scholarly journals The Interplay of Content and Community in Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication: Virtual Communication in a Graduate Seminar

Author(s):  
Richard A. Schwier ◽  
Shelly Balbar

A group of graduate students and an instructor at the University of Saskatchewan experimented with the use of synchronous communication (chat) and asynchronous communication (bulletin board) in a theory course in Educational Communications and Technology for an eight-month period. Synchronous communication contributed dramatically to the continuity and convenience of the class, and promoted a strong sense of community. At the same time, it was viewed as less effective than asynchronous communication for dealing with content and issues deeply, and it introduced a number of pedagogical and intellectual limitations. We concluded that synchronous and asynchronous strategies were suitable for different types of learning, and what we experienced was a balancing act between content and community in our group. A combination of synchronous and asynchronous experiences seems to be necessary to promote the kind of engagement and depth required in a graduate seminar.

Author(s):  
Ana Sevilla-Pavón

This paper explores students’ perceptions of the affordances of different telecollaboration tools used in an innovation project for English for Specific Purposes online learning carried out between the University of Valencia (Spain) and Wofford College (South Carolina, United States) during the school year 2015-2016. Different tools for synchronous and asynchronous communication were used. The asynchronous tools included a discussion forum, a wiki, social networking websites and Google forms; while the tools used for synchronous communication were text, voice and video chat, videoconferencing tools and Google Drive. All the tools were accessible through the online platform used in the project, Google+. By using these tools, students from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean carried out a number of activities and tasks through online telecollaborative methods, involving both synchronous and asynchronous communication. The tasks completed by students through the use of the different tools were aimed at fostering distance online collaboration among American and Spanish students for the development of their linguistic, intercultural and digital literacies. 


HortScience ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 671f-671
Author(s):  
M. Marutani ◽  
R. Quitugua ◽  
C. Simpson ◽  
R. Crisostomo

A demonstration vegetable garden was constructed for students in elementary, middle and high schools to expose them to agricultural science. On Charter Day, a University-wide celebration, students were invited to the garden on the University campus. The purpose of this project was twofold: (1) for participants to learn how to make a garden and (2) for visitors to see a variety of available crops and cultural techniques. Approximately 30 vegetable crops were grown. The garden also presented some cultural practices to improve plant development, which included weed control by solarization, mulching, a drip irrigation system, staking, shading and crop cover. Different types of compost bins were shown and various nitrogen-fixing legumes were displayed as useful hedge plants for the garden.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 712
Author(s):  
Andrea Okanović ◽  
Jelena Ješić ◽  
Vladimir Đaković ◽  
Simonida Vukadinović ◽  
Andrea Andrejević Panić

Growing environmental problems and increasing requirements of green jobs force universities around the world not only to transform their curricula but also to enrich existing ones with contents related to the promotion of sustainable development. This paper aims to show the importance of measuring and monitoring the share of green contents in all university activities, as only in that way it is possible to monitor trends and give realistic assessments of their effect and importance. The paper presents a comparative analysis of different types of methodologies for assessing sustainable activities at universities as well as research conducted at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia and its comparison with the University of Gothenburg (Sweden). This research aims to point out the importance of increasing competitiveness in higher education through assessment of green content in a curriculum and its promotion. In this way, through eco-labeling methodology, it would be easier to identify those contents that, in a certain share, contribute to the promotion of sustainable development. Furthermore, this methodology can easily be extended across the country and the region, which would bring positive effects to all stakeholders in higher education.


Author(s):  
Blessing Mbatha

<p class="norm">The aim of this article is to shed some light on patterns of and major motives for the adoption of different types of disruptive learning innovations by Unisa academics. To realise the aim of the study, the following questions were addressed: What are the reasons for adopting disruptive learning innovations? What is the level of interaction with disruptive innovations? What training do Unisa academics require on disruptive innovations? A qualitative approach was adopted by conducting focus group interviews with 76 Unisa academics. The data was analysed using open and axial coding, where dominant themes from the discussions were identified and discussed in detail. The findings show that the interaction of Unisa lecturers with different technologies varied from technology to technology. The study also found that disruptive innovations play a pivotal role in opening avenues and collapsing the transactional distance in an ODL institution. Some lecturers lack skill in using some technology, which is a cause for concern. Therefore, lecturers need to be trained in using technology and develop a good understanding of it to improve teaching and learning.</p>


1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 77-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Rajab ◽  
E.A. Chohan

The Rosenzweig P — F Study was administered to a group of South African Indian students (N = 403) from the University of Durban-Westville with slight modifications in administration. The subjects were divided into three groups and were instructed to react to Blacks in Group A, to Whites in Group B, and to Indians in Group C. The results indicated that the subjects differed in their responses to the three racial groups revealing predominantly intropunitive and impunitive responses to Blacks, and extrapunitive responses to Indians.


1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-42

Sources documents the work of applied and practicing anthropologists. The Project Profiles published here are based on materials submitted to the Applied Anthropology Documentation Project at the University of Kentucky. The project, since its inception in 1978, has attempted to collect the so-called fugitive literature produced by anthropologists during their problem-solving work. The collection has a wide range of different types of materials: technical reports, research monographs, conference papers, practicum and internship reports, legal briefs, proposals, and other materials.


2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Cerar ◽  
Miran Kondrič ◽  
Joško Sindik

Abstract Introduction The main research objective is the analysis of the grouping of the students of the University of Ljubljana, with respect to the intensity of different types of exercise participation motives, their gender, discipline and year of study, level of physical activity, status of physical education class, organization of physical activities during study, and place of residence. Methods Data were collected using personal data sheets during enrolling students at the University of Ljubljana. Students completed The Exercise Motivations Inventory (EMI-2), with additional data about sociodemographic parameters. Results The results reveal that the students could be grouped in three distinctive clusters, which can be very clearly explained in terms of the prevalence of exercise participation motives in general. The students grouped in the first cluster have the lowest average values (means) in all exercise participation motives. The students grouped in the second cluster have the profile with moderate means in all exercise participation motives, while the students grouped in the third cluster have the profile with the highest means in all exercise participation motives. Conclusions The results indicate overall higher motivation for physical activity in men. All the sub-samples are different in their relevant features used in clustering (e.g., male students are dominant in life sciences, etc.), which provide a guide both for the explanation of the results obtained and for practical implications.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 402-421
Author(s):  
Jayashree Mahesh ◽  
Anil K. Bhat

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to document similarities and differences between management practices of different types of organizations in India’s IT sector through an empirical survey. The authors expected these differences to be significant enough for us to be able to groupa priorithis set of companies meaningfully through cluster analysis on the basis of the similarity of their management practices alone.Design/methodology/approachUsing a mixed-methods approach, 73 senior-level executives of companies working in India’s IT sector were approached with a pretested questionnaire to find out differences on eighteen management practices in the areas of operations management, monitoring management, targets management and talent management. The different types of organizations surveyed were small and amp; medium global multinationals, large global multinationals, small and medium Indian multinationals, large Indian multinationals and small and medium local Indian companies. The differences and similarities found through statistical testing were further validateda priorithrough cluster analysis and qualitative interviews with senior-level executives.FindingsThe management practices of multinationals in India are moving toward Western management practices, indicating that management practices converge as the organizations grow in size. Though the practices of large Indian multinationals were not significantly different from those of global multinationals, the surprising finding was that large Indian multinationals scored better than global multinationals on a few practices. The practices of small and medium Indian companies differed significantly from those of other types of organizations and hence they formed a cluster.Practical implicationsThe finding that large Indian IT multinationals have an edge over global multinationals in certain people management practices is a confirmation of the role of human resource practices in their current success and their continuing competitive advantage.Originality/valueThis is perhaps the first study of its kind to document state of specific management practices across different types of organizations in India’s IT sector and then use measures on these practices to group a priori these organizations for validation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 62-69
Author(s):  
Yasmany García-Ramírez

The flipped classroom, as an active learning model, has given remarkable results in several areas in the university teaching; however, its execution is still able to improve. This research shows the implementation and improvement of the flipped classroom model in the course of Pavements. It evaluates their influence on the students’ final grades and their learning experience. Three groups of students participated in this study, who enrolled in the course of Pavements in the Civil Engineering. Group A took the course with the traditional model, while Group B took it with a flipped classroom, and Group C experienced it with a reinforced flipped model. Groups did the course the subject in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. Results show that even though with the flipped classroom models, the finals grades did not increase compared to the scores of the traditional model; however, it improved their learning experience. The students were more satisfied with the method; they even asked for fewer modifications than they did in the traditional model. This research shows that adding little academic things to the course, it would greatly influence their students' opinion.


Algologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-92
Author(s):  
Y.C. Wong ◽  
◽  
D.N. Roma ◽  

Petroleum-based plastic has been widely used in many industries. However, it takes hundreds of years to degrade and causes widespread pollution to our environment. These problems led to the invention of bioplastics, which were comprised of natural biopolymers made from starch. The production of bioplastics from food-based starches such as tapioca and corn created competition between food and bioplastic production industries. Hence, this research study focuses on producing bioplastic from microalgae residue, which is a non-food based raw material that uses four different types of plasticizers: glycerol, sorbitol, glutaraldehyde and polyethylene glycol (PEG). Microalgae species for identification were obtained from the fish pond at the University Malaysia of Kelantan, before cultivating the species for 14 days. The microalgae residues were extracted through the centrifugation process. Three species were identified under the light microscope, Chlorella sp., Scenedesmus sp. and Monoraphidium sp. The production of bioplastic involved a manual stirring method using a hotplate magnetic stirrer, followed by drying the bioplastic in an oven at 60 oC. Results obtained showed that sorbitol and glycerol from microalgae are suitable to be used as a plasticizer for the production of bioplastic, however glutaraldehyde and PEG are not suitable. Bioplastics that used PEG and glutaraldehyde became cracked and brittle after the drying process. The characterization of bioplastics includes universal tensile testing machines, Fourier-transform infrared analysis and biodegradability tests being processed//undertaken on glycerol-based and sorbitol based bioplastic. Characterization of bioplastics proved that both glycerol and sorbitol have high potential for applications in daily human life. Bioplastics which used sorbitol as a plasticizer could be used in can be applied the production of plastic goods such as toys and household items due to its good resistance toward stress and minimal flexibility. Meanwhile bioplastics which used glycerol as a plasticizer could be applied to the production of plastic bags and plastic food wrap due to its elastic and flexible nature.


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