International Service-Learning and the Development of Civic Identity: Understanding the Role of Short-Term International Service-Learning and its Influence on the Development of Civic Identity in College Students Using a Mixed Methodological Approach

Higher education has a responsibility to educate a democratic citizenry and recent research indicates civic engagement is on the decline in the United States. Through a mixed methodological approach, I demonstrate that the potential exists for well structured short-term international service-learning programming to develop college students’ civic identities. Quantitative analysis of questionnaire data, collected from American college students immediately prior to their participation in a short-term service-learning experience in Northern Ireland and again upon their return to the United States, revealed increases in civic accountability, political efficacy, justice oriented citizenship, and service-learning. Subsequent qualitative analysis of interview transcripts, student journals, and field notes suggested that facilitated critical reflection before, during, and after the experience promoted transformational learning. Emergent themes included: (a) responsibilities to others, (b) the value of international service-learning, (c) crosspollination of ideas, (d) stepping outside the daily routine to facilitate divergent thinking, and (e) the necessity of precursory thinking for sustaining transformations in thinking. The first theme, responsibilities to others, was further divided into subthemes of thinking beyond oneself, raising awareness of responsibility to others, and voting responsibly.

Engaged Learning: Enabling Self-Authorship and Effective Practice

There is now broad consensus that higher education must extend beyond content-based knowledge to encompass intellectual and practical skills, personal and social responsibility, and integrative learning. The college learning outcomes needed for success in 21st century life include critical thinking, a coherent sense of self, intercultural maturity, civic engagement, and the capacity for mutual relationships. Yet, research suggests that college students are struggling to achieve these outcomes in part because skills needed to succeed in college are not those needed to succeed upon graduation. One reason for this gap is that these college learning outcomes require complex developmental capacities or “self-authorship” that higher education is not currently designed to promote.

The free radical scavenger alpha-phenyl-tert-butyl nitrone aggravates hippocampal apoptosis and learning deficits in experimental pneumococcal meningitis

The effect of adjuvant therapy with the radical scavenger alpha-phenyl-tert-butyl nitrone (PBN; 100 mg/kg given intraperitoneally every 8 h for 5 days) on brain injury and learning function was evaluated in an infant rat model of pneumococcal meningitis. Meningitis led to cortical necrotic injury (median, 3.97% [range, 0%-38.9%] of the cortex), which was reduced to a median of 0% (range, 0%-30.9%) of the cortex (P<.001) by PBN. However, neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampal dentate gyrus was increased by PBN, compared with that by saline (median score, 1.15 [range, 0.04-1.73] vs. 0.31 [range, 0-0.92]; P<.001). Learning function 3 weeks after cured infection, as assessed by the Morris water maze, was decreased, compared with that in uninfected control animals (P<.001). Parallel to the increase in hippocampal apoptosis, PBN further impaired learning in infected animals, compared with that in saline-treated animals (P<.02). These results contrast with those of an earlier study, in which PBN reduced cortical and hippocampal neuronal injury in group B streptococcal meningitis. Thus, in pneumococcal meningitis, antioxidant therapy with PBN aggravates hippocampal injury and learning deficits.

Effects of instructional changes on student learning of electrochemistry in an IB chemistry course

This study investigated the effectiveness of incorporating several new instructional strategies into an International Baccalaureate (IB) chemistry course in terms of how they supported high school seniors’ understanding of electrochemistry. The three new methods used were (a) providing opportunities for visualization of particle movement by student manipulation of physical models and interactive computer simulations, (b) explicitly addressing common misconceptions identified in the literature, and (c) teaching an algorithmic, step-wise approach for determining the products of an aqueous solution electrolysis. Changes in student understanding were assessed through test scores on both internally and externally administered exams over a two-year period. It was found that visualization practice and explicit misconception instruction improved student understanding, but the effect was more apparent in the short-term. The data suggested that instruction time spent on algorithm practice was insufficient to cause significant test score improvement. There was, however, a substantial increase in the percentage of the experimental group students who chose to answer an optional electrochemistry-related external exam question, indicating an increase in student confidence. Implications for future instruction are discussed.

Computergestützte Lehre an Hochschulen (Blended Learning). Der Virtuelle Campus Erziehungswissenschaft der Universität Bern

Blended Learning-Angebote - Lehrveranstaltungen, die aus Präsenzanteilen und virtuellen Anteilen im Internet bestehen - halten zunehmend Einzug an Universitäten, Fachhochschulen und Pädagogischen Hochschulen. Diese neuen Lehrformen stehen im Spannungsfeld zwischen technischen Möglichkeiten, ökonomischen Erfordernissen und hochschuldidaktischen Anforderungen. Den Mittelpunkt des Buches bildet das computerunterstützte Lehrangebot des «Virtuellen Campus Erziehungswissenschaft» an der Universität Bern, das der Ausbildung zukünftiger Lehrpersonen an der Pädagogischen Hochschule Bern dient. Zum einen soll dieses in der Praxis bewährte Lehrangebot theoretisch analysiert werden. Zum anderen erfolgt ein Einblick in die Praxis des «Virtuellen Campus Erziehungswissenschaft», um anderen Bildungsinstitutionen Anregungen zur Einrichtung ähnlicher Angebote oder zur Modifizierung ihrer Blended-Learning-Kurse zu geben. Dabei werden die Bereiche (a) Planung und Entwicklung von Lehrangeboten, (b) Methoden der Vermittlung und Einsatz neuer Technologien, (c) Betreuung von Studierenden, (d) Assessment der Studierenden, (e) Qualitätssicherung der Lehre und der eigenen Lehrtätigkeit und (f) Selbstmanagement und Professionalität im Hochschulkontext abgedeckt. Schliesslich wird auch nach der hochschuldidaktischen Vernunft solcher Angebote gefragt.

Multi-Channel-Learning (MCL)

Lerneinheiten müssen stark variierenden Anforderungen gerecht werden. Neben unterschiedlichen Lerntypen spielen vor allem auch die Umfeldbedingungen eine wesentliche Rolle, in denen Lernprozesse stattfinden. Faktoren wie z. B. die Tagesform führen letztlich dazu, dass nicht einmal für eine einzelne Person konstante Lernpräferenzen herrschen. Mit diesem Beitrag wird vorgeschlagen, zur Lösung des Problems einer Mehrkanalstrategie zu folgen. Allerdings sind spezifische Eigenschaften von Learning-Content-Systemen (LCS) notwendig, um ein sog. Multi-Channel-Learning (MCL) zu ermöglichen. Diese Eigenschaften werden im Beitrag anhand von Informationsmodellen beschrieben werden. Sie sollen als Referenzmodell dienen, das sowohl bei der Entwicklung als auch bei der Auswahl und Anpassung von LCS hilfreich sein kann. Das Referenzmodell wird deduktiv abgeleitet und anhand praktischer Anwendungen geprüft. Vorgestellt werden sowohl Anwendungs- als auch Organisationssysteme, die nach dem Modell realisiert worden sind. Auf dieser Grundlage kann schließlich eine Nutzenabschätzung des Modells für das Multi-Channel-Learnings vorgenommen werden.

Constructing a user experience user experience-based mobile learning environment

Mobile learning, in the past defined as learning with mobile devices, now refers to any type of learning-on-the-go or learning that takes advantage of mobile technologies. This new definition shifted its focus from the mobility of technology to the mobility of the learner (O'Malley and Stanton 2002; Sharples, Arnedillo-Sanchez et al. 2009). Placing emphasis on the mobile learner’s perspective requires studying “how the mobility of learners augmented by personal and public technology can contribute to the process of gaining new knowledge, skills, and experience” (Sharples, Arnedillo-Sanchez et al. 2009). The demands of an increasingly knowledge based society and the advances in mobile phone technology are combining to spur the growth of mobile learning. Around the world, mobile learning is predicted to be the future of online learning, and is slowly entering the mainstream education. However, for mobile learning to attain its full potential, it is essential to develop more advanced technologies that are tailored to the needs of this new learning environment. A research field that allows putting the development of such technologies onto a solid basis is user experience design, which addresses how to improve usability and therefore user acceptance of a system. Although there is no consensus definition of user experience, simply stated it focuses on how a person feels about using a product, system or service. It is generally agreed that user experience adds subjective attributes and social aspects to a space that has previously concerned itself mainly with ease-of-use. In addition, it can include users’ perceptions of usability and system efficiency. Recent advances in mobile and ubiquitous computing technologies further underline the importance of human-computer interaction and user experience (feelings, motivations, and values) with a system. Today, there are plenty of reports on the limitations of mobile technologies for learning (e.g., small screen size, slow connection), but there is a lack of research on user experience with mobile technologies. This dissertation will fill in this gap by a new approach in building a user experience-based mobile learning environment. The optimized user experience we suggest integrates three priorities, namely a) content, by improving the quality of delivered learning materials, b) the teaching and learning process, by enabling live and synchronous learning, and c) the learners themselves, by enabling a timely detection of their emotional state during mobile learning. In detail, the contributions of this thesis are as follows: • A video codec optimized for screencast videos which achieves an unprecedented compression rate while maintaining a very high video quality, and a novel UI layout for video lectures, which together enable truly mobile access to live lectures. • A new approach in HTTP-based multimedia delivery that exploits the characteristics of live lectures in a mobile context and enables a significantly improved user experience for mobile live lectures. • A non-invasive affective learning model based on multi-modal emotion detection with very high recognition rates, which enables real-time emotion detection and subsequent adaption of the learning environment on mobile devices. The technology resulting from the research presented in this thesis is in daily use at the School of Continuing Education of Shanghai Jiaotong University (SOCE), a blended-learning institution with 35.000 students.

Action Research and Learning Analytics in Higher Education

Teaching is a dynamic activity. It can be very effective, if its impact is constantly monitored and adjusted to the demands of changing social contexts and needs of learners. This implies that teachers need to be aware about teaching and learning processes. Moreover, they should constantly question their didactical methods and the learning resources, which they provide to their students. They should reflect if their actions are suitable, and they should regulate their teaching, e.g., by updating learning materials based on new knowledge about learners, or by motivating learners to engage in further learning activities. In the last years, a rising interest in ‘learning analytics’ is observable. This interest is motivated by the availability of massive amounts of educational data. Also, the continuously increasing processing power, and a strong motivation for discovering new information from these pools of educational data, is pushing further developments within the learning analytics research field. Learning analytics could be a method for reflective teaching practice that enables and guides teachers to investigate and evaluate their work in future learning scenarios. However, this potentially positive impact has not yet been sufficiently verified by learning analytics research. Another method that pursues these goals is ‘action research’. Learning analytics promises to initiate action research processes because it facilitates awareness, reflection and regulation of teaching activities analogous to action research. Therefore, this thesis joins both concepts, in order to improve the design of learning analytics tools. Central research question of this thesis are: What are the dimensions of learning analytics in relation to action research, which need to be considered when designing a learning analytics tool? How does a learning analytics dashboard impact the teachers of technology-enhanced university lectures regarding ‘awareness’, ‘reflection’ and ‘action’? Does it initiate action research? Which are central requirements for a learning analytics tool, which pursues such effects? This project followed design-based research principles, in order to answer these research questions. The main contributions are: a theoretical reference model that connects action research and learning analytics, the conceptualization and implementation of a learning analytics tool, a requirements catalogue for useful and usable learning analytics design based on evaluations, a tested procedure for impact analysis, and guidelines for the introduction of learning analytics into higher education.

Rahmenwerk für zielgruppenorientiertes Blended E-Learning im MINT-Bereich im Kontext des Lebenslangen Lernens

Das heutige Leben der Menschen ist vom Internet durchdrungen, kaum etwas ist nicht „vernetzt“ oder „elektronisch verfügbar“. Die Welt befindet sich im Wandel, die „Informationsgesellschaft“ konsumiert in Echtzeit Informationen auf mobilen Endgeräten, unabhängig von Zeit und Ort. Dies gilt teilweise auch für den Aus- und Weiterbildungssektor: Unter „E-Learning“ versteht man die elektronische Unterstützung des Lernens. Gelernt wird „online“; Inhalte sind digital verfügbar. Zudem hat sich die Lebenssituation der sogenannten „Digital Natives“, der jungen Individuen in der Informationsgesellschaft, verändert. Sie fordern zeitlich und räumlich flexible Ausbildungssysteme, erwarten von Bildungsinstitutionen umfassende digitale Verfügbarkeit von Informationen und möchten ihr Leben nicht mehr Lehr- und Zeitplänen unterordnen – das Lernen soll zum eigenen Leben passen, lebensbegleitend stattfinden. Neue „Lernszenarien“, z.B. für alleinerziehende Teilzeitstudierende oder Berufstätige, sollen problemlos möglich werden. Dies soll ein von der europäischen Union erarbeitetes Paradigma leisten, das unter dem Terminus „Lebenslanges Lernen“ zusammengefasst ist. Sowohl E-Learning, als auch Lebenslanges Lernen gewinnen an Bedeutung, denn die (deutsche) Wirtschaft thematisiert den „Fachkräftemangel“. Die Nachfrage nach speziell ausgebildeten Ingenieuren im MINT-Bereich soll schnellstmöglich befriedigt, die „Mitarbeiterlücke“ geschlossen werden, um so weiterhin das Wachstum und den Wohlstand zu sichern. Spezielle E-Learning-Lösungen für den MINT-Bereich haben das Potential, eine schnelle sowie flexible Aus- und Weiterbildung für Ingenieure zu bieten, in der Fachwissen bezogen auf konkrete Anforderungen der Industrie vermittelt wird. Momentan gibt es solche Systeme allerdings noch nicht. Wie sehen die Anforderungen im MINT-Bereich an eine solche E-Learning-Anwendung aus? Sie muss neben neuen Technologien vor allem den funktionalen Anforderungen des MINTBereichs, den verschiedenen Zielgruppen (wie z.B. Bildungsinstitutionen, Lerner oder „Digital Natives“, Industrie) und dem Paradigma des Lebenslangen Lernens gerecht werden, d.h. technische und konzeptuelle Anforderungen zusammenführen. Vor diesem Hintergrund legt die vorliegende Arbeit ein Rahmenwerk für die Erstellung einer solchen Lösung vor. Die praktischen Ergebnisse beruhen auf dem Blended E-Learning-System des Projekts „Technische Informatik Online“ (VHN-TIO).

Learning curve for robotic-assisted laparoscopic colorectal surgery.

BACKGROUND: Robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery (RALS) is evolving as an important surgical approach in the field of colorectal surgery. We aimed to evaluate the learning curve for RALS procedures involving resections of the rectum and rectosigmoid. METHODS: A series of 50 consecutive RALS procedures were performed between August 2008 and September 2009. Data were entered into a retrospective database and later abstracted for analysis. The surgical procedures included abdominoperineal resection (APR), anterior rectosigmoidectomy (AR), low anterior resection (LAR), and rectopexy (RP). Demographic data and intraoperative parameters including docking time (DT), surgeon console time (SCT), and total operative time (OT) were analyzed. The learning curve was evaluated using the cumulative sum (CUSUM) method. RESULTS: The procedures performed for 50 patients (54% male) included 25 AR (50%), 15 LAR (30%), 6 APR (12%), and 4 RP (8%). The mean age of the patients was 54.4 years, the mean BMI was 27.8 kg/m(2), and the median American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification was 2. The series had a mean DT of 14 min, a mean SCT of 115.1 min, and a mean OT of 246.1 min. The DT and SCT accounted for 6.3% and 46.8% of the OT, respectively. The SCT learning curve was analyzed. The CUSUM(SCT) learning curve was best modeled as a parabola, with equation CUSUM(SCT) in minutes equal to 0.73 × case number(2) - 31.54 × case number - 107.72 (R = 0.93). The learning curve consisted of three unique phases: phase 1 (the initial 15 cases), phase 2 (the middle 10 cases), and phase 3 (the subsequent cases). Phase 1 represented the initial learning curve, which spanned 15 cases. The phase 2 plateau represented increased competence with the robotic technology. Phase 3 was achieved after 25 cases and represented the mastery phase in which more challenging cases were managed. CONCLUSIONS: The three phases identified with CUSUM analysis of surgeon console time represented characteristic stages of the learning curve for robotic colorectal procedures. The data suggest that the learning phase was achieved after 15 to 25 cases.

Personalized Tuning of a Reinforcement Learning Control Algorithm for Glucose Regulation

Artificial pancreas is in the forefront of research towards the automatic insulin infusion for patients with type 1 diabetes. Due to the high inter- and intra-variability of the diabetic population, the need for personalized approaches has been raised. This study presents an adaptive, patient-specific control strategy for glucose regulation based on reinforcement learning and more specifically on the Actor-Critic (AC) learning approach. The control algorithm provides daily updates of the basal rate and insulin-to-carbohydrate (IC) ratio in order to optimize glucose regulation. A method for the automatic and personalized initialization of the control algorithm is designed based on the estimation of the transfer entropy (TE) between insulin and glucose signals. The algorithm has been evaluated in silico in adults, adolescents and children for 10 days. Three scenarios of initialization to i) zero values, ii) random values and iii) TE-based values have been comparatively assessed. The results have shown that when the TE-based initialization is used, the algorithm achieves faster learning with 98%, 90% and 73% in the A+B zones of the Control Variability Grid Analysis for adults, adolescents and children respectively after five days compared to 95%, 78%, 41% for random initialization and 93%, 88%, 41% for zero initial values. Furthermore, in the case of children, the daily Low Blood Glucose Index reduces much faster when the TE-based tuning is applied. The results imply that automatic and personalized tuning based on TE reduces the learning period and improves the overall performance of the AC algorithm.

The role of learning-related dopamine signals in addiction vulnerability

Dopaminergic signals play a mathematically precise role in reward-related learning, and variations in dopaminergic signaling have been implicated in vulnerability to addiction. Here, we provide a detailed overview of the relationship between theoretical, mathematical, and experimental accounts of phasic dopamine signaling, with implications for the role of learning-related dopamine signaling in addiction and related disorders. We describe the theoretical and behavioral characteristics of model-free learning based on errors in the prediction of reward, including step-by-step explanations of the underlying equations. We then use recent insights from an animal model that highlights individual variation in learning during a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm to describe overlapping aspects of incentive salience attribution and model-free learning. We argue that this provides a computationally coherent account of some features of addiction.