Student-centered Environment Research Articles

DJ Prof: Mixing instructional modes to improve student learning

Active learning encompasses a broad variety of activities designed to engage students with material while instructors are present to answer questions. In contrast, traditional lecture instruction is passive, and students' initial interaction with material is relegated to homework, which is often completed alone. Freeman et al.'s meta-analysis of 225 studies comparing lecture and active learning concluded that active learning is the "preferred empirically validated teaching practice" and showed that active learning courses have significantly lower failure rates than lecture courses [PNAS, 2014]. Incorporating proven active learning techniques into acoustics courses will improve student learning. In Acoustics Today [2016], John Buck, Jill Nelson, and I compared the professor in an active learning course to a DJ mixing different modes of instruction. DJ Prof designs a student-centered environment combining collaborative in-class exercises, short lecture segments, online video examples, and reading assignments. If you're an active learning skeptic, this talk will highlight empirical evidence of its benefits. If you're interested in getting started with active learning, this talk will suggest easy exercises to try. If you're an experienced DJ Prof, this talk will provide examples to amp up your pedagogical playlist.

3–4 KLASIŲ MOKINIŲ ARGUMENTAVIMO GEBĖJIMŲ UGDYMAS PAŽĮSTANT VIETOVĘ

Educational institutions task - to create a student-centred environment that is able to choose and pursue their individual learning goals. The schoolenvronment is defined as the socio-cultural education authority area in which the permanent, versatile children's education and self-education process. Students orientation environment and its impact on the student's personal maturation and direct educational outcomes studied a number of Lithuanian and foreign scientists. The thesis is selected according to the students' orientation skills relevant to the problems that many Lithuanian general education schools. Defined labour problem that does not know how to effectively develop the 3-4 grade students' management skills. The main and primary goal - organizing educational activities based on experiential learning to develop students' grades 3-4 orienteering and argumentation skills in the environment. Involve analysis of scientific literature, 3-4 grade students conducted a survey, which aimed to help the students get a basic understanding, knowledge and skills of orienteering and argumentation environment. Upon receipt of the completed questionnaires to the children - they were analyzedand made certain conclusions about 3-4 grade student orientation environment capabilities. Results of the study show that students in grades 3-4 all important orienteering and argumentation skills. According to the study results, providing a further 3-4 grade students orienteering and argumentation skills development opportunities. It is important that the method develop is not a goal in itself, but a real and successful adaptation of the universal of the system. Keywords: learning goals, management skills, scientific literature.

Training Students’ Innovative and Critical Thinking Capabilities via Flipped Classroom Strategy—The Courses of General Chemistry as Examples

In this work, a systematic approach to develop the teaching of general education courses via flipped classroom strategy is discussed. A series course of general chemistry is taken as examples for discussion. A conceptual framework for organizing and executing three-in-one combination teaching and studying systems, i.e., in-out class studying, on-off line studying, theoretical-practical studying, is presented. Problem based learning (PBL) and cooperative learning (CL) methods are applied. Overall, a student-centered environment is proposed which aims to train students’ innovative and critical thinking capabilities.

Awakening Student Ownership: Transitioning to a Student-Centered Environment

“DOES OUR MASK HAVE TO LOOK LIKE THAT?” “I want to make mine a sparkly unicorn!” These were the types of statements I fought against all year as my 8th-graders reluctantly sculpted and painted West...

Design and development of an information technology fundamentals multimedia courseware for dynamic learning environment

This research proposed and developed a multimedia courseware in Information Technology (IT) Fundamentals based on the dynamic learning environment which provides self-paced learning material for IT Fundamentals students. Further, this study asked the participation of faculty members to contribute lecture materials and recommend presentation for each lecture material that were suggested while past students were tapped to contribute localized questions and problems that were included in the quiz database. In addition, this research addresses the challenges in creating a learning module that caters the needs of different types of learners in a student-centered environment employing educational materials that were displayed in various formats which enable students to interact with the materials being presented as needed in their own time. The proponents utilized the descriptive and developmental research design. Descriptive was used to de?ine the needed requirements as an input in the development of the proposed multimedia courseware. These requirements were processed through different phases using developmental research namely: (1) planning phase, (2) development phase, (3) validation phase, (4) acceptance phase, and (5) output phase. The result of the validity and acceptability showed that faculty members and students agree on the content and features of the proposed multimedia courseware. The validity and acceptability test indicate positive acceptance from both faculty members and students, however, there are still rooms for improvement before gaining maximum acceptance from the students.

The Effect of Content-Based Approach in Student vs. Teacher-Centered Environment on Improving Speaking among Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

<p>Speaking is the most important skill of language. Speaking a language is especially difficult for foreign language learners because effective oral communication requires the ability to use the language appropriately in social interactions, and in suitable context and situation. Purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Iranian intermediate EFL learners who learn speaking based on content approach in student-centered environment and their learning in the traditional teacher-centered environment. To this end, there are two classes, one as the experimental and the other as the control one. The same teacher taught them both. The subjects were all homogenous regarding their age, gender, and first language. During the experiment, the experimental group, who were in the environment of content-based approach in student-centered, was received quizzes. The results indicated that a statistically significant positive relationship existed between giving the students the central role in content-based approach class and yielding in better performance of speaking ability. The results revealed the positive relationship between content-based approach in student-centered class and the improvement of EFL Iranian students’ speaking ability. Preparation of such a system for teaching speaking to learners, learning English as a foreign language will facilitate the teaching and learning process for both teachers and learners.</p>

Writing Code to Assess Geometric Reasoning

Engage students and promote thinking in a student-centered environment that is rich with technology.

Bloom’s Taxonomy, Backward Design, and Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development in Crafting Learning Outcomes

<p>This article aims to present some fresh insights into one of the milestones in the field of education. For sixty years, Bloom’s taxonomy has been one of the most significant tools used in course design as it provides a rigorous framework for crafting learning outcomes and designing both assessment tasks and instructional activities aligned with these learning outcomes. Though not a panacea for all problems of course design and educational assessment, when meticulously understood and wisely used in a student-centered environment which integrates the taxonomy with other useful approaches and tools such as backward design and Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD), Bloom’s taxonomy could provide an invaluable and indispensable roadmap for crafting effective learning outcomes that drive the whole process of course design. </p>

Promoting interprofessionalism: initial evaluation of a master of science in health professions education degree program.

This survey study assessed former students’ perceptions on the efficacy of how well a newly implemented master’s in health professions education degree program achieved its academic aims. These academic aims were operationalized by an author-developed scale to assess the following domains: a) developing interprofessional skills and identity; b) acquiring new academic skills; and c) providing a student-centered environment. The respondents represented a broad range of health care providers, including physicians, nurses, and occupational and physical therapists. Generalizability-theory was applied to partition the variance of the scores. Student’s overwhelmingly responded that the program successfully achieved its academic aims.

DESIGN CULTURE SUBJECTS OF EDUCATION AS A NECESSARY COMPONENT OF PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN

Successful instructional design of the educational process depends on the direct formation of design culture education community and the design of each of the subjects. This article is based on the confirmation of the necessity of forming argumentalnom design culture of the educational community to achieve a deep humanistic goals of the educational process, which implies designing student-centered environment of the education system. The authors talk about the design, as a condition of becoming personal educational content, display signs of identity, as the subject of design, mastered the design culture. This conclusion is based on the analysis of the characteristics of the formed personality, modern criteria for assessing the level of education of mankind.

Novice Students and Computer Programming: Toward Constructivist Pedagogy

In order to develop computer programmings skills: critical thought, problem solving, attention to detail, accuracy and abstract thinking are required. Unfortunately, many novice students at universities within South Africa have not developed such skills in their formative years. This is often due to the fact that many of them have been part of a schooling system that does not teach students how to think critically or how to solve problems. Consequently, they find it difficult to acquire these skills at a post-secondary level and they are often at risk of failing computer programming modules. Furthermore, traditional pedagogies used at post-secondary level often do not provide an opportunity for students to develop the skills needed to write programs. Such pedagogies are often teacher-centric, which do not encourage students to develop critical thinking. This paper aims to demonstrate that adopting an alternative pedagogy, namely social constructivism, can assist students in cultivating the skills needed for computer programming. The pedagogy was applied only to students who were at risk of failing a computer programming module. It encouraged a student-centred environment, where active learning, student collaboration and metacognition were promoted. The data clearly indicates that adopting such pedagogy provides an opportunity for students to improve their computer programing skills. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n14p240

Service Quality Evaluation: A Systems Thinking Approach

Institutions of higher learning have introduced innovative strategies to attract and retain fee paying students. One of the strategies has been the rending of a quality service to a student-centred environment. The goal of this paper is to report on the use of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH) techniques in gaining a greater understanding of the issues associated with evaluation of service quality at a university in South Africa. The study adopts a qualitative paradigm whereby an action research approach was implemented. A purposive convenience sampling technique was chosen and the findings of the study revealed that the participants had gained a greater understanding of the issues associated with evaluation of service quality via the use of the techniques employed in the study. The contribution of this paper is in the demonstration of SSM and CSH techniques applied and the lessons learned from the application thereof.

Challenges in a Physics Course: Introducing Student-Centred Activities for Increased Learning.

This article identifies and analyses some of the challenges that arose in a development process of changing from a content-based teaching environment to a student-centred environment in an undergraduate physics course for medicine and biology students at Universidad de los Andes. Through the use of the Critical Research model proposed by Skovsmose and Borba, the development process was formed as a close cooperation between academics and researchers in both the construction of pedagogical changes and the responses to particular educational problems during the process. The analyses of the development process highlight a number of difficulties in relation to the introduction of specific student-centred approaches in relation to both the structure of the course and the conception of the content of the course.

Challenges in a Physics Course: Introducing Student-Centred Activities for Increased Learning

This article identifies and analyses some of the challenges that arose in a development process of changing from a content-based teaching environment to a student-centred environment in an undergraduate physics course for medicine and biology students at Universidad de los Andes. Through the use of the Critical Research model proposed by Skovsmose and Borba, the development process was formed as a close co-operation between academics and researchers in both the construction of pedagogical changes and the responses to particular educational problems during the process. The analyses of the development process highlight a number of difficulties in relation to the introduction of specific student-centred approaches in relation to both the structure of the course and the conception of the content of the course.

Preventing Information Overload: Cognitive Load Theory as an Instructional Framework for Teaching Pharmacology

Nursing students are challenged by content-laden curricula and learning environments that emphasize testing outcomes. Likewise, educators are challenged to support student-centered learning in a manner that encourages students to connect and act upon their personal motivations. This article describes the use of cognitive load theory (CLT) as an instructional design framework for an undergraduate pharmacology for nursing course. Guided by the principles of CLT, four instructional strategies were used in this course: (a) opening review activities, (b) providing students with lecture notes, (c) a "Top Five" prototype approach, and (d) deciphering "Need to Knows" from "Nice to Knows." Instructional style and strategies received positive student feedback and were found to promote a student-centered environment and active learning. On the basis of this feedback, cognitive load theory may be a successful and effective framework for undergraduate pharmacology and other nursing courses, thus assisting students and educators alike in overcoming obstacles imposed on learning environments.

Transformational Approach to Infusing American Sign Language and Deaf Perspectives in Humanities Education

Society's views largely impact the Deaf population's ability to thrive. The traditional disability imparts a negative, individualistic view of a medical impairment needing remediation, while the more current fosters a positive, collective view of a whole person with a rich language and culture. American Sign Language (ASL), identified by linguists as a true natural language distinct from spoken English, is the heart of American Deaf culture. Society benefits from education and increased cultural understanding between non-Deaf professionals and the Deaf community. This paper provides a rationale and a model for infusing study of ASL and Deaf cultural perspectives following the culturo-linguistic model across all disciplines in higher education Humanities programs. This model prepares students as future professionals and prepares current working professionals to embrace Deaf perspectives, to better communicate with the Deaf community, and to provide a higher quality of service. Key features of a successful American Sign Language program in the humanities include a practical application and approach to teaching ASL and Deaf culture, authority figures as educators, a student-centered environment, direct connections to the local Deaf community, and collaboration across disciplines.

The Benefits of Management and Organisation: A Case Study in Young Language Learners’ Classrooms

This study focuses on primary language education within a Greek region: specifically, on the positive effects of classroom management and organisation on a student-centred approach of teaching. In the case of the Greek education system, language teachers are encouraged to adopt student-centred approaches in their classroom but have not received any guidance on how to do so. Language educators are reluctant to abandon their teacher-centred ways, because they have not been trained to apply classroom management and organisation techniques that could support a student-centred environment.

Challenges in Teaching Russian Students to Speak English

This paper addresses the challenges brought about by the fact that the English language in modern is mostly taught by non-native English speakers in the context of classic ‘teacher-textbook-student’ paradigm. It also highlights the significance of shifting from this teacher-centered approach to EFL teaching and learning process, and presents the results of a teaching experiment aimed at creating a student-centered environment in a language classroom. We suggested that presenting the results of students’ research projects in the form of English-language video films can be an effective means of expanding students’ learning opportunities and eliminating some weaknesses of the artificial language learning environment. After five-year observations over more than 500 students learning EFL at the Petrozavodsk State University (PetrSU) and 20 non-native English-speaking teachers of the same University, we conducted a teaching experiment, which involved 22 students of the History Department and 28 students of the Law Department and resulted in creating two video films on professionally oriented topics chosen by the students and aligned with their fields of study. Our study revealed that students’ filmmaking is an effective tool to support not only such traditional methods as computer-based learning, presentation, research, but also such innovative kinds of work as multimedia or animated presentations. Therefore, making videos in a foreign language proves to be a highly productive way of acquiring English language skills through the use of technology.

Using a Systematic Approach To Develop a Chemistry Course Introducing Students to Instrumental Analysis

A systematic approach to develop the teaching of instrumental analytical chemistry is discussed, as well as a conceptual framework for organizing and executing lectures and a laboratory course. Three main components are used in this course: theoretical knowledge developed in the classroom, simulations via a virtual laboratory, and practical training via experimentation. Problem-based learning and cooperative-learning methods are applied in both the classroom and laboratory aspects of the course. In addition, some reflections and best practices are presented on how to encourage students to learn actively. Overall, a student-centered environment is proposed that aims to cultivate students’ practical abilities and individual talents.

Understanding social learning relations of international students in a large classroom using social network analysis

A common assumption in higher education is that international students find it difficult to develop learning and friendship relations with host students. When students are placed in a student-centred environment, international students from different cultural backgrounds are “forced” to work together with other students, which allows students to learn from different perspectives. However, large lecture rooms may provide fewer opportunities for students to work together in small groups. The purpose of this article is to understand how 191 international students from 34 cultural backgrounds and 16 host students build learning and friendship relations in a large classroom of 207 students. We have used an innovative mixed-method design of social network analysis in a pre- and post-test manner combined with two sets of focus groups. Using multiple regression quadratic assignment procedures, the results indicate that learning ties after 11 weeks were significantly predicted by the friendship and learning ties established at the beginning of the module, (sub)specialisation, and whether students were Chinese or not. Contrary to previous findings, team divisions played only a marginal role in building (new) learning relations. A substantial segregation between Confucian Asian, European international and UK students was present. Follow-up qualitative data highlighted that international students made a conscious effort to build friendship and learning relations primarily outside the formal team, which for some were along co-national lines, while others were pro-actively looking for new perspectives from multi-national students. These results indicate that the instructional design might have a strong influence on how international and host students work and learn together. We believe that this study is the first to provide an in-depth and unique understanding of how international students from different cultural backgrounds build friendship and learning-relationships with other students in- and outside their classroom over time in a large classroom of 200+ students.