Teacher's Emotional Display Affects Students' Perceptions of Teacher's Competence, Feelings, and Productivity in Online Small-Group Discussions

Teacher's emotions have been shown to be highly important in the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning. There is a recognized need to examine the essential role of teacher's emotions in students' academic achievement. However, the influence of teacher's displays of emotions on students' outcomes in small-group interaction activities, especially in the online environment, has received little attention in prior research. The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between teacher's different emotional displays and students' perceptions of the teacher's competence, as well as students' collaborative feelings and productivity in online small-group discussions. Using a three-level between-subjects design, 74 participants were randomly divided into four-member groups comprising a teacher and three other participants. All the groups were asked to discuss an open-ended realistic problem using online software, during which the teacher's display of emotions varied (positive vs. negative vs. neutral). The participants' self-reported questionnaire data (perception of the teacher's competence, students' feeling of pleasure, collaborative satisfaction, and willingness to continue collaborating) and productivity (number of effective ideas expressed within a given time) were measured to compare the participants who were exposed to different emotional displays. As expected, the results showed that the participants who received the teacher's positive emotional display reported that they experienced higher levels of pleasure during the task. However, in contrast to our expectations, those under the negative emotional display condition showed a significantly higher level of productivity in the group task. In addition, compared to emotional display, the participants' perceptions of the teacher's competence were rated significantly higher under the neutral condition, and they reported higher levels of collaborative satisfaction and greater willingness to continue collaborating with their group. The findings have the potential benefit of informing educational practice on whether teachers should display their emotions in a small-group discussion or how they should display emotions following adjustment for the relative aim of the teaching activities.

A model for incorporating faith, values, and ethics into a healthcare provider course

Faith, values, and ethics are critical for all individuals to learn, but especially healthcare providers. Here, we report on the development of a course focused on these topics at a private Christian college of pharmacy. The course utilized a longitudinal approach combined with three overarching and connected course themes to explore the merging of faith and professional practice. Students were engaged in learning using a combination of approaches including guest presenters, panel discussions, interactive interviews, and small group discussions. This course provides a model for discussing faith, values, and ethics in the context of healthcare education.

The Effect of Using Small Group Discussions Through Zoom Breakout Room to Increase the Frequency of Individual Speaking Participation in the Speaking Courses

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the small group discussion method via breakout room zoom may boost student individual engagement in order for them to be more active and confident in learning speaking. This research study used a qualitative method with applied video analysis and questioners' perceptions of students as instruments. The findings found 17 active participants in the observation speaking class and 35 participants preferred small group discussions using the breakout room zoom application, with the majority preferring small group discussions because it helped them to be more active and confident. This method can also boost their confidence for more active participation for individual speaking in class, and they believe that small group discussions via breakout room zoom are the most effective way to deal with a pandemic.

Lessons Learned in Executing the Nursing Home COVID Action Network

The University of Louisville ECHO Hub for the Nursing Home COVID Action Network put together a hub of experts that could effectively address the diverse needs of the 240 nursing homes in the 7 cohorts launched. We included an infectious disease expert, a geriatrician, and a behavioral health specialist who adjusted the curriculum to be more in line with the needs of the nursing homes. Our nursing homes were diverse in terms of geography, size and location. We created space for our cohorts to feel comfortable with each other, despite their differences. To foster this sense of togetherness, our facilitators used anonymous opinion polls and incorporated the use of virtual breakout rooms to encourage small group discussions. These strategies assisted in developing a sense of community within the Project ECHO sessions, that will continue to evolve in the post COVID world.

Students Eat Less Meat After Studying Meat Ethics

In the first controlled, non-self-report studies to show an influence of university-level ethical instruction on everyday behavior, Schwitzgebel et al. (2020) and Jalil et al. (2020) found that students purchase less meat after exposure to material on the ethics of eating meat. We sought to extend and conceptually replicate this research. Seven hundred thirty students in three large philosophy classes read James Rachels’ (2004) “Basic Argument for Vegetarianism”, followed by 50-min small-group discussions. Half also viewed a vegetarianism advocacy video containing factory farm footage. A few days after instruction, 54% of students agreed that “eating the meat of factory farmed animals is unethical”, compared to 37% before instruction, with no difference between the film and non-film conditions. Also, 39% of students anonymously pledged to avoid eating factory farmed meat for 24 h, again with no statistically detectable difference between conditions. Finally, we obtained 2828 campus food purchase receipts for 113 of the enrolled students who used their Student ID cards for purchases on campus, which we compared with 5033 purchases from a group of 226 students who did not receive the instruction. Meat purchases remained constant in the comparison group and declined among the students exposed to the material, falling from 30% to 23% of purchases overall and from 51% to 42% of purchases of $4.99 or more, with the effect possibly larger in the film condition.

The Effect of Multi-Stage Discussion with Google Classroom and WhatsApp in Learning Physics on Problem Solving Ability

This research describes the effect of applying multi-stage discussion with Google Classroom and WhatsApp in learning physics on students' problem-solving abilities. Google Classroom media was used for large group discussions and WhatsApp for small group discussions. The design in this research used a pre-experimental design in the form of a one-group pretest-posttest design with apurposive sampling technique for three meetings on Newton’s Law of Motion with experimented classes with a total sample of 60 students. Data were analyzed using paired sample t-test.The results showed a difference in the average students’ problem-solving abilities before and after treatment with a Sig. (2-tailed) value of 0.000. After implementinglearning multi-stage discussion with Google Classroom and WhatsApp, students' problem-solving ability in the experimental class increased from the very low to moderate category with an average N-gain of 0.66. The highest increase occurred in theindicators of physics approach and mathematical procedure with an average N-gain of 0.71 and the lowest increase in thehelpful indicator description with an average of 0.63. This increase shows that the application oflearning multi-stage discussion with Google Classroom and WhatsApp on Newton's Laws of Motion has a moderate effect on students' problem-solving abilities.

Small Group Discussion in Actual ELT Speaking Classes

Finding out aspects of learning in small group discussions that matched with the Indonesian Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and aspects of local cultures that contradict small group discussion excellence is the purpose of this research. The method of this research is qualitative. Researchers use document analysis by collecting documents from various sources such as journals and articles, which are following the research that the researcher will do. The results of this research show that the implementation of HOTS instruction in teaching speaking skills investigated from students’ small group discussions will be advantageous and beneficial. In essence, HOTS instructions give a positive effect on students speaking skills significantly.