Leading learning and teaching: an exploration of ‘local’ leadership in academic departments in the UK

This paper reports on a small-scale longitudinal study of ‘local’ leadership roles at two UK universities. The research explored perceptions of the leadership provided by a specific group of staff who held roles for enhancing learning and teaching. Based on ethnographic design principles, the study was based at one UK higher education institution with another as a comparator. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with ‘local’ leadership role-holders and their colleagues. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with academic managers. Analysis of the data was based on grounded theory and thematic analysis. The discussion and conclusion suggests that, to maximize the impact of these roles, the leadership aspects of them should be made explicit, recognized by colleagues at all levels and supported by leadership development. Further investigation into local leaders’ career progression may provide valuable insights for the relatively limited body of knowledge and practice of leadership within professional teams.     

Leading learning and teaching: an exploration of ‘local’ leadership in academic departments in the UK

Tertiary Education and Management - This paper reports on a small-scale longitudinal study of ‘local’ leadership roles at two UK universities. The research explored perceptions of the...     

‘Absent fathers’, and children’s social and emotional learning: an exploration of the perceptions of ‘positive male role models’ in the primary school sector

This paper focuses on the testimonies of three male primary school staff members who utilised social and emotional learning (SEL) in their everyday practice within their respective schools. The data, collected through individual interviews, illustrate how these three men interpreted SEL, and their role in the development of children’s social, emotional and behavioural (SEB) skills, in response to their perceptions of pupils’ home-life. In particular, the sample identified the children’s fathers’ perceived ability/inability as a main cause of pupils’ SEB deficiencies. Consequently, the three male staff members maintained that in order to advocate and encourage alternative, appropriate behaviours, they should act as ‘replacement fathers’ and become ‘role models’. The findings contribute to existing debates relating to the notion of ‘positive male role models’ in primary schools and the propensity for staff to engage in parental blame. The implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions that call for a more democratic and cooperative exchange of knowledge between parents and teachers are made.     

Not just a ‘boy problem’: an exploration of the complexities surrounding literacy under-achievement

This paper examines literacy under-achievement and the limitations of gender-based literacy reforms grounded in essentialist notions of masculinity. It draws on qualitative case-study research conducted in one Ontario secondary school in a working-class community. It focuses on two grade 9 students and their teacher who participated in a larger study which examines how the norms and values associated with school-based literacy practices contribute to under-achievement. The cases highlighted in this paper are employed to raise critical questions about the way in which literacy under-achievement continues to be articulated as a ‘boy problem’. This paper also illustrates how the complex and situated nature of the students’ gendered and classed identities, interwoven with contextual and pedagogical factors, contribute to literacy under-achievement for some boys and some girls. In addition, it argues that the disjuncture between in- and out-of-school literacy practices warrants further study.     

‘Being in the World’: The event of learning

This paper employs an eclectic mix of paradigms in order to discuss constituting characteristics of young children's learning experiences. Drawing upon a phenomenological perspective it examines learning as a form of ‘Being’ and as the result of learners’ engagement with the world in their own, unique, intentional manners. The learners’ intentions towards their world are expressed in everyday activity and participation. A social constructivist perspective is thus employed to present learning as situated in meaningful socio‐cultural contexts of the everyday, lived world and as a form of participation in those settings. These characteristics of learning are brought together into a holistic, synthesised model, a Gestalt of learning. The proposed synthesis has relevance for and is applicable to educational contexts as a means of making sense of children's learning experiences and of promoting and facilitating them.     

Americans ‘support’ the idea of tuition-free college: an exploration of sentiment and political identity signals otherwise

In January 2015, President Obama captured headlines in the US by announcing America’s College Promise (ACP), a policy that would reverse four decades of privatisation in higher education by making community colleges ‘tuition-free’. This research explores the conversation that unfolded across the Facebook pages of various media sources. Key phrases associated with sentiments and communication styles are uncovered using a Bag of Words (BoW) technique. Next, guided by political identity theory, the researchers employ logistic regression to explore variable effects (e.g. source, gender, race, age and political leaning) on communicating: (1) Against ACP, (2) in a Civil manner, and (3) Against/Civil/On-Topic. BoW models suggest those against the policy utilise anti-free-ride, privatisation rhetoric, whereas those using uncivil language attack commentators and groups who counter personally-held political beliefs – while also introducing non-sequiturs from other policies (e.g. healthcare and immigration). The combined communication styles unlocked tokens not found in larger sentiments, such as concerns over student loan debt. Logistic regression illustrates that, depending on sentiment or communication style explored, political identities and memberships associated with source and political alignment significantly affected likelihoods of communicating in the conversation. These findings are linked back to political identity theory.     

‘Going global’: conceptualization of the ‘other’ and interpretation of cross-cultural experience in an all-white,rural learning environment

Based on an ethnographic case study done in an all-white, rural middle school, this article examines the students’ experience with and interpretation of an international education program implemented with a hope of providing more global/international contents to the curriculum. The study shows that these students interpreted other cultures introduced by the program in relation to their own culture and their own identity formation. The process of local ‘othering’ within the student school community was analogous to that of the students’ collective ‘othering’ of unfamiliar non-US cultures. The idea of US-centrism based on US consumer culture became the main standard against which the ‘otherness’ of different cultures were measured. The findings show how prejudice and stereotyping of global others derive from both the everyday process of differentiation in local home cultures and defense of national culture.     

Student-centred learning environments: an investigation into student teachers’ instructional preferences and approaches to learning

The use of student-centred learning environments in education has increased. This study investigated student teachers’ instructional preferences for these learning environments and how these preferences are related to their approaches to learning. Participants were professional Bachelor students in teacher education. Instructional preferences and approaches to learning were measured by means of questionnaires. Results showed that most students preferred teacher direction, cooperative learning and knowledge construction, and adopted a deep approach. Moreover, significant correlations were found between approaches to learning and instructional preferences. Students adopting a deep approach preferred knowledge construction and cooperative learning, while students adopting a surface approach had a preference for teacher direction and passive learning.     

‘I’ll take care of the flowers!’ Researching agency through initiatives across different learning environments

ABSTRACT

This case study examined how the agency of a fifth-grade pupil appeared across different learning environments in the primary school context. In this study, agency is defined as the initiatives taken by an individual in interactive situations. The research question is: how does a pupil’s agency manifest and vary through taking initiatives across different learning environments within curriculum-based education? The empirical data consist of 50 video episodes including learning activities in a classroom, in a vegetable garden and on a nearby farm. The findings show that the pupil’s agency varied across learning environments, manifesting itself through complementing, supportive, constructive and challenging initiatives. When developing pedagogy that supports learning across formal and informal learning environments, it is essential to enable pupils to take different kinds of initiatives and to exercise their agency in versatile contexts.     

‘If they're the customer,I'm the meat in the sandwich’: an exploration of tertiary teachers' metaphorical constructions of teaching

Metaphors are a primary influence on the way we perceive and construct our world; they are also a way of revealing beliefs and attitudes that might otherwise be difficult to identify. Furthermore, metaphor has been found to be an effective way of shifting people's beliefs, attitudes and behaviour. This paper details the findings of a pilot study designed to explore New Zealand tertiary teachers' understanding of the consumer metaphor, and metaphor more generally, within tertiary education. Examining the responses of over 200 tertiary teachers to questions concerning their use of metaphor in relation to teaching, using Sfard [1998. On two metaphors of learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educational Researcher, 27, 4–13] and Martinez and colleagues' [2001. Metaphors as blueprints of thinking about teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(8), 965–977.] system of categorising metaphor, our findings suggest that teachers are generally resistant to the consumer metaphor as it is applied to tertiary education. However, rather than rejecting the metaphor outright, teachers have tended to transform the metaphor from a purely behaviourist interpretation to a more cognitive interpretation, thus repositioning the student as active within the teacher?learner relationship, and focusing on transformation or enlightenment as the product of learning. The ambiguity of the metaphor may be contributing to a mismatch of expectations between teachers, institutions and policy-makers.     

Analyzing the temporal evolution of students’ behaviors in open-ended learning environments

Metacognition and self-regulation are important for developing effective learning in the classroom and beyond, but novice learners often lack effective metacognitive and self-regulatory skills. However, researchers have demonstrated that metacognitive processes can be developed through practice and appropriate scaffolding. Betty’s Brain, an open-ended computer-based learning environment, helps students practice their cognitive skills and develop related metacognitive strategies as they learn science topics. In this paper, we analyze students’ activity sequences in a study that compared different categories of adaptive scaffolding in Betty’s Brain. The analysis techniques for measuring students’ cognitive and metacognitive processes extend our previous work on using sequence mining methods to discover students’ frequently-used behavior patterns by (i) developing a systematic approach for interpreting derived behavior patterns using a cognitive/metacognitive task model and (ii) analyzing the evolution of students’ frequent behavior patterns over time. Our results show that it is possible to identify students’ learning behaviors and analyze their evolution as they work in the Betty’s Brain environment. Further, the results illustrate that changes in student behavior were generally consistent with the scaffolding provided, suggesting that these metacognitive strategies can be taught to middle school students in computer-based learning environments.     

Towards adaptive open learning environments: Evaluating the precision of identifying learning styles by tracking learners’ behaviours

Open learning represents a new form of online learning where courses are provided freely online for large numbers of learners. MOOCs are examples of this form of learning. The authors see an opportunity for personalising open learning environments by adapting to learners’ learning styles and providing adaptive support to meet individual learner needs and preferences. Identifying learning styles of learners in open learning environments is crucial to providing adaptive support. Learning styles refer to the manner in which learners receive and perceive information. In the literature, a number of learning style models have been proposed. The Felder and Silverman Learning Styles Model (FSLSM) has been selected as the most appropriate model for open learning. In previous studies two approaches have been used to automatically identify learning styles based on the FSLSM. These approaches are known as the data-driven method and the literature-based method. In the literature, the literature-based method has been shown to be more accurate in identifying learning styles. This method relies on tracking learners’ interactions with the provided learning objects based on a set of pre-determined patterns that help in inferring learning styles. The patterns are monitored based on pre-identified threshold values. This paper aims to apply the literature-based method to open learning environments and introduce the optimal patterns and threshold values for identifying learning styles based on the FSLSM. To achieve this aim, a study was conducted whereby a prototype that simulates the open learning environment was developed and piloted on an undergraduate IT course so that learner behaviour could be tracked and data could be collected. Next, different sets of threshold values from the literature were considered along with some updated threshold values considering the context of open learning environments, and the precision of identifying learning styles was calculated. Eighty-three students participated in the study and used the developed prototype. Precision results from different threshold values presented in the literature along with customised threshold values for this study are reported and analysed in this paper. It is shown that threshold values derived from literature and customised to suit open learning environments provide a high level of accuracy in identifying learning styles. The paper presents the first study of its kind in evaluating threshold values and precision in identifying learning styles based on the FSLSM in open learning environments. The results are promising and indicate that the proposed methodology is efficient in detecting learning styles in open learning environments and useful for developing an adaptive framework.     

Understanding ‘green chemistry’ and ‘sustainability’: an example of problem-based learning (PBL)*

Background: This study uses problem-based learning (PBL) to ensure that students comprehend the significance of green chemistry better by experiencing the stages of identifying the problem, developing hypotheses, and providing solutions within the problem-solving process.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to research the effect of PBL implemented in cation analysis experiments in an analytical chemistry laboratory course on students’ level of understanding of the subject of ‘Green Chemistry and Sustainability’.

The study group: The study group consists of second-grade students who participated in an Analytical Chemistry Laboratory within the General Chemistry III course in the Department of Science Education of the Faculty of Education of a state university in Turkey (N = 63).

Design and methods: Quasi-experimental design was used in this research. Students were randomly divided into two groups, an experimental group (N = 31) and a control group (N = 32). Laboratory experiments in which qualitative and quantitative cation group analyses were conducted were carried out in the experimental group with PBL that involved five different scenarios inspired by daily life. In the control group, experiments were performed as closed-ended experiments. The ‘Green Chemistry and Sustainability Test’ (GCST) and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection tools. The independent sample t-test was used in determining whether there was a significant difference between groups by GCST, reviewing pre-test–post-test scores for the control and experimental groups, and semi-structured interviews were analyzed by content analysis.

Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference in favor of the experimental group in GCST post-test scores (t = 10.554, p < 0.05). Considering students’ opinions, there were positive statements, such as that they had taken an active role and had their interest aroused interest since problems in the experiments were related to daily life.

Conclusion: PBL enhanced students’ level of understanding of green chemistry and sustainability subjects and helped them obtain a different perspective in terms of environmental awareness.     

Investigating the effect of an adaptive learning intervention on students’ learning

Educators agree on the benefits of adaptive learning, but evidence-based research remains limited as the field of adaptive learning is still evolving within higher education. In this study, we investigated the impact of an adaptive learning intervention to provide remedial instruction in biology, chemistry, math, and information literacy to first-year students (n = 128) entering a pharmacy professional degree program. Using a mixed methods design, we examined students’ learning in each of the four content areas, their experience using the adaptive system, and student characteristics as related to their choice of participating in the intervention. The findings showed the adaptive learning intervention helped address the knowledge gap for chemistry, but the same effect was not observed for the other three content areas. Math anxiety was the only student characteristic that showed a significant relationship with students’ participation. While the students reported an overall positive experience, the results also revealed time factor and several design flaws that could have contributed to the lack of more student success. The findings highlight the importance of design in adaptive learning.     

Students’ views of environments for learning from the primary to the secondary school

Research on transfer has alerted us to the anxieties that students experience as they move from a smaller school to a bigger school, and how the sudden differences in space, size, and their own position within a large organization can affect their identities as learners. Drawing on interviews with students in their first year in secondary school, this chapter examines the differences that students see as important in moving from the primary school to the secondary school. Three topics are discussed: freedom of movement, seating, and classroom display.     

The development of strong career learning environments: the project ‘Career Orientation and Guidance’ in Dutch vocational education

Schools are increasingly acknowledging their responsibility to guide students in their career development. However, the guidance that is provided in the Netherlands, as well as in other Western countries, focuses for the most part on helping students towards their academic achievement, and not on helping them to develop competencies to manage their own career. In order to promote this type of career guidance, 37 secondary vocational schools in the Netherlands participated in a project that offered a training programme, aiming to teach teachers how to conduct career dialogues with students. The programme offers expert guidance to integrate a dialogical approach to career guidance and a more enquiry- and practice-based curriculum in the school’s vision and policy. In this article, the results of semi-structured interviews with 50 teachers who participated in the project are presented. These interviews were conducted right after the start of the project, to study how teachers perceive the initial situation regarding career development in their schools, as well as their perception of the initiated plans and ambitions for development, both in their own learning environment and the learning environment of their students.     

The importance of prior knowledge and assessment for increasing efficiency of the learning processes,especially in ‘problem-based’ powerful learning environments

Abstract

Does it help one to know how a Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron 1989 looks, smells and tastes in Montpellier, when in fact one is in the process of tasting a Pichon Longueville Baron 1990 at home in a dark and humid cellar at 14 degrees? How important is prior knowledge and assessment for learning in higher education?

The present paper provides a theortical background concerning activation prior knowledge, using new assessment methods and applying a new learning process model referred to as powelful learning environments. Recent research has shown that increasing efficiency in learning can be achieved by introducing powerful learning, building on the students' prior knowledge and making use of multiple functions of assessment tools. Different concepts, methods and effects are explained in the paper with regard to their use in real classrooms. A model is outlined for integrating learning, instruction and assessment.

Attendants to the session in Montpellier should not only be prepared to taste a good glass of French claret wine, but should also be interested in thinking and working interactively. The presentation itself will elaborate on some of these and will focus practical applications in agricultural higher education.     

Re-engaged students’ perceptions of mainstream and flexible learning environments – a ‘semi-quantitative’ approach

ABSTRACT

Flexible Learning Options (FLOs) attempt to enable secondary school completion by young people for whom ‘mainstream’ schooling has not worked well. Despite their proliferation and the increased research attention to understanding the mechanisms at work within such programmes, quantitative methods have not been utilised to compare participants’ perceptions of the learning environments of FLOs and mainstream schools. This study describes the development and application of a quantitative instrument to assess re-engaged Australian students’ perceptions of an FLO relative to their previous (mainstream) schools. Findings indicate that, on average, young people rate the learning environment more highly at the FLO than at the mainstream school from which they disengaged, indicating that the learning environment of the FLO aligns more closely with the needs of its student cohort. However, bimodal results for some instrument items highlight that the learning environment is influential, but not necessarily a precondition of school disengagement or re-engagement. Implications of this study are considered, with attention to the complexities that mainstream schools and FLOs negotiate in creating effective learning environments for diverse young people.     

Students’ experience of synchronous learning in distributed environments

This article reports on a two-year ethnographic study of learners participating in multi-site, graduate-level education classes. Classes sometimes met face-to-face in the same physical location; at other times part of the class met physically elsewhere. Yet all were linked through the virtual space. Ethnographic analysis of four data types explored how the instructor and students were able to interact through videoconferencing technologies. Most of the interaction occurred between the local and distance learners by way of cultural guides, local students assigned to host a distance learner through Google Video chat. The distance learners were able to receive real-time attention from the instructor and were able to share differing perspectives that contributed to increased satisfaction in the course. These interactions allowed for a dynamic collaborative effort among a diverse set of actors in the field of education.     

‘No escape from the hard things of the world’: learning the lessons of empire

Educating older adults (in the so‐called third age) is becoming an increasingly important activity for the elderly, above all because it empowers them, while at the same time reducing their social exclusion. The aim of this paper is to closely examine the actual state of affairs and the education possibilities for older adults in Slovenia. The article deals with a secondary analysis of data that was collected in three Slovene researches dealing with the participation of adults in the education process in 1987, 1998 and 2004. The purpose of the analysis is to examine te changes in the participation of the older adults, their motivation for education and barriers that have dissuaded them from education. Special attention is devoted to the development of the offer of educational programmes for older adults in Slovenia. The authors state that the offer of education for older adults has improved between 1987 and 2004, while the participation has declined. The older adults mentioned a number of various barriers that represent the reasons for the decline in their participation, however the major obstacle is the low educational level of older adults.