Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Audience Preferences For Extension Forestry Zoom Webinars, Kevin W. Zobrist, Brendan J. Whyte

The Journal of Extension

The Washington State University Extension Forestry program switched to all online programming in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 2,000 people participated in our webinars, providing an opportunity to survey a large audience about their webinar preferences. We found that people prefer webinars that are approximately an hour long and offered in the evening or late morning. Participants placed high importance on having a recording available, but they had mixed views on including video of the instructor speaking. Participants found online delivery to be successful and had a strong preference for online programming in the future.

Improving Educational Delivery And Content In Juvenile Detention Centers, Yomna Elmousalami

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Students in juvenile detention centers have the greatest need to receive improvements in educational delivery and content; however, they are one of the “truly disadvantaged” populations in terms of receiving those improvements. This work presents a qualitative data analysis based on a focus group meeting with stakeholders at a local Juvenile Detention Center. The current educational system in juvenile detention centers is based on paper worksheets, single-room style teaching methods, outdated technology, and a shortage of textbooks and teachers. In addition, detained students typically have behavioral challenges that are deemed "undesired" in society. As a result, many students miss classes …

The Educational Affordances And Challenges Of Chatgpt: State Of The Field, Helen Crompton, Diane Burke

STEMPS Faculty Publications

ChatGPT was released to the public in November 30, 2022. This study examines how ChatGPT can be used by educators and students to promote learning and what are the challenges and limitations. This study is unique in providing one of the first systematic reviews using peer review studies to provide an early examination of the field. Using PRISMA principles, 44 articles were selected for review. Grounded coding was then used to reveal trends in the data. The findings show that educators can use ChatGPT for teaching support, task automation, and professional development. These were further delineated further by axial sub …

Conceptthread: Visualizing Threaded Concepts In Mooc Videos, Zhiguang Zhou, Li Ye, Lihong Cai, Lei Wang, Yigang Wang, Yongheng Wang, Wei Chen, Yong Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platforms are becoming increasingly popular in recent years. Online learners need to watch the whole course video on MOOC platforms to learn the underlying new knowledge, which is often tedious and time-consuming due to the lack of a quick overview of the covered knowledge and their structures. In this paper, we propose ConceptThread , a visual analytics approach to effectively show the concepts and the relations among them to facilitate effective online learning. Specifically, given that the majority of MOOC videos contain slides, we first leverage video processing and speech analysis techniques, including shot recognition, …

How Chatgpt Can Be Used As A Defense Mechanism For Cyber Attacks, Michelle Ayaim

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

The powers of OpenAI's groundbreaking AI language model, ChatGPT, startled millions of users when it was released in November. But for many, the tool's ability to further accomplish the goals of evil actors swiftly replaced their initial excitement with significant concerns. ChatGPT gives malicious actors additional ways to possibly compromise sophisticated cybersecurity software. Leaders in a sector that is currently suffering from a 38% global spike in data breaches in 2022 must acknowledge the rising influence of AI and take appropriate action. Cybercriminals are writing more complex and focused business email compromise (BEC) and other phishing emails with the assistance …

Leveraging Vr/Ar/Mr/Xr Technologies To Improve Cybersecurity Education, Training, And Operations, Paul Wagner, Dalal Alharthi

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The United States faces persistent threats conducting malicious cyber campaigns that threaten critical infrastructure, companies and their intellectual property, and the privacy of its citizens. Additionally, there are millions of unfilled cybersecurity positions, and the cybersecurity skills gap continues to widen. Most companies believe that this problem has not improved and nearly 44% believe it has gotten worse over the past 10 years. Threat actors are continuing to evolve their tactics, techniques, and procedures for conducting attacks on public and private targets. Education institutions and companies must adopt emerging technologies to develop security professionals and to increase cybersecurity awareness holistically. …

Cybersecurity Challenges And Awareness Of The Multi-Generational Learners In Nepal, Raj Kumar Dhungana, Lina Gurung Dr, Hem Poudyal

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Increased exposure to technologies has lately emerged as one of the everyday realities of digital natives, especially K-12 students, and teachers, the digital immigrants. Protection from cybersecurity risks in digital learning spaces is a human right, but students are increasingly exposed to high-risk cyberspace without time to cope with cybersecurity risks. This study, using a survey (N-891 students and 157 teachers) and in-depth interviews (27 students and 14 teachers), described the students' cybersecurity-related experiences and challenges in Nepal. This study revealed that the school’s cybersecurity support system is poor and teachers has very low awareness and competencies to protect students …

Challenge-Based Learning & Steam Curriculum, Diana Lockwood

The STEAM Journal

STEAM education is being integrated into elementary schools as a way to engage more students in creativity, hands-on learning, and problem-based learning also referred to as Challenge-Based-Learning (CBL). This article focuses on elementary educators’ curriculum design for STEAM and presenting students with open-ended questions phrased as a challenge as a way to raise student interest and achievement (DeJarnette, 2018; Hunter-Doniger, 2018). When students received challenges to solve, they felt more open to sharing their ideas since there was more than one potential right answer (DeJarnette, 2018; Drake, 2012). When implementing CBL, teachers act as facilitators using a constructivist approach as …

Nens, Jaime Taylor

University Libraries Presentations Series

NENS (non-student non-employee) are a group of designations for people who are somehow connected to UMass, but who are neither students nor employees. A person’s NENS designation determines what they have access to at UMass, including at the Libraries.

Integration Of Omnet++ Into A Networking Course In An Electrical Engineering Technology Program, Murat Kuzlu, Brian Emmanuel Tamayo, Salih Sarp, Otilia Popescu, Vukica M. Jovanovic

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Networking courses are an integral part of electrical engineering technology programs as the majority of electronics in the modern day are required to communicate with each other. They are also getting more attention in manufacturing engineering technology programs because of the development of emerging technologies in Industry 4.0 arena. From laptops, computers, cellphones, modern day vehicles and smart refrigerators, these devices require a certain level of networking in order to communicate with other devices, whether it be locally, or even across the other side of the world. The objective of networking courses in an electrical engineering program is to demonstrate …

E-Learning Course Recommender System Using Collaborative Filtering Models, Kalyan Kumar Jena, Sourav Kumar Bhoi, Tushar Kanta Malik, Kshira Sagar Sahoo, N. Z. Jhanjhi, Sajal Bhatia, Fathi Amsaad

School of Computer Science & Engineering Faculty Publications

e-Learning is a sought-after option for learners during pandemic situations. In e-Learning platforms, there are many courses available, and the user needs to select the best option for them. Thus, recommender systems play an important role to provide better automation services to users in making course choices. It makes recommendations for users in selecting the desired option based on their preferences. This system can use machine intelligence (MI)-based techniques to carry out the recommendation mechanism. Based on the preferences and history, this system is able to know what the users like most. In this work, a recommender system is proposed …

Teaching Analytics Online: A Self-Study Of Professional Practice, Andrew J. Collins, Brandon Butler, James F. Leathrum Jr., Christopher J. Lynch

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

As the COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruption to education enterprises throughout the world, the main response by educational institutions was to move to online learning environments. The purpose of this study was to understand better how instructors could improve online learning for a professional-level week-long short course in a highly technical area (data analytics), which had, pre-COVID, been a hands-on computer, laboratory-based learning experience. The authors used self-study of professional practice to elicit and understand the major issues and concerns of the transition to an online learning environment. Under the guidance of a colleague in teacher education, three course instructors …

Comparing Geosciences-Related Engagement Generated During And After The Use Of Multiple Pedagogical Approaches: Animated Videos, Youtube, Interactive Educational Games, Group Discussion And Powerpoint Presentations, Andrew M. Singh, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Ality Aghedo, Jasmin Budhan, Belal A. Sayeed, B'Jorn K. Forde, Krishna Mahabir

Publications and Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased educators’ reliance on online learning tools such as Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and Zoom meetings to deliver geoscience-related lessons in real-time. Assessments were conducted using introduction to geology, environmental geology, and oceanography - part of the City University of New York's (CUNY) newly implemented pathways curriculum. These general education courses belong to scientific world and life and physical sciences category and are intended for seamless transfer between CUNY campuses. Students, however, have the option to disengage from participation. Students are able to disable microphones and cameras, as well as rely entirely on text-chat if they choose. …

Adapting An Online Learning Quality Assurance Framework In A Developing Country Setting: The Case Of A Hei In Malawi, Bennett Kankuzi, Menard Phiri, Robert Chanunkha, Jonathan Makuwira, Paul Makocho

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

Covid-19 prompted many higher education institutions (HEIs), even in developing countries like Malawi, to abruptly shift from their traditional face-to-face mode of delivery to online learning. However, quality issues with online learning remain one of the greatest challenges to acceptance of online learning by many students and stakeholders. This paper presents an action research based study at the Malawi University of Science and Technology, in which an online learning quality assurance framework is adapted to a developed country setting. The adapted framework builds on the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs. The contextualization and …

Hybrid Conferences: Opportunities, Challenges And Ways Forward, Eleonora Puccinelli, Daniela Zeppilli, Paris V. Stefanoudis, Annaig Wittische-Helou, Marjorie Kermorgant, Sandra Fuchs, Lenaick Menot, Erin E. Easton, Alexandra A-T. Weber

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hybrid conferences are in-person events that have an online component. This type of meeting format was rare before the COVID-19 pandemic, but started to become more common recently given the asynchronous global progression of the pandemic, the uneven access to vaccines and different travel regulations among countries that led to a large proportion of participants being unable to attend conferences in person. Here we report the organization of a middle-sized (581 participants: 159 onsite, 422 online) international hybrid conference that took place in France in September 2021. We highlight particular organizational challenges inherent to this relatively new type of meeting …

The Impact Of Extreme Weather On Student Online Learning Participation, Ezekiel Adriel D. Lagmay, Maria Mercedes T. Rodrigo

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced over 1 billion learners to shift from face-to-face instruction to online learning. Seven months after it began, this transition became even more challenging for Filipino online learners. Eight typhoons struck the Philippines from October to November 2020. Two of these typhoons caused widespread flooding, utilities interruptions, property destruction, and loss of life. We examine how these severe weather conditions affected online learning participation of Filipino students pursuing their undergraduate and graduate studies. We used CausalImpact analysis to explore September 2020 to January 2021 data collected from the Moodle Learning Management System data of …

Designing And Evaluating Accessible E-Learning For Students With Visual Impairments In K-12 Computing Education, Earl W. Huff Jr

All Dissertations

This dissertation explores the pathways for making K-12 computing education more accessible for blind or visually impaired (BVI) learners. As computer science (CS) expands into K-12 education, more concerted efforts are required to ensure all students have equitable access to opportunities to pursue a career in computing. To determine their viability with BVI learners, I conducted three studies to assess current accessibility in CS curricula, materials, and learning environments. Study one was interviews with visually impaired developers; study two was interviews with K-12 teachers of visually impaired students; study three was a remote observation within a computer science course. My …

The Effect Of Using The Gamification Strategy On Academic Achievement And Motivation Towards Learning Problem-Solving Skills In Computer And Information Technology Course Among Tenth Grade Female Students, Mazyunah Almutairi, Prof. Ahmad Almassaad

International Journal for Research in Education

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the effect of using the gamification strategy on academic achievement and motivation towards learning problem-solving skills in computer and information technology course. A quasi-experimental method was adopted. The study population included tenth-grade female students in Al-Badi’ah schools in Riyadh. The sample consisted of 54 students divided into two equal groups: control group and experimental group. The study tools comprised an achievement test and the motivation scale. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences between the two groups in the academic achievement test in favor of the experimental group, with a large effect …

A Phenomenological Study: The Lived Experience Of Self-Described Math-Anxious Students Attending College Online, Toni Nicole Sawhill

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to describe the lived experience of mathematics anxiety for self-described math-anxious students who completed an undergraduate mathematics course online at a university in the Pacific Northwest part of the United States. The theory guiding this study is community of inquiry (COI) introduced by early pragmatist philosophers C. S. Peirce and John Dewey and further developed by D. Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, and Walter Archer as mathematics anxiety is a learned behavior based on students’ experiences. This research study answers the central research question: What are the lived experiences of mathematics anxiety for …

Navigating A Calculus Course During A Pandemic: A Usma Perspective, Shane K. Smith, Tyson H. Walsh, Lee Evans

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this article we analyze publications written about different teaching modalities and evaluate how each applies to a calculus class during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. We focus on the positives and negatives of teaching and learning in a virtual, classroom, or HyFlex environment. Although arguments could be made for each environment, especially given different institutional objectives, this work aims to explain why we eventually preferred teaching our Fall 2020 multivariable calculus course in a face-to-face classroom setting at the United States Military Academy at West Point. We also offer measures of performance to compare the current COVID-19 semester with previous …

A Virtual Physics Laboratory For Remote/Online Learning, Themistoklis Chronis

Summer Community of Scholars (RCEU and HCR) Project Proposals

No abstract provided.

Neuromatch Academy: A 3-Week, Online Summer School In Computational Neuroscience, Bernard Marius 'T Hart, Titipat Achakulvisut, Ayoade Adeyemi, Athena Akrami, Bradly Alicea, Alicia Alonso-Andres, Diego Alzate-Correa, Arash Ash, Jesus J. Ballesteros, Aishwarya Balwani, Eleanor Batty, Ulrik Beierholm, Ari S. Benjamin, Upinder Bhalla, Gunnar Blohm, Joachim C. H. Blohm, Kathryn Bonnen, Marco Brigham, Bingni W. Brunton, John Butler, Brandon Caie, N Alex Cayco Gajic, Sharbatanu Chatterjee, Spyridon Chavlis, Ruidong Chen, You Cheng, H. M. Chow, Raymond Chua, Yunwei Dai, Isaac David, Eric E. J. Dewitt, Julien Denis, Alish Dipani, Arianna Dorschel, Jan Drugowitsch, Kshitij Dwivedi, Sean Escola, Haoxue Fan, Roozbeh Farhoodi, Yicheng Fei, Pierre-Étienne Fiquet, Lorenzo Fontolan, Jeremy Forest, Yuki Fujishima, Byron V. Galbraith, Mario Galdamez, Richard Gao, Julijana Gjorgjieva, Alexander Gonzalez, Qinglong Gu, Yueqi Guo, Ziyi Guo, Pankaj K. Gupta, Busra Tugce Gurbuz, Caroline Haimerl, Jordan B. Harrod, Alexandre Hyafil, Martin Irani, Daniel Jacobson, Michelle Johnson, Ilenna Simone Jones, Gili Karni, Robert E. Kass, Hyosub Edward Kim, Andreas M. Kist, Randal Koene, Konrad Kording, Matthew R. Krause, Arvind Kumar, Norma K. Kühn, Ray Lc, Matthew L. Laporte, Junseok Lee, Songting Li, Sikun Lin, Yang Lin, Shuze Liu, Tony Liu, Jesse A. Livezey, Linlin Lu, Jakob H. Macke, Kelly Mahaffy, A. Lucas Martins, Nicolás Martorell, Manolo Martínez, Marcelo G. Mattar, Jorge Aurelio Menendez, Kenneth D. Miller, Patrick J. Mineault, Nosratullah Mohammadi, Yalda Mohsenzadeh, Elenor Morgenroth, Taha Morshedzadeh, Alice Claudia Mosberger, Madhuvanthi Muliya, Marieke Mur, John D. Murray, Yashas Nd, Richard Naud, Prakriti Nayak, Anushka Oak, Itzel Olivos Castillo, Seyedmehdi Orouji, Jorge Otero-Millan, Marius Pachitariu, Biraj Pandey, Renato Paredes, Jesse Parent, Il Memming Park, Megan A. K. Peters, Xaq Pitkow, Panayiota Poirazi, Haroon Popal, Sandhya Prabhakaran, Tian Qiu, Srinidhi Ragunathan, Raul Rodriguez-Cruces, David Rolnick, Ashish Kumar Sahoo, Saeed Salehinajafabadi, Cristina Savin, Shreya Saxena, Paul Schrater, Karen Schroeder, Alice C. Schwarze, Madineh Sedigh-Sarvestani, K. Yuvaraj Sekhar, Reza Shadmehr, Maryam M. Shanechi, Siddhant Sharma, Eric Shea-Brown, Krishna V. Shenoy, Carolina L. Shimabukuro, Sergey Shuvaev, Man Ching Alison Sin, Maurice Smith, Nicholas A. Steinmetz, Karolina Stosio, Elizabeth Straley, Gabrielle Strandquist, Carsen Stringer, Rimjhim Tomar, Ngoc Tran, Sofia Triantafillou, Lawrence Udeigwe, Davide Valeriani, Vincent Valton, Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam, Peter Vincent, Gal Vishne, Pascal Wallisch, Peiyuan Wang, Claire Ward, Michael Waskom, Kunlin Wei, Anqi Wu, Zhengwei Wu, Brad Wyble, Lei Zhang, Daniel Zysman, Federico D’Oleire Uquillas, Tara Van Viegen

Articles

No abstract provided.

Toward A Student-Ready Cybersecurity Program: Findings From A Survey Of Stem-Students, Lora Pitman, Brian K. Payne, Tancy Vandecar-Burdin, Lenora Thorbjornsen

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

As the number of available cybersecurity jobs continues to grow, colleges strive to offer to their cybersecurity students an environment which will make them sufficiently prepared to enter the workforce after graduation. This paper explores the academic and professional needs of STEM-students in various higher education institutions across Virginia and how cybersecurity programs can cater to these needs. It also seeks to propose an evidence-based approach for improving the existing cybersecurity programs so that they can become more inclusive and student-ready. A survey of 251 college students in four higher-education institutions in Virginia showed that while there are common patterns …

Deployment Of Mathematical Resources To A Philippine High School Through A Community Lte Network, Ma. Louise Antonette N. De Las Peñas, Maria Alva Q. Aberin, Agnes Garciano, Juan Carlo F. Mallari, Jumela F. Sarmiento, Mark Anthony C. Tolentino, Debbie Marie Verzosa

Mathematics Faculty Publications

In the Philippines, one challenge that continues to be faced by the Department of Education in bringing educational content in a blended learning modality is the lack of internet access of the learners. This paper discusses the distribution, through a community LTE network, of mathematical resources for Grades 7 to 10 to teachers and students of a particular high school in the Philippines. It also gives details on particular technological tools (mathematical applications) that were created to help the mathematical learning of students in a remote setting.

Supporting Mastery Learning Through A Multiple-Submission Policy For Assignments In A Purely Online Programming Class, Joseph Benjamin R. Ilagan, Marianne Kayle Amurao, Jose Ramon Ilagan

Quantitative Methods and Information Technology Faculty Publications

The Learning Edge Momentum (LEM) theory suggests that once students fall behind, it gets more difficult to catch up with the course material. It then becomes increasingly more difficult to connect new, higher-level concepts to those solid edges of knowledge with mastery of basic concepts. Learning for Mastery (LFM) acknowledges that students learn at different paces by allowing students unable to master tests the first time to catch up eventually. This paper describes how an online introductory Python programming course offered to business students followed a multiple-submission policy for assignments to support LFM. The multiple submission policy contributed to the …

Work-In-Progress: Rapid Development Of Advanced Virtual Labs For In-Person And Online Education, Yiyang Li, Yuzhong Shen, Charles Sukenik, Brian Sanders, Pauline Delacruz, Justin Mason

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

During the closure of K-12 schools and universities thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, many educators turned to web conferencing tools such as Zoom and WebEx to deliver online lectures. For courses with labs, some teachers provide recorded videos of real labs. Watching recorded lab videos is a passive experience, as the procedures and point of view are fixed, and students do not have any control of the lab and thus miss the opportunity to explore different options, including making mistakes that is important part of the learning process. One approach that holds great potential to enhance laboratory experience for online …

Critical Pedagogy In The Time Of Covid-19: Lessons Learned, Carol Christine Hordatt Gentles

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

The abrupt closure of universities due to the coronavirus pandemic caused unprecedented challenges for educators. They struggled to transition to online teaching almost overnight. This has raised questions about the readiness of Higher Education for digitalisation and hybridization of learning environments and focused attention on the renewal of teaching and learning models. It is incumbent upon those who practise critical pedagogy to join this conversation; the mandatory transition has raised difficult questions around how to ensure continuity of an agenda to offer students humanistic and democratic learning experiences in the new virtual reality. In this paper I offer a critical …

Covid And Curriculum: Elementary Teachers Report On The Challenges Of Teaching And Learning Mathematics Remotely, Kristin Giorgio-Doherty, Mona Baniahmadi, Jill Newton, Amy M. Olson, Kristen Ferguson, Kaitlyn Sammons, Marcy M. Wood, Corey Drake

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This article reports on findings from a survey administered to 524 elementary teachers across 46 states that asked about their experiences with mathematics teaching, learning, and curriculum use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this article is to report on the challenges teachers experienced with mathematics teaching, learning, and curriculum use during the pandemic and to explore educational inequities faced by students of families with lower income backgrounds. In particular, we discuss differences across high- and low-income schools regarding teachers’ perceived preparedness for online teaching, teachers’ use and decisions about mathematics curriculum, and their students’ remote resources …

National Chemistry Week: From Irl To The Web, Ilayda Kelley, Daniela Mesa Sanchez

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

National Chemistry Week, an outreach program initiated by the American Chemical Society (ACS), encourages scientists to bring their love of chemistry to their community. Celebrated nationwide, ACS invites businesses, schools, and individuals to organize and participate in community events to promote the value of chemistry in everyday life. The Purdue graduate student chapter of Iota Sigma Pi, a national honor society for women in chemistry, annually organizes one such celebration. On a normal year, this event is a large logistical undertaking in which 100+ volunteers go directly to over 70 local elementary school classrooms and perform a series of activities …

Options And Experiences For Online Chemistry Laboratory Instruction, Emily Faulconer, Matt Morgan

Publications

While online course offerings have been on the rise for many years, there was a rapid transition to online courses due to campus closures and social distancing protocols associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This has caused significant disruption in traditional chemistry laboratory activities. In this chapter, features of various distance laboratory approaches options are presented, including wet chemistry and dry laboratory options. Because the existing research comparing effectiveness of these strategies is scarce, no attempt is made to argue the effectiveness of one modality over the other, but rather advantages and disadvantages of each method are presented and discussed. The …