Learning environment associated with use of mixed mode delivery model among secondary business studies students in Singapore

At many teacher education institutes around the world, preservice teachers are empowered to use pedagogical tools and strategies that engage their students. We used a modified version of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) to evaluate the effectiveness of a pedagogical model known as the Mixed Mode Delivery (MMD) model in terms of the CLES’s five scales of personal relevance, uncertainty, critical voice, shared control and negotiation. Comparisons were made between 2,216 secondary school students taught by the preservice teachers in an MMD group and 991 students in a control group in terms of the relative magnitudes of the gap between the actual and preferred learning environment in students’ school classrooms. The findings supported the positive impact of using MMD in terms of students’ perceptions of their classroom environments for all CLES scales.     

Educational psychology as an evolving discipline: trends and synthesis in Asia Pacific Education Review

Educational psychology has seen rapid growth as an academic discipline in recent years. The current study reviewed research articles published in Asia Pacific Education Review (APER), a journal that has been gaining greater international recognition, to reveal recent trends in educational psychology research in Asia Pacific. Specifically, the study reviewed general (country, research methods and academic subject) and topical trends among 84 articles published in APER from 2005 to 2013. Findings of the study revealed that studies on diverse age groups were conducted in various countries. Although quantitative research greatly outnumbered qualitative research, qualitative research appeared to be increasingly accepted. Topics from special education and counseling were actively studied, with the greatest focus on learner characteristics highlighting individual differences. Outlined research trends and related discussions in this study may be useful for educational psychology researchers in East Asia.     

Exploring the use of Web 2.0 technology to promote moral and psychosocial development: Can YouTube work?

This paper explores the use of the video sharing site, YouTube, as a platform for enhancing moral and psychosocial development through increased awareness of moral values and models of moral behavior. The research involved a qualitative design whereby video snippets illustrating moral issues were identified from YouTube. These video snippets were analyzed in terms of their viewership, the moral dilemma and the levels of moral judgment that they presented. The comments made by viewers in response to the video contents were then captured and their contents analyzed for evidence of moral reasoning and ego (psychosocial) development. The findings showed that the video sharing websites such as YouTube offered opportunities for moral issues to be featured, shared and discussed at a global level, as well as moral judgments and ego development to be made evident through viewers' comments. From an educational viewpoint, it also paves the way for the use of appropriate video footage for promoting moral values and moral development.     

Towards a critical pedagogy: Creating 'thinking schools' in Singapore

A distributed perspective offers a new and important theoretical lens through which leadership practice in schools can be reconfigured and re‐conceptualized. However, contemporary discourse about distributed leadership theory remains a way of analysing rather than describing leadership practice. While the research suggests that distributed forms of leadership can assist capacity‐building within schools, further work is needed to investigate the nature of the relationship between distributed leadership and improved school/student outcomes.     

The social practice of learning: a craft for the 21st century

This article argues that the social practice of learning (SPL), involving life-long learning, meta-learning, deep reflection, and dialogue in a community, should be the distinguishing knowledge base of schools in the twenty-first century. This article also analyses the strategies and challenges of the recent education reforms in Singapore through the lens of an SPL education paradigm. Although the Singapore government has done much to train teachers, trim syllabi and introduce new ways of teaching and learning, such as project work, the real challenge is to go beyond the provision of structural changes to the substance of the epistemological reform.     

A survey to examine teachers’ perceptions of design dispositions,lesson design practices,and their relationships with technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)

This study investigates 201 Singaporean teachers’ perceptions of their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), lesson design practices, and design dispositions through a survey instrument. Investigation of these constructs reveal important variables influencing teachers’ perceptions of TPACK which have not yet been explored. The confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis confirm the validity and reliability of the instrument. The structural equation model shows that the teachers’ perceptions of design dispositions (orientations towards design) and lesson design practices (approaches used for lesson design) have direct relationships with the teachers’ perceptions of TPACK. The results of this study show that to enhance teachers’ TPACK perceptions, teacher educators need to help teachers develop lesson design practices that support ideation and iteration. They also need to develop teachers’ design dispositions that are amenable to exploring and resolving conflicting lesson design ideas. Going beyond TPACK, understandings of teachers’ lesson design practices and design dispositions are important for teacher educators to better design professional development for integration of information and communications technology.     

Teachers’ Perceptions of Infusion of Values in Science Lessons: a Qualitative Study

Research in Science Education - Much has been written and debated on the importance of including moral, character or values education in school curricula. In line with this, teachers’ views...     

Lessons from multi-agency information management projects: Case of the Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS) Project,Singapore

Multi-agency information management projects are becoming increasingly common. Yet, there is relatively limited research in this area, particularly in the context of electronic government (e-government). This paper fills this gap in the literature by examining a successful information management project called the Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS) that aims to streamline the various licenses (managed by different agencies) required to operate a business in Singapore. The findings suggest that multi-agency projects are inherently more complex than single agency projects. A set of lessons on managing such projects is presented and these lessons should prove useful to researchers and practitioners as multi-agency information management projects become increasingly more widespread.