While considerable research has examined the academic and cognitive value of journaling, little has examined the psychological impact of journaling on the personal development of college students. Research on cognitive-behavioral therapy indicates that journaling can have a positive impact on individuals’ self-growth and intrapersonal characteristics. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of classroom-based journaling on students’ self-efficacy and locus of control. Students in two undergraduate courses were required to complete weekly journal assignments; one class received targeted information on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and one class did not. Students completed pre-, mid-, and post-course assessments on self-efficacy, locus of control, and learning. Results revealed that self-efficacy scores for both groups significantly improved after the early journaling assignments; however, there were no differences between those who received direct CBT instruction and those who did not. These findings indicate that journaling may have important psychological benefits above and beyond its expected academic and cognitive outcomes.
Tag: student learning
Student Reported Growth: Success Story of a Master of Science in Education Learning Community Program
Quantitative and qualitative data collected from students who have completed a Master of Science in Education Learning Community Program support the effectiveness of the learning community model in facilitating professional growth and transformation. Instructors model constructivist theory. Peer review, collaboration, and reflective analysis of theory and practice are essential components of the model. The program facilitates growth as educators build their understanding about teaching and learning, transfer their ideas and processes into the classroom, and take an active leadership role in promoting change in classrooms, school, and larger community.
Internationalizing General Education from Within: Raising the Visibility of Heritage Language Students’ in the Classroom
This article analyzes the findings of a pilot project conducted in 2008–2009 as a partnership between University Studies, Portland State University’s interdisciplinary general education program, and the University’s Russian Flagship Language Partner Program. The project proposes a new approach of integrating non-English speakers’ language skills, culture, and life experiences into classroom activities of general education courses. By engaging the students as facilitators in the exploration of their own cultures and languages, the project offers a model of enriching collaborative student teaching and learning that could be applied to various interdisciplinary courses.
The Future of Learning and Training in an Augmented Reality
Students acquire knowledge and skills through different modes of instruction that include classroom lectures with textbooks, computers, and the like. The availability and choice of learning innovation depends on the individual’s access to technologies and on the infrastructure environment of the surrounding community. In this rapidly changing society, information needs to be adopted and applied at the right time and right place to maintain efficiency in all settings. Augmented reality is one technology that dramatically shifts the timing and location of learning. This paper describes augmented reality, how it applies to learning, and its potential impact on future education.
A Student’s Experience and View on College Teaching and Learning
Through my college experience and my reflection on The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Reconsidered, I have come to recognize several ideas that have greatly impacted me, my views on learning, and my actual learning. My overall experience in college has been beneficial because of the teachers who approached teaching with a more conscious effort and taught me to approach learning and my role as learner in the same way. This essay highlights many of the aspects of the chapter, “Teachers and Learning,” that have been beneficial for me throughout my educational career, and a few notes on changes that may have helped.
Healthcare Learning Community and Student Retention
Teaching, learning, and retention processes have evolved historically to include multifaceted techniques beyond the traditional lecture. This article presents related results of a study using a healthcare learning community in a southwest Georgia university. The value of novel techniques and tools in promoting student learning and retention remains under review. This study includes a healthcare learning community as a cutting-edge teaching and learning modality. The results of an introspective survey of 22 students in a learning community explore strategies to enhance culturally relevant teaching, learning, and retention. Although learning and retention studies have been conducted at numerous universities, few have included feedback from students in a healthcare learning community. Frequencies from student responses were tabulated using five thematic factors: social support, career knowledge/opportunities, academic support, networking and faculty rapport/relationship building. Of the five theme areas, social support was identified most frequently by students as a means to support their learning and retention in the university setting.
Negativity in Massive Online Open Courses: Impacts on Learning and Teaching and How Instructional Teams May Be Able to Address It
There are many positive aspects of teaching and learning in Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), for both instructors and students. However, there is also a considerable amount of negativity in MOOCs, emerging from learners on discussion forums and through peer assessment, from disciplinary colleagues and from public discourse around MOOCs. Through mixed-methods case-study research of two diverse MOOCs (one focused on general, introductory-level content and one designed for specialized graduate students and professionals), we consider the following questions: What are the various forms that negativity takes in MOOCs? How might MOOC negativity vary among disciplines? How does negativity impact MOOC instructors and learners? We present evidence suggesting that MOOC negativity poses a serious problem that may be responsible for instructor/ learner disengagement and instructor burnout, and that anticipating and addressing such negativity can improve MOOC learning communities. Lessons learned from these two MOOCs can be beneficial not only to those involved with MOOCs, but also to those involved in other online educational contexts where faculty and learners seek to manage existing and anticipated negativity.
The Strategy Project: An Exploration of Enhancing Self-Regulated Learning in an Introductory Psychology Course
College success requires development of self-regulated learning skills. This study describes a self-regulated learning strategy intervention in a large general education Introductory Psychology course, focusing on the second exam. Students’ reflection responses across five time periods were compared with exam performance. Increased self-regulated learning strategies usage correlated with decreased passive learning strategies usage, increased hours of study, and increased academic performance. Strategy project interventions can be effective for introductory courses. However, because students may revert to passive strategies that worked in the past, strategy instruction should be extended throughout a course.
Learning, Course Satisfaction, and Community in the Time of COVID-19: Student Perceptions of the Switch to Emergency Remote Teaching
This multiple descriptive case study explores how university students responded to their Business Communications course’s transitioning to an emergency remote course during the spring semester of 2020. Thirty-nine students completed an end-of-semester questionnaire that recorded their impressions of learning and course satisfaction. Nine of those students also participated in semi-structured interviews about these topics. The data revealed that most students enjoyed and felt they learned more from their in-person course, they missed learning from their peers, and they missed the community that was created during the in-person class sessions that were suspended due to university-sanctioned COVID-19 protocols. This article discusses the need for instructors to integrate continuous interactive community into online courses and the need for universities to provide training for online instructors in this essential component in course preparation and execution.