High attrition rates in associate degree nursing (ADN) programs contribute significantly to a nursing shortage in the United States that is expected to worsen. Nursing students find the learning environment stressful, intimidating, and overwhelming, leading to discouragement in the first year of their nursing education. Research is needed to…

This paper uses data from a four-year college in Taiwan to examine the effect of adopting a stricter dismissal policy on course selection, student effort, and grading practices. Under the new rule, students are dismissed if they fail 50 percent or more credits in "any" two semesters as opposed to two "consecutive" semesters.…

In response to the Bologna Declaration and contemporary trends in Animal Physiology education, the Animal Physiology course at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia, has evolved over a 12-year period (2001-2012): from a classical two-semester course toward a one-semester course utilizing computer simulations of animal…

Many scholars have argued that motivation is dynamic and malleable across time and contexts. In this article, we investigated changes in undergraduates' task value and self-efficacy across an academic semester. Sixty three undergraduate students completed the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire across five time points in their…

A number of U.S. higher education institutions are converting from quarter-to semester-based academic calendars; in fall 2012, seventeen Ohio institutions did so. Over a two-year time period, college student samples were recruited from a large, public, urban, Midwestern university that was undergoing a transition from a quarter-based to a…

Covariance structure modeling tested four alternative models of determinants of student effort changes. Four alternative models were investigated using 167 junior and 155 senior high school students. Effort ratings by teachers were obtained for 282 of the students. The importance of changes in students' perceptions of ability is discussed. (SLD)

This study was designed to determine how to attract additional students to enroll during "Winterim," a two-week session which is scheduled between the regular fall and spring semesters at William Rainey Harper College. One hundred and seventy-five traditional credit and 94 continuing education students who attended Winterim in 1977…