Online Teaching - Science topic

You have an online or hybrid teaching or learning experience: what have you enjoyed in particular about it? Please, describe how it was for you as the student´s or professor´s perspective. I am curious to know any benefits and challenges you have encountered and if you would prefer to do it again.

Hello,

I'm looking for journal recommendations for my study on teacher satisfaction with online teaching. Using Structural Equation Modelling, we applied Herzberg’s two-factor theory to identify intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction drivers among teachers. Findings highlight differences in satisfaction across STEM and non-STEM teachers and various age groups.

Could anyone suggest Q2 / Q3 journals focused on education technology, or teacher psychology?

Thanks for your help!

Why we provide theoretical lectures through physical presence in the classroom especially in higher education institutions? In my opinion, we have to deliver theoretical courses through online modalities such as Zoom. We can save chalk, marker, duster, classroom, LCD projector and soon.

Could you share your experiences? Especially, what are trends in both developed and developing world? Which side is better, physical presence in class vs online?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences: past, present and future

Has anybody done research on the comparison of in-class teaching vs online-teaching (during covid 19 pandemic):

e.g. effects on learning progress, student satisfaction, sucess in exams, ....

Thank you for any hints.

The covid pandemic caused a major shift towards online education. We all know the benefits for the students like more flexibility, lower costs, maybe more efficiency, but students also complain about problems like lack of infrastructure, lack of in-person interaction, the need for self-discipline, and the risk of feeling isolated. The institutions invested in the infrastructure, in the training of instructors, in some cases also in the standardization of course content, and benefit from substantially reduced costs for the environment.

As a teacher, how are you affected by online education? What do you think are the pros and cons? Do you think that online courses are more efficient than traditional face-to-face courses or on the contrary? Do you think that the difficulty of in-person interaction is a serious flaw in online education? Is developing an online course a burden or an interesting task? Do you think that the scope of online education should be reduced if the situation in the pandemic allows it?

I've recently published the following article in the Korea Times.

I am curious, how does your university deal with online technology during a pandemic? It would be nice to hear various opinions in this discussion.

Thanks in advance.

Nobody could predict the impact that COVID-19 would have on our world; it changed so much of our daily routines. The stigma of living in the new normal is haunting. As unhinged, to some extent, as it might seem, and maybe even unrealistic, the world doesn't stop revolving and functioning even as such a detrimental health crisis falls upon its shoulders. A lot of changes have had to take place within the ongoing duration of the COVID-19 virus outbreak. One of those changes made online learning a must, but it's quite a win-win situation. It's common knowledge that today's generation is greatly knowledgeable when it comes to technology due to living in a highly-digitized world. It's rational to utilize the wonders that technology brings into continuing the practices adopted and implemented by the education sector globally, but now through online learning programs. Its implementation makes sense and was rightful because of schools physically closing due to health restrictions. The world of academia is not the only one switching its methods in such precarious times, but it is a very major change nonetheless. Online education is primarily centered on internet-powered platforms, and not every teacher and student has equal access to such services. More so, a bigger concern faced by teachers has to do with teaching methods in the online learning set up. Virtual classes can be intimidating and seem to limit the ways that teachers can impart knowledge to students, forcing them to be creative in the teaching methods they use in order to promote a collaborative and interactive learning environment. Also, the online education set-up entails a higher average of screen-time which leads to health issues such as poor vision and posture. Similarly, excessive screen-time and long video-conference hours can lead to "Zoom fatigue." In simple terms, Zoom fatigue, or fatigue from any video platform, is the feeling of tiredness that a person encounters after a conference call. Related to this, online teaching can take a toll on the mental health of teachers. Like students, teachers can also feel burnt-out from the constant exposure and workload that happens through screens and technological systems. Stanford University has published an article identifying four factors that contribute to such fatigue. Namely, those are: 1) The overwhelming amount of screen time, 2) The uncomfortable ability to see one's self during conference calls, 3) Typical motion exaggeratedly decreasing due to video chats, and 4) Video calls increasing the difficulty of cognitive tasks. The first one, when explained, had to do with the stress and social anxiety that comes with the awareness of people staring at you during video chats. The second reason is likened to being constantly followed in a real-life scenario but, instead of actually being followed, people are constantly interacting with you through a screen for a lengthy period of time. Thirdly, it's typical that people stay in one place during a video call, and research is continuously coming up with evidence that cognitive performance is better when an individual performs motion. Lastly, in order to get a message clearly delivered during video calls, more effort is exerted because methods of interaction are limited to the screen and technology in use, unlike in face-to-face interactions. Virtual learning environments (VLE), such as Virbela and vAcademia, allow vast opportunities in educational collaborations through the means of virtual environments. Through such VLEs, we are given the chance to use advanced teaching methods by the means of voice-powered technology, presentation options, 3D recording, and academic environment simulations. Through the use of VLEs, teachers are able to promote inclusivity and accessibility for their students. VLEs are highly flexible. Also, little by little, the more students engage with them, the more they become attuned to and are at ease with online classes. Another way that educational organizations benefit from VLEs is through providing an environment that fosters students to have a wider view of the world. VLEs are highly marketable to students across the globe. The San Diego Times released an article in 2020 showing how the 3D technology of Virbela had a new user growth rate of 78 percent, with half of that coming from the international market. It has proven how 3D technology has paved the way for an upgrade of virtual gatherings, meetings, and events. At the same time, the platform allows a virtual space where students can interactively meet while still being remote; a virtual campus of sorts like that of Stanford University. This virtual campus offers a similar interface to RPGs such as Club Penguin and The Sims, with similar features allowing users to choose outfits, interact, and go to classes. Through buttons, users are given the options to let their avatar perform simple actions like nodding and waving, all made possible through Virbela. Davenport University also did the same thing, using Virbela to conduct their online classes through a virtual university, as featured in a Detroit Free Press article. In a 2017 study conducted by Alves et al., it was found that students who have access to virtual learning environments are equipped to achieve a good academic performance, and that the higher the accessibility rate is to virtual learning environments, the better their performance will be. Rushan Ziatdinov (ziatdinov.rushan@gmail.com) is a professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Keimyung University, Daegu.

I am interested in developing best practice guidelines for the use of discussion forums to support online distance learners. Do you have any resources and/or references that you recommend?

Dear R^G community,

I would like to open this thread in order to have some feedback gain about the importance of creating and developing a virtual teaching portfolio (VTP).

According to Wikipedia [1] an Electronic portfolio - EP has the following definition, I unquote:

"An electronic portfolio (also known as a digital portfolio, online portfolio, e-portfolio, e-folio, or eFolio) is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web. Such electronic evidence may include input text, electronic files, images, multimedia, blog entries, and hyperlinks. E-portfolios are both demonstrations of the user's abilities and platforms for self-expression. If they are online, users can maintain them dynamically over time."

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_portfolio

In this thread, we aim to understand the differences between a virtual teaching portfolio-VTP and a scholar blog-SB where not only we share written documentation---but also learning and teaching experiences, becomes crucial for a teacher`s career.

Thank you all.

During the current COVID-19 pandemic almost all higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world have initiated online teachings, online seminars, workshops, webinars involving large number of teachers and pupils. The question above is for the experts to express their views and comments on the negative aspects of all these online activities.

In most cases, educators receive their training before they start working or at the early stages of their working life. In very few cases, they receive retraining to update and upskill. With time the methodologies used by educators become obsolete. With time, there will be a need for retraining and upskilling for the teachers.

Whose responsibility should it be then to retrain and upskill the masses of teachers with outdated ways of doing things? Especially when the environment is completely changed overnight as is the case with the transition from face to face teaching to Online teaching because of the pandemic?

Should the teachers invest in their own training and retraining or the government and other authorities be responsible? What do you think? Please share your thoughts.

I am a language instructor so oral communication is important. Teaching methodologies such as pair-practice are common techniques to get students interacting and comminicating. But...with the virus, many institiutions have strict guidelines about social distancing, student interaction and just having students repeat what the instructor has said. Punctuation practice, or other methods have had to be eliminated. Online teaching tools and sites are helpful but are not really condusive to active language learning. Addtionally, due to wi-fi connectability, number of computers and scheduling conflicts for computer rooms this avenue is not always available. What other methods are instructors utilizing to get learners actively learning a language or other subject?

Good day. I am looking for expert validators to check the suitability of our questionnaire in assessing the preparedness of our Pre-Service Teachers in their Online Teaching Practice. Hope you can help me. Thank you so much

Respected RG members,

Online teaching is the adopted teaching modality up till now during the COVID 19 pandemic in most of the countries. Working hours have dramatically changed as a result of that, and that applies to schools and Universities. From your experience, did you find that disturbing to normal life?

Your participation is appreciated!

Online teaching platforms are equipped with different facilities to enable teachers and students to make the best use of the learning environment. These classes are more flexible and convenient. It MIGHT promote life-long learning and computer literacy as well. Additionally, you can save a lot of money by participating in online classes.

HOWEVER, it is not without problems. It can be difficult for the instructors to monitor students' behavior and check their contribution and progress. It may create a sense of isolation in my opinion. This image tell the story:

" In an online course, no one can hear you scream. And that causes discomfort for some online students. Studying alone with only the computer as your companion can be terrifying. There's no whispering in the back of the room, no wise remarks from the peanut gallery, no commanding presence at the front of the classroom pleading for everyone to listen. The online environment is a much different atmosphere that takes some getting used to." ~https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/

Please share the problems that you have faced as an instructor or a learner in online platforms.

THANKS Indeed

Dear Scholars

I would like to have a reference to an authoritative or relatively well-established definition of "online education" or "online teaching" or "e-learning". I also look for definition of related terms, such as "hybrid teaching" and "distant education", "distance learning", etc.

I looked at UNESCO documents to find a kind of international set of definitions, but I couldn't find any. Does anyone have a reference or a source?

Many thanks.

COVID-19 put the whole world during the last 18 months in new hard facts. One of them is that universities were looked out and teaching was carried out online. Tell us about the most important experience you accept from online learning. Do you like to continue conducting online, hybrid or in class (physical) mode of learning? Why?

Are you a teacher or pre-service teacher, a university lecturer or a trainer in an educational organization? And do you have to move to online teaching because of COVID-19? Share your experiences in our survey and learn what others say! It should take maximum 10 minutes to complete.

If you are happy to participate, please click here: https://forms.gle/6BsuDEfA76SZyxHi8.

If you would like more information about the questionnaire, feel free to contact Jo (jo.tondeur@vub.be). You are also free to share this questionnaire with anyone you wish.

Thank you for your time!

Jo, Sarah, Fazilat and Ronny

- Jo Tondeur, Vrije Universiteit Brussels

- Sarah Howard, University of Wollongong

- Fazilat Siddiq, University of South-Eastern Norway

- Ronny Scherer, University of Oslo �

On a scale of 10 - In different countries -Effectiveness of online Primary education (Scores)

1 UK - 4.9

2 Canada - 5.6

3 USA -5.6

4 Australia - 6.6

5 France 4.6

6 Germany - 6.1

7 Japan - 3.1

8 China - 5.4

Source- Economist - taken from DB (26-6-2021)

The first thing which comes to mind in online examinations is the possibility of cheating. Instructors often use different ways like setting up the exam to show only one question at the time and limiting the allotted time for each question. Changing the sequence of the questions might be a good solution too especially if students of the same class are planning to get help from each other. But these suggestions are strongly context-specific.

So, I really want you to share your valuable experience.

Thanks indeed.

Online teaching has already become a ‘new normal’ for all levels of teaching-learning process during the pandemic COVID19. Many teachers are slowly trying to get used to this new technique as part of their professional career. Some innovative replies to this question will help all those teachers who have been trying to bring substantial improvement in their online teaching method.

Due to the pandemic crisis, institutions opted for an unplanned online teaching for the safety of its students.

While some believe that emergency remote teaching is as effective as other types of online teaching, others argue that this unplanned procedure diminished the effectiveness of distance learning and would hardly lead to ultimate success.

What online whiteboard do you use? Does it have limitations for the max. number of users? Please tell the advantages and disadvantages.

I use https://www.twiddla.com/

One of the challenges of online teaching is to sustain learner motivation and interactivity throughout the course. How do you sustain interest and zero in the peripheral learners in a virtual learning environment

I need techniques that can be useful in motivating learners and sustaining interest among those who may otherwise simply flow with the rest during the course without making any active participation.

English Business Communication and Soft skills became the necessary basis for doing business in the global digital era. Wherever business communication fails, the business loses money and becomes a failing business. Therefore the real-world communication cases for Professional and Business English should be the main focus of corporate training and university teaching.

Eventually, as teachers and trainers, we are supposed to get our students and clients prepared for the real-world scenarios of online communication, which is a basic acceptable level for Business Communication these days. Bringing students into the curriculum building process makes them co-own the learning responsibility and increases the involvement and satisfaction from the course, it works at corporate classes, language schools/departments and even in universities with strictly licensed curriculums.

In order to fight the possible uncertainty and impostor syndrome, getting to know who the students are and what exactly are their learning goals does help to create a crafted, authentic course. The problem with Teaching Professional English is always to understand and more importantly to make stakeholders and end-users understand that you are not supposed to be a certified Software Engineer, HR specialist or MD in Pediatrics to teach the specialists business communication tactics or practice how to use the immediate real-life situations and sources as learning leverage.

Hello. Apart from Zoom, skype and google classroom what other platforms can be used for teaching online? And how viable are they?

Dear all,

What tool can be used to measure motivation in scholars, teachers and students who are in home isolation or work remotely?

Any specific tool suitable for all people involved in Academia and Education? Or any brief standard measure to investigate motivation?

This question rised from a recent talk with my colleague, who expressed a bit of regret about students' lack of attention (camera offs, chating with smb else) via Zoom classes.

Moreover, many scientists and school teachers have admitted this on social media or even in Nature column (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01292-x).

Please, share your thoughts. Thank you.

Because of the pandemic, COVID19, online teaching is the best solution for many educational institutes and universities to enable students to attend classes and continue their learning process.

Do you think that online teaching is able to replace physical classroom/face to face teaching for all school/ college modules????

Hello there,

I am currently categorizing trends in best practices advice given to college and university faculty. Are there any resources, organizations, or colleges/universities that you consider authoritative with respect to their production and distribution of recommended strategies to your online teaching? Just curious if there are resources I might not have considered.

Thanks!

Pam

Dear colleagues,

Can you, please, share some useful teaching tips for teaching accounting and finance courses on-line? Some useful web-sites/tools/sources will be really helpful. I would like to make my online accounting courses interesting, useful and attractive for students.

I like the website: http://teachingandlearningtoolbox.com/ where you can get a list of different digital tools. But can you share the tips that you really used and that worked well?

I want to change students' opinion that "accounting is boring"! :-)

Thanks a lot for your input and help!

Dear RG members,

In response to the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus, all face to face classes have been suspended. in this regard, how to keep students engaged in online learning? especially those who spend most of their time online.

Regards,

The online teaching process is the best alternative teaching method for students or not? Need your valuable suggestion.

CoVID-19 has affected teaching and migration to an online platform is inevitable. What are the ways to do so and what makes it a smooth transition?

You all know in the current situation the only way to teach students is via online medium. To teach students two approaches are used:

1) Make a video and share using whatsApp

2) Live teaching using Google meet, ZOOM and other sources.

My point of discussion is what is the main important factor when you make videos for technical courses.

A) Content

B) Visuals ( includes animation, colors)

C) Connection with students

Thanks

Covid 19 pandemic taught many lessons to the mankind. Online teaching were encouraged in every stage of education. Delivering online teachig was successful to great extent in university education. But, it was not so much effective in school education due to many reasons.

Hi this is a small survey to assess how teachers are promoting creativity in online classrooms. Pls click the link

Since, Education Institutions have been shut all across the world due to COVID 19 Pandemic. As a result, education has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. The transition in education delivery system have impacted various stakeholders primarily (Teachers and Students) in different ways. It is a whole new experience for them. Therefore, this survey is conducted for analysing their experience with regards to online teaching. Your responses shall be kept confidential and will be used for research purposes only. May I request you to please spare a view minutes and share your experience with regards to online teaching. Teachers and students both are welcomed:-

Dear Colleagues,

Our University, Suleyman Demirel University in Kazakhstan, is inviting speakers from different parts of the world to share their experience in Distance Education.

The themes of the presentations or discussions could potentially be as following:

1. Assessment in Distance Education

2. Academic integrity in Distance Education

3. Teaching Methods in an online format

We would highly appreciate your help as teaching online is not something we can claim to be fully ready for.

For further questions you can contact me at bibish.ashayeva@sdu.edu.kz

Thank you,

Bibish

Online teaching methodologies that can be adopted during this lock down

The spread of COVID-19 has led to the closure of educational institutions all over the world. Such closure accelerated the development of the online learning environments within those institutions so that learning would not be disrupted. The coronavirus pandemic has tested the readiness of centers to deal with a crisis that requires online and remote measures. Many were not prepared, but it is important to review the reasons for offering students online classes, which go beyond periods of confinement.

Therefore, I thought of conducting research to identify the Effectiveness of Online Learning during COVID-19 Pandemic according to the Teachers’ Perspective. You are kindly requested to participate in this research and give your honest responses.

All responses to this questionnaire will be held and treated in strict confidence and used only for research purposes. Please provide background information about yourself. Thank you very much for taking the time to complete the questionnaire, and your contribution is very much appreciated.

Samanthi Wickramasinghe

Senior Lecturer/Faculty of IT

Horizon Campus in Sri Lanka

kindly send you feedback using below link respectively:

Teacher/Lecturer Point of view - https://forms.gle/4oDVxeunUVkyTd1E7

Student Point of view - https://forms.gle/wzLv5ZrRqthBbxud8

Dear colleagues,

If you have shifted from teaching face-to-face to teach online, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we would appreciate your cooperation in filling-up this short survey:

Our goal is to examine online instructors' interest in data about learners' activity (by comparing face-to-face and online classes).

Thank you for your time and stay safe!

Dr. Maya Usher

Dr. Arnon Hershkovitz

Tel Aviv University's School of Education

Looking forward to creating a set of resources for everyone to easily access and learn from.

While I have been trained to teach online and in hybrid environments, many teachers and faculty are being suddenly through into a new realm with the onset of quarantine measures regarding the coronavirus.

What are your tips for best practices, insights, tips on teaching online? For instance, do you like using synchronous means of interaction via Zoom room perhaps, or asynchronous methods? How do you manage group work? Do you use PowerPoints with voice over? and how do you manage creating an inclusive online environment for those with disabilities or varied cognitive learning styles?

With COVID-19 universities around the world are switching to online courses overnight. However, many faculty are not used to online courses and do not have the platforms that will make this task easier. Some platforms are expensive and have a steep learning curve. Thus, I would like to know if there is software out there that is simple, affordable or free, and flexible enough for online teaching using a variety of resources, such as PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, videos, photos, and whiteboard.

Co-teaching in synchronous and asynchronous online contexts

I am intrested to knwo if you made real time measuremenst with your android mobil phone and how have you transmitted your data to your Pc or Laptop for showing online to yor students. Is there any free apps for data transform?

I am performing a study on Online Teaching and Learning.

If you could fill in this survey, that would be a GREAT HELP

Are online teachers/ e-tutors/ e-moderators considered equal to face-to face teachers in your country with particular reference to social and intellectual prestige? Or do they still lag far behind either because of the lack of awareness about online learning or because of the abundance of face-to face teachers?

I intend to evaluate an virtual environment with teachers in training in the subject area of this environment (e.g. licentiate student in physics or chemistry). Any suggestions on how I can conduct this assessment? Questionnaires or papers that perform this type of research?

I'm studying educators' decision making process when organizing online educational sessions. I want to know what adjustments related to content, pedagogy, organization, etc. are made when one designs and delivers content online.  Yes, educators make a lot of adjustments related to content, pedagogy etc. to meet learners' needs. How often these adjustments are related to the online technology? Could anyone share their experiences of online teaching? Or do you have related literature on this topic? 

My study context is about online mathematics teacher education. Does anyone have experiences of designing online mathematics courses, or mathematics teacher courses?

Thank you so much!! 

I recently came across a post (see below) entitled "Death of the Discussion Forum”.  The title seems a little harsh, but the points made were fairly reasonable.  So I was wondering what impact this possible trend had for online courses that were asynchronous. Do students REALLY like this mode of communication?  We have a synchronous MEd program (see below) where students meet each week in Adobe Connect.  They appear to love it and are quite connected.  Completion rate is 95%.  So I was curious if anyone had similar experiences or knew of research comparing these two modes.

I am interested in studying students reasoning while learning a measure of variation and how making connections to the measures of center can improve retention. How is variation, more specifically the Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) taught in sixth grade, and has there been any research that might be related?

I don't yet have a clear hypothesis, but a muddy one might be  that a group provided with extended relational instruction (where connections are made between a measure of center and the MAD by both computing the MAD as a percentage of the measure of center as well as computing an expected range of values) will perform better on posttest and retention evaluation assessments for center, variation and proportional reasoning than another group (with the same teacher) who are provided with computational reinforcement for their additional instruction time. 

It seems most instructional material I have seen (NC Mathematics "How MAD are you and LearnZillion.com for example) has the student compute the MAD, but not connect or relate it to to the center by computing an expected value range or expressing it as a percentage.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!!! 

I am looking for a way to compare what our school is doing with others in the field of online education.

There are some excellent open access resources available for teaching psychology such as NOBA Psychology: http://nobaproject.com/

Would anyone have any similar recommendations for teaching biological psychology and cognitive neuroscience in particular? 

i want to do a research on data mining and as MOOC is still in the begining phase of it's raise , i want to do more studies on that field

As you know Walter Lewin is a famous MIT professor its lectures has been cited more than 10 millions time due to its simplicity, experimental verification and delivering method.... Do you know any professor who is best in Optics and whose vedio lectures are available??? i have visited MIT OCW there are some courses related to this but they are not available and those who available not very good as above mentioned lectures so please refer like these online vedios lecture related to Optics.(At Graduate LEVEL)

Adult group learning in the context of no instructor, but through an academic environment?

We are working on a project that investigates the interaction between domestic culture, in our case Arabic culture, and e-learning, using various cultural models such as Hofstede, Hall, Trompenaars and the GLOBE project. The aim of the project is to figure out how much impact the culture has on e-learning practices. The project requires a non Arabic context to contrast with. The contribution would  not entail much effort from your side, preferably a university with an online teaching style. If you feel interested in such a kind of contribution you are most welcome to have a chat over it.