Learning environment of a distance and partly-distance postgraduate coursework programs

Learning Environments Research - To provide ongoing learning for busy professionals, universities are increasingly offering postgraduate opportunities by distance and online. This research examined...     

Needs of elementary and middle school teachers developing online courses for a virtual school

Eight teams of elementary and middle school teachers developed pilot online courses for the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) in the USA. A qualitative case study with focus groups and a follow‐up survey helped to identify common needs of these non‐traditional course designers during course development efforts. Findings suggest virtual schools can better support non‐traditional course designers by providing leadership components such as technical expertise, regular feedback, and clear expectations, including an understanding of the target students. Findings further suggest designers need a range of bite‐sized professional development on replicating model courses, using course management systems, assessing learners online, designing with copyright and safety issues in mind, integrating Web tools, and developing course documentation for deployment. The article concludes with a discussion of support structures that may aid instructors tasked with online course development.     

Academic vocabulary and middle school English learners: an intervention study

The goal of this experimental intervention study was to determine if evidence-based instructional strategies for general vocabulary words are effective with middle school English learner (EL) students and academic vocabulary words. Participants showed significantly more growth in their knowledge of academic vocabulary during the treatment condition than during the control condition. A secondary goal of this study was to examine the predictive utility of students’ English language proficiency, and students’ general vocabulary knowledge in English was a positive predictor for their academic vocabulary growth during the intervention. However, participants’ growth during the control period had the greatest predictive utility for their growth during the intervention. Furthermore, this relationship was negative, suggesting that the intervention had the greatest benefits for students who made the least progress in English vocabulary in the absence of the intervention. Implications for instruction, policy, and future research are presented.     

Preparing Entry‐Level Counselors for Collaboration

Over a period of 5 years, faculty members from the North Carolina State University's Counselor Education Program have integrated a curriculum enhancement to promote collaboration behaviors among program graduates across the master's degree options for training school, college, and community counselors. The School–College–Community Collaboration (SC3) idea was integrated into a 48‐credit master's degree curriculum accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. The authors present the rationale for the training program, historical background, program enhancement content, evaluation findings and faculty responses, and future plans for the SC3 enhancement program.     

No cuts,no buts: Satisfaction of first-year medical students with a hybrid prosection-based model for learning gross anatomy during the Covid-19 pandemic

Few realized the extent of disruption that the Covid-19 global pandemic would impose upon higher anatomical education. While many institutions were obliged to adopt a fully-remote online model, the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine strove to develop a curriculum that would allow medical students to receive an in-person anatomy education. A hybrid model that emphasized learning from prosected cadavers and self-study stations was implemented, with the remainder of the students' time directed toward studying at home. Through an anonymous survey aimed at gleaning student satisfaction, this study demonstrates that this hybrid prosection-based anatomy course aligned with student preferences both assuming no health risk (64.6% agreed) and given the current risk of contracting Covid-19 (78.5% agreed). Generally, students felt that their education was equal to that of previous years (Likert scale = 3.24 ± 1.05), fostered an appreciation for anatomy (4.56 ± 0.59), promoted teamwork (4.13 ± 0.85), and prepared them for practical examinations (4.18 ± 0.74). Linear mixed-effect models demonstrated that specific differences in results could be attributed to students' preconceived preferences toward student-led dissections and to past medical training. Importantly, most students “disagree” (1.97 ± 1.00) that they were concerned about the risk of exposure to Covid-19 during in-person anatomy laboratory sessions. Areas requiring improvement were identified by the model, including the provision of access to the cadavers outside of the regularly scheduled laboratory times (3.89 ± 1.08). These findings should be utilized when designing future gross anatomy courses in response to the “new normal”.