A review of using partial least square structural equation modeling in e-learning research

Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has become a key multivariate statistical modeling technique that educational researchers frequently use. This paper reviews the uses of PLS-SEM in 16 major e-learning journals, and provides guidelines for improving the use of PLS-SEM as well as recommendations for future applications in e-learning research. A total of 53 articles using PLS-SEM published in January 2009–August 2019 are reviewed. We assess these published applications in terms of the following key criteria: reasons for using PLS-SEM, model characteristics, sample characteristics, model evaluations and reporting. Our results reveal that small sample size and nonnormal data are the first two major reasons for using PLS-SEM. Moreover, we have identified how to extend the applications of PLS-SEM in the e-learning research field.     

Calculating degrees of freedom for a structural equation model

Multivariate Analysis of Categorical Data: Theory. John P. Van de Geer, Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993, 104 pages.

Multivariate Analysis of Categorical Data: Applications. John P. Van de Geer, Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993, 128 pages.     

Engaging with Higher Education Academic Support: a first year student teacher transition model

The need for a redefinition of first year experience in higher education is advocated with the aid of two models, which, although focused on a sample of Australian pre-service teaching students, is proposed as generalisable across the first year. Introduction to the mores of higher education is generally supported by teaching institutions during Orientation days and into the first few weeks of study on the assumption that students are then prepared for academic study. Institutions have invested significantly in providing a range of resources and services to support this process but their effectiveness relies on their timely and appropriate use by students. It is proposed that first year students' transition be identified as the FYST, a unique and important experience and the first of a series of transitions that occur throughout tertiary study. It is also argued that student engagement should be explicitly linked to critical points in the academic programme. Student teacher focus group feedback suggests that Timely, Individualised, and Prioritised Survival [TIPS] support may be key to aiding students' transition to higher education and valuable to student retention.     

Multi-loop adaptive internal model control based on a dynamic partial least squares model

A multi-loop adaptive internal model control (IMC) strategy based on a dynamic partial least squares (PLS) framework is proposed to account for plant model errors caused by slow aging, drift in operational conditions, or environmental changes. Since PLS decomposition structure enables multi-loop controller design within latent spaces, a multivariable adaptive control scheme can be converted easily into several independent univariable control loops in the PLS space. In each latent subspace, once the model error exceeds a specific threshold, online adaptation rules are implemented separately to correct the plant model mismatch via a recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm. Because the IMC extracts the inverse of the minimum part of the internal model as its structure, the IMC controller is self-tuned by explicitly updating the parameters, which are parts of the internal model. Both parameter convergence and system stability are briefly analyzed, and proved to be effective. Finally, the proposed control scheme is tested and evaluated using a widely-used benchmark of a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system with pure delay.     

Using structural equation models with latent variables to study student growth and development

Calls for accountability, coupled with a desire to improve teaching and learning, have prompted many colleges and universities to consider ways of assessing the effects of postsecondary education on student growth and development. Despite widespread support for the concept of assessing student change, relatively few institutions have implemented this type of assessment, in part because of a concern about the best method of measuring change. This article describes the use of structural equation models with latent variables to assess the effects of education on change. Advantages of using structural equation models with latent variables include error-free measurement of change, direct tests of the assumptions underlying change research, along with the power and flexibility of maximum likelihood estimation. An analysis of data on freshman-to-senior gains provides evidence of the advantages of latent variable structural equation modeling and also suggests that the group differences identified by traditional analysis of variance and covariance techniques may be an artifact of measurement error.     

Satisfaction with Higher Education: critical data for student development

Higher education is a mainstay in the development and support of the economic, social and cultural development of the global society. Throughout history, academic institutions have sought to respond to the demands of endlessly changing and evolving environmental conditions. However, in the 21st century, a number of significant factors are changing the higher education landscape and challenging higher education institutions (HEIs) to interpret the vital needs of contemporary society to stimulate and enhance student development. Student development is an all-embracing concept that involves research focusing on students from recruitment to placement. Assuming that meeting student needs and stimulating and enhancing their development are crucial challenges for higher education institutions worldwide, the article focuses on a national study in Portugal designed to measure students’ expectations and satisfaction with their experience. On the basis of a nationwide survey, it examines these in the various types of higher education institutions in Portugal.     

A structural equation model analyzing the relationship of student achievement motivations and personality factors in a range of academic subject-matter areas

The question of subject-specificity of achievement motivations is important, both for educational psychology, as well as for educational policy. This study contributes to the investigation of the heterogeneity in achievement motivations in the context of the expectancy-value model. Whereas existing research deals with middle and high school students and their motivations for a range of broad domains, this article focuses on university students (n = 264) and subject domains that are more congruent. We adopt an affect-extended version of the expectancy-value model. Using structural equation methods, we are able to decompose achievement motivations in generic and subject-specific components.     

Teacher self-efficacy,instructional quality,and student motivational beliefs: An analysis using multilevel structural equation modeling

Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) is one of the most salient motivational characteristics that is assumed to affect teachers’ instructional quality and student motivational beliefs. However, discussions of these associations have primarily been often primarily conceptual and/or based on empirical research that has suffered from methodological shortcomings. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationships between TSE, instructional quality (i.e., classroom management, cognitive activation, and supportive climate) and student motivational beliefs (i.e., self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation) by using responses from both teachers and students and implementing a sophisticated doubly latent multilevel structural equation modeling approach. A total of 94 high school teachers and their 2087 students participated in the study. The results demonstrated that, at the class level, TSE was positively related to the three dimensions of instructional quality but not to student motivational beliefs. As expected, instructional quality was positively related to student motivational beliefs.     

新建地方本科高校教育服务质量与学生满意度的结构方程模型分析

通过对江西新建地方本科高校宜春学院、九江学院高等教育服务质量满意度的抽样调查,发现高等教育服务投入质量对过程质量和结果质量有显著的正向影响、过程质量对结果质量有显著的正向影响、过程质量和结果质量是影响学生满意度的主要因素、结果质量和学生满意度对学生行为意向有显著的正向影响。     

Women's path into science and engineering majors: a structural equation model

The intent of this study was to investigate the adequacy of Weidman's (1985 Weidman, J. C. 1985. “Undergraduate socialization: A conceptual approach”. In Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, Edited by: Smart, J. C. Vol. V, 298–322. New York: Agathon Press.  [Google Scholar], 1989 Weidman, J. C. 1989. “The world of higher education: A socialization-theoretical perspective”. In The social world of adolescents: International perspectives, Edited by: Hurrelmann, K. and Engel, U. 87–105. New York: W. de Gruyter.  [Google Scholar]) theoretical undergraduate socialization model as an empirical-based causal model pertaining to women's career path choice into a science or engineering (SE) major via structural equation modeling. Data were obtained from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (1996–2001) from the U.S. Department of Education. Results indicate that Weidman's model was somewhat supported. Results from the evaluation of the causal model suggest that women's path into an SE major was influenced by both collegiate and non-collegiate factors, with 1st-year college grades and high school math grades being the dominant indirect influences.     

Towards a structural inequality framework for student retention and success

ABSTRACT

University campuses are increasingly diverse, reflecting substantial growth in student enrolments, but this has not translated to equitable outcomes for all students. While much attention has been focused on student retention and success, particularly for those from non-traditional backgrounds, dominant theoretical models rest on a limited notion of cultural capital that places undue responsibility on students themselves. We suggest that structural inequality, whereby some people receive unequal privileges and opportunities, offers a more productive, less problematic framework for use by academic staff, university leaders and policy makers to address these challenges. In this article, we identify three types of structural inequality – vertical, horizontal, and internal – and include a taxonomy of internal inequalities to prompt further research and policy outcomes. Put simply, rather than ask how students can build cultural capital to assimilate to their institutions, we should ask what institutions can do to include students, staff, and the wider community.     

Modelling Occupational Stress and Employee Health and Wellbeing in a Chinese Higher Education Institution

Extensive change is evident in higher education in the People's Republic of China but there have been few studies of the effect of work stress on wellbeing in the higher education sector. The main aim of this study is to test and refine the ASSET (‘An Organizational Stress Screening Tool’) model of occupational stress in a sample of 150 academic and non‐academic employees in a Chinese higher education institute. Using partial least squares modelling, the findings showed that job stressors predicted job dissatisfaction but, surprisingly, did not predict perceived commitment. Employees who reported job dissatisfaction tended to perceive that their organisation was less committed towards them and report less commitment towards the organisation. Job stressors resulted in poorer psychological wellbeing. Greater psychological wellbeing was associated with greater physical wellbeing. The findings suggest that university management should introduce strategies aimed at minimising job stressors as these would result in higher level of job satisfaction, higher level of commitment and ultimately resulted in an improvement in physical health.     

The relationship between approaches to teaching and approaches to studying: a two-level structural equation model for biology achievement in high school

Since the 1970s, a large body of research has reported on the differences between deep and surface approaches to student learning. More recently, however, this metaphor for students’ approaches to learning has been applied to the practice of teaching. Studies at the university level have identified two approaches to teaching: the information transmission/teacher-focused approach and the conceptual change/student-focused approach. The present study analyzes the relationship between teachers’ approaches to teaching and high school students’ approaches to learning. The data were analyzed by fitting a two-level structural equation model based on the hypothesis that student academic achievement is significantly determined by the way they study and that the way they study is partially determined by the way teachers teach. The participants were high school students (778 twelfth graders) enrolled in biology courses and their teachers (40 total). The same model was proposed at both levels (i.e., within and between levels) and fit the data quite well. As expected, within level, the effects of the ‘approaches to learning’ on ‘biology achievement’ regression were far larger than the corresponding effects at between level. The central findings suggest worthy directions for future research.     

高等教育自学考试:具有中国特色的开放教育形式

高等教育自学考试是我国教育体制改革的一项重要成呆,是一种具有中国特色的大规模的、社会化的、开放式的高等教育形式。它在我国发展继续教育、建构终身教育、建立学习化社会中,必将起到不可估量的作用。     

An examination of freshmen to senior general education gains across a national sample of institutions with different general education requirements using a mixed-effect structural equation model

This study investigated differences in freshmen to senior student general education gains across institutions with varying patterns of general education requirements using a mixed-effect structural equation model. The subjects were 6,409 students at 34 nation-wide colleges and universities. Students attending institutions where less than 40 percent of undergraduate curricular requirements were devoted to general education and where there was not equal distribution of general education courses within the requirement were found to have significantly higher general education gains than did students who attended institutions where 40 percent or more of the undergraduate curriculum was devoted to general education and there was equal distribution of courses within the general education requirement.Presented at the Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum, Atlanta, Georgia, May 10–13, 1992.     

Using the friedman method of ranks for model comparison in structural equation modeling

Empirical researchers maximize their contribution to theory development when they compare alternative theory‐inspired models under the same conditions. Yet model comparison tools in structural equation modeling—χ² difference tests, information criterion measures, and screening heuristics—have significant limitations. This article explores the use of the Friedman method of ranks as an inferential procedure for evaluating competing models. This approach has attractive properties, including limited reliance on sample size, limited distributional assumptions, an explicit multiple comparison procedure, and applicability to the comparison of nonnested models. However, this use of the Friedman method raises important issues regarding the lack of independence of observations and the power of the test.     

The equal correlation baseline model for comparative fit assessment in structural equation modeling

In this article I describe and evaluate an alternative baseline model for comparative fit assessment of structural equation models and compare it to the standard “null” baseline model. The new “equal correlation” baseline model constrains all variables to have equal, rather than zero, correlations, whereas all variances are free. The new baseline model reflects the reality of atheoretical background correlation in nonex‐perimental data sets, and it improves the ability of comparative fit indices to distinguish between better and worse target models. It also helps to preserve the statistical link between these indices and the noncentral χ² distribution. Also, computing the same comparative fit indices using different baseline models will provide more information about model fit than computing multiple comparative fit indices using the same baseline. I also point out some limitations of the proposed baseline model.     

产学研结合是高等职业教育的必由之路

通过对高职教育现状的分析，提出产学研合作的实质内容，并探讨了产学研结合模式中课程体系及考试方法、手段的改革。     

素质教育要提高教育素质

章针对近几年来素质教育中存在的一些问题提出了自己的观点与建议，认为科学管理应为素质教育提供基本保证，素质教育迫切要求提高教师的素质，对学生的素质教育应放在实践能力的培养上。