This Forum explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Higher Education (HE) sector through the experiences and perspectives in China, Malaysia and the UK, with schools and universities closed and teaching moved online with very short notice. Authors were given an open brief as to the nature of their contribution, reflecting the still…

This article considers the proposals of the final report of the Commission on Religious Education (CoRE 2018) and its controversial conclusion that the law should require religious education to include teaching about non-religious worldviews alongside religions, presumably in equal measure. Attention is given both to Trevor Cooling's recent…

Several studies have explored the factors that influence self-efficacy as well as its contribution to academic development in online learning environments in recent years. However, little research has investigated the effect of a web-based learning environment on enhancing students' beliefs about self-efficacy for learning. This is especially…

As a growing base of evidence links student success with attendance, many states have chosen to include measures of student absenteeism in their accountability systems under ESSA. Consequently, school districts face strong incentives to improve attendance. We report on a randomized field experiment in which parents of early elementary students…

Students sometimes learn about a model of the "scientific method" that is linear and clear cut. While this approach may have pedagogical advantages, it does not reflect how science is often done in practice. The Experimental Modeling Framework (EMF) describes the complex and iterative process of experimentation in the domain of physics,…

"In the spring of 2020, educational professionals rushed to suddenly and unexpectedly shift to remote teaching in light of the COVID-19 pandemic" (Boltz, Yadav, Dillman & Robertson, 2021). During this time, "Schools and universities had to quickly adapt to a distance learning model…." (Stevens, Stevens, & Grady, 2021)…

Background: Online learning has grown significantly during the past two decades, and COVID-19 pandemic has expedited this process. However, previous research has shown how academic dishonesty is more prevalent under these modalities. Therefore, there is the challenge of performing trustworthy remote assessments, in order to obtain valid and…

Whilst Productive Failure (Kapur, "Cognition and Instruction," 26:379-424, 2008, "Instructional Science," 38:523-550, 2010; Kapur & Bielaczyc, "Journal of the Learning Sciences" 21:45-83, 2012) has been shown to be efficacious in deepening students' learning of mathematics in Singapore classrooms, an action…

Across science disciplines, light is a common tool for measuring, characterizing, and catalysing molecules and molecular processes. Despite the ubiquity of light-based tools, little research has been done to investigate how students understand light and light-matter interactions (LMI). This topic is typically first introduced in first-year…

Many data science applications involve generating questions, acquiring data and preparing it for analysis--be it exploratory, inferential, or modeling focused--and communicating findings. Most data science curricula address each of these steps as separate units in a course or as separate courses. Open-ended term projects, however, allow students…

Purpose: This paper discusses the redevelopment of MSc Civil Engineering and Construction Management of a modern university in the Midlands of the UK in recent years, with the aim to offer flexible future learning opportunities for built environment professionals and address the sector's skill shortage concerns (Augar Review, 2019 and 2021;…

Background: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many teachers found themselves making a rapid and often challenging shift from in-person classroom teaching to teaching in an online environment. As teachers continue to learn about working in this new environment, research in cognitive and learning sciences, specifically findings from cognitive…

Researchers have developed numerous effective theory-based practices for teaching undergraduate general education mathematics (UGEM); however, many universities have struggled for decades to close the gap from theory to practice. This gap contributes to the national lack of skilled STEM workers. Recently, an all-online university closed the gap by…

This exploratory research paper addresses undergraduate business student course instruction method preferences both pre and post COVID-19. A survey was given to a convenience sample of undergraduate business students across four areas of business: Accounting, Financial Services, Marketing/Management, and Health Care at a small university in the…

This study is aimed at investigating the ethical behaviors performed by students in online classes. It is descriptive qualitative research. Observation and questionnaires as well as informal interviews for lecturers and students are the tools of data collection. 10 lecturers and 66 students participated in this research. Only a small number of…