This open access book provides a unique research perspective on life course transitions. Here, transitions are understood as social processes and practices. Leveraging the recent “practice turn” in ...the social sciences, the contributors analyze how life course transitions are “done.” This book introduces the concept of “doing transitions” and its implications for theories and methods. It presents fresh empirical research on “doing transitions” in different life phases (e.g., childhood, young adulthood, later life) and life domains (e.g., education, work, family, health, migration). It also emphasizes themes related to institutions and organizations, time and normativity, materialities (such as bodies, spaces, and artifacts), and the reproduction of social inequalities in education and welfare. In coupling this new perspective with empirical illustrations, this book is an indispensable resource for scholars from demography, sociology, psychology, social work and other scientific fields, as well as for students, counselors and practitioners, and policymakers.
Continuing a tradition dating back to 1968, this tenth study in a longitudinal series of surveys of the basic communication course has two goals: (a) to provide descriptive information about the ...basic course contemporarily and over time and (b) to propose a framework for interpreting the impact of the extraordinary national and international events of 2020, on higher education in general and the basic communication course in particular. A survey, which retained questions about trends identified in the past nine studies conducted on the basic communication course from 1956 to 2016, was updated to include additional questions on topics of contemporary concern. National distribution of the survey instrument resulted in a total of 160 respondents (26 from two-year schools, 134 from four-year schools). This study reports and discusses data across six categories: (a) general description of the course and enrollment patterns; (b) course instruction, training, and administration problems; (c) standardization and grading; (d) course content and pedagogy; (e) media, technology, and online teaching; and (f) contemporary challenges and issues facing the basic course. Reflections based on trends in the data, and recommendations for future scholarship about the course based on the results and current challenges in higher education, are offered.
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been the subject of much polarised debate around their potential to transform higher education in terms of opening access. Although MOOCs have been attracting ...large learner cohorts, concerns have emerged from the early evidence base centring upon issues of quality in learning and teaching provision, and there is clear evidence that impressive headline figures on MOOC enrolments often contrast with extremely low course completion rates. To address these concerns of quality, low retention and the need for engagement, this paper provides a review and case study of MOOC provision. The review considers the current position of MOOCs as a change agent for higher education provision, and the case study considers lessons learnt from an Astronomy MOOC which uses the Open2Study platform. This paper asks about new engagement strategies needed for face-to-face and online learners, and explores how course retention can be improved in online provision. Author abstract
This study gathered longitudinal and descriptive data on the nature of the basic communication course, continuing a tradition dating back to 1968. Now in its ninth iteration, convenience sampling and ...hard copy distribution of the survey instrument resulted in a total of 188 respondents (21 from two-year schools, 167 from four-year schools). This study reports and discusses data in the following categories: (a) general description of the course; (b) course administration; (c) assessment, standardization, and assignments and grading; (d) course content and pedagogy; and (e) media, technology, and online teaching. General reflections are provided about the results in light of changing landscapes in the U.S. educational system and recent research and other activities of communication scholars related to the basic communication course. Recommendations are offered for future scholarship about the communication discipline's "front porch."
This open access book examines how families and other social institutions interact to shape outcomes over the life course. It considers how to use research evidence to reduce social disadvantage ...through translation of evidence to support public policies and programs. The chapters focus on key life course stages such as early child development, adolescence, emerging adulthood, parenting, marriage, relationships and ageing, as well as examining experiences and outcomes for selected social groups such as Indigenous children, migrants and refugees, and gay, lesbian and bisexual groups. The book presents evidence using high-quality and recent data. With a focus on Australia, the volume provides new insights into how context shapes life course pathways and outcomes and a contrast to work that typically focuses on Europe and the United States. It will be of value to anyone interested in understanding how family background and life course pathways influence social disadvantage.
Online courses are becoming more popular and accessible, but they require careful design and development of their structure and content. This paper presents a methodological approach for creating ...online courses by analysing existing practices and learner feedback. The paper focuses on the case study of the online course “Methods for Teaching Mathematics to Students in Technical Universities”, developed and tested by the authors. The paper discusses the main aspects of online course development, such as weekly planning, testing subsystem, video and PDF content, forum and survey subsystems, and assessment of learning outcomes. The paper also evaluates the quality of the online course and identifies some areas for improvement. The paper concludes that online course quality depends on various factors and provides recommendations for online course developers.
Health development science; Developmental origins of chronic illnesses; Community; Diabetes; Autism; Obesity; Nutrition; Health disparities across the lifespan; Fetal programming
This study examined the effectiveness of 3 online courses compared with the same 3 courses in a face‐to‐face (F2F) format, which had the same characteristics (e.g., the same instructor and final exam ...content and place). Effectiveness was examined by utilizing a wide range of variables, including 2 objective measures (N = 968): grades and completion rate; and 9 subjective measures (N = 360): 7 measures include instructional aspects (course structure, learning content, lessons watched, assignments, communication), engagement, and satisfaction. Findings indicate significant differences between online and F2F courses in most of the examined variables. Students in the online courses reported better understanding of the course structure, better communication with the course staff, watching the videos lessens more, and higher engagement and satisfaction. Students in the F2F courses reported better contribution of the learning content. Students' final grades were higher in the online courses, and no differences were found in the completion rate. The findings suggest that in many of the examined effectiveness aspects, online courses are as effective as, or more effective than, F2F courses. Interpretations of the findings are discussed.
Lay Description
What is currently known about the subject matter?
Course effectiveness is defined by students' motivation and satisfaction or their grades.
Some studies report more satisfaction and motivation in online courses, rather than face‐to‐face (F2F) courses.
Online learning is more or less as effective as F2F learning in regard to grades.
What the paper adds to this:
Expansion of the term “effectiveness” by measuring it using a large scope of variables.
Examination of courses across various disciplines, with a relatively large sample size.
Online courses were as effective as, or more than, F2F courses in most variables measured.
Differences between the formats relate to the course discipline.
Implications of the study findings:
Online learning may be a suitable alternative to academic F2F courses.
Well‐structured course design should be considered when developing online courses.
Content and discipline characteristics should be considered when developing online courses.
In Spring 2013 San José State University (SJSU) launched SJSU Plus: three college courses required for most students to graduate, which used massive open online course provider Udacity's platform, ...attracting over 15,000 students. Retention and success (pass/fail) and online support were tested using an augmented online learning environment (AOLE) on a subset of 213 students; about one-half matriculated. SJSU faculty created the course content, collaborating with Udacity to develop video instruction, quizzes, and interactive elements. Course log-ins and progression data were combined with surveys and focus groups, with students, faculty, support staff, coordinators, and program leaders as subjects. Logit models used contingency table-tested potential success predictors on all students and five subgroups. Student effort was the strongest success indicator, suggesting criticality of early and consistent student engagement. No statistically significant relationships with student characteristics were found. AOLE support effectiveness was compromised with staff time consumed by the least prepared students.
PurposeCourse recommendations are important for improving learner satisfaction and reducing dropout rates on massive open online course (MOOC) platforms. This study aims to propose an interpretable ...method of analyzing students' learning behaviors and recommending MOOCs by integrating multiple data sources.Design/methodology/approachThe study proposes a deep learning method of recommending MOOCs to students based on a multi-attention mechanism comprising learning records attention, word-level review attention, sentence-level review attention and course description attention. The proposed model is validated using real-world data consisting of the learning records of 6,628 students for 1,789 courses and 65,155 reviews.FindingsThe main contribution of this study is its exploration of multiple unstructured information using the proposed multi-attention network model. It provides an interpretable strategy for analyzing students' learning behaviors and conducting personalized MOOC recommendations.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that MOOC platforms must fully utilize the information implied in course reviews to extract personalized learning preferences.Originality/valueThis study is the first attempt to recommend MOOCs by exploring students' preferences in course reviews. The proposed multi-attention mechanism improves the interpretability of MOOC recommendations.
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