Learning to work together: health and social care students’ learning from interprofessional modules

This paper reports on a study of student learning about collaboration and discusses the effectiveness of different forms of assessment in facilitating learning. The study was conducted in a large health and social care faculty in which all students on pre‐qualifying professional programmes learn together in modules aimed at developing collaborative skills. Data about student learning were collected through interviews with 42 students and analysis of 53 students’ completed assignments. The paper focuses on two questions: (1) What did students learn about collaborating in groups and about their own collaborative skills? (2) Which forms of assessment were effective in recording this learning? Interview and assignment data demonstrated that students learned about groups and group participation, about themselves in group situations and about the relevance of interprofessional learning to working collaboratively in professional practice. Module 3 (third year) assessments provided evidence of transference of learning from module to practice. Whereas learning logs, completed during the module as a form of reflective assessment, appeared to promote self‐awareness about own collaborative skills, reflective essays, completed after module sessions had ended, provided more opportunities for analysis and to link theory to practice.     

Self-determination for students with learning disabilities: Is it a universal value?

Teaching students with learning disabilities to be self-determining during postsecondary transition planning is considered beneficial for students. Few self-determination studies, however, have focused on the impact students' cultural identities may have on the practice of self-determination during transition planning. A review of self-determination literature is presented and includes concept definition, characteristics, and example components of model programs. Additionally, multicultural special education literature helps frame the need to consider the interplay between programs that promote self-determination and culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Qualitative research methods, used with student participants, have the potential to inform preferred practices as well as research gaps in special education by capturing how diverse students respond to self-determination during postsecondary transition planning.     

Self‐concepts of students with learning disabilities and their normally achieving peers: a review

In an attempt to test the assumption that children with learning disabilities (LD) have deficient self‐concepts, a number of studies have compared the self‐concepts of students with learning disabilities and their normally achieving (NA) peers. The purpose of this paper is to review recent studies that investigated the academic, social and general self‐concepts of students with LD and their NA peers and compare the results with those of a previous meta‐analysis of relatively older studies, by ­Chapman. Consistent with earlier findings, results of the present review indicated that the academic self‐concept of LD students is more negative than that of their NA peers. Unlike Chapman’s conclusion, however, the evidence is less clear for general self‐concept. This is also true for social self‐concept. Because the evidence that shows no group differences outweighs that indicating better ­social and general self‐concept scores for NA children, the conclusion that children with LD hold more negative social and general self‐concepts than do NA children is not warranted.     

Treatment outcomes for students with learning disabilities: how important are internal and external validity?

This study analyzed the magnitude of experimental intervention outcomes as a function of violations in internal and external validity for studies that included students with learning disabilities. The results indicated that treatment outcomes were significantly affected by the following violations: teacher effects, establishing criterion levels of instructional performance, reliance on experimental measures, using different measures between pretest and posttest, using a sample heterogenous in age, and using incorrect units of analysis. Furthermore, the underreporting of information related to ethnicity, locale of the study, psychometric data, and teacher applications positively inflated the magnitude of treatment outcomes. A weighted hierarchical regression analysis revealed that composite scores of the aforementioned high-risk variables accounted for 16% of the total variance in effect size. The implications for interpreting intervention research to practice are discussed.     

It’s never too late to remediate: Teaching word recognition to students with reading disabilities in grades 4–7

Twenty children in fourth through seventh grade participated in 16 one-hour individual tutorials over a four-month period. Half of the children received structural analysis and alphabet principle training; half received only alphabetic principle training; all received training in orthographic and phonological skills, practice in oral reading of connected text, and monitoring strategies for comprehension. Results showed that the children improved reliably in reading and related measures. Treatment condition did not predict rate of growth. Only rapid automatic naming of letters predicted response to intervention and only on rate of real word reading. Results of this study indicate that upper elementary and middle school students who have not yet mastered accuracy and automaticity of word recognition should be given explicit instruction in word recognition, especially in the alphabetic principle. The benefits of structural analysis training were evident only in trends for individual students on hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) growth analyses. This dissertation research by the first author, and supervised by the second, was supported by Grant No. HD-33812 and Grant No. HD-25858-09 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.     

An integrative study on learning and testing with multimedia: Effects on students’ performance and metacognition

Previous research has found that adding pictures to either text-based learning- or testing-materials has beneficial effects (i.e., multimedia effects in learning and testing). However, a potential interaction of multimedia effects in learning and in testing has scarcely been the focus of research so far. Accordingly, in the present experiment, N = 129 university students received text-based material that was either complemented by pictures both in learning and testing (P-P), only in learning and not in testing (P-T), in testing but not in learning (T-P), or not at all (T-T). Students performed better in the P-P condition than in the other three conditions (P-T, T-P, T-T). Differences between the latter three conditions were not significant. Thus, pictures needed to be present in both learning and testing to foster students' performance. Nonetheless, pictures boosted students’ confidence even if performance was not actually improved, thereby underlining the risk of picture-induced metacognitive bias.     

Passionate pedagogy and emotional labor: students’ responses to learning diversity from diverse instructors

This qualitative study examines emotion themes reflected in student evaluations from required diversity courses at a predominantly white, US public university. We analyze two years of student evaluations for 29 instructors. Situated by the work of Acker, Jaggar, and Hochschild, we find contradictory themes of perceived instructional bias and the value of diversity lessons. Student evaluations result in systematic disadvantage for minority instructors that may be heightened for female instructors of color. Non-minority instructors (both male and female) gain privileges by avoiding dealing with diversity directly which is reflected in student evaluations through the process of “ducking diversity”. The organizational structure of required diversity courses marginalizes the scholarship and emotion work of minority instructors and inherently reproduces the very inequalities they are designed to combat.     

Goal setting and planning for Norwegian students with and without intellectual disabilities: Wishing upon a star?

Being able to set personal high-quality goals and having the skills to make plans for goal attainment are associated with higher performance, increased student involvement at school, and higher levels of self-determination. This study examines self-reported goals of 83 Norwegian elementary and lower secondary school students with and without intellectual disabilities. The study also looks into whether students feel that they learn goal setting and planning skills at school. Findings suggest that students are able to identify process and product goals for themselves. Most students set academic goals for themselves, followed by career goals and sports-related leisure time goals. No significant differences were found between typically developing students and students with intellectual disabilities. While roughly two-thirds of all students reported that they feel encouraged to set goals for themselves at school, almost 60% of all students expressed that they did not learn planning skills at school. This finding indicates the need to assist teachers with instructional materials for how to teach students these important skills for self-determination.     

Secondary agricultural education from a “learning to learn” perspective

Abstract

This article argues the importance of adopting a “learning to learn” perspective in secondary agricultural education: school organisational development should take place in the perspective of active learning by students. Three factors affecting innovation processes are discussed: school policy-making capacity, school in-service training policy, and professional orientations of teachers. Moreover, a program to support schools for secondary agricultural education while implementing a “learning to learn” approach is presented. The implementation process is tuned to the individual teacher and teacher coaching and in-service training are provided. In this respect, the need for school management and school policy reflecting a clear educational perspective is stressed: fostering the quality of students' independent learning should take a central position on all levels in the school. Therefore, the school organisation as a whole should become a “learning organisation”.     

Learning progressions from a sociocultural perspective: response to “co-constructing cultural landscapes for disciplinary learning in and out of school: the next generation science standards and learning progressions in action”

This article discusses a case for a different, socio-cultural way of looking at learning progressions as treated in the next generation science standards (NGSS) as described by Ralph Cordova and Phyllis Balcerzak’s paper “Co-constructing cultural landscapes for disciplinary learning in and out of school: the next generation science standards and learning progressions in action”. The paper is interesting for a number of reasons, and in this response I will identify different aspects of the paper and link the points made to my own research, and that of colleagues, as complementary perspectives. First, the way that the science curriculum is conceived as an expanding experience that moves from the classroom into the community, across subjects, and across time, links to theoretical positions on disciplinary literacies and notions of learning as apprenticeship into the discursive tools, or ‘habits of mind’ as the authors put it, that underpin disciplinary practice. Second, the formulation of progression through widening communities of practice is a strong feature of the paper, and shows how children take on the role of scientists through this expanding exposure. I will link this approach to some of our own work with school—community science partnerships, drawing on the construct of boundary crossing to tease out relations between school science and professional practice. Third, the demonstration of the expansion of the children’s view of what scientists do is well documented in the paper, illustrated by Figure 13 for instance. However I will, in this response, try to draw out and respond to what the paper is saying about the nature of progression; what the progression consists of, over what temporal or spatial dimensions it progresses, and how it can productively frame curriculum processes.     

The interplay between teachers’ approaches to teaching,students’ approaches to learning and learning outcomes: a qualitative multi-case study

The interaction between approaches to teaching and students’ learning has been the focus of research for more than 20 years. Previous studies concerning approaches to teaching in higher education have identified two broad categories: content- and learning-focused approaches. Some studies indicate that teachers do not always adopt a consonant teaching- or learning-focused approach, but might employ elements of both, which results in a dissonant approach. Research on how dissonant approaches to teaching and students’ quality of learning are related is scant. This study explored relationships between how teachers’ approaches to teaching and undergraduate students’ self-reported approaches to learning and learning outcomes. The data for this study consisted of 33 semi-structured interviews with students from three courses. Interviews were analysed with qualitative content analysis. The results demonstrated that, when the teacher used a consonant learning-focused approach to teaching, students’ learning outcomes and approaches to learning were of a slightly higher quality than when the teacher employed a dissonant approach to teaching. However, a dissonant approach to teaching did not always result in a lower quality of approaches to learning and learning outcomes.     

Design and evaluation of a development portfolio: how to improve students’ self-directed learning skills

In on-demand education, students often experience problems with directing their own learning processes. A Structured Task Evaluation and Planning Portfolio (STEPP) was designed to help students develop 3 basic self-directed learning skills: Assessing the quality of own performance, formulating learning needs, and selecting future learning tasks. A case study with 10 first-year students in the domain of hairdressing was conducted to evaluate STEPP’s use, usability, and perceived effectiveness. Results from student interviews show that usability and use are influenced by several factors. Students with low prior hairdressing skills, a weakly developed personal approach to direct their own learning, and an inclination to update STEPP as part of their weekly routine, use STEPP more frequently than students without these characteristics. Both the supervisor and students who frequently used STEPP perceived its use as a positive contribution to the development of self-directed learning skills. Furthermore, this study provides guidelines for the design of development portfolios in on-demand education.     

Coping with mismatched courses: students’ behaviour and performance in courses mismatched to their learning styles

Although learning styles are considered as an important factor in education, students often have to learn in courses that do not support their learning styles. A challenge for technology facilitated learning is therefore to assist and help students to cope with courses that do not match their learning styles by training and developing their less preferred skills. In this paper, the interactions between students’ learning styles, their behaviour, and their performance in an online course that is mismatched regarding their learning styles were analysed. The results show which learners need more help in mastering mismatched courses, help in getting a better understanding about how students with good performance record and poor performance record learn with respect to their learning styles, and provide information about how to identify learners who might have difficulties in learning based on their behaviour.     

“A child who is hidden has no rights”: Responses to violence against children with disabilities

BackgroundThere is an urgent need to understand how best to prevent and respond to violence against children with disabilities as they are at a high risk for violence because they are marginalized, isolated, and targeted and have little power within their communities.ObjectiveGuided by social-ecological theory, this study explores responses to violence against children with disabilities, including preventative measures and treatment of victims in the West African countries of Guinea, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo.ParticipantsParticipants were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling from the following three groups: disability stakeholders including representatives from local, national, and international organizations and governments; community members including parents, teachers, and leaders; and children with disabilities.MethodsA qualitative study design guided data generation, that included document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups across the four countries. In total, 419 people participated. Of those participants, 191 took part in an interview and the rest participated in one of 55 focus groups.FindingsResponses to disability-based violence are driven at the mesosystem and exosystem levels. Prevailing views indicated that national level policies and laws are not always considered part of solutions, communities are leading responses to violence, and children with disabilities are hidden at home or in institutions for both their own and their family’s safety.Conclusions The findings can inform development of prevention and intervention programs that will protect children with disabilities from violence in contexts with high levels of disability stigma, social conflict, violence, and poverty.     

“Every child that is a foster child is marked from the beginning”: The home-school communication experiences of foster parents of children with disabilities

This study investigated the perceptions of foster parents of children with disabilities concerning their interactions with school personnel. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 7 foster parents of 6 children with disabilities (age range = 5–16). A qualitative analysis of the interviews resulted in the identification of five thematic areas, including foster parent perceptions of: (a) the role of the foster parent, (b) the efficacy of the foster parent in helping the child learn, (c) invitations to involvement from the school (d) invitations to involvement from the child, and (e) foster child experiences in the school system. Marked differences were found in the perceptions of the perceptions in foster parents of elementary and secondary age students.It is clear that foster parents who take on an active role in their child’s education experienced positive relationships with their child’s school. Foster parents who take a passive role in their partnerships with the schools experienced increased difficulty maintaining motivation to continue in their efforts to increase collaboration and involvement with the schools. They indicated a sense of anger, distrust, and even hostility towards the schools. Based on the findings, recommendations are provided for improving home-school relationships, and addressing obstacles to successful school partnerships with foster families.     

“Teaching is learning”: creating a meaningful English L2 writing class with service-learning

Integrating service-learning into content courses is a growing pedagogical model expanding in higher education institutes in many countries. To examine the application of this approach in English L2 writing classes, this study embarked on a tutor–tutee mentoring project at a Taiwanese university. The participants in this study served as writing tutors to help non-English majors with their writing skills. They went through five phases to complete their individual services—selecting a tutee, exploring the tutee’s difficulty in writing, designing a workshop for the tutee, implementing the workshop, and reflecting upon their service experience. Probing the tutors’ responses to a project evaluation survey, this study showed that the tutors generally considered the project to be beneficial for enhancing their writing skills, writing confidence, knowledge about how to improve academic writing, and awareness of their own capabilities in helping others. However, this project was limited in several aspects, such as the amount of time demanded, the tutors’ levels of teaching knowledge and skills, and some tutors’ lack of confidence. Based on the results, this study concludes by proposing pedagogical recommendations to help English writing teachers fuse this project into their writing curricula more effectively.