A Study on the Effects of a Supporting Program for Low Achieving Students at University－Centered on Learning-men in K University

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to suggest the operating case of “Learning-men” as a supporting program for low achieving students of K University in order to objectively verify the effects on both the students’ learning achievement and their core competencies, as well as to provide key implications for the effective operation of a non-subject, educational program for score improvement.</br>Learning-men promotes learning motivation and student success by providing scholarships to excellent students depending on the degree of their academic improvement and by conducting three-step programs for high-risk learners who are likely to accumulate academic warnings due to their repeated low academic achievement.</br>This study analyzed the average change in grade average (GPA) and core competencies before and after the students participated in the program by applying a mixed research method using data from a total of 342 Learning-men students, and from interviews based on 10 academic warnings, academic continuity factors, and program participation effects.</br>Looking at the results of the study, first, both the underachieving students and the self-participating students enrolled in the program who had an academic achievement of (<i>t</i>=-13.376, <i>p</i><.001) and core competencies of (<i>t</i>=-17.867~-21.305, <i>p</i><.001) improved significantly. Second, 39 out of 45 students who were placed on academic probation (86.7%) improved their grades and were released from their probation. Third, through analyzing the qualitative data, we found that the reason why these students received academic probation was due to university environmental and internal factors, and that their motivation to participate in the program was based on external and internal factors. Nevertheless, their motivation to learn in this program, their academic self-efficacy, and their self-directed learning ability improved.</br>These research results verified that participation in the low academic achievement Support Program can be used as a tool to strengthen college students' academic competencies and core competencies. Based on the results of this study, various systematic operation and effectiveness verification methods for a low academic achievement Support Program were discussed.