Learning Styles - looking for work abroad

December 16, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized |

Looking for work abroad:  Academic learning styles were assessed by a question asking the student to respond to several subparts of the general question: "How would you assess your current academic/learning abilities and accomplishments?" The student was to indicate on a 5-point scale whether or not he or she was "very strong" (1) or "very weak" (5) on each of the 24 items queried. Examples of the items are: "Working consistently," "Working under time pressure," "Formulating hypotheses and using them in analysis," "Coping with ambiguity," and "Understanding approaches from several disciplines."

Looking for work abroad:  Principal factor analysis was once again employed in order to determine the dimensionality of the Learning Styles Scale. Using the previously described criteria for factor extraction and determination of the items marking a factor, 4 factors were extracted that were defined by a total of 14 items. The factors were labeled "Intellectuality" (Factor 1; 3 items), "Academic Style" (Factor 2; 6 items), “Work Habits" (Factor 3; 3 items), and "Persistence" (Factor 4; 2 items).

Personal Self-Efficacy

Looking for work abroad:  It has been repeatedly asserted that an extended sojourn abroad can be instrumental in offering the individual challenges and opportunities that result in intellectual growth In order for an event to be disequilibrating, there must be a "mismatch" between the individual’s level of mental organization (cognitive and affective) and the external event(s).  If the mismatch is not too great, the external event or events can be incorporated into existing cognitive and affective structures or levels and catalyze change as the individual seeks to accommodate to the new information. Fundamentally important to this process is the question of how one perceives and reacts to particular environmental circumstances and challenges.

Looking for work abroad:  The interaction is both subtle and complex and mediated by a number of cognitive and noncognitive variables. One of the noncognitive variables of interest to us in the context of looking for work abroad is an individual’s personal self-efficacy. Our interest in personal self-efficacy is based on the view that (1) an extended looking for work abroad will positively affect the sojourner’s self-concept and (2) one’s self-concept is likely to mediate change in several important areas that are affected by the looking for work abroad experience.