ABSTRACT
THE ESSENCE OF THE HUMANITIES One of the key components determining the entire field of the humanities consists of teaching critical thinking expressed orally and in writing. [...]whatever literary works or languages we work with, ultimately the purpose proves to be to lay the foundation for cultural competence, linguistic skills, research abilities, and writing skills for a constantly changing world. The exchange via online writing thus proved to be a highly innovative method of studying, demanding a high level of concentration and involvement from the professor and the students. Since we emphasize in the humanities in general and in German studies in particular writing skills, this method was successful. Teaching a literature course in German at an upper level via such a chat room proved to be challenging at first, but then it was highly productive because of the intensive writing activities by students and the instructor. Top Hat is also highly useful for taking attendance (once, twice, or three times per class), for quizzes, and for multiple-choice exams. Since questions can be posted so easily online-also during class meetings-students can also be encouraged to get involved in the teaching process themselves by formulating discussion questions for the entire class.
ABSTRACT
[LANGUAGE=”English”] With modern technological advancements, the rise of digital learning has helped teachers and students in many ways;for example, learning is becoming increasingly learner centric. In recent years, learning has been compromised because of school suspensions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital learning has helped to reduce the negative impacts on students' learning, and most students have shown a positive attitude toward digital learning. A learning management system provides a platform for learners to learn and interact with teachers or peers without time and space constraints. Moodle is one of the most popular and widely-used learning management systems. It is open source, offers different functional modules, and is available free of charge. However, according to recent literature, Moodle has several disadvantages. First, the topics discussed by students in the Moodle platform are not focused enough and not easy to be discussed in depth. Second, the interaction is not immediate because of a lack of instant notifications. Third, the interface is not user friendly and is thus difficult to operate. These drawbacks can hinder students' learning. Office 365 is another digital system that assists students' learning. Various functions of Office 365, such as Teams's real-time notifications and OneNote's recording function, complement Moodle. This study investigated the effects of after-school activities conducted through different media on students' motivation, learning achievement, and peer interaction.In present study, after-school activities were conducted face-to-face or via two learning platforms, Moodle and Office 365;the learning platform was considered the independent variables. In total, 143 middle school students were recruited as participants for an after-school activity and distributed into the face-to-face, Moodle, or Office 365 group. The quantitative data of three scales concerning with learning motivation, learning achievement and peer interaction were collected to represent their learning performance. Qualitative data were collected through textual analysis based on student responses to open-ended questions. The quantitative and qualitative data were then statistically analyzed with SPSS Statistics 23.The results of the quantitative analysis revealed the following results: (1) No significant difference was observed in learning motivation among the different groups. The reasons for the result may be that students were not familiar with learning management systems, the interface and function of the learning systems were complex, or student motivation to learn English was low. (2) The learning achievement of the face-to-face group was significantly higher than that of the Office 365 group. Office 365 has many functions, but it also increases the cognitive load on students. Additionally, middle school students in Taiwan are inexperienced with using learning management systems because of the lack of opportunities to do so. Furthermore, the focus of this research was not the formal school curriculum but after-school activities;therefore, gauging learning effectiveness was challenging. Finally, students are more familiar with face-to-face discussions, and this comfort increases the effectiveness of this mode of learning. (3) Students in the Office 365 group had a higher tendency to interact with peers than those in the face-to-face group. Interacting through Office 365 (as it provides voice and text input for discussions) removes the stress of public speaking, such as that experienced in face-to-face classes, thus increasing participation. However, the peer interaction in the Office 365 group was not significantly higher than that in the Moodle group because the students using Office 365 mainly used text input, which decreased the efficiency of their discussion. (4) Some groups of students using the learning management system (no matter Moodle group or Office 365 group) posted the answers to assignments in the chat room even before much group discussion, or they divided th work among themselves, and not discussing the assignment at all. The students seemed to be unfamiliar with the way in which group discussions are conducted through digital learning platforms. This inexperience was reflected in their lack of teamwork. (5) The ratio of discussions students posted on the Moodle platform (Moodle group) was positively correlated with their learning achievement and interaction with peers. The ratio of discussions students posted on the Office 365 platform (Office 365 group) was positively correlated with their learning achievement and learning motivation.The results have several implications. First, teachers should consider the most appropriate form of discussion for middle school students when planning group discussion activities during and after lessons. Second, although middle school students are better at learning through face-to-face discussion, the demand for distance learning and the use of digital platforms are increasing. Teachers should encourage the use of digital platforms by planning more exercises to implement through these platforms, thus improving students' learning performance as well as their efficiency in using these platforms. Third, the students in the Office 365 group had a higher tendency to interact with peers than did those in the face-to-face group. Thus, teacher may use Office 365 initially to make students willing to use digital platforms and for them to get familiar with its usage. Once students are comfortable using the platform, teachers can shift the focus to enhancing the effectiveness of learning. Fourth, when students are engaged in group discussions in after-school activities, only a limited number of students may participate, or students may directly provide answers without discussing them with their peers. Providing students with instructions and training on conducting group discussions may help them make more effective use of learning management systems. Finally, regarding the design of learning management systems, the registration and login procedures should be simplified, and the platform interface and operating functions should be more effectively integrated to make them user friendly. Doing so may enable novices to start and consistently use these systems more easily and reduce the time required by users to familiarize themselves with such systems.[LANGUAGE=”Chinese”] 本研究目的在比較以面對面、Moodle、Office 365進行課後活動，對學生英文的學習動機、學習成效與同儕互動之影響。以課後活動形式為自變項，分成面對面組、Moodle組、Office 365組，分別以三種不同方式進行英文課程之課後活動，如課後分組討論、課後作業等，並探討其在不同層面之差異。本研究採量化為主、質化為輔的分析方式，以六班143位國中三年級學生為研究對象進行實驗，每種課後活動形式各兩個班級參與。研究結果顯示：一、不同課後活動形式對學習動機無顯著差異；二、面對面組之學習成效顯著優於Office 365組；三、Office 365組之同儕互動有高於面對面組之傾向；四、針對討論歷程分析發現，透過Moodle、Office 365之學習平台進行討論，會出現特定組員直接貼出解答、各組員直接任務分工等未進行小組討論之情況發生；五、對Moodle組而言，各組員之發言比例與學習成效、同儕互動為正相關；對Office 365組而言，各組員之發言比例與學習成效、學習動機為正相關。Alternate abstract:”English”] With modern technological advancements, the rise of digital learning has helped teachers and students in many ways;for example, learning is becoming increasingly learner centric. In recent years, learning has been compromised because of school suspensions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital learning has helped to reduce the negative impacts on students' learning, and most students have shown a positive attitude toward digital learning. A learning management system provides a platform for learners to learn a d interact with teachers or peers without time and space constraints. Moodle is one of the most popular and widely-used learning management systems. It is open source, offers different functional modules, and is available free of charge. However, according to recent literature, Moodle has several disadvantages. First, the topics discussed by students in the Moodle platform are not focused enough and not easy to be discussed in depth. Second, the interaction is not immediate because of a lack of instant notifications. Third, the interface is not user friendly and is thus difficult to operate. These drawbacks can hinder students' learning. Office 365 is another digital system that assists students' learning. Various functions of Office 365, such as Teams's real-time notifications and OneNote's recording function, complement Moodle. This study investigated the effects of after-school activities conducted through different media on students' motivation, learning achievement, and peer interaction.In present study, after-school activities were conducted face-to-face or via two learning platforms, Moodle and Office 365;the learning platform was considered the independent variables. In total, 143 middle school students were recruited as participants for an after-school activity and distributed into the face-to-face, Moodle, or Office 365 group. The quantitative data of three scales concerning with learning motivation, learning achievement and peer interaction were collected to represent their learning performance. Qualitative data were collected through textual analysis based on student responses to open-ended questions. The quantitative and qualitative data were then statistically analyzed with SPSS Statistics 23.The results of the quantitative analysis revealed the following results:(1) No significant difference was observed in learning motivation among the different groups. The reasons for the result may be that students were not familiar with learning management systems, the interface and function of the learning systems were complex, or student motivation to learn English was low. (2) The learning achievement of the face-to-face group was significantly higher than that of the Office 365 group. Office 365 has many functions, but it also increases the cognitive load on students. Additionally, middle school students in Taiwan are inexperienced with using learning management systems because of the lack of opportunities to do so. Furthermore, the focus of this research was not the formal school curriculum but after-school activities;therefore, gauging learning effectiveness was challenging. Finally, students are more familiar with face-to-face discussions, and this comfort increases the effectiveness of this mode of learning. (3) Students in the Office 365 group had a higher tendency to interact with peers than those in the face-to-face group. Interacting through Office 365 (as it provides voice and text input for discussions) removes the stress of public speaking, such as that experienced in face-to-face classes, thus increasing participation. However, the peer interaction in the Office 365 group was not significantly higher than that in the Moodle group because the students using Office 365 mainly used text input, which decreased the efficiency of their discussion. (4) Some groups of students using the learning management system (no matter Moodle group or Office 365 group) posted the answers to assignments in the chat room even before much group discussion, or they divided the work among themselves, and not discussing the assignment at all. The students seemed to be unfamiliar with the way in which group discussions are conducted through digital learning platforms. This inexperience was reflected in their lack of teamwork. (5) The ratio of discussions students posted on the Moodle platform (Moodle group) was positively correlated with their learning achievement and interaction with peers. The ratio of discussions students posted on the Office 365 platform (Office 365 group) was positively correlated with their lea ning achievement and learning motivation.The results have several implications. First, teachers should consider the most appropriate form of discussion for middle school students when planning group discussion activities during and after lessons. Second, although middle school students are better at learning through face-to-face discussion, the demand for distance learning and the use of digital platforms are increasing. Teachers should encourage the use of digital platforms by planning more exercises to implement through these platforms, thus improving students' learning performance as well as their efficiency in using these platforms. Third, the students in the Office 365 group had a higher tendency to interact with peers than did those in the face-to-face group. Thus, teacher may use Office 365 initially to make students willing to use digital platforms and for them to get familiar with its usage. Once students are comfortable using the platform, teachers can shift the focus to enhancing the effectiveness of learning. Fourth, when students are engaged in group discussions in after-school activities, only a limited number of students may participate, or students may directly provide answers without discussing them with their peers. Providing students with instructions and training on conducting group discussions may help them make more effective use of learning management systems. Finally, regarding the design of learning management systems, the registration and login procedures should be simplified, and the platform interface and operating functions should be more effectively integrated to make them user friendly. Doing so may enable novices to start and consistently use these systems more easily and reduce the time required by users to familiarize themselves with such systems.Alternate abstract:”Chinese”] 本研究目的在比較以面對面、Moodle、Office 365進行課後活動，對學生英文的學習動機、學習成效與同儕互動之影響。以課後活動形式為自變項，分成面對面組、Moodle組、Office 365組，分別以三種不同方式進行英文課程之課後活動，如課後分組討論、課後作業等，並探討其在不同層面之差異。本研究採量化為主、質化為輔的分析方式，以六班143位國中三年級學生為研究對象進行實驗，每種課後活動形式各兩個班級參與。研究結果顯示：一、不同課後活動形式對學習動機無顯著差異；二、面對面組之學習成效顯著優於Office 365組；三、Office 365組之同儕互動有高於面對面組之傾向；四、針對討論歷程分析發現，透過Moodle、Office 365之學習平台進行討論，會出現特定組員直接貼出解答、各組員直接任務分工等未進行小組討論之情況發生；五、對Moodle組而言，各組員之發言比例與學習成效、同儕互動為正相關；對Office 365組而言，各組員之發言比例與學習成效、學習動機為正相關。
ABSTRACT
Before the pandemic, an introductory pharmaceutics course was redesigned to integrate active deep-learning tasks. Due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the instructor decided to implement a fully synchronous online course format. The primary objective of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of the transfer to the online synchronous context by monitoring its impact on students' performance, perceptions, and beliefs. Findings from this study indicated that highly integrated active learning tasks successfully transferred to the online format. That is, student performance, perceptions, and opinions were similar or slightly better when compared with the face-to-face format of the course.
ABSTRACT
This paper summarizes our experiences in running the REU site in a virtual environment at the University of Louisville. This is our first year to run the REU site. While our original plan when we proposed this project was to have a traditional in-person program, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the concerns about safety for both faculty mentors and students involved made us decide to run it virtually. While we had to cancel some in-person activities such as face-to-face meetings, tours, and social events, we also added virtual events such as private and group MS Team meeting, Slack chat rooms (channels), and online movie nights and discussions. Nine out of the ten research projects were conducted entirely virtually. For one project that involves hardware component, we managed to mail a hardware kit to the student so that she could still work on her project remotely. Student evaluations indicate that this virtual REU site program, though in its first year, was quite successful and satisfactory. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.
ABSTRACT
Over the years, the domain of psychological therapy and counselling has significantly expanded and established different forums to provide mental health services. The use of virtual therapy for providing mental support to individuals has drastically increased by professionals over the internet through emails, chatting over voice, audio platforms or chat rooms. The world was exposed to certain triggers initiated due to the unprecedented crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet therapy applications have helped alleviate mental health challenges and maximize benefits towards the psychological wellbeing of the society. However, evaluation of its efficiency in actually helping people during a crisis is important. The present study aims to (a) Evaluate online counselling services and its effectiveness in providing the necessary emotional support during the pandemic and (b) Understand perspective of trained experts and members on e-therapy platforms. Initially, the study carefully reviewed existing literature on virtual therapy. An online survey was designed to garner the opinions of over 100 mental health professionals about online counselling services. The results reported, about 72% of the experts would consider shifting to virtual platforms during difficult situations for their clients. This paper is particularly useful for mental health professionals evaluating the shift to online platforms for their clients. In the future, researchers could develop technology to enhance the process of e-therapy for the clients and the experts. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Als die COVID-19-Pandemie über die Welt hereinbrach, waren viele Menschen gezwungen, sich auf online-basierte Routinen einzustellen, darunter auch qualitative Forscher*innen, die nach alternativen Möglichkeiten zur Erhebung aussagekräftiger Daten suchten. Während Fokusgruppen traditionell Face to Face durchgeführt werden, bieten Fortschritte bei Online-Videokonferenzanwendungen neue Methoden zur Datenerhebung, die jedoch bisher nur selten untersucht wurden. In diesem Artikel berichten wir über die Erfahrungen von 12 Doktorand*innen mit der Durchführung von Fokusgruppen unter Verwendung von Zoom im Rahmen eines Kurses zu qualitativen Interviewmethoden. Wir reflektieren Chancen und Herausforderungen, die wir als Moderator*innen und Teilnehmer*innen bei der Nutzung von Zoom erlebten z.B. bei der Vorbereitung oder in Bezug auf Rapport, die Einbindung anderer digitaler Tools und von Internetverbindungen. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die Durchführung von Online-Fokusgruppen unter Verwendung von Zoom insgesamt eine positive Erfahrung war und mit Face-to-Face-Fokusgruppen vergleichbar ist. Möglichkeiten der Teilnehmer*innenrekrutierung, die Sicherheitsmerkmale von Zoom und die Nutzung von Zoom und allgemeiner neuen Technologien sollten auch jenseits der Pandemie weiter erforscht werden.Alternate :As the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the world, it forced many people to adapt to an online-based routine, including qualitative researchers looking for alternative ways to collect meaningful data. While focus groups are traditionally conducted in-person, advances with online videoconferencing applications present a new method to collect data, however, few studies have explored this. In this article we present 12 doctoral students' experiences with conducting focus groups using the videoconferencing application Zoom during a qualitative methods course on interviewing methods. Through this self-study qualitative analysis, participants reflected on the opportunities and challenges experienced as both moderators and participants using Zoom including: preparation, rapport, incorporating other digital tools, and internet connectivity. In conclusion, doing focus groups online using Zoom was a positive experience overall and comparable to in-person focus groups for collecting qualitative data, despite the introduction of technology. More research on participant recruitment, new technology, Zoom's security features, and Zoom's use outside of a pandemic should be further explored.