Internationalisation and the development of students’ intercultural competence

Universities’ internationalisation rhetoric suggests that students studying on internationally diverse campuses will automatically engage positively with one another and develop intercultural competence. This study examined the extent to which a cohort of first year UK and non-UK students studying on an internationally diverse campus developed intercultural competence. The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®) and a locally designed survey were used to assess students’ intercultural competence and to explore their intercultural experiences over seven months. Students began almost exclusively in lower (ethnocentric) stages of intercultural development and most showed little progress despite reporting relatively high levels of intercultural contact, friends from other cultures and positive experiences. Findings suggest that even positive intercultural experiences do not necessarily lead to the development of intercultural competence and that university policy and practice may need to be enhanced if producing graduates with higher levels of intercultural competence is to become a realised outcome of internationalisation.     

Effectiveness of feedback: the students’ perspective

While effective feedback has frequently been identified as a key strategy in learning and teaching, little known research has focused on students’ perceptions of feedback and the contribution feedback makes to students’ learning and teaching. This reported qualitative study aims to enrich our understanding of these perceptions and importantly to provide insight into the meaning of ‘effective’ when related to feedback. The study involved four focus groups of undergraduate students of varying levels and from a range of Schools completing degrees in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney. Students’ perceptions relating to a definition of feedback, how they use it and preferences for delivery were prompted by the facilitators. Thematic analysis resulted in three key dimensions: perceptions of feedback, impact of feedback and credibility of feedback. The analysis demonstrated that effectiveness of feedback extends beyond mode of delivery and timeliness to include the credibility of the lecturer giving the feedback. The role of effective feedback includes not only enhancing learning and teaching but also facilitating the transition between school and university.     

Researching teaching for understanding: the students’ perspective

Abstract

This paper explores high school students’ perspectives of their learning in ascience unit which was taught using a Children's Science approach. Through the use of a questionnaire and interviews, this research examines how the students understood and responded to the changed demands on their learning as a result of the change in teaching style. Although the students appeared to be actively involved, interested and self‐directed in their learning, they were not convinced that this was an appropriate way forthem to approach their learning in future. It appears as though the time and effort associated with accepting more responsibility for learning is not matched by the value received from doing so in schools.     

Use of comics to enhance students’ learning for the development of the twenty-first century competencies in the mathematics classroom

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of comics in teaching mathematics in the secondary mathematics classroom. We explicate how the use of comics in teaching mathematics can prepare students for the twenty-first century competencies. We developed an alternative teaching package using comics for two lower secondary mathematics topics. This alternative teaching package consists of (1) several sets of comic strips expounding all related mathematical concepts in a lively way; (2) tiered practice questions for learning reinforcement; and (3) a set of proposed lesson outlines with suggestions on how to use the comics for mathematics teaching. We also report how one of the teachers in our study used this teaching package in her mathematics lessons. Her lessons were video-recorded and 11 students were interviewed to help us understand how the mathematics comics lessons were enacted and the students’ perception of comics as instruction. We identified instances in which the teacher tweaked the provided resource to further enhance student learning and incorporated elements of the twenty-first century competencies during her lessons. Through selected student interviews, we also identified instances in which students commented on their gain from the new approach from the perspective of the twenty-first century competencies.     

The development of a content analysis model for assessing students’ cognitive learning in asynchronous online discussions

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a content analysis model for assessing students’ cognitive learning in asynchronous online discussions. It adopted a fully mixed methods design, in which qualitative and quantitative methods were employed sequentially for data analysis and interpretation. Specifically, the design was a “sequential exploratory” (QUAL → quan) design with priority given to qualitative data and methods. Qualitative data were 800 online postings collected in two online courses. Quantitative data were 803 online postings from the same two courses but from different discussion topics and different weeks. During the qualitative process, a grounded theory approach was adopted to construct a content analysis model based on qualitative data. During the quantitative process, χ² tests and confirmative factor analysis (CFA) which used online postings as cases or observations and was the first of its kind were performed to test if the new model fit the quantitative data.     

The ‘campus imaginary’: online students’ experience of the masters dissertation at a distance

Higher education research has overlooked online distance Masters students’ experiences of independent research, and this is an important gap at a time when increasing numbers of taught postgraduate programmes are delivered online. This article discusses findings from interviews with eighteen graduates from four online Masters programmes. It introduces a key theme from the research: the concept of the ‘campus imaginary’, which emerged during analysis as a way of accounting for interviewees’ tendencies to attribute challenging experiences to being at a distance from their supervisors, peers and the university campus. Common issues for Masters students, such as unexpected obstacles, difficult supervisory relationships, lack of time, and feelings of isolation were interpreted by students as features of the online dissertation process. We argue that the over-privileging of the campus and the face-to-face experience affects students’ campus imaginaries, but that imaginaries also leave space for more productive ways of engaging with online students at the independent research stage.     

Transprofessional competences of school teachers in the digital environment: education employers’ perspective

Education and Information Technologies - The shift towards digitalization in education, intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic-related issues, has led to the emergence of a need to expand the borders...     

Addressing students’ emotional needs during the COVID-19 pandemic: a perspective on text versus video feedback in online environments

This paper reflects on the findings of Borup et al. (Educ Technol Res Dev 63:161–184, 2015) regarding the efficiency and affect of text and video feedback in the context of the rapid shift to online education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on reports of diminished mental wellness, increased depression, and anxiety among learners and instructors, this paper offers ideas on how to apply the findings from Borup et al. (Educ Technol Res Dev 63:161–184, 2015) from a combination of practice, research, design, and inclusion perspectives to ensure emotional support, mental wellness, and social presence during times of crisis, even at the expense of efficiency of instruction.

     

Teachers’ conceptualization and enactment of twenty-first century competences: exploring dimensions for new curricula

Despite the advocated importance of twenty-first century competences in education, it appears that they are not systematically integrated in national curricula, school curricula and classroom activities. Potential explanations can be found in the current ambiguity of definitions for twenty-first century competences and the absence of educational actors in curriculum development. Responding to both shortcomings, this study aims to explore how teachers’ conceptualization and enactment of twenty-first century competences constitute dimensions that can inform curricular guidelines. An exploratory factor analysis of teachers’ self-reported classroom activities that foster students’ twenty-first century competences was conducted. The data comprised responses of 2,804 primary- and secondary-school teachers to a web-survey about the perceived occurrence of specific classroom activities targeting twenty-first century competences. Results suggested six coherent dimensions of classroom activities that foster twenty-first century competences: digital literacy, innovative thinking, critical thinking and communication, (digital) citizenship, self-regulated learning, and (computer-supported) collaborative learning. Nevertheless, there were substantial interrelationships among the six dimensions. This demonstrated that teachers did not perceive twenty-first century competences to be fostered by disconnected classroom activities, but that they already have a more integrative conception of the curricular innovation. The implications of these findings for curricula, teaching practice and research are discussed.     

Personal Universes: revealing community college students’ competences though their organization of the cosmos

In this article I present a study on learners’ conceptions in cosmology by situating the results in the context of broader historical and sociocultural themes. Participants were community college students in California from non-dominant cultural and linguistic backgrounds finishing their first semester of astronomy. Data were collected through a drawing activity and card sort given during clinical-style interviews. This type of work is typically done from the perspective of conceptual change theory, using drawings to reveal student “misconceptions.” I argue that in analyzing this kind of data, we need to come from the perspective that students are competent, and put their conceptions in context. I begin by presenting traditional frameworks for evaluating and describing learning, all of which rely on an outdated “banking” or “transmission” model of learning that puts an over-emphasis on the performance and attributes of individuals. Not only do these theories provide an incomplete picture of what learning looks like, they create and reify unnecessary divides between “scientific” and “unscientific” that can contribute to student alienation from the world of science. To illustrate this, I present my own results as a window into the logic of learners’ assumptions within a sociocultural context, and suggest ways to support their learning trajectories, rather than figuring out how to unlearn their misconceptions. Through this analysis, I hope to show how taking student conceptions out of sociocultural context can potentially exclude students from non-dominant cultural and linguistic backgrounds from science.     

Storytelling in troubled times: what is the role for educators in the deep crises of the 21st century?

This essay examines the role of educators in the tangled economic, social, environmental and technological crises of the present time. It argues that a central purpose of education in this period is to support students to imagine and make liveable futures on their own terms. To do this, the paper proposes that the colonizing, optimizing and catastrophic stories that dominate accounts of the relationship between education and the future should be replaced by a recognition of students and worlds as co‐emerging. It introduces resources from the fields of anticipation, temporality and decolonial studies that gesture towards a new educational practice. It concludes by arguing that supporting students to make, tell and listen to stories has a critical role to play in enabling students to identify and articulate desires, hopes, fears and dreams for the future and to engage with the rich complexities of the present.     

The personal struggles of ‘national’ educators working in ‘international’ schools: an intercultural perspective

This paper looks at how personal struggles associated with the overseas setting caused changes in the intercultural perspective of 30 Anglophone educators working in international schools. Situated within a social constructivist framework, interview methods were utilised to build a collective narrative shared by educators. Findings reveal that although prolonged exposure to new cultural norms elicited changes in intercultural perspective, these changes were not related to traditional notions of cultural immersion but – rather paradoxically – to educators' inability to integrate into the host cultures. Obstacles educators faced while abroad included a lack of language proficiency, living in countries that were sometimes antithetical to Western ideals and discriminatory practices based on national and/or race affiliation.     

Religious education and intercultural understanding: examining the role of religiosity for upper secondary students’ attitudes towards RE

Recent studies show that religious education (RE) may play an important role for teaching intercultural understanding in many Western societies facing increased cultural and religious pluralism. Quantitative and qualitative research have however failed to examine what role the religiosity of the students plays in their attitudes towards RE. A nationally representative Swedish sample of 1850 students answered a classroom questionnaire. The main result was that, when controlling for background variables such as gender, foreign background, parents’ education level and study programme, the students’ religiosity had a significant effect on their attitudes towards (a) existential issues, (b) preferences on what to study in RE as well as (c) incentives for studying RE. Regression analyses demonstrated that by entering individuals’ religiosity into the model the effect of foreign background was suspended in 11 out of 14 cases. In order to understand the attitude towards RE, it is useful to include the students’ religiosity. As a consequence, this article argues that in order to reach the citizenship goals of educating for intercultural understanding in RE, the subject should be developed to reach male students, students with parents with lower levels of education, students in vocational study programmes and students who are not religious.     

University students’ conceptions of the good teacher: A Hong Kong perspective

One way that universities assess teaching effectiveness is by eliciting student feedback. However, what standards do students themselves use to judge whether a lecturer is a ‘good’ teacher? As part of a study carried out at a Hong Kong university, students were interviewed about their first-year learning experience and asked what they felt constituted ‘good’ and “bad’ teaching. Unlike when asked to complete teacher effectiveness surveys, no criteria or characteristics were given. Responses focused primarily on teaching skills that supported student learning and encouraged critical thinking, particularly the teacher’s ability to give clear explanations supported by relevant, practical examples.     

The effect of online co-regulated learning in the implementation of team-based learning on improving students’ involvement

Many education institutions and teachers are recognizing and applying online learning and related educational technologies to help students achieve satisfactory learning performance. Due to the free entertainment on the Internet that may distract students’ attention from online courses and with the purpose of developing students’ teamwork abilities, the author in this study adopted team-based learning (TBL) and co-regulated learning (CRL) to develop students’ involvement in a blended computing course. The subjects in this study were 111 first-year students from three classes taking a compulsory course titled ‘Applied information technology: data processing’. The first group (G1, which received online TBL and CRL) and the second group (G2, which received online TBL only) were the experimental groups. The last group (CG), which received the traditional teaching method in a blended learning environment, served as the control group. The results in this study indicate that students who receive the online TBL have significantly higher involvement than those without. However, the online CRL does not contribute to better development of students’ involvement in the implementation of TBL. The insights for teachers who plan to adopt e-learning, and the reasons for the ineffectiveness of CRL, are discussed in this study.     

The statistical knowledge gap in Higher Degree by Research students: the supervisors’ perspective

This study sought to gain an understanding of the current statistical training and support needs for Australian Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students and their supervisors. The data reported herein are based on the survey responses of 191 (18.7%) eligible supervisors from a single Australian institution. The survey was composed of both forced-choice and open-ended items relating to supervisors’ background and experience, supervisors’ perceptions of their own statistical knowledge, the capabilities of their HDR students and supervisors’ attitudes towards the provision of statistical support for HDR students. Most supervisors described themselves as being at either an intermediate or advanced level of statistical experience (74.4%) and were moderately to very confident (72.3%) supervising students in relation to statistical matters. In contrast, supervisors identified a substantial discordance, or gap, between HDR students’ statistical knowledge, which they rated at an overall introductory or lower level (76.6%), and a requirement to have at least an intermediate level of statistical knowledge to complete their degree (74.5%). The findings suggest that supervisors perceive HDR students’ statistical knowledge to be underdeveloped, that both students and supervisors are likely to benefit from the provision of formal statistics training and that supervisors value access to statistical consultancy services.     

The dimensions of e-learning quality: from the learner’s perspective

The present study was designed to identify the quality dimensions as perceived by adult learners who had taken one or more e-learning courses offered by higher education institutions in South Korea and to identify and confirm the structural features of these quality dimensions. The results of the exploratory factor analysis arising from a survey of 299 learners revealed that from their perspective, there were seven dimensions in evaluating the e-learning quality: Interaction, Staff Support, Institutional Quality Assurance Mechanism, Institutional Credibility, Learner Support, Information and Publicity and Learning Tasks. And the confirmatory factor analysis with responses obtained from another set of 496 adult learners confirmed a good fit of the seven-factor model to the observed data. While most of these seven dimensions are supported by previous studies, some dimensions, such as technology support, content and evaluation/assessment that e-learning providers had highlighted did not appear to be important for Korean adult learners. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed in relation to learner characteristics, e-learning design, and culture, and further research topics are suggested.