Undergraduate Course Research Articles

Richard Nagel and the challenge of employee retention

Research methodology Information was obtained in interviews with Richard Nagel in Winter/Spring 2022. This information was supplemented by material from secondary sources. The only information that was disguised were the real names for Bob Crater, Tim Landy, Jane Tolley and Mary Nagel. The case was classroom tested in Summer 2022. The responses from students helped to shape the writing of the case. Case overview/synopsis Richard Nagel, the owner of the RE/MAX Elite real estate agency in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, has just learned that one of his agents, Tim Landy, quit and left the industry. Tim was a young real estate agent and Richard had spent considerable time training him. Tim was motivated and he worked hard to prospect for business, but he showed that he was experiencing difficulty closing on his sales. Richard decided to recommend that Tim work with another agent, Bob Crater, as Bob was an experienced salesman but was not doing the up-front prospecting that Tim was doing. Richard suggested two different strategies to the two agents – a pairing up arrangement and peer-to-peer learning. The outcome that Richard envisioned was that both of the struggling salesmen would benefit from either of these strategies, but Bob refused to collaborate. Tim’s quitting was characteristic of an ongoing problem with employee retention that Richard had been experiencing as a manager in recent years. This problem caused Richard to think about how he recruited his real estate agents, how he developed them through coaching and how he motivated them so that they would stay happy in their job and not leave. He recognized the importance of thoroughly examining his retention strategy within the next 12 months so that he could better manage the problem and strengthen the productivity of his real estate agency. Complexity academic level The case is intended for an undergraduate course in human resources management, as it deals directly with recruiting, coaching and retaining employees.

Blooming social impact: Growing Appalachian Botanical Company’s resource partnerships in a rural ecosystem

Research methodology This case is based on primary and secondary data collection. ABCo’s Founder, Jocelyn Sheppard, sat down with the author for a 75-min recorded interview in July 2022, and she provided follow-up information via email. Interview data was supplemented with secondary data from publicly available sources to fill in portions on the founder, the company’s history and its location; and triangulate the collected interview data (Creswell and Poth, 2018). There are no conflicts of interest that the author needs to disclose related to the founder or company. The case was piloted at one institution in the Fall 2022, Spring 2023 and Fall 2023 semesters, with 59 undergraduates in an in-person social entrepreneurship course and 165 undergraduates and 33 graduate students in an online asynchronous social entrepreneurship course. All students worked through the case in groups, and as a requirement of their corresponding assignment submission, they provided feedback that was de-identified. In total, 60 groups reported their feedback, which was considered during the subsequent drafts of the case and instructors’ manual IM. According to the anonymized feedback, the protagonist, product line, desired social impact and experienced challenges of ABCo were all said to be interesting, approachable and relatable for students, and the case piqued the interest of students coming from different majors (e.g. business, environmental issues, human services and criminal justice). Students from rural areas, or those who have family in rural areas, felt the case was particularly interesting; a handful of the students in the asynchronous online class who were unfamiliar with such settings suggested providing students with some additional contextualization of rural environments, either through class discussion with other students who had experience in those environments or additional media or text-based supports. Further adjustments also included removing a reading and a corresponding question and revising elements within the Teaching Approaches section of the IM to support the additions they suggested within the feedback (i.e. spending time to define and walk through the provided model and highlight the differences of rural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship in the rural as a class before engaging in the related write-ups for that question). Case overview/synopsis Jocelyn Sheppard, Founder of Appalachian Botanical Company (“ABCo”), had built her company not just on a vision of revitalizing reclaimed coal mine land through planting and producing products with lavender, but also to have a social impact on the rural town of Ashford and its greater region of Boone County in West Virginia, USA. While she understood that hiring workers in need of a second chance would present its challenges, she was shocked by the depth of social need her new employees presented, which contributed to many employees’ disruptive behaviors and turnover. To approach the problem at hand, Sheppard needed to reflect on the resources around her, namely, other entities and organizations who might be able to support her efforts to improve how ABCo delivers on its social mission and, thus, helps to improve the local community and its economy. The case draws upon literature and models within rural entrepreneurship and community development to have students advise Sheppard on what she should do next to improve the social outcomes for ABCo and its employees. Complexity academic level This case is geared for both upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in entrepreneurship, including in social, environmental and rural entrepreneurship courses and course modules. The case introduces students to a social enterprise struggling to get its footing in a rural context. The case would be suitable for both introductory and advanced courses, especially when placemaking/place-based entrepreneurship or ecosystem building are discussed.

Virtual pair programming and online oral exams: effects on social interaction, performance, and academic integrity in a remote computer programming course

ABSTRACT Background and context Pair programming and oral exams were deployed in tandem in a remote undergraduate computer programming course to promote social interaction and enhance learning. Objectives We investigate their impact on social interactions, sense of connection, academic performance, and academic integrity within a virtual learning environment, and explore the dynamics of student collaboration in the context of voluntary pair programming. Method Students’ coding activities, pairing preferences, and performance were survey responses were recorded and analyized. Findings First and second year students were more likely to participate in virtual pair programming than their more senior classmates. Willingness to pair program strongly correlated with GPA. Partner changes were infrequent. 20–40% of students pair programmed per assignment. Oral exam scores positively correlated with other course scores. Surveys indicated that virtual pair programming and oral exams positively impacted learning, sense of community, and academic integrity. Implications The study offers perspectives on how these practices can be leveraged to foster inclusive learning, meaningful discourse, peer collaboration, and student-faculty relationships, with a positive effect on student motivation and academic integrity.

PSII-10 Development of an interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate course in precision livestock farming systems

Abstract The modern livestock industry is increasingly adopting data, technologies, and automation into daily husbandry and management routines and decisions. These advances in precision livestock farming (PLF) enable improved financial margins, sustainability, efficiency, and animal productivity and welfare. However, there is currently a gap between the engineers and data scientists designing the technologies and the animal scientists and caretakers using them. At North Carolina State University a novel course on PLF Systems for undergraduate and graduate students was developed in the Department of Animal Science. Through lecture delivery, livestock production scenarios, scientific literature, and data-based homework assignments students explored data collection, management, analysis, and data-based decision making. Students gained hands-on experience with a variety of sensor types and signal processing through lab-based activities. Basic hardware and software development concepts were explored during an Arduino-based microcontroller activity. The course was developed and refined using student feedback to include additional sensor and lab-based days and additional in-class supported activities utilizing Excel for data manipulation, processing, and presentation. Self-reported student learning results were collected across two semesters (19 students; 18 Animal Science, 1 Biological Engineering) with84% of students indicated the course was effective in increasing their ability to evaluate and implement technology in livestock production systems and 74% of students reported increased knowledge of coding and software, as well as their ability to clean, analyze, and make sense of raw data. The topics and delivery methods implemented in this course could inform the basis for development of similar interdisciplinary PLF courses at other academic institutions.

Some Reflections On The History And Current Status of Education in the Field of Death, Dying, and Bereavement at the College and University Level In North America.

This article is a contribution to recording one dimension of the field of death, dying, and bereavement. It offers some personal reflections on the history and current status of formal education in this field at the college and university level in North America. The scope of this reflection looks back on the earliest known examples of formal education in this field that took place in the 1960s and 1970s, provides examples of some of the early pedagogical resources that were created to support and foster those initiatives, and sketches more recent developments as regards introductory or undergraduate survey courses in this field, other death-related courses, programs in thanatology, and efforts to offer certificates or certification for educators and other professionals in this field. The article concludes with some thoughts about what we have learned from and about education in the field of death, dying, and bereavement.

Co‐designing enduring learning analytics prediction and support tools in undergraduate biology courses

AbstractEven highly motivated undergraduates drift off their STEM career pathways. In large introductory STEM classes, instructors struggle to identify and support these students. To address these issues, we developed co‐redesign methods in partnership with disciplinary experts to create high‐structure STEM courses that better support students and produce informative digital event data. To those data, we applied theory‐ and context‐relevant labels to reflect active and self‐regulated learning processes involving LMS‐hosted course materials, formative assessments, and help‐seeking tools. We illustrate the predictive benefits of this process across two cycles of model creation and reapplication. In cycle 1, we used theory‐relevant features from 3 weeks of data to inform a prediction model that accurately identified struggling students and sustained its accuracy when reapplied in future semesters. In cycle 2, we refit a model with temporally contextualized features that achieved superior accuracy using data from just two class meetings. This modelling approach can produce durable learning analytics solutions that afford scaled and sustained prediction and intervention opportunities that involve explainable artificial intelligence products. Those same products that inform prediction can also guide intervention approaches and inform future instructional design and delivery.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Learning analytics includes an evolving collection of methods for tracing and understanding student learning through their engagements with learning technologies. Prediction models based on demographic data can perpetuate systemic biases. Prediction models based on behavioural event data can produce accurate predictions of academic success, and validation efforts can enrich those data to reflect students' self‐regulated learning processes within learning tasks. What this paper adds Learning analytics can be successfully applied to predict performance in an authentic postsecondary STEM context, and the use of context and theory as guides for feature engineering can ensure sustained predictive accuracy upon reapplication. The consistent types of learning resources and cyclical nature of their provisioning from lesson to lesson are hallmarks of high‐structure active learning designs that are known to benefit learners. These designs also provide opportunities for observing and modelling contextually grounded, theory‐aligned and temporally positioned learning events that informed prediction models that accurately classified students upon initial and later reapplications in subsequent semesters. Co‐design relationships where researchers and instructors work together toward pedagogical implementation and course instrumentation are essential to developing unique insights for feature engineering and producing explainable artificial intelligence approaches to predictive modelling. Implications for practice and/or policy High‐structure course designs can scaffold student engagement with course materials to make learning more effective and products of feature engineering more explainable. Learning analytics initiatives can avoid perpetuation of systemic biases when methods prioritize theory‐informed behavioural data that reflect learning processes, sensitivity to instructional context and development of explainable predictors of success rather than relying on students' demographic characteristics as predictors. Prioritizing behaviours as predictors improves explainability in ways that can inform the redesign of courses and design of learning supports, which further informs the refinement of learning theories and their applications.

Improving accuracy in predictions about future performance

AbstractWithin the academic context, students often expect to perform significantly better on an upcoming exam when compared to their actual performance. Unfortunately, students who are least accurate in their performance predictions are also the most at risk of being underprepared compared to their peers. Thus, efforts to enhance accuracy in performance predictions would benefit the student population that is most at risk of academic shortcomings and failure. Two studies examined whether incentives improve accuracy of academic performance predictions. In Study 1, 126 students in a 200-level undergraduate course provided estimates of how well they would perform on an upcoming exam. Two weeks later, the same students were randomly assigned to receive a reward incentive, punishment incentive, or no incentive for accuracy in performance predictions and their exam performance estimates were reassessed then compared to their actual scores on an exam completed one week later. In Study 2, 144 students from multiple 300-level courses provided performance predictions for an upcoming exam that were then compared to their actual exam scores for accuracy. For a subsequent exam, the same students were randomly assigned to varying levels of reward incentives (no incentive, modest incentive, large incentive) for prediction accuracy and their performance estimates were examined and compared to actual performance on a second exam. Findings from both studies indicated performance estimates are malleable and with the appropriate incentives, accuracy in predictions may be improved and contribute to better actual performance.

A modern interpretation of Newton's theorem of revolving orbits

Newton's Theorem of Revolving Orbits derives the force that is necessary to explain a particular precession that leaves the shape of an orbit unchanged. Newton showed that for an orbiting body that is already subject to any central force, the inclusion of an additional inverse-cube central force will change that body's angular speed without affecting its radial motion; this leads to the orbit's precession. After reviewing the relevant concepts of Kepler orbits, we present a full description and explanation of Newton's theorem using modern physical and mathematical approaches aimed at a general audience. We specifically highlight the use of the transformation between a rotating reference frame and an inertial reference frame, making this a suitable topic for an upper-level undergraduate mechanics course.

Relationship of high-fidelity simulation experience, clinical reasoning, and clinical competence of new nurses: A cross-sectional study.

This study aimed to determine which high-fidelity simulation (HFS) experiences were associated with clinical reasoning and clinical competence among new nurses. HFS has been actively used in nursing education. It is necessary to verify the effects of HFS transfer to the clinical environment. A cross-sectional study reported following STROBE criteria. Data were collected on new nurses (n=224) who experienced HFS in their fourth-year undergraduate courses. The number of HFSs, the inclusion of simulation elements, the importance of elements to learning, clinical reasoning, and clinical competence were measured. Hierarchical regression models examined factors associated with clinical reasoning and clinical competence. Feedback was the most sufficiently included element of the HFS learning, and participants perceived it as the most important. A significant factor associated with clinical competence was clinical reasoning, andHFS design indirectly affected clinical competence through clinical reasoning. HFS learning is one of the best ways to improve clinical reasoning.Improving students' clinical reasoning should be an important goal of HFS learning in undergraduate courses to prepare students to be clinically competent nurses. The ultimate goal of nursing education is to prepare nursing students to be competent nurses. Validating the outcomes of nursing education in the clinical environment setting is an essential task to improve clinical practice. Nurse educators and leaders can increase nurses' clinical competence by emphasizing education to foster nurses' clinical reasoning in nursing education policies.

A Practical Approach to Incorporating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practices into Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Courses

A Practical Approach to Incorporating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practices into Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Courses

Perceived stigma and help seeking behavior among Indian Men

This study delves into the intricate relationship between Perceived Stigma and Help Seeking Behavior among Indian Men. The study also explores the difference among Indian Men pursuing Under graduation and Post graduation with regard to Perceived Stigma and Help Seeking Behavior. A sample of 200 Indian men, encompassing individuals pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate courses was part of the study. Statistical techniques like Correlation analysis and Independent Samples t Test were employed for data analysis. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between Perceived Stigma and Help Seeking Behavior. Moreover, the study compared the differences in Perceived Stigma and Help Seeking Behavior between undergraduate and postgraduate education levels. Results indicated no significant difference between the two education levels with regard to Perceived Stigma or Help Seeking Behavior.

Exploration and Practice of the Application of Large Models in Undergraduate Course Teaching of Economics and Management——"Introduction to Logistics Management" as an Example

Exploration and Practice of the Application of Large Models in Undergraduate Course Teaching of Economics and Management——"Introduction to Logistics Management" as an Example

A glimpse of social presence during an organic chemistry group activity

IntroductionThe US must strengthen the STEM workforce to provide solutions that support a resilient society and robust economy. Such solutions require a range of perspectives from individuals with diverse identities. However, women and individuals who identify as a racial or ethnic minority are woefully underrepresented in the STEM workforce. The reality doubly impacts those with intersecting identities, such as Black women. Efforts to increase the representation of Black women in STEM disciplines include interventions that improve their success in undergraduate courses. Paramount to this is expanding understanding of the experiences of Black women in the academic setting. The current work is situated within the social presence of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, examining social talk among Black women in the learning environment. The CoI model holds that the interconnection between teaching, cognitive, and social presences influences how students engage to master course content. More specifically, each presence is critical for the student’s ability to connect with their peers and instructor and engage in discourse related to the application of information.MethodsThe characterization of social presence was captured through audio and visual recordings. The videos were examined for academic and non-academic social talk. The group examined consisted of four Black women at a HBCU.ResultsInstances of social talk were captured that aligned with affective and emotional expression, open communication, and group cohesion. The dialog was both academic in nature, corresponding to the task, and non-academic, unrelated to the task.DiscussionFew studies have been done to characterize CoI in academic spaces consisting only of Black women. Disaggregating the stories of Black women from the broader context provides the visibility needed to understand their experiences and imagine a STEM paradigm responsive to their existence. Such knowledge is critical to understanding better how women, particularly women of African descent, navigate the learning environment. The article provides a preliminary look at Black women in an active learning setting to shed light on the experiences of these individuals in the STEM context.

Why are medical students so motivated to learn ultrasound skills? A qualitative study

BackgroundThe introduction of ultrasound (US) courses into medical undergraduate courses is usually met with a particularly high level of student motivation. The reasons for this are unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that contribute to undergraduate medical students’ motivation to learn US skills. Understanding what motivates students to learn US will inform the efforts of faculty to foster students’ motivation to learn.MethodsWe carried out in-depth semi-structured one-to-one interviews with medical students participating in an optional US course at two Swiss universities. The interview guide consisted of 10 main questions. The content was informed by experts in the field of medical education and US, as well as by a literature review of motivation theories for learning, in particular by self-determination theory (SDT). SDT was used to guide the development of the interview guide and to reflect on the resulting themes in the discussion section. The interview guide was piloted with two medical students. The interviews lasted an average of 45 min and were audio recorded and transcribed. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.ResultsFourteen undergraduate medical students in their preclinical (year 3) and clinical studies (years 4 and 5) elaborated on a wide range of reasons for their high motivation to learn US. They were motivated for US training because of the positive nimbus of the US modality, emphasising the advantages of visualisation. Students acknowledged the potential professional benefits of learning US and described it as a fun, exciting group activity.ConclusionsThe four themes we found in our analysis can all be related to the three universal needs described in SDT. The strong focus on the visual aspect and the positive nimbus of the modality goes beyond that and reflects the visuo-centric Zeitgeist, which claims the superiority of visual information over other data. Educators should be aware that motivation to learn is affected by the Zeitgeist and ensuing preconceptions, such as the perception of the positive nimbus surrounding a topic. Other key elements that can be implemented to motivate students are just-in-time feedback, enabling group experiences and creating awareness of the clinical relevance of learning content.

Empowering Students in Medical Device Design: An Interdisciplinary Soft Robotics Course

AbstractExperiential learning in biomedical engineering curricula is a critical component to developing graduates who are equipped to contribute to technical design tasks in their careers. This paper presents the development and implementation of an undergraduate and graduate-level soft material robotics design course focused on applications in medical device design. The elective course, offered in a bioengineering department, includes modules on technical topics and hands-on projects relevant to readings, all situated within a human-centered design course. After learning and using first principles governing soft robot design and exploring literature in soft robotics, students propose a new advance in the field in a hands-on design and prototype project. The course described here aims to create a structure to engage students in fabrication and the design approaches taken by practitioners in a specific field, applied here in soft robotics, but applicable to other areas of biomedical engineering. This teaching tips article details the pedagogical tools used to facilitate design and collaboration within the course. Additionally, we aim to highlight ways in which the course creates (1) opportunities to engage undergraduates in design in preparation for capstone courses, (2) outward facing opportunities to connect with practitioners in the field, and (3) the ability to adapt this hands-on experience within a typical lecture structure as well as a hybrid online and in-person offering, thus expanding its utility in bioengineering departments. We reflect on course elements that can inform future design-based course offerings in soft robotics and other design-based multidisciplinary fields in bioengineering.

Local experience of laboratory activities in a BS physical therapy course: integrating sEMG and kinematics technology with active learning across six cohorts

IntroductionIntegrating technology and active learning methods into Laboratory activities would be a transformative educational experience to familiarize physical therapy (PT) students with STEM backgrounds and STEM-based new technologies. However, PT students struggle with technology and feel comfortable memorizing under expositive lectures. Thus, we described the difficulties, uncertainties, and advances observed by faculties on students and the perceptions about learning, satisfaction, and grades of students after implementing laboratory activities in a PT undergraduate course, which integrated surface-electromyography (sEMG) and kinematic technology combined with active learning methods.MethodsSix cohorts of PT students (n = 482) of a second-year PT course were included. The course had expositive lectures and seven laboratory activities. Students interpreted the evidence and addressed different motor control problems related to daily life movements. The difficulties, uncertainties, and advances observed by faculties on students, as well as the students’ perceptions about learning, satisfaction with the course activities, and grades of students, were described.ResultsThe number of students indicating that the methodology was “always” or “almost always,” promoting creative, analytical, or critical thinking was 70.5% [61.0–88.0%]. Satisfaction with the whole course was 97.0% [93.0–98.0%]. Laboratory grades were linearly associated to course grades with a regression coefficient of 0.53 and 0.43 R-squared (p < 0.001).ConclusionIntegrating sEMG and kinematics technology with active learning into laboratory activities enhances students’ engagement and understanding of human movement. This approach holds promises to improve teaching-learning processes, which were observed consistently across the cohorts of students.

Leveraging systematic review practice for research skill development in an undergraduate science course: A case study.

Information literacy skills are an important part of research skills for undergraduate science students. This case study presents a novel approach to developing these types of research skills. By deconstructing the research process into separate steps, explicitly defining, and practicing the skills involved, students can progressively develop these skills and apply them. In this course, systematic reviews are used as exemplars for the research process. We align the Research Skills Development Framework with the steps of a systematic review and present specific skills and accompanying activities for each step. This workshop-based course emphasizes skill development and can help overcome assessments that rely solely on a final paper, with no record or evidence of the student research process, that could be created by a generative artificial intelligence tool.

Changes in Undergraduate Students’ Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectancy in an Introductory Statistics Course

The exploration of psychological variables that potentially impact college student performance in challenging academic courses can be useful for understanding success in introductory statistics. Although previous research has examined specific beliefs that students hold about their abilities and future outcomes, the current study is novel in its examination of changes in both self-efficacy (SE) and outcome expectancy (OE) in relation to performance over the course of an undergraduate introductory psychology statistics course. These psychological variables—relating to one’s belief about one’s ability to accomplish a task and the anticipated outcomes—may impact student motivation and performance. Students’ SE, OE, and other variables related to statistics performance were measured through a survey administered at the beginning and end of the course. Multivariate logistic regression and McNemar tests were conducted to examine factors that affected changes in SE and OE as the semester progressed. Students with lower scores on the final exam demonstrated a decrease in both high SE and positive OE. However, higher scores on exams earlier in the course were associated with increased odds for high SE but not for positive OE, suggesting that SE is less resilient to course performance. Based on these findings, the authors recommend that statistics instructors identify students at risk for decreasing SE. Instructors can help foster high SE in students struggling academically by connecting the course content to their everyday lives and suggesting strategies to enhance their confidence in their content knowledge and increase their comfort in navigating such a challenging course.

Long-term outcome of pediatric head injuries – A five-year follow-up

Objectives: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) disrupts the developing brain in the pediatric population. This study aims to look at the outcomes of moderate and severe TBI over a five-year follow-up to look for the long-term sequelae of head injury in the pediatric population. Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted after obtaining the permission of the Institutional Ethics Committee with the primary study participants admitted between 2015 and 2017 with follow-up extending up to 2022 in 118 pediatric patients, aged between 1 and 15 years who required admission in the pediatric intensive care unit with moderate and severe TBI. Results: Language impairment was noted in 33.63% (n = 37) patients during early follow-up, and 12 of them continued to have impaired language skills and communication at the end of five years. With regard to school functioning, children had more difficulty in the arithmetic domain (n = 33) compared to language domains (n = 17). While the parents noted improvements in scholastic performances, some degree of difficulty in learning was noted in most of the children, who sustained TBI. Despite these difficulties, 27 out of 41 participants, who gave their higher secondary examinations have gone on to pursue undergraduate courses in colleges. Conclusion: Our study indicates that over the passage of time, children tend to have a reasonable chance at recovery, and with the potential for plasticity, early and aggressive rehabilitative services may enable the child to have a decent quality of life and in selected cases, even an independent life.

Is the Sky the Limit for Menteen Studios?*

ABSTRACTThis case exposes students to an intriguing industry: film production and distribution. The focus on relevant costing allows students to make recommendations about keeping, dropping, or expanding a distribution channel and about venturing into a new technology for film distribution. The analysis requires critical thinking. Because students are provided with relatively sparse financial information, they are less likely to be fixated on data and more likely to think critically about how to structure analyses to address strategic and operational issues being weighed by the studio. In addition, the case requires students to communicate their recommendations and the underlying assumptions effectively. This case is suitable for use in undergraduate and graduate managerial and cost accounting courses, introductory MBA courses in managerial accounting or strategic thinking, or undergraduate or graduate courses that are specific to the entertainment industry.