Tutor training for service learning: impact on self-efficacy beliefs

The aim of my study was: (a) to measure the effectiveness of a supporting tutor-training curriculum and content knowledge gains for preservice teachers engaged in service learning and (b) to determine whether tutor training and field experience improved the preservice teachers’ teaching self-efficacy beliefs. One hundred and thirteen upper-division undergraduate students enrolled in Social Foundations of Multicultural Education courses participated in course-embedded tutor-training and fulfilled a 20-h service-learning requirement by tutoring pupils in local elementary schools. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) on a pretest and posttest measures of content knowledge, tutoring skills, and teaching self-efficacy demonstrated a statistically significant difference with higher mean scores at the post time. These results suggest that a course-specific tutor-training curriculum advances the participants’ knowledge and skill in tutoring. The results also indicate that the combination of tutor training and field application (i.e. tutoring in a classroom) function to increase students’ self-efficacy as future teachers.     

Computer‐assisted learning to read and spell: results from two pilot studies

Because multimedia computer programs may provide promising opportunities for the training of initial reading and spelling skills, two small‐scale pilot studies have been conducted with a recently‐developed program to examine its efficacy and impact on the motivation of the users. The first study is concerned with the use of the program in kindergarten children (K2). As there is no curriculum for these children, a computer program that is fully adaptive may well boost their independence in learning to read and spell. The main finding in this study was that kindergarten readers learned in up to 16 hours of computer practice as much as is normally attained in the first 3 months of formal reading instruction in the classroom. In the second study, reading‐disabled students with low levels of motivation engaged in computer‐based spelling practice. The most important finding in this study was that the amount of non‐task directed behaviour of those who had practised with the computer significantly decreased during both computer sessions and classroom sessions. In the discussion the way in which computers can be used most efficiently for the instruction of reading and spelling is analysed and suggestions for further research and development are presented.     

Teachers' learning to facilitate high‐level student thinking: Impact of a video‐based professional development

Attaining the vision for science teaching and learning emphasized in the Framework for K‐12 Science Education and the next generation science standards (NGSS) will require major shifts in teaching practices in many science classrooms. As NGSS‐inspired cognitively demanding tasks begin to appear in more and more science classrooms, facilitating students' engagement in high‐level thinking as they work on these tasks will become an increasingly important instructional challenge to address. This study reports findings from a video‐based professional development effort (i.e., professional development [PD] that use video‐clips of instruction as the main artifact of practice to support teacher learning) to support teachers' learning to select cognitively demanding tasks and to support students' learning during the enactment of these tasks in ways that are aligned with the NGSS vision. Particularly, we focused on the NGSS's charge to get students to make sense of and deeply think about scientific ideas as students try to explain phenomena. Analyses of teachers' pre‐ and post‐PD instruction indicate that PD‐participants began to adopt instructional practices associated with facilitating these kinds of student thinking in their own classrooms. The study has implications for the design of video‐based professional development for science teachers who are learning to facilitate the NGSS vision in science classrooms.     

Response‐to‐intervention in high‐risk preschools: Critical issues for implementation

This article summarizes the current knowledge of response‐to‐intervention (RTI) models in preschool settings, with an emphasis on evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of our current research base. Particular attention is given to the unique challenges of high‐risk preschool settings. Presently, sufficient empirical support exists to begin establishing tiered intervention systems and building teacher capacity. Lacking, however, are valid and reliable assessment tools and insufficiently trained personnel to support a data‐based decision‐model within high‐risk preschools. We conclude that organizational development should focus on building teacher capacity, establishing high‐quality classroom instruction, and planning for sustainable programs, with adoption of a full RTI service delivery model serving as a long‐range aspirational goal. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Writing and pseudo‐writing from Internet‐based sources: implications for learning and assessment

In recent years, plagiarism has been on the increase across the Western world. This article identifies Internet access as a contributory cause of this trend and addresses the implications of readily available Internet sources for the teaching and assessment of writing in schools. The basis for the article is a previous study showing a wide incidence of plagiarism in the Internet‐based writing of students in three classes at upper secondary school level in Norway. I relate the students' choices to writing as a cognitive process and as a cultural practice. My basic assumption is that the students' writing is work. It is this work we have in mind when we relate writing to learning and when we assess students' skills on the basis of their written texts. Access to the Internet changes the premises for this work because writing can be replaced by ‘pseudo‐writing’. ‘Pseudo‐writing’ is a work reducing writing practice, which neither excludes nor coincides with what we traditionally associate with plagiarism in schools. The main point in this article is that when students have access to the Internet during essay writing, the result is unavoidably a product of both writing and pseudo‐writing. Internet access thus leads to greater uncertainty about the role writing plays in student learning and makes it more difficult to take written assignments into account in assessing students' school results and effort.     

Staff development needs and provision in Commonwealth countries: Findings from a Commonwealth of learning training impact study

The mission of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) to provide staff development in open and distance education within the Commonwealth countries is noted. The paper then draws upon selected findings from the COL Training Impact Study (a study of 114 training events provided by COL over a 10-year period) and discusses the respondents' views on the needs and forms of provision that can be employed in providing staff training in open and distance education.     

Contested discourses: assessing the outcomes of learning from experience for the award of credit in higher education

When mature students enter higher education they bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience gained in their lives outside of education. A majority of higher education institutions in the UK and elsewhere around the world have now set up systems for recognizing and accrediting such learning. However the processes of assessing learning from experience tend to conform to other higher education assessment processes, originally devised for the assessment of learning gained through study in an educational context. This poses a dilemma for the students presenting their learning for assessment, those advising or guiding them and those assessing the learning. How can learning gained in a life/work setting be quantified and evaluated in academic terms? What happens in this process? This paper takes a discourse analysis approach to examine the process from both student and assessor perspectives, and proposes some strategies for bridging the gap in discourse between the outside world and academia.     

The impact of OECD‐PISA results on Japanese educational policy

The author describes the results of PISA, including those of 2015 and Japan's reaction, as well as their impact. Highly‐ranked in PISA, Japan has always tried to improve its education system. The promotion of reading comprehension remains an important issue and low interest and motivation to learn subjects are crucial problems. The author discusses these questions and reform policies from a Japanese point of view. He explains the latest reform plan which will be implemented in 2020. The Japanese peculiarity in education is referred to in the conclusion.     

Discourse comprehension intervention for high‐functioning students with autism spectrum disorders: preliminary findings from a school‐based study

Many students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) demonstrate comprehension difficulties. In the present study, 12 high‐functioning Swedish students with ASD (aged 10–15 years) took part in a naturalistic classroom‐based intervention to support comprehension of connected narrative discourse. An effective approach for supporting discourse comprehension in children with ASD was assumed to include: (i) providing teachers and students with a shared and explicit set of concepts for talking and thinking about the activity of comprehension, that (ii) can structure the child's discourse comprehension under scaffolding and modelling from the teacher. In the pre‐testing session, the students with ASD presented with poor discourse comprehension but receptive vocabulary and reading decoding skills close to normative performance. Post‐intervention test results, following 4 weeks of training, indicated specific and significant improvements in discourse comprehension. Support for the potential of this type of teaching was also obtained from teachers and students. The teachers reported that they would continue to use the same or similar comprehension instruction for 11 out of 12 students, and for multiple reasons, and students were also mostly positive to the training. Implications for practice and further research are discussed, as are limitations of the study.     

The impact of individual differences on e‐learning system satisfaction: A contingency approach

This study investigated the impact of contingent variables on the relationship between four predictors and students' satisfaction with e‐learning. Five hundred and twenty‐two university students from 10 intact classes engaging in online instruction were asked to answer questionnaires about their learning styles, perceptions of the quality of the proposed predictors and satisfaction with e‐learning systems. The results of analysis of variance and structural equation modelling analyses showed that two contingent variables, gender and job status, significantly influenced the perceptions of predictors and students' satisfaction with the e‐learning system. This study also found a statistically significant moderating effect of two contingent variables, student job status and learning styles, on the relationship between predictors and e‐learning system satisfaction. The results suggest that a serious consideration of contingent variables is crucial for improving e‐learning system satisfaction. The implications of these results for the management of e‐learning systems are discussed.