The current study aimed to evaluate an online learning experience based on the music model of motivation in an educational technology post-graduate program in Oman. In order to understand the motivational perceptions of students regarding the instruction, a two-phase, sequential explanatory mixed method research design was conducted in this study.…

Colleges implement success courses to improve student outcomes. Since expanding its curriculum to include nine success courses, Illinois Eastern Community Colleges (IECC)--a multi-college community college district in rural, southeastern Illinois--has not determined the efficacy of these courses on student success. The purpose of this study was to…

Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning (FTSL) is an instructional strategy that provides an effective framework for (re)designing course learning experiences to achieve student-centered learning goals. Originally developed for in-person courses, little research exists around its application to effectively design distance learning (DL) courses.…

This study examined how students perceive the impact of a mandatory first-year seminar course on their success and persistence at a 2-year institution. Specifically, the study focused on the influence of the course curriculum and objectives to promote success and perseverance and how the campus community supports student success and persistence.…

Social media has been used in massive open online courses (MOOCS) from the beginning of the MOOC movement. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Hangouts have provided collaborative and engaging spaces for MOOC students to work together on projects and activities, and for instructors to guide students. Instructional…

The wash-rinse-repeat model of refreshing courses each term might be a financially beneficial model for the institution, yet is it serving students the best educational experience? If all that is monitored in the pre-flight check is for broken hyperlinks and refreshed dates, who is ensuring the quality delivery? Many institutions proudly boast…

Traditionally teachers display the learning outline at the beginning and conclusions at the end of didactic teaching sessions, and students may find it difficult to understand how teaching activities relate to learning objectives and what they should study for assessments. We introduced the "concept-sharing approach" in our…

Community colleges increasingly turn to various types of student success courses for their potential as high-impact practices to foster college completion. Despite commonly held assumptions of what characterizes these interventions, upon close inspection there is an un-scrutinized, circular confounding of their goals and means, which limits the…

The primary goal of this research was to investigate AOU students' conceptions of the quality of online experience through the learning management system in supporting their classroom tutorials. A 32-item questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected sample (205) of Elementary Education students at the AOU Jordan Branch. On one hand, the…

Aim/Purpose: During the education of future engineers and experts in the field of computer science and information communication technology, the achievement of learning outcomes related to different levels of cognitive ability and knowledge dimensions can be a challenge. Background: Teachers need to design an appropriate set of activities for…

The TRiO Program is not an acronym; it refers to a number (initially three, now eight) of U.S federal programs, which increase access to higher education for economically disadvantaged students. TRiO programs are designed to assist first-generation college students, persons with disabilities, and low-income persons. This qualitative research study…

This study examined which teaching methods are most highly correlated with student progress on relevant course objectives in first- and second-year (lower-level) general education courses. We specifically sought to identify teaching methods that distinguish progress made by students taking a general education course from that made by students…

This study evaluated syllabi (N = 87) from introductory advertising and public relations courses to examine to what extent and how stated course goals and assignments signal the overall learning orientation of a course and which type of learning orientation--mastery or performance--was most common. Mastery orientations emphasize intrinsic rewards,…

This Innovative Practice Category Work In Progress paper presents an application of machine learning and data mining to student performance data in an undergraduate electrical engineering program. We are developing an analytical approach to enhance retention in the program especially among underrepresented groups. Our approach will provide…

The chemistry department at Washington & Jefferson College implemented an "organic first" curriculum in the fall semester of 2005. Assessment data suggest that the net impact of this change for the department and associated constituencies has been positive: (i) Student outcomes have generally not been impacted by the curricular…