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Several factors, commonly referred to as threshold concepts, can act as barriers of entry for educators and students in an online learning environment. Additionally, many educators lack pedagogical training, and theoretical context, making it challenging to create effective online studies. Furthermore, they may lack personal experience in online learning. Thus, educators create courses based on physical classroom experience instead of an online learning experience, creating artificial learning thresholds. Identifying problematic areas and designing a suitable induction course can effectively introduce students to the learning environment, lowering dropout rates and decreasing online study anxiety. This study explores a process of identifying artificial learning thresholds and presents a learning experience design framework that can be utilised to overcome learning barriers while building courses in online environments. Online learning has specific requirements to that of on-campus studies that can be challenging to identify by educators. It is particularly challenging to those educators who do not have a wealth of experience developing online courses. These problematic areas often only introduce themselves as issues when the student's grades are tallied, lack of engagement is experienced or when the student drops out. This is especially true now that an epidemic has accelerated the move to online studies, often with ill-prepared and pressured educators carrying the bulk of the frustrations that students might experience. Identifying potentially problematic areas and introducing the students to the experience early and effectively in a safe environment, will reduce anxiety and stress in the students and the teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most people are aware of the global energy challenges of pollution, greenhouse gas production, dwindling nonrenewable resources, and the environmental consequences of resource exploitation. Although recognition of these problems is widespread, many studies have shown that America's "energy literacy" rate is low. This article describes the development and execution of an introductory environmental engineering course offered to nontechnical students to address the problem of low energy literacy. Previous studies classified energy literacy into three domains: cognitive, affective, and behavioral, and concluded that effective energy education should target knowledge and values. As engineering faculty, the authors believe that a technically literate public is crucial to the development of rational energy policies. A course on energy was developed for nontechnical students with majors including accounting, architecture, mathematics, chemistry, education, biology, business, criminal justice, political science, and history. The course has been adopted into the university's core curriculum, satisfying the objective for scientific literacy in natural sciences. It is the first general education offering from engineering faculty. Challenges in the development of this course included attaining the right balance between qualitative and quantitative material and tempering faculty's enthusiasm for rigorous mathematical analysis in deference to a nontechnical audience that largely reflects the region's diversity. The overriding goals were to inform students about energy production and consumption patterns, various technologies and their environmental consequences, and the pros and cons of renewable and nonrenewable energy systems. Other objectives were to provide a straightforward yet sophisticated appreciation of the negative effects of unconsidered energy consumption, a knowledge of the physical laws governing and technologies behind conventional and alternative energy production, and an array of tools to evaluate and implement energy conservation strategies on personal and corporate levels. To achieve these objectives, several projects were implemented calculating heat usage and heat loss during a winter month for a campus building, performing energy audits for the residences in a neighbouring community and calculating estimated energy savings. In addition, a term paper researching atmospheric pollution and its sources and effects was required. This activity helped students gain a deeper appreciation of the impact of energy-related choices, behavioral actions, and human activities, as well as the price of technological advances and modern lifestyles on the environment. The instructors wanted to gauge the effectiveness of the class on the students' energy literacy. Questions from the NEETF report were chosen, allowing for a comparison between student and national responses. Survey questions were divided into those addressing knowledge, attitude, and behavior. Results from pre- and post-course energy questionnaires indicate that the course was effective in improving student energy knowledge and awareness of important energy issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the eHealth4all@eu course development pipeline that builds upon the TIGER educational recommendations and allows a systematic development grounded on scientific and field requirements of competencies, a case/problem-based pedagogical approach and finally results in the syllabus and the course content. The pipeline is exemplified by the course Learning Healthcare in Action: Clinical Data Analytics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a process of optimization of a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) didactics course for Mathematics teacher-trainees, starting from a traditional face-to-face course through an e-learning project (Novotná and Tejkalová 2010) to a blended-learning model. The process of the course design improvement is described; the current model is presented in detail, underlining the advantages of blended approach for CLIL: parallels between effective CLIL didactics and blended learning tools are discussed, methodological approach to course design is explained. The aim of this case study is to discuss the possibilities of blended learning for CLIL teacher training, offering the students' perspective based on complex feedback survey. The paper aims especially at teacher-training course designers and CLIL practitioners. CLIL refers to situations where "subjects, or parts of subjects, are taught through a foreign language with dual-focused aims, namely the learning of content, and the simultaneous acquisition of a foreign language" (Marsh and Langé 1999). For an effective CLIL class, teacher qualification is essential. The design of our course stems from current research on CLIL teacher-training, national methodological handbook for e-learning in higher education, and the syllabi of regular Didactics of Mathematics courses. We conclude that the CLIL teacher training course needs to expand the teachers' didactic skills palette by teaching compensation strategies, focusing on multimodality, and incorporating language-teaching strategies in Mathematics lessons. The course design is continuously developing based on latest experience; it has also become a compulsory subject for Mathematics teacher trainees. The blended model of the course allows the teachers to cater to the language aspect of CLIL more effectively, and especially to illustrate CLIL methodology on two levels: as the content of the course and also via the methods employed to teach this content. Blended learning seems to suit both Czech students and Erasmus students who take part in the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Learner-centered learning is constructivism based and Competence directed. We define general competencies, domain competencies and specific course competencies. Constructivism based learning activities are based on constructivism theory. For each course module the intended learning level will be defined. A model is built for the design of a learner centered constructivism based and competency directed learning process. The application of it in two courses are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The issue of quality assurance has been on the agenda of distance and open teaching universities for many years. In such a context, the development of high quality study materials is still deemed to be of top priority, particularly for institutions in developing countries, which are not likely to be able to have access to expensive new technologies in the near future. This paper looks at some aspects of the quality assurance debate as it affects the process of ESP (English for Special Purposes) course production. In this study emphasis is placed on the ESP texts used at all degree programs at the Payame Noor University (PNU). Depending on the program, ESP courses have weightage between two to ten credit units. The aim of offering such courses is to help students bridge the gap between their knowledge received through their exposure in the elementary and basic materials at secondary schools and the scientific literature to which they will be exposed later on in their studies. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the experimental research in the process of quality assurance for ESP course development. It is intended to identify the components associated with quality and its achievement from the course developer's perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper overviews our experience with design and development of a new smart grid course focused on cyber-security. The course is team-taught by power and computer science faculty members and intended for seniors and graduate students from computer science and engineering. Key areas of focus, covered in this paper are the need for a new course and the course description along with our experience in locating and creating course materials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While much has been written about collaboration in higher education, very little of it focuses on collaboration across educational institutions. This paper describes the experience of a project to share courses between two Australian institutions using a blended online and face-to-face course design. We discuss models that have emerged in the process. It was found that collaboration is most fruitful, in terms of student learning and course development and delivery, when the course coordinators in the two universities are peers who have comparable gravitas and breadth and depth of knowledge. It was also found that there are preconditions to the success of a two-university collaboration, and that establishing these preconditions takes a considerable amount of time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The program curriculum in tertiary education has to be reviewed and updated regularly to enhance the education quality regarding the student interests, current industry demands and academic trends. To effectively develop a number of reasonable courses, a comprehensive approach to evaluate and select the suitable courses for students is essential for the program curriculum development. This paper proposes the Primitive Cognitive Network Process for the department course selection strategy considering multiple criteria and alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Embedded systems are computing devices designed to perform specific tasks as part of larger systems such as digital cameras, measuring instruments, cars, etc. Technological advances have added complexity to embedded-systems development, which needs to be reflected in academic curricula. This paper presents the design and delivery of an intermediate embedded-systems course that follows up on a typical introduction to microcontrollers and, while doing so, it offers an example of engineering-course development that makes use of collaborative learning, outbound ties and learning modes of a community of practice. The paper explains planning, learning objectives, activities and other aspects of the course, including hardware and software tools used as well as lessons learned. A section is dedicated to student projects and current results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper will describe the issues and process of developing an introductory course in graduate writing and communication skills in conjunction with the industry of professional consulting engineering. The course was developed through a collaboration of English and engineering faculty and the collaboration is maintained in the teaching of the course. Innovative techniques incorporated into the course development include a four-pronged approach: 1) use of best practices for Writing in the Disciplines; 2) development of and focus on a multi-faceted collaborative model (Engineering and English, university and industry, students and faculty, industry and students); 3) team-teaching by engineering and English faculty members for the initial graduate research course; and 4) emphasis on the quality of the thesis project content in terms of the research itself, analysis and synthesis of that research, and effective communication of the results. Accountability and assessment of students' work includes development of the thesis project statement and presentation of their work to a body of their peers; presentations and evaluations by departmental faculty; and round table talks with industry. This system of accountability and assessment have shown marked improvement in the communication skill set often minimized in both undergraduate and graduate engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]