Portfolios for learning,assessment and professional development in higher education

This article focuses on the use of portfolios for learning and professional development in Higher Education (HE). Recent research findings related to learning and assessment help to contextualize the study. The use of portfolios for summative assessment and development of teaching and reflective practice dominates the literature. What is lacking is research that provides insights into how a portfolio for learning can be used in HE to develop understanding into one’s own learning, assessment and professional practices. The action research findings related to portfolio use for learning purposes identified in the three case studies include: the importance of establishing the purpose of the portfolio; the impact of portfolio use on the approach to learning, to teaching and to professional development; the changes to professional practice brought about as a result of the learning; and the need to consider issues related to ethics and confidentiality.     

Continuing professional development designed as second-order action research: work-in-progress

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to describe how Lesson Study as second-order action research can be applied and how we planned to evaluate and improve course design, learners’ progress, team members’ roles and learning objectives of a 2-year university course for English as a Second Language teachers. The article describes the concept of a Lesson Study conducted in a course for teachers with a minimum of 3 years of teaching experience, rather than for students or undergraduates as in traditional concepts of the Lesson Study approach. PFL (‘Pedagogy and Subject Didactics Programme’) is a 2-year programme consisting of three seminars and five groups meetings in which the participants focus on the reflection of their professional practice in their specific school situation. All participants are required to plan, carry out and document their own action research project. The team provides input on action research and current topics in language teaching and learning, and advises participants. The methodology follows a mixed-method approach based on action research methodologies including questionnaires, interviews and observations. Analyses are conducted qualitatively and quantitatively. The article presents the concept of the project but not yet findings at this stage due to curriculum development and approval issues.     

Reviews

Mature Women in Higher Education Women Returning to Higher Education. Gillian Pascall and Roger Cox Anatomy of the English Department English People: the experience of teaching and learning English in British universities Bigger But Not Worse? Teaching Large Classes in Higher Education: How to Maintain Quality with Reduced Resources Improving University Teaching Rethinking University Teaching – a framework for the effective use of educational technology Diana Laurillard ‘Learning to Teach in Higher Education’     

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.     

基于CCD的中国教育类8种期刊近5年引文统计分析

根据中国引文数据库Chinese Citation Database所提供的统计数据,采用文献计量学、数值比较和按类统计的方法对影响因子排名靠前的8种中国教育类期刊在2006-2010年间引文进行了数据统计,研究成果可为教育学研究提供一些量化数据的参考,同时也为用户提供全面翔实的期刊被引和引用数据。结果表明:《教育研究》是人文、社科权威级期刊;《高等教育研究》、《中国高教研究》、《中国高等教育》、《高等工程教育研究》是教育类核心期刊中的佼佼者,具有一流的学术水平和学术影响,在教育学领域中有着绝对的影响力;《中国大学教学》、《北京大学教育评论》、《教师教育研究》在教育学界也有着非常高的学术地位。     

Education of gifted pupils in Hungary

where she directs the Department of Didactics. Main research interests: the teaching and learning process; curriculum theory; educational evaluation.     

The impact of intensive ‘value for money’ performance auditing in educational systems

The starting point for this article is the authors' ongoing collaborative enquiry into professional practice, which primarily aims to improve and develop our roles in Staff and Educational Development in Higher Education (HE). Part of this action research cycle includes an empirical study carried out in the authors' institution to find out how academic colleagues view their work practices. They identify the major difficulties faced in supporting the professional development of these staff and argue that to be effective within a culture that encourages individualism, and that is driven by a disciplinary-research agenda, those who have responsibility for academic professional development should promote the idea of teachers as researchers. They argue that a research approach to development, centred on individual practice and learning, should be considered by those who engage in professional learning. Beyond these issues, the study also provides a snapshot of academic values in a research-led Higher Education Institution in Britain in the late 1990s.     

Professional standards for teachers: a case study of professional learning

This paper analyses the current Australian policy and research context in relation to developing quality teachers. Like other countries, many educational authorities in Australia are developing professional standards for teachers and the evaluation of teachers against those standards as a mechanism for ensuring and extending the quality of teaching in schools. A key policy consideration involves the use of professional standards as tools for extending professional learning and/or for credentialing and appraisal. This paper considers these uses of standards by drawing on an evaluation of Education Queensland's Professional Standards for Teachers pilot. The pilot focused on using a set of standards as a framework for professional learning. Teachers' perspectives on the standards and their intended use, their engagement with the standards during the pilot and the nature of professional learning associated with that engagement are discussed in light of current policy debates about professional standards.     

Reflecting on Practice: using learning journals in higher and continuing education

The purpose of this study is to report on the use of learning journals as vehicles for encouraging critical reflection among non-traditional students and to compare variances with studies among traditional students. An objective of the study was to understand how adult students in a 'technical' computer class responded to the requirement for learning journals. Qualitative research focused on whether learning journals prove to be an effective teaching tool in science-based, adult learning. The study was conducted at Columbia University's Computer Technology programme in Continuing Education. Results suggest that non-traditional students are more skeptical than traditional students about using learning journals and more likely to use them as study tools. An implication of this study is that student perception and skepticism of the assignment can affect the objective of developing reflective thinking. This implication stresses the need to account for student perception in studies on learning journals and critical reflection.     

Introducing Secondary Education Students to Algorithms and Programming

In Greece, the development of the teaching of Information Technology (IT) in schools has been greatly influenced by the rapid development of technology, making IT literacy a priority for all individuals. Consequently, the teaching of algorithms and programming, with the ulterior motive of teaching modeling as well as problem solving, has been greatly limited in Secondary Education. However, we strongly believe that algorithms and programming constitute an important intellectual tool and should be included in basic education. In any case, both the research literature findings, as well as, our own experience confirm the fact that novice programmers come up against many mental obstacles in their attempts to understand the functioning of programs or the construction of algorithms. In order to deal with these difficulties and successfully teach the elementary concepts of algorithms and programming, we have developed didactic scenarios, which are based on specially designed educational software. In conjunction with this, we are attempting to develop a program for the systematic training of those students who will become IT teachers in Secondary or Primary Education. The most significant findings of our research are summarized as follows: (a) The development of educational software and its experimental use in the teaching process allow us to formulate several general rules related to the specific didactic characteristics, which these environments should include. (b) Educational software is effective only when it is incorporated within the framework of the didactic scenarios that the teacher organizes and which are supported by the software. (c) Teachers do not spontaneously use educational software in the context of this rationale. Therefore, specific training is required so that they adopt and use such software in didactic scenarios.     

Writing Development for Lecturers Moving from Further to Higher Education: A case study

The move from further education (FE) to higher education (HE) presents FE lecturers with challenges and opportunities. One of the most testing is the expectation that, while carrying a heavy teaching load, perhaps participating in a course on teaching and learning in HE and possibly studying for a higher degree, FE lecturers will begin to do research and write for scholarly journals. It seems logical and sensible that they should receive development and support for this key professional role, particularly in writing for publication, since, for some, this is a new task. Development and support in scholarly writing are offered in some institutions. One example combined formal and informal development for FE lecturers over the short and long term. An Academic Writing course provided practical and theoretical development, while a writers' group gave support over the long term. Tracking one FE lecturer who participated in both the course and the group revealed 'highlights and lowlights' of the FE-HE transition. Analysis of 40 e-mails, written during one year, reveals the impact of this support and development on the lecturer: understanding of the HE sector, resolutions of teaching/research tensions and development as a writer. This paper describes the forms of development and support for scholarly writing, and represents a lecturer's experience of them. The lecturer's reflections on his documented experience are included: the e-mails understate the difficulties faced. Analysis of the e-mails reveals a development process: a framework is derived for enabling FE staff to become HE writers.     

网络环境下教师专业化发展的策略探究

教育信息化背景下,各国都在教育改革中全力探索采用新模式和新途径来推进教师专业发展.我国传统教师专业发展模式存在诸多不足.因特网具有资源丰富、更新及时、交互多样、通讯快捷、学习自主、时空不限等特征,能为教师的专业发展提供一个良好空间.依托网上学习支持平台,教师学员可以经过自主学习、专题学习、案例研讨、实践教学、主题研讨与问题解决、反思教研、修正教学实践等环节,经历认识——实践——反思——再认识——再实践——再反思的不断循环往复,主动地提高自身专业化水平.     

高中信息技术教师专业知识来源的调查与分析

该研究借鉴马云鹏教授提出的专业知识框架即教育理论知识、学科知识、课程知识和学科教学法知识,以问卷调查的方式测查高中信息技术教师不同知识来源对他们的专业知识发展的促进作用。结果显示:"自身教学经验与反思"、"和同事的日常交流"、"教学观摩活动"、"浏览网络"是获取专业知识非常重要的来源;"虚拟共同体的交流"、"自学专业书刊"和"在职专业培训"是获取专业知识比较重要的来源。"教育见习和实习"是获取学科知识和教育理论知识比较重要的来源。而"入职后的学历补偿教育"和部分职前教育课程对专业知识发展的作用并不明显。基于以上研究发现,提出促进高中信息技术教师专业知识发展的建议。     

Shedding the content: semantics of teaching burdened by didactic formalisms

The paper argues that what is left behind in the current era of accountability is the educational content. The authors present shedding the content as the great challenge of teaching and learning in today’s schools. They turn to the tradition of Bildung and outline the theoretical background for the content-focused approach to (research on) teaching and learning. Their approach is based on analyses of authentic (real-life) teaching and learning situations. The paper highlights how didactic case studies can be used to generalize the findings across individual cases. Within the multiple case studies, 44 didactic case studies were reanalysed to identify didactic formalisms, i.e. problems in the semantic and logical structure of educational content, which corrupt the quality of instruction. Two specific types of didactic formalism are described in detail; stolen cognition and concealed cognition. Stolen cognition prevents cognitive activation of students when the teacher over-reduces the space allowed for the students’ cognitive work with the content, concealed cognition are instances of purposeless cognitive activation of students due to their being disconnected from the content.     

Creating and maintaining online communities of practice in Malaysian Smart Schools: challenging realities

Wenger describes an educational community of practice (CoP) as a group of professionals who share a passionate concern for practice‐based issues and who voluntarily choose to deepen their knowledge, understanding and skills through collaborative and critical dialogue. Peer collaboration of this kind, which involves social interaction, reflection and a critical engagement with practice issues, has been widely suggested to be effective for teacher learning and professional development. The online continuing professional development for teachers (e‐CPDelT) Vision 2020 model outlined here aims to bring about innovation in practice through an online or virtual CoP (VCoP). Twenty Malaysian teachers in five Smart Schools were invited to take part in a Higher Education (HE) project, funded by one of the main universities in Malaysia. By participating collaboratively in this CoP, it was anticipated that the teachers would form an active online CoP that would lead in turn to innovation in teaching and learning practices in the schools. An action research approach was used in tracing the developmental process of the three subject‐based CoPs (namely, Mathematics, Science and English) and identifying challenges faced by the higher education institution (HEI) project team in fostering the active participation and commitment of the teachers. Preliminary data generated from mentor forum discussion, focus groups and blogs suggested that low levels of participation in VCoP activities were a result of low levels of trust and social affiliation, performance anxiety, time pressure and failure to see the relevance of online interaction as directly related to their individual needs as practitioners. Approaches to remediating these challenges and promoting more authentic teacher engagement are outlined.     

Proximal ethnography: ‘inside-out-inside’ research and the impact of shared metaphors of learning

This paper examines the way Higher Education (HE) students use metaphors to make tangible the lived and living experience of learning. The article provides a contemporary development of the ethnographic paradigm by offering a new model termed ‘proximal ethnography’ to capture the sense of inside-out-inside research, of being what one has studied. In this innovative model, the researcher shares the same experiences as the observed but does so outside their specific domain. Semi-structured interviews were held with eight trainee educational professionals at intervals during their two-year courses, and an online survey was sent to students on the same courses in regional Further Education colleges. Results show that students possessed a hierarchy of motivating drivers; some of these remained stable while others fluctuated. Acceptance of this instability helped them succeed on their course. Some students used metaphor to associate their trainee identities with previous successful professional characteristics to help them cope with the demands of HE study. If HE institutions can incorporate these findings into student induction and peer support programmes, there is the potential to normalise feelings of uncertainty, providing simple approaches to staying motivated and succeeding.     

Better safe than sorry? Risk and educational research

This paper presents the argument that education and the teaching profession have been saturated by a new form of risk consciousness and risk consideration. The aim is to shed light on this issue and present a number of empirical examples and questions of interest in educational research. Furthermore, the paper presents some of the central theories regarding risk and an attempt is made to relate these theories to an epistemological framework. The article also emphasizes the problems and issues that arise from the way teachers think, experience and manage risk in their daily work, and examines how this affects their didactic intentions and, in the long run, also the pupils’ learning potential. It is the intention of the authors, in the scientific as well as in the professional discussion, to reintroduce the positive connections between teaching and risk zones, as well as between professional development and risk taking.     

微观政治视角下的教师个人解释框架与专业脆弱性——与比利时鲁汶大学格特·凯尔克特曼教授的对话

格特·凯尔克特曼(Geert Kelchtermans)是比利时鲁汶大学(University of Leuven, KU Leuven)心理与教育科学学部教授,同时担任鲁汶大学创新、教师与学校发展中心的主任(Centre for Innovation and the Development of Teacher and School)。他还是卑尔根大学(挪威)、奥卢大学(芬兰)和林茨大学(奥地利)以及悉尼大学的客座教授。Kelchtermans教授的研究专注于个体教育专业人士(及其传记)与组织和制度背景之间的复杂互动以及定性研究方法。他的主要学术专长包括:政策实施、教师专业发展(包括入职培训和在职培训)、学校发展与教育创新、学校微观政治、教学和教育领导的情感维度以及解释性研究方法(聚焦于叙事—传记研究方法)。他在众多国际知名教师教育类期刊上发表了大量围绕上述主题的经典论文和著作章节,在教师教育研究领域做出了大量原创性学术贡献。Kelchtermans教授主持过教师教育与教育创新领域的多项课题研究,如"职前教师专业发展:入职期间的时间与关系""教师入职培训:通过参与网络进行专业发展"等...