827 resultados para small group learning
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First year medical laboratory science students (up to 120) undertake a group e-poster project, based in a blended learning model Google Drive, encompassing Google’s cloud computing software, provides a readily accessible, transparent online space for students to collaborate with each other and realise tangible outcomes from their learning The Cube provides an inspiring digital learning display space for student ‘conference style’ presentations
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Learning automata arranged in a two-level hierarchy are considered. The automata operate in a stationary random environment and update their action probabilities according to the linear-reward- -penalty algorithm at each level. Unlike some hierarchical systems previously proposed, no information transfer exists from one level to another, and yet the hierarchy possesses good convergence properties. Using weak-convergence concepts it is shown that for large time and small values of parameters in the algorithm, the evolution of the optimal path probability can be represented by a diffusion whose parameters can be computed explicitly.
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Language learning beyond the classroom is part of a growing body of literature focused on teaching and learning in contexts that are informal and unstructured. Areas include so-called shadow education and informal pedagogies. Shadow education refers to the privatised tutoring supplementing school curricular that is a pervasive feature of education in parts of Asia (Bray & Lykins, 2012) and increasingly evident in Australia. Informal pedagogies refers to teaching in informal contexts and was the focus of a Special Interest Group (SIG) at the recent American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual conference in Chicago. Presentations in the SIG included designing tools for supporting learning in science classes after school and in sites such as zoos...
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We study the renormalization group flows of the two terminal conductance of a superconducting junction of two Luttinger liquid wires. We compute the power laws associated with the renormalization group flow around the various fixed points of this system using the generators of the SU(4) group to generate the appropriate parametrization of an matrix representing small deviations from a given fixed point matrix [obtained earlier in S. Das, S. Rao, and A. Saha, Phys. Rev. B 77, 155418 (2008)], and we then perform a comprehensive stability analysis. In particular, for the nontrivial fixed point which has intermediate values of transmission, reflection, Andreev reflection, and crossed Andreev reflection, we show that there are eleven independent directions in which the system can be perturbed, which are relevant or irrelevant, and five directions which are marginal. We obtain power laws associated with these relevant and irrelevant perturbations. Unlike the case of the two-wire charge-conserving junction, here we show that there are power laws which are nonlinear functions of V(0) and V(2kF) [where V(k) represents the Fourier transform of the interelectron interaction potential at momentum k]. We also obtain the power law dependence of linear response conductance on voltage bias or temperature around this fixed point.
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Background The School of Clinical Sciences comprises a number of health disciplines including podiatry, paramedic science, pharmacy, medical imaging and radiation therapy. A new inter-professional unit was introduced in 2014, which covered key introductory learnings applicable for future health practitioners. This study examined teaching staff and student perspectives about their experience with the new unit for first year students. Methods Qualitative interviews with teaching staff (n=9) and focus group interviews with students (5 groups which ranged in size from 4-30) were conducted. Extensive notes were taken during the interviews Issues emerging from the interviews were identified and organised according to themes and subthemes. Results Four major themes were identified namely: Something new; To be or not to be that is the question; Advantages of the new unit; and Areas for improvement. Previous staff experience with inter-professional learning (IPL) had been ad-hoc, whereas the new unit brought together several disciplines in a planned and deliberate way. There was strong philosophical agreement about the value of IPL but some debate about the extent to which the unit provided IPL experience. The unit was seen as assisting students’ social and academic adjustment to university and provided opportunity for professional socialisation, exposure to macro and micro aspects of the Australian health care system and various types of communication. For podiatry students it was their first opportunity to formally meet and work with other podiatry students and moved their identity from ‘university student’ to ‘podiatry student’. Other positives included providing the opportunity for staff and students to interact at an early stage with the perceived benefit of reducing attrition. Areas for unit improvement included institutional arrangements, unit administration aspects and assessment. Conclusion The unit was seen as beneficial by staff and students however, students were more polarised in their views than staff. There was a tension between feeling apart of and learning about one's own profession and feeling apart of and learning about the roles of other health professionals in relation to patient care and the health care system.
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This study addresses four issues concerning technological product innovations. First, the nature of the very early phases or "embryonic stages" of technological innovation is addressed. Second, this study analyzes why and by what means people initiate innovation processes outside the technological community and the field of expertise of the established industry. In other words, this study addresses the initiation of innovation that occurs without the expertise of established organizations, such as technology firms, professional societies and research institutes operating in the technological field under consideration. Third, the significance of interorganizational learning processes for technological innovation is dealt with. Fourth, this consideration is supplemented by considering how network collaboration and learning change when formalized product development work and the commercialization of innovation advance. These issues are addressed through the empirical analysis of the following three product innovations: Benecol margarine, the Nordic Mobile Telephone system (NMT) and the ProWellness Diabetes Management System (PDMS). This study utilizes the theoretical insights of cultural-historical activity theory on the development of human activities and learning. Activity-theoretical conceptualizations are used in the critical assessment and advancement of the concept of networks of learning. This concept was originally proposed by the research group of organizational scientist Walter Powell. A network of learning refers to the interorganizational collaboration that pools resources, ideas and know-how without market-based or hierarchical relations. The concept of an activity system is used in defining the nodes of the networks of learning. Network collaboration and learning are analyzed with regard to the shared object of development work. According to this study, enduring dilemmas and tensions in activity explain the participants' motives for carrying out actions that lead to novel product concepts in the early phases of technological innovation. These actions comprise the initiation of development work outside the relevant fields of expertise and collaboration and learning across fields of expertise in the absence of market-based or hierarchical relations. These networks of learning are fragile and impermanent. This study suggests that the significance of networks of learning across fields of expertise becomes more and more crucial for innovation activities.
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The goal of this research was to establish the necessary conditions under which individuals are prepared to commit themselves to quality assurance work in the organisation of a Polytechnic. The conditions were studied using four main concepts: awareness of quality, commitment to the organisation, leadership and work welfare. First, individuals were asked to describe these four concepts. Then, relationships between the concepts were analysed in order to establish the conditions for the commitment of an individual towards quality assurance work (QA). The study group comprised the entire personnel of Helsinki Polytechnic, of which 341 (44.5%) individuals participated. Mixed methods were used as the methodological base. A questionnaire and interviews were used as the research methods. The data from the interviews were used for the validation of the results, as well as for completing the analysis. The results of these interviews and analyses were integrated using the concurrent nested design method. In addition, the questionnaire was used to separately analyse the impressions and meanings of the awareness of quality and leadership, because, according to the pre-understanding, impressions of phenomena expressed in terms of reality have an influence on the commitment to QA. In addition to statistical figures, principal component analysis was used as a description method. For comparisons between groups, one way variance analysis and effect size analysis were used. For explaining the analysis methods, forward regression analysis and structural modelling were applied. As a result of the research it was found that 51% of the conditions necessary for a commitment to QA were explained by an individual’s experience/belief that QA was a method of development, that QA was possible to participate in and that the meaning of quality included both product and process qualities. If analysed separately, other main concepts (commitment to the organisation, leadership and work welfare) played only a small part in explaining an individual’s commitment. In the context of this research, a structural path model of the main concepts was built. In the model, the concepts were interconnected by paths created as a result of a literature search covering the main concepts, as well as a result of an analysis of the empirical material of this thesis work. The path model explained 46% of the necessary conditions under which individuals are prepared to commit themselves to QA. The most important path for achieving a commitment stemmed from product and system quality emanating from the new goals of the Polytechnic, moved through the individual’s experience that QA is a method of the total development of quality and ended in a commitment to QA. The second most important path stemmed from the individual’s experience of belonging to a supportive work community, moved through the supportive value of the job and through affective commitment to the organisation and ended in a commitment to QA. The third path stemmed from an individual’s experiences in participating in QA, moved through collective system quality and through these to the supportive value of the job to affective commitment to the organisation and ended in a commitment to QA. The final path in the path model stemmed from leadership by empowerment, moved through collective system quality, the supportive value of the job and an affective commitment to the organisation, and again, ended in a commitment to QA. As a result of the research, it was found that the individual’s functional department was an important factor in explaining the differences between groups. Therefore, it was found that understanding the processing of part cultures in the organisation is important when developing QA. Likewise, learning-teaching paradigms proved to be a differentiating factor. Individuals thinking according to the humanistic-constructivistic paradigm showed more commitment to QA than technological-rational thinkers. Also, it was proved that the QA training program did not increase commitment, as the path model demonstrated that those who participated in training showed 34% commitment, whereas those who did not showed 55% commitment. As a summary of the results it can be said that the necessary conditions under which individuals are prepared to commit themselves to QA cannot be treated in a reductionistic way. Instead, the conditions must be treated as one totality, with all the main concepts interacting simultaneously. Also, the theoretical framework of quality must include its dynamic aspect, which means the development of the work of the individual and learning through auditing. In addition, this dynamism includes the reflection of the paradigm of the functions of the individual as well as that of all parts of the organisation. It is important to understand and manage the various ways of thinking and the cultural differences produced by the fragmentation of the organisation. Finally, it seems possible that the path model can be generalised for use in any organisation development project where the personnel should be committed.
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Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have gained an important role in development co-operation during the last two decades. The development funding channelled through NGOs has increased and the number of NGOs engaged in development activities, both North and South, has been growing. Supporting NGOs has been seen as one way to strengthen civil society in the South and to provide potential for enhancing more effective development than the state, and to exercise participatory development and partnership in their North-South relationships. This study focuses on learning in the co-operation practices of small Finnish NGOs in Morogoro, Tanzania. Drawing on the cultural-historical activity theory and the theory of expansive learning, in this study I understand learning as a qualitative change in the actual co-operation practices. The qualitative change, for its part, emerges out of attempts to deal with the contradictions in the present activity. I use the concept of developmental contradiction in exploring the co-operation of the small Finnish NGOs with their Tanzanian counterparts. Developmental contradiction connects learning to actual practice and its historical development. By history, in this study I refer to multiple developmental trajectories, such as trajectories of individual participants, organisations, co-operation practices and the institutional system in which the NGO-development co-operation is embedded. In the empirical chapters I explore the co-operation both in the development co-operation projects and in micro-level interaction between partners taking place within the projects. I analyse the perceptions of the Finnish participants about the different developmental trajectories, the tensions, inclusions and exclusions in the evolving object of co-operation in one project, the construction of power relations in project meetings in three projects, and the collision of explicated partnership with the emerging practice of trusteeship in one project. On the basis of the empirical analyses I elaborate four developmental contradictions and learning challenges for the co-operation. The developmental contradictions include: 1) implementing a ready-made Finnish project idea vs. taking the current activities of Tanzanian NGO as a starting point; 2) gaining experiences and cultural interaction vs. access to outside funding; 3) promoting the official tools of development co-operation in training vs. use of tools and procedures taken from the prior activities of both partners in actual practice; and 4) asymmetric relations between the partners vs. rhetoric of equal partnership. Consequently, on the basis of developmental contradictions four learning challenges are suggested: a shift from legitimation of Finnish ideas to negotiation, transcending the separate objects and finding a partly joint object, developing locally shared tools for the co-operation, and identification and reflection of the power relations in the practice of co-operation. Keywords: activity theory; expansive learning; NGO development co-operation; partnership; power
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The aim of this dissertation was to adapt a questionnaire for assessing students’ approaches to learning and their experiences of the teaching-learning environment. The aim was to explore the validity of the modified Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (ETLQ) by examining how the instruments measure the underlying dimensions of student experiences and their learning. The focus was on the relation between students’ experiences of their teaching-learning environment and their approaches to learning. Moreover, the relation between students’ experiences and students’ and teachers’ conceptions of good teaching was examined. In Study I the focus was on the use of the ETLQ in two different contexts: Finnish and British. The study aimed to explore the similarities and differences between the factor structures that emerged from both data sets. The results showed that the factor structures concerning students’ experiences of their teaching-learning environment and their approaches to learning were highly similar in the two contexts. Study I also examined how students’ experiences of the teaching-learning environment are related to their approaches to learning in the two contexts. The results showed that students’ positive experiences of their teaching-learning environment were positively related to their deep approach to learning and negatively to the surface approach to learning in both the Finnish and British data sets. This result was replicated in Study II, which examined the relation between approaches to learning and experiences of the teaching-learning environment on a group level. Furthermore, Study II aimed to explore students’ approaches to learning and their experiences of the teaching-learning environment in different disciplines. The results showed that the deep approach to learning was more common in the soft sciences than in the hard sciences. In Study III, students’ conceptions of good teaching were explored by using qualitative methods, more precisely, by open-ended questions. The aim was to examine students’ conceptions, disciplinary differences and their relation to students’ approaches to learning. The focus was on three disciplines, which differed in terms of students’ experiences of their teaching-learning environment. The results showed that students’ conceptions of good teaching were in line with the theory of good teaching and there were disciplinary differences in their conceptions. Study IV examined university teachers’ conceptions of good teaching, which corresponded to the learning-focused approach to teaching. Furthermore, another aim in this doctoral dissertation was to compare the students’ and teachers’ conceptions of good teaching, the results of which showed that these conceptions appear to have similarities. The four studies indicated that the ETLQ appears to be a sufficiently robust measurement instrument in different contexts. Moreover, its strength is its ability to be at the same time a valid research instrument and a practical tool for enhancing the quality of students’ learning. In addition, the four studies emphasise that in order to enhance teaching and learning in higher education, various perspectives have to be taken into account. This study sheds light on the interaction between students’ approaches to learning, their conceptions of good teaching, their experiences of the teaching-learning environment, and finally, the disciplinary culture.
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Objective Vast amounts of injury narratives are collected daily and are available electronically in real time and have great potential for use in injury surveillance and evaluation. Machine learning algorithms have been developed to assist in identifying cases and classifying mechanisms leading to injury in a much timelier manner than is possible when relying on manual coding of narratives. The aim of this paper is to describe the background, growth, value, challenges and future directions of machine learning as applied to injury surveillance. Methods This paper reviews key aspects of machine learning using injury narratives, providing a case study to demonstrate an application to an established human-machine learning approach. Results The range of applications and utility of narrative text has increased greatly with advancements in computing techniques over time. Practical and feasible methods exist for semi-automatic classification of injury narratives which are accurate, efficient and meaningful. The human-machine learning approach described in the case study achieved high sensitivity and positive predictive value and reduced the need for human coding to less than one-third of cases in one large occupational injury database. Conclusion The last 20 years have seen a dramatic change in the potential for technological advancements in injury surveillance. Machine learning of ‘big injury narrative data’ opens up many possibilities for expanded sources of data which can provide more comprehensive, ongoing and timely surveillance to inform future injury prevention policy and practice.
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In 2008, a collaborative partnership between Google and academia launched the Google Online Marketing Challenge (hereinafter Google Challenge), perhaps the world’s largest in-class competition for higher education students. In just two years, almost 20,000 students from 58 countries participated in the Google Challenge. The Challenge gives undergraduate and graduate students hands-on experience with the world’s fastest growing advertising mechanism, search engine advertising. Funded by Google, students develop an advertising campaign for a small to medium sized enterprise and manage the campaign over three consecutive weeks using the Google AdWords platform. This article explores the Challenge as an innovative pedagogical tool for marketing educators. Based on the experiences of three instructors in Australia, Canada and the United States, this case study discusses the opportunities and challenges of integrating this dynamic problem-based learning approach into the classroom.
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The incorporation of sown pastures as short-term rotations into the cropping systems of northern Australia has been slow. The inherent chemical fertility and physical stability of the predominant vertisol soils across the region enabled farmers to grow crops for decades without nitrogen fertiliser, and precluded the evolution of a crop–pasture rotation culture. However, as less fertile and less physically stable soils were cropped for extended periods, farmers began to use contemporary farming and sown pasture technologies to rebuild and maintain their soils. This has typically involved sowing long-term grass and grass–legume pastures on the more marginal cropping soils of the region. In partnership with the catchment management authority, the Queensland Murray–Darling Committee (QMDC) and Landcare, a pasture extension process using the LeyGrain™ package was implemented in 2006 within two Grain & Graze projects in the Maranoa-Balonne and Border Rivers catchments in southern inland Queensland. The specific objectives were to increase the area sown to high quality pasture and to gain production and environmental benefits (particularly groundcover) through improving the skills of producers in pasture species selection, their understanding and management of risk during pasture establishment, and in managing pastures and the feed base better. The catalyst for increasing pasture sowings was a QMDC subsidy scheme for increasing groundcover on old cropping land. In recognising a need to enhance pasture knowledge and skills to implement this scheme, the QMDC and Landcare producer groups sought the involvement of, and set specific targets for, the LeyGrain workshop process. This is a highly interactive action learning process that built on the existing knowledge and skills of the producers. Thirty-four workshops were held with more than 200 producers in 26 existing groups and with private agronomists. An evaluation process assessed the impact of the workshops on the learning and skill development by participants, their commitment to practice change, and their future intent to sow pastures. The results across both project catchments were highly correlated. There was strong agreement by producers (>90%) that the workshops had improved knowledge and skills regarding the adaptation of pasture species to soils and climates, enabling a better selection at the paddock level. Additional strong impacts were in changing the attitudes of producers to all aspects of pasture establishment, and the relative species composition of mixtures. Producers made a strong commitment to practice change, particularly in managing pasture as a specialist crop at establishment to minimise risk, and in the better selection and management of improved pasture species (particularly legumes and the use of fertiliser). Producers have made a commitment to increase pasture sowings by 80% in the next 5 years, with fourteen producers in one group alone having committed to sow an additional 4893 ha of pasture in 2007–08 under the QMDC subsidy scheme. The success of the project was attributed to the partnership between QMDC and Landcare groups who set individual workshop targets with LeyGrain presenters, the interactive engagement processes within the workshops themselves, and the follow-up provided by the LeyGrain team for on-farm activities.
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The modern student represents a change from the traditional learner. More than ever before, additional resources are available online and yet personalised learning and peer-assistance programs are becoming an essential part of tertiary education delivery. This paper presents the first stage in a user-centred design approach to the analysis of the completeness and efficacy of such a personalised, peer-based support for learning program. This approach used an iterative design methodology based on contextual interview, workshops and focus groups to develop personas representing students visiting the program. Initial uses of these developed personas have included training of new personnel as well as the evaluation of the program. Overall the use of this user-centred approach and iterative persona development methodology has yielded an invaluable resource for the design of support for learning programs across the higher education industry within Australia and beyond.
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Background: Optometry students are taught the process of subjective refraction through lectures and laboratory based practicals before progressing to supervised clinical practice. Simulated learning environments (SLEs) are an emerging technology that are used in a range of health disciplines, however, there is limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of clinical simulators as an educational tool. Methods: Forty optometry students (20 fourth year and 20 fifth year) were assessed twice by a qualified optometrist (two examinations separated by 4-8 weeks) while completing a monocular non-cycloplegic subjective refraction on the same patient with an unknown refractive error simulated using contact lenses. Half of the students were granted access to an online SLE, The Brien Holden Vision Institute (BHVI®) Virtual Refractor, and the remaining students formed a control group. The primary outcome measures at each visit were; accuracy of the clinical refraction compared to a qualified optometrist and relative to the Optometry Council of Australia and New Zealand (OCANZ) subjective refraction examination criteria. Secondary measures of interest included descriptors of student SLE engagement, student self-reported confidence levels and correlations between performance in the simulated and real world clinical environment. Results: Eighty percent of students in the intervention group interacted with the SLE (for an average of 100 minutes); however, there was no correlation between measures of student engagement with the BHVI® Virtual Refractor and speed or accuracy of clinical subjective refractions. Fifth year students were typically more confident and refracted more accurately and quickly than fourth year students. A year group by experimental group interaction (p = 0.03) was observed for accuracy of the spherical component of refraction, and post hoc analysis revealed that less experienced students exhibited greater gains in clinical accuracy following exposure to the SLE intervention. Conclusions: Short-term exposure to a SLE can positively influence clinical subjective refraction outcomes for less experienced optometry students and may be of benefit in increasing the skills of novice refractionists to levels appropriate for commencing supervised clinical interactions.
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BACKGROUND OR CONTEXT Thermodynamics is a core concept for mechanical engineers yet notoriously difficult. Evidence suggests students struggle to understand and apply the core fundamental concepts of thermodynamics with analysis indicating a problem with student learning/engagement. A contributing factor is that thermodynamics is a ‘science involving concepts based on experiments’ (Mayhew 1990) with subject matter that cannot be completely defined a priori. To succeed, students must engage in a deep-holistic approach while taking ownership of their learning. The difficulty in achieving this often manifests itself in students ‘not getting’ the principles and declaring thermodynamics ‘hard’. PURPOSE OR GOAL Traditionally, students practice and “learn” the application of thermodynamics in their tutorials, however these do not consider prior conceptions (Holman & Pilling 2004). As ‘hands on’ learning is the desired outcome of tutorials it is pertinent to study methods of improving their efficacy. Within the Australian context, the format of thermodynamics tutorials has remained relatively unchanged over the decades, relying anecdotally on a primarily didactic pedagogical approach. Such approaches are not conducive to deep learning (Ramsden 2003) with students often disengaged from the learning process. Evidence suggests (Haglund & Jeppsson 2012), however, that a deeper level and ownership of learning can be achieved using a more constructivist approach for example through self generated analogies. This pilot study aimed to collect data to support the hypothesis that the ‘difficulty’ of thermodynamics is associated with the pedagogical approach of tutorials rather than actual difficulty in subject content or deficiency in students. APPROACH Successful application of thermodynamic principles requires solid knowledge of the core concepts. Typically, tutorial sessions guide students in this application. However, a lack of deep and comprehensive understanding can lead to student confusion in the applications resulting in the learning of the ‘process’ of application without understanding ‘why’. The aim of this study was to gain empirical data on student learning of both concepts and application, within thermodynamic tutorials. The approach taken for data collection and analysis was: - 1 Four concurrent tutorial streams were timetabled to examine student engagement/learning in traditional ‘didactic’ (3 weeks) and non-traditional (3 weeks). In each week, two of the selected four sessions were traditional and two non-traditional. This provided a control group for each week. - 2 The non-traditional tutorials involved activities designed to promote student-centered deep learning. Specific pedagogies employed were: self-generated analogies, constructivist, peer-to-peer learning, inquiry based learning, ownership of learning and active learning. - 3 After a three-week period, teaching styles of the selected groups was switched, to allow each group to experience both approaches with the same tutor. This also acted to mimimise any influence of tutor personality / style on the data. - 4 At the conclusion of the trial participants completed a ‘5 minute essay’ on how they liked the sessions, a small questionnaire, modelled on the modified (Christo & Hoang, 2013)SPQ designed by Biggs (1987) and a small formative quiz to gauge the level of learning achieved. DISCUSSION Preliminary results indicate that overall students respond positively to in class demonstrations (inquiry based learning), and active learning activities. Within the active learning exercises, the current data suggests students preferred individual rather than group or peer-to-peer activities. Preliminary results from the open-ended questions such as “What did you like most/least about this tutorial” and “do you have other comments on how this tutorial could better facilitate your learning”, however, indicated polarising views on the nontraditional tutorial. Some student’s responded that they really like the format and emphasis on understanding the concepts, while others were very vocal that that ‘hated’ the style and just wanted the solutions to be presented by the tutor. RECOMMENDATIONS/IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSION Preliminary results indicated a mixed, but overall positive response by students with more collaborative tutorials employing tasks promoting inquiry based, peer-to-peer, active, and ownership of learning activities. Preliminary results from student feedback supports evidence that students learn differently, and running tutorials focusing on only one pedagogical approached (typically didactic) may not be beneficial to all students. Further, preliminary data suggests that the learning / teaching style of both students and tutor are important to promoting deep learning in students. Data collection is still ongoing and scheduled for completion at the end of First Semester (Australian academic calendar). The final paper will examine in more detail the results and analysis of this project.