Search

During the emergence of Data Science as a distinct discipline, discussions of what exactly constitutes Data Science have been a source of contention, with no clear resolution. These disagreements have been exacerbated by the lack of a clear single disciplinary 'parent.' Many early efforts at defining curricula and courses exist, with the EDISON Project's Data Science Framework (EDISON-DSF) from the European Union being the most complete. The EDISON-DSF includes both a Data Science Body of Knowledge (DS-BoK) and Competency Framework (CF-DS). This paper takes a critical look at how EDISON's CF-DS compares to recent work and other published curricular or course materials. We identify areas of strong agreement and disagreement with the framework. Results from the literature analysis provide strong insights into what topics the broader community see as belonging in (or not in) Data Science, both at curricular and course levels. This analysis can provide important guidance for groups working to formalize the discipline and any college or university looking to build their own undergraduate Data Science degree or programs.

Join Pathways Geosciences 1004 Instructor extraordinaire and OER adapter of Introduction to Earth Science, Dr. Laura Neser, and University Libraries’ Assistant Director of Open Education and Scholarly Communication Librarian, Anita Walz, in a story-filled, no-pressure presentation. We’ll cover viable alternatives to expensive course materials, and support available at VT to adopt, adapt existing, or create high-quality openly-licensed course materials that better fit your teaching and your class. Hear stories, ask questions, and try your hand at identifying what’s available in your discipline. Learn about the impact faculty can make at VT -- and beyond. (In case you have fear of missing out regarding the AI session, we will talk about potential uses of AI as it pertains to OER.)

The satirical television series Jiskefet ran from 1990 to 2005 at the VPRO channel. While the popular satirical television series Kooten & De Bie focused more on political parody, Jiskefet was more absurdist and mainly made parodies of certain subcultures. In this article, I want to look at how these timeless parodies can be used as course materials. Not only is Jiskefet itself part of Dutch culture, but the parodies also magnify typical Dutch cultural elements. Examples include student associations, the culture of voluntary work, nursing homes that often appear in the news, and the office culture with the inevitable lunch box and office humor. Furthermore, the parodies constitute interesting linguistic material in the form of neologisms, which have enriched the Dutch language and will also be discussed here. Finally, the fact that stereotypes and prejudices are used in parodies offers the possibility of discussing the subject with students.

Learning language nowadays can be done by many ways including using mobile technology or mobile phone and its applications. Learning uses mobile applications not only can be done by using app-based language learning, but also using general application. This descriptive case study was used to investigate and find out about pre-service teachers’ levels and perceptions on the use of mobile applications for language learning. The data from six pre-service teachers were collected by using semi-structured interviews and questionnaire. The result showed that all of pre-service teachers have different levels of using mobile applications for language learning based on their purposes, challenges and experiences. In addition, most of pre-service teachers have positive perceptions on the use of mobile application for their language learning regarding on aim-mobile technologies fit, appropriate of branch, and forms of m-learning application and tools’ sufficient adequacy of communication, the findings revealed that (1) mobile applications remove the limitation of time and space; (2) mobile applications are reliable for personal use; and (3) course materials could be sent to students via mobile applications. In conclusion, the use of mobile applications for language learning are helpful for pre-service teachers.

Aim: To gain insight into the education about substandard and falsified (SF) medical products. Method: A digital survey was sent to 173 different schools of pharmacy around the world. Results: The response rate was 32% (55 responses, 37 countries). Most schools taught about SF medical products as a stand-alone course or as part of another course or module (67%), whereas 33% did not teach about the subject. The main focus of teaching was on detection (21%) and prevention (21%) of SF medical products, while reporting was taught the least (12%), indicating a knowledge gap in that area. A key barrier to introducing a new course that could close the gaps was insufficient time in pharmacy curriculum (n=33; 60%), while availability of ready-to-adopt course materials was considered as a helpful enabler. Conclusion: These insights can improve the understanding on what is already being taught on SF medical products, where the gaps are and inform the curriculum needed globally.

The number of students with disability enrolled in tertiary education has increased significantly in the last decade. This has prompted a move to make learning and teaching more accessible to all students. Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, can be used as a framework to guide tertiary educators in the planning and delivery of their courses. The effective implementation of UDL allows all students to access course materials, removing the need for some of them to actively seek support and disclose their disabilities. A rapid review was conducted to locate both theory and evidence to support the use of UDL at the tertiary level, as well as to seek guidance for its effective implementation. A total of 52 articles were included in the study and annotation was used for data extraction. Results indicated that UDL is well supported by theory, and studies revealed high satisfaction rates for UDL for both students and instructors. Implications for practice are suggested. As the current study was conducted at a university in Australia, the current research (which is largely from the United States) has been examined with the Australian university context in mind.

Companion Site for Harvard Medical School Canvas Network MOOC Best Practices for Biomedical Research Data Management Funding: NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Initiative Research Education, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)

Affordability is considered a key predictor of college enrollment and academic success, yet higher education costs continue to rise. Over the past three decades, textbooks and course materials alone have increased almost three times the rate of inflation (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). To identify the extent to which course material costs create barriers for community college students, and whether these costs foster inequities for students in traditionally underserved and underrepresented populations, a cross-sectional survey research study was conducted fall 2019 amongst students enrolled in community colleges across the Tennessee Board of Regents system (N = 88,946, n = 1,912). The survey covered course material purchase behaviors, decisions, and experiences related to academic achievement and progress to graduation. Results showed nearly two-thirds of students (68.6%) have delayed purchasing a textbook due to cost. Almost half (41.3%) reported not purchasing required materials, 15.8% reported earning poor grades, and 3.3% reported having failed a course because they could not afford the materials. Logistic regressions were employed to determine whether these extents were disproportionately experienced by non-White, low income, and/or Adult Learners over age 25. Statistically significant differences in academic achievement barriers were found for low income students, alongside significant progress to graduation barriers for non-Adult Learners, suggesting younger learners are more susceptible to the consequences of course material costs. These findings inform policy efforts by helping educational leaders better understand the impacts of course material costs on the ability of community college students to achieve in coursework and progress to graduation.

Objetivo: Compreender a percepção dos discentes sobre a relação entre competências docentes e aprendizado de controladoria em programas de mestrado em contabilidade no sul e sudeste do Brasil. Metodologia: Estudo qualitativo com caráter descritivo-exploratório realizado por meio de entrevistas em profundidade. Foram entrevistados 19 alunos que concluíram a disciplina de controladoria em 9 programas de mestrado em contabilidade no sul e sudeste do Brasil. Empregou-se análise de conteúdo. Resultados: Os alunos indicaram que a percepção sobre conhecimentos (domínio de conteúdo, experiência prática sobre organizações e experiência acadêmica), habilidades (prática pedagógica, incluindo comunicação, estratégias de ensino e método de avaliação) e atitudes (preparação das aulas; escolha dos materiais da disciplina; e relacionamento interpessoal) dos professores se relacionam com seu processo de aprendizagem. Esta diferenciação é apenas didática, pois tanto a teoria sobre competências quanto os resultados obtidos a partir das entrevistas demonstram que esses aspectos se inter-relacionam no processo de aprendizagem. Contribuições do Estudo: Essa pesquisa pode trazer contribuições relevantes para professores e instituições avaliarem e promoverem mudanças no processo de ensino em controladoria nos programas de mestrado.

The problem in this study is whether entrepreneurial attitudes and education partially have a significant on entrepreneurial interest student of management study program, Faculty of Economics and Business, Wijaya Kusuma University, Surabaya. The aim is to determine the effect entrepreneurial attitudes and education on interest in entrepreneurship whether significant or not. Variable identification consists of independent ang dependent variables. The independent variables are entrepreneurial attitudes and education, while the dependent variable is interest in entrepreneurship. The sample is determined by purposive sampling while the analysis is using multiple linear regression. The results of hypothesis testing carried out by t test are attitudes have a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial interest in students of management study program of Faculty of Economics and Business University of Wijaya Kusuma Surabaya while entrepreneurship education has a positive effect but does not have a significant on entrepreneurship in interest. To increase the interest in entrepreneurship among students, the cultivation of entrepreneurial attitudes needs to be fostered, among others, through the culvitation of self-confidence, inisiative, a spirit of leadership, courage in taking risks and being creative. The Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Wijaya Kusuma Surabaya and lecturers of the Entrepreneurship Course must do their best to make this course a trigger for the emergence entrepreneurial interes among students. Things that can be done include rearranging course materials, the learning process, lecture facilities and infrastructure as well as entrepreneurial practice activities. Keyword: attitude, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial interest.

PurposeThis paper examines the pedagogical features of massive open online courses (MOOCs) for language learning–known as language MOOCs. The mainstream pedagogy of MOOCs typically involves the provision of short videos and reading materials for self-study; discussion forums, mostly for peer-to-peer interaction on course content; and machine-graded quizzes for self-assessment. For language learning, which has been conventionally understood as skill development, the pedagogical features of relevant MOOCs have yet to be comprehensively surveyed.Design/methodology/approachThis study surveyed a total of 123 language MOOCs from the major MOOC platforms. The pedagogical features shown in these courses were identified and categorised according to the types of course materials and learning activities as well as the participation of learners and instructors.FindingsEnglish was the most common language taught in the courses. Over 80% of the courses took not more than six hours to complete. Most of these courses followed the typical approach of xMOOC delivery, with video watching, reading and auto-graded assessment being the most common learning activities. Less than half of the courses included discussion as part of learning, and instructors were involved in less than 30% of the discussion.Originality/valueThe findings show that, despite the technological advances in course delivery, current language MOOCs do not differ substantially from conventional distance language learning. Yet, the utilisation of computer-assisted language learning technology and the massive student base of MOOCs for creating a virtual social community are opportunities for developing learners' language proficiency on this learning environment.

As a teacher educator, I sought to understand how to cultivate care ethics in my online teaching over a three-year period. Through surveys, student work, interviews, my course materials and teachin...

Rapid advances in information and communication technologies present a challenge to information systems (IS) professors. Not only do these advances frequently make course materials out of date, but also IS professors may struggle to stay current with popular technology applications. In a sense, these forces lead to a paradox that students may be more techno-savvy than their professors (at least in certain areas). Furthermore, students may feel frustrated when techno-savvy professors cannot efficiently teach them in learning technologies. In this paper, we synthesize the panel titled "The Elephant in the Classroom: Do Information Systems Professors Need to be more Techno-Savvy than Students?" at the 55th ACM SIGMIS Computer and People Research Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Thomas Ferratt, Michael Gallivan, Yaojie Li, Thomas Stafford, Mary Sumner, and Crag Van Slyke served as panelists. We use their discussion to develop techno-savviness as a construct in the IS education context and to describe distinct types of techno-savviness.

Due to COVID-19 pandemic a college with eight different campus locations moved its face to face courses online. The college decided to list all courses under one main campus since the regional locations did not matter now. There was a course materials issue since the professors from each of the campuses use their own materials. Now that courses are provided collegewide (as one campus), the students could sign up for a course with an instructor at another campus without knowing. This created a serious problem for the students. A student could potentially buy course materials for a course, for some reason switch to another of the same course and have the wrong materials purchased.

Gamified learning aims to motivate students using game elements. Although gamification can enhance students’ enjoyment and engagement, it is unclear how different students behave in and interact with gamified contexts. To this end, we analyze how different students interact with a gamified course. We devised such an experimental course on Multimedia Content Production (MCP), and ran it for ten years. At each year, we modified it after students’ feedback from the previous year. We determined student groups applying clustering techniques to learner performance data, independently analyzed the resulting clusters in terms of behavior, engagement, performance, and also compared those pairwise. Our analysis identified four different student groups (profiles/clusters) according to their performance and interactions with the course across all years. We found out that the best performing students were those that had significantly more interactions with course materials and consistently ranked highest. In addition, we found that performance indicators for students of all groups became stable within the first month after course start, allowing final grades to be predicted with high accuracy by then. Furthermore, all were deadline driven and became mainly active at the end of the semesters (indicating a lack of self-regulation skills). Moreover, we did not find any specific relation between students’ groups and gaming profiles (Brainhex categories). Finally, we propose practical implications and guidelines for designing compelling gamified learning experiences.

Introduction. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) at universities has a challenging goal of meeting the needs of usually large and heterogeneous groups of students. Objective. The aim of this study was to examine students’ attitudes toward the ESP course, acquired knowledge, and course materials at the Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation, University of Belgrade. In addition, the study examined the possible influence of students’ general English proficiency on the tested variables. Methods. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from 75 students who completed the ESP course in 2020 or 2021. Their general English proficiency was assessed by an online general English test. Results. The results showed that most students were satisfied with the acquired professional English language knowledge and available course materials and that their attitudes toward the completed ESP course were not influenced by their general English proficiency. Conclusion. These results are encouraging since they indicate overall student satisfaction with the ESP university course taught to a large class. Uvod: Nastava engleskog jezika struke na fakultetima ima za cilj da zadovolji potrebe obično velikih i heterogenih grupa studenata. Cilj: Cilj ovog rada je da ispita stavove studenata Fakulteta za specijalnu edukaciju i rehabilitaciju Univerziteta u Beogradu, prema nastavi engleskog jezika struke, stečenom znanju engleskog jezika iz oblasti specijalne edukacije i nastavnim materijalima. Pored toga, rad ispituje i mogući uticaj opšteg engleskog jezika na pomenute varijable. Metode: Za prikupljanje podataka je korišćen onlajn upitnik koji je popunilo 75 studenata koji su slušali Engleski jezik tokom 2020. i 2021. godine. Njihovo znanje opšteg engleskog jezika utvrđeno je dostupnim onlajn testom. Rezultati; Rezultati pokazuju da je većina studenata zadovoljna stečenim znanjem engleskog jezika iz oblasti specijalne edukacije i nastavnim materijalima, kao i da nivo znanja opšteg engleskog jezika nije bitno uticao na njihove stavove prema nastavi engleskog jezika struke. Zaključak: Dobijeni rezultati su ohrabrujući jer ukazuju na zadovoljstvo studen

Vos is regularly used in paisa (of Antioquia) Spanish, although written vos is considered non-normative. Recent research shows an augmented presence of written vos in public domains (Weyers 2016a, 2016b), which is viewed favorably by a majority of paisas (Weyers, forthcoming). So, what do Spanish teachers in Antioquia think about vos? Here we study the linguistic attitudes and self-assessed use of vos among a cross-section of paisa Spanish teachers. Quantitative and qualitative data from 61 online surveys show that over 60% of paisa Spanish teachers hold a favorable opinion of vos. Specifically: 1) since vos is a marker of paisa identity, it is valued as a cultural expression; 2) 54% of paisa teachers consider written vos "correct" for some academic text types; 3) vos is not considered less "correct" than tu in the Spanish classroom; 4) vos is more common in university settings than in high school, where usted is regularly used; and 5) over two-thirds of Spanish teachers include vos in their grammar instruction irrespective of its appearance in their course materials. Might vos become more normative in Antioquia? The results suggest that there is no identifiable barrier to impede its evolution.

Ottoman State made important innovatioans in the education in the 19’th century. Important steps have been taken towards the modernization of education many innovations like establishing Ministry of Education, enact education laws, opening new education institutions, sending students to Europe. In this context, ibttidai schools were opened instead of sibyan schools, a new type of school called rushdiya level of middle school started to give education. The number of rushdiya schools have quickly increased in the provencial areas after 1846 especially at the end of 19’th century. A new rushdiya school was opened in Bartin which was in the border of Bolu Sanjak of Kastamonu Province at the end of 19’th century. The building of rushdiya school has completed by the aids of public. Teacher assingments were made after oppening this school. First of all the books for students, documents used in public correspondence, course materials have sent by the government. Many documenst abouth the assingments of the teacher’s of Bartin Rusdiya School, course material’s documents had sent to Bartin, the numbers of students of this school by years, are available in the Ottoman Archive. This school which continued education activities at the beginnig of 20’th century made important contributions to devolepment of education and cultural life of Bartin. A new rusdiya school for girl students were opened in Bartin at the beginnig of 20’th century. The need of this school especially need of teacher has provided by Ministry of Education. Evaluation will be made the rusdiya school and girl rushdiya school were in Bartin the end of 19’th century and at the beginnig of 20’th century by the archival documents, the education life of Bartin will be revealed at last period of Ottoman in this research.

This article reports on an application of a SoTL research process for two teacher education instructors in an undergraduate teacher education course, Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age. After engaging in content analysis of student work samples derived from a Digital Sabbath assignment, the instructors asked more questions about how well the assignment aligned to course objectives and intended learning outcomes. Collaboratively, they determined how the Digital Sabbath assignment could be revised to better meet the stated course objective. The authors anticipate that assignment revisions could result in improved student learning outcomes for the teacher education students. Insights from the student responses and course materials are discussed as well as implications for teaching and learning in a teacher education program.

The presence of web-based learning platforms advances instructional strategies that support the development of students’ thinking skills. The study was conducted to stimulate the reflective thinking skills of the students with the aid of web-based learning platform particularly Edmodo. This study aims to cultivate the instructor’s own abilities to develop and implement activities promoting reflective thinking among pre-service teachers and describe the experience of reflection-integrated activities in a web –based learning platform among students. The research employed an action research design. The 24 pre-service teachers (PSTs) who were taking a course handled by the researcher were the respondents of the study. Course materials were given to the students who were required to submit their answers to questions posted in Edmodo. Quantitative data shows that the reflective thinking skills of the PSTs were described as ‘Reflective.’ Qualitative data validated the quantitative results that the activities given to the respondents fostered the reflective thinking of the PSTs. Constant follow-up, considerable time and immediate feedback are essential in tasks using web-based learning platform. The use of a web-based learning platform can be an avenue to promote reflective thinking among students through proper planning, implementation and evaluation of course.

While some research has highlighted how teachers prepare their course materials, little is known about how future teachers design support for their students, and thus plan and anticipate what can and will happen in the classroom. We have therefore sought to investigate whether identifiable learner profiles emerge when regular primary school students are offered a complex task: How students respond to the task? How well they perform? The ambition was to develop a typology of profiles concerning student task engagement that would allow any teacher to anticipate regulatory actions that would be matched as closely as possible to the realities of the classroom. To do this, we observed 282 French-speaking Belgian students aged 10-12 years old in the first moments of performing a complex reading task. The data analysis revealed that six learner profiles can be used to plan teaching activities : the ‘regular’ student, the student who gets discouraged because the task seems too complex, the one who gets blocked during the task, the one who bypasses the actual task without achieving the learning objectives, the one who does not engage in the task and the high-performing student who finishes faster than the others.

Several publishing companies now offer competing brands of online homework (OHW) software. Students rarely have a voice in choosing their required course materials, even though, ultimately, they wi...

This article is the result of a Master's thesis in Science Education and aims to propose a new methodological proposal called Quadrangulation, which refers to a conscious mental process that relates and connects four levels of representation of matter (macroscopic, submicroscopic, symbolic, and characteristics) to work with the physical and chemical transformations of matter. The activities developed through weekly meetings with 8 students from the 1st year of High School in the Regular Education/Teaching modality for 10 weeks. Questionnaires were used as a research instrument. It is characterized as a cross-sectional study, with an exploratory and explanatory qualitative approach. Data were obtained through the application of a pre-test questionnaire with open questions, expository class, construction of didactic material, and post-test questionnaire. Based on the data analysis, it was noticed that the Quadrangulation method can help and collaborate with the teaching and learning of students in the study of subject transformations, representing an advance for the improvement of Science Teaching in schools. Este artículo es resultado de una tesis de maestría en Ciencias de la Educación y tiene como objetivo proponer una nueva propuesta metodológica denominada Cuadrangulación, la cual hace referencia a un proceso mental consciente que relaciona y conecta cuatro niveles de representación de la materia (macroscópico, submicroscópico, simbólico y característico) para trabajar con las transformaciones físicas y químicas de la materia. Las actividades se desarrollaron a través de encuentros semanales con 8 estudiantes de 1° año de Enseñanza Media en la modalidad Educación Regular/Docencia durante 10 semanas. Se utilizaron cuestionarios como instrumento de investigación. Se caracterizó por ser un estudio transversal, con enfoque cualitativo exploratorio y explicativo. Los datos se obtuvieron mediante la aplicación de un cuestionario anterior con preguntas abiertas, clase expositiva, construcción de material didáctico y cuestionario posterior. Con base en el análisis de los datos, se percibió que el método Cuadrangular puede auxiliar y colaborar con la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de los estudiantes en el estudio de las transformaciones de materias, representando un avance para la mejora de la Enseñanza de las Ciencias en las escuelas. Este artigo é resultado de uma dissertação de Mestrado em Educação em Ciências e tem como objetivo propor uma nova proposta metodológica denominada Quadrangulação, que se refere a um processo mental consciente que relaciona e conecta quatro níveis de representação da matéria (macroscópico, submicroscópico, simbólico e características) para trabalhar com as transformações físicas e químicas da matéria. As atividades foram desenvolvidas por meio de encontros semanais com 8 estudantes do 1º ano do Ensino Médio na modalidade Ensino Regular/Magistério durante 10 semanas. Foram utilizados questionários como instrumento de pesquisa. Caracterizou-se como um estudo transversal, com abordagem qualitativa do tipo exploratória e explicativa. Os dados foram obtidos por meio da aplicação de um questionário pré-teste com perguntas abertas, aula expositiva, construção do material didático, e questionário pós-teste. Com base na análise de dados, percebeu-se que o método da Quadrangulação pode auxiliar e colaborar com o ensino e aprendizagem dos estudantes no estudo das transformações da matéria, representando um avanço para a melhoria do Ensino de Ciências nas escolas.

Despite the fact that material development has been widely discussed and reported in the area of English Language Teaching, there is not much empirical evidence available so far that addresses material development in listening, especially in Indonesian context. To fill this gap, the writers examined the result of material development that includes the integration of Islamic values in some units of Nunan’s Listen in 1 book. Employing Dick, Carey, & Carey model of Research and Development design, the article exhibits the integration of Islamic values in the activities of warming up, main, and reflective, and game. The result of the study requires further research on material development, particularly on the creation of further material and audio developments.

Purpose Open online courses have expanded opportunities for people to learn remotely. However, few online experiences offer participants ways to create projects and actively engage with course materials while developing meaningful personal connections with one another. The purpose of this paper is to share strategies implemented in a large online course and community, Learning Creative Learning (LCL), to foster a creative, connected community of learners, particularly important at a time when many people are isolated in their homes. Design/methodology/approach LCL is a free, open, online, six-week course and ongoing community for educators and others who are interested in exploring the ideas and practices of creative learning. This paper describes the course design and highlights effective strategies for cultivating a course community, including making activities personal; creating opportunities to connect, share and reflect; engaging participants as facilitators; and supporting a global, multilingual community of learners. Findings The authors discuss how these strategies have engaged participants in connecting and contributing to the growing course community, providing examples from observations and feedback of course participants. Originality/value Supporting a connected community of learners is particularly relevant in current times of isolation and remote learning. This paper illustrates and discusses strategies to design online learning experiences where participants can connect, create, collaborate and contribute to community building themselves.

PurposeThe cost of course materials to the individual student has increased over the past decade, contributing to educational inequity. Open educational resources (OERs) may be a solution and research validates their positive impact on student success outcomes (Colvardet al., 2018; Feldsteinet al., 2012). Few studies, however, examine the role that library collections play in addressing course materials cost and student success. This paper aims to investigate whether materials costs are a significant factor in course pass rate and whether the library has a positive impact on pass rates.Design/methodology/approachUsing required texts listed in syllabi for select undergraduate courses at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), the authors compare course materials costs for each course to the pass rate. The authors then measure the impact of course materials cost on the achievement gap between Pell Grant eligible and non-eligible students.FindingsThis study confirms previous research indicating that reduced course materials costs have a measurable impact on student success, in that the total minimum cost of required materials has a statistically significant effect on the percentage of students who pass a course. However, course reserves slightly increase the disparity between high-income and low-income students, suggesting that course reserves are a less effective way of supporting the latter compared to OERs.Originality/valueThis study is unique in examining the effect of the cost of course materials on students, regardless of the source of cost reductions. Most literature focuses on the qualitative efficacy of OERs instead of measured impact or the relationship between the cost of course materials and student success. The authors investigate the connection between OERs, library engagement and student success.

The aim of this study is to explore the target needs (i.e. necessities, lacks and wants) of the students to inform academic writing courses materials. A case study design was employed as this design to provide in-depth data information. To collect the data, questionnaire and interviews were used. Twenty-three undergraduate students of English department at a private university in Mataram West Nusa Tenggara who take academic writing course in the 2019-2020 academic year participated in the study. The result of the study showed that the students need to learn the types of writing texts, vocabulary and construct sentences into paragraph, have good skills in writing different genres since they are lack of grammar knowledge and vocabularies, and improvement on the aspect of teaching writing. This finding may promise implications for updating the current curriculum and materials as practiced for tertiary level English department students in an attempt to keep up with the latest changes in the methodologies of English language teaching. This study recommends that lecturers and universities should conduct a need analysis regularly and updated the curriculum with such insightful needs.

The aim of this study is to determine the reasons why Students Prefer ILITAM program and the problems they face. The research was designed with a mixed method, which used both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The descriptive survey research was used for the quantitative part of the study and the case research was used for the qualitative part. The sampling of research consists of 370 students who received their education in ILITAM program of The Faculty of Theology in Firat University at the end of 2018-2019. The data of study was collected with survey forms which were consisted the five-point Likert type question including 25 items and 6 semi-structured questions open-end. The Likert-type questions were analyzed as the frequency, percentage and arithmetic mean of the descriptive statistical methods were received in SPSS program. The answers for the open-ended question were answered as they were categorized with the content analysis method. According to the obtained findings, the highest preference reasons for ILITAM are respectively to have a knowledge on the subjects related to the religion, to develop oneself on the subject related his/her occupation, to have more extensive knowledge on the belief. It was determined that the students who received the Education in ILITAM faced problems related to the course materials, academic staff, exam implementations.

This article examines the alignment between the ESP course materials – English for hotel majored students – and the English language used in the hotel setting in Vietnam. English textbooks which were commonly used in the ESP courses for hospitality students were reviewed for the limits on the portion of the written materials in comparison with the English language used by the hotel staff in the real-life setting. Content analysis was adopted for analyzing the course materials, particularly the activities provided for students to practice listening and speaking skills. The findings reveal that the textbooks cover a wide range of activities for students to practice communicative skills. However, most activities were situated in environments that were unfamiliar to students and that might limit students’ ability to meet guests’ needs.

This paper attempts to apply the virtual reality (VR) technique into modular teaching. The modularization of the course Materials of Civil Engineering was taken as an example. The virtual simulation resources were constructed for two teaching modules of the said course on Quest3D. The constructed resources are visual, interactive, scalable, updateable, and optimizable. Based on these resources, the two modules were combined into a virtual simulation system, and applied successfully in actual engineering. The research results open a novel path to modular teaching, and provide a good reference for course teaching in architectural studies.

This study makes an effort to investigate learner mathematics-related beliefs at the secondary level. The study was qualitative and the method adopted for the in-depth information about the belief was a single case study. The site were selected for this investigation were Government Girls Higher Secondary School Rustam in District Mardan. The number of participants was six from class 10th science students. In-depth interviews were scheduled for the collection of data. Interview items were 9 in number. Thematic analysis of the transcripts exposed learner beliefs about mathematics. The main findings of the study showed that those students who understand the concept of mathematics possessed the positive beliefs about mathematics, and they also like the book and course materials and satisfied with it. They feel easy during mathematics classrooms, enjoy, and excited to learn something new in this subject. In contrast, the learners who do not understanding level is low they hold negative beliefs they did not like the book and course materials and not satisfied and feel hesitation during mathematics classroom. The study further showed that in the construction of beliefs that are positive or negative about the mathematics classroom environment play a great role especially mathematics teacher, her methods, and her beliefs. If the teacher involves the students in activities, keep good and interesting method and motivate the students time to time, then the learners will possess positive beliefs and will take interest in such a very important mathematics class.

The increasing use of ICT in education results in advantages for teaching and learning processes. In countries, especially in developing ones, it is essential to examine stakeholders’ experiences and perceptions about ICT use in the courses. In this regard, this study firstly aims to investigate ICT use of Kyrgyz learners and teachers. Secondly, the study aims to examine learners’ and teachers’ perceptions with regard to ICT use in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses in high schools in the Kyrgyz Republic. In the context of the study, two different questionnaires were applied. The first questionnaire was applied to high school learners, and the second questionnaire was applied to high school teachers. Participants of the study are 470 learners, and 162 STEM teachers. The results revealed frequencies of Internet and video use, the devices learners employ for Internet access, and online applications they prefer to use. Learners’ perceptions of ICT use in STEM courses differ according to their grade levels, type of preparation for the course, and willingness to use online Kyrgyz language resources. The results also explored the difficulties that teachers experience in the courses, the course materials they use, and their expectations related to ICT use in the courses. The crucial problems of Kyrgyz teachers are lack of ICT based materials, lack of equipment, and lack of training.

The Ohio State University Libraries has been working on affordability issues related to course materials for some time. This article details some of those efforts, going into detail about moving fr...

Students at universities spend an average of $1,250 yearly on textbooks and course materials. Can a collaboration between the Library and the Instructional Design Department create value for studen...

The aim of this study is to examine the use of threaded discussions in the blog environment in terms of the factors affecting student course satisfaction. Experimental and control groups were selected, and the students in the experimental group participated in threaded discussions in the blog environment. In the study, students in both groups were asked to share, in the blog environment, their course materials and reports about the subjects included in the course. The experimental group was asked to participate in asynchronous threaded discussions, and feedback about the quality of their participation was rapidly provided by the researchers. The data, collected before and after the experiment, were distributed online. According to the findings, the effect of threaded discussions on students’ beliefs about blogs and peer review was not significant, and perceived learning, sense of community, collaborative learning, and threaded discussion were the variables that predicted course satisfaction. The students’ satisfaction scores were not affected by their beliefs about blogs, peer review, and their ability to organize multimedia features.

The games industry in the UK is facing a skills shortage crisis, with games companies often having to recruit talent from overseas. This problem has persisted in recent years, despite the fact that British universities have multiplied in number, as well as the number of games graduates outnumbering the number of professionals employed in the games industry. One possible explanation is that British universities’ priorities lie elsewhere. They operate in another highly competitive global market, and are heavily reliant on international students paying substantial fees, preferably for less expensive, less resource-demanding non-STEM courses. Many of these international students cannot express themselves clearly and logically in English, and cannot think critically or understand the course materials. They often require assistance from proofreaders, and will even resort to plagiarism and buying from essay mills. In this paper, I provide anecdotal evidence demonstrating the poor writing and analytical skills of some international students. Between 2015 and 2019, I operated an academic proofreading agency and processed over 500 files from clients, the large majority of whom were enrolled or applying for non-STEM courses, some at ‘elite’ ‘Russell Group’ universities. Many clients were incapable of composing intelligible sentences, and expressing ideas and interpreting data logically using appropriate language. Towards the end, there were a growing number of documents containing evidence of plagiarism and appropriated lecture notes. Questions need to be asked as to whether British universities are the best incubators of talent for the games industry, and whether the manpower and resources diverted away from STEM teaching into targeted recruitment of international students with weak academic and English skills onto non-STEM courses is justifiable.

College students are always wondering if there is any relationship between the types of course materials introduced by teachers and the test formats they give. By knowing the existence or non-existence of such a relationship, they can be prepared better for a test and it may reduce their test anxiety. In this study, two universities that offer "English translation" programs at the B.A. level in Iran were randomly selected and examined. Here, the researcher looked at the kinds of materials for 47 courses in Mofid University (introduced by 15 teachers) and 42 courses in University of Kashan, then at the test formats used to assess the knowledge or skill of the students. After comparing the materials with the tests given, it was found that approximately 83 percent of tests in University of Kashan and 89 percent of them in Mofid University were of written form (essay type, multiple choice, etc.) and we came to the conclusion that there was no relationship between course materials and test formats for the students majoring in English translation. Rather, apart from teachers’ preferences, it was the nature of the courses that decided the type of questions and led to different types and formats of tests.

Purpose: To examine the effects of psychiatric nursing e-course taught by distance learning on students' beliefs about mental illnesses. Design and Methods: This study was conducted as a pretest, posttest, and follow-up quasi-experimental study with 147 nursing students. Findings: The results showed that the psychiatric nursing e-course significantly reduced the stigmatization total and dimension scale scores of the participants, and the effect continued in the follow-up measurement. The difference between the pretest and posttest stigmatization scores of the students who concentrated during virtual classes and those who found student–instructor interaction and virtual course materials sufficient was statistically significant. Practice Implications: Our results have shown that the psychiatric nursing e-course is effective on beliefs regarding stigmatization, and distance education is promising for nursing education to continue effectively. © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

International Transaction Journal of Engineering, Management, & Applied Sciences & Technologies, 13, 9, 13A9H: 1-11

The paper discusses the issues of creating textbooks on Russian as a foreign language (RFL) for pre-university students. Nowadays a lot of Russian universities use study packs with course components developed by teams of teachers who work at these universities. The urgence of the study is stipulated by the necessity to analyze a rather chaotic process of creating and implementing varied course components at a specific university. The study is based on the analysis of RFL textbooks published by the Institute of International Education at Voronezh State University (hereinafter referred to as IIE VSU) from 2000 to 2017. The aim of the study is to substantiate the need for a multifaceted approach to creating textbooks and other course components. This aim suggests performing a number of specific tasks: analyzing course materials published by IIE VSU and defining a preferable structure of the study pack on Russian as a foreign language for pre-university students, determining the principles of dividing learning materials into units within the textbook and describing potential solutions in creating textbooks and online courses (which can accompany a textbook or used autonomously). As the result the study demonstrates the prospective structure of the RFL study packs of second generation and specific principles of data distribution in the main textbook and in accompanying course materials. The paper concludes with the idea of the necessity of combining traditional instructional principles (e. g., convergence and minimization) with relatively new principles, such as “the dialogue of cultures”, gradation of the data according to their informative value and frequency.

Self-efficacy has a strong influence on the learning and motivation of science students at the postsecondary level, especially in upper division science classes, which are key to student success in science majors. This empirical mixed methods research study (N = 205) examines the associations between students’ participation in an online preparation course and student self-efficacy in organic chemistry. Qualitative content analysis indicated that students benefited from the online preparatory course in the subsequent organic chemistry course series. The analysis of students’ clickstream data indicated that students with self-efficacy ratings in the top 10th percentile exhibited more frequent and consistent engagement with relevant course materials compared to students in the bottom 10th percentile. Notably, linear regression models indicated that participation in the online preparatory course was associated with higher long-term self-efficacy for first-generation college students. These results suggest that online preparatory courses may benefit some students’ self-efficacy in demanding science courses.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a reciprocal peer review approach that resembled the scholarly peer review process using the Moodle e-learning system. The authors investigated interrelations among engagement in providing peer feedback, engagement in responding to peer feedback, learner-content interaction and learning outcomes. Design/methodology/approach An experimental intervention study was designed. A total of 45 students who enroled in an undergraduate research methods course completed the assigned project. Reciprocal peer review was adopted, in which the participants provided a peer review report on a randomly assigned peer’s research proposal. Subsequently, participants revised and submitted their proposal along with a response letter that highlighted the revisions. Findings This study highlights that the engagement in providing peer feedback exerts an indirect effect on learning outcomes through learner-content interaction. Learner-content interaction fully mediates the causal relationship between engagement in providing peer feedback and learning outcomes. Practical implications Learner-content interaction fully mediates the causal relationship between engagement in providing peer feedback and learning outcomes. Thus, e-learning practitioners who engage in peer review should first construct high-quality course materials to enhance learning outcomes. Originality/value Learning outcomes can be enhanced if there is a high level of engagement in providing peer feedback among learners. However, learner-content interaction fully mediates the positive effect of engagement in providing peer feedback on learning outcomes. Furthermore, engagement in providing peer feedback will enhance the learner’s motivation to intensify his or her learning from the course material.

Searching information by keywords is a simple and effective method used for a long time. Unfortunately, its usefulness is not well exploited in certain contexts. Indeed, in the case of scholarly resources (scientific papers, thesis, courses, etc.) what is generally done is a classification of documents by field (speciality), or by category (thesis, course materials, etc.). We consider the context of a user (student/teacher) who wants to search for resources on a particular field, but he does not know where to look, we consider also the context of a researcher who wants to search scientific papers. The existence of a dedicated search engine is thus useful in this case of problem. The purpose of this paper is to present an efficient engine of academic and scientific documents and more specifically a function to weight documents in the context of academic resources. Our approach is based on a multi-criteria weighting method that uses the average document score, the Okapi BM25 score and the number of downloads of documents. Alerts can also be programmed to keep the user informed about new publications.

The study examined the Moodle system adoption by the students in three Gulf universities “Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kingdom of Bahrain” and examines the students perceptions towards this system from the framework of two theories: The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned behavior (TPB). This study is a descriptive survey research. The convenience sampling technique was adopted in the selection of 231 respondents from the sampled universities. The results revealed that the students used the Moodle system for many purposes such as: doing assignments, to check upcoming events, downloading the course materials and to participate in discussion with my instructors. The results also revealed that the most impactful perceived ease of use factors: easy usage, flexibility and interaction. Finally, the study is suggested to investigate academic concerns and needs to develop the usage of Moodle in Arabian and Gulf universities.

The Rutgers University (RU) Open and Affordable Textbooks (OAT) Program provides $1,000 incentive awards to faculty who commit to redesigning or developing a course to use open or affordable course materials. This can include replacing a traditional textbook with open educational resources (OER), library-licensed materials, course reserves, self-developed materials, or a combination of these. It is a university-wide initiative, but this paper will focus on the impact on students in the health science programs. In many cases Health Sciences faculty went beyond using open educational resources by developing their own and making them freely available to their students and others. As of 2020 it is estimated students in the health sciences have saved $285,218 through the use of open materials and sustainable course design.

Self-regulation in learning involves planning and utilizing different shared resources. This study investigates learning strategies of different student groups when they are accessing course materials in digital medium – one group is the students with high academic performance, the other is the students with low academic performance. We analyze data of 116 students from a mathematics course in a junior high school. Using the differential pattern mining technique, we highlight underlying course content accessing patterns from the learning log collected by an e-book system, BookRoll.

The AGE Presents Introduction to Geroscience video lecture series is a collection of high-quality didactic video lectures and associated teaching materials focused on foundational topics in aging biology. The videos are made freely available on YouTube and are targeted toward an audience familiar with concepts learned in the first year of a college undergraduate biology/biomedical major. Members of the American Aging Association also receive the original lecture slides and lecture notes, with additional course materials to be developed in the future. We expect that these lectures will enhance understanding of geroscience among the general public while also providing tools that educators can use in the classroom for high school, undergraduate, and graduate level curricula.

In this article the authors present a new concept, 'activeness', as a dynamic psychological and cognitive state of effective engaged language learning. It is defined in terms of 'investment, integration' and 'performance', and empowers vulnerable students to exercise control of their learning and progress based on their needs and desired outcomes. It is argued that activeness has a double didactic and linguistic dimension, implemented as a design feature in course materials and activities, and more importantly, promoted in forum communication. Therefore, participating in a strategically designed and scaffolded inclusive LMOOC can serve the triple purpose of enabling more effective target language learning, empowering vulnerable learners, and developing student potential to become engaged members of the language learning community. This engagement is arguably an important step towards doing the same in the real world. A study is presented of the second edition of an LMOOC on Spanish for immediate needs for vulnerable groups to explore the ways in which activeness was incorporated into the course and the effects it had. This research was conducted following a mixed-method approach which involved the platform’s analytics, forum messages, pre- and post-questionnaires, and course observation. Evidence is provided of the progressive presence of activeness across different linguistic levels and the effect it had on students’ satisfaction, course completion, and linguistic interaction. The results from this LMOOC provide evidence that it is possible to create a supportive online environment that meets the learning needs of vulnerable groups.

Research shows that COVID-19 has exacerbated student challenges and inequalities. One of the most impactful ways the University of Arizona Libraries foster student success and reduce inequities is through our course material initiatives: providing students with free day-one access to required materials. We are seeing greater demand for online resources, which can be challenging for academic libraries to provide. Our approach leverages campus partnerships, advocacy and education, and a “do-it-yourself” model supplemented with one-on-one assistance as needed. These practices can be replicated at other libraries with limited resources.

Digital fabrication courses that relied on physical makerspaces were severely disrupted by COVID-19. As universities shut down in Spring 2020, instructors developed new models for digital fabrication at a distance. Through interviews with faculty and students and examination of course materials, we recount the experiences of eight remote digital fabrication courses. We found that learning with hobbyist equipment and online social networks could emulate using industrial equipment in shared workshops. Furthermore, at-home digital fabrication offered unique learning opportunities including more iteration, machine tuning, and maintenance. These opportunities depended on new forms of labor and varied based on student living situations. Our findings have implications for remote and in-person digital fabrication instruction. They indicate how access to tools was important, but not as critical as providing opportunities for iteration; they show how remote fabrication exacerbated student inequities; and they suggest strategies for evaluating trade-offs in remote fabrication models with respect to learning objectives., Comment: to be published at CHI 2021