Guiding Students to Success: A Systematic Review of Research on Guided Notes as an Instructional Strategy from 2009-2019

Guided notes were introduced decades ago, but there is still debate over their efficacy in improving student outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine peer-reviewed research on guided notes for adult learners in general populations since 2009, understanding the effects of guided notes on student learning, the knowledge and content areas supported by guided notes, and the impact of modality. Results of the 22 included studies indicate that students perceive guided notes in a positive light, and guided notes improve results in certain knowledge domains especially with complex content. However, modality does not influence the efficacy of guided notes. Implications for practice in teaching and learning and recommendations for research were provided

Students’ views and correlation regarding performance and attendance for a first year engineering cohort

This paper presents a case study to assess the students’ views and correlation between attendance to lectures, laboratories and seminars and their performance in terms of final results. The population is composed by a group of first year undergraduate students at the department of Design and Engineering, Bournemouth University, in an Engineering Design unit. Attendance was monitored for a number of 19 students over one academic year (2016-2017). Students’ views regarding the impact of some factors - such as clear expectations, content easy to understand, student collaboration and interaction, peer-pressure, and to be seen by the lecturer – on assessment performance have been surveyed. This data was obtained from a Likert-scale survey ran over a population of 10 students in the 2017-2018 academic year. The data that correlates final marks with attendance (laboratory, lectures and seminars) was analysed and indicates a strong least-squares fit correlation between attendance and final marks, with a coefficient of correlation R2=0.78 when plotting final marks vs overall attendance. Student view, which was also considered as an important aspect of this study, convey the benefits of attending the lectures and quantify some of the factors mentioned above including a minimum-maximum attendance rate for a good grade (first-class) or just a pass mark. Students perceive that the two main reasons for attending lectures are that, firstly, it makes it easier to understand the content and, secondly, they can get clear expectations on what they need to prepare and focus on

In Search of Quality Education: The E-Learning Implementation as the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The appearance of the disease epidemic induced by Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) leads to some changes in life aspects, including in the learning process in the Education unit, particularly in colleges. The e-learning model is one of the models implemented in Garut University to prevent coronavirus transmission. This research aimed to describe an e-learning activity conducted by Garut University during the pandemic. The research method used was survey to examine the positive and negative effects of online learning activities. The technique of collecting data used was an online questionnaire via WhatsApp with 181 students. The results showed that e-learning activity conducted by Garut University had not been conducted effectively for students, lecturers and the campus itself as e-learning system provider. Lecturer performance was the complained factor by students, but generally lecturing ineffectiveness was due to all academicians’ unpreparedness for dealing with the changes of learning system from face-to-face to online method

The effect of changing from campus-based to digital teaching on student attendance: A case study of Norwegian business students

Over the last two years, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced colleges, university colleges, and universities around the world to switch from campus-based to web-based teaching. The current study examines the effect on students' attendance rates from this sudden change in the learning environment. Data from four completions of a single course given to third-year bachelor students in the business administration program at a mid-sized university college in Norway were used to empirically examine how the level- and trend of the attendance rate were affected during the lockdown period. By means of regression analysis, the results show that digital lectures had a significantly higher attendance rate compared with traditional campus-based lectures. No significant difference in the trends of the attendance rate over the semester was found between the two lecture forms.publishedVersio

The Effect of Distributing Electronic Notes to Students: Ethical Considerations Raised By Computer Science Faculty at The University Of Namibia

In an effort to encourage the uptake of technology among its academic community, the University of Namibia (UNAM) introduced the Electronic Notes System (ENS) in the year 2010. The ENS was envisaged as a web-based method of distributing lecture notes to students, where the faculty members would upload the teaching materials and the students would download the materials. Although this method was believed to be a practical way of distributing the notes in comparison to the existing method, faculty adoption of the ENS has been rather poor, prompting the eLearning committee to conduct awareness campaigns at the Faculty Board meetings. Discussions at the Faculty Board meetings revealed ethical concerns that prevented faculty from adopting the ENS. Using the discussions from the awareness campaigns as well as results from one-to-one loosely structured interviews with the faculty members in the Computer Science department that participated in those presentations, the paper presents some ethical considerations that may need to be addressed when introducing technologyenhanced learning in similar contexts

FIRST Portfolio: Introduction to Psychology (Psych 181)

This course portfolio analyzed student learning in Introduction to Psychology, Psych 181 at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. This course is often taken by first year students of various backgrounds and majors; this course is a pre-requisite for many other psychology courses. In general, the course covers basic psychological concepts in the realm of biopsychology, developmental psychology, social and personality psychology, cognitive psychology, and clinical psychology. Student enrollment for this section is capped at 200. This portfolio outlines my course goal, objectives, and assessments of those goals. There is also a reflection throughout regarding how well students feel supported and how much the content allows students to apply material or use critical thinking and suggestions for areas that can be improved in future iterations of the course

THE EFFECTS OF ACTIVE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY ON INSTRUCTORS’ PRACTICES AND STUDENTS’ ENGAGEMENT AND GRADES: A MIXED METHODS STUDY

Partly in response to university teachers’ changing pedagogies marked by flipping instruction, lecture capture technologies are evolving into active learning systems. Little published research exists on the effects of active learning technology on either teachers or students. This two-phase sequential explanatory mixed methods study details the effects that active learning systems have on instructor practices and on student grades and engagement. Phase one combined quantitative data collection with instructor interviews. Phase one findings show higher student engagement levels correlate with the use of the active learning system only in the presence of very specific, flipped classroom practices. Phase two, a multiple case study, contextualizes those findings by detailing the students’ experiences. Focus groups held within each of three bounded cases yielded multiple themes, which, coupled with the phase one results, led to five key findings. Primary among these findings are: 1) Active learning technology only correlates to higher engagement or grades when the teacher advocates frequently for the system’s use and students use it often, and 2) students have positive perceptions of active learning technology, use it primarily to prepare for exams, and on occasion change their note taking or attendance behaviors. Three recommendations for future research and practice follow a discussion of these findings. Advisor: Allen Steckelber

Electronic Slideshow Presentations in the Higher Education Teaching and Learning Process

The use of electronic slide presentations (ESP), usually through PowerPoint or Prezi software, has become widespread in higher education and is part of the expectations and perceptions of both teachers and students of how a successful and quality class should be. Is this dissemination of ESP use justified by the pedagogical quality fostered in learning? While its use can help focus attention on the content of the subject during classes, there are also limitations in this process, both in the dimension of teaching, by the teacher, and in the dimension of learning, by the student. This paper seeks to provide a contribution to the debate on this topic, and the advantages and limitations in using ESP. It is concluded that there is a need, on the one hand, to define the use of ESP, by assaying their application, as well as, on the other hand, to simultaneously develop other pedagogical ways of teaching, whose articulation can make the student’s role more active and pertinent, and enable the feedback to the student on the part of the teacher, so that it may be possible to regulate the teaching and learning process in a timely manner