Academic Learning Experience Research Articles

Cultural capital, standardised testing and East Asian education: The transposition of disposition of Taiwanese elite students

Cultural capital has been an essential concept for educational stratification research. While several studies suggest that in East Asian educational contexts, cultural capital may exhibit less emphasis on aesthetics, there remains a need for in-depth exploration of such orientation. To fill this gap, this article examines non-aesthetic subspecies of cultural capital by exploring how standardised testing, a predominant educational institution in East Asia, shapes a distinct embodied cultural capital – a pragmatic learning disposition. We examine two cases where Taiwanese academically elite high school students adapt their standardised testing-driven dispositions to distinct contexts: a different activity domain and an alternative educational field. The first explores how elite students transpose the disposition shaped by standardised testing to their participation in rock music activities. Our research reveals that their academic learning experiences fostered a disposition for honing precise exam skills, which influenced the trajectory of their musical taste development, along with the accumulation of technical capital. The second case involves elite students experienced in open-ended mathematics competitions, who later enrol in French preparatory classes for admission to French grandes écoles. These students have difficulty shedding their pragmatic disposition, which is deeply rooted in standardised testing, but hardly suits the French preparatory class. Disposition transposition and its hysteresis effect across contexts can serve as a useful methodological tool for cultural capital studies, enabling an exploration of emerging technical subspecies of cultural capital and the associated pragmatic dispositions, thereby shedding light on the diverse relationships among students’ subspecies of embodied cultural capital.

Academic Learning Experiences and Challenges of Students With Disabilities in Higher Education

Students with disabilities are an increasing subpopulation in higher education. Recently, research has put an emphasis on students’ voices to explore their academic learning experiences, as well as the learning strategies they use to overcome learning barriers. This study aimed to investigate the academic learning experiences of students with disabilities in college or graduate studies and the learning strategies they used when faced with insufficient or delayed support. This study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to gather data from three online focus groups, with a total of 10 participants. The results demonstrated three themes: experiences or issues related to university resources and accommodations, building influence through advocacy and education, and being an independent learner. Some participants continued to face academic learning challenges despite their active seeking of accommodations and support. Some participants utilized study strategies, especially when support was inadequate or not immediately provided. This study highlighted the urgent need for higher education institutions to establish support services and resources for all students. Related discussions and implications are presented.

Understanding the Complexities of Student Learning Progress in Texas: A Study of COVID-19 and Rural vs. Non-Rural Districts.

In this study, we investigate the impact of COVID-19 on academic achievement in Texas public schools. Demographic and Grade 5 STAAR test data were collected from 1155 public school districts for 2018-2019 and 2020-2021. Multiple regression was adopted to analyze the differences between rural and non-rural districts, as well as the impact of demographic characteristics on students' achievement. The results reveal significant differences in demographic characteristics between the two academic years, with non-rural districts exhibiting a greater decline in academic achievement than rural districts. Additionally, the findings suggest that higher teacher salaries correlate with better academic performance across various subjects and that English learners require additional support to acquire content knowledge and skills. We further confirm that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the academic learning experience of Texas students, with rural districts displaying more resilience than non-rural districts.

Enhancing Children's Academic Learning Experience: Natural Language Interface Designs in Educational Application

User Interaction (UI) designs, a crucial part of the modern internet industry, have been envolving and becoming more and more sophisticated and advanced. Recently, with the development of Machine Learning in Computer Science, Natural Language Interface (NLI) designs, a new division of the UI designs, appears into public’s view. With its special focus on using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to enable applications respond and execute useful actions in response to users’ input, UI designers are able to implement an array of new functions into the application, allowing children (12 to 18 years old) to better interact with the applications. This research primarily focuses on how NLI designs in educational settings are able to enhance their learning experience and academic performance. In particular, with a deep literary analysis, this research incorporates several important findings about NLI designs’ positive effects on children’s academic learning experience and performance. Through thorough investigations, this research concludes that while there are several technical limitations on NLI designs due to the limited level of technology, they can still facilitate children’s learning experience and academic performance by satisfying children, letting them stay longer in the application, and providing them a better guide, which enables them to have a better navigation in the application’s learning environment.

Inclusive Learning Through Equity-Driven Approaches to Design in Engineering Education

Despite it being widely acknowledged that integrating principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) in engineering has numerous benefits such as more innovative and inclusive design outcomes, there have been ongoing challenges in addressing equity, promoting diversity, and fostering inclusive teaching and learning strategies in higher education. If EDIA is taught separately from coursework in engineering, students are unlikely to engage with or incorporate EDIA principles in their work. Moreover, the pedagogical approaches for EDIA concepts, which include exploratory discussion and reflection, can be a barrier for student learning if they are not valued in the same way as traditional engineering epistemology and ideologies that prioritize a technical space and objective data. Lastly, evidence demonstrates that a lack of sense of belonging for underrepresented students can impact their learning experience. It is important to address how teaching approaches impact the shift of student mindsets in their design work and their engagement with the learning environment. In this exploratory project, we seek to understand the ways in which learning equity-driven approaches to design, such as design thinking, may impact engineering students’ perceptions of inclusivity in their learning environment and the quality of inclusivity in the work that they design and engineer. We focus on the rationale and development of the methodology in this paper since the work is still in progress. We are working with a diverse team of educators and researchers to review and revise course goals, student learning outcomes and related course content for two design thinking courses in a master’s level engineering program. Changes to the course material include further integrating EDIA principles and the “Liberatory Design framework” described by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design as “a process and practice to liberate designers from habits that perpetuate inequity.” The impact of such revision is examined through qualitative analysis of students’ written reflections with prompts that focus on EDIA themes. A post-course survey is also used to assess students’ perceptions of EDIA in relation to their academic, professional, and personal learning experiences throughout the program and, more specifically, the design thinking course learning outcomes. Preliminary findings suggest that students connect design thinking approaches with an awareness of the value of diversity in their design teams and with more inclusive design outcomes for the end-user. This exploratory work can inspire research to further examine the role of design thinking and related pedagogical approaches in supporting the integration of EDIA principles in teaching engineering design.

Students’ satisfaction and learning experiences at higher agricultural education institutions in Saudi Arabia: an empirical inquest

AimThis study aims to explore various factors that affect students’ satisfaction regarding postgraduate agricultural programs and the likelihood of recommending such programs to others.MethodsData were collected using structured paper-based questionnaires from a random sample of 127 students who were undertaking master and doctoral programs in eight different disciplines within agricultural sciences at King Saud University.ResultsThe findings showed that majority of the students expressed high academic learning experiences and were satisfied with their program of study. Multiple regression analysis revealed that students’ academic learning experience, faculty support, and the rationale for attending the university had significant positive influence on their satisfaction with the enrolled programs. Moreover, the students’ satisfaction and faculty support also showed significant positive correlation with their likelihood to recommend agricultural programs to others.SuggestionsIn order to further enhance the impact of agricultural programs, we suggest improvements in the university curriculum as well as faculty services to make current agricultural programs up-to-date and relevant to meet the kingdom’s national agricultural and human resource development goals. There should be a particular focus on enhancing students’ research and written communication skills as postgraduate agricultural programs entail a significant component of these highly essential skills.

Outcome Based Curriculum Development for Studio Courses: Data Mining an example course

Abstract—Over the past few decades, with a growing emphasis on learner-centric methodologies, the Outcome-Based Education (OBE) framework has become prominent, with the aim of bridging the gap between academic learning experiences and industry requirements. Outcome Based Education (OBE) has been proving its prominence to ensure intended outcomes and quality. Efforts in designing and development of outcome-based curriculum help to create an effective learning environment. Outcome Based Curriculum Development (OBCD) ensures not only the domain knowledge but also centennial mastery over the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for Industry 4.0 and above. To fill the gap between academic learning and industry requirements, Studio Pedagogy is gaining prominence, particularly for a few hard core courses that require more activity-based learning rather than traditional teaching-learning, i.e. Studio-Based Learning (SBL). This paper discusses OBCD for such an engineering course, Data Mining that needs theoretical concepts to learn by doing, being taught to 5th semester students as a case study. The end survey and assessment performance demonstrated the effectiveness of designing and implementing curriculum for this course as a Studio course with Studio Based Learning. Keywords— Outcome based education, Outcome based curriculum Development, Studio Pedagogy, Studio Based Learning, Learning -by -doing.

Exploring the role of digital citizenship and digital empowerment to enhance academic performance of business students

In the changing educational environment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates the dynamic interactions between digital citizenship, digital empowerment, and academic performance. Data is collected from a survey of students at the College of Business, Al-Ahliyya Amman University. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) method of structural equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the collected data. The findings reveal how digital empowerment is directly impacted by digital education, respect and protection. It was also discovered that digital empowerment directly improves academic performance, highlighting the significance of promoting digital settings that are safe, respectful, and conducive to learning. With the changing educational landscape, this study adds to a better understanding of how digital citizenship influences students' academic performance and learning experiences. It provides educators, organizations, and legislators with useful information to help them better prepare students for success in a fast-evolving educational landscape by enhancing their digital skills and competences.

GAT-LS: A Graph Attention Network for Learning Style Detection in Online Learning Environment

In the context of the information age, the rapid growth and increasing diversity of learning resources underscore the urgency of personalized learning, while learning style is the most crucial factor to consider in personalized learning as it significantly influences students’ academic achievements and learning experiences. Traditional methods of assessing learning styles, such as completing questionnaires, have many drawbacks, including subjectivity and time costs. Therefore, in recent years, researchers have been exploring automatic methods to identify learning styles by analyzing students’ interactive behaviors. Motivated by these limitations, we propose a learning style detection method using a graph attention network (GAT), named GAT-LS. We originally constructed a bipartite graph between learners and learning materials, utilizing node features to represent the students’ behavior. Subsequently, we employ GAT to obtain hidden vectors for the graph nodes. These hidden vectors encapsulate both the overall graph information and the importance of neighboring nodes. We employ a multi-head attention network to process student nodes and combine a dropout mechanism with a single-layer attention network to process learning material nodes. Finally, we map the obtained hidden node features to the Felder-Silverman learning style model (FSLSM) and use K-means clustering to detect learning styles. The proposed method can be integrated into various types of educational systems or online learning platforms, providing a better educational experience and learning resource recommendations for both teachers and students. Experiments on the real-world dataset, KDD CUP 2015, demonstrated the superiority of our method. Our proposed approach achieved outstanding results with average values of 0.9647 accuracy, 0.9478 precision, 0.9171 recall, and 0.9346 F1 score.

“Impact of ChatGPT on Student’s Education: A Comprehensive analysis of positive and negative effects”

The title of this study is based on an analysis of the impact of ChatGPT on academic performance and the student's insight of using the tool. In this research, the effectiveness of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence language model, was evaluated in supporting students in their education. The study determines that, ChatGPT can positively and negatively affect student’s academic performance and learning experience, but it should not replace human knowledge and skills. It should be used as an extension to the existing resources. However, there are also risks related to academic issues, unfair learning assessment, inaccurate information, thinking skills and over-reliance on AI.

Essential building blocks for future blended learning with the right amount of blend

PurposeThis paper aims to shed light on how the composition of future blended learning (BL) courses can be changed to provide students with quality academic learning experiences. The model suggested in this study will guide instructors on how to design their course learning outcomes to ensure effective delivery.Design/methodology/approachThe new model has been developed by combining Bloom's taxonomy and Carman's model. Later, a new framework entitled “PATHCO” based on an extensive literature review is applied to enhance the quality of all five components of Carman's model.FindingsThe PATHCO conceptual framework has been developed to ensure quality in the five main teaching and learning factors. This framework covers criteria like pedagogical, assessments, technical, health care and organizational. Further research is required to broaden the main elements of the suggested framework and to validate this research through a case study.Originality/valueThe COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the landscape of the education sector by encouraging an extensive acceptance of technology-enhanced learning and teaching. Blended learning (BL) has become the most appropriate medium to deliver online learning (OL). However, educators and students have reported dissatisfaction with the BL mode of delivery. To address this dissatisfaction, this study outlines, using the PATHCO model, all the essential building blocks which are required to find the right blend of both face-to-face and online components.

Sleep Deprivation, Clinical Exposure Anxiety, and Psycho-Emotional State of Nursing Students

Nursing students face various concerns as they pursue a profession related to healthcare. This study determined the levels of sleep deprivation, clinical exposure anxiety, and psycho-emotional state of nursing students in one of the private institutions offering the Bachelor of Science in Nursing in the Islamic City of Marawi. The descriptive-correlational research design was used in the study. There were 120 nursing students who served as the respondents, and they were identified through stratified random sampling. Researcher-made questionnaires were utilized in gathering data. Mean, Standard Deviation, and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient were the statistical tools used in analyzing the data gathered. Results showed a high level of sleep deprivation among the respondents with the number of academic and related learning experiences they had to comply with. Also, the respondents claimed having severe anxiety during clinical exposure, being apprehensive of the outcomes of their close contacts with patients who could have serious illnesses or other healthcare workers who might have contracted contagious diseases. Nevertheless, the nursing students’ psycho-emotional state was high. They sustained a desirable level of well-being to enable them to withstand the rigors of the nursing profession. The study further disclosed that the level of the nursing students’ sleep deprivation was influential to their clinical exposure anxiety and psycho-emotional state. Without adequate sleep, the respondents became prone to anxiety in clinical settings but still developed a sound psychological and emotional conditions. The study concludes that while nursing students can be experiencing difficulties being deprived of quality sleep and experiencing anxiety, they have been resilient in pushing themselves toward the nursing profession.

Undergraduate Nursing Student Reflections on Academic Service Learning Experiences – A Qualitative Study

The provision of nursing care has shifted toward integrated primary care (provision of community health services by an interprofessional team), requiring that nurse educators take steps to ensure students have opportunities to learn and practice the leadership and professional skills required to function as members and leaders of interdisciplinary teams. We developed the Transforming RN Roles in Community Based Integrated Primary Care (TRIP) program for undergraduate nursing students to facilitate this learning. During clinical immersion, students participated in academic service learning (ASL) activities consisting of a minimum of 25 h of clinical agency service each semester. This descriptive qualitative design captures recurring themes in the ASL reflections of eight nursing students participating in the inaugural TRIP cohort. Three themes were identified (1) “Embracing the Nursing Profession” (2) “Utilizing the Professional Skills of Nursing” and (3) “I Am A Nurse”. We urge our faculty colleagues to consider incorporating ASL experiences into their undergraduate activities. We believe the effort to initiate, develop and sustain these partnerships will pay handsome dividends in terms skill and confidence enhancements for our undergraduate nursing students.

The Journey from Past to Present

The focus of this paper is on the development of andragogy as an academic discipline and andragogy programmes at Tallinn University. It also reviews the development of adult education in Estonia and outlines empirical findings from previous research related to the learning experiences and the professional identity of students and graduates of andragogy programmes. The research questions in this paper are: What are the main developments of adult education and andragogy as an academic discipline? How do andragogy students and graduates understand their learning experience and professional identity? The findings suggest that academic studies and learning experiences enable students to construct a strong learner identity, which impacts the formation of professional identity. The sense of professional identity becomes stronger during the period of academic studies and continues to develop as a self-developmental process with professional, educational, and personal choices.

Inclusive education: pedagogical approach to online versus face-to-face teaching

In today’s educational landscape, active learning is often overlooked during lectures, seminars, and tutorials. The aim of this study was to investigate perceptions of online and face-to-face lecture formats and their impact on the learning experiences of undergraduate dental students in Years 3–5. This qualitative study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of different lecture formats at the Institute of Dentistry for undergraduate dental students in Years 3–5. There were two specific questions asked to dental undergraduate students with additional free-text questions. In total, 120 of 221 undergraduate students participated in this study between October 2019 and February 2020, and only 42 participants included the free-text comments. Three core themes related to the blended learning approach were identified: (1) scheduled versus recorded lectures, (2) duration of academic lectures, and (3) neurodiversity and learning experiences. The results showed that the learners perceived the traditional didactic lectures as the least effective format. There is not a “one fits all” lecture format that would accommodate a neurodiversity-based approach that focuses on the strengths, abilities, and interests of students. Hybrid lecture formats in combination with online teaching coupled with small group tutorials could be suggested. There is a unique challenge in the post-COVID-19 era for both educators and learners due to the lack of clinical practice and heavy reliance on online methods of teaching in Dentistry. Therefore, the implication of these results on the planning and financing of programmes could be discussed in Higher Education.

Cooperative Learning Technique and Writing Hortatory Exposition Text

Cooperative learning technique is an educational approach which aims to organize classroom activities into academic and social learning experiences. This technique is supposed to help students evaluate their knowledge which leads them to produce a better comprehension of writing hortatory exposition text(HET). Hortatory exposition text is a type of text that provides details to support an opinion. It means that the text declares something to the readers by giving supporting statement and signal to convince it. To make the influence stronger, the speaker or writer gives some arguments as the fundamental reasons why something is the case. Writing is used as a means to rearrange information improving higher-order thinking. It can deliver chance for students to think through arguments and use higher -order thinking skills to solve complex problems. This supposed to help students evaluate their knowledge which leads them to produce a better comprehension of the text. This research sheds light on the importance of using cooperative learning technique in teaching writing hortatory exposition text in the classroom. So, it consists of three sections , section one includes problems, aims, and limits of the study with information's about cooperative learning technique, section two about writing hortatory exposition text, section three related to writing skill, and Section Four: The Obtained Results. Finally, the research ends up with some conclusions.

Building Resilient Communities: Rapid Response to a Crisis through Nusantara Module’s Character Education and Social Contribution Initiative

The primary objective of this research was to investigate the execution of the Nusantara Module program at Universitas Padjadjaran (Unpad), Indonesia, and examine its impact on participating students, emphasizing the program’s adaptability and response to the Cianjur earthquake catastrophe in 2022. This study used a mixed-method approach, combining the qualitative analysis of program papers and communication with the quantitative analysis of post-program surveys and verbatim analysis of student responses. This research revealed systematic methods such as regular meetings, rapid issue resolution, monthly reporting, rigorous evaluation, and post-program surveys. The findings show that students were quite satisfied with the cultural interchange, academic and non-academic learning experiences, hospitality, excursions, and amenities provided. However, areas for improvement were highlighted, including extending module destinations, resolving financial issues, addressing social integration obstacles, improving communication, addressing facility concerns, and improving program management. The contributions of this study extend to both academia and practice. Academically, this research augments the understanding of program management, student mobility, disaster response, and community engagement within the Indonesian educational landscape. Practically, this study provides a blueprint for educational institutions aiming to enhance the resilience and effectiveness of their programs in times of crisis. By elaborating on the implications and contributions of this research, we underscore its significant and far-reaching impact on educational practices, disaster management strategies, and community well-being.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE USE OF FOLDABLE STRATEGY IN SCIENCE INSTRUCTION

Science deals with understanding terminologies, facts, and theories which on some learners might be intimidating. One way to solve this problem is to use strategies to help the learners understand the lesson better without compromising the learning process. Hence, the primary purpose of this experimental research study was to determine the effectiveness of the use of foldable strategy in science instruction to improve the academic performances and learning experiences of the students. The study utilized Randomized Pretest-Posttest Control Group, Using Matched Subjects Design. Data were gathered from 60 matched-sampled students. The data were analyzed utilizing independent t-test and paired t-test. Results of the t-tests showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the pre-test and post-test results of the control and experimental group. However, the experimental group had a higher mean of difference than the control group which indicates that the experimental group had gained more from the intervention.The results of the study were used to prepare an Outcomes-based Education (OBE) guide with the use of Foldable Strategy in Science Instruction. Recommendation made for the teachers was to continue using the traditional mode of teaching with the integration of Foldable Strategy to address higher order thinking skills of the students. Recommendations made for future researchers were to verify the results of the study using greater number of subjects in the control and experimental groups and by completing the four grading period or the whole school year as the length of the study.

The Effectiveness of Evidence-Based Teaching Practices in Biomedical Sciences on Students’ Learning Experience: A Systematic Literature Review

The traditional didactic approach to teaching in biomedical sciences falls short of providing students with the 21st century competencies necessary to meet the socioeconomic demands placed upon them. Tertiary biomedical science educators have sought empirical evidence to identify the best practices to meet these demands, each of which have an element of actively involving students in their learning, as opposed to passive and didactic instructional approaches. This review synthesises the literature on evidence-based teaching practices (EBTPs) implemented in biomedical science disciplines and investigates the impact of EBTPs on students’ learning experiences through a systematic review. Seventy-eight studies were analysed, providing a comprehensive review of teaching practices that supported active learning in biomedical science disciplines. The findings revealed that EBTPs had significant impact on students’ academic performance and learning experiences to enhance higher-order thinking skills and self-directed learning, despite the variation in educational setting. A range of instructional strategies and technologies that supported active learning experiences were identified in this review, and the findings provide an evidence base to inform pedagogical decisions regarding the implementation of EBTPs and may serve as an impetus for instructors to implement active learning strategies based on this empirical evidence.

Profile of an innovator: a Delphi study to surface key characteristics for innovative educators

As the context of K-12 education changes, new technologies emerge, and we increasingly focus on student-centered learning, there is a need to understand how best to catalyze and lead innovation in schools. If we can identify the key characteristics – skills, concepts, and mindsets – that innovative educators draw on, teacher educators can better assist in providing academic and professional learning experiences to grow the next generation of educational innovators. This study used a Delphi process to generate a list and description of the key characteristics of educational innovators from those working every day to transform teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms, schools, and districts. Implications for teacher educators are offered to consider how best to leverage this “profile of an innovator” to lead professional learning efforts.