Bridging formal and informal learning : a mobile learning attitude scale for higher education

Problem Statement: Over the past decade there has been an increasing global demand towards the integration of mobile technologies for teaching and learning. There has emerged a need for a survey instrument that can form a solid foundation for objective judgment of leaner perspectives as they begin using mobile applications for learning. The Mobile Learning Scale, a seven-item, Likert-type survey instrument, was developed by the authors in response to this need. Items were drawn from the key points developed for a 2011 paper by the authors on mobile learning prospects for informal learning in higher education [13], with many of these points initially developed during group discussions at the 2011 International Summit on ICT in Education hosted at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France. Approach: In order to access the performance of the instrument, data were gathered from 81 undergraduate and graduate university students during August and September of 2011. Follow-up data were also gathered from 19 undergraduates in February, 2012. Results: Initial indications are the instrument has good reliability (Alpha = .80 - .85) as well as acceptable content, construct, and criterion-related validity when used with its intended audience. Conclusions/Recommendations: The authors conclude that the Mobile Learning Scale v1.0 performs well as a unidimensional scale that is capable of assessing pre-post gains resulting from a mobile learning intervention within a university course. The authors propose that this new instrument should be useful for helping guide educators in the process of meaningful integration of Mobile Applications (Apps) into teaching and learning, inside and outside the classroom.

Feedback of personal retinal images appears to have a motivational impact in people with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy and suboptimal HbA1c: findings of a pilot study

AIM:
To conduct a pilot study to explore the potential impact of visual feedback of personal retinal images on diabetes outcomes.

METHODS:
Twenty-five participants with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy and suboptimal HbA1c (> 53 mmol/mol; > 7%) were randomized to receive visual feedback of their own retinal images or to a control group. At baseline and 3-month follow-up, HbA1c, standard measures of beliefs, diabetes-related distress and self-care activities were assessed.

RESULTS:
In unadjusted models, relative to controls, the intervention group showed significantly greater improvement in HbA1c at 3-month follow-up (–0.6% vs. +0.3%, P < 0.01), as well as enhanced motivation to improve blood glucose management (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS:
This small pilot study provides preliminary evidence that visual feedback of personal retinal images may offer a practical educational strategy for clinicians in eye care services to improve diabetes outcomes in non-target compliant patients. A fully powered randomized controlled trial is required to confirm these findings and determine the optimal use of feedback to produce sustained effects.

Queer breeding: historicising popular culture, homosexuality and informal sex education

Through an analysis of gay protest music (1975) and an educational kit for students (1978), both sponsored by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in the UK, this paper brings into focus a history of gay rights activists' efforts to marshal popular culture in the development of informal sex education for young people in the second half of the 1970s. Through a reparative critique of prevailing therapeutic research methodologies, and through a theoretical deployment of notions of methodological reconciliation and queer breeding, it makes the case for the importance of historical methods in contemporary sex education research.

Blending student technology experiences in formal and informal learning

In this article, we discuss the importance of recognizing students' technology-enhanced informal learning experiences and develop pedagogies to connect students' formal and informal learning experiences, in order to meet the demands of the knowledge society. The Mobile-Blended Collaborative Learning model is proposed as a framework to bridge the gap between formal and informal learning and blend them together to form a portable, flexible, collaborative and creative learning environment. Using this model, three categories of mobile application tools, namely tools for collaboration, tools for coordination and tools for communication, have been identified as pertinent in blending formal and informal learning, and they can be connected seamlessly to provide an effective learning mechanism to support the learning process.

Accounting students' feedback on feedback in Australian universities: they're are less than impressed

Undergraduate accounting students in Australian universities are dissatisfied with the feedback that they currently receive. Recent evidence from the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ, a national survey of Australian university graduates) suggests that the accounting discipline ranks poorly on assessment feedback when compared to other disciplines. This finding aligns with the results of local university data, which also shows that students appear dissatisfied with feedback. Similar results can be found in other jurisdictions, as noted by the Higher Education Academy in the UK. Given the importance of feedback to enhancing students' learning, these results are of concern to accounting academics and other stakeholders, including professional accounting bodies and graduate employers. To date, few studies have sought to understand in a comprehensive manner the relatively poor performance in feedback scores in the discipline of accounting. This exploratory study seeks to address this gap by investigating the reasons underlying students' dissatisfaction. We report on students' perceptions obtained from a large survey of Australian undergraduate accounting students across 12 universities. Over 2600 students responded to the survey. Our findings indicate that accounting students value feedback that is individualised, detailed, constructive and timely, and that currently they are not receiving feedback with these attributes.

The Supervision of Known Sex Offenders in the Community: Monitoring Progress and Providing Feedback

Case management is the process by which most known sex offenders who live in the community are currently supervised. However, by itself, case management has been shown to have only a modest impact on rates of re-offending, and it is only when case work and/or treatment sessions are introduced, that the benefits become apparent. This paper considers how routinely collecting and feeding back standardized data about client progress towards supervisory goals can be integrated into the offender supervision and case management process. Based on methods that have been shown to be associated with enhanced outcomes in mental health, it is suggested that the implementation of feedback approaches have the potential to both enhance the case management process and improve the effectiveness of those policies which require it.