Student Learning Groups: Does Group Composition Matter?

There has been a shift in university teaching over the past decades to emphasize student achievement and persistence through high-impact practices and collaborative learning. While research supports the efficacy of these pedagogical strategies, it can be difficult to implement them on large campuses. Yet, many criminal justice professors assign students to work in small groups. This study, conducted at a university with a large underrepresented student population, found that the composition of student groups in one criminal justice class can affect the perceived benefits students receive in that class, in other classes, and in general. We found that students placed in a small group with classmates who shared some criminal justice classes reported more student-initiated collaborative learning, expanded support networks, and improved grades in shared courses compared to students in small groups with classmates who shared no classes. This simple intervention has the potential to mimic learning-communities with similar benefits.     

Comparison of student performance using web and paper‐based homework in college‐level physics

Homework gives students an opportunity to practice important college‐level physics skills. A switch to Web‐based homework alters the nature of feedback received, potentially changing the pedagogical benefit. Calculus‐ and algebra‐based introductory physics students enrolled in large paired lecture sections at a public university completed homework of standard end‐of‐the‐chapter exercises using either the Web or paper. Comparison of their performances on regular exams, conceptual exams, quizzes, laboratory, and homework showed no significant differences between groups; other measures were found to be strong predictors of performance. This indicates that the change in medium itself has limited effect on student learning. Ways in which Web‐based homework could enable exercises with greater pedagogical value are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 1050–1071, 2003     

The effects of class size in online college courses: Experimental evidence

Class size is a first-order consideration in the study of education cost and effectiveness. Yet little is known about the effects of class size on student outcomes in online college classes, even though online courses have become commonplace in many institutions of higher education. We study a field experiment in which college students were quasi-randomly assigned to either regular sized classes or slightly larger classes. Regular classes had, on average, 31 students and treatment classes were, on average, ten percent larger. The experiment was conducted at DeVry University, one of the nation's largest for-profit postsecondary institutions, and included over 100,000 student course enrollments in nearly 4,000 classes across 111 different undergraduate and graduate courses. We examine class size effects on student success in the course and subsequent persistence in college. We find little evidence of effects on average or for a range of course types. Given the large sample, our estimates are precise, suggesting that small class size changes have little impact in online settings.     

Cooperative learning in industrial-sized biology classes

This study examined the impact of cooperative learning activities on student achievement and attitudes in large-enrollment (>250) introductory biology classes. We found that students taught using a cooperative learning approach showed greater improvement in their knowledge of course material compared with students taught using a traditional lecture format. In addition, students viewed cooperative learning activities highly favorably. These findings suggest that encouraging students to work in small groups and improving feedback between the instructor and the students can help to improve student outcomes even in very large classes. These results should be viewed cautiously, however, until this experiment can be replicated with additional faculty. Strategies for potentially improving the impact of cooperative learning on student achievement in large courses are discussed.     

A Comparison of Online,Video Synchronous,and Traditional Learning Modes for an Introductory Undergraduate Physics Course

While the equivalence between online and traditional classrooms has been well-researched, very little of this includes college-level introductory Physics. Only one study explored Physics at the whole-class level rather than specific course components such as a single lab or a homework platform. In this work, we compared the failure rate, grade distribution, and withdrawal rates in an introductory undergraduate Physics course across several learning modes including traditional face-to-face instruction, synchronous video instruction, and online classes. Statistically significant differences were found for student failure rates, grade distribution, and withdrawal rates but yielded small effect sizes. Post-hoc pair-wise test was run to determine differences between learning modes. Online students had a significantly lower failure rate than students who took the class via synchronous video classroom. While statistically significant differences were found for grade distributions, the pair-wise comparison yielded no statistically significance differences between learning modes when using the more conservative Bonferroni correction in post-hoc testing. Finally, in this study, student withdrawal rates were lowest for students who took the class in person (in-person classroom and synchronous video classroom) than online. Students that persist in an online introductory Physics class are more likely to achieve an A than in other modes. However, the withdrawal rate is higher from online Physics courses. Further research is warranted to better understand the reasons for higher withdrawal rates in online courses. Finding the root cause to help eliminate differences in student performance across learning modes should remain a high priority for education researchers and the education community as a whole.     

Towards a theory of mathematics homework as a social practice

This article presents a theoretical conceptualization of mathematics homework as a social practice. Rather than considering homework as a task or an artifact, this approach frames homework in terms of the social contexts in which students participate and how students participate in those contexts. This perspective has long been suggested by homework researchers but has not been developed as a framework for understanding homework. Drawing from Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning and research grounded in sociocultural theory, this conceptualization makes central meaning making and identity development, and puts forth meaning and identity as lenses for understanding students’ participation in the practice of mathematics homework. To further develop this conceptualization of homework, I draw on data from an ethnographic study of the role and meaning of mathematics homework in the lives of middle school students. Case studies of two students are presented to demonstrate the relationships among the meaning of homework, students’ identities, and their participation in the practice of homework. One student’s experiences support him in identifying as a capable mathematics student who is bound for continued academic success through high school to college. Thus, he comes to take on mathematics homework as a means to learn and succeed. The other student’s experiences support him in building an identity that leads him to reject homework. This conceptualization of homework and the case study data have implications for the practice of homework and for theories of students’ motivational dispositions in the context of mathematics homework and learning in general.     

Online Discussions Improve Student Perceptions of Instructor Efforts to Relate Faith to Learning in Graduate Occupational Therapy Courses

This article presents the results of a retrospective controlled study conducted in a graduate occupational therapy program. The study examined the effect that an online discussion targeting integration of faith and learning had on student perceptions of instructor effectiveness in relating faith to learning. This study addresses the following question: Does the addition of a single online discussion targeting integration of faith and learning in graduate occupational therapy courses significantly increase student ratings on a course evaluation question addressing faith–learning integration? This study also asked two secondary questions:

1. Do online students and face-to-face students both respond favorably to the addition of an online discussion targeting faith–learning integration?

2. Do students in three different courses all respond favorably to the addition of an online discussion targeting the integration of faith and learning?

Data were collected from three different courses taught by the same professor between Fall 2009 and Fall 2013 (four sections of each course; N = 138). The ordinal data were analyzed using nonparametric tests to determine significant differences and effect sizes. The results indicated that the addition of a single online discussion addressing faith–learning integration can significantly increase student perceptions of instructor effectiveness in such integration within graduate occupational therapy coursework, both in face-to-face and online learning environments. These findings provide support for the use of online discussions to challenge students to integrate Christian faith beliefs with what they are learning in their area of study.     

Chameleon effects in homework research: The homework–achievement association depends on the measures used and the level of analysis chosen

Using a data set specifically tailored to homework research, with a sample of 1275 students from 70 classes in Switzerland, the association between homework and achievement in French as a second language was tested at three levels (class level, between-student level, and within-student level). The strength and direction of the homework–achievement association depended on the homework indicator chosen and differed to some degree across analytical levels. At the class level, achievement was higher in classes set frequent homework assignments and in classes where students reported low overall levels of negative emotions when doing homework. At the between-student level, high individual homework effort and low levels of negative homework emotions predicted favorable developments in French achievement, whereas high homework time predicted lower achievement. At the intraindividual level, high homework effort, high homework time, and low levels of negative homework emotions were statistically significantly associated with positive student evaluations of the learning gains from the specific assignment.     

The effectiveness of blended online learning courses at the community college level

Whether through the use of online-only or hybrid/blended formats, colleges and universities across the country are increasingly utilizing online platforms as a medium for the delivery of instruction. At the same time, we know little about how student learning outcomes are related to students’ engagement with online instructional formats. In particular, few studies have evaluated online learning in community colleges, and fewer yet have employed an experimental or quasi-experimental design to do so. In this research, we use propensity score matching to compare learning gains between community college students enrolled in blended courses, (courses that combine online instructional delivery with traditional classroom-based instruction) with gains experienced by students receiving only classroom-based instruction. Among students enrolled in blended courses, we also consider which aspects of student use of online instructional materials are most strongly associated with student learning. While some evidence has suggested significantly poorer outcomes for community college students enrolled in online-only courses, our results suggest that students enrolled in blended courses perform similarly, if not better, relative to students in a traditional instructional setting. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Embedding engaged learning in high enrollmentlecture-based classes

Engaged learning opportunities have become powerful foundations upon which students build lifelong skills and organizational capacities. Research has empirically validated the long-term positive learning impacts of active and experiential learning opportunities for students. As such, institutional administrators and external stakeholders have encouraged and, in some cases, required that faculty use engaged teaching methods. At the same time, difficult economic circumstances continue to batter higher education, with class sizes increasing to improve efficiencies and reduce instructional costs. The confluence of those two trends has resulted in calls to integrate engaged learning opportunities in large higher education classes, engendering special challenges for educators. It is within this particular gap—practical guidance for transforming passive course designs to active ones—that our article contributes to the international higher education literature. We share our experiences implementing engaged learning practices into large university classes over a 4-year period, guided by an experiential learning theoretical framework. By analyzing text from our individual teaching journals and collaborative post-mortems, we are able to introduce an integrative model highlighting important contextual and logistical issues that must be considered: pre-class planning, in-class facilitation, assessments and feedback, training and renorming student expectations, and institutional context. We end the article with caveats and ethical considerations when introducing engaged learning into large classes.     

Online homework impact in undergraduate mathematics and business statistics courses

This evaluation examines the impact on student success rates related to changes in instructional programmes in undergraduate mathematics and statistics courses. Success for students taking courses with a computer-based homework component was compared with success of students who took the course in prior semesters without the computer-based component. Graphical and analytical tools are used to compare results. Results come from multiple semesters of each type of homework application, for both pre-calculus algebra and business statistics courses. Students whose performance is utilised in this study are undergraduate students taking introductory level college mathematics or business statistics courses, with mostly no prior instruction at this level. Comparing the success of the intervention group with the success of the baseline control group, findings support that the students using the computer-based homework instruction are just as successful as those using the traditional method of homework instruction. Utilising the online homework applications, provide several important advantages in today’s universities, including the reduced time for faculty grading, consistency of graded assignments across all sections of a course and most importantly, immediate feedback for students.     

Scaling‐up of higher‐order cognitive skills‐oriented college chemistry teaching: An action‐oriented research

A major objective of the current reform in science and chemistry education is the development of students' higher‐order cognitive skills (HOCS). A major question of concern is how to improve practice, via appropriate teaching strategies, to achieve the HOCS‐oriented instruction‐learning goals of college science and chemistry education, within the current reality of large, heavily populated chemistry classes. This article presents an action‐oriented research account of HOCS‐oriented teaching of organic chemistry to freshman and sophomore science majors in small and large classes at a relatively small and large university, respectively, within a purposed attempt of overall course design reform. Inquiry‐oriented class discussions, students' active involvement in the learning process, HOCS‐type examinations, and grading of exams by both peers and course graduates were successfully applied in both the small and large classes, demonstrating the feasibility and benefits to students of interactive, HOCS‐oriented pedagogies within the reality of both class sizes. The messages are that (a) there are implementable, appropriate teaching strategies for the development of students' HOCS abilities within the reality of large lecture sections of college chemistry courses; and (b) chemistry educators should take the trouble of working harder toward the attainment of this superordinate goal despite limiting constraints. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 583–596, 1999     

An experimental investigation into the efficiency of cooperative learning with consideration of multiple grouping criteria

The present study conducts an experimental investigation to compare the efficiency of the cooperative learning method with that of the traditional learning method. A total of 42 engineering students are randomly assigned to the two learning conditions and are formed into mixed-ability groups comprising three team members. In addition to the regular daytime classes, homework sessions are arranged such that the out-of-hours learning method and learning time can be effectively controlled. The students’ academic achievement is evaluated by means of unit tests in the daytime classes and homework tests in the out-of-hours sessions. As an alternative method for resolving the multiple grouping criteria problem, the analysis of covariance method is used to compensate for the initial difference in the prior knowledge of the students in the two learning conditions regarding the course contents. The results show that given an equivalent learning time, the students in the cooperative learning condition outperform those who study alone in both the unit tests and the homework tests. Therefore, it is concluded that cooperative learning has a higher efficiency than the individualistic learning method.     

Self-regulated learning: the role of motivation,emotion, and use of learning strategies in students’ learning experiences in a self-paced online mathematics course

Enrollment in online remedial mathematics courses has increased in popularity in institutions of higher learning; however, students unskilled in self-regulated learning (SRL) find online remedial mathematics courses particularly challenging. We investigated the role of SRL, specifically motivation, emotion, and learning strategies, in students’ learning experiences in a remedial online mathematics course. With an online survey of 229 college students, we found that student motivation explained a small portion of variance in achievement; whereas student motivation and emotion explained a significant portion of variance in satisfaction. In addition, significant differences in motivation and emotion were found in passing and nonpassing students; however, learning strategies did not influence student achievement and satisfaction. Implications for teaching and learning in self-paced online remedial mathematics courses are discussed.     

Predicting students’ homework environment management at the secondary school level

The present study examined empirical models of variables posited to predict students’ homework environment management at the secondary school level. The participants were 866 8th graders from 61 classes and 745 11th graders from 46 classes. Most of the variance in homework environment management occurred at the student level, with classmates’ shared homework interest as the only significant predictor at the class level. At the student level, homework environment management was positively associated with learning-oriented reasons (i.e. doing homework for reinforcing school learning and developing a sense of responsibility), homework interest, family homework help, academic achievement and teacher feedback. On the other hand, homework environment management was negatively associated with the amount of time spent on television and peer-oriented reasons (i.e. doing homework for working with and seeking approval from peers).     

Supporting Black Male Community College Success: Determinants of Faculty–Student Engagement

The purpose of this study was to examine determinants of Black male students’ engagement with faculty in the community college. Data from this study were derived from the 2011 three-year cohort of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). Using data from 11,384 Black male respondents within 260 community colleges, this study investigated faculty–student engagement using hierarchical, multilevel modeling. Among other findings, this study illustrated the importance of reading remediation, participation in learning communities, study skills courses, and college orientation in positively contributing to faculty–student interactions. Implications for college practice are discussed.     

Exploring the Effects of Learning Environment on Transfer,Student Perceptions,and Instructor Accommodations in an Undergraduate Course Sequence

Previous studies have compared student performance for the same or similar classes delivered both online and face-to-face. However, few studies have explored the role that a change in learning environment plays in the student’s ability to transfer skills and knowledge gained in prerequisite courses to follow-on, or post-requisite, courses. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student demographic factors, learning environments, and the transfer of skills and knowledge in undergraduate accounting education. In addition, this study examined student perceptions of online learning both before and after the course learning sequence, and the specific accommodations instructors made to their instructional design to facilitate the delivery medium change in learning environment. Data for this study was collected from 2,324 students and their corresponding instructors participating in a sequence of two undergraduate accounting courses at a large Midwestern U.S. university. Results revealed a positive relationship between a student’s performance in post-requisite coursework and GPA, the number of completed credits, and enrollment status (full or part-time). Instructors made delivery medium specific adjustments in course topic coverage, student participation, and group work to accommodate for the perceived capabilities of the learning environment.     

Investigating Flipped Learning: Student Self-Regulated Learning,Perceptions, and Achievement in an Introductory Biology Course

In flipped classrooms, lectures, which are normally delivered in-class, are assigned as homework in the form of videos, and assignments that were traditionally assigned as homework, are done as learning activities in class. It was hypothesized that the effectiveness of the flipped model hinges on a student’s desire and ability to adopt a self-directed learning style. The purpose of this study was twofold; it aimed at examining the relationship between two variables—students’ perceptions of the flipped model and their self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviors—and the impact that these variables have on achievement in a flipped class. For the study, 76 participants from a flipped introductory biology course were asked about their SRL strategy use and perceptions of the flipped model. SRL strategy use was measured using a modified version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ; Wolters et al. 2005), while the flipped perceptions survey was newly derived. Student letter grades were collected as a measure of achievement. Through regression analysis, it was found that students’ perceptions of the flipped model positively predict students’ use of several types of SRL strategies. However, the data did not indicate a relationship between student perceptions and achievement, neither directly nor indirectly, through SRL strategy use. Results suggest that flipped classrooms demonstrate their successes in the active learning sessions through constructivist teaching methods. Video lectures hold an important role in flipped classes, however, students may need to practice SRL skills to become more self-directed and effectively learn from them.     

Factors influencing student academic performance in online high school algebra

This paper describes the effect of teacher comments, students’ demographic information and learning management system utilisation on student final scores in algebra courses in a K–12 virtual learning environment. Students taking algebra courses in a state virtual school in the Midwestern US region during 2007–2008 participated in this study. Student final scores on these courses were collected using tests administered at the end of semester in the virtual school courses. The hierarchical linear modelling technique was used for data analysis to account for the influence of school characteristics on student final scores. The results show these factors have different influences on student final scores in different algebra courses. The discussion of the findings addresses the implications for teaching.     

Student Evaluations as Effective Indicators of Learning Outcomes:Evidence from Japanese University Students in English Language Courses

The term"student learning outcomes"refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilitiesthat students achieve during a course, and is typically assessed based on student evaluations conducted at the end of the semester. Previous studies in this area have investigated the effects of instructional quality and academic demands separately and have been limited primarily to examining findings using student samples fromthe United States. With Japanese college students' perceptions of self-improvementin English language courses as the dependent variable, the present study directly tests the hypothesis that students who perceive instructional quality to be higher, andcourse demands to be greater, also estimate higher levels of self-improvement in English language skills. The analysis provides strong support for this hypothesis.Higher ratings of instruction and academic demands have already beenshown to increase levels of student learning(Greimel-Fuhrmann and Geyer 2003;Nois and Hudson 2006; Mc Fadden and Dart 1992). The present study is the first toprovide direct evidence of the relative importance of student evaluations ofinstructional quality and academic demands as predictors of student learning and thefirst ever to do so with a sample of Japanese college students enrolled in a required English as a foreign language course. Our hypothesis is that Japanese students whoperceive instructional quality to be higher, and course demands to be greater,estimate higher levels of self-improvement in English language skills. Thus we test Japanese students' attitudes toward instructional quality and course demands asindependent variables predicting their perceptions of self-improvement in English language courses. The research focuses on Japanese students' improvement in English language skills because English education in Japan is an arena in which thedebate over limited English proficiency rages on, and because other research suggests reconsideration of English education in light of the demands of the rapidly expanding global era(Amaki 2008).