Principles Course Research Articles

Bridging the Gap: Design Suggestions and Remediation Insights from a Curriculum Change in the Financial Accounting Series

ABSTRACT As part of a revision to the undergraduate business core curriculum, the typical two-course introductory series was condensed into one class, and an additional “bridge” course was created for students continuing to intermediate accounting. The transition period created a natural experiment to examine student success and retention in intermediate accounting and beyond. Compared with students who had completed six hours of principles courses and a gateway exam, students who completed this new course sequence scored higher on an incoming assessment in the new and more advanced first intermediate course. Further, the performance advantage is evident in higher exam grades in the first intermediate course, higher GPA in future accounting courses, greater retention of accounting majors, and gains in conversion to accounting. Although this curriculum change is somewhat unique, the results lend insights to accounting educators on how to address success and retention/gains of accounting students throughout intermediate accounting and beyond.

Decomposing a pre- post-test outcome to measure the effect of cooperative learning on student achievement

Using a quasi-experimental research design, we examine the efficacy of one type of cooperative learning pedagogy (think-pair-share exercises) in the microeconomic principles course. Students in the treatment group engaged in think-pair-share exercises with an assigned partner throughout the semester. Those in the control completed the same exercises but did so individually. All students took the Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE) at the beginning and end of the semester to allow us to determine any achievement gains and whether these gains differ by treatment. Following Walstad and Wagner (2016) and Smith and Wagner (2018), we decompose student performance to consider positive learning – adjusting for guessing – on the TUCE. We find no significant effect of cooperative learning on guessing-adjusted positive learning measures.

Teaching Reform & Exploration of Communication Principles Course under 5G Background

5G has put forward new requirements for the cultivation of telecommunications talents. As a core professional course for communication and electronics majors in colleges and universities, Communication Principles requires continuous reform based on the development of new communication technologies. This article analyzes the characteristics of 5G technology and education, taking the course Communication Principles as an example, analyzes the characteristics of the course and the current teaching situation, and carries out reforms and explorations in such aspects as structural adjustment of the key and difficult content of the theoretical course, combination of experimental links with Matlab virtual simulation, 5G communication training, and training and certification of 1+X certificates. Practice has shown that this teaching reform has improved the connection between theoretical teaching and practical application, improved students' ability to analyze and solve problems, and is more suitable for the cultivation of applied talents.

Using backward design to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive principles course

The economics profession has been working to become more open, inclusive, and welcoming. The introductory principles of economics courses provide a unique opportunity to teach students of the wider university the value of the field of economics. It is in this setting that instructors’ interactions with students show them a welcoming and diverse profession or confirm that economics provides a toolbox useful only to some. Using a careful backward course design and attention to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment, the following article’s author presents a principles of microeconomics course with the potential to illustrate to undergraduate students the value of a degree in economics for all students.

Examination of nursing diagnosis skills of students receiving online education: A cross-sectional study.

This study aims to examine the nursing diagnosis skills of students who took the case-based online nursing processes course during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study followed a descriptive and cross-sectional design. The participants were first-year students (n=148) enrolled in the nursing principles course in the spring semester of the 2020-2021 academic year in the nursing department of a university. The course on nursing processes was delivered online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of the course, students who volunteered to participate in the study developed nursing diagnoses for the cases assigned to them. The data were collected from the students using two forms and were evaluated using a form developed by the researchers. The data were analyzed with numeric and percentage calculations. Although 56.8% of the students stated that they had difficulty making nursing diagnoses, 56.8% of them thought online education was not useful. The most commonly made diagnoses by the students who participated in the study included hyperthermia (66.2%), ineffective breathing pattern (54.7%), risk of falling (39.9%), fatigue (34.5%), and anxiety (33.8%). It was also found that students were able to identify objective data more easily as diagnosis criteria, whereas they were not able to identify abstract concepts. It was seen that the students who participated in the study had low levels of nursing diagnoses. Based on the findings, it is recommended that different teaching methods be employed in the online nursing processes course, and these methods be evaluated in terms of their effects on students' learning outcomes. The online nursing process course should be made more efficient. First-year nursing students are not yet ready to identify nursing diagnoses in terms of knowledge and skills.

Study on the Teaching Model of Artificial Intelligence Principles Course Based on Discipline Integration and Industry-Education Integration

Artificial intelligence is one of the most promising and influential fields of science and technology in the current era. How to cultivate high-quality talents with artificial intelligence literacy and ability is an important issue faced by the education sector. This paper designs a teaching model of artificial intelligence principles course based on discipline integration and industry-education integration, and introduces the specific content of this teaching model from two aspects: theoretical teaching and practical teaching. The teaching practice effect is evaluated and feedback is given. The results show that this teaching model helps to improve students’ understanding, interest, practice and innovation of artificial intelligence. This paper has certain reference value and enlightenment for promoting the development and reform of artificial intelligence education.

ChatGPT has Aced the Test of Understanding in College Economics: Now What?

The Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE) is a standardized test of economics knowledge performed in the United States which primarily targets principles-level understanding. We asked ChatGPT to complete the TUCE. ChatGPT ranked in the 91st percentile for Microeconomics and the 99th percentile for Macroeconomics when compared to students who take the TUCE exam at the end of their principles course. The results show that ChatGPT is capable of providing answers that exceed the mean responses of students across all institutions. The emergence of artificial intelligence presents a significant challenge to traditional assessment methods in higher education. An important implication of this finding is that educators will likely need to redesign their curriculum in at least one of the following three ways: reintroduce proctored, in-person assessments; augment learning with chatbots; and/or increase the prevalence of experiential learning projects that artificial intelligence struggles to replicate well.

Online and offline blended teaching for a database principles course

The advantages of traditional offline teaching and emerging online teaching in a database principles course were examined to assess the efficacies of online and offline blended teaching. A three-pronged design strategy—theoretical teaching, practical teaching, and diverse assessment methods—was introduced. Further, to improve the theoretical and practical teaching effects, a combination of online resources, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), Chaoxing platform, QQ group were utilized with student-centered offline teaching. A total of 130 students from the 2020 Software Engineering major Classes 1–4 in Yanshan University participated in the study. The diverse assessment results showed that compared with the traditional offline teaching control class, the teaching effects of the blended teaching were significantly better.

Determining the Nursing Interventions First-Year Nursing Students Want to Perform in Clinical Practices: A Cross-Sectional Study

It is important in clinical education that nursing students make nursing interventions. The study was planned to determine the nursing interventions that first-year students carry out to do in clinical practice. The study is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. The population of the study consisted of first-year nursing students. The study data were collected using the Student Introduction Form and Nursing Interventions Form. When the nursing interventions related to the patient's vital signs were examined, it was determined that the majority of the students wanted to perform these interventions before and after the clinical practice. It was determined that the majority of the students wanted to perform some or a few of the nursing interventions before and after clinical practice, which were related to the patient's individual hygiene, urinary excretion, and bowel emptying needs. It was determined that the nursing interventions that the first-year students wanted to perform in line with the theoretical knowledge they gained in the nursing principles course were mostly the assessment of vital signs, drug administration, intravenous administration, and nursing interventions aimed at meeting the nutritional, respiratory and movement needs of the patient. It was determined that nursing interventions aimed at meeting the urinary and bowel emptying needs were desired a little or very little by the majority of the students.

Kiva: wow, $10 million!

Research methodology This compact case is based on secondary, published information about the Kiva organization, both in book and article format, listed in the reference list at the end of this teaching note. In addition, the authors accessed the Kiva website using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. This allowed to view Kiva’s webpages when they were a startup organization. Case overview/synopsis Kiva’s co-founder, Jessica Jackley, is offered $10m by the corporate social responsibility director of a large technology firm. Students discuss why Jessica hesitates to accept the $10m and explore the meaningful application of a nonprofit’s mission statement and the concepts of mission creep and mission drift. The case can be read in class for immediate discussion or assigned outside of class. Ultimately, the students decide and defend whether Jessica should accept the $10m on behalf of Kiva. In the strategic management sections, students were split 35% accept and 65% do not accept which produced a rich discussion. Complexity academic level This compact case has been used in several sections of the capstone strategic management course composed of senior, undergraduate and business majors. This case is used early in the course as an application of the mission and values chapter. This case could also be used in management courses in entrepreneurship, nonprofit organizations and principles.

Teaching Design of Electrochemical Principles Course Based on “Cognitive Laws”: Kinetics of electron transfer steps

Teaching Design of Electrochemical Principles Course Based on “Cognitive Laws”: Kinetics of electron transfer steps

Research Status and Enlightenment of Case Teaching Method——Taking the Course of Principles of Chinese Pedagogy as an Example

The course "Principles of Pedagogy" is a compulsory public course in China's normal universities and serves as a fundamental course for teacher certification. The quality of training normal school students is directly impacted by the teaching effect of this course. However, due to the course's excessive concept and objective limitations such as teaching duration and class size, most universities still employ traditional teaching models, resulting in an unsatisfactory teaching effect. This article aims to clarify the research review of case-based teaching methods, summarize the current research situation of using case-based teaching methods in the course of pedagogy principles, and propose suggestions for using case-based teaching methods in current Chinese universities to carry out pedagogy principles courses. The goal is to provide a reference for relevant research and teaching.

Exploration and research of the industry-education integration teaching model for communication principles course

Exploration and research of the industry-education integration teaching model for communication principles course

Is Translation Always Transfer? Challenging the Dominant Conceptual Metaphor in African Bible Translation Training

This paper considers the conceptualization of translation in Katharine Barnwell’s Bible Translation: An Introductory Course in Translation Principles, a popular textbook for Bible translation training programs in Africa. The recurring conceptual metaphors in this text are identified, and the metaphor TRANSLATION IS TRANSFER is analyzed. This research stems from the need to develop African Bible translators who conceptualize translation using concepts (metaphors) in their languages that are indicative of what activity they embark on in translation work. Reading through some of the training materials in use on the continent (specifically Anglophone), there seem to be relatively few that have explored the conceptual tools used by indigenous Africans to think and talk about translation. There is thus a need to investigate the conceptual metaphors used by Africans in their various cultures to conceptualize translation. The implications of this research appeal to trainers of translators to rethink not just the methodological approach to Bible translation programs in Africa but also the contents of course materials.

Online Homework Intelligent Platform Based on Self-Regulated Learning (SRL): Essential for Sustainable Development of Online Higher Education

Online higher education has become a steadily more popular way of learning for university students in the post-pandemic era. It has been emphasized that active learning and interactive communication are key factors in achieving effective performance in online learning. However, due to the lack of learning motivation of students and the lack of feedback data in online learning, there are numerous problems, such as the weak self-discipline of students, unsatisfactory learning experience, a high plagiarism rate of homework, and the low utilization of online teaching resources. In this study, an online homework intelligent platform implemented by information technology (IT) was proposed. It was based on the pedagogical self-regulated learning (SRL) strategy as a theoretical foundation, and information technology as a driver. Through setting online homework assignments, a sustainable means of promoting the four components of the SRL strategy, i.e., self-disciplinary control, independent thinking, reflective learning, and interest development, can be provided to university students. Therefore, this study explained the “4A” functions in the platform and analysed the details of their implementation and value, such as assistance in locating resources, assignment of differentiated homework, assessment of warning learning, and achievement of sharing. After three years of continuous improvements since COVID-19, this online platform has been successfully applied to students and teachers at our university and other pilot universities. A comparison of student teaching data, questionnaire responses and teacher interviews from the Computer Composition Principles course illustrated the sustainability as well as the effectiveness of the method.

Intellectual property and quality of education: Exploring the academic integrity among medical students

This article offers an innovative course for building and improving knowledge on plagiarism. The tasks were as follows: (1) analyze existing knowledge about intellectual property and plagiarism among medical students before and after taking the special course; (2) examine the causes affecting students’ intellectual property infringement. To assess the awareness of academic integrity and plagiarism among medical students, the author’s questionnaire was used. The sample consisted of 658 students who were divided into two groups. The mean age was 22.41 ± 0.63 years (group 1) and 26.31 ± 0.83 years (group 2). In order to raise awareness of intellectual property and plagiarism, Intellectual Property in Medicine course was offered. The level of duplicate publication and compilation fell. The number of students who believe plagiarism is a moral issue increased. Plagiarism is mostly caused by: Large scale digitization; lack of special knowledge; the status value of academic titles; and low pay. The research findings make it possible to integrate courses on intellectual property and plagiarism into higher education, which will improve knowledge and high quality of education. There are also plans to introduce an online course in The Unified Anti-Plagiarism Principles in Higher Education for university students to improve knowledge and skills in dealing with aspects of plagiarism.

A short-run Keynesian model of the COVID-19 recession for Econ 101

Using a simple short-run macroeconomic model of aggregate supply–aggregate demand, an intuitive explanation is offered for the COVID-19 recession in the US in 2020 — one that is appropriate for an economic principles course. The model illustrates the aggregate supply and aggregate demand shocks, with shifts in the short-run aggregate supply and aggregate demand curves, and accounts for the changes in real national output and the aggregate price level over the relevant economic quarters of 2020.

Practice of Management Principles Course Integrated into Ideological and Political Teaching

Management is one of the important courses for undergraduate majors in management and economics. It scientifically explains the operation laws and management methods of various organizations and provides methodological guidance for other disciplines. In the teaching process, integrate ideological and political elements with professional knowledge, help students establish cultural value orientation and social responsibility, cultivate students’ professional quality, dialectical thinking, communication ability, teamwork and innovation ability. This paper discusses the deployment of ideological and political education in the principles of management course from the aspects of the teaching status of management course, the significance of integrating ideological and political education, the training objectives of the course, the implementation methods and ways of the course, in order to provide corresponding guidance and reference for the implementation of ideological and political education in other professional courses.

It takes a Village: Team Teaching in an Integrated and Spiraled Medical Sciences Curriculum

Medical education continues to evolve with more schools adopting integrated, systems‐based curricula with reduced basic sciences contact hours in favor of more clinical content. While the reduced basic sciences time may jeopardize student competency, there are opportunities to impactfully integrate and teach basic sciences in an evidence‐based way to promote long‐term retention and higher‐ordered usage of the learned knowledge. This involves a multidisciplinary team approach to curricular design and collaborative teaching.Foundational Principles course at the University of Colorado School of Medicine was intentionally designed as an integrated, spiral curriculum to expose the new students to the ten basic sciences contents at the introductory level, presented within the clinical framework. Each week of the course starts with a common chief concern (muscle weakness for example), and the classes during the week present various subjects such as anatomy, physiology, histopathology, and embryology of neuromusculature that students will need to learn to support patients. Therefore, all the classes during the week require subject experts to work as a team to organize and sequence the classes to support the most effective and impactful learning in students. At the end of each week, students complete a low‐stakes assessment to identify knowledge gaps. The highly integrated nature of each week therefore also requires subject experts to work as a team to construct valid and reliable integrated assessments.The positive aspects of the educators’ teamwork in the integrated spiral curriculum include: 1) identification and consolidation of redundant content coverage or discrepancies; 2) team teaching opportunities leading to a dynamic and interactive learning experience for students to understand the connections among multiple disciplines; 3) opportunities to role‐model for students how professional colleagues from different fields handoff, communicate and collaborate; 4) intentional placement of fundamental concepts taught by different subject experts later in the course for spaced learning; 5) learning and professional development of faculty from interdisciplinary collaboration. Some of the major challenges with the curriculum that demands robust teamwork are scheduling meetings that work for all team members, buy‐in from all team members, and negotiating contact hours for various subjects. Several collaborative software and resources such as virtual meetings, and a platform for sharing documents and instant communications are critical in orchestrating such a curriculum.Students’ performance in weekly assessments and the comprehensive end‐of‐course exam indicate excellent learning outcomes. Students’ evaluation of the course suggests that the team‐based approach to the integrated spiral curricular design and team teaching were well received, however, opportunities to enhance the course were also identified such as better curation and clear communication of the depth of multiple disciplines students need to learn each week. Deliberately signposting how each disciplines intersect, especially if the related subjects are not team‐taught, is another area to enhance to support student learning.A multidisciplinary team approach to curricular design and teaching presents opportunities to effectively teach and reintegrate basic sciences into the medical curricula.

‘I can’t unsee what I’ve seen:’ Doing Social Justice Pedagogy in the research methods classroom

ABSTRACT Discourse surrounding social justice pedagogy (SJP) as a means of addressing the historic inequities in education is increasing in education research. Qualitative research, however, examining experiences of educators doing SJP is still lacking, particularly in higher education. We trained three faculty instructors of undergraduate research courses in principles of SJP and several classroom activities grounded in these principles. Analysis of critically-reflexive reflections and interviews revealed four themes related to doing SJP: Intentionality; Vulnerability; Holding Tension; and Meaningful Teaching Experience. Findings provide an intrapersonal framework for doing SJP and implications for supportive learning circles and institutional support.