What is the effect of talking heads in educational videos with different types of narrated slides?

Video-based learning plays an increasingly important role and thus the optimal design of video-based learning materials attracts the attention of scientists and practitioners alike. In this context, producers of educational videos often include a talking head in their videos, although theory (e.g., cognitive theory of multimedia learning) also suggests potential disadvantages for this format. Since talking heads attract a lot of visual attention, further empirical research is necessary to investigate whether a talking head can hinder learning, especially presented next to graphic-based learning content. To address this research gap, we conducted two online experiments to investigate the effects of a talking head in educational videos with narrated slides (short slideshow lectures) on learning outcomes (i.e., factual knowledge acquisition) and participants’ subjective ratings of the learning material (e.g., perceived learning). In Experiment 1 (N = 96), we varied whether the instructor’s talking head was present or absent in the videos as a between-factor, and whether the visual content on the slides was graphic-based (pictures, diagrams, maps) or text-based (bullet points) as a within-factor (slide type). In Experiment 2 (N = 184), we additionally varied as a between-factor whether the contents appeared sequentially or statically all at once (presentation type). Our results showed that the talking head did not affect learning outcomes, regardless of slide type and presentation type of the videos suggesting that the inclusion of a talking head offers neither clear advantages nor disadvantages. Potential explanations for the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Relationships among properties of college students’ self-set academic goals and academic achievement

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among properties of college students’ self-set academic goals and academic achievement, using multiple theoretical perspectives. Using a personal goal-based research methodology, college students enrolled in a learning-to-learn course (N?=?130) were asked to list 20 of their goals (academic and/or non-academic). For each of their goals, goal specificity, value, expectation of success and autonomous and controlled motivation were measured and then ratings on each goal property were averaged across students’ academic goals (24.75% of all goals) to predict students’ grade point average (GPA) for the semester. Regression results suggested a positive affect on students’ semester GPA for goal specificity and a negative effect for controlled motivation; the model explained 19% of the variation in GPA. This research may help to inform motivation researchers and educational practitioners who assist college students with goal setting.     

How do different types of schools prepare students for life at Cambridge?

Twenty students from different educational backgrounds within the UK were interviewed to investigate how well they considered their secondary school education had prepared them for the educational and social demands of an ‘elite’ university and life within its most traditional colleges. The study asked them how they perceived students from different educational backgrounds and how they thought they were perceived. Entering a traditional Cambridge college was found to be easiest for students from prestigious ‘public schools’ within the private educational sector. State school students were more likely to experience anxiety, and those who adapted successfully were likely to have strong independent learning skills and a robust sense of self-efficacy. The study suggests that students coming from state schools to Cambridge are making a more difficult academic and social transition than students from private schools, for which they are given no special support.     

Does academic and social self-concept and motivation explain the effect of grading on students’ achievement?

The purpose of the study was to investigate if academic and social self-concept and motivation to improve in academic school subjects mediated the negative effect of summative assessment (grades) for low-ability students’ achievement in compulsory school. In two previous studies, summative assessment (grading) was found to have a differentiating effect on students’ subsequent achievement in school (Klapp et al. 2014; Klapp 2015). Differences between subgroups of students (cognitive ability, gender, and socioeconomic status) were controlled for in the analyses. Data was retrieved from the Evaluation Through Follow-up (ETF) longitudinal project containing register and questionnaire data on a large national representative sample of Swedish compulsory school students (N = 8558). Due to a unique natural circumstance, municipalities in Sweden could decide whether or not to grade their students in sixth grade which made it possible to apply a quasi-experimental design. In the sample, 50% of the students were graded in sixth grade while all students were graded in seventh grade. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) have been estimated. The results show that the negative effect of summative assessment (grading) for low-ability students on their subsequent achievement is fully mediated by academic self-concept in mathematics and Swedish, and motivation to improve in academic school subjects.

     

What is the influence of cultural capital on student reading achievement in Confucian as compared to non-Confucian heritage societies?

Abstract

The present study compared the contribution of familial cultural capital to the reading achievement of 116,508 15-year-old students who participated in PISA 2012 in six Confucian heritage cultures (CHCs) and nine non-CHCs with comparable educational and economic development. The different states of cultural capital examined comprised institutionalised (maternal, paternal education) and objectified (educational, cultural resources) indicators. Results showed that: (1) cultural capital levels were lower in CHCs (vis-à-vis non-CHCs); (2) cultural capital was generally positively related to student achievement in CHCs and non-CHCs; (3) the relationships between all cultural capital indicators, except educational resources, and achievement were weaker in CHCs than non-CHCs; and (4) objectified (vis-à-vis institutionalised) cultural capital was more strongly associated with achievement in CHCs. These results suggest that the stronger sociocultural emphasis on education in CHCs may have moderated cultural capital effects on student achievement and enabled more students to succeed academically.     

A longitudinal study on the impact of parental academic support and expectations on students’ academic achievement: the mediating role of happiness

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Previous studies have separately explored the impact of parents’ academic support and expectation on students’ academic achievement....     

Comparing students’ self-discipline and self-regulation measures and their prediction of academic achievement

Using a multi-source, multi-measure research design involving 507 high school students and their teachers, we compared prediction of these students’ academic achievement by a composite of students’ and teachers’ measures of students’ self-regulation (SR) with a composite of students’ and teachers’ measures of students’ self-discipline (SD). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the SR composite was more predictive of students’ grade point average and performance on a state-wide achievement test than the SD composite. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that, although SD and SR latent factors correlated significantly, a two-factor solution provided an acceptable fit for the results. Structural Equation Modeling analyses indicated that the SR latent factor predicted both measures of students’ achievement significantly, but the SD factor did not predict either achievement measure significantly. No significant gender differences were found with students’ SD, SR, or achievement measures. These results suggest a path for integrating two relatively separate streams in self-regulation research on the basis of a well-established distinction between learning and performance processes.     

Revisiting the effects of project-based learning on students’ academic achievement: A meta-analysis investigating moderators

Project-based learning is generally considered an alternative to traditional, teacher-led instruction. However, there is a noticeable lack of meta-analyses with regard to determining its overall effects on students' academic achievement, and what study features may moderate the impacts of project-based learning. This study thus performed a meta-analysis to synthesize existing research that compared the effects of project-based learning and those of traditional instruction on student academic achievement. Forty-six effect sizes (comparisons) extracted from 30 eligible journal articles published from 1998 to 2017 were analyzed, representing 12,585 students from 189 schools in nine countries. The results showed that the overall mean weighted effect size (d₊) was 0.71, indicating that project-based learning has a medium to large positive effect on students' academic achievement compared with traditional instruction. In addition, the mean effect size was affected by subject area, school location, hours of instruction, and information technology support, but not by educational stage and small group size.     

First-year university students’ academic success: the importance of academic adjustment

Considering the pivotal role of academic adjustment for student success, it is important to gain insight into how several motivational and behavioural factors affect academic adjustment and the extent to which academic adjustment influences student success. This empirical study investigated how intrinsic motivation, academic self-efficacy, self-regulated study behaviour and satisfaction with the chosen degree programme influenced academic adjustment in university and how these variables and adjustment affected three important indicators of student success: grade point average (GPA), attained number of credits (ECTS) and intention to persist. The sample consisted of 243 first-year university students in the Netherlands. Structural equation modelling showed that academic adjustment was influenced by intrinsic motivation, self-regulated study behaviour and degree programme satisfaction, which together explained 72% of the variance in adjustment. Motivational and behavioural variables did not influence GPA and credits directly but through academic adjustment. Furthermore, only satisfaction with the degree programme predicted intention to persist. These results point to the importance of academic adjustment in predicting university GPA and credits and the pivotal role of satisfaction with the degree programme in predicting intention to persist. Universities could integrate the development of self-regulated study skills—the biggest contributor to academic adjustment—in the first-year programme. Moreover, looking at the importance of students’ satisfaction with the programme, communication and collaboration between secondary schools and universities should be enhanced in order to help students to choose a university degree programme that matches their abilities, interests and values.     

Which variables predict teachers diagnostic competence when diagnosing students’ learning behavior at different stages of a teacher’s career?

Diagnosing is one of teachers’ key competences. Lately, a new model of teachers’ diagnostic competence and therewith a new measurement method focusing on diagnosing students’ learning behavior in an interdisciplinary approach have been developed. They can build a basis for promoting teachers’ diagnostic competence. However, some questions relevant to promoting teachers’ diagnostic competence concerning students’ learning behavior still remain unanswered: Which values do teachers-on-the-job in contrast to preservice teachers with or without teaching experience gain through experience and which are the relevant variables that lead to a high level of diagnostic competence focused on learning behavior? Thus, this study aims at enlightening these issues. In a sample of 293 participants (93 German grammar school teachers, 107 German teacher students in their second phase of teacher education, and 93 German preservice students in their first phase of teacher education), teachers’ diagnostic competence concerning learning behavior as well as teachers’ motivation, attitude, self-efficacy, knowledge, and reflection on experience concerning diagnosing was measured. Motivation, attitude, and knowledge were found to be substantial positive predictors of diagnostic competence concerning learning behavior, with differentiated predictions for teachers’ experience. Reflection on experience and self-efficacy unexpectedly was not found to be relevant. Teachers-on-the-job were generally better at diagnosing their students’ learning behavior than were preservice teachers without teaching experience. However, the diagnostic work of preservice teachers with teaching experience was as credible as that of the in-service teachers.     

How do secondary students approach different types of division with remainder situations? Some evidence from Spain

Division-With-Remainder (DWR) problems are particularly complex, as suggested in many studies. The purpose of this work was to establish whether students’ difficulties in DWR problems came from an inadequate initial representation or from an inadequate final interpretation of the numerical answers, and whether remainders could be grouped into two blocks depending on the kind of answer, either directly matching the terms of the division or not. Forty-five Spanish secondary students, aged 12–13, were requested to solve two Types of Division Situations (i.e., Equal Groups and Comparison), each one involving four Types of Remainder (i.e., Remainder-Not-Divisible, Remainder-Divisible, Remainder-as-the-Result, and Readjusted-Quotient-by-Partial-Increments). Our data showed that: (a) the selection of the correct solution procedure depended on the Type of Division Situations, being easier in Equal Groups than in Comparison problems; (b) correct interpretations were higher than the percentages reported in other researches; and (c) success in problems whose answers were the quotient or the remainder was higher than in Readjusted-Quotient-by-Partial-Increments problems. The results obtained suggest that students’ difficulties originate in the initial representation of the DWR problems and that it would be more adequate to refer to the difficulty of Readjusted-Quotient-by-Partial-Increments problems in particular, rather than to the difficulty of DWR problems in general.     

Implementing vertical and horizontal engineering students’ integration and assessment of consequence academic achievement

Recent scholarship references indicate that integration of the student body can result in an enhanced learning experience for students and also greater satisfaction. This paper reports the results of a case study whereby mechanical engineering students studying at a newly established branch campus in Dubai of a British university were exposed to vertical and horizontal integration. Different activities have been embedded to ensure that students integrated and worked together with their peers and colleagues at different levels. The implemented processes and practices led to improved academic achievements, which were better than those of a similar cohort of students where no effort had been made to integrate. The analysis revealed that cooperative learning and the degree of academic support provided by teachers are positively and directly correlated with academic as well as the students’ own sense of personal achievement. The results are discussed in light of previous research and with reference to the cultural context of the study.     

Links between teachers’ knowledge about special educational needs and students’ social participation and academic achievement in mainstream classes

Teachers' pedagogical knowledge is considered a prerequisite for effective teaching and is also expected to be relevant in highly diverse, inclusive classes. This study examines the social participation and academic achievement of children with and without special educational needs (SEN) due to emotional and behavioral (EBD) and learning (LD) difficulties and the importance of teachers' knowledge of these SEN. In 25 primary school classes with at least one child with SEN EBD (N₁ = 421) and 40 classes with at least one child with SEN LD (N₂ = 715), multilevel analyses revealed poorer performance of students with SEN. Students with SEN EBD also felt less integrated than their peers without SEN. Teachers' EBD knowledge was positively related to every student’s social participation and academic achievement, but teachers’ LD knowledge was unrelated. The results underscore the importance of teacher knowledge for student outcomes in classes with students with SEN.     

College students’ homework and academic achievement: The mediating role of self-regulatory beliefs

The influence of homework experiences on students’ academic grades was studied with 223 college students. Students’ self-efficacy for learning and perceived responsibility beliefs were included as mediating variables in this research. The students’ homework influenced their achievement indirectly via these two self-regulatory beliefs as well as directly. Self-efficacy for learning, although moderately correlated with perceptions of responsibility, predicted course grades more strongly than the latter variable. No gender differences were found for any of the variables, a finding that extends prior research based on high school girls. Educational implications about the importance of students’ homework completion and its relationship to college students’ development of self-regulation and positive self-efficacy beliefs is discussed from a social cognitive perspective.     

Optimal educational climate among students at risk: the role of teachers’ work attitudes

European Journal of Psychology of Education - One of the most significant phenomena among students at risk is low resilience. However, very little is known about teacher-related factors that affect...     

Governing the potentials of life itself? Interrogating the promises in affective educational leadership

This article critically explores how educational leadership is becoming increasingly affective in order to cultivate pupil potential and thereby meet the challenge of creating the best schools in the world. It critically analyses policy and handbook approaches to affective educational leadership technologies by showing the difficulty in keeping promises and by introducing the Massumian distinction between possibilities and potentiality. The analysis draws upon the notion of governmentality and the ‘affective turn’, and highlights affective, educational, leadership technologies as they appear in contemporary leadership handbooks in Denmark using four examples: (1) How school becomes the managed core of society. This reshapes educational leadership as onto-power, which means governing through ideas and materialities of perception and neurons. (2) How affectivity becomes synonymous with positive feelings, while more indeterminate parts of affectivity are neglected. (3) How educational leadership becomes a matter of governing the future through simulation and imagination. (4) How affective leadership is energised by a temporally and spatially structured bio-morality. I argue that such discourses tend to maintain the status quo rather than challenge basic premises and thereby, the edifying nature of the technologies paradoxically overshadows the possibilities promised by the technologies.     

Being ‘religious and cultural rebels’ or being ‘cultural hybrids’? The role of identity capital in Muslim female university students’ self-construction

ABSTRACT

Research on university-educated Muslim women in different cultural contexts has displayed an intricate and paradoxical connection between experiences of higher education and identity mediation. A traditional model conceptualizes Muslim female university students as ‘rebels’ against their heritage religion and culture. Recent developments in the context of poststructural feminism highlight the configuration of a hybrid self-image embracing the target and heritage cultures in an additive and empowering manner. To enhance our understanding of the potential impact of higher education on identity negotiation, this study employs the notion of identity capital in an analysis of two South Asian Muslim female university students in Hong Kong over a two-year period. Participants’ life histories reveal that personal capacity to invest in identity capital (a contextually-dependent hybrid self) relies on an individual’s unique possession of various forms of capital. This study thus cautions against generalizations about Muslim women’s university experiences, and suggests that Muslim minorities as multicultural students and that their multilingual/multicultural skills, as forms of ‘intercultural capital,’ should be valued by all societal institutions.     

Student-centered instruction and academic achievement: linking mechanisms of educational inequality to schools’ instructional strategy

Research in the sociology of education argues that the educational system provides different learning opportunities for students with different socioeconomic backgrounds and that this circumstance makes the educational process an important institutional context for the reproduction of educational inequality. Using combined survey and register data for more than 56,000 students in 825 schools, this article conducts the first empirical test of the argument that instructional strategies which emphasize student responsibility and activity, also referred to as student-centered instruction, increase educational inequality. We analyze whether the impact of student-centered instructional strategies on academic achievement differs for students with different socioeconomic backgrounds. Results suggest that a student-centered instructional strategy has a negative impact on academic achievement in general, and for students with low parental education in particular. Our findings support the argument that the instructional strategy of schools is an important mechanism in generating educational inequality through the stratification of learning opportunities.     

Teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorders: What are the needs of educational professionals?

The academic achievements of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are usually lower than those of their peers. It is therefore important to know what educational professionals need to provide these students with optimal support. To identify these needs, we applied Q methodology, a qualitative method using quantitative techniques. We found four groups of professionals with different needs. The first group emphasized a need for collaboration within school; the second valued practical suggestions to guide their teaching, the third emphasized gaining more confidence to teach students with ASD, and the fourth group focused on enhancing students’ social and communication skills.