Contributors to Undergraduates’ Perception of Skill Acquisition across Time

Abstract

The present study examined the relation between the amount of years of study and the perception of skill acquisition through indicators of students' satisfaction with the course program. It was hypothesized that the more years students spend at the university, the higher their perception of skill acquisition and that factors related to the course program moderate this relationship. Participants were 314 undergraduate students in psychology who completed the Bachelor Evaluation Questionnaire, which assessed the perceived quality of the course program. Factor analysis revealed that the questionnaire assessed five different factors: "Teachers and teaching," "Course climate," "Learning promotion," "Course requirements," and "Skill acquisition." A sub-sample of 117 students, who evaluated the course on their first and again on their fifth semester, was used to examine the change on perception of skill acquisition and the influence of course related factors on that change. It was found that students' perception of skill acquisition increased from first to fifth semester and that this increase was moderated by students' perception of learning promotion. Those with early low perception of learning promotion were at greater disadvantage of increasing perceived skill acquisition during their studies. Those with early high learning promotion but with early low perception of skill acquisition at the beginning, reached similar levels of perceived skill acquisition by the end of their studies as those with early high perception of skill acquisition. The implications of these findings for theory and practice in relation to academic achievement are discussed.