Campus-based Education Research Articles

Exploring the Impact of Post-Pandemic Learning Strategies on University Students’ Engagement and Academic Achievement

In the context of campus-based education, this study aims to investigate how post-pandemic learning strategies affect students' levels of engagement with their coursework as well as their overall academic performance. In this study, a quantitative approach is taken, and the participants are students in an English language education study program in the city of Palu who take a campus-based learning approach to their education. The type of research is correlational and non-experimental. Google Forms and other similar online survey distribution and gathering platforms facilitate this process. The results showed that the adoption of post-pandemic learning strategies that were inclusive and adaptive had a positive impact on student engagement, and post-pandemic learning strategies that were inclusive and adaptive had a positive impact on their academic achievement. In addition, post-pandemic learning strategies also indirectly affect student academic achievement through student involvement. This research provides recommendations for the development of post-pandemic learning strategies that are more inclusive and adaptive in campus-based education to increase student engagement and academic achievement.

A comparison of the effectiveness of online and offline learning

Because of the cutting-edge technology, online courses provide students the freedom to study wherever there is internet and let them communicate with professors who are located far away. Online courses are predicted to replace the conventional method of learning, which involves attending classes in a physical classroom, because of its ease. Schools all throughout the globe temporarily switched from using physical classrooms as their primary method of instruction to using online classes exclusively after the COVID epidemic broke out in 2020. The effectiveness of both physical classrooms and online programs might be improved with input from students. Students who have taken both physical classes and online courses at COVID in 2020 are given online surveys as part of this research. The purpose of this research is to compare and contrast the efficacy of traditional campus-based education with that of online learning. Feedback is gathered to evaluate the effectiveness of offline instruction against online learning; variables that affect the efficiency difference are examined and recommendations are made for improving the learning experience.

An Estimation of the Cost of Providing Books for further Reading in Libraries of Distance Education

The Self Learning Materials (SLMs) of distance education attempt to provide learners with a learning environment containing textbooks and lecture notes. Apart from this, counselling sessions, media enabled solutions such as audio/ video channels and teleconferencing sessions are provided to learners. A small library of essential books for further reading mentioned in the SLMs are also maintained at the study centres to offer library facilities comparable to campusbased education. An accurate and efficient cost estimation and optimisation methodology is very important in library development as it would assist the management to estimate the costs involved. Cost analysis is perhaps not given the required consideration by libraries largely due to the fact that they are state-funded, and difficulties attached to assess the use made out of money spent. This study has been carried out to find out the optimum cost of supply of books prescribed for further reading in the SLMs of Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) programme of the national Open University, IGNOU to the libraries of its Regional Centres and of its Study Centres hosting the programme.

Teaching presence in students’ WhatsApp groups: Affordances for language learning

With the recent COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of campus-based education, the use of mobile social networking applications to supplement formal education has attracted a great deal of attention. Teachers do have opportunities to join students’ online groups to share, clarify, and exchange housekeeping information and course-related content with them. Teachers can, in particular, provide English as a foreign language (EFL) students with more sources of linguistic input, interaction, and feedback. Research investigating this potential, however, is still scarce in such contexts. The current study explores the likely affordances of teaching presence in students’ WhatsApp groups for designing, facilitating, and guiding cognitive and social processes conducive to their language learning. A mixed-method design was employed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data and information from English-major undergraduates (N = 111) and faculty teachers (N = 8) who joined the same WhatsApp groups for one academic semester at a major university in Oman. Descriptive and thematic analyses of data from a survey with both closed-ended and open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews indicate that the shared WhatsApp groups functioned as small close-knit communities where students were able to constantly access teachers for their assistance, feedback, and clarification of content. Despite these merits, however, the participating faculty believed that the presence of teachers in WhatsApp groups might have consequences for students’ tolerance of ambiguity, scaffolding, and autonomous language learning. The paper concludes by discussing several pedagogical implications and directions for future research.

Health sciences and inclusive pedagogy: a qualitative study exploring educational practices for students with disabilities at Spanish universities.

The number of people with disabilities who study at university is rising. Previous studies have revealed that it is not enough simply to provide these students with access to university, it is also important to guarantee their retention and success. This article explores participants' actions and their appraisals of their teaching practice in relation to disability in campus-based education. The study was conducted with 19 Spanish faculty members from the Health Sciences who were nominated by their students with disabilities for having contributed to their inclusion. We carried out a qualitative study based on individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews. We analysed the data progressively, using a system of categories and codes. The results section outlines the actions taken by faculty members upon learning that they were going to be teaching a student with disabilities, analysing what specific measures they took in accordance with the type of disability in question, and what they found most rewarding and most difficult or unpleasant about their experience with these students in the classroom. The study concludes that the voices of these faculty members may encourage other colleagues to rethink their actions in the classroom and engage in more inclusive practices.

Can lecture capture contribute to the development of a community of inquiry in online learning?

ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from a study into the value of lecture captures for online postgraduate courses. There has been little scrutiny of the role of on-campus lecture capture in online courses. We addressed this gap by exploring online distance learning students’ perceptions of lecture captures through the lens of the community of inquiry framework. We found that students were enthusiastic about campus lecture captures due to their naturalistic lecturing style and the opportunity to learn vicariously. However, students also expressed preferences for video material that was produced specifically for online audiences. Overall, we found that lecture captures do not contribute to the creation of a community of inquiry as there is no substantial increase in cognitive, social, or teaching presence for online students. We suggest greater consideration of the role of vicarious learning in online education and the tendency to perceive campus-based education as more authentic.

E-learning readiness and perceived stress among the university students of Bangladesh during COVID-19: a countrywide cross-sectional study

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled all educational institutions from the conventional campus-based education system to e-learning worldwide. However, adapting to this new platform, e-learning readiness may cause perceived stress among students. This study aimed to examine the association between e-learning readiness and perceived e-learning stress and the relationship between sociodemographic and e-learning related factors. Results A cross-sectional study was employed, where 1145 e-learning enrolled university students were surveyed. The result indicated that nearly 91% of students reported moderate (76.07%) to the higher level (14.85%) of perceived e-learning stress, whereas more than half of them (58.17%) were at the sub-optimum level of readiness. Furthermore, it was found that students with the sub-optimum level of readiness compared to optimum had a significantly higher chance of reporting moderate and high level of perceived e-learning stress. Besides, parents’ highest education, residence, students’ preference in (e-learning or learning format), and having any eye problems were associated with perceived e-learning stress. Conclusions A sudden introduction of e-learning during the COVID-19 catastrophe has brought about challenges, including the students' readiness, that might exacerbate the perceived stress level in different ways. This study reported that most of the students were at sub-optimal levels of readiness and suffered from moderate to high levels of perceived e-learning stress. The findings should integrate into the education monitoring system to enhance students' coping strategies, incite readiness, straighten, and nourish existing policies. Key messages The moderate and higher level of e-learning stress was 76% and 15%, respectively. Here, 58% of students were at the sub-optimum level of e-learning readiness. Students’ sub-optimum level of e-learning readiness was significantly associated with the perceived moderate and high level of e-learning stress.

Prevalence of Alcohol Use and Associated Factors among Dilla University Students, Dilla Town, Southern Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction Globally, alcohol is one of the most prevalent forms of substance use that is particularly high among young age groups. Despite the adverse health and social challenges associated with alcohol use, it is one of the most common risky behaviours among university students. Objective This study aimed to assess the prevalence of alcohol use and associated factors among Dilla University students in Southern Ethiopia. Methods An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Dilla University among undergraduate regular students from January to February 2018. A systematic random sampling technique was used to get a total sample of 803 students each year from the department of the university. The collected data were coded, entered into Epi Info version 7.1, and analyzed with SPSS version 20. Results A total of 803 participants were successfully interviewed with a response rate of 91.7%. Alcohol use prevalence was 41.8% (n = 336) among participants. Being in fourth year (AOR = 2.66, 95% CI: 1.64, 4.31), having friends who use the substance (AOR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.1), being a khat user (AOR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.09), and being a cigarette smoker (AOR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.84) were found to be significantly associated with alcohol use. Conclusion The current study revealed that fourth-year students, having friends who use the substance, being khat user, and being cigarette smoker had higher odds of alcohol use among the students. So the findings suggest that effective campus-based counselling and peer education should be implemented for early prevention, detection, and alleviation of alcohol use among students in the university.

Lecture recordings to support learning: A contested space between students and teachers

Universities, globally, are increasingly offering students a blended learning approach to support their campus-based education, through use of a wide range of educational technologies, tools and systems. Research has demonstrated that blended learning offers at least equivalent learning outcomes for students, and enhances flexibility, inclusivity, engagement and motivation. Many universities across the world (including Australia, the US, Canada, Singapore, Qatar, and across Europe) have adopted lecture capture as a means to support a blended learning approach, and students have strong positive perceptions about the value of lecture recordings to enhance their learning and support their education. However, research shows that teaching staff are generally less positive about the value of lecture capture, believing it to diminish the value of the live lecture experience, reduce learning, and encourage student absenteeism from lectures. In this study, we used mixed methods and repeated cross-sectional data collection to investigate the use and value of lecture recordings from the perspective of students and teaching staff in a large campus-based university, employing a blended learning approach. Our data show that students make significant use of lecture recordings, throughout the academic session, and place great value on recordings for note-taking, more in-depth understanding or clarification, and assessment preparation. As a result, students have high expectations about the availability and quality of recordings. Teaching staff reported a range of reservations about the value of lecture recordings, including its impact on teaching style, and strong concerns about the negative impact of lecture recordings on students learning and attendance. Our data show that over 80% of students attended recorded lectures, but lectures that weren't recorded had significantly higher attendance. In conclusion, our research demonstrates a contested space between staff and students in relation to the use and value of lecture recordings, a contested space that will need to be debated and resolved as universities grow their use of blended learning. This study contributes significantly to this global debate by its use of a wide range of additional data sets to delve further and provide a more nuanced view of this space.

ONLINE LEARNING: NEW MODELS FOR LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Online learning is now reaching the core, helping to transform higher education and moving beyond isolated efforts to pervasive influence and change. The dichotomy of distance learning vs. campus-based education has broken down, and forward-looking senior administrators have embraced new approaches to education that contain the elements of successful online education while cultivating the community-building and branding of site-based education, particularly to promote enriched faculty and program development. Rather than being isolated in a distance learning task force or continuing education program, the conversations about online learning now occur—or need to occur—at the executive level and throughout other levels and structures.

Negotiating femininities on campus: Sexuality, gender and risk in an HIV environment

Objective: In South Africa, Black African women between the ages of 15 and 24 years are especially vulnerable to HIV. The heterosexual transmission of the disease is exacerbated by social and cultural conditions that perpetuate gender relations of inequality. Problematic conceptualisations of femininity increase sexual risk. The objective of this article is to examine the ways in which undergraduate university Black African female students make meaning of gender and sexuality on campus and the social processes through which femininities are produced. Design: Qualitative research study. Setting: University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Method: In total, 10 in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 25 Black African undergraduate female students aged between 18 and 24 years old. Results: Campus life was conceived as a place of heterosexual freedom, sexual enjoyment and engagement with dating relationships. Relationships were forged based on romantic notions of love and versions of femininity based on trust lead to sexual risk and unwanted pregnancy. In the context of material inequalities, ‘sugar daddy’ relationships further limited female students’ ability to negotiate safe sex. The overall climate on campus was structured along gender power inequalities. Female students feared and were victims of verbal, physical assault and sexual coercion. The lack of campus security exacerbated female students’ vulnerability to violence on campus. Conclusion: Addressing the specific meanings expressed by Black African female students on campus can help to improve the effectiveness of campus-based health education interventions promoting safe sex, gender equality and student safety.

Teachers' experiences using networked technologies for teaching

At a given Maltese Higher Education complex there is increasing drive to encourage teaching academics to incorporate networked technologies in their teaching therefore expanding face-to-face campus-based education to blended and online provision. This paper reports on research findings of an explorative study investigating variation in academics' accounts of their experiences using networked technologies for teaching in this local context. Twenty-seven participating academics were purposively chosen from different faculties, institutes, centres and colleges. The sample was also balanced in terms of tenure, ranking, gender and age. Phenomenographic analysis of interview transcript data led to a configuration made up of 5 hierarchically inclusive categories describing the act of using networked technologies for teaching as: (i) Accumulating subject content for passing on to students for learning; (ii) Motivating and accommodating students to understand subject content in learning; (iii) Building a positive teacher-student rapport in extending students' learning; (iv) Modelling behaviour inspiring students to exploratory learning; (v) Fostering a community of learners participating and convening in dialogic learning. These categories of description are also configured as structurally threaded by three critical themes of expanding awareness including perceived affordances of networked technologies for teaching, human roles in teaching, and teaching pedagogic strategy. This phenomenographic description suggests a watershed between the third and fourth categories going from the incorporation of networked technologies in teaching activity for their auxiliary capacity for learning - teaching as transmission (of subject knowledge, of understanding, of empathy), to the incorporation of networked technologies as a seamless facet of teaching activity - teaching as participation (in exploratory learning, in dialogic learning). This description of variation in teachers' accounts of their experiencing using networked technologies for teaching confirms previous research but also adds new detail and insight. Besides, the resultant configuration projected as an emergent progression of expanding awareness is reckoned a means for positively inspiring network enhanced development of teaching practices. The thinking about variation in teachers' experiences as promoted by this research is potentially a means to encourage and facilitate the professional development of teaching academics steering away from pressure for change. Potentially it evokes a constructive outward view in the attempt to support best practices in HE teaching.

Community-Based Urban Teacher Education: Theoretical Frameworks and Practical Considerations for Developing Promising Practices

Traditional campus-based teacher education programs, located on college or university campuses, have been criticized for being removed from the “real world” of community life, and a number of programs have moved directly into urban communities in order for preservice teachers to become immersed in the life of the community. This article describes common theoretical frameworks and practical considerations for developing community-based urban teacher education programs and presents four programs that exemplify how community-based teacher education programs prepare future teachers to teach within the context of a community's cultural life. The article discusses theoretical frameworks of culturally relevant pedagogy, funds of knowledge, community cultural wealth, communities of practice, and the community teacher. It then raises several practical considerations that need to be addressed when preparing to initiate or reposition teacher education programs directly within the community: how much of the program should be located directly in the community, where should it be located, who should be the instructors, and who should participate in the decision-making process for the program. Finally, the four exemplary community-based programs presented exemplify how teacher education programs can prepare preservice teachers become community-embedded teachers.

One Policy, Disparate Reactions: Institutional Responses in Florida’s Developmental Education Reform

ABSTRACTThis paper seeks to better understand how community colleges in Florida planned to implement a new sweeping state policy pertaining to developmental education. Via a cluster analysis, we identify three distinct patterns in the ways in which the colleges responded to the policy: reformers, responders, and resisters. Further, we find that these patterns are related to the extent to which individual colleges had previously enacted campus-based developmental education reform measures, the magnitude of students previously enrolled in developmental education, and the colleges’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the policy.

HarvardX and MITx: The First Year of Open Online Courses, Fall 2012-Summer 2013

HarvardX and MITx are collaborative institutional efforts between Harvard University and MIT to enhance campus-based education, advance educational research, and increase access to online learning opportunities worldwide. Over the year from the fall of 2012 to the summer of 2013, HarvardX and MITx launched 17 courses on edX, a jointly founded platform for delivering massive open online courses (MOOCs). In that year, 43,196 registrants earned certificates of completion. Another 35,937 registrants explored half or more of course content without certification. An additional 469,702 registrants viewed less than half of the content. And 292,852 registrants never engaged with the online content. In total, there were 841,687 registrations from 597,692 unique users across the first year of HarvardX and MITx courses. This report is a joint effort by institutional units at Harvard and MIT to describe the registrant and course data provided by edX in the context of the diverse efforts and intentions of HarvardX and MITx instructor teams.

Internet-Based Real Time Language Education

Through the examination of the development of distance education for foreign languages, this article puts forward a theory on the emergence of a fourth generation of distance language education, challenging the generally accepted three-generation theory. It is argued that with the use of Internet-based real time technology distance language learning becomes synchronous for the first time and that the immersion of distance and campus-based education into a new education system is inevitable.

Student as producer and open educational resources: enhancing learning through digital scholarship

At the University of Lincoln, the student as producer agenda is seeking to disrupt consumer-based learning relationships by reinventing the undergraduate curriculum along the lines of research-engaged teaching. The open education movement, with its emphasis on creative commons and collaborative working practices, also disrupts traditional and formal campus-based education. This paper looks at the linkages between the Student as Producer project and the processes of embedding open educational practice at Lincoln. Both reinforce the need for digital scholarship and the prerequisite digital literacies that are essential for learning in a digital age.

Three generations of distance education pedagogy

This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy. Unlike earlier classifications of distance education based on the technology used, this analysis focuses on the pedagogy that defines the learning experiences encapsulated in the learning design. The three generations of cognitive-behaviourist, social constructivist, and connectivist pedagogy are examined, using the familiar community of inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) with its focus on social, cognitive, and teaching presences. Although this typology of pedagogies could also be usefully applied to campus-based education, the need for and practice of openness and explicitness in distance education content and process makes the work especially relevant to distance education designers, teachers, and developers. The article concludes that high-quality distance education exploits all three generations as determined by the learning content, context, and learning expectations.

Face-to-face versus online tutoring support in business studies courses distance education

Research has suggested that distance-learning students may rate their tuition less favourably when it is provided online rather than face-to-face. The experiences of students taking business studies courses by distance education were compared when tutorial support was provided conventionally (using limited face-to-face sessions with some contact by telephone and email) or online (using both computer-mediated conferencing and email). The Course Experience Questionnaire and the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory were administered in a postal survey to students taking one of three business studies courses with the Open University. The students who received online tuition rated their workload as more appropriate. Otherwise, there were no significant differences between the students who received faceto- face tuition and those who received online tuition, either in their perceptions of the academic quality of their courses or in the approaches to studying that they adopted. Provided that tutors and students receive appropriate training and support, course designers in business studies can be confident about introducing online forms of tutorial support in campus-based or distance education.

Teachers’ and Students’ Experiences of Simultaneous Teaching in an International Distance and On-Campus Master’s Programme in Engineering

Swedish universities frequently offer campus-based education as well as online courses, a system commonly referred to as dual mode. This paper analyses some challenging pedagogical aspects of a master’s programme in engineering developed and delivered simultaneously online and on campus. Course evaluations, questionnaires, and interviews with the programme teachers were the main instruments used in this study. Activity theory was used as a theoretical framework for data collection and analysis. The study evidences the nature of problems experienced by on-campus and distance students as well as conflicts of interest and expectations existing between these two student groups. Teaching simultaneously in two modes demands extra effort from the course teachers, who are aware of the problems related to pedagogical communication needed by both groups. Though teaching in the dual mode offers economic benefits for the department, the simultaneous mode of teaching is experienced as problematical by both groups of students, with distance students appearing to be more disadvantaged in the programme.