Students’ and teachers’ perceptions and experiences of course scheduling in undergraduate sports sciences program: An Ethiopian case study

Abstract

Flexibility in course scheduling is an integral part of institutional strategies used to increase studentengagement and success, yet little research exists that examines scheduling as a key factor that determinesstudents’ experiences and educational outcomes. This study explored the undergraduate sport sciencestudents and their teachers at Jimma University, Ethiopia, regarding their experiences in semester-based andblock scheduling formats as well as their reflections and perspectives on the effectiveness of these schedulingformats for teaching and learning. For this, the study used an exploratory mixed-methods design consisting ofindividual interviews with six teachers and focus group interviews with undergraduate sports sciences studentsample (n = 40), and institutional archives of the sampled students’ cumulative grade point averages (GPAs).The study findings indicate divergent views regarding their perceptions and mixed experiences with thesemester-based and block scheduled courses. Irrespective of these, the majority of participants reported thatteachers’ missing scheduled classes, tending not to teach the full time of the class session, continual lecturing,and scarcity of instructional resources are the major challenges surrounding the implementation of bothsemester-based and block teaching. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research,implementation, and intervention design.