Health Literacy and Preventive Behaviors of Undergraduate University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The situation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is full of unpredictability, uncertainty about the severity of the disease, and incorrect information. Therefore, health literacy preparation is the key to preventing COVID-19 and having the correct health behaviors. The objectives of this study were 1) to study health literacy on COVID-19 and prevention behaviors of COVID-19 among undergraduate students at Mahasarakham University, and 2) to compare health literacy on COVID-19 and prevention behaviors of COVID-19 among undergraduate students at Mahasarakham University, classified by genders, academic years, grade point averages (GPAs), and faculty groups. The participants were 417 undergraduate students at Mahasarakham University chosen by stratified random sampling and simple random sampling. The research instruments were as follows: the questionnaire on health literacy on COVID-19 and the questionnaire on COVID-19 prevention’s behavior. The data were analyzed using percentage (%), mean (M), standard deviation (S.D.), independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA. The findings revealed that 1) undergraduate students were well versed in health literacy for the COVID-19 infection and their prevention behaviors of COVID-19 infection were at a good level (M = 90.06, S.D. = 9.54; M = 86.87, S.D. = 11.50) and 2) female undergraduate students had statistically higher mean scores on COVID-19 health literacy scores and COVID-19 prevention’s behaviors than males. Students from the health sciences faculty group had statistically significantly higher average health literacy scores on COVID-19 infection than those from the technology sciences faculty group.

PgCert Student-faculty Perspectives on Online Collaborative Projects: A case from Middle East College

Teacher online collaboration has recently attracted more and more attention and interest in many parts of the world. Unfortunately, very little research, if at all, has been conducted so far in the Sultanate of Oman. The present paper sought to fill this severe gap in research by asking and finding answers to this central question: What beliefs and opinions do faculties hold towards online collaborative projects (OCPs)? It used a quantitative method approach through a questionnaire administered to a group of PgCert student-faculty group (n=50) from Middle East College to get to know about their perspectives concerning the questions set above. The results obtained revealed (a) a high positive feedback on the part of the study participants as to their involvements in online collaborative projects, (b) very different reports on issues faced when working on online collaborative projects, and (c) varying degrees of impacts of OCPs on their teaching practices. The results of the study will have tremendous significance to teachers in all fields of specialization who are/will be engaged in OCPs. The potential implications of these and other results on teacher practices and involvement in such OCPs are discussed.

PgCert Student-faculty Perspectives on Online Collaborative Projects: A case from Middle East College

Teacher online collaboration has recently attracted more and more attention and interest in many parts of the world. Unfortunately, very little research, if at all, has been conducted so far in the Sultanate of Oman. The present paper sought to fill this severe gap in research by asking and finding answers to this central question: What beliefs and opinions do faculties hold towards online collaborative projects (OCPs)? It used a quantitative method approach through a questionnaire administered to a group of PgCert student-faculty group (n=50) from Middle East College to get to know about their perspectives concerning the questions set above. The results obtained revealed (a) a high positive feedback on the part of the study participants as to their involvements in online collaborative projects, (b) very different reports on issues faced when working on online collaborative projects, and (c) varying degrees of impacts of OCPs on their teaching practices. The results of the study will have tremendous significance to teachers in all fields of specialization who are/will be engaged in OCPs. The potential implications of these and other results on teacher practices and involvement in such OCPs are discussed

Learning Linkages and Flows Between Individuals, Groups, and the Organization

Continuous, lifelong learning is needed not just by individuals; groups and organizations need to learn continuously as well. Although a fair amount is known about how individuals learn and there is a growing body of literature about how groups and organizations learn, little is known about continuous learning prompted by the interface between individuals, groups, and organizations. This chapter begins by identifying parallel learning constructs and processes at the individual, group, and organizational levels and then briefly discusses a few theories that have addressed learning flow between these three levels. Finally, the authors analyze a case of an interorganizational project team encompassing subgroups from several different universities who were charged with enacting change within their institutions and sharing their learning at the project team level. While the original aim of the project was to impact student learning, the project team (and the organization housing the project team) soon discovered that in order to do so they also had to concentrate simultaneously on student (individual), faculty (group), and university (organizational) learning.

Changes in Faculty Perceptions about Online Instruction: Comparison of Faculty Groups from 2002 and 2016

Faculty perceptions about online instruction were explored using data from a 32-item Quality Distance Education Survey (QDES) administered in 2002 (N = 120) and 2016 (N = 120) to U.S. higher education instructors with online teaching experience. Descriptive and ANOVA procedures were used to compare 2002 and 2016 group faculty perceptions about online instruction. Compared to the 2002 faculty group, the 2016 faculty gave significantly lower instruction importance ratings. Significant main effects for instruction items were noted for faculty group, age, sex, and tenure status. Significant interaction effects were noted for faculty group by sex, age, tenure status, and course level.

Developing Faculty Communities of Practice to Expand the Use of Effective Pedagogical Techniques

The scholarship of teaching and learning literature is replete with examples of pedagogical techniques that have been demonstrated to be effective in improving learning, motivation, and student success. The extension of these techniques beyond the original context has tended to be slow, difficult, and incomplete. The following paper examines an intervention designed to encourage the exploration and use of a variety of pedagogical techniques by faculty in a traditional, four-year college faculty within the context of the AASCU Re-imagining the First Year Initiative. Small groups of six to eight faculty, joined and created communities of practice. The groups were known as Pedagogical Interest Groups, or PIGs for short. The faculty read about and analyzed a series of pedagogical techniques and committed to introducing at least one technique into their courses to further explore the techniques. When the techniques were successful, the faculty members redesigned entire classes to expand the impact. The communities of practice were successful in encouraging faculty to explore a wide variety of techniques. The average faculty group explored eight different pedagogical techniques. Faculty were able to use the opportunity to experiment with techniques with the support from their colleagues in their PIG. A dozen techniques were explored across the PIGs and dozens of class sections have been completely redesigned. To date, over 2000 students have experienced redesigned courses. Measures of student success, satisfaction, and interest in those sections have increased. The effort has been accompanied by a robust increase in the campus-wide retention rates. ​

Attitude Towards Quality of Contents in Open Access Sources and Services among Management College Professionals in Karnataka

Research is one of the key elements that require special focus in management education at present. It has become imperative for management institutions to brace up to the challenges posed by globalisation, and augment the quality of research and allied activities. Researchers today can access resources online, anytime from anywhere—thanks to the “open access” movement, which enables free and unrestricted access to scientific research publications. The present study aimed at assessing and comparing attitude towards open access sources and services among students, researchers and faculty of management colleges in Karnataka. A total of 923 respondents were selected through stratified random sampling. Interview schedule was employed to obtain the required data from the respondents through a structured questionnaire based on vital aspects of open access sources and services. Findings of the study revealed that the respondents, on the whole, held favourable attitudes towards open access. It was found that the faculty group had significantly higher preferences than students and researchers for quality of contents in open access, in terms of increasing reputation of authors, publishers and organisations, and improving peer review process.

Afterword: The Wide Worlds of Sport Text

Often in academic life, we encourage our students to develop what we now call a global perspective. We perhaps assume that there is value in situating ourselves and our students—intellectually, perhaps even physically—outside of national and cultural boundaries. Indeed, at my university in the United States, I am part of a faculty group that created a new interdisciplinary major we call Global Studies. We require interdisciplinary coursework on the study of globalization. We require language study. We require study abroad. We do all this with the hope that our students attain in the classroom, in careers, and in daily life a global perspective. But this is not just an American educational phenomenon. Around the world, millions of students leave their nations and families for an opportunity at global study....