Debate as a learning activity for teaching programming: a case in the subject of machine learning

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Uma Gunasilan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Emerging Issues

PurposeDebates are well known to encompass a variety of skills we would like higher education candidates to embody when they graduate.Design/methodology/approachDebates in a classroom with computer science as the main subject has been popular in high schools particularly with emerging issues around the area, however it does not have as an extensive similar documented outreach in tertiary education, particularly in the area of hard computer sciences and more recent concentrations of computer science, such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and cloud computing.FindingsTo explore further, the debate dataset had more methodologies applied and was split into training and testing sets, whose results were then compared by a standardized measure: Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) which is currently standard in the industry. The rationale of the approach is to quantify that debate activities have an immensely positive impact towards both the teaching and learning in technical subjects and needs to be more often and robustly used within higher education.Originality/valueThe rationale of the approach is that classroom debate activities equip students with verbal and social learning styles and an opportunity to engage with content in a way that is more comfortable than working with traditional lecture-and-laboratory style learning.

scholarly journals Leveraging AI and Machine Learning for National Student Survey: Actionable Insights from Textual Feedback to Enhance Quality of Teaching and Learning in UK’s Higher Education

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 514
Author(s):  
Raheel Nawaz ◽  
Quanbin Sun ◽  
Matthew Shardlow ◽  
Georgios Kontonatsios ◽  
Naif R. Aljohani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Likert Scale ◽  
Supervised Machine Learning ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Student Survey ◽  
Quality Of Teaching

Students’ evaluation of teaching, for instance, through feedback surveys, constitutes an integral mechanism for quality assurance and enhancement of teaching and learning in higher education. These surveys usually comprise both the Likert scale and free-text responses. Since the discrete Likert scale responses are easy to analyze, they feature more prominently in survey analyses. However, the free-text responses often contain richer, detailed, and nuanced information with actionable insights. Mining these insights is more challenging, as it requires a higher degree of processing by human experts, making the process time-consuming and resource intensive. Consequently, the free-text analyses are often restricted in scale, scope, and impact. To address these issues, we propose a novel automated analysis framework for extracting actionable information from free-text responses to open-ended questions in student feedback questionnaires. By leveraging state-of-the-art supervised machine learning techniques and unsupervised clustering methods, we implemented our framework as a case study to analyze a large-scale dataset of 4400 open-ended responses to the National Student Survey (NSS) at a UK university. These analyses then led to the identification, design, implementation, and evaluation of a series of teaching and learning interventions over a two-year period. The highly encouraging results demonstrate our approach’s validity and broad (national and international) application potential—covering tertiary education, commercial training, and apprenticeship programs, etc., where textual feedback is collected to enhance the quality of teaching and learning.

Using electronic textbooks: promoting, placing and embedding

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Appleton
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Research Impact ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Electronic Textbooks ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Evaluation Strategies ◽  
Marketing Implementation

PurposeThe paper illustrates the experiences of both academic and support staff in the use of electronic books within a higher education setting. The case studies report upon practice at Edge Hill College of Higher Education, which has allowed for successful e‐book development strategies to be employed in teaching and learning within the college. The paper will deal particularly with e‐book marketing, implementation and evaluation strategies, as well as embedding e‐books into virtual learning environments (VLEs).Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports upon two significant chapters within e‐book development at the college. The first of these is an initial evaluative e‐book research project, from which strategy and policy were formulated. The second part of the paper introduces case studies in which the findings of the initial research impact upon the embedding of e‐books into teaching and learning and subsequently into the college's VLE.FindingsUser evaluations provide qualitative analytic data into the benefits and disadvantages of using e‐books in higher education teaching and learning activity.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are limited to one particular higher education institution and specific curriculum areas within.Originality/valueThe evaluative data, as well as particular e‐book strategies identified, make the paper of value to those researching e‐book usage and activity, in particular within online learning.

Postgraduate students' experiences and perspectives on transformation of teaching and learning in tertiary education

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon Arulraj David ◽  
Christopher Hill
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Higher Education Transformation ◽  
Education Transformation

PurposeTertiary education has been going through dramatic transformation in recent times. Such transformation is seen in teaching and learning at tertiary education. This study, therefore, aims to understand the transformation of teaching and learning in tertiary-level education, particularly by accounting the experiences and perspectives of postgraduate learners.Design/methodology/approachThe study narrowed higher education transformation into four key drivers such as expansion, excellence, extension, external and explored their dynamics and impacts for teaching and learning in tertiary education. The data was gathered from 25 doctoral students from three different cohorts, who shared their critical reflection on their experiences and perspectives on the transformation of teaching and learning in a reflective journal. The 25 reflective journals were used as the qualitative transcripts for analysis. Standard required ethical protocols were followed in the research. The results were analysed using thematic analysis.FindingsThe findings indicate that teaching and learning in the higher education are transformed largely using technology, by engaging various stakeholders, several pedagogic methods, a range of assessments and numerous contents and materials. The findings suggest that higher education transformation has affected teaching and learning in tertiary education positively in the UAE, while identifying some relevant areas for improvement.Research limitations/implicationsSingle data and small sample size (although suitable for the study) are the limitations. The experiences and perspectives of the postgraduate scholars on teaching and learning offer relevant insights for postgraduate learners, academic, researchers, curriculum developers, policymakers. The study asserts that accounting student's experiences and perspectives supports the understanding on the transformation of teaching and learning in tertiary education.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the ongoing debate on how students are helping shape teaching and learning practices in tertiary education, particularly from the UAE context using informed critical reflection. The study contends and concludes that teaching and learning in tertiary education are continued to be shaped by emerging trends and development.

Using the theory of planned behavior to understand the students’ pro-environmental behavior: a case-study in a Portuguese HEI

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabete Correia ◽  
Sara Sousa ◽  
Clara Viseu ◽  
Joana Leite
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Latent Variables ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Behavioral Control ◽  
Environmental Behavior ◽  
Perceived Behavioral Control ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Environmental Attitude ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Main Determinants

Purpose Through the application of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study aims to explore the main determinants of higher education students’ pro-environmental behavior. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted among the students of a public higher education institution (HEI) in Portugal, from March to May of 2020. The data were analyzed with the structural equation modeling technique, considering environmental attitude, knowledge, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control as exogenous latent variables, and pro-environmental intention and behavior as endogenous latent variables. Findings The results show that the students’ environmental attitude and knowledge have no significant impact on their pro-environmental intention, while the students’ subjective norm and perceived behavioral control have a positive impact on their pro-environmental intention. The results also reveal that the students’ perceived behavioral control and pro-environmental intention have a strong and positive impact on their pro-environmental behavior. Research limitations/implications This study focuses on the students from a single public HEI, in accounting and administration area, and deepens environmental behavior in relation to resources’ consumption. Practical implications This study provides findings that can be useful for HEIs to be more effective in their policies, strategies and practices to improve students’ environmental behavior. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature by exploring the main determinants of higher education students’ pro-environmental behavior in a Portuguese HEI and extending the TPB considering the additional variable environmental knowledge.

Transforming higher education in Ghana in times of disruption: flexible learning in rural communities with high latency internet connectivity

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Barton Essel ◽  
Dimitrios Vlachopoulos ◽  
Dickson Adom ◽  
Akosua Tachie-Menson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Cell Phone ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Internet Connectivity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Video Teleconferencing ◽  
A Cell

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the characteristics and potential effects of teaching and learning through audio teleconferencing (dial-in) with a cell phone. In addition, the study aims to identify the associations between the audio teleconferencing and video teleconferencing in a 12-week postgraduate course. Design/methodology/approach The study is a cross-sectional survey conducted at the Department of Educational Innovations at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology from March to June 2020. The purposive sampling technique was used to sample 100 postgraduate students who registered for a course in the department. The data for the study were collected using the System Usability Scale (SUS) and 17-item self-administered eQuestionnaire. Multiple Linear Regression analysis, ANOVA, Independent sample T-test and Mann–Whitney U-test were used to estimate the differences in course achievements of students who experienced education through audio teleconferencing and those who experienced education through video teleconferencing. Findings In total, 59% of the participating postgraduate students chose to attend the synchronous online lectures via audio teleconferencing (dial-in). The participants gave a high SUS score (SUS > 80.3; Grade A; Excellent) for audio conferencing service. Among the students in the audio teleconferencing cohort, the results evidenced a strong positive linear correlation, (r (57) = 0.79, p < 0.05), between the individual adjective ratings and the SUS scores. There was marginal significance among demography of students in the audio teleconference (AT) cohort with regards to their perception about the dial-in lecture. There was no statistically significant difference, (t (98) = 1.88, p = 0.063), in the achievement test for AT students and video teleconference (VT) students. The instructors and the students were satisfied with the AT. Practical implications Based on the students’ preference, AT offers equal benefit as VT with regards to system satisfaction and perceived quality of online teaching. AT, as teaching modality, should be an option for students who reside in communities with high latency internet connectivity. It is recommended that instructors are trained on how to engage and motivate students via AT. Originality/value Higher education institutions in Ghana are facing decisions about how to continue learning and teaching through flexible pedagogy, while keeping their faculty members and students protected from the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these institutions have canceled the brick-and-mortar education and other conventional learning practices and have instructed faculty to adopt online teaching through synchronous video teleconferencing platforms. However, the learning experience is not the same for students who reside in remote or rural communities with low bandwidth. There is very little research in this topic, especially in developing countries like Ghana, and the present study aims to bridge the gap in the literature by exploring the characteristics and potential effects of teaching and learning through audio teleconferencing (dial-in) with a cell phone, in the context of a 12-week postgraduate course.

scholarly journals Global Issues in ESP Classroom: Challenges and Opportunities in Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 388-400
Author(s):  
Yana Diachkova ◽  
Lilia Sazhko ◽  
Liudmyla Shevchenko ◽  
Anastasiia Syzenko
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Synergetic Effect ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Global Competence ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Quality Of Higher Education ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

In English for Specific Purposes, one of the challenges is to transform teaching and learning into a process, which focuses on the development of professional skills, enables students to become successful learners of the target language, and makes them more aware of the local and global environments. This paper aims to analyse key challenges that teachers and learners face in the classrooms and suggest a way of integrating global issues into the process of development of professional soft and hard skills. The paper studies the existing ESP literature in terms of presence of global issues, explores the perceptions of global issues among university students in Ukraine, outlines the correlation between professional skills and global competence. The findings suggest that there are numerous advantages of introducing materials based on global issues into the teaching process as it has synergetic effect of fusing professional skills, soft skills and global competence. The paper concludes that this fusion improves the skill set of a future professional and has a positive impact on the quality of higher education in general.

scholarly journals Online self-assessment materials: do these make a difference to student learning?

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Peat
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Small Shift ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Teachers And Students

In our changing world where university students are demanding a greater say in their tertiary education, and in particular are demanding a greater flexibility in the way they receive their instruction, it is imperative that we investigate and experiment with course delivery strategies that fulfil these expectations. Online delivery of learning materials is not new, nor is it the panacea for all problems, but it does offer certain advantages for both teachers and students. The flexibility of using the Web may suit certain teaching activities, but more importantly may suit the learning styles and commitments of the students. In the current economic climate students may have to juggle university activities with employment, potentially missing some of the structured teaching and learning sessions. In addition they may not have time to use campus-based course materials or seek face-to-face assistance from staff. An Australian benchmark survey of the first-year experience (Mclnnis, James and McNaught, 1995), found the pressures of part-time work made it extremely difficult for some students to fulfil course expectations. A 1998 survey of firstyear science students at the University of Sydney revealed that 54 per cent of full-time students are undertaking some form of employment, with 31 per cent working ten hours or more per week during semester, and 14 per cent working over fifteen hours per week (Peat and Franklin, 1998). A small shift away from courses comprising all face-to-face activities to courses with a mix of face-to-face and online activities has the potential to help those very students who may otherwise give up when the pressure of time and other commitments seems too difficult to cope withDOI:10.1080/0968776000080206 

Managing knowledge transfer partnership for a rural community

Kybernetes ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 629-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Wiltshier ◽  
Michael Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Entrepreneurial Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Key Skills ◽  
Market Town ◽  
The Uk

Purpose – This paper aims to propose a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) model, using higher education (HE) students researching in the UK. It is focused on community engagement via charitable trusts, New Opportunities Wirksworth (NOW) & Ecclesbourne Valley Rail (EVR). The researchers designed and implemented a pilot study that explored the potential of a small, yet attractive and active, market town to diversify and regenerate using tourism. This project, which has been funded by the UK Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), has been devised to operate and monitor a KTP in the culturally important heritage market town of Wirksworth, in Derbyshire. Design/methodology/approach – A systems-thinking constructivist approach is used and employs problem-based learning (PBL) through engagement of students in research and data collection. The authors identified that skills for sustainable development within the community are dependent on the reintegration of complex, inter-dependent and inter-disciplinary factors. A holistic approach to the learning and knowledge shared within the community underpins UK initiatives to promote capacity development in ways to change knowledge applications across product and service boundaries. Therefore, in addition to encouraging diversification and regeneration through tourism, this project supported the University of Derby's academic agenda to promote experiential and entrepreneurial learning in students working at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. This paper accords with the current university initiatives to meet the student employability agenda through the application of PBL and knowledge management. Findings – The creation of outcomes and recommendations for Wirksworth's stakeholders provides sustainability through the knowledge creation and sharing processes. There are seven outcomes that chart a path to development and knowledge transfer (KT) and sharing. The authors simultaneously provided an environment for students to gain skills and a community to acquire new knowledge, and these are the outcomes and output of this project. New learning styles may support inclusive academic practice (see related samples of PBL such as Ineson and Beresford in HLST resources 2001). Implications for building a KT community through the social capital accumulated in the project are explored. Originality/value – In taking PBL from the classroom to the community, the authors have created a new KT environment in which skills can be acquired and a regeneration strategy can be tested in a work-or-practice-related setting. Students recognise that they are building learning for themselves that is unique in that it cannot be recreated in a classroom setting. The authors see this project developing into a robust long-term partnership between communities and institutions with KT benefits to teaching staff in addition to students. These benefits will include new skills for PBL, working collaboratively with partners in the community to develop key skills in HE students, innovation in assessment, inclusive learning and teaching, experiential and entrepreneurial learning in practice.

scholarly journals Impact of first-year seminar on student engagement, awareness, and general attitudes toward higher education

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bothaina A. Al-Sheeb ◽  
Mahmoud Samir Abdulwahed ◽  
Abdel Magid Hamouda
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
First Year ◽  
Content Type ◽  
College Of Law ◽  
First Year Seminars ◽  
Campus Resources ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Year Seminar

Purpose This study intends to add to the existing body of literature on the impact of a newly implemented first year seminar in the College of Law and Business. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects the course have on students in regard to three aspects: student awareness and utilization of resources, interaction patterns, as well as, general interests and attitudes toward higher education. Design/methodology/approach The methodology of the assessment included analysis of a survey that has been conducted by the end of Spring 2014 semester. A quasi-experimental design was implemented to measure the impact of the intervention on students’ awareness and utilization of resources, interactions, general interests, and attitudes toward higher education. Through the SPSS application, the Mann Whitney U Test, and χ2 tests were used to check for significant differences while comparing the means or frequencies for both groups. For the three questions, the authors have used the 90 percent confidence level and the standard significance level p-value of 0.05 or less for statistical analysis. Findings The results indicated that the course had a highly significant positive impact on student attitudes and awareness of campus resources but had less significant impact on student interactions and utilization of resources. The results in this study reveal a positive impact for the first-year seminar course on student satisfaction and attitudes toward higher education as well as their awareness of campus resources. However, in terms of the course impact on student interaction, results conveyed that students who have participated in the first-year seminar course show a slightly better interaction rate with instructors, academic advisors, and close friends than those in the control group. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of this study was that the sample was small. Nonetheless, it has provided valuable insights into the understanding of the social and academic impact of first-year seminars on student engagement; through the use of comparison groups, this study increased the validity of prior research. Practical implications The first-year seminar course evaluated in this study demonstrated the potential to support and enhance student social and academic engagement during the first year of college. Based on the results in this study, the study team recommended some revisions to the current first-year seminar model (UNIV P100 Skills for University Success). The team proposed three models for subsequent first-year seminars at this university. Originality/value This study adds to the existing literature by examining the impact of a newly implemented first-year seminar course at the College of Law and Business at this university on both academic and non-academic aspects from the students’ perspective. These aspects were selected as retention and GPA effects have been widely explored; therefore, the focus is on the less studied emotional and social factors associated with student success and retention. The results from this study can act as a guide for universities intending to introduce a first-year seminar course as it gives clear guidelines on design, content, and course implementation, which can be useful in enhancing general student motivation and attitudes toward academic study and higher education in general.

Speculations on the post-pandemic university campus – a global inquiry

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Deshmukh
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThe pandemic-induced global shift to remote learning calls for rethinking the foundations of design for higher education. This watershed moment in global health and human interaction has accelerated changes in higher education that were long emergent and amplified specific deficiencies and strengths in pedagogical models, causing institutions to reevaluate current structures and operations of learning and campus life as they question their vision and purpose. Since physical space has largely been taken out of the equation of university life, it is evident that fresh design research related to this new normal is required.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research study speculates on new possibilities for the future of campus, based upon insights and inferences gained from one-on-one interviews with faculty and students in multiple countries about their personal experiences with the sudden shift to the virtual classroom. The longer the mode of physical distancing stretched through Spring 2020, these phone and web-enabled dialogues – first with faculty (teachers) and then with students (learners) – lead to a deeper, more nuanced understanding of how the notion of the campus for higher education was itself morphing in ways expected and unexpected.FindingsAt the heart of this study lies the question – Has COVID-19 killed the campus? This study suggests that it has not. However, campuses are now on a path of uneven evolution, and risk shedding the good with the extraneous without eyes-wide-open rethinking and responsive planning. This two-part qualitative analysis details the experiments and strategies followed by educators and students as the pandemic changed their ways of teaching and learning. It then speculates out-of-the-norm possibilities which campuses could explore as they navigate the uncertainty of future terms and address paradigm shifts questioning what defines a post-secondary education.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper draws inferences from discussions limited to the first 100 days of the pandemic. This on-the-ground aspect as the pandemic continues is its strength and its limitation. As Fall 2020 progresses across global campuses, new ideas and perspectives are already reinforcing or upending some of this paper's speculations. This researcher is already engaged in new, currently-ongoing research, following up with interviewees from Spring 2020, as well as bringing in new voices to delve deeper into the possibilities discussed in this paper. This follow-up research is shaping new thinking which is not reflected in this paper.Originality/valueDesign practitioners have long-shaped campuses on the belief that the built “environment is the third teacher” and that architecture fosters learning and shapes collective experience. Educators recognize that a multiplicity of formal and informal interactions occur frequently and naturally across campus, supporting cognitive and social development, collegiality and well-being. Even today's digital-native-students perceive the inherent value of real interpersonal engagement for meaningful experiences. This research study offers new planning and design perspectives as institutional responses to the pandemic continue to evolve, to discover how design can support what lies at the core of the campus experience.

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