How UK HE STEM Students Were Motivated to Switch Their Cameras on: A Study of the Development of Compassionate Communications in Task-focused Online Group Meetings

Jayasundara, J.M.P.V.K.; Gilbert, Theo; Kersten, Saskia; Li, Meng

doi:10.3390/educsci12050317

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…In our study, 62% of the students considered "camera on" mode as important and only 12% preferred "camera off" mode. This aligns with the findings in previous studies [23] confirming the importance of inclusive eye contact. In contrast to this, Selco and Habbak [13] reported that 60% of the students had no preference between camera on or off and the remaining 40% were divided in half regarding this preference.…”

Section: Deliverysupporting

confidence: 93%

Enriching Traditional Higher STEM Education with Online Teaching and Learning Practices: Students’ Perspective

et al. 2022

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In this paper, we aim to identify online teaching and learning practices that would be beneficial for blended and traditional on-campus education within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) courses. Our university, as well as the majority of higher education institutions worldwide, has had few to no experience in delivering full online courses before 2020. The teaching process was, however, severely affected and modified by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing an abrupt and unprepared shift towards online education. In this work, we look at the pandemic as causing a very favorable side effect that forced the university to study, test, apply, and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of online education and assessment methods. The study is a result of joint efforts from different departments at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, connected to STEM undergraduate and graduate programs and is based on a questionnaire targeted towards students. In total, 167 valid STEM students’ answers have been collected and analyzed, both quantitatively and qualitatively. As the result, the best teaching and learning practices are identified and the main difficulties and obstacles experienced by students are detected. Some of the problems are common to many higher education institutions, such as the lack of teacher preparation in delivering quality online synchronous and asynchronous classes, technical limitations (network bandwidth/weak equipment), ineffective communication during synchronous classes, gaps in student skills, and low activity of some students and even teachers. We believe that the presented results would allow for improving future on-campus, distance, and blended learning courses, particularly through avoiding less effective teaching and assessment methods and favoring those techniques that students consider more efficient. This ultimately would lead to a more rewarding teaching/learning experience.

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Section: Deliverysupporting

confidence: 93%

Enriching Traditional Higher STEM Education with Online Teaching and Learning Practices: Students’ Perspective

et al. 2022

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“…Chart 4: The majority of breakout room participants contributed to discussions. Jayasundara et al 2022;Pavlov, Smirnova, and Nuzhnia 2021) and how this may not be appropriate for all students, it is important to reflect on the views of students on this. While discussing how to encourage students to participate, some referred to tutors encouraging students to switch on microphones and speak, while others specifically mentioned switching on cameras.…”

Section: Facilitating Effective Breakout Roomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving online dialogic learning using breakout rooms

Douglas¹

2023

Research in Learning Technology

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The use of breakout rooms is an increasingly used tool in online teaching. This study uses Laurillard’s (2013) Conversational Framework to evaluate the effectiveness of breakout rooms in achieving learning through peer-to-peer dialogue in large-scale teaching. Data were collected through online surveys, comprising Likert ratings and open questions, to undergraduate students (n = 115) and tutors (n = 9) at Aberdeen Business School (Robert Gordon University) reflecting on Year 1 studies in the 2020–2021 academic year. Key findings indicate that breakout rooms can be successful in achieving effective learning through peer-to-peer dialogue. However, this is highly dependent on the participation by students, which was variable. In order to facilitate effective breakout rooms, tutors need to ensure they set a clear task, with evidence suggesting a perception gap between tutors and students on how effectively this was done, and regularly visit breakout rooms to encourage participation and provide support.

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“…In that training, as in the present study here, students were taught practical strategies to dismantle the two behaviors that they had ranked the most problematic in teamwork meetings, which were a tendency by some team members to either (a) over talk, or "monopolise" the group (Yalom and Leszsz, 2005) so that others had little chance to speak, or (b) say little or nothing, thus contributing very little to the group. Similarly, Jayasundara et al (2022) demonstrated the feasibility and value of developing Cognitive Skills of Compassionate Communications (CSCC) among UK HE STEM students in their online group work management. is latter study (Jayasundara et al, 2022) identi es how students were motivated to turn on their webcams in their online group meetings aer recognizing their own abilities to support one another through both their verbal and non-verbal compassionate communications during their team meetings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Similarly, Jayasundara et al (2022) demonstrated the feasibility and value of developing Cognitive Skills of Compassionate Communications (CSCC) among UK HE STEM students in their online group work management. is latter study (Jayasundara et al, 2022) identi es how students were motivated to turn on their webcams in their online group meetings aer recognizing their own abilities to support one another through both their verbal and non-verbal compassionate communications during their team meetings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…A pilot study, referred to in the study(Jayasundara et al, 2022), as Cycle 1 was conducted prior to this study (Cycles 2 and 3) as part of an, overall, action research project. The pilot/Cycle 1 was carried out among two groups of international/Sri Lankan STEM students (n = 8) studying in five UK universities in preparation for the study reported here.Frontiers in Psychology…”

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Why should I switch on my camera? Developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group/teamwork management

et al. 2023

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IntroductionAssociated with learning and social isolation from each other during the pandemic-driven transition to online platforms in Higher Education (HE), many students were, and remain, reluctant to turn on their video cameras to be present with each other during their online meetings.Using the Compassionate Mind Foundation's definition of compassion, not as an emotion, but as a psychobiological motivation to take wise action to help when self or others struggle, this comparative study examined (a) the deployment by students during online, task-focused group/team meetings, of taught verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that were explicitly compassionate and (b) the effects of these strategies on each other's social and learning experiences in these meetings, compared to when they did not use them.MethodsTwenty-four STEM students from a sample of five Sri Lankan universities, were mixed, then divided into six groups of four students per group. This mixed-methods study, video-recorded and analyzed each group's task-focused group meetings before, then after, an online interactive 90-min training session (the intervention) in the Cognitive Skills of Compassionate Communications (CSCC) for groups/teams.ResultsUsing R, SPSS and Microsoft Excel to analyse the quantitative data, a statistically significant improvement in students' screen-gaze attentiveness was identified after the CSCC intervention. The qualitative data analysis explained this and other behavioral changes that were shown to enhance students' social and learning experiences in their online meetings.Given the strong historical and political drivers of current divisions across Sri Lankan student communities, these findings call for more urgent research on compassion as a cognitive competence for accelerating group/team cohesion and criticality across HE, and beyond.

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How UK HE STEM Students Were Motivated to Switch Their Cameras on: A Study of the Development of Compassionate Communications in Task-focused Online Group Meetings

Cited by 5 publications

References 55 publications

Enriching Traditional Higher STEM Education with Online Teaching and Learning Practices: Students’ Perspective

Enriching Traditional Higher STEM Education with Online Teaching and Learning Practices: Students’ Perspective

Achieving online dialogic learning using breakout rooms

Why should I switch on my camera? Developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group/teamwork management

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