WEB QUESTING IN TEFL COURSES: WHAT FACTORS DETER THE STUDENTS’ INFORMATION-SEEKING BEHAVIOR?

The survival and the continuity of an organization’s operations depend upon the use of information. As such, investigating the Webquesting behavior of university students in general and TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language) students in particular during the Covid 19 seems essential. Since information-seeking behavior can be influenced by various factors we aimed to explore the attitude of TEFL students towards webquesting. In the next phase of the study, we sought the barriers to TEFL students’ Webquesting behaviour. Accordingly, the present research employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The statistical population consisted of 128 TEFL students and the sampling method was purposeful. The findings of this study revealed that the students were not satisfied with their webquesting and that there were two major obstacles in their webquesting, namely, learners’ constraints and teachers’ constraints. The inhibitors included lack of familiarity with Internet sources, poor information seeking skills, lack of interest in some topics, lack of skills in using the Internet, poor English proficiency, teachers’ lack of CALL (computer assisted language learning) preparation, lack of help from the side of teachers, teachers’ lack of attention to non-textbook resources, and students’ lack of motivation and time. Findings have implications for TEFL teachers, since, based on the qualitative data, the most important source of information for students is textbooks and the most important goal of searching for information is for doing homework. The importance of textbooks for students is the result of the pivotal role given to the text books by teachers and the final exams. Perhaps students’ lack of interest in webquesting is partly due to such an undue emphasis. On the other hand, students’ lack of interest in Webquesting was also due to the lack of attention and encouragement from the side of teachers to use the Internet resources.

Strategies for Student Evaluation in The Online Context

In this paper we conducted an investigation on the performance of the students during the second semester of the academic year 2020-2021. We looked at the performance results obtained by students on the laboratory work, practical and final exams while we were forced by the Covid pandemic to move entirely into an online education system. Our focus was to determine the impact of a consistent behaviour (or lack of it) on the final student performance. We determined that, even in an online setting, a good involvement (in terms of attendance and good performance) guarantees good final results. The investigations were performed using the Formal Concept Analysis, which is a very powerful instrument already used by us in previous research in order to detect student behaviour in using an e-learning portal. Another set of results showed that the change of the final mark computation formula to be based in a higher proportion on the lab work was closer to the actual overall performance of students

Acute Stress Induces Cerumen Secretion: Case series of Four Medical Students during Exams

Background and Objectives: Cerumen is a common physiological condition; it only becomes a problem if it causes a hearing impairment or other ear-related symptoms. There is increasing evidence for a relationship between stress and hearing problems. The study aims to understand the association between acute stress and increasing cerumen secretion among medical students during exams. Materials and Methods: The study is a retrospective, single-center, and consecutive case series conducted in Benha University Hospitals in Egypt We defined four cases of medical students who complained of earwax accumulation during their final exams from the 15th to the 13th of July 2021. Results: Four medical students participated in the study. Younger Females and males’ percentages were equal, and the mean age was 19.625 years old. Headache, ear discomfort, and ear pruritus are most common, followed by tinnitus, ear debris, and otitis media with effusion, while hearing loss, fever, and ear pain are slightly rare. The bilateral accumulation of earwax is typical than unilateral accumulation. Remowax was used in almost of cases and then ear wash. Males had high perceived stress, while females had moderate stress. Conclusions: This retrospective case series showed an association between acute stress and excessive cerumen secretion among small medical students during their final exams.

Empirical Research on the Relationship between Students’ Lecture Attendance and Exam Results: Digital Learning in MS Teams

This research aims to investigate the relationship between lecture attendance and the achieved grades on the final exams for a sample of 485 students from the professional field of Economics at a Bulgarian university. The observed average lecture attendance is 30%, the correlation coefficient between the variables is 0.62. When using a regression model up to 38.79% of the variation in the grades obtained by students is explained by the factor attendance. The increase in attendance by 1% leads to an elevation in the exam result by 0.0306 units. All results are statistically significant at a significance level even below 1%. This study examines the problem for the first time in the context of online learning, where contact can only be achieved through electronic channels (students and the teacher have never been in live contact) and attendance data is observed by calculating the time in hours and minutes of participation in the MS Teams sessions.

The Contemporary Significance of the Early Accounting Teaching Methods

In the light of global trends, economic operators cannot withstand change. At first, computer-driven technologies replaced only routine tasks, which were easily programmed using algorithms. However, as a result of technological development, artificial intelligence, machine learning, the internet and big data, machines have acquired an understanding of non-routine tasks. They have become autonomous, and are now capable of solving more and more complex tasks.The job opportunities offered by the new digitalized world ask for new competencies developed by the education system. Our research examines 20 th-century teaching methods based on final exams made public, then compares and contrasts them to 21 st-century teaching materials and examination methods. One of the significantobservations is that between 1900 and 1918, the final exam in mathematics contained only word problems. The majority of the 223 problems available, 57 by number, focused on “capital, interest, benefit, loan, sales and purchase.” The wording of the problemsreflects the (actual) problems and events of the time. Although case studies are still present, most problems are the “calculate, solve, circle, underline” type. Example problems are often provided; thus, problem-solving turns into a routine task. The earlier method yet based on word problems inspired by our everyday economic reality might prove helpful in developing problem-solving skills, in reducing reading comprehension difficulties present at all levels of education as well as in indirectly raising awareness of today’s environmental, personal finance, issues.

Acute Stress Induces Cerumen Secretion: Case series of Four Medical Students during Exams

Background and Objectives: Cerumen is a common physiological condition; it only becomes a problem if it causes a hearing impairment or other ear-related symptoms. There is increasing evidence for a relationship between stress and hearing problems. The study aims to understand the association between acute stress and increasing cerumen secretion among medical students during exams. Materials and Methods: The study is a retrospective, single-center, and consecutive case series conducted in Benha University Hospitals in Egypt We defined four cases of medical students who complained of earwax accumulation during their final exams from the 15th to the 13th of July 2021. Results: Four medical students participated in the study. Younger Females and males’ percentages were equal, and the mean age was 19.625 years old. Headache, ear discomfort, and ear pruritus are most common, followed by tinnitus, ear debris, and otitis media with effusion, while hearing loss, fever, and ear pain are slightly rare. The bilateral accumulation of earwax is typical than unilateral accumulation. Remowax was used in almost of cases and then ear wash. Males had high perceived stress, while females had moderate stress. Conclusions: This retrospective case series showed an association between acute stress and excessive cerumen secretion among small medical students during their final exams.

Deep Neural Network Model for Identification of Predictive Variables and Evaluation of Student’s Academic Performance

An important concern for students at all levels, from universities to colleges to junior high and high school, is predicting academic achievement and individual performance. Class tests, homework, lab exams, general tests, and final exams all have an impact on a student's academic success or failure. Students' progress can be assessed by looking at their grades in core subjects and electives. The majority of research, on the other hand, says that a student's achievement is best measured by graduation. Researchers set out to develop mathematical models that may be utilized to forecast student academic performance evaluations based on internal and external type predictive indicators. Multiple predictive variables are taken into account for the assessment of student performance while modelling an efficient template for student performance assessment. The proposed model uses Deep Neural Network (DNN) in the process of considering the predictive variables and evaluating student performance using the variables. The proposed model is compared with the traditional models and the results represent that the proposed model accuracy levels are high contrasted to existing models.

489 Success of Hyflex Teaching Modality in Animal Reproduction

COVID-19 forced institutions to think and act differently. Southeast Missouri State University launched a HyFlex pilot with 100 sections in fall 2020. AY350 (Animal Reproduction) is one course that converted to HyFlex and offered two sections in the pilot. The objective of this study was to determine if students were more successful in HyFlex courses compared to the traditional course, grades were compared from 2019 and 2020. A survey of Chief Online Officers identified that institutions on average converted more than 1500 sections as an emergency response to the pandemic (Garrett, et al., 2020). HyFlex is one approach institutions used to provide more flexible learning opportunities for students. In a HyFlex course, students can choose to learn in face-to-face, fully online, or synchronously online (Beatty, 2019). Research on student success in Hyflex is scant, however early research shows no significant difference in student success across modalities (Rhoads, 2020). Using a One Way T-test, we analyzed letter grade outcomes for students who enrolled in traditional (n=25) mode to those that enrolled in the HyFlex (n=44) modality. Findings show an increase in “A” and “B” course grades and a decrease in “C” grades, and conflicts with the Rhoads (2020) research which found no significant difference. Additionally, no students failed the HyFlex section(s). Specific variables of Test 3 (p< 0.02) and Final exams (p< 0.002) contributed to significant grade changes. Overall, using a traditional grade point average (GPA) scale where A=4.0, B=3.0, etc. the HyFlex course GPA mean was 3.269 and face-to-face 2.65 (p=0.002). Future research is planned to explore student success in HyFlex across the institution. If similar findings correlate with the initial study of AY350, additional questions should be considered to determine if grade distribution shift was incremental and why increases were seen in the second half of the semester.

Academic Integrity in the Age of COVID-19: the Case of Tertiary Education System in Greece

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a major readjustment on university educational practices through employment of online mode for the delivery of courses, assessment of students’ assignments and supervision of final exams. The case of Greece is of particular interest given that out of its 26 universities in total, only one provided online courses on a bachelor level prior to the pandemic. One outcome is the fact that faculty admit that there are issues with academic integrity. Predominantly, faculty members consider plagiarism as the main issue regarding academic dishonesty. It is interesting to underline that faculty do not seem to recognize the terms describing other forms of academic dishonesty. Evidence collected in this survey indicates that the coronavirus pandemic contributed positively to an increase in cases of academic dishonesty. This is mainly attributed to conducting many more assessment activities than before online, including the final examinations for the courses. It is useful to add that during that period, we saw many posts on social media soliciting domain experts to “assist” students with online exams and – in some cases – to sit in the exams in lieu of the students themselves. Faculty recognize text similarity software, regulation policies as well as educational actions as tools of determent.