Academic performance and the practice of self-directed learning: The adult student perspective

The practice of self-directed learning is important to adult students as it allows them to learn effectively while juggling work, family and other commitments. This study set out to examine the self-directed learning characteristics present in the adult students’ study process at the case university. The relationship between the adult students’ perceived competence level in self-directed learning and their academic performance was also investigated. In this study, 1695 adult students in the case university participated in a survey that included both Likert-type and open-ended response items. Eleven indicators of self-directed learning were conceptualised and quantified. These indicators included: Goal Setting, Time Management, Procrastination Management, Assignment Preparation, Exam Preparation, Note-taking Capability, Research Capability, Seminar Class Readiness, Technical Readiness, Online Class Readiness and Stress Management. The findings showed that the adult students’ perceived level of competence in the 11 self-directed learning indicators had a direct or an indirect effect on their academic performance. Based on the findings, the case university has conceptualised some new initiatives in the provision of support in terms of self-directed learning to help its adult students to do well in their studies.     

Assessment for learning in the accountability era: Empirical evidence from Scotland

In many European languages, the words ‘assessment’ and ‘evaluation’ are synonymous, but in English the two terms are used differently. Educational ‘assessment’ is learner-focused and part of professional pedagogy, relating directly to the accountability of practitioners and schools to learners and their families. Educational ‘evaluation’ is understood to be a parallel and linked process, relating to the quality of national policy and of provision and practice in establishments, part of accountability to the wider public. In Scotland, assessment policy has been focused on aligning ‘assessment for learning’ and ‘assessment for accountability’ for nearly a decade and policy guidance has been based on the principle that formative and summative uses of information can apply as well to system evaluation as to school-based assessment. Self-evaluation has been increasingly emphasized, promoting better understanding of the role of continuous review in supporting and improving education. In theory, the two processes of assessment and evaluation should align without difficulty as ‘intelligent accountability’ and together should act as a powerful driver for improved educational outcomes. However, achieving alignment in practice, which requires good professional relationships and mutual trust in different communities of practice, as well as shared understanding and expectations, has proven to be very hard to achieve. This article will show the progress that has been made with alignment; indicate where there have been difficulties and why; and suggest that several important factors need to be acknowledged if alignment is to be achieved.     

Engaging students in learning: findings from a study of project-led education

This paper reports on findings from a three-year study of project-based learning implemented in the first year of the Industrial Engineering and Management programme, at the University of Minho, Portugal. This particular model was inspired on project-led education (PLE), following Powell and Weenk's [2003. Project-Led Engineering Education. Utrecht: Lemma] work. It aims to analyse students’ perceptions of PLE as a learning device and its implications for faculty and students’ role in teaching and learning. Data collection took place in two phases through individual surveys and focus groups to students. Findings suggest the importance of PLE as a device to enhance meaningful learning and provide evidence from students that it helps to increase their engagement in learning. Implications of PLE for faculty and students role in teaching and learning will be discussed in the paper.     

International organisations and the construction of the learning active citizen: An analysis of adult learning policy documents from a Durkheimian perspective

Abstract

The article analyses how citizenship is conceptualised in policy documents of four key international organisations. The basic assumption is that public policy has not turned away from adult learning for active citizenship, but that there are rather new ways in which international governmental organisations conceptualise and in some cases seek to operationalise active citizenship in the context of their thinking on lifelong learning. We argue that the language of citizens and citizenship continues to be an important thread in the publications of these organisations. The theoretical framework of Emile Durkheim is referred to since his work helps to explore and address the changes. The analysis of Durkheim draws attention to the crucial role of intermediary bodies which serve as a restraint on both individuals and state.     

Reviewing work-based learning opportunities in the community for physiotherapy students: an action research study

Physiotherapy became a graduate profession in the 1990s marking a shift from ‘training’ to ‘education’. This means students are required to develop as reflective, innovative and autonomous practitioners. Traditional work-based learning has remained a key component in the curricula of physiotherapy programmes in higher education. This is delivered by qualified physiotherapists who take on the role of ‘practice educator’ with responsibility for teaching, supervision and assessment. The teaching and learning strategies of the university and work-based components of physiotherapy curricula are aligned. Concomitantly the delivery of physiotherapy services have become increasingly diverse and the wider health and social care context has changed. In response to these challenges the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (2006) published guidance on the development of work-based learning in community and non-traditional settings. This study explored how community-based placements could be developed to ensure work-based learning continues to meet students’ needs. An action research methodology was used because any change to established practice is more successful if it involves the people who are responsible for its implementation. Thematic analysis identified three important considerations in the development of community placements: Skill acquisition within community settings; expectations of the available learning and teaching opportunities; effects of health service improvements. This research has highlighted the importance of consultation between all those responsible for physiotherapy work-based learning. A review framework has subsequently been developed to both facilitate this consultation and evaluate placement opportunities available in a specific community setting.     

Placement-based learning and learner engagement: findings from a new university in the UK

This paper addresses the potential for engaged learning among final-year undergraduate Education Studies students at a new, post-1992. It discusses a case study analysis of a ‘Directed Experiential Learning’ (DEL) intervention in the final year of an education studies degree designed to engage and motivate students and emphasise the links between theory and practice for them. Implementation took place in 2012–2013 with a cohort of 37 students and quantitative and qualitative analysis was performed afterwards to investigate the perspectives of students (online questionnaire and interview with 2 students) and tutors (4 individual interviews) on the DEL approach applied. The study described should be of particular interest to those teaching on and designing third level education studies programmes as well as related disciplines that might participate in integrated working arrangements in practice (e.g. nursing, social care).     

The challenges of establishing social learning spaces at a Johannesburg university student residence: Student views

This article reports on two cycles of a Participatory Action Research (PAR) study on student experiences of the process of establishing social learning spaces in a Johannesburg university student residence. We draw on Wenger’s (2009) notion of ‘social learning spaces’ to explore the manner in which students mediate their social and institutional identity, expose power imbalances in terms of decision-making and determine influences on their learning. We argue that learning is facilitated by social engagement and suggest that the conceptualisation and implementation of social learning spaces, although a complex and protracted process, is valuable for students’ social and academic development, particularly in a residence environment. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, analysed using content analysis, and interpreted through a Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) lens. The findings point to the complexity of establishing social learning spaces (SLS) in a student residence environment with students experiencing multiple tensions in the process, including struggles with collaborative learning, difficulties in developing agency and the challenges of traversing power relations.     

我国学习策略研究综述(1989-2003)

在检索到的主要参考文献中，1989—2003年关于学习策略研宄的论文有132篇。文章介绍了1989—2003年我国学习策略的研究状况。指出存在的问题，并对未来我国学习策略研究进行了展望。虽然我国学习策略研究的成果相对较少，但是让学生学会学习和加强学习策略元研究的理念，已为多数研究者所认同。     

Hands-on engagement online: using a randomised control trial to estimate the impact of an at-home lab kit on student attitudes and achievement in a MOOC

ABSTRACT

A shortcoming of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is the lack of substantive integration of hands-on activities into online classrooms. We conducted a randomised control trial (RCT) in a MOOC where we sent the treatment group at-home lab kits with which they could perform experiments in their own homes. In our intervention research, we found that, at the end of the course, students in the treatment group had significantly higher exam scores and levels of self-efficacy to perform in the topic area than their control group counterparts. Students’ growth in self-concept was not significantly different. Findings have implications for distance courses in engineering and other science, technology, engineering, and math areas that traditionally have laboratory components. Furthermore, our findings illustrate the potential amplifying effect of this learning environment configuration for engineering instructors. Finally, this study illustrates how the dispersed nature of MOOCs facilitates RCTs and a recursive process linking theory and practice.     

An action learning approach to partnership in community development: a reflection on the research process

Green space offers a significant environmental resource that can improve the individual experience of health and quality of life. However, barriers exist that prevent the use of green space, and partnership (multi-agency) working has the potential to overcome these. Current public health policy aims to broaden the range of environmental public health intervention through effective partnership working. In response to this, a community development partnership project (Stepping Stones to Nature) was established in the south west of England to improve green spaces in neighbourhood communities through engagement and consultation. Integral to this project was an initiative to research the process and experience of partnership working. The aim of this paper is to report the experience of the multi-agency group guiding the research process and how they used an action learning approach to explore their experiences and guide the research process. Halfway through the project a ‘formal’ focus group discussion was arranged in order to capture the reflective thinking and learning that had taken place. The focus of this paper is on the data from that group discussion. Four main themes were evident from the data: expectation/perceptions; stakeholder involvement; tensions (at organisational and individual levels); and reflection and learning (through the partnership and research process). This paper reflects the different expectations of the research process that need to be identified early in partnership research in order that they can be appropriately managed.     

Students' perceptions toward the use of the digital library in weekly web-based distance learning assignments portion of a hybrid programme

This study attempted to investigate students’ perceptions toward the use of the digital library in weekly web‐based distance learning assignments portion of a hybrid instructional programme. Attention was given to three variables—age, gender, and prior experience with the Internet. A Likert‐type instrument consisting of 10 items was designed to collect information about students’ perceptions toward the use of digital library. The subjects of this study were 154 students enrolled in an undergraduate hybrid programme in management at a medium‐sized university in the Midwest, USA. Collected data were analysed using ANOVA. The overall results suggest that students had positive perceptions toward the use of the digital library. Age was found to be an insignificant factor. However, gender and prior experience with the Internet were found to be significant factors. Males had significantly higher positive perceptions toward using the digital library. Students who had more prior experience with the Internet had significantly higher positive perceptions toward using the digital library. Implications for practice are discussed and recommendations are made for future research.     

Local and global in the formation of a learning theorist: Peter Jarvis and adult education

Abstract

Peter Jarvis is a towering figure in the study of adult and lifelong education and a leading and original theorist of learning. This paper sets out his intellectual and professional biography, maps the main contours of his work and introduces fourteen papers by leading scholars devoted to his work. Five broad phases in Jarvis’ life are identified: (a) youth, self-education, Methodist ministry and early teaching and research; (b) founding of the International Journal of Lifelong Education, authorship of important textbooks on adult and professional education and linking of academic communities in different countries; (c) early research on and theorisation of learning; (d) engagement from the early 1990s with debates on lifelong learning and the learning society; and (e) return to theorisation of learning, particularly from the perspective of globalisation, from around 2000. Recurring themes include ethics and responsibility, the essentially social nature of learning, democracy, and authenticity in human relationships.     

The impact of professional learning on in-service teachers’ pedagogical delivery of literacy-infused science with middle school English learners: a randomised controlled trial study in the U.S

ABSTRACT

Research in the United States show that professional learning (PL) can improve classroom instruction. However, teachers, especially educators in the content areas, receive insufficient training specific to meeting the language and academic needs of English learners (ELs). The purpose of the current randomized controlled trial (RCT) study was to introduce a high-quality PL program for supporting middle school teachers in teaching science to ELs through classroom observations, so as to evaluate whether in-service science teachers’ instructional delivery can be shaped by intensive, structured, and ongoing PL. Results indicated that after receiving PL, treatment teachers allocated a significantly higher portion of their instructional time in teaching content language, developing students’ expressive language skills, small group and pair activities, implementing strategies evidenced to effective with ELs, and providing more opportunities for students to participate in hands-on activities that were content-related and grade-appropriate. Practical implications for PL were discussed for an international audience.     

Collaborative learning,face-to-face or virtual: the advantages of a blended learning approach in an intercultural research group

Within Higher Education, current changes in levels of funding available and the increasingly diverse profiles of students participating have placed a greater emphasis on the need for institutions to provide more ‘flexible methods’ of delivery. In addition to traditional face-to-face, collaborative environments, the widespread use of information and communication technologies allows individuals around the globe to participate in collaborative learning. Dillenbourg emphasizes the need to differentiate the ‘notion of culture’ in the context of intercultural group learning, with that of developing a common ground or ‘micro-culture’ through which to successfully interact. The importance of building a micro-culture is echoed by Ashcraft and Treadwell, as the basis for successful collaborative learning. This article highlights the experiences of a university based, intercultural, mixed methods research project at Master's degree level, where student researchers with diverse backgrounds, worked collaboratively to create a tentative conceptual framework, in order to map research trends at the 2010 American Educational Research Association conference. This article suggests that collaborative learning in intercultural groups, rather than benefiting from one approach over another, can actually be enhanced by the combining of methods, resulting in a deeper learning experience for those participating. Furthermore, in the initial stages of negotiating and re-negotiating collective understandings and meaning, face-to-face collaboration can provide a basis for deeper learning and understanding in subsequent online collaboration, as experienced by the intercultural collective research group, which is the case study of this article.     

Exploring the transformative potential of recognition of prior informal learning for learners: A case study in Scotland

This article presents an overview of the findings of a recently completed study exploring the potentially transformative impact upon learners of recognition of prior informal learning (RPL). The specific transformative dimension being reported is learner identity. In addition to providing a starting point for an evidence base within Scotland, the research findings have the potential to enhance future development within the recognition of prior informal learning area, in particular in higher education institutions (HEIs) and across the sector. A qualitative case study using a constructionist approach is utilised to develop contextual understandings of the learner experience of RPL. The study identifies connections between the RPL process and the development of learner identity. Semi-structured interviews with RPL learners provided rich data. This study asserts that learner identity fluctuates throughout learners’ experiences and therefore the development of learner identity is not linear but nonetheless that identity changes as part of the RPL process. A number of issues ultimately impact upon learner identities, including the role of RPL advisors and RPL mechanisms and processes. This research concludes that RPL has the potential to be transformative for some learners and identifies some areas worthy of further exploration.     

Understanding glocal learning spaces. An empirical study of languaging and transmigrant positions in the virtual classroom

The use of digital tools like computers and tablets in institutional learning arenas give rise to forms of flexibility where time and space boundaries become diffuse. Online learning sites are understood as being crucial today, especially in large parts of the Global North, where anyone anywhere potentially can become a student and have access to educational opportunities.

This study focuses on the analysis of recorded sessions, part of an ‘Italian for (adult) beginners' online course. Our interests relate to accounting for how students negotiate different language varieties, including modalities, and how communication in virtual learning settings enables both flexible participation trajectories and identity positions in and across the boundaries of time and space.

The sociocultural and dialogical analyses here are framed in terms of fluidity of ‘glocal' positions and (trans)languaging that emerge in and across time and space in Technology Mediated Communication. Our findings suggest that online environments support meaning-making where it is possible to identify alternative ways of (co)constructing and mediating learning. Such hybridity as well as the performative character of learning and identity display have important implications for online glocal communities.     

Building knowledge,building community: reflecting on the value of a national research programme in adult literacy

In 2003 the National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) of Canada, at that time a branch of the Department of Human Resources and Development Canada, decided to review its research function. This article discusses some of the questions the review raised for the field. Many of these issues are to do with the management of knowledge – what research gets funded, to be performed by whom, and with what kind of approach – whereas others are concerned with the meaning of the research function itself, and what it can contribute to a field of practice such as adult literacy.     

Predicting grade point average from the hybrid model of learning in personality: consistent findings from Ugandan and Australian students

Jackson developed a hybrid model of learning in personality, known as the Learning Styles Profiler (LSP), which seeks to explain personality in terms of biological, socio‐cognitive and experiential processes. The hybrid model argues that functional learning outcomes can be understood in terms of how cognitions and experiences re‐express sensation seeking as functional learning. In two studies from Uganda and Australia (n = 136 and n = 290 respectively), grade point average (GPA) of students was successfully predicted from the hybrid model. Results show evidence of three indirect pathways from sensation seeking through cognitions to GPA and provide a new understanding of the way in which personality can predict performance.     

Teachers learning to use the iPad in Scotland and Wales: a new model of professional development

In learning to use a new technology like the iPad, primary teachers adopt a diverse range of experiential, informal and playful strategies contrasting sharply with traditional models underpinning professional development which emphasise formal courses and events led by ‘experts’ conducted in formal settings such as the school. Since post-PC devices like the iPad have been linked with transformational educational learning, there is an imperative to better understand how teachers can be encouraged to use them more effectively. Despite their growing popularity in schools, there is little research to indicate how and under what circumstances teachers learn to integrate these technologies into their daily practices. This paper uses data collected from two national studies of iPad use in Scotland and Wales to propose a new model of professional development. This model reflects findings that the teachers reject traditional models of sequential, or staged, professional development (often led by external providers or ‘experts’), in favour of a more nuanced and fluid model where they learn at their own pace, in a largely experiential fashion, alongside their pupils in a relationship which reverses the traditional power nexus. The model has the potential to inform professional development for both trainee and serving teachers in learning to use the iPad in the primary classroom.