Useful interactive teaching tool for learning: clickers in higher education†

Many university lecturers are encouraged to implement innovative teaching tools and methodologies such as clickers in order to create an interactive learning environment and improve student learning, but its performance must be evaluated. The aim of this paper is to test empirically the impact of the use of clickers on students' learning processes. The teaching experience applied to the subject of Financial Accounting is specifically described. The total sample size is 77 students from a Business Administration and Economics Degree, taught in English and in Spanish. The analysis, using multivariate techniques, of the questionnaire responses, students' grades and a reflexive experience of the lecturer conclude that learning with clickers is effective. There is a positive relationship between grades and intrinsic motivation through clickers. Consequently, the students' marks are related to its intrinsic motivation, feedback to understanding, students' discussion and its negative aspects but not gender nor age.     

Student-centred teaching methods: Can they optimise students’ approaches to learning in professional higher education?

This paper investigates dynamics in approaches to learning within different learning environments. Two quasi-experimental studies were conducted with first-year student teachers (N_{Study 1} = 496, N_{Study 2} = 1098) studying a child development course. Data collection was carried out using a pre-test/post-test design by means of the Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory. Study 1 compared a lecture-based learning environment with a student-centred learning environment. Results were opposite to the premise that student-centred instruction deepened student learning. Instead, the latter pushed students towards a surface approach. Study 2 investigated whether mixed learning environments consisting of lectures and case-based learning could enhance students’ approaches to learning, compared to learning environments in which either lectures or case-based learning were used. Results showed that the deep and strategic approach decreased in the lecture-based, the case-based and the alternated learning environment, in which lectures and case-based learning were used by turns, while they remained the same in the gradually implemented case-based learning environment. With respect to the surface approach, the strongest decrease was found in the latter learning environment. In conclusion, this paper shows the added value of gradually implementing case-based learning. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to enhance the deep approach, monitoring studying, organised studying and effort management.     

Authenticity work in higher education learning environments: a double-edged sword?

Higher Education - Educational authenticity occupies a strong position in higher education research and reform, building on the assumption that correspondence between higher education learning...     

Does continuous assessment in higher education support student learning?

A distinction is often made in the literature about “assessment of learning” and “assessment for learning” attributing a formative function to the latter while the former takes a summative function. While there may be disagreements among researchers and educators about such categorical distinctions there is consensus that both types of assessment are often used concurrently in higher education institutions. A question that often arises when formative and summative assessment practices are used in continuous assessment is the extent to which student learning can be facilitated through feedback. The views and perceptions of students and academics from a discipline in the Humanities across seven higher education institutions were sought to examine the above question. A postal survey was completed by academics, along with a survey administered to a sample of undergraduate students and a semi-structured interview was conducted with key academics in each of the seven institutions. This comparative study highlights issues that concern both groups about the extent to which continuous assessment practices facilitate student learning and the challenges faced. The findings illustrate the need to consider more effective and efficient ways in which feedback can be better used to facilitate student learning.     

The impact of term‐time employment on higher education students’ academic attainment and achievement

Term‐time employment among Britain’s undergraduates is a growing phenomenon but it has received scant attention from government and policy makers. Although there are numerous studies on the subject, few have explored the impact of term‐time employment on students’ actual attainment and those that have are limited. This article attempts to fill that gap. Using data derived from 1000 students in six UK universities, it quantifies the impact of students’ paid work on their actual marks and degree results, while controlling for their academic attainment on entry to higher education and other factors including their hours of work. It shows that irrespective of the university students attended, term‐time working had a detrimental effect on both their final year marks and their degree results. The more hours students worked, the greater the negative effect. Consequently, students working the average number of hours a week were a third less likely to get a good degree than an identical non‐working student. Some of the least qualified and poorest students are most adversely affected perpetuating existing inequalities in HE. The 2006/07 changes to student finances may help some of them, but term‐time employment is likely to remain part of the HE landscape.     

Differently Academic? Constructions of ‘academic’ in higher education

This article draws on my research, in which I have interviewed a group of students over the course of their degrees. The women are all taking women's studies combined with a range of other subjects in a ‘new’ university with campuses in inner London and on its outskirts. This article considers the women's perceptions of both women's studies and their second subjects as "academic", as well as how they think both the university and the wider world value the academic nature of their various subjects. It asks whether subjects are only valued as "academic" if they focus on the writings of men, and are considered "objective", abstract and theoretical. Do students need to be seen to be "thinking like a man" in order to value their subjects and have them valued by others, or are there ways to be "differently academic"? It concludes by suggesting some alternative ways for institutions of higher education to consider the meaning of "academic" in higher education.     

Can tablet computers enhance learning in further education?

Interest in the potential benefits of providing tablet computers to students has grown in recent years, both in UK institutions, and across the world. Limited research studies have been reported in higher education (HE), and primary and secondary school settings, tentatively suggesting a range of positive impacts on learners, but little conclusive research has been published on the introduction of tablets in further education (FE). This article presents a case study of a single, mid-size English FE college, which piloted the provision of tablets to bounded groups of students and teachers in four diverse curriculum areas. The author was invited to help design the college’s evaluation of the pilot, which would inform a potential business case to extend the pilot to all students. One element was a qualitative research project, with data captured through a series of focus group interviews with all 64 students who received tablets, and separate interviews with their ten teachers. Findings are reported here, exploring the extent to which students and teachers perceived learning benefits from the tablets: for some learners, this was reported as enhancing the organisation of learning; supporting greater independence of learning and enabling more purposive learning. Barriers to learning enhancement were also identified, including institutional issues (frustration with technical infrastructure), and individual learner disengagement (distraction and surface engagement with mere ‘novelty’). Concluding that the tablets’ clear benefits were not automatically transformative, and engagement was not uniform, findings are relevant to FE managers and leaders of other institutions considering tablets as a possible learning panacea.     

From academic achievement to career development: does self-regulated learning matter?

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - While previous research emphasized the effects of self-regulated learning on academic achievement, this study expands the scope of...     

Why use learning outcomes in higher education? Exploring the grounds for academic resistance and reclaiming the value of unexpected learning

Learning outcomes are now mandated in higher education courses across Europe. However, their impact on teaching and student learning is both uncertain and an issue for debate. In this paper, we explore (1) what is meant by learning outcomes in diverse contexts and (2) whether policy and practice governing learning outcomes accord with developments in learning theories, especially regarding sociocultural approaches that have drawn significant interest since the 1990s (Engeström 1987; Lave and Wenger 1991). Shepard’s (Educational Researcher, 29(7), 4–14, 2000) publication is particularly salient to our examination due to her identification of an emerging paradigm to assist in the understanding of the relationships among teaching, learning and assessment. Employing recent work on conceptualisations of learning outcomes and a four-quadrant taxonomy (Prøitz in Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 22(2), 119–137, 2010, 2014), we discuss relevant learning theory approaches. This article is a conceptual investigation exploring the grounds for the assumption that learning can be predefined in terms of (expected) outcomes. Specifically, we discuss this assumption from the perspective of recent developments in learning theories. We argue that introducing learning outcomes predominantly for policy and management purposes may actually weaken the learning outcomes’ potential to direct teaching and learning and to improve the quality of both.     

Parental level of education: associations with psychological well‐being,academic achievement and reasons for pursuing higher education in adolescence

The purpose of the current study is to determine the interconnection between parental level of education, psychological well‐being, academic achievement and reasons for pursuing higher education in adolescents. Participants included 439 college freshmen from a mid‐size state university in the northeastern USA. A survey, including indices of parental level of education, life‐satisfaction, academic achievement and reasons for pursuing higher education, was administered in class. Overall results indicated a positive correlation between parental level of education and adolescents’ reasons for pursuing higher education for societal expectations. Furthermore, paternal education independently predicted societal expectations as a reason for college attendance.     

Podcasting in higher education: What are the implications for teaching and learning?

A podcast is any digital media file, or series of files, distributed over the Internet for playback on portable media players and personal computers. This study explored the attitudes, perceptions, and use of podcasting as reported by instructors and students at a large American Midwestern university. The results of two online surveys were examined, focusing specifically on items related to teaching and learning. Findings suggest that students use podcast materials largely for reviewing concepts and issues raised in lectures that they have previously attended. While instructors and students agree that podcasts help students learn, students are less sure about whether podcasts improve instructors' teaching. The authors argue that podcasts can help instructors change face-to-face instruction from traditional didactic lectures to more constructivist learning practices.     

The interplay of learning approaches and self-efficacy in secondary school students’ academic achievement in science

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present investigation was to analyse the role of academic self-efficacy and approaches to learning in general and in Physics and Chemistry academic achievements. The sample comprised 507 secondary school students of two Spanish schools and the study was conducted in the context of a Physics and Chemistry subject. Structural equation models showed that surface motive was the only type of learning approach directly related to performance. Besides, our models revealed that self-efficacy plays an important role as a mediating variable between the surface strategy and the deep motive learning approaches and academic achievement. Gender effects were also studied as girls showed higher levels of achievement both in general performance and in Physics and Chemistry. Implications for science education and suggestions for future research of these findings are also discussed.     

The hollowed-out university? A critical analysis of changing institutional and academic norms in UK higher education

This article argues that UK universities are at risk from a process of ‘hollowing out’ – that is, of becoming institutions with no distinctive social role and no ethical raison d'etre – and that this is a process which undermines the possibilities for meaningful institutional and academic identities. It begins with a condensed, and necessarily partial, review of recent UK higher education policy trends to indicate the historical context and direction of change and to highlight the growing separation of management and academic agendas and the linked rise in gloss and spin compared to academic substance. In the remainder of this article we focus on the normative dimension of these changes and unpack their implications for the nature of the university and of academic work. In so doing, we illustrate the breadth and depth of the threat posed by ‘hollowed-out’ universities, indicate alternative, more positive currents and call for a ‘re-valuation’ of the UK university.     

Can higher education compensate for society? Modelling the determinants of academic success at university

This paper examines the role that social characteristics play in determining the academic success of students who begin university with roughly similar entry grades. The data used were drawn from the administrative records of over 38,000 UK-domiciled undergraduate students from one British university between 1998 and 2009. Results show that the characteristics of entrants have varied only slightly over this period and intake is still largely in favour of ‘traditional’ entrants: namely those from professional occupational backgrounds, the privately educated and those of traditional age. The relationship between background characteristics and eventual academic success also reflects patterns seen at earlier education stages. However, when prior attainment was taken into account, the link between degree outcome and many social characteristics does diminish – notably for students who were privately educated and who came from professional occupational groups. This suggests that once students have overcome barriers to admission, it is entry grades rather than social characteristics that may most strongly influence eventual academic success.