scholarly journals SPECIAL TUTORIAL CLASSES TO UPGRADE LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS ENROLLED IN MATHEMATICS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE AT STOU

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-133
Author(s):  
Sakorn Boondao

Unlike distance education institutions in developed countries Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University makes very limited use of assignments in its teaching programs. The main means of interaction between tutors and students consists of free face-to-face tutorials conducted three times per semester in provincial centers throughout the country. In courses with low enrolments (less than 1000 students) such tutorials have recently been deemed not to be cost effective. Alternative regional or central intensive programs have been developed. These involve 20 hours of tutorial classes and assignment work over two weekends in the final month of the semester and count for 30% of the assessment. A small charge is made for registration. The Mathematics for Social Science course was affected by this change. Since mathematics is a difficult subject for students, (only about 30% normally passed the course) the special tutorial program was used to help students in the second semester of 2006. Students were more interested in this approach than in the regular face-to-face tutorials. After the project was advertised, 98 students applied. While this was more than three times the number who had attended the free tutorials in the previous semester, it was not sufficient to justify tutorials in the four regions. Instead, three classes were conducted in Bangkok. Only 71 of the original applicants attended. During the program the better students were asked to assist those who needed help. Student questionnaires indicated that more than half identified themselves as weak in mathematics, most had completed year 12 and just over three-quarters had never attended regular face-to-face tutorials. They were asked to rank items about the classes on a five-level scale. The availability of up to 30% of the marks for the course was the major attraction. Most indicated that they were pleased with the classes, and gained more knowledge; while assignments, as well as the solutions given after submission, helped them understand the contents. Having classmates help them with learning also encouraged them with their study. They felt that they needed more time to study and do assignment work, and would like more marks to be allocated for the assignments. It was found that the achievement of students who attended the special tutorial classes was significantly higher than that of those who did not. The pass rate in this semester dramatically increased compared to the previous semester, 50.72% and 30.34% respectively. But when comparing students' final exam scores for both groups, it was found that there was no significant difference in the scores. However students were satisfied with these special tutorial classes.

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (Suppl 5) ◽  
pp. e005411
Author(s):  
Skye Hersh ◽  
Divya Nair ◽  
Pradyot Bharadwaj Komaragiri ◽  
Raghav Kapoor Adlakha

Phone surveys are a rapid and cost-effective way to collect primary data for research, monitoring and evaluation purposes. But for these data to be precise, reliable and unbiased, women’s perspectives must be accurately represented. Throughout 2020, we conducted seven household surveys in rural India to understand households’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and contemporaneous relief programmes. Given social distancing protocols, we conducted these surveys over the phone, using household phone numbers collected during earlier, face-to-face research. Analysing metadata from these surveys (along with women’s responses to questions about phone use), we determine how gaps in phone access inhibit women’s representation in phone surveys. We find that the prevalence of male management of household phones significantly reduces access to female respondents. This is a problem for two reasons. Firstly, men are usually the first to pick up the phone: in two surveys in which we tracked the gender of the person who picked up, men picked up 63.2% and 71.1% of the time, respectively. Moreover, only a small minority of those we reached by phone were able and willing to pass the phone to a household member of the opposite gender, when prompted (with no statistically significant difference between pass rates for women and men). This low immediate pass rate, in combination with low female pickup, led to fewer women respondents. As such, we recommend that researchers dedicate time and resources to taking appointments and making call-backs to reach more women. We also show that the use of female enumerators improves households’ willingness to participate in women-centred surveys, and call for more investment into female enumerator teams.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-81
Author(s):  
WHITNEY ALICIA ZIMMERMAN ◽  
STEFANIE R. AUSTIN

An abbreviated form of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS) was administered to online and face-to-face introductory statistics students. Subscale scores were used to predict final exam grades and successful course completion. In predicting final exam scores, self-concept, and worth of statistics were found to be statistically significant with no significant difference by campus (online versus face-to-face). Logistic regression and random forests were used to predict successful course completion, with campus being the only significant predictor in the logistic model and face-to-face students being more likely to successfully complete the course. The random forest model indicated that self-concept and test anxiety were overall the best predictors, whereas separately test anxiety was the best predictor in the online group and self-concept was the best predictor in the face-to-face group. First published November 2018 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives


2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36
Author(s):  
Richard Ng ◽  
Abtar Kaur ◽  
Siti Farina Sheikh Mohamed ◽  
Latifah Abdol Latif ◽  
Ramli Bahroom

Open University Malaysia (OUM), Malaysia's first open and distance learning with over 70.000 students, offers more than 51 programs to-date. More than 90% of its students are working adults who are unable to leave their jobs or families behind to pursue their dream of getting a degree. The blended learning approach adopted by OUM provides the flexibility for working adult's to obtain the required paper qualification and to upgrade their knowledge. One of the important elements of blended learning is the use of online discussion forum where learning takes place beyond classroom. Mathematics, a traditionally difficult course, forms part of the prerequisite for students to obtain a business degree at OUM. The adult learners at OUM generally have left school for at least five years and most of them have low grades in Mathematics at O' Level. Thus it is a big challenge for these adult learners to undertake a Mathematics course via online with minimum Face-to-Face contact with their tutors. This paper focuses on the implementation of pro-instruction workshop and supplemental instruction to find its impact on student's online participation and exam results of 88 students. The contents of the online forum were also analyzed using a 34-item instrument derived from the Community of Inquiry model. Results obtained showed that there was a strong correlation between workshop participation and final exam score. Independent samples t-test conducted showed that there was a significant difference between the mean score of online discussion ratio and final examination between participants attached to a tutor conducting the workshop and extended coaching compared to participants attached to another tutor using the normal teaching guide. The means COI score obtained for mathematics between the two tutors indicated that there is a difference in the teaching and cognitive presence but almost similar in the social presence.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8735
Author(s):  
Juan Luis Martín Ayala ◽  
Sergio Castaño Castaño ◽  
Alba Hernández Santana ◽  
Mariacarla Martí González ◽  
Julién Brito Ballester

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the containment measures adopted by the different governments, led to a boom in online education as a necessary response to the crisis posed against the education system worldwide. This study compares the academic performance of students between face-to-face and online modalities in relation to the exceptional situation between the months of March and June 2020. The academic performance in both modalities of a series of subjects taught in the Psychology Degree at the European University of the Atlantic (Santander, Spain) was taken into account. The results show that student performance during the final exam in the online modality is significantly lower than in the face-to-face modality. However, grades from the continuous evaluation activities are significantly higher online, which somehow compensates the overall grade of the course, with no significant difference in the online mode with respect to the face-to-face mode, even though overall performance is higher in the latter. The conditioning factors and explanatory arguments for these results are also discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahaudin Mujtaba

This study documents learning and student performance through objective tests with graduate students in Kingston-Jamaica and compares the final exam results with students taking the same course, the same test, with the same instructor at different sites throughout the United States and in the Nassau cluster, Grand Bahamas. The scores are further compared with students who completed this course and final exam in the online format. The group of Jamaican, Bahamian and students in Tampa completing this course received traditional, face-to-face instruction in a classroom setting, with classes delivered in a weekend format with 32 face-to-face contact hours during the semester. As expected, findings revealed that there was a statistically significant difference (% = .05) in the mean test scores of the pre-test and post-test for this group of students enrolled at the Kingston cluster.Furthermore, the results of final exam comparison with similar groups in the United States and Bahamas showed no significant differences. The comparison of student performance in Kingston with online students is also discussed.Overall, it is concluded that many of the learning outcomes designed to be achieved as a result of the course activities, specifically the final exam, were achieved consistently for students taking this course with the assigned faculty member in Jamaica, the United States and the Grand Bahamas.


2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Y. McGorry

Institutions of higher education are realizing the importance of service learning initiatives in developing awareness of students’ civic responsibilities, leadership and management skills, and social responsibility. These skills and responsibilities are the foundation of program outcomes in accredited higher education business programs at undergraduate and graduate levels. In an attempt to meet the needs of the student market, these institutions of higher education are delivering more courses online. This study addresses a comparison of traditional and online delivery of service learning experiences. Results demonstrate no significant difference in outcomes between the online and face-to-face models.


2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanette P. Napier ◽  
Sonal Dekhane ◽  
Stella Smith

This paper describes the conversion of an introductory computing course to the blended learning model at a small, public liberal arts college. Blended learning significantly reduces face-to-face instruction by incorporating rich, online learning experiences. To assess the impact of blended learning on students, survey data was collected at the midpoint and end of semester, and student performance on the final exam was compared in traditional and blended learning sections. To capture faculty perspectives on teaching blended learning courses, written reflections and discussions from faculty teaching blended learning sections were analyzed. Results indicate that student performance in the traditional and blended learning sections of the course were comparable and that students reported high levels of interaction with their instructor. Faculty teaching the course share insights on transitioning to the blended learning format.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 3-13
Author(s):  
Yuriy Dumanskiy ◽  
Oleksandr Bondar ◽  
Oleksandr Tkachenko ◽  
Evhenii Stoliachuk ◽  
Vasilii Ermakov

In recent years, breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer pathology and the most common cause of disability among women in developed countries. Finding the most effective ways of interaction between the patient and the doctor creates the preconditions for the necessary analysis of the treatment process from an objective and subjective point of view. Therefore, an important indicator to be taken into account is the quality of life of a patient. To compare the indicators of a comprehensive assessment of the quality of life of patients to the adverse locally advanced forms (LA) of breast cancer before and after systemic intravenous polychemotherapy (SPCTx) and selective endolymphatic polychemotherapy (ELPCTx) in neoadjuvant mode. The study was conducted on the basis of a random analysis of outpatient cards from 112 patients with LA BC T4A-DN0-3M0 who received a comprehensive antitumor treatment on the basis of the Donetsk regional antitumor center and the University Clinic of the Odessa National Medical University from 2000 to 2017, which was proposed a questionnaire at various stages of preoperative treatment. The first (control) group consisted of 65 patients (58 %) with inoperable forms of LA BC, which was performed in neoadjuvant mode by SPCTx. The second (study group) included 47 patients (42 %) with inoperable forms of LA BC, which was performed as a neoadjuvant course ELPCTx. According to the integral indicators of quality of life and quality of health between patients in the control and study groups, there was no statistically significant difference. In a detailed analysis of the indicators of symptomatic scales, the difference between the groups did not exceed the critical. Based on the results of a study conducted among patients receiving endolymphatic chemotherapy in a neoadjuvant mode, the subjective evaluations of treatment in absolute numbers have better reference values without statistical superiority. The study of the integrative indicator of quality of life and its discrete elements is an ergonomic and economical means of heuristic assessment of the health of patients in order to further develop more rational and convenient ways of solving urgent issues of modern oncology by increasing compliance and finding a compromise between the physician and the patient.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 266-271
Author(s):  
Georgina Kakra Wartemberg ◽  
Thomas Goff ◽  
Simon Jones ◽  
James Newman

Aims: To create a more effective system to identify patients in need of revision surgery. Background: There are over 160,000 total hip and knee replacements performed per year in England and Wales. Currently, most trusts review patients for up to 10 years or more. When we consider the cost of prolonged reviews, we cannot justify the expenditure within a limited budget. Study Design & Methods: We reviewed all patients' notes that underwent primary hip and knee revision surgery at our institution, noting age, gender, symptoms at presentation, referral source, details of the surgery, reason for revision and follow up history from primary surgery. Results: There were 145 revision arthroplasties (60 THR and 85 TKR) that met our inclusion criteria. Within the hip arthroplasty group, indications for revision included aseptic loosening (37), dislocation (10), and infection (3), periprosthetic fracture, acetabular liner wear and implant failure. All thirty-seven patients with aseptic loosening presented with pain. Twenty-five were referred from general practice with new symptoms. The remaining were clinic follow-ups. The most common reason for knee revision was aseptic loosening (37), followed by infection (21) and then progressive osteoarthritis (8). Most were referred from GP as a new referral or were clinic follow-ups. All patients were symptomatic. Conclusion: All the patients that underwent revision arthroplasty were symptomatic. Rather than yearly follow up, we recommend a cost-effective system. We are implementing a 'non face-to-face' system. Patients would be directly sent a questionnaire and x-ray form. The radiographs and forms will be reviewed by an experienced arthroplasty surgeon. The concerning cases will be seen urgently in a face-to-face clinic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Samah Nasser Abd El-Aziz El-Shora ◽  
Amina Mohamed Rashad El-Nemer

Background and aim: Hypotension during cesarean section (CS) under spinal anesthesia has been a subject of scientific study for more than 50 years and the search for the most effective strategy to achieve hemodynamic stability remains challenging. Aim: The study was carried out to apply leg wrapping technique for the prevention of spinal-induced hypotension (SIH) during CS.Methods: Randomized Controlled Trial design was utilized at cesarean delivery operating room Mansoura General Hospital in El-Mansoura City during the period from May 2018 to November 2018. A purposive sample of 88 pregnant women, assigned randomly to an intervention group (n = 44) in which their legs wrapped with elastic crepe bandage and control group (n = 44) in which no wrapping was done. Data collected for maternal, neonatal hemodynamic and signs of hypotension, the feasibility of application and cost analysis.Results: There was a statistically significant difference in the incidence of SIH and Ephedrine use among both groups (18.20% in leg wrapping group whereas 75% in control group). In addition, neonatal acidosis and NICU admission were less among leg wrapping group (11.40%, 9.10% respectively). Economically, leg wrapping technique was cost effective compared to the cost of the hospital regimen for treating SIH and admission to (NICU).Conclusion and recommendations: Leg wrapping technique was cost effective and an efficient method for decreasing SIH, neonatal acidosis and Ephedrine administration. It is recommended to apply leg wrapping technique in maternal hospitals' protocol of care for decreasing SIH during CS.


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