In February 2020, the author was offered a position as a postdoctoral teaching fellow at a large land-grant college in the American West. A couple weeks later, COVID-19 hit in full force. As the newly hired postdoctoral teaching fellow, the author's department chair tasked the author with a challenging assignment -- to develop an asynchronous…

Continuing a tradition dating back to 1968, this tenth study in a longitudinal series of surveys of the basic communication course has two goals: (1) to provide descriptive information about the basic course contemporarily and over time; and (2) to propose a framework for interpreting the impact of the extraordinary national and international…

In this descriptive analysis, we consider the experiences of students who prefer face-to-face (F2F) classes but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had no alternative other than taking their introductory biology class online during the 2020-2021 academic year. We conducted focus group interviews with 12 college students who enrolled in an asynchronous…

Generative large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT can quickly produce informative essays on various topics. However, the information generated cannot be fully trusted, as artificial intelligence (AI) can make factual mistakes. This poses challenges for using such tools in college classrooms. To address this, an adaptable assignment called the…

We examine the impact of a gamified mobile learning application on students' exam success in a mandatory introductory accounting course. The app was developed with the particular needs of first-year students in mind. It provides elements like quizzes as well as organizational and communicative elements helping students structure their daily life…

Generative AI is a disruptive technology that has the potential to transform many aspects of how computer science is taught. Like previous innovations such as high-level programming languages and block-based programming languages, generative AI lowers the technical expertise necessary to create working programs, bringing the power of computation…

Scientific literacy is an increasingly important skill for today and tomorrow's citizens. Encapsulated in the definition of being scientifically literate, one must be knowledgeable about science and technology in context and be able to interpret and communicate the information well. Introductory science courses, like general chemistry, are key…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can foster education but can also be misused to breach academic integrity. Large language models like ChatGPT are able to generate solutions for individual assessments that are expected to be completed independently. There are a number of automated detectors for AI assisted work. However, most of them are not dedicated…

This study examines the impact of AI course assistants on student learning experiences in online undergraduate courses at Los Angeles Pacific University. A controlled experiment involving 92 students across treatment and control groups was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of AI assistants developed by Nectir. The treatment group had access…

In an effort to boost enrollment, remain competitive, and to offer students flexible schedules, two-year colleges throughout the nation have been offering more online courses to attract students from all races, ethnicities, and genders. Gateway courses are among the many types of courses being offered both in synchronous and asynchronous models.…

Teaching and learning in introductory programming courses is an overwhelming task for many course instructors and learners. Given the rise of digital and technological advancements, it is only wise to use these affordances for education. Microlearning is a successful technology-enhanced learning format with many features that might help…

Background: Automatically graded programming assignments provide instant feedback to students and significantly reduce manual grading time for instructors. However, creating comprehensive suites of test cases for programming problems within automatic graders can be time-consuming and complex. The effort needed to define test suites may deter some…

This article presents an introduction to the use of remote sensing for the study of climate-land interactions. The article begins with a brief review of current climate change knowledge and then examines the bidirectional relationship within climate-land interactions. Using select examples from the scientific literature, the article discusses the…

ChatGPT has emerged as a popular choice in education that has transformed the experience for both teachers and students. This study investigates the performance of ChatGPT in aiding learning in the biochemistry classroom in two ways. We sought to determine how effective ChatGPT 3.5 was in generating study materials for an introductory biochemistry…

Tangible teaching aids can provide a valuable supplement to traditional textbook-based learning of fundamental STEM concepts. 3D-printed templates detailing the construction of simple parallel and series circuits were incorporated into the lesson plans for 6th-grade introductory physics. Aiming to introduce the concepts of junction and loop rules…