Online or In-Person Course? Meaningful Discussion of Learning Effectiveness and Satisfaction of Microwave Filter Design Course in Graduate Students

Contribution: A research on applying blended teaching in microwave filter design in graduate students. Background: The Covid-19 epidemic has caused many universities worldwide to switch to online courses. Taiwan did not have a large-scale local infection in 2020, so the school has implemented a blended teaching plan, combining online and in-person courses. Intended Outcomes: Discuss the effectiveness and satisfaction of the Microwave Filter Design Course in Graduate Students for two classes, Online or In-person course. Application Design: This study uses a quasi-experiment to teach microwave filter courses in the two classes. The teacher integrated into the Flipped Classroom and Interactive Response System (IRS). Students must use the APP to complete the preclass preview and prepare materials. Class A [Formula Omitted] uses in-person classrooms for the whole course;Class B uses blended teaching. The first eight weeks are synchronized online, then mid-term exams, and in-person courses are used for the next ten weeks. Students in two classes in the last week filled out the course satisfaction questionnaire. Findings: Class B achieved better results in the eighth midterm exam week, showing better learning results. Although students in both classes are highly satisfied with the course, Class A is more satisfied than Class B. For graduate students participating in the microwave filter design course, in-person classrooms and blended teaching can achieve good learning results and satisfaction. However, teachers must pay attention to students' reception and understanding of flipped classrooms when using online teaching. And timely and in-depth guidance on the accuracy of APP use.

An Evaluation of Quality Metrics for Distance and Blended Teaching

This study discusses evaluating the service quality in higher education institutions (HEIs) or the teaching quality of hybrid learning. Following COVID-19, most HEIs have shifted from face-to-face learning to blended and online learning in a synchronous or asynchronous form. The disadvantage of online learning is the absence of face-to-face and social interaction, which is why blended learning has become more popular. However, there are methodological and theoretical issues. Methodologically, to evaluate teaching delivery, either qualitative or quantitative research can be employed. Univariate analysis can be utilised to investigate the relationship among metrics. Alternatively, a multivariate analysis such as Structural Equation Modelling could be used when there is a complex interaction between metrics. Other methodological issues relate broadly to sampling, such as which metrics should be evaluated, whose opinions should be shared between students and lecturers and when to evaluate the survey using pre-learning or post-learning metrics in terms of module quality, module relevance, module intellectual, module infrastruc-ture, module success rate, module engagement, module support, module feedback and overall satisfaction. Theoretically, additional metrics such as aesthetic tech-nology and co-creation dynamics should be utilised in evaluating blended learning because institutions and clients simultaneously produce education. Moreover, based on the constructive alignment theory, several metrics can be used to evaluate teaching performance, such as learning-objectives metrics, learning-activities metrics and feedback metrics. In addition, new metrics have also been developed based on the behaviourists, constructivists and social constructionists, including content metrics, instruction-quality metrics, teaching-climate metrics, online-management metrics, professionalism metrics and classroom-management metrics. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

The Structural Relationships among Academic Pressure, Independent Learning Ability, and Academic Self-Efficacy

Background: The coronavirus disease pandemic has caused significant disruption in the field of education, resulting in the need for more online classes and a blended offline and online teaching model. Therefore, understanding what makes this model effective is important. Accordingly, this study explored the structural relationships among academic pressure, independent learning ability, and academic self-efficacy in a blended teaching environment during the pandemic and independent learning ability's mediating effect on the relationship between academic pressure and academic self-efficacy. Methods: Adopting a random sampling method, this study surveyed 761 Chinese college, Shaanxi Province, China in 2022 and university students. Factor analysis, correlation analysis, structural equation modeling, and path analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: The results show that the academic pressure faced by Chinese English majors had a significant negative impact on academic self-efficacy (P<0.001). However, academic pressure had no statistical effect on stu-dents' independent learning ability (P=0.317). Moreover, independent learning ability had a significant positive effect on academic self-efficacy (P<0.001) and a mediating effect on the relationship between academic pressure and academic self-efficacy (P=0.032). Conclusion: Independent learning ability can directly and indirectly affect academic self-efficacy. Thus, in an online and offline blended teaching model, teachers should guide students regarding self-exploration, com-munication, and cooperation based on existing knowledge and experience. They should also enable students to improve their learning process and independent learning ability. Various language learning situations should be established for learning English so that by experiencing success and failure, students can ultimately improve their academic self-efficacy. © 2023 Zhao et al.

Blended teaching of medical parasitology in China during COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has promoted the development of online teaching in various educational institutions. Different online teaching practice has shown advantages and potential problems. The combination of online and offline teaching (mixed teaching) is a new teaching practice that can exert its advantages simultaneously, and has been wildly used during the COVID-19 pandemic, even being extended to the post-pandemic era. Medical parasitology is a foundation course for medicine and a bridging course towards clinical medicine and preventive medicine. The traditional teaching of medical parasitology has presented many limitations, including outdated teaching concepts and practices, and the disconnection between theory teaching and practice teaching. In response to these difficulties, many innovative ideas and measures have been taken o reform the teaching practice of the foundation medical courses, including updating teaching program, adopting innovative teaching practice (such as blended teaching), and promoting the teaching evaluation method. In this paper, we concluded the blended teaching tools, platforms, manners, effects and evaluation methods in medical parasitology in China during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide information for the teaching reform in the post-pandemic era.Copyright © 2022, National Institute of Parasitic Diseases. All rights reserved.

Research on blended teaching reform based on computational thinking

The outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted traditional teaching methods in schools, and blended teaching in the post-pandemic has gradually become a hot topic of research in higher education. Computational thinking, as one of the core literacies to be acquired in the 21st century, can help students realize the importance of computers as well as enable them to solve specific problems more effectively when facing real-life situations. The article takes the C language programming course as an example, analyzes the problems faced in teaching in the post-pandemic, introduces the concept of computational thinking and integrates it into all aspects of blended teaching design, pays attention to students' individual differences, and proposes a blended teaching model based on computational thinking and puts it into practice. The results show that this teaching model can improve students' learning performance, exercise students' computational thinking skills, and promote blended teaching reform and students' personalized development. © 2022 IEEE.

Teaching and learning delivery modes in higher education: Looking back to move forward post-COVID-19 era

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the education sector to adapt rapidly to online and blended learning modes. This systematic literature review examines the impact of the pandemic on teaching and learning in higher education, including management education and other disciplines. The review of 68 studies reveals that blended teaching, combining the benefits of face-to-face and online teaching methods, has emerged as a promising approach for higher education in the post-COVID-19 era. However, further research is needed to fully understand the dynamics of this mode, particularly in the context of business management education. The review highlights the importance of flexible and adaptable learning modes in higher education, with a need for institutions to continue promoting and creating diverse learning modes that meet the needs of all students. The use of technology is expected to continue to be integrated into teaching and learning, with a greater focus on blended learning modes. As the pandemic has emphasized the importance of effective and accessible education, future research should focus on analyzing the effects of blended learning in diverse nations and addressing issues such as access to technology and digital literacy. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

The effectiveness of using blended learning teaching and learning strategy to develop students' performance at higher education

PurposeThe research aims to identify the effectiveness of using the blended learning strategy on achievement among students of higher colleges of technology in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), through the answer to the following question: Is there a statistically significant difference at the significance level (a = 0.05) in students' achievements in general studies courses at higher education attributed to the method of teaching (blended learning, traditional).Design/methodology/approachThe research applied a Quasi-experimental. The current research used two groups experimental group and controlled group across two phases: pilot study and experimental study. Phase 1 examined the difference between the pilot group and the nonpilot group at Sharjah colleges across three different courses: Fundamentals of Applied Mathematics, Professional Communication and Reporting and Basic Research Methods during the spring semester 2019 at Sharjah colleges. Phase 2 examined the difference between the experimental group (using blended learning during summer 2019) and the controlled group (learned the same courses during summer 2018) across three different courses and the same three courses.FindingsThere is no statistically significant difference at significance level (a = 0.05) in students' achievements in the Fundamentals of Applied Mathematics (LSM 1000) course between the experimental and controlled groups. There is a statistically significant difference at significance level (a = 0.05) in students' achievements in the Professional Communication and Reporting (LSC 1103) in favor of the experimental group course at higher education attributed to the method of teaching (blended learning, traditional). There is no statistically significant difference at significance level (a = 0.05) in students' achievements in the Basic Research Methods (LSS 1123) between the experimental and controlled groups.Research limitations/implications1. The study is limited to students of Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE. 2. The study is limited to the General Studies Department at Higher Colleges of Technology. 3. The achievement test used in the study is a standardized test developed by the college.Originality/valueThis research considered the first research to discuss the effectiveness of using blended learning where three teaching strategies are combined together (normal face-to-face classes, flipped classroom and online face-to-face classes) in students' achievement at higher education in the UAE.

Post-Covid Teaching of Physics Experiments Through Flipped Classroom & Blended Teaching Practice at College

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has changed the teaching methods of Chinese education to a large extent with the explosive development of online and blended teaching. With the normalization of the pandemic, teaching has gradually entered the post-pandemic era. Online teaching greatly limits the scope of physics classes where experiments have to be conducted, instruments manipulated and interaction between students and teachers is needed. Therefore, blended teaching has become a breakthrough point in the reform of physics experiment teaching in college. This research focuses on students majoring in Food who are taught experiment physics using a blended teaching method based in a flipped classroom. After the end of the semester, a Questionnaire Star was used to conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis. The survey found that 93.4% of the students acknowledge this teaching mode, with a majority of them declaring that this teaching mode improved their learning efficiency as well as their understanding and mastery of knowledge and problem-solving ability. It showed that blended teaching should be the norm, not the exception. The survey also found that the effects of watching previews before class determined the degree of learning in the classroom to a certain extent. This means that an emphasis must be put on optimizing the previews' contents as well as coming up with more efficient instruments to ensure students watch the previews. © 2022 IEEE.

Teachers' experiences of teaching online during COVID-19: implications for postpandemic professional development.

As a result of the Great Online Transition (GOT) that occurred during COVID-19, it is increasingly necessary to understand the digital competencies that are required for online and blended learning in the postpandemic era. Postquarantine, higher education institutions must return to on-campus face-to-face learning, a situation which raises questions concerning how to retain the lessons learned from this period of the forced acquisition and innovation of online teaching competencies. In this article, we present the results of an interview-based study of teachers' experiences of online teaching during the pandemic. One hundred fifty-one teachers were interviewed over a period of 2 years during the pandemic. We conducted a hybrid thematic analysis to systematize teachers' experiences. Our results show that despite the problems faced due to the disruption caused by the pandemic, several lessons were learned: teachers employed an array of digital tools to maintain content delivery and promote interaction, deepened their understanding of course design and assessment, and developed an empathic disposition to understand students' situations. We build upon these experiences to generate recommendations for developing digital competencies following the GOT.

Towards the virtualization of university teaching: a methodological change based on three scenarios

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a forced change in university teaching, both methodologically and practically. The University of Granada has created a triple model based on three different scenarios: virtual learning (e-learning), blended learning (b-learning) and face-to-face learning. The objectives that we intend to achieve consist of presenting, analysing and disseminating this pedagogical model created to face future challenges that may arise. For the analysis process, the classroom experience and the results obtained during the three academic years in which this new model has been implemented in one or more of its scenarios will be evaluated. © GKA Ediciones, authors.

Online teaching in Spain after the pandemic. Challenges and opportunities in formal education

The present study examined teachers' perceptions about their teaching practices and use of ICTs before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, by means of two questionnaires. Results showed a general increase in the use of ICTs, although it was less marked in those teachers who used them sporadically. Furthermore, teachers perceived an increase in students' motivation and an improvement of academic results in the school year 2020/21. Teachers also noted the difficulties they found to follow the curriculum, to evaluate students and to solve disruptive behaviors online. © GKA Ediciones, authors.

Interactive Videoconferences in Higher Education: A Proposal to Enhance Learning and Participation

In Higher Education, hybrid sessions have been implemented in higher education that may remain in place beyond the times of teaching emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This mixed modality presents several uncertainties among teachers and students. Especially in the first case, questions arise about how to design the lesson sequencing, which platforms to use, among many others. This research aims to study the perceptions of teachers and students about interactive synchronous videoconferences, carried out by 5 coordinating teachers of 3 different subjects of the Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona. The tools used are Bb Collaborate to manage the videoconference and Nearpod to present the learning content and the interactive activities that favor the interaction among students and with the contents. A qualitative analysis of the teachers' perception of the design and development of the sessions has been carried out through self-reporting and a sample of 82 students from the learning analytics and an online form with open questions. The results indicate that this methodology is adequate with the students' way of learning, increasing their participation. The results indicate that the teachers do not appreciate significant differences with respect to the preparation of the sequencing lesson plan of expository classes, although the level of teachers' digital competence is a key factor. Students and teachers value positively the information in the learning analytics of the platform. These positive results may encourage teachers to use this type of pedagogical approaches and tools based on interactivity.

Exploration of Blended Teaching in Comprehensive English Course Based on Chaoxing Mobile Platform

The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, combined with the high development of information and technology, has changed people's way of living and people's concept of learning, resulting in the increasing attention to teaching reform and renovation assisted by mobile teaching platforms and facilities. The present research makes a tentative study on how to establish an appropriate blended teaching mode based on the practical teaching practice of Comprehensive English Course with Chaoxing Teaching Platform. Through analyzing the teaching process of the unit titled 'Never give in, never, never, never', it points out that blended teaching resource database constructed according to teaching objectives, tasks carefully designed for students' autonomous learning, suitable activities and interaction in the face-to-face classroom teaching, and timely after-class feedback and summarizing, altogether contribute to the formation of the blended teaching mode. The blended teaching mode with the help of Chaoxing Teaching Platform has proven to be beneficial for improving students' autonomous learning ability, promoting interactions between teachers and students, optimizing the teaching effect and enhancing people's awareness of adapting to the rapidly changing educational technology. © 2022 IEEE.

Construction of a Blended Teaching Mode for Medical Parasitology in China during COVID-19 Pandemic

Facing the challenge of COVID-19 pandemic, online education rapidly occupied the daily teaching in China, which promoted the development of "Online+Offline"(blended) teaching. Medical Parasitology majorly aims to cultivate students' basic knowledge of Parasitology and the ability of "diagnosis and control of parasitic diseases". The Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), intelligent teaching software and Parasitology multimedia laboratory are used for blended teaching. Theoretical teaching includes intensive lectures, self-learning and flipped classrooms. Practices are taught in blended manner. The most representative means is the flipped classroom integrating learning with application through "case discussion - laboratory examination - uploading diagnosis basis on line - group report for peer learning". An evaluation combining formative and summative evaluation, online and offline assessment is jointly applied. We selected Clinic Medicine major as the experimental group, the Basic Medicine, Medical Experimental Technology and Biotechnology majors as the control group. The experimental group was taught in the blended teaching mode of "combining virtuality with reality, learning with application";and the control group was taught in the traditional mode of lectures in big group and practices in small groups. The scores of the final computer test and the final offline experimental test were used in comparison. The experiment and theory scores of the experimental group are both significantly higher than that of the control group. The blended teaching is highly recognized by our students, and the teaching mode has been widely demonstrated and recommended to other courses in and out of the university. This mode comprehensively cultivated students' basic knowledge of Parasitology, and the ability of diagnosis and control of parasitic diseases. This blended teaching mode of "combining virtuality with reality, learning with application"effectively improved students' academic performance and application abilities, and well cultivated students' thinking of diagnosis and control of parasitic diseases. © 2022 ACM.

Online or In-Person Course? Meaningful Discussion of Learning Effectiveness and Satisfaction of Microwave Filter Design Course in Graduate Students

Contribution: A research on applying blended teaching in microwave filter design in graduate students. Background: The Covid-19 epidemic has caused many universities worldwide to switch to online courses. Taiwan did not have a large-scale local infection in 2020, so the school has implemented a blended teaching plan, combining online and in-person courses. Intended Outcomes: Discuss the effectiveness and satisfaction of the Microwave Filter Design Course in Graduate Students for two classes, Online or In-person course. Application Design: This study uses a quasi-experiment to teach microwave filter courses in the two classes. The teacher integrated into the Flipped Classroom and Interactive Response System (IRS). Students must use the APP to complete the preclass preview and prepare materials. Class A <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(N$</tex-math> </inline-formula> <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$=$</tex-math> </inline-formula> 14) uses in-person classrooms for the whole course;Class B uses blended teaching. The first eight weeks are synchronized online, then mid-term exams, and in-person courses are used for the next ten weeks. Students in two classes in the last week filled out the course satisfaction questionnaire. Findings: Class B achieved better results in the eighth midterm exam week, showing better learning results. Although students in both classes are highly satisfied with the course, Class A is more satisfied than Class B. For graduate students participating in the microwave filter design course, in-person classrooms and blended teaching can achieve good learning results and satisfaction. However, teachers must pay attention to students’reception and understanding of flipped classrooms when using online teaching. And timely and in-depth guidance on the accuracy of APP use. IEEE

Blended teaching of medical parasitology in China during COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has promoted the development of online teaching in various educational institutions. Different online teaching practice has shown advantages and potential problems. The combination of online and offline teaching (mixed teaching) is a new teaching practice that can exert its advantages simultaneously, and has been wildly used during the COVID-19 pandemic, even being extended to the post-pandemic era. Medical parasitology is a foundation course for medicine and a bridging course towards clinical medicine and preventive medicine. The traditional teaching of medical parasitology has presented many limitations, including outdated teaching concepts and practices, and the disconnection between theory teaching and practice teaching. In response to these difficulties, many innovative ideas and measures have been taken o reform the teaching practice of the foundation medical courses, including updating teaching program, adopting innovative teaching practice (such as blended teaching), and promoting the teaching evaluation method. In this paper, we concluded the blended teaching tools, platforms, manners, effects and evaluation methods in medical parasitology in China during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide information for the teaching reform in the post-pandemic era. © 2022, National Institute of Parasitic Diseases. All rights reserved.

Incorporating MOOC and COVID-19-Related Scientific Papers into Veterinary Microbiology Teaching to Enhance Students' Learning Performance and Professional Recognition.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted a huge adverse influence on global teaching activities and students' psychological status. Veterinary microbiology is mainly concerned with bacterial and viral diseases, including coronavirus diseases. An innovative online-to-offline teaching approach for this course was established to stimulate students' learning initiative and mitigate their anxiety about COVID-19. A well-established massive open online course (MOOC) was first adopted as preview material before class, followed by in-person teaching. Additionally, COVID-19-related scientific papers were also used as pre-class reading material in veterinary microbiology and were further explained in class. The effect of this innovative teaching mode was systematically evaluated by final examination scores and questionnaires. The average score (81.75) and excellence score rating (> 85 scores, 37.3%) resulting from this blended teaching mode were not statistically higher than those of the online-only (79.19, p = .115; 28.6%, p = .317) or offline-only (79.47, p = .151; 27.9%, p = .269) teaching modes. This may be due to the sample size investigated; however, the results indicate that the innovative teaching mode did not decrease teaching quality. Additionally, most subjects (72.9%) were satisfied with the blended mode and supported its future use. Intriguingly, the introduction of COVID-19-related scientific papers helped students understand virology, relieve their anxiety, and increase their professional identity. Collectively, the innovative approach to teaching veterinary microbiology in this study provides a beneficial reference for other teachers to maintain and improve teaching quality.

Academic Staff Adaptation to the Challenges of the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case of Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University

Currently, higher education system is characterized by the growing role of personal ability to adapt to the challenges of COVID-19 and finding opportunities for further development considering the global changes in all spheres of life. It puts pressure on the institutions in general and academic staff in particular. This paper aims at studying the challenges academic staff of the English Language and Methods of Teaching Department of Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and staff???s preparedness and consequent adaptation amid new conditions that are constantly appearing because of the pandemic. The article presents a case study research to answer the following questions: What is the level of academic staff readiness to teach under conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic from a diachronic perspective? In what ways has academic staff adapted to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic? The study uses predominantly quantitative and occasionally qualitative analysis to gain insights into our researched issues. The research has shown a steady increase in the number of department lecturers who feel ready for the challenges of online and blended teaching caused by the pandemic and comfortable with their professional competence due to sustainable adaptation to the current situation. The research prospects are clearly seen in the further process of adaptation and professional activities paradigm re-evaluation under the constantly changing global and local conditions as well as researching the issue in a broader context of similar or corresponding cases.

Factors influencing EFL teachers’ implementation of SPOC-based blended learning in higher vocational colleges in China: A study based on grounded theory

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has gradually promoted blended teaching based on Small Private Online Course (SPOC) as a common teaching practice in most higher education institutions. Teachers play a critical role in the successful implementation of blended teaching. Questions regarding the factors that influence teachers’ implementation strategies for SPOC-based blended teaching in higher vocational colleges, positively or negatively, are raised. This research investigated 63 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers from four higher vocational colleges in China who are implementing SPOC-based blended teaching, encoded the obtained data at three levels, explored factors influencing EFL teachers’ implementation of SPOC-based blended teaching, and constructed a theoretical model of the factors influencing teachers’ implementation of SPOC-based blended teaching in which SPOC-based teaching intention is a pre-influencing factor, whereas the school incentive mechanism and curriculum platform satisfaction serve as situational influencing factors. This study can help EFL teachers improve the implementation of SPOC-based blended teaching and further optimise SPOC-based blended teaching policies and measures for stakeholders in practice. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The Blended Teaching Design and Practice for Physical Education Specialized Course

The proposal of the core competence of the physical education (PE) discipline in the curriculum reform reflects the increasing requirements for the training of talents in the new era, and the occurrence of COVID-19's epidemic era has accelerated the pace of teaching reform. Internet technology plays a vital role in promoting teaching reform during the epidemic period. The large-scale online teaching experience during the epidemic control period makes people realise they need to change education in the post-epidemic era. The new normality of education should be a blended teaching model, the critical point and breakthrough of PE specialized courses reform. This study takes blended learning as the primary research object and puts forward the design strategies for the blended teaching of PE majors from five aspects: the principles of teaching design, teaching methods, teaching resources, teaching process and learning evaluation. Then we select the football specialized course of the Physical Education Department of Handan University as an example to perform the teaching practice and effect analysis. Practical research shows that the teaching of this study can effectively promote students' learning. © 2022 by authors, all rights reserved.