The impact of collaboration on teachers’ individual data use

Research considers collaboration to be a significant factor in terms of how teachers use data to improve their practice. Nevertheless, the effects of teacher collaboration with regard to teachers’ individual data use has remained largely underexplored. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the interplay between collaboration and the personal factors that influence teachers’ data use. This paper addresses this research gap by defining factors that affect collaboration, and by investigating the impact of collaboration on teachers’ individual data use. The resulting research questions were answered by drawing on questionnaire data from 1,472 primary and secondary school teachers in Flanders. The findings indicate that collaboration is the main explanatory factor for teachers’ individual data use compared to teachers’ self-efficacy and attitude. Therefore, this study demonstrates the value of collaboration for future research and for creating a supportive environment for teachers’ individual data use.     

The effects of a data use intervention on educators’ satisfaction and data literacy

Schools in many different countries are increasingly expected to use data for school improvement. However, schools struggle with the implementation of data use, because building human capacity around data use in education has not received enough attention. Educators urgently need to develop data literacy skills for being able to use data. For supporting schools with the endeavor of developing data literacy skills, we developed and implemented a data use intervention in secondary schools based in the Netherlands. This study therefore focuses on the effects of this intervention on educator satisfaction with the intervention and their data literacy skills and attitude toward data use. This study uses a quasi-experimental research design and employs a mixed-methods approach with a data use questionnaire filled in by data team schools (N = 9) and comparison schools (N = 42), a satisfaction questionnaire filled in by data team participants (N = 55), pre- and posttest knowledge tests filled in by data team participants (N = 36), and interview data (N = 11) from three case study schools. The results show that the participants were, for example, very satisfied with the support received during the intervention. Also, respondents developed new data literacy skills and showed a more positive attitude toward data use. The results show how teachers can be supported systematically in data use in their educational practice. In the conclusions, we discuss some important implications for practice regarding the intensity and duration of support and implications for further research.     

Effects of a data use intervention on educators’ use of knowledge and skills

Data use is increasingly considered to be important for school improvement. One promising strategy for implementing data use in schools is the data team intervention. Data teams consist of teachers and members of the school leadership team, who collaboratively analyze and use data to solve an education-related problem at the school. This mixed-methods study aims at measuring the effects of working in a data team on the application of data use in ten secondary schools by using questionnaires and case study interviews. The results show that at the end of the intervention period, educators on the data teams did not apply data use more often for accountability actions, but seemed to be more aware of data use for school development and instruction. Furthermore, it seemed that the teachers made a start at applying data use for instructional actions.     

How should organizational leaders use employee engagement survey data?

This evaluation study explores how a nonprofit health insurance provider responds to the results of its annual employee engagement survey. The study answers two questions: (a) What do organizational leaders do with the data collected? and (b) How do leaders perceive the usefulness of the survey? It provides study results, discussions, and recommendations relevant to human performance technology practitioners, to help maximize the value of an organizational survey by increasing its usefulness as a catalyst for change.     

A review of research on teachers’ use of student data: from the perspective of school leadership

Despite the increased worldwide acknowledgment of the importance of teachers’ use of formative and/or summative assessment data to improve teaching and learning, empirical research on its impacts on student learning is sparse. Even more so is the lack of studies on the best ways for school leaders to develop teachers’ capacity. Teachers generally have low efficacy in using student data to inform their day-to-day instructions. Teachers lack the basic skills to understand, interpret, and analyze data, develop instructional strategies based on data, and implement research-based instructional strategies in classrooms to address the weaknesses reflected from data analysis results. Any gap in this chain of instructional actions would lead to ineffective teaching and learning in classrooms. This study synthesizes research located from on-line databases on teachers’ data use conducted in the last 14 years and examines the nature, impacts, and shapers of teachers’ use of student formative and/or summative assessment data to improve teaching and learning. This review provides a much-needed guide to school leaders and policy makers in the USA, as well to other jurisdictions that want to make evidence-based decisions in the hopes of improving student learning and teachers’ capacity in data use.     

Understanding teachers’ ‘levels of use’ of learnscapes

All eight teachers and their principal, at an Australian regional primary school in New South Wales (NSW) accredited for its ongoing ‘learnscape’ developments, were interviewed. This was to ascertain their perceptions about the role of learnscapes and their self‐reported use of such outdoor areas to assist in the achievement of their State’s syllabus and environmental education learning outcomes. Teachers at the school (6) and their principal were (re)interviewed a year later to determine if changes in perceptions and practice had occurred and why. This paper interprets narratives derived from the combined interviews of these latter teachers and their principal from an educational change perspective in order to gain insight into their level of use of learnscapes. Teachers’ learnscape and environmental education content and pedagogical knowledge, their focus on the consequences of learnscape use for student learning, and awareness of multiple learning outcomes, including social learning, when using learnscapes, were among interdependent change factors identified which may assist in understanding why teachers embraced learnscapes to different degrees. Consequent avenues for increasing the future use of learnscapes for syllabus and environmental purposes are suggested.     

Students’ educational use of Facebook groups

The aim of the article is to explore educational use of student-managed Facebook groups in upper secondary education (in Denmark). Much research on educational potentials of Facebook has studied groups managed by teachers. However, there is a lack of in-depth research on Facebook groups managed by students and without participation from teachers. As this study shows, students’ use of student-managed groups differs from their use of teacher-managed tools such as learning management systems (LMSs). The article presents an empirical study based partly on a content analysis of 3139 posts and 15,018 replies within five Facebook groups, and partly on a questionnaire answered by 1463 students and 148 teachers. The results of the study show that whereas LMSs were seen by students primarily as institutional systems of the teacher, Facebook groups have an educational potential to be used by students for peer-to-peer learning.     

The intersection of school context and teachers’ data use practice: Implications for an integrated approach to capacity building

The current emphasis on data is a powerful force behind educational reform strategies. Administrators and teachers are inundated with data and increased expectations for data-driven practices in an effort to drive school reform. This mixed method study examined teachers’ experiences in a pilot professional development program to enhance data literacy and data use practices among nine grade-level elementary and middle school teacher teams in a single school district. Pre, post and follow-up surveys of the 28 teacher participants revealed promising outcomes of the professional development program. Significant increases in teachers’ reported data literacy, efficacy, and collaboration were evident. The study also examined school-level factors that supported data use practices and data cultures. Interviews with 15 school principals revealed how structural features such as district requirements, school expectations, and established policies and routines influenced teachers’ data use practice. Structural factors facilitating collaboration were associated with instructional goals and improvement cultures.     

The use of mobile devices as means of data collection in supporting elementary school students’ conceptual understanding about plants

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of mobile learning among young learners. Specifically, we investigated whether the use of mobile devices for data collection during field trips outside the classroom could enhance fourth graders’ learning about the parts of the flower and their functions, flower pollinators and the process of pollination/fertilization, and the interrelationship between animals and plants, more than students’ use of traditional means of data collection. For this purpose, we designed a pre–post experimental design study with two conditions: one in which participants used a mobile device for data collection and another using traditional means (e.g. sketching and note-taking). The sample comprised 48 fourth graders (24 in each condition), who studied the flower, its parts, and their functions. A conceptual test was administered to assess students’ understanding before and after instruction. Moreover, the students’ science notebooks and accompanying artifacts were used as a data source for examining students’ progress during the study's intervention. The conceptual test and notebook data were analyzed statistically, whereas we used open coding for the artifacts. Findings revealed that using mobile devices for data collection enhanced students’ conceptual understanding more than using traditional means of data collection.     

Factors affecting teachers’ student-centered classroom computer use

The present study aims at investigating which factors are relevant to induce teachers’ student-centered classroom computer use. Survey data were collected from 361 teachers at comprehensive schools. Based on a systemic view of technology use in schools, different individual teacher characteristics and school contextual factors were examined. Results from a four-step hierarchical regression reveal that student-centered classroom computer use could be significantly predicted by certain contextual factors: the type of school (secondary modern and high school), the existence of an ICT school policy plan, as well as by the individual teacher characteristics of belief in constructivist pedagogy and their frequency of classroom computer use. The final regression model accounted for approximately 31% of the variance in the outcome measure for these factors.     

Teachers’ journeys towards critical use of ICT

Teachers have a central role in developing new learning models in schools. This paper describes a study that explored teachers’ confidence and competence in using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as they participated in an ICT development project conducted by an Australian education system in 12 primary schools. The project aimed to develop ICT integrated teaching practices by providing in‐class equipment and teacher professional development in ICT use, curriculum development and teaching strategies. The study used qualitative data from teacher records of Professional Development and Action Learning to identify three of four stages proposed to describe teachers’ ICT learning. Teachers moved from gaining basic ICT skills, to conducting ICT‐focused lessons and eventually appropriate ICT integration. Teachers who progressed to the third stage were able to exploit additional learning opportunities and begin to make fundamental changes to their pedagogy, but needed more time to reach the final stage of challenging existing pedagogical structures.     

Opening or closing doors for students? Equity and data use in schools

Ensuring equitable opportunities and outcomes for all students is a top priority of many educators and policymakers across the globe. Data use can be an important lever for achieving equity, but how this can occur is not well understood. In this article, we draw upon knowledge gained in a decade of in-depth qualitative research to examine the ways in which data use helps to open or close doors for students. We discuss data use practices that influence equity goals: (1) accountability-driven data use and data use for continuous improvement; (2) using data to confirm assumptions and using data to challenge beliefs, and (3) tracking and flexible grouping to promote student growth. Along each of these dimensions, there are active decision makers, complex processes of data use at play, and a great deal of variation both within and across contexts. Ultimately, educators and policymakers are faced with critical choices regarding data use that can profoundly affect students’ daily educational experiences and trajectories.     

Pre-service teachers’ use of metaphors for mentoring relationships

The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service teachers’ and their mentor teachers’ metaphorical images of their mentoring relationships and the extent to which the participants changed their metaphors as they went through their practicum experience. Three rounds of interviews were conducted with seven secondary pre-service teachers over a one-year Graduate-Diploma of Education Course; at the outset of the programme, at the end of the first placement and at the end of the second placement. Thirteen Mentor teachers were also interviewed at the beginning and end of each placement. The findings indicated that the metaphors the two groups initially constructed significantly overlapped and focused on interpersonal relationships and providing guidance and support. Also, some changes were observed in the metaphors used by the two groups depending on their mentoring experiences. Implications for mentor teachers and teacher education are discussed.     

Adolescents’ use of academic language in informational writing

Reading and Writing - Academic language is a kind of social language for the purpose of schooling. It is central to disciplinary learning, thinking, and communication. This study examined...     

Children’s use of number line estimation strategies

This study tested whether second graders use benchmark-based strategies when solving a number line estimation (NLE) task. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions based on the availability of benchmarks provided on the number line. In the bounded condition, number lines were only bounded at both sides by 0 and 200, while the midpoint condition included an additional benchmark at the midpoint and children in the quartile condition were provided with a benchmark at every quartile. First, the inclusion of a midpoint resulted in more accurate estimates around the middle of the number line in the midpoint condition compared to the bounded and, surprisingly, also the quartile condition. Furthermore, the two additional benchmarks in the quartile condition did not yield better estimations around the first and third quartile, because children frequently relied on an erroneous representation of these benchmarks, leading to systematic estimation errors. Second, verbal strategy reports revealed that children in the midpoint condition relied more frequently on the benchmark at the midpoint of the number line compared to the bounded condition, confirming the accuracy data. Finally, the frequency of use of benchmark-based strategies correlated positively with mathematics achievement and tended to correlate positively also with estimation accuracy. In sum, this study is one of the first to provide systematic evidence for children’s use of benchmark-based estimation strategies in NLE with natural numbers and its relationship with children’s NLE performance.     

Multilingual students’ use of translanguaging in science classrooms

ABSTRACT

This study describes multilingual students’ authentic use of their first and second languages in a translanguaging science classroom, from a sociocultural perspective. The study is ethnographic, and has followed some lessons each month in a translanguaging science classroom at a primary school for three years. The observed lessons were documented by four video cameras and four audio recorders, while field notes and different types of students’ texts and other teaching materials were also collected. In order investigate how language operates, and to realise the meaning semantically, we analysed the students’ use of both first and second language to tie paradigmatic relations, and how they move in linguistic loops between languages and discourses. The results illustrate the ways in which a translanguaging science classroom constitutes a resource in joint negotiations of the scientific content and its related language for multilingual students, and benefits the students’ ability to relate and contextualise the science content to prior experience. The creation of translanguaging science classrooms, in which students’ experiences and diverse cultural and linguistic resources interweave with school science, and in which multilingual students are enabled and encouraged to use all available language resources, has important implications for science education.     

Students’ use of a rubric for research theses

A rubric for research theses was developed, based on the manual of the American Psychological Association, to be used as an assessment tool for teachers and students. The aim was to make students aware of what is expected, get familiar with criteria, and interpret teacher and peer feedback. In two studies, it was examined whether students use and value these functions. In the first study, a rubric was provided to 105 Educational Sciences students working on their bachelor’s thesis. Questionnaire data indicated that students did value the rubric for the intended functions, although rubric use was not related to ability. In a panel interview, teachers stated that the number of proficiency levels should be increased to be able to distinguish between good and excellent students adequately, and that a criterion concerning student’s role during supervision should be added. Therefore, in the second study, 11 teachers were interviewed about their motives to give high grades and about the supervision process. This lead to an extra criterion concerning student’s role during supervision and an additional proficiency level to assess excellent performance. It is argued that an adequate course organisation is conditional for the rubric’s effectiveness.     

Teacher’s use of iPads in higher education

Mobile devices (e.g. iPads or galaxy tab) are increasingly being used in educational contexts. There has been growing investment in higher education institutions in Hong Kong by the HKSAR Education Bureau in relation to educational uses of mobile technology. However, current research into educational applications of this technology is limited. This article reports results of a qualitative study that investigated how higher education teachers use iPads to facilitate their practice. The study results provide insight into both the educational affordances of iPad technology and the ways in which teachers’ personal or private theories mediate these affordances. The study outcomes contribute to theoretical understanding of higher education teacher changes through adoption of mobile technology. Furthermore, the outcomes provide a set of recommendations for applications of iPads and similar technologies in higher education and ways to support teachers to effectively adopt such technology in their practices.