Distance Students Research Articles

Teaching in Library and Information Studies: Creating videos to provide educational content

COVID-19 has forced several changes in the teaching of Library and Information Studies. In this article we explain our experience in creating and publishing videos as educational content at the University of Barcelona. Students having to learn by distance teaching have different needs in regard to the provision of educational materials. Similarly, professors need to give the best possible experience to distance students when face-to-face courses are not possible. This leads to the question of the roles that information literacy and digital literacy play, especially for professors.

The pros and cons of teaching soil fertility live versus online

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020 has changed the way higher education delivers materials to students. The purpose of this study is to compare the pros and cons of teaching Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition (Soils 446), a class with a history of being taught live and online, from both the live and online perspectives. For our comparison, the following data was gathered: (a) history of when and how the class was offered, (b) content of Soils 446, (c) assessment of student achievement, (d) student evaluations of the course conducted by the University of Idaho, and (e) a post‐class survey of online students. Reasons for live classroom teaching being superior include: (a) classroom interaction with the instructor and other students, (b) allowing students to ask questions of the instructor during the lecture, right after class or on a face‐to‐face basis during designated office hours, and (c) the availability of local library resources and other staff to help with questions and projects. Reasons for online teaching being superior include: (a) distance students can take this class, (b) the online course may offer better time management for distance students, and (c) email, bblearn, ZOOM, and SKYPE are tools that allow frequent contact between the student and instructor. Motivated students were successful in both approaches. For less or unmotivated students both delivery methods are equally mediocre.

Preparing teachers for the use of digital technologies in educational activities

Digital technologies have a strong impact on changes in the educational environment and activities. In the context of such changes, aggravated by the spread of coronavirus infection and the transition of schools to distance learning, teachers and students are facing the need to actively master digital tools and educational platforms. The authors aim at analyzing the professional gaps of teachers associated with digital literacy and the ability to effectively use digital technologies in educational activities. The conducted sociological research and the results obtained allow the authors to study the existing internal teachers’ gaps and show the main problems in the organization of educational activities in the context of the transition to distance learning and the existing gaps in the use of digital technologies by school teachers. Based on the results of the study, the authors have identified the key areas of the professional development of teachers. They have developed educational programs aimed at skill development and further training of teachers in the Russian Federation and foreign countries on such topics as the digital educational environment and the use of open educational resources, methods of using digital technologies in the organization of educational activities, methods and techniques of organization feedback, pedagogical communication in the digital environment, and information security and ethics in the digital environment. The authors have determined the conditions for the professional development of teachers in the process of skill development and further training, as well as self-education (including spontaneous training in the workplace).The authors believe that the increase in teachers’ digital literacy, based on filling their professional gaps, will help to improve the quality of general education and create conditions for the elimination of the digital divide of the population.

Learning by Doing: SMART CLASSROOMS AND e-LEARNING

This paper is about the much growing technology “SMART CLASSROOMS and e-LEARNING”. The Smart Classroom project explores the challenges and potentials of the Intelligent Environment as a new human-computer interaction paradigm. The Smart Classroom could actively observe, listen and serve the teachers, and teachers can write on a wall-size media-board just by their hands, or use speeches and gestures to conduct the class discussion involving of the distant students. This paper discusses the advantages, disadvantages and main uses of the system.

Organized Online Learning of Students in Universities and Schools: Didactics and Methodology

This article discusses the urgent aspects of online learning didactics. They are comprised of, for instance, organization and methods of organized learning, main principles of actions aimed at practical orientation; their objective is combination of the methods of distance learning, formation of efficient skills of students with social mediation, analysis of reasons of errors and their correction, pursuance of success in relevant areas. Organized online learning also provides opportunity for students to use all advantages of digital technologies: flexibility, individual distribution of learning duration, compatibility with other forms of occupation. In addition to digital know-how, organization of learning and independent work of distant students can develop self-discipline, sustainability of acquired skills. Students can use various digital sources of information available under various conditions in addition to that organized under the management of distance learning teacher.

An Insight into Online Foreign Language Learning and Teaching in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed and transformed the traditional educational setting. Both teaching and learning have been transformed to online settings at all educational levels. The purpose of this article is to discuss students’ perception of and attitudes to online foreign language learning in the COVID-19 pandemic at the Faculty of Informatics and Management of the University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. The key method was a questionnaire survey, which was conducted among the third-year distant students. The results, based on five constructs/variables, i.e. language skills, learning materials, students’ motivation to study online, preparedness for online teaching and learning, and effectiveness of foreign online teaching, reveal that students do not feel that they have improved their language skills by studying purely online. The results also demonstrate students’ preference for printed materials because they are more suitable for taking notes and retaining new words and phrases, especially when students can highlight them. In addition, the findings confirm that both teachers and students are well prepared for performing their online instruction. Although students feel motivated to study online, these students experience social distance as those who are not stimulated to learn online. Moreover, the results confirm that students consider the online language classes effective, but face-to-face classes cannot be replaced. In this respect teacher’s role is irreplaceable. Therefore, educational institutions should invest in supporting them technically, mentally, as well as financially, in this difficult period in order to ensure and provide quality teaching for future generations.

Conveying Positive Regard in Distance Courses: An Exploratory Study

The present study operationalizes perceived positive regard in the form of a practical measure that can be applied in distance delivery settings. We collected data by surveying distance students at our university. The questions pertained to the quality of learning and the positive regard of the instructor as perceived by the students. Analytical methods included principal components analysis (PCA) to confirm that each group of questions was measuring a common construct, and correlation (Pearson’s r) of the constructs. We found that the effect measure was valid and that it was positively correlated with student learning outcomes.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Evaluation of Teaching and Learning of Core Courses in Regular and Distance Education Programmes in Ghanaian Colleges of Education

Almost all pre-service teachers from Colleges of Education in Ghana, whether from the regular or distance mode, teach in the basic schools. This research employed survey to examine pre-service teachers’ evaluation of teaching (ET) on teaching and learning in the regular and distance modes of teacher education in Ghana. The analytical cross-sectional survey design was adopted for the study. Four hundred and fifty-five (455) pre-service teachers of Accra College of Education and the College of Distance Education at Papafio Hills, both of University of Cape Coast were used as the sample for the survey. Questionnaire of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α) of 0.81 was used to solicit views regarding students’ evaluation of teaching and learning. Frequency and percentages were used to describe the data. They have the belief that tutors are competent in subject matter knowledge, pedagogy and assessment. Empirically, tutors’ knowledge of subject matter was rated ‘good’ by majority of distance (89.57%) and regular (51.17%) students. Organization of lessons by the college tutors was also judged as good by majority of the distance (73.07%) and regular (61.67%) students. Teacher assessment by college tutors was rated “good” and constructive by majority (66.0%) of the distance students, and a few regular students (36.8%). Similarly, pre-service teachers in the two colleges have positive self-efficacy in learning. Evidence from the study shows that, majority of the male (64.56%) and female (53.25%) students in the distance mode as well as female students in the regular mode (52.25%) did not find it stressful using mathematics and science textbooks to work on homework, except a few male students (48.41%) in the regular mode. Pre-service teachers have the belief that College of Education tutors in Ghana are competent in subject matter knowledge and pedagogy to teach in both regular and distance education programmes. Pre-service teachers in Ghanaian College of Education have self-efficacy in learning core courses in regular and distance education programmes. This study concludes that distance education programmes are equally effective and efficient means of education and training of pre-service teachers in Ghana just as the regular or traditional mode of teacher education and training. It is therefore recommended that, policy makers including the Ministry of Education and the National Council on Tertiary Education in liaison with Ghanaian universities should give similar attention to distance education just as it is done to the regular pre-service teacher education programmes in Ghanaian colleges of education.

Activation of a student’s individual educational activity in a foreign language in conditions of distance learning

The relevance of this article is determined by the general interest into modern distance technologies in higher education and the need to develop distance education in foreign languages for adult students. Distance learning is closely related to the individual independent educational activities of the student. This article aims to analyze how active techniques can be integrated and effectively used in the individual educational activities of a distant university student. The article presents some possible methods of enhancing the individual educational activities of students who study in a university system applying distance technologies such as participation in online discussions, expert opinions, intellect-maps and reflection, which allows students to effectively learn a foreign language and to develop professional and intercultural-communicative competencies. The didactic possibilities of activating the individual educational activities of students are considered, examples from the practice of e-learning using the distance educational technologies (DET) are given. The practical significance of the article lies in the idea of using active techniques in preparing classes in a foreign language for distance students studying mainly individually.

Порівняльний аналіз впливу традиційного і дистанційного типів навчання за підсумками дисципліни «Внутрішня медицина» у студентів випускного курсу

The introduction of distance learning was the feature of teaching students during the last third of 2019-2020 academic year in the conditions of quarantine measures for SARS-COV-2. Partly traditional and partly distance learning fragmentariness of this academic year of different students’ groups allows substantiating the possibility and necessity of the comparative assessment and comparison of the results of these teaching approaches. The purpose of the study was to assess the features of the influence of traditional education and distance learning on the graduate students’ performance in “Internal Medicine” based on the results of the state exam. Materials and methods. The study of the results of the final exam of the 6th year students of the Medical University of the IV level of accreditation was carried out. The examination for distance students was held using “Standardized patient” model which was in the form of the situational task based on a real clinical case with laboratory instrumental data in the subdisciplines of Internal Medicine (“cardiology”, “pulmonology”, “gastroenterology”, “endocrinology”, “nephrology”, “rheumatology”, “hematology”). We identified 2 main groups for the comparative analysis. Group I consisted of 110 students who studied during the autumn and early spring terms in the context of traditional education with practical training of full value. Group II included 55 students who were taught in the form of distance learning using such educational platform and resources as Google Classroom, Google Meet during the spring term. Statistical processing of obtained results was carried out using the Statistica-Stat-Soft, USA and Microsoft Excel software package. Results and discussion. The analysis revealed the small differences in the levels of current academic performance in the subject of Internal Medicine in the context of distance learning in relation to the traditional one. When comparing the results of the two training forms we noted prevailing results of qualitative progress with the most pronounced differences in the subdisciplines “cardiology”, “gastroenterology”, in Group 1 and they reliably depended on the academic ranking in the discipline. The nature of the decline in the levels of general and high-quality academic performance based on the exam results with the most pronounced differences in the subdisciplines “rheumatology” and “gastroenterology” did not correlate with the academic ranking indicators of the current training in Group 2. When analyzing the structure of standardized exam questions, the highest efficiency of the answers was demonstrated basing on the skills of “Diagnosis of the leading syndrome”, and “Determination of a preliminary clinical diagnosis”, “Determination of the plan of examination, prognosis and prevention” in the general discipline and, especially, in such subdisciplines as “cardiology”, “gastroenterology”, “nephrology” in both groups, and, with Group 1 predominating. The lowest rates of the answers of Group 2 were recorded for the skills “Treatment, management tactics”, “Evaluation of laboratory and instrumental methods of examination” in the discipline in general and to a greater extent in the subdisciplines “gastroenterology”, “endocrinology”, “rheumatology”. Conclusion. The study showed a negative tendency of the peculiarities of the influence of the distance learning form on the current and final academic performance in the absence of the possibility of mastering theoretical material during direct work with the patient. The use of distance learning is possible as an addition to the traditional one in the blended learning and is promising in the implementation of high-tech informative methods to improve the quality of self-preparation of students for classroom studies

Supporting Students at a Distance

This paper looks at the experience of Union School of Theology, and specifically the library service in supporting distance students studying at undergraduate, post graduate and research level. Consideration is given to the challenges of resource provision, copyright and information literacy. The case study explores solutions developed through practice and experience, notes the benefits of structures and technologies that engage the students, and considers lessons learned from the particular model adopted. The conclusion emphasises the necessity of equivalence of student experience whether on, or off campus. Emphasis is placed on the role of librarians and teaching faculty in theological institutions as partners in the development and equipping of students as life-long learners.

Determinants of Social Entrepreneur Intention and Behavior among Online Distance Learning Students in Malaysia

This study is aiming to evaluate of attitude, self-efficacy, social norms and perceived behavioral control on intention and direct effect of intention on behavior to become social entrepreneur among students in online distance learning (ODL) higher institutions in Malaysia. This study adopted Partial Least Square (PLS) procedure on data collected from a survey that yielded 227 usable questionnaires. To evaluate the casual relationships among attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control, intention and behavior, the Structural Equation Model (SEM) technique was utilized. The statistical results confirmed that attitude, social norms and perceived behavioral control have a positive and significant influence on intention and intention has a positive and significant influence on behavior among students in Malaysian ODL higher institutions. The findings suggest that ODL institutions should give greater emphasis on strengthening attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention to ensure their ODL students have strong behavior to become online entrepreneur. The study thus offered new insights into the relationship attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control, intention and behavior this relationship for students in online distance learning social entrepreneurial intention.

Provision and Awareness of Digital Library Resources in a Multi-Mode University: Perspectives of Distance Learners and Librarians.

The purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which digital library provision affects awareness and use of digital contents, digital reference services, and information literacy among stakeholders in distance education at a large multi-mode public teacher education university in Ghana. The study makes use of the concurrent mixed-method design. The population of the study was 1,834 distance students with a sample size of 641 distance learners reading programmes in Basic Education in three distance education Centres of the University of Education, Winneba namely Winneba (247), Kumasi (276) and Asante-Mampong (118). A total of 453 (70.67 percent) distance learners, selected randomly, completed a 31-item questionnaire. Also, the population consisted of four librarians from three Campuses in the vicinity of the Centres. A combination of probability and non-probability sampling methods were used for this study. The study found that awareness and use of digital library resources in the three distance education Centres were very low, if not non-existent. The findings revealed that for all the three main classes of digital library resources and services; digital contents, digital reference services and educative services, provision was very poor or non-existent for the distance learning community. This negatively impacted awareness and use of these resources. Among others, the study recommends a regular collaborative needs assessment of distance learners; establishment of dedicated library services for distance education; and the development of embedded library services which can appreciably raise the visibility of digital library resources in distance education. Keywords: Digital library provision; distance learning community; awareness; multi-mode; academic libraries in Ghana.

Effects of Blackboard Resources Utilization on Students’ Performance in Molecular Biology Course

Abstract Introduction/Objective Molecular diagnostics utilizes structural and functional fundamentals of molecular biology and finds its scope in clinical education for disease diagnosis and monitoring, and evaluation of non-disease status. Time and financial constraints make molecular biology education challenging for both teachers and students. Advances in information technologies have helped teachers to provide a rich resource to students which if properly utilized is expected to generate better teaching-learning outcomes. However, the pattern of utilization of digital resources by students and its impact on their performance is still unknown. The aim of this study was to assess students’ behavior to Blackboard resource utilization and its impact on their performance in molecular biology course. Methods We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study including all the 46 students (9 graduate and 37 undergraduate students; 14 distant and 32 regular students) enrolled for molecular biology course in the year 2017 and assessed the associations between blackboard resource visits and students’ final weighted total grades. Blackboard resource visit variables included “Tegrity” viewing duration, viewing times, and contents viewed (“My Grades”, “Announcement”, “Discussion”, “Contacts”, “Content Item”). Results Among all students, the most and least visited contents were “Content Item” (261 average hits) and “Contacts” (1.28 average hits), respectively with similar patterns of the visit among all student sub-categories. The longest average Tegrity viewing duration (25 hours) and the highest average Tegrity viewing times (56 hits) were noted among undergraduate distance students. The average grade was higher among graduate students than undergraduate students. The overall blackboard resource visit and the individual category visit among graduate and undergraduate students had no association with students’ final weighted scores. Conclusion Our findings have important implications for the utility of blackboard resources among graduate and undergraduate clinical laboratory science students. Similar assessments including students from many different years are recommended to generate more accurate evidence.

Supporting preceptors of distance nurse practitioner students

Preceptors play an important role in facilitating clinical competency development of nursing students. Support of preceptors is essential to ensure optimal student learning as well as preceptor satisfaction, recruitment and retention. Distance education programs face a unique barrier in supporting preceptors due to lack of physical proximity to preceptors and students. This quality improvement initiative explored current supports available to preceptors of students in distance nurse practitioner programs and the importance preceptors place on these supports. Findings revealed individual, institutional and external factors must be jointly considered to optimally support preceptorship. The study provides a Canadian perspective to a growing body of global research on nurse practitioner student preceptorship, contributing to development of best practices for supporting preceptors and students in distance health education programs.

“Can you come tell people to be quiet?”: Analyzing chat questions from on-campus and off-campus patrons

Chat reference is popular with both on and off campus users as well as distance students. This article presents the results of a chat transcript analysis project that used fall semester 2019 transcripts to compare question types and disconnect issues for on campus, off campus, and distance students.

Online Learning in Higher Education during COVID-19 Pandemic: A case of Ghana

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major concern across the globe affecting nation’s socio-economic development including education. It has pushes many HEIs in world to move into remote learning as a substitute of in-person instruction. The study explored students’ response to online learning in higher education in Ghana. The study was guided by three research questions. Descriptive survey design was adopted and online questionnaire was used to gather data from 467 students in a higher education of Ghana. The data was analysed using frequency and percentage. Overall, the study found that students had positive response to online learning. They knew of online learning and some of the platforms like UCC Moodle platform, Alison and Google classroom. They would also like to use other social media platforms. They would use smart phone and laptop for the online learning. However, they had negative response to the online learning (not ready/prepared) because they lacked formal orientation and training, perceived lack of constant access to internet connectivity and financial unpreparedness. Management of the university should provide resources to help students assess whether they are ready to take an online course and offer suggestions for preparation. Since internet accessibility is expensive in Ghana at the moment, management of the university should hold negotiations with Cellular operators for educational discount for distance students. Academic staff should provide instructional support through instructional activities that can help students in appraising their readiness, gaining the needed skills to learn online and consider using flexible approaches to teaching and deadlines to accommodate students with constraints or lack reliable Wi-Fi or broadband access

Exploring Socialization Process, Peacebuilding and Value Conflict of Distance Education Students at International Islamic University Islamabad

Socializing is an interactive communication process that involves both individual development and personal effects, i.e. personal reception and interpretation of all social messages, but also the dynamics and content of social influences. Distance Education is a mode of education in which there is a distance between and. Due to distance, several value conflicts occur in the learners. These value conflicts can be reduced through a Socialization process. The Socialization Process and value conflicts are always side by side. Socialization is the skill of students to recognize with society, connect decisively in a trusting situation, as well as make inter-personal interactions by way of caring for their characters. Conflicts of the character can be condensed through education and it is a social activity. Therefore, the core aim of this investigation was to explore the socialization process and value conflict of distance students at International Islamic University, Islamabad. It was quantitative and survey type investigation. The population of the study was contained of Students B.Ed., M.Ed., and MA Education in semester autumn 2018. So, 190 students were randomly selected. A Questionnaire was used as a research instrument. Data were analyzed through SPSS (Version 20), and data were represented in the form of tables. It was founded that the Socialization process is a key factor of human nature, leads to the Status quo in the community as well as plays a main role in preparing students character. It develops a positive attitude in distance learners, cultural traditions in individuals and produces good individuals for national development. The socialization process establishes proper linkage among the acquisition of knowledge, attitude, values, and behavior. Major recommendations of the study were: conflicts may be minimized by providing more Islamic ethical values in the syllabus/curriculum. And number of study centers may be increased so that learners may get maximum chances of face to face/seminar/workshop.

THE IMPLEMENTATION EXPERIENCE OF STUDENTS MOBILE TRAINING IN THE FUNDAMENTALS OF LEADERSHIP AS A RESOURCE-ORIENTED FORM

In the article, the authors consider mobile learning as a form of resource-based learning of university students in the study of professionally-oriented disciplines. The advantages of mobile learning are revealed: using the latest technology in training; using lightweight, compact, portable devices in training; delivering blended, resource-oriented learning; providing a quality support for training in any format; teaching students with special needs; reducing the costs of educational support; using the new ways of educational content developing; providing the continuous targeted support for the educational process; creating a fun, exciting and comfortable learning experience. The conditions necessary for organization of mobile education in the educational environment of a modern university are described: availability of mobile devices for students and teachers; access to developed electronic educational resources (electronic textbooks and manuals, educational websites, distance learning courses); organization of feedback between the teacher and the student. On the example of the discipline "Fundamentals of Leadership" at the University of Ukoopspilks "Poltava University of Economics and Trade" (PUET), Ukraine, the authors propose ways of organizing mobile learning for distance students. The developed distance course (via distance learning platform Moodle) and the electronic manual on "Fundamentals of Leadership" for mobile devices (program Dr.Explain) are offered. The opportunities and benefits of Dr.Explain program, which allows you to create e-learning manuals for mobile learning, are demonstrated. The article states that Dr.Explain is a convenient and effective tool / aid for developing a variety of electronic educational resources, ranging from electronic lectures and manuals to complete electronic courseware package and educational Internet resources. The authors emphasize that for mobile learning, it is necessary to create electronic teaching aids in the formats supported by mobile devices.

Review of Student-Built Spectroscopy Instrumentation Projects

One challenge of teaching chemical analysis is the proliferation of sophisticated, but often impenetrable, instrumentation in the modern laboratory. Complex instruments, and the software that runs them, distance students from the physical and chemical processes that generate the analytical signal. A solution to this challenge is the introduction of a student-driven instrument-building project. Visible absorbance spectroscopy is well-suited to such a project due to its relative simplicity and the ubiquity of absorbance measurements. This Article reviews simple instructor- and student-built instruments for spectroscopy, providing an overview of common designs, components, and applications. This comprehensive summary includes options that are suitable for in-person or remote learning with K–12 students and undergraduates in general chemistry, analytical chemistry, instrumental analysis, and electronics courses.