Academic literature on the topic 'Textbook, coursework'

Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Alverno College is a small Catholic liberal arts college for women that features a unique ability-based curriculum and a rigorous tradition of assessment of student learning. The library plays an important role by providing resources and services that support the unique curriculum. Until recently, the collection development policy specified that library resources not include textbooks. However, in an effort to address concerns associated with rising textbook costs, student retention, and students’ inability to purchase materials needed for their coursework, the library altered its policy and established an open reserve textbook collection.

This paper investigates intercultural sensitivity as an expected outcome of an Arabic as a foreign language class in higher education. The study used pretest and posttest design to measure the change in 26 students’ intercultural sensitivity after a semester of language study. The participants studied elementary level Arabic as a foreign language at an American university in the northeast United States. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was used to measure intercultural sensitivity. No significant difference was found in the Arabic students’ levels of intercultural sensitivity as measured by the IDI, on average. The students’ Arabic instructor was interviewed, and the elementary level Arabic textbook was critically reviewed to understand how students’ intercultural sensitivity might be improved; a primary recommendation is to provide instructors with training on incorporating culture into foreign language curriculum.

From 1984 to 1990, more than 400 students, taught by four different instructors, participated in psychology science fairs as part of their introductory psychology course. A sample of 110 students in upper level psychology courses responded anonymously to a questionnaire assessing their retrospective impressions about their introductory psychology course, current course selections and performance, and future academic plans. Students who had participated in a science fair (n = 30) gave significantly higher ratings than students in other introductory psychology courses (n = 80) to understanding basic principles and their application to everyday life, learning from the instructor and textbook, being prepared for other psychology courses, and having an opportunity to explore topics of interest. Science fair participants also reported exerting more effort in their coursework and being more likely to have taken another course from their introductory psychology instructor. Results suggested that a science fair can provide a unique, valuable, and memorable experience for students.

Many game-based instructional designs have demonstrated effectiveness for a variety of educational outcomes, although typically in limited contexts. In this article, we report the results of a four-year study testing the extent to which a game-based learning approach to undergraduate engineering education demonstrating promising results in a university course was transportable to other engineering courses and universities. We evaluated students’ conceptual understanding, emotional engagement (with the Experience Sampling Method), and experience when using the video game, Spumone, for their coursework compared to a textbook-based control condition. Multilevel models and other quantitative analyses showed that the effect of the experimental condition (i.e., game-based) on conceptual understanding and student engagement was not significant. Based on a content analysis of students’ feedback, however, the students reported a positive experience with game-based learning for their assignments overall. Areas of need towards successful implementation of the game-based learning intervention were also examined. This study has important implications for the salience of implementation issues including adequate training and continuing teacher professional development, and ongoing supports for instructors and students to aid in the learning of concepts that the game was intended to teach.

Universities currently are exploring an array of instructional media to facilitate the delivery of instruction. Consensus from the studies indicates that there is no significant difference in the achievement of students who participate in traditional or online coursework. However, little research has compared traditional learning with the new multimedia online technologies that are becoming more prevalent in distance education. This study investigated the achievement, student satisfaction, and instructor course evaluations of pre-service general education students who participated in three special education courses in which a variety of instructional media and methods were used. The media used were: (a) a traditional classroom, (b) an online classroom (WebCT), and a (c) class-in-a-box via multimedia CD-ROMs. The various methods used to deliver the instructional content included PowerPoint notes, lecture notes, digital videos, and the textbook. Results of the study revealed that there were no significant differences found between the achievement of the students and the three conditions (e.g., traditional classroom, the online classroom, or the class-in-a-box via multimedia CD-ROMs). Also, no significant differences were found in the student satisfaction of the three groups. All were satisfied with the type of media of instruction in which they participated. Finally, the instructor course evaluation results completed by the three groups were not significantly different, indicating that the three groups evaluated the instructor and the instructional media similarly. The implications of these results for delivering courses via distance education are discussed.

The textbook market in U.S. higher education is changing. In recent years, publishers have developed an automatic billing model, in which colleges and universities negotiate deals with publishers to provide ebooks and courseware to students, folding the cost into student fees. This model is commonly known as "inclusive access." Because it offers students first-day access to course materials - important to student success - as well as some savings over full-priced standard textbooks, it is becoming popular with faculty and administrators. But textbook publishers are promoting these plans for another reason: The data they can collect with digital materials opens a lucrative new market, allowing them to diversify into analytics services.

A Review of: 
 Bowman, L. L., Levine, L. E., Waite, B. M., & Gendron, M. (2010). Can students really multitask? An experimental study of instant messaging while reading. Computers & Education, 54, 927-931.
 
 Objective – To examine the effects of multitasking while doing school work. The experiment specifically measured total time spent reading a simulated textbook passage and tested comprehension in students who received instant messages before reading, while reading, or not at all.
 Design – Experimental design in which one group of students read an online text while receiving and responding to instant messages. Comparison groups either received instant messages (IMs) prior to reading the text passage or did not receive any IMs during the task. 
 
 Setting – General psychology department at Central Connecticut State University, United States.
 
 Subjects – Eighty-nine college students enrolled in general psychology courses. The participants included 43 women and 46 men and were between 17 and 46 years old. Most students were full time students (91%), most were European / White (74%) and in their first (46%) or second (33%) year of college. Participants’ academic majors represented all the schools in the university.
 
 Methods – Researchers created a simulated environment in which a passage from a psychology textbook was displayed on five consecutive screens. For the experimental group, an IM appeared on each of the five screens preceded by an alert sound. Messages were written to reflect the types of questions students might ask each other when they first meet, such as “What do you like to do in your spare time?”
 
 Subjects were randomized to three situations: receiving IMs before reading, receiving IMs during reading, or not receiving any IMs. Subjects were told that they would either receive IMs before reading, while reading, or not at all. Messages received during reading appeared one per screen after a specified time spent on each page (after 17, 15, 29, 20 and 26 seconds, respectively.) Students could take as long as necessary to read the passage and to respond to IMs.
 
 After reading the passage, students were given a multiple choice test with 25 questions to determine reading comprehension and retention. Students also completed a demographic questionnaire to measure their typical instant messaging behaviour, including the amount of time they spend each week instant messaging, how often IM software is on when their computer is on, and how often IM software is on when they are studying. Both of these activities took place on the same computers used for the reading experiment.
 
 Students were additionally asked to comment on the clarity of instructions, the representativeness of the task to their typical IM experiences, and the interest and similarity to normal coursework of the reading itself. These questions were asked on paper rather than on the computer.
 
 Software recorded the lengths of time each student spent in reading the passage, reading and responding to IMs, and answering the online questions. For those students who received IMs during reading, the time spent from receipt of each IM to each response was subtracted from the total reading time.
 
 Main Results – There were no differences in test performance between the three groups. Statistically significant differences were found in the amount of time that students took to complete the reading: students who instant messaged during reading took significantly longer to read the online text than those students who instant messaged before reading and those who did not IM, even when time spent receiving and responding to IMs was subtracted from the totals. Students who instant messaged before reading took the least amount of time in the exercise. Further statistical analysis revealed no significant differences in the time spent instant messaging between the two IM groups.
 Responses to the demographic questions indicate that students spend a mean 7.5 hours instant messaging per week, that 67% of students have IM software on “sometimes,” “often,” or “very often” while the computer is on and 62% of the time while studying. Analysis indicated that none of the IM use variables were correlated with test performance or reading time and that there were no significant differences between the experimental groups according to prior IM use.
 
 Responses from the 77 students who answered the questions about the experiment itself are also included, though not all of these students answered each question. Seventy students (99%) agreed or strongly agreed that instructions were clear. Seventy-one percent of the 52 students that received IMs agreed or strongly agreed that they were realistic, and 75% agreed or strongly agreed that they responded to IMs in a typical manner. Sixty-two students (82%) agreed or strongly agreed that the text was similar to those assigned for actual coursework, and 39 students (51%) agreed or strongly agreed that the passage was interesting. Students commented on the authenticity of the experiment in free text responses such as, “I responded how I would have to anyone,” and “they were questions that anyone I don’t know might ask.”
 
 Conclusion – This experimental study suggests that students who IM while reading will perform as well but take longer to complete the task than those who do not IM while reading or those students who IM before reading.

This paper presents a novel computational technique for the enrichment of E-textbook using the recommendation of the open courseware, YouTube Videos, Wikipedia articles, Slideshare, Geogebra Applets and other relevant web contents. The research work is based on NCERT secondary class mathematics E-Textbook to improve the learning deficiency by enrichment of the book using augmentation of the relevant web contents. The text mining tool is used for the enrichment of the E-textbook using the relevant E-resources available from the web. A phrase graph based algorithmic framework has been developed to extract the mathematical concepts from the E-textbook and recommend the E-contents to the enrichment of the E-textbook. The proposed method provides more precise and relevant recommendations in comparison to the available methods.

On the one hand, the lack of specialized knowledge and knowledge of software development is serious. Second, the development process takes a lot of time, and the development cost is high. Shortening the development time, reducing the development cost, and reducing the dependence on artificial intelligence can be realized by developing an intelligent courseware writing system. The research of intelligent teaching system based on Web and multiagent technology in this paper will surely promote the continuous development and progress of intelligent teaching and related disciplines, which has profound theoretical and practical significance. The design of the model may need to be emphasized and improved in the understanding and reform of classroom management concepts. The comprehensive improvement has an increase of 86.3%, which is of great significance for courseware management. In terms of courseware management, due to the model design, it is also well reflected in personalization, and the improvement of management is 74.6%.

Agricultural leadership coursework has sought to developed leadership skills in graduates of colleges of agriculture for decades. Yet, a national study of the scope and nature of undergraduate leadership coursework has not been conducted since 2003. The purpose of this study was to provide empirical data for discussion of the state of agricultural leadership education. A census of all programs represented by faculty in AAAE was conducted, and 227 courses were determined to exist, the most common types of courses were introduction to leadership, personal leadership, and team and group leadership. The most common leadership theories or concepts present in the 100 course syllabi analyzed were “traits and skills,” “ethics,” and “servant leadership.” More than 80 different textbooks were used.