Freshman Course Research Articles

문화예술대학 신입생의 대학적응 및 진로탐색을 위한 교양 교과목 개발

The purpose of this study is to develop a liberal arts course for freshmen in College of Culture and Arts which facilitates their adaptation to college and promotes career awareness. The study was based on literature reviews and analysis of the existing career course for freshmen at other universities in Korea. In addition, learning objects was determined by subject analysis of current career-related programs and IPA Matrix analysis of survey response data from the first-year students. After we developed a 15-week lesson plan through the process of specification of performance goals, content structure, and evaluation tool design, we implemented it for new students in the spring semester of 2023. The result shows the effectiveness of the career course for freshmen evidenced by students’ positive adaptation to college, major satisfaction, self leadership, learning outcomes. Hence, we discussed the implications of improvement strategies for the new student career course from the teaching and learning perspective.

Exploration on the Ideological and Political Construction of the Introduction Course of Electronic Information Engineering

It is extremely important to cultivate talents with both political and moral integrity, highlighting the importance of ideological and political education in the course of talent training in universities. The course of professional introduction is the first professional basic course for freshmen, which has a great impact on students' four years of study, and the ideological and political construction of the course in the professional introduction has a very important role in shaping students' personality and three outlooks. This paper analyzes the construction planning, implementation and evaluation results of the ideological and political construction of the introduction course of electronic information engineering in Xi'an Polytechnic University, and expounds the highlights of the reform of the ideological and political construction of the introduction course of electronic information specialty through the data in the paper, with a view to providing reference for the relevant professional introduction courses in relevant universities.

Some Difficulties in Learning Speaking of English Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University, In Vietnam

“Some difficulties in learning speaking of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University” is performed to the purpose of this study help student recognize their problem in speaking English. The participants of this study are the English majored freshmen course 13 (2018-2022) from Bachelor of English class at Tay Do University. The instruments are used in this study are questionnaire and interview. The researcher will collect student’s’ information through questionnaire and paper interview question. The expected outcomes will show the difficulties in learning speaking of English-majored freshmen at Tay Do University.

Nonequilibrium Scattering/Evaporation Dynamics at the Gas-Liquid Interface: Wetted Wheels, Self-Assembled Monolayers, and Liquid Microjets.

ConspectusWe often teach or are taught in our freshman courses that there are three phases of matter─gas, liquid and solid─where the ordering reflects increasing complexity and strength of interaction between the molecular constituents. But arguably there is also a fascinating additional "phase" of matter associated with the microscopically thin interface (<10 molecules thick) between the gas and liquid, which is still poorly understood and yet plays a crucial role in fields ranging from chemistry of the marine boundary layer and atmospheric chemistry of aerosols to the passage of O2 and CO2 through alveolar sacs in our lungs. The work in this Account provides insights into three challenging new directions for the field, each embracing a rovibronically quantum-state-resolved perspective. Specifically, we exploit the powerful tools of chemical physics and laser spectroscopy to pose two fundamental questions. (i) At the microscopic level, do molecules in all internal quantum-states (e.g., vibrational, rotational, electronic) colliding with the interface "stick" with unit probability? (ii) Can reactive, scattering, and/or evaporating molecules at the gas-liquid interface avoid collisions with other species and thereby be observed in a truly "nascent" collision-free distribution of internal degrees of freedom? To help address these questions, we present studies in three different areas: (i) reactive scattering dynamics of F atoms with wetted-wheel gas-liquid interfaces, (ii) inelastic scattering of HCl from self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) via resonance-enhanced photoionization (REMPI)/velocity map imaging (VMI) methods, and (iii) quantum-state-resolved evaporation dynamics of NO at the gas-water interface. As a recurring theme, we find that molecular projectiles reactively, inelastically, or evaporatively scatter from the gas-liquid interface into internal quantum-state distributions substantially out of equilibrium with respect to the bulk liquid temperatures (TS). By detailed balance considerations, the data unambiguously indicate that even simple molecules exhibit rovibronic state dependences to how they "stick" to and eventually solvate into the gas-liquid interface. Such results serve to underscore the importance of quantum mechanics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics in energy transfer and chemical reactions at the gas-liquid interface. This nonequilibrium behavior may well make this rapidly emergent field of chemical dynamics at gas-liquid interfaces more complicated but even more interesting targets for further experimental/theoretical exploration.

プロジェクトデザイン教育における『なぜなぜ分析』理解向上のための反転授業の適用

Kanazawa Institute of Technology applies PBL to the backbone of its curriculum, and names it Project Design Program to grow up students into independently minded and actively engaged engineers. Through the Project Design courses for freshmen and sophomores, students construct teams and carry out problem-finding and problem-solving activities. To solve the problem, they need to find out the true cause of the problem. Therefore we have introduced “Five Whys” into the Project Design courses to find out it efficiently. And we have developed the “Five Whys Cardgame” to make it easier to understand the concept of “Five Whys”. Furthermore, we applied the flipped classroom to improve understanding of the concept of “Five Whys”.

A Comparison of the Predictability of Final Scores for Freshmen and Upper-Level Students in Blended Learning Courses

This study investigates final scores predictability based on students’ longitudinally reported motivation belief and the use of learning strategies in blended learning (BL) courses for freshmen and upper-level students. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire was administered three times to measure students’ motivation belief and use of learning strategies (N=314) and collected 850 viable surveys. Firstly, an investigation of the dynamics of the factors involved with students’ motivational belief and use of learning strategies was completed. It was found that freshmen students’ motivation dropped until the mid-term and it increased again as the course progressed towards the end, whereas, upper-level students’ motivation continued to drop throughout the course. In terms of the predictability of final scores, at construct level, stepwise regression chose motivation as predictors of freshmen’s final score and strategy used as a predictor for upper-level students. The paper also discusses the implications of the study related to self-regulation learning theory, learning analytics, and instructional design.

We Heard it When We Were Young by Chuy Renteria

Reviewed by: We Heard it When We Were Young by Chuy Renteria Jessica Tebo Chuy Renteria, We Heard it When We Were Young. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2021. 218 pp. $16.00 (paper). In his debut memoir, We Heard it When We Were Young (2021), Chuy Renteria refers to his writing process as "like walking a tightrope" (202). This sense of balance, which is a skill that he physiologically employs as a bboy (or break dancer), permeates the entire memoir as he skillfully navigates the fraught responsibilities of representation. Renteria's recounting of his childhood growing up as a first-generation Mexican American in West Liberty, the first majority-Hispanic town in Iowa, is simultaneously a critical look at small-town America and a deeply personal self-examination of the effects of internalized racism in his life and in the lives of his friends and family. Renteria's account deliberately complicates the puff pieces that celebrate West Liberty as a model of diversity in the Midwest: "These puff pieces are hard to reconcile to the climate and animosity we felt as kids. It's tough. We want to celebrate and our town is more than willing to do so" (60). For Renteria, who is concurrently concerned with the inadequacy of language, "diversity" becomes problematic when it is leveraged as a feelgood buzzword to hide underlying problems. While Renteria does not shy away from revealing the problems of West Liberty and his complicated childhood there, he also exercises great compassion for the community. His friends and family, though far from perfect, are never beyond redemption, but Renteria does not rush readers towards resolution—he forces his audience to sit and wrestle with the complicated legacy of West Liberty. We Heard It departs from the linear narrative structure of a traditional Bildungsroman. The memoir is divided into five parts (including the epilogue) that feel more like long essays than chapters. The first, "Welcome to West Liberty," not only introduces readers to the town but also (and more importantly) to Renteria's relationship with his father, which was complicated by language barriers and how he internalized the way "people treated our parents like they were beneath them" (28). "Part Two: Fistfights and Quinceañeras" addresses another difficult familial relationship: the physically violent struggle between Renteria and his older sister, Nancy. In this section, Renteria acknowledges the gendered differences between his childhood and his sister's. In "Part Three: Lessons in B-Boying," Renteria's voice is confident and hopeful as he describes his entry into the world of break-dancing. [End Page 113] By the end of the section, however, Renteria reminds readers that "life doesn't always follow the narratives you see in the movies or read in the books. It can be senseless and brutal" (178). The following section, "Part Four: What Bonds Us Together," expounds upon this statement as things almost completely fall apart for Renteria as he struggles with an eating disorder while witnessing his parents' marital struggles. Renteria's boyhood friendships are important to all four of these sections and provide a common thread for readers to follow throughout the memoir. The West Liberty that emerges from these four sections is less of a solid place and more of a network of relationships that allow Renteria to freely explore its tangled intersectionalities of race, gender, and class. His mapping of West Liberty imitates the erratic and impulsive wanderings of a group of adolescent boys on bikes fighting off boredom. The memoir is difficult to track at times, but Renteria's thematic approach also lends itself to a sense of universality that might work well in an advanced high school class or even a college literature course for freshmen. While We Heard It is certainly place-based, Renteria also discusses bullying, eating disorders, teen pregnancy, familial conflict, and alcoholism—issues that can cross cultural boundaries and that all ultimately lead back to the two questions that Renteria poignantly asks himself: Did I have a good childhood and am I a good person? Renteria does not decisively answer either of these questions. Instead, he reflects: I want to convey what it was like to be a little kid...

RESEARCH ON THE INNOVATION OF TEACHING MODE OF “FRESHMAN SEMINAR” IN APPLIED UNIVERSITIES UNDER THE CONCEPT OF OBE BASED ON THE CHANGE OF EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR -- TAKING PHYSICAL EDUCATION MAJOR OF NANCHANG NORMAL UNIVERSITY AS AN EXAMPLE

Abstract Background “Freshman seminar”, as the first important learning revolution course for freshmen, originated in American colleges and universities in the middle of last century. It was not until 2003 that some research universities in China gradually launched the “freshman seminar”, which has become one of the most popular courses for the group. The course was set up late in application-oriented undergraduate colleges, and the overall teaching staff, teaching content, teaching mode and teaching evaluation are still immature and still in the exploratory stage. In particular, the emotional changes of students are not clear enough. Research design Taking the “freshman seminar” of physical education major in Nanchang Normal University as an example, this paper investigates the current situation and confusion of physical education teachers and students in Nanchang Normal University in 2019, 2020 and 2021 by means of questionnaire and interview. A total of 268 valid questionnaires were obtained. There were 6 questionnaires for teachers and 262 questionnaires for students. In order to study the impact of emotional regulation on female employees' retirement decision-making, the study adopts the Core Self-evaluation Scale. The core self-evaluation is measured by the core sel evaluation scale (CSES) compiled by judge et al. The scale consists of 10 items and adopts Likert 5-point scoring method. 1 ~ 5 points represent “very inconsistent” to “very consistent”. Previous studies have shown that the scale has good cross-cultural applicability. The internal consistency of the Core Self-evaluation Scale in this study α The coefficient is 0.824. 1.2.3 the emotional regulation self-efficacy scale adopts the emotional regulation self-efficacy scale (REEs) compiled by Caprara. Domestic research shows that the scale has high reliability and validity and is suitable for Chinese people. The scale adopts lik ⁃ ERT 5-point scoring and includes three dimensions: adjusting positive emotional efficacy, adjusting depression / pain emotional efficacy and adjusting anger / anger emotional efficacy. Emotion regulation self-efficacy scale Research results The teaching form of the freshman seminar in the Department of physical education of Nanchang Normal University is still based on the traditional theoretical lectures of administrative courses, and there is a lack of effective teaching means and methods to guide students to actively discuss. Another factor leading to the poor effect of classroom discussion is the lack of communication between teachers and students before class and students' ignorance of learning objectives. Single evaluation methods and relatively backward teaching conditions also make students lack learning motivation. Research Conclusion Based on the national undergraduate curriculum construction standards, this paper creatively puts forward the “group progressive interaction” teaching mode of “freshman seminar“ by combining the OBE education concept with the effective education theory, and constructs a curriculum teaching system with the unity of temperature, height, breadth and effectiveness. “Freshman seminar” is a teaching system with temperature, height, breadth and effectiveness. It can not only effectively improve the teaching quality of the course, but also provide some references for the “freshman seminar” of different majors in the same university. We should fully understand the important position of group discussion in group emotional factors and actively improve the group's role psychological ability. We should pay special attention to its impact on life attitude and healthy behavior, and be a healthy self-manager, coordinator and collaborator. According to the psychological characteristics of these groups, we should actively and flexibly organize colorful activities, strive to create a relaxed and harmonious living atmosphere, create a friendly and mutually beneficial emotional artificial intelligence relationship, encourage and guide these groups, adjust their psychology to the best state, and promote the healthy development of their good cognition and life. Acknowledgements One of the research results of the teaching reform research project of Nanchang Normal University, “Research on the Course Mode Innovation of Applied University Undergraduate Seminar Based on OBE Theory”, project number JGKT-19-02.

The Effect of iMaker Instruction on Students’ Learning Outcome in Experiments on General Physics

第四代工業革命（工業4.0）的發展不僅引領了業界與學界的創新，也影響了人類的生活。本研究旨在開發普通物理實驗微電腦教學模組暨教材教具；再應用此一智慧創客教學於大一理工學院共同必修「普物實驗─力學」課程；並探討學生之學習成效。此課程以創意互動教學之優勢環境及互動教學模式為基礎，旨在營造創客實驗教學場域，並納入開放原始碼的單晶片微電腦模組，以建構普物實驗量測裝置，來激發及強化學生之自主學習與創客精神；同時培養邏輯運算與自動控制等程式設計能力，以達到學用合一之教學目標，進而提升未來就業競爭力。本研究兼採單組前後測及等組後測準實驗設計，實驗組採用智慧創客教學，對照組則採原有的創意互動教學。研究結果顯示，實驗組在教學後，對於「力學實驗設計概念與架設能力」及「程式設計概念與撰寫能力」皆顯著提升；而學生的「時間管理、訊息處理、專心、解決學習困難策略」與「程式設計概念與撰寫能力」及「期末測驗表現」有顯著正相關。因此，本研究能有效建置普物實驗力學課程之智慧創客教學模組，使學生迅速精準地驗證物理定律；同時提升教學相關器材費用之成本效益。學生訪談結果也顯示，學生在教學後已具備自行設計實驗之基礎能力。The development of the fourth generation of the industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) has led to innovations in the industry and academic world which affects human lives. The purposes of this study are to develop the iMaker Instruction, a microcomputer teaching module with materials, and explore students&amp;rsquo; learning effectiveness while applying iMaker Instruction in a compulsory general physics course for freshmen in both colleges of Science and Engineering. The iMaker Instruction is based on the Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) approach to interactive environments and incorporates Arduino open-source microcomputer modules for general physics mechanics (GPM). These tools are used to stimulate and strengthen students&amp;rsquo; self-directed learning and creativity, while also cultivating their abilities of logic operations and automatic control in programming so that they can put their learning to use and enhance their employability in the future. This study adopts a quasi-experimental method for both one-group and equivalent-group pretest-posttest design. The iMaker Instruction was implemented in the experimental group, and the control group applied the TEAL model. The results indicate that students in the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group in their conceptual capabilities for mechanics experimental design and set-up, and also for programming design and development. In addition, the extent of students&amp;rsquo; time management, ability to focus on the course, and strategies for solving learning problems were positively correlated with their performance on the final exam. Thus, the iMaker instruction and materials with Arduino for experiments on GPM is found to be effective to assist students quickly and accurately verify the laws of physics. Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of the experiment equipment in this course was highly improved. Results of student interviews also indicate that the iMaker Instruction enables them to feel more confident in designing experiments in general physics.

A needs analysis to develop new curriculum for Korean college students in higher education

Language teachers and instructors should always consider how to successfully develop new curricula. A medium-sized university in Korea launched a new liberal arts course for freshmen. A language instructor conducted a need analysis to understand the needs of college students to develop a new curriculum of the assigned course. The purpose of this study is to examine the needs of Korean university students who learn English to develop new curriculum and instruction reflecting learner needs accordingly. Data were collected through interviews and survey questionnaires. The qualitative data of the interview went through a thematic analysis process, and the quantitative data of the survey were analysed through statistical tests. As a result, various perspectives of students were revealed. First, this study showed that competency-based language instruction is essential for learners’ language development. Second, skill integration was needed to improve language skills. Third, the students expected constructive feedback from the instructor on their English grammar and vocabulary use. This study presents the significance of performing needs analysis and suggests that language teachers should consider it for their professional development and growth in higher education.

Analyzing ELIT200 Critical Reading And Writing Course: How Is Critical Thinking Developed And Applied Through Critical Reading And Writing?

We believe that our required university course ELIT200 Critical Reading and Writing, which is taught and presented in English – the official language of IUS, helps to develop our students’ critical thinking/reading/writing skills which seem to be underdeveloped due to their previous education experiences at the primary and secondary level. This is a freshman course thus the techniques used are supposed to develop their skills and enable them to critically and analytically examine all audio-visual-reading materials that they come across during their university studies. Furthermore, upon completing our university course, they are equipped to write proper argumentative essays as well as engage in academic debates and discussions on current topics most of which are quite controversial (discrimination, the impacts of social media, artificial intelligence, to name a few). The assessment is also organized and planned in a way that it supports and evaluates the improvement of their critical thinking skills (reading assignments, video assignments, writing an argumentative essay, preparing a speech/presentation as well as summative assessment components such as one mid-term exam and one final exam).

プロジェクトデザイン教育における『なぜなぜ分析カードゲーム』の適用事例の紹介

Kanazawa Institute of Technology applies PBL to the backbone of its curriculum, and names it Project Design Program to grow up students into independently minded and actively engaged engineers. Through the Project Design courses for freshmen and sophomores, students construct teams and carry out problem-finding and problem-solving activities. To solve their problem, they need to find out the true cause of the problem. Therefore we have introduced “Five Whys” into the Project Design courses to find out about it efficiently. Furthermore, we developed “Five Whys Cardgame” to make it easier to understand the concept of “Five Whys” . And we introduce application cases of “Five Whys Cardgame” for the Project Design course for freshmen.

Effectiveness of the mental health education courses for freshmen in Jiangsu colleges

Objective To understand the overall mental health status of freshmen in colleges and universities in Jiangsu Province, to investigate the effectiveness of mental health courses in improving the mental health of freshmen, so as to provide a reference for improving the mental health of freshmen. Methods A total of 3 358 freshmen from a university in Jiangsu were selected from March to April 2019, mental health courses were held once (2 class hours each time) a week for 8 consecutive weeks, 16 class hours in total (8 class hours of classroom teaching, and 8 class hours of experiential teaching). All the participants were used the Chinese College Students Mental Health Scale to conduct a questionnaire survey followed up before, during and after the implementation of mental health courses. Results A total of 186 students with serious psychological problems were screened before the course, accounting for 5.54% of the total number, 310 students with general psychological problems, accounting for 9.23% of the total number, and 579 students with potential psychological distress, accounting for the total number 17.23% of the total number of people, 2 283 students without psychological distress, accounting for 67.99% of the total number. In the early, middle and late periods of the course, psychological problems showed a downward trend, and the main effect of time was significant (all P<0.01). After the implementation of the mental health course, the detection rate of serious psychological problems (3.84%, 129/3 358) was significantly lower than before the course (5.54%, 186/3 358) (χ 2 = 10.82, P<0.01). In the early, middle and late periods of the course, the development trajectory of freshmen’s psychological problems was divided into two types, namely “first ascending and then descending” (26%) and “slowly descending” (74%). Conclusion The mental health curriculum shows a positive effect on improving the mental health of freshmen. Colleges and universities should pay attention to the construction of mental health curriculum to fully guarantee the quality of the curriculum. 【摘要】 目的 了解江苏省高校新生心理健康状况, 考察心理健康课程对提升大一新生心理健康水平的效果, 为提高大 一新生心理健康水平提供参考。 方法 2019 年 3—4 月选取江苏某高校 3 358 名大一新生开展心理健康课程, 每周 1 次 (每次 2 个学时), 连续 8 周, 共 16 个学时 (8 个学时课堂讲授, 8 个学时体验式教学)。采用中国大学生心理健康筛査量 表, 在心理健康课程的前、中、后 3 个时间段进行 3 次问卷调査。 结果 课程前, 共筛査出严重心理问题者 186 人, 占总人 数的 5.54%; —般心理问题 310 人, 占总人数的 9.23%; 潜在心理困扰 579 人, 占总人数的 17.23%; 无心理困扰 2 283 人, 占 总人数的 67.99%。在课程的前、中、后 3 个时间段, 心理问题呈现下降趋势, 时间主效应有统计学意义 ( P 值均<0.01)。实 施心理健康课程后, 严重心理问题的检出率 (3.84%, 129/3 358) 低于课程前 (5.54%, 186/3 358) (χ 2 = 10.82, P<0.01)。3 个 时间段, 新生心理问题的发展轨迹分为 2 个类型, 分别是“先升后降型” (26 %)和“缓慢下降型” (74 %)。 结论 心理健康 课程对提高大一新生心理健康水平有积极作用, 高校应重视心理健康课程建设, 全面保障课程质量。

Academic Literacy for Deaf Postsecondary Students through Integrated Reading and Writing Instruction

Based on theoretical findings from the literature on the integration of reading and writing pedagogies used with hearing postsecondary students to advance academic literacy, this article offers a model of instruction for achieving academic literacy in developmental and freshman composition courses composed of deaf students. Academic literacy is viewed as the product of acts of composing in reading and writing which best transpire through reciprocal rather than separate reading and writing activities. Pedagogical practices based on theoretical findings and teacher experience are presented as a model of instruction, exemplified as artifacts in online supplementary materials and juxtaposed with practices used with hearing students. Differences between the practices are seen in accommodations for students who learn visually, the amount of guidance provided and more opportunities for extensive practice.

Covidaze Juggle: Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (TAs) with a Large Online Freshmen Course

As undergraduate students in a Health Sciences Program we were selected as teaching assistants (TAs) in a freshman introductory Cellular and Molecular Biology course that we had all taken in a standard format. The course was tightly focused on cell communication (Adv Physiol Educ 36: 13–19, 2012, Biochem Mol Biol Educ. 2013 May-Jun;41(3):145-55). The new version was offered synchronously on-line to 273 students who were in different time zones (within Canada and abroad, Africa, Asia). Didactic sessions (both flipped/non-flipped) were followed by TA sessions (60-90 mins.) designed to help students consolidate content and prepare them for active assessments used (The FASEB Journal, 31: 575.2-575.2.). Each tutorial Group had on the average, twenty students. For the tutorials, we met them in virtual break-out rooms where we had considerable flexibility to organize our sessions. Larger groups were reconvened to meet the instructors either on the same day or on a separate session. These sessions served to further consolidate their learning. In addition, we had the options of organizing office hours on our own to deal with our students. We were taking several of our own on-line courses in parallel. These dual obligations as teachers in one course and learners for several others posed many challenges. As teachers, we had to foster engagement, promote interactions, gauge comprehension, maintain enthusiasm, identify individual learning needs despite lack of verbal, non-verbal cues as many students remained both silent and invisible and also deal with technical glitches. To prepare for our own courses we faced similar technical issues, maintained enthusiasm, battled online fatigue, engaged with our Professors and TAs, dealt with conflicting schedules, found resources, remained flexible, and stayed focused as the lack of a distinct campus environment blurred boundaries between home and academia. We adapted rapidly to cope with these concurrent contrary demands.

Assignment Design and its Effects on Japanese College Freshmen’s Motivation in L2 Emergency Online Courses: A Qualitative Study

Unlike conventional distance learning, the COVID-19-induced emergency online learning environment has resulted in students experiencing prolonged social isolation and anxiety, thereby creating additional barriers to their motivation to learn. Studying under these conditions influences students’ motivation to complete and turn in course-related assignments, especially newly enrolled students taking the English reading online courses as second language learners (L2). The aim of this qualitative study is to examine various factors influencing Japanese college freshmen’s (n = 80) motivation when completing graded online assignments as part of asynchronous English reading courses held during the COVID-19 pandemic. The post-course survey of students from three separate classes was used to capture a detailed panorama of learner motivation. Results from an inductive content analysis of responses indicated that higher levels of motivation were strongly associated with assignments that facilitated learner autonomy, social interaction, personal interest, and practical utility of the task. Conversely, decreased motivation appears to be strongly associated with assignments reinforcing the perception of high difficulty, personal inefficacy, and cognitive overload. These findings are consistent with studies examining online learners’ motivation in the pre-pandemic period. This study found that intrinsic motivation plays an explicit role in enhancing learners’ engagement with instructional materials. Researchers recommend that, especially during emergencies such as a pandemic or major crisis, teachers should deliberately and extensively employ strategies to enhance the motivational appeal of instructional materials and assignments. When designing online assignments for freshman courses, special attention must be paid to psychological (autonomy, utility, relevance), cognitive (information overload), social (relatedness, interaction), and environmental (an emergency, uncertainty, isolation) conditions of learning.

A virtual reality experiment system for an introductory computer hardware course

AbstractThe University Computer Foundation (UCF) course, which is a compulsory theoretical course for freshmen, especially science and engineering department students, lays the foundation for more advanced courses. However, the UCF course covers a wide variety of concepts, including the computer hardware, which are difficult for freshmen to comprehend. In recent years, virtual reality (VR) has become prevalent in many educational settings. To improve the teaching of the UCF course, we developed a VR program about introductory computer hardware and invited freshmen from two universities in China to take part in the experiment as participants. Four aspects of computer contents, namely the evolutionary history of computers, the computer components, the computer assembly, and the workflow of computer hardware, are displayed in the program. During the experiment, students' behavioral data were recorded. Then, the data were analyzed and the reasons were speculated for the differences among groups of various categories. From the experiment, the relationships between the students' behavior and their groups were found, and we demonstrated that our VR program is effective at attracting the students' curiosity and increasing their understanding of computer hardware in the UCF course. The study concludes with suggestions for practitioners and researchers in the field of VR for university education.

Rethinking the High School Biology Curriculum

Rethinking the High School Biology Curriculum

Teaching Candidates to Assess Student Learning: A COVID Collaboration with Arts and Sciences Faculty

In the fall of 2020, due to COVID, our candidates did not have access to student work samples early in the semester. In order to learn how to assess student learning I reached out to an Arts and Sciences faculty who teaches a freshman course. The Arts and Science faculty was a former middle school teacher who was scheduled to talk about the teaching of writing in our methods class. We decided to add using work samples from her current students to provide an assessment experience. This exercise allowed candidates to create a one-point rubric, analyze student work, give feedback, examine patterns of learning for the whole class, as well as give suggestions for each student based on their work. The practice prepared them for their own fall teaching assignment and all were able to analyze their students' works successfully.

SOME COMMON DIFFICULTIES IN LISTENING OF ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

The aim of the research “Some common difficulties in listening of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University" is to figure out some major factors causing difficulties for students in listening to English. The research is carried out within 12 weeks. Participants of this study are 100 English majored freshmen course 13, chosen randomly (including students in class 13A, 13B, and 13C) at Tay Do University. During the research time, participants are given questionnaires and paper interviews to show their ideas. The questionnaire and paper interview are two main instruments of this study, which are used to gather information about students' problems facing in listening. As a result, the research through the expected outcome will show some difficulties in listening of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University that related to linguistics like vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, accents and intonation, and background knowledge and unfamiliar topics, psychological obstacle, and the length and speed rate of speech. &#x0D; &#x0D; &lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Article visualizations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0790/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;