The impact of COVID-19 on student learning during the transition from remote to in-person learning: using mind mapping to identify and address faculty concerns

Teaching critical thinking in nutritional sciences: a model course and assignments

Critical thinking is a common and important learning outcome in college curricula. Case-based and problem-based learning can be used to assess and foster critical thinking skills. HNF 250-Contemporary Issues in Human Nutrition is a critical thinking course developed during the redesign of a nutritional sciences major program. Course assignments were designed to assess the course and nutritional sciences major learning outcomes. The nutrition and health claim assignment is scaffolded across the academic semester as three assignments: 1) bibliography assignment; 2) poster presentation; and 3) paper. Course lectures and materials have been designed to prepare students for completion of each assignment. The assignments have been modified over time based on classroom observations and student performance. In 2021, the course learning outcomes were examined by assessing several assignments including the nutrition and health claim poster and paper. Course learning outcome benchmarks using these assessments generally included 80% of students achieving an 80% for each criterion. Results revealed that students were not meeting most of these assessment benchmarks during the 2021 iteration, although benchmark data from other course assessments were more satisfactory. It is possible that the transition from a virtual to an in-person format negatively influenced student performance on these course learning outcomes. This course and the nutrition and health claim assignment example can provide a course design and learning outcome assessment framework for other higher education critical thinking courses.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This paper describes how a scaffolded nutrition and health claim assignment is used to teach critical thinking skills among nutritional sciences students and examine the program's learning outcomes. Further, this course example is to serve as an model for STEM majors on how to incorporate case-based and problem-based learning strategies into an undergraduate course.

Improving student learning and performance through a continuous flipped anatomy teaching model

The flipped classroom teaching model has been widely used in anatomy education to embrace a blended learning strategy. However, the impact that a continuous flipped classroom teaching model exerts on student learning of human topographic anatomy remains unclear. To address this question, student learning experience and performance were compared between third-year undergraduate students who participated in a continuous flipped anatomy classroom teaching since their first year (n = 65, experimental group) and those under the flipped anatomy teaching model only in their third year (n = 45, control group). A five-point Likert scale learning and teaching survey was conducted to evaluate students' perceptions of the flipped classroom model. Students under a continuous flipped classroom teaching model rated significantly higher on the impact of the flipped model on learning difficult anatomy concepts than the control group (*p = 0.0346). The rating on independent learning remained not statistically different between the two groups, although a trend difference was detected (p = 0.0604). Analysis of learning performance revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group when answering questions focusing on regional anatomy (*p = 0.0207). No significant difference was identified in students' marks of case-based studies between the two groups. In summary, the results of this study indicate that the flipped classroom model implemented over a long term continues to advance students' learning experience and performance in anatomy, indicating a "dose" effect on active learning. The findings of this study will assist the best practices of the flipped anatomy classroom and develop evidence-informed approaches to advance anatomy education in the future.

Using COVID-19 online learning modules to examine concerns of university students returning to in-person learning: a mixed-methods study

OBJECTIVE

Understand student concerns with returning to in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic using an e-learning module.

PARTICIPANTS

925 undergraduate and graduate students returning to in-person instruction in Fall 2021.

METHODS

Five modules educated students about COVID and the transition to in-person learning and collected quantitative and qualitative data related to concerns about COVID and in-person learning.

RESULTS

65% of students expressed comfort in returning to in-person learning and almost all students answered the scenario questions correctly. Identifying as female and African-American as well as living off campus were connected to a decrease in comfort level associated with the return to in-person learning. Six major themes emerged from the qualitative data analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Students were well-informed about the COVID-19 pandemic protection measures. These findings suggest that universities can do more to address concerns students have about in-person settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Undergraduates' Negative Emotion and Academic Procrastination During COVID-19: Life Autonomy as a Mediator and Sense of School Belonging as a Moderator

Introduction

This study aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on undergraduate students' academic procrastination and negative emotions. It seeks to examine the relationship between negative affect and academic procrastination among university students, considering the mediating role of life autonomy and the moderating effect of a sense of school belonging.

Methods

The study sample consisted of 776 university students from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Data collection involved the use of the Negative Affect Scale, Academic Procrastination Scale, Life Autonomy Scale, and Sense of School Belonging Scale. SPSS version 26.0 and PROCESS V3.580 to conduct relationship analysis, test the mediation model (model 4) and the moderated mediating model (model 7).

Results

The findings revealed significant relationships among the variables. Negative emotions were negatively related with life autonomy and sense of school belonging, and positively related with academic procrastination. Academic procrastination showed a negative correlation with both life autonomy and sense of school belonging. Sense of school belonging exhibited a positive relationship with life autonomy. The study also identified life autonomy as a mediator in the relationship between negative emotions and academic procrastination. Additionally, the sense of school belonging moderated the initial segment of the negative emotion-life autonomy-academic procrastination pathway.

Discussion

This study contributes to a better understanding of the association between negative affect and academic procrastination. It highlights that negative emotions have a direct and indirect influence on academic procrastination through the mediating role of life autonomy. Moreover, the moderating role of sense of school belonging suggests that the relationship between negative affect and life autonomy is stronger when the sense of school belonging is weaker.