Student Engagement Practices for Computer Science Students in Online Learning Environments

2018 ◽  
pp. 83-99
Author(s):  
Stephanos Mavromoustakos ◽  
Areeba Kamal
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Interaction Design ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Science Student ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
New Learning

Online learning has many challenges, and student engagement is one of them. Computer science students differ from most other disciplines. As a consequence, students typically find it easier to adapt to the new learning environment, but at the same time, they are more demanding on the tools and services offered to enhance their learning experience and engagement. This chapter discusses the various student engagement practices used today and their applicability to computer science students in online learning. The investigation will refer to case studies published and their relation to the concepts presented in this chapter. Computer science student engagement in online platforms is directly associated with positive learning experience from the content and context to interface to the interaction design a course embodies. Finally, a framework of best practices for student engagement for computer science students will be provided.

scholarly journals Factors affecting student behavioural engagement in an inquiry-based online learning environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Abdullah Al Mamun ◽  
Gwen Lawrie
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Independent Study ◽  
Online Learning Environment ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
Inquiry Based Learning ◽  
Behavioural Engagement

Abstract The technological innovations and changing learning environments are influencing student engagement more than ever before. These changing learning environments are affecting the constructs of student behavioural engagement in the online environment and require scrutiny to determine how to facilitate better student learning outcomes. Specifically, the recent literature is lacking in providing insights into how students engage and interact with online content in the self-regulated environment, considering the absence of direct teacher support. This paper investigates how instructional design, informed by the factors relating to behavioural engagement, can influence the student-content interaction process within the fabric of inquiry-based learning activities. Two online learning modules on introductory science topics were developed to facilitate students’ independent study in an asynchronous online environment. The study revealed that students showed high commitment to engage and complete the tasks that required less manipulative, pro-active effort during the learning process. The findings also revealed that instructional guidance significantly improved the behavioural engagement for student groups with prior learning experience and technology skills. This study highlights several issues concerning student engagement in a self-directed online learning environment and offers possible suggestions for improvement. The findings might contribute to informing the practice of teachers and educators in developing online science modules applicable to inquiry-based learning.

scholarly journals The Impact of Faculty Experience with Emergency Remote Teaching: An Interpretive Phenomenological Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Maha Al-Freih
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Impact

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.

Perceptions of Presence and Community in Immersive Online Learning Environments

2019 ◽  
pp. 116-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia W. Cheney ◽  
Terry McClannon ◽  
Les Bolt ◽  
Robert L. Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Cut Scores ◽  
Delivery Methods ◽  
Online Learning Environments ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Engagement Factors

This chapter is based on survey research conducted between 2010 and 2017, involving 1053 graduate students using immersive online learning environments for their coursework. Investigators used course structural factors and student engagement factors to predict students' perceptions of community and presence in the online immersive space. Utilizing the Sense of Community II index (SCI-2) and the Community of Inquiry survey (COI) median scores as cut scores for predicted outcomes, researchers demonstrated that purely online environments which encouraged student engagement in the online immersive space can enhance sense of presence and sense of community. In addition, students in graduate programs that used online immersive delivery methods longer developed a stronger sense of community. Both dependent measures proved to have stable subscale structures for this inquiry based on a cursory confirmatory factor analysis.

Encouraging and Increasing Student Engagement and Participation in an Online Classroom

2016 ◽  
pp. 426-447
Author(s):  
Kathryn Woods
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Traditional Classroom ◽  
Online Classroom ◽  
Online Learning Environments ◽  
The Impact

Advances in technology have increased opportunities for students to participate in online courses. While some instructors are beginning their careers teaching only online courses, others are discovering a need to teach sections of courses online after they have enjoyed a long career teaching in a traditional classroom. In either situation, it is important for instructors to recognize that students in online learning environments require the use of different strategies for encouraging engagement and participation in class. In this chapter, the author describes the challenges that students and instructors face specifically in the online learning environment as well as strategies for success, including how to maximize the impact of students' experiences and prior knowledge, using multiple platforms to deliver information, discouraging procrastination, setting clear expectations, encouraging individuality, capitalizing on diversity, and providing and utilizing helpful resources.

scholarly journals Using Formal Game Design Methods to Embed Learning Outcomes into Game Mechanics and Avoid Emergent Behaviour

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Grey ◽  
David Grey ◽  
Neil Gordon ◽  
Jon Purdy
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
Game Mechanics ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Impact

This paper offers an approach to designing game-based learning experiences inspired by the Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) model (Hunicke et al., 2004) and the elemental tetrad model (Schell, 2008) for game design. A case for game based learning as an active and social learning experience is presented including arguments from both teachers and game designers concerning the value of games as learning tools. The MDA model is introduced with a classic game- based example and a non-game based observation of human behaviour demonstrating a negative effect of extrinsic motivators (Pink, 2011) and the need to closely align or embed learning outcomes into game mechanics in order to deliver an effective learning experience. The MDA model will then be applied to create a game based learning experience with the goal of teaching some of the aspects of using source code control to groups of Computer Science students. First, clear aims in terms of learning outcomes for the game are set out. Following the learning outcomes, the iterative design process is explained with careful consideration and reflection on the impact of specific design decisions on the potential learning experience. The reasons those decisions have been made and where there may be conflict between mechanics contributing to learning and mechanics for reasons of gameplay are also discussed. The paper will conclude with an evaluation of results from a trial of computer science students and staff, and the perceived effectiveness of the game at delivering specific learning outcomes, and the approach for game design will be assessed.

scholarly journals Exploring Journalism and Computer Science Student Collaboration

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-142
Author(s):  
Elsebeth Frey ◽  
Ragnhild K. Olsen ◽  
G. Anthony Giannoumis
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Journalism Education ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Science Student ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Student Collaboration ◽  
Trading Zones ◽  
Collaborative Context ◽  
Computer Science Student

Abstract The digitalization of journalism has resulted in an increased overlap between technology and journalism in the newsroom. This development has profound implications for journalism education. The present study investigates a team-based experiential learning project between journalism and computer science students in a digital feature journalism course. Using the concept of trading zones as our analytical lens, we explore the students’ thoughts and opinions regarding professional roles and boundaries as well as areas of tension and spaces of mutual understanding in the collaborative context. Using mixed methods and data from questionnaires, observations and semi-structured interviews, the study demonstrates how trading zones between journalism and computer science students varied from homogenous collaboration to heterogeneous coercion, with diverse experiences of collaboration, coordination and collapse.

Impact of Student Engagement in Online Learning Environments

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
A. V. Senthil Kumar ◽  
P. V. Praveen Sundar
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Detection Techniques ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Learning Types ◽  
Educational Contents ◽  
Educational Field

Online learning is a fast-growing technology in an educational field which uses internet as a media to deliver the educational contents to the students. The main research area in online learning is to identify the disengaged learners and motivate them. The success of online learning systems depends on how quickly it identifies the disengaged learners and techniques used to reengage them. Through this chapter, we are going to discuss briefly about the online learning, advantages and disadvantages of online learning, importance of motivation in online learning, types of motivation, the motivational theories related to student engagement and finally discuss about various disengagement detection techniques in online learning.

Computer-Supported Collaborative Writing Phases

1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Rada ◽  
Weigang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Hypermedia System ◽  
Group Experience

A collaborative hypermedia system was used in a five-week course for computer science students. Authoring tasks were assigned to individuals, groups, and organizations. Students took roles and used the system to perform the tasks. The aim of this research was to see whether collaborative hypermedia systems could improve upon results achieved in traditional collaborative and individual learning environments without a computer. Though technology can support collaboration, the students themselves did not feel positively disposed to sharing their ideas and work with their peers. The group experience did not improve the quality of individual writing. To facilitate group writing, we may want to ensure that the group is coordinated throughout the authoring process and not just at some phase of it.

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