Implementation of service -learning in higher education courses: Perceptions of faculty

This study examined the motivation of college and university faculty to implement service-learning into their traditional courses. The benefits derived by faculty, as well as those issues of maintenance, including supports and/or obstacles, were also investigated in relation to their impact on motivation. The focus was on generating theory from the emerging data. ^ Data were collected from interviews with 17 faculty teaching courses that included a component of service-learning. A maximum variation sampling of participants from six South Florida colleges and universities was utilized. Faculty participants represented a wide range of academic disciplines, faculty ranks, years of experience in teaching and using service-learning as well as gender and ethnic diversity. For data triangulation, a focus group with eight additional college faculty was conducted and documents, including course syllabi and institutional service-learning handbooks, collected during the interviews were examined. The interviews were transcribed and coded using traditional methods as well as with the assistance of the computerized assisted qualitative data analysis software, Atlas.ti. The data were organized into five major categories with themes and sub-themes emerging for each. ^ While intrinsic or personal factors along with extrinsic factors all serve to influence faculty motivation, the study's findings revealed that the primary factors influencing faculty motivation to adopt service-learning were those that were intrinsic or personal in nature. These factors included: (a) past experiences, (b) personal characteristics including the value of serving, (c) involvement with community service, (d) interactions and relationships with peers, (e) benefits to students, (f) benefits to teaching, and (g) perceived career benefits. Implications and recommendations from the study encompass suggestions for administrators in higher education institutions for supporting and encouraging faculty adoption of service-learning including a well developed infrastructure as well as incentives, particularly during the initial implementation period, rewards providing recognition for the academic nature of service-learning and support for the development of peer relationships among service-learning faculty. ^

Elevated progesterone in yolk as a moderator of prenatal and postnatal auditory learning in bobwhite quail

Recent studies have established that yolk hormones of maternal origin have significant effects on the physiology and behavior of offspring in birds. Herrington (2012) demonstrated that an elevation of progesterone in yolk elevates emotional reactivity in bobwhite quail neonates. Chicks that hatched from progesterone treated eggs displayed increased latency in tonic immobility and did not emerge as quickly from a covered location into an open field compared to control groups. For the present study, three experimental groups were formed: chicks hatched from eggs with artificially elevated progesterone (P), chicks hatched from an oil-vehicle control group (V), and chicks hatched from a non-manipulated control group (C). Experiment 1 examined levels of progesterone with High Performance Liquid Chromatography/tandem Mass Spectroscopy (HPLC/MS) from prenatal day 1 to prenatal day 17 in bobwhite quail egg yolk. In Experiment 2, bobwhite quail embryos were passively exposed to an individual maternal assembly call for 24 hours prior to hatching. Chicks were then tested individually for their preference between the familiarized call and a novel call at 24 and 48 hours following hatching. For Experiment 3, newly hatched chicks were exposed to an individual maternal assembly call for 24-hrs. Chicks were then tested for their preference for the familiarized call at 24 and 48-hrs after hatch. Results of Experiment 1 showed that yolk progesterone levels were significantly elevated in treated eggs and were present in the egg yolk longer into prenatal development than the two control groups. Results from Experiment 2 indicated that chicks from the P group failed to demonstrate a preference for the familiar bobwhite maternal assembly call at 24 or 48-hrs after hatch following 24-hrs of prenatal exposure. In contrast, chicks from the C and V groups demonstrated a significant preference for the familiarized call. In Experiment 3, chicks from the P group showed an enhanced preference for the familiarized bobwhite maternal call compared to chicks from the C and V groups at 24 and 48-hrs after hatch. The results of these experiments suggest that elevated maternal yolk hormone levels in pre-incubated bobwhite quail eggs can influence auditory perceptual learning in embryos and neonates.^

The importance of environment for teacher professional learning in Malta and Scotland

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.

Effects of Altered Prenatal Sensory Stimulation on Postnatal Contingency Learning in Bobwhite Quail Neonates (Colinus Virginianus)

Preterm infants are exposed to high levels of modified early sensory experience in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Reports that preterm infants show deficits in contingency detection and learning when compared to full-term infants (Gekoski, Fagen, & Pearlman, 1984; Haley, Weinberg, & Grunau, 2006) suggest that their exposure to atypical amounts or types of sensory stimulation might contribute to deficits in these critical skills. Experimental modifications of sensory experience are severely limited with human fetuses and preterm infants, and previous studies with precocial bird embryos that develop in ovo have proven useful to assess the effects of modified perinatal sensory experience on subsequent perceptual and cognitive development. In the current study, I assessed whether increasing amounts of prenatal auditory or visual stimulation can interfere with quail neonates’ contingency detection and contingency learning in the days following hatching. Results revealed that augmented prenatal visual stimulation prior to hatching does not disrupt the ability of bobwhite chicks to recognize and prefer information learned in a contingent fashion, whereas augmented prenatal auditory stimulation disrupted the ability of chicks to benefit from contingently presented information. These results suggest that specific types of augmented prenatal stimulation that embryos receive during late prenatal period can impair the ability to learn and remember contingently presented information. These results provide testable developmental hypotheses, with the goal of improving the developmental care and management of preterm neonates in the NICU setting.

Interactive Learning in Library Inductions at University for the Creative Arts

Large group library inductions in a lecture theatre at the beginning of term are considered to be one of the more challenging scenarios for delivery. This article describes an activity in which students in groups of 30-90 are introduced to the library and its resources, using an activity to engage them and to connect their ideas with the content presented. The work of several educational theorists embodied in the activity is then described. The session was conceived as a collaboration between the Learning and Teaching Librarian and the Learning Development Tutor, who is responsible for supporting students with their reading, writing and critical skills. This work was done at University for the Creative Arts, where the author formerly held post as Learning and teaching Librarian.

Teaching morphology trough communicative approach and cooperative learning in Secondary Education: practical proposal

We will be presenting the following practical proposal that will consist of two sessions implemented with different courses of Secondary Education (ESO) of the Colegio Círculo Católico (Catholic School Group), located in the city of Burgos. Each session lasts 55 minutes. These sessions focus on the morphology of the Spanish language. Its design has been carried out by keeping in mind the theoretical basis of the communicative approach and cooperative learning.

Bootcamp EMMA MOOC Assessment for learning in practice

At the EDEN Conference an introduction to the EMMA platform will be combined with learning activities relevant to the topic of Formative Assessment. EDEN conference participants will have an opportunity to join the MOOC prior to the conference or at the conference. A range of learning activities will be offered during the training to ensure that all interested have sufficient opportunities to learn.

Bootcamp EMMA MOOC Assessment for learning in practice

Formative assessment or assessment for learning is a relevant theme for teachers and educationalists. Formative assessment is a valuable tool for supporting the learning process. It is applied during learning and offers you more and better opportunities to guide your students. Formative assessment allows for more individual and/or personalised guidance. In this MOOC Assessment for learning in practice we will provide you with theory and guidelines for knowledge construction on the topic of formative assessment while offering support in designing assessments that can be applied as a tool for learning and training of competences. In this MOOC you can learn what formative assessment is, learn to differentiate between summative and formative assessment, and how formative assessment can contribute to the learning of your pupils or students. Design of rubrics, the role and functions of feedback, the use of technology for formative assessment are the topics of the MOOC.

Science learning in the outdoors to support primary-secondary transition

This study provides additional insight into how outdoor learning can be used as a vehicle to address transition issues. This study analyses the benefits of outdoor learning through the use of shared learning days with young people in the primary-secondary transition phase. This paper argues that a carefully designed programme of outdoor ‘shared learning days’ with young people in both phases working together is a sound model to help address the recommendations arising from specific transition issues (Mullan, 2014; Rose, 2009) through the delivery of aligned outcomes (cognitive, affective, interpersonal/social and physical/behavioural) and impact from learning science outdoors (Rickinson et al., 2004).

Virtual Reality as a tool to Assist Learning in Aerospace Assembly

This study examines whether virtual reality (VR) is more superior to paper-based instructions in increasing the speed at which individuals learn a new assembly task. Specifically, the work seeks to quantify any learning benefits when individuals have been given the opportunity and compares the performance of two groups using virtual and hardcopy media types to pre-learn the task. A build experiment based on multiple builds of an aircraft panel showed that a group of people who pre-learned the assembly task using a VR environment completed their builds faster (average build time 29.5% lower). The VR group also made fewer references to instructional materials (average number of references 38% lower) and made fewer errors than a group using more traditional, hard copy instructions. These outcomes were more pronounced during build one with differences in build time and number of references showing limited statistical differences.

GiveMe Shelter: a people-centred design process for promoting independent inquiry-led learning in engineering

It has become increasingly common for tasks traditionally carried out by engineers to be undertaken by technicians and technologist with access to sophisticated computers and software that can often perform complex calculations that were previously the responsibility of engineers. Not surprisingly, this development raises serious questions about the future role of engineers and the education needed to address these changes in technology as well as emerging priorities from societal to environmental challenges. In response to these challenges, a new design module was created for undergraduate engineering students to design and build temporary shelters for a wide variety of end users from refugees, to the homeless and children. Even though the module provided guidance on principles of design thinking and methods for observing users needs through field studies, the students found it difficult to respond to needs of specific end users but instead focused more on purely technical issues.