An Investigation of Factors That Contribute to Student Satisfaction From Online Courses＂ An Example of an Online Accounting Course

Although most courses are offered in the traditional synchronous way where teaching and learning mainly take place in the classroom, the Internet has proven to be an effective tool in learning. The demand of online courses is constantly growing, however, there is a paucity of research of online delivery success factors, especially of accounting courses. The aim of this paper was to investigate＇the factors that contribute to student satisfaction from online teaching and learning of an accounting course. This study was conducted at a university in the United States （U.S.） amongst 80 students enrolled in an online accounting course over a period of two semesters. The quantitative data are based on the students＇ course evaluation forms of the instructor＇s teaching and overall satisfaction with the course. The findings suggest that the students found the asynchronous online teaching and learning interesting and challenging. The factors that mainly contribute to student satisfaction include the instructor＇s preparation for the course and her availability to students, the clear grading criteria, the assignment which they found useful, and the other resources that were available online. They value the least the development of writing skills. Additionally, this study proposes that there is a positive significant correlation between the instructor＇s overall performance and the overall student satisfaction from the course. The instructor＇s performance, availability, and easy to use technology enhance the learning and teaching from online pedagogies.     

The Influences of the Teaching Beliefs of a Specific Teacher When Teaching an Elementary School Ecology Curriculum

The objectives of the present study were： （a） to identify the teaching beliefs of an ecology teacher when teaching an ecology course; and （b） to determine the influences of these beliefs on students＇ learning performance. The present study employed a case study research method to conduct a year-long observation, focusing on the teacher＇s teaching beliefs, research representations, and the students＇ attitudes and changes in their ecological knowledge. The present study employed both qualitative and quantitative analyses through classroom observations, teacher and student interview questionnaires, a self-administered course comprehension questionnaire, and an ecology course attitude scale among other tools. Findings indicated that the research teacher maintained teaching beliefs that were improvement-oriented and preferred to use an integrated teaching method that was diversified and provided interdisciplinary knowledge. Through the ecology course, the students were able to rectify their misconceptions, learn to view nature from a macro-perspective, and respect life. The results obtained in the present study can be provided to other teachers as a reference and learning direction when teaching ecology courses.     

Creativity and Language Usage in Interactive and Integrated Projects

This paper aims at outlining the dual-focused approach used to train architecture students to work independently on re-development and re-usage concepts in an Erasmus IP （intensive programme） workshop, where English was used as the working language. The creative tasks were combined with communication skills （social and technical English, negotiation skills）, which were to enable the students to present their outcome publicly in the final presentation. The underlying concept is that students work in small international groups and develop their own method to address the given problem in the form of a real project. Through the project-based approach, students search for information that accompanies their project ideas, which helps them find a viable solution. The creative work process is completed by a thorough evaluation and intensive reflection phase in order to strengthen the students＇ learning experience. Additionally, the interdisciplinary approach, as well as the multinational aspect that originate from different cultural and educational backgrounds of the students, shall contribute to the interactive work process. This process of interaction is based on the idea of experiential learning that sees knowledge as the transformation of experience.     

Using web blogs as a tool to encourage pre-class reading, post-class reflections and collaboration in higher education

This paper reports on the students＇ experiments of using blogs to encourage themselves to do pre-class reading assignment and reflections after class. The sample in the study included five ESL （English as a Second Language） graduate students in a course of teaching methods, and 90 software engineering students in an undergraduate information technology program. Results indicated that there was a positive attitude towards the use of blogs for pre-class preparation and post-class reflections. However, considering the successful experience, it is important to consider the class size, students＇ educational level, and the type of reading assignment.     

The rapid structured literature review as a research strategy

A diversity of sources of literature encompassed by the management disciplines appears to result in a growing need for a systematic methodology to map the territory of management theory. As such, when scoping out a study, structured literature review （SLR） can be considered as a means by which any critical, central literature might be considered. However, there is little guidance, or evidence, of this being undertaken for the purposes of small scale projects such as undergraduate or masters＇ dissertations. This paper reports four case studies of master＇s degree students following management programmes of undertaking a structured literature review （SLR） and the issues and problems they had to encounter during their journey. The findings from the case studies suggest that in terms of time to complete and the volume of output required in terms of word count, Tranfield, et al＇s （2003） approach to SLR＇s, whilst suited to doctoral level research is not appropriate generally when dealing with undergraduate and masters research projects. Therefore, this paper provides accounts of the experiences of four students who undertook SLR for their undergraduate or master＇s degree dissertation. The paper identifies that these students had to deal with a new set of conceptual problems relating to this ＂unorthodox＂ approach to a postgraduate research dissertation in coming to terms with new paradigms of enquiry that are not normally taught as part of a traditional research methods course. This was despite gaining a greater depth of insight into the subject area through a more rigorous and structured manner. The paper presents alternative remedies by way of a rapid structured literature review （RSLR） model. This would appear to be more appropriate to the conducting of small scale literature based research projects when used with undergraduate and master＇s degree students than SLR identified for other research activities.     

Measuring success： Evaluating educational programs

This paper reveals a new evaluation model, which enables educational program and project managers to evaluate their programs with a simple and easy to understand approach. The ＂index of success model＂ is comprised of five parameters that enable to focus on and evaluate both the implementation and results of an educational program. The integration of these parameters forms a complete and comprehensive picture, which in turn provides the most information on the success or failure of the program. The parameters are： （1） the relevance index, referring to an evaluation of predefined objectives; （2） the efficiency index, referring to the fiscal efficiency of the program; （3） the effectiveness index evaluating the attainment of the program＇s objectives; （4） the impact index gauging the effect on the consumers, for whom the program is undertaken; and （5） the final parameter is the program＇s sustainability index. Since Israel＇s education strategy currently leans towards site-based monitoring and evaluation, such a model can potentially be of great help to school management and staff.     

Special needs students in higher education

The topic in this paper is how former special needs students with academic competence from upper secondary school succeed in education on a higher level. The study concentrates on students who at their start in upper secondary education were registered with problems of concentration, difficulties in reading, writing or mathematics. The main part of this paper will base on qualitative interviews with nine former special needs students. Seven out of the nine informants were registered with reading and writing difficulties. However, it is also possible to compare these informants with longitudinal data from a larger group of students who have been followed prospectively since spring 1996. Theoretically the study is based on life course research with special emphasis on social transitions. In transitional processes between different educational arenas gatekeepers＇often play important roles. This study will examine how such gatekeepers, e.g. teachers, may facilitate or obstruct these transitions for a vulnerable group like former special needs students.     

Learners＇ and teachers＇ conceptions and dispositions of mathematics from a Middle Eastern perspective

The paper discusses an on-going research project that studies students＇ and teachers＇ conceptions and dispositions of mathematics. Conceptions are the views that students hold on a subject, and what they believe is required in learning and doing the subject. Dispositions are the beliefs or tendencies to exhibit a frequent, conscious and voluntary behavior directed towards learning a subject. The participants are high school students, higher education students and mathematics teachers. The study utilizes self-reporting tools as well as focus groups and interviews in a three-stage research model. This is a work on progress. Results to date are briefly discussed.     

The impact of storybooks on kindergarten children＇s mathematical achievement and approaches to learning

This paper presents a mixed methods study that explored how storybooks influence kindergarten children＇s mathematical achievement and approaches to mathematics learning. Teachers＇ observations and research stating primary grade children＇s lack of mathematical knowledge and negative attitudes towards mathematics served as the impetus for the study. Three kindergarten teachers taught a mathematics unit using various children＇s storybooks and the characters in the stories as the context for mathematical problems. The results of the study show an impact on students＇ mathematical achievement as well as the identification of four themes that emerged on how students＇ approaches to learning were influenced when storybooks were integrated into the mathematics unit.     

Integrating social responsibility into an entrepreneurship education program： A case study

Entrepreneurship education in the South Africa is often presented as a neutral discipline. Yet fundamental to any entrepreneurship education program should be the integration of key issues, such as ethics, values and social responsibility. This paper reports on a study that set out to explore student teachers experiences of engaging in an entrepreneurship education program specially enhanced to create an awareness of the link between entrepreneurship and social responsibility. It argues that exposure to a program of this nature is a powerful means to dispel the myth that entrepreneurship is a neutral discipline and that such exposure creates useful avenues for student teachers to examine their own constructions and perceptions of entrepreneurship and social responsibility. This paper draws on data constructed in a qualitative research project that engaged the tenets of symbolic interactionism in order to understand how students experienced the program and to understand their changing perceptions.     

Changing school culture： From deficiencies to strengths An intervention study about school culture

This research project focuses on the question： Which effects do teachers＇ attitudes have on students＇ academic self-concept and students＇ competences？ The study is informed by the theoretical perspective that competences and individual skills can be improved especially when students and teachers are confident about the possibility of change of these variables and when teachers make this explicit as a central theme. In our intervention study, we investigate whether a change in the teaching and learning setting （moving from a focus on deficits to a focus on strengths） is able to enhance students＇ academic self-concept and students＇ competences, even across domains.     

Guilty or not guilty？ How Nigerian families impede the aspirations of Nigerian girls for higher education

The females＇ relatively low participation in higher education is discussed within the Nigerian society in a way that such issues are discursively placed in often contradictory, as well as extremely complicated contexts. Dominant discussions draw on the interplay between gender and students＇ performance across subjects, as well as on the influences of the often patriarchal school environment on students＇ overall performance, which with little or no attention given to parental and domestic agencies. This paper is an account of the stories of the experiences of schooling about some Nigerian school girls from the perspective of their families. The larger study from which this paper derives, examined the gendered perception of schooling amongst some senior secondary school students in a Nigerian suburb. A number of discussions among the 25 girls （and 25 boys） who participated in the study were analyzed to understand how gender played in their perceptions of schooling influences upon their lives. As this project was grounded in the interpretivist qualitative research paradigm, discursive interpretivist approach was employed to interrogate how parental and domestic agencies, can play upon the aspirations of young girls for higher education in both complex and subtle ways. Recommendations for changes in policy and practice are made.     

What Does Teaching in Samoan Bilingual Classrooms Look Like？ Observations as Evidence-Based From a New Zealand Professional Learning and Development Perspective

This paper reports on the instructional practice of teachers who have similar language and culture as their students in a bilingual cluster （Cluster A） involving three schools and seven teachers in delivering the curriculum to year 0 （5-year-old） to year 8 （12/13-year-old） students. The 30-40 minutes baseline observations conducted on teachers＇ instruction during a reading session were part of a Ministry of Education＇s （MOE） professional learning and development project （in progress） to increase student achievement in English literacy in these classrooms through evidence-based in-class facilitation. We hypothesized that teachers in these bilingual classes were perhaps not making optimal use of children＇s prior knowledge, particularly their linguistic and cultural strengths, to increase robust and in-depth oral discussions for understanding the texts during the reading lessons. The baseline observations were coded under exchanges known to enhance reading comprehension and specifically related to vocabulary, checking, incorporation, extended talk, awareness, and feedback, and were analyzed for the purposes of： （a） feeding back to teachers what their instruction looked like; （b） creating discussions around teachers＇ strengths and weaknesses that had arisen out of the instructional and student achievement data; and （c） identifying professional development needs for teachers and their students. It was found that teachers and students＇ discussions around a concept or word were limited and that students＇ oral strengths were not fully optimized for understanding. We report here the first phase involving Samoan teachers teaching Samoan students in Samoan bilingual classrooms. The second phase is in progress with the last phase starting midyear. The findings from these two phases will enable some discussions to be made around shifts in instructional practice, if any, their impact on student achievement and how these might be sustained.     

Academicians＇ self-efficacy in the application of TEC learning curriculum instructional design in Malaysian public tertiary education

This research is attempted to examine universities＇ academic staffs＇ curriculum instructional design in the teaching and learning process in applying the technology enhanced classroom （TEC） learning. The universities have embarked on a costly project to create an innovative and creative learning and teaching environment to promote and establish a state-of-the-art, smart, efficient, effective and high quality education. The teaching and learning culture of universities have great influence on determining the level of students＇ achievement. Seven dimensions of public universities in Malaysia were examined to determine the percentage of academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in the application of TEC learning. There is a significant difference among factors concerning the academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in their teaching and learning processes in the classroom management. Their self-preparedness in using the provided technology is closely related to the experiences and practicality of the teaching materials. This study represents an addition to the extant literature on universities＇ academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in the application of TEC learning. Academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in using TEC learning instructional design is of the utmost important to disseminate knowledge to students, which will also fully help utilize the government＇s effort in providing technology to the additional instructional design, so as to achieve high quality education and technological enhance education to pave the way to achieve a techno-education environment for all public universities in Malaysia. This study provides furtber groundwork to assist existing tertiary educational managers to improve smart teaching and learning environment and to retain high quality academic staffs in the day-to-day classroom curriculum.     

＂E-book flood＂ for changing EFL learners＇ reading attitudes

This paper was intended to investigate the effects of using e-books （or texts with multimedia support） in an ERP （extensive reading program） on EFL （English as a foreign language） learners＇ attitudes toward reading in English. In a junior high school in northern Taiwan, 109 students from 3 intact classes were recruited in the 10-week ERP of e-books. Each class was introduced to a list of 140 selected e-books for the reading program; each student was then encouraged to read e-books after school, with the target of reading 4 e-books every week. The degree of changes in reading attitudes was assessed by using the reading attitudes scale （Stokmans, 1999） before and after the e-book ERP. In addition, the teacher＇s class notes of the students＇ reading behaviors and reactions as well as their spontaneous oral or written feedback were analyzed to be triangulated with the quantitative data. The results showed that the e-books had positive effects on the students＇ attitudinal changes in all dimensions of reading attitudes, namely, utility, development, enjoyment and escape, as well as in all the cognitive, affective and conative components. The results also showed that the features of the e-books, especially oral reading, highlighting, animations and music/sound effects, were considered important to change their attitudes. The implementation of interaction and learner control in the e-books guaranteed positive attitudinal changes as well.     

Teachers' Roles in the Teaching of the Course of English Linguistics

Linguistics is a necessary course for English-majors because it plays an important role in second language learning, teaching and research. It is significant, yet difficult to make this course comprehensible and interesting and get the students involved in and attracted by it. This paper intends to analyze and explore teachers’ roles in the course of linguistics from the following aspects: as an explainer, as an activator, as a co-learner, as a question-finder and as an enabler. Some examples are taken to show how to make use of comparison, contrast, instance, discussion, and practice for classroom management. What’s important for a teacher of linguistics is not only to understand linguistic theories and carry on linguistic research by him- or herself, but also to make his or her students get to know the nature of language and learn to do scientific studies of language by themselves.     

The role of new technologies in competence teaching in higher education： The case of accounting

The Spanish educational system will require certain changes in order to achieve the Bologna objectives for the European Higher Education Area, including a more professional profile, with new activities and roles for both students and teachers, who must assume new skills that will affect concepts and attitudes related to the teaching and learning processes within the framework of training projects. However, students must also take a leading role in the educational process by adopting independent, meaningful and cooperative learning methods. This process will imply a notable change of mindset for the typical Spanish students and will involve a high degree of collaboration between students and teachers. Teachers will have to choose suitable methodologies for achieving those objectives, within the academic framework and considering the characteristics of professional training in skills. In addition, they must create the appropriate structural and organizational conditions to carry out these activities （class size, space, educational organization, etc.）. This paper describes the authors＇ experience in designing learning methodologies for the teaching of accountancy in the business administration degree course at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part describes the methodology designed for teaching accounting, based on PBL （problem-based learning）, compiled with Internet-based technologies. We analyze its use and evolution in two accounting subjects in the first and the fourth years of the degree. The second part presents the results for each subject in these years. The authors also point out the differences between students who chose the learning methodology described and those who used the traditional approach. The final part of the paper presents the conclusions obtained from the statistical treatment of the results and the analysis of different options for correlating the information obtained. These results show that there is a direct correlation between the use of an active learning model--through the teaching methodology--and obtaining satisfactory exam results in the subject. Finally, the authors analyze these results and consider how they should be used for evaluating the suitability of the methodology and to determine whether it is necessary to redesign the methodology to fit in with the characteristics, conditions and limitations of the teaching and learning processes.     

Lecturers＇ attitudes on electronically supported pre-lecturing material for intensive programs： A case study

In 2006 and 2008, two large trans-national residential summer schools on conservation science were organized as intensive programs. Learners were not only second/third cycle students in both exact sciences and humanities, but further practicing restorers; consequently their educational background, and even their way of approaching scientific problems, were very diversified, and evaluation of the feedback brought about an urgent need for leveling knowledge and skills. The 3rd summer school, scheduled for July 2009, is addressing the issue by offering self-paced preparatory material authored by the lecturers, and obeying patterns that satisfy the specific needs of both an e-learning environment and a homogenization procedure. Before being offered to the attendees, the pre-lecturing material underwent an interim evaluation concerning its conformity to the Bologna process concepts, as well as to generally accepted methodologies for electronically supported distance learning. Furthermore, teachers were asked on their attitudes towards the proposed scheme. Evaluation of the answers permits drawing conclusions on how far lecturers are capable of and/or willing to accept the abovementioned course structure, in order to fit with a framework designed according to the student-centred Bologna approach, and the fundamental e-learning practices.     

Accessibility in post secondary education： Application of UDL to college curriculum

The inclusion of students with disabilities at the university is a relatively new occurrence in the field of special education. Although legislation in the United States has supported the acceptance of students with disabilities at the post-secondary level, it has only provided minimal support with the emphasis on the learner rather than the curriculum. Now we are looking for multiple ways for students to access learning and demonstrate mastery. Universal Design for Learning （UDL） is currently seen as a means to reconceptionalize curriculum. This study examines the experience of four professors and their effort to use a Classroom Performance System （CPS） as part of reformatting their courses using UDL. The Center for Applied Special Technology, CAST （2001） states that the goal of Universal Design for Learning is to develop teaching methods that enable all students with diverse learning needs, including those with disabilities and cultural differences, to have equal access to classroom curriculum. This paradigm shift echoes the move in special education from a deficit model to a minority rights model put forward by Hahn （1989）, and which is the basis of inclusive educational philosophy. Together inclusion and UDL create learning environments that strive to serve all students. This research describes the implementation of clickers as part of the CPS program in college courses in a special education teacher preparation program. The case study demonstrates how technology can provide access for all learners with positive outcomes such as increased participation and application of knowledge. It also illustrates some of the difficulties in making this pedagogical paradigm shift particularly in the use of technology, and the value of overcoming the existing barriers in place.