scholarly journals Diversity of Online Behaviours Associated with Physical Attendance in Lectures

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia Brennan ◽  
Akshay Sharma ◽  
Pablo Munguia

A common use of technology in higher education is the provision of online course materials, invoking an investigation of the ways in which students engage with online course content, and how their participation changes over time. This is particularly necessary in the context of high absenteeism from lectures, where online access may be the only way in which particular students are engaging with the course. In this study, we examine large-scale patterns of attendance in class, as well as four types of access to online materials. We define two online behavioural metrics — richness and evenness — to capture the distribution of online behaviours within 255 courses, and examine how these change over time. We find that both physical and online attendance decrease throughout the semester, but the fraction of students present online is considerably higher than the fraction present in lectures. Students adapt their online behaviour, and rare behaviours disappear over time. It is important to consider how we provide content, both face-to-face and online, in order to ensure that as many students as possible are accessing this content in ways that we intend.

2020 ◽  
pp. 148-156
Author(s):  
Christine Fruin

When supporting instructors in the development of online course materials, librarians frequently encounter questions regarding fair use and other copyright and licensing issues surrounding the delivery of course content in an online classroom or through course management systems that support traditional face-to-face teaching. The fair use statute is the primary law by which use of course materials online is evaluated. However, considerations of contract or license agreements must also be made when using digital or streaming materials. Special considerations exist as well depending on the material type.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 238212052110377
Author(s):  
Paige Eansor ◽  
Madeleine E. Norris ◽  
Leah A. D’Souza ◽  
Glenn S. Bauman ◽  
Zahra Kassam ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The Anatomy and Radiology Contouring (ARC) Bootcamp was a face-to-face (F2F) course designed to ensure radiation oncology residents were equipped with the knowledge and skillset to use radiation therapy techniques properly. The ARC Bootcamp was proven to be a useful educational intervention for improving learners’ knowledge of anatomy and radiology and contouring ability. An online version of the course was created to increase accessibility to the ARC Bootcamp and provide a flexible, self-paced learning environment. This study aimed to describe the instructional design model used to create the online offering and report participants’ motivation to enroll in the course and the online ARC Bootcamp's strengths and improvement areas. METHODS The creation of the online course followed the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) framework. The course was structured in a linear progression of locked modules consisting of radiology and contouring lectures, anatomy labs, and integrated evaluations. RESULTS The online course launched on the platform Teachable in November 2019, and by January 2021, 140 participants had enrolled in the course, with 27 participants completing all course components. The course had broad geographic participation with learners from 19 different countries. Of the participants enrolled, 34% were female, and most were radiation oncology residents (56%), followed by other programs (24%), such as medical physics residents or medical students. The primary motivator for participants to enroll was to improve their subject knowledge/skill (44%). The most common strength identified by participants was the course's quality (41%), and the most common improvement area was to incorporate more course content (41%). CONCLUSIONS The creation of the online ARC Bootcamp using the ADDIE framework was feasible. The course is accessible to diverse geographic regions and programs and provides a flexible learning environment; however, the course completion rate was low. Participants’ feedback regarding their experiences will inform future offerings of the online course.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (04) ◽  
pp. 3373-3380
Author(s):  
Yash Chandak ◽  
Georgios Theocharous ◽  
Chris Nota ◽  
Philip Thomas

In many real-world sequential decision making problems, the number of available actions (decisions) can vary over time. While problems like catastrophic forgetting, changing transition dynamics, changing rewards functions, etc. have been well-studied in the lifelong learning literature, the setting where the size of the action set changes remains unaddressed. In this paper, we present first steps towards developing an algorithm that autonomously adapts to an action set whose size changes over time. To tackle this open problem, we break it into two problems that can be solved iteratively: inferring the underlying, unknown, structure in the space of actions and optimizing a policy that leverages this structure. We demonstrate the efficiency of this approach on large-scale real-world lifelong learning problems.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lahiru A. Wijenayaka ◽  
Sithy S. Iqbal

PurposeAlthough technology is a defining characteristic of distance education, assessment of the applicability of such resources in knowledge dissemination is greatly warranted to ensure effectivity. Hence, the purpose of this study was to assess the viability of a novel tool in teaching practical chemistry online.Design/methodology/approachHere, a resource named “virtual chemistry lab space” (VCLS), which allowed the learners to virtually engage in practical activities, was administered among learners enrolled in a practical chemistry course at the Open University of Sri Lanka and feedback was collected to ascertain the learner perception on the resource.FindingsIn total, 76% of respondents indicated familiarity with the VCLS, while 59% indicated that they were interested in engaging in activities provided through this resource during the pandemic lockdown. Also, 70% indicated that the VCLS was helpful to understand the course content during the pandemic period, while 82% indicated that they are likely to use it in the future.Research limitations/implicationsThe prevalent problems related to using the VCLS were lack of Internet access, physical interactions and time. However, the overall opinion on the VCLS was notably positive, while a majority indicated that flexibility to the learners, access to learning resources and use of technology in education will improve due to the use of this novel tool.Originality/valueOnline course delivery has been greatly restricted to areas of education where distant delivery could be easily adopted while it is seldom found in areas such as practical chemistry. Hence, the study indicates novelty and notable originality within the ODL system.


10.28945/3324 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lily Wong ◽  
Arthur Tatnall

To remain globally competitive, there is increasing pressure for universities to incorporate a greater use of technology and innovation into their curriculum. In response, many higher education institutions have adopted a blended learning approach, which combines traditional face-to-face delivery with online teaching resources, to deliver course content. This paper documents the implementation of online resources in a first-year accounting unit, outlines subsequent changes and monitors its impact on learning outcomes. Whilst in its early stages, this preliminary work on action research will form the basis of determining an optimal blend of traditional and online learning environments for introductory accounting students. This research will endeavour to improve the structure of the curriculum and to positively impact on student learning outcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 441-458
Author(s):  
Gila Prebor ◽  
Maayan Zhitomirsky-Geffet ◽  
Yitzchak Miller

Abstract In this article, we utilized large-scale statistical analysis and data visualization techniques of the greatest collection in the world of Hebrew manuscript metadata records to develop a new methodology for quantitative investigation of the palaeographic, geographic, and temporal characteristics of historical manuscripts. The study aims to explore whether and to what extent the script type of the manuscript and its changes over time can be used to automatically predict and complete missing geospatial data of the manuscripts. To this end, various ontological entities were used as features to train supervised machine-learning algorithms to predict the places of writing of manuscripts which were often absent in the catalogue records. The obtained results show that while the script type as an only feature might not be sufficient for prediction of the location of the manuscript’s writing, its combination with temporal data of the manuscript yielded about 80% accuracy. Eventually, our system was able to complete the missing places of writing for over 60% of the manuscripts in the corpus. Moreover, we found that through typical and marginal script types in different regions and their changes over time, it is possible to draw the migration map of the Jewish communities over the centuries. This reinforces the findings of historical research on Jewish migration patterns and communal formation. For example, the waves of immigration from Western Europe can be seen clearly from the second half of the 13th century, which continued until the 17th century and greatly increased the Eastern European Jewish community.


Author(s):  
Chao Lee

As stated in the discussion of the ADDIE model in the last chapter, implementation and evaluation are part of the development process. Once online course materials are developed, the next task is to deploy the course materials to students. The first topic of this chapter will deal with the issues related to the deployment of online course materials. In this chapter, we will discuss the tasks such as planning and training involved in the deployment process. Once the online course materials have been deployed, there will be a large number of requests from the students for help on technology and course content related issues. To keep the online teaching/learning system running successfully, we need a strong technical support team including experienced computer service personnel, instructors, and fellow students. This chapter will deal with the issues related to technical support. We will discuss various ways to provide technical support services.


Author(s):  
Chaiwoo Lee ◽  
Pnina Gershon ◽  
Bryan Reimer ◽  
Bruce Mehler ◽  
Joseph F. Coughlin

Increasing availability of and extensive investments toward automation in consumer vehicles call for a better understanding of public perceptions and acceptance. This study presents a five-year series of large-scale surveys (N=17,548, average 3,510 participants/year) on consumer knowledge and acceptance of vehicle automation in the United States. Results suggest a continued hesitance toward use of self-driving vehicles, with willingness to use increasing sharply under hypothetical conditions around inability to drive and added safety assurance. While drivers of all ages were most comfortable with driver assist level automation, acceptance of automation overall decreased with age. Findings also indicate that the public may have incorrect beliefs regarding the availability of self-driving vehicles. In conclusion, drivers’ acceptance of vehicle automation changes over time, is tied to factors beyond the current state of development and deployment, and may depend on a relative assessment of benefits and reliability in comparison to their own driving capabilities.


Author(s):  
Shital S. Muke ◽  
Deepak Tugnawat ◽  
Udita Joshi ◽  
Aditya Anand ◽  
Azaz Khan ◽  
...  

Introduction: Task sharing holds promise for scaling up depression care in countries such as India, yet requires training large numbers of non-specialist health workers. This pilot trial evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a digital program for training non-specialist health workers to deliver a brief psychological treatment for depression. Methods: Participants were non-specialist health workers recruited from primary care facilities in Sehore, a rural district in Madhya Pradesh, India. A three-arm randomized controlled trial design was used, comparing digital training alone (DGT) to digital training with remote support (DGT+), and conventional face-to-face training. The primary outcome was the feasibility and acceptability of digital training programs. Preliminary effectiveness was explored as changes in competency outcomes, assessed using a self-reported measure covering the specific knowledge and skills required to deliver the brief psychological treatment for depression. Outcomes were collected at pre-training and post-training. Results: Of 42 non-specialist health workers randomized to the training programs, 36 including 10 (72%) in face-to-face, 12 (86%) in DGT, and 14 (100%) in DGT+ arms started the training. Among these participants, 27 (64%) completed the training, with 8 (57%) in face-to-face, 8 (57%) in DGT, and 11 (79%) in DGT+. The addition of remote telephone support appeared to improve completion rates for DGT+ participants. The competency outcome improved across all groups, with no significant between-group differences. However, face-to-face and DGT+ participants showed greater improvement compared to DGT alone. There were numerous technical challenges with the digital training program such as poor connectivity, smartphone app not loading, and difficulty navigating the course content—issues that were further emphasized in follow-up focus group discussions with participants. Feedback and recommendations collected from participants informed further modifications and refinements to the training programs in preparation for a forthcoming large-scale effectiveness trial. Conclusions: This study adds to mounting efforts aimed at leveraging digital technology to increase the availability of evidence-based mental health services in primary care settings in low-resource settings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (25) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Juan Alberto Acosta Hernández ◽  
Miriam Martínez Vázquez ◽  
Arturo Curiel Anaya ◽  
Aarón Reyes Rodríguez ◽  
Anna Tarasenko ◽  
...  

This paper focuses on analyzing the social representations (SR) on mathematics, teaching and learning that have upper and middle level teachers who participated in a workshop on the use of a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). It is used as an element of support for a Pre-Calculus face-to-face course. Using a questionnaire, the SR on the teaching and learning of mathematics were identified, as well as specific SR about the concept of inequality and the use of technology in the classroom. Based on the responses of the questionnaire, dimensions were captured that focuses on a particular meaning. This, therefore, is with the intention of organizing categories that would allow the establishment of hierarchies of the contents immersed in the field of SR of teachers.


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