The Use of the Course Experience Questionnaire as a Monitoring Evaluation Tool in a Problem-based Medical Programme

This paper reports on the use of the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) as an instrument to monitor the medical programme at the University of Sydney and in particular to measure improvements in teaching quality with the introduction of the new graduate-entry problem-based programme. In addition, it raises the more general issue of interpretation of CEQ results in courses designed around problembased learning (PBL). Students' perceptions of teaching quality were sought using a whole class questionnaire survey and small group interviews. Students in the new programme rated their course more highly than did students in the old programme with respect to good teaching, appropriate assessment, generic skills and overall satisfaction. These improvements did not hold with respect to the clarity of goals and standards, nor for perceptions of an appropriate workload. The results are interpreted in context and it is argued that particular items in the CEQ do not reflect the educational philosophy or the instructional processes of PBL programmes.     

Mapping generic skills curricula: a recommended methodology

Since the 1997 Dearing Report generic skills development has become an essential part of higher education in the UK. Generic skills programmes are, in the main, either run in parallel with existing curricula or ‘embedded’ within them. In 1993 the General Medical Council introduced student selected components (SSCs) into the UK medical curriculum with the intention of ‘embedding’ generic skills into undergraduate medical study. The SSC programme at Leeds School of Medicine was designed to develop specific generic skills in early focused projects and then allow students to practise these skills in clinical settings in later projects. In order to evaluate this programme, a methodology was devised to map the generic skills curriculum to an externally derived consensus on SSC outcomes. English's model, mapping ‘declared’, ‘delivered’ and ‘learned’ curricula, was used and a fourth, ‘assessed’ map added to check the ‘alignment’ of the curriculum through all its stages. Data for the maps were gathered from curriculum documentation, project supervisors and students using document scrutiny, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups. The methodology was run over a complete academic year for the entire programme. It proved valuable for mapping any ‘embedded’ generic skills programme to evaluate its success by collecting data from all stakeholders.     

Transactional distance theory and total quality management in open and distance learning

Abstract

Although our perceptions regarding distance education (DE) have changed significantly, there still remains a perceived lack of quality in the development, management and delivery of DE programmes. Unfortunately, DE offered in developing countries depends largely on first and second-generation delivery modes and relies heavily on print as form of information dissemination. Thus, technological drawbacks are often hailed as the main reason for such setbacks. This article discusses the findings of a comparative study involving an education programme that runs as both a contact and a distance programme. The assessment indices include access, delivery and output, while the Transactional Distance Theory is adopted to ascertain the extent to which the theory accounts for excellence in a given programme. Findings clearly support the importance of the relationships between dialogue, structure and autonomy. However, the researchers proffer that the Transactional Distance Theory should apply not just to learning material, but to the totality of a given programme. Finally, suggestions on enhancing the total quality of programmes in this context include: the introduction of generic courses; provision of bursaries; introduction and decentralisation of pre-orientation programmes, provision of quality learning material; and workable tutoring and counseling systems.     

Problem-based learning and the development of metacognition

This study samples first year undergraduates from two programmes at a Hong Kong University (N = 66). One programme uses an entirely problem-based approach to learning and teaching, whilst the other uses more traditional methods. Using the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) as a measure of student perceptions of their thinking, or metacognition it explores differences in metacognitive development between each group of students between the beginning and end of their first year in each programme. The paper argues that, in addition to the formal learning context, everyday challenges emerging from the additional new social contexts provided by problem-based curricula provide fertile environments for the development of metacognition because whilst the highest ‘meta-level’ of cognition is usually not implicated when we receive an outside task and when the task solution is known, the meta-level does tend to be consulted when things go wrong or when the situation is new. In other words, when we are faced with finding solutions to a problem whether posed by the teacher as part of a problem-based curriculum or a new social environment, we are more likely to develop generic, as well as subject specific skills.     

Theoretical and Practical Integration of Literacy and Numeracy in a University Academic Programme

Abstract

This paper reports on research into the enhancement of generic skills in academic numeracy in the context of an Australian university teacher education programme. The project addressed issues of what constitutes academic numeracy, the design and implementation of appropriate numeracy strategies, and how best to integrate tertiary literacy and numeracy in university courses. This paper presents an overview of the key stages of the project, and the development of its outcomes. The major outcome is a framework for academic numeracy, which is a means for identifying and describing the numeracy demands of academic texts and tasks.     

Preschool children use linguistic form class and pragmatic cues to interpret generics

Generic noun phrases (e.g., "Bats live in caves") are important for expressing knowledge about abstract kinds. Past work has found that parents frequently use generic noun phrases in their speech to young children. However, little is known regarding how children understand these expressions, nor which cues signal generic meaning. The present set of 5 studies examined the influence of linguistic form class (e.g., "What color are dogs?" [generic] versus "What color are the dogs?" [nongeneric]) and of pragmatic context (e.g., "What color are they?" in the presence of either a single exemplar [generic] or multiple exemplars [nongeneric]). Participants were 2-year-olds (N = 42), 3-year-olds (N = 40), 4-year-olds (N = 40), and adults (N = 51). The data indicate that by 2 years of age, children use linguistic form class, and by 3 years of age, children use pragmatic context. These findings demonstrate that young children have begun to understand the distinction between generic and nongeneric noun phrases from a very young age, and that identification of generics is signaled not by formal or pragmatic cues alone, but by a combination of information from both language form and pragmatic context. It is suggested that children make use of multiple linguistic and conceptual cues to acquire and interpret generics.     

The longitudinal effect of the Aprender a Convivir (learning to live together) programme in childhood: the development of social competence / Efecto longitudinal del programa Aprender a Convivir en la infancia: desarrollo de la competencia social

Abstract

In the context of a changing society, strategies are required to eradicate the phenomenon of antisocial behaviour. The Aprender a Convivir universal prevention programme tries to provide such a response. This study attempts to test the effectiveness of the programme through a quasi-experimental long-term study carried out over three years in some nursery schools. Of the students who participated in this study (N = 784), those from the experimental group showed significant increases in social competence compared to the control group, and behavioural problems decreased, albeit not in any significant way. To draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the programme, further improvements are proposed to the design of the study.     

Professional development for design-based learning in engineering education: a case study

Design-based learning (DBL) is an educational approach in which students gather and apply theoretical knowledge to solve design problems. In this study, we examined how critical DBL dimensions (project characteristics, design elements, the teacher's role, assessment, and social context) are applied by teachers in the redesign of DBL projects. We conducted an intervention for the professional development of the DBL teachers in the Mechanical Engineering and the Electrical Engineering departments. We used the Experiential Learning Cycle as an educational model for the professionalisation programme. The findings show that the programme encouraged teachers to apply the DBL theoretical framework. However, there are some limitations with regard to specific project characteristics. Further research into supporting teachers to develop open-ended and multidisciplinary activities in the projects that support learning is recommended.     

Towards online student-directed communities of inquiry

This paper opens by summarising the case for student-directed learning in online higher education as a means of bringing about the development and use of higher-level cognitive and interpersonal abilities such as critical and creative thinking. The writers refine their conceptualisations of student-direction, different to, but flowing from student-centred learning, by scrutinising a progressive series of face-to-face examples offering some autonomy in learning. Nine features are identified as essential in a student-directed programme. They review Garrison’s recent account of learning-centred Communities of Inquiry (CoI), identifying aspects of the teacher/instructor’s role that would need to be altered for student-directed online communities. Guidelines are suggested for creating a student-directed CoI including programme design addressing the development, and use, of generic abilities. Finally, the writers provide an example programme structure incorporating preparation of learners for the responsibilities expected of them and the changing role of the tutor in an online student-directed CoI.     

Students’ reproduction and transformation of norms incorporated into a programme for social and emotional learning

The present ethnographic study aims to explore how students reproduce and make use of a programme for social and emotional learning to create their own moral orders and routines for interaction in their local school context. The study demonstrates that the students made use of routines and norms conveyed by the programme to negatively position and exclude peers as well as to reproduce discourses of ‘blaming the victim’. The results highlight the inappropriateness of implementing a programme that strips emotions and behaviours of their meaning and that fails to situate emotions within students’ actual social and cultural contexts. The study demonstrates how such an approach relocates the responsibility for dealing with socially and culturally situated problems to the individual and denies teachers the opportunity to respond to problematic situations that give rise to emotions of anger and that emerge in social and cultural contexts at school.     

Serving multiple stakeholders: Issues arising from a major national evaluation study

This paper provides an analysis of the issues arising from work with multiple stakeholders within the context of a major national evaluation study. The context is the UK Education Departments' Superhighways Initiative (EDSI), which was jointly funded by the four education departments of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Unusually, the evaluation, which was large scale and employed several teams of evaluators, had a real opportunity to inform the development of policy. Problems of working for multiple stakeholders arose from the tight control that the sponsors exercised over the structure, style and content of the report. In addition to the usual problems of conflicting interests between stakeholders, the Scottish evaluators experienced problems relating to the polarised political context in the UK prior to the general election of 1997. The successful public relations exercise that created the EDSI programme, with commercial sponsorship for projects and government funding only for the evaluation, was an additional factor in determining the evaluators' roles and relationships with stakeholders.     

Teaching and Learning Generic Skills in Universities: The case of 'sociology' in a teacher education programme

The paper examines the links between a recent focus in Australian universities on 'generic skills' or 'graduate qualities', and national employment policies directed at developing employment-related 'key competencies'. It examines the attempt by a team of teacher educators in Australia to develop curricula that would meet the goals of national workplace policy initiatives, while retaining the traditional university concern of teaching critical evaluation of information and social practice. The specific example is the teaching of sociology within a teacher education programme. However, the examples and analysis offered here would be of interest to university teachers working with students in any professional degree programme where there is an expectation that students will be able to understand and apply sociological knowledge within their professional field. The project was framed within the policy context of 'meeting students' needs' .     

The arts in the Aotearoa New Zealand Curriculum: challenges for educating teachers in contemporary conditions

In this paper, preliminary comments are made about The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum document questioning its framing of the arts ‘disciplines’. The notion of the ‘the arts’, which appears to take its meaning from the generic term ‘art’ that directs us to class together music, painting, visual art, dance and other diverse activities, is examined. The idea of ‘literacies’ in the arts is questioned, as well as the ideological nature of representing the arts as ‘essential skills’. Suggestions are made concerning the identity and role of educators in the arts areas of the curriculum. I then take strands within the Arts curriculum document (‘Communicating and interpreting in the arts’ and ‘The arts in context’) and scrutinize these in terms of the possibilities for a critical interpretation of pedagogy and what I believe to be our obligations as teacher educators within a pre-service programme in university setting.     

Teacher learning in the context of a continuing professional development programme: A case study

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into characteristics of teacher learning in the context of a successful continuing professional development programme (CPD programme). An in-depth case study of the learning activities of two teachers, the problems they encountered and the way they regulated their learning was conducted. Results show that these teachers differed greatly from each other: one teacher showed a meaning directed learning pattern, while the other teacher's learning pattern was undirected. Still, positive effects of the PDP on classroom behaviour were observed for both teachers. It appeared that the trainer could compensate for a lack of self-regulation.     

The Question‐led Design of a Degree Programme

This article discusses a question‐led approach to the design of a new degree programme in computing and information studies, the Bachelor of Informatics, at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Basic considerations arising from various theories which have given a central place to problems and questions in human activity are outlined. Some implications of these considerations for the role and place of questions in education are discussed in terms of the notions of focussing, opening, and activating. It is argued that these notions are important in understanding education to be, in part, vitally concerned with critical inquiry. The specific context at Griffith University in which the question‐led approach came to be adopted is described, together with an account of a report concerning the planning of a new academic activity in the University which was made available to the planning group at the commencement of planning. The processes by which this approach was implemented in the design phase are described briefly. The resulting design, as it existed shortly prior to the commencement of teaching, is described. The conclusion discusses some issues arising from experience in the design and implementation of this programme, and provides some evaluative feedback from staff and second‐year students obtained during the second year during which the programme was offered (1986).     

Should first-year doctoral students be supervised collectively or individually? Effects on thesis completion and time to completion

Whether supervision of doctoral students is best pursued individually or collectively is a recurring but unresolved question in debates on higher education. The rarity of longitudinal data and the common usage of qualitative methods to analyse a limited number of cases have left the effectiveness of either model largely untested. To assist with overcoming these problems, this paper reports on a study of 145 individuals admitted to a specific doctoral programme between 1991 and 2014. It analyses the effects of either individual or collective supervision during the first year of the programme on the probability of thesis completion and the time to thesis completion. Group means, Cox regressions, Kaplan–Meir curves and Ordinary Least Square regressions are calculated on the basis of the number of months spent by each doctoral student in the programme without defending a thesis. Studied in these ways, it appears that collective supervision in the first year significantly increases the probability of thesis completion and decreases the time to thesis completion. Collective supervision may have this effect as it enhances peer learning, creates a wider academic learning context, allows doctoral students to gradually acquire the values and behaviours of a research practice community and reduces the risk of premature selection of permanent supervisors.     

An exploration of student teachers’ perspectives at the start of a post-graduate master's programme on inclusive and special education

In this article we explore the perspectives of a group of teaching professionals starting a post-graduate master's programme on inclusive and special education. Set in the current context of growing interest over the preparation of teachers for inclusive education worldwide, this exploration is part of research that looks more broadly at the impact of the programme on students. In this paper we set the context of the study and present results focusing on students’ pre-understanding of the concepts ‘inclusive’ and ‘special education’, as well as their reasons for choosing the programme and expected learning outcomes. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected with a questionnaire administered to students at the beginning of the programme. Findings reveal that students saw the programme as a factor contributing to their ability to implement inclusive education in practice. However, it emerged that they had somewhat different understandings of what ‘inclusive education’ actually means. Implications for providers of inclusive education programmes for teachers are discussed.     

The University of Fort Hare’s learner‐centred Distance Education Programme

The Open University has been working with the University of Fort Hare on its Distance Education Project since 1997, helping to develop its innovative distance education programme for primary teachers in the Eastern Cape. Recently the OU has been involved in researching the impact of this programme on teachers’ perceptions of their practice and their classroom practice. This case study explores the context in which the programme was developed, the philosophy that underpinned its development, its structure, materials and the role played by the Open University. Using preliminary findings of teacher‐learner perceptions of the programme, the case study examines the effectiveness of the teacher support and their responses to the programme. Initial findings from questionnaires and semi‐structured interviews highlight the cohesive and holistic impact of the programme. The focus on context and culture in developing the programme is seen as significant by all teacher‐learners in challenging and motivating different ways of thinking about their teaching, learning and their practice.     

Action research in the context of a school–university partnership: its value,problems, issues and benefits

The focus of the article is on action research in a school–university partnership, its problems, use and the value of the work from the viewpoint of a professor (university teacher-educator)[1] and two deans. The authors collaborate to first define a partnership. Secondly, they discuss the role and use of action research in the context of a partnership programme aimed at changing and improving kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) schooling and teacher education. Thirdly, they identify the problems, issues and benefits associated with such work. A ‘tool,’ consisting of 10 questions is presented by the collaborators for university faculty and administrators to use to chart their initiation and institutional participation in action research in a school–university partnership. Selected problems and issues focused on university faculty productivity, and a college or university's reward system for tenure and promotion are discussed, together with the benefits and the ultimate value of the work.