members in the School of Business embarked on an action research project to learn how to better facilitate the success of international students. The research team examined grades from international and domestic…