ACADEMIC BUOYANCY MEASUREMENTS OF FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN

Abstract

As part of program evaluation and continuous improvement, the University of Saskatchewan deployed a survey across the common Re-Engineered First-Year (REFY) program in September 2022, and collected just over 300 responses. This survey included four questions developed by Martin and Marsh [3] to measure academic buoyancy, which these authors define as the ability to cope with everyday academic setbacks. In this study, the highest buoyancy question score (slightly positive) referred to dealing with setbacks, and the lowest (slightly negative) referred to the ability to deal with stress. Statistical analyses show a correlation between the responses to the two buoyancy questions related to stress, as well as between the responses to the two buoyancy questions related to setbacks. There is a statistically significant difference in all academic buoyancy scores between male and female respondents (male scores are higher). Buoyancy scores for students participating in high-performance competitive sports also tended to be higher than those in recreational sport activities. Members of clubs also tended to have higher scores than students engaged in other extra-curricular activities.