The Course Selection Process

Complexity of the Course Selection Process. Selection of the right

course(s) may be described as a high involvement, high risk decisionmaking situation because the cumulative effect of the series of choices students make each semester/quarter may impact their college major selection, their ability to take additional course work, as well as their career direction and future employment opportunities. There are a plethora of factors that students may consider in their course selection decisions as they choose between competing and attractive course alternatives, including perceptions about a courses workload, the instructors grading leniency, the usefulness of the knowledge gained in the course, the instructors reputation, and the times/days the course meets. In course selection, not one, but multiple, sequential and interdependent decisions must be made concurrently. The projected utilities are sometimes contradictory. . . and different courses are selected with different objectives in mind When a students objective is to select a course in his/her major that is taught by more than one instructor, it is reasonable to expect that more time and effort will be expended in order to assure a satisfactory outcome.

Students reported their decisions about different courses are based on different considerations, with most serious thought being devoted to selecting among courses within their major field of study for upperclassmen, and to deciding on courses that might help them test out a possible major for underclassmen. It is on decisions about those (primary) courses that the students expend most thought, and come closest to the optimum of rational decision making. A rational decision making process might also include a search for a heuristic or highly credible information source to simplify course selection decisions.

-http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=9&n=16

There are many sources of information available to assist students in selecting a course. These include college bulletins, academic advisors, course descriptions, course syllabi, student published course guides or Web sites, informal word of mouth, and officials.

Instructor/course evaluations had an impact on student selection of courses. Their results showed that students choose the highest rated course in spite of its reportedly heavy workload. Several studies have found that faculty reputation influences student course selection. In a study involving section selection in multi-section courses, faculty reputation was found to be a primary reason for section choice, and the most frequently cited source of instructor reputation information was reports from other students. Brief, face-to-face comments from students influenced course selection. Further, they concluded that statistical student rating data had little impact on the course selection decision. This finding is consistent with those of several other studies that have reported that students prefer more concrete, anecdotal course information over student evaluation data collected by formal, university-sanctioned instruments.

In general, there appears to be some ambivalence surrounding the usefulness of student evaluation teaching in course choice, with studentproduced guides and word-of-mouth frequently preferred over Student

Teaching Evaluation (SET), as an information source about an instructors

teaching ability. It is conceivable that students who have had access to and have used published SET to make course choices over time may feel more or less positive about the diagnostic value, than students who have had no direct experience with them.

-http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=9&n=16

If they are primarily a measure of popularity and are easily manipulated by doing popular things in class (e.g., showing lots of videos, using entertaining guest speakers), then students (particularly the better ones who want to learn something) may not put much faith in their predictive validity. Validity and reliability can also be affected by how students complete the ratings scales: If students have no faith in the system and put little thought and effort into their evaluations, then, regardless of the

sophistication of the techniques used to test the validity of evaluation results, the results will be useless Conclusion There is a critical need for further research on the course choice process. A greater understanding of course choice may assist faculty and administrators in the development of decision support systems that will help students to make better choices and thus lead to greater student satisfaction with the educational experience. It is hoped that the concepts and findings discussed in this initial empirical study will, if nothing else, increase researchers awareness of the many aspects of the course choice process that remain to be explored.

-http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=9&n=16

Factors Affecting Career Preferences of Senior High School Students Our country suffers from multifarious crisis such as socioeconomic crisis, political crisis, and as well as financial crisis which is greatly affected by global economic crisis. Despite of all these crises, Filipinos are imaginative, creative, and courageous to surpass these obstacles in everyday life. Even though there are some companies affected by these crises which they are force to decrease their employees called as recession, some of them have job openings that offer new career opportunities to graduated college students. These job openings also offers a new challenge into their life a great responsibility lies to his hand that someday will help his family strive to achieve wealthiest, use his acquired knowledge and skills when he engage into a job, and acted as one of the reinforcements in industry.

By Hernandez, Aizel, et.al.

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Factors-Affecting-Career-Preferences-Of-Senior890883.html

How Did High School Prepare a Student For College? Education is one of the most important assets in our lives in order to be successful in this world. In pre-school and kindergarten, children prepare

for elementary school. Kids learn how to depend on teachers instead of their parents and work with friends. In elementary school, children work with larger groups of people and develop their minds in preparation for middle school. As students transition from middle school to high school, they become more independent and learn how to use their time wisely and work by themselves; all of these changes help prepare students for college.

-http://www.studymode.com/essays/How-Did-High-School-Education-Prepare-855217.html

Carrer Choice Factors of High School Students The three areas of a students life affect the career choices they make: environment, opportunity, and personality. All three played varying roles in career outcomes. This study attempted to identify to what extent these factors played a role in career choice and which were most important.

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Career-Choice-Factors-Of-High-School-562032.html

Should a High school curriculum be career based or College Prep. Based?

There is much debate about whether a high school curriculum should be career based or whether the courses should be geared more towards college preparation. If students receive a majority of their curriculum in their core courses to help for college preparation, plus have the opportunity to take a few career based courses. If schools allow students to focus more on career training in high school rather than focusing on college preparation todays students may not have the strong foundation that college coursework requires to be successful.

One problem with a career based curriculum as opposed to one focusing on college preparation is the potential for students to be unable to demonstrate a strong understanding of certain core subjects that most colleges use as a foundation for their own curriculums. These courses generally include subjects such as math, literature, science, and history. If students do not complete their basic courses, and decide instead to focus on a career they think they may be interested in, they will likely have to take extra time in college to complete these courses. If they already have their core courses completed in high school they should be on a stronger path to courses specific to their major while in college.

Allowing students to take a majority of their courses in the career they believe they are interested in at the moment may set them up for failure later if they change their mind while in college. If a student takes courses in high school geared towards a certain career they may be interested in and later change their mind, they will most likely have to take several basic level courses in college that might be a requirement for their new major. If they take those basic level courses in high school they can skip over those courses after changing their major and go straight to their new major-specific courses

-http://www.studymode.com/essays/High-School-Curriculum-Career-Based-College-156498.html
K-12 K12 is one of the most ambitious attempts to harness computers and the
internet for homeschooling. Combining traditional texts, real books, and offline activities with computer-based instruction, activities, and assessment, K12's approach to education has tremendous promise. However, K12 simultaneously does some things very well and some things about which I am very unhappy. But let's start with the positives.

K12 strives for solid and challenging academic instruction, using innovative
delivery tools. The curriculum has been created by teams of teachers and

educational leaders, with additional input from parents. Curriculum design is heavily influenced by ideas from Core Knowledge, the foundation established in implement the ideas of E.D. Hirsch, author of many books related to "cultural literacy" and education. This means there's a strong emphasis on what most would consider a traditional approach to phonics/reading and math skills, plus cultural literacy, history, geography, and the arts. The curriculum also recognizes the value of offering activities that accommodate children's learning styles. Consequently, about 25% of the work is done online, while the rest involves workbooks, worksheets, projects, drawing, listening to music, singing, working with phonic tiles, finding locations on globes and maps, reading real books, and doing experiments. Some books and learning materials are provided with the courses; some worksheets and activity instructions are downloaded on your computer (as PDF files); and a few books will be found at local bookstores or libraries-these are popular books for reading such as The Velveteen Rabbit. While many required resources are included (e.g., CDs, small whiteboards, math manipulatives), you will need to provide some basics like construction paper and chalk. I was only able to preview courses for the youngest grade levels, but from what K12 says, it looks like instruction shifts toward more computer-based learning and less hands-on activity for upper grades.

http://cathyduffyreviews.com/umbrella-programs/k12.htm