Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915

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    Linking academic emotions and student engagement: mature-aged distance students’ transition to university
    (4/07/2015) Kahu E; Stephens C; Leach L; Zepke N
    Research into both student engagement and student emotions is increasing, with widespread agreement that both are critical determinants of student success in higher education. Less researched are the complex, reciprocal relationships between these important influences. Two theoretical frameworks inform this paper: Pekrun’s taxonomy of academic emotions and Kahu’s conceptual framework of student engagement. The prospective qualitative design aims to allow a rich understanding of the fluctuating and diverse emotions that students experience during the transition to university and to explore the relationships between academic emotions and student engagement. The study follows 19 mature-aged (aged 24 and over) distance students throughout their first semester at university, using video diaries to collect data on their emotional experiences and their engagement with their study. Pre and post-semester interviews were also conducted. Findings highlight that different emotions have different links to engagement: as important elements in emotional engagement, as inhibitors of engagement and as outcomes that reciprocally influence engagement. There are two key conclusions. First, student emotions are the point of intersection between the university factors such as course design and student variables such as motivation and background. Second, the flow of influence between emotions, engagement, and learning is reciprocal and complex and can spiral upwards towards ideal engagement or downwards towards disengagement and withdrawal.
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    Representing Islam: Experiences of women wearing hijab in New Zealand
    (New Zealand Psychological Society Inc, 15/04/2019) Ash E; Tuffin K; Kahu E
    An increase in commentary on the hijab, or Muslim headscarf, in Western countries can be attributed to multiple factors, not least among them the current political discourse relating to Islamic terrorism (Green, 2015). Despite Islam being a rapidly expanding religion in New Zealand, there is a dearth of research pertaining to Muslims. Here we aim to understand the everyday experiences of hijabi women in New Zealand. Six women were interviewed, and the data were analysed using an interpretive phenomenological framework. Three themes were identified: explanations for wearing hijab, interpersonal experiences, and the responses to these interpersonal experiences. Research findings point to a complex interplay of individual and socio-cultural factors which influence the everyday experiences of hijabi women.
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    Space and time to engage: Mature-aged distance students learn to fit study into their lives
    (Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 21/02/2014) Kahu E; Stephens C; Zepke KG; Leach L; Taylor and Francis
    Student engagement, a student’s emotional, behavioural and cognitive connection to their study, is widely recognized as important for student achievement. Influenced by a wide range of personal, structural and sociocultural factors, engagement is both unique and subjective. One important structural factor shown in past research to be a barrier for distance students is access to quality space and time. This qualitative study followed 19 mature-aged distance students and their families, exploring how they learned to manage their space and time throughout their first semester at university. Institutions often claim that distance study and the increased use of technology overcomes barriers of space and time; however, the findings from this study suggest it merely changes the nature of those barriers. The ideal space and time for these students was individual and lay at the intersection of three, sometimes competing, demands: study, self and family. A critical influence on success is family support, as is access to financial resources. Learning what constitutes ideal space and time for engagement is an important part of the transition to university. The institution has a vital role to play in aiding this process by ensuring flexibility of course design is maintained, providing more flexible advice and targeting support at this important issue.
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    The use of personal experience as a strategy for critical reading and writing
    (Queensland University of Technology, 19/07/2018) Kahu E; Gerrard H
    Increasingly it is recognised that universities are preparing students for an uncertain future. Accordingly, key graduate attributes of Massey University’s redeveloped Bachelor of Arts degree are critical readin g and writing skills and engaged citizenship. The authors teach two large first-year courses in these topics. Student engagement is critical in these courses because the student cohort is diverse, the courses are compulsory, and the topics are developmental. Some of the assessments have been designed to engage students with the use of personal experience as a strategy for critical reading and writin g. While not without its challenges, this approach has proven to be effective: emotionally engagin g students and enabling them to critically reflect on themselves and the world around them through the development of connected skills and dispositions in critical reading and writing.