Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due: Designing Open Badges for a Technology Integration Course

This paper describes the design, development, and implementation of Open Badges into a secondary education preservice course on instructional technology. Open Badges provide a new way of issuing credentials to individuals who demonstrate knowledge, skill, or ability in a particular domain. Badges provide a simple system for communicating a skill along with specific information about the evidence connected with earning the badge. In this paper, we describe the course in detail along with the several iterations of design that resulted in the development of the badge system, along with the challenges faced and lessons learned for future design and use of Open Badges.     

Tell me a Story: the use of narrative as a learning tool for natural selection

Grounded within literature pointing to the value of narrative in communicating scientific information, the purpose of this study was to examine the use of stories as a tool for teaching about natural selection in the context of school science. The study utilizes a mixed method, case study approach which focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of narrative-based curriculum materials. The data consisted of questionnaires, classroom observations, and interviews with the students and teachers. The analysis of the data showed that most of the students developed adequate scientific understandings about natural selection and they perceived the narrative as easier to comprehend than the textbook. The findings speak to the need for examining ways of blending narrative effectively into science lessons.     

Laughing to sexual education: feminist pedagogy of laughter as a model for holistic sex-education

This paper describes and analyses the ‘feminist pedagogy of laughter’ deployed in an original sex education presentation for college students, entitled Sexual Pleasure, Health, and Safety (SPHS). This work seeks to advance scholarship on liberatory education and humour in education by emphasising how we can use laughter to casually and joyfully deconstruct sexism, racism and heterosexism as they concern sexual stigma, violence, health and pleasure. This style of pedagogy also defuses discomfort around stigmatised topics and identities, disrupts oppressive norms about sex and bodies, and builds communities that enhance learning. We position the feminist pedagogy of laughter as a technique that may be replicated to empower participants to pursue sexual pleasure and wellbeing despite sexist, racist and heterosexist obstacles. Educators may apply the feminist pedagogy of laughter to create sex education lessons and curricula that participants can enjoy, learn from and apply in real life. The pedagogy may be especially useful in supporting high-impact lessons within the time constraints of university life.     

A scalable tool for assessing children's language abilities within a narrative context: The NAP (Narrative Assessment Protocol)

Analysis of children's spoken narratives represents a potentially informative approach to language assessment within early childhood settings. Yet, narrative assessment is not readily amenable to at-scale use given the time needed to collect, transcribe, and analyze a child's narrative sample and the lack of consensus regarding what aspects of narrative expression ought to be examined (e.g., language form, language content). The purpose of this study was to describe a direct assessment of children's language abilities within a narrative context, the Narrative Assessment Protocol (NAP), which examines five aspects of language: sentence structure, phrase structure, modifiers, nouns, and verbs. In this study, we present findings regarding internal consistency, test–retest reliability, construct validity, and the concurrent and predictive validity of the NAP. NAP scores from 262 3–5-year-old children participating in preschool programs were assessed for these purposes. Findings indicated that the NAP exhibits reasonable psychometric properties across the areas addressed, to include significant concurrent and predictive relations with a norm-referenced measure of general language ability. Although more research is needed, preliminary findings indicate that the NAP provides professionals with a valid and informative assessment approach for examining children's language skills within a narrative context; such information may be useful for establishing and monitoring children's language growth within preschool programs or language interventions.     

个案研究方法在教育游戏研究中的应用

个案研究是以一个人或一个团体为研究对象,广泛搜集各种资料,综合运用各种方法,对复杂情境中的现象进行深入探究的研究策略。在我们开展的VISOLE(Virtual Interactive Student-Oriented Learning Environment)研究项目中,就采用个案研究方法来深入研究同学的动机、行为和学习成效,并取得了良好的效果。文章仔细讲解了采用该方法的动机、本个案研究的特点以及具体的研究过程。     

Using action research as a methodological tool: understanding teachers' understanding of science

A series of questions and answers between Jennifer Nias in her role as supervisor and Steve Waters-Adams as student explores the rationale for the inclusion of action research as a methodological tool within a wider PhD study. The study explored the effect of teachers' understanding of the nature of science on their teaching. In discussing the complexities of the research, Steve Waters-Adams suggests that action research provided a powerful means of gaining access to important tacit and dialectical aspects of teachers' practice. The discussion considers the process of action research, particularly with regard to the extent that its form and purpose may be defined, the importance of collaboration and the centrality of personal commitment. Steve Waters-Adams concludes that there is scope for subject-oriented research in education to make more use of action research as a methodological tool, given that the process engages with, and exposes for scrutiny, practitioners' values, aims and motives.     

The utility of Twitter as a tool for increasing reach of research on sexual violence

Researchers in violence prevention areas seek to disseminate work for impact to practice and policy. Knowledge transfer, exchange, and mobilization are common terms for research knowledge utilization where public communication platforms are playing an increasing role, having unique capacity to connect stakeholders in advocacy and lived experience, academia, non-governmental organizations, government-supported organizations, such as child welfare, and research funding bodies. Social networking platforms provide a communication intervention opportunity to test the effectiveness of the research reach. A Canadian Institutes of Health Research- funded team grant in boys’ and men’s health, focusing on sexual violence (SV) victimization, health, and resilience undertook an evaluation to examine whether a strategic approach involving a cadre of SV experts (n = 46) and their research increased engagement. Using a unique identifier (#CIHRTeamSV) content was shared on social media (Twitter) within an ABABAB experimental monthly format (A = no sharing; B = sharing content), following a baseline entry of researchers. Active Twitter engagement lead to increases in the number of individuals’ profile views, article downloads, and citations. These findings encourage further research into the utility of social media for disseminating sexual violence research, and that social media has developed as a forum for evidence-based conversation on sensitive topics of public health import.     

The impact of the scoring system of a large-scale standardized EFL writing assessment on its score variability and reliability: Implications for assessment policy makers

Using generalizability (G-) theory and rater interviews as research methods, this study examined the impact of the current scoring system of the CET-4 (College English Test Band 4, a high-stakes national standardized EFL assessment in China) writing on its score variability and reliability. One hundred and twenty CET-4 essays written by 60 non-English major undergraduate students at one Chinese university were scored holistically by 35 experienced CET-4 raters using the authentic CET-4 scoring rubric. Ten purposively selected raters were further interviewed for their views on how the current scoring system could impact its score variability and reliability. The G-theory results indicated that the current single-task and single-rater holistic scoring system would not be able to yield acceptable generalizability and dependability coefficients. The rater interview results supported the quantitative findings. Important implications for the CET-4 writing assessment policy in China are discussed.     

Using rubrics in student self-assessment: student perceptions in the English as a foreign language writing context

The instructional value of rubrics for promoting student learning and aiding teacher feedback to student performance has been extensively researched in th educational literature. There is, nonetheless, a dearth of studies on students’ rubric use in second/foreign language contexts, and fewer studies have investigated the factors affecting rubrics’ effectiveness for promoting student learning. The paper reports a classroom-based inquiry into students’ perceptions of rubric use in self-assessment in English as a Foreign Language context and the factors moderating its effectiveness. Eighty students at a Chinese university participated in the study. The data collected included their reflective journals and six case study informants’ retrospective interviews. Results showed that the rubric was perceived as useful for fostering the students’ self-regulation by guiding them through the stages of goal-setting, planning, self-monitoring and self-reflection. Both within-rubric and rubric-user factors were identified as affecting the rubric’s effectiveness in student self-assessment. The findings are discussed with reference to the design features of rubrics. Implications are drawn for formative rubric use in student self-assessment.     

Using developmental evaluation as a design thinking tool for curriculum innovation in professional higher education

This paper argues for the use of ‘developmental’ evaluation as a design-based research tool for sustainable curriculum innovation in professional higher education. Professional education is multi-faceted and complex with diverse views from researchers, professional practitioners, employers and the world of politics leaving little consensus about the nature of educational ‘problems’, let alone educational ‘solutions’. Developmental evaluation is an emerging approach to evaluating innovations and/or organisations that are in a continuous state of change; it asks the evaluators to not simply appraise a final design, but to work with designers through processes of rapid reconnaissance, mapping the territory and emergent modelling. This paper provides an account of how the adoption of the dispositions and approaches of developmental evaluation increased the trustworthiness of decision-making in the design of a new post-graduate teacher education degree in Australia. The principles of developmental evaluation as a design thinking approach have application in other complex curriculum settings.     

Using mid-semester course evaluation as a feedback tool for improving learning and teaching in higher education

The way in which mid-semester course evaluations are structured, administered and reported is important for generating rich and high-quality student feedback for the enhancement of learning and teaching. Mid-semester evaluations usually contain open-ended questions that trigger more elaborative feedback about what is going on in a class than that from end-of-semester evaluations with Likert scale-type questions. The anonymity of the process for students and the confidentiality of the process for instructors make the process more reflective for students and less stressful for instructors. This study describes how the mid-semester course evaluation process can be used as a feedback tool for improving the quality of teaching and learning at an institutional level. Through a longitudinal analysis of 341 mid-semester course evaluation reports, positive areas and areas of concern with respect to learning and teaching were identified, and changes in student evaluations over the years were examined meticulously to make an overall evaluation of the quality of learning and teaching at a non-profit Turkish university. This research showed that the value of mid-semester course evaluations can go beyond course-level if we use open-ended questions and are able to gather the reports together to make some comprehensive analysis at university level.     

“It’s worth it”1 practitioner research as a tool of professional learning: starting points,conclusions and benefits from the perspective of teacher-students

ABSTRACT

The current study focuses on the concept PPS-PR (Personalized Professionalization in Pedagogical Fields through Practitioner Research), an approach that integrates practitioner research projects during internships. A central aim is to encourage teacher students´ professional learning (Bachelor of Primary Education). 312 Austrian teacher students carried out practitioner research projects and were invited to participate in an online survey at the end of the semester. The results show that the majority of respondents choose research topics predominantly related to the fields of methodical competences (e.g. classroom management strategies) and report consistent conclusions and long term benefits. The findings indicate that professional learning of teacher students can be supported by the PPS-PR concept. Therefore, practitioner research can be seen as a tool for developing competences that are stable and can furthermore be transferred to other situational contexts.     

The discourse of collaborative creative writing: Peer collaboration as a context for mutual inspiration

Drawing on socio-cultural theory, this paper focuses on children's classroom-based collaborative creative writing. The central aim of the reported research was to contribute to our understanding of young children's creativity, and describe ways in which peer collaboration can resource, stimulate and enhance classroom-based creative writing activities. The study drew on longitudinal observations of ongoing activities in Year 3 and Year 4 classrooms (children aged 7-9) in England. Selected pairs’ collaborative creative writing activities were observed and recorded using video and audio equipment in the literacy classroom and in the ICT suite (13 pairs, about 2-4 occasions each).The research built on the contextualised, qualitative analysis of the social and cognitive processes connected to shared creative text composition. Using an analytic tool developed specifically for creative writing tasks, we linked collaborative and discursive features to cognitive processes associated with writing (‘engagement’ and ‘reflection’). The research has identified discourse patterns and collaborative strategies which facilitate ‘sharedness’ and thus support joint creative writing activities.The paper discusses two significant aspects of the observed paired creative writing discourse. It reports the significance of emotions throughout the shared creative writing episodes, including joint reviewing. Also, it shows children's reliance on collaborative floor (Coates, 1996), with discourse building on interruptions and overlaps. We argue that such use of collaborative floor was indicative of joint focus and intense sharing, thus facilitating mutual inspiration in the content generation phases of the children's writing activities. These findings have implications for both educational research and practice, contributing to our understanding of how peer interaction can be used to resource school-based creative activities.     

Guided portfolio writing as a scaffold for reflective learning in in-service contexts: a case study1

Language is widely recognized as an inescapable mediating tool for professional learning, and with this text we want to contribute to a better understanding of the particular role that guided writing can play in in-service professional reflective learning. We analysed one pre-school teacher’s written portfolio, the construction of which was guided to scaffold deep thinking about (and the transference of theory into) practice during participation in an in-service program about language education. Our case study shows that the writing process sustained robust learning about professional knowing, doing and learning itself: The teacher elaborated an integrative ethical understanding of the discussed theory, fully experienced newly informed practices and assessed her own learning by using theory to confront her previous knowledge and practices. Throughout the portfolio, the learning stance revealed by her voice varied accordingly. The study illustrates the potential of guided writing to scaffold reflective learning in in-service contexts.     

Understanding classroom practice: ethnographic reflection as a methodological tool for professional development

To identify the possibilities for collaborative professional development; a research-driven model was adopted to assist an English First Additional Language teacher to appreciate how he could teach effectively by using an approach that takes into account the students' culture. Using critical observation and stimulated recall discussion, this study examined how his teaching addressed the requirements of the curriculum policy. Evidence points to a reluctance to consider this policy. The teacher's disposition posed challenges to the research process. We suggest that such research could be used effectively if policy were to clarify how a ‘new field’ could contribute to the public good and teachers' development of a ‘new habitus’. In conclusion, we explain how the envisaged outcomes of policy are underpinned by a notion of cultural harmony that has to inform teaching.     

Narrative inquiry for teacher education and development: Focus on English as a foreign language in China

Teacher education and development takes place within an encompassing local system of education and ongoing forms of school improvement. Critical to successful teacher development when Western ideas are being adopted in other cultures is narratively linking development programmes to this local education system, such as in China, and to its culturally established ways of knowing and being. This paper presents a narrative inquiry approach to teacher development that builds on the existing educational system, ongoing school reforms, and culturally established ways of knowing and being. The paper concludes with the potential of teacher development to shape global values that may be shared among cultures.     

Using a 3D food printer as a teaching tool: Focus groups with dietitians,teachers, and nutrition students

Three‐dimensional (3D) food printing is a new technology that can be used to produce personalized and customized food products. However, very little research has been completed on how 3D food printers could be used as educational tools. As such, the objective of this study was to evaluate how teachers (n = 6), dietitians (n = 6), and nutrition students (n = 11) envision the use of 3D food printers when disseminating information about food and nutrition. Focus groups were conducted with teachers, dietitians, and nutrition students. Initially, the participants were introduced to the concept of 3D food printing and then they were asked how they could use a 3D food printer in their teachings. The participants did not feel that a 3D food printer would enhance their teaching and instead felt it could confuse or frighten people. Also, all of the participants were worried about learning how to 3D print foods. The participants did state that people would be interested in watching a 3D food printer. Furthermore, the teachers and nutrition students indicated they thought a demonstration of a 3D food printer would lead to more interest in food and nutrition. Additionally, they thought a 3D food printer could be used to create visually appealing foods. Overall, until 3D food printers are found in residential and commercial kitchens, the participants did not think it would enhance their teachings; however, they did indicate that 3D food printing demonstrations could lead to students being interested in the food and nutrition fields.     

Critical intercultural conversations: using activity systems analysis as a tool for educational ethnography

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the tensions that exist between the recognition of the importance of ethnicity and culture for individual and group identities without essentilisation, by reframing conceptualisations of multi- and interculturalism. Drawing from our ongoing ethnography conducted with a research community of Alaska Native PhD candidates involved in participatory action research, we examine how situated and multiple positionalities enacted through participation in Engeström’s concept of an ‘activity system’ can: (a) contribute to the ‘doing’ of ethnography and provide an analytic framework for ethnographic research; and, (b) contribute to understandings of multi- and intercultural education that promote the questioning of hierarchical power structures through dialogue aimed toward equity and social justice.