scholarly journals A Comparison of Students’ Preferences in Online Algebra Instruction Pre- and Post-Covid-19

Author(s):  
Zeynep Akcay Ozkan ◽  
Sirin Budak

This study is aimed towards understanding students’ preferences in online learning of College Algebra at a community college in the United States, before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. We analyze the results of Student Satisfaction surveys administered during Fall 19, Spring 20 and Fall 20 semesters. The classes were partially or fully online with synchronous and asynchronous components such as face-to-face and/or virtual meetings, pre-recorded video lessons, assignments through online homework platforms, and discussion board assignments. Our analysis show that students found face-to-face meetings most helpful, when classes were taught partially online. After the transition to online teaching, virtual meetings did not directly replace the face-to-face meetings, instead online homework platforms were preferred. We find that students ultimately started utilizing all components of online classes on an equal basis. Our results reflect students’ adjustment to online teaching, taking more advantage from asynchronous course components and becoming active learners over time.

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Stephen A Leybourne ◽  
Vijay Kanabar ◽  
Roger D.H. Warburton

  The evolution of the internet and collaboration tools have made it possible to enhance the range of online education, and make it universally accessible and eminently affordable. Around 2000, the faculty at Boston University’s Metropolitan College proposed an online master’s degree in project management, using the emerging learning management systems. The program grew quickly from 40 to 200 students, and was one of the first in the United States to be accredited by the Project Management Institute’s Global Accreditation Committee. This academic model has now been extended to other disciplines and programs.It was expected from the outset that the BU online and classroom academic experiences would be completely equivalent. This presented several challenges, the first of which was developing online equivalents for the face-to-face pedagogical course components. Second, writing online courses, recording videos and developing innovative discussion topics is time-consuming, and we quickly realised that only fulltime faculty had the commitment and motivation to devote the required effort to produce quality courses. Finally, the technological resources associated with course development and course operation required significant investment, beyond the faculty time, currently estimated at around $60,000 per course.We surveyed our students and alumni every two years and now have enough data to describe accurately the evolution in attitudes to online education.As one of the earlier and premier adopters of a rigorous academic online education model, BU has a vested interest to contribute to the growing debate about the academic quality and rigour of online education, the application of high pedagogical standards, and the innovative use of online teaching frameworks and tools. This paper will address and document these issues and assist in raising awareness of emerging “best practice” in the online education domain. 


Author(s):  
Jennifer Brielmaier ◽  
Ying-Ying Kuo

Enhancing student engagement has been a goal of increasing importance in higher education.  This may be especially valuable in online courses, where face-to-face interactions and synchronous activities are often minimal or nonexistent. Students are thought to be engaged when they view course activities as meaningful, persist in the face of difficulties or obstacles, and wish to learn to achieve mastery of the material (Bomia et al., 1997; Schlecty, 1994). Given the importance of student engagement for effective teaching, it is important for instructors and course designers to understand the factors that foster engagement within the learning environment.The present study sought to measure and compare student satisfaction and engagement in online vs. face-to-face sections of Physiological Psychology taught in Spring and Fall 2015. An end of semester survey, adapted from the literature (Dixson, 2010; Ouimet & Smallwood, 2005), included 18 questions relevant to learner satisfaction, motivation and engagement.  The preliminary data analysis was based on Spring 2015 data collected from 56 students total (22 online, 34 face-to-face).  The findings indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the online and face-to-face sections for student learning satisfaction and overall engagement levels. Results suggest that online teaching and learning can be comparable to the face-to-face environment on these parameters. More complete analysis of the data from the Spring, Summer, and Fall 2015 semesters, as well as a discussion of implications for course design, will be presented.  Faculty and course designers will learn about strategies for measuring and promoting student engagement within their own courses.


Author(s):  
Evelyn Doman

This chapter records the author's transformation as she develops into an online teacher after teaching face-to-face courses for over 20 years. By using autoethnography as the research approach, the phases of the author's transition from face-to-face, to blended, and finally to fully online teaching are documented. Qualitative data is presented in this chapter from field notes, journals, reflections, and discussion board posts in an online certificate course. Transformative learning theory provides the theory behind this study as it creates a context for making judgments about transformed frames of reference. Findings reveal changes in the mindset of the author while redesigning courses to fit the online platform, as well as immediately after teaching blended and then fully online courses. Implications of this research suggest that obstacles to teaching can be opportunities for personal enrichment and growth and that faculty can adjust to new environments if provided with proper training.


Author(s):  
Alison G. Vredenburgh ◽  
Rodrigo J. Daly Guris ◽  
Kevin G. Welner ◽  
Sreekanth R. Cheruku

By October, we will have learned a great deal about responding to an epidemic or pandemic that has proved to have a level of transmission unprecedented in the modern era. The possible and likely responses include many unknowns. Coordinated and collaborative implementation has been complicated by conflicting information from multiple governments and organizations in several languages. What will we learn about how the United States can improve its ability to respond? How do we develop consistent and accurate warnings and messaging to the public in order to increase compliance regarding a new, and not well understood, epidemic? What factors increase or decrease compliance? How are US education policymakers deciding about face-to-face instruction? How have physicians and hospitals adapted their workflows in the face of uncertainty and supply chain inconsistencies? This panel will include a warnings expert, an expert on education law and policy, and two physicians.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1128
Author(s):  
Laura Triviño-Cabrera ◽  
Elisa Isabel Chaves-Guerrero ◽  
Laura Alejo-Lozano

Studies on the adaptation from face-to-face to online teaching during lockdown show the before and after in education that faces the double challenge of promoting digital skills and public access to connectivity and electronic devices in the post-COVID-19 era. Therefore, this article contributes to these new emerging lines of educational research by presenting an educational innovation project called “Teachers Versus COVID-19”. This project aimed to verify whether the figure of teacher-prosumer, that is, consumers of media culture and creators of their own educational resources, favors the initial training of teachers during the pandemic. To this end, the following objectives were proposed: firstly, test whether the figure of the teacher-prosumer contributes to improving the adaptation of face-to-face teaching to the virtual modality of the Didactics of Social Sciences in the Degree in Primary Education during lockdown; secondly, analyze the production of content on social networks by the students in the Degree in Primary Education, according to the objectives of sustainable development. To validate our teacher-prosumer proposal, we chose the design-based research (DBR) qualitative methodology. For this, 240 students from the course in Didactics of Social Sciences of the Degree in Primary Education at the University of Malaga created 37 educational videos that teach the social sciences curriculum to children between 6 and 12 years of age from the perspective of relevant social problems and the Sustainable Development Goals. These videos were disseminated through the project’s YouTube channel. The results of this study corroborate the effectiveness of turning students into teachers-prosumers, generating the development of critical, creative, digital, and socio-emotional skills so that they feel committed to playing an active role in social changes for a sustainable world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1165
Author(s):  
Roberto Zimmer ◽  
Guilherme Arossi ◽  
Eduardo Galia Reston ◽  
Fernando Freitas Portella

The present study aimed to describe the perception of Dentistry professors and students regarding the activities developed in virtual environments during the period of social isolation. Through self-administered questionnaires, professors and students from four Dentistry courses were invited to answer objective and subjective questions about their experiences and sensations during the period. Both professors and students consider that the learning in this period was inferior to the face-to-face, however, they agree with the maintenance of the virtual classes during the pandemic period.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 193-200
Author(s):  
Melinda Jones Ault ◽  
Ginevra Courtade ◽  
Sally A. Miracle ◽  
Amanda E. Bruce

In the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, teachers were forced to quickly determine how to deliver a free appropriate public education to their students when in-person instruction was not possible. School districts and states have a variety of ways to provide supports to their teachers. One method for providing technical assistance, professional development, consultation, and mentoring to teachers is through the use of regional cooperatives. In this Practice in Action article, two educational cooperative consultants present their experiences in supporting their teachers in the face of the pandemic. Successful strategies the cooperatives developed for teachers included providing trainings in online formats, creating an organized list of resources appropriate for online teaching, and facilitating opportunities for teachers to work together to problem solve in the era of the novel COVID-19. Challenges for teachers providing instruction for their students when schools were closed to face-to-face instruction are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50
Author(s):  
Arhan Sthapit ◽  
Bikash Shrestha

The paper aimed at examining the perceived difference between knowledge gained from online and face-to-face learning modes as a result of the intensities (viz., high and low) of comparative interaction level and ease of attending the classes, in the context of management courses in Nepal. Based on the survey (complete enumeration) of all management students (n=224) attending the online classes at Nepal Open University from 5th to 25th Jan., 2020, the study applied descriptive statistics and factorial ANOVA using the General Linear Model in analysing data to pursue the research objectives. Nepalese management students’ experience with their present online classes in terms of the knowledge gained was found to be equivalent to their previous experience with the face-to-face mode. It also discovered that intensities of the comparative interaction level and comparative ease of attending classes had a significant impact on comparative knowledge gained. The findings should offer instrumental inputs to design effective higher education policies blending the online and face-to-face learning modes.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan K Berkenstock ◽  
Paulina Liberman ◽  
Peter J McDonnell ◽  
Benjamin C Chaon

Abstract BACKGROUND: To minimize the risk of viral transmission, ophthalmology practices limited face to face encounters to only patients with urgent and emergent ophthalmic conditions, in the weeks after the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United States. The impact of this is unknown. METHODS: We did a retrospective analysis of the change in the frequency of ICD-10 code use and patient volumes in the six weeks before and after the changes in clinical practice associated with COVID-19.RESULTS: The total number of encounters decreased four-fold after the implementation of clinic changes associated with COVID-19. The low vision, pediatric ophthalmology, general ophthalmology, and cornea divisions had the largest total decrease of in-person visits. Conversely, the number of telemedicine visits increased sixty-fold. The number of diagnostic codes associated with ocular malignancies, most ocular inflammatory disorders, and retinal conditions requiring intravitreal injections increased. ICD-10 codes associated with ocular screening exams for systemic disorders decreased during the weeks post COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Ophthalmology practices need to be prepared to experience changes in practice patterns, implementation of telemedicine, and decreased patient volumes during a pandemic. Knowing the changes specific to each subspecialty clinic is vital to redistribute available resources correctly.


2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (04) ◽  
pp. 38-43
Author(s):  
Tom Gibson

This article presents views of Todd Torrence on introduction of online learning programs that can open paths from technical to technological. The University of North Dakota, which offers the only accredited online BSME program in the United States, is in a state where hydraulic fracturing has sharply increased oil production. The university has applied for accreditation of an online program offering a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering. The UND online BSME program covers the same material as its on-campus counterpart. North Carolina State has a 2+2 program where a student can go to a partnering university at the east and west ends of the state for the first two years of their undergraduate work. The University of North Dakota online BSME program covers the same material as its on-campus counterpart. Part of the accreditation process is assuring that the online degree is equivalent to the face-to-face degree. The challenge with undergrad online engineering programs is their sheer size and the time it takes to complete them, as compared with graduate programs.


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