Exploring a Monetary Union among Nations through Active Learning

Abstract

This article presents a classroom project that employs various techniques of active learning including role-playing, collaborative group work and writing. The project explores the recent creation of the European Monetary Union (EMU) with special emphasis on the introduction of the euro. The project assumes that the Americas have begun preliminary discussion on forming a monetary union of their own—complete with a single currency and single central bank. Students act as country representatives in the negotiation for an American Monetary Union (AMU). The purpose of the project is to give students a chance to examine the broader issues of regional currency arrangements and to understand how the process of monetary unification operates.     

Boundaries as mechanisms for learning in emergency exercises with students from emergency service organisations

To prepare emergency response organisations for collaborative work in unpredictable and dynamic situations, various types of exercises are widely used. Still, our knowledge of collaboration exercises with emergency response students is limited. This study aimed to contribute to this field by exploring boundaries that emerged between collaborating organisations in exercise activities and how these boundaries could be understood for learning. Drawing on the Akkerman and Bakker framework of boundaries as learning mechanisms, this study explored an exercise, including full-scale scenarios and seminars with students from the police, ambulance and rescue services education in Sweden. Thematic analysis of interviews and observations illustrated boundaries that emerged regarding vocabulary, prioritisation, roles, knowledge gaps and overlapping responsibilities across organisations. Rather than dissolving boundaries, this article suggests that boundaries can be utilised in exercises to support the students to contextualise their knowledge in relation to the demands of collaborative work. The concepts boundary work and boundary awareness were suggested to capture more generally the dynamics of learning in exercise contexts.     

Effects of image‐based and text‐based active learning exercises on student examination performance in a musculoskeletal anatomy course

Research on the benefits of visual learning has relied primarily on lecture‐based pedagogy, but the potential benefits of combining active learning strategies with visual and verbal materials on learning anatomy has not yet been explored. In this study, the differential effects of text‐based and image‐based active learning exercises on examination performance were investigated in a functional anatomy course. Each class session was punctuated with an average of 12 text‐based and image‐based active learning exercises. Participation data from 231 students were compared with their examination performance on 262 questions associated with the in‐class exercises. Students also rated the helpfulness and difficulty of the in‐class exercises on a survey. Participation in the active learning exercises was positively correlated with examination performance (r = 0.63, P < 0.001). When controlling for other key demographics (gender, underrepresented minority status) and prior grade point average, participation in the image‐based exercises was significantly correlated with performance on examination questions associated with image‐based exercises (P < 0.001) and text‐based exercises (P < 0.01), while participation in text‐based exercises was not. Additionally, students reported that the active learning exercises were helpful for seeing images of key ideas (94%) and clarifying key course concepts (80%), and that the image‐based exercises were significantly less demanding, less hard and required less effort than text‐based exercises (P < 0.05). The findings confirm the positive effect of using images and active learning strategies on student learning, and suggest that integrating them may be especially beneficial for learning anatomy. Anat Sci Educ 10: 444–455. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

数据库系列课程实验教学的探索

尝试在实践性教学环节采纳研究性教学理念,以培养学生的主动学习能力和创新能力;精心设计多层次实验及其实施办法,以鼓励学生主动学习和积极参与;在综合性实验和设计性实验中以项目为中心采用分组协作的方法进行管理,以培养学生的团队协作能力.     

Active learning promoting student teachers’ professional competences in Finland and Turkey

This study investigates student teachers’ active learning experiences in teacher education (TE) in Finnish and Turkish contexts and attempts to determine how active learning methods’ impact student teachers’ professional competences. Student teachers (N = 728) assessed their active learning experiences and the professional competences they achieved during TE. Self-regulated and collaborative learning provided the theoretical framework for the active learning measurements. The professional competences included a wide range of teacher responsibilities in schools and society. The data were collected by a survey. A quantitative analysis utilising a regression analysis approach provided strong evidence that active learning has an impact on professional competences. A qualitative analysis further revealed that active knowledge creation with high engagement in learning tasks and a collaborative learning culture were important modes of active learning. While the study focused on two different TE systems, active learning was important in student teachers’ professional development in both contexts.     

Interactive learning environments and games

Undergraduate psychometrics classes often use computer-intensive active learning projects. However, little research has examined active learning or computer-intensive projects in psychometrics courses. We describe two computer-intensive collaborative learning projects used to teach the design and evaluation of psychological tests. Course evaluations were significantly above the department average, and students perceived the projects as effective in meeting course objectives and improving computer skills. Grades on these projects were unrelated to self-reported computer background, suggesting that all students can succeed at computer-intensive projects when instructors provide adequate support and create a collaborative learning environment.     

基于WEB环境协作学习的有效性探索及应用模式构建

随着计算机和网络技术的发展,基于WEB的协作学习已经成为CSCL的研究热点。本文通过对协作学习（CL）、计算机支持的协作学习（CSCL）和基于网络的协作学习（WEBCL）的介绍,讨论了影响WEBCL有效性的因子,构建了一个WEBCL的应用模式,并在教学上进行试验,取得了一定的成果。     

Game design and learning: a conjectural analysis of how massively multiple online role-playing games (MMORPGs) foster intrinsic motivation

During the past two decades, the popularity of computer and video games has prompted games to become a source of study for educational researchers and instructional designers investigating how various aspects of game design might be appropriated, borrowed, and re-purposed for the design of educational materials. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of how the structure in massively multiple online role-playing games (MMORPGs) might inform the design of interactive learning and game-based learning environments by looking at the elements which support intrinsic motivation. Specifically, this analysis presents (a) an overview of the two primary elements in MMORPGs game design: character design and narrative environment, (b) a discussion of intrinsic motivation in character role-playing, (c) a discussion of intrinsic motivational supports and cognitive support of the narrative structure of small quests, and (d) a discussion of how the narrative structure of MMORPGs might foster learning in various types of knowledge.     

协作学习理念的探究与展望

协作学习作为一种教学理念,在国内外教育领域中发挥了重要的作用。协作学习的内涵可以归纳为三点：主动学习和知识构建,学习中的合作和团队活动,通过解决问题来学习的内涵和理论基础。协作学习有着广泛的社会学、心理学和教育学基础。文章在介绍理论的基础上,辨析了它的两种形式：合作学习和狭义的协作学习,概括了它在学习领域中的重要作用,并结合时代特点,展望了协作学习的发展前景。     

The Flipped Classroom of Operations Management: A Not‐For‐Cost‐Reduction Platform

By delivering lectures online using screen capture technology, students can learn course material at the time and location of their choice, when they are in control to pause, rewind, and fast forward the professor. Class time is no longer spent teaching basic concepts, but rather focused on more value‐added activities such as problem solving, systems thinking and active learning, as well as potential collaborative exercises such as case studies, web‐based simulation games, and real‐world applications. A flipped classroom is an online course because its online components must compete with the best of the online courses. It is also a traditional course since not even a single class session is cancelled while all the lectures are delivered online. This core concept is reinforced by a network of resources and learning processes to ensure a smooth, lean, and synchronized course delivery system. Our pilot statistical analysis indicates that a flipped classroom, when implemented in a quantitative and analytical course, can outperform its alternatives.     

Faculty do Matter: The Role of College Faculty in Student Learning and Engagement

This study uses two national data sets to explore the relationship between faculty practices and student engagement. Our findings suggest that students report higher levels of engagement and learning at institutions where faculty members use active and collaborative learning techniques, engage students in experiences, emphasize higher-order cognitive activities in the classroom, interact with students, challenge students academically, and value enriching educational experiences.     

How Children Regulate their Own Collaborative Learning

In this article we analyze the dialogic learning of one pair of students in order to investigate how these students cope with a collaborative learning situation in the classroom. Our aim is to substantiate the claims that not only are young students (8 year olds) capable of solving mathematical problems collaboratively, but that they also take an active role in regulating their collaborative learning activities. More specifically, our claim is that children appear to apply constructs of “mathematical level raising”, “social interaction” and “division of time” to steer their own collaborative learning and that they are rather successful in balancing these three aspects. The analysis is exploratory, but this new perspective on collaborative learning is relevant theoretically and consequential for classroom practice.     

Student perceptions of an upper-level, undergraduate human anatomy laboratory course without cadavers

Several programs in health professional education require or are considering requiring upper-level human anatomy as prerequisite for their applicants. Undergraduate students are confronted with few institutions offering such a course, in part because of the expense and logistical issues associated with a cadaver-based human anatomy course. This study describes the development of and student reactions to an upper-level human anatomy laboratory course for undergraduate students that used a regional approach and contemporary, alternative teaching methods to a cadaver-based course. The alternative pedagogy to deliver the curriculum included use of commercially available, three-dimensional anatomical virtual dissection software, anatomical models coupled with a learning management system to offer Web-based learning, and a new laboratory manual with collaborative exercises designed to develop the student's anatomical skills and collaborative team skills. A Likert-scale survey with open-ended questions was used to ascertain student perceptions of the course and its various aspects. Students perceived that the noncadaver-based, upper-level human anatomy course with an engaging, regional approach is highly valuable in their learning of anatomy. anatomy.     

More than chalkboards: classroom spaces and collaborative learning attitudes

Learning Environments Research - The well-known benefits of collaborative learning have prompted the development of active learning classrooms that are designed to facilitate peer interaction....     

"第二人生"与数字化游戏式学习环境

“第二人生”（Second Life）是一部模拟真实的大型多人在线角色扮演游戏，它巧妙融合了联网游戏和在线虚拟社区的诸多概念，创造了一种新型的网络空间。SL为信息时代的学习、教育提供了积极的、浸润式的数字化游戏式学习环境，一些大学和教育机构已经开始使用SL，鼓励师生探索、学习和合作。基于人与人、人与对象、对象与对象三种活动方式，SL中的教育潜力可以被不断发掘出来。     

中学数学协同阅读学习方略研究

通过调研可知,中学生的数学阅读、分析、解决问题的能力有待提高,可将协同阅读运用到数学阅读中来,从激活相关信息、加强迁移能力和注重整体协同三个方面定义了数学协同阅读学习策略,然后通过实验,分阶段让学生进行协同阅读的运用,由此学生学会了运用数学协同阅读,并提高了学生的分析能力、迁移能力、想象能力,以及自主学习能力与解题效率。     

Absent and Accounted For: Absenteeism and Cooperative Learning*

In a small section collaborative learning environment where student work teams promote mutual learning about investments, students limit the opportunity to learn from other students if they are absent from class. Absenteeism not only denies the student the opportunity to learn from others but also denies other members of the student's work team the opportunity to learn from the absent student. Other team members' absenteeism should be costly for individual performance if collaborative learning fosters learning and retention. The research finds that while absenteeism is detrimental to the student's own performance, absenteeism of other team members from team activities has a significant negative effect on both individual exam and homework scores. The conclusions validate the benefits of active learning and of encouraging attendance in collaborative learning environments in all disciplines.     

Emergent patterns of teaching/learning in electronic classrooms

Novel patterns of teaching/learning have emerged from faculty and students who use our three teaching/learning theaters at the University of Maryland, College Park. These fully-equipped electronic classrooms have been used by 74 faculty in 264 semester-long courses since the fall of 1991 with largely enthusiastic reception by both faculty and students. The designers of the teaching/learning theaters sought to provide a technologically rich environment and a support staff so that faculty could concentrate on changing the traditional lecture from its unidirectional information flow to a more collaborative activity. As faculty have evolved their personal styles in using the electronic classrooms, novel patterns of teaching/learning have emerged. In addition to enhanced lectures, we identified three common patterns: (a) active individual learning, (b) small-group collaborative learning, and (c) entire-class collaborative learning.     

基于学习共同体的“校-研-教”华文校本协同研究术

新加坡华文教学队伍在教育部的鼓励与推动下,近10年掀起了以改进华文教学为出发点的校本研究风。当前已有的以学者专家为主导和以一线教师为主导的两种研究模式,都对教师专业成长和教学质量持续提升帮助甚微。协同研究主张结合研究者和实践者的经验与专长,共谋专业知识的提升和实践有效的教学形式,为校本研究提供了一个新的研究方向。南洋理工大学下属新加坡华文教研中心参与的两项校本研究案例显示,基于学习共同体的校本协同研究是提高教学质量、促使教师反思、促进教师教育技术专业发展的有效手段。成功的校本研究,要建立学校领导、研究人员和教师三方组成的“校一研一教”学习共同体,以“协同研究”为取向,建立对研究课题目的、方法和策略的研究共识,合理分工,促进与提高“互补性贡献”,抑制或消除“矛盾性期待”,充分发挥三方的经验与专长,促进教师反思与专业成长,实现教学质量的实质性提高。     

基于演化博弈的航空专业产学研协同创新策略

为解决航空专业产学研协同创新效率不高、创新意愿低的问题,构建产学研协同创新的演化博弈模型。博弈双方采用“积极合作”和“消极合作”两种策略,通过对协同创新行为的动态演化博弈和参数变化的分析,明确其演化机理与均衡稳定性。研究结果表明协同创新风险系数的增加、创新资源水平差距及学习能力差距的扩大,促使创新主体选择“消极合作策略”;协同创新预期收益的提高会增加选择“积极合作策略”的概率。并从政府引导支持、动态分配协同创新收益与成本、“双师双能型”教师队伍建设、学术团队建设四个方面提出对策建议,以促进航空专业产学研协同创新的快速发展。