Teacher Communication Patterns as Related to the Race and Sex of the Student

Abstract

This article summarizes previous research of teacher communication patterns related to student race and student sex and presents the findings of a study which examined the differences in teachers' verbal feedback statements to black and white and to male and female students.

The limited number of research studies which have investigated teacher communication patterns as related to the student's race can be categorized as experimental, naturalistic setting, and teacher perception studies. These studies are not easily interpreted and are difficult to replicate and generalize from. The literature regarding teacher communication as related to student sex differences is restricted by the same lack of internal coherence and idiosyncratic methodologies as the literature on race differences. Few studies have examined the interactive effects of student race and student sex.

The research presented here attends to this void in the research literature. Observational data were obtained from 67 classrooms in 10 schools in 4 school systems. The ANOVAs revealed two significant main effects for race, five main effects for sex, and three significant race/sex interactions. For the race variable, the researcher found that black students received more negative behavioral feedback and more positive-negative feedback than did white students. Females received significantly less total communication, less praise, less negative behavior feedback, less neutral procedure feedback, and less nonacademic feedback. The significant race/sex interactions emphasized the white female's infrequent communications with teachers. She received significantly less total communication than the other three sex/race groups. In addition, white females received less neutral behavioral feedback and less academic feedback than did white males.     

Designing effective,contemporary assessment on a flipped educational sciences course

ABSTRACT

Evidence shows flipped learning increases academic performance and student satisfaction. Yet, often practitioners flip instruction but keep traditional curricula and assessment. Assessment in higher education is often via written exams. But these provide limited feedback and do not ask students to put knowledge into practice. This does not support the tenets of flipped learning. For two years, the author flipped instruction but retained traditional curricula and assessment. However, on the author’s current course, all three aspects were redesigned to better support flipped learning. The aim of this research is to test the effectiveness of this redesign regarding student engagement and satisfaction. Thus, it is asked: How, on this course, can meaningful, continuous assessment be provided as well as effective, personalized feedback, while staying in line with the philosophy of flipped learning? Action research took place from September 2016 to June 2017. Quantitative data from a student survey, and qualitative data from a research diary and student focus group were gathered. What emerged is: a little-and-often assessment approach is effective for learning and engagement; tasks must be authentic and test demonstration of knowledge, not memory; quality, not quantity, is key for student learning; and students desire individualized feedback.     

Teachers’ use of research evidence in practice: a pilot study of feedback to enhance learning

Background: There is worldwide interest in improving the effectiveness of teachers and teaching. This paper considers two strands of that interest. It revisits the impact of using enhanced feedback from teachers to pupils as a way of improving attainment, and it looks at the feasibility of teachers using research evidence to create their own interventions. Current evidence on the causal impact of effective feedback on learning is unclear: many studies have mixed results, are small in scale, lack randomisation or are not conducted in real classroom conditions. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to describe the experience of schools as they engage with research evidence to support their own enquiry into the effectiveness of feedback in the classroom. Research design: This study took place over one academic year, involving nine treatment schools in one local authority. The study involved teachers themselves using research findings to create an intervention, which took, as its focus, enhanced feedback in the classroom. Test results from these schools were compared to the results in 5 participating comparator schools, to the 49 other schools in the borough and to all state-funded primary schools in England. Results: Although teachers showed that they could engage with research evidence, the study indicated that the process was complex in practice. In addition, the independent impact evaluation suggested that enhanced feedback in itself does not necessarily lead to improved pupil test performance. Discussion and conclusions: The paper considers some of the challenges faced by teachers as they attempted to use research evidence, and discusses implications for schools wishing to use research evidence in practice. The findings of the study suggest that it may be feasible for practitioners to use research evidence to inform their own practice. However, to do it well would require clearer guidance, professional development and modelling of any strategies suggested. These findings have implications for policy on teacher development, and for the research community to make research outputs more comprehensible and accessible to research users.     

'I Might as Well Give Up': Self-esteem and mature students' feelings about feedback on assignments

Lecturers working with adult students balance the need to provide feedback and assess students' work with a concern to protect vulnerable students. This article is based on a small-scale quantitative research project that looked at Access students' responses to feedback on assignments. All students found the first assignment problematic, but thereafter great variations were found, which related to varying levels of self-esteem. Students varied in their attitudes to receiving feedback, their perceptions of the messages they were receiving and whether it was important to them that they receive positive comments. They also differed in the extent of the impact of the feedback, for some students, it was 'only work'; for others, their whole sense of self was at stake.     

Exploring the Impact of Assessment on Medical Students’ Learning

Abstract

What and how students learn depend largely on how they think they will be assessed. This study aimed to explore medical students’ perception of the value of assessment and feedback on their learning, and how this relates to their examination performance. A mixed methods research design was adopted in which a questionnaire was developed and administered to the students to gain their perceptions of assessments. Perceptions were further explored in focus group discussions. Survey findings were correlated with students’ performance data and academic coordinators’ perceptions. Students’ perceptions of the level of difficulty of different assessments mirrored their performance in examinations, with an improvement observed in clinical assessments as students progressed through their degree. Students recognised that feedback is important to allow improvements and seek more timely, better quality and personalised feedback. Academic coordinators identified that some of the students’ suggestions are more realistic than others. Students had a positive attitude towards assessment, but emphasised the need for educators to highlight the relevance of assessment to clinical practice.     

Feedback practices in a sample of children with emotional and/or behavioral difficulties

Abstract

This study examined two aspects of feedback in a population of children displaying emotional and/or behavioral difficulties. The study explored the agreement in teachers' and children's reports of positive and corrective feedback, as well as the role of teachers' beliefs concerning the child's sensitivity to feedback. Teachers' sensitivity ratings were positively correlated with teachers' reports of positive feedback, indicating that teachers may give differential feedback based on the teachers' perceptions of the child's sensitivity to feedback rather than specifically on performance indicators. Discrepancies between teachers' and children's reports of feedback were also evident. Given the critical role of feedback in the academic and social adjustment of children with emotional and/or behavioral difficulties, implications of feedback practices are explored.     

An empirical review of anonymity effects in peer assessment,peer feedback,peer review,peer evaluation and peer grading

Abstract

Peer assessment has proven to have positive learning outcomes. Importantly, peer assessment is a social process and some claim that the use of anonymity might have advantages. However, the findings have not always been in the same direction. Our aims were: (a) to review the effects of using anonymity in peer assessment on performance, peer feedback content, peer grading accuracy, social effects and students’ perspective on peer assessment; and (b) to investigate the effects of four moderating variables (educational level, peer grading, assessment aids, direction of anonymity) in relation to anonymity. A literature search was conducted including five different terms related to peer assessment (e.g., peer feedback) and anonymity. Fourteen studies that used a control group or a within group design were found. The narrative review revealed that anonymous peer assessment seems to provide advantages for students’ perceptions about the learning value of peer assessment, delivering more critical peer feedback, increased self-perceived social effects, a slight tendency for more performance, especially in higher education and with less peer assessment aids. Some conclusions are that: (a) when implementing anonymity in peer assessment the instructional context and goals need to be considered, (b) existent empirical research is still limited, and (c) future research should employ stronger and more complex research designs.     

Assessment of Innovation Competency: A Thematic Analysis of Upper Secondary School Teachers’ Talk

ABSTRACT

The author employed a 3-step qualitative research design with multiple instances of source validation to capture expert teachers’ (n = 28) reflections on which manifest signs they would look for when they asses students’ innovation competency. The author reports on the thematic analysis of the recorded talk in interaction that occurred in teacher group discussion sessions at 5 upper secondary schools. Based on the analysis, it was possible to extrapolate assessment criteria for 5 subcompetencies relevant to innovation (creative competency, collaboration competency, navigation competency, action competency, and communication competency) as well as assessment criteria for a number of skills relevant to these subcompetencies. These assessment criteria, it is argued, largely resonate with existing literature and they provide a detailed glimpse into how assessment of innovation competency could be concretized within the framework of the existing disciplines.     

Introducing a scalable peer feedback system for learning teams

In the current research, we report on a peer feedback system for supporting student teamwork skill development during post-secondary education. The peer feedback system is part of a larger suite of assessments at ITPmetrics.com. This is a free assessment-based system that allows team members to provide round-robin ratings of each member’s effectiveness in the team on five dimensions (communication; commitment; foundation of knowledge, skills and abilities; emphasising high standards; and focus), as well as provide anonymous written feedback to supplement the numeric scores. Team members have access to a dashboard where they can complete the assessment and store assessment reports generated from their peers’ ratings. We summarise data from student learning teams suggesting that peer ratings are reliable (internally consistent, unidimensional and inter-rater correlated; n?>?85,000). Recommendations for implementation are provided with respect to pre-briefing, debriefing, and assessment schedules.     

FEEDBACK FROM CLASSROOM RESEARCH PROJECTS

A survey of faculty and administrators who successfully completed a staff development course on classroom feedback/ research techniques is reported. The results indicate two directions which classroom research activities appear to have taken. The first is an emphasis on the assessment of teaching over student achievement and learning skills. The second one involves a positive use of feedback results in the planning of follow‐up instructional activities. The value of classroom research endeavors appears to have outweighed the time it takes to prepare the assessment instruments, to implement the activities and to analyze the results. The paper concludes with a discussion of the need for institutional support systems to develop classroom research activities.     

Mapping the landscape of academic integrity education programs: what approaches are effective?

Abstract

Research has shown that academic integrity education programs can have a positive impact on student attitudes and reduce breaches of academic integrity. Although programs vary across institutions, there is relatively little research on their comparative efficacy. Accordingly, this study examines how higher education institutions in Australia and New Zealand approach academic integrity education in order to identify particular features that are considered to be most effective. Forty-four institutions are represented in this research, with data collected via a survey and semi-structured interviews with selected participants. The findings reveal that, in many cases, current academic integrity education programs appear to lack comprehensive information on values, the potential risks to integrity and the pitfalls of assessment outsourcing. Instead, curricula tended to focus on plagiarism, student responsibilities and referencing. Institutions employ a range of different communication and administration strategies to encourage uptake, and it was found that centrally administered programs that employed sanctions for non-completion appeared to be the most effective method for achieving compliance. Whilst the use of sanctions may support completion, it is argued that future academic integrity programs should also be collaboratively designed, drawing on a timely educational approach for skill development that incorporates learner feedback into the process with a greater emphasis on underpinning values.     

Undergraduate research as a student engagement springboard: Exploring the longer-term reported benefits of participation in a research conference

ABSTRACT

Background: Undergraduate research is evident in many forms across higher education: in journals, at conferences and on research placements. It is widely reported that undergraduate research can encourage the development of discipline-specific and transferable communication skills and, in some cases, a more complex development of higher-order critical appraisal. Recent studies of extracurricular undergraduate research conferences have also found that participants report a development of self-authorship and an appreciation of the conference as liminal and transformative space. With many published studies measuring immediate feedback surrounding conference events, there is also a need to explore participants’ reflections over a longer term period of time.

Purpose: This small-scale project investigated participants’ self-report of whether and in what ways participation in a non-assessed, extracurricular undergraduate research conference had impacted their academic and professional practices, one year after their involvement in the conference.

Method: The qualitative study took place over two academic years with participants from an undergraduate conference which was held annually. The investigation adopted an action research methodology and completed two cycles of research. Data were collected firstly through an online survey with open questions, yielding feedback from 44 respondents. Focus groups were then conducted with nine of these students to explore this data further. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data.

Findings: The two cycles of data collection and analyses resulted in the identification of four central themes: (1) general positive impact on studies or career; (2) the development of presentation skills and personal confidence; (3) the development of research skills and perspectives; (4) an increased engagement with extracurricular opportunities.

Conclusions: Overall, our analysis identified that participants reported a development in communication skills and an enhanced relationship with the concept of ‘research’ and self-authorship. Students’ report that participation directly led to increased engagement with additional extracurricular activities is particularly noteworthy, as it contributes something new to the growing body of literature surrounding undergraduate research. More widely, the study suggests the potential for undergraduate conferences to act as springboards for increased extracurricular engagement.     

The role of data analysis in inclusion processes and practices

This article outlines BPRS funded investigations into my own school's and other establishments' practices and processes within data analysis, needs identification and tracking of children's academic progress. It describes the evaluation of my school's then current practices and policies and the use of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with my own staff, and assessment coordinators and senior leaders within exemplar schools. As well as outlining the main findings of my research this article assesses the introduction of new models of assessment for my own staff and pupils. This article also highlights how my research developed and the way my research process changed as it continued.     

Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the role of technical communicators

In this article, we build on arguments in risk communication that the predominant linear risk communication models are problematic for their failure to consider audience and additional contextual issues. The “failure”; of these risk communication models has led, some scholars argue, to a number of ethical and communicative problems. We seek to extend the critique, arguing that “risk”; is socially constructed. The claim for the social construction of risk has significant implications for both risk communication and the roles of technical communicators in risk situations. We frame these implications as a “critical rhetoric”; of risk communication that (1) dissolves the separation of risk assessment from risk communication to locate epistemology within communicative processes; (2) foregrounds power in risk communication as a way to frame ethical audience involvement; (3) argues for the technical communicator as one possessing the research and writing skills necessary for the complex processes of constructing and communicating risk.     

Making learning effective – quantity and quality of pre-service teachers’ feedback

ABSTRACT

Feedback is an essential formative assessment practice that has the potential to influence student learning and achievement positively. Providing effective feedback, however, is a challenging task for teachers. Especially beginning teachers struggle with the provision of information that supports students in developing and improving their competences. Learning to provide feedback thus is an important aspect of teacher education. The present exploratory study investigates pre-service chemistry teachers’ practices regarding the judgement of students’ level of achievement and the provision of feedback in the context of the control-of-variables strategy. A sample of N?=?40 bachelor and master students at Kiel University judged students’ written artefacts and provided feedback with the aim to support students in their progression towards the learning goals. The quality of the feedback was coded with respect to its correct judgement of the students’ current levels of achievement and the support it provided regarding next steps in learning. The results show that only a few of the pre-service teachers could correctly judge students’ current levels of achievement and provide feedback that is expected to be effective. Overall, the findings indicate a need for more research in this field and a need for the implementation of formative assessment practices as a topic in pre-service teacher education.     

MAKING THE CONNECTION THROUGH STAFFING: MECHANISMS TO INCREASE CONSISTENCY BETWEEN UNIVERSITY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION COURSES AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LAB SCHOOL PRACTICES

Abstract

A team of early childhood teacher education faculty developed the 3‐D talent development model of teacher education, blending theory and research from many sources. These sources include research on talent development, nonuniversal development, and roles of teachers and their professional growth. The faculty integrated constructs from these sources into a program rooted in principles of social constructivism. Using the 3‐D model, the faculty team identified their task as taking students of teaching through the phases of discovery, discipline, and divergence. Assessments that we developed needed to correspond to this conceptual framework, moving us away from traditional types of student assessment. In this article we offer a synopsis of the talent development model; review five of the approaches to student assessment we use, including alternative assessment activities, “Employmee” feedback forms, electronic portfolios, state teacher evaluation frameworks, and action research projects; and articulate the linkages between our approach to assessment and the talent development model of teacher education.     

The conundrum of low achievement and feedback for learning

Abstract

The literature on improving student engagement with assessment and feedback has a tendency to treat all students as if they are the same. Students with lower levels of attainment are generally under-represented within empirical studies and their feedback behaviours are less well understood. The recent drive to improve student assessment and feedback literacy and the move from ‘feedback’ being information about a task to being a process of understanding and using performance information is a larger conceptual leap for some students than others. In this paper, we consider issues surrounding the transition to new modes of feedback, focussing on what is needed for those who find study difficult and persistently are disappointed by their levels of attainment, to benefit from and take advantage of our feedback pedagogies. We examine literature advocating strategies such as increasing agency, using praise, developing feedback literacy and cultivating a growth mind-set. We argue that students who underachieve may benefit from strong relationships with educators and peers, exposure to feedback rich, low stakes environments, which permit repeated integrations of practice and feedback, and building feedback literacy through peer assessment activities.     

Teacher Professional Growth on Assessment Literacy: A Case Study of Prevocational Geography Education in the Netherlands

Abstract

Teachers should have the necessary assessment knowledge and skills to contribute to students’ learning. This study provides insight into how a professional development program for teachers contributed to the achievement of higher mastery levels of assessment literacy. This study used Xu and Brown's TALiP (Teacher Assessment Literacy in Practice) framework to achieve these higher levels. To evaluate the extent to which teachers demonstrated professional growth regarding their assessment literacy, teachers’ practices were evaluated through a content analysis of summative assessments. Potential changes in teachers’ knowledge, skills, and beliefs were measured through questionnaires and interviews. The outcomes showed that reflection on educational goals and on teachers’ beliefs, collaborative practice, and peer feedback played an important role in fostering higher mastery levels in assessment literacy. The outcomes of this study support the value of the TALiP framework and support the idea that professional growth could be fostered via diverse growth pathways.     

Lecturers’ views of assessment design,marking and feedback in higher education: a case for professionalisation?

Abstract

Research on professional assessment practice in higher education does not always take account of lecturers’ perceptions and experiences, or their disciplinary context. This questionnaire study was designed to explore lecturers’ views about three inter-related elements of professional assessment practice: assessment design, marking and feedback. It consisted of two questionnaires: the Assessment Design Inventory (ADI), previously published, and the Assessment, Marking and Feedback Inventory (AMFI) which was newly developed for this study. The two main purposes of the research were to: i) establish the validity of these two questionnaires as research tools, ii) explore the existence of professional practice in assessment and analyse any perceived hindrances as well as possible effects of participants’ subject discipline. 356 lecturers from two UK universities, with a range of teaching experience and representing soft and hard disciplines, took part. Results indicated that the ADI and the AMFI were robust instruments. Findings showed evidence of assessment professionalism, but also some areas where it was lacking, together with a perceived need for formal training. Participants recognised that there were certain hindrances in putting their pedagogical beliefs into practice. The implications of this study are discussed in terms of advancing the sector’s understanding of assessment professionalism.