An Action Research Study of Student Self-Assessment in Higher Education

Although student self-assessment is considered a critical component of assessment for learning, its use and related research are rare in higher education. This article describes an action research study of self-assessment as an instructional strategy in two university courses. Results indicate that self-assessment exercises provided students the opportunity to reflect on the course and their performance, helped them monitor their own progress, motivated them to do well in the course, and provided them the opportunity to give feedback to the instructor. Additionally, from the instructor perspective, the exercises provided useful feedback for course improvement and facilitated interactions and relationships with students.     

Meeting in the circle: examining identity,attitudes, and pedagogy in the context of an early childhood teacher education program in the United States

As a team of teacher educators at a university in the United States, we engage in participatory action research to reflect on how reflective tools which we design engage teacher candidates (TCs) in their reflecting on teaching. In this paper, we describe how we invite TCs to write in-class reflections, respond to self-assessment probes, and practice problem-solving processes. We critically analyze our approaches and identify further intentional approaches to promote university students’ understandings of (1) links between the self and working with children and families and (2) connections between attitudes and pedagogy towards social justice and inclusion. We conclude that we must continue to explore how the teaching practices we use affect students’ understandings of social justice in education. Doing so demands our focus on examining attitudes through self-reflection among and between faculty and university students so that identity, relationships, attitudes, inclusion, and social justice are prioritized as pillars of curriculum in early childhood education at all levels of schooling.     

Aristotelian action research: its value for studying character education in schools

This article explores what it means for teachers to engage in and evaluate students’ character education, by examining the connections between action research and Aristotelian virtue ethics. These connections are explored in two ways. Firstly, the article examines what perspective action research has on how moral education, understood in an Aristotelian way, can be implemented and evaluated. While character education may be hot in educational theory, academic advances have not always reached teachers, heads of school, policy-makers and politicians. Secondly, a specifically Aristotelian approach to action research is explored that may help teachers to understand how action research about character education in schools can best be conducted. After a comparison of the three major action research paradigms, ‘Aristotelian action research’ is described as a kind of dialogical enquiry that contributes to the growth of teachers’ practical wisdom, which, in turn, has an effect on children’s character development. The article ends with suggestions as to how research about character education could be improved if we shift our attention from making character programmes more ‘effective’ to extending and refining teachers’ own practical wisdom and virtue.     

EFL写作中教师作文书面反馈研究——学生评估,教师自我评估,教师实际书面反馈与教师教学理念

鉴于目前国内关于EFL写作教师反馈的研究中,很少涉及教师对其反馈的自我评估的情况,系统研究了英语作为外语时,教师对作文反馈自我评估的内容、意义和作用。主要研究了以下内容:(1)教师的书面反馈中就整体和局部的反馈各占多少。(2)教师的自我评估和学生对教师书面反馈的评估的吻合程度。(3)教师对书面反馈的自我评估和教师的实际书面反馈的吻合程度。研究结果表明:教师书面反馈的重点仍然是文章的局部问题。教师的自我评估和学生对教师书面反馈的评估的吻合程度低,教师倾向高估所给出的反馈的量,反映出学生希望获得更多的教师书面反馈。而教师的自我评估和教师的实际书面反馈的吻合程度为66%,教师能比较准确地评估就作文局部所给出反馈的量,却倾向高估就作文整体所给出反馈的量。     

Facilitating action research in the context of science education: reflections of a university researcher

In this qualitative case study, the author engages in critical selfreflection about her role as a researcher/facilitator of an action research group that explored multiple intelligences (MI) theory (Gardner, 1983) in the context of science education. Her multi-faceted role within the action research group and the nature of the research in terms of the orientation, purpose, and type of reflection are described. Through the process of reflective practice, both as the study was ongoing and after the completion, the author enhanced her understanding of the action research process and how to foster collaborative inquiry within the context of an action research group. In addition, the article reports on how MI theory was applied to classroom practice, the nature of collaboration that emerged and the perceptions of the teacher participants about the efficacy of action research as a form of teacher development.     

Partnership in education: lebanese evolution of a finnish educational model

In recent years, several anti-bullying programs have been developed, for instance in the UK, USA and New Zealand, but how successful these programs might be outside their own cultural context has not been investigated. This paper describes an action research project, the aim of which was to determine whether a pro-active model against intolerance and school harassment, originally developed and empirically validated in Finland, could be adapted to Lebanese primary schools. The findings indicate that while the Finnish model's core values and its approach are both desirable and applicable in Lebanon, interpretation of some of the key principles is problematic. The study serves as an example of problems encountered when attempting to ‘import’ foreign educational solutions for local problems, particularly where both the culture and the teaching and learning context differ significantly from those in the original study.     

Promoting diversity in creative art education: the case of Fine Art at Goldsmiths,University of London

Students studying art at university in the United Kingdom tend to be female, from higher social classes and from majority ethnic groups. This paper considers some of the complex and deeply-rooted social and economic factors that militate against wider participation in the arts and describes how we started to tackle under-representation at Goldsmiths using a participatory action research approach. Working in partnership with local colleges, the project aimed to increase student diversity and widen participation in the Goldsmiths BA Fine Art Degree. The need for university applicants to have the ‘right sort’ of cultural capital is particularly marked in Fine Art, indicating that standard widening participation aspiration-raising activities would not solve the problem. A range of interventions were developed to support potential applicants, underpinned by participatory action research. The flexibility and responsiveness of the research model allowed us to reflect on and respond to issues as they arose and to achieve immediate positive impact.     

Exploring the moderating role of well-being on the adaptive link between self-assessment practices and learning achievement

Self-assessment practices can positively impact student learning and achievement. However, less is known about psychological moderators that can influence the impact that self-assessment practice may have on achievement. Integrating the dual processing self-regulation model and the self-assessment cycle framework, this study examined the role of students’ positive well-being in the link between self-assessment practices and domain-specific achievement scores. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses using data from 765 secondary school students revealed that self-assessment practices positively predicted achievement scores. Results also showed that positive well-being moderated the relationship between seeking internal feedback and self-reflection and achievement scores, in that the positive link between such self-assessment practices and achievement was stronger for students who had low or moderate well-being. These findings reinforce the impact of self-assessment on learning and add to the ecological validity of the dual processing self-regulation model. The discussion focuses on how these findings contribute to our understanding of how well-being could influence the adaptive role of internal and cognitive self-assessment practices in student learning. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

The accuracy of student self-assessments of English-Chinese bidirectional interpretation: a longitudinal quantitative study

The accuracy of self-assessment has long been examined empirically in higher education research, producing a substantial body of literature that casts light on numerous potential moderators. However, despite the growing popularity of self-assessment in interpreter training and education, very limited evidence-based research has been initiated to shed insight into the formative assessment of language interpretation. This longitudinal study was therefore conducted to investigate to what extent student self-assessments of English-Chinese interpretation are accurate and how the accuracy level would change over time. Major findings are: (1) in general self-assessment accuracy improved over time for both interpreting directions; (2) regarding the three scoring dimensions of information completeness, fluency of delivery and target language quality, there was greater self-assessment accuracy for English-to-Chinese interpretation than in the other direction; (3) while information completeness was most accurately self-assessed in English-to-Chinese direction, the pattern was reversed in the opposite direction; and (4) the students tended to over-score the three quality dimensions for Chinese-to-English interpretation at each time point. These results are discussed in the light of the accuracy issue, its longitudinal trend and potential factors affecting the self-assessment of bidirectional interpretation.     

The action researcher as tempered radical and strategic entrepreneur in higher education: a personal reflection

This article describes the discovery of action research by a ‘conscious incompetent’ in higher education. The influences on the development of an action researcher’s individual philosophy are discussed. These shape a specific investigation into the implementation of international staff exchange in a post-1992 UK university from the position of an ‘outsider within’, a tempered radical. Ontological and epistemological concepts of quasi-objectivity, subjectivity, participation and commitment are discussed in relation to entrepreneurship in the higher education context, concluding that action research is a methodology suitable for tempered radicals and strategic entrepreneurs and that the action researcher can play these roles to research the execution of international faculty mobility in higher education.     

Student-Produced Action Research in Early Childhood Teacher Education

This article describes how preservice teachers accomplish and write up action research projects as part of their teacher preparation at one university in the United States. The paper is divided into four major sections. In the first section, the instructor describes how teacher research is introduced to teacher education students and how they are guided through the processes of conceptualizing, doing, and writing up their projects. The next two sections are the stories of two 1st-year teachers who describe and reflect on what they learned from completing action research projects under the direction of the instructor. The concluding section offers generalizations that synthesize lessons learned by the authors.     

Self-assessment to incite learning in higher education: developing ontological awareness

Incorporating self-assessment tasks in higher education involves a conceptual shift of the function of assessment for both learners and teachers. Self-assessment is an innovative assessment initiative that foregrounds ontological knowledge and professional identity in higher education, especially where external professional bodies require additional competencies for learners to be work-ready. As a tool to develop learners’ metacognitive strategies, self-assessment challenges views around learning and assessment. The defined task that constitutes ‘self-assessment’ is considered for two key reasons. First, it is essentially a tool to reflect student-staff partnership in learning and assessment if students are positioned as agentic in the assessment process, and, second, it challenges the relationship between assessment and learning; no longer dichotomous, and more culturally relevant. This paper outlines the introduction of self-assessment over three years in a university postgraduate programme. Using cultural historical activity theory, a framework of analysis that recognises multiple networks of activity, the question ‘what constitutes a self-assessment task?’ is addressed. Results show that the development of self-assessment tasks needs to be considered in the learning-assessment nexus. While these forms of assessment initially unsettle students, they are designed to enable students to participate with an eye on their learning, not the grade.     

Researching teacher education for inclusion: using a methodological memo

This article describes how a methodological memo (MM) was used in a research and development project designed to reform initial teacher education (ITE). A MM was used to explore what often remains an opaque part of the research process – the relationships between theory and practice that underpin many research studies. Yet, without detailed accounts of the research process, it is difficult to understand this relationship. In this case, a memo was used to record the methodological and analytical dilemmas that were encountered in a study of the theoretical and pedagogic processes involved in developing a new ITE course so that primary and secondary teachers are better prepared to respond to increasing diversity in schools. This article addresses how developing and sharing transparency in the research process can help clarify contested concepts associated with a research project and provides the foundation for rich theoretical debate.     

Supporting untrained teachers in Malawi

In the aftermath of the introduction of free primary education in Malawi, 17 000 untrained teachers were recruited to meet the new demand for schooling. This article reports a study carried out to investigate how the new recruits were coping and how far the schools were able to provide informal on-the-job training. It also describes how action research was introduced to help heads and both qualified and unqualified teachers to improve their own practice. Conclusions are drawn about the feasibility of school-based training in Malawi.     

Just a little story: the use of stories to aid reflection on teaching in higher education

In the context of teaching in higher education story writing as an aid to reflection on practice would seem to be a little-used research tool. We examine its value as part of an action research project focusing on dissertation supervision, in which five lecturers were invited to write stories on this theme. The ways in which this dimension was introduced into the project are explored, and its distinctive contribution to the research, together with the use of interviews and group discussion, is discussed. We consider the purposes of story writing within action research, and the ways in which it might benefit both writer and readers, and offer suggestions for how others might develop this aspect of action research into teaching in higher education.     

A Community of Learners: promoting teachers to become learners

Abstract

This paper describes how the use of video helped us create dialogic intersub‐jective educational spaces in which transformative learning can take place. Focusing simultaneously on two learning contexts: action research and teacher‐student conferencing, it shows how the development of a dialogical space between researchers and teachers in action research enhances the development of such a space between teachers and students in classrooms. In addition, it describes how the participatory research relationship helped illuminate both for teachers and for students what they implicitly know is important to change, as they become aware of new possibilities for pedagogical improvement. Most of all, dialogic video viewing helped them step outside of themselves in order to see each other and return to look at themselves as others’.

     

Action research as a tool of professional development of advisers and teachers in Croatia

Whilst educational action research is not unknown in Croatia, its use is not widespread. In part, this might be because action research assumes a high level of autonomy for practitioner–researchers, and a constructivist view of knowledge, neither of which are traditional characteristics of the Croatian system. This article reports on a capacity building programme in which 18 senior advisers from the Education and Teacher Training Agency developed action research projects in Croatian schools. The article outlines the context of the programme, describes the programme itself, and presents an analysis of the advisers’ action research projects. This shows that action research was used by advisers, supporting teachers, to effect change in schools. The principles of action research were generally understood, and produced evidence of practical change, collaboration and mutual understanding. Although action research is generally understood as a ‘grassroots movement’ this article suggests that action research can lead to desirable change, even when imported from elsewhere. Thus action research holds one answer to the question, how to promote beneficial life‐long learning among education professionals.     

An experiment in student self-assessment

This article describes a lecturer's experiment in self-assessment by students. His principal motivation was the belief that it would encourage better learning. Students were set somewhat open-ended tasks, and were encouraged to collaborate with each other and with him as their lecturer, before assessing their work against their own choice of criteria. Most students were enthusiastic about the effect of self-assessment on their learning. The method was very time-consuming for the lecturer, but he believes that its benefits outweigh this drawback.