Evaluation of an adaptive tutorial supporting the teaching of mathematics

ABSTRACT

Adaptive tutorials enable engaged, personalised and interactive online learning that includes instant adaptive feedback. By integrating an adaptive tutorial into a large and diverse engineering mathematics course, we explored its potential to support and guide students’ learning from afar. The aim of this study was to assess whether students provided with an adaptive tutorial, could benefit from its use and whether they would engage in and take responsibility for their learning. Comparisons were made between students who did and did not use the tutorial. Quantitative and qualitative data analyses determined the impact of including an adaptive tutorial in a blended learning environment, where 58% of students engaged with the tutorial and 74% of them completed it. Improved confidence and understanding was reported by 98% of the participants. A comparison of examination results indicated that median scores for students who utilised the tutorial were significantly higher than those who did not.     

The Effect of Content Delivery Style on Student Performance in Anatomy

The development of new technologies and ensuing pedagogical research has led many tertiary institutions to integrate and adopt online learning strategies. The authors of this study have incorporated online learning strategies into existing educational practices of a second year anatomy course, resulting in half of the course content delivered via face-to-face lectures, and half delivered online via tailored video vignettes, with accompanying worksheets and activities. The effect of the content delivery mode on student learning was analyzed by tailoring questions to content presented either face-to-face or online. Four practical tests were conducted across the semester with each consisting of four questions. Within each test, two questions were based on content delivered face-to-face, and two questions were based on content delivered online. Examination multiple choice questions were similarly divided and assessed. Findings indicate that student learning is consistent regardless of the mode of content delivery. However, student viewing habits had a significant impact on learning, with students who viewed videos multiple times achieving higher marks than those less engaged with the online content. Student comments also indicated that content delivery mode was not an influence on learning. Therefore student engagement, rather than the mode of content delivery, is a determinant of student learning and performance in human anatomy. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Understanding effects of COVID-19 on undergraduate academic stress,motivation and coping over time

The rapid and unprecedented shift from face-to-face instruction to remote online learning as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on teaching and learning in Higher Education: students had to adapt to a new way of learning, away from typical campus settings and their peers, and to new forms of assessments. This study examined academic stress, learning strategies, motivation and ways of coping from a sample of 177 unique students from a large London university, collecting primary data via survey at three time points during the academic year 2020/21 when teaching was remote and online only. Our findings show how patterns in academic stress, learning strategies, motivation and coping vary over the course of the academic year giving novel insight into how student learning and adaptation to the situation changed over time. We also report on differences in these patterns according to year group and for those students who are the first-in-family to attend university and those who are not. Based on these findings we identify priority areas where higher education institutions should support undergraduate students and provide evidence that some groups of students may need more and targeted support to secure their ongoing learning and well-being.     

Promoting teachers’ implementation of culturally and contextually relevant class‐wide behavior plans

Disproportionality in disciplinary actions for certain racial groups has been well documented for several decades. In an effort to support all students, specifically those who are culturally and linguistically diverse, many have called for adopting a multitiered system of support framework that is considerate of student culture and school context. This framework applies to supporting students’ learning and behavior across settings, particularly in the classroom. To bridge existing gaps between theory and practice, this empirical study sought to evaluate whether teachers who self‐assessed their own use of culturally and contextually relevant practices would implement a class‐wide behavior plan with high levels of implementation fidelity. Results indicated that teachers who engaged in self‐assessment and training did implement the plan with high levels of implementation fidelity, particularly when given performance feedback. Additionally, students tended to display slightly higher rates of academic engagement upon consistent implementation of the plan.     

Effects of learning analytics dashboard: analyzing the relations among dashboard utilization,satisfaction, and learning achievement

The learning analytics dashboard (LAD) is a newly developed learning support tool for virtual classrooms that is believed to allow students to review their online learning behavior patterns intuitively through the provision of visual information. The purpose of this study was to empirically validate the effects of LAD. An experimental study was conducted with a dashboard treatment group and a control group. The researchers developed a LAD and evaluated its effectiveness on the sample of 151 college students at a private university located in Korea, who were taking the online course titled “Management Statistics” in the first semester of 2014. The following results were obtained. First, the students who received dashboard treatment presented higher final score than those who did not. Second, the dashboard usage frequency, as measured by the number of times the dashboard was opened, did not have a significant impact on learning achievement. However, a slightly positive correlation between satisfaction with LAD and learning achievement was observed. Further analysis indicated that learners who used the dashboard only a few times showed relatively high satisfaction with LAD. On the other hand, high academic achievers who opened LAD relatively frequently showed lower satisfaction with dashboard. The results guide that LAD should be revised in a way to motivate learners consistently and support learners who have different academic achievement levels. The study discusses the further research tasks in terms of LAD development as an effective and personalized feedback tool to improve learners’ academic achievement.     

The Relationship between Students’ Characteristics and Their Impressions of Online Courses

This study explored relationship between students’ conscientiousness and motivation, their impressions of the online environment, and their learning. Also examined were relationships between their impressions of the online environment and their sense of community and their interactions with others. Questionnaires were completed by 84 students at a private college. Students who were more conscientious and intrinsically motivated had more favorable impressions of online courses. They were engaged, and perceived value in the course, and were less anxious or frustrated when taking online courses. Those students who perceived a sense of community, or social presence, also had more favorable impressions. These relationships and their implications are discussed.     

Exploring the Dimensions of Medical Student Engagement with Technology-Enhanced Learning Resources and Assessing the Impact on Assessment Outcomes

Anatomy curricula are becoming increasingly populated with blended learning resources, which utilize the increasing availability of educational technology. The educational literature postulates that the use of technology can support students in achieving greater learning outcomes by increasing engagement. This study attempts to investigate the dimensions of student engagement with technology-enhanced learning (TEL) resources as part of a medical program’s anatomy curriculum using exploratory factor analysis. A 25-item five-point Likert-based survey was administered to 192 first-year medical students, with three emergent factors discerned: satisfaction, goal setting and planning, and physical interaction. The three factors closely aligned with the existing literature and therefore additional nonparametric analysis was conducted that explored the levels of engagement across three custom-made anatomy TEL resources, including: (1) anatomy drawing screencasts; (2) an eBook; and (3) a massive open online course (MOOC). Usage data indicated that the most popular resource to be accessed across the cohort was the anatomy drawing screencasts via YouTube, with the MOOC being used least. Moreover, some evidence suggests that those students who utilized the MOOC were more engaged. Generally, however, no correlations were observed between the levels of engagement and TEL resource usage or assessment outcomes. The results from this study provide a clear insight into how students engage with TEL resources, but do not reveal any relationship between levels of engagement, usage, and assessment outcomes.     

Fostering highly engaged knowledge building communities in socioemotional and sociocognitive hybrid learning spaces

With the aim of understanding sociocognitive and socioemotional hybridity in learning spaces, we examined a semester-long learning community where students were given the freedom to advance their epistemological and social agendas across face-to-face and online settings. We collected and analyzed 1,780 online notes written by students throughout the semester and coded them based on their sociocognitive or socioemotional values. We then examined the conversation chains that students engaged in vis-a-vis their developments as a group. In addition to showing how the group developmental stages served as a macro-level context for the socioemotional and sociocognitive spaces, the analysis highlighted how deep, rapid, community knowledge building conversations spontaneously emerged in relation to the timing of socioemotional developments. This study elucidates an important dimension of hybrid spaces, emphasizing the need to design activities to support both sociocognitive and socioemotional spaces in technology-enhanced learning communities.     

师生在线异步交互行为分析

网上教学不只是为学生提供学习资源,更重要的是为学生提供在线支持服务。本文以中央电大"语言学概论"课程为研究个案,采用计算机辅助内容分析法,对参与论坛讨论的700多名学生的1800多条信息进行了分析。研究发现:学生的网上认知内容主要集中在"了解"层次上;师生间认知交互所占比例最大,社会性交互比例较小;交互深度主要为"一问一答"式的一层交互;网上学习社区的建立还有待时日。     

A Discourse Analysis of the Online Mathematics Classroom

ABSTRACT

The current study seeks to analyze university students’ perceptions of online peer assessment (PA) with regard to its effectiveness as a learning tool and as a contributing factor to motivation and interaction. Participants also responded to questions about self-perceived writing strength, attitudes toward peer review, and experiences with peer review. The survey was administered via link online for students who report having completed peer review in online courses. Results from participants revealed that students generally believe peer review to be effective, helpful to learning, increasing communication skills, and as contributing to a stronger written end product. Students also agreed that peer review increases interaction, participation, and a sense of community. Attitudes toward peer review indicate that female students are more intimidated by giving peer reviews than their male classmates, but they felt less intimidated online as compared to face-to-face. More experienced students and students farther along in their college careers are less likely to give peer reviews that are affected by the ones they receive. The results indicate that peer review is an important teaching and learning tool that merits more research with particular attention to gender and other demographic data.     

Teacher Perceptions of Parent Engagement at a Cyber High School

A growing number of adolescents are taking all or most of their courses online. This places a greater responsibility on parents to support and facilitate their students' learning. This case study used teacher surveys and interviews to better understand how teachers perceived and supported parents' attempts to support their online students at a single online charter school. The results indicated that teachers observed multiple ways in which parents supported their students by (a) organizing and managing students' schedules, (b) nurturing relationships and interactions, (c) monitoring and motivating student engagement, and (d) instructing students when necessary. However, teachers believed that parents could act as obstacles to their students' learning by being overly engaged in certain types of learning activities. Additional research is needed that examines parent engagement in a variety of online learning environments. Research that identifies best practices could also be especially valuable to online teachers and administrators wishing to improve the quantity and quality of parental engagement in their programs.     

网络词典促进大学英语词汇教学初探

随着互联网的普及,网络词典近年有了很大的发展,与传统词典相比具有方便快捷、语料丰富、更新及时、检索方式多样等优越性。文章探讨了利用网络词典进行大学词汇教学的意义和方法,及其在促进词汇学习、提高英语学习效率、激发学习主动性、提升学生整体英语水平方面的作用。     

Teachers’ and students’ perspectives on teaching and learning through virtual learning environments

The aim of this investigation was to get an insight into how teachers and students responded to the use of virtual learning environments (VLE) in engineering education and what their expectations were from online courses. Teachers designed their online courses with the assistance of a support e-learning team and questionnaires were used for teachers and students to express their views on the online courses. Teachers pointed out that the online courses by themselves would be able to tackle limited lecture time and strengthen the students’ background knowledge. Students, on the other hand, stated that their difficulties regarding the courses could be facilitated by using a more interactive teaching approach with the use of collaboration tools and receiving individual feedback. Thus, students suggested that teachers adopt a more student-centred approach by using VLE. Teachers’ and students’ perspectives were related to their personal characteristics, as students were more familiar with everyday e-communication tools.     

Engagement with online self-tests as a predictor of student success

Online self-testing as part of the online learning environment (OLE) provides practice questions on key concepts with immediate feedback – in a ‘no-risk’ environment. OLE activity was analysed for 471 on-site and distance students enrolled in health science courses to determine total activity on the OLE and usage of online self-tests. The study also aimed to determine whether utilisation of self-tests differed by final grade, particularly between students who just pass (C grades and Restricted pass) and those who fail (D and E grades). Results indicated that on-site students were significantly more active on the OLE compared to distance students. However, these groups engaged similarly with self-tests and achieved a similar distribution of grades. A significant positive relationship was found between final grade achieved and percentage of self-tests attempted. This relationship was significant regardless of study status (on-site or distance), course studied or total activity logged. A more targeted analysis of C?+?R vs. D?+?E students showed that although these two groups were similar on overall usage of the OLE, C?+?R students utilised self-tests to a significantly greater extent. Recommendations from this study are that students (particularly those struggling to achieve academic success) should be directed towards online self-tests.     

Collaborative Development and Evaluation of an Online Nursing Course

Institutions of higher education acknowledge that online learning represents a growing segment of the modern learning environment, and most students have mastered basic computer skills. However, reluctance to engage in online learning remains among both faculty and students. This article presents a case study of three schools of nursing that collaboratively developed and implemented an online undergraduate-nursing course. The article discusses the challenges that were encountered by faculty and students. The faculty used the distance education literature to address these challenges related to technological, institutional, and pedagogical aspects of online learning, as well as the recruitment and retention of online learners. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the course. The paper concludes with suggestions to overcome the challenges of online learning, such that faculty and students receive the inherent rewards.     

如何提升在线教学效果?——在线学习满意度影响因素研究

基于社会性和探究社区理论框架,通过多元回归分析、结构方程模型等数据分析方法,本文探索了社会性、临场感与在线学习满意度之间的关系机制。研究发现,在线教学的社会性能够促进学生的教学临场感、社会临场感和认知临场感,而这三大临场感又能够显著提升学生的在线学习满意度;社会性与在线学习满意度之间存在链式中介效应,即社会性能通过促进教学临场感,进而促进学生的社会临场感,而社会临场感又能够促进学生的认知临场感,最终促进学生的在线学习满意度。研究结果有助于理解社会性学习环境对在线教学效果的影响机制,有助于广大教师开展更高质量的在线教学活动。     

Scaffolding students' use of learner-generated content in a technology-enhanced inquiry learning environment

Having students inspect and use each other's work is a promising way to advance inquiry-based science learning. Research has nevertheless shown that additional guidance is needed for students to take full advantage of the work produced by their peers. The present study investigated whether scaffolding through an integrated support tool could bring about the desired effect. This tool was embedded in an online inquiry learning environment and outlined the steps in searching for information in peer-created concept maps. It also contained specific directions to assess the quality of the retrieved information. The effectiveness of this search guidance tool was investigated during an inquiry-based science project. Main results indicated that high school students who were supported by the tool (n?=?19) developed a more differentiated and interconnected conceptual understanding than students who did not receive this scaffold (n?=?23). However, the search guidance tool also seemed to put additional demands on students' self-regulatory abilities, and might therefore require some practice or regulatory support to reach its full potential.     

The effect of online co-regulated learning in the implementation of team-based learning on improving students’ involvement

Many education institutions and teachers are recognizing and applying online learning and related educational technologies to help students achieve satisfactory learning performance. Due to the free entertainment on the Internet that may distract students’ attention from online courses and with the purpose of developing students’ teamwork abilities, the author in this study adopted team-based learning (TBL) and co-regulated learning (CRL) to develop students’ involvement in a blended computing course. The subjects in this study were 111 first-year students from three classes taking a compulsory course titled ‘Applied information technology: data processing’. The first group (G1, which received online TBL and CRL) and the second group (G2, which received online TBL only) were the experimental groups. The last group (CG), which received the traditional teaching method in a blended learning environment, served as the control group. The results in this study indicate that students who receive the online TBL have significantly higher involvement than those without. However, the online CRL does not contribute to better development of students’ involvement in the implementation of TBL. The insights for teachers who plan to adopt e-learning, and the reasons for the ineffectiveness of CRL, are discussed in this study.     

Redefining ‘community’ through collaboration and co-teaching: a case study of an ESOL specialist,a literacy specialist,and a fifth-grade teacher

This article explores the development of a professional learning community through a case study of three teachers – an ESOL specialist, a literacy specialist, and a fifth-grade teacher – who engaged in co-teaching and collaboration. The emerging community of practice offered these teachers a space to learn and problem-solve by utilizing their specialized disciplinary knowledge of students and expanding the application of reading strategies during language arts. Concurrently, opportunities for revising curriculum and instruction remained unrealized, as teachers struggled to negotiate roles and responsibilities within the top-down administratively initiated collaboration that required redefining their professional community. Implications and recommendations are discussed.     

Exploring quality of life through an online international collaboration

ABSTRACT

In today’s classrooms, learning does not have to be bounded by physical space. By having access to a range of digital communication technologies, students and teachers can synchronously and asynchronously engage in authentic learning opportunities extending beyond the local community. They can be learning and interacting with others from around the world. This occurred with Grade 3 students from a school in Alberta, Canada, and Lima, Peru who investigated how their physical environments influence their quality of life. Over a seven-week period, the two groups engaged in synchronous and asynchronous activities in addressing this topic. A case study approach was used to research the project. Four key findings emerged from the data to inform teaching practice for designing and facilitating online international collaborative learning.