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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a California public university launched the Pandemic Histories Archive Project (PHAP) in collaboration with the library. This online service-learning opportunity empowered undergraduates to describe and reflect on their pandemic experiences and represent their communities by contributing to the library's digital archive. From 2020-2021, nearly 300 undergraduate students completed PHAP's asynchronous online training modules and documented the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice issues by producing materials such as field notes, interviews, photographs, and reflections. According to open-ended surveys, students responded favorably to this novel project, valuing the creative freedom, knowledge, and skills gained through community archiving. This case study summarizes the literature on online and service-learning, presents the pros and cons of each, and offers recommendations for creating a student-centered learning environment. PHAP's teaching approaches, which emphasized student wellness and strengths, can be applied beyond the pandemic in future online, hybrid, and in-person courses.

Postsecondary students with disabilities risk facing challenges while pursuing their academic goals. Although disability service providers are encouraged to support their goal pursuit, its actualization and the role of individual differences remain poorly researched. We examine the role of autonomy striving dispositional styles, need satisfaction, and goal action crisis. A three-wave, semester-long study was conducted with 234 university students with disabilities. Through path analysis, a type of structural equation modeling, four hypotheses were tested. Assisted autonomy was associated with higher need satisfaction and less severe goal action crises in the middle of the semester. Indirect effects were also evidenced on goal progress and positive affect at the end of the semester. Striving to satisfy their autonomy need through collaborative means supports well-being and academic goal progress for university students with disabilities. Disability service providers and university settings are thus encouraged to create need-supportive environments and foster collaboration across campuses.

The rapid growth of online education, especially since the pandemic, is presenting educators with numerous challenges. Chief among these is concern about academic dishonesty, especially on unproctored online exams. Students cheating on exams is not a new phenomenon. The topic has been discussed and debated within institutions of higher learning, and significant levels of cheating have been reported in the academic literature for over sixty years. Much of this literature, however, has focused on student behavior in a classroom utilizing proctored, in-class exams. Grades on exams usually determine most of a student's final grade in a course, and GPAs are used by employers and graduate schools to indicate a student's subject matter mastery. As more conventional colleges and universities expand their online course offerings it is natural to wonder if academic dishonesty is more prevalent in online classes than in face-to-face classes. In particular, are students more likely to cheat when no one is watching (i.e., on unproctored assessment assignments) than they do when someone is watching (i.e., on proctored assessment assignments)? The purpose of this study is to investigate whether students cheat more on unproctored online exams than they do on proctored in-classroom exams, and if so, is there any pattern to their cheating behavior. Our findings are derived from careful empirical analysis of 741 undergraduate students who completed three unproctored online exams, several collaboration-encouraged assignments, and a proctored in-class comprehensive final exam in the same course with the same instructor. Additionally, we collected demographic and human capital data for every student. Using bivariate and regression analysis, we find significant evidence of more cheating on unproctored online exams than on proctored in-class exams even though students were given stern honor code violation warnings. Moreover, we discover that student cheating increased with each unproctored online exam, implying that students learn how to cheat as they become more familiar with taking online assessment assignments. Finally, we find that students with certain demographic and human capital characteristics tend to cheat more than others. This research strongly supports the use of proctoring for all evaluation assignments in online classes to ensure that grades in these classes properly reflect student aptitude as opposed to merely reflecting their ability to cheat.

This research examines the factors that influence students' choices to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees in the United Arab Emirates. Our study investigates the impact of psychosocial variables, including math anxiety, educational stress, and family expectations, on the decision of 558 children to pursue STEM education. We have discovered that there is a positive correlation between greater levels of school stress and parental expectations and the possibility of enrolling in STEM fields. Moreover, gender appears as a notable indicator, as males have a greater propensity towards STEM. The study emphasises the necessity of implementing comprehensive treatments to tackle math anxiety, educate parents about STEM jobs, and offer efficient stress management assistance for pupils. The implications have a wide reach, including politicians, educators, and parents that aim to foster a varied and driven community of STEM students in the UAE. Additional investigation is advised to explore the complex interactions of psychological elements that influence educational decisions.

It is well established that international students attending higher education institutions in Australia and other parts of the world face challenges that can affect their state of well-being and connectedness. Higher education institutions have attempted to counter these issues by providing specifically designed programs with varying success. This study builds on some of the more successful programs that draw on the relationship between creativity and collaboration. The program aimed to foster international students' well-being by teaching them how to harness their creative potential and explore through stand-up comedy the funny side of life as international students in Australia. The analysis shows that the program positively enhanced well-being by fostering a sense of connectedness and by providing a space to take risks in a safe and supportive fashion. Data also indicated that the program contributed to the development of knowledge and skills transferrable to other academic and non-academic contexts.

Teacher education has begun to embrace the use of 360 videos to improve preservice teachers' (PSTs) engagement and immersion. While recent research on such use is promising overall, there are specific questions that have been left unanswered about the construct of presence in 360 videos. More specifically, research has yet to fully explore how video delivery devices and PST characteristics may impact presence. The purpose of this study was to respond to this gap in the literature by examining PST major, delivery device (ie, head mounted display vs. flat screen), and the interaction between the two in informing presence. A total of 93 PSTs watched 360 videos and then completed a questionnaire. Findings indicated that presence in head-mounted displays was related to emotions and agency. Conversely, presence with flat screens meant familiarity and control. Moreover, PST major was a predictor of presence, suggesting that 360 videos should be personalized according to PST career and professional goals. Finally, the interaction effect of preparing to teach K-12 mathematics and wearing a head-mounted display had a negative and statistically significant effect on participants' perceived presence, thus indicating a non-cumulative effect.

Background: Although adding embodied instructors on the screen is considered an effective way to improve online multimedia learning, its effectiveness is still controversial. The level of realism of embodied on-screen instructors may be an influencing factor, but it is unclear how it affects multimedia learning. Aims: We explored whether and how embodied on-screen instructors rendered with different levels of realism in multimedia lessons affect learning process and learning outcomes. Samples: We recruited 125 college students as participants. Methods: Students learned about neural transmission in an online multimedia lesson that included a real human, cartoon human, cartoon animal or no instructor. Results: Students learning with cartoon human or cartoon animal instructors tended to fixate more on the relevant portions of the screen and performed better on retention and transfer tests than no instructor group. The real human group fixated more on the instructor, fixated less on the relevant portion of the screen and performed worse on a retention test in comparison to the cartoon human group. Fixation time on the instructor fully mediated the relationship between instructor realism and retention score. Conclusions: The addition of embodied on-screen instructors can promote multimedia learning, but the promotion effect would be better if the embodied instructor was a cartoon animal or cartoon human rather than a real human. This suggests an important boundary condition in which less realism of on-screen embodied instructors produces better learning processes and outcomes.

The 21st century's growing societal and environmental challenges are ubiquitous. The combination of knowledge, values, mindsets, and abilities needed to address these challenges requires educating society about the simultaneous pursuit of economic, environmental, and social goals as advocated by the United Nations' (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This research aims to review the academic literature on how Higher Education Institutions incorporate the SDGs into the marketing curriculum. In this regard, the expected outcome is to assist marketing academics in developing a curriculum aligned with the SDGs. An integrative literature review including 40 articles led to three core themes: Integration, Transformation, and Leadership. Building on these themes, the article contributes to marketing education through the 3Es framework (Engage, Expand, Enact) for embedding the SDGs in the marketing curriculum: "Engage" integrates sustainability knowledge into the existing marketing curriculum by fostering debates and reflection around the SDGs. "Expand" transforms values and attitudes among marketing students and staff using transformative and experiential pedagogical tools. This leads to "Enact" with leadership and partnerships within and outside the university, which leads to collaborative actions aligned with the SDGs.

Psychological literacy is an approach to teaching which encourages students to consider their subject knowledge in 'real world' applied contexts (i.e. in student's lives beyond university), which may be professional, personal, or societal. 'Real world' here refers to the application of psychological knowledge and skills to students' personal, student-role, work, and community contexts. Psychological literacy is typically integrated into psychology programmes through classroom activities, extra-curricular activities, and opportunities outside of the core curriculum. However, for the goals of psychological literacy to be fully realised, it should be intentionally and thoughtfully embedded at the module and programme level. One way to achieve this is to develop and evaluate modules (i.e. standalone units or courses) that embed psychological literacy explicitly by design. In this paper, we provide overviews, brief evaluations, and reflections on four undergraduate modules within a UK Psychology (BSc) degree that integrate the principles of psychological literacy. These include a first-year compulsory module ('Biological Approaches to Human and Non-Human Behaviour'), a second-year compulsory module ('Neuroscience') and two final-year elective optional modules ('Face Perception' and 'Feminist Social Psychology'). We offer reflections on the process of designing these modules as educators who are interested in developing students' psychological literacy and also provide student evaluations.

A substantial amount of media comparison research has been conducted in the last decade to investigate whether students learn Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) content better in immersive virtual reality (IVR) or more traditional learning environments. However, a thorough review of the design and implementation of conventional and IVR conditions in media comparison studies has not been conducted to examine the extent to which specific affordances of IVR can be pinpointed as the causal factor in enhancing learning. The present review filled this gap in the literature by examining the degree to which conventional and IVR conditions have been controlled on instructional methods and content within the K-12 and higher education STEM literature base. Thirty-eight published journal articles, conference proceedings, and dissertations related to IVR comparison studies in STEM education between the years 2013 and 2022 were coded according to 15 categories. These categories allowed for the extraction of information on the instructional methods and content characteristics of the conventional and IVR conditions to determine the degree of control within each experimental comparison. Results indicated only 26% of all comparisons examined between an IVR and conventional condition were fully controlled on five key control criteria. Moreover, 40% of the comparisons had at least one confound related to instructional method and content. When looking at the outcomes of the studies, it was difficult to gather a clear picture of the benefits or pitfalls of IVR when much of the literature was confounded and/or lacked sufficient information to determine if the conditions were controlled on key variables. Implications and recommendations for future IVR comparison research are discussed.

Purpose: This article explores the potential of using ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence--powered chatbot, as a tool to teach plain language writing to students in communication sciences and disorders (CSD). It addresses the importance of plain language writing in health care communication and identifies the challenges faced by graduate students in adopting plain language writing. Conclusions: Integrating ChatGPT into CSD education can empower students to develop effective plain language writing skills, with the potential of ultimately improving their communication skills and patient outcomes. The article highlights the potential positive impact of ChatGPT on clinical documentation and health communication, emphasizing the potential to enhance accuracy, consistency, productivity, efficiency, and language accessibility. While considering the limitations and ethical considerations of ChatGPT, the article concludes by emphasizing the need for a balanced approach that combines ChatGPT technology with human instruction to ensure responsible utilization and promote student competency in plain language writing.

This study examined how well people can recognize and relate to animated pedagogical agents of varying ethnicities/races and genders. For both Study 1 (realistic-style agents) and Study 2 (cartoon-style agents), participants viewed brief video clips of virtual agents of varying racial/ethnic categories and gender types and then identified their race/ethnicity and gender and rated how human-like and likable the agent appeared. Participants were highly accurate in identifying Black and White agents but were less accurate for Asian, Indian, and Hispanic agents. Participants were accurate in recognizing gender differences. Participants rated all types of agents as moderately human-like, except for White agents. Likability ratings were lowest for White and male agents. The same pattern of results was obtained across two independent studies with different participants and different onscreen agents, which indicates that the results are not solely due to one specific set of agents. Consistent with the Media Equation Hypothesis and the Alliance Hypothesis, this work shows that people are sensitive to the race/ethnicity and gender of onscreen agents and relate to them differently. These findings have implications for how to design animated pedagogical agents for improved multimedia learning environments in the future and serve as a crucial first step in highlighting the possibility and feasibility of incorporating diverse onscreen virtual agents into educational computer software.

In multimedia learning, there is a lot of new information that learners are exposed to, making it a cognitively intensive process. Poorly-designed multimedia lessons can introduce distractions that must be dealt with by the learner. However, learners do not all share the same skill at managing incoming information or holding capacity, which could create individual differences in the impact of multimedia lessons on learning and lead to inequity in learning. In three experiments, learners saw a multimedia lesson varying in the amount of distracting material included: high (Experiment 1), moderate (Experiment 2), or low (Experiment 3). Learners took a posttest and completed tasks to assess individual differences in managing incoming information (executive function) and holding capacity (working memory capacity). When distractions were present (Experiment 1 and Experiment 2), executive function was related to posttest performance such that as executive functioning increased, performance on the posttest increased. However, when distractions were not present (Experiment 3), executive function was not related to posttest performance. Individual differences in working memory capacity were not related to posttest performance at any level of distraction. This indicates the importance of considering individual differences in learners' executive functioning in the design of multimedia lessons.

Racial oppression in the United States has changed many forms post-2016 elections, including anti-immigrant sentiments towards highly visible immigrant communities, such as Latinx and Asian people. The weaponization of immigration status against Latinx and Asian people in the U.S. has increased drastically post-2016 and equity researchers have responded with scholarship primarily addressing the systemic and macro levels of these oppressive behaviors. Less is known during this period about the shifts of everyday racism-related attacks -- such as racial microaggressions. Racial microaggressions are daily stressors that can severely impact the targets' well-being and people of color often engage in coping strategies to disarm and neutralize these stressors. The internalization of these degrading and stereotypical messages is a common coping strategy with people of color adopting these negative images into their self-view. Using a sample (N = 436) collected in the Fall of 2020, we unpack the relationships between immigration status microaggressions, psychological distress, and internalization among Latinx and Asian college students. We compared the frequencies of immigration status microaggressions and psychological distress between Latinx and Asian respondents. We used a conditional (moderated mediation) process model to explore possible significant interactions. Our findings suggested that Latinx, compared to Asian students, significantly reported more experiences of immigration status microaggressions and psychological distress. A mediation analysis showed that internalizing coping strategies partially mediated the relationship between immigration status microaggressions and poor well-being. Finally, a moderated mediation model's results highlighted that being Latinx moderated the positive relationship between immigration status microaggressions and psychological distress through internalization.

This comparative study explored self-efficacy and ability for scientifically-based literacy instruction between a traditional and residency model of teacher preparation. Pre-/post-survey data was collected using the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy for Literacy Scale. Mentor teachers completed a modified version of the survey on candidates' abilities. Data were analyzed using paired sample t-tests, independent sample t-tests, and a trend analysis. Results revealed that candidates in the Residency Model held higher levels of self-efficacy for literacy instruction than in the Traditional Model. Mentor teachers rated candidates in the Residency Model as more able to teach literacy than those in the Traditional Model. There was alignment amongst the mentor rating and the resident perception of ability. In the Traditional Model, the mentor and student teacher were not as aligned in their perspectives of student teacher ability to teach literacy. Teacher preparation programs should consider the potential of teacher Residency Models to prepare pre-service teachers for the use of the Science of Reading for teaching literacy.

We developed and launched an online, course-integrated module called Growth & Goals aimed to help students better develop evidence-based learning skills. The module focuses on five main concepts: self-regulated learning, goal-setting, metacognition, mindfulness, and mindsets (growth and fixed continuum). Growth & Goals is an open education resource available for download at no cost to any educator through FlynnResearchGroup.com/GrowthGoals. The module is available in both French and English and can be customized to any university course. The module addresses the aforementioned concepts through a combination of text and videos, with interspersed interactive activities that students use to develop their learning skills. Growth & Goals is intended to help students effectively manage the challenges they may encounter as they progress through their postsecondary academic career and beyond and become more proficient learners. Since 2017, the module has been implemented in more than 15 university courses and has been used by over 8000 students. The preliminary evaluation of Growth & Goals has been largely positive, indicating that the module has been well received by both students and educators and that it successfully guides students in learning the module's concepts.

This research utilizes a unique, validated, multiple-choice exam design that allows researchers to observe and measure the degree to which students copy answers from their peers. Using data collected from the exam, this study investigates whether asking students to sign an honor code at the start of the exam reduced instances of cheating relative to a control group. Empirical results demonstrate that the classroom of students who signed the honor code had less overall copying of answers and also fewer individual students who engaged in cheating. This study contributes to the literature by conducting analysis on a sample that measures actual cheating frequency, as opposed to relying on reported cheating in surveys, and by demonstrating that a positive intervention can effectively discourage unethical behavior.

Scholarly interests in developing personalized learning analytics dashboards (LADs) in universities have been increasing. LADs are data visualization tools for both teachers and learners that allow them to support student success and improve teaching and learning. In most LADs, however, a teacher-centric, institutional view drives their designs, treating students only as passive end-users, which results in LADs being less useful to students. To address this limitation, we used a card-sorting technique and asked 42 students at a university in Northern Ireland to construct dashboards that reflect their priorities. Using a situated theory of learning as a lens and with the help of multiple qualitative methods, we collected data on what constitutes useful dashboards. Findings suggest that situated learning data sets, such as information on how students learn by talking and listening to others in their communities, need to be integrated into LADs. Students preferred to see the inclusion of qualitative narratives, self-directed learning data and financial information (money spent versus resources utilized) in LADs. As well as raising new questions on how such LADs could be designed, this study challenges institutional overreliance on measurable digital footprints as proxies for academic success. We call for recognizing the wider social learning that happens in landscapes of practice so that LADs become more useful to students.

In the summer of 2020, our team created virtual community-engaged learning (VCEL) modules in response to the need to move classes to online and hybrid delivery styles during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. These modules addressed engaged learning concepts and were designed with faculty, students, and community partner organizations in mind. This paper explores the challenges of creating and beta testing these VCEL modules, as well as the creative methods taken to produce high-quality content that would continue to serve students in the wake of the pandemic. What emerged from this project is a unique set of self-contained learning modules in Canvas Commons that include built-in assessments, allowing students to demonstrate learning, and allowing faculty members to review engaged-learning theory and strategies and integrate the virtual content into their online classes seamlessly. Our beta test findings indicate that students generally had a positive experience with the content and spent approximately two hours, on average, engaging with the material. In this reflective analysis of our process, we offer an explanation of the replicable process of creating VCEL modules and a description of the outcomes associated with producing and testing the content therein.

Informal community-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) clubs provide rich informal learning environments that help elementary-aged students develop STEM knowledge and skills while fostering their initial and continued interests in STEM. This phenomenographical case study sought to interpret stakeholders' (five university personnel, two club facilitators, one teacher, one parent, and three elementary students) conceptions of STEM and STEM clubs involved in a community-university partnership in an afterschool elementary STEM club at a community center. Phenomenographic analyses produced three hierarchical categories in stakeholders' conceptions of STEM: an indifference towards STEM, viewing STEM as a holistic discipline, and STEM as applicable and useful in life. Among stakeholders' conceptions of STEM clubs, four hierarchical categories described clubs as a non-STEM related space, a means to promote STEM, provide STEM learning, and an additional site (apart from school) to produce STEM knowledge, skills, and enjoyment. Findings suggest that community and university stakeholders held varying conceptions of the purpose of STEM, with the strongest disagreement in how informal STEM clubs should be structured. Stakeholders nonetheless agreed that STEM clubs were vital resources to promote STEM and enhance STEM-related life and soft skills.

Quantitative reasoning is considered a crucial prerequisite for acquiring domain-specific expertise in higher education. To ascertain whether students are developing quantitative reasoning, validly assessing its development over the course of their studies is required. However, when measuring quantitative reasoning in an academic study program, it is often confounded with other skills. Following a situated approach, we focus on quantitative reasoning in the domain of business and economics and define domain-specific quantitative reasoning primarily as a skill and capacity that allows for reasoned thinking regarding numbers, arithmetic operations, graph analyses, and patterns in real-world business and economics tasks, leading to problem solving. As many studies demonstrate, well-established instruments for assessing business and economics knowledge like the Test of Understanding College Economics (TUCE) and the Examen General para el Egreso de la Licenciatura (EGEL) contain items that require domain-specific quantitative reasoning skills. In this study, we follow a new approach and assume that assessing business and economics knowledge offers the opportunity to extract domain-specific quantitative reasoning as the skill for handling quantitative data in domain-specific tasks. We present an approach where quantitative reasoning--embedded in existing measurements from TUCE and EGEL tasks--will be empirically extracted. Hereby, we reveal that items tapping domain-specific quantitative reasoning constitute an empirically separable factor within a Confirmatory Factor Analysis and that this factor (domain-specific quantitative reasoning) can be validly and reliably measured using existing knowledge assessments. This novel methodological approach, which is based on obtaining information on students' quantitative reasoning skills using existing domain-specific tests, offers a practical alternative to broad test batteries for assessing students' learning outcomes in higher education.

Achieving deeper and permanent learning has always been the focus of teaching force. This purpose is independent of the teaching level or subject matter. Pre-service teachers' lack of interest and inability to connect learning levels are partly cited for their inability to develop this deeper and permanent learning of science concepts. In this respect, an action research design conducted using a case-study paradigm which included the simulation-role-play teaching strategy was used to teach pre-service teacher the concept of "doping of pure semiconductors" into p-type and n-type semiconductors. This is an area under basic electronics. The result of the non-parametric Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test analysis revealed a statistically significant increase in pre-service teachers' performance level in basic electronics test following an intervention using the simulation-role-play approach. The median score of the performance level also increased from a pre-test score to post-test score. The simulation-role-play teaching approach affected student teachers' learning of basic electronics by 55% which is considered a large effect. Further, when a sample of the pre-service teachers were interviewed, the result showed a positive view toward teaching using simulation approach which converts theoretical knowledge into practical knowledge for deeper understanding and permanent learning. The findings from this study would be helpful to student teachers and tutors in the colleges of education as it offered useful intervention in teaching and learning of doping of pure semiconductors.

This paper provides a conceptual elaboration of the role of Problem-based Learning (PBL) in the integration of social sciences and humanities (SSH) with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and an analysis of the challenges this brings about. SSH-STEM integration is an endeavor that is timely, relevant, and urgent given the insufficient answers that higher education provides to the challenges social science and (especially) humanity faces. PBL can be argued as a pedagogical model to naturally cater to this demand. Based on two cases of integrated study programs from Aalborg University, Denmark, we analyze and discuss challenges and potential pitfalls in integrating SSH and STEM. As a result, we pinpoint learnings that can serve as timely guides in future iterations of problem-based, inter- and transdisciplinary endeavors in higher education.

Over the past 80 years' university administrators have exhibited flexibility in their responses to evolving government funding patterns. One possible factor in these changes is the consequences of policy decisions at the federal and state government levels that have resulted in institution wide policy decisions in colleges and universities. These policy decisions have affected department policies and faculty member behaviors. Utilizing institutional Theory allows a discussion of the effect that government policy decisions have on responses within the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). In this manner, Institutional Theory can be used to discuss how university administrative decisions have affected instruction in the United States--a case that can illuminate on policy and governance in HEIs across the globe and the implications these issues have on infusing critical thinking in higher education pedagogy. In the case of the US presented in this study, government funding patterns of the past 60 years have resulted in university policy decisions that have adversely affected the classroom experiences of students and created environments that do not elicit the same level of thinking from students. Being aware of the cascading effects of these patterns can help key stakeholders in universities to adjust policies to improve instruction and student thinking patterns.

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted higher education institutions worldwide, prompting a rapid shift towards online learning environments. This study aims to assess the e-readiness of first-year students in using the Learning Management System (LMS) in the context of COVID-19. The researchers used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework to understand the first-year students' acceptance and adoption of technology, focusing on perceived usefulness and ease of use. This study employed a concurrent mixed methods approach: To what extent were University of South Africa (UNISA) first-year students e-ready to use the LMS for engaging in online teaching, learning, and assessment activities during the COVID-19 pandemic? A sample of 2,707 first-year students and 30 academics from diverse academic disciplines was selected from nine colleges of the South African Open, Distance, and e-Learning (ODeL) institution during the years 2020 and 2021. The study evaluated the students' technological proficiency, digital literacy skills, access to digital devices and the internet, and their perceptions and attitudes towards online learning and assessment. The study explored students' experiences, motivations, and barriers to effectively using an LMS for engaging in online teaching, learning and assessment activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary findings indicated that while many first-year students had basic digital skills and access to the necessary technological resources, many faced challenges in adapting to online learning environments. These challenges included limited internet connectivity, lack of technical support, difficulties in managing time and motivation, and unfamiliarity with LMS resources and activities. However, students also expressed positive attitudes towards the flexibility and accessibility offered by online learning, appreciating the convenience and diverse learning resources available through an LMS. The outcomes of this research will inform educators, administrators, and policy-makers in developing strategies to enhance first-year students' e-readiness and improve the implementation of online teaching, learning, and assessment activities. Addressing the identified challenges can lead to a more inclusive and effective learning environment, ensuring equitable access to education amidst the ongoing COVID-19 realities.

This study investigates the effect of community dialogue in building students' critical thinking skills in essay writing and their perceptions after learning through community dialogue. The experiment with pretest and post-test design was employed, and 42 students participated. Two YouTube videos were used to provoke students' critical thinking and the students acted as presenters and reviewers in the community dialogue activity. When the intervention completed, the students had to develop a five-paragraph essay consisting of introduction, body, and conclusion. A non-parametric testing with Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test revealed that the statistical evidence comparing the students' essays in the pre-test and post-test shows a significant statistical difference (p=0.001). A questionnaire was distributed to the students to get the data of their perceptions towards the implementation the community dialogue. The result of the questionnaire reveals that the majority of the students felt confident when they presented their outlines, though there is quite a high percentage of students who experienced anxiety at the same time. As for the reviewers, the students learned to think critically in order to find both the problems and the solutions in their peers' outlines and by doing so learned from their friends' work and revised theirs as necessary. Finally, the students concluded that the community dialogue was helpful in a writing class.

The Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (Moodle), a type of Learning Management System (LMS), is growing globally. Across the world, the student population keeps growing, making it challenging for the existing physical infrastructure to accommodate all the students. Despite the enormous potential significance of Analytics Graphs, there needs to be more evidence regarding the utilisation of this Learning Analytics tool to significantly inform management on students' tracking capabilities and consequently improve their performance. This study demonstrates how Learning Analytics tools such as Analytics Graphs enable teachers and management to examine learners' activities in the LMS (e.g., Moodle) by utilising data from the system log to address the existing gap. This study focused on two fundamental questions. What is the usability of the Learning Management System Moodle through Analytics Graphs in the University of Applied Sciences context? Two, how can the Learning Management System Moodle through Analytics Graphs be adapted by educators and maximise its potential? The study employed a quantitative approach and tracked the available log data generated during teaching a marketing course at the University of Applied Sciences for five months (January to May 2022). The analytics graph plugin helps identify student profiles that enables the teachers to know the actual state of the students based on their responses to the activities. This study generates some interesting managerial implications for teachers, students, institutions (Universities) and the e-learning designer or Moodle administrator.

Global service-learning (GSL) course offerings have expanded rapidly in the last decade at U.S. universities and colleges, yet faculty are not always prepared for the ethical challenges of development work with disadvantaged communities in international settings. Based on a qualitative study of 25 GSL faculty across a range of higher education institutions in the United States, this article describes what drives faculty members to participate in GSL, analyzes the community engagement principles that guide their GSL work, and assesses how they cope with the dissonance that arises when striving to meet the sometimes-conflicting needs of students, communities, and educational institutions. We find that these faculty employ a "transformative GSL ethics" to realize their motivations and visions for a counter-normative approach to community engagement. We argue that higher education institutions must shift their norms, values, and practices with respect to professional development and pedagogy if they are to continue promoting the GSL agenda.

This is a large-scale, multi-author collaborative autoethnographic study exploring the concept of building a tangible teaching commons on the example of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Commons Conference. The project organizers sought to provide a big tent and extended an invitation to attendees to respond to a series of writing prompts about their conference experience. Collaborative writing took place asynchronously over an approximately 60-day period following the close of the conference and generated ˜ 20,000 words. This corpus became the basis for a three-stage emergent coding process, conducted by the four-member steering committee, which led to the identification of three primary themes from the collective experiences of the 2023 SoTL Commons Conference attendees: SoTL as pedagogy, SoTL as a community of scholars, and SoTL as scholarship. Despite some limitations to what the sense of commons represents, the project highlighted the respondents' spirit of appreciative inquiry, a signature mindset of SoTL and engaged participants who were new to the field. We argue that it acted as a form of academic hospitality itself; enabling the sharing of practice, deepening of reflection, strengthening of research skills, fostering of social connections, and, by extension, the advancement of the field as a community of scholars.

This study used gender-sensitive research to investigate stress levels and stressors among pre-service teachers. The differences and similarities in stress levels between male and female pre-service teachers were studied. There were five significant findings: (1) both male and female pre-service teachers had high-stress levels; (2) male pre-service teachers had higher stress levels than females; (3) male pre-service teachers' stress has a strong relationship with their ages, while it was not for female preservice teachers; (4) male pre-service teachers preferred to undertake their placement and commence their teaching career in middle or higher year level sectors, while female students preferred to teach in middle or lower year level sectors; and (5) while male and female students had similar knowledge about available support, their expectations of support were different. These findings can inform future gender-appropriate support mechanisms for pre-service teachers, leading to better retention in their studies and future career.

Surveys indicate that nearly three-fourths of all college students do not get an adequate amount of sleep on most nights and over half report daytime sleepiness. Sleep deficiency impairs cognitive function, diminishes academic performance, and impedes learning. Asynchronous online education, which provides flexibility to participate in learning exercises and complete assignments at a time and pace that better matches a student's sleep schedule, may offer a solution to this problem. In this study, we examine the impact of reported sleep deprivation on learning outcomes for a group of students who took an asynchronous online class versus a similar group of students who took the same class in a face-to-face (F2F) setting (N = 399). Our results indicate that whereas sleep deprivation, all other factors held constant, significantly negatively affects learning for F2F students, no such influence is observed for online learners. Student counselors and school administrators should therefore consider advising sleep-deprived students to take more online classes to enhance student learning outcomes, which in turn may improve student retention and degree completion.

This article details the 'Decolonisation as Co-Creation' project, a co-created-with-students approach to decolonisation of a reading list to be used on a specific final year, undergraduate module. This contributes to the overall decolonisation of Aston University through the development of academic outputs and a methodology for approaching the decolonisation of future reading lists. Herein we offer six lessons learned, five outcomes and a four-step process to decolonising a module reading list as carried out by the project participants: library and module leader and student workers. We provide you with our findings only as an example of how the process might work. For us, the most interesting aspect of this process is the unexpected research findings of our student workers; we encourage readers to use the process with an openness to new findings.

When students, professors, and faculty understand the tasks associated with their institutional roles, it can help them more easily negotiate power differentials and take conflict less personally. Our framework of role-to-role relationships reduced explosive drama in a case study with a higher education president and vice president locked in a job-threatening conflict. Role-to-role relationships helped them see how what was being said about them by staff and students was not personal but belonged to their roles. They found the courage to share the awful things they heard about each other in order to analyze it for data about the deeper questions the university was trying to work through. In their reclaimed teamwork, they were able to minimize community gossip via establishing staff protocols for transparency and accountability and strategize how to help staff and faculty create a new narrative about what was happening on campus.

Primary objective: The significance of critical thinking (CT) has grown worldwide in recent years. In teacher education, for example, educators are expected to impart this skill to students but we lack comprehensive international comparative research on CT in pre-service teachers. To begin to develop such assessments, we comparatively analysed CT in Colombia's and Switzerland's teacher education intended curricula. Research design and methodology: We examined 384 curriculum documents at the national (macro), institutional (meso), and course-specific (micro) levels. The documents included 73 from Colombia and 311 from Switzerland. We also conducted interviews with nine teacher educators, four from Colombia and five from Switzerland. Results: Our analysis revealed that while both countries provide similar opportunities for student teachers to acquire CT skills, there are differences in the percentage of documents that reflect CT or any of its facets, and few university courses include several CT facets. Conclusion: Our findings suggest the possibility for international CT assessment with appropriate cultural and contextual adaptations. However, the results also highlight the need for better alignment within training curricula and a more cohesive approach to CT, ensuring that CT is not only mentioned in official macro-level documents but is also comprehensively integrated into the micro level.

This case study research explores the potential of a post-16 pathway planning process based upon self-determination theory (SDT). Two male students at an alternative provision (AP), were supported by a behavioural support teacher to take part in a pre-planning meeting with the researcher to explore their post-16 aspirations. They then took part in a planning session within which the discussion and documentation were informed by SDT. A follow up conversation was held with the behavioural support teacher to feed back the contents of the planning sessions and support implementation of any outcomes. One student took part in a follow up interview, the other became uncontactable due to leaving the AP. The planning sessions and the follow up interview were transcribed and thematically analysed. Key themes were particularly consistent with autonomy and relatedness dimensions within SDT. Findings suggest SDT can provide a framework for post-16 planning, through facilitating exploration of goals and aspirations. Student follow-up suggested the process had been autonomy-supporting and a positive experience. Limitations, future directions, and implications for practitioners are discussed.

Objective: College students use electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) more often than any other US demographic group. In a novel application of the acquired preparedness model, we examined how proximal (e.g., cognitions) and distal (e.g., dispositional) influences accounted for ENDS use and dependence. Participants: Undergraduates (N = 1075; 72% female, 74% White) from seven US campuses completed an online survey between October 2019-March 2020. Methods: We modeled ENDS use and dependence, respectively, as zero-inflated Poisson distributions with impulsivity as an independent variable and perceived risks and benefits of e-cigarettes as mediators. Results: Students higher in impulsivity perceived more benefits and, in turn, reported greater ENDS use and dependence. Curiosity and friends' use motivated ENDS initiation; stress management and nicotine motivated continued use. Conclusions: ENDS interventions should be tailored to students higher in impulsivity, as they hold more favorable perceptions of ENDS, and should enhance skills to manage stress and nicotine cravings.

Objective Graduate students frequently experience anxiety, depression, and psychological distress. Counseling centers struggle to meet this need. Brief, skills-based treatments to mitigate burgeoning or mild mental health problems could alleviate this problem. Participants Participants were 51 graduate students in years one through seven of their respective programs. Methods We examined a single-session virtual cognitive behavioral workshop and outcomes up to 6-months later. Results The program was feasible, acceptable, and beneficial for mood, anxiety, and emotion regulation, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. A majority of participants reported ongoing skills use at follow-up. Primary barriers to more frequent use were forgetting, time constraints, and difficulty when experiencing strong emotions. Few participants endorsed expecting that skills would not be helpful or forgetting how to use skills. Conclusions This intervention may provide scalable, much needed aid to graduate schools. Moreover, results highlight opportunities for further enhancing brief interventions.

Purpose: Self-initiated international placements by students have been largely ignored in the literature on outward mobility in higher education. The support given to self-initiated international placement students, if any, has received even less attention. This study aims to address this lacuna. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on insights from global mobility literature, we conducted a survey of UK university students who engaged in self-initiated international placements to various countries such as France, China, Brazil and Ghana. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis. Findings: Findings reveal that these "voluntary" placements can improve language fluency, increase self-confidence, renew stress management abilities and enhance cross-cultural competencies and intercultural sensitivity. The study problematises the lack of support given to these students particularly in terms of career development. Originality/value: Our paper is one of the first to bring this under-studied population to the attention of career guidance scholars. We propose that scholarly attention should be directed toward the agency of self-initiated international placement students and that targeted career guidance must be provided through more inclusive career services.

Authentic assessments are designed to evaluate knowledge and skills that are relevant for students' life beyond university, emphasising practical, applied skills. They offer an alternative to assessments that don't explicitly foster transferability of skills. The present study examined undergraduate student perceptions of authentic and traditional assessments (N = 150). We used a qualitative story completion methodology to examine three domains: student's emotional responses to authentic and traditional assessment forms, student's perceptions of how different assessment types may benefit their employability, and student's preferences for pedagogical support with authentic assessments. A qualitative content analysis revealed students generally perceive authentic, novel assessments to be exciting, motivating and inspirational; however, this was accompanied by feelings of uncertainty and unfamiliarity. More traditional assessments (e.g. essays and multiple-choice-question examinations) elicited feelings of comfort and preparedness, but students also felt worried, bored and unexcited by these assessments. Students appreciated creative freedom when lecturers set traditional assessments but would like more consideration of their feelings and need for support in authentic assessments. Hence, we argue, when advocating for authentic assessment, there is a balance to be struck between innovation and challenge, ensuring sufficient support for student's psychological safety and feelings of comfort. Implications for practice are discussed.