Open educational resources: an analysis of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities student preferences

The cost of college tuition and textbooks continues to rise and can function as a barrier to education for many students. This study evaluated Minnesota State Colleges and Universities students’ attitudes towards different types of learning material (e.g. commercially printed textbooks, eBooks and open educational resources (OERs)) and class type preferences (e.g. on-campus, hybrid and online). In addition, students indicated that they had ever chosen not to purchase a required textbook as well as how much they pay on average for a single textbook and approximately how much they paid for textbooks in the most recent semester. Cost was noted as a common deterrent; however, a more frequent reason provided by students for not buying a textbook was being able to adequately complete assignments without the textbook. This indicates that instructional method might be more of an issue than cost. OERs would lower these costs, but few students have been exposed to this kind of learning material and the overall impact on teaching quality is still largely unknown. The differences between two-year institutions and four-year institutions are examined and ideas to remedy the problem are noted.     

空心课文——大学英语教材的批判

空心课文在大学英语教材中所产生的危害,导致课文没有实实在在的内容,没有增加信息和知识。文章提出大学英语教材应该增加扩展非语言知识信息,以解决空心课文的问题。     

Electronic Versus Print Textbooks: The Influence of Textbook Format on University Students’ Self-Regulated Learning Strategies,Motivation, and Text Anxiety

Because a majority of university students do not regularly read course textbooks, a study was conducted to determine if portable electronic textbooks (e-textbooks) would increase university student motivation to read by enhancing cognitive learning strategies and self-regulation of learning. The participants included 538 university students who self-chose to use either a print or e-textbook throughout the semester. The dependent variables self-efficacy, intrinsic value, cognitive strategies, self-regulation, and text anxiety were measured in each of two groups of participants using the Technology Confidences and Attitudes scale and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The results of a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) analysis indicated that there was a significant difference in the students’ MSLQ scores based on their choice of textbook format. These results imply that students who use e-textbooks are more likely to use cognitive and self-regulation strategies than students who use traditional print textbooks in their courses.     

The Teacher as Thinker

The authors explore how and to what extent students use their textbooks. Data was collected through a survey regarding when reading is primarily done, how the textbook is used for studying, and which specific study strategies the students used. The results indicate that students know it is important to read, know the professor expects them to read, and know it will impact their grade, yet most students still do not read the textbook. Finally, we also examine what students feel would motivate them to increase their usage of the textbook.     

The experiences of students with learning disabilities in a higher education virtual campus

Institutions of higher education are increasingly asking students to use the online environment, or virtual campus, when carrying out business related to college life. In this paper, we report findings from a study conducted to learn more about the experiences of college students with learning disabilities as they interacted with this virtual campus. Sixteen college students with documented learning disabilities were observed and interviewed while completing eight tasks in a virtual campus environment. Tasks were chosen from those typically performed by college students and included such items as locating the email address of an instructor, locating a journal article in the library’s online database, and identifying the textbook for a course on the bookstore webpage. Findings indicate that these participants were both successful and not successful in task completion within the virtual campus. Factors that impacted performance included features of the virtual campus and participants’ implementation of cognitive and behavioral strategies.     

Students' comprehension of science textbooks using a question‐based reading strategy

Despite the heavy reliance on textbooks in college courses, research indicates that college students enrolled in first‐year science courses are not proficient at comprehending informational text. The present study investigated a reading comprehension questioning strategy with origins in clinical research based in elaboration interrogation theory, which outlines how to encourage readers to recall relevant background knowledge while reading text materials. The theory suggests that the strategy increases the likelihood that readers will integrate what they read with what they know to make new knowledge. The setting for the study more closely resembled classroom conditions compared to similar studies in the past. Unlike previous studies on reading comprehension, students read a challenging passage from the textbook used in a science course in which they were enrolled. In addition, the text was longer than that used in clinical research. The college students (n = 294) in this study were randomly assigned to either a questioning strategy treatment or a rereading placebo‐control. While reading, treatment students were presented with statements taken from regular intervals in their textbook (about every 150 words) and asked a simple why question about each of these statements. Significant differences were found favoring elaborative interrogation theory and its question strategy treatment over the placebo‐control in terms of science comprehension even after significant estimated predictors of prior knowledge and verbal ability were statistically controlled or accounted for by removing the statistical contributions of these predictors to the main effects. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 363–379, 2010     

听障大学生学习适应性调查研究

为了解听力障碍大学生学习适应性的状况,随机抽取某特殊教育学院的听障大学生和健听大学生共301名进行问卷调查。结果表明听障大学生和健听大学生学习适应存在极其显著的差异。听障大学生在学习动力和专业兴趣上显著高于健听生,在学习自主、学习行为、信息利用、学业求助上非常显著低于健听生。听障大学生的学习动力存在显著年级差异,管理策略存在显著专业差异,听障大学生的学习自主、学习行为存在年级与专业的交互效应,环境选择存在年级与性别的交互效应。     

大学生外语学习策略使用情况的研究

外语学习策略是学习者为了使语言学习更加有效而有意识地采取的特定行为。大学生英语学习策略的使用情况及其特点是文章关注的焦点。研究结果显示,相当数量的学生对外语学习策略的使用仍处于较低的水平,而英语学习策略的使用对英语成绩有显著影响。在外语教学中,教师应不断挖掘对自己学生有用的语言学习策略,培养学生的独立学习能力。     

“健康第一”指导思想下大学体育教材改革的思考

21世纪初推行的新一轮大学体育教材改革使新版大学体育教材出现了新面貌,“健康第一”成为贯穿新教材知识结构的指导思想,大学生体育课程内容以体育的功能（或三维健康观）而不是运动项目来确定,内容涉及五个领域,因此,体育教师要转变角色、大学生要转变学习方式才能较好地适应体育新教材的学习.     

高职艺术专业学生英语学习动机与策略调查的启示

本文采用定量研究的方法,调查研究了高职艺术专业学生英语学习动机与学习策略运用的特点。得出以下结论：高职艺术专业学生的学习功利性外在动机较强,内在动机较弱;各项学习策略中学生的母语策略使用最频繁;记忆策略和认知策略与学生的英语成绩呈正相关,但这两项策略的使用频率却偏低等。为此,本文最后就高职艺术专业学生英语教学提出几点建议。     

一般本科院校学生心理健康状况与应对方式关系研究——以福建师大福清分校为例

目的：以福建师大福清分校为例,探讨一般本科院校学生的应对方式对心理健康的影响,为了更好地对一般本科院校学生进行心理健康教育提供理论依据。方法：采用症状自评量表（SCL-90）和应对方式问卷（CSQ）对福建师大福清分校的350名学生进行测试。结果：（1）323名一般本科院校学生心理健康总体平均分低于全国常模但差异并不显著,心理健康状况一般,强迫症状呈阳性。（2）男性心理健康水平高于女性,在焦虑、恐怖、精神病性这几个因子上差异显著;文科生的心理健康状况优于理科生;城市生源的心理健康状况优于农村生源;不同专业学生应对方式存在显著差异,个体更多的选择在解决问题、求助和幻想的应对方式。（3）大学生心理健康状况与应对方式间显著相关。结论：不同类型的应对方式对一般本科院校学生心理健康有着重要影响。     

Impact of the design of U.S. history textbooks on content acquisition and academic engagement of special education students: an experimental investigation

We used randomized controlled trials to compare the impact of the designs of 2 United States history textbooks on the content acquisition and behavior of 8th-grade students identified for special education services or identified as low achieving. We also investigated whether teachers differed in their use of instructional activities and questioning strategies based on the type of text used. Our findings suggest that students learned more history content, were more actively engaged, and answered more questions correctly when using the experimental textbook. Teachers used different activities depending on which textbook they used, but did not differ in types of questions asked.     

大学生数学考试成败归因研究

大学生对学业成功和失败有不同的原因知觉.在成功情境下,大学生把考试结果较多归因于外部的因素,而较少归因于内部的因素;在失败情境下,把考试结果较多归因于内部因素,而较少的归因于外部的因素.大学生对于学业成败归因有一定的年级特点,而且,在决定各项原因的方差方面,成败因素的作用非常明显.大学生学业成败归因不存在性别差异.     

How Interest in Science Negatively Influences Perceptions of Women

We examined whether women who pursue scientific training are viewed negatively by college students. Participants (N = 114 college students; 56 women, 58 men) saw a woman describe her major (either chemistry or the humanities) and express either strong commitment to her course of study or ambivalence about it. Participants then provided judgments about the speaker's traits (such as assertiveness and sociability), social behaviors (including how often she dates), and her future potential (including happiness and fulfillment with her career, as well as starting salary). Results indicated that both major and commitment level influenced perceptions of the speaker. Commitment to the major increased judgments of future career fulfillment, intellectual competence, school achievement, and assertiveness. Pursuit of chemistry, however, was perceived as negative, as people judged the woman as less sociable when she was committed to being a chemist, and women participants predicted she would have a less fulfilling career. Men participants said they would not want to date her. Although women may understand that they could make more money in the sciences, negative judgments about their social capabilities and future happiness may contribute to their propensity to avoid science.     

大学英语自主学习:教师信念与教师行为的视角

大学英语教学的终极目标之一是培养大学生自主学习的意识和能力。以往的研究关注自主学习理论的探讨以及影响自主学习的学习者因素,忽视教师这一重要主体是如何认识自主学习以及在实践中的具体情况和遇到的问题。事实上,一方面,教师对学生自主学习能力的培养有重要作用;另一方面,教师信念和教师行为又存在着不一致的情况,并会对学生的学习产生影响。本文采用问卷调查、课堂观察和访谈的综合研究方法,对西南某211高校的32名大学英语教师进行信念和行为的双向考察,研究结果表明大学英语教师对学生自主学习的信念和其教学行为之间存在脱节的现象。本文拟从教学方法和课型差异两方面论述产生这一现象的原因以及英语课程培养学生自主学习能力的特殊性,希望对教师教育、英语课程设置和教材编写等提供参考。     

实现三个"平衡"提高大学英语课堂教学效度

高校扩招为办学增加了生机和活力,也给更多的家长和学生带来了喜幸,但同时却给外语教学,尤其是大学英语教学带来了急需解决的新问题。面对新形式下出现的新问题,人们提出了很多解决办法,但笔者认为,实现三个“平衡”,即实现学生与教师之间,教师与教材之间以及学生与教材之间的平衡,提高课堂教学效度是促使学生在有限的时间里在听、说、读、写、译几个方面得到最大程度提高的最有效的方法之一。     

Does the Type of Textbook Matter? Results of a Study of Free Electronic Reading Materials at a Community College

This research describes a quasi-experiment across one face-to-face section and two online sections of introductory sociology testing freely available electronic resources (i.e., open education resources [OERs] and open access) to a paid printed textbook. This study fills a gap in the literature on how type of reading material (e.g., print/paid and electronic/open) affects student learning outcomes. The results show no significant relationship between type of reading materials on pre/posttest improvement or final grades. College-readiness at the time of enrollment at the college along with being a full-time student positively affected posttest score improvement. GPA was the only variable positively and significantly related to final grade. These findings suggest that using OERs and open access resources might be a viable choice for reducing textbook costs, thereby increasing access to higher education. Caution, however, is warranted as students indicate a preference for print (paid) over electronic (open) readings.     

大学生害羞与自我概念的相关研究

采用害羞量表和田纳西自我概念量表对356名大学生进行了调查,研究了大学生害羞与自我概念的相关关系.结果显示,大学生群体中普遍存在害羞现象,害羞者占61.5%,不同性别、年级、专业之间差异不显著,不同出生地之间差异显著,出生于乡村/镇的大学生害羞得分高于来自城市的大学生;大学生自我概念总体上较积极,但在生理自我、心理自我、社会自我3个因子上得分较低,不同性别、年级、专业、出生地之间差异不显著;自我概念与害羞显著相关.大学生害羞与自我概念存在密切的关系,提升大学生的自我概念可以有助减缓大学生害羞行为.     

An Investigation of Concept Mapping to Improve the Reading Comprehension of Science Texts

This study investigated how well 74 6th-grade science students represented text structures from a 900-word textbook chapter on soil conservation, given a concept map template with four superordinate terms and 24 unsorted concepts. Findings suggest students were more successful at classifying pre-selected terms under given superordinate categories than they were at fully identifying relevant concept sets and articulating three different relationship types between terms. No significant differences were noted in the mapping performance of students at different reading levels. About two-third of students indicated they enjoyed concept mapping and would prefer to both read and map rather than just read without mapping. Students also expressed a strong preference for mapping in pairs or small groups compared to mapping alone. Multiple recommendations are provided for improving the relational thinking of students tasked with concept mapping expository science texts, including bridging to more open-ended maps, embedding mapping in longer-term inquiry projects, and leveraging collaborative and tool-based scaffolds.