Early impact and outcomes of an institutionally aligned,student focused learning perspective on teaching quality assurance1

This paper describes an evidence‐based quality assurance system for teaching and learning, which takes as its starting point a well‐researched theoretical perspective on student learning in higher education. We argue this explicit use of a relevant theoretical base promotes coherence between quality assurance and improvement processes. We outline the principal features of our university's quality assurance strategy, systems and processes, and describe how the university's teaching quality assurance policy and systems have been implemented. We then consider the extent to which the project has achieved its goals of fostering an evidence‐based approach to teaching consistent with the student learning perspective on which the policy and systems are based. We also present data on student learning experiences showing reliable changes in the quality of the student learning experience. We discuss the applied significance of these changes, with a particular focus on changes in the experiences of commencing first year university students.     

The Relationship between Students' Connections to Out‐of‐School Experiences and Factors Associated with Science Learning

This study examined the relationship between students' out‐of‐school experiences and various factors associated with science learning. Participants were 1,014 students from two urban high schools (secondary schools). They completed a survey questionnaire and science assessment describing their science learning experiences across contexts and science understanding. Using multilevel statistical modelling, accounting for the multilevel structure of the data with students (Level 1) assigned to teachers (Level 2), the results indicated that controlling for student and classroom factors, students' ability to make connections between in‐school and out‐of‐school science experiences was associated with positive learning outcomes such as achievement, interest in science, careers in science, self‐efficacy, perseverance, and effort in learning science. Teacher practice connecting to students' out‐of‐school experiences was negatively associated with student achievement but has no association with other outcome measures. The mixed results found in this study alert us to issues and opportunities concerning the integration of students' out‐of‐school experiences to classroom instruction, and ultimately improving our understanding of science learning across contexts.     

The Effects of Reciprocal Imitation on Teacher–Student Relationships and Student Learning Outcomes

Neuroscientific and developmental psychological research in imitation has yielded important insights into building teacher–student relationships and enhancing students' learning. This study investigated the effects of reciprocal imitation on teacher–student relationships and students' learning outcomes in one‐on‐one teacher–student interactions. In a within‐subjects design, participants learned eight English vocabulary words under two conditions: one condition paired with teacher's imitative behaviors and the other with teacher's random behaviors. Students' self‐rating surveys and quiz scores on new words were assessed. When the teacher imitated the students' behaviors in interactions, the students reported significantly higher perceptions of rapport, more confidence in and satisfaction with learning outcomes, and had significantly higher quiz scores. Results had important implications for teachers in using imitation as an effective teaching tool to build teacher–student relationships and enhance students' learning.     

What a difference mentoring makes: service learning and engagement for college students

Colleges are increasingly interested in ways to better engage students in their academic careers. This article reports 20 college students' experiences as mentors for at‐risk fourth‐graders through a mentoring program called The Learning Connection (TLC), run by the Community Services Office at Moravian College. The study describes students' voluntary participation in service learning activities as a source of student engagement, the characteristics of the TLC mentoring program, the process by which student mentors reported their experiences over the course of the academic year, and the benefits of the mentoring program through the eyes of the college student mentors. At the beginning of the mentoring experience, mentors reported that the primary reasons for mentoring were to make a difference in a child's life and supplement classroom learning. At the end of the academic year, mentors reported that mentoring taught them important lessons about children, themselves, community work and the value of mentoring. Mentor feedback supports mentoring, specifically, and service learning, generally, as a source of student engagement for college students.     

Student‐teachers' Learning Outcomes during Science Subject Matter Courses

This paper is about a longitudinal study to investigate how student‐teachers developed understanding of some key ecological concepts during a teacher education programme. Another aim was to interpret the student‐teachers' intentions in respect of the programme and to examine how these intentions influenced their learning. A group of students were followed through 2.5 years of a teacher education programme. The whole student group (n = 47–60) answered a questionnaire three times. Their understanding of scientific concepts, relevant to environmental education, was examined. Fourteen students were interviewed three times about a newspaper article discussing the use of surplus heat from a crematorium. The students were also asked about expectations of the teaching programme and of learning experiences from their science courses and from school practice. It is concluded that many of the student‐teachers did not develop the conceptual understanding necessary to be able to engage with the socio‐scientific issue presented to them. It also concludes that many of the student‐teachers approach the learning of science content from the perspective of their personal notions of the tasks of a primary schoolteacher, which is significantly different from the perspectives underpinning the curriculum and the intention of teacher educators. The connection between these two conclusions is discussed.     

Technology‐enhanced learning in higher education: How to enhance student engagement through blended learning

Blended learning has risen in popularity in the last two decades as it has been shown to be an effective approach for accommodating an increasingly diverse student population in higher education and enriching the learning environment by incorporating online teaching resources. Blending significant elements of the learning environment such as face‐to‐face, online and self‐paced learning leads to better student experiences and outcomes and more efficient teaching and course management practices if combined appropriately. Hence, an appropriate systematic and dynamic approach of blended learning design is crucial for a positive outcome, starting with planning for integrating blended elements into a course and creating blended activities and implementing them. Evaluating their effectiveness and knowing in which environments they work better and improving the blended activities designed from both the student’s and instructor’s perspective are critical for the next delivery of the course. This article aims to increase awareness of higher education educators about how traditional face‐to‐face learning can be transformed into blended courses so as to develop student engagement with both in‐class and online approaches, whilst being time effective for the instructor.     

New technologies,new multimodal literacy practices and young children's metacognitive development

This paper discusses concepts of learning through ‘collaborative multimodal dialogue’. It draws on an ESRC‐funded study (RES‐000‐22‐2451) investigating 3‐ and 4‐year‐old children's encounters with literacy as they engage with a range of printed and digital technologies at home and in a nursery. The study goes beyond analysis of spoken language, giving a more complete understanding of literacy learning processes through detailed analysis of how children use multiple communicative modes as they experience literacy in different media. These experiences underpin metacognitive development and are crucial to children's abilities to act strategically in future situations. Drawing on notions of literacy as social practice, this paper discusses how the advent of new technologies has introduced new dimensions into young children's literacy learning, the implications of which have not yet been fully recognised in early years policy guidance, training or practice.     

Multicultural Course Pedagogy: Experiences of Master's‐Level Students of Color

The author conducted a grounded theory study to examine multicultural training as experienced by 20 master's‐level students of color enrolled in multicultural counseling courses. Findings revealed an emergent theory of student of color learning experiences and multicultural course pedagogy. Implications for counselor educators are discussed.     

‘It's the end of the university as we know it (and I feel fine)’: the Generation Y student in higher education discourse

This paper examines discussions of Generation Y within higher education discourse, arguing the sector's use of the term to describe students is misguided for three reasons. First, portraying students as belonging to Generation Y homogenises people undertaking higher education as young, middle-class and technologically literate. Second, speaking of Generation Y students allows constructivism to be reinvented as a ‘new’ learning and teaching philosophy. Third, the Generation Y university student has become a central figure in concerns about technology's role in learning and teaching. While the notion of the ‘Generation Y student’ creates the illusion that higher education institutions understand their constituents, ultimately, it is of little value in explaining young adults' educational experiences.     

Connecting students to the real world: Developing gifted behaviors through service learning

Learning in today's classrooms can be disconnected from students' real world experiences. Providing students the opportunity to address real‐world problems may provide avenues for students to engage in their communities while developing academic skills and knowledge. Additionally, for students whose interests are piqued by the nature of their community's problems, these activities have the potential to offer students meaningful, motivating work in a supportive environment. This article explores how providing students with interest‐based service‐learning opportunities may help them develop and demonstrate gifted behaviors. In addition, methods for integrating student interests and service‐learning projects are presented. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Student‐Generated Pre‐Exam Questions is an Effective Tool for Participatory Learning: A Case Study from Ecology of Waterborne Pathogens Course

This multiyear study helps elucidate how the instructional practice of student‐generated questions support learning in a blended classroom in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects. Students designed multiple‐choice pre‐exam questions aimed at higher levels of learning, according to Bloom's taxonomy. Student‐generated questions were edited by the instructor and then discussed by the students in the classroom and in an online forum. We tested the hypothesis that this intervention improves student learning, measured as student achievement on the exam following the intervention, and compared to student achievement on the traditional exam (prior to which a review session focused on instructor‐led recitation of the key concepts). Following the intervention in all years, average grade on the post‐intervention exam increased by 7.44%. It is important to point out that not all students benefited equally from this activity. Students who were in the 4th quintile (60% to 80%) based on the results of the 1st exam demonstrated the highest achievement improving their performance on average by 12.37% percentage points (measured as a score on the 2nd exam). Gains were not observed in the semesters when the intervention was not implemented. In this study we provided students detailed instructions on how to design questions that focus on testing higher levels of learning.     

Proving the Usefulness of Demonstrations: Using M&M's to Develop Attribute Control Charts

Experiential‐based mini‐demonstrations are useful to facilitate student learning on a wide variety of topics. The purpose of this teaching brief is two‐fold: (1) it outlines a useful mini‐demonstration to teach attribute control charting when the sample size is unknown, and (2) adds additional proof that experiential methods positively impact upon student learning. The goal of this mini‐demonstration is to assist undergraduate and graduate students to develop their hands‐on statistical quality control charting and quality management concepts. By using this mini‐demonstration in one operations management class and not another, students that participated in this mini‐demonstration performed significantly better (p= .05) than their counterparts in testing. The mini‐demonstration may be extended to include computer integration, used in small or large class sizes, and provides an efficient, effective use of classroom time to develop concepts.     

A Comparison of the Degree of Student Satisfaction using a Simulation or a Traditional Wet Lab to Teach Physical Properties of Ice

It is often difficult to offer food chemistry students traditional, hands‐on laboratory experiences due to lack of funds for equipment, insufficient laboratory space, or the nature of distance education. A traditional wet laboratory exercise was developed to demonstrate the effects of the physical properties of ice formation when making high‐quality sorbets, varying the amounts of sugar, water, and stabilizer. This wet lab was compared to a simulated, detective‐based crime scene investigation (CSI) of why a famous food scientist's sorbet had become a “stiff.” Forty‐six food chemistry students were randomly assigned to groups, completing either the traditional wet lab or the simulated lab 1st before completing the 2nd type of laboratory. While there were preferences for one lab over another, there were no differences in the learning outcomes between the 2 laboratory formats. Students who preferred the simulated lab felt they could move at their own pace and were able to stop and review the simulation to understand the concepts more clearly. Traditional wet lab proponents liked working in groups and having immediate access to instructors. From the initial evaluation it appears that simulations could be used as replacements for hands‐on laboratory experiences or could serve as effective introductions to laboratory principles and concepts, resulting in increased student learning.     

Using SERVQUAL to Measure the Quality of the Classroom Experience

Over the last three decades, higher education institutions have found themselves using vernacular that was once chiefly found in business disciplines, such as value‐added and competitive advantage. With the rising costs of tuition, newer‐generation students are seeing themselves more and more as customers and universities are beginning to adopt customer‐centric strategies and missions. However, even with this paradigm shift, little research has been done to extend traditional service management concepts to educational settings. This research attempts to bridge this gap by applying the SERVQUAL scale, a well‐validated and widely used service operations construct, to the classroom environment. The findings show that the SERVQUAL scale exhibits both reliability and convergent and divergent validity; in fact, in these regards, it outperforms traditional student assessment scales. Moreover, the scale can explain significant amounts of variances in student‐related outcome variables such as satisfaction and learning. This innovative approach to measuring classroom service quality does indeed show that students can be viewed as customers and has far‐reaching implications to all stakeholders in the delivery of higher education.     

Gaining ‘Raw Insider Knowledge’: The Benefits and Challenges of International Study Tours for Creative Industries Students

International short‐term study tours are a fast‐growing format for outbound education and provide exciting experiential learning opportunities for students in the creative industries disciplines. This success has encouraged researchers to seek a comprehensive view of the various concrete experiences that contribute to student learning during study tours. To that end, this article presents evidence from a qualitative online post‐tour questionnaire administered with students studying various art and design disciplines who participated in short‐term international study tours at a large Australian university in 2015. Using Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory as a framework, data collected explored student perceptions of which concrete experiences on a study tour are most impactful and which may actually hinder learning. Findings revealed: experiencing key industry venues are the most significant aspects of a study tour, rather than networking or personal growth; poor itinerary planning and travel issues are the least liked aspects of a tour, yet are often the most easily addressed with better tour management and planning; and students were positively impacted by unexpected gains in knowledge about their creative industries discipline. This study, therefore, provides unique insights into which concrete experiences may be most impactful as part of the experiential learning cycle within an international study tour for creative industries students.     

The impact of three‐dimensional computational modeling on student understanding of astronomical concepts: a quantitative analysis

The increased availability of computational modeling software has created opportunities for students to engage in scientific inquiry through constructing computer‐based models of scientific phenomena. However, despite the growing trend of integrating technology into science curricula, educators need to understand what aspects of these technologies promote student learning. This study used a multi‐method research approach involving both quantitative (Paper 1) and qualitative data (Paper 2) to examine student conceptual understanding of astronomical phenomena, relative to two different instructional experiences. Specifically, based on students' understandings of both spatial and declarative knowledge, we compared students who had constructed three‐dimensional computational models with students who had experienced traditional lecture‐based instruction. Quantitative analysis of pre‐interview and post‐interview data revealed that construction of three‐dimensional models best facilitated student understandings of spatially related astronomical concepts — whereas traditional instruction techniques best facilitated student understandings of fact‐oriented astronomical knowledge. This paper is the first in a two‐paper set that continues our line of research into whether problem‐based courses such as the Virtual Solar System course can be used as a viable alternative to traditional lecture‐based astronomy courses.     

Creating opportunities for students in large cohorts to reflect in and on practice: Lessons learnt from a formative evaluation of students' experiences of a technology‐enhanced blended learning design

This paper examines BA Social Work students' experiences of developing their reflective skills to work with diverse communities using a technology‐enhanced blended learning design. In response to growing student numbers, new teaching and learning resources were developed to provide opportunities for students to engage in reflection‐in‐action at critical learning stages with the support of tutors and peers. It is suggested that access to online lectures, communications tools, a workbook (to record learning development) and online video case studies can encourage students to reflect‐on‐action, allowing them opportunities to reframe and reinterpret existing knowledge, values and beliefs to assess the impact these may have on their professional practice when working with diverse communities. To cater for an increase in student numbers, a rationale for the learning design is outlined, and the paper then explores the lessons learnt from the students' technology‐enhanced learning experiences.     

Contextualizing instruction: Leveraging students' prior knowledge and experiences to foster understanding of middle school science

Contextualizing science instruction involves utilizing students' prior knowledge and everyday experiences as a catalyst for understanding challenging science concepts. This study of two middle school science classrooms examined how students utilized the contextualizing aspects of project‐based instruction and its relationship to their science learning. Observations of focus students' participation during instruction were described in terms of a contextualizing score for their use of the project features to support their learning. Pre/posttests were administered and students' final artifacts were collected and evaluated. The results of these assessments were compared with students' contextualizing scores, demonstrating a strong positive correlation between them. These findings provide evidence to support claims of contextualizing instruction as a means to facilitate student learning, and point toward future consideration of this instructional method in broader research studies and the design of science learning environments. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 79–100, 2008