scholarly journals Building Interactive Tutorials for Teaching Statistics Online with learnr

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Aberson

Introduction: Faculty are increasingly tasked with online teaching duties. This paper provides a how to guide to using the learnr package for R. This package allows instructors to create seamless interactive tutorials that can use video, quizzes, and exercises run in R to foster student engagement and learning of statistics. Statement of the Problem: Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, more faculty than every are teaching online. learnr tutorials provide a format that allows for greater student engagement with materials by providing opportunities to test knowledge and practice after viewing short videos on topics. Teaching Implications: I provide concrete instructions for developing learnr tutorials for teaching introductory statistics and provide insights from having applied these technologies for over a year. Conclusion: learnr is a tool that can assist instructors in leveraging valuable teaching opportunities afforded by the technology is a manner that requires only small changes in their more prevalent approaches to teaching online.

Author(s):  
Graeme Pye ◽  
Dale Holt ◽  
Scott Salzman ◽  
Emilia Bellucci ◽  
Luisa Lombardi

This research reports on a student audience engaging in an Australian university’s undergraduate commerce program core unit that is offered across three separate geographic campus locations and online. The research extends upon work undertaken on student engagement in online settings and lies in the domain of blended learning design and practice in the Australian higher education business context. Findings, inter alia, are presented across six major student engagement dimensions as applied to the interplay between online and located/campus learning (i.e. Online Active Learning, Online Social Interaction, Online Collaboration, Online Teaching, Online Assessment, and Online Contact with Staff). Implications for blended learning design, eLearning and practice in such complex environments are examined.


Author(s):  
Graeme Pye ◽  
Dale Holt ◽  
Scott Salzman

This research reports on a diverse student audience engaging in an Australian university’s undergraduate commerce program core unit which was offered across three separate geographic campus locations and online. The research extends upon work undertaken on student engagement in online settings and lies in the domain of blended learning design and practice in the Australian higher education business context. The research adopted a dual-period surveying approach aimed at comparing patterns of student engagement within a major business subject offered in two different trimesters in one academic year. The survey analysis compared student perceptions of engagement with the subject and identified significant variations in patterns of engagement based on key background and demographic factors. Findings, inter alia, are presented across seven major student engagement dimensions as applied to the interplay between online and located/campus learning (i.e. Online Active Learning, Online Social Interaction, Online Collaboration, Online Teaching, Online Assessment, Online Relevance, and Online Contact with Staff). Implications for blended learning design, eLearning and practice in such complex environments involving diverse student audiences are examined.


Author(s):  
Victor K. Lai

Abstract As the COVID-19 pandemic forced a sudden shift to online teaching and learning in April 2020, one of the more significant challenges faced by instructors is encouraging and maintaining student engagement in their online classes. This paper describes my experience of flipping an online classroom for a core Chemical Engineering Fluid Mechanics class to promote student engagement and collaboration in an online setting. Comparing exam scores with prior semesters involving in-person, traditional lecture-style classes suggests students need a certain degree of adjustment to adapt to this new learning mode. A decrease in Student Rating of Teaching (SRT) scores indicates that students largely prefer in-person, traditional lectures over an online flipped class, even though written comments in the SRT contained several responses favorable to flipping the class in an online setting. Overall, SRT scores on a department level also showed a similar decrease, which suggests students were less satisfied with the quality of teaching overall throughout the department, with this flipped method of instruction neither improving nor worsening student sentiment towards online learning. In addition, whereas most students liked the pre-recorded lecture videos, they were less enthusiastic about using breakout rooms to encourage student collaboration and discussion. Further thought and discussion on best practices to facilitate online student interaction and collaboration are recommended, as online learning will likely continue to grow in popularity even when in-person instruction resumes after the pandemic.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 249-255
Author(s):  
Lei Pan ◽  
Hui-Qin Xi ◽  
Xiao-Wei Shen ◽  
Chen-Yu Zhang

AbstractA teaching strategy is a method, which can help students to gain knowledge, deliver information, and improve their learning. Different learning environments, such as clinical teaching, online teaching, and face-to-face traditional learning environments, require different teaching strategies for students. Choosing teaching strategies for a course is very important for nurse educators because various factors should be taken into account to make students meet the learning outcomes. The use of modern technologies in teaching strategies can improve students’ competencies and confidences. The purpose of this article is to create a toolbox integrating ten teaching strategies that can be used in different teaching environments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 728
Author(s):  
Niely Fawaidah Virgin ◽  
Imam Qalyubi ◽  
Zaitun Qamariah

This study aimed at investigating the challenges and  identifying the way the English teachers solve the challenges toward online teaching during Covid-19 pandemic. This study was qualitative research. Three instruments were used to collect the data, those are: open-ended questionnaire, interview and documentation. As a result, this study showed that there were eight challenges experienced by the English teachers in remote areas toward online teaching during Covid-19 pandemic, those are: (1) inadequate infrastructure; (2) student’s learning attention; (3) financial condition; (4) students readiness; (5) parent’s concern; (6) designing materials; (7) measuring student’s understanding, and (8) the instability of student’s motivation. During teaching-learning process, there were various ways in overcoming the challenges done by the English teachers, those are: (1) create an interactive media; (2) decide the most suitable online learning tool; (3) give additional time for the students; (4) provide adequate facilities for both teacher and student in remote areas. Keywords:  Challenge, Covid-19 Pandemic, English Teaching, Online Learning


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 279-301
Author(s):  
Ola Hafez ◽  
Yasmine Salah El-Din

The present descriptive study investigated the challenges experienced and the coping strategies used by Egyptian university educators from different institution types while teaching online during the pandemic. The cross-sectional study drew participants (N = 222) from three different academic institution types, private universities, public universities, and adult education institutions, who responded to a survey that examined the technical, professional, administrative, social, and psychological challenges teachers encountered as well as their coping strategies. Data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results indicated that the challenges and coping strategies reported by teachers varied according to the teaching context and the requirements of each academic institution. The most reported challenges experienced were exhaustion, internet problems, technical issues, and anxiety. Despite the challenges, participants reported a few positive effects, including feeling more productive, being motivated to learn something new, feeling appreciated by the students and administration, and feeling confident using online teaching tools. Results also revealed that the participants used social and professional strategies to cope with the circumstances accompanying the sudden shift to online teaching. The results indicated how challenges faced by educators from different institution types may diminish with more training on, and experience with, online teaching, forming communities of practice as well as other coping strategies they developed. Such findings should be helpful to educators, institutions, and policymakers in different academic institutions all over the world and in various teaching contexts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Maha Al-Freih

The aim of this phenomenological study is to provide a deeper understanding of the impact of remote teaching on instructors’ perceptions of online learning and future teaching practices amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze open-ended semi-structured interviews conducted with five higher education faculty in Saudi Arabia. Three major themes were identified: enhancing student engagement; increased awareness of technology affordances and constraints; and moving from emergency remote teaching to technology-enhanced and blended learning. Participants of this study were mainly concerned about finding ways to support active student engagement in this new learning environment, which in turn increased their awareness of the educational affordances and constraints of online learning and technologies. Participants’ deeper understanding of the potential of online technologies in supporting student learning, as well as their own and students’ increased familiarity and comfort with online learning and technologies, served as the main drivers for potential future implementation of blended learning and technology-enhanced teaching practices. With that said, participants were still apprehensive about engaging in fully online teaching, arguing that blended strategies and enhanced-technology integration are more likely to overcome some of the limitations of face-to-face teaching and improve the overall learning experience for their students. Discussion of these findings in relation to the extant literature and their implications for higher education institutions moving forward are provided.


Author(s):  
Lijing Shi ◽  
Ursula Stickler

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic forced many language teachers to move their teaching online without sufficient preparation. This unexpected change of practice engendered doubt and anxiety in teachers. They worried about their ability to attract and hold their learners’ attention, an element that is essential for successful online teaching. Our dual-point eyetracking study looks into how students and teachers establish joint attention during online language tutorials. It also examines various means teachers employ to guide students’ attention and scaffold their meaning making process. The data was collected from two online language tutorials where the eye movement of one teacher and one student was tracked simultaneously, as well as recordings of their stimulated reflection while watching their own eyetracking visualisation replay. By combining mixed-method data and dual perspectives, we were able to unveil the complex interactions in online language tutorials and offer practical suggestions to language practitioners who hope to improve their online teaching skills.


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