Learning in friendship groups:developing students’ conceptual understanding through social interaction

The role that student friendship groups play in learning was investigated here. Employing a critical realist design, two focus groups on undergraduates were conducted to explore their experience of studying. Data from the "case-by-case" analysis suggested student-to-student friendships produced social contexts which facilitated conceptual understanding through discussion, explanation, and application to "real life" contemporary issues. However, the students did not conceive this as a learning experience or suggest the function of their friendships involved learning. These data therefore challenge the perspective that student groups in higher education are formed and regulated for the primary function of learning. Given these findings, further research is needed to assess the role student friendships play in developing disciplinary conceptual understanding.

Patterns for Active E-Learning in CMS Environments

The proliferation of course management systems (CMS) in the last decade stimulated educators in establishing novel active e-learning practices. Only a few of these practices, however, have been systematically described and published as pedagogic patterns. The lack of formal patterns is an obstacle to the systematic reuse of beneficial active e-learning experiences. This paper aims to partially fill the void by offering a collection of active e-learning patterns that are derived from our continuous course design experience in standard CMS environments, such as Moodle and Black-board. Our technical focus is on active e-learning patterns that can boost student interest in computing-related fields and increase student enrolment in computing-related courses. Members of the international e-learning community can benefit from active e-learning patterns by applying them in the design of new CMS-based courses – in computing and other technical fields.

Online learning in discrete hidden Markov models

We present and analyze three different online algorithms for learning in discrete Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and compare their performance with the Baldi-Chauvin Algorithm. Using the Kullback-Leibler divergence as a measure of the generalization error we draw learning curves in simplified situations and compare the results. The performance for learning drifting concepts of one of the presented algorithms is analyzed and compared with the Baldi-Chauvin algorithm in the same situations. A brief discussion about learning and symmetry breaking based on our results is also presented. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Technology enhanced learning in Higher Education

Technology-Enhanced Learning in Higher Education is an anthology produced by the international association, Learning in Higher Education (LiHE). LiHE, whose scope includes the activities of colleges, universities and other institutions of higher education, has been one of the leading organisations supporting a shift in the education process from a transmission-based philosophy to a student-centred, learning-based approach. Traditionally education has been envisaged as a process in which the teacher disseminates knowledge and information to the student, and directs them to perform – instructing, cajoling, encouraging them as appropriate – despite different students’ abilities. Yet higher education is currently experiencing rapid transformation, with the introduction of a broad range of technologies which have the potential to enhance student learning. This anthology draws upon the experiences of those practitioners who have been pioneering new applications of technology in higher education, highlighting not only the technologies themselves but also the impact which they have had on student learning. The anthology illustrates how new technologies – which are increasingly well-known and accepted by today’s ‘digital natives’ undertaking higher education – can be adopted and incorporated. One key conclusion is that learning remains a social process even in technology-enhanced learning contexts. So the technology-based proxies we construct need to retain and reflect the agency of the teacher. Technology-Enhanced Learning in Higher Education showcases some of the latest pedagogical technologies and their most creative, state-of-the-art applications to learning in higher education from around the world. Each of the chapters explores technology-enhanced learning in higher education in terms of either policy or practice. They contain detailed descriptions of approaches taken in very different curriculum areas, and demonstrate clearly that technology may and can enhance learning only if it is designed with the learning process of students at its core. So the use of technology in education is more linked to pedagogy than it is to bits and bytes.

Automated Assessment of Student Activity in Moodle

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2014

Something to talk about: Content and Language Integrated Learning in Modern Languages in British Higher Education. A case study of German at Aston University

This thesis investigates Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in German undergraduate programmes in the UK. At its core is a study of how one German department integrates the teaching of language and content in its undergraduate programmes and how instructors and students experience this approach. This micro-context is embedded in the wider macro-context of UK Higher Education and subject to outside forces - be they political, economic, socio-cultural - whose effects will manifest in more or less obvious ways. Data was collected via an online survey of Heads of German at British universities to determine the status quo of CLIL in UK Higher Education and to investigate how certain institutional parameters determine the introduction of CLIL in Higher Education. This project employs a mixed-method case study approach and is based on student questionnaires and semi-structured interview with German teaching staff. The study brings to light a number of significant aspects. For example, contrary to popular belief, content provision in the L2 is rather common at British universities, which is currently not reflected in the research. Student data indicates that German students perceive clear advantages in the university’s approach to CLIL. They consider German-taught content classes challenging yet beneficial for their language development. Staff interviews have yielded intriguing information about perceived advantages and disadvantages of CLIL, about its implications for classroom practice, and about instructors’ attitude towards teacher training, which echo findings from similar investigations in European contexts. Finally, the results of the macro-analysis and the case study are compared and contrasted with findings from European research on ICLHE/CLIL to determine differences and similarities with the British context, a set of recommendations is made regarding CLIL practice at the case study institution, and some implications these indings may have for the future of CLIL in British higher education are discussed.

The examination of the relationships among secondary principals' leadership behaviors, school climate, and student achievement in an urban context

School principals' leadership is key to successful school reform, as is increased student achievement. This nonexperimental ex post facto study tested relationships among secondary school principals' leadership behaviors, school climate, and student achievement. Of 165 secondary school principals from the three largest school districts in South Florida, 58 completed three online survey instruments: the Leadership Practices Inventory, School Climate Inventory-Revised, and researcher-designed Demographic Questionnaire. Student achievement was measured by students' scores on the reading and mathematics Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests. Three null hypotheses tested relationships among (a) five principals' leadership behaviors and seven domains of school climate; (b) principals' leadership behaviors and student achievement; and (c) principals' leadership behaviors, school climate, and student achievement. Multiple linear regressions were used to determine the degree to which the independent variables predicted the dependent variables for the first two hypotheses. ANOVAs tested possible group differences between the demographic and research variables as controls for the third hypothesis. Partial correlational analyses tested the strength and direction of relationships among leadership behaviors, climate, and achievement. Results revealed partial support of the hypotheses. None of the leadership variables significantly predicted school climate. No significant relationships were found among the five leadership behaviors and student achievement. Demographic group differences in school climate and student achievement were marginally significant. The leadership behaviors of Inspiring a Shared Vision and Enabling Others to Act were positively linked to reading achievement. Partial correlations were found (r .27 to −.35) among school climate variables of Order, Involvement, and Expectation and achievement variables. The Modeling the Way leadership variable was negatively associated with reading achievement. After controlling for gender, years at current school, and years in the district, partial positive correlations were found among leadership, school climate, and student achievement. Inspiring a Shared Vision, Enabling Others to Act, Encouraging the Heart, and Challenging the Process leadership variables were partially correlated to Order, Leadership (Instructional), and Expectation climate variables. Study results should provide policymakers and educators with a leadership profile for school leaders challenging the status quo who can create schools for enhanced student learning and relevance to the needs of students, families, and society.

Predictors of success: Medical Laboratory Associate in Science Degree Program

Hospitals and healthcare facilities in the United States are facing serious shortages of medical laboratory personnel, which, if not addressed, stand to negatively impact patient care. The problem is compounded by a reduction in the numbers of academic programs and resulting decrease in the number of graduates to keep up with the increase in industry demands. Given these challenges, the purpose of this study was to identify predictors of success for students in a selected 2-year Medical Laboratory Technology Associate in Science Degree Program. ^ This study examined five academic factors (College Placement Test Math and Reading scores, Cumulative GPA, Science GPA, and Professional [first semester laboratory courses] GPA) and, demographic data to see if any of these factors could predict program completion. The researcher examined academic records for a 10-year period (N =158). Using a retrospective model, the correlational analysis between the variables and completion revealed a significant relationship (p < .05) for CGPA, SGPA, CPT Math, and PGPA indicating that students with higher CGPA, SGPA, CPT Math, and PGPA were more likely to complete their degree in 2 years. Binary logistic regression analysis with the same academic variables revealed PGPA was the best predictor of program completion (p < .001). ^ Additionally, the findings in this study are consistent with the academic part of the Bean and Metzner Conceptual Model of Nontraditional Student Attrition which points to academic outcome variables such as GPA as affecting attrition. Thus, the findings in this study are important to students and educators in the field of Medical Laboratory Technology since PGPA is a predictor that can be used to provide early in-program intervention to the at-risk student, thus increasing the chances of successful timely completion.^

Executive functions predict conceptual learning of science

Peer reviewed

Development of a program of radiopaque lesions images via radiographic cases for active learning in oral medicine

Through the creation of this project in English, we have made a file of radiographic images that will be used by third year dental students in order to improve the practical teaching part of the subject of Oral Medicine, essentially by incorporating these files to the Virtual Campus. We have selected the most representative radiopaque radiographic images studied in pathology lectures given. We have prepared a file with 59 radiopaque radiographic images. These lesions have been divided according to their relationship and number with the tooth, into the following groups: “Anatomic radiopacities”, “Periapical radiopacities”, “Solitary radiopacities not necessarily contacting teeth”,“Multiple separate radiopacities”, and “Generalized radiopacities”. We created 4 flowcharts synthesizing the mayor explanatory bases of each pathological process in relation to other pathologies within each location. We have focused primarily in those clinical and radiographic features that can help us differentiate one pathology from another. We believe that by giving the student a knowledge base through each flowchart, as well as provide clinical cases, will start their curiosity to seek new cases on the Internet or try to look for images that we have not been able to locate due to low frequency. In addition, as this project has been done in English, it will provide the students with necessary tools to do a literature search, as most of the medical and dental literature is in English; thus far, providing the student with this material necessary to make the appropriate searched using keywords in English.

Seeing How it Sounds: Observation, Imitation and Improved Learning in Piano Playing

Research in various fields has shown that students benefit from teacher action demonstrations during instruction, establishing the need to better understand the effectiveness of different demonstration types across student proficiency levels. This study centres upon a piano learning and teaching environment in which beginners and intermediate piano students (N=48) learning to perform a specific type of staccato were submitted to three different (group exclusive) teaching conditions: audio-only demonstration of the musical task; observation of the teacher's action demonstration followed by student imitation (blockedobservation); and observation of the teacher's action demonstration whilst alternating imitation of the task with the teacher's performance (interleaved-observation). Learning was measured in relation to students' range of wrist amplitude (RWA) and ratio of sound and inter-sound duration (SIDR) before, during and after training. Observation and imitation of the teacher’s action demonstrations had a beneficial effect on students' staccato knowledge retention at different times after training: students submitted to interleaved-observation presented significantly shorter note duration and larger wrist rotation, and as such, were more proficient at the learned technique in each of the lesson and retention tests than students in the other learning conditions. There were no significant differences in performance or retention for students of different proficiency levels. These findings have relevant implications for instrumental music pedagogy and other contexts where embodied action is an essential aspect of the learning process.

Conditions for Teaching and Learning in Religious Education (RE) : Perspectives of Teachers and Pupils at the Beginning of the 6th Grade in Sweden

In this article empirical findings from interviews with teachers of three classes of 12-year-old pupils are presented, together with questionnaire-responses from these 54 pupils. The interviews focus on teaching aims for Religious Education (RE), a subject that in Sweden, besides dealing with religion, also explores other kinds of beliefs, ethics and life questions. In the questionnaire the pupils are asked to solve four RE tasks with content that is central from a Swedish curriculum perspective. The research involves pupils at the beginning of the sixth grade and the purpose of this article is to look at the teachers’ aims and the pupils’ responses, and consider what these may indicate about conditions for teaching and learning RE in these classes. The findings show that the perspectives of the pupils at the beginning of the sixth grade seem to be rather far from the expectations of the RE syllabus. The pupils’ statements are rather vague with regard to religion as a phenomenon and there are few examples of pupils interpreting religious symbols in a way that is useful in further analysis. While existential and ethical plots, messages and point of views are comparatively easy to describe, it is harder to express multiple perspectives, reasons, comparisons and questions. A problem for the teachers in developing the perspectives of their pupils is that they find it hard to say what kind of general difficulties pupils have in RE, a fact that makes it hard to direct the teaching. Another challenge is that the teachers’ RE-aims are rather overarching and primarily related to fostering fundamental values. What improves the conditions for teaching and learning is the teachers’ concern for the pupils and their relationships with the teacher and with each other, a factor which is of vital importance for learning and which can also be used as a specific teaching method in subject matter education.

Awareness and Learning in Participatory Noise Sensing

The development of ICT infrastructures has facilitated the emergence of new paradigms for looking at society and the environment over the last few years. Participatory environmental sensing, i.e. directly involving citizens in environmental monitoring, is one example, which is hoped to encourage learning and enhance awareness of environmental issues. In this paper, an analysis of the behaviour of individuals involved in noise sensing is presented. Citizens have been involved in noise measuring activities through the WideNoise smartphone application. This application has been designed to record both objective (noise samples) and subjective (opinions, feelings) data. The application has been open to be used freely by anyone and has been widely employed worldwide. In addition, several test cases have been organised in European countries. Based on the information submitted by users, an analysis of emerging awareness and learning is performed. The data show that changes in the way the environment is perceived after repeated usage of the application do appear. Specifically, users learn how to recognise different noise levels they are exposed to. Additionally, the subjective data collected indicate an increased user involvement in time and a categorisation effect between pleasant and less pleasant environments.