Learning Course Research Articles

AI, heritage and critical thinking development: an education experience within university context

Educational policy makers identify Critical thinking (CT) as an essential driver for development and knowledge growth in any field and in the broad society. Even in the post-pandemic era, CT continues to be defined as one of the skills to be most promoted at the various levels of formal education and training contexts. In particular, with the raise of AI, it is crucial for educational institutions to encourage a critical approach to technology in students, especially in the analysis, interpretation and evaluation of information in order to make decisions and solve problems, also in digital contexts. Art experiences, literary stimuli and writing activities are helpful pedagogical strategies for CT enhancement especially when supported by the use of technologies. Starting from the above-mentioned evidence, a university module was designed by combining collaborative and creative writing sessions based on critical analysis of literary texts and the experience of figurative arts. More than 100 students worked in groups and their CT level was assessed at different times of the course. In particular, AI and machine learning tools were used to identify indicators of critical thinking in the texts produced by the students and to assess the relationship between the production of written texts and the development of CT and reasoning within students taking part in the educational experience. The research results could be used to improve university course design or professional development training courses for CT teaching and learning.

Design and Implementation of Audiovisual Resources to Support the Differential Equations Blended Learning Course

Design and Implementation of Audiovisual Resources to Support the Differential Equations Blended Learning Course

Integration of ChatGPT Into a Course for Medical Students: Explorative Study on Teaching Scenarios, Students' Perception, and Applications.

Text-generating artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT offers many opportunities and challenges in medical education. Acquiring practical skills necessary for using AI in a clinical context is crucial, especially for medical education. This explorative study aimed to investigate the feasibility of integrating ChatGPT into teaching units and to evaluate the course and the importance of AI-related competencies for medical students. Since a possible application of ChatGPT in the medical field could be the generation of information for patients, we further investigated how such information is perceived by students in terms of persuasiveness and quality. ChatGPT was integrated into 3 different teaching units of a blended learning course for medical students. Using a mixed methods approach, quantitative and qualitative data were collected. As baseline data, we assessed students' characteristics, including their openness to digital innovation. The students evaluated the integration of ChatGPT into the course and shared their thoughts regarding the future of text-generating AI in medical education. The course was evaluated based on the Kirkpatrick Model, with satisfaction, learning progress, and applicable knowledge considered as key assessment levels. In ChatGPT-integrating teaching units, students evaluated videos featuring information for patients regarding their persuasiveness on treatment expectations in a self-experience experiment and critically reviewed information for patients written using ChatGPT 3.5 based on different prompts. A total of 52 medical students participated in the study. The comprehensive evaluation of the course revealed elevated levels of satisfaction, learning progress, and applicability specifically in relation to the ChatGPT-integrating teaching units. Furthermore, all evaluation levels demonstrated an association with each other. Higher openness to digital innovation was associated with higher satisfaction and, to a lesser extent, with higher applicability. AI-related competencies in other courses of the medical curriculum were perceived as highly important by medical students. Qualitative analysis highlighted potential use cases of ChatGPT in teaching and learning. In ChatGPT-integrating teaching units, students rated information for patients generated using a basic ChatGPT prompt as "moderate" in terms of comprehensibility, patient safety, and the correct application of communication rules taught during the course. The students' ratings were considerably improved using an extended prompt. The same text, however, showed the smallest increase in treatment expectations when compared with information provided by humans (patient, clinician, and expert) via videos. This study offers valuable insights into integrating the development of AI competencies into a blended learning course. Integration of ChatGPT enhanced learning experiences for medical students.

Job Satisfaction and Teaching Effectiveness in Emergency Remote Teaching among Higher Education Faculty

In the rapidly evolving landscape of 21st century education, teacher preparation programs play a significant role in shaping the educators of tomorrow. This qualitative study aims to reveal both the opportunities and limitations of incorporating action research into experiential learning courses within teacher education programs. The researcher conducted a comprehensive thematic analysis to examine and categorize the participants' responses. Through in-depth interviews with 30 senior education students at Batangas State University, The National Engineering University, JPLPC Malvar, Batangas, Philippines, during the academic year 2021-2022, it was revealed that the opportunities arising from action research include enhanced teaching skills and pedagogy, problem-solving and reflective practice, collaborative learning and peer interaction, as well as professional growth and ethical awareness. Moreover, participants also encounter limitations, such as time constraints, resource accessibility, and ethical dilemmas. To address these challenges and capitalize on the opportunities, the study recommends strategies for improved time management, equitable resource access, and ethical training and support within teacher education programs. The study also suggests future research avenues, including longitudinal studies and comparative analyses, to further enhance action research's role in shaping the educators of the future.

Expensive but Worth It: Live Projects in Statistics, Data Science, and Analytics Courses

Students in statistics, data science, analytics, and related fields study the theory and methodology of data-related topics. Some, but not all, are exposed to experiential learning courses that cover essential parts of the life cycle of practical problem-solving. Experiential learning enables students to convert real-world issues into solvable technical questions and effectively communicate their findings to clients. We describe several experiential learning course designs in statistics, data science, and analytics curricula. We present findings from interviews with faculty from the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East and surveys of former students. We observe that courses featuring live projects and coaching by experienced faculty have a high career impact, as reported by former participants. However, such courses are labor-intensive for both instructors and students. We give estimates of the required effort to deliver courses with live projects and the perceived benefits and tradeoffs of such courses. Overall, we conclude that courses offering live-project experiences, despite being more time-consuming than traditional courses, offer significant benefits for students regarding career impact and skill development, making them worthwhile investments. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Strengthen the Foundation and Practice Orientation: Exploration of Teaching Reform in Machine Learning Courses

Machine learning has become a core technology in the field of artificial intelligence with its excellent performance and wide range of applications. Traditional machine learning course teaching models often focus on theoretical explanations and lack sufficient practical guidance, making it difficult for students to apply their knowledge to solve practical problems. This article explores feasible ways to reform the teaching of machine learning courses, by strengthening the close integration of basic knowledge and practical skills, as well as optimizing course evaluation methods, significantly improving students' learning effectiveness and practical application abilities.

Sound-seeking before and after hearing loss in mice

How we move our bodies affects how we perceive sound. For instance, head movements help us to better localize the source of a sound and to compensate for asymmetric hearing loss. However, many auditory experiments are designed to restrict head and body movements. To study the role of movement in hearing, we developed a behavioral task called sound-seeking that rewarded freely moving mice for tracking down an ongoing sound source. Over the course of learning, mice more efficiently navigated to the sound. Next, we asked how sound-seeking was affected by hearing loss induced by surgical removal of the malleus from the middle ear. After bilateral hearing loss sound-seeking performance drastically declined and did not recover. In striking contrast, after unilateral hearing loss mice were only transiently impaired and then recovered their sound-seek ability over about a week. Throughout recovery, unilateral mice increasingly relied on a movement strategy of sequentially checking potential locations for the sound source. In contrast, the startle reflex (an innate auditory behavior) was preserved after unilateral hearing loss and abolished by bilateral hearing loss without recovery over time. In sum, mice compensate with body movement for permanent unilateral damage to the peripheral auditory system. Looking forward, this paradigm provides an opportunity to examine how movement enhances perception and enables resilient adaptation to sensory disorders.

The Efficacy of GenAI Tools in Postsecondary Education

In postsecondary education institutions, where innovative technologies continually reshape research and pedagogical approaches, the integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools presents promising avenues for enhancing student learning experiences. This study assesses the efficacy of integrating GenAI tools, specifically chatbots, to ameliorate learning outcomes and mitigate test anxiety among postsecondary students. Within the context of an introductory psychology course, 40 participants engaged with chatbots as supplementary “study confidantes” for exam preparation and as facilitators for an essay grading task. The results from surveys administered to the participants indicated that most students found the chatbots helpful in aiding comprehension of course materials. Moreover, a substantial proportion of respondents reported an enhanced understanding of how to structure an academic paper because of their essay grading activity. Despite the favourable perception of chatbot assistance with learning course material and fostering insights into structuring scholarly essays, no discernible alterations in the levels of test anxiety among students were observed. Overall, this research underscores the latent potential of chatbots as pedagogical adjuncts, furnishing instructive insights for educators aiming to innovate instructional methodologies and optimize student learning paradigms within the domain of postsecondary education. Keywords: GenAI tools, assessments, learning outcomes

Learning to use landmarks for navigation amplifies their representation in retrosplenial cortex.

Visual landmarks provide powerful reference signals for efficient navigation by altering the activity of spatially tuned neurons, such as place cells, head direction cells, and grid cells. To understand the neural mechanism by which landmarks exert such strong influence, it is necessary to identify how these visual features gain spatial meaning. In this study, we characterized visual landmark representations in mouse retrosplenial cortex (RSC) using chronic two-photon imaging of the same neuronal ensembles over the course of spatial learning. We found a pronounced increase in landmark-referenced activity in RSC neurons that, once established, remained stable across days. Changing behavioral context by uncoupling treadmill motion from visual feedback systematically altered neuronal responses associated with the coherence between visual scene flow speed and self-motion. To explore potential underlying mechanisms, we modeled how burst firing, mediated by supralinear somatodendritic interactions, could efficiently mediate context- and coherence-dependent integration of landmark information. Our results show that visual encoding shifts to landmark-referenced and context-dependent codes as these cues take on spatial meaning during learning.

Nurturing creative confidence and learner empathy

As a contemporary and boundary spanning approach, design thinking is gaining traction in higher education, but it has not yet been established in academic staff development. The aim of this study is to reflect on a recent staff development intervention on blended learning course design, aimed at promoting a ‘design thinking mindset’ among university lecturers. By analysing empirical data gathered through participant interactions, we discuss the implications and potential of design thinking for academic staff development. Data analysis shows an increased awareness of the complex and diverse student body, a recognition for interdisciplinary collaboration, mentoring and reflective thinking. Additionally, it is highlighted that adopting design thinking is not without challenges, which include the need for continued practice, securing departmental buy-in and upscaling initiatives. The findings emphasise the importance of creating a ‘safe’ space to experiment, modelling a designing-on-the-go approach, focusing on the iterative processes of (re)design, providing scaffolding for learning, making design thinking processes explicit, building a community of practice, regular feedback and maintaining the balance between playfulness and reflection. Success of such an intervention will rely on balancing the development of design thinking skills, a design thinking mindset and creative confidence.

Deaf migrants in Sweden: exploring linguistic and bureaucratic challenges through the lens of Crip Theory and Crip Linguistics

Abstract Disabled people encounter numerous barriers to accessibility and face discrimination and inequalities in their daily lives. The situation is even more complex for migrants with a disability, who have to learn how to navigate a new bureaucratic system. This study focuses on deaf adult migrants and the linguistic and bureaucratic challenges they face in Swedish society. The data consists of interviews with 43 deaf migrants participating in language learning courses in four folk high schools catering to deaf people in Sweden. Crip Theory and Crip Linguistics are used as lenses to explore the impact of able-bodiedness and linguistic norms on this particular group. The findings show that deaf migrants experience infantilisation, that sign language interpreters are often seen as a one-size-fits-all solution without much consideration for other factors influencing communication, and that normative able-bodiedness underlies many of the bureaucratic issues deaf migrants face.

Performance Management Decision-Making Model: Case Study on Foreign Language Learning Curriculums

Foreign language learning courses can be regarded as a service operation system, and a complete foreign language learning course performance evaluation model can help improve the effectiveness of student learning. The performance evaluation matrix (PEM) is an excellent tool for evaluation and resource management decision making, and the administrator uses the satisfaction and the importance indices to establish evaluation coordinate points based on the rules of statistical testing. The coordinate points of all service items are plotted into the PEM to grasp the full picture and to make decisions on what to improve or to consider resource transfers so as to elevate the overall satisfaction of the entire service. However, plotting all the coordinate points on the PEM can only be performed by programming, which will lead to limitations in practice. Therefore, instead of the above evaluation rules, this article uses the confidence intervals of decision-making indicators to form a validity evaluation table, to decide which teaching service items should be improved, maintained, or transferred to improve the satisfaction of the entire service system. This form of performance evaluation can be completed using any commonly used word-processing software, so it is easy to apply and promote. Finally, this article provides an applied example to illustrate the proposed method.

Assessment of Blended Learning Courses Based on Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology in Higher Education

Assessment of Blended Learning Courses Based on Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology in Higher Education

Framework and Initial Steps Towards Industry-Relevant Undergraduate Electrochemical Engineering Education

It is widely expected that the use of electrochemical processes will grow rapidly in the coming decade. This growing industry requires a commensurate workforce. However, currently there is little educational infrastructure nationally to provide the number of well-educated incoming engineers and scientists that are needed. Using a design-based research approach, we have developed a framework for curricular development in undergraduate electrochemical engineering, and report here on the first author’s first course offering as the beginning of an iterative refinement process.Our education and research framework is outlined in Figure 1, which illustrates the four main aspects of the project – learning goals, tools, courses, and research – and shows how they are connected. There are two learning goals for students. First, the development of conceptual understanding of electrochemical topics enables them to develop the knowledge structures needed to access and operationalize the content in new contexts, such as in industrial practice. Second, engaging students in disciplinary practices provides an authentic experience of the sociotechnical work faced by engineers in industry. These goals will be realized using tools housed in the Concept Warehouse, an online instructional tool constructed by members of our research team. Tools include concept questions provided to students in class to develop their conceptual understanding, which will then be assessed using a concept inventory in development. An industrially-situated virtual laboratory will allow students to experience a realistic task that engages them in both knowledge practices and social practices of professional engineers. Instructors at a range of institutions, beginning with Tufts University, will teach electrochemical engineering courses. They will design the courses according to how they best fit their individual context, but all courses will incorporate the two learning goals and will be supported by the three tools. The project will be supported by a comprehensive research plan that contains two studies – an interview study and a design-based research (DBR) study. First, we plan to interview practicing engineers in the electrochemistry industry to understand both the conceptual knowledge they rely on (for development of the concept inventory) and disciplinary practices they use in their work (to inform the industrially-situated virtual laboratory). Second, using a DBR approach, we will utilize multiple data sources to both improve the instructional design of these courses and develop transferable knowledge about the development of conceptual understanding and disciplinary practices using these instructional tools.In this work, we report on the development of the framework and on the electrochemical engineering course developed and delivered in Fall 2024 by the first author, a post-doctoral fellow at Tufts University, as a pilot. This was also the first author’s first solo course delivery, and general insights on this process will also be shared. The course was offered to 13 students, of whom 8 were undergraduate chemical engineering students, one was a master’s student, and 4 were PhD students. The first half of the course centered electrochemistry fundamentals, using Electrochemical Engineering by Thomas Fuller and John Harb as a reference text, and emphasized conceptual understanding using concept questions and culminating in an entirely conceptual mid-term exam. In the second half of the course, students explored practical applications of electrochemistry, supported by conversations with industry professionals, culminating in a final project on an application of interest for each student.Finally, we discuss next steps in this project, in particular ongoing development of a virtual laboratory and concept inventory, as well as inter-institutional collaboration. Figure 1

Promoting institutional collaboration through a joint project-based learning course: a case study of upper secondary school and university students’ experienced relevance

There is a great need to develop research-based models for supporting collaboration between educational institutions. Collaboration models are needed, for example, to assist the transition from lower educational level to higher education or from higher education to working life. In this research, collaboration was conducted through a joint course between upper secondary school and university, which addressed global challenges by using a project-based learning approach. There is a shortage of research exploring students’ perceptions of collaboration. Therefore, the main purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the relevance of the joint course for upper secondary school students and university students. The research was guided by the following research question: What kind of relevance did the students experience in the joint project-based learning course? The data were gathered using questionnaires, interviews, and reflective study reports. The data were analyzed via theory-based content analysis, where research-oriented relevance model was used as the analysis framework. The analysis framework enabled categorizing experienced relevance on individual, vocational, and societal dimensions. Altogether, the analysis produced seven relevance categories for upper secondary students and nine for university students. According to the analysis, upper secondary school students felt that the course offered the most on an individual relevance dimension, whereas university students experienced the vocational relevance dimension a the most diverse. As the main conclusion, this research produced new insights on the experienced relevance of upper secondary level and higher education cooperation from the students’ point of view. The acquired knowledge can be useful for everyone developing new cross-institutional collaboration models.

The impact of gender, psychology, and cultural dimensions on leadership development in distance education

The research purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of leadership in the process of distance learning from the perspective of the psychological theories of leadership, gender, and cross-cultural issues. The present research is based on such methods as surveys, testing, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and statistical data processing. The subjective (the experience of the respondents) and objective (machine calculation of clusters) assessments allowed the scholars to generate more arguments on leadership in the learning process. The sample consisted of 600 female and male students (300 from each sex, respectively) aged 18–20 years from Abu Dhabi University, American University in The Emirates, and the United Arab Emirates University. The research stated that the majority of students, regardless of gender, suppose that both sexes can develop similar leadership traits (80%). The research claims that female leaders have to be more dynamic and demonstrate higher intelligence (26% vs. 20%) and confidence (20% vs. 15%) than male leaders. Cultural and socio-demographic characteristics do not play a significant role in leadership development (10%). The main cause for the choice of a leader is behavioural and communication characteristics (50%) as well as personal qualities (35%). These results can be used for the online design of distance learning courses in universities (both group and individual), as well as for psychologists to study the aspect of individuals’ predisposition to leadership. It makes sense for further research to explore the issue of differences in the perception of educational leadership in Asian and Western European countries based on the cross-cultural aspect, that is, the influence of national culture on the choice of leader in the educational environment.

Comparison and Correlation Between Students' Cognitive Competency in Regular Physics and Teaching and Learning Course

Students learn exact and non-exact subjects in the biology education department. Lectures are required to be carried out using the case method. This research aims to determine differences in students' cognitive competence through the implementation of the case method in General Physics and Teaching and Learning courses and to determine the relationship between students' cognitive competence in General Physics and Teaching and Learning courses. This research is a correlational descriptive study carried out in June-July 2023. This research involved 32 biology education students as the research sample. Research data was collected using tests. Data were analyzed descriptively and using Spearman Rank. The results show that students' cognitive competence in the Teaching and Learning course is higher than in General Physics course. This is due to differences in the level of difficulty in studying lecture material. The research results also show a strong positive correlation between students' cognitive competence in exact courses (General Physics) and non-exact courses (Teaching and Learning). Further research is still needed to find other variables that can explain the relationship between these two variables because students' cognitive competence in exact courses cannot fully be used to indicate students' cognitive competence in non-exact courses.

"Leap before you look": Conditions that suppress explicit, knowledge-based learning during visuomotor adaptation.

When learning a novel visuomotor mapping (e.g., mirror writing), accuracy can improve quickly through explicit, knowledge-based learning (e.g., aim left to go right), but after practice, implicit or procedural learning takes over, producing fast, natural movements. This procedural learning occurs automatically, whereas it has recently been found that knowledge-based learning can be suppressed by the gradual introduction of the novel mapping when participants must make fast movements and visuomotor perturbations are small (e.g., 30° rotations). We explored the range of task instructions, perturbation parameters, and feedback that preclude or encourage this suppression. Using a reaching task with a rotation between screen position and movement direction, we found that knowledge-based learning could be suppressed even for an extreme 90° rotation, but only if it was introduced gradually and only under instructions to move quickly. If the rotation was introduced abruptly or if instructions emphasized accuracy over speed, knowledge-based learning occurred. A second experiment indicated that knowledge-based learning always occurred in the absence of continuous motion feedback, evidenced by the time course of learning, the aftereffects of learning when the rotation was abruptly removed, and the outcome of formal model comparison between a dual-state (procedural and knowledge-based) versus a single-state (procedural only) learning model of the data. A third experiment replicated the findings and verified that the knowledge-based component of the dual-state model corresponded to explicit aiming, whereas the procedural component was slow to unlearn. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Enhancing Life Skill Progression and Psychological Well-being of Undergraduate Students through AI-driven Recommendation System

Professionals may keep up with changed work settings and difficulties by continuing their education throughout their lives. Given the variety of courses offered, it is critical for professionals to have mechanisms that can connect them to appropriate programs. Although there is little information available regarding how teenagers utilize these courses, smartphone delivered life competency courses are a new and potential approach to support psychological wellness and discourage addiction to substances among young people. This paper explores the integration of AI-driven recommendation systems (AI-RSs) to enhance the mental health and professional skills of undergraduate students. Leveraging machine learning (ML) techniques and ontological frameworks, the proposed system aims to provide personalized recommendations for lifelong learning courses. By understanding individual preferences and learning objectives, the system facilitates the discovery of relevant courses tailored to the unique needs of students. This approach not only supports the continuous development of professional skills but also contributes to promoting mental well-being by fostering a sense of purpose and accomplishment through lifeskills learning. Through this abstract, we delve into the potential of AI-driven technologies to revolutionize education and support the holistic growth of undergraduate students.

Exploring emotions in language learning: Learners’ self-awareness, personal growth, and transformation on a CLIL course

Emotions in language learning are increasingly recognized as playing an important role in learner motivation and flourishing in the learning process. In consequence, much of the research published to date has focused on what happens when different emotions are experienced and the various states that these may lead to. However, studies that consider how language learners understand the importance of emotions in the context of their learning efforts as well as examine ways this understanding is experienced from the perspective of a language learner are scarce in the literature. To address this gap, the present study investigates how Japanese university language learners experienced a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) course specially designed to explore emotions in language learning, including emotional literacy, motivation, character strengths, mindsets, integrated emotion regulation, empathy, and confidence-building connected to positive and negative affect. To interpret this experience, we take a qualitative exploratory approach to analyse the final diary entries of 24 course participants, using the lens of positive psychology applied to language learning. The coding of the diaries uncovered four areas key to understanding the students’ experience, which included social capital, self-awareness of emotions, personal growth, and transformation. The findings suggest that the students profited in diverse positive ways through active engagement and reflection on the rich tapestry of emotion-related constructs connected to language learning, leading to the emergence of new perspectives, growth and transformation related to an enhanced awareness of emotions in language learning.