Browsing by Author "Rupasinghe, T.P."

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‘Connective alignment’ as the educational approach for higher education in the digital age
(Commonwealth of Learning, 2024) Senadheera, V.V.; Rupasinghe, T.P.; Ediriweera, D.S.
Most students in higher education at present are ‘digital natives.’ They use technology in every facet of their life, including their education. They learn from formally organised courses as well as from informal learning. Hence, informal learning has been identified as crucial for the sustainability of higher education in the current global context. Technology facilitates informal learning and, thus, has made substantial changes in how learning occurs in modern age learners. These changes that occurred in the learning process due to the influence of technology should be addressed by the educational approaches used in higher education to achieve the best outcomes in relation to the academic performance of students and students’ satisfaction. This commentary presents an educational approach: ‘Connective Alignment’ for higher education in the digital age, which can fulfil the learning needs of the learners in this digital age.
“Connectivism” as a theoretical framework underpinning social media usage for higher education in the digital age – A scoping review
(Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, 2023) Senadheera, V.V.; Ediriweera, D.S.; Rupasinghe, T.P.
The objectives of this scoping review were to examine how connectivism has been to incorporate social media into higher education and understand the impact of social media usage, with connectivism as the theoretical framework on the success of student learning
Impact of microlearning on academic performance of students in higher education in theoretical examinations – A systematic and Meta-Analysis
(Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, 2023) Senadheera, V.V.; Ediriweera, D.S.; Rupasinghe, T.P.
The Objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the impact of microlearning compared to traditional learning on the academic performance of students in higher education in theoretical examinations.
An Initial Study on Understanding the Effect of Question Surface Features on Students' Responses
(In: Proceedings of the International Postgraduate Research Conference 2017 (IPRC – 2017), Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Rupasinghe, T.P.; Samarasekere, P.W.; Wijesinghe, S.
Assessment is one of the key feedback mechanisms in measuring the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process of science education. One of the challenges in evaluating through the assessments is that students often focus on surface features of the questions such as the length, vocabulary, or the phrasing, rather than on underlying scientific principles of the question. According to educational theories, the wording of the questions has a substantial impact on the students’ performance during the science examinations. However, in the current science education context, there is only a limited number of research studies available which provides an insight into the relationship between students’ performance and the question features. The objective of the current study is to investigate the effect of the surface features of the questions on students’ performance. Herein, we have investigated how wording of an examination question could affect students’ performance. The study was conducted as a part of the Chemistry for Technology course (sample size =86) at the Faculty of Computing and Technology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. At the final examination, two different types of constructed-response questions were given to students. One was a Direct question which included solving a question using a basic chemistry concept and simple arithmetic calculations. Second version (Wordy question); included the same data as in the Direct version but with a related scenario. In the Wordy question, students had to go through several sentences to pick relevant data to solve the problem. It is expected that, the scenario given in the Wordy version could lead to a deeper understanding of the question and thereby result in better students’ performance. Marks obtained for the two versions were averaged and compared to investigate whether there is any significance of the wording towards the performance of students. Average mark for the Wordy question yielded to be 43% while that of the Direct question was 63%. Moreover, the attempt rate (no of student who had attempted) was significantly low as 39% for the Wordy version of the question. According to the performance of the students it was clear that the students meet a considerable difficulty in the understanding the Wordy questions. It can be concluded that the use of items such as syntactically complex sentences in examinations could decrease the performance of the students. Moreover, significantly lower attempt rate observed in the case of the Wordy questions suggests that the students tend to skip lengthy questions even without trying to identify the basic scientific principle lying behind. Hence it can be concluded that the surface features such as the length, type of words can play a key role in students’ performance at the examinations. Currently, further studies are being conducted to gain more insight into this.
Inquiry Based Learning Approach in Introductory Level Science Education.
(In: Proceedings of the International Postgraduate Research Conference 2017 (IPRC – 2017), Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Rupasinghe, T.P.; Samarasekere, P.W.; Wijesinghe, S.
In today‘s world, science education has been shifted from the traditional ―Passive Learning‖ to the ―Active Learning‖ approach. Although traditional teaching is effective in disseminating large body of content to a large number of students, it often fails to stimulate students‘ enthusiasm, confidence, and motivation, and thereby fails to enhance critical thinking and problem solving skills. The result is a mismatch in job market demand and supply as the graduates are lacking in appropriate skills and competencies needed in the job market, leading to increased unemployment among the graduates. In order to promote meaningful science education through concepts of Active Learning, number of different teaching pedagogies have been introduced, such as Problem Based Learning (PBL), Activity Based Learning (ABL) and Inquiry Based Learning (IBL). Current study focuses on the implementation of an Inquiry Based instructional design to enhance chemistry laboratory skills of undergraduates. Typically, chemistry laboratory classes utilize a ―cook book‖ approach where students follow the directions in an experimental procedure. Although this approach is effective in teaching a new laboratory technique, it highly limits the level of learning as it doesn‘t provide a comprehensive understanding of the real world applications of the experiment. In the current IBL approach, each laboratory class was composed of four components, (i) Case Study session (ii) Pre-lab Assignment (iii) Laboratory session and (iv) a Post-lab activity. Case study session was an interactive group activity where a comprehensive real world problem/scenario related to each laboratory topic was discussed prior to the laboratory session. Students were asked to think critically on the scenario, and design an experiment to solve the problem. An inclusive learning environment was created in the classroom where each group had to present their solution and provide feedback to peers. Pre-lab assignment was designed to facilitate and assess students‘ subject knowledge and logical thinking, while the post-lab activity was designed to provide a deeper understanding by emphasizing the theoretical background. Assessment of this novel IBL approach consisted of student surveys, feedbacks, and comparison of students‘ grades. Significantly higher student satisfaction and performance was observed in the study signifying the positive impact of active learning towards the success of students‘ learning.
Instructional design models for digital learning in higher education — A scoping review
(Commonwealth of Learning, 2024) Senadheera, V.V.; Ediriweera, D.S.; Rupasinghe, T.P.
Instructional design (ID) is a systematic process that is used to develop education and training programmes in a consistent and reliable way. A key challenge faced by educators is selecting an ID model by deciding which ID model will be more suitable in order to achieve an effective digital teaching and learning process. The objective of this scoping review was to present recommendations to select ID models for digital learning in higher education. Nine databases were searched for eligible publications. The search retrieved 643 records. Forty articles were included in this review. Results show that employing a systematic process in instructional design (an ID model) has produced an effective, consistent and reliable digital teaching and learning process in higher education. Selection of an ID model depends on the requirements of the course, timeline, resources available for the design and development of the course and the expertise in the ID process.
Integrating Technology into Undergraduate Classroom; Studentled Video Production as an Effective Instructional Strategy
(4th International Conference on Advances in Computing and Technology (ICACT ‒ 2019), Faculty of Computing and Technology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Rupasinghe, T.P.; Wijesinghe, S.C.
In the current world context, successful integration of digital technology and education theory has led to new advents of teaching and learning. Current students, termed as “Digital natives” have grown up in a multi-media simulated world and are highly competent in adopting to new technologies and therefore, it is importance to utilize technology enabled pedagogical approaches to invoke students’ interest and engagement. Further in the current socio-economic context, it is of enormous importance to enhance students’ generic skills such as self-directed learning, critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and cooperation in addition to the domain-specific knowledge and skills. Utilizing digital technologies in the tertiary education can be named as a valuable approach to address above challenges. In the past decade, using digital videos in the teaching and learning have become an emerging instructional strategy, mainly being used in the content delivery. However, there is only a limited number of studies that have been conducted focusing on learning through student-produced digital videos. Current study focuses on investigating student-led video production as an effective active learning instructional strategy. Study was conducted as a part of an Engineering Technology degree program and students (N=72) were asked to create videos (10-15 minutes) to educate their peers on given topics in the course content. Then they were given the opportunity to teach their peers using produced videos. Students’ perception on the activity was evaluated using surveys and its’ impact on the learning process was evaluated through an in-class quiz and was compared with previous quizzes. Majority of the students (> 90 %) had agreed that the activity helped them to understand subject matter better and improved their confidence, communication skills, team work skills and technical skills. Further, according to statistical testing it was proved that the average mark (57 %) for the quiz after the activity was higher than previous quiz (39 %) proving that the activity has a direct impact on students learning. In conclusion, it can be stated that student-led video production has a vast impact as an instructional strategy which enhances students’ competence, generic skills as well as the subject knowledge and thereby enhance the quality of tertiary education.
Nanocrystals of a Metal–Organic Complex Exhibit Remarkably High Conductivity that Increases in a Single-Crystal-to-Single-Crystal Transformation
(American Chemical Society., 2014) Hutchins, K.M.; Rupasinghe, T.P.; Ditzler, L.R.; Swenson, D.C.; Sander, J.R.G.; Baltrusaitis, J.; Tivanski, A.V.; MacGillivray, L.R.
Ag(I) is used to form a π-stacked metal–organic solid that exhibits remarkably high electrical conductivity. The solid undergoes a single-crystal-to-single-crystal [2+2] photodimerization to generate a 1D coordination polymer with over 40% higher conductivity. The Ag(I) complex represents the first example of an increase in conductivity resulting from a [2+2] photodimerization. Density of states calculations show a higher contribution from Ag(I) ions to the valence band in the photodimerized solid, supporting the increase in conductivity.
Synthesis, Optimization, and Performance Demonstration of Electrospun Carbon Nanofiber–Carbon Nanotube Composite Sorbents for Point-of-Use Water Treatment
(American Chemical Society., 2016) Peter, K.T.; Vargo, J.D.; Rupasinghe, T.P.; De Jesus, A.; Tivanski, A.V.; Sander, E.A.; Myung, N.V.; Cwiertny, D.M.
We developed an electrospun carbon nanofiber–carbon nanotube (CNF–CNT) composite with optimal sorption capacity and material strength for point-of-use (POU) water treatment. Synthesis variables including integration of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and macroporosity (via sublimation of phthalic acid), relative humidity (20 and 40%), and stabilization temperature (250 and 280 °C) were used to control nanofiber diameter and surface area (from electron microscopy and BET isotherms, respectively), surface composition (from XPS), and strength (from AFM nanoindentation and tensile strength tests). Composites were then evaluated using kinetic, isotherm, and pH-edge sorption experiments with sulfamethoxazole (log Kow = 0.89) and atrazine (log Kow = 2.61), representative micropollutants chosen for their different polarities. Although CNFs alone were poor sorbents, integration of CNTs and macroporosity achieved uptake comparable to granular activated carbon. Through reactivity comparisons with CNT dispersions, we propose that increasing macroporosity exposes the embedded CNTs, thereby enabling their role as the primary sorbent in nanofiber composites. Because the highest capacity sorbents lacked sufficient strength, our optimal formulation (polyacrylonitrile 8 wt %, CNT 2 wt %, phthalic acid 2.4 wt %; 40% relative humidity; 280 °C stabilization) represents a compromise between strength and performance. This optimized sorbent was tested with a mixture of ten organic micropollutants at environmentally relevant concentrations in a gravity-fed, flow-through filtration system, where removal trends suggest that both hydrophobic and specific binding interactions contribute to micropollutant uptake. Collectively, this work highlights the promise of CNF–CNT filters (e.g., mechanical strength, ability to harness CNT sorption capacity), while also prioritizing areas for future research and development (e.g., improved removal of highly polar micropollutants, sensitivity to interfering cosolutes).