The Online Faculty Development and Assessment System

This article evaluates the role of the Online Faculty Development and Assessment System (OFDAS), created at universities in the Canary Islands, Spain, in staff development. The evaluation indicates that the system helped staff in learning to teach curriculum and teaching capacities. The tasks, online resources and opportunities for discussions provided within the learning environment created for the system helped shape their attitudes towards learning curriculum and teaching capacities and enabled them to share their concerns about students’ classroom learning environment assessment

Applying Sentiment Analysis and Machine Learning Algorithms on Students’ Reflections to Identify an Effective Teaching Strategy as a Factor of Learning Successes

This paper proposes an idea of applying sentiment analysis and machine learning algorithms to analyze over 30 thousand students’ opinions, from a review site on 2,183 instructors teaching at the department of computer science in 43 universities in California, United States. In this proposal paper, we propose using a sentiment analysis method to analyze and classify students’ opinions into 3 classes, namely positive, negative, and neutral. Further, we suggest applying machine learning algorithms on the classified opinions of students and some other objective data from the review site to identify an effective teaching strategy as a crucial factor of students’ learning successes. Eventually in the discussion, we propose a theoretical framework, based on the expected outcome of this research to strengthen the theory of technology-mediated pedagogy

Identification of Influential Factors that Affect Students\u27 Behaviors in Traditional Classes Versus Technology-Mediated Learning (TML) Classes

Learning environments are rapidly changing from the traditional setting to include the use of multimedia technology in the classroom. In the past, researchers studied how the use of technology as a learning tool affects students’ learning and performance. There are, however, few studies that report students’ learning behavior in technology based learning environments. The purpose of this study is to find out whether or not there are any unique behaviors exhibited by students that are related to a different learning environment. In this study, two researchers observed two undergraduate elementary statistics classes (traditional class versus Technology-Mediated Learning (TML) class), and documented student behavioral differences between them. The data included quantitative and qualitative observations based on specific behavior categories. The results of the analysis lead to identification of six influential factors that affect students’ learning behaviors in different learning environments. Implications of res ts for both educators and administrators are discussed

How do I enhance motivation to learn and higher order cognition among students of Science through the use of a virtual learning environment?

In this paper I explore the capacity of Moodle to enhance the teaching and learning of Leaving Certificate Biology within a small urban secondary school. I simultaneously investigate the potential of the technology to enhance higher-order cognition and motivation to learn among the students. Adopting an action research approach has led me to a much deeper understanding of the tacit knowledge that inspires my work. The chief stimulus to my research was the realisation that my explicit practice was in negation of my implicit values. I have come to know my practice and over time changed it. I can now see evidence of a greater congruence between my espoused core educational values and my explicit actions. Cycle one of the research focuses on setting up and introducing Moodle to a group of Biology students. The second cycle shows the feasibility of a community of enquiry through a discussion-forum. A process of social validation runs concurrently, in which interested individuals substantiate my claim that my core educational values are being translated into my practice. Throughout I learn to strike a balance between co-learner and guide. Consequently the students come to act as co-authors in moving away from authoritarian dissemination of facts. This facilitates a community of inquiry, revolving around the collaborative negotiation of meaning. There is clear evidence of increased higher-order cognition and motivation to learn among the participants within this virtual community

DIGITAL LITERACY OF STUDENTS AND ITS IMPROVEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY

IIn response to the problems related to the effective use of new information and communication technologies (ICT) in education and training, this paper focuses on the key role of digital literacy and the skills of students to use new technology that will have an increasing role in the integration in the European Higher Education Area. The development of the literacy level of students and their digital competence is crucial for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the learning process as well as for the adaptation of students to the dynamically changing labour market. This paper involves an empirical component to study and analyze the extent and manner of use of ICT by students in the learning process, to establish their motivation for improving the skills of digital literacy, in order to enable them not only to raise their academic results, but also to provide students the opportunity to be successful in society without lag behind the ever-changing demands of work and life

How can I encourage my pupils to think critically through collaborative online-learning?

In this paper I show how I study my teaching, as a student on a Masters degree (M.Sc.) programme in Education and Training Management (e-learning strand) at Dublin City University. As I explain my teaching as a History teacher, I show how I locate myself within Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and within education in Ireland. The source-literature examines critical thinking, social software and collaborative online-learning environments. These help me to understand the processes in my research question. I seek to explore my embodied educational values, and use them as a standard of judgement for my research. I work in a collaborative-dialogic way with all the research participants, establishing an online-classroom in order to help them to think critically. I come to several conclusions about collaborative online-learning, critical thinking and my own educational values. I believe I create a space for students to think critically through my enthusiasm and the students’ ease in an online-environment. I show that positive educational change is possible when using a collaborative dialogic approach to teaching and learning

Sistema de desarrollo y evaluación en línea del profesorado universitario (SDELPU): un estudio de aprendizaje académico.

El rápido crecimiento del aprendizaje en línea ha incrementado el número de modelos de evaluación del perfeccionamiento del profesorado universitario orientados a garantizar la calidad de titulaciones universitarias de pregrado. Basándonos en las mejores prácticas de la evaluación en línea por medio de estudiantes universitarios, el Sistema de Desarrollo y Evaluación del Profesorado Universitario en Línea (SDELPU), creado en Islas Canarias, ha servido el doble propósito de perfeccionar al profesorado universitario y de evaluar el ambiente de aprendizaje en clase. Los resultados de los análisis mostraron que SDELPU extendió el potencial intelectual del profesorado universitario estimulando su reflexión sobre capacidades curriculares y didácticas (CCD). Este estudio ha significado examinar atentamente procesos de aprendizaje de CCDs en línea e incorporar una visión comprensiva de actitudes del profesorado universitario hacia su enseñanza y su asociación con percepciones de ambiente de aprendizaje en clase por estudiantes.The quick growth of online learning had developed faculty in service evaluation models geared toward the demands of improvement of degree programs quality. With a foundation in the best practices of university student online assessment, the Online Faculty Development and Assessment System (OFDAS) created at the Canary Islands served the dual purpose of faculty development and classroom learning environment assessment. Results of analyses showed that OFDAS maximized the potential of online faculty development to inspire Curriculum and Teaching Capacity (CTC) reflection. Implications were discussed in terms of emphasizing the process of online CTC learning and incorporating perspectives to capture a comprehensive view of faculty teaching attitudes and associations with student classroom learning perceptions

Emergency Education Policy: EFL Undergraduate Students’ Views on Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Anchored by sparse investigations on Students’ voices regarding online learning from home during the COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries context, this study aims to investigate the responses of EFL students to the effectiveness of the learning from home policy in an Indonesian University. Fifteen students of fourth semester studying at English department were recruited. This research employed qualitative design with a case study approach as the methodology.  Data were collected from semi-structured interview and then analyzed descriptively. The results showed that the students perceived that online learning from home was good policy initiatives. However, they also experienced ineffectiveness regarding the contents of learning that focus more on giving students the assignments than the learning process itself. Besides that, the students were not supported by conducive learning environment, enabling them to learn more effectively. Students experienced some problems during online learning from home, such as poor internet connection, electrical power disruptions, and day-to-day load expenses for prepaid internet access. The findings suggest that the lecturers should provide the students with appropriate learning instruction for online learning purposes and deliver teaching materials by making use of technology. Thus, policy recommendations are discussed in this article

El impacto de las técnicas de andamiaje basadas en aprendizaje combinado en la autoeficacia y el deseo por comunicarse

Motivating learners to engage in effective communication is one of the fundamental concerns of language education. Accordingly, an educational context where L2 learners display a willingness to communicate (WTC) is a requirement for successful learning. A further concept that should be studied regarding WTC is students’ self-efficacy from the socio-cognitive theory. Moreover, to boost the quality of learning, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students should receive effective support, including scaffolding that motivates them to build up their knowledge in Blended Learning (BL) settings. To examine BL-based scaffolding techniques on students’ self-efficacy and WTC, this quasi-experimental design involving 232 participants were assigned to the experimental and the control groups including both intermediate and advanced learners. Subsequently, the self-efficacy questionnaire, and WTC questionnaires were distributed among them as a pretest. The statistical results of Two two-way ANCOVA tests showed that both language proficiency and the treatment type are the significant moderators of the efficacy scores. The experimental group outperformed the control group and the advanced learners outperformed the intermediate ones. In addition, the results indicated that while language proficiency did not moderate the WTC scores, the treatment type was the significant moderator of the WTC scores.Motivar al alumnado para que participen en una comunicación efectiva es una de las tareas fundamentales de educación lingüística. En consecuencia, el deseo por comunicarse (WTC) y la autoeficacia de alumnos de L2 son requisitos para un aprendizaje exitoso. Para mejorar la calidad del aprendizaje, los estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera necesitan un apoyo efectivo, incluido andamiaje que los motive a desarrollar sus conocimientos en contextos de aprendizaje combinado (BL). Para examinar las técnicas de andamiaje basadas en BL sobre la autoeficacia y el WTC del alumnado, este diseño cuasi experimental cuenta con 232 participantes que fueron asignados a los grupos experimentales y de control, incluyendo estudiantes de nivel intermedio y avanzado. Posteriormente, se distribuyeron como pre-test los cuestionarios de autoeficacia y los del WTC. Los resultados estadísticos de dos pruebas ANCOVA bidireccionales mostraron que tanto el dominio del idioma como el tipo de tratamiento son los moderadores significativos de las puntuaciones de eficacia. El grupo experimental superó al de control y los alumnos de nivel avanzado superaron a los de nivel intermedio. Los resultados indicaron que mientras que el dominio de lengua no moderó las puntuaciones del WTC, el tipo de tratamiento sí fue un moderador significativo.Bureau of Philosophy and Social Science Planning of Henan Province of Chin