Sections Of Courses Research Articles

Forbidden Botany

Forbidden Botany is a game, modeled after Taboo, that lets students think factually and conceptually about definitions and identify gaps in their botanical vocabulary while building upon the knowledge they have already acquired. Students typically struggle with learning botanical terms because they can be lineage specific and may be novel to students upon introduction. Throughout much of biological education, botanical sections of courses tend to be presented in a much less exciting way than animal counterparts and with relatively less frequency, resulting in less botanical knowledge and appreciation. This interactive game was developed for undergraduate biology to provide greater exposure to botanical terminology, combat plant awareness disparity, and aid in plant identification.

Plan E for Education: open access to educational materials created in publicly funded universities

Plan E for Education is my proposal that a proportion of the educational resources generated in publicly funded universities be made freely available for sharing and use by others. Thus, high quality education, produced through public funding, could be made available to other universities and individual autodidacts and for the development of innovative educational delivery methods. This would be the educational equivalent of initiatives that require publicly funded research to be published in open access journals or platforms. Available educational resources would involve whole or sections of courses including assessments, not just isolated resources. Plan E would require the establishment and curation of open repositories and might consider a peer review system for educational materials to mirror that already used for research publications. Academic credit could then flow to those who publish and review educational resources and extend to other academic input such as updating the work and creating instructional materials. There is considerable expertise and enthusiasm for, as well as successful examples of, open access education globally, but this is unevenly spread, and its adoption is hindered by factors at institutional and individual educator levels. Most university-generated educational material is still kept behind institutional paywalls. If we accept the need for change so that, as for research outputs, educational resources become open to access, Plan E might provide the global impetus for such change and make a contribution to reducing inequality in access to higher education.

The State of Reading in Tertiary Institutions: A Pragmatic Analysis of a Ghanaian University

Positive attitude towards learning, ability to independently think and work, ability to inquire, good command over English language are often considered characteristics of a tertiary education student. To excel, the student must be able to read and make meaning out of what is read as reading underlies all forms of academic study and is crucial to academic success (Grabe, 2009). This study investigated the state of reading among tertiary education students. The sequential explanatory mixed method design was employed for the study. Systematic and convenient sampling techniques were used to sample 1169 students from which data was sought through the use of questionnaire and observation check list. Data was analysed using both descriptive (frequency counts, means and standard deviation) and inferential (t-test and ANOVA) statistics. The study findings indicated the existence of poor reading attitude among tertiary education students as the reading culture of majority of the students was the reading of their course materials only. To improve reading habits among tertiary students, recommendations provided include: sensitization of lecturers and students, giving tasks that require students to read beyond their course materials and presentation of greater sections of courses through individual and group presentation to enhance their development of good and critical reading skills and ensure improvement in their reading habits.

COVID-19 Effects on Communication Course and Faculty Evaluations

Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are utilized by universities as one component in assessing course effectiveness, despite evidence in the research regarding their validity. With the global COVID-19 pandemic, many universities rapidly transitioned teaching modalities from face-to-face to online learning, regardless of the faculty experience. This study investigates the effects on SETs of the rapid transition in teaching modalities for all sections of courses occurring during COVID-19 compared with all sections of courses taught within a Communication department at a large public research university over the past 8 years. The results indicate moderate effects from the rapid transition to online learning.

An Honors Teacher Like Me: Effects of Access to Same-Race Teachers on Black Students’ Advanced-Track Enrollment and Performance

Using rich administrative data from North Carolina and school-course fixed effects models, this study explores whether the availability of same-race instructors in advanced-track sections of courses affects Black high school students’ enrollment in, and performance in, advanced-track courses. The availability of at least one Black instructor at the advanced level is associated with a 2 percentage point increase in the uptake of advanced courses for Black students. However, conditional on enrollment in the advanced track, Black students are no more likely to pass advanced-track courses when taught by Black teachers. Positive effects on enrollment are driven by enrollment shifts for higher achieving students. Additional analyses showing benefits to non-Black students suggest that the main channels are not race-specific role model effects.

Contributing Factors on the Effectiveness of Delivering Business Technology Courses: On-Ground Versus Online

Enrollment in online college courses in the United States has grown by about 5% from 2012 to 2016. This paper examines course design and student performance data to research whether instructors can delivery on-ground and online sections of a business technology course with the same effectiveness. Authors address this paper’s research question by analyzing five pairs of on-ground and online sections of business technology courses. Each of the five pairs of business technology course, has data analytics projects as part of the course content, is taught by the same instructor with the same details of course contents in the same quarter. Overall results of this paper suggest that, with proper training and support of technology, an instructor can deliver both the on-ground and online sections of a business technology course with the same effectiveness as measured by students’ grade points. Further analysis shows that this result applies to female and male students, respectively. Female (male) students learn equally well in on-ground and online. This paper contributes to the literature by discussing some contributing factors on the effectiveness of delivering online business technology courses. Authors suggest that other than technology such as LockDown Browser or Respondus Monitor, continuous placement of the same instructor with Quality Matters training to teach both the on-ground and online sections of a course is crucial to success. Results of this paper consequently provide practical implications to instructors, academic advisers, and administrators of universities.

Laboratory Assignments and Their Impact on Final Examination Grades: An Online Research Methods/Statistics Course

Over the last decade, enrollment in online courses has tripled. However, the delivery of online sections of courses that typically require laboratory work on campus can present a challenge. The present study has two goals: (1) describe the laboratory assignments for an online version of an undergraduate research methods course, and (2) assess the extent to which learning in the laboratory assignments is related to grades on the final examination. Participants were 108 students completing an online course in research methods/statistics in a Carnegie Research Extensive University. Students chose a sample of 40 offenders from an online public database, the Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS), entered the data into an Excel file, and used the Excel® Data Analysis Toolkit to produce both descriptive statistics and to test a series of hypotheses including the predictors of violent offending. The dependent variable is the scores on the final examination, and the independent variable was the grades received on six laboratory assignments. Control variables included grades on a preliminary 1-hr examination and sex. In a bivariate regression, laboratory and grades explained 13% of the variance in final examination grades. However, in a multiple regression analysis, controlling for other variables, the grade on the laboratory assignments was unrelated to final examination grades. The model explained 47% of the variance in final examination grades. Standard laboratory assignments were successfully delivered in an online environment, but grades on laboratory assignments were not an independent predictor of final examination grades. Further work is needed for other fields and educational contexts.

A Study of the Effectiveness of Blackboard Collaborate for Conducting Synchronous Courses at Multiple Locations

This paper will analyze the experience the author had in teaching Discrete Mathematics using Blackboard Collaborate, videoconferencing software that allowed students at various locations in the United States to take part in live regular class sessions. The course was designed to test the feasibility of carrying out a course using only remote synchronous connections between instructor and students, and to gain firsthand experience in the process. Park University, the author’s institution, currently delivers asynchronous distance education to more than 20,000 students worldwide. The University currently uses eCollege and eCompanion as its main software platform for course delivery. Park University has also more than 40 campus centers at various locations in the United States where face-to-face instruction is offered in various disciplines. Blackboard Collaborate software was recently acquired to be used as an administrative tool. Given this context, the main motivations for the development of this course were: • The desire to increase student enrollment by fighting fragmentation of student population. This condition appears when sections of the same course are cancelled due to low enrollment at various campus centers. Linking students from various campus centers in a synchronous course would avoid eliminating these sections and satisfy course loads. • The desire to provide added sections of courses that may not be offered regularly at campus centers due to unavailability of credentialed faculty for the specific disciplines. • The low appeal for online offerings amongst a significant number of campus center students. • The desire to increase the quantity of course offerings at campus centers and limit the number of cancellations to improve customer service.

Choosing Between Online and Face-to-Face Courses: Community College Student Voices

In this study, community college students discussed their experiences with online and face-to-face learning as well as their reasons for selecting online (rather than face-to-face) sections of specific courses. Students reported lower levels of instructor presence in online courses and that they needed to “teach themselves.” Accordingly, most students preferred to take only “easy” academic subjects online; they preferred to take “difficult” or “important” subjects face-to-face. To meet students’ needs, then, colleges need to either more explicitly build instructor presence and guidance into online courses or continue to provide ample face-to-face sections of courses for those students who prefer them.

Comprehensive approach to student sectioning

Student sectioning is the problem of assigning students to particular sections of courses they request while respecting constraints such as course structures, section limits, and reserved spaces. Students may also provide preferences on class times and course alternatives. In this paper, three approaches to this problem are examined and combined in order to tackle it on a practical level: student sectioning during course timetabling, batch sectioning after a complete timetable is developed, and online sectioning for making additional changes to student schedules. An application and some practical results of the proposed solutions based on actual data are also included.

Evaluating Infused Content in a Merged Special Education and General Education Teacher Preparation Program

Integrating or infusing topics across a teacher preparation program is often seen as being desirable. This article describes an evaluation process that was used to assess the degree to which all core courses in an initial teacher preparation program integrated special education, technology, and issues of cultural diversity into a general education curriculum. The participatory utilization-focused evaluation process is described in detail. This process allowed the faculty to become more focused and purposeful about their work, safely examine their instructional content and practices, clarify the program across multiple sections of courses, and use the evaluation as a springboard for conversations about program foundations and philosophical debates.

Predicting Music Appreciation with Past Emotional Responses to Music

This study is an exploration of the musical backgrounds and beliefs of nonmusicians and the relationship of these variables to music appreciation factors. Subjects were 533 college students enrolled in 17 sections of courses in Music Appreciation and Music for Classroom Teachers. Subjects completed a questionnaire regarding their musical backgrounds, preferences, and beliefs and then heard and responded to four highly expressive classical music excerpts. Data analyses indicated significant relationships between certain musical background factors and responsiveness to classical music. More specifically, past emotional experience with classical music was a reliable predictor of music appreciation, as measured by appropriate recognition of expression and willingness to listen to classical music on one's own time. Implications are drawn regarding approaches for teaching classical music to nonmusicians, including increased focus on expressive qualities in music listening experiences.

Case study of the physics component of an integrated curriculum

Over a four-year time span, several departments at North Carolina State University offered experimental sections of courses taken by freshman engineering students. The acronym IMPEC (Integrated Math, Physics, Engineering, and Chemistry curriculum) describes which classes were involved. This paper discusses the physics component of the curriculum and describes the impact of the highly collaborative, technology-rich, activity-based learning environment on a variety of conceptual and problem-solving assessments and attitude measures. Qualitative and quantitative research results indicate that students in the experimental courses outperformed their cohorts in demographically matched traditional classes, often by a wide margin. Student satisfaction and confidence rates were remarkably high. We also noted substantial increases in retention and success rates for groups underrepresented in science, math, and engineering. Placing students in the same teams across multiple courses appears to have been the most beneficial aspect of the learning environment.

Teaching software: Is the supervised laboratory effective?

This paper details an empirical study and its results dealing with the need or wisdom of universities and colleges to include laboratory sections of courses that are offered to teach contemporary software. There was no significant difference found in the knowledge gained for those students who participated in a laboratory in addition to a lecture/demonstration, but the students who participated in the laboratory completed their projects more quickly. The study is important for universities and colleges who are under significant pressure to reduce cost by pedagogical options while still maintaining the quality of personal attention and effectiveness demanded by the American public.

A Sectioning Algorithm

AbstractAn algorithm is discussed for assigning students to sections of courses in such a way that the enrolments in the sections of a course are kept nearly equal. The algorithm incorporates facilities to treat a wide variety of special conditions which may be placed on some courses. The term time-slot is used to refer to the set of meeting times of a section of a course; conflicts in meeting times are detected by the algorithm using a Boolean incidence matrix of time-slots. Using an initial ordering of a student's courses by the number of sections of each course, the algorithm assigns sections of these courses sequentially. If the initial choices of sections do not lead to a successful schedule, a back-up routine selects courses which are likely candidates for alternate assignment. An actual implementation of the algorithm has demonstrated its effectiveness.