High school students’ acceptance and use of mobile technology in learning mathematics

The purpose of this research is to investigate factors affecting the acceptance and use of mobile technology in learning mathematics based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) model. The study group comprised of 1640 students attending different types of high schools and grade levels. The results of the study revealed both direct and indirect effects of exogenous variables on Behavioral Intention and Use Behavior in mobile technology acceptance of high school students in learning mathematics. It was also found that the theoretical model was confirmed adequately based on the regression coefficients, the significance of the regression coefficients, and the goodness of fit indices obtained from the SEM analysis. The strongest predictors of Behavioral Intention were Hedonic Motivation and Habit, respectively. Exogenous variables of the study together explained 76% of the variance in Behavioral Intention and 13% of the variance in Use Behavior.

     

Tutors’ assessment practices and students’ situated learning in higher education: chalk and cheese

This article uses situated learning theory to consider current tutor assessment and feedback practices in relation to learning practices employed by students outside the overt curriculum. The case is made that an emphasis on constructive alignment and explicitly articulating assessment requirements within curricula may be misplaced. Outside of the overt curriculum students appear to be interdependent learners, participating in communities of practice and learning networks, where sense-making occurs through negotiation and there is identity development. Such negotiation may translate curriculum requirements articulated by tutors into unexpected meanings. Hence, tutors’ efforts might be better placed on developing students’ ability to self-assess and to effectively evaluate and negotiate information, rather than primarily on their own delivery of the curriculum content and feedback. Tutors cannot be fully effective if they fail to consider students’ learning outside the overt curriculum, and ways to facilitate such learning processes are suggested together with future research directions.     

Building student belonging and engagement: insights into higher education students’ experiences of participating and learning together

Student belonging and engagement has received increased attention in the context of an expanding and more diverse higher education student population. Student retention is regarded as a priority with many universities augmenting their retention strategies to instil a sense of belonging. This article provides insights into first year Business Management students’ experiences of starting their degrees and retention interventions at a university in the South of England. It is based on findings from an ongoing study that applied Wenger's social theory of learning and adopted an appreciative inquiry approach to focus group interviewing to investigate students’ perceptions. Students developed a sense of belonging, constructed learner identities, made sense of their learning and gained confidence, but also experienced instances of tension and frustration that raise questions about the extent to which sociality practices within evolving communities of practice can address diverse engagement and identity development needs and mitigate disengagement.     

Understanding teacher design practices for digital inquiry–based science learning: the case of Go-Lab

Designing and implementing online or digital learning material is a demanding task for teachers. This is even more the case when this material is used for more engaged forms of learning, such as inquiry learning. In this article, we give an informed account of Go-Lab, an ecosystem that supports teachers in creating Inquiry Learning Spaces (ILSs). These ILSs are built around STEM–related online laboratories. Within the Go-Lab ecosystem, teachers can combine these online laboratories with multimedia material and learning apps, which are small applications that support learners in their inquiry learning process. The Go-Lab ecosystem offers teachers ready–made structures, such as a standard inquiry cycle, alternative scenarios or complete ILSs that can be used as they are, but it also allows teachers to configure these structures to create personalized ILSs. For this article, we analyzed data on the design process and structure of 2414 ILSs that were (co)created by teachers and that our usage data suggest have been used in classrooms. Our data show that teachers prefer to start their design from empty templates instead of more domain–related elements, that the makeup of the design team (a single teacher, a group of collaborating teachers, or a mix of teachers and project members) influences key design process characteristics such as time spent designing the ILS and number of actions involved, that the characteristics of the resulting ILSs also depend on the type of design team and that ILSs that are openly shared (i.e., published in a public repository) have different characteristics than those that are kept private.

     

Understanding Turkish students’ preferences for distance education depending on financial circumstances: A large-scale CHAID analysis

In the past, distance education was used as a method to meet the educational needs of citizens with limited options to attend an institution of higher education. Nowadays, it has become irreplaceable in higher education thanks to developments in instructional technology. But the question of why students choose distance education is still important. The purpose of this study was to determine Turkish students’ reasons for choosing distance education and to investigate how these reasons differ depending on their financial circumstances. The author used a Chi squared Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) analysis to determine 18,856 Turkish students’ reasons for choosing distance education. Results of the research revealed that Turkish students chose distance education not because of geographical limitations, family-related problems or economic difficulties, but for such reasons as already being engaged in their profession, increasing their knowledge, and seeking promotion to a better position.     

Integration of learning for refugee and migrant students: VET teachers’ practices through practice theory lens

The study reported here used a practice theory lens to understand vocational education and training (VET) teachers’ current practices in supporting integration of learning in educational institutions and workplaces – specifically for refugee and migrant students. A case study was conducted with 10 teachers delivering aged care programmes in South East Queensland, Australia and in a municipality in West Sweden. During in-depth interviews teachers explained the enabling and challenging aspects of their practice, and specific strategies they used to support students with integration of learning in the two main sites. Analyses of data concentrated on understanding three types of arrangements in the practice architectures at the two learning sites. Teachers extended their everyday pedagogical approaches to support integration of learning and meet the specific needs of refugee and migrant students. Their teaching comprised interdependent practices of VET and aged care in two settings, each with distinct ecologies of practice. Their narratives reflect contestations between practice traditions of aged care practices in Australia and Sweden, and students’ understandings and reflections of practices in their birth countries. We conclude that teacher training and adjustments to these arrangements can bridge contestations between the enacted and experienced curriculum in the two sites.     

Concepts and practices of education and adult education: obstacles to lifelong education and lifelong learning?

Over the last half century, in varying degrees and under various names, there has been much interest in learning throughout life for everybody. Although what has been written has stressed its necessity and feasibility, little has been achieved. As is common to all things educational, it has lagged behind the times. Little considered and highly resistant among the obstacles to it are the current concepts, institutions and practices of education. The widespread, systematic study of education in the 19th century grew out of the need to train teachers required by the introduction of universal primary schooling. Concentration by teacher trainers on this task, and their struggle to establish their subject as a coherent discipline to be taught in institutions of higher education was such that the prevailing view of education came to be restricted not merely mainly, as hitherto, but only, to the upbringing of children and young people. Rejecting this view of necessity, adult educationalists have sought for their own field academic recognition as a discipline, emphasizing their differences from initial education. Study of current educational writings from many countries shows that the reconciliation of these two positions, necessary to lifelong education, has not gone very far. Consideration of what might be done to create a process and a habit of lifelong learning for all on the basis of current practice and theory of initial education and adult education, of which lifelong education can only be a contributory element, will require fundamental changes in both. There are few signs so far of the political will and the sense of urgency that will apparently be required.     

‘This education is not for our students’: responses of Mexican educators to globalising education policies and practices

This article explores the relationship between travelling education policies and a 2008 Mexican high-school reform from the perspective of Mexican educators. Using an ethnographic approach, consisting of interviews, classroom and community observations, and document analysis, study findings show that the educators participating in this study contest the notion that education policies and practices can be seamlessly transferred from one locale to another. They also suggest that when they are transferred, locally responsive practices may be threatened.     

Understanding undergraduate sports coaching students’ development and learning: the necessity of uncertainty

Despite recent attention, research is yet to adequately focus on sports coaches’ intellectual development as a consequence of their formal learning experiences. Drawing on the work of Perry, the aim of this article was to explore how the intellectual development of undergraduate sports coaching students was affected by the social pedagogical setting exposed to. Twenty-seven students from two different universities were selected through network and convenience sampling, and ‘tracked’ over their three year course(s) of study. Data were gathered through focus groups, video diaries and reflective written logs. Findings revealed that over the course of their study students generally progressed from a dualist to a more relativist view of the world. Such a movement, however, was far from unproblematic and uniform. Rather, it was subject to the vagaries of assessment, course structure, the epistemic range of modules experienced, and in particular the relationships established with staff members.     

Teaching and learning with technology in higher education: blended and distance education needs ‘joined-up thinking’ rather than technological determinism

In higher education (HE), some of the distinctions between conventional, campus-based universities and those dedicated to distance education are being eroded through the use of information and communication technology. Despite huge investments in technology to enhance teaching and learning, there has been a considerable lack of clarity about what this actually signifies in practice. Implementation decisions are frequently technology-led rather than being focused on clearly defined educational goals. This article attempts to examine key issues and synthesise a number of important debates relating to teaching and learning with technology in HE. It examines some of the key factors influencing how technology is utilised in HE teaching and learning. It argues that decision-making by managers and teachers with regard to technology use needs to be founded upon evidence that takes account of all of those factors, not just a narrow selection of them. Rather than just considering technical issues and/or the idealised promises made about technologies, ‘joined-up thinking’ is required to integrate the multiple contextual factors that all influence how technology is actually used in teaching and learning.     

An investigation into students’ disposition to the use of objectives in distance learning materials

The use of learning objectives in study materials for external students is an instructional design strategy which is generally accepted. However, with the emergence of the constructivist paradigm in learning theory, there is the question as to whether the use of objectives, underpinned by behaviourist theory, is justified. This study was undertaken to investigate the distance education student's disposition towards objectives, with particular reference to the way they used them and to what their perceptions and expectations were. Responses to a questionnaire revealed that objectives were perceived by the majority of the students sampled as useful to their studies, and that objectives, for them, were an integral part of their learning strategy.     

Understanding students’ experiences of professionalism learning: a ‘threshold’ approach

Professionalism is a core element of curricula in many disciplines but can be difficult to teach and learn. This study used audio-diary methodology to identify professionalism threshold concepts in a small group learning setting in undergraduate medicine and to understand factors that might facilitate students to ‘get’ such concepts. Fifteen students and seven tutors kept audio-diaries over two terms. Data were analysed qualitatively for content. The key themes were then cross referenced to threshold concept criteria (e.g. where language indicated that learning was troublesome, integrative or transformative). Seven potential threshold concepts were identified which centred on students’ developing professional identities including working with uncertainty, considering the bigger picture, not needing to know everything and professional culture. Reflection on workplace experiences within a small group helped students ‘get’ these concepts. The study concludes that threshold concepts and audio-diaries are useful tools for understanding lived experiences of professionalism learning.     

Active and passive technology integration: a novel approach for managing technology’s influence on learning experiences in context-aware learning spaces

Technology integration is the process of overcoming different barriers that hinder efficient utilisation of learning technologies. The authors divide technology integration into two components based on technology’s role in the integration process. In active integration, the technology integrates learning resources into a learning space, making it adaptive to the changes in the context. In passive integration, the technology is integrated into a learning space so that it does not disturb the learner and the context. Using this division, the authors investigate technology integration in context-aware learning spaces (CALSs), which emphasise context-sensitiveness and utilise surrounding resources. UFractions is a CALS combining a mobile-based story and fraction rods. The authors analyse active and passive integration in UFractions among 305 middle schools pupils in South Africa, Finland and Mozambique. In the analysis the authors support quantitative questionnaire data with qualitative insights from questionnaires, interviews and observations. The findings indicate that technology integration, particularly active integration, in UFractions is incomplete. The concepts of active and passive integration are necessary in order to manage technology’s influence on learning experiences in CALSs. Active and passive integration can also be helpful in CALS design, deployment and evaluation, and they could be applied in other learning technology scenarios in the future.     

Understanding international students’ in-class learning experiences in Chinese higher education institutions

Despite the dramatic rise in international student enrolment in Chinese higher education institutions, the classroom learning experiences of these students are not adequately reflected in the international literature. The present qualitative study explores the learning experiences of 33 international students in different types of classroom arrangements at Chinese universities. The findings show that the international students’ perceptions of teaching and learning approaches, their language difficulties, the type of classroom arrangement, the origin of the international students in the class, the more relaxed academic requirements for international students and the international students’ learning motivation all shaped their in-class experiences. Furthermore, the findings reveal that the international students’ personal traits and cross-cultural environment interacted with their psychological mechanisms to produce and influence their learning experiences. The article highlights the need to make sense of these complexities in order to understand international students’ in-class learning experiences. The implications of improving these experiences are discussed.     

Understanding students’ engagement in MOOCs: An integration of self-determination theory and theory of relationship quality

Although Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) attract millions of people to enroll in their courses, the completion rate for most courses is very low. A majority of MOOCs students are not fully engaged in MOOCs, thus leading them to quit in the early stage of the courses. Therefore, it is important to investigate students’ engagement in MOOCs. Drawing on self-determination theory and the theory of relationship quality, this study proposes a model that conceptualizes the MOOCs engagement as consisting of psychological engagement and behavioral engagement and explores the antecedents of students’ engagement in MOOCs. The research model is tested using data collected from 374 students of Chinese University MOOC. The results show that fulfillment of three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness have significant positive effects on intrinsic motivation, increasing students’ psychological engagement in MOOCs. Relationship quality significantly predicts students’ psychological engagement, and psychological engagement promotes behavioral engagement in MOOCs. Implications for research and practice as well as limitations of this study are discussed finally.     

Sources of teachers’ self-efficacy for technology integration from formal,informal, and independent professional learning

Educational technology research and development - Teachers do not consistently maximize the potential of classroom technologies for enhancing student learning. As their self-efficacy is positively...     

Staying the distance: students’ perceptions of enablers of transition to higher education

Students’ perceptions during their first semester at university may be critical in the decision to continue or discontinue studies. In this study we consider students’ perceptions of what factors enable successful transition to university. Using qualitative research, students’ perceptions are obtained by in-depth interviews and focus groups that capture the first- and second-order perspectives of existing students at the end of first-year studies. Interview and focus-group themes are used to develop an 80-item questionnaire that is then used to collect data from first-year students (n?=?771) at an Australian university. Key findings from the research are the identification of seven enabling factors that fall into two main groups, student-centred and university-led. Identifying enablers of transition provides universities with the opportunity to assist students in the successful transition to higher education.     

Advancing integrated STEM learning through engineering design: Sixth-grade students’ design and construction of earthquake resistant buildings

ABSTRACT

As part of a 3-year longitudinal study, 136 sixth-grade students completed an engineering-based problem on earthquakes involving integrated STEM learning. Students employed engineering design processes and STEM disciplinary knowledge to plan, sketch, then construct a building designed to withstand earthquake damage, taking into account a number of constraints. On testing, students redesigned to build an improved structure. Using a framework of design processes, we report on the students' capabilities in planning, creating annotated sketches, and transforming these into 3D models. An understanding of core STEM concepts was apparent in their responses, including shape properties, stability, rigidity, balance, strength, and engineering techniques. Group problem solving involved moving iteratively between design phases, frequently revisiting problem scoping, being cognizant of the problem goal, boundaries and constraints, and appreciating design sketches as guiding constructions. Students were also observed to consider a number of problem components simultaneously, indicating their capabilities in handling the complexity of the task.     

Self-regulated learning and students’ perceptions of innovative and traditional learning environments: a longitudinal study in secondary education

This study investigated the relationship between the development of students’ self-regulated learning and students’ perceptions of the learning environment in terms of autonomy support, the emphasis on relevance and collaborative learning. In addition, we compared innovative learning environments that aim to enhance self-regulated learning with traditional learning environments. Questionnaires for measuring self-regulated learning and perceptions of the learning environment were administered by 648 students. Self-regulated learning was measured at the start of secondary education and again half way through the first year. The results point to the importance of how students perceive the learning environment for self-regulated learning. There was a positive relationship between autonomy support and relevance and self-regulated learning. Furthermore, students in innovative environments perceived more autonomy support, more emphasis on relevance and more collaborative learning than those in traditional environments. Students in innovative environments, however, reported no more self-regulated learning than students in traditional environments.