Traditional On-campus Courses Research Articles

The relationship between student self-efficacy and learning engagement at Chinese vocational colleges during internship

Introduction. The global education community is currently facing a learning crisis in the instructional process, as learning outcomes frequently fail to meet expectations due to insufficient engagement in classrooms. The promotion of student engagement in learning has become a significant issue of concern within the education sphere. Self-efficacy has been identified as a predictor of learning engagement; therefore, the study seeks to establish the empirical link between self-efficacy and learning engagement in the pedagogical process. Study participants and methods. A survey research design was utilized, involving 204 interns who were randomly selected from five vocational colleges in Wenzhou City, China. The collected data were subjected to Factor Analysis and correlation analysis for analysis purposes. Self-efficacy, emotional engagement, effort quality, psychological adjustment, and colleague interaction all had Cronbach's alpha values of 0.902, 0.918, 0.892, 0.849, and 0.847, respectively. Results. Emotional Engagement, Quality of Effort, Psychological Adjustment, Colleague Interaction, and Self-Efficacy had positive correlation coefficients of 0.455, 0.426, 0.376, and 0.4, respectively. These correlations were both significant at the 1% level. The regression model's R square indicates that self-efficacy accounted for 20.7%, 18.1%, 14.1% and 16% of the variance in each component of learning engagement: emotional involvement, quality of effort, psychological adjustment and colleague interaction respectively. Findings revealed a strong impact of selfefficacy on several facets of interns' learning engagement. Practical significance. Self-efficacy plays a crucial role in shaping students' learning engagement, both within traditional on-campus courses and during their internships. Enhancing the selfefficacy of vocational college interns is imperative to improve their learning experiences, both inside and outside the classroom.

Finding effective parameters for mitigating traffic congestion near universities

This paper intends to assess the effect of different parameters on traffic congestion around universities. On the basis of the model outputs, it is possible to propose economic countermeasures for reducing traffic congestion, especially in developing countries. Structural equation modelling was used to assess the relevance between characteristics of students, features of different modes, environmental conditions and daily demand variations with traffic congestion. The Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in Iran was considered as a case study. The results showed that it is necessary to decrease the demand first. For this purpose, rescheduling courses is essential to distribute classes more effectively within a week. Virtual classes can be used more frequently as a substitute for traditional on-campus courses. The probability of using buses should be increased by reducing waiting time and fares, and promoting their safety. Similarly, taxi use can be increased by improving safety and waiting time. To reduce the likelihood of using private cars, pricing strategies must establish more limitations for using university carparks.

Comparing Traditional and Distance Formats of a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Course

Purpose:The purpose of this study was to discover if an online course in psychiatric rehabilitation is as successful as a traditional on-campus course in terms of content delivery and learning outcomes.Method:A traditional on-campus (n= 25) and an online (n= 17) course were compared at pretest and posttest on a measure entitled “Psychiatric Vocational Rehabilitation Knowledge and Skills Inventory.” A 4 (Skill) × 3 (Time) within-subjects analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to assess changes in the skills of process, potential, partnership, and career advancement over time.Results:The results were that scores for both formats significantly increased from Time 1 to Time 2, but one format did not perform significantly better than another. The Psychiatric Vocational Rehabilitation Knowledge and Skills Inventory was found to be a reliable measure.Conclusion:The study underscores the value of a dedicated psychiatric rehabilitation course in rehabilitation graduate education.

Testing a model to predict online cheating—Much ado about nothing

Much has been written about student and faculty opinions on academic integrity in testing. Currently, concerns appear to focus more narrowly on online testing, generally based on anecdotal assumptions that online students are more likely to engage in academic dishonesty in testing than students in traditional on-campus courses. To address such assumptions, a statistical model to predict examination scores was recently used to predict academic dishonesty in testing. Using measures of human capital variables (for example, grade point average, class rank) to predict examination scores, the model provides for a comparison of R2 statistics. This model proposes that the more human capital variables explain variation in examination scores, the more likely the examination scores reflect students’ abilities and the less likely academic dishonesty was involved in testing. The only study to employ this model did provide some support for the assertion that lack of test monitoring in online courses may result in a greater degree of academic dishonesty. In this study, however, a further test of the predictive model resulted in contradictory findings. The disparate findings between prior research and the current study may have been due to the use of additional control variables and techniques designed to limit academic dishonesty in online testing.

A Comparison of Perceived Stress Levels and Coping Styles of Non-traditional Graduate Students in Distance Learning Versus On-campus programs

The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in perceived stress and coping styles among non-traditional graduate students in both on-campus and distance-learning programs. The study employed a quantitative causal-comparative design that involved collecting survey data. The sample consisted of 36 non-traditional graduate students who enrolled in distance learning classes along with 36 non-traditional students attending traditional on-campus courses in a graduate program. For statistical analyses, t-test and multiple linear regressions were conducted to simultaneously assess the effects of group membership and all demographic variables on each of the dependent variables (stress level and coping style). An alpha level of .05 was used to test statistical significance. Overall, there is no significant difference between the coping styles and the perceived stress levels of non-traditional graduate students who enrolled in distance-learning and on-campus programs.

The Benefits of Using a Course Disk to Aid in the Instruction of Statistics Courses

A course disk in either CD or DVD format can be very beneficial to online, hybrid, or distance courses in statistics as well as traditional on-campus courses, augmenting existing technologies like course management systems. A typical course disk may include the syllabus and course outline, calendar, instructions, lecture notes and lecture outlines, handouts, assignments, interactive content such as quizzes and surveys, software, statistical tables, example program files, program code, data files, video lectures and tutorials, and pertinent website links. In most cases, a course disk would be used in addition to traditional methods like course management systems rather than in place of these traditional methods. Most of the benefits of a course disk are shared with course management systems like Blackboard or Moodle; however, a course disk has the distinct advantages that it need not rely on internet access and it provides access to course materials after a course has ended.One course disk was developed and used in teaching a graduate-level introductory statistical methods course in three different settings: distance learning off-campus condensed course, online course, and traditional on-campus course. The course disk provided a variety of benefits across delivery formats as well as benefits unique to each delivery format.This article will (1) review relevant literature, (2) describe the course disk and compare its use to other content delivery methods, (3) discuss the experiences and evaluation of using the course disk in three different settings and how the students in each setting benefited from using the course disk, and (4) discuss the necessary hardware and software and the process of making a course disk.

Cultural Immersion as a Learning Method for Expanding Intercultural Competencies

This article presents an overview of the development and utilization of a cultural immersion experience assignment in courses that focus on expanding the knowledge and skill set of counselors and other counseling professionals for working with culturally diverse client populations. The utility of this method and specific suggestions for its use in three instructional formats: traditional on-campus courses, study-abroad program courses, and 100% Internet-based courses are examined.

Using a Web-Based System To Support Teaching Processes

A platform-independent Java Web application named TSI (Teacher-Student Interaction) that supports communication between an instructor, teaching assistants, and students in a traditional on-campus course is presented in this article. Using the TSI, the instructor and teaching assistants can handle most of the routine work: upload student personal information, send students personal e-mails, etc. The system can easily be installed and administered individually by an instructor inexperienced in computers. It is as simple as a pen for students. Students can check their personal data (scores and comments), download educational materials, etc. As part of the TSI, a VBA application is used to analyze the course log files. This tool is helpful in understanding individual and group students’ behaviors. The TSI was successfully tested during four years at the University of Aizu (Japan) in an environment where English is one of the working languages and both students and professors are non-native speakers of English.

Learning at a Distance

How are planning educators responding to the challenges and opportunities of distance education? The authors explore this question through a planning school survey, a case study, and brainstorming about change factors. They find that planning education programs are slow to adopt new technology, except for incorporation of e-mail and Web technology into traditional on-campus courses. Most respondents believe that distance learning will be important, but few distance learning courses are taught. Reported obstacles are extra demands on faculty, lack of compensation for course development, low faculty interest, incompatibility with course content, and inadequate technical support. The case study describes the design and teaching of a successful distance learning course in which student work improved. Four catalysts that could speed adoption of distance learning are (1) generational change, (2) program survival, (3) institutional conformity, and (4) practice demand. The authors conclude that as future-oriented professionals, planners should lead in applying technology to improve planning education.

Introduction to Gerontology

This article presents an example of a “hybrid” course in Introduction to Gerontology which combines distance education with some aspects of a traditional on-campus course. After a brief discussion of distance education in gerontology, the underlying principles, objectives, components, implementation and outcomes of the hybrid course are described.