Evidence-Based Course Modification to Support Learner-Centered and Student-Driven Teaching in A Pandemic: Leveraging Digital and Physical Space for Accessible, Equitable, and Motivating Experiential Learning and Scientific Inquiry in A First-Year Biology Course

The COVID-19 pandemic posed, and continues to pose, many challenges to teaching and learning, most notably the need to pivot from traditional in-person course instruction and experiences to entirely virtual course delivery while maintaining course rigor and quality. Our guiding principle for course modification was the critical need for an equitable, accessible, engaging, and motivating learning experience for students that maintained the learning outcomes and objectives of the course in a fully virtual and digitized format. This paper illustrates the evidence-based approach that the instructional team of a first-year biology experiential learning course took in response to the need for instruction to occur in virtual space and time for the Fall 2020 (September to December 2020) semester.

Engage Me Through BigBlueButton

This study examines student engagement in an online environment concerning the perception regarding the course and the technology used. A research model was developed from the principal tenets of the expectancy-value theory to which values and expectations are assumed to influence how students build engagement. The model conjoins student perception related to course factors (content and rigor), technology factor (technology convenience), and student engagement (psychological, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral). The model was tested using a sample composed of 328 business undergraduate students taking the courses online using the BigBlueButton e-learning system due to the global emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, respondents did not voluntarily choose the online teaching delivery method. The results imply that both course content and perceived technology convenience predict overall student engagement, while course rigor influences student cognitive, emotional, and behavioral commitment, but not psychological engagement.

Perceived Course Rigor in Sport Management: Class Level, Course Grades, and Student Ratings

Higher education in the United States, and sport management in particular, has faced contemporary attacks for its perceived lack of academic rigor. To investigate these criticisms, this study examined 830 students enrolled in 69 semester-long courses across four consecutive years in a single sport management program to measure perceived course rigor and its relationship to overall course ratings, course grades, and course level. Seven rigor questions were added to existing student ratings and distributed at the end of each semester. A factor analysis strongly supported the conceptualization of rigor utilized in the study. Pearson correlations indicated that student ratings and rigor were positively related. An ordinary least squares multiple regression also revealed that overall student ratings and course grades significantly aid in predicting course rigor. Pragmatically, the results suggest that sport management students appreciate rigorous courses and that faculty should strive to include elements of rigor into their courses without fear of retributional bias on student ratings.

Importance of Grades and Placement for Math Attainment

Research on high school math course taking documents the advantages of starting high school at or beyond Algebra 1. Fewer studies examine differentiation into remedial, general, and honors Algebra 1 course types by course rigor. This study examines how course grades and course rigor are associated with math attainment among students with similar eighth-grade standardized math test scores. Students who earned an A in remedial courses had lower attainment than students with a D in general Algebra 1. Students with an A in general Algebra 1 had lower attainment than students with median grades in honors Algebra 1.

Faculty Perspectives of Technology-Enhanced Course Redesign

This chapter will discuss how one team of faculty members used technology enhancements to transform the delivery of their own existing courses into new and improved courses which could be delivered consistently over time and in a variety of delivery modes (i.e., face-to-face, online, or hybrid), while maintaining course rigor. Previously, the selected courses had been redesigned for online delivery, but with limited technology enhancements. As faculty members progressed through the steps of the redesign process, many opportunities for reflection and introspection emerged. This chapter provides their perceptions of features of online learning, including course design, course delivery, assessment of learning and teaching, and student and instructor roles. The chapter concludes with implications for working with faculty from a variety of levels of willingness and technological proficiency for developing effective online learning environments.

The Ethics Of Setting Course Expectations To Manipulate Student Evaluations Of Teaching Effectiveness In Higher Education: An Examination Of The Ethical Dilemmas Created By The Use Of SETEs And A Proposal For Further Study And Analysis

Because student evaluations of teaching effectiveness (SETEs) are an important and widely used tool used in the evaluation and reward systems for faculty members in higher education, a discussion and analysis of the ethical problems that may arise as a result of the conflict created by expectations of performance is provided. This discussion specifically focuses on ethical issues related to setting course expectations and attendance policies to manipulate students’ perceptions of course rigor and the overall evaluation of the course and the instructor.