What influences Chinese undergraduates’ time management in online groupwork? An empirical investigation

The present investigation examines models of factors influencing time management in online groupwork for Chinese undergraduates. Multilevel findings showed that time management was positively related to five individual-level variables, including online courses taken previously, learning-oriented reasons, arranging the environment, help-seeking and feedback. Furthermore, at the group level, time management was positively correlated with feedback and learning-oriented reasons. Our investigation suggests that results concerning feedback and arranging the environment have the potential to be applicable in cross-cultural settings. It further suggests that time management may be influenced by cultural differences (eg value of education and polychromic time orientation). Finally, our result concerning help seeking lends empirical support to the theoretical claim that seeking help may serve to enhance individuals’ efforts to manage their work, in the context of Chinese undergraduates’ time management in online groupwork.     

Teachers’ use of PowerPoint in kindergarten: An empirical investigation in China

Nowadays, with the rapid progress of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), the integration of ICTs in education has attracted more and more attention of educators and researchers. However, there are different situations between developed and less-developed nations both in ICT application and in ICT research. PowerPoint is a readily available and most popular tool for teaching in some less-developed countries. Under this particular circumstance, it is not an outdated issue to explore teachers’ use of PowerPoint in teaching. Thus, this paper systematically looked at teachers’ PowerPoint use in the setting of Chinese kindergartens. Specifically, four questions were explored: (i) the status of PowerPoint-related infrastructures in the kindergartens; (ii) teachers’ use of PowerPoint in teaching; (iii) teachers’ design, competences and training related to PowerPoint; (iv) teachers’ perceptions and attitudes toward PowerPoint in teaching. A sample of 62 kindergarten teachers was investigated with a self-created questionnaire. Finally, it was found that the kindergartens had been well equipped with PowerPoint-related equipments; teachers frequently implemented teaching activities with PowerPoint and in an intelligent manner; the majority of teachers had positive perceptions and attitudes toward PowerPoint’s general effects, but there was an imbalance of perceptions and attitudes toward children’ emotional-social aspects and children’s cognitive aspects. Besides, the influencing factors of the availability and access to PowerPoint equipments in kindergartens, PowerPoint’s location, teachers’ using years of PowerPoint, teachers’ knowledge and skills, teachers’ training were also emphasized by this study.     

What drives students to complete online courses? What drives faculty to teach online? Validating a measure of motivation orientation in university students and faculty

Although online student enrollment has shown double digit growth for almost a decade and academic leaders recognize that online education is necessary for enrollment growth, little is known about what motivates students to enroll in or faculty to teach face-to-face (F2F) versus online courses. The psychometric properties of a motivation scale were examined with students (n = 235) and faculty (n = 104) at a large, public, urban university in the southeastern USA. Analyses revealed that the scale was reliable as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for online and F2F courses were similarly constructed for students and faculty; additionally, results revealed that motivations for online and F2F education are distinct concepts. Findings also demonstrated that online extrinsic motivation predicted the number of online courses students completed, while F2F intrinsic motivation negatively predicted the number of online courses a faculty member had taught. These results address several limitations with existing motivation measures and enhance the ability to predict student and faculty outcomes in online education.     

Is content knowledge pre-requisite of pedagogical content knowledge? An empirical investigation

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education - Given the scarcity of studies explicitly exploring the often tacit assumption that teachers’ content knowledge (CK) is pre-requisite of pedagogical...     

Are there demonstration effects of fiscal expenditures on higher education in China? An empirical investigation

This paper investigates the spatial demonstration effects of local governments' fiscal expenditures on higher education in China. Using regional panel data from 1999 to 2015 and spatial econometric models, this paper finds that the developed region of Eastern China has not shown greater willingness to spend on higher education than the less developed regions of Central and Western China. Local governments' fiscal expenditures on higher education have significant spatial demonstration effects, which are strongest in Central China. The attenuation boundary test shows that, as the economic distance increases, the demonstration effect becomes weaker. Econometric models, including the interaction of economic growth and the spatial lag term show that the demonstration effect is enhanced by economic growth. Henceforth, this paper concludes that, to increase fiscal expenditures on higher education in China and save incentive costs, with the local governments being the main investors, the central government can achieve the goal of increasing the total fiscal expenditures on higher education by exerting the spatial demonstration effect. It will eventually drive local governments to spend more on higher education by strongly encouraging others beforehand.     

What is it worth? An empirical investigation into attitudes towards education amongst youngsters following secondary education in Flanders

This paper argues that whereas the social relevance of attitudes towards education is commonly confined to their direct impact on educational aspirations or attainment, attitudes may also impact on educational success in a way similar to cultural capital. Survey data were used to assess the support for three different attitudes with respect to the perceived value of attending school among youngsters (n = 853) following secondary education in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium). The results revealed substantial differences according to the pupils’ cultural capital, time perspective, personal educational experiences and social mobility. These findings are taken as a starting point for a broader discussion about how attention to attitudes may enable us to account for the power struggles in which the educational field and the teaching profession are involved.     

‘What drives students’ affective commitment towards their university?’

How can universities build ongoing, committed relationships with students, able to withstand the financial and emotional challenges of studying in higher education? The research proposes that students’ ongoing attachment to their university, based on positive feelings towards the university, is an important aspect of the student experience. This ongoing attachment is conceptualised here as students’ affective commitment towards their institution. Using an online survey-method and a research sample comprising undergraduate students studying in the UK, this research identifies three factors which drive students’ affective commitment towards their institution. These factors include students’ affective commitment towards academics and students’ calculative commitment towards the institution; factors which draw from the relational literature. A third factor, commitment balance, was developed within this research. Commitment balance occurs when a student’s commitment to their university is perceived to be reciprocated by the university’s commitment to the student. The study found that commitment balance was the most important driver of students’ ongoing attachment to their institution. The paper proposes that commitment balance is a key idea to consider within relational studies generally, but has a particular relevance in the higher education context for understanding the student experience. Commitment balance reflects the pulse of reciprocity which energises relational exchanges between students and institution. The findings of this research reinforce how critically important it is for universities and academics to build relationships with students. The desired outcome is to enhance the student experience, create positive attachment between students and university and ultimately improve student retention.     

Is it all memory recall? An empirical investigation of intellectual skill requirements in Leaving Certificate examination papers in Ireland

The terminal examination of post-primary education in Ireland, the Leaving Certificate, is often criticised for the reliance on memory recall over higher order thinking skills in the assessment process. In order to examine the evidence base for these critiques, this article presents an empirical investigation of the intellectual skills and knowledge domains implicit in the tasks in the written examination papers of 23 subjects in the Leaving Certificate in Ireland from 2005 to 2010. Data were collected from two sources: examination papers and student interviews. In an in-depth document analysis of the examination papers, 14,910 occurrences of command verbs were coded for the intellectual skill and knowledge domains required by the assessment task. As the same verb can require different intellectual skills in different subjects and in different tasks, each occurrence of every verb was assigned a specific value depending on its context. The article presents the frequencies and distributions of intellectual skills and knowledge domains within and across subjects. In light of key points in the literature search, the findings indicate concern regarding the level of challenge and stimulation for the development of students of the Leaving Certificate.     

Psychological determinants of university students’ academic performance: An empirical study

This study utilises an integrated conceptual model of academic performance which captures a series of psychological factors: cognitive style; self-theories such as self-esteem and self-efficacy; achievement goals such as mastery, performance, performance avoidance and work avoidance; study-processing strategies such as deep and surface learning; and effort. We investigate a group of first-year university undergraduates taking a course in business statistics at a British university. The results show a significant causal path of the form: self-esteem→ self-efficacy→ mastery→ effort→ performance. We conclude that the strengthening of any of the elements in this path would have beneficial effects on students’ academic performance and discuss various approaches to pedagogy, primarily assessment and feedback, to achieve this goal.     

Post‐lesson debriefing: delayed or immediate? An investigation of student teacher talk

This paper seeks to evaluate a specific implementation of a reflective approach to teacher education in a pre‐service course in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) in a UK university. This implementation is the use of delayed debriefing (supervisory conference) after lesson observation, providing the student teacher with support for reflection in the form of a time delay and completion of a structured journal. Six delayed debriefing events are compared with six immediate debriefing events from another institution providing a course leading to the same award. Three analyses of student teacher talk in the debriefing events are presented: topic initiation, modal verb use, and types of ‘reasoning’ talk. The analyses offer some evidence of a higher level of reflective analysis by the student teacher in delayed debriefings.     

What drives US competitiveness in mathematics and science?

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) shows that US school students have a lower level of achievement than students from many East Asian countries. Therefore, media, researchers and policy‐makers in the United States have often argued that US competitiveness in mathematics and science will decline. This paper aims at verifying this conclusion by analysing data on medallists at the International Olympiads for high school students. The analysis suggests that US competitiveness may not be endangered.     

Collaboration or confrontation? An investigation into the role of prior experiences in the completion of collaborative group tasks by student teachers

This paper describes research which investigated how a group of 23 postgraduate student teachers from a wide variety of international backgrounds with a broad range of previous experience perceived the significance of their own and others’ prior experience in accomplishing directed collaborative tasks, related to their coursework, in pre-determined groupings. The students were asked to comment on how they valued their own and others’ prior experiences and how they considered prior experience informed the completion of the tasks. They were also asked to comment on the dynamic of groups in which they worked and how they felt others’ prior experiences affected the management and achievement of the task. The students rated some experiences more highly than others and almost all appreciated the predetermined nature of the groupings as benefitting them socially as well as educationally. However, they raised practical, attitudinal and personality issues, suggesting that more structured guidance from tutors at the outset would be beneficial.     

Teachers’ perceptions of student evaluations of teaching

Evaluation of teaching in higher education has drawn much attention due to the need for greater accountability and improvement in student learning. Our review of literature on Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) surveys suggests that considerable controversy and criticism have surrounded its use, fairness, and validity. Yet, many universities in Hong Kong are depending primarily on student feedback in SET surveys to provide evidence for their improvement of teaching and learning, and for their decisions made on teachers' pay-rise and tenure. If universities are to continue to use SET surveys as the main source of mechanism for measuring teaching effectiveness, teachers will have to understand and be aware of its purposes. But how much do we know about teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning and, consequently, their opinions of using SET surveys as the primary standardized evaluation mechanism of teaching for promotion and tenure and for teaching effectiveness?     

‘What really matters to freshers?’: evaluation of first year student experience of transition into university

Measuring student experience in terms of satisfaction is a national measure used by prospective students when considering their higher education choices. Increasingly league tables are used as a means to rank universities with a limited interrogation of the reality of students’ experiences. This study explored the question ‘What really matters to freshers?’ during their transition into higher education through to completion. Students on an academic undergraduate Early Childhood Studies degree (n = 530) over a five-year period completed a Student Experience Evaluation in their first term and this data was correlated with the National Student Survey data collected about their cohorts in the final term of their degree. During the five year period, a number of interventions were undertaken by the academic staff to develop a learning community, based on the values linked to ‘being, belonging, and becoming’. The results of this study suggest that three things matter to students about their experience, that is, the academic staff they work with, the nature of their academic study and feeling like they belong. A model is proposed which aims to demonstrate the impact of academic staff, studies and the learning community that develops through social and academic experiences at University.     

An investigation of early childhood teachers’ perceptions of families through a photo-sharing activity

This study examined parent–teacher interactions during a photo-sharing project at three early childhood centers that serve as clinical sites for early childhood preservice teachers. Families were provided with a digital camera for one week to document activities they used to support children’s early learning and development. Families then participated in an interview with their child’s teacher to share and discuss the meaning behind the images. Upon completion, teachers participated in a follow-up interview with the researchers to reflect on the process and their relationships with families. Data were thematically analyzed through the theoretical lens of cultural capital, and findings suggested that previously established power dynamics and assumptions about families interfered with the photo-sharing process aimed at enhancing home–school relationships. Families at a higher-income center possessed the most power in relationships, while families enrolled at lower-income centers possessed less power. Implications for early childhood professionals are discussed, specifically related to addressing biases in home–school relationships and adequately preparing preservice teachers to work with a diverse range of families in equitable ways.     

What works to improve the quality of student learning in developing countries?

We conducted a systematic review to identify policy interventions that improve education quality and student learning in developing countries. Relying on a theory of change typology, we highlight three main drivers of change of education quality: (1) supply-side capability interventions that operate through the provision of physical and human resources, and learning materials; (2) policies that through incentives seek to influence behaviour and intertemporal preferences of teachers, households, and students; (3) bottom-up and top-down participatory and community management interventions, which operate through decentralisation reforms, knowledge diffusion, and increased community participation in the management of education systems. Overall, our findings suggest that interventions are more effective at improving student performance and learning when social norms and intertemporal choices are factored in the design of education policies, and when two or more drivers of change are combined. Thus, supply-side interventions alone are less effective than when complemented by community participation or incentives that shift preferences and behaviours.     

What is behind the decline in student achievement in Australia?

Australian school student achievement in reading and mathematical literacy has fallen in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) collection since 2000. This study finds that these declines were widespread in the student population, affecting both males and females. However, the decline in reading literacy occurred throughout much of the achievement distribution, while the decline in mathematical literacy was more pronounced at the top of the distribution (there were fewer high performing students in 2009 compared with 2003). Declines in both literacy domains were apparent across the entire distribution of schools, however, the falls in school performance were more apparent in private schools than in the government-run school systems in Australia. The declines were not associated with many other characteristics of schools, including many factors that might have been thought to be associated with school performance.