Does Instructional Mode Alter the Effectiveness of a Curricular Response to Campus Sexual Violence?

Online coursework is becoming a teaching and learning staple in higher education, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is minimal literature regarding academic courses for campus sexual violence prevention, particularly comparing online versus face-to-face modalities. This study examined whether the effectiveness of a semester-long credit-bearing course (GESS 1900), designed to educate first year college students about correlates of sexual violence in order to ultimately reduce campus sexual violence, differed by instructional mode. Two cohorts had completed GESS 1900 in-person when the COVID-19 pandemic struck; the third cohort was taught entirely online through synchronous instruction and with the exact same faculty instructors and course materials. This created a natural experiment to compare outcomes by instructional mode. We used a quasi-experimental, pretest–posttest survey design to compare in-person ( n = 92) versus online ( n = 45) GESS 1900 students across eight previously validated attitudinal measures related to gender, sexuality, and sexual violence. Results from a two-way, mixed-factorial ANOVA showed no significant differences related to instructional mode on seven of the eight measures. Findings further showed change over time in the desired direction for all students, regardless of instructional mode; many measures showed different starting points for the two groups, but similar rates of change over time. Thus both in-person and synchronous online versions of GESS 1900 were effective in shaping positive student outcomes. The findings have important implications for educators seeking new or multiple delivery methods to educate college students about the pressing health concern of sexual violence.

USING WHATSAPP AS AN INSTRUCTIONAL TOOL TO ENHANCE READING AND WRITING SKILLS: INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS' PERCEPTION

This study intends to examine Indonesian EFL learners’ perception of using WhatsApp as an instructional tool to improve reading and writing skills. Covid-19 pandemic has made online learning compulsory for both teachers and students in which it is such a novel experience of instructional mode for some. WhatsApp as a pedagogical tool is thought to be feasible and readily available for the students and teachers to use at any time. With its features and capabilities to send multimedia messages such as images, recordings, audio, videos, and PDF files, it is believed to be potential to be used as a pedagogical tool. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire (1=strongly disagree; 2=disagree; 3=neutral/no opinion; 4=agree; 5=strongly agree) was employed to answer the research question. The result shows that the students perceived that using WhatsApp as a pedagogical tool can enhance reading and writing skills (average response = 3,53). It indicates that as a pedagogical tool, WhatsApp can be taken into account to be integrated into online learning.

Teacher education in Nigeria and the emerging technologies in the 21st century classroom

The paper examines Teacher Education in Nigeria and the emerging technologies in the 21st century classroom. The concepts; emerging technologies, teacher education, and the roles of teachers in the 21st century classroom were analyzed. Availability, Accessibility and Competency were discussed in the light of the emerging technologies as an instructional mode in the classroom. This is an opinion based paper. It was concluded that the 21st century classroom requires a prepared teacher with an emerging technology-compliance and the right frame of mind. It was recommended among others; government’s policies and legislative approaches that will support in practical terms availability, accessibility and professional development be formulated and implemented to ensure competency and motivation as well as monitoring and evaluation framework.

Effectiveness of Blending Learning Approach (BLA) on Graduate Students’ Learning Outcomes

This quasi-experimental study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the Blended Learning Approach on graduate school students’ intrinsic motivation to learn, achievement, efficiency on project completion, and attitude towards coursework. The study used two groups, the control and experimental group which covered 30 students for each group. Students in the control group were exposed to the face-to-face instructional mode while the experimental group was exposed to the blended mode of instruction. Survey questionnaires, achievement tests, and documentary analyses were the data-gathering modalities that were utilized. The data were treated using mean, scales, and t-test. Results show that the BLA enhanced students’ intrinsic motivation to learn, efficiency in project completion, and achievement in the course, however, yielded no significant effect on their attitude toward their coursework.

Effect of two Computer Instructional Modes on Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Geography, in Lagos State, Nigeria.

There is a growing concern about secondary school students’ poor performance in geography, a subject that is prerequisite for many professional pursuits. To enhance their performance in the subject, several strategies have been adopted. This study is an intervention, which investigated relative effects of computer instructional modes (computer graphics and animations computer) on secondary school students’ achievement in geography. The moderator variable was mental ability. Two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The pre-test, post-test control group quasi-experimental design, involving 3x2 factorial matrix was adopted for the study. One hundred and four senior secondary two geography students from three secondary schools in Lagos state constituted the sample for the study, which lasted for eight weeks. Two procedural instruments (computer graphics and animation instructional packages) and two measuring instruments, namely Geography Achievement Test r = 0.79, and Mental Ability Test r=0.88 were used. The data collected were analysed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The magnitude of the students’ post-test achievement scores was determined using Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA), while Scheffe post-hoc analysis was used to explain the direction and source of significant effects. Findings showed that there were significant main effects of instructional mode on the students’ achievement in geography (F (2, 91) = 14.414, p< 0.05). There was no significant interaction effect of treatment and mental ability on students’ achievement in geography. Consequently, it was recommended that the computer instructional modes be used alongside with conventional method in the teaching of geography. Keywords: computer graphics, computer animation, instructional mode, achievement in geography, mental ability and geography

Unravelling Cooperative Learning in Higher Education

Teaching and learning have evolved over the years. While the use of lecture is still the dominant mode of teaching in educational institutions, there has been consensus that students need to be active in learning, for which traditional styles of teaching may not be well suited. This calls for an alternative instructional mode: cooperative learning to promote active learning among students. In higher education, interest in cooperative learning has gained momentum since the early 1980s, and this kind of teaching and learning can be conducted in many ways. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of existing evidence pertinent to cooperative learning. In this review, cooperative learning is defined and elements inherent in this pedagogy are discussed. Theoretical perspectives relating to cooperative learning are also outlined. The outcomes pertaining to cooperative learning are then presented, followed by the influence of context on cooperative learning. This review is organized and structured as such to serve as a basis of reference for further research in the field.

On the About/For/Through Framework of Entrepreneurship Education: A Critical Analysis

This conceptual article aims to stimulate the educational discussion in entrepreneurship by identifying instructional differences among the three modes of entrepreneurship education, that is, the so-called “about,” “for,” and “through.” Based on a common understanding of instructional design, restricted to knowledge, skills, attitudes and inclusive to the vast majority of educators, differences in priorities, requirements, methods, and content for building up each separate mode are critically addressed. These differences reveal the nature and latent expectations for each instructional mode and possibilities for future studies. It emerges that the “about” mode follows the positivistic paradigm, the “for” follows the vocational education and training one, while the “through” is inherently transformational. Critical entrepreneurship education can be regarded as a distinct form closely related with the three previous modes in specific ways. It can be concluded that there is an inequality among the modes (“about” < “for” < “through”) regarding their revolutionary perspective (i.e., transformative at macro-level) associated with efficient confrontation of attitudes. Implications mostly pertain to future implementations and empirical research in the field.

Student engagement in blended learning instructional design: an analytical study

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate students’ perception of blended learning instructional design in a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the Sultanate of Oman. A course in a bachelor degree was offered using blended learning instructional mode, and students’ feedback was obtained on the impact of blended learning. The study was conducted in Ibra College of Technology, one of the seven colleges under the Ministry of Manpower in the Sultanate of Oman. A course in Business Strategy and HR Management was offered during Summer 2016 using a combination of traditional and online instructional design. A structured questionnaire was administered at the end of the semester to solicit feedback from students. The results of the study highlighted a positive attitude among students towards blended learning courses. The research stressed the requirements for proper infrastructure, training and development initiatives for staff and students, shift to a more focused practical assessment methods to measure the graduate attributes. Student engagement, learner autonomy, connection of learning to real life environments and flexibility all appeared to benefit from the blended learning course.