scholarly journals Perspectives on Online Undergraduate Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arriane Pirhalla ◽  
Crystal Marull

With the rise of online education surrounding the current global situation, facilitating engaging, communicative and interesting online courses and research has become increasingly more important. This study surveyed various undergraduate students at the University of Florida (n=114), gathering perspectives on their awareness of, interest in and opinions on online undergraduate research and courses. This study found that a majority of students (74.58%, n=88) surveyed were not aware of online research programs like the University Scholars Program, despite majority (71.67%, n=81) indicating they were at least moderately interested in the program. Students also overwhelmingly rated research as being  very or extremely important, especially for post-graduate work or school. This paper discusses the implications of relationships between these responses, and touches on suggested future research.

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric A. Storch ◽  
Andrea R. Kolsky ◽  
Susan M. Silvestri ◽  
Jason B. Storch

This study was a pilot examination of the religiousness of student athletes as compared to nonathletes. Participants were 248 undergraduate students (84 athletes) at the University of Florida who were enrolled in randomly chosen courses within the Department of Counselor Education. To assess the organizational, nonorganizational, and intrinsic dimensions of religion, the Duke Religion Index was used. Findings indicate that male and female athletes reported higher degrees of organizational, nonorganizational, and intrinsic religiousness than male nonathletes. Implications of these Findings on future research and applied sport practice are discussed.


Author(s):  
Abdulmohsin Suliman Alkhunzain

<p>Smartphones have become an import part of the human life from the beginning of the 21<sup>st</sup> century. Most of the people of different ages are using most modern smartphones. The present study is an attempt to examine the university students’ smartphone addiction and their perception on its usefulness for the academic purposes. The study employed quantitative method to measure the smartphones addiction. Two questionnaires were used to gather the data for the present attempt. One questionnaire was used to gather the data for smartphone addition and the second questionnaire was use to attain learners perception on the smartphone addiction for the learning purposes. The participants of the present attempt were (N=174) undergraduate students of a public university. The finding of the study displayed that university students spend more than 8 hours in a day on their smartphones. Findings also indicate that participants are aware of the positive aspects of smartphones. The study also recommends suggestion on the future research.</p>


Author(s):  
Alexandra Schonning ◽  
Daniel Cox

Florida’s First Coast Manufacturing Innovation Partnership (MIP), sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), promotes collaboration between academia and local industry members by providing a shared resource center. The local industry provides the university with research opportunities for its undergraduate students in areas of mechanical engineering design, manufacturing, and analysis and the university provides the local industry with technical resources. This paper outlines how this collaborative effort is structured, what types of projects are undertaken, and what the benefits are to academia, industry, and society in general. In particular, the paper describes three computer aided engineering (CAE) projects, addresses how these industry-academia projects help achieve the goals of the MIP program, and how these projects help improve the CAE skills of the future workforce.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 230-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Hass ◽  
Mathew Joseph

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine students’ perceptions of online vs traditional (face-to-face) course offerings at the business school of a liberal arts university in southwest USA. The research compares perceptions of students who have been subjected to online education along with those who have not been exposed to online education and examines likelihood to take online courses. Design/methodology/approach Paper and pencil surveys were distributed in different classes in business classes at a university in southwest USA. The target group was undergraduate students. Findings The results indicate that overall, students have neutral perceptions about online courses, while favorable perceptions are strongly associated with likelihood to take online courses. Moreover, prior exposure with online courses is not a significant factor in forming favorable perceptions about online courses. Research limitations/implications The present research is limited in generalizability and the institution surveyed in the southwest region is new to online courses offering in their curriculum and not all the participants had prior experience with online courses. Originality/value Although this paper compares online education with traditional, another option for methods of education include hybrid models incorporating both. A possible third option not discussed through this research is a hybrid or blended learning course, a combination of both online and traditional courses. This opens the options for the student, as hybrid courses can be built with many different options. One includes using technology for “screencasts” or lectures online.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 83-101
Author(s):  
Antje Budde ◽  
Sebastian Samur

(A project of the Digital Dramaturgy Lab at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Toronto) This article discusses the 2017 festival-based undergraduate course, “Theatre Criticism and Festival Dramaturgy in the Digital Age in the Context of Globalization—A Cultural-Comparative Approach” as a platform for experiential learning. The course, hosted by the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, and based on principles of our Digital Dramaturgy Lab, invited a small group of undergraduate students to critically investigate two festivals—the Toronto Fringe Festival and the Festival d’Avignon—in order to engage as festival observers in criticism and analysis of both individual performances and festival programming/event dramaturgy. We argue that site-specific modes of experiential learning employed in such a project can contribute in meaningful ways to, and expand, current discourses on festivalising/festivalization and eventification through undergraduate research. We focus on three modes of experiential learning: nomadic learning (learning on the move, digital mobility), embodied knowledge (learning through participation, experience, and feeling), and critical making (learning through a combination of critical thinking and physical making). The article begins with a brief practical and theoretical background to the course. It then examines historical conceptions of experiential learning in the performing arts, including theoriesadvanced by Burnet Hobgood, David Kolb and Ronald Fry, and Nancy Kindelan. The importance of the festival site is then discussed, followed by an examination of how the festivals supported thethree modes of experiential learning. Samples of student works are used to support this analysis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Fülöp ◽  
Gyula Nagy

Fortunately, the forced change to online education required by the pandemic situation did not caught the University of Szeged completely unprepared. Our institution has a long tradition of using electronic teaching materials in various projects and situations. One of the most important tool is the SZTE Repository of Educational Resources, operated by the Klebelsberg Library, which stores almost 4,500 electronic learning material and it has more than 1 million downloads. In the first part of our study, we show our experiences gained during the development and running of the database. In the second part, we would like to talk about the development of an online education platform (https://edu.ek.szte.hu). It has launched last year and we presented here our first e-learning course, ‘Introduction to library and information science’. This course was previously held-in-person by the library staff to hundreds of students per semester at the university as a general education course. Redesigning the course took several months. During this time, we had to face several technical and education-related issues and questions which gave us the experience and the necessary knowledge about the methods of switching from classroom teaching to online courses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Laura E Mullins ◽  
Jennifer Mitchell

Following the World Health Organization’s announcement of the global pandemic because of the Coronavirus Disease 2019, most Canadian universities transitioned to offering their courses exclusively online. One group affected by this transition was students with disabilities. Previous research has shown that the university experience for students with disabilities differs from those of their non-disabled peers. However, their unique needs are often not taken into consideration. As a result, students can become marginalized and alienated from the online classroom. In partnership with Student Accessibility Services, this research revealed the impact of the transition to online learning because of the pandemic for university students with disabilities. Students registered with Student Accessibility Services completed a survey about the effects of online learning during a pandemic on the students’ lives, education, and instructional and accommodation. It was clear from the results that online education during COVID-19 affected all aspects of the students’ lives, particularly to their mental health. This research provided a much-needed opportunity for students with disabilities to share the factors influencing their educational experience and identified recommendations instructors should consider when developing online courses to increase accessibility and improve engagement. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana L Shreaves ◽  
Yu-Hui Ching ◽  
Lida Uribe-Florez ◽  
Jesús Trespalacios

This mixed-methods study examined faculty perceptions of online teaching at a mid-sized liberal arts university in order to understand faculty acceptance and participation in online teaching at the university. Seventy-nine participants responded to a survey that collected qualitative and quantitative data. Content analysis examined faculty perceptions of online teaching and identified six themes. An examination of 21 quantitative factors identified 17 factors reported by more than 50% of respondents to influence their decision to teach or not teach online. Study participants perceived online learning as attractive to students but they wanted any online courses carefully regulated, in part because online learning was seen as contrary to their teaching values. Participants were influenced by personal preferences but also the desire for robust faculty resources, and more effective technology and infrastructure. Implications and directions for future research were discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. p30
Author(s):  
Liu Zhixuan

The outbreak of the COVID-19 caused many Chinese universities to initiate online teaching. This paper aimed to develop Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) practices in online courses to enable teachers and students in China to employ TBLT appropriately and effectively. This research made a case study which was conducted as an online English class with a total of 28 undergraduate students at a university in Guangdong, China. The findings show that the transition from the traditional classroom to online education was successful. This innovative teaching mode promotes students to become the initiator of learning. Besides, the switched roles between students and teachers, advantages as well as problems of this approach have been pointed out. This case study could provide pedagogical implicatures for online English teaching and learning practically and theoretically, which helps to develop new forms that could assist teachers and students to adopt TBLT in class.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Kiseleva ◽  
Natalia Kiseleva ◽  
Evgeny Kiselev

Digital technologies are rapidly changing the process of education. Online courses have become a common tool of gaining knowledge outside the university. Multimedia education, penetrating traditional educational institutions (schools, colleges, and universities), changes the structure of education and brings new elements to the communications during the educational process. This article considers one level of change in the model of education. On the one hand, there are advantages associated with the democratization of education. At the time of their foundation, universities were the creators of new elites – scientific and educational meanwhile, in the twenty-first century, the process of democratization and the accessibility of university education has been linked to the digitalization. On the other hand, territorial and other restrictions have been lifted. And this is a very controversial process that poses many challenges for students, one of the most noticeable of which is the lack of real contact with the teacher and the transformation of the educational process into an ”educational conveyor belt.” At the same time, personal contact with the teacher is becoming more expensive. The authors have collected studies that examine the dynamics of this emerging stratification of education. Based on the work of the pioneers in the study of digital education, the authors develop their ideas, focusing on the formation of the modern models of education, defined as affordable electronic and elite traditional. Keywords: online courses, online education, MOOC


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