The Impact of Research-Based Curriculum Innovations on the Self-Efficacy and Completion Rates of Postgraduate Students
Keywords:
graduate persistence, graduate innovations, research self-efficacy, graduate self-efficacy, doctoral persistenceAbstract
The persistence of postgraduate research students is an ongoing challenge for many university programs. The author describes several curriculum innovations that were implemented based on the recommendations in the literature for improving student persistence and self-efficacy for conducting research and the results of a qualitative needs assessment analysis. Degree completion rate calculations post-innovations showed substantial improvements, including a 100% completion rate in the final semester of this case study. Self-efficacy survey results showed considerable improvement in students’ confidence in conducting research that can be tied to the improved completion rates. The implementation and impact of these curriculum innovations are discussed.
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