‘Let’s talk about feedback’:an exploration of academic feedback practices in pharmacy education

Feedback is considered one of the most effective mechanisms to aid learning and achievement (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). However, in past UK National Student Surveys, perceptions of academic feedback have been consistently rated lower by final year undergraduate students than other aspects of the student experience (Williams and Kane, 2009). For pharmacy students in particular, Hall and colleagues recently reported that almost a third of students surveyed were dissatisfied with feedback and perceived feedback practice to be inconsistent (Hall et al, 2012). Aims of the Workshop: This workshop has been designed to explore current academic feedback practices in pharmacy education across a variety of settings and cultures as well as to create a toolkit for pharmacy academics to guide their approach to feedback. Learning Objectives: 1. Discuss and characterise academic feedback practices provided by pharmacy academics to pharmacy students in a variety of settings and cultures. 2. Develop academic feedback strategies for a variety of scenarios. 3. Evaluate and categorise feedback strategies with use of a feedback matrix. Description of Workshop Activities: Introduction to workshop and feedback on pre-reading exercise (5 minutes). Activity 1: A short presentation on theoretical models of academic feedback. Evidence of feedback in pharmacy education (10 minutes). Activity 2: Discussion of feedback approaches in participants’ organisations for differing educational modalities. Consideration of the following factors will be undertaken: experiential v. theoretical education, formative v. summative assessment, form of assessment and the effect of culture (20 minutes, large group discussion). Activity 3: Introduction of a feedback matrix (5 minutes). Activity 4: Development of an academic feedback toolkit for pharmacy education. Participants will be divided into 4 groups and will discuss how to provide effective feedback for 2 scenarios. Feedback strategies will be categorised with the feedback matrix. Results will be presented back to the workshop group (20 minutes, small group discussion, 20 minutes, large group presentation). Summary (10 minutes). Additional Information: Pre-reading: Participants will be provided with a list of definitions for academic feedback and will be asked to rank the definitions in order of perceived relevance to pharmacy education. References Archer, J. C. (2010). State of the science in health professional education: effective feedback. Medical education, 44(1), 101-108. Hall, M., Hanna, L. A., & Quinn, S. (2012). Pharmacy Students’ Views of Faculty Feedback on Academic Performance. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 76(1). Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of educational research, 77(1), 81-112. Medina, M. S. (2007). Providing feedback to enhance pharmacy students’ performance. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 64(24), 2542-2545.

Equity policy, educational practice, and limited English proficient (LEP) students in two high schools in Miami

Most studies of language minority students' performance focus on students' characteristics. This study uses qualitative methodology to examine instead how educational policies and practices affect the tracking of language minority students who are classified as limited English proficient (LEP). The placement of LEP students in core courses (English, Math, Social Studies, and Science) is seen as resulting from the interaction between school context and student characteristics. The school context includes factors such as equity policy requirements, overcrowding, attitudes regarding immigrants' academic potential, tracking, and testing practices. Interaction among these factors frequently leads to placement in lower track courses. It was found that the absence of formal tracks could be misleading to immigrant students, particularly those with high aspirations who do not understand the implications of the informal tracking system. Findings are discussed in relation to current theoretical explanations for minority student performance. ^

A study of the relationship between educational placement and the achievement of urban low socioeconomic Hispanic middle school students with and without specific learning disabilities

Public schools traditionally have been held accountable for educating the majority of the nation’s school children, and through the years, these schools have been evaluated in a variety of ways. Currently, evaluation measures for accountability purposes consist solely of standardized test scores. In the past, only test scores of general education students were analyzed. Laws governing the education of students with disabilities, however, have extended accountability measures not only to include those students, but to report their scores in a disaggregated form (No Child Left Behind Act, 2001). The recent emphasis on accountability and compliance has resulted in the need for schools to carefully examine how programs, services, and policies impact student achievement (Bowers & Figgers, 2003). ^ Standard-based school reform and accountability systems have raised expectations about student learning outcomes for all students, including those with disabilities and minority students. Yet, overall, racial/ethnic minority students are performing well below their White non-Hispanic peers in most academic areas. Additionally, with respect to special education, there exists an enduring problem of disproportionate representation of racial/ethnic minority students (National Research Council, 2000). ^ This study examined classroom placement (inclusive versus non-inclusive) relative to academic performance of urban, low socioeconomic Hispanic students with and without disabilities in secondary content area classrooms. A mixed method research design was used to investigate this important issue using data from a local school district and results from field observations. The study compared performance levels of four middle school Hispanic student subgroups (students with disabilities in inclusive settings, students without disabilities in inclusive settings, students with disabilities in resource settings, and student without disabilities in general education settings) each in their respective placements for two consecutive years, exploring existing practices within authentic settings. ^ Significant differences were found in the relationship of educational placement and achievement between grade level and disability in the areas of math and reading. Additionally, clear and important differences were observed in student-teacher interactions. Recommendations for further researchers and stakeholders include soliciting responses from teams at the schools composed of general education and special education teachers, administrative personnel, and students as well as broadening the study across grade levels and exceptionalities. ^

*Postsecondary access for individuals with psychological disabilities: An analysis of federal rulings and institutional philosophies, *policies, and practices

This study was a qualitative investigation, with demographic quantitative features, of post-secondary educational access and legal guidelines for individuals with psychological disabilities. Although disability laws have positively influenced post-secondary educational attitudes and practices relative to accommodating many individuals with disabilities, prevailing stigmas regarding mental illness have discouraged the equal access to higher education for individuals with psychological disabilities. Little research concentrating on this area was found.^ Thirty-six relevant legal case decisions, focusing on a variety of realms of higher education, were scrutinized. The policies, procedures, and practices of six Southeastern United States universities were analyzed through official documents and participant responses from disability service providers and other university employees. Comparisons were made between legal cases, and within and between universities. Case findings also provided standards through which participating university practices could be studied.^ The legal analysis revealed that most institutions did not discriminate against individuals with psychological disabilities. Practices of a few of these institutions, however, suggested non-compliance despite favorable decisions on their behalf. Institutions found to have discriminatory practices were cited for inadequate procedures, or for presumptive assessments of the educational functioning levels of individuals with psychological disabilities.^ Participant university practices generally suggested disability law compliance; however, certain campus interventions were determined to be ineffective in identifying, addressing, and communicating about the educational needs of individuals with psychological disabilities. The most effective services for these individuals, who were described as rapidly increasing in number but lagging in self-advocacy and acceptance by others, went beyond legal requirements.^ Recommendations were made for institutional practices concerning disability-related documentation, written standards and operations, and student identification and referral. Directions for future research focused on study skills training for students; exposure of mental health professionals to client educational needs; and expansion of the current research, on a nationwide collegiate level, and a parallel analysis focusing on business and industry. ^

Equity policy, educational practice, and limited english proficient (LEP) students in two high schools in Miami

Most studies of language minority students' performance focus on students' characteristics. This study uses qualitative methodology to examine instead how educational policies and practices affect the tracking of language minority students who are classified as limited English proficient (LEP). The placement of LEP students in core courses (English, Math, Social Studies, and Science) is seen as resulting from the interaction between school context and student characteristics. The school context includes factors such as equity policy requirements, overcrowding, attitudes regarding immigrants' academic potential, tracking, and testing practices. Interaction among these factors frequently leads to placement in lower track courses. It was found that the absence of formal tracks could be misleading to immigrant students, particularly those with high aspirations who do not understand the implications of the informal tracking system. Findings are discussed in relation to current theoretical explanations for minority student performance.

Utilização de jogos no desenvolvimento do sentido espacial

Relatório de Estágio apresentado para obtenção do grau de Mestre na área de Ensino do 1.º ciclo e do 2.º ciclo do Ensino Básico

Best Practices: Lessons Learned by a South Florida Non-Profit Community Based Organization while Designing and Implementing a Career Exploration Evidence Informed Framework in Urban Communities

All A’s was designed to support of the agency’s family strengthening initiatives in South Florida. All A’s uses evidence informed strategies poised to be an inclusive curriculum that teaches self-determination and adaptive behavior skills. The framework incorporates problem based learning and adult learning theory and follows the Universal Design for Learning. Since 2012, the agency has served over 8500 youth and 4,000 adults using the framework. The framework addresses educational underachievement and career readiness in at risk populations. It is used to enhance participants AWARENESS of setting SMART goals to achieve future goals and career aspirations. Participants are provided with ACCESS to resources and opportunities for creating and implementing an ACTION plan as they pursue and ACHIEVE their goals. All A’s promotes protective factors and expose youth to career pathways in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) related fields. Youth participate in college tours, job site visits, job shadowing, high school visits, online college and career preparation assistance, service learning projects, STEM projects, and the Winning Futures© mentoring program. Adults are assisted with résumé development; learn job search strategies, interview techniques, job shadowing experiences, computer and financial literacy programs. Adults and youth are also given the opportunity to complete industry-recognized certifications in high demand industries (food service, general labor, and construction), and test preparation for the General Educational Development Test.

What do school principals do? Leadership practices in Spain drawn from PISA and TALIS international studies

Principals play a key role in schools. Their actions affect the efficacy of schools and indirectly on the students’ academic performance. Numerous studies describe the different activities that principals perform in their daily practice, grouping them in dimensions, not existing unanimity neither around the practices carried out nor the dimensions. In Spain, the new educational law, LOMCE, emphasizes the importance of looking into what international research says regarding the field of education to support the need for change and justify the ones that are being made, and develops an extended list of competences of the principal. This study is a synthesis of a narrative research with the following analysis unit: the results of the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) and TALIS (Teaching and Learning International Study) international reports, and the data provided on school leadership and their practices, from which conclusions are inferred, comparing them with the competences stated in the LOMCE. The comparative analysis of the leadership practices presented depicts a still uneven and heterogeneous scenario, not existing agreement neither for the setting of boundaries for the leadership dimensions, nor for the number of practices that constitute them. Such a scenario points towards the need for further empirical research, in order to accurately obtain a homogeneous catalogue of the actions carried out by principal, that may open the door to the development of the role of principal, and to the improvement of effectiveness and performance of schools, as it is suggested internationally, and it is an objective of the new educational law.

Indicators on community art practices: some reflections

From the Divercity project, the article reflects on methodology, good practices and indicators useful for community art practices. At first term, social exclusión is defined as well as community art, and which features it presents. Subsequently, the article reviews the indicators that are being used to measure the success or achievement of community arts practice, raising criticism from equality and including indicators that measure the well-being of women.

The Path between Pedagogy and Technology: Establishing a Theoretical Basis for the Development of Educational Game Environments

The power of computer game technology is currently being harnessed to produce “serious games”. These “games” are targeted at the education and training marketplace, and employ various key game-engine components such as the graphics and physics engines to produce realistic “digital-world” simulations of the real “physical world”. Many approaches are driven by the technology and often lack a consideration of a firm pedagogical underpinning. The authors believe that an analysis and deployment of both the technological and pedagogical dimensions should occur together, with the pedagogical dimension providing the lead. This chapter explores the relationship between these two dimensions, and explores how “pedagogy may inform the use of technology”, how various learning theories may be mapped onto the use of the affordances of computer game engines. Autonomous and collaborative learning approaches are discussed. The design of a serious game is broken down into spatial and temporal elements. The spatial dimension is related to the theories of knowledge structures, especially “concept maps”. The temporal dimension is related to “experiential learning”, especially the approach of Kolb. The multi-player aspect of serious games is related to theories of “collaborative learning” which is broken down into a discussion of “discourse” versus “dialogue”. Several general guiding principles are explored, such as the use of “metaphor” (including metaphors of space, embodiment, systems thinking, the internet and emergence). The topological design of a serious game is also highlighted. The discussion of pedagogy is related to various serious games we have recently produced and researched, and is presented in the hope of informing the “serious game community”.

Heroism and Adventurism: Can Applied Theatre Practices Give Participants the Experience of Being the Heroes and Heroines of Their Own Stories?

Move on Up! is part of a series of widening participation interactive Theatre in Education programmes at The University of Worcester, designed to raise educational aspirations. It was conceived for year 6 pupils about to go up to secondary school, to reflect on this transition and the challenges and pitfalls it presented to them. I searched for stimulus material to create the dynamic of an adventure story that reflected and generated the excitement and fear of change. The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne provided the structure of this classic genre with characters stranded on a desert island. Directing a team of four student actors and a stage manager I sought to promote the heroic ideal of using the skills needed to survive against adversity and to transpose it to a school context. The four characters discover talents and interests on the year 6 school trip and they endeavour to become the best version of themselves at their secondary school where these attributes have to be tested in a new environment. Using interactive voting software helped to determine whether pupils could achieve the sense of control and ownership outlined in Boal’s theatre practice. The programme provides a number of points of intervention where participants could vote and influence the shape of the character’s stories and perhaps create heroes or anti – heroes depending on the decisions they make. Boal wants participants to become the outspoken protagonists of their own stories or specactors. This paper will investigate whether applied theatre practice can give participants a heroic experience by exploring the process of creating Move on Up! and the response to the programme from year 6 pupils in West Midlands schools.

Supervisão colaborativa para uma educação inclusiva : um estudo com professores do ensino regular

Este trabalho, desenvolvido por uma professora de educação especial no contexto onde exerce funções, resultou da vontade de aprofundar o conhecimento sobre as dinâmicas de trabalho entre os professores do Ensino Regular e entre estes e o professor de Educação Especial. Desta forma elaborámos um projeto de investigação com o propósito de aprofundar o conhecimento sobre estas dinâmicas, no âmbito de uma oficina de formação, dinamizada pela investigadora, realizada no contexto de trabalho dos participantes. Neste âmbito, foi proporcionado um conjunto de experiências vivenciadas em conjunto, procurando contribuir para novas perspetivas teóricas sobre o conhecimento, bem como o envolvimento dos participantes em situações empíricas que lhes permitissem aplicar esses conhecimentos na resolução de problemas concretos emergentes no seu contexto de trabalho. A estratégia formativa baseou-se na colaboração como factor de desenvolvimento e de aprendizagem, surgindo como relevante e necessário o envolvimento dos formandos em processos de investigação da própria prática. A formação, na modalidade de Oficina, foi promovida através do Centro de Formação da Instituição onde a escola, um estabelecimento de ensino particular e cooperativo, se integra. Neste âmbito foi acreditada pelo Conselho Científico-Pedagógico da Formação Contínua e envolveu dezasseis professores do 1.º, 2.º e 3.º ciclos do ensino básico. A formação desenvolveuse em duas fases - a primeira fase, constituída por 4 sessões, teve lugar entre maio e julho de 2011, e a segunda fase, igualmente constituída por 4 sessões, teve lugar de setembro a novembro de 2011, num total de 25 horas presenciais e 25 horas não presenciais. Trata-se de um estudo com uma dupla intencionalidade – formativa e investigativa – no qual se procura compreender (i) a relação entre as estratégias de formação e supervisão promovidas pela professora de educação especial e o desenvolvimento de dinâmicas de trabalho colaborativo entre os participantes (ii) e o impacto dessas dinâmicas no desenvolvimento profissional e nas suas práticas, tendo em vista a promoção de uma educação inclusiva. Configura-se como estudo de caso, na variante de multicaso apresentando, ainda, algumas características de investigação-ação. No âmbito deste estudo, utilizámos um conjunto diverso e complementar de procedimentos investigativos, nomeadamente, o inquérito por questionário aplicado a todos os participantes no início e no fim da oficina de formação; o inquérito por questionário de avaliação das sessões, tendo por base os objetivos do estudo; a entrevista semi-estruturada, realizada a quatro docentes do 1º CEB que constituem os subcasos e o portfolio reflexivo individual dos mesmos, os quais se constituem como estratégia de formação e de investigação. Recorreu-se, ainda, como fontes de informação secundária, ao Teaching portfolio do investigador, às videogravações das sessões de formação, aos registos em vídeo de alguns episódios relativos à intervenção dos formandos em sala de aula e aos projetos de investigação-ação, bem como aos dados recolhidos na entrevista dirigida ao Diretor do estabelecimento de educação e ensino, depois de concluído o programa de formação. Os resultados da análise parecem evidenciar a existência de dinâmicas colaborativas e um clima de inter-ajuda que caraterizou a interação ocorrida na formação, em torno de casos concretos, os quais tiveram um impacto significativo sobre o pensamento e a prática dos participantes. Todo o processo desenvolvido parece ter dado lugar à partilha de saberes e à procura conjunta de soluções para os problemas, tendo contribuído para que os professores passassem a ser mais interventivos, evidenciando novas aprendizagens e uma maior consciencialização do conceito de educação para todos e do que esta implica. Os resultados parecem ainda revelar o desenvolvimento de uma parceria estratégica entre os professores do ensino regular e a professora de educação especial, a qual passou a ser aceite como uma pessoa que pode ajudar a encontrar soluções para os problemas que surgem na sala de aula, de forma a garantir a inclusão de todos os alunos e não apenas dos que têm necessidades educativas especiais.

Conceções sobre avaliação formativa de professores do 2.ºCEB: um estudo comparativo

Relatório de estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ensino do 1.º e do 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

Crescer a par em educação : os desafios da dupla profissionalização

Relatório de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Paula Frassinetti para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Educação Pré-Escolar e Ensino do 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico,sob Orientação de Mestre Ana Maria Ambrósio Serapicos de Borda Cardoso.

Relatório de estágio

O presente relatório de estágio de qualificação profissional tem como objetivo refletir criticamente acerca do percurso de desenvolvimento profissional da mestranda durante os momentos de prática pedagógica, no âmbito das unidades curriculares de Prática Pedagógica Supervisionada na Educação Pré-Escolar e Ensino do 1.º CEB. Neste sentido, espelha competências desenvolvidas pela mestranda essenciais para a profissionalidade docente, suportadas por uma postura reflexiva, indagadora, crítica e investigativa, tornando-a capaz de tomar decisões adequadas ao contexto educativo e agir com intencionalidade pedagógica sabendo fazer, ser e estar. Neste sentido, o desenvolvimento dos saberes profissionais foram construídos em articulação com a metodologia de investigação-ação, que se processou numa espiral cíclica de observação, planificação, ação, reflexão e avaliação, tendo ênfase a reflexão pode ser intrínseca e implícita em todas as fases. Importa referir ainda que o desenvolvimento da prática pedagógica em díade de formação potenciou momentos de reflexão partilhada que contribuíram para a transformação de práticas. Realça-se que a elaboração deste relatório assumiu um papel fulcral na consciência do ser professor, uma vez que despoletou na mestranda uma reflexão crítica sobre as práticas e desafios delas decorrentes, contribuindo para a contínua construção de conceções e representações inerentes à identidade pessoal e profissional da futura docente.