Examining the relationships between medical students’ preferred online instructional strategies, course difficulty level, learning performance, and effectiveness

Students’ preferences and engagement with online educational resources and activities are crucial for academic success in the context of online medical education. This study investigated the preferences of Chinese medical students regarding the teaching strategies used by instructors and their relationship with course difficulty level, student’s academic performance, and perceived effectiveness. Survey data ( n = 375) were collected from the medical students from one of the largest medical schools in Southern China during the spring semester of 2020. First, exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that there were three latent factors behind online teaching strategies, including teacher-led instructional strategies, supervised and monitored learning strategies, and self-directed learning strategies. Instructional activities under teacher supervision and monitoring received the highest rating while teacher-led strategies received the lowest ratings. Second, the popularity of the three online instructional strategies we have identified was positively associated with students’ perceived effectiveness of online teaching and their self-reported academic performance. Third, analysis of the quantified answers to the open-ended question reported a positive association between the perceived difficulty level of the courses and students’ preference of teacher-led strategies. It also manifested a positive correlation between perceived effectiveness level of the online teaching and the use of self-directed learning strategies before their online lectures. Further implications of the findings are fully discussed.

Students' Perceived Difficulty and Satisfaction in Face-to-Face vs. Online Sections of a Technology-Intensive Course

One of the major concerns about online learning has been the low level of student satisfaction and retention rates. Using the community of inquiry (CoI) framework, this study examined course delivery modes and students' perceived ratings of course difficulty in online and face-to-face sections of a technology-intensive course and how the delivery modes and perceived difficulty were related to the essential elements of the CoI framework and course satisfaction. The findings revealed that more students in the online section found it difficult to learn in a technology-intensive course. Also, while different delivery modes were closely related to social presence, students' perceived course difficulty was significantly related to teaching and cognitive presences of the CoI framework. Additionally, there was a correlation between students' perceived difficulty ratings and student satisfaction in online learning.

Analysis of Success Indicators in Online Learning

This article examines the impact of personality traits, learning styles, gender, and online course factors (course difficulty, group affiliation, provided materials, etc.) in the academic success of students taking online courses and their overall success rate through traditional classes. Students’ performance in the online learning environment is still a new perception, and a fair numbers of details are still unknown, in stark contrast to the details known in regard to traditional learning methods. Different types of learners respond differently to online and traditional courses. A case study was performed in which students were asked to attend two online courses, with different difficulty levels, during one semester. One-way analysis of variance was used to determine which factors are significant for the academic performance of students taking online courses, as well as for their overall academic success. Findings from the case study indicate that female students score slightly better, course difficulty has impact on test results, emotional students are more susceptible to online environments, and learning styles are more difficult to identify in online classes.

What Makes Difficult to Keep Learning Japanese? Demotivational Factors Affecting on Indonesian University Students

Demotivation can negatively influence the learner’s attitudes and behaviors, and result in negative learning outcomes. This paper investigates factors contributing to demotivation in learning Japanese as a foreign language in Indonesia, and the relationship between demotivating factors and present proficiencies. A seventeen-item questionnaire was completed by 157 Indonesian university students. As the result of exploratory factor analysis, questionnaire items consequently grouped to four categories: Course difficulty, Speaking anxiety, Devalued learning, and Boredom.The validity of the four-factor structure was verified by the confirmatory factor analysis method. In addition, two-way ANOVA was performed to investigate the relationship between demotivational factors and proficiency level. As a result, statistically significant differences were found between Low and High groups in all the factors, and between Middle and High groups in the factors expect for Devalued learning. In addition, the scores of Speaking anxiety and Boredom consistently scored the highest among the four factors. However, the degree of demotivation was decreased as the learners’ Japanese proficiency improved. Findings from this study indicated that teachers should strive to make classes not only less anxious but also more interesting. Moreover, teachers should scaffold learners, especially low proficient beginners to prevent or minimize their demotivation.

Racial/ethnic and national origin bias in SET

Purpose This study aims to test the presence of an adverse impact against professors belonging to minority groups (African American, Asian American, Hispanic American and foreign national origin) in official student evaluation of teaching (SET). Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a series of regression analyses to compare SET rating sources and control for course difficulty. Findings The regression analysis results showed that White American professors receive higher SET ratings than non-White American and foreign professors, which implies the presence of bias in SET. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine race/ethnicity and national origin bias in SET using official SET results from multiple universities.

Course Sequence Recommendation with Course Difficulty Index Using Subset Sum Approximation Algorithms

Choice Based Course Selection (CBCS) allows students to select courses based on their preferred sequence. This preference in selection is normally bounded by constraints set by a university like pre-requisite(s), minimum and maximum number of credits registered per semester. Unplanned course sequence selection affects the performance of the students and may prolong the time to complete the degree. Course Difficulty Index (DI) also contributes to the decline in the performance of the students. To overcome these difficulties, we propose a new Subset Sum Approximation Problem (SSAP) aims to distribute courses to each semester with approximately equal difficulty level using Maximum Prerequisite Weightage (MPW) Algorithm, Difficulty Approximation (DA) algorithm and Adaptive Genetic Algorithm (AGA). The three algorithms have been tested using our university academic dataset and DA algorithm outperforms with 98% accuracy than the MPW and AGA algorithm during course distribution.

Student Anxiety and Perception of Difficulty Impact Performance and Persistence in Introductory Biology Courses

Students respond to classroom activities and achievement outcomes with a variety of emotions that can impact student success. One emotion students experience is anxiety, which can negatively impact student performance and persistence. This study investigated what types of classroom anxiety were related to student performance in the course and persistence in the major. Students in introductory biology classes self-reported their general class, test, communication, and social anxiety; perceived course difficulty; intention to stay in the major; and demographic variables. Final course grades were acquired from instructors. An increase in perception of course difficulty from the beginning to the end of the semester was significantly associated with lower final course grades ( N = 337), particularly for females, non-Caucasians, and students who took fewer Advanced Placement (AP) courses. An increase in communication anxiety slightly increased performance. Higher general class anxiety at the beginning of the semester was associated with intention to leave the major ( N = 122) at the end of the semester, particularly for females. Females, freshmen, and those with fewer AP courses reported higher general class anxiety and perceived course difficulty. Future research should identify which factors differentially impact student anxiety levels and perceived difficulty and explore coping strategies for students.

Rationality and Students’ Misconduct at University: Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications

We investigate the determinants of students’ misconduct at university. Using a sample of 310 surveyed students, we find that students are more likely to cheat when they have previous misconduct records, when they perceive academic integrity policy as being poorly enforced, and when they perceive that instructor tolerance toward misconduct incidents is high. Moreover, misconduct behavior tends to increase with students’ seniority and the perceived level of course difficulty. Surprisingly, students’ motivations toward reading, writing, and learning do not seem to have a valuable impact on the likelihood of their misconduct. Our findings have important policy implications that relate to the university culture of academic integrity, instructors’ tolerance vis-à-vis students’ misconduct behavior, and the effectiveness of punitive actions.

Taken Together: Conceptualizing Students’ Concurrent Course Enrollment across the Post-Secondary Curriculum using temporal analytics

In this study, we develop and test four measures for conceptualizing the potential impact of co-enrollment in different courses on students’ changing risk for academic difficulty and recovery from academic difficulty in a focal course. We offer four predictors, two related to instructional complexity and two related to structural complexity (the organization of the curriculum) that highlight different trends in student experience of the focal course. Course difficulty, discipline of major, time in semester, and simultaneous difficulty across courses were all significantly related to entering a moderate and high-risk classification in the early warning system (EWS). Course difficulty, discipline of major, and time in semester were related to exiting academic difficulty classifications. We observe a snowball effect, whereby students who are experiencing difficulty in the focal course are at increased risk of experiencing difficulty in their other courses. Our findings suggest that different metrics may be needed to identify risk for academic difficulty and recovery from academic difficulty. Our results demonstrate what a more holistic assessment of academic functioning might look like in early warning systems and course recommender systems, and suggest that academic planners consider the relationship between course co-enrollment and student academic success.