A framework for classroom assessment,learning, and self-regulation

ABSTRACT

We present a conceptual framework that leverages synergies between classroom assessment (CA) practices and self-regulated learning (SRL) theory to support academic growth and instruction. We articulate the processes shared by CA and SRL, drawing on a model of SRL with three phases: forethought, performance, and self-reflection. We blend this SRL model with CA to create the CA:SRL framework in four stages: (1) pre-assessment, (2) the cycle of learning, doing, and assessing, (3) formal assessment, and (4) summarizing assessment evidence. We elucidate how SRL processes are involved at each stage and can be drawn on to support learning development and teacher understanding and co-regulation of learning. This framework is important in that it depicts how assessment and learning processes interact dynamically for both teachers and students in classrooms, and demonstrates that such interactions encompass the full breadth of purposes in CA, from planning through summation of evidence.     

Programming-languages as a conceptual framework for teaching mathematics

Formal mathematical methods remain, for most high school students, mysterious, artificial and not a part of their regular intuitive thinking. The authors develop some themes that could lead to a radically new approach. According to this thesis, the teaching of programming languages as a regular part of academic progress can contribute effectively to reduce formal barriers. This education can also be used to enable pupils to access an accurate understanding of some key mathematical concepts. In the field of heuristic knowledge for technical problem solving, experience of programming is no less valuable: it lends itself to promote a discussion of relations between formal procedures and the comprehension of intuitive problem solving and provides examples for the development of heuristic precepts (formulating a plan, subdividing the complexities, etc.). The knowledge gained in programming can also be used for the discussion of concepts and problems of classical mathematics. Finally, it can also facilitate the expansion of mathematical culture to topics in biological and physical sciences, linguistics, etc. The authors describe a programming language called ‘Logo’ adapted to objectify an enduring framework of mathematical experimentation.     

Instructional methods and languages in class: A comparison of two teaching approaches and two teaching languages in the field of intercultural learning

The article presents the results of a quasi-experimental intervention study with a 2 × 2 factorial design. We implemented a problem-based intercultural learning unit in four secondary schools (grades 9 to 12) and varied the teaching approach (analytical/affective-experiential) and the language of instruction (German/English). The learning unit covered six 45-min lessons and was conducted in nine school courses (n = 143). Five additional school courses (n = 66) served as a control group. In all experimental groups, students engaged with critical incidents. These were either analysed (analytical focus) or acted out as role plays (affective-experiential focus). In addition, students analysed film clips (analytical focus) or participated in a simulation game (affective-experiential focus). The experimental groups outperformed the control group in the post-test, which required the analysis of critical incidents. Both teaching approaches were equally effective; however, students evaluated affective-experiential learning more positively. Using a foreign language for teaching did not impair performance.     

Working for learning: teaching assistants developing mathematics for teaching

This article derives from a case study of 10 secondary school teaching assistants (TAs) who did not have conventional pre-qualifications in mathematics but who undertook an honours degree in mathematics education studies at a Higher Education Institution in England whilst continuing to work as TAs in school. Work-based learning was thus undertaken in parallel with advancement through the hierarchical undergraduate mathematics curriculum. Lave and Wenger’s work on communities of practice is used as a framework to explore the TAs’ learning of mathematics alongside their professional work in schools. This case illustrates how and where institution-based undergraduate teaching relates to work in school, and where it does not, thus signalling the importance of the TAs’ informal learning strategies in bringing together these experiences.     

Characteristics of teaching and students’ emotions in the classroom: Investigating differences across domains

This study investigated the relations between eight characteristics of teaching and students’ academic emotions (enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, helplessness and boredom) across four academic domains (mathematics, physics, German, and English). 121 students (50% female; 8th and 11th graders) were asked about their perceptions of teaching characteristics and their academic emotions using the experience sampling method (real-time approach) for a period of 10 school days, with intraindividual analyses conducted using a multilevel approach. Multilevel exploratory factor analysis revealed that the eight teaching characteristics (understandability, illustration, enthusiasm, fostering attention, lack of clarity, difficulty, pace, level of expectation) represented two factors, labeled supportive presentation style (e.g., comprising understandability) and excessive lesson demands (e.g., comprising difficulty). In line with our hypothesis, we found clear relations on the intraindividual level between the two factors of teaching characteristics and students’ academic emotions in the classroom (e.g., supportive presentation style positively related to students’ enjoyment and negatively related to their boredom). Further, and supporting the universality assumption of teaching characteristics/academic emotions relations, the strength of relations between the two factors of teaching characteristics and academic emotions was very similar across the four academic domains. Implications for future research and educational practice are discussed.     

Subject leaders in secondary schools and informal learning: towards a conceptual framework

Much of the emphasis on the learning of subject leaders in secondary schools is placed on what Eraut (2000) terms ‘organised formal learning events’. This article attempts to redress the balance by focusing on the somewhat neglected area of their informal learning about the role, which is predominantly based in the workplace. It is argued that informal learning consists of three components: implicit learning, learning through experience and non-taught or deliberative learning (following Eraut, 2004). Such forms of learning can be underpinned by theoretical notions of cognitive, affective and behavioural developments. A model of work-based informal learning is proposed that also tries to incorporate the memories of relevant past and current events. It is hoped that this model might be useful as a framework for the future analysis of the learning of subject leaders.     

Reflecting on institutional support for SoTL engagement: developing a conceptual framework

This paper considers the support required to develop Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) capability across institutions. Rather than developing a checklist or a standardised audit approach, this paper describes the reflective journey taken by a group of academic developers who used strategies and structures previously identified in the literature to develop a conceptual framework for academic professional development. The framework was refined through an iterative process, including reflection on its use within diverse institutional contexts, combined with evaluative feedback from recognised experts in the field. The resulting framework is designed to facilitate and guide conversations to support institutional decision-making related to SoTL capacity building.     

新《国标》框架下日语专业跨文化交际课程教学模式初探

2018年4月由教育部颁布的《高等学校外国语言文学类本科教学质量国家标准》标志着我国高等外语教学进入一个新时代.新《国标》的制定顺应地球村和全球化的发展趋势,将培养外语专业学生的跨文化能力提到了前所未有的高度.日语专业跨文化交际课程的授课内容应该多元化与全面化,近年来兴起的雨课堂线上线下混合式授课方式则真正实现了以"教...     

Secondary teachers' conceptual metaphors of teaching and learning: Changes over the career span

Much has been written about the persistence of teacher beliefs upon entering and exiting preservice teacher education programs. Little research has explored teacher beliefs over the career span. Through an online survey instrument teachers (n = 110) choose which teaching metaphors most closely match their own under three conditions: upon first entering the profession, at present, and ideally. Analysis indicates that 63% of teachers changed their conception of teaching over time. While very experienced teachers began teaching with teacher-centered conceptual metaphors, over the course of their careers some move toward student-centered metaphors. Newer teachers have a tendency to begin with and aspire to student-centered conceptual metaphors. Teachers whose metaphors for current and desired practice differed identified obstacles to, and suggestions for, a better fit.     

How multi-levels of individual and team learning interact in a public healthcare organisation: a conceptual framework

The aim of this paper is to review the relevant literature on organisational learning and offer a preliminary conceptual framework as a basis to explore how the multi-levels of individual learning and team learning interact in a public healthcare organisation. The organisational learning literature highlights a need for further understanding of how the multi-levels of organisational learning interact and a broadly accepted theory of organisational learning has not yet emerged. Organisational learning is a multi-level concept and while there has been some multi-level research, more is required to understand the mechanisms that facilitate the flow of learning between the levels. This paper explores multi-level learning, using action learning as a basis through which we consider how individual learning and team learning interact. The preliminary conceptual framework seeks to contribute to our understanding of the interaction between the individual and team levels of learning and the processes and conditions that facilitate or hinder the flow of learning. As this framework provides a means of exploring individual learning in a team setting it has the potential to develop understanding as to how to enhance the effectiveness of learning interactions in the healthcare sector and other sectors. In turn this exploration could lead to enhanced understanding of the mechanisms involved in the flow of learning.     

Spacing in a simulated undergraduate classroom: Long-term benefits for factual and higher-level learning

Despite showing robust benefits in lab-based research, there remain relatively few studies exploring the spacing effect in educational contexts with meaningful materials. In this study, participants (N = 169 undergraduate students) attended a simulated university lecture where they were presented with natural science curriculum material. Participants reviewed the material either one day or eight days after the lecture via an online review. Participants completed a final test on the material five weeks after each respective review. During the review and final test participants were asked both factual and higher-level (application) questions. Results showed that reviewing material eight days after the lecture led to better final test performance for both types of questions when compared to reviewing only one day after the lecture. This study suggests that spaced review is a robust and effective strategy that can be and should be adapted to classroom practice.     

Designing for impact: a conceptual framework for learning analytics as self-assessment tools

Abstract

Although it is frequently claimed that learning analytics can improve self-evaluation and self-regulated learning by students, most learning analytics tools appear to have been developed as a response to existing data rather than with a clear pedagogical model. As a result there is little evidence of impact on learning. Even fewer learning analytics tools seem to be informed by an understanding of the social context and social practices within which they would be used. As a result, there is very little evidence that learning analytics tools are actually impacting on practice. This paper draws on research in self-regulated learning and in the social practices of learning and assessment to clarify a series of design issues which should be considered by those seeking to develop learning analytics tools which are intended to improve student self-evaluation and self-regulation. It presents a case study of how these design issues influenced the development of a particular tool: the Learning Companion.     

Classrooms as installations: a conceptual framework for analysing classroom photographs from the past

This paper suggests a new way of working with and analysing school photographs in history of education research, especially photographs of school classrooms. It advances a new methodological approach for inquiring into the spatiality and materiality of schooling. This approach is located in the practice of installation art and draws from the theory of relational aesthetics and postproduction. As demonstrated in the paper, thinking about school spaces and places as installations, and place‐making practices as a form of installation making, presents opportunities for posing new and different types of research questions. It also provides opportunities for generating new inquiry and representational practices in educational research. Conceptualising school spaces and places as installations that demand spectator participation to function as intended requires educational researchers to think critically about the spatial dimensions of educational experiences and the experiences of place in educational contexts.     

Teaching without a blackboard and chalk: conflicting attitudes towards using ICTs in higher education teaching and learning

This article, derived from a three-year ethnography of distributed medical education provision in a Canadian university, explores the ways in which information and communication technologies are used by teachers and students in their everyday work within technologically rich teaching environments. The environments being researched are two university campuses: a campus at the main university site and a satellite campus in a neighbouring province. The article seeks to contrast dominant, institutional discourses of technology use in higher education teaching with the everyday practices of staff and students. The article concludes that there is a gap between policy and practice in distributed education and that the teaching and learning experience and context of staff and students in different sites need to be analysed in depth, in terms of: whether the experience of learning across sites can be positioned as being comparable; the extent to which technology ameliorates learning and teaching; and understanding the work done by staff.     

Teachers' knowing how to use technology: exploring a conceptual framework for purposeful learning activity

This article describes a project to apply and validate a conceptual framework of clusters of purposeful learning activity involving ICT tools. The framework, which is based in a socio-cultural perspective, is described as ‘DECK’, and comprises the following major categories of the use of digital technologies to support learning: distributed thinking and knowing; engagement; community and communication; and knowledge building. Small-scale research to test the framework was carried out with 12 teachers in English primary and secondary schools. The methods involved mind mapping, ‘think aloud’ procedures and interviews. The framework was modified in the light of teachers' responses and offers a way of describing and thinking about the diverse uses of digital technologies to support learning in various contexts.     

Enacting inclusion: a framework for interrogating inclusive practice

The intervention of Intensive Interaction is gaining attention for its demonstrated effectiveness in promoting social engagement in individuals with severe communicative impairments. The present study sought to extend the evidence base for this intervention by investigating the rapidity with which an increase in engagement becomes apparent. Videotapes of the first Intensive Interaction session for 10 adults with profound learning disabilities were microanalytically coded for four measures of engagement: eye gaze, bodily orientation to partner, proximity to partner, and emotional valence. Results showed an increase for all participants on at least two measures, while 70% of the sample showed increases on all four measures. Such shifts occurred within only a few minutes of the onset of the session (ranging from three to 14 minutes). Non‐parametric analyses confirmed that this robust pattern of increases would not have been predicted to occur by chance. These findings indicate that Intensive Interaction is effective in rapidly promoting social engagement, even for individuals with a long history of apparent social avoidance. Suggestions for future lines of enquiry, at both the empirical and conceptual levels, are discussed.     

Designing and implementing a case-based learning environment for enhancing ill-structured problem solving: classroom management problems for prospective teachers

This design-based research study is aimed at two goals: (1) developing a feasible case-based instructional model that could enhance college students’ ill-structured problem solving abilities, while (2) implementing the model to improve teacher education students’ real-world problem solving abilities to deal with dilemmas faced by practicing teachers in elementary classrooms. To achieve these goals, an online case-based learning environment for classroom management problem solving (CBL-CMPS) was developed based on Jonassen’s (in: Reigeluth (ed.) Instructional-Design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory, 1999) constructivist learning environment model and the general process of ill-structured problem solving (1997). Two successive studies, in which the effectiveness of the CBL-CMPS was tested while the CBL-CMPS was revised, showed that the individual components of the CBL-CMPS promoted ill-structured problem solving abilities respectively, and that the CBL-CMPS as a whole learning environment was effective to a degree for the transfer of learning in ill-structured problem solving. The potential, challenge, and implications of the CBL-CMPS are discussed.

Juicing the game design process: towards a content centric framework for understanding and teaching game design in higher education

The aim of this article is to advance a framework for understanding and teaching game design in higher education, in order to address complexities inherent in teaching game design courses. Everyday teaching and learning game design often deviate from the standard textbook model of game design. In reality everyday teaching and learning operate with handling game design curriculum, how to think games, and how to organise the development process. The presented framework merge curriculum, thinking, and process guided by the game design concept of juiciness. The framework will be presented by dismantling the standard textbook model of game design into three; game design (curriculum), game design thinking (thinking), and game development (organisation). In this perspective game design is concerned with game mechanics, game design thinking preoccupied with paper prototyping, metaphor, and framing, while game developments addresses player experience including play and game testing. This article will coin vertical design as juiciness as opposed to horizontal design understood as expanding system layout. Juiciness will be placed as a guiding principle in the relationship between designers and designed content as an aspect of designer intentions and motivations. Lastly, the content centric framework will be presented by merging game design, game design thinking, game development, vertical design with selected aspects of accepted software development strategies as an approach to teaching and learning game design in higher education.     

Bridging theory and practice: a conceptual framework for consulting organisations

A growing number of organisations are emerging as partners to districts pursuing systemic improvement. Given the critical role a consulting organisation could play in supporting system reform efforts, how does a district leader looking to establish a consulting partnership determine what characteristics in a consulting organisation may be more likely to yield success? This paper utilises an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach for two purposes: (1) to assess whether the quality domains of consultants most prevalent in the literature are consistent with multiple sources of expert knowledge at the point of practice and (2) to determine which, if any, quality domains of consultants are perceived as more important than others for partnership success. Overall, the findings corroborated that the domains identified through the literature are influential to partnership success. While no specific domain or set of domains emerged as most dominant, interpersonal skills and content expertise are foundational indicators that crosscut the other domains.     

Supporting computer-mediated learning: A case study in online staff development and classroom learning environment assessment

The rapid growth of online learning has led to the development of staff inservice evaluation models that are geared towards improving degree programs. Based on best practices in student online assessment, the Online Faculty Development and Classroom Learning Environment Assessment course was designed to serve the dual purpose of staff development and classroom learning environment assessment. Results of analyses showed that the course maximised the potential of online staff development for encouraging staff to reflect on Curriculum and Teaching Capacities (CTC). Implications are discussed in terms of emphasising the process of online CTC learning and incorporating perspectives to capture a comprehensive view of staff teaching attitudes and their association with student perceptions of the classroom learning environment.