scholarly journals Comparing Conventional, Hybrid, and Distance Learning Courses in Horticulture

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 677-682
Author(s):  
William J. Sciarappa ◽  
Vivian Quinn ◽  
Daniel L. Ward

In a conventional sophomore level course entitled “Organic Farming and Gardening,” 114 undergraduate students registered from years 2007 to 2009. Due to high demand and insufficient classroom space, this conventional curriculum was reformatted with identical course content into both a hybrid and a fully online version in which 361 students registered from years 2010 to 2012 and 336 students from 2013 to 2015. In comparing conventional instruction with hybrid and fully online versions over a 9-year period, few significant differences were found in final grades involving 811 students. Final class grade averages of these three learning systems ranged from 85.5% to 89.6% over their first 3-year spans. Over their 6-year span, the conventional class average of 89.6% was higher compared with 88.3% for the hybrid format and 86.8% for the online format. Student evaluation surveys assessed faculty performance with eight evaluative questions on a 1 to 5 scale from years 2012 to 2014. No significant difference existed between teaching in person vs. remotely, averaging 4.35 for the hybrid and 4.17 for the online. An additional eight questions measured educational methodology, technology, student confidence, and class satisfaction. There were no significant differences in comparing the combined averages of 4.12 for the hybrid format and 4.00 for the online version. Student responses indicated a significant preference overall for hybrid and online course formats compared with conventional methods. Registration numbers indicated an overwhelming choice for online education with an average class enrollment of 91.0 students compared with 38.0 students for conventional classes and 25.2 students for the hybrid format.

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian K. McFarlin

Hybrid courses allow students additional exposure to course content that is not possible in a traditional classroom environment. This exposure may lead to an improvement in academic performance. In this report, I describe the transition of a large undergraduate exercise physiology course from a traditional lecture format to a hybrid lecture-online format. A total of 658 final grades (traditional = 346, hybrid = 312) was used to evaluate the effect of course format on academic performance. The hybrid online portion was delivered using WebCT Vista, enhanced with various instructional technologies. The hybrid lecture portion was enhanced with an in-class response system. PowerPoint files were used to distribute in-class lectures in both formats of the course. Final student grades were 9.9% higher (83% of the increase due to an increase in the exam grade) when the course was administered in a hybrid format ( P = 0.01), which translated to a one letter grade increase on a standard grading scale. Transition from a traditional lecture format to a hybrid format significantly enhanced student learning; presumably, this increase is due to the fact that students were able to increase their exposure to course content via access to material on WebCT.


10.28945/3203 ◽  
2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seta Boghikian-Whitby ◽  
Yehia Mortagy

This study surveyed how students’ backgrounds prepare them for online education. The study compared learning outcome between traditional and non-traditional (adult) undergraduate students in online and face-to-face sessions; the difference in learning over time; and the effect of prior online experience. Student learning measurements included: pre-test, final examination (post-test), and final letter grade. Findings revealed that online education is as effective as F2F sessions and that learning has occurred. The study found a significant difference of learning outcomes over time. And that adult student with some prior online experience performed better than those with no prior experience. Conclusions suggest that Adult students benefit more from taking online classes compared to traditional age students, and that computer competency helped improve performance in online classes over time. Additional analysis is needed to determine if there is a difference between the personality of students and their performance in online and F2F classes.


2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 1431-1439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selcuk Karaman

The effects of audience response systems (ARS) on students' academic success and their perceptions of ARS were examined in this study. Participants, comprising 44 undergraduate students, were randomly assigned to a control or treatment group. The course design was the same for both groups and the instructor prepared the multiple-choice questions in advance; students in the control group responded to these questions verbally whereas the treatment group used ARS. Two paper-based examinations were used to measure the learning of concepts and skills that were taught. Students' perceptions of ARS were collected via a questionnaire. Results showed that ARS usage has a significant learning achievement effect in the first 4 weeks but not at the end of the second 4 weeks. There was no significant difference in retention between either group. Students perceived the ARS tool positively, finding it very enjoyable and useful.


2021 ◽  
pp. 030573562098729
Author(s):  
Rebecca R Johnston ◽  
Gina M Childers

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of musical pantophagy, classical music consumption, and initial receptivity to select musical examples on changes in preference rating resulting from a program of repeated exposure. Participants included undergraduate students enrolled in a section of music appreciation at a large Southeastern university ( n = 67). Data were collected using a research designed preference rating measure (PRM) administered during a 5-week period within which there were eight test measures. Participants were divided into quartiles. Pre- to post-test measures resulted in a general positive trend for all participants. Comparisons of Q1 (lowest pantophagy) and Q3 (highest pantophagy) on PRMs 1–8 yielded no differences between groups, and PRM 8 was significantly different from PRM 1 for both groups. The same comparisons for Q1 (non-Classical music consumption) indicated significant difference with large effect size and for Q1 (lowest initial receptivity) indicated significant difference. Results suggest that regardless of musical pantophagy, repetition is an effective means by which to increase affective response to music, and that students who do not currently consume formal art music and who have low initial receptivity may report greater increases in affective response to music over time.


BMC Nursing ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Ahlstrom ◽  
Christopher Holmberg

Abstract Background Despite the advantages of using active learning strategies in nursing education, researchers have rarely investigated how such pedagogic approaches can be used to assess students or how interactive examinations can be modified depending on circumstances of practice (e.g., in online education). Aims The aim was to compare three interactive examination designs, all based on active learning pedagogy, in terms of nursing students’ engagement and preparedness, their learning achievement, and instructional aspects. Methods A comparative research design was used including final-year undergraduate nursing students. All students were enrolled in a quality improvement course at a metropolitan university in Sweden. In this comparative study to evaluate three course layouts, participants (Cohort 1, n = 89; Cohort 2, n = 97; Cohort 3, n = 60) completed different examinations assessing the same course content and learning objectives, after which they evaluated the examinations on a questionnaire in numerical and free-text responses. Chi-squared tests were conducted to compare background variables between the cohorts and Kruskal–Wallis H tests to assess numerical differences in experiences between cohorts. Following the guidelines of the Good Reporting of a Mixed Methods Study (GRAMMS), a sequential mixed-methods analysis was performed on the quantitative findings, and the qualitative findings were used complementary to support the interpretation of the quantitative results. Results The 246 students who completed the questionnaire generally appreciated the interactive examination in active learning classrooms. Among significant differences in the results, Cohort 2 (e.g., conducted the examination on campus) scored highest for overall positive experience and engagement, whereas Cohort 3 (e.g., conducted the examination online) scored the lowest. Students in Cohort 3 generally commended the online examination’s chat function available for use during the examination. Conclusions Interactive examinations for nursing students succeed when they are campus-based, focus on student preparation, and provide the necessary time to be completed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110204
Author(s):  
Seyede Faezeh Hosseini Alast ◽  
Sasan Baleghizadeh

The aim of this experiment was to investigate how glossing influences second language (L2)reading comprehension in relation to text difficulty and the two local and global meaning representations. Fifty-eight undergraduate students were asked to read three easy, moderate, and difficult texts and, following each passage, answer twenty comprehension questions targeting local and global concepts in one of the two first-language-glossed and unglossed conditions. Half of the participants in each group were supposed to think aloud while reading. The results revealed a significant difference between the performance of glossed and unglossed groups on comprehension of local concepts in all three difficulty levels. However, the impact of glossing on comprehension of global concepts was significantly influenced by text difficulty. The qualitative analysis of think-aloud protocols suggested a substantial difference in glossing functionality on fluency between the easy and the difficult texts. Furthermore, it is suggested that revisiting the glossing effect in combination with text difficulty on the reading product and underlying processes might reconcile some divergent hypotheses on glossing impact on fluency.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412098809
Author(s):  
Paul K. Miller ◽  
Sophie Van Der Zee ◽  
David Elliott

In recent years a considerable body of psychological research has explored the relationship between membership of socio-cultural groups and personal pain perception. Rather less systematic attention has, however, been accorded to how such group membership(s) might influence individual attitudes towards the pain of others. In this paper, immersion in the culture of competitive sport, widely regarded as being exaggeratedly tolerant of risky behaviours around pain, is taken as a case-in-point with students of Physical Education (PE) in tertiary education as the key focus. PE students are highly-immersed in competitive sporting culture both academically and (typically) practically, and also represent a key nexus of cross-generational transmission regarding the norms of sport itself. Their attitudes towards the pain that others should reasonably tolerate during a range of activities, sporting and otherwise, were evaluated through a direct comparison with those of peers much less immersed in competitive sporting culture. In total, N=301 (144 PE, 157 non-PE) undergraduate students in the UK responded to a vignette-based survey. Therein, all participants were required to rate the pain (on a standard 0-10 scale) at which a standardised “other” should desist engagement with a set of five defined sporting and non-sporting tasks, each with weak and strong task severities. Results indicated that PE students were significantly more likely to expect others to persevere through higher levels of pain than their non-PE peers, but only during the sport-related tasks – an effect further magnified when task severity was high. In other tasks, there was no significant difference between groups, or valence of the effect was actually reversed. It is argued that the findings underscore some extant knowledge about the relationship between acculturated attitudes to pain, while also having practical implications for understanding sport-based pedagogy, and its potentially problematic role in the ongoing reproduction of a “culture of risk.”


Author(s):  
Svetlana Viktorovna Koroteeva

The article shows that the year 2020 taught us a lot and opened our eyes to a number of issues. However, it was precisely the Covid situation and the then announced pandemic that allowed many of us to slow down our pace of life a little and take a broader look at the world around us. The author, a well-known variety vocal teacher, reflects on the possibility of training vocal in an online format, while realizing such an essential component of the educational process as mentoring, and shows that the mentoring function is a necessary part of vocal lessons. It can be realized both through the choice of the repertoire and through communication between the teacher and the student. Vocal classes provide such an opportunity in the best possible way, since individual communication involves the transfer of one’s own worldview to the students, who perceive both the idea of the beautiful, and form their own technical singing skills, as well as build their own picture of the world following the teacher.


Author(s):  
Natalia Manuhutu

This study investigated the students’ perceptions concerning the use of Robert Frost’s poetry in writing class at English Literature Department of Musamus University which was obtained through a survey. A total of 17 undergraduate students taking writing class participated in this study. The participants responded to a questionnaire and an open-ended questions concerning the two focal points: (1) how the students perceived the use of Robert Frost’s poetry in teaching writing, (2) the implementation of Frost’s poetry in improving students’ writing short story. The results of the study revealed that the implementation of Frost’s poetry helped them to be easier in writing short story. Most of the participants gave positive response to the use of Frost’s poetry in teaching them to write a short story. In addition, they seemed to prefer learning writing short story by using English poetry in writing classes. The concluding discussion addresses suggestion about the need to consider students’ wants and needs by gauging their perceptions as the student evaluation of teaching in order to keep up the better improvement to the teaching writing the texts and the using of authentic material or media in English Literature Department at Musamus University.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 250
Author(s):  
Ukeme Ekpedeme Umoh ◽  
Etuk Nssien Etuk

<p class="apa">The study examined ‘Students’ Involvement in Social Networking and attitudes towards its Integration into Teaching. The study was carried out in the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of 17,618 undergraduate students enrolled into full time degree programmes in the University of Uyo for 2014/2015 academic session. The design of the study was survey design with ex-post facto approach. Random sampling technique was used to select 1730 students from the 12 faculties in the University. The instrument used for the study was ‘Students’ Social Networking and Attitude Questionnaire which was validated by an expert in curriculum studies and an expert in measurement and evaluation in the University of Uyo. Cronbach’s Alpha Statistical method was used to determine the reliability coefficient of .70 for the instrument. Two research questions and two null hypotheses tested at .05 level of significance guided the study. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer research questions; Independent t-test and Analysis of Variance were used to test the hypotheses. The results show that there is significant difference in involvement of university undergraduate students in Social Networking based on course of study, level (year) of study and age. Female undergraduate students’ involvement in social networking is higher than that of their male counterparts; but male undergraduate students showed a higher positive attitude towards integration of social networking into teaching and learning.</p>


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