Publications

Assessing student understanding and extending student learning beyond the face-to-face or synchronous online lesson is commonly done with the use of online discussion forums. However, the challenge reported by tutors of higher education has always been the lack of active participation and critical engagement by students unless the task is graded formally. Researchers have been investigating various approaches to facilitate effective learning experiences such that students are motivated to engage others when they are tasked to partake in such asynchronous discussions. This paper explores how I sought to engage my Engineering undergraduate students, reading a critical thinking and writing module taught in a blended learning environment, in online discussion forums with the adoption of the Paul-Elder critical thinking framework. The aim was to develop higher levels of criticality in thought in students’ forum responses, while demonstrating the application of the critical thinking tools, such that they were able to collaboratively construct knowledge and deepen their conceptual understanding of Engineering leadership. Results of the analysis found that students were engaged in spontaneous dialogic discussions in the form of repeated extended posts published in the online discussion forums. Furthermore, analysis of student critical reflection essays also confirmed that the online discussion forums, with a deliberate use of the tools of the framework, had contributed to their development of critical thinking skills to deepen their understanding. This paper concludes with a recommendation for tutors of higher education to make the assessment of students’ critical reflection or critical thinking skills visible for students with a proposed conceptual framework for online discussion forums.

The increase in the number of adults returning to complete their university education as ‘non-traditional students’ brings more attention to the challenges of a standard degree format. This paper examines the experiences of seven non-traditional students undergoing a cooperative education programme in Singapore, where students would alternate spending a few days in a week at a university while working full-time for the remaining days, in relation to the challenges and opportunities of the programme. Using qualitative thematic analysis, we discovered four themes greatly affected by the programme design – motivations for enrolling, transferability of knowledge, work–study balance and coping mechanisms. Overall, some obstacles hindering adults from continuing education were addressed by this cooperative education programme. The strong integration of work and study roles ensured that adults did not need to leave their job before starting university, reducing time and money-related pressures while increasing their commitment level to education. Additionally, rigid institutional practices were mitigated by the flexibility given by teaching faculty and work supervisors. We suggested several improvements to better suit the rising number of adults wanting to attain a degree. With the research results and recommendations proposed herein, this paper is useful to various universities willing to adopt cooperative education.

Many health sciences disciplines have adopted team-based learning (TBL) as part of their education pedagogy, with studies showing increased classroom participation and learner satisfaction. However, it will be beneficial to explore the learning experiences of occupational therapy students in TBL using a mixed methods approach. In an undergraduate occupational therapy program, students undertook three clinical modules using TBL in years two and three. This study explored their perceptions and experiences of TBL. This was a mixed methods prospective cohort study, during which two cohorts of students from Academic Year (AY) 2016 and AY2017 completed the Team-Based Learning Student Assessment Instrument (TBL-SAI) at the end of their first (midway evaluation) and third clinical module (final evaluation). In addition, they completed a semi-structured survey to share their learning experience. One-hundred twenty-seven occupational therapy students from both cohorts had full data and their results showed higher than neutral for Accountability, Preference for TBL, and Student Satisfaction sub-scales and composite scores at midway and final survey. Collectively, there were no significant changes in TBL perceptions, and no significant relationships were found between TBL-SAI scores and module results. Within the AY2017 cohort, there was positive moderate association between Accountability sub-scale midway score and module results. Qualitative analysis produced four themes: 1) power of discussion; 2) time use; 3) changed learning process and outcome; and 4) tailoring aspects of TBL to enhance learning. Occupational therapy students’ scores in the TBL-SAI domains were higher than neutral at midway and final evaluation. TBL may be a suitable method to aid learning of clinical occupational therapy knowledge.

Education research explains how healthcare professional training could be more efficient and effective by integrating simulation technology. Despite its relevance in training medical students, the evidence of its effectiveness in the manual skill training of physiotherapy students remains limited. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of 3-dimensional (3D) images of real objects produced by photogrammetry and traditional 2-dimensional (2D) images when introducing manual therapy skills to undergraduate physiotherapy students via an online course.

Inviting industry guest speakers has become a very effective way of bridging the gap between academic institutions and industry and enhancing applied learning (Davis, 2009; Feng, Chiang, Su, & Yang, 2015). Different parties including students, teachers, universities and industry practitioners can all benefit from guest speaker events. For example, guest speakers can enrich students’ classroom experience (Lowman, 1995) and help students to realize career opportunities (Metrejean et al., 2015). However, most studies focused on one guest speaker or guest speaker events of one programme. By interviewing academic scholars across different disciplines of a higher educational institution in Singapore, the investigators aim to identify the common patterns of informants’ best practices in engaging guest speakers. Interviewing students sitting in those guest speaker sessions can help to triangulate the findings. Another major objective of this study is to explore innovative ways of incorporating guest speaker sessions into curricula and evaluate the effectiveness of those new methods. Theoretically, this study will contribute to applied learning through exploring innovative ways of engaging industry guest speakers and providing valuable pedagogical aids to the academic community. The promotion and dissemination of guest speaker engagement can also expand universities’ scholar work in learning and teaching modalities. Practically, the formation of a standard procedure and a flow chart of engaging guest speakers will provide supplementary documents facilitating teachers’ engagement of industry practitioners. The findings of this study will also provide innovative solutions to connect students with industry professionals and expand universities’ network of expertise.

Early prediction of students' performance is important in identification and providing remedial help to academically weaker students. At the Singapore Institute of Technology, an online learning platform in Mathematics is available to the students three months before official classes start. Through the online platform, students will learn and recall the fundamental mathematical knowledge needed for their Mathematics courses. There are also tests that students take before reviewing the online materials (pre-test), after reviewing each topic (topical tests) and after reviewing all the materials (post-test). Here, we report that the topical tests and post-test scores from the online platform are predictive of students' performances in their first year Mathematics courses.