Understanding learning at the classroom level

Conclusions Our aim in taking the Year 7 class was to increase our understanding of the learning process. In simple terms we were trying to apply our ideas and White's analysis of the term ‘understanding’ further clarified our purpose. Each target of our understanding has been affected by our experience. Two examples can be used to show how this occurred. Our understanding of the learning approach has been modified by our understanding of students at this level. The effects of peer group interactions have been underestimated as a factor in the learning environment. As a further example we can see that some ways in which schools are organized are not conducive to the implementation of the learning approaches being presented. Schools are organized so that groups of age cohorts can function effectively. The result is that school classrooms are a compromise where competing functions of schooling and the constraints that are operating are ‘balanced’. The ideal conditions for our approach to learning could not be present and two visitors from the ‘ivory tower’ were grateful for the opportunity to better understand a secondary school and a group of its students.     

Understanding collaborative learning processes in new learning environments

Trying to understand the complexity of computer-mediated problem-based learning environments is not easy. Sociocultural theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding such environments because it emphasizes the socially situated nature of learning and the critical role of tools in mediating learning. To examine how different aspects of discourse relate to each other, as well as to the tools being used in the collaborative learning process, it is important to understand how collaborative knowledge building unfolds and how these processes are mediated. This requires going beyond coding individual speech acts. The use of Chronologically-Ordered Representations of Discourse and Tool-Related Activity (CORDTRA) diagrams is one way of achieving this understanding. We use this to study contrasting cases of more and less successful groups using the STELLAR learning environment. STELLAR is an integrated online PBL environment for preservice teachers, containing a learning sciences hypermedia, a library of videocases, and online personal and collaborative spaces. Our analyses suggest that an important locus of differences is how students use resources and engage in different kinds of metacognitive talk and knowledge transforming activities, sometimes to the group’s detriment. Frequency analyses provided an easily interpreted snapshot of each group’s activity. The CORDTRA analyses provide a more dynamic view that helps researchers and teachers better understand how collaborative learning unfolds. Such analyses have implications for understanding new learning environments as well as helping identify where interventions might be needed.     

Understanding persistence in adult learning

The paper summarizes recent data on the retention and non‐completion patterns of adult students, especially those over the age of 25 who have had a gap since completing full‐time education. While data on further and higher education suggest that older learners are less likely than younger ones to complete longer, qualification‐bearing programmes, central statistics do not distinguish between students in their early‐to‐mid 20s, many of whom still have much in common with those in their late teens, and those in their 30s, 40s and 50s whose lifestyles, learning goals and aspirations are often qualitatively different.

The section on retention data is followed by a summary of the reasons for not completing courses commonly cited by adults learning in conventional education settings, and reflection on whether these are significantly different from those cited by younger students and students in open or distance learning programmes. The paper ends with a summary of the kind of factors that might increase adult retention rates in both kinds of learning programme.

For the purposes of this paper, ‘adults’ are defined as those over the age of 25 who have had a gap since completing full‐time education.     

理解学科研究性学习

研究性学习作为一种学习理念、一种学习方式渗透到各个学科课程教学、各种学习活动中才会有更广阔的空间和价值。基于这种认识来理解学科研究性学习的内涵,理解学科课程教学和研究性学习方式的融合,以学科课程教学为基础,结合各学科特点开展学科研究性学习,并通过不同途径实现学科研究性学习。     

Understanding and influencing teaching and learning cultures at university: a network approach

Academic cultures might be perceived as conservative, at least in terms of development of teaching and learning. Through a lens of network theory this conceptual article analyses the pattern of pathways in which culture is constructed through negotiation of meaning. The perspective contributes to an understanding of culture construction and maintenance with a potential to aid academic developers and others in the endeavour to influence teaching and learning cultures in academia. Throughout the discussion the importance of supporting the weak links between clusters of individuals stands out as a feature to focus upon. We propose that the sheer complexity of culture construction and maintenance in academic organisations is likely to cause any single, isolated attempt for change to fail Instead, we argue that a multitude of inter-related initiatives over a long period of time is likely to distinguish strategies that are successful in influencing academic teaching and learning cultures.     

领悟数学学习方法

文章从数学学习方法的几个常规手段着手,指出数学学习方法不仅包含有数学学习形式上的方式方法,更重要的是数学学习过程中的领悟。     

Understanding feedback: A learning theory perspective

This article aims to review literature on feedback to teachers. Because research has hardly focused on feedback among teachers, the review’s scope also includes feedback in classrooms. The review proposes that the effectiveness of feedback and feedback processes depend on the learning theory adhered to. Findings show that regardless of the learning theory effective feedback is goal- or task-directed, specific, and neutral. In addition, four rules of thumb were formulated that reflect what a majority of learning theories suggested as effective for learning. Finally, some feedback characteristics were considered effective from only one learning theory. The article shows that feedback processes are complicated and many variables influence and mediate the processes. Most reviewed studies did not investigate the whole feedback processes, and therefore, we suggest that future research is needed to further understand feedback.     

理解--物理学习的关键

理解是物理学习的关键．学生可以通过对物理知识、技能、概念与原理的理解与掌握来发展他们的能力．在实际中，有的学生学习物理知识牢固、灵活，能举一反三，融会贯通，具有创造性．而有的学生学习只是停留在表面上，形式地记住了某个概念的词句，对公式、法则的套用，不知道概念的本质属性，不知道原理的来龙去脉，知其然不知其所以然无法变通．理解学习无疑是很重要的．     

Understanding professional learning for Computing teachers from the perspective of situated learning

ABSTRACT

Situated learning theory maintains that there is a relationship between learning and the social situation in which it occurs; learning is embedded in activity, context and culture. In terms of professional learning for teachers, this implies that effective learning takes place within a community where experts and novices meet and where practice is modelled; such a community needs to be deeply relevant to everyday practice in the classroom. In this paper, we discuss Computing At School, a grass-roots organisation that has grown up over the last 10 years through teacher communities, and also with broad support of academia and industry. In a time of increased interest in the inclusion of computer science in school curricular, Computing At School is a community of practice of all teachers affected by curriculum change in Computing and models an innovative approach to professional learning that is based on community and support. We describe here how Computing At School draws on situated learning theory to contribute to the development of Computing in the curriculum, evidencing both the journey and lessons learned.     

Understanding student evaluations of teaching in online learning

In this paper, we have developed a classification model for online learning environments that relates the Instructors Overall Performance (IOP) rating (according to students’ perceptions) with the course characteristics, students’ demographics and the effectiveness of the instructor in his/her teaching roles. To that end, a comprehensive Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) instrument is proposed, which includes not only conventional teaching elements, but also items that encourage twenty-first century skills. The goal of the study is twofold: (i) to quantify the extent to which the selected variables explain the IOP rating, and (ii) determine which teaching and non-teaching variables most affect the IOP rating. The best performing classifier achieved a competitive accuracy, highlighting that the selected variables mainly determine the IOP values. Other important findings include: (i) the IOP value is mainly influenced by the effectiveness of the instructor in his/her teaching roles; (ii) teaching strategies that involve the cooperation between the technical and pedagogical roles should be promoted; (iii) the pedagogical role has the highest impact on the final IOP value; and (iv) the most influential demographic variable is the student’s status (working commitments and family responsibilities).     

Understanding time in learning transitions through the lifecourse

Policy‐makers in the UK and Europe have become concerned with the successful management of transitions in learning as a means of increasing the competitiveness of their economies. Transitions relating to informal as well as formal learning have also been an important focus for the sociology of education. In this paper, I review alternative ways in which transitions are conceptualised as a process of change over time; but argue that the dimension of change has been overemphasised, while the dimension of time has been neglected. Much of the literature on transitions takes for granted a ‘common sense’ view of time as a ‘natural flow’ and assumes that learning can enable us to forge our own futures agentically from lessons of the past and goals in the present. Feminist research, however, challenges such a theory as androcentric, and reveals the many ways in which women’s time is used and experienced differently. Drawing on critical sociological thinking about time, these ideas are illustrated through a re‐interpretation of data from Mojab’s (2006 Mojab, S. 2006. “War and diaspora as lifelong learning contexts for immigrant women”. In Gender and lifelong learning: critical feminist engagements, Edited by: Leathwood, C. and Francis, B. London: RoutledgeFalmer.  [Google Scholar]) study of Kurdish women refugees in Sweden. This explores the ways in which time is engendered and enacted in social practices marked by gender, race and class, and the impact of these times upon the women’s learning. The potential of such an analysis points to the need for further study of these themes.     

Understanding collaborative learning behavior from Moodle log data

Although course management systems (CMSs) were originally designed for teachers to manage their teaching, little interest has been directed at students' learning. Moodle is usually regarded as a CMS. However, how to make full use of its powerful features and design them into learning tools has rarely been investigated. This study investigates two features, embedded in the Moodle system, wiki and assessment tools, to find out how they are designed to support project-based learning. The theory and rationale for using these two features in learning activities are elaborated. The effects of wiki-supported collaboration, peer grading, and feedback on junior secondary students' enquiries in liberal studies are analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. One hundred and eighty-six students participated in the study. Working on their own wikis, commenting on the work of peers, and previous performance on the humanities course were found to be significant predictors of liberal study project performance.     

Understanding and measuring emotions in technology-rich learning environments

Technology-rich learning environments (TREs) play an increasingly important role for 21st century education, and the emotions learners experience in these environments are pivotal for their cognitive and affective learning gains. The contributors to this special issue address the importance of understanding and measuring emotions in TREs as a mechanism for fostering learning. In particular, the special issue situates this research with a systemic review and meta-analysis of the literature on emotions in TREs. Following this review empirical research is presented on measuring emotions in the context of learning with TREs in multiple domains, including medicine, history, and mathematics. These researchers use concurrent measures to capture students’ cognitive, metacognitive and affective processes before, during, and after solving problems, documenting the complex role of such processes as individuals and groups learn with technology. The special issue concludes with two commentaries that point the way to next steps in this field of research.     

对远程开放教育学习支持服务系统构建的认识与思考

本文紧密联系国内外远程教育特别是我国远程开放教育试点的实际,对学习支持服务的理念、理论与实践进行了理性分析;围绕学习支持服务的构成要素、各要素间的相互关系,从理论与实际的结合上构建了学习支持服务系统;针对目前的实践从四个方面阐述了学习支持服务系统建设的思路.