Search results for: students' engagement

Authors: Max Neu

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A large variety of studies on the utilization of games in classroom settings promote positive effects on students motivation for learning. Still, most of those studies rarely can give any specifics about the factors that might lead to changes in students motivation. The undertaken study has been conducted in tandem with the development of a highly classroom-optimized serious game, with the intent of providing a subjectively positive initial contact with the subject of political participation and to enable the development of personal motivation towards further engagement with the topic. The goal of this explorative study was to Identify the factors that influence students motivation towards the subject when serious games are being used in classroom education. Therefor, students that have been exposed to a set of classes in which a classroom optimized serious game has been used. Afterwards, a selection of those have been questioned in guided interviews that have been evaluated through Qualitative Content Analysis. The study indicates that at least 23 factors in the categories, mechanics, content and context potentially influence students motivation to engage with the classes subject. The conclusions are of great value for the further production of classroom games as well as curricula involving digital games in general.

Keywords: formal education, games in classroom, motivation, political education

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Authors: Jessica To

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Feedback is one of the powerful levers for enhancing students’ performance. However, some students are under-engaged with feedback because they lack responsibility for feedback uptake. To resolve this conundrum, recent literature proposes feedback partnerships in which students and teachers share the power and responsibilities to co-construct feedback. During feedback co-construction, students express feedback needs to teachers, and teachers respond to individuals’ needs in return. Though this approach can increase students’ feedback ownership, its application is lagging as the field lacks conceptual clarity and implementation guide. This presentation aims to discuss the conceptual framework of feedback partnerships and feedback co-construction strategies. It identifies the components of feedback partnerships and strategies which could facilitate feedback co-construction. A systematic literature review was conducted to answer the questions. The literature search was performed using ERIC, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar with the keywords “assessment partnership”, “student as partner,” and “feedback engagement”. No time limit was set for the search. The inclusion criteria encompassed (i) student-teacher partnerships in feedback, (ii) feedback engagement in higher education, (iii) peer-reviewed publications, and (iv) English as the language of publication. Those without addressing conceptual understanding and implementation strategies were excluded. Finally, 65 publications were identified and analysed using thematic analysis. For the procedure, the texts relating to the questions were first extracted. Then, codes were assigned to summarise the ideas of the texts. Upon subsuming similar codes into themes, four themes emerged: students’ responsibilities, teachers’ responsibilities, conditions for partnerships development, and strategies. Their interrelationships were examined iteratively for framework development. Establishing feedback partnerships required different responsibilities of students and teachers during feedback co-construction. Students needed to self-evaluate performance against task criteria, identify inadequacies and communicate their needs to teachers. During feedback exchanges, they interpreted teachers’ comments, generated self-feedback through reflection, and co-developed improvement plans with teachers. Teachers had to increase students’ understanding of criteria and evaluation skills and create opportunities for students’ expression of feedback needs. In feedback dialogue, teachers responded to students’ needs and advised on the improvement plans. Feedback partnerships would be best grounded in an environment with trust and psychological safety. Four strategies could facilitate feedback co-construction. First, students’ understanding of task criteria could be increased by rubrics explanation and exemplar analysis. Second, students could sharpen evaluation skills if they participated in peer review and received teacher feedback on the quality of peer feedback. Third, provision of self-evaluation checklists and prompts and teacher modeling of self-assessment process could aid students in articulating feedback needs. Fourth, the trust could be fostered when teachers explained the benefits of feedback co-construction, showed empathy, and provided personalised comments in dialogue. Some strategies were applied in interactive cover sheets in which students performed self-evaluation and made feedback requests on a cover sheet during assignment submission, followed by teachers’ response to individuals’ requests. The significance of this presentation lies in unpacking the conceptual framework of feedback partnerships and outlining feedback co-construction strategies. With a solid foundation in theory and practice, researchers and teachers could better enhance students’ engagement with feedback.

Keywords: conceptual framework, feedback co-construction, feedback partnerships, implementation strategies

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Authors: K. Durairaj, I. N. Umar

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The asynchronous discussion forum is one of the most widely used activities in learning management system environment. Online forum allows participants to interact, construct knowledge, and can be used to complement face to face sessions in blended learning courses. However, to what extent do the students perceive the benefits or advantages of forum remain to be seen. Through content and social network analyses, instructors will be able to gauge the students’ engagement and knowledge construction level. Thus, this study aims to analyze the students’ level of knowledge construction and their participation level that occur through online discussion. It also attempts to investigate the relationship between the level of knowledge construction and their social interaction patterns. The sample involves 23 students undertaking a master course in one public university in Malaysia. The asynchronous discussion forum was conducted for three weeks as part of the course requirement. The finding indicates that the level of knowledge construction is quite low. Also, the density value of 0.11 indicating that the overall communication among the participants in the forum is low. This study reveals that strong and significant correlations between SNA measures (in-degree centrality, out-degree centrality) and level of knowledge construction. Thus, allocating these active students in a different groups aids the interactive discussion takes place. Finally, based upon the findings, some recommendations to increase students’ level of knowledge construction and also for further research are proposed.

Keywords: asynchronous discussion forums, content analysis, knowledge construction, social network analysis

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Authors: Nadeem Akhtar, An Ran, Cornelius B. Pratt

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China’s President Xi' vision of Belt and Road Initiative, an infrastructural project of development and connectivity, is attracting international students to Chinese universities, with Pakistan and India among the top-10 countries of origin of those students (Ministry of Education China, 2018). An additional factor in international students’ interest in Chinese universities is their improving global rankings of Chinese universities. Against that backdrop, this study addresses two overarching questions: (a) What factors explain South Asian students’ study-away experiences, particularly in their multicultural environments? and (b) What role do new media play in their adaptation to that environment? This study is guided by Stephen’s (2011) theoretical model, which suggests that social networks influence immigrants’ interactions with host and home culture. The present study used a structured questionnaire distributed through both WeChat and other online platforms to international students studying in Chinese universities. Preliminary results are threefold: (a) that the frequency of use of social media is a predictor of the level of adjustment of the students to their multicultural environment; (b) that social engagement with their international-student peers is a moderating factor in their experiential outcomes; and (c) length of stay in Chinese universities, surprisingly, was not a predictor of adaptation. A major implication of these findings is that, even though social media tend to be criticized for contributing to anomie and to diminishing social capital among youths and millennials, they can be poignant tools for cultural adaptation, particularly among international students in China. It remains to be seen if such outcomes occur among international students in other countries or world regions.

Keywords: adaptation, China's Belt and Road Initiative, international students, social media

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Authors: Terrell Strayhorn

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The lack of diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is a persistent and concerning issue. One contributing factor to the underrepresentation of minority groups in STEM fields is a lack of sense of belonging, which can lead to lower levels of academic engagement, motivation, and achievement. In particular, Black students have been shown to experience lower levels of sense of belonging in STEM compared to their white peers. This study aimed to explore the effects of a psychological intervention on Black students' sense of belonging in physics and math courses at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and predominantly white institutions (PWIs). The study used a randomized controlled trial design and included 305 Black undergraduate students enrolled in physics or math courses at HBCUs and PWIs in the United States. Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a control group. The intervention consisted of a brief psychological, video-based intervention designed to enhance sense of belonging, which was delivered in a single session. The control group received no intervention. The primary outcome measure was sense of belonging in physics and math courses, as assessed by a validated self-report measure. Other outcomes included academic engagement, motivation, and achievement as measured by physics and math (course) grades. Preliminary results show that the intervention has a significant positive effect on Black students' sense of belonging in physics and math courses, with a moderate effect size. The intervention also had a significant positive effect on academic engagement and motivation, but not on academic achievement. Importantly, the effects of the intervention were larger for Black students enrolled at PWIs compared to those enrolled at HBCUs. Findings, at present, suggest that a brief psychological web-based intervention can enhance Black students' sense of belonging in physics and math courses, and that the effects may be particularly strong for Black students enrolled at PWIs, although they are not negligible for Black students at HBCUs. This is an important finding given the persistent underrepresentation of Black students in STEM fields, the growing number of Black students at PWIs, and the potential for enhancing sense of belonging to improve academic outcomes and increase diversity in these fields. The study has several limitations, including a relatively small sample size and a lack of long-term follow-up. Future research could explore the generalizability of these findings to other minority groups and other STEM fields, as well as the potential for longer-term interventions to sustain and enhance the effects observed in this study. Overall, this study highlights the potential for psychological interventions to enhance sense of belonging and improve academic outcomes for Black students in STEM courses, and underscores the importance of addressing sense of belonging as a key factor in promoting diversity and equity in STEM fields.

Keywords: sense of belonging, achievement, racial equity, postsecondary education, intervention

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Authors: Gezahegn Gizaw

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The FDRE Tourism Training Institute organizes forums for debates, best practices exchange and focus group discussions to forge a sustainable and growing tourism sector while minimizing negative impacts on the environment, communities, and cultures. This study aimed at applying empirical research method to identify and quantify relative importance of success factors and individual engagement indicators that were identified in these forums. Response to the 12-question survey was collected from a total of 437 respondents in academic training institutes (212), business executive and employee (204) and non-academic government offices (21). Overall, capacity building was perceived as the most important driver of success for stakeholder engagement. Business executive and employee category rated capacity building as the most important driver of success (53%), followed by decision-making process (27%) and community participation (20%). Among educators and students, both capacity building and decision-making process were perceived as the most important factors (40% of respondents), whereas community participation was perceived as the most important success factor only by 20% of respondents. Individual engagement score in capacity building, decision-making process and community participation showed highest variability by educational level of participants (variance of 3.4% - 5.2%, p<0.001). Individual engagement score in capacity building was highly correlated to perceived benefit of training on improved efficiency, job security, higher customer satisfaction and self-esteem. On the other hand, individual engagement score in decision making process was highly correlated to its perceived benefit on lowering business costs, improving ability to meet the needs of a target market, job security, self-esteem and more teamwork. The study provides a set of recommendations that help educators, business executives and policy makers to maximize the individual and synergetic effect of training, decision making process on sustainability and growth of the tourism sector in Ethiopia.

Keywords: engagement score, driver of success, capacity building, tourism

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Authors: Zoltán Höhling, Sarah-Lu Oberschelp, Niklas Gilsdorf, Michael Wirsching, Andrea Kuhnert

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A majority of medical students at the University of Freiburg reported stress-related psychosomatic symptoms which are often associated with their studies. International research supports these findings, as medical students worldwide seem to be at special risk for mental health problems. In some countries and institutions, psychologically based interventions that assist medical students in coping with their stressors have been implemented. It turned out that anonymity is an important aspect here. Many students fear a potential damage of reputation when being associated with mental health problems, which may be due to a high level of competitiveness in classes. Therefore, we launched an online-platform where medical students could anonymously seek help and exchange their experiences with fellow students and experts. Medical students of all semesters have access to it through the university’s learning management system (called “ILIAS”). The informative part of the platform consists of exemplary videos showing medical students (actors) who act out scenes that demonstrate the antecedents of stress-related psychosomatic disorders. These videos are linked to different expert comments, describing the exhibited symptoms in an understandable and normalizing way. The (inter-)active part of the platform consists of self-help tools (such as meditation exercises or general tips for stress-coping) and an anonymous interactive forum where students can describe their stress-related problems and seek guidance from experts and/or share their experiences with fellow students. Besides creating an immediate proposal to help affected students, we expect that competitiveness between students might be diminished and bondage improved through mutual support between them. In the initial phase after the platform’s launch, it was accessed by a considerable number of medical students. On a closer look it appeared that platform sections like general information on psychosomatic-symptoms and self-treatment tools were accessed far more often than the online-forum during the first months after the platform launch. Although initial acceptance of the platform was relatively high, students showed a rather passive way of using our platform. While user statistics showed a clear demand for information on stress-related psychosomatic symptoms and its possible remedies, active engagement in the interactive online-forum was rare. We are currently advertising the platform intensively and trying to point out the assured anonymity of the platform and its interactive forum. Our plans, to assure students their anonymity through the use of an e-learning facility and promote active engagement in the online forum, did not (yet) turn out as expected. The reasons behind this may be manifold and based on either e-learning related issues or issues related to students’ individual needs. Students might, for example, question the assured anonymity due to a lack of trust in the technological functioning university’s learning management system. However, one may also conclude that reluctance to discuss stress-related psychosomatic symptoms with peer medical students may not be solely based on anonymity concerns, but could be rooted in more complex issues such as general mistrust between students.

Keywords: e-tutoring, stress-coping, student support, online forum

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Authors: Wanchak Noichan, Phakchira Noichan, Nuntiya Noichun

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The objectives of this research were 1) to study the level of community engagement, 2) to compare community engagement level of motorcycle taxi drivers in Bangkok, Thailand, classified by personal factors. The sample population of this study was 400 motorcycle taxi drivers in Bangkok, Thailand, using the unknown size method of W. G. Cochran's population. The sample was chosen by probability-based randomization. A study using quantitative methods (quantitative research) use the research tools as a questionnaire. The statistics used in the research were the mean, standard deviation, t-test, and F-Test (One-Way ANOVA). The study found that (1) the sample groups have a high level of community engagement (x̄=3.65, S.D.=0.735). (2) The sample groups with different ages, education, status, and income have different levels of community commitment with statistical significance at the level of 0.05.

Keywords: community engagement, motorcycle taxi drivers, Bangkok, Thailand

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Authors: Bilal Ahmed, Muhammad Rafiq, Choongjae Im

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The tech-savvy Gen Z's transfer towards interactive concept learning is hammering the demand for online collaborative learning environments, renovating conventional education approaches. The authors propose a novel approach to enhance learning outcomes to improve retention in 3D interactive education by connecting virtual reality (VR) and non-VR devices in the classroom and distance learning. The study evaluates students' experiences with VR interconnectivity devices in human anatomy lectures using real-time 3D interactive data visualization. Utilizing the renowned "Guo & Pooles Inventory" and the "Flow for Presence Questionnaires," it used an experimental research design with a control and experimental group to assess this novel connecting strategy's effectiveness and significant potential for in-person and online educational settings during the sessions. The experimental group's interactions, engagement levels, and usability experiences were assessed using the "Guo & Pooles Inventory" and "Flow for Presence Questionnaires," which measure their sense of presence, engagement, and immersion throughout the learning process using a 5-point Likert scale. At the end of the sessions, we used the "Perceived Usability Scale" to find our proposed system's overall efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction. By comparing both groups, the students in the experimental group used the integrated VR environment and VR to non-VR devices, and their sense of presence and attentiveness was significantly improved, allowing for increased engagement by giving students diverse technological access. Furthermore, learners' flow states demonstrated increased absorption and focus levels, improving information retention and Perceived Usability. The findings of this study can help educational institutions optimize their technology-enhanced teaching methods for traditional classroom settings as well as distance-based learning, where building a sense of connection among remote learners is critical. This study will give significant insights into educational technology and its ongoing progress by analyzing engagement, interactivity, usability, satisfaction, and presence.

Keywords: interactive learning environments, human-computer interaction, virtual reality, computer- supported collaborative learning

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Authors: Molly Pui Man Wong

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In this study, a blended and interactive e-learning Courseware that our team developed will be introduced, and our team’s experiences on how the e-learning Courseware and the flipped classroom benefit student learning in bioethics in the medical program will be shared. This study is a continuation of the previously established study, which provides a summary of the well-developed e-learning Courseware in a blended learning approach and an update on its efficiency and efficacy. First, a collection of animated videos capturing selected topics of bioethics and related ethical issues and dilemma will be introduced. Next, a selection of problem-based learning videos (“simulated doctor-patient role play”) with pop-up questions and discussions will be further discussed. Our recent findings demonstrated that these activities launched by the Courseware strongly engaged students in bioethics education and enhanced students’ critical thinking and creativity, which were consistent with the previous data in the preliminary studies. Moreover, the educational benefits of the online art exhibition, art jamming, and competition will be discussed, through which students could express bioethics through arts and enrich their learning in medical research in an interactive, fun, and entertaining way, strengthening their interests in bioethics. Furthermore, online survey questionnaires and focus group interviews were conducted. Consistent with the preliminary studies, our results indicated that implementing the e-learning Courseware with a flipped classroom in bioethics education enhanced both active learning and student engagement. In conclusion, our Courseware not only reinforces education in art, bioethics, and medicine but also benefits students in understanding and critical thinking in socio-ethical issues and serves as a valuable learning tool in bioethics teaching and learning.

Keywords: bioethics, courseware, e-learning, flipped classroom

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Authors: Kamolrat Turner, Boontuan Wattanakul

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Critical thinking and creativity are prerequisite skills for working professionals in the 21^st century. A survey conducted in 2014 at the Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Chon Buri, Thailand, revealed that these skills within students across all academic years was at a low to moderate level. An action research study was conducted to develop the EREC IF Model, a framework which includes the concepts of experience, reflection, engagement, culture and language, ICT, and flexibility and fun, to guide pedagogic activities for 75 sophomores of the undergraduate nursing science program at the college. The model was applied to all professional nursing courses. Prior to implementation, workshops were held to prepare lecturers and students. Both lecturers and students initially expressed their discomfort and pointed to the difficulties with the model. However, later they felt more comfortable, and by the end of the project they expressed their understanding and appreciation of the model. A survey conducted four and eight months after implementation found that the critical thinking and creativity skills of the sophomores were significantly higher than those recorded in the pretest. It could be concluded that the EREC IF model is efficient for fostering critical thinking and creativity skills in the undergraduate nursing science program. This model should be used for other levels of students.

Keywords: critical thinking, creativity, undergraduate nursing students, EREC IF model

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Authors: Pinar Ozdemir Ayber, Zeina Hojeij

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Blended Learning (BL) is a rapidly growing teaching and learning approach, which brings together the best of both face-to-face and online learning to expand learning opportunities for students. However, there is limited research on the practices, opportunities and quality of instruction in Blended Classrooms, and on the role of the teaching faculty as well as the learners in these types of classes. This paper will highlight the researchers’ experiences and reflections on blending their classes. It will focus on the importance of designing effective lesson plans that emphasize learner engagement and motivation in alignment with course learning outcomes. In addition, it will identify the changing roles of the teacher and the learners and suggest appropriate variations to the traditional classroom setting taking into consideration the benefits and the challenges of the Blended Classroom. It is hoped that this paper would provide sufficient input for participants to reflect on ways they can blend their own lessons to promote ubiquitous learning and student autonomy. Practical tips and ideas will be shared with the participants on various strategies and technologies that were used in the researchers’ classes.

Keywords: blended learning, learner autonomy, learner engagement, learner motivation, mobile learning tools

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Authors: Wen-Wei Chiang

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In this study, the researcher developed a scale for use in measuring the degree to which high school students experience a state of flow. The researcher then verified its reliability and validity in an actual classroom setting. The ultimate objective was to identify feasible methods by which to promote the experience of a flow state among high school students engaged in the study of science. The nine indices identified in this study to assess the engagement of high school students focus primarily on the study of science-related topics; however, the principles on which they are based are applicable to a wide range of learning situations. Teachers must outline the goals of each lesson clearly and provide unambiguous feedback. They must also look for ways to make the lessons more fun and appealing.

Keywords: flow experience, positive psychology, questionnaire, science learning

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Authors: Vasanthi Muniasamy, Intisar Magboul Ejalani, M.Anandhavalli, K. Gauthaman

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Social Media (SM) are websites increasingly popular and built to allow people to express themselves and to interact socially with others. Most SMT are dominated by youth particularly college students. The proliferation of popular social media tools, which can accessed from any communication devices has become pervasive in the lives of today’s student life. Connecting traditional education to social media tools are a relatively new era and any collaborative tool could be used for learning activities. This study focuses (i) how the social media tools are useful for the learning activities of the students of faculty of medicine in King Khalid University (ii) whether the social media affects the collaborative learning with interaction among students, among course instructor, their engagement, perceived ease of use and perceived ease of usefulness (TAM) (iii) overall, the students satisfy with this collaborative learning through Social media.

Keywords: social media, Web 2.0, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, collaborative Learning

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Authors: Khaled Karim

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Although a large number of studies have examined the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) in L2 writing, very few studies have investigated students’ attitudes towards the feedback and their perspectives regarding the usefulness of different types of feedback. Using prompted stimulated recall interviews, this study investigated ESL students’ perceptions and attitudes towards the CF they received as well as their preferences and reactions to the corrections. 24 ESL students first received direct (e.g., providing target forms after crossing out erroneous forms) and indirect (e.g., underlining and underline+metalinguistic) CF on four written tasks and then participated in an interview with the researcher. The analysis revealed that both direct and indirect CF were judged to be useful strategies for correction but in different ways. Underline only CF helped them think about the nature and type of the errors they made while metalinguistic CF was useful as it provided clues about the nature and type of the errors. Most participants indicated that indirect correction needed sufficient prior knowledge of the form to be effective. The majority of the students found the combination of underlining with metalinguistic information as the most effective method of providing feedback. Detailed findings will be presented, and pedagogical implications of the study will be discussed.

Keywords: ESL writing, error correction, feedback, written corrective feedback

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Authors: Munirah Alaboudi

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This paper discusses a research project carried out with 12 first-year graduate students enrolled in research methods course prior to undertaking a graduate thesis during the academic year 2019. The research was designed for the objective of creating research methods course structure that embraces an individualized and activity-based approach to learning in a highly engaging group environment. This approach targeted innovating the traditional research methods lecture-based, theoretical format where students reported less engagement and limited learning. This study utilized action research methodology in developing a different approach to research methods course instruction where student performance indicators and feedback were periodically collected to assess the new teaching method. Student learning was achieved through utilizing the flipped classroom approach where students learned the material at home and classroom activities were designed to implement and experiment with the newly acquired information, with the guidance of the course instructor. Student learning in class was practiced through a series of activities based on different research methods. With the goal of encouraging student engagement, a wide range of activities was utilized including workshops, role play, mind-mapping, presentations, peer evaluations. Data was collected through an open-ended qualitative questionnaire to establish whether students were engaged in the material they were learning, and to what degree were they engaged, and to test their mastery level of the concepts discussed. Analysis of the data presented positive results as around 91% of the students reported feeling more engaged with the active learning experience and learning research by “actually doing research, not just reading about it”. The students expressed feeling invested in the process of their learning as they saw their research “gradually come to life” through peer learning and practice during workshops. Based on the results of this study, the research methods course structure was successfully remodeled and continues to be delivered.

Keywords: research methods, higher education instruction, flipped classroom, graduate education

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Authors: Yessica A. Aguilera

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English is currently the only foreign language included in the national educational curriculum in Chile. The English curriculum establishes that once completed secondary education, students are expected to reach B1 level according to the Common European Reference Framework (CEFR) scale. However, the objective has not been achieved, and to the author’s best knowledge, there is still a severe lack of English language skills among students who have completed their secondary education studies. In order to deal with the fact that students do not manage English as expected, team-based learning (TBL) was introduced in English language lessons at the Universidad Federico Santa María (USM). TBL is a collaborative teaching-learning method which enhances active learning by combining individual and team work. This approach seeks to help students achieve course objectives while learning how to function in teams. The purpose of the research was to assess the implementation and effectiveness of TBL in English language classes at USM technical training education. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from teachers and students about their experience through TBL. Research findings show that both teachers and students are satisfied with the method and that students’ engagement and participation in class is higher. Additionally, students score higher on examinations improving academic outcomes. The findings of the research have the potential to guide how TBL could be included in future English language courses.

Keywords: collaborative learning, college education, English language learning, team-based learning

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Authors: Nuno Da Camara, Victor Dulewicz, Malcolm Higgs

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Factors on employee engagement: In particular, although theorists have described the critical role of emotional cognition of the workplace environment as antecedents to employee engagement, empirical research on the impact of emotional cognition on employee engagement is limited. However, previous researchers have typically provided evidence of the link between emotional cognition of the workplace environment and workplace attitudes such as job satisfaction and organisational commitment. This study therefore aims to investigate the impact of emotional cognition of job, role, leader and organisation domains of the work environment – as represented by measures of psychological climate and organizational emotional intelligence (OEI) - on employee engagement. The research is based on a quantitative cross-sectional survey of employees in a UK charity organization (n=174). The research instruments applied include the psychological climate scale, the organisational emotional intelligence questionnaire (OEIQ) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). The data were analysed using hierarchical regression and partial least squares (PLS) analytical techniques. The results of the study show that both psychological climate and OEI, which represent emotional cognition of job, role, leader and organisation domains in the workplace are significant drivers of employee engagement. In particular, the study found that a sense of contribution and challenge at work are the strongest drivers of vigour, dedication and absorption and highlights the importance of emotionally relevant approaches in furthering our understanding of workplace engagement.

Keywords: employee engagement, organisational emotional intelligence, psychological climate, workplace attitudes

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Authors: Gebreegziabher Hailu Gebrecherkos

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This study examines the effectiveness of GeoGebra in developing the conceptual understanding of transformation geometry among Grade 11 students. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, the research compares the learning outcomes of students who engaged with GeoGebra against those who received traditional instruction. Pre- and post-tests were administered to assess students' grasp of key transformation concepts, including translations, rotations, reflections, and dilations. Additionally, qualitative data were gathered through student interviews and classroom observations to explore their experiences and perceptions of using GeoGebra. Results indicate that students utilizing GeoGebra showed significantly greater improvement in their understanding of transformation geometry concepts. The interactive features of GeoGebra facilitated visualization and exploration, leading to enhanced engagement and deeper conceptual insights. The findings underscore the potential of GeoGebra as a powerful educational tool that not only fosters mathematical understanding but also accommodates diverse learning styles in the classroom. This study contributes valuable insights for educators seeking to improve the teaching and learning of transformation geometry in secondary education.

Keywords: calculus, conceptual understanding, GeoGebra, transformation geometry

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Authors: Lorena Blasco-Arcas, Francesca Pucciarelli

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Business contexts have become globalised and digitalised, which requires that managers develop a strong sense of cross-cultural intelligence while working in geographically distant teams by means of digital technologies. How to better equip future managers on these kinds of skills has been put forward as a critical issue in Business Schools. In pursuing these goals, higher education is shifting from a passive lecture approach, to more active and experiential learning approaches that are more suitable to learn skills. For example, through the use of case studies, proposing plausible business problem to be solved by students (or teams of students), these institutions have focused for long in fostering learning by doing. Though, case studies are no longer enough as a tool to promote active teamwork and experiential learning. Moreover, digital advancements applied to educational settings have enabled augmented classrooms, expanding the learning experience beyond the class, which increase students’ engagement and experiential learning. Different authors have highlighted the benefits of digital engagement in order to achieve a deeper and longer-lasting learning and comprehension of core marketing concepts. Clickers, computer-based simulations and business games have become fairly popular between instructors, but still are limited by the fact that are fictional experiences. Further exploration of real digital platforms to implement real, live projects in the classroom seem relevant for marketing and business education. Building on this, this paper describes the development of an experiential learning activity in class, in which students developed a communication campaign in teams using the BuzzFeed platform, and subsequently implementing the campaign by using other social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter…). The article details the procedure of using the project for a marketing module in a Bachelor program with students located in France, Italy and Spain campuses working on multi-campus groups. Further, this paper describes the project outcomes in terms of students’ engagement and analytics (i.e. visits achieved). the project included a survey in order to analyze and identify main aspects related to how the learning experience is influenced by the cultural competence developed through working in geographically distant and culturally diverse teamwork. Finally, some recommendations to use project-based social media tools while working with virtual teamwork in the classroom are provided.

Keywords: cultural competences, experiential learning, social media, teamwork, virtual group work

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Authors: Tzu-Ling Hsieh

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When the Taiwan Ministry of Education implemented a new university multiple entrance policy in 2002, most colleges and universities still use testing scores as mainly admission criteria. With forthcoming 12 basic-year education curriculum, the Ministry of Education provides a new college admission policy, which will be implemented in 2021. The new college admission policy will highlight the importance of holistic education by more emphases on the learning process of senior high school, except only on the outcome of academic testing. However, the development of college admission criteria doesn’t have a thoughtful process. Universities and colleges don’t have an idea about how to make suitable multi-admission criteria. Although there are lots of studies in other countries which have implemented multi-college admission criteria for years, these studies still cannot represent Taiwanese students. Also, these studies are limited without the comparison of two different academic fields. Therefore, this study investigated multiple admission criteria and its relationship with college success. This study analyzed the Taiwan Higher Education Database with 12,747 samples from 156 universities and tested a conceptual framework that examines factors by structural equation model (SEM). The conceptual framework of this study was adapted from Pascarella's general causal model and focused on how different admission criteria predict students’ college success. It discussed the relationship between admission criteria and college success, also the relationship how motivation (one of admission standard) influence college success through engagement behaviors of student effort and interactions with agents of socialization. After processing missing value, reliability and validity analysis, the study found three indicators can significantly predict students’ college success which was defined as average grade of last semester. These three indicators are the Chinese language scores at college entrance exam, high school class rank, and quality of student academic engagement. In addition, motivation can significantly predict quality of student academic engagement and interactions with agents of socialization. However, the multi-group SEM analysis showed that there is no difference to predict college success between the students from liberal arts and science. Finally, this study provided some suggestions for universities and colleges to develop multi-admission criteria through the empirical research of Taiwanese higher education students.

Keywords: college admission, admission criteria, structural equation modeling, higher education, education policy

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Authors: Alexandra Shipley

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Background: Undergraduate paediatric teaching must overcome two major challenges: 1) balancing patient safety with active student engagement and 2) exposing students to a comprehensive range of pathologies within a relatively short clinical placement. Whilst lectures and shadowing on paediatric wards constitute the mainstay of learning, Simulation and Virtual Reality (VR) are emerging as effective teaching tools, which - immune to the unpredictability and seasonal variation of hospital presentations - could expose students to the entire syllabus more reliably, efficiently, and independently. We aim to evaluate the potential utility of Simulation and VR in addressing gaps within the traditional paediatric curriculum from the perspective of medical students. Summary of Work: Exposure to and perceived utility of various learning opportunities within the Paediatric and Emergency Medicine courses were assessed through a questionnaire completed by 5th year medical students (n=23). Summary of Results: Students reported limited exposure to several common acute paediatric presentations, such as bronchiolitis (41%), croup (32%) or pneumonia (14%), and to clinical emergencies, including cardiac/respiratory arrests or trauma calls (27%). Across all conditions, average self-reported confidence in assessment and management to the level expected of an FY1 is greater amongst those who observed at least one case (e.g. 7.6/10 compared with 3.6/10 for croup). Students rated exposure through Simulation or VR to be of similar utility to witnessing a clinical scenario on the ward. In free text responses, students unanimously favoured being ‘challenged’ through ‘hands-on’ patient interaction over passive shadowing, where it is ‘easy to zone out.’ In recognition of the fact that such independence is only appropriate in certain clinical situations, many students reported wanting more Simulation and VR teaching. Importantly, students raised the necessity of ‘proper debriefs’ after these sessions to maximise educational value. Discussion and Conclusion: Our questionnaire elicited several student-perceived challenges in paediatric education, including incomplete exposure to common pathologies and limited opportunities for active involvement in patient care. Indeed, these experiences seem to be important predictors of confidence. Quantitative and qualitative feedback suggests that VR and Simulation satisfy students’ self-reported appetite for independent engagement with authentic clinical scenarios. Take-aways: Our findings endorse further development of VR and Simulation as high-yield adjuncts to paediatric education.

Keywords: paediatric emergency education, simulation, virtual reality, medical education

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Authors: Lisa Graham, Kathleen Grant

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South Africa is a multicultural country with eleven official languages, yet most of the formal education at institutions of higher education in the country is in English. It is well known that many students, irrespective of their home language, struggle to grasp difficult scientific concepts and the same is true for students enrolled in the Extended Curriculum Programme at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), studying biomedical sciences. Today we are fortunate in that there is a plethora of resources available to students to research and better understand subject matter online. For example, the students often use YouTube videos to supplement the formal education provided in our course. Unfortunately, most of this material is presented in English. The rationale behind this project lies in that it is well documented that students think and grasp concepts easier in their home language and addresses the fact that the lingua franca of instruction in the field of biomedical science is English. A project aimed at addressing the lack of available resources in most of the South African languages is planned, where students studying Bachelor of Health Science in Medical Laboratory Science will collaborate with those studying Film and Video Technology to create educational videos, explaining scientific concepts in their home languages. These videos will then be published on our own YouTube channel, thereby making them accessible to fellow students, future students and anybody with interest in the subject. Research will be conducted to determine the benefit of the project as well as the published videos to the student community. It is suspected that the students engaged in making the videos will benefit in such a way as to gain further understanding of their course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, an enhanced sense of civic responsibility, as well as greater respect for the different languages and cultures in our classes. Indeed, an increase in student engagement has been shown to play a central role in student success, and it is well noted that deeper learning and more innovative solutions take place in collaborative groups. We aim to make a meaningful contribution towards the production and repository of knowledge in multilingual teaching and learning for the benefit of the diverse student population and staff. This would strengthen language development, multilingualism, and multiculturalism at CPUT and empower and promote African languages as languages of science and education at CPUT, in other institutions of higher learning, and in South Africa as a whole.

Keywords: educational videos, multiculturalism, multilingualism, student engagement

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Authors: Mitrajit Biswas

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This paper is trying to understand the issues related to maintaining a fan base over a period of time. The paper would be trying to look into how the fan base can be actually engaged. That is what are the attributes of keeping a fan base interested and not feeling fatigued or tired. It would also try to understand that what are the key elements required for a franchise to be active and keep the fans engaged. The paper would look to understand the primary elements of a franchise like Marvel to keep the fans engaged for such a long period of time. This will help to improve the scope of literature on consumer engagement and consumption behaviour in modern times of unpredictability. It will also help to understand how the consumers take in a longer period of engagement. This would help to understand that despite huge success and investment in fan engagement and what could be the possible reasons for disengagement? This would include in-depth interviews with a global sample of around 50 people, which would be connected through purposive, convenient, and snowball sampling. It will help to understand whether the customer lifetime value as a theory can be sustained based on customer relationship management. If yes, how can products from certain companies predict and keep up the strategy for the prediction of the consumer engagement process?

Keywords: consumption, fatigue, brand loyalty, sustainable consumption

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Authors: Humayun Murshed, Shibly Abdullah

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This paper focuses on sharing experience gained through a pilot project undertaken to teach an introductory accounting subject linking real-life ground realities with the fundamental concepts of accounting. In view of the practical dimensions of Accounting it has been observed that adopting a teaching approach based on practical illustrations help students to motivate and generate interests to take accounting profession as their career. The paper reports that students’ perception about accounting as ‘dreary’ has been changed to ‘interesting’ due to adoption of practice based approach in teaching. The authors argue that ‘concept mapping’ can play a vital role in facilitating practice based education in accounting which promotes a rewarding learning experience among the students. The paper considers taking into account generic skills development, student centric learning, development of innovative assessment tasks, making students aware of the potential benefits of practice based education primarily through concept mapping, and engaging them both inside and outside of the class rooms are critical for ensuring success of this approach.

Keywords: accounting education, pedagogy, practice-based education, concept mapping

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Authors: Fatemeh Miraki

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The use of authentic materials in English Language Teaching (ELT) has become increasingly prominent as educators recognize the value of exposing learners to real-world language use and cultural contexts. The integration of authentic materials in ELT aligns with the understanding that language learning is most effective when situated within authentic contexts (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). Tomlinson (1998) highlights the significance of authentic materials in ELT by research indicating that they offer learners exposure to genuine language use and cultural contexts. Tomlinson's work emphasizes the importance of creating meaningful learning experiences through the use of authentic materials. Research by Dörnyei (2001) underscores the potential of authentic materials to enhance students' intrinsic motivation through their relevance to real-life language use. The goal of this review paper is to explore the use of authentic materials in English Language Teaching (ELT) and its impact on language learning. It also discusses best practices for selecting and integrating such authentic materials into ELT curriculum, highlighting the benefits and challenges of using authentic materials to enhance student engagement, motivation, and language proficiency. Drawing on current research and practical examples, this paper provides insights into how teachers can effectively navigate the world of authentic materials to create dynamic and meaningful learning experiences for 21st century ELT learners. The findings of this study advocates for a shift towards embracing authentic materials within the ELT classroom, acknowledging their profound impact on language proficiency, intercultural competence, and learner engagement. It showed the transformative potential of authentic materials, educators can undergo a vibrant and immersive language learning experience, enriched with real-world application and cultural authenticity.

Keywords: authentic materials, ELT Classroom, ELT curriculum, students’ engagement

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Authors: Diane M. Bender

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In architecture and design education, students learn and understand their discipline through lecture courses and within studios. A studio is where the instructor works closely with students to help them understand design by doing design work. The final jury is the culmination of the studio learning experience. It’s value and significance are rarely questioned. Students present their work before their peers, instructors, and invited reviewers, known as jurors. These jurors are recognized experts who add a breadth of feedback to students mostly in the form of a verbal critique of the work. Since the design review or jury has been a common element of studio education for centuries, jurors themselves have been instructed in this format. Therefore, they understand its value from both a student and a juror perspective. To better understand how these reviewers see the value of a studio review, a survey was distributed to reviewers at a multi-disciplinary design school within the United States. Five design disciplines were involved in this case study: architecture, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, and landscape architecture. Respondents (n=108) provided written comments about their perceived value of the studio review system. The average respondent was male (64%), between 40-49 years of age, and has attained a master’s degree. Qualitative analysis with thematic coding revealed several themes. Reviewers view the final jury as important because it provides a variety of perspectives from unbiased external practitioners and prepares students for similar presentation challenges they will experience in professional practice. They also see it as a way to validate the assessment and evaluation of students by faculty. In addition, they see a personal benefit for themselves and their firm – the ability to network with fellow jurors, professors, and students (i.e., future colleagues). Respondents also provided additional feedback about the jury system and studio education in general. Typical responses included a desire for earlier engagement with students; a better explanation from the instructor about the project parameters, rubrics/grading, and guidelines for juror involvement; a way to balance giving encouraging feedback versus overly critical comments; and providing training for jurors prior to reviews. While this study focused on the studio review, the findings are equally applicable to other disciplines. Suggestions will be provided on how to improve the preparation of guests in the learning process and how their interaction can positively influence student engagement.

Keywords: assessment, design, jury, studio

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Authors: Anna-Maria Ramezanzadeh

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Demand for Arabic language is growing worldwide, driven by increased interest in the multifarious purposes the language serves, both for the population of heritage learners and those studying Arabic as a foreign language. The diglossic, or indeed multiglossic nature of the language as used in Arabic speaking communities however, is seldom represented in the content of classroom courses. This disjoint between the nature of provision and students’ expectations can severely impact their engagement with course material, and their motivation to either commence or continue learning the language. The nature of motivation and its relationship to multiglossia is sparsely explored in current literature on Arabic. The theoretical framework here proposed aims to address this gap by presenting a model and instruments for the measurement of Arabic learners’ motivation in relation to the multiple strands of the language. It adopts and develops the Second Language Motivation Self-System model (L2MSS), originally proposed by Zoltan Dörnyei, which measures motivation as the desire to reduce the discrepancy between leaners’ current and future self-concepts in terms of the second language (L2). The tripartite structure incorporates measures of the Current L2 Self, Future L2 Self (consisting of an Ideal L2 Self, and an Ought-To Self), and the L2 Learning Experience. The strength of the self-concepts is measured across three different domains of Arabic: Classical, Modern Standard and Colloquial. The focus on learners’ self-concepts allows for an exploration of the effect of multiple factors on motivation towards Arabic, including religion. The relationship between Islam and Arabic is often given as a prominent reason behind some students’ desire to learn the language. Exactly how and why this factor features in learners’ L2 self-concepts has not yet been explored. Specifically designed surveys and interview protocols are proposed to facilitate the exploration of these constructs. The L2 Learning Experience component of the model is operationalized as learners’ task-based engagement. Engagement is conceptualised as multi-dimensional and malleable. In this model, situation-specific measures of cognitive, behavioural, and affective components of engagement are collected via specially designed repeated post-task self-report surveys on Personal Digital Assistant over multiple Arabic lessons. Tasks are categorised according to language learning skill. Given the domain-specific uses of the different varieties of Arabic, the relationship between learners’ engagement with different types of tasks and their overall motivational profiles will be examined to determine the extent of the interaction between the two constructs. A framework for this data analysis is proposed and hypotheses discussed. The unique combination of situation-specific measures of engagement and a person-oriented approach to measuring motivation allows for a macro- and micro-analysis of the interaction between learners and the Arabic learning process. By combining cross-sectional and longitudinal elements with a mixed-methods design, the model proposed offers the potential for capturing a comprehensive and detailed picture of the motivation and engagement of Arabic learners. The application of this framework offers a number of numerous potential pedagogical and research implications which will also be discussed.

Keywords: Arabic, diglossia, engagement, motivation, multiglossia, sociolinguistics

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Authors: Sally Abu Sabaa, Lindsey Gutt

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In an attempt to use education as a way of raising a socially responsible and engaged global citizen, the YU-Bridge program, the largest and fastest pathway program of its kind in North America, has embarked on the journey of integrating general themes from the UN’s sustainable developmental goals (SDGs) in its English for Academic Purposes (EAP) curriculum. The purpose of this initiative was to redefine the general philosophy of education in the middle of a pandemic and align with York University’s University Academic Plan that was released in summer 2020 framed around the SDGs. The YUB program attracts international students from all over the world but mainly from China, and its goal is to enable students to achieve the minimum language requirement to join their undergraduate courses at York University. However, along with measuring outcomes, objectives, and the students’ GPA, instructors and academics are always seeking innovation of the YUB curriculum to adapt to the ever growing challenges of academics in the university context, in order to focus more on subject matter that students will be exposed to in their undergraduate studies. However, with the sudden change that has happened globally with the advance of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other natural disasters like the increase in forest fires and floods, rethinking the philosophy and goal of education was a must. Accordingly, the SDGs became the solid pillars upon which we, academics and administrators of the program, could build a new curriculum and shift our perspective from simply ESL education to education with moral and ethical goals. The preliminary implementation of this initiative was supported by an institutional-wide consultation with EAP instructors who have diverse experiences, disciplines, and interests. Along with brainstorming sessions and mini-pilot projects preceding the integration of the SDGs in the YUB-EAP curriculum, those meetings led to creating a general outline of a curriculum and an assessment framework that has the SDGs at its core with the medium of ESL used for language instruction. Accordingly, a community of knowledge exchange was spontaneously created and facilitated by instructors. This has led to knowledge, resources, and teaching pedagogies being shared and examined further. In addition, experiences and reactions of students are being shared, leading to constructive discussions about opportunities and challenges with the integration of the SDGs. The discussions have branched out to discussions about cultural and political barriers along with a thirst for knowledge and engagement, which has resulted in increased engagement not only on the part of the students but the instructors as well. Later in the program, two surveys will be conducted: one for the students and one for the instructors to measure the level of engagement of each in this initiative as well as to elicit suggestions for further development. This paper will describe this fundamental step into using ESL methodology as a mode of disseminating essential ethical and socially correct knowledge for all learners in the 21st Century, the students’ reactions, and the teachers’ involvement and reflections.

Keywords: EAP, curriculum, education, global citizen

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Authors: Amy L. Smith

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This study investigates the impact of student authenticity while engaging in academic exploration of students' sense of belonging, autonomy, and persistence. Research questions include: How does incorporating authenticity in first-year academic exploration courses impact; 1) first-year students’ sense of belonging, autonomy, and persistence? 2) first-year students’ sense of belonging, autonomy, and persistence during the first and last halves of the fall semester? 3) first-year students’ sense of belonging, autonomy, and persistence among various student demographics? First-year students completed a Likert-like survey at the conclusion of eight weeks (first and last eight weeks/fall semester) academic exploration courses. Course redesign included grounding the curriculum and instruction with student authenticity and creating opportunities for students to explore, define, and reflect upon their authenticity during academic exploration. Surveys were administered at the conclusion of these eight week courses (first and last eight weeks/fall semester). Data analysis included an entropy balancing matching method and t-tests. Research findings indicate integrating authenticity into academic exploration courses for first-year students has a positive impact on students' autonomy and persistence. There is a significant difference between authenticity and first-year students' autonomy (p = 0.00) and persistence (p = 0.01). Academic exploration courses with the underpinnings of authenticity are more effective in the second half of the fall semester. There is a significant difference between an academic exploration course grounding the curriculum and instruction in authenticity offered M8A (first half, fall semester) and M8B (second half, fall semester) (p = 0); M8B courses illustrate an increase of students' sense of belonging, autonomy, and persistence. Integrating authenticity into academic exploration courses for first-year students has a positive impact on varying student demographics (p = 0.00). There is a significant difference between authenticity and low-income (p = 0.04), first-generation (p = 0.00), Caucasian (p = 0.02), and American Indian/Alaskan Native (p = 0.05) first-year students' sense of belonging, autonomy, and persistence. Academic exploration courses embedded in authenticity helps develop first-year students’ sense of belonging, autonomy, and persistence, which are effective traits of college students. As first-year students engage in content courses, professors can empower students to have greater engagement in their learning process by relating content to students' authenticity and helping students think critically about how content is authentic to them — how students' authenticity relates to the content, how students can take their content expertise into the future in ways that, to the student, authentically contribute to the greater good. A broader conversation within higher education needs to include 1) designing courses that allow students to develop and reflect upon their authenticity/to formulate answers to the questions: who am I, who am I becoming, and how will I move my authentic self forward; and 2) a discussion of how to shift from the university shaping students to the university facilitating the process of students shaping themselves.

Keywords: authenticity, first-year experience, sense of belonging, autonomy, persistence

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