University students' perceptions of the alcohol campaign : "Is Getting Pissed Getting Pathetic? (Just Ask Your Friends)"

The present study examined students' understanding and perceived effectiveness of a recent Australian alcohol campaign designed to increase students' awareness of excessive and harmful drinking. Six hundred and seventy one university students (51% females), who had seen the campaign posters, with the tagline "Is Getting Pissed Getting Pathetic? (Just Ask You Friends)", were asked to comment on the messages that the campaign was communicating and how informative, relevant, and effective they perceived the campaign. Many students were positive in their evaluations and described the messages as "truth and realistic", "clear and to the point", and that the campaign made them think about their own drinking. However, other views were more negative and indicative of psychological reactance. These included concerns that students "won't listen" or "don't care" about media campaigns, and that "they don't what to be told what to do". The findings highlight how media campaigns can help an audience contemplate behavioral change, however, they can also alienate students and promote counterproductive attitudes.

Learning preferences of TAFE and university students

Using Entwistle and Ramsden's (1983) Approaches to Studying Inventory, Fuller and Chalmers showed little difference between TAFE students and university students both in the factor structures derived through factor analysis, and in a comparison of individual subscale through analysis of variance. Fuller and Chalmers had hypothesised that differences in approaches to study may be identified as a result of the different learning and teaching contexts experienced by the two groups of students. The current study has examined the similarities and differences between students in the two sectors using a learning preferences inventory. Learning preferences were chosen for investigation on the basis of previous theoretical work which suggests that it is preferences that are most influenced by environmental factors. The present study has shown significant similarity between the learning preferences of the two groups of students. However, there were also significant differences which indicate that the Fuller and Chalmers hypothesised differences may be more observable at a preferences level than at an approaches to study level.

A survey of first-year university students`ability to use spreadsheets

Universities are using more information and communication technologies (ICT) in their teaching and learning environments. An anonymous multiple-choice survey self-assessed the spreadsheet skills of students enrolled in first-year units at the beginning of 2003. The results of the survey indicate significant deficiencies in the use of spreadsheets. There is a significant proportion of students who are unable to use spreadsheets as part of their education at the start of their university studies. The implications for tertiary education are discussed.

Geographical dislocation and adjustment in university students: the impact of attachment, autonomy and coping behaviour on stress and well-being

The relative contribution of geographical dislocation, attachment styles, coping behaviours, and autonomy, to successful student adjustment, was examined in relation to stress and well-being. A sample of 142 on campus first year university students, across four Victorian university campuses completed self-report questionnaires. Questionnaires included demographic, social network, intrapsychic (attachment and autonomy), and coping variables. Multiple regression analysis revealed that being female, not having made a friend to confide in personal matters, lower achieved autonomy, and use of emotion-focused coping predicted higher levels of student stress. A second multiple regression analysis revealed that living away from home, and preferring others to approach oneself to initiate conversation or friendships predicted lower well-being, whilst increased frequency of phone and email contact, and greater secure parent and peer attachment, predicted greater well-being. Pearson's correlations indicated that securely attached students used more problem focused coping and social support, whereas insecurely attached students used more emotion focused coping. Qualitative data indicated student concerns about being away from family and friends, finance, course direction and structure, social opportunities on campus, and generally adjusting to the university culture. It was concluded that first year on-campus students would benefit from program initiatives targeting enhancement of on-campus social opportunities, development of autonomy, problem focused coping behaviour, interpersonal and social assertiveness.

Solving problems collaboratively online : experiences of Australian and Chinese heritage university students

The research reported in this paper is part of a larger project designed to compare the online collaborative learning behaviours of Chinese Heritage Culture (CHC) university students, for whom a Chinese dialect is a first language, with Australian university students of European descent, and for whom English is a first language. The collaborative learning discussion focussed on in the research involved fellow students, rather than tutorial staff, facilitating those discussions.

The first component of the research was quantitative, comprising a questionnaire on readiness for online learning, and a quantitative analysis of student postings to a student-led collaborative problem solving task conducted online. The first component of the research (reported in Smith et at, 2005) showed no differences between the two groups in their willingness to self-manage their own learning, but did show that the CHC students were significantly less comfortable than the Australian students with online learning. Student postings to the online discussions were classified into organisational postings, social postings, and intellectual. There were substantial differences between the two groups in their patterns of online postings among those classifications, as well as differences in the length of postings made.

This paper will explore these findings in more detail through qualitative data generated through interviews with a subset of students from each group. Interview data provided further insight into the lesser comfort with e-learning among CHC students. Students from both groups felt there were inefficiencies in the online discussion, but CHC students also felt rather marginalised by the process. Australian students were more likely to evaluate the experience in terms of its capacity to achieve required learning outcomes in a time efficient way, while CHC students expressed more concern about how the process had impacted upon them personally. The interview data also indicated that a tutor sensitive to cultural difference is important for comfort among the CHC students in particular, since there is need for encouragement to those students to make reflective inputs to the discussion.

In their own words : a qualitative study of the reasons Australian university students plagiarise

The ways in which universities and individual academics attempt to deter and respond to student plagiarism may be based on untested assumptions about particular or primary reasons for this behaviour. Using a series of group interviews, this qualitative study gathered the views of 56 Australian university students on the possible reasons for plagiarism within their institution. The results indicate a wide and disparate range of possible contributing reasons for plagiarism, including: institutional admission criteria; student understanding of plagiarism; poor academic skills; a range of teaching and learning factors; personality factors; and external pressures. These findings are compared with other findings about reasons for student plagiarism in Australasia. The implications of these findings are considered for universities and individual academics seeking to better engage with their students to minimize or marginalize plagiarism.

Are university students really customers? when illusion may lead to delusion for all!

Purpose – The marketing concept is an idea that has been adopted in non-marketing contexts, such as the relationships between universities and their students. This paper aims to posit that marketing metaphors are inappropriate to describe the student-university relationship.

Design/methodology/approach – The authors provide a conceptual discussion of the topic.

Findings – The use of marketing metaphors appears sometimes to be indiscriminate and the appropriateness to use them in student-university relationships is questioned in this article.

Research limitations/implications – This notion of students as customers has caused a misinterpretation of the relationship between universities and students.

Practical implications – Students should not be viewed as customers of the university, but as citizens of the university community. The contention contained within this paper is that the customer metaphor is inappropriate to describe students' relationships to universities.

Originality/value – The use of marketing buzzwords does not contribute to a correct description or an accurate understanding of the student-university relationship. On the contrary, misconceptions and misunderstandings flourish due to misleading terminology and contradictory vocabulary. These frameworks tend to be illusionary if used in non-marketing contexts, such as universities.

Discordance between lung function of Chinese university students of 20-year-old established norms

Objective: We examined the validity of the 20-year-old established Asian norms for pulmonary function in a contemporary cohort of Hong Kong Chinese university students. Design and participants: Pulmonary function testing was conducted in university students (n = 805). Setting: A university campus in Hong Kong. Measurements and results: Parameters recorded included gender, age, height, weight, standard lung function variables (ie, FEV1, FVC, and peak expiratory flow rate [PEFR]), and exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) level. Subjects completed a questionnaire on pulmonary health, smoking history, and their dietary and exercise habits within 3 months of the study. Data were compared with the established norms for lung function for Chinese persons from Hong Kong. On average, subjects were taller than those reported in the original cohort, on whom the established norms are based; however, FEV1, FVC, and PEFR were lower. As predicted, the exhaled CO level was higher in smokers. Those who exercised regularly had a higher FEV1 and FVC, and reported fewer respiratory complaints. Conclusions: Our findings support the idea that lung function norms not only differ across ethnic groups, but that they may be susceptible to change over a single generation within an ethnic group living in the same geographic region. Assuming the equivalence of our testing methods and those on which established norms are based, our findings shed further insight into the dynamic nature of lung function, and have implications regarding the definition of normal pulmonary function and its variance over the short term.

Interrelationship between anxiety, lifestyle self-reports and fitness in a sample of Hong Kong University students

Although anxiety in university students has been well documented, the influence of lifestyle and fitness status in relation to anxiety has not been investigated from a cultural perspective previously. To make recommendations regarding the avoidance or management of anxiety in this anxiety-prone cohort that are rationally based, this preliminary investigation examined the interrelationship between anxiety, lifestyle self-reports and aerobic fitness in Hong Kong Chinese University students. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y-2) and a lifestyle questionnaire were completed by 213 students. Female students were more anxious than male students. Subjects with high anxiety reported more deleterious lifestyle behaviours including higher salt consumption and lower levels of exercise; in addition to more frequent symptoms of anxiety such as headaches and daytime somnolence. The extremes of this sample were stratified into a low anxiety group ( n =17) and a high anxiety group ( n =14) to compare their fitness status. Although both groups had below normal aerobic capacity, the higher systolic blood pressure observed for the high anxiety group is consistent with signs of anxiety, or greater deconditioning in this group or both. The results of this study have highlighted anxiety as a concern in Hong Kong University students and identified some lifestyle and fitness correlates. Understanding lifestyle and pathophysiological correlates of anxiety in Hong Kong University students that may have a cultural basis, is a crucial step toward averting or managing anxiety when these students are studying either in Hong Kong or abroad.

Environmental attitudes and their relation to the dominant social paradigm among university students in New Zealand and Australia

This paper develops a causal model of environmental attitudes using measures of the dominant social paradigm of Western industrial societies. Four components of the DSP framework are examined with regard to environmental attitudes and perception of change using a sample of university students from Australia and New Zealand. The results indicate that one’s belief in the DSP has a negative effect on both environmental attitudes and perception of change necessary to ameliorate degradation of the environment. Thus, while public policy favors increasing awareness of and interest in the environment, policy instruments may remain ineffective in producing lasting change if the components of the DSP remain unchanged. It is argued that public policy ought to be directed at changing the DSP so that its negative effects will be minimized.

Environmental attitudes among university students In New Zealand and Australia

This paper develops a causal model of environmental attitudes using measures of the dominant social paradigm (DSP) of western industrial societies. Two components of the DSP framework beliefs in economic growth and anthropocentrism are examined regards to environmental attitudes using a sample of university students from Australia and New Zealand. The results indicate that one’s belief in the DSP has a negative effect on environmental attitudes and perception of change necessary ameliorate degradation of the environment. Thus, while public policy favors increasing awareness of and interest in the environment, policy instruments may remain ineffective in producing lasting change if the components of the DSP remain unchanged. It is argued that public policy ought to be directed at changing the DSP so that its negative
effects will be minimized.

Motivational readiness for active commuting by university students : incentives and barriers

Issue addressed: Walking for transport can contribute significantly to health enhancing physical activity. We examined the associations of stages of motivational readiness for active transport with perceived barriers and incentives to walking to and from university among students. Methods: Mail-back surveys were completed by 781 students in a regional university in southeast Queensland. They identified one of eight options on motivational readiness for active commuting, which were then classified as: pre-contemplation; contemplation-preparation; or, action-maintenance. Open-ended questions were used to identify relevant barriers and incentives. Logistic regressions were used to examine the barriers and incentives that distinguished between those at different stages of motivational readiness. Results: Barriers most frequently reported were long travel distances, inconvenience and time constraints. Incentives most frequently reported were shorter travel distance, having more time, supportive infrastructure and better security. Those not considering active commuting (pre-contemplation) were significantly more likely to report shorter travel distance as an incentive compared to those in contemplation-preparation. Those in contemplation-preparation were significantly more likely to report lack of motivation, inadequate infrastructure, shorter travel distance and inconvenience as barriers; and, having more time, supportive infrastructure, social support and incentive programs as encouragement. Conclusions: Different barriers and incentives to walking to or from university exist for students in the different stages of motivational readiness for active commuting. Interventions targeted specifically to stage of motivational readiness may be potentially helpful in increasing activity levels, through active transport.