Students' Attitudes and Preferences Towards Google Docs as a Collaborative Writing Platform

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Kok Yueh Lee ◽  
David Geraint Hassell
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Method ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Research Report ◽  
First Year ◽  
Time Saving ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Google Docs ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Mixed Feelings ◽  
Students Attitudes

This paper presents findings on the application of Google Docs as a collaborative writing platform for a research report assignment. Based on a mixed method study, 34 first year students were put into eight groups of four to five and tasked with writing a research report. Four groups adopted Google Docs to discuss and develop the assignment whilst the other four groups adopted a more traditional face-to-face approach. Two sets of questionnaires, pre and post to the assignment, were distributed to investigate students' attitude and preference towards both approaches. Findings indicate that students shared mixed feelings towards Google Docs where students without prior experience found it a positive experience and useful for their learning. Students preferred the real-time accessibility and time-saving features of the platform as compared to face-to-face, with results indicating that a blended approach of online and face-to-face meetings is the best approach to maximise student learning.

scholarly journals From studio practice to online design education: Can we teach design online? | De l’enseignement pratique en studio à l’enseignement en ligne : peut-on enseigner le design en ligne ?

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Fleischmann
Keyword(s):  
Design Education ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Future Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Art And Design ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Online Design ◽  
Studio Practice ◽  
Is Design

Digital technology is reshaping the way higher education subjects are taught, including design. Various design disciplines use studio teaching as a pedagogy to educate students for professions in art and design. Studio teaching bases a high premium on face-to-face interactions which guide learning through dialogue and feedback on individual work. Many design educators believe it is difficult or even impossible to teach design online because of studio-based interactions. Is design one of those disciplines that cannot be taught online because of the studio culture? This study explores that question by investigating the effectiveness of teaching design subjects that employ a virtual classroom to manage peer-to-peer critiques, instructor feedback, and assignments. Twenty-eight first-year students participated in two online design subjects that required them to interact with fellow students and the design instructor via a Learning Management System. The experienced benefits and challenges of students and instructors are presented, and future research is highlighted.La technologie numérique transforme la façon dont sont enseignées les disciplines de l’éducation postsecondaire, y compris le design. Différentes branches du design se servent de l’enseignement en studio comme pédagogie permettant de former les étudiants pour les métiers des arts et du design. L’enseignement en studio accorde une importance considérable aux interactions en personne qui orientent l’apprentissage par l’entremise du dialogue et de la rétroaction offerte sur le travail individuel. De nombreux enseignants de design croient qu’il est difficile, voire impossible, d’enseigner le design en ligne à cause des interactions en studio. Le design est-il l’une de ces disciplines que l’on ne peut pas enseigner en ligne à cause de la culture des studios? Cette étude explore la question en investiguant l’efficacité de sujets qui étudient le design à l’aide d’une salle de classe virtuelle, qui sert à gérer les critiques entre les pairs, les rétroactions de l’instructeur, ainsi que les travaux à effectuer. Vingt-huit étudiants de première année ont pris part à deux cours de design en ligne qui exigeaient d’eux qu’ils interagissent avec leurs camarades et avec l’instructeur par l’entremise d’un système de gestion de l'apprentissage. Les avantages et les défis dont les étudiants et les instructeurs ont fait l’expérience sont présentés, et des pistes sont proposées pour des études futures.

Influence of Training on First-Year Nursing Department Students’ Attitudes on Death and Caring for Dying Patients: A Single-Group Pretest–Posttest Experimental Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgül Cerit
Keyword(s):  
Student Attitudes ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Attitudes Toward Death ◽  
Dying Patients ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Nursing Department

The study examined the influence of training on first-year nursing department students’ attitudes on death and caring for dying patients. Utilizing the experimental model, the study sample consisted of 81 first-year students attending the nursing department of a university. Death Attitude Profile-Revised and Frommelt Attitude toward Care of the Dying Scale were used for data collection. Data analysis included means, standard deviation, and t test for related samples. Student attitudes toward death were measured as 146.43 (16.741) and 152.75 (15.132) for pre- and posttraining, respectively. Student attitudes toward caring for dying patients were established to be 103.02 (7.655) during pretraining period and 111.02 (10.359) at posttraining period. The difference between pre- and posttests for mean attitudes toward death and caring for the dying patient was statistically significant. Study results determined that training was effective in forming positive student attitudes toward death and caring for dying patients.

scholarly journals Challenges of Short Sentence Writing Encounter 1st Year Uundergraduate Students in English Language Departments at Al-Baha University

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 118-131
Author(s):  
Ahmed Ibrahim Alsalami
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Year ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Short Sentence ◽  
English Major

This study aims to find out the most common challenges of writing short sentences encountered by first-year English-major undergraduate students of English language departments. A mixed method was used including quantitative and qualitative as data was obtained using student questionnaires and interview questions for the lecturers. About 122 first-year English-major undergraduate students (%50.4 female and %49.6 male) from the English Language Departments at all colleges of Al-Baha University were randomly chosen, including 30 lecturers, and were interviewed in the study (15 males and 15 females). The study revealed significant results which have shown difficulties in constructing short sentences, the distinction of active and passive voice, and the use of conjunctions, punctuations, quantifiers, and the correct auxiliary. Also among common issues, students find difficulties in using comparative and superlative degree, subject–verb agreement and the use of articles. Thus, the study recommends that first-year English-major undergraduate students should be given more written exercises as well as written feedback so that students can be able to write more effective short sentences. The study suggests that more studies could be conducted qualitative researches for first-year students of English language department to investigate and analyze the most common challenges and difficulties of the students’ written samples or documents.

scholarly journals Analysis of Fear Post COVID in First-Year Students after the Incorporation to the Classroom: Descriptive Study in University Students of Health Sciences

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1621
Author(s):  
Pablo A. Cantero-Garlito ◽  
Marta Rodríguez-Hernández ◽  
Esther Moraleda-Sepúlveda ◽  
Begoña Polonio-López ◽  
Félix Marcos-Tejedor
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
School Year ◽  
Social Restriction ◽  
University Population ◽  
Face To Face Learning ◽  
Spanish Universities

Background: After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, social restriction measures were implemented, among them, the adaptation of university teaching to online modality until the end of the 2019–2020 school year in order to stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. At the beginning of the 2020–2021 school year, the Spanish universities opted for face-to-face teaching. To that end, different special measures and adaptations were implemented in higher education facilities, aimed at minimizing the risk of infection and ensuring safe face-to-face learning. The objective was to explore and describe the level of fear of first-year students after the start of in-person classes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The sample was 185 first-year students who were evaluated on the first day of class. For that purpose, an ad-hoc questionnaire was administered to collect demographic information and to find the level of fear and concern. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale was used to assess the severity of the participants’ fear of the pandemic situation. Results: The results indicate that participating university population does not report fear of the virus, but they describe various psychosomatic characteristics, such as increased pulse rate and heart palpitations (p = 0.008) and insomnia (p = 0.05) when they think about infection with coronavirus. Nevertheless, when data are disaggregated by gender, we observe differences specifically in women (83.2%), such as fear (p = 0.006) and sweaty hands when they think of the virus (p = 0.023). Conclusions: Incoming university freshmen do not express concern or fear of potential infection with COVID-19, but they are concerned about family transmission after beginning face-to-face classes.

scholarly journals Hapticity in Digital Education Atmosphere

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-157
Author(s):  
Esen Gokce Ozdamar ◽  
◽  
Gokcen Firdevs Yucel Caymaz ◽  
Hulya Yavas ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Architectural Design ◽  
Haptic Perception ◽  
Digital Design ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Digital Education ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article focuses on the effects of the decreased ability to perceive touch in distance learning for all of the actors in architectural design studios during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. As part of face-to-face architectural pedagogy, the tactile experience of architectural materials, models, and corporeality in the studio environment assumes great importance. However, in contrast, these aspects are diminished when it comes to digital education, generating new topics for discussion. This article asks how and to what extent distance education models can affect the process of learning, understanding, discussing, and designing architecture, amidst the prospect of continuous digital education in the post-pandemic period. Hence, it examines the awareness and experiences of haptic perception of first-year students at the Istanbul Aydın University Department of Architecture through in-depth interviews recorded on Zoom. Between 2020 and 2021, the interviews investigated haptic perception, observed construction techniques, factors affecting design materials, the way and place in which materials were perceived, the methods of sharing and transferring designs with studio instructors, questions about the obstacles encountered, and expectations for the post-pandemic period. The outcomes of these in-depth interviews showed that there is a close relationship between the students’ bodily interests and their awareness with regards to perceiving materials and that the former indicated a tendency towards making models. It was observed that students had preferred digital design tools in the pre-pandemic period, and in addition to the digital tools that students often use as a design approach, they negotiated as designing through hand-drawing in order to gain the “thinking with one’s hands” experience in this study. This emphasizes the need for haptic experiences in an architectural educational environment.

scholarly journals E-learning in COVID 19 period: first year students’ perspective: a web-based Google form descriptive study

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 743
Author(s):  
Rose Davy C. ◽  
Koushiki Mani
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
First Year ◽  
Continuous Learning ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Normal Method ◽  
Power Point ◽  
Student’S Attitude

Background: The current COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the paradigm of medical education. Face-to-face mode of teaching was the basis of traditional medical education. In this crisis situation, e-learning has become the only method of education for continuous learning. In this study, we attempt to find out the students’ perspective of various aspects of e-learning.Methods: For the purpose of the study, a questionnaire was prepared to understand student’s attitude towards e-learning, their likes and dislikes about e-learning and also suggestions from their end to improve the existing modes of e-learning. The set of questionnaire (Google forms) along with informed consent was shared via whatsapp group at the end of physiology theory teaching session.Results: 175 first year MBBS students gave their consent and participated in this study. The most preferred method of e-learning was power-point with recorded narration and the least preferred method was live classes. Poor connectivity issue is the major challenge faced by the students in our study.Conclusions: In this COVID-19 era, the future of medical education has changed forever. E-learning is the new normal method of teaching. In order to be effective, students require support from Government, faculties and parents. 

scholarly journals Changing the face of academic skills workshops

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheryl Mansfield
Keyword(s):  
Summative Assessment ◽  
Academic Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Academic Confidence ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Confidence Levels ◽  
Forward Guidance ◽  
The Face ◽  
Learning Development

The flipped approach offers flexibility in the way students learn and was adopted within Learning Development workshops to improve academic skills. Academic skills are predominantly taught using passive content, however the flipped approach looks to change the emphasis and provide active opportunities to understand taught knowledge. The sessions were delivered alongside self-paced, online, asynchronous content to scaffold academic skills and feed-forward guidance to inform summative assessment preparation. The objective was to assess the effectiveness of the flipped approach in delivering academic skills. A cohort of 50 first year students completed three face-to-face academic skills sessions together with the asynchronous content. Each were themed to develop different academic skills using subject specific examples. Attendance data was collected and a survey was used to evaluate the asynchronous content and measure the self-perceived academic confidence levels of students. To measure the success of the flipped approach this data was analysed together with the number of attempts at each e-tivity and the formative and summative grades. Results demonstrated those who attended two or more sessions (57.7% +/- 1.43) had a significantly higher summative score (p=0.041) than those who attended 1 or less (51.7% +/- 2.73). The summative grades and the number of attempts at the asynchronous content demonstrated a positive linear relationship for e-tivity 1 to 3. Overall the academic confidence improved in nearly a third of all students for each e-tivity and 17 students (54.8%) stated that they preferred the flipped approach in developing their academic skills. This emphasises that the flipped approach is an effective method to improve summative grades and deliver academic skills.

scholarly journals Students’ experiences of study-related exhaustion, regulation of learning, peer learning and peer support during university studies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milla Räisänen ◽  
Liisa Postareff ◽  
Sari Lindblom-Ylänne
Keyword(s):  
Peer Support ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Peer Learning ◽  
Large Individual ◽  
First Year ◽  
Measurement Point ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Studies

AbstractThe present mixed-method longitudinal study examines students’ experiences of study-related exhaustion, regulation of learning, peer learning and peer support during university studies. At the first measurement point, 188 first-year students completed the questionnaire. At the second measurement point, 91 of the 188 students participated in the follow-up study at their fourth study year and completed the same questionnaire again. Of these, twelve students were interviewed. The results showed that experienced study-related exhaustion and self-regulation of content increased during studies. However, the results also showed a large individual variation in experienced study-related exhaustion. The students whose exhaustion decreased described experiences of peer support that helped them to develop their self-regulation skills. Students whose study-related exhaustion remained low evaluated their self-regulation skills as good. They experienced that they did not need other students’ support in the regulation of learning. The students whose study-related exhaustion increased or remained high described more problems in self-regulation. Most students relied on peer support because of self-regulation problems. However, not all students used other students’ support despite of problems in studying. It can be concluded that regulation skills have a key role in experienced study-related exhaustion during studies.

scholarly journals No Campus Life for Us: Personal Reflections of First-Year Students at a Malaysian University

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 144-158
Author(s):  
Ireena Nasiha Ibnu ◽  
Wan Hartini Wan Zainodin ◽  
Faizah Din
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Time Management ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Narrative Study ◽  
Qualitative Technique ◽  
Personal Reflections ◽  
Study Offer

The purpose of this qualitative study was to look into the online learning experiences of first-year communication and media students. The study was conducted by gathering 45 written reflection papers from first-year undergraduate students covering their opinions, challenges, and feelings about online learning. NVivo 12 was used to analyse the contents of these reflection papers. The findings of this reflective narrative study offer valuable insights into how first-year communication and media students perceive online learning classes in higher education, the challenges of working with new virtual classmates, the adjustment and role as student and daughters at home, as well as their mental health and emotional feelings towards online learning. Students learned vital lessons about time management, environmental awareness and independence as a result of these experiences. Students experienced anxiety and were demotivated as a result of the lack of face-to-face interaction and effective self-introduction with new peers. Most importantly, they were dissatisfied because they had lost out on the experiences of living on campus during their first year of study. Furthermore, this research looked into another component of the qualitative technique, which is a reflective method to study the first-year students’ experiences with online learning in a Malaysian public university, an insight that can be useful for both lecturers and students.

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