Distance learning is one of the most important forces driving educational reform today. Headlines touting the benefits of educational technology are commonplace in journal articles and newspaper and television reports. In the past five years, we have seen an explosion in the number of computer-mediated courses offered at two- and four-year institutions. An area of particular growth has been that of asynchronous online instruction. This growth has spurred the development of a new construct, the study of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL). Research on collaborative learning within the setting of online instruction is limited and anecdotal at best. Emergent research on CSCL shows learners in this learning environment are not isolated. It is a vibrant network of people--an interactive learning community--that is not limited by time, place, or the constraints of a classroom. Examination of the practical application of this theory is critical, especially when withdrawal rates for distance learning courses can range from 30-80%. Therefore, there is a need to understand the experiences and perceptions of distant learning students and the instructional strategies used by faculty within the online classroom where the social and cultural context of the learning community is created. The purpose of this qualitative study was to observe the pedagogical practices used by online instructors and examine the perceptions and characteristics of those students taking community college online courses. Then, compare this finding to what research says is needed for online instruction to support and foster computer supported collaborative learning. This study focused on four community college instructors who teach web-based courses in English, developmental mathematics, history and management. The study also examined the demographics of the students taking these online courses in order to provide a descriptive background of the participants and to assess their perceptions and experiences. The research questions addressed in this study were: 1) What pedagogical strategies do instructors teaching online courses use?; 2) How do online instructors promote collaborative learning communities?; and 3) What are the learning experiences of the students who take online courses? / text

Studies have shown that girls’ attitudes toward math are not as positive as that of boys (Fennema, & Sherman, 1977; Eccles, & Blumenfeld, 1985; Guimond, & Roussel, 2001). Crucially, research has also shown that this gender imbalance is a learned trait, female students in high school are more likely to have negative perceptions of Mathematics, than female students in elementary school (Spears Brown, & Bigler, 2004; Maritnot, 2012). This mixed methods research study examined the perceptions of gender bias in Grade 8 mathematics at West Rock Middle School, surveying 45 participants, (20 male, 25 female). A modified Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale, in combination with a Forgasz and Leder Who and Mathematics Scale, was used to uncover a slight variability in achievement and attitudinal scores between genders in a middle school mathematics class. A follow-up semi-structured interview with six students (two male, four female) determined that that variance seemed not to be due to a student perception of gender bias, but, rather, a multitude of attitudinal concerns. / Graduate / 0280 / 0727 / 0525 / icooper@uvic.ca

Although the use of peer assessment in MOOCs is common, there has been little empirical research about peer assessment in MOOCs, especially composition MOOCs. This study aimed to address issues in peer assessment in a MOOC-based composition course, in particular student perceptions, peer-grading scores versus instructor-grading scores, and peer commentary versus instructor commentary. The findings provided evidence that peer assessment was well received by the majority of student participants from their perspective as both peer evaluators of other students’ papers and as students being evaluated by their peers. However, many student participants also expressed negative feelings about certain aspects of peer assessment, for example peers’ lack of qualifications, peers’ negative and critical comments, and unfairness of peer grading. Statistical analysis of grades given by student peers and instructors revealed a consistency among grades given by peers but a low consistency between grades given by peers and those given by instructors, with the peer grades tending to be higher than those assigned by instructors. In addition, analysis of peer and instructor commentary revealed that peers’ commentary differed from instructors’ on specific categories of writing issues (idea development, organization, or sentence-level). For instance, on average peers focused a greater percentage of their comments (70%) on sentence-level issues than did instructors (64.7%), though both groups devoted more comments to sentence-level issues than to the two other issue categories. Peers’ commentary also differed from instructors’ in the approaches their comments took to communicating the writing issue (through explanation, question, or correction). For example, in commenting on sentence-level errors, on average 85% of peers’ comments included a correction as compared to 96% of instructors’ comments including that approach. In every comment category (idea development, organization, sentence-level), peers used a lower percentage of explanation—at least 10% lower—than did instructors. Overall, findings and conclusions of the study have limitations due to (1) the small size of composition MOOC studied and small sample size of graded papers used for the analysis, (2) the lack of research and scarcity of document archives on issues the study discussed, (3) the lack of examination of factors (i.e. level of education, cultural background, and English language proficiency) that might affect student participants’ perception of peer assessment, and (4) the lack of analysis of head notes, end notes, and length of comments. However, the study has made certain contributions to the existing literature, especially student perception of peer assessment in the composition MOOC in this study. Analysis of the grades given by peers and instructors in the study provides evidence-based information about whether online peer assessment should be used in MOOCs, especially composition MOOCs and what factors might affect the applicability and consistency of peer grading in MOOCs. In addition, analysis of the data provides insights into types of comments students in a composition MOOC made as compared to those instructors made. The findings of the study as a whole can inform the design of future research on peer assessment in composition MOOCs and indicate questions designers of peer assessment training and practice in such MOOCs could find helpful to consider.

The purpose of this study is to explore students’ perceptions and experiences of the school-subject Swedish. Ten qualitative interviews with students in school year nine have been carried out and the results of these interviews constitute the basis of this study.   The result shows that students have a straight-forward attitude towards Swedish as a school-subject. The students identify skills such as reading, writing and speaking, and work in school mainly concerns perfecting these skills. The students think of Swedish as a subject with a clear purpose and find it important and useful.   The result also shows that the students want grading for the purpose of further motivation. However, grading alone is not enough. The pupils also need comments about their work. What is good and what could be improved?   The study further shows the importance of good student-teacher relations. It is necessary to communicate goals, aims, strengths and weaknesses for progression to take place.

<p> There is little research that examines differences in perceptions of need-supportive practices between teachers and students. In the current study, three research purposes were (1) to examine variabilities of teacher and student absolute or relative rating gaps in need-supportive practices, (2) to investigate the relations between absolute or relative rating gaps of teacher and student perceived need-supportive practices and student outcomes, and (3) moderating effects on the relations between teacher-student perceptions gaps of need-supportive practices and student outcomes. Participants were 581 5^th and 6^th students and their 29 teachers in Seoul, South Korea. Students completed questionnaires about teacher need-supportive practices, motivation, basic psychological needs (perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and autonomous motivation. Teachers also answered questionnaires about their own need-supportive practices and autonomous motivation. One-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc tests were used to examine the variabilities of teacher and student rating gaps of need-supportive practices. Also, hierarchical linear modeling was employed to test the hypothesized models. Student sex and their beginning-of-year achievement were controlled for throughout the analyses.</p><p> The results showed that absolute rating gap for structure was significantly smaller than the absolute rating gaps for both autonomy support and involvement. Also, the relative rating gap for autonomy support was significantly smaller than the relative rating gap for both structure and involvement, but the relative rating gap of involvement was significantly larger than the relative rating gaps for autonomy support and structure. Regarding relations between rating gaps and student outcomes, a smaller teacher-student absolute rating gap for involvement was related to greater student autonomous motivation, and perceived competence and relatedness. Additionally, students with overestimating teachers tended to report lower student autonomous motivation, and low need satisfaction than students with underestimating teachers. Teacher autonomous motivation and teacher experience functioned as moderators.</p><p> The findings revealed the importance of reducing perception gaps between teachers and students about need-supportive practices. In particular, the findings showed the significance of perception gaps about involvement for student outcomes. In addition, the current study indicates the importance of examining both absolute and relative rating gaps between teachers and students.</p><p></p>

The residential meal experience has certain unique characteristics that can be attributed to both the socio-demographic profile of the student and the type of food service provided. These characteristics result in specific expectations that should be satisfied to meet the organisational and financial goals of the service provider and the University. The main challenges include addressing cultural diversity of captive consumers and providing for the specific needs of Generation Y. Globally there is an increased effort to determine the level of satisfaction of students with their meal experiences, in order to improve the food service provided. Limited research within the unique multi-cultural South African context; the changing demographic profile of Pretoria University students since 1996, and the increase in negative media reports regarding foodservice provided on campus motivated the urgent need for an investigation. The aim of this study was to describe the satisfaction of the University of Pretoria‟s residential students regarding their meal experience in terms of the food itself, the service and the ambience, in order to provide the University‟s Department of Residence Affairs and Accommodation with recommendations to improve the meal experience offered by taking into account the demographic profile of students. To obtain the relevant data to meet the stated aim, focus group discussions in which probing questions were asked of the participants were conducted in order to develop a questionnaire. Self-administered questionnaires were issued to a stratified random sample of 878 respondents from 22 responding residences. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and the chi-square test. - vi - Results indicated that most respondents were satisfied with the meal experience. Respondents were most satisfied with the ambience and least satisfied with the food. Respondents were most satisfied with the sensory and portion size attributes, but least satisfied with the price attributes of the food. Respondents were most satisfied with the tangible and empathy attributes of the service and most satisfied with the cleanliness and neatness attributes of the ambience. Food was ranked as most important followed by service and ambience. Freshness, nutritional value and cost (value for money) were ranked the most important attributes of food. Operating hours and cleanliness (neatness) were ranked most important for service and ambience respectively. The food dimension was identified as a priority for improvement, specifically with respect to: the price of both booked meals and commercial items, regular incorporation of new menu items, healthy/nutritious food and variety of fruit and vegetables provided. Apart from the food attributes the availability of stock at item sales and the operating hours in general, were identified as attributes of the service requiring improvement. In addition, statistically significant relationships were found between satisfaction and specific profile characteristics such as ethnic group, gender and the number of years using a specific dining hall. The results of the open-ended question confirmed the findings of the rest of the questionnaire. This study has contributed to the limited literature on student satisfaction regarding their meal experiences at residential dining halls. Valuable recommendations for improvement of the residential meal experience were provided. / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Consumer Science / unrestricted

As online learning is an important part of higher education, the effectiveness of online learning has been tested with different methods. Although the literature regarding online learning effectiveness has been related to various factors, a more comprehensive review of the factors may result in broader understanding of online learning effectiveness. Therefore the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among online learning effectiveness, interactivity, collaboration, communication media, and group trust. A student survey based on online learning effectiveness, interactivity, collaboration, communication media, group trust, and demographic information was used in this study. All these variables were used as predictor variables. A total of 401 responses were received during summer 2013 from a southeastern university. Different models were compared by using multiple linear regression. Results of the best predicting model showed interactivity was the strongest predictor of online learning effectiveness, followed by previous online grades, age, employment status, number of online courses taken, and ethnicity. These predictors explained 38% of the variances in online learning effectiveness. Findings of this study provide valuable information for online instructors and university administrators.

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Research conclusions concerning predictors of academic success have been, at best, less than convincing. In fact, these conclusions are more conflicting or mixed when emotional constructs are used. As a result, modern curriculum developers as well as classroom instructors seem to deemphasize, if not ignore, the role of the affective domain in student learning. This is rather surprising considering that psychology continues to play such an important role in education. For decades, researchers have disagreed about the role played by three primary emotional concepts: self-esteem, parental involvement and student perception as predictors of students' academic success. This study attempts to determine which of these constructs, singly or in combination, can predict students' academic success and if the inclusion of any from among a selected group of demographic variables - socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity and student grade level- can alleviate or at least mitigate the discrepancies of prior research conclusions. A survey using a five point Likert scale was developed to collect data from 164 students in grades 3-7 in a select Philadelphia Charter School. The data were analyzed using Varimax Factor Rotation, Pearson Product-Moment Correlations and Multiple Regression to find answers to four research questions. The results of the analyses using only the emotional constructs were not significant; however, when the demographic constructs were included, specifically the students' grade levels, significant results were found. This study does not settle the controversy over whether or not the emotional constructs are authentic predictors of students' academic success. Nevertheless, the study does give insight into the significance of including the demographic factor of student grade level as a predictor of student academic success. Consequently, the results of this study suggest that any research using emotional constructs to predict the academic success of primary school students should include the various grade levels of the students. / Educational Psychology

ABSTRACT Intimate partner violence is a widely recognized problem in today’s society and in the social work field. It is also often considered one of the most complicated issues to adequately address and prevent. There are many challenges in understanding how IPV can occur and worsen over time, as well as why some victims choose to stay with their abusers. Intervening in relationships and families that are experiencing IPV is not an easy task, especially if the social worker who is dealing with the issue is not knowledgeable or has pre-conceived biases about domestic violence. In this study, the terms Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Domestic Violence (DV) were used interchangeably as both terms describe some type of abusive behavior by one individual towards another in a relationship. This quantitative study assessed the perceptions of social work students in the CSUSB MSW program towards victims of IPV who stay with their abusers. Participants completed an online survey that was created by the researcher using Qualtrics software. The study hypothesized that students’ perceptions about IPV victims varied depending on their personal and professional experience with IPV. This hypothesis was not supported by the data. Furthermore, the study hypothesized that students’ perceptions of IPV victims varied by the students’ education levels. This hypothesis was not supported by the data. The study is limited by a small sample of participants from one particular MSW program; these findings cannot be generalized to all social work students or to social workers in general. These findings and their implications for social work practice and curriculum are discussed.