Education Commons^™

A Multi-Year Longitudinal Study Exploring The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Students’ Familiarity And Perceptions Of Active Learning, Briana Craig, Jeremy L. Hsu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The COVID-19 pandemic caused nearly ubiquitous emergency remote teaching in both secondary and post-secondary education. While there has been a plethora of work examining how instructors adjusted classes to incorporate active learning during emergency remote teaching, there has only been minimal work examining how such emergency remote teaching may have influenced students’ perceptions of active learning. Here, we conduct a longitudinal multi-cohort study at one institution across nine semesters before, during, and after emergency remote teaching due to the pandemic to explore how college students’ familiarity and perceptions of active learning have shifted over time because of the pandemic. Our …

Evaluating Active Lecture And Traditional Lecture In Higher Education, Kathleen Klein, Jennifer Calabrese, Adam Aguiar, Sunny Mathew, Kimoni Ajani, Rania Almajid, Jennifer Aarons

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional and active lecture methods in higher-education courses. A multiple group convergent parallel mixed method design was used, with measurement of learning, attention, and student preference for active or traditional lecture methods. Six faculty at a public university in the northeast region of the United States engaged 178 undergraduate and graduate students in a traditional lecture session and an active lecture session during the Spring 2022 semester. Results indicated effectiveness of active and traditional lecture approaches (p < .05). Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in the study provides additional information regarding student preference for active lecture based on perceptions of increased learning benefits, interaction/engagement, attention, activities, discussion, and the use of multimedia. In implementing both traditional and active lecture sessions this study employed pre-lecture and post-lecture quizzes that students found to be very beneficial to learning.

Student Preferences For Active Learning And Their Beliefs, Experiences, And Knowledge, Tammy Shilling, Jerome Thayer, Anneris Coria-Navia, Heather Ferguson

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Active teaching methods are believed to facilitate higher-order thinking skills and prepare allied health students for independent clinical decision-making. This quantitative, correlational study aimed to explain the relationships between student preferences for active over traditional methods and their beliefs, the frequency and positiveness of their experiences, and the extent of knowledge they have received regarding active and traditional teaching methods. Two hundred and thirty students completed a 53-item online survey. Students were enrolled in a Doctor of Physical Therapy, Masters in Speech-language Pathology, or Bachelor of Science Nursing program in one of seventeen participating institutions across a ten-state Midwest region. …

Teaching Risk Management To Human Performance Students By Using A Virtual Simulation, Emily J. Houghton

Human Performance Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Educational Impact Of Academic Field Trips Over Time, Tara Parrello, Colby L. Valentine

Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education

Experiential learning can be in the form of internships, field trips, service learning, and research projects. The practical nature of criminal justice is a logical fit for experience-based learning. Specifically, academic field trips may be viewed as examples of short-term experiential education. However, do experiential learning trips have an academic impact over time? Using survey data, the current study examines if students acquire and retain knowledge after a prison tour of Eastern State Penitentiary. Pre- and post-tour surveys of student learning outcomes showed a statistically significant gain between the pre- and post-tour survey results. A follow-up survey explored if students …

Learning Mathematics From The Master: A Collection Of Euler-Based Primary Source Projects For Today’S Students, Part I, Janet Heine Barnett, Dominic Klyve, Kenneth M. Monks, Adam E. Parker

Euleriana

This article and its sequel will together highlight a set of nine classroom ready projects that draw on the remarkable writing of Leonhard Euler (1707–1783) as a means to help students develop an understanding of standard topics from today’s undergraduate mathematics curriculum. Part of a larger collection of primary source projects intended for use in a wide range of undergraduate mathematics courses, these projects are freely available to students and their instructors. We provide a general description of the pedagogical design underlying these projects, more detailed descriptions of the individual projects themselves, and instructions for obtaining downloadable copies for classroom …

Exploring Student Perceptions Of Behavioral, Cognitive, And Emotional Engagement At The Activity Level In General Chemistry, Nicole Naibert, Elizabeth Vaughan, Kylee Brevick, Jack Barbera

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although active learning strategies are being incorporated into many higher-education STEM courses, not all students benefit from these activities to the same extent. As these types of activities are designed to engage students in their learning, differences in student engagement may explain some of the differences in learning outcomes. However, before student engagement in active learning activities can be meaningfully measured using a self-report survey, it is important to evaluate if students perceive engagement similarly to the literature definitions on which these measures are based. Therefore, this study sought to explore students’ perceptions of the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional dimensions …

Development And Evaluation Of A Survey To Measure Student Engagement At The Activity Level In General Chemistry, Nicole Naibert, Jack Barbera

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Student engagement is an important consideration when incorporating active learning activities into a classroom. To facilitate the large-scale assessment of students’ engagement in activities, a survey measure must first be developed and evaluated. Therefore, the goal of this study was to create a self-report measure of student engagement for use with active learning activities in general chemistry classes. The Activity Engagement Survey (AcES) was modified from an existing survey of engagement of middle and high school science students that contained behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and social engagement items. Multiple rounds of response process interviews and factor analyses were used to modify …

Active Learning And Occupational Therapy Theory: A Mixed Methods Study Of A Course Redesign, Mackenzie L. Feldhacker, Diana R. Feldhacker

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

The use of theory to guide practice is what distinguishes an occupational therapist’s professional judgment and reasoning from simply technical skills. However, occupational therapists continue to lack confidence and skills in understanding application of theory to inform practice. Thus, effective course design related to theory is imperative in professional formation. This study assessed the effectiveness of a graduate-level occupational therapy theory course redesigned using andragogical, learner-centered, and active learning principles to address gaps in applying and understanding theory. A mixed methods retrospective cohort design was utilized. This included a pretest/post-test survey along with end-of-semester course and instructor evaluation. Eighty-four students …

Cive 440: Reinforced Concrete Design I: Faculty-Led Inquiry Into Reflective And Scholarly Teaching (First) Course Portfolio, Chungwook Sim

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This Faculty-led Inquiry into Reflective and Scholarly Teaching (FIRST) Course Portfolio documents the instructor’s teaching practices and student learning for Reinforced Concrete Design I (CIVE 440) course. The contents of this course portfolio captures the CIVE 440 course that was taught on the Lincoln campus during the semester of Fall 2022. CIVE 440 is a structural engineering design elective offered every year in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering on both Lincoln and Omaha campus at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). The course objective is to help students to be able to use theory and experience to proportion and detail …

Design And Supervision Model Of Group Projects For Active Learning, Yi Meng Lau, Kyong Jin Shim, Swapna Gottipati

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This research paper presents a group project framework for a second-year programming course, which was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework offers well defined stages of the group project which allow students to work on their choice of a real-world problem, integrate their learnings from previous courses, and present a working solution. In the group project, students actively participate, reflect, and contribute to achieving the goals set in the learning objectives of the course. Our framework incorporates key features from Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (1984) and principles of active learning from Barnes (1989) to achieve active and experiential learning …

Comparing Effectiveness And Perceived Characteristics Of Active Learning Methods In Undergraduate Biology Education, Linda R. Pesciotta

Dissertations - ALL

Although many undergraduates begin college as STEM majors, attrition rates from the field are high and numerous reports suggest that evidence-based teaching methods are critical for retention. Despite educators' research and near consensus that active learning is more effective than lecture, there are many types of active learning and the literature indicates their effects are not equivalent. The purpose of the current study was to directly compare different kinds of active learning by assessing their correlation with student performance (including learning gains) and understanding students' perceptions of them (including whether they contained Merrill's five principles of instruction and/or met three …

Active Learning: Overcoming Barriers And Changing Culture, Laura Barrett, Katie Harding

Dartmouth Library Staff Publications

Active learning is a student-centered and effective pedagogical approach, but there are practical barriers that can make it difficult to employ. As instructors and facilitators in Dartmouth’s Librarians Active Learning Institute, we’ve experienced and heard about the challenges librarians face when trying to incorporate active learning in their teaching, including faculty expectations, time constraints, class sizes, space constraints, and virtual learning environments.

In this session, we will share strategies for helping librarians to overcome these challenges and incorporate active learning pedagogy into their teaching practice. We will present approaches for communicating with faculty about our roles as teachers and partnering …

Getting Active During Covid-19: Incorporating Experiential Learning In Online Instruction, John Siegel

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Like other academic libraries, librarians at a regional comprehensive university had to switch from in-person to online synchronous information literacy sessions due to COVID-19. The Coordinator of Information Literacy has served as psychology librarian for over two years and worked with faculty to incorporate library instruction in all sections of the required research methods and senior seminar courses. Active learning was a central component of these in-person sessions, which included database searching and an exercise for students to understand the difference between primary/empirical and secondary/review literature. He quickly discovered that the small group activities did not readily lend themselves to …

Teaching The Eleusinian Mysteries In An Outdoor Simulation, Paul Robertson

JRCA Pedagogy

I detail an active learning simulation around the Eleusinian Mysteries. I provide a concrete teaching activity with the dual goals of (1) providing experiential learning around ancient Mediterranean religion to engage those with minimal interest in the subject matter, and (2) providing ideas for outdoor instruction which may be advantageous due to health reasons, preference, and/or campus engagement. It is my hope that other instructors are able to freely adapt this lesson in their own classrooms

Old Meets New: Bringing Ancient Studies To Life In The Hybrid Classroom, Shane M. Thompson

JRCA Pedagogy

The 2020-2021 academic year will forever be remembered as the “COVID-year,” which, in academia, forced instructors to rethink the ways we have taught for generations. Personally, the Fall 2020 semester presented an opportunity to teach fully in-person classes (in a Hyflex model as not all students were able to attend), fully online classes, and – the most foreign to us – hybrid classes. As the hybrid model is one with which almost no one had any experience, I will focus my reflection on one particular hybrid course, urging instructors to incorporate Active Learning strategies into their courses – both hybrid …

A First Project Benchmark Portfolio Of Biochemistry Ii: Metabolism And Biological Information (Bioc/Bios/Chem 432/832), Xinghui Sun

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio has been developed for Biochemistry II: Metabolism and Biological Information (BIOC/BIOS/CHEM 432/832). This course is taken primarily by senior undergraduates with majors mainly in biochemistry. The objectives of this course portfolio are: 1) to provide a broad overview for this 400 level class; 2) to revise/refine the course using a backward design approach with clear student learning objectives; 3) to assess and reflect the instructor’s teaching approach; and 4) to analyze and reflect on student learning. The course structure was redesigned with three modules to support the learning objectives of this course. Course activities for each module include …

From Boring To Board Game: The Effect Of A Serious Game On Key Learning Outcomes, Kendal L. Booker, Anita W. Mitchell

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

Serious games incorporate learning objectives in the context of competitive games with rules. These types of games have been incorporated in education as well as therapeutic contexts. This study examined the effectiveness of a modification of the game “Snakes and Ladders,” for reviewing and learning qualitative research concepts. Using the Game-based Evaluation Model (GEM), the researchers also measured learning indicators such as interest and enjoyment, perceived competence, effort and importance, and value/usefulness. Thirty-eight Master of Occupational Therapy students completed a 25-question multiple choice pretest to measure knowledge of qualitative research concepts before playing the game. A 25-question multiple choice posttest …

Setting The Foundation For Experiential Learning And Academic Success In Mbio 101: Introduction To The Microbiology Major, Brandi Sigmon

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Introductory courses for majors, typically completed by first-year students, are important to student success and retention as they set the foundation for students in their respective majors. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Microbiology majors complete MBIO 101: Introduction to the Microbiology Major during their first semester as their introductory, foundational course. In this course portfolio, I chose to focus on investigating the impact on student learning of integrating more emphasis on experiential learning knowledge and acquisition within the course through the participation of students in a hands-on workshop and research symposium. Integration of these two events into the MBIO 101 …

Fdst205 Food Composition Analysis — A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Mei Lu

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The purpose of this peer review of the teaching portfolio was to document and evaluate the course activities that are aimed at improving student learning in FDST205 Food Composition Analysis. This FDST205 is unique that it is offered exclusively to the students in the 3+1 International Food Science Dual Degrees Program established between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and Northwest Agricultural & Forestry University (NWAFU) in China. Students that enrolled in this course were a cohort of 55 sophomores in the 3+1 Food Science Dual Degrees Program. In spring 2021, the lecture part of FDST205 was offered online synchronously, while …

Social Constructivism In Learning: Peer Teaching & Learning, Cindy L. Hayden, Cheryl Carrico, Cassandra Catherine Ginn, Alexis Felber, Shelby Smith

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Social constructivism is an educational theory that can be applied in collaborative ways to facilitate student peer teaching and learning. University faculty may be unfamiliar with how to plan, structure, and instruct students in peer teaching and learning projects while providing an emotionally supportive environment. This article will identify characteristics of course activities that promote peer teaching and learning. Two student examples of a three-component peer teaching module will be highlighted along with the grading rubric. This article also describes an assignment module that was offered in a face-to-face second-year course in a professional allied health program. These assignment guidelines …

Lessons Learned In Designing Active Learning Modules For The Stem Classroom, Anna M. Christianson

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

For students to become real partners in their education, they must shift from a model of passive absorption of knowledge to one of active participation in constructing knowledge. To encourage this shift, I have designed a variety of active learning modules for my introductory chemistry classes, from short participation polls to full-length case studies. When well-implemented, in-class activities can be a valuable experience for students to practice applying their knowledge with instructor guidance. In this report, I will share both successes and challenges encountered in designing student-friendly active learning modules in an introductory science course.

Story Writing In The Accounting Classroom, Michelle Freeman, Mark Friedman

ETSU Faculty Works

A story is an established method of communicating fact, fiction, parable, and myth from cultural generation to generation. Is it possible to actively engage accounting students with content when the student becomes the storywriter? Can story writing by the student be an effective teaching tool, and should accounting professors consider its use in their classrooms? This archival research seeks to review the literature regarding the value of story writing as a pedagogical tool across academic disciplines in higher education, synthesize the findings of existing research and describe the uses, benefits and difficulties with using story writing in various accountancy classes …

Making Methods Relevant: Undergraduate Research Methods And The Content Analysis Project, Kevin E. Courtright, David A. Mackey

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy

Teachers of undergraduate research methods classes may struggle at times to keep their courses engaging and to have students view the material as relevant to the occupations they will soon enter. This article discusses a content analysis assignment and how it offers a way for students to demonstrate critical thinking and acquire data analysis skills. Through the use of multiple high-impact learning practices, the assignment requires students, individually or in a group, to identify data appropriate for content analysis and then, with faculty guidance, develop research questions, manage the data, conceptualize and operationalize themes, perform content analysis, draw conclusions from …

Guided Online Case Scenarios Support Development Of Clinical Decision-Making Skills In Speech-Language Pathology Master’S Students, Krystal L. Werfel, Gabriella Reynolds

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Flipped classrooms are increasingly recommended by scholars of teaching and learning, and some have argued that active learning is the key ingredient in this model’s success. This paper describes the creation and implementation of online guided case study scenarios using the test function of a learning management system, as well as evaluation of their effectiveness based on (a) performance of students on separate graded case study assignments and (b) student self-reflection of learning and feedback elicited in an end-of-course survey. The case studies were developed for use in a master’s level speech-language pathology course on aural rehabilitation that occurs during …

Coordinating Stem Core Courses For Student Success, Cristina Villalobos, Hyung Won Kim, Timothy J. Huber, Roger Knobel, Shaghayegh Setayesh, Lekshmi Sasidharan, Anahit Galstyan, Andras Balogh

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research indicates multi-section coordination improves the academic performance of students in STEM education. This paper describes the process of coordination in Precalculus, Calculus 1, and Calculus 2 courses undertaken by a large department that grew from the merger of two institutions through a pilot program, and a project grant. Components introduced in the project courses are documented, including collaborative problem-solving sessions, student learning assistants, Q&A sessions, and additional technology resources. Preliminary data is provided on the impacts of the initiative on student success. The study findings provide a template for coordination, faculty buy-in, and increased student engagement at similar institutions …

Mentoring Undergraduate Research In Statistics: Reaping The Benefits And Overcoming The Barriers, Joseph R. Nolan, Kelly S. Mcconville, Vittorio Addona, Nathan L. Tintle, Dennis K. Pearl

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs), whether within the context of a mentor-mentee experience or a classroom framework, represent an excellent opportunity to expose students to the independent scholarship model. The high impact of undergraduate research has received recent attention in the context of STEM disciplines. Reflecting a 2017 survey of statistics faculty, this article examines the perceived benefits of UREs, as well as barriers to the incorporation of UREs, specifically within the field of statistics. Viewpoints of students, faculty mentors, and institutions are investigated. Further, the article offers several strategies for leveraging characteristics unique to the field of statistics to overcome …

The Relationship Between The Flipped Classroom And Critical Thinking, Academic Performance, Student Perceptions, And Student Evaluations In An Introductory Psychology Course, Matthew Tolbert

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

For more than two centuries, traditional college instruction in America has relied upon the use of the lecture as the model for the college classroom learning environment (Christensen & Eyring, 2011; Costin, 1972; Woodard, 2011). However, criticism of the lecture has led to the development of alternative instruction models (Dillenbourg, 1999a; Prince, 2004). The flipped classroom is one of these models. The flipped classroom flips the traditional model by moving content typically delivered through a lecture to an online environment and using class time for learning activities that are active and collaborative (Abeysekera & Dawson, 2015b). Despite many advocates for …

Nimbleknow User Documentation, Camille Estee Ottaway

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

NimbleKnow User Documentation is an Honors Project by Camille Ottaway

NimbleKnow is a simple web application that teachers can use to pose questions which students can then answer using their basic smartphones or tablets. In order to accommodate ESL learners our application includes translation features. Having a user-friendly classroom technology can promote more engagement and collaboration between students and faculty alike in a classroom environment.

Effect Of Multinational Projects On Engineering Students Through A Summer Exposure Research Program, Mehul S. Raval, Tolga Kaya

School of Computer Science & Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper studies and quantifies the impact of active learning experienced through multinational projects. The hypothesis was engineering education delivered through Active Learning in multicultural environment improves student competencies. The investigation captures the impact of international exposure program in developing global competencies of the modern engineer. The paper shows positive trends in the development of domain and life skills of engineering students. Post-survey after six months of completion of the program revealed that the program was valuable to students and their motivation increased.