Lecture-style Class Research Articles

Effectiveness of an e‐learning tool for education on pressure ulcer evaluation

To evaluate the effectiveness of information and communication technologies in the undergraduate students' pressure ulcer training as a learning tool, compared with traditional teaching methods. Pressure ulcers constitute one of the great challenges faced by nursing professionals. Currently, pressure ulcer training is based on traditional on-campus teaching, involving lecture-style classes with frequent use of photographs of the wounds. This traditional training has some important weaknesses that can put the efficacy of the training at risk. A randomised controlled trial was developed including undergraduate nursing students. The intervention group used an adaptive self-learning e-learning tool developed by the research team (ePULab) for pressure ulcer assessment and treatment. The control group received a traditional on-campus class on the same topic. Pretest and post-test questionnaires were designed to assess the students' ability in pressure ulcer diagnosis and treatment. The educational intervention based on the use of the ePULab tool produced significantly better learning acquisition results than those obtained by traditional lecture-style classes: the total score improved in the control group from 8·23 (SD 1·23)-11·6 (SD 2·52) after the lecture, whereas in the intervention group, the knowledge score changed from 8·27 (SD 1·39)-15·83 (SD 2·52) (p=0·01) with the use of ePULab. The results show a higher effectiveness of the devised e-learning approach for education on management of pressure ulcers. Our results reveal the suitability of the ePULab e-learning tool as an effective instrument for training on assessment of and treatment for pressure ulcers and its potential impact on clinical decision-making.

The Effectiveness of the Hybrid Teaching Method in Introductory Biology at a PUI

Hybrid courses combine online education (internet resources including tutorials, videos, and activities) and traditional lecture‐style classes (direct teacher student interaction) into a single course. We are studying the effectiveness of the hybrid method at a small liberal arts college with class sizes of < 24 students. We compare the hybrid and traditional methods with the same set of students, by alternating between styles weekly. Hybrid weeks include online work (quizzes on text book readings and reinforcement activities) in addition to lecture and laboratory. We applied this approach to a broadly focused non‐majors biology course geared toward education majors (Bio101) and an introductory biology course for majors that covers topics in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology (Bio201). Retention of information was measured as student improvement between a pretest and midterms or final exam, comparing retention of information by topic and by Blooms Taxonomy. In Bio101 students showed a significant difference in their ability to answer questions that required them to analyze information presented in hybrid weeks over that of non‐hybrid weeks. Preliminary results from Bio201 show no significant difference in improvement between teaching styles based on content; however, we have observed a significant improvement in analyzing and applying questions from hybrid weeks over non‐hybrid weeks.

Creating an active-learning environment in an introductory acoustics course

Research in physics education has indicated that the traditional lecture-style class is not the most efficient way to teach introductory physical science courses at the university level. Current best teaching practices focus on creating an active-learning environment and emphasize the students' role in the learning process. Several of the recommended techniques have recently been applied to Brigham Young University's introductory acoustics course, which has been taught for more than 40 years. Adjustments have been built on a foundation of establishing student-based learning outcomes and attempting to align these objectives with assessments and course activities. Improvements have been made to nearly every aspect of the course including use of class time, assessment materials, and time the students spend out of the classroom. A description of the progress made in improving the course offers suggestions for those seeking to modernize or create a similar course at their institution. In addition, many of the principles can be similarly applied to acoustics education at other academic levels.

Online Delivery as a Course Adjunct Promotes Active Learning and Student Success

Chickering and Gamson’s notable summary of the best practices of undergraduate teaching include promoting active learning, cooperation, and student–faculty contact. The present study hypothesized that online delivery of lecture prior to course meetings allows more in-class time to achieve these goals. Students in a control group received a traditional, oral, lecture-style class with supplementing PowerPoint presentation, whereas students in a treatment group received online presentation of the same lecture script and PowerPoint presentation prior to coming to class; the treatment group’s in-class time was devoted to group activities and discussion of material. Learning and retention were assessed by student performance on a series of multiple-choice tests and quizzes given throughout the semester. Results indicate that students in the treatment condition scored significantly higher on most measures than did students in the control condition. Through strong control of experimental conditions, this study departs from many previous investigations of the benefits of online delivery as an adjunct to seated class time in an introductory social science course, highlighting its advantages such as freeing class time for those activities and strategies deemed to be best practices. The implications of these results and limitations to the study are discussed.

Application of active-learning techniques to enhance student-based learning objectives

Research in physics education has indicated that the traditional lecture-style class is not the most efficient way to teach science courses at the university level. Current best-teaching practices focus on creating an active-learning environment and emphasize the role of the students in the learning process. Several of the recommended techniques have recently been applied to Brigham Young University's acoustics courses. Adjustments have been built on a foundation of establishing student-based learning outcomes and attempting to align these objectives with assessments and course activities. Improvements have been made to nearly every aspect of the courses including use of class time, assessment materials, and time the students spend out of the classroom. The progress made in bringing two of the courses, specifically an introductory, descriptive acoustics course for a general audience and a junior level introduction to acoustics course for majors, is described. Many of the principles can be similarly applied to acoustics education at other academic levels. Suggestions are made for those seeking to modernize courses at their institutions.

Undergraduate education in a graduate school: The University of Texas iSchool experience

Mary Lynn Rice-Lively is associate dean, School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin. She can be reached by email at marylynn ischool.utexas.edu T he University of Texas at Austin (UT) is a large, research level I university. For the fall semester of 2009 the total UT enrollment increased to 51,032 students, an increase of 1,048 students (2.1%). At the same time the undergraduate enrollment increased by 2.2% to 38,168 (74.8% of the total student enrollment). Unquestionably, undergraduate education is important to the mission of the university. In September 2004, following two years of strategic planning, the UT Commission of 125 submitted a 25-year planning document to the president of the university. (See more information on the commission at www.utexas.edu/com125/.) Among the strategies proposed in the final report was the mandate to develop a new undergraduate core curriculum. Another response to the initiative was to form a School of Undergraduate Studies, created in 2006, to function at the official college-level unit. Fourteen of UT’s colleges offer 333 degree plans, 123 of which are bachelor’s degrees. In sum, the above initiatives underscore UT’s commitment to the education of undergraduate students. So when did undergraduate library and information studies begin at the University of Texas at Austin? The first undergraduate service course focused on librarianship and information seeking was recorded in 1931, when the course, “School Library Work for Teacher Librarians” was added to the UT course inventory. Subsequently, the iSchool, formerly the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, offered multiple sections of a very popular, UT undergraduate staple, “Children’s Literature.” The large lecture-style class (100-300 students per section) has been taught since the 1970s and has drawn undergraduates from the entire spectrum of academic disciplines. More recently, in the late 1980s and early 1990s the school offered courses introducing students to “library and information use” strategies, as well as a course on “Internet resources and services.” While the “library use” class was discontinued due to underenrollment, the Internet course (first offered in 1993) has evolved into another popular lower-division undergraduate course, now called “Information in Cyberspace.” In 2002 the UT Office of the Provost formed the Bridging Disciplines Program (BDP), which offers concentrations that represent areas of innovative faculty research, teaching and collaboration at UT. A cross-college panel of faculty members guides each program concentration. (See more information at www.utexas.edu/ugs/bdp.) After completing 19 credit hours of coursework, research and internship experiences, students earn a certificate demonstrating a secondary area of specialization that complements the major. By studying an issue from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, they become more flexible, versatile thinkers, prepared for a professional world that values collaboration and innovation. Students in the BDP also gain access to unique research and internship experiences at UT and around the world, giving them hands-on experience applying what they have learned in the classroom. From 2003-2006 I taught two lower-division undergraduate courses of the BDP program. In Technology and the Global Community, team taught with a colleague from the College of Engineering, guest faculty from around campus discussed how technology had changed their fields and the way

学生を能動的学習者へと導く講義型授業の開発 : 学生の内面世界のダイナミックスをふまえた教授法的視点( 「教育」問題としての大学改革)

学生を能動的学習者へと導く講義型授業の開発 : 学生の内面世界のダイナミックスをふまえた教授法的視点( 「教育」問題としての大学改革)

Beyond word processing: Networked computers in ESL writing classes

Networks were introduced to English as a second language (ESL) classes only recently. Hence, to date, only a few empirical studies have investigated effects of networked computers on ESL student writing. This study compared ESL students in first-year English classes writing in two contexts: in a networked computer class and in a traditional lecture-style class. The aim was to determine which setting promoted better writing, more improvement in writing, and more peer and teacher feedback. First and final drafts of student papers were scored holistically, and the number of interactions during peer-review sessions was analyzed. The networked setting was shown to promote better writing and more peer and teacher feedback. The traditional setting was shown to promote more improvement in writing. This was attributed to first drafts in the networked classes being closer to students' maximal performance.

Integrating Theory and Practice into the Professional Responsibility Curriculum at the University of Texas

The University of Texas School of Law is a large law school with approximately 500 students in each class.1 Traditionally, students satisfy their professional responsibility requirement by taking a large lecture-style class of 80 to 160 students. In these large lecture classes, the students typically read an assignment from a traditional casebook and listen to a discussion between the professor and a necessarily small number of students about the courts' or the American Bar Association's (ABA's) view of a particular problem. Although an introduction of the rules and the celebrated cases has its place in a course on ethics, the students in the large class are never forced to work through a particular ethical dilemma with one-on-one feedback over a number of classes. Nor, for example, are they asked to simulate an actual lawyering task raising professional responsibility issues, such as drafting a client consent to a conflict of interest. This produces a new, usually relatively young, lawyer who may be abstractly familiar with the topics in ethics, but who has never examined in depth, or with any sense of concreteness, the manner in which he or she should address a problem of professional responsibility. Teaching ethics to the large class has always proved to be a great challenge for those of us who teach professional responsibility at Texas. The class is somewhat less satisfying than the other subjects that we teach even though most of us who teach ethics at Texas view the area as one of our primary interests. Many of us have tried different approaches to teaching the course to large

The Impact of Classroom Style on Student Attitudes toward Sales Careers: A Comparative Approach

It is suggested that a participative-style sales class rather than the more traditional lecture-style class may be beneficial in changing and improving students' attitudes toward sales positions. Implications for corporate sales recruiters and marketing faculty are offered.