Promoting Critical Thinking and Learning in a Large-Enrolment Humanities Class

To promote the development of critical thinking abilities in an introductory undergraduate humanities course in the context of mass higher education, we implemented a course design that employed a series of scenario-based multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and informal peer discussions. Using an online survey to gather perception data and self-reported behavioral data, this study examines the extent to which the course design was effective at promoting critical thinking and student experience. Deductive analysis of students’ qualitative responses indicate that the course design was successful in promoting students’ development of critical thinking. Both deductive and inductive analysis of students’ qualitative responses also suggest that students largely had favorable attitudes towards this course design, though there are also some who express concerns. Our design may be useful for instructors and instructional designers aiming to promote critical thinking and learning in university courses.

Intentional Connection

This chapter details how learning-based course design promotes meaningful student connections with course content, course goals, and connections with peers, faculty, and student self-awareness. No matter the modality, the learning-based course design model provides a pathway for faculty and instructional designers to use backward design to create courses that embrace significant learning, valuable practice, and feedback opportunities. With an emphasis on authentic activities that are aligned to learning outcomes, learning-based course design avoids busywork and reduces rote memorization of facts and figures. Educational technologies can strengthen the faculty and student course experience, provided that these are purposefully integrated into the course. Courses designed with close attention to student learning provide skill growth that strengthens students' professional lives. Course feedback data allows faculty to refine the course and programs and institutions to develop stronger alignment to their stated goals.

Humorous Presence in Online Learning

Online learning is an established and growing segment of higher education. Instructors, instructional designers, and leadership should focus on establishing instructor and social presence to overcome student feelings of isolation and boredom which can lead to disengagement and have negative effects on learning. The use of humor is an effective tool to combine with instructor presence to help improve student engagement, satisfaction, and memory retention. This chapter will review recent literature on the subjects of instructor presence, boredom, and humor and make recommendations for its use.

The Digital-Forward Writing Course

First-year writing and composition courses can be major roadblocks for students as their success in later courses often hinges on their abilities to construct a quality written document. Students enter composition courses with broad variation in their abilities and yet must all meet the same standards of completion. In order to address this inequity, greater opportunities for writing and in receiving feedback are paramount. Yet such opportunities would place a high burden on writing instructors in a traditional course. This chapter proposes the digital-forward writing course that draws on a combination of a number of digital tools and pedagogical strategies that can increase writing opportunities while maintaining or even reducing instructors' time commitment. This information is drawn from a workshop held in 2020 that asked writing instructors, instructional designers, developers, and other educators to ideate on meeting the challenges of the entire student writing journey. Specific tools and a discussion of the value of adaptive courseware are included.

Rules of Program Behavior

We propose a framework for identifying, organizing, and communicating learning objectives that involve program semantics. In this framework, detailed learning objectives are written down as rules of program behavior (RPBs). RPBs are teacher-facing statements that describe what needs to be learned about the behavior of a specific sort of programs. Different programming languages, student cohorts, and contexts call for different RPBs. Instructional designers may define progressions of RPB rulesets for different stages of a programming course or curriculum; we identify evaluation criteria for RPBs and discuss tradeoffs in RPB design. As a proof-of-concept example, we present a progression of rulesets designed for teaching beginners how expressions, variables, and functions work in Python. We submit that the RPB framework is valuable to practitioners and researchers as a tool for design and communication. Within computing education research, the framework can inform, among other things, the ongoing exploration of “notional machines” and the design of assessments and visualizations. The theoretical work that we report here lays a foundation for future empirical research that compares the effectiveness of RPB rulesets as well as different methods for teaching a particular ruleset.

Engagement Strategies in Electronic Tools English Online Learning: Higher Education Context

ABSTRACTThe study aimed to explore and investigate the versatility, capacity, and adaptability for accommodating online English learning. The qualitative approach was employed in the study with a descriptive research design. 86 participants responded to the survey, and 25 semi-structured interviews were adjusted from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The study’s findings have implications for employing online instructors, instructional designers, and administrators to increase online course engagement. The study exposed four recommendations based on the finding, including instructional elements of collaborated and interactive activities, integrated electronic tests applied on mobile phones, and Enhanced Social familiarity. English lecturers preferred to use Moodle and Google classroom as their daily Learning Management System (LMS) in the study context. The interactive tools intended to apply with QuizGame and Wirewax while conference communication instrument approved to the Google Meeting and Skype. Conclusively, the study offered implications for practice by confirming and presenting the online tools approach that might be utilized to engage and implement online English learning education in Higher Education circumstances.ABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi dan menyelidiki keserbagunaan, kapasitas, dan kemampuan beradaptasi untuk mengakomodasi pembelajaran daring bahasa Inggris. Pendekatan kualitatif digunakan dalam penelitian ini dengan desain penelitian deskriptif. 86 peserta menanggapi survei, dan 25 wawancara semi-terstruktur disesuaikan dari National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Temuan penelitian ini memiliki implikasi untuk mengenlola instruktur daring, perancang instruksional pembelajaran, dan administrator untuk meningkatkan keterlibatan kelas daring. Studi ini memaparkan empat rekomendasi, termasuk elemen instruksional dari aktivitas kolaborasi dan interaktif, tes elektronik terintegrasi yang diterapkan pada ponsel, dan Peningkatan kedekatan Sosial. Instruktur atau dosen bahasa Inggris lebih menggunakan Moodle dan Google classroom sebagai Learning Management System (LMS) harian mereka dalam konteks belajar daring. Keterlibatan alat interaktif dimaksudkan untuk penerapan dengan QuizGame dan Wirewax sementara instrumen komunikasi konferensi digunakan dalam Google Meeting dan Skype. Secara meyakinkan, penelitian ini menawarkan implikasi untuk praktik dengan mengonfirmasi dan menyajikan pendekatan alat daring sehingga dapat digunakan untuk melibatkan dan mengimplementasikan pendidikan pembelajaran bahasa Inggris daring di lingkungan Pendidikan Tinggi.

Online, Hybrid, and Face-to-Face Learning Through the Eyes of Faculty, Students, Administrators, and Instructional Designers: Lessons Learned and Directions for the Post-Vaccine and Post-Pandemic/COVID-19 World

This exploratory study builds upon the expertise of a panel of faculty, administrators, students, and instructional designers (IDs) who lived through the pandemic and dealt with the associated challenges firsthand. These participants provided insight on how to establish systems that would create successful online teaching and learning opportunities in the post-vaccine and post-pandemic world. Four major themes emerged: (a) integrating technology to facilitate and enhance education; (b) structural support and resources needed to build sound processes for effective online education; (c) establishing faculty presence to facilitate learning; and (d) joint ownership and responsibility of learning—everyone must play a part. These themes have been described in light of theoretical frameworks, such as the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model, Community of Inquiry (COI), and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI). Finally, evidence-based tips will allow academic institutions to successfully emerge out of the pandemic while still making plans to adjust and adapt in the post-vaccine world.

Exploring Online Pedagogical Practices for Enhancing Transfer of Learning in Higher Education

Institutions of higher education play a critical role in bridging academia and workforce, yet college students find it challenging to transfer their learning across and beyond instructional formats, including online, hybrid, and face-to-face. The goals of this exploratory, sequential, mixed-methods study were to (1) explore graduate students’ conceptualizations of transfer, and (2) examine online pedagogical practices for enhancing transfer. Participants included students enrolled in a full-time online graduate degree program in education at a private university in the Mid-Atlantic USA. Findings from the qualitative phase with seven semi-structured interviews were used to design a survey study with 68 graduate students to explore their perceptions of effective online pedagogical practices for enhancing transfer. This study is significant since its findings revealed a number of online practices that instructional designers and faculty can use to optimize learning and transfer in higher education.