Teachers learn about student learning assessment through a teacher education process

This study aims to understand the extent to which university professors adopt new pedagogical voices in their learning assessment practices through a teacher education process. Participants (N = 32) were interviewed before and after the teacher education process, and data were analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods. The results of the study demonstrated, first, that teachers renamed their educational discourse about learning assessment significantly, increasing it in assessment for learning practices, particularly in the themes of timing and agents, and reducing it in all themes referred to the assessment of learning practices. And second, three clusters of faculty were identified, which differed in terms of the way they merge both learning assessment practices: professors with a slight prevalence of the assessment for learning conceptual voice, professors with a slight prevalence of the assessment for learning practical voice, and professors with a strong prevalence of the assessment for learning voice.     

Students’ assessment preferences and approaches to learning: can formative assessment make a difference?

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the relationships between hands‐on experiences with formative assessment, students’ assessment preferences and their approaches to learning. The sample consisted of 108 university first‐year Bachelor’s students studying criminology. Data were obtained using the Revised two‐factor study process questionnaire (R‐SPQ‐2F) and the Assessment preferences inventory (API). The study shows that differences in assessment preferences are correlated with differences in approach to learning. Students’ preferences for assessment methods with higher‐order thinking tasks are significantly lower after actual experience with a formative assessment. Moreover, students also changed their approaches to learning after hands‐on experience with a formative mode of assessment. Surprisingly, this change evinced a more ‘surface approach’ to learning. Nevertheless, this is in line with other recent research findings. The paper ends with some possible explanations, and new directions for research are proposed.     

The assessment of learning skills in nursing student selection: A scoping review

Abstract

Higher education student selection has significant societal, institutional and individual impacts. Thousands of applicants apply only for nursing, one of the major higher education disciplines. As the nursing profession is characterised by cognitive requirements, higher education institutions assess the learning skills of nursing applicants. However, there has been no comprehensive analysis of learning skills assessment for nursing student selection. The purpose of this scoping review was to describe the assessment of learning skills in undergraduate nursing student selection. Five databases were systematically searched, and 24 studies published between 2006 and 2016 were included. Learning skills were most commonly assessed using standardised tests in the areas of language and communication, reasoning, mathematics and natural sciences. Overall scores of onsite selection methods were found to best predict future academic performance. The results indicate that higher education institutions may benefit from comprehensive assessment of learning skills in their selection processes. This assessment should focus on a wider range of cognitive aptitudes, including reasoning skills. This review focussed on nursing education, but the results may benefit other higher education disciplines due to the generic nature of learning skills and similar cognitive requirements of higher education studies. The results support the development of more comprehensive and valid methods for assessing learning skills.     

Alienation and engagement: development of an alternative theoretical framework for understanding student learning

In this paper it is suggested that the themes of alienation and engagement offer a productive alternative perspective for characterising the student experience of learning in higher education, compared to current dominant perspectives such as that offered by approaches to learning and related concepts. A conceptual and historical background of the concept of alienation is presented, followed by an overview of some contemporary perspectives. Drawing on this literature, a framework is then developed for characterising student learning. It comprises three categories, referring to the alienation resulting from 1. entering the higher education community, 2. fitting into the higher education community, and 3. staying in the higher education community. Each category has an associated set of theoretical tools that can be drawn upon in analysing this aspect of the student experience.     

Assessing students’ development in learning approaches according to initial learning profiles: A person-oriented perspective

Research regarding the development of students’ learning approaches have at times reported unexpected or lack of expected changes. The current study explores the idea of differential developments in learning approaches according to students’ initial learning profiles as a possible explanation for these outcomes. A learning profile is conceived as the degree to which students use aspects of deep and surface approaches in their learning process and taking into account the dynamic interrelations between these aspects. Two cohorts of students in a teacher-training course-module completed questionnaires measuring their learning approaches, in a pre-test post-test design. Analyses on the whole sample indicated few significant changes in students’ learning approaches during the course-module. Only a significant decrease in the deep motive subscale was found. Hierarchical cluster-analysis revealed four groups of students with specific initial learning profiles: a deep approach profile, a surface approach profile, an all-low profile and an all-high profile. Using a regressor variable approach, significant differences in growth were found for the initial learning profiles on the surface approach to learning and the deep strategy scale, even after controlling for other significant background variables such as students’ academic discipline and gender. These results suggest that unexpected developments in students’ learning approaches, or lack of significant changes at a whole-group level, may be partially due to dynamic (contradictory) tendencies at the sub-group level. Findings point towards the need of looking at approaches to learning at a more fine-grained level.     

Supporting the less-adaptive student: the role of learning analytics,formative assessment and blended learning

Abstract

How can we best facilitate students most in need of learning support, entering a challenging quantitative methods module at the start of their bachelor programme? In this empirical study into blended learning and the role of assessment for and as learning, we investigate learning processes of students with different learning profiles. Specifically, we contrast learning episodes of two cluster analysis-based profiles, one profile more directed to deep learning and self-regulation, the other profile more directed toward stepwise learning and external regulation. In a programme based on problem-based learning, where students are supposedly being primarily self-directed, this first profile is regarded as being of an adaptive type, with the second profile less adaptive. Making use of a broad spectrum of learning and learner data, collected in the framework of a dispositional learning analytics application, we compare these profiles on learning dispositions, such as learning emotions, motivation and engagement, learning performance and trace variables collected from the digital learning environments. Outcomes suggest that the blended design of the module with the digital environments offering many opportunities for assessment of learning, for learning and as learning together with actionable learning feedback, is used more intensively by students of the less adaptive profile.     

How autonomy support mediates the relationship between self-efficacy and approaches to learning

Abstract

The significant interplay between self-efficacy, autonomy support and approaches to learning in adolescent students is widely recognized. However, less is known about whether substantial differences exist between early and middle adolescent students from schools with different environments. To close this research gap, this study used latent mean comparison and multigroup structural equation modeling with questionnaire data from a sample of German adolescent students (N?=?1153; M_AgeT1?=?13.97, SD = 1.37; M_AgeT2?=?14.27, SD = 1.25) in two waves. Multigroup structural equation modeling reveals that autonomy functions as a mediator in the association between self-efficacy and approaches to learning only for students from schools with a student-centered learning environment based on competence-matrices in contrast to a teacher-directed learning environment, particularly for early adolescent students. More specifically, adolescents’ approaches to learning can be enhanced through autonomy-supportive learning independently of their self-efficacy.     

Peer assessment for learning from a social perspective: The influence of interpersonal variables and structural features

This paper reports a systematic literature review examining empirical studies on the effects of peer assessment for learning. Peer assessment is fundamentally a social process whose core activity is feedback given to and received from others, aimed at enhancing the performance of each individual group member and/or the group as a whole. This makes peer assessment an interpersonal and interactional process. Using this social perspective in order to study learning effects, we focus on the impact of the structural arrangement of peer assessment on learning, and the influence of interpersonal variables.The literature search, focusing on empirical studies measuring learning outcomes in a peer assessment setting, resulted in 15 studies conducted since 1990 dealing with effects (performance or perceived learning gains) of peer assessment. Our analysis reveals that, although peer assessment is a social process, interpersonal variables have hardly been studied; more specifically, they were measured in only 4 out of 15 studies. Moreover, they are not used to explain learning gains resulting from peer assessment. Finally, comparing the studies with respect to structural features reveals that, although the differences between the studies are significant, there seems to be no relation with the occurrence of learning benefits. The results of this review seem to indicate that research on peer assessment from a social perspective is still in its infancy and deserves more attention.     

Applying the scholarship of teaching and learning: student perceptions,behaviours and success online and face-to-face

This study compares student perceptions, learning behaviours and success in online and face-to-face versions of a Principles of Microeconomics course. It follows a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) approach by using a cycle of empirical analysis, reflection and action to improve the learning experience for students. The online course design involves 58 interactive narrated online modules, interactive online quizzes and biweekly online meetings with the instructor via video and voice-over-IP technology. Findings indicate that schedule flexibility motivates students to choose the online course format. Students in both learning environments felt they had high-quality communication with the instructor, while online students indicated limited peer-to-peer communication. Online students report studying more at home than face-to-face students, but not enough to compensate for the time face-to-face students spend in class. Reflecting on the findings, the authors suggest actions to improve the online course experience.     

The interrelationship between student learning experience and study behaviour

This study examined the interrelationship between student learning experiences and study behaviour in explaining academic achievement. The participants were 541 final year students from a university in Hong Kong. Students' learning experiences and study behaviour were measured using the Course Experience Questionnaire and the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory. Structural equation modelling demonstrated that different learning experience factors have differential influences on student study behaviour. Students' perception of teaching quality and generic skills development were found to be most influential in terms of motivation and attitude towards study, which were most predictive of academic performance. The implications for curriculum design and instructional practice on university student learning are discussed.     

Understanding the prospect of success in professional training: an ethnography into the assessment of problem-based learning

One of the most fundamental innovations in higher education is the introduction of the method known as problem-based learning (PBL). While literature has largely focused on its learning goals and the transition from lectures to tutorials, little research has problematised why this is a successful methodology and what we consider as students’ success. Drawing upon various ethnographic techniques, the authors analyse PBL as a field of expectations in light of Expectation-Value Theory. Beyond merely showing that PBL is a culturally constructed practice, the article elaborates on how students’ expectations inform practices, performance and evaluation, which is important for assessing the successfulness of the method. By discussing students’ expectations, dynamics and power relations, the present article is a contribution to the research addressing what has come to be known as the ‘black box’ of PBL.     

Quantitative and qualitative measures of student learning at university level

This paper reports the use of quantitative and qualitative measures of university student learning during teaching in psychiatry. Concept mapping, pre-and post test scores and performance in written assignments were used to measure the quality of change in personal understanding and to show the ways that the knowledge-targets of the course were achieved. The data show that: (1) Concept mapping can be used to explore personal understanding because it facilitates discrete statements of meaning. (2) These personal statements can be compared through time to assess change. (3) Specific criteria can be used to measure the quality of the change from one statement to another so that the different qualities of change that occur can be made-visible in the course of teaching. The approach is discussed in the broader context of learning theory and teaching practice. We show in particular, that prior-knowledge is an important determinant of learning because it affects the sense that can be made of taught material.     

Effect of continuous assessment on learning outcomes on two chemical engineering courses: case study

In this paper, the effect of continuous assessment on the learning outcomes of two chemical engineering courses is studied over a several-year period. Average grades and passing percentages of courses after the final examination are reported and also student feedback on the courses is collected. The results indicate significantly better learning results after the adoption of continuous assessment in the courses. Also student feedback suggests higher quality in teaching after the adoption of more activating teaching methods which compel students to study effectively throughout the course.     

The relationship between conceptions of teaching and approaches to teaching

The relationship between conceptions of teaching and approaches to teaching was explored in a study of 18 secondary school art teachers in Hong Kong. Conceptions of teaching approaches were fitted to a four‐category model. Each of the categories was distinguished by reference to six relevant dimensions. As is the case in higher education, approaches to teaching lower forms, with little pressure from external examinations or school ethos, followed logically from conceptions of teaching. There was also evidence that contextual influences, if they were sufficiently strong, could play a part in teachers’ approaches to teaching in the lower forms. For senior forms, the most marked contextual influence on approaches to teaching came from the external examination syllabus. Of the 13 teachers who taught senior form students, eight reported using approaches to teaching that were significantly different from those they used for lower forms. The remaining four used essentially the same approach for junior and senior forms because these were consistent with the orientation of examinations that measure skill and knowledge acquisition. Finally, the data suggest that both the educational background of the teachers and the banding levels (designation of the school as high or low achieving) of the schools they were teaching in were related to the combined conceptions and approaches. The influence of banding levels could be due either to teachers choosing a type of school consistent with their beliefs or the environment of the school influencing teachers’ beliefs and practices.     

The effect of blended learning on student performance at course-level in higher education: A meta-analysis

The present paper analyzes the impact of blended learning (BL) on the academic achievement of higher education students. A meta-analysis (k = 51 effect sizes) was conducted to perform a statistical synthesis of studies contrasting student performance in BL conditions with traditional classroom instruction. We include disciplines and instructors’ end-of-course evaluation method as moderating variables. The results show that BL demonstrates a small summary effect (g⁺ = 0.385, p < 0.001) compared to traditional teaching methods A significantly higher mean effect size was found in STEM disciplines (g⁺ = 0.496) compared to that of non-STEM disciplines (g⁺ = 0.210). Nevertheless, the weighted mean effect sizes reveal no significant differences regarding of end-of-course assessment methods, namely one-moment and multiple-component assessment. The finding confirms that BL is significantly associated with greater learning performance of STEM-disciplined students than with traditional classroom practice. Accordingly, discussion concerning the findings and implications for future research are elaborated.     

Explaining discrepancies between teacher beliefs and teacher interventions in a problem-based learning environment: A mixed methods study

The purpose of this study was to explore the discrepancy between teacher beliefs and behavior in a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) environment. Using a survey and observations, this study demonstrated that tutors prefer learner-oriented beliefs, but in their teacher behavior they showed a more traditional approach to teaching. Analysis of semi-structured interviews indicated that this inconsistency could be attributed to the way in which problem-based learning is embedded in the curriculum, the confidence teachers have in the self-directed capabilities of students, and the self-confidence of teachers regarding their own facilitation skills.     

Linkages between approaches to learning,perceived stress and expected and actual academic outcomes among first-semester psychology students

Previous research indicates that higher educational students’ perceptions of stress are in part related to the teaching and learning context, and influence academic outcomes. This study intends to deepen our understanding of these processes by examining the linkages between approaches to learning, perceived stress and expected and actual academic outcomes within a specific educational setting. First-semester psychology students (N = 191) completed a questionnaire, including short versions of ASSIST and PSS, and estimated their course grade before a written examination. Later, actual grades were added. The results suggest that surface approach to learning is positively associated with high levels of perceived stress, and reflected in lower levels of expected grades. The relationships between deep and strategic approaches to learning and perceived stress seem to be more ambivalent, despite positive associations with expected grades. Coping and motivational aspects of the concepts of surface and strategic approaches to learning seem to be crucial to understanding the linkages between the examined factors. Also, the significance of a strategic approach in relation to actual academic outcomes is highlighted.     

游戏化学习体验的质性分析研究

基于游戏化学习体验的基本理论框架,通过对学生游戏化学习体验的质性分析,本文探究了游戏化学习体验中认知体验与主体性体验的核心内容。本研究基于对多种资料的分析,归纳了游戏化学习过程中认知体验的过程要素,包含知识探究、学习迁移和认知成果;建构了主体性体验的核心要素,包括学习过程中的情绪状态、游戏与学习动机和反思意愿。对游戏化学习体验的核心内容的探究有助于理解游戏化学习行为,了解学生游戏化学习体验的个体差异,为教育游戏的设计和评估提供了重要参考。