REDESIGNING AN UNDERGRADUATE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE UNIT: REFLECTIONS ON ALIGNING DEPARTMENTAL PEDAGOGIC OBJECTIVES WITH THE NEW TEACHING PROGRAMME AND ASSESSMENT

In this paper, we look into how the new structure of the final-year undergraduate language assessment introduced by the School of Modern Languages (SML) at the University of Bristol (UoB) has affected the teaching on the final-year programme in the Department of Russian. This paper tests whether the intended learning outcomes, the content of the course, teaching on the individual modules, the learning resources and the new assessment can be considered as ‘constructively aligned’, i.e., whether the Russian language teaching team working on the new course design succeeded in ensuring that “the learning objectives, the learning processes and the assessment mode and criteria relate systematically to each other”. We will also explore whether the new blended synchronous and asynchronous teaching fits into the redesigned curriculum and whether the teaching programme continues to address the development of students’ discipline-related and transferable employability skills linked to the three areas of the Bristol Skills Network: knowledge and intellectual abilities; engagement and influence; personal effectiveness and wellbeing. The key element of this research is the analysis of the anonymous student feedback questionnaire (SFQ) which includes qualitative questions related to all three written modules taught on the redesigned final year Russian language unit: the students were given an opportunity to analyse the quality and effectiveness of their learning on this unit.

Virtual delivery: a panacea for the financial and ethical challenges associated with physiology laboratory classes?

There has been a gradual shift in the delivery of physiology laboratory classes over the last 30 years. For many, wet-lab demonstrations using animal tissues have been reduced or replaced with student-led investigations where students are both subjects and researchers. Despite these changes, expectations remain that physiology courses should include a practical component to encourage deeper and higher-order learning. Wet-lab tissue experiments and student-based group research formats can be expensive to run, associated with various ethical constraints, and, as discovered in these times of COVID-19, difficult to operate while adhering to physical distancing. We address the proposition that online and/or remote delivery of laboratory classes using digital technologies may provide a solution to both financial and ethical constraints of on-campus laboratory classes. Our discussions, as an international group of 10 physiologists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, revealed that although some of the financial and ethical constraints of using animal tissues and student-led investigations were addressed by the introduction of online alternatives, the construction and maintenance of online delivery modes could also be expensive and ethical issues, not previously considered, included digital equity and student data security. There was also a collective perception that if face-to-face laboratory classes were changed to an entirely virtual mode there was a risk that some intended learning outcomes would not be met. It was concluded that the “ideal” approach is likely a hybrid model whereby student attendance in face-to-face, on-campus classes is supported with interactive digital content either developed in house or obtained through third-party providers.

TEACHING AND LEARNING OF BIOLOGY PRACTICAL COURSES FOR FOUNDATION SCIENCE STUDENTS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

This article aims to communicate several teaching and learning activities that were redesigned for biology practical courses for Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s Foundation Science students during the restriction control movement (RMO) due to the Covid-19 outbreak. When RMO has been started the closure of the university campus resulted in postponed of biology practical face-to-face sessions in the laboratory. The teaching and learning activities have been guided by the Foundation Science Biology Laboratory Manual, however, during the pandemic, the delivery approach was modified using online platforms, including video-based blog or vlog, pre-recorded video, using real-time video conferencing i.e. Google Meet, Webex, scheduled online discussions via mobile apps i.e Whatsapp, Telegram, and greater utilization of Universiti Malaysia Sabah online learning platform, SmartV3UMS. The purpose of these redesigned methodologies that are presented in this paper was mainly focusing on delivering the established practical courses’ contents to achieve the intended learning outcomes. A total of 353 students registered for these practical courses. They were divided into 16 groups, with 22 or 23 students per group. All these interventions have facilitated students to sustain their access to Foundation in Science study despite the physical engagement limitation and have opened a pathway to a new normal of science education.

Improving Extension Curriculum Design Using Learner-Centered Templates

Extension professionals’ use of learner-centered instructional practices can maximize engagement and more effectively address expressed needs within their diverse communities. The Outcome-Based Extension Education Design and Facilitating Teaching and Learning templates enable educators to effectively implement curricula that identify context-specific learner needs, activities that increase learner engagement, and assessment tasks that gather evidence of essential knowledge construction and skills development. Using these two practical tools, Extension professionals can streamline the creation of compelling and efficacious programs that focus on the intended learning outcomes.

Using a mixed method to develop consensus-based aims, contents, intended learning outcomes, teaching, and evaluation methods for a course on epilepsy for postgraduate or continuing education in community health nursing programs

Background Knowledge deficits with regard to epilepsy have been reported among healthcare professionals. This study was conducted to develop consensus-based aims, contents, intended learning outcomes, teaching, and evaluation methods for a course on epilepsy for postgraduate or continuing education in community health nursing programs. Methods A mixed method which combined a thorough search of literature, the nominal group technique, the Delphi technique, and survey of students’ agreement was used. The databases MEDLINE/PUBMED, EMBASE, COCHRANE, CInAHL/EBESCO, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, Google Books, and Amazon were searched to identify potential aims, topics/contents, intended learning outcomes, teaching, and evaluation methods. Discussions and deliberations in serial meetings based on the nominal group technique were attended by educators/academicians (n = 12), neurologists (n = 2), practicing nurses (n = 5), pharmacists (n = 2), patients with epilepsy (n = 2), and students in postgraduate and continuing education programs (n = 7) to supplement and refine the data collected from the literature. The qualitative data were analyzed using RQDA tool for R. The Delphi technique was used among educators/academicians (n = 15), neurologists (n = 2), practicing nurses (n = 5), pharmacists (n = 2), patients with epilepsy (n = 3), and students in postgraduate and continuing education programs (n = 8) to achieve formal consensus. Results Consensus was achieved on 6 aims, 16 intended learning outcomes, and 27 topics in the course. Of the topics, 13 were relevant to nature of epilepsy and seizures, 2 were relevant to the impact of epilepsy and seizures on different life aspects of patients with epilepsy, 4 were relevant to advocating for the patients and supporting their choices, 5 were relevant to educating patients and their caregivers, and 3 were relevant to assessments and services. Conclusion Consensus-based aims, topics/contents, intended learning outcomes, teaching, and evaluation methods of a course on epilepsy for postgraduate or continuing education in community health nursing programs were developed. Consensus-based courses could bridge knowledge gaps and improve educating community health nursing programs on epilepsy. Further studies are needed to determine if such consensus-based courses could promote care of patients with epilepsy.

Peer-Led Group Supervision A model to support and inspire social work students to be ‘active discoverers and constructors of their own knowledge’.

This article reviews the research findings from a student evaluation of a pilot study of peer-led group supervision for undergraduate social work students at a university in the UK. The definition, purpose and concept of peer-led group supervision are considered and the pilot model and intended learning outcomes described. The student evaluation provides positive feedback that this group setting allowed for support, knowledge exchange and an opportunity to discuss learning from placement experiences. Constructive student feedback enables further discussion in regard to the logistical set-up of this group learning environment and the role of an observing Practice Educator/link tutor. Recommendations are made for how this model can be developed in the future to further the learning opportunities for social work students using this peer-led group supervision model.

Teaching English Language Courses for Tourism and Hospitality Purposes (A Study of Graduates Workplace Needs)

When taking into account Palestinian tourism sites, mastering language English for instance is a prerequisite for serving and offering tourism services in tourist places such as Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Jericho and Hebron after graduation. In Palestine, English for Specific Purposes especially in hospitality and tourism purposes has not been given much investigation in research. Globally, English language is used as a medium of communication in contexts such as hospitality, travel, and tourism. This study examined how English language is used to prepare tourism and hospitability learners who anticipate serving in Palestinian tourism sites. The data indicated that the learners’ perceptions of the courses offered in English are not consistent with their aspirations and perceived academic English language needs, and their response to how they perceive the importance of English language needs was moderate. Based on these findings, the study suggests restructuring these courses and reconsidering the adopted teaching methods to help learners receive proper instruction geared towards intended learning outcomes and meets their future workplace needs. For future studies, it is recommended that quantitative and qualitative researches are needed to be carried out to analyze the actual needs of undergraduate students to the English language in programs hotel management and tourism.

Visual Analytics Design for Students Assessment Representation based on Supervised Learning Algorithms

Visual Analytics is very effective in many applications especially in education field and improved the decision making on enhancing the student assessment. Student assessment has become very important and is identified as a systematic process that measures and collects data such as marks and scores in a manner that enables the educator to analyze the achievement of the intended learning outcomes. The objective of this study is to investigate the suitable visual analytics design to represent the student assessment data with the suitable interaction techniques of the visual analytics approach. sheet. There are six types of analytical models, such as the Generalized Linear Model, Deep Learning, Decision Tree Model, Random Forest Model, Gradient Boosted Model, and Support Vector Machine were used to conduct this research. Our experimental results show that the Decision Tree Models were the fastest way to optimize the result. The Gradient Boosted Model was the best performance to optimize the result.

How formative are assessments for learning activities towards summative assessment?

To academics of higher education institutes, motiving, enhancing and improving student learning have never been easy. Different types of course work or continuous assessment or assessment for learning activities are designed to lead students to achieve the intended learning outcomes of respective courses. Depending on the nature of courses, these activities vary and they can either be done individually or in groups. The question is whether these activities can achieve their stated goals or if they can, how much these activities can lead students to achieve the intended learning outcomes as reflected by a summative assessment, normally it is a timed final exam or a take-home final essay. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlations between formative assessment activities and the summative assessment. Data of an introductory statistics course of different cohorts of a private degree-granting institute in Hong Kong were used in this study. The results indicate that individual assignments have a strong relationship with the exam score, while group projects do not. More surprisingly, group projects are negatively related to exam scores. The implication is that academics should rethink how to make group work a better and fairer assessment for individual student’s contribution.

Blended Course Evaluation in the Context of English for Specific Purposes: Accountability and Development

Blended learning utilizes the affordances of information and communication technology to integrate online learning with face-to-face teaching. It facilitates to meet students’ disciplinary learning needs and helps them achieve the intended learning outcomes so that they can advance in their professional study. The present study focuses on developing and evaluating a blended course implemented in the context of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) from the perspective of accountability and development, with the purpose of assessing the effectiveness of the course from three aspects: the satisfaction of students’ learning requirements, the achievement of their learning outcomes, and the ongoing refinement of the course. Data of the course evaluation survey were quantitatively analyzed by descriptive statistics and data of students’ learning reflections were qualitatively analyzed by thematic analysis. Results indicate that, firstly, students are satisfied with the course design and its implementation; secondly, the course modification should focus on adding academic presentations, teaching in English with trans-semiotising approach and consolidating the disciplinary community, which in turn activate students’ knowledge-sharing and critical thinking. The study offers a systematic framework to evaluate the ESP blended course, which also has implications for evaluating blended courses in other language curricula.