Large Groups Of Students Research Articles

Automated Assessment and Microlearning Units as Predictors of At-Risk Students and Students’ Outcomes in the Introductory Programming Courses

The number of students who decided to study information technology related study programs is continually increasing. Introductory programming courses represent the most crucial milestone in information technology education and often reflect students’ ability to think abstractly and systematically, solve problems, and design their solutions. Even though many students who attend universities have already completed some introductory courses of programming, there is still a large group of students with limited programming skills. This drawback often increases during the first term, and it is often the main reason why students leave study too early. There is a myriad of technologies and tools which can be involved in the programming course to increase students’ chances of mastering programming. The introductory programming courses used in this study has been gradually extended over the four academic years with the automated source code assessment of students’ programming assignments followed by the implementation of a set of suitably designed microlearning units. The final four datasets were analysed to confirm the suitability of automated assessment and microlearning units as predictors of at-risk students and students’ outcomes in the introductory programming courses. The research results proved the significant contribution of automated code assessment in students’ learning outcomes in the elementary topics of learning programming. Simultaneously, it proved a moderate to strong dependence between the students’ activity and achievement in the activities and final students’ outcomes.

Divide y vencerás: Efectos de dos intervenciones para el aprendizaje interactivo en grupos grandes de estudiantes sobre la percepción de la calidad del ambiente de aprendizaje

IntroductionLittle is known on the effect of different forms of division of a large group of students for the interactive discussion of cases, on the quality of the learning environment. We aim to compare two types of division in the face-to-face component of an inverted classroom in surgery. MethodsFor eighteen weeks, Group-1 was divided into eight small groups within the same physical classroom, under the simultaneous supervision of four tutors. Group-2 was divided into eight small groups distributed in four independent physical classrooms (2 groups/classroom), under the supervision of one tutor in each classroom. The quality of the learning environment was evaluated with the DREEM questionnaire. The effects of each division on the global DREEM score and its domains were evaluated with the d (Cohen) test. ResultsThe overall DREEM score was: 145.01±2.17 (Group-1) versus 131.46±18.48 (Group-2) (p<0.05). The magnitude of the effect of division of the Group-1 on the DREEM score was d=0.66. All DREEM domains were superior in Group-1 (p<0.05), as well as the effects on the quality of the environment. ConclusionsThe effects on the learning environment are greater when a large group is divided into small groups that are supervised by multiple tutors in the same physical classroom, compared with a large group that is divided into small groups that are supervised by a single tutor in separate classrooms.

Concept Maps as Assessments of Expertise: Understanding of the Complexity and Interrelationships of Concepts in Science

Concept maps were created as one of six measures to identify exceptionally talented students during the Cultivating Diverse Talent in STEM (CDTIS) project, with the goal of identifying and nurturing talents in students from groups traditionally underrepresented in special programs. New methods were compared with conventional methods to select students for an internship in the laboratories of scientists. In this article, we describe development, field testing, and implementation of the concept map assessments in life and physical science. Assessments were field tested in partner schools with high percentages of American Indian (97% to 100%) and Hispanic (83%) low-income students. Students were selected by considering their performance on all six assessments and were placed in internships along with students selected using conventional methods. Concept maps were successful: (a) students from partner schools demonstrated high levels of domain-relevant skills; (b) scores approximated a normal distribution; (c) scores of students from culturally diverse, low-income groups were very similar to the scores of students selected using conventional methods even though many of conventionally identified students had high grade point averages and came from schools in high-income areas with many educational opportunities. Students completed original research and presented posters to the university community and their local communities. Concept maps can be used alone or in combination with other assessments; their use needs to be studied with larger groups of students and in other contexts.

Tough Hybrid Hydrogels Adapted to the Undergraduate Laboratory

Polymer materials are indispensable in our daily lives. This makes polymer technology of critical importance in higher education. In particular, hands-on experiment-based practicals/laboratories with a focus on polymer science are of tremendous value in the undergraduate curriculum. Along these lines, hydrogels are highly cross-linked polymer networks which show some unique properties such as water absorbance and large extensibility, making them particularly well-suited in various biomedical applications. The properties of hydrogels can be systematically varied via changes in composition. In this practical laboratory, we use hybrid hydrogel formulations containing alginate and polyacrylamide to explore the consequences of compositional changes on mechanical behavior. Mechanical properties are determined using a simplified tensile test that is amenable to large groups of students using standard laboratory equipment. We used marbles to induce an extensional force and a ruler to measure the elongation of the gel as a function of the attached weight. Hereby, stress–strain curves can be obtained, and students are able to compare the difference between single and double network hydrogels as well as quantify the influence of network composition. This practical combines the use of chemical synthesis (i.e., reactant calculations) with practical skills which makes it interesting to use in a third year chemical/biomedical course. Furthermore, students can learn how to deal with chemicals and gain insight in polymer chemistry and its wide applicability, making it particularly well-suited for students coming from outside the traditional chemical science background.

Use of oral examinations to assess student learning in the social sciences

ABSTRACT Currently, oral examinations are infrequently used for student assessment outside of language classes. Many instructors consider the administering of oral exams time-consuming and their grading subjective, in addition to concerns over raising student stress levels. On the other hand, oral exams provide many potential benefits, including the opportunity to assess deeper levels of student understanding, to provide instant feedback to students, and to develop students’ oral communication skills. This study explores the potential advantages and drawbacks of the oral format using a questionnaire survey among students who completed an oral exam in a mid-level undergraduate geography course. I conclude that for small class sizes orals can offer benefits that outweigh the potential disadvantages, if carefully designed and administered. For students who considered oral skills to be their strength, orals allowed them to excel. For a larger group of students, orals were a stressful experience, but allowed the student to provide potentially a more nuanced answer with prompting from the examiner. A minority of students considered that the oral format had compromised their ability to perform; however, it is arguably this group of students who might benefit most from practicing verbal skills via the oral exam format.

Expanding Long-Term Global Awareness and Cultural Sensitivity at a Rural Christian College

A quasi-experimental design was employed to (a) assess the long-term impact of study abroad, service-learning, community service, and cultural coursework as alternative methods of expanding long-term global awareness among college students, and (b) evaluate the predictive validity of a standard secular assessment tool at a rural Christian college. Based on a sample of 659 students, results indicated that a standard instrument (Global Perspective Inventory) could be effectively used with this evangelical student group. Results showed that long-term growth in global awareness did not occur in two-week travel courses, nor when large groups of students spent a semester abroad together. Instead, global awareness growth was achieved through more immersive semester-long study abroad options that encourage in-depth engagement, but also by service-learning coursework and community service involvement.

The perceptions and preferences of medical students regarding large group teaching in Sri Venkateswara medical college, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India

Lecture is an important mode of sharing and providing of knowledge to a large group of students in a specified time and place. Medical curriculum is changing from time to time, evaluation of curriculum is routine process by the experts. However the opinion of students is important because they are at the recipient end. Changes in the curriculum can be adopted by considering these opinions. Objectives: To study the perceptions and preferences of the medical students about large group teaching. Methodology: A cross sectional descriptive study was taken among 459 medical students of Sri Venkateswara Medical College, Tirupati, A. P. after informed consent. A validated questionnaire was administered to the students. Answered questionnaires were analyzed. Results: 85% of the students were participated. 91%, 81% and 80% of pre, para and clinical year students respectively. Most of the students are not satisfied with the present day teaching by using PPT, they prefer black board teaching and using of PPT whenever necessary with better audio visual aids and improving class room environment. Conclusions: This survey identifies many defects in the essential component of medical curriculum i.e., teaching. To improve the skills of teaching in medical teachers and also administration to improve the facilities in the lecture halls, so that the students can learn in a better manner to become effective primary care physicians in the society. Keywords: Large group teaching, Medical curriculum, Audio-visual aids, MCQ’s.

Exploring the longitudinal development of grammatical complexity in the disciplinary writing of L2-English university students

Abstract The present paper employs a corpus-based approach to track the longitudinal language development of university students. Compared to many other longitudinal studies, the present study tracks development over a relatively long period of time (two years) for a relatively large group of students (N = 22). However, the most important difference from previous research is that the study explores the linguistic characteristics of disciplinary writing, across levels of education and academic disciplines, investigating the writing tasks required for disciplinary content courses over two years of university education. We focus on grammatical complexity features associated with the hypothesized stages of development proposed in Biber et al. (2011). Methodologically, the study proposes research designs and statistical approaches that permit investigation of longitudinal development in an unbalanced corpus of natural texts. And linguistically, the results generally support the hypothesized stages of development, documenting a decline in the use of dependent clause complexity features and an increase in the use of phrasal complexity features. As such, the study adds to the growing body of research that emphasizes the importance of phrasal complexity in the development of academic writing.

Transitioning from expert nurse to novice educator

Transitioning from expert nurse to novice educator

Database “Echelon Lists of Kaliningradskaya Oblast Immigrants (1946-1947)”: Architecture, Sources, Data Introduction and the First Results

This article considers some aspects related to a database covering migrants from the Russian Federation and the Belorussian Republic to Kaliningradskaya Oblast.&amp;nbsp;The topicality of the study is the poor knowledge bulk related to statistics of such a large-scale migration process initiated by the Soviet Union in the middle of the 20th century which played an important role in the new region formation. It is the first time when an information resource is created that contains data from a large complex of nominative records made along the way with the mass resettlement of new residents of the region by means of train echelons. Besides the description of the source, the most typical types of its documents (echelon lists, acts on arrival and consolidated lists) are considered in detail. The authors discuss the principles to build the database and substantiate the choice in favor of the source-oriented approach. The describe the conceptual structure of the database with reference to some specific features of its logical model and the organization of the graphical user interface. The article describes how a large group of students added limited access data to the database. A preliminary analysis of the database information shows that in 1946 about 2/5 of the arriving people were unable to work (primarily due to their age). The same share, however among the heads of families, was characteristic of single people without a spouse. The absolute majority of household heads were men.

What works best in a general practice specific OSCE for medical students: Mini-CEX or content-related checklists?

Aim: To develop and pilot a General Practice (GPr) OSCE assessing medical students dealing with patient encounters, which are typical for GPr and to compare different measurement instruments (global ratings, content-specific checklists).Methods: A blueprint based on Entrusted Professional Activities was used to develop prototypical OSCE stations. Four stations were tested with voluntary medical students. Students were videotaped and assessed with self-developed content-specific checklists, a global rating for communication skills, and mini-CEX. Results were compared according to students’ phases of studies.Results: All three measurements were able to discriminate between clinical and pre-clinical students. Clearest results were achieved by using mini-CEX. Content-specific checklists were not able to differentiate between those groups for the more difficult stations. Inter-station reliability for the global ratings was sufficient for high-stakes exams. Students enjoyed the OSCE-setting simulating GPr consultation hours. They would prefer feedback from GPs after the OSCE and from simulated patients after each encounter.Discussion and conclusion: Although the OSCE was short, results indicate advantages for using a global rating instead of checklists. Further research should include validating these results with a larger group of students and to find the threshold during the phases of education for switching from checklists to global ratings.

Post-labor rehabilitation with the use of a sports and game model for work in hypodynamic conditions

When working for a long time in sedentary conditions, the human body is adversely affected by the factor of inactivity. In this regard, large groups of workers and students need post-work rehabilitation, based primarily on increasing the level of motor activity. When using existing simulators, they are faced with their insufficient motivational component.The aim of the study was to substantiate the relevance of the development of “psychophysical coupling” simulators. The dynamics of the functional status of the examined persons after using the simulators indicates the effectiveness of their use in the process of post-work rehabilitation.Funding. The study had no funding.Conflict of interests. The declare no conflict of interests.

Змістово-процесуальний підхід в умовах студентоцентризма вищої школи

The article highlights the possibilities of a substantive-procedural approach to learning in the implementation of the student-centric strategy in the practice of higher education. The purpose of the article is to highlight the issue of harmonization of information and procedural aspects of education and to reveal the effectiveness of the organization of educational and cognitive activity of students on the basis of content-procedural approach as a means of improving the quality of their professional training. The substantive-procedural approach is interpreted as a complex of didactic techniques aimed at harmonization of information and professional aspects of education, analysis and substantiation of the essence of internal factors, connections, contradictions and tendencies of development of the educational process. It is based on the effective interconnection of the content and procedural components of future professionals' vocational training, it requires the necessary cognitive and practical transformative activity on the content of professional knowledge in mastering the secrets of creative pedagogical activity and professional growth in their chosen professional sphere. The substantive-procedural approach demands the educational process: 1) achieving a certain level of student activity in an optimal way, provided that one teacher works with a large group of students; 2) the most favorable overcoming of contradictions between the amount of constantly growing information and the fixed amount of study time for its assimilation; 3) the creation of working conditions that would not require the teacher to give more and more effort in the overall intensification of the learning process. The substantive-procedural approach contains all the conditions for the formation of substantive-activity relations in the educational process, the choice of didactic goals that the student strives for, and the various tasks performed by him. The task of professional orientation is used as a tool and a means of activating cognitive actions, thereby ensuring the dynamics of the quality of knowledge in a positive way.

A Large-Class Undergraduate Microbiology Laboratory Activity on Microbial Diversity and Antimicrobial Resistance.

The investigation of microbial diversity and adaptation is essential to comprehend biological processes. Yet, teaching basic microbiology techniques to large groups of students in limited time is challenging, as most approaches are time-consuming or require special equipment. In this activity, students performed three laboratory exercises in three hours involving the analysis of inoculated agar plates they prepared by swabbing samples from an environment of their choice, the examination of antimicrobial effects on growth, and the assessment of microbial enzymatic activity in soil. The activity was field tested in two classes (70 and 76 students, respectively) of first-year undergraduate biology and zoology students at the Bangor University (UK) using pre- and post-tests (n = 84). Based on the answers, learning gain scores (G) were calculated for each learning objective (LO). For all LOs, the mean post-test scores were higher than the mean pre-test scores. The activity significantly improved students’ understanding of microbial diversity (G = 0.36, p = 0.010) and microbial detection and quantification (G = 0.18 to 0.773, p ≤ 0.004). The lack of significant differences in scores for questions targeting microbial growth (G = 0.31, p = 0.292) and antimicrobial resistance (G = 0.38, p = 0.052) suggested some existing knowledge amongst undergraduates. However, the extent of knowledge showed great variation. The results may suggest that the activity is suitable to introduce microbiology-related laboratory work to students with limited laboratory skills and knowledge. Furthermore, the pre- and post-test approach used here is suitable for both course evaluation and monitoring attainment and can be used for program validation and quality control.

Intervenção em autorregulação da aprendizagem com alunos do ensino superior: análise da produção científica

Pesquisas recentes na área educacional têm evidenciado altas taxas de reprovação e evasão no Ensino Superior. Estudiosos afirmam que o problema pode estar relacionado às dificuldades de aprendizagem dos alunos no contexto acadêmico. A autorregulação da aprendizagem é uma perspectiva amplamente investigada pelo seu potencial em auxiliar os estudantes a aprender melhor. O presente trabalho objetivou analisar a produção científica de artigos sobre programas de intervenção em aprendizagem autorregulada no Ensino Superior, publicados em âmbitos nacional e internacional, no período de 2004 a 2016. Os resultados revelaram o impacto positivo que os programas exerceram no fortalecimento da capacidade de aprender a aprender dos universitários. Os programas de intervenção, em sua maioria, foram realizados em cursos extraclasses, com grupos grandes de alunos e dados coletados por meio de instrumentos de autorrelato. Observou-se um maior número de pesquisas realizadas internacionalmente, com o predomínio do ensino de estratégias no aprendizado de língua estrangeira.

MAPPING THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS OF NEWLY ARRIVED IMMIGRANT SCHOOLCHILDREN IN SWEDEN

Sweden is one of the countries hosting the largest number of refugees and other categories of immigrants. In recent decades, the Swedish school system has been entered by a sizeable group of children who are at the same time learning a new language and acquiring new knowledge and skills in this language. The ongoing migration forces the Swedish education system to respond to the challenges associated with the need to integrate as soon as possible a fairly large group of students who do not speak Swedish and study at a Swedish school. The immigrant students in Sweden are a rather heterogeneous group with different levels of training, experience and needs. The Swedish National Agency for Education believes that it is necessary to improve the conditions for the integration of newly arrived students in the Swedish school system by better defining their needs. Since January 2016 an obligatory pedagogical mapping both of the newly arrived students’ language skills and of their knowledge in different school subjects has been introduced by the Swedish National Agency for Education. To this end, materials have been developed for mapping the experience, knowledge and skills of newly arrived students both in the field of language proficiency and in individual school subjects. The mapping should take place during the first two months of a student’s learning, and the result should be a profile of knowledge and skills that will be used to determine the students’ place in the Swedish school system and plan their further education. The article presents the approaches and methods used during this mapping, as well as the dual role of the mother tongue teacher as both a subject teacher and as a mediator between the school, the student and the family during the integration process.

Twelve tips to offer a short authentic and experiential individual research opportunity to a large group of undergraduate students

Engaging students in research during medical school could contribute to creating an academic attitude among students, which underlies practicing evidence-based medicine in future professional practice. However, attempts to involve undergraduate students in research during medical training remain inadequate. Most medical schools educate large numbers of students at the same time, especially in early phases of medical training. Large scale education on the one hand and individually providing students with authentic research experiences on the other hand is considered not that easy to achieve. Drawing on our own experiences, existing literature and theories we propose twelve tips to design and implement a course in which authentic individual research experiences can be provided to a large group of undergraduate students.

The Critical Role of Word Reading as a Predictor of Response to Intervention

This study examines the initial word reading performance of fourth-grade struggling readers and the extent to which differing levels of word reading performance at pretest influenced their response to reading interventions. A large group of students with significant reading comprehension difficulties (N = 481) were classified into three clusters of word reading proficiency based on their pretest performance: (a) very low, (b) low, and (c) near adequate. We examined their performance on several academic, language, and executive functioning measures at the beginning of the year and their reading comprehension performance at the beginning of year and after 1 year of reading intervention to examine how each cluster responded to instruction. Results from a discriminant function analysis indicated that performance on five pretest variables were meaningful predictors of word reading proficiency cluster membership: phonological processing, writing fluency, math calculation, math fluency, and reading efficiency and comprehension. Results also demonstrated that word reading proficiency at pretest was related to response to intervention on reading comprehension measures. Students in the very low word reading proficiency cluster showed minimal response to intervention whereas the near-adequate word reading cluster demonstrated greatest response to intervention. These results suggest word reading is a critical predictor of response to intervention for students with significant comprehension problems in the upper elementary grades and that students with the most substantial word reading problems may require more intensive and specialized treatments than students with greater word reading performance to show meaningful progress in reading.

Comparison of video demonstrations and bedside tutorials for teaching paediatric clinical skills to large groups of medical students in resource-constrained settings

Videos are increasingly being used for teaching clinical skills in medical education. However, most reports on the effectiveness and benefits of videos in medical teaching have come from developed countries. Resource constraints in South African academic hospitals, together with increasing numbers, may apply pressure on the standard of clinical teaching. This study investigated the potential for using video demonstrations to replace the bedside teaching of introductory paediatric clinical examination skills to large groups of medical students. Sixty medical students were randomised to an experimental group that watched a video of a paediatric abdominal examination or to a control group that received a bedside tutorial on the same topic. Immediately afterwards, experienced assessors observed and scored the students in a clinical examination. Data were analysed for the non-inferiority of the video group scores within a 10% margin of the bedside group. Students’ and clinician educators’ perceptions of the two teaching methods and their views on how video instruction could be integrated into the clinical teaching programme were explored. Qualitative data were analysed thematically. The video teaching was non-inferior to the bedside teaching within the 10% margin and did not significantly affect the pass/fail or distinction rates. Students and clinician educators suggested that the videos be used for teaching basic concepts, allowing bedside tutorials to focus on applied learning. The findings have important implications for using video demonstrations to supplement the teaching of clinical skills to large groups of medical students across multiple variably-resourced settings.

Learning clinical skills through audiovisual aids embedded in electronic-PBL sessions in undergraduate medical curriculum: perception and performance.

Learning clinical skills in a large group of undergraduate medical students is challenging. Innovative technology-based modalities are being evaluated to complement limited hospital rotations. We determined the effectiveness of clinical skills-related audiovisual (AV) aids embedded in electronic-problem-based learning (PBL) sessions, in terms of students' feedback and formative Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) grades. This mixed-method study was conducted during the Cardiovascular System module in year 3 of the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery program. The AV aids, mainly consisting of abnormal chest auscultation sounds, were linked to the cases for the intervention group. The control group received only a description of clinical signs. Sessions were conducted using an intranet platform. At the end of the module, feedback was obtained from intervention group students and faculty using a self-administered questionnaire. The learning was compared between intervention and control groups through an OSCE. Finally, focus group interviews were conducted to explore factors underlying deviation from the expected results. Out of 110 intervention group students, 86 (78%) responded. The students appreciated the inclusion of AV aids, as suggested by a high average satisfaction score of 4.2 (SD 0.8). They agreed that, apart from being appropriate and relevant, the aids improved the learning environment and engagement in the process. The tutors also gave a similar feedback. However, no difference in the OSCE scores was found between control and intervention groups. The study indicates that inclusion of AV aids improved students' engagement and classroom environment in electronic-PBL sessions, but did not improve diagnostic abilities based on the learned clinical skills.