An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions of Which Classroom Policies Are Fairest

Fairness is a critical issue in the educational setting, and the research is unified in the view that professors need to be fair in setting course policies and procedures. However, many unanswered questions still remain as to which specific classroom policies and procedures students find fair or unfair. This study explores student perceptions of which course policies provide the fairest treatment for all students in a college class. In addition, we also investigate the presence of a relationship between students' locus of control and their perceptions of the fairest course policies. Data were provided by 254 undergraduate students enrolled in sections of an introductory operations management course or an introductory management information systems course. As an initial, exploratory study in this specific area, eight common classroom policy situations were investigated. Although, not surprisingly, all students did not agree on which policy was the fairest for any given classroom situation, we were able to identify those policies considered fairest by the most students. The results can help professors develop course policies that improve students' perceptions of fairness in the college classroom.     

Assessing and Addressing Student Barriers: Implications for Today's College Classroom

The increasingly diverse set of learners in colleges and universities poses considerable challenges for educators. Dorothy A. Osterholt and Sophie Lampard Dennis explain the four domains of learning they have identified and suggest ways to apply them to help students overcome a variety of obstacles to learning.     

Student Perceptions of Industrial Chemistry Classroom Learning Environments

This article describes a study conducted in Israel which focused on how learning industrial chemistry case studies affects students' perceptions of their classroom learning environment and their interest in chemistry studies. The goal of the study was to determine the effects of industrial case studies on students' perceptions of chemistry in general, and industrial chemistry in particular. Information on students' perceptions was gathered from a learning environment inventory specifically developed for this study. It was observed that industrial chemistry case studies helped in providing students with a relevant picture of chemistry in general and their chemistry studies in particular. It was also found that teachers who had attended an intensive training workshop were the most successful in presenting the relevance of chemistry in the case studies. These teachers also were more successful in raising students' awareness of the social implications of chemistry studies. Furthermore, their students had a better awareness of the contribution made by chemistry studies to their preparation as future citizens and for a possible career in chemistry. These findings have important implications for any decisions about whether to make industrial chemistry case studies obligatory for students who major in chemistry. There are further implications regarding the content and learning strategies to be used for the professional development of science teachers in general and chemistry teachers in particular. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Increasing Opportunities for Student Responding: Response Cards in the Classroom

Response cards are designed to encourage active student engagement during instruction. In this article, the use of response cards is described, along with ways teachers can use the information to inform their work and considerations for implementation.     

Student Perceptions of Social Loafing in Undergraduate Business Classroom Teams

There is a rich body of research devoted to the causes and remedies of social loafing in workplace teams. However, the social loafing phenomenon remains underinvestigated from the perspective of students in undergraduate business classroom teams. In particular, how they define and respond to loafing remains unknown. This article reports findings from a two-stage study that shows social loafing as a more complex construct than current conceptions suggest. Moreover, students avoid confronting loafers and prefer to have instructors administer postpriori justice based on their self-report of individual contributions. Based on the findings and recent writings, the article speculates on the causes of these student responses to social loafing in classroom teams.     

Developing Performance Indicators for Assessing Classroom Teaching Practices and Student Learning

Several states are requiring institutions to document changes in student outcomes. Regional and specialized accrediting agencies are also changing their review criteria from measuring inputs to assessing indicators of student learning. This article describes the results of an evaluation project that sought to develop performance indicators of learning gains for undergraduate engineering students. Specifically, the study investigated the relationship between classroom practices and students' gains in professional competencies. More than 1,250 students from 7 universities participated. Findings show that the instructional practices of Instructor Interaction and Feedback, Collaborative Learning, and Clarity and Organization are significantly and positively associated with gains in students' self-reported gains in problem-solving skills, group skills, and understanding of engineering as an occupation. The indicators meet several conditions recommended by the assessment literature. They are (1) meaningful to the user, (2) reliable and valid, and (3) index observable behaviors rather than subjective impressions.     

Development of an Instrument for Assessing the Effectiveness of Chemistry Classroom Teaching

Classroom teaching is a main frontier of the implementation of new curricular ideas in China. The study reported in this article is concerned with the effectiveness of system of classroom teaching (SCT) in chemistry lessons. According to the Systems Science theory, we took a macroscopic view on the SCT, arguing that SCT is a hierarchy of system, which includes class system, plate system, unit system, and primitive system. In this study, we focused on primitive system of classroom teaching (PrS)—the lowest level in a SCT. Using focus group interviews, this study investigated the variables related to the effectiveness of PrS. We found a total of 21 such variables. To identify the main factors underlying the effectiveness of PrS, we further used exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. We found five main factors: rational use of time, quality of teaching behavior chain, match degree, quality of using resource and technology, and rationality of primitive content. Based on these findings, we constructed an evaluation scale for assessing the effectiveness of primitive system of chemistry classroom teaching.     

Toward an Understanding of Authentic Learning: Student Perceptions of an Authentic Classroom

Advocates of educational reform often describe classroom instruction as inauthentic. That is, most classroom learning activities are structured around artificial contexts for learning, and students only engage in tasks and remember information at superficial levels. Some teachers are attempting to break traditional classroom practices by creating authentic contexts for learning. To date, most of the research on authentic classrooms has described the processes teachers have used to develop the classroom environment (learning activities, resources, etc.); however, few have examined authentic classrooms from the students' perspective: “What do students think about authentic classrooms?” The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine a unique learning environment at a large, Midwest high school to understand how students perceived that environment. Most of the students reported a positive experience and described the classroom as fun and exciting with real-world relevance. However, there were several students who did not share these views, and many students were not successful.

     

Shifting to a Student-Centered Science Classroom: An Exploration of Teacher and Student Changes in Perceptions and Practices

In this case study, an exemplary seventh grade science teacher’s beliefs, planning decisions, implementation, and student reactions to her student-centered methods were examined over a 4-week unit on genetics. This situation was unique because the teacher was new to the profession and her students had no prior experience with student-centered methods. The teacher designed a learning environment where students were expected to take responsibility for research, but initially students felt unsure about the tasks they were assigned and sought out more structure. As the teacher began to scaffold the material, a balance was achieved that resulted in student engagement during the unit. Findings from the case study can provide teacher educators with factors promoting skillful implementation of student-centered classrooms.     

课堂评定:学生学业评价的重要方式

随着基础教育学生评价改革的深化,学业考核已经向关注学习过程的形成性评价扩展。课堂评定作为形成性评价的一种重要方式,对于提高学生学习质量和改进教师教学方法具有重要的作用。课堂评定能够考查学生的知识理解、分析与推理、综合与批判、问题解决、学习方法和学习情感。教师可以通过书面反馈、课堂观察、学习日志和学生同伴检查来开展课堂评定。要提高课堂评定的有效性,教师应当清楚确定评价内容,运用多样化评价手段,精心组织评价活动,及时反馈和使用评定结果。     

Classroom Response Systems: A Review of the Literature

As the frequency with which Classroom Response Systems (CRSs) are used is increasing, it becomes more and more important to define the affordances and limitations of these tools. Currently existing literature is largely either anecdotal or focuses on comparing CRS and non-CRS environments that are unequal in other aspects as well. In addition, the literature primarily describes situations in which the CRS is used to provide an individual as opposed to a group response. This article points to the need for a concerted research effort, one that rigorously explores conditions of use across diverse settings and pedagogies.     

Teacher Perceptions of Learning Motivation and Classroom Behavior: The Role of Student Characteristics

The present study investigates whether teacher perceptions of students’ cognitive skills, their learning motivation, and their classroom behavior differ according to students’ socioeconomic status, immigrant background, and gender. Data from N = 4746 German fourth graders and data from their parents and teachers were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Controlling for student achievement as measured in a standardized achievement test and student motivation as measured by student and parent reports, we found that teachers overestimated the cognitive skills of high-SES students and girls in comparison to those of low-SES students and boys. Similarly, teachers perceived high-SES students, students who are not from an immigrant background, and girls as having a higher learning motivation and as having more cognitive skills. Finally, we found that teachers’ perceptions of students’ learning motivation and classroom behavior mediated the relationship between student characteristics and cognitive skills as perceived by the teacher.     

Recording Student Perceptions of Teacher Behavior by Means of a Student Response Monitor

Abstract

Some Intellectual characteristics, academic problems and study habits of mature college undergraduate women were Investigated, Forty young (median age = 20) and 40 older (median age = 35) coeds matched on grade-point average were administered four WAIS subtests and a questionnaire. Older women were Inferior to younger women on WAIS performance subtests. Mature women reported more problems In concentrating, reading rapidly, and taking class notes while younger coeds reported more difficulty in remembering academic material. Older students reported better study habits. The results suggest that mature women can adjust successfully to the demands of the undergraduate academic situation.     

Moodle环境下的Web型课堂应答系统的实现

课堂应答系统属于教学管理系统的一个重要组成部分,而单一的课堂应答系统不能很好地与教学系统的其他部分整合,用系统化的方法把课堂应答系统集成于CMS是课程管理的需要.Moodle是目前最流行的CMS之一,本文将结合实例讨论如何在Moodle平台实现系统集成的课堂应答系统.     

A Scale for Measuring Student Perceptions of Quality: An Australian Asian Perspective

ABSTRACT

Australia is rapidly moving into the globally competitive higher education market. As a consequence the issue of consumer satisfaction and quality is emerging as an area of interest. This paper focuses on the issue of student understandings of quality by developing a consumer derived scale which identifies the quality variables related to student perceptions with the university experience. The scale was derived from focus groups, in-depth interviews and through an examination of the literature. The scale was tested and refined on a cohort of 351 Australian and Singaporean/Hong Kong students studying business subjects at an Australian University. The refined scale comprised 25 quality variables which factored into four orthogonal components. The mean values of the variables and factors were examined to make inferences about how educational marketing practitioners can be assisted.     

Emotional Contagion in the Classroom: The Impact of Teacher Satisfaction and Confirmation on Perceptions of Student Nonverbal Classroom Behavior

Teachers appreciate nonverbally responsive students, but what is missing is an understanding of the direct influence of teachers' self-perceptions on their perceptions of how engaged their students are in class. Using the emotional contagion theory as a lens, this study examines the premise that satisfied instructors expect students to mirror their own behaviors in the classroom through being nonverbally responsive. Results of the regression model confirm that teachers' perceptions of their own confirmation behaviors most strongly predict their perceptions of how nonverbally responsive students are in class. Thus, instructors who are more expressive will likely induce students to be more expressive, leading them to determine their students are being more nonverbally responsive. Further, expressive instructors will be more attuned to student interaction because they may subconsciously expect students to mirror their actions through nonverbal behaviors—they will look for it. Additionally, satisfied instructors view their students as satisfied and look for these feelings to be exposed via nonverbal response behaviors. Implications for teacher training and mentoring programs are discussed.     

An Improved Questionnaire for Gathering Student Perceptions of Teaching and Learning

An instrument used to gather university students' perceptions of their learning environments, the Perceptions of Learning Environments Questionnaire (PLEQ) has been used recently in higher education research. The current paper examines the strengths and limitations of the PLEQ, particularly in relation to uncovering student perceptions about responsibility for their own learning. A study trialling a modified questionnaire, which builds on the advances and addresses the limitations of the PLEQ, is reported.     

Multiculturalism Incorporated: Student Perceptions

Multicultural education has transformed higher education both in terms of research and in terms of student experiences. Given the complexity of our institutions, the overall effects of these transformations are mixed. Building on the successes and strengths of multicultural education as it is currently incorporated in institutions and programs will involve better understanding how it is perceived, positively and negatively, by those who are experiencing it first hand. In this article we seek to contribute to this reflection through a discussion of a survey of students’ perceptions of multiculturalism in a large first-year program in a research university. Patrick Bruch is Associate Professor of Writing Studies in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He received a B.A. in English from Western Michigan University and a Ph.D. in English from Wayne State University. His teaching and research focus on struggles for equality within and through higher education. Jeanne L. Higbee received her B.S. in Sociology from Iowa State University and earned both her M.S. in Counseling and Guidance and Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She currently serves as Professor and Senior Advisor to the Center for Research on Developmental Education and Urban Literacy, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. Her research interests are related to student development and the access and retention of student populations that traditionally have been underserved in postsecondary educational institutions. Kwabena Siaka is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota.     

Measuring Instructional Quality in Accountability Systems: Classroom Assignments and Student Achievement

This article reports the technical quality of a measure describing the quality of classroom assignments piloted in the Los Angeles Unified School District's proposed new accountability system. For this study, 181 teachers were sampled from 35 schools selected at random. Participating teachers submitted three language arts assignments with samples of student work (N = 50). Results indicated a fair level of agreement among the raters who scored the assignments and a high level of internal consistency within each dimension of assignment quality. Results presented a mixed picture with regard to the stability of the ratings at the different levels of schooling and the number of assignments needed to yield a consistent estimate of quality. However, secondary students who received higher quality assignments produced higher quality written work and scored higher as a group on the reading and language portions of the Stanford Achievement Test, 9th edition (Stanford 9) adjusted for student background and prior achievement.     

Repositioning Colleges Using Changing Student Quality Perceptions: An Exploratory Analysis

ABSTRACT

Colleges and universities must respond to competitive pressure in the marketplace by embracing the concept of quality as a marketing tool. Many colleges and universities have recently looked to the business arena and have adopted techniques, strategies, and the language of quality management.

This exploratory study focuses on the identification and evaluation of student perceptions of salient attributes. The findings suggest that standards of quality are difficult to establish, since evaluations of university performance are not consistent, even among an undergraduate student population.