Tertiary Learning Research Articles

The Effects of Gender and Age on Students’ Use of a Learning Management System in Saudi Arabia

The success of an e-learning intervention relies, to a considerable extent, on the student’s acceptance of the system. Still, the challenge for educational institutions is to determine the factors that influence the user’s acceptance of a Learning Management System (LMS) particularly, the demographic variables of age and gender, which would allow for effective approaches to implementation. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the moderating effects of gender and age in the acceptance and use of an LMS. Furthermore, the study is located in a Saudi tertiary learning context where students have unique psychological and social characteristics and where LMS are being rolled out on a national level. To this end, the study utilised a UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) model as a base model, with an additional six usability variables, to investigate empirically the variables that influence the students’ use of an LMS in Saudi higher education. By using a quantitative research approach and a sample size of 605 students, data were collected from students in five Saudi universities. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in conjunction with multigroup analysis techniques were employed to assess the model. The findings revealed that both gender and age moderated a single association between the facilitating conditions and actual use where female and younger students exhibited higher perceptions of the association than did their counterparts. The research has several implications for decision-makers, administrators and designers of e-learning systems. In light of the study findings, the limitations and future research avenues were discussed.

Autonomous responsibilities, abilities and behaviours: An appraisal of English-majored students

Learner autonomy has become the prevailing theme of language education for nearly four past decades, especially its three constructs such as responsibilities, abilities and behaviors. Thus, the current study embraced salient traits of a survey research design to scrutinize these constructs as appraised by the Vietnamese tertiary learners. The study recruited the participation of 80 English-majored students at Hung Vuong University, Vietnam. Their appraisal was elucidated by a quantitative instrument, that is, a 28-item questionnaire whose descriptive statistics were yielded by SPSS 22.0. The study found that a greater proportion of the informants ultimately recognized their autonomous responsibilities, acknowledged their autonomous abilities, and estimated some autonomous behaviors both inside and outside the classroom. Brief conclusion was made at the end of the paper.

Sexual Activity, Knowledge of Contraceptives Use among Females Choosing Termination of Pregnancy at a Provincial Clinic in South Africa

This study investigated sexual activity, knowledge of contraceptives use among females choosing termination of pregnancy (TOP) at a provincial clinic in South Africa.
 
 This was a quantitative and observational study in the form of a cross-sectional survey. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 61 respondents who had terminated their pregnancies. Almost ninety-two (91.8%) percent of the respondents were single women between 18 and 27 years of age. Their level of education showed that 32% had completed high school, 28% were high school learners, 21.1% were tertiary education level learners and 1.8% had tertiary education. The frequency of sexual activity was mostly once a month (40%), followed by once a week (36.5%). Unemployment was high (36%), making the respondents dependent on government grants. Most of the women were aware of contraceptives methods (88.5%). The majority of the respondents (75.4%) have heard about emergency contraceptives (EC), while only 11.5% had never heard of contraceptives in general. The condom was the most popular method (54.1%), followed by the injection (45.9%). However, although 88.5% and 75.4% have heard of emergency contraceptives, their knowledge of contraceptives in general was very low. Contraceptives were used by 78.6% before termination of their pregnancy (TOP) and the most frequently used method was the injection at 36.6%. The respondents were the initiators of TOP. 
 
 The researchers recommended that awareness of contraceptives should be promoted, and programmes aimed at changing the behaviour of sexually active females should be designed in order for them to make use of reproductive health services and family planning. Continuous education on sexual activities and contraceptives needs to be given to women visiting a reproductive health clinic. Policymakers should facilitate access to modern contraceptives and promote their effectiveness in all disadvantaged communities, thus addressing the root cause of the termination of unplanned pregnancies.

Why I Am Studying Japanese: A National Survey Revealing the Voices of New Zealand Tertiary Students

ABSTRACTThis article discusses findings from a nationwide survey of New Zealand tertiary-level students’ reasons for studying Japanese, their sense of satisfaction with the tertiary Japanese learning experience, and their future aspirations. The findings show that there are several aspects of students’ learning experiences which reflect a positive integrative orientation, while practical goals associated with the university learning context were also evident. The findings also suggest that the language learning context is multi-dimensional, supported by a number of different sources, both virtual and physical, as well as inside and outside the classroom. Furthermore, students from different programs within each university, and those who had or had not studied Japanese prior to entering university, revealed different attitudes towards learning Japanese and different visions of their future. While the study found that the majority of students are satisfied with their current university courses and value formal learning over informal acquisition of language, our findings suggest that teachers should reconceptualise their teaching roles to embrace the wider language learning context available to our students.

Controversies in preparing for end-of-life in Nsukka town of Nigeria and suggestions for Nigerian based social work practice

Death is regarded as a natural phenomenon of life, but its consequences for the bereaved are often times very bitter. One way to circumvent this bitter experience is through making plans before dying. However, not everyone seems to appreciate this, which has generated lots of controversies. Thus, end-of-life planning attitude among adult residents in one of Nigeria’s Igbo area was examined using cross-sectional survey. Data was collected from 587 adults and also analyzed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative tools. Age, level of education, marital status and sex were shown to have statistically significant relationships with attitude toward end-of-life planning, while cultural beliefs were discovered to also exercise overbearing influence. The study further discovered some cultural practices that deter people from planning for end-of-life and therefore advocates for social protection and reorientation which should principally involve social workers. Suggestions were made for introduction of end-of-life planning education in the curriculum of institutions of secondary and tertiary learning in Nigeria, as a measure to help reform attitudes of persons toward preparing for end-of-life in future.

Analogue x digital: Parallel techniques for design learning

Abstract With urban space under the ubiquitous scrutiny of digital visioning technologies, the city is now imaged by means of a pixel grid containing ephemeral, qualitative data presented as colour, brightness and shape. Unlike traditional analogue pictorial representational modes, the digital image is a highly transformable mechanism with an unstable distribution of data across its pixel array. As a consequence, representation in the form of spatial abstraction demands not only a new approach to the learning and implementation of traditional disciplinary drawing practice, but a rethinking of the alignment and cooperative nature of analogue and digital drawing models when applied to effective design development. In a pedagogical context, the transition of spatial representation between analogue and digital modes has profound implications for how the student connects seminal drawing and design processes to both the sensorial realm and the physical experience of lived space. This paper therefore explores the enhancement of tertiary learning in digital and abstract literacy through new drawing techniques. Underpinned by a new relationship between representation and envisioned physical space, the techniques are applied within learning environments in parallel with existing analogue pictorial procedures. By building curriculum for foundational students that provides a framework of linked spatial experiences aligned across analogue and digital domains and coupled with tasks focused on the development of conceptual thinking, it proposes increased student success in future studios and professional practice.

Fingerprint Biometric Technology as an Appropriate Tool for Students Authentication Problem in Tertiary Learning Institutions in Tanzania

Fingerprint Biometric Technology as an Appropriate Tool for Students Authentication Problem in Tertiary Learning Institutions in Tanzania

Disrupting leaps of experience: digital storyworlds, transformative poiesis/praxis and narrative agency

Entering the digital storyworld of Deakinopolis (a narrative-based world of interrelated settings, characters and situations) is about imaginatively entering an alternative fictional storyworld that largely presents as factual, an experience that mirrors tertiary learners’ realities. Malouf talks of experience of story as ‘… being taken out of ourselves into the skin of another; having adventures there that are both our own and not our own … Release … into a dimension where reality is not limited’ (2008: 19). The digital storyworld of Deakinopolis contains alternative or imagined realities, where learners project their own experience in making this world coherent through their engagement with potentially unsettling perspectives. To encourage agency in active learner exploration, the storyworld is suspended out of time and sequence so that participants can imagine themselves through lapsed borders into that seemingly peripheral world. The learners activate their immersive engagement in this digital storyworld through praxical experience of unsettling perspectives, with potential for disrupting singular perspectives into transformative immersion of imagination as poiesis.

Peripheries and praxis: the effect of rubric co-construction on student perceptions of their learning

If we could do this with every subject, open it up to a wider swathe of students having an input would be revolutionary in their learning. (UTS writing lecturer, Owning the Rubric project) The construction of assessment rubrics is often educator-centric as lecturers work in isolation to compose grading tools. While there is a pedagogical goal to construct instruments that align with learning outcomes and guide the assessment of students’ learning, students are often at the periphery of this process. In many higher education institutions, students are accustomed to receiving assessment feedback but they are not, typically, active participants in the feedback cycle. Increasingly, institutions are seeking evidence of greater student engagement in their tertiary learning experience. Accordingly, academics seek to innovate practice and enhance curricula by creating more opportunities for student involvement, thus creating a shared understanding of it and associated assessment tasks. Responding to a gap in rubric construction practice, this paper discusses an Office for Learning and Teaching Innovation and Development Grant research project where students moved from being rubric users to being central participants in collaborative design. Drawing on data collected from a team of rubric co-constructors from one Sydney university campus – first year students and an academic in a creative non-fiction writing subject – we set out to answer the following question: What effect does the co-construction and use of rubrics have on students’ perceptions of their learning?

The see-saw of wellbeing: What factors influence a learning advisor’s wellbeing and happiness, in and outside of their work?

Wellbeing is a commonly-used term—but what does it mean for tertiary learning advisors (TLAs), especially in the context of their professional practice? This paper reviews wellbeing literature in the disciplines of psychology, occupational health, and education, and discusses prominent models and definitions of both general and workplace wellbeing. It introduces a definition of wellbeing that proposes that individuals may manage and enhance their wellbeing by increasing or decreasing their psychological, physical and social resources and challenges, and relates this to the rewards and challenges of TLA work identified in recent TLA literature. This paper also examines the internal and external factors that influence an individual’s wellbeing, such as their ways of coping with stress, personal traits, and personal resources and challenges, and suggests that individuals may manage and enhance their wellbeing by engaging in positive intentional activities of their choosing. While the wellbeing literature does offer some positive activities and strategies TLAs may use, there is a need for future research in the area of TLA wellbeing, particularly in relation to the emotional element of TLA work.

Dyslexia and oral skills: A student’s journey

This case study outlines the three-year journey of an occupational therapy student, as she developed strategies to achieve success with the viva voce (living voice) assessments of her course. Because of failing these assessments in her second year, she enlisted the help of a Tertiary Learning Advisor (TLA) to work towards overcoming the difficulties, and during that year she was formally assessed as having dyslexia. This study identifies and analyses themes from three sources of data: the TLAs notes made following each session; the student’s Cognitive and Educational Assessment; and an interview with the student some months after course completion. The aim was to identify key elements of the work with the TLA that helped the student to achieve positive outcomes in academic oral assessments. The research contributes to the discussions of issues for adults identified as dyslexic and also to the growing awareness of positive dyslexia.

2019 Canadian Surgery Forum Abstracts.

# 01. The future of general surgery training: a Canadian resident nationwide Delphi consensus statement {#article-title-2} Various pedagogical models have been introduced in an attempt to improve and restructure surgical training, but significant obstacles remain. Before implementing national

Tertiary Learner's Attitudes Towards Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in Bangladesh

This study investigates the status of Communicative Language Teaching (Cat among the tertiary learners of Bangladesh by examining their beliefs, feelings, and attitudes towards it. The participants are from various departments of a public university where English is taught at least as a full credit course. To gather the data from them, questionnaires were used and interviews nem taken. The analyses of both data types show that the students are highly interested in CLT methodology Form-based instruction may no longer be effective enough in English teaching here where designing tasks to make them communicatively competent has become inevitable. The results also signify that the learners' need is to be given the prime priority in designing language curricula for them.

Smartphone Applications as a Teaching Technique for Enhancing Tertiary Learners' Speaking Skills: Perceptions and Practices

Utilizing technology and the Internet to keep up with the 21st century language teaching and learning has become trendy in this digital era, highlighting promising features that are expected to tackle one of the most demanding crucial skills in English as a foreign language (EFL) context; yet a difficult one to master; that is, speaking English accurately, confidently and fluently. This study aims at investigating teachers’ perceptions and the current actual practices of utilizing a package of three categories of smartphone applications as a prescribed teaching technique with the purpose of fostering Saudi tertiary students' oral skills, correlating these perceptions with actual classroom practices. Adopting a mixed-mode approach, the data for this study were gleaned from two data collection instruments– an electronic questionnaire designed using SurveyMonkey as a platform, and encoded data from focus group discussion. On receiving 45 complete responses, the IBM SPSS (V24.0) was used to do the statistics, whereas the data from the discussion were thematically analysed. The findings revealed that the majority of participants have high, inspiring positive perceptions of using smartphone applications in teaching speaking. Based on the data obtained, it is concluded that despite EFL teachers' high positive perceptions of smartphone applications used for promoting adult learners' speaking skills, classroom practices reveal weaknesses and insufficient actual experiences. Pedagogically, the study recommends innovating, implementing, and integrating smartphone applications in teaching oral skills, along with drilling teachers and learners on how to effectively utilize them.

Enhancing Learners’ Writing Performance through Blog-Assisted Language Learning

ABSTRACT-The present study aims at investigating how Blog-Assisted Language Learning (BALL) can enhance EFL tertiary learners’ writing performance covering complexity, accuracy, and fluency through collaborative action research while at the same time it seeks to discover new knowledge that can inform the implementation of BALL in a writing class. This study employed Collaborative Classroom Action Research conducted in one cycle in one consecutive semester intended to make improvement in the teaching and learning of writing using BALL. There were 30 students of a university level majoring in English Education Department who joined Advanced Essay Writing Class in this study. The data were collected through interview, open-ended questionnaire followed by in-depth interview, and writing test. The findings showed that EFL learners improve their writing performance and they become more active in online class condition with two atmospheres: collaboration and competition among the learners. 
 Keywords: BALL, EFL Learners, writing performance, action research.

Learning Korean pronunciation

Abstract This study investigated the effects of pronunciation instruction for 36 tertiary learners of Korean in terms of accentedness, comprehensibility, and phonological error rates while accounting for proficiency (2nd-semester beginners, 4th-semester intermediates), first language background (English, Chinese), and task effects. Participants completed beginner-appropriate picture description and read-aloud tasks at pretest and posttest. Over eight weeks, a treatment group received eight hours of instruction targeting segmental and syllable-structure features. Ten Korean NSs judged learner accentedness and comprehensibility, and learner productions were analyzed for phonological errors. Beginners’ accentedness, comprehensibility, and error rates improved regardless of receiving instruction. For intermediates, the control group showed no development in comprehensibility or accentedness, while the treatment group trended toward increased comprehensibility. Intermediate students showed minimal improvements in phonological error rates. L1 had a negligible impact on accentedness and comprehensibility, but Chinese-speaking students committed more syllable-structure errors. Associations between phonological errors and comprehensibility/accentedness varied by outcome task and L1.

Editorial Volume 10 Issue 1 2019

Welcome to the first issue for 2019. In previous editorials we have stressed the role of the Journal as continuing the dissemination of current research and innovative good practice about students’ tertiary learning experiences, which are supported by evidence. As well we have highlighted the international scope of the Journal and encouraged submissions from outside of Australia. It is pleasing that in our tenth volume we present a large number of international submissions, particularly as practice reports, which offer transferrable themes and principles of practice that can be utilised more broadly.

The Impact of Cognitive (Reflectivity/Impulsivity) on Tertiary EFL Learners’ Syntactic Complexity in Descriptive Writing

The purpose of this study was to investigate the probable effects of cognitive in linguistics properties of descriptive writing. The cognitive was studied on reflectivity and impulsivity in which students were categorized in to two groups. The linguistics properties of the learners’ descriptive writings were examined through syntactic complexity under syntax studies umbrella. The participants were selected from systematic random sampling technique and by applying the personality test subjected degree of cognitive level from Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (30 from the most reflective learners and 30 from the most impulsive learners). The selected participants were asked to write descriptive essay about person. Syntactic complexity (simple, compound, complex and compound-complex) was calculated from each of learners’ writing and the significant difference between two groups were analyzed by employing the independent sample t – test in SPSS version 21. The result shows that there were differences between reflective and impulsive learners in producing syntactic complexity in descriptive writing. Even though, there were differences on syntactic complexity, the assumption of teachers on, impulsive learners are better than reflective students, does not suit to the linguistics properties competencies and performances especially on syntactic complexity of the descriptive writing because both of them had their own superiority in syntactic complexity.

Examining the need for culturally responsive digital learning


 
 
 
 This article addresses the pedagogy and practice of tertiary learning, and in particular it asks, how is there a need for culturally responsive digital learning? Research shows how, worldwide, classroom content is being delivered through shifting, digitally-infused curriculum (van Dijck, 2013; Netsafe, 2016; Orr, 2016; Revere & Kovach, 2011). The focus of this article is to examine ways in which online, participatory structures work to engage all learners. In New Zealand tertiary contexts, there is an increasing number of culturally diverse student cohorts (particularly due to international education marketing and strategies [Ministry of Education, 2017]). I consider how common spaces in the digital platforms available for educational purposes can be seen to embody a common culture. Research informing this article comes from two studies I have undertaken. The first is a practical inquiry of the use of online spaces in the ‘global classroom’ (a term defined in this case as the world wide web of information, and also an institution’ s role to educate within a multinational, multicultural population). The second is a qualitative look into how educators discovered effective learning practices, for international students in particular, based upon a study that included educator interviews at one tertiary institute. Merging data from both studies indicated that incorporating digital learning through the now-familiar online spaces requires more dynamic, culturally responsive pedagogy. This research aims to provide some improved insight for all educators looking to answer this posed question. 
 
 
 

The empirical study on the impact of student-centered learning application to cognition and social learning

Cognition is the umbrella term for learning skills-it is the ability to relate and comprehend what was learned. Whereas social learning is the ability of learner to grasp ideas shared by others and from a community of shared knowledge resources. The main objective of this study was to explore the impact of technology-mediated learning to the cognitive thinking of learners in terms of their ability to understand computer-assisted instructions, adopt new knowledge and apply mental activities and skills to perform reasoning and grasp what is being taught using the Student-Centered Learning Software (SCLS). Also, it aims to understand the impact of technology-mediated learning to social learning in terms of learner’s ability to learn and perform activities with peers or in a group-related work. Experimental research was applied and a pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection from 300 tertiary learners in 2 private universities in the Philippines. Using one-way ANOVA and regression analysis, study has revealed that with lower limit of 95% confidence level, the learner’s frequency of use, time spent in taking activity and their level of understanding and comprehension have significant difference to their cognition where p = 0.000<0.05. Whereas using T-test, learner’s engagement to peer and group related activities has significant difference of pvalue<0.05 and variance = 0.20 to their social learning. Thus, integration of SCLS may positively uphold active learning, increase cognitive thinking, stimulate enthusiasm and social learning. Hence, learner’s interactivity to computer mediated technology may lead to a productive learning process.