The Human Nervous System: A Framework for Teaching and the Teaching Brain

The teaching brain is a new concept that mirrors the complex, dynamic, and context‐dependent nature of the learning brain. In this article, I use the structure of the human nervous system and its sensing, processing, and responding components as a framework for a re‐conceptualized teaching system. This teaching system is capable of responses on an instinctual level (e.g., spinal cord teaching) as well as higher order student‐centered teaching and even more complex teaching brain teaching. At the most complex level the teacher and student engage in a synchronistic teaching flow that achieves the optimal teaching and learning experience.     

Structural Learning Barriers in Organizations

A possible approach to analyzing organizations as learning communities goes through the identification of structural learning barriers. In this article, a distinction is drawn between factors on the group‐level and the organization‐level that are in particular assumed to inhibit learning through acquisition, exchange and application of competences. The group‐level factors included embrace relationships between colleagues, team‐embedded competences, group norms, group think, and the structure and composition of teams. Organization‐level factors discussed comprise job design and work system, reward system, organizational culture and organizational design.     

Platform Urbanism,Creativity, and the New Educational Futurism

This essay examines speculative narratives reflective of Silicon Valley and corporate technology culture that project creative scenarios and sociotechnical futures for cities and citizens, whereby learning and creativity become global imperatives to defer future risk within a new digital urbanism. Taking inspiration from Fredric Jameson's transhistorical dialectics, Alexander J. Means assembles a cognitive map of emerging sociotechnical projections of urbanity and education through three frames — solutionism, collaborationism, and techno‐realism — linking each to specific conceptualizations of creativity and learning. Means argues that these projections are subsumed within an ontology of the present, and they therefore fail to index the complexities that drive historical and technological change, particularly the deep structure of power and conflict immanent to late capitalism as a world‐historical system. Such an ontology is ultimately rooted in imaginative displacement, a futurism without futurity, where time is rendered a static feedback loop of present systems and processes.     

Evaluation of e‐learning outcomes: experience from an online psychotherapy education programme

SEPTIMUS is a one‐year Europe‐wide postgraduate theoretical course for psychotherapists and counsellors provided entirely via the Internet. It may be used as part of a training course, with face‐to‐face elements provided locally, or for continuing professional development. The course was developed at the University of Sheffield in collaboration with psychotherapy training institute partners in seven other European countries. Two studies involving 167 SEPTIMUS students and 60 comparable face‐to‐face students were undertaken. ? Study 1. Drop‐out rates for the SEPTIMUS programme were found to be low, and comparison between those dropping out and those completing did not highlight any significant factors linked to distance learning. However, students cited finance, distance from training centre, lack of practical experience, family commitments and the intensity of their working weeks as having been barriers to taking face‐to‐face learning courses in the past.

? Study 2. SEPTIMUS students (e‐learners) were compared with students taking comparable attending (face‐to‐face) theoretical courses also being provided by partners in the project to psychotherapy trainees. Significant differences were found in distance from training institute and ability to visit training institute. SEPTIMUS students had higher levels of computer ownership, frequency of Internet use and IT skills than attenders; these factors when examined in Study 1 did not have an impact on the drop‐out rate of e‐learners.

e‐Learning can overcome barriers to traditional learning in psychotherapy, particularly distance from a training centre, without loss of student satisfaction or student performance. Factors sometimes thought to be obstacles to e‐learning, such as information technology skills, were not found to be significant barriers – although they may have affected recruitment. Certain aspects of e‐learning, such as the tendency to facilitate self‐disclosure, were found to be very beneficial, particularly in the context of psychotherapy programmes.     

Corporate learning: A knowledge management perspective

This paper provides a point of view on the relationship between learning and knowledge management in corporate training. This relationship forms the framework for the development of an effective learning management system (LMS). It comprises four sections: (1) a theoretical analysis of the relationship between training and knowledge management. In today's corporate environment, characterized by rapid change and restructuring, organizations need to become “learning organizations”; (2) some examples are provided of how training issues are intertwined with other processes, such as sales, communication, research and development (R&D), external network management; (3) corporate universities are the means for achieving those goals. They are efficient as long as they become strategy-supportive organizations. Such a structure is in need of the appropriate technology tool, an LMS; (4) it is possible to underline which functionalities are needed in order to have an efficient LMS. These are the kinds of considerations that led ID Technology in developing LiveLearning. Thus, an LMS for corporate training should take into account the relationship between knowledge management and training. An LMS should allow the integration of training with company processes and should assist in meeting corporate university goals. The same considerations also guide decision makers when choosing an LMS.     

E‐learning: you don't always get what you hope for

Despite substantial growth in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) throughout western societies, there is much evidence of technology‐led innovations within Higher Education (HE) failing to achieve the anticipated transformations in learning and teaching. This paper reviews evidence from research and evaluation studies relating not only to e‐learning, but also to wider HE practices. It argues that the use of ICT does not, in itself, result in improved educational outcomes and ways of working. It considers contextual factors that are of greater significance in determining how and why e‐learning is used in HE. Students' engagement with e‐learning relates to their expectations and conceptions of learning and to assessment demands. Academics need to re‐assess their own beliefs and practices concerning teaching and assessment and their impact on the experience of learners. Both teachers and learners need to understand why e‐learning activities are to be undertaken and the rewards expected to be derived.     

Dealing with an aging workforce: Locating threats and opportunities in corporate media

ABSTRACT

Although workforce aging is among the major challenges facing developed countries, organizational communication about this issue has received little scholarly attention. Drawing on a content analysis of corporate media, we reconstruct how Dutch organizations (N = 50) framed older workers’ employability during the period 2006–2013 in diagnostic (problem-definitions) and prognostic (solution-definitions) terms, and we trace the influence of corporate media types and organizational characteristics on these frames. Results reveal that organizations frequently highlight problems on the macrolevel (societal) and the mesolevel (organizational), while most solutions are located on the microlevel (individual). Using multilevel modelling, we found support for the expectation that the issue is more strongly problematized in internal compared to external corporate media, and that problems related to individual older employees are most pronounced in public sector organizations’ communication. Our findings highlight diverse ways in which organizations can communicatively address factors that hamper older workers’ employability.     

Improvements in anatomy knowledge when utilizing a novel cyclical “Observe‐Reflect‐Draw‐Edit‐Repeat” learning process

Innovative educational strategies can provide variety and enhance student learning while addressing complex logistical and financial issues facing modern anatomy education. Observe‐Reflect‐Draw‐Edit‐Repeat (ORDER), a novel cyclical artistic process, has been designed based on cognitivist and constructivist learning theories, and on processes of critical observation, reflection and drawing in anatomy learning. ORDER was initially investigated in the context of a compulsory first year surface anatomy practical (ORDER‐SAP) at a United Kingdom medical school in which a cross‐over trial with pre‐post anatomy knowledge testing was utilized and student perceptions were identified. Despite positive perceptions of ORDER‐SAP, medical student (n = 154) pre‐post knowledge test scores were significantly greater (P < 0.001) with standard anatomy learning methods (3.26, SD = ±2.25) than with ORDER‐SAP (2.17, ±2.30). Based on these findings, ORDER was modified and evaluated in the context of an optional self‐directed gross anatomy online interactive tutorial (ORDER‐IT) for participating first year medical students (n = 55). Student performance was significantly greater (P < 0.001) with ORDER‐IT (2.71 ± 2.17) when compared to a control tutorial (1.31 ± 2.03). Performances of students with visual and artistic preferences when using ORDER were not significantly different (P > 0.05) to those students without these characteristics. These findings will be of value to anatomy instructors seeking to engage students from diverse learning backgrounds in a research‐led, innovative, time and cost‐effective learning method, in the context of contrasting learning environments. Anat Sci Educ 10: 7–22. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.     

Assessing context‐based learning: not only rigorous but also relevant

Economic factors are driving significant change in higher education. There is increasing responsiveness to market demand for vocational courses and a growing appreciation of the importance of procedural (tacit) knowledge to service the needs of the Knowledge Economy; the skills in demand are information analysis, collaborative working and ‘just‐in‐time learning’. New pedagogical methods go some way to accommodate these skills, situating learning in context and employing information and communications technology to present realistic simulations and facilitate collaborative exchange. However, what have so far proved resistant to change are the practices of assessment. This paper endorses the case for a scholarship of assessment and proposes the development of technology‐supported tools and techniques to assess context‐based learning. It also recommends a fundamental rethink of the norm‐referenced and summative assessment of propositional knowledge as the principal criterion for student success in universities.     

Hybrid E‐Learning Acceptance Model: Learner Perceptions

E‐learning tools and technologies have been used to supplement conventional courses in higher education institutions creating a “hybrid” e‐learning module that aims to enhance the learning experiences of students. Few studies have addressed the acceptance of hybrid e‐learning by learners and the factors affecting the learners’ satisfaction with these tools. This study assesses hybrid e‐learning acceptance by learners using three critical success factors: instructor characteristics, information technology infrastructure, and organizational and technical support. Structural equation modeling was applied to examine and validate the hypothesized relationships among the three factors and their effects on learners’ acceptance of hybrid e‐learning. A total of 538 usable responses from university students were used to validate the proposed research model. The influence of the three factors on learners’ decision to accept hybrid e‐learning was empirically examined. The results show that all three factors significantly and directly impacted the learners’ acceptance of hybrid e‐learning courses. Information technology infrastructure and organizational support were proven to be key determinants of the instructor characteristics as a critical success factor of hybrid e‐learning acceptance by learners. Implications of this work for higher education institutions, researchers, and instructors are described.     

How Adults Learn from Self‐Paced,Technology‐Based Corporate Training: New focus for learners,new focus for designers

How do adults learn from self‐paced, technology‐based corporate training, which they select based on its relevance to their current employment responsibilities? Specifically, how do adults use the following learning strategies: prior experience, reflection, metacognition, conversations, generative learning strategies, and authentic experiences? Based on a recent dissertation research investigation, the author found that learning starts with, and is sustained by, metacognition which was defined as self‐assessment and self‐correction. While learners using metacognition is by no means a new phenomenon, learners using metacognition significantly more often than other learning strategies has important implications for the design of new generations of online distance instruction. Similarly, that learners frequently use conversations to learn from self‐paced, technology‐based training strongly suggests that dialogs and discussions are important in the design of these new ways of learning.     

Situated Learning: Conceptualization and Measurement

A focus on the interaction between cognitive schemas and context in situ has been suggested as fundamental in organizational decision making and information interpretation. Past research suggests that the situation and the social interaction that occur during learning at the cognitive level consist of factors that affect the process, but the research lacks a coherent explanation for how those factors affect it. We propose a conceptualization of learning, termed situated learning, which accounts for these factors. By drawing on situated cognition theory, social learning theory, and the theory of mental models, we identify and measure four components of situated learning, that is, thematic focus, cognitive absorption, social structure, and participation. Among the most important lessons for researchers and practitioners is the need to consider learning as a constellation of the four components instead of an indivisible phenomenon. This perspective can enhance our understanding of cognitive processes, such as information interpretation and decision making.     

Online learning and performance support in organizational environments using performance support platforms

An electronic performance support system (EPSS) is a method that integrates learning and task performance into one single action by providing information and guidance during performance. Wide‐range EPSS effectiveness research has been conducted by Tel Aviv University in tandem with a large telecommunications firm implementing EPSS solutions. The objective was to identify the factors that were instrumental in the realization of EPSS's potential in corporate settings. This article focuses on effectiveness differences in two common organizational environments: the learning and the working domains.     

Facebook use in the learning environment: do students want this?

The Net Generation (those born in or after 1980) rely heavily on ICTs for social and professional interactions, and it has been suggested that they have the expectation that technology will be an integral part of their education. At the same time, it is argued that Facebook has educational potential, and that today's learners should be encouraged and supported to use Web 2.0 technologies for learning in formal education. However, there is growing evidence that the value of Facebook in the educational context does not relate to formal learning at all, but to the ‘social networking’ elements of the site. This Viewpoint article discusses the results of a study to explore students' views towards the use of Facebook in the university setting, especially with regard to learning and integration into university life. The findings suggest support for informal rather than formal learning use of Facebook within the university setting.     

The myths about e‐learning in higher education

Proponents have marketed e‐learning by focusing on its adoption as the right thing to do while disregarding, among other things, the concerns of the potential users, the adverse effects on users and the existing research on the use of e‐learning or related innovations. In this paper, the e‐learning‐adoption proponents are referred to as the technopositivists. It is argued that most of the technopositivists in the higher education context are driven by a personal agenda, with the aim of propagating a technopositivist ideology to stakeholders. The technopositivist ideology is defined as a ‘compulsive enthusiasm’ about e‐learning in higher education that is being created, propagated and channelled repeatedly by the people who are set to gain without giving the educators the time and opportunity to explore the dangers and rewards of e‐learning on teaching and learning. Ten myths on e‐learning that the technopositivists have used are presented with the aim of initiating effective and constructive dialogue, rather than merely criticising the efforts being made.     

Work-based Learning,Action Learning and the Virtual Paradigm

Action learning is a central part of many work-based learning programmes, and, to be effective, requires the learner to engage in reflective learning. This article looks at how the reflective learning cycle can be integrated with action learning processes to create the dynamic of enhanced business effectiveness and individual understanding. Through a case study of a university‐corporate partnership, the article explores how a virtual learning environment (web-based materials and interactive forum) can be integrated effectively into the action learning-reflection cycle. It is suggested that the combination of action learning and virtual technology has the potential for enhancing learning, providing data for interactive discussions, and a means of disseminating new knowledge and management best practice within organisations.     

USING INTERNATIONAL STUDY SERIES AND META-ANALYTIC RESEARCH SYNTHESES TO SCOPE PEDAGOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AIMED AT IMPROVING STUDENT ATTITUDE AND ACHIEVEMENT IN SCHOOL MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE

Taking lower-secondary schooling within the English educational system as an example, this paper illustrates the contribution of two bodies of international scholarship to the scoping of research-based pedagogical development aimed at improving student attitude and achievement in science and mathematics. After sketching the English context of systemic reform, the paper uses findings from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) series to illuminate changes in performance, analysed within a framework of cross-system and between-subject comparison. Contrary to the optimistic picture from national assessment, the TIMSS findings suggest that systemic reform has produced fundamental gains only in student achievement in mathematics, and serious declines in student attitude towards both mathematics and science. Prompted by more favourable patterns elsewhere, the paper then triangulates the findings of recent meta-analytic research syntheses to identify promising lines of pedagogical development. Despite important differences in the conceptual frameworks and analytic methods of these syntheses, reasonably robust conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of four teaching components: domain-specific inquiry for student achievement in both subjects, student attitude in science, and learning processes in mathematics; cooperative group work for learning and attitude in science; contextual orientation for achievement in science; and active teaching for achievement in mathematics. Equally, discrepancies between findings or insufficiencies of evidence highlight a number of impacts particularly deserving deeper analysis or further investigation: cooperative group work on achievement outcomes, differing forms of learning assessment on both attitude and achievement outcomes, contextual orientation on outcomes in mathematics, and active teaching on outcomes in science.     

Working Memory and School Achievement in the Ninth Form

Two experiments explored the relationship between 15‐16‐year‐old ninth‐formers’ working memory (WM) capacity and school achievement. In the first experiment, WM capacity was measured administering complex WM span tests on 107 subjects. These measures correlated highly significantly with performance in four school subjects: mathematics, foreign language, Finnish (native language) and geography. In the second experiment, additional WM tasks were used to measure two WM components: the phonological loop and the central executive component as suggested by Baddeley (1986). The tasks that were assumed to measure the central executive were strongly linked to performance in school subjects. Maximally, they shared 31 % of the variance with school achievement. Partial correlations showed that digit span correlated, independently of the central executive measures, with performance in foreign language. This result suggested that the phonological loop is specifically related to foreign language learning. The relationship between WM and the general intelligence factor g is discussed.     

Determinants of faculty attitudes toward collective bargaining in university graduate departments: An organizational climate approach

This study examines the relationship between some facets of organizational climate in university departments and faculty attitudes toward various aspects of faculty unionization. The dimensions of organizational climate explored are: the perceived power structure, assessment of rewards, and perceived organizational goals. The major findings of this study are: (a) The perceived power structure is an important determinant of attitudes toward an egalitarian system, especially in the social sciences. Perceived individual power is negatively related to egalitarian attitude in the physical sciences whereas perceived faculty group power is negatively related to favorable attitudes toward collective bargaining in the social sciences. (b) Perceived emphasis on consulting activities is positively related to attitudes toward seniority-based aspects of collective bargaining in the physical sciences while perceived emphasis on personal factors is positively related to all aspects of attitude toward collective bargaining in the social sciences. (c) Inequity is positively related to attitudes toward unionization both in the physical and social sciences. The policy implications of these findings to faculty and university administration are discussed.     

Characterisation of Cognitive Difficulty Level of Test Items

Abstract

The study of subjects in science and technology involves high level thinking. Student‐material match at the design stage of a curriculum refers, in most cases, to the general criteria of thinking and learning theories, such as the ability to carry out ‘formal operations’ according to Piaget. The question of relevance may arise when dealing with a specific subject matter, in this context. Checking the student‐material match through an achievement post test enables us to refer to the relevant contents.

A method is proposed to characterise a test item through a content ingredient (Number of Schemes NS required for solution) and the required learner's resources (represented by the Problem Solving Taxonomy PST level). The Cognitive Difficulty Level CDL is then defined as: CDL=NS ? CDL.

The validity of CDL as a difficulty index of a test item, has been verified in the case of teaching basic electronics at the high‐school level (tenth and eleventh grades): a decrease has been obtained in students' achievement scores with an increase in the CDL value. Two types of student populations have been involved in the study: high and low achievers. The findings indicate that at the initial stage of learning a new subject, mainly the content factor (NS) affects the difficulty level of a mental task. After the ‘transient time’ has elapsed, both factors, NS and PST (i.e. CDL) affect the cognitive difficulty level. In the later stages, when the complexity of the material increases, the effect of PST becomes most dominant.