Cumulative oral examinations in undergraduate human physiology: process, student perceptions, and outcomes

Peer versus teacher corrections through electronic learning communities and face-to-face classroom interactions and EFL learners' passion for learning, speaking fluency, and accuracy

This study investigated how different feedback sources, such as teacher and peer correction, affect students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) regarding speaking accuracy, fluency, and academic passion. The effects of online and face-to-face instruction and peer and teacher corrections were investigated in this study using a factorial design. Convenience sampling was used to choose six intact classes from Jinzhong University's Department of Foreign Languages. Academic passion and speaking tests were used before and after the treatment. The data were analyzed using ANOVA tests. The findings showed that peer correction outperformed teacher correction in improving speaking accuracy, fluency, and academic passion. Additionally, peer correction was more beneficial than receiving no correction at all. Furthermore, teacher correction positively influenced speaking accuracy compared to the non-correction group. The findings also demonstrated that feedback mechanisms have a significant overall impact on speaking accuracy and fluency independent of particular training and correction circumstances. The interaction between instruction and correction was not statistically significant. These findings highlight the crucial role that correction mechanisms play in enhancing speaking accuracy and naturalness, which has important ramifications for language teachers and curriculum designers.

Asynchronous student-generated flip videos facilitate student learning and assessment in a large-enrollment introductory human physiology course

Oral demonstration of knowledge is an effective learning and assessment strategy. It has been shown that generating explanations to oneself, or self-explaining, can improve student understanding of information. This can be achieved via student-generated videos. The quantitative effects of student-generated videos on learning and assessment in postsecondary education are unknown. To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the effects asynchronous student-generated videos have on student learning and assessment in a large-enrollment (∼400 students), undergraduate physiology course. Students were charged with making self-generated videos discussing major physiological concepts and uploading these videos to Flip for assessment. Flip is an online, social education platform for asynchronous video-based discussion. In the present study, we combined four semesters (n = 1,100 students) of Flip data and analyzed the effects it had on student examination performance. Specifically, we first analyzed how students performed on exam questions corresponding to their Flip prompts in comparison to students not assigned those prompts [25/44 (57%) were statistically significantly different]. Second, we analyzed the association between Flip prompt score and performance on corresponding exam questions [39/44 (89%) were statistically significantly different]. Third, we analyzed the association between cumulative Flip score and performance on all corresponding, and noncorresponding exam questions. Finally, we analyzed the association between cumulative Flip score and averaged exam performance. There was a positive association (r = 0.54). Taken together, our data suggest that asynchronous student-generated Flip videos can facilitate student learning and assessment in a large-enrollment, undergraduate physiology course.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Oral demonstration of knowledge is an effective learning and assessment strategy. Student-generated videos have been shown to improve learning and assessment in secondary education. To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the effects asynchronous student-generated Flip videos have on student learning and assessment in postsecondary education. The results of the present study suggest that asynchronous student-generated Flip videos can facilitate student learning and assessment in a large-enrollment (∼400 students), undergraduate physiology course.

How successful the online assessment techniques in distance learning have been, in contributing to academic achievements of management undergraduates?

The implementation of online teaching and assessments was prompted by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, all universities had to adopt the distance-learning method as the only choice to continue education delivery. This study's main objective is to understand the effectiveness of assessment techniques followed through distance learning in Sri Lankan management undergraduates during COVID-19. Furthermore, utilizing a qualitative approach and thematic analysis for data analysis, semi-structured interviews with 13 management faculty lecturers selected through the purposive sample technique were used for data collection. The survey was conducted via an online questionnaire that was distributed to Sri Lankan undergraduates, and a total of 387 samples from management undergraduates were drawn for the quantitative data analysis using a simple random sampling technique. The study's main findings revealed that five online assessments are currently being utilized to evaluate management undergraduates' academic performance under distance learning, including online examinations, online presentations, online quizzes, case studies, and report submissions. In addition, this study statistically and with some qualitative empirical evidences in the existing literature proved that online examinations, online quizzes, and report submissions have a significant impact on undergraduates' academic performance. Further, this study also recommended that universities should implement procedures for online assessment techniques in order to assess the quality assurance of assessment techniques.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10639-023-11715-7.