Seminar Assignments - Past Assessments, Report PDF

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ELECTRONIC ASSIGNMENT COVERSHEET Student Number Surname Given name Email

32686655 Starr Zoe Elisha [email protected]

Unit Code Unit name Enrolment mode Date Assessment name Tutor

0BAR100 Academic Learning Skills External 30.05.15 Report Pierre Van Osselaer

Student’s Declaration: • Except where indicated, the work I am submitting in this assignment is my own work and has not been submitted for assessment in another unit. • This submission complies with Murdoch University's academic integrity commitments. I am aware that information about plagiarism and associated penalties can be found at http://www.murdoch.edu.au/teach/plagiarism/. If I have any doubts or queries about this, I am further aware that I can contact my Unit Coordinator prior to submitting the assignment. • I acknowledge that the assessor of this assignment may, for the purpose of assessing this assignment: O reproduce this assignment and provide a copy to another academic staff member; and/or O submit a copy of this assignment to a plagiarism-checking service. This web-based service may retain a copy of this work for the sole purpose of subsequent plagiarism checking, but has a legal agreement with the University that it will not share or reproduce it in any form. • I have retained a copy of this assignment. • I will retain a copy of the notification of receipt of this assignment. I am aware that I am making this declaration by submitting this document electronically and by using my Murdoch ID and password it is deemed equivalent to executing this declaration with my written signature. Optional Comments to Tutor: E.g. If this is a group assignment, list group members here

Dear Zoe Elisha Starr, You have successfully submitted the file "Report_ZoeStarr" to the assignment "SUBMIT REPORT TO TURNITIN HERE - Report (Moodle 32511566)" in the class "OBAR100 Academic Learning Skills (OUA) (oua1, 2015) (Moodle 9594277)" on 30-May-2015 09:30AM. Your submission id is 546554852. Your full digital receipt can be downloaded from the download button in your class assignment list in Turnitin or from the print/download button in the document viewer. Thank you for using Turnitin, The Turnitin Team

How student expectations of university affect their time spent at work. By Zoe E Starr Introduction: Murdoch University surveyed a total of 590 students on their primary mode of study, internal (on campus) or external (including OUA). One of the questions students were asked, is if study is something that they will fit around the other things that they want to do in their life. 309 of these students studied internally (on campus) whilst 281 students studied externally (including OUA). Of these 309 internal students and 281 external students, 65 out of 309 internal students either agreed or strongly agreed that study is something that they will fit around other things that they want to do in their life, whilst 110 out of 281 external students either agreed or strongly agreed. "They see themselves as workers doing a bit of university, rather than students doing a bit of part-time work." (Schmidt, Lucinda 2013, 1-3). External students spend more time on average in paid work per week than internal students do. According to Scutter, et al., 80 percent of students felt that they would be able to combine study with paid work.” (2011, 8-20). However, according to McInnis, et al., “Australian fulltime university students are spending more time in paid work, find it harder to get motivated to study, and are increasingly disengaged with their university. Fewer students study on weekends” (2008, 1-2).

Methodology: To test the hypothesis, internal and external students between the ages of 18 and 50 (or over) were asked to complete a 19 question survey online, with their results identifying as anonymous. The average age of internal students was 18 to 20 years old, whilst the average age of external students fell anywhere between 21 and 39. The survey was completed by students at the beginning of their first semester at university. Results from the total of the 590 students were collected and the mean data was then calculated. The students were asked to rate whether they agree or disagree with the questions by answering so on a scale of 1-5. 1 – ‘Strongly Disagree’ 2 – ‘Disagree’ 3 – ‘neither Agree nor Disagree’

4 – ‘Agree’ and, 5 – ‘Strongly Agree’. Also used, were student responses to the following questions:  How old are you?  What will your primary mode of study be?  How many units are you studying this semester?  How much time per week do you expect to spend on each unit?  How many hours per week do you expect to spend in paid work while you are studying? Results:

Students who expect to work more than 35 hours per week The findings 50% of the 45% Murdoch 40% survey 35% showed 30% that a high 25% majority 20% of external 15% 10% students 5% did 0% partake in Internal Students External Students full time 35+ Hours work whilst studying at university. 50 percent of the 281 external students responded that they expected to work more than 35 hours per week, compared with only 1 percent of internal students. However, the survey also showed that external students fell into older age groups. Only 36 out of 281 external students fell into the 18-20 age group. The study also found that external students expected to spend less time studying at university leaving more time available to partake in paid work. 46 percent of external students (a total number of 127) were only studying one unit per semester, meaning that these students only expected to spend approximately 10 hours per week on study. The findings for the group of test subjects is shown in the graph below.

Discussion: The results of the findings appeared to favour in support of the hypothesis that external students spend more time in paid work than internal students. However, many factors must be taken into consideration when looking at these results. We found trends that show external students definitely spend less time on study along with other activities which means generally, they would be expected to spend more time in paid work. We would not expect an internal student between the ages of 18-20, studying 4 units per semester, to be spending as much time in paid work as an external student who only studies 1 unit per semester. A number of other factors may explain the results, for example, as older students expected to spend more time in paid work studied externally, these students may have had no choice but to spend extra time in paid work to support their families financially and therefore had no choice on method of study. References: Schmidt, Lucinda. "A matter of degrees." The Sydney Morning Herald, May 30, 2013, 1-3. http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/a-matter-of-degrees-20130530-2neo9.html. This article gives an insight into student opinions on combining university and paid work. McInnis, Craig, and Christina Buckridge. "Study Shows Uni Students Spend More Time in Paid Work: News: The University of Melbourne." Latest News: News: The University of Melbourne. Last modified July 12, 2000. http://archive.uninews.unimelb.edu.au/view12018.html. This webpage shows findings from 6 different scenarios focusing on university and work, and the correlation between them. Scutter, Sheila, Edward Palmer, Ann Luzeckyj, Karen Burke da Silva and Russell Brinkworth. 2011. “What do commencing undergraduate students expect from first year university?” The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education 2(1): 8-20. http://0-search.proquest.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/docview/865193076?pqorigsite=summon This journal shows extensive findings on expectations of first year students commencing study, including their paid work habits....