The effect of prior education on students’ competency in digital logic: the case of ultraorthodox Jewish students

In line with the growing interest in extending the diversity of CS students, we examined the performance of a unique group of students studying an introductory course in Digital logic: ultraorthodox Jewish men, whose previous education was based mostly on studying Talmud and who lacked a conventional high-school education. We used questions from the Digital Logic Concept Inventory . We compared the results to those of religious Jewish men with a conventional high-school education, and to the results reported in the literature. The ultraorthodox group performed better than the other groups in tasks that concerned number representation. No other statistically significant differences were found. Talk-aloud protocols revealed that the ultraorthodox students utilized a viable conceptual understanding in their performance. We can conclude that students’ unique, alternative prior education should not be merely viewed as an obstacle to their academic studies, but also as a potential source for strengths.     

The effects of a competency‐oriented learning environment and tutor feedback on students’ reflection skills

This study investigates the effects of a competency‐oriented course and the effects of feedback training on students’ reflection skills. Thirty‐one nursing students enrolled in a conventional course with lectures and assignments following a traditional test. Subsequently, they enrolled in a competency‐oriented course, which included more performance‐oriented tasks based on competencies and a performance‐based assessment. In both courses, half of the students received feedback on their assignments from tutors who were trained in feedback skills (experimental group), while the other half of the students received feedback from non‐trained tutors (control group). After each course, all students wrote a reflection report. Results show that students’ reflection reports after the competency‐oriented course were of a higher quality than the reports after the conventional course. Contrary to our expectations, the quality of the reflection reports of the control group (students supervised by non‐trained tutors) was significantly higher than the quality of reflection reports of the experimental group (students supervised by trained tutors). This study shows that a competency‐oriented design of courses enhances students’ reflection skills, but that the training in feedback skills needs to be reconsidered.     

A place for arguing in engineering education: a study on students’ assessments

This paper focuses on the issue of how engineering programmes demand and/or promote argumentative reasoning, which is a subsequent aspect of curricular development. This was the main objective of the project on which this paper reports. This is to say that the focus is on assessment as a way to establish to what extent argumentative reasoning is demanded and mobilised in teaching and learning processes. This aim was achieved using a sample of assignments developed in courses in different Bologna undergraduate programmes at the Engineering School at the University of Porto, during the first semester of the academic year 2009/2010. Whereas problem solving in engineering constitutes a structural element in the curricular organisation of the engineering programmes and is strongly related to argumentative skills, it was possible to conclude that students demonstrate and explain extensively, but do not argue, possibly because their teachers do not invite them to do so in assessment situations.     

Higher education students’ experiences of a short-term international programme: Exploring cultural competency and professional development

Background: Globalisation trends such as increased migration to and within European countries have led to even greater cultural diversity in European societies. Cultural diversity increases the demand of cultural competency amongst professionals entering their work field. In particular, healthcare professionals need knowledge and skills to equip them to work with clients from different cultural backgrounds. Within higher education (HE), the professional development of cultural competency should ideally feature in undergraduate education and is often promoted as a by-product of a study abroad period. However, recognising that logistical and financial barriers often exist for extended study abroad, one alternative approach could be participation, at home or abroad, in a short-term international programme set within students’ own HE institutions.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore HE students’ experiences of participating in international ‘short-term mobility week’ programmes at three European universities.

Methods: Each university involved in the research offered short-term programmes for healthcare professions students at their own institution, where both local students and students from abroad could participate. Participants were healthcare students in the programme at one of the three universities. Data were collected through focus group interviews (4–8 students per group; n = 25). The data were transcribed and then analysed qualitatively, using a content comparison method.

Results: The analysis identified six categories, which reflected students’ journeys within the short-term international experiences.

Conclusions: The analysis suggested that, for these students, engagement in a short-term mobility week programme provided valuable opportunities for encounters with others, which contributed to personal and professional development, greater confidence in the students’ own professional identities, as well as an increasing sense of cultural awareness.     

Teaching in higher education: Good teaching through students’ lens

This study explored 2475 Israeli students’ conceptions of good teaching and examined the relationship between these conceptions and students’ background characteristics. Data were collected using an internet survey designed to measure students’ conceptions regarding five teaching dimensions referring to goals to be achieved, long-term student development, teaching methods, relations with students, and assessment. Results indicate that students perceived assessment as the most important of the five teaching dimensions and long-term student development as least important. Only gender and field of study made a salient difference in students’ perceptions of good teaching. Implications for the evaluation of teaching are discussed.     

Instructional development in higher education: impact on teachers’ teaching behaviour as perceived by students

Although instructional development has become an important topic in higher education, little is known about the impact on teaching practice. In this study we investigate the impact of instructional development on teachers’ teaching behaviour as perceived by students. Quantitative student data were assembled for 15 experimental and 12 control teachers. 45 experimental students and 27 control students were interviewed. Repeated measures analyses of variance and analyses of covariance showed no statistically significant impact of instructional development on teaching behaviour. The analysis of the qualitative data sustained this result. Several interpretations and perspectives for further research as well as for the planning of instructional development are discussed.     

Study on life education for college students —a survey on students in Guangzhou

Due to the social environment of China’s reform and opening up, as well as China’s education system with knowledge impartation as its focus, some college students lack the humanistic care and education of value and significance of life. Universities should plan effective activities to make students realize the importance of life. They should provide students with such education as life conscience, failures in life, the ability to make a living and the values of life in order to have a clearer knowledge of life education, so that the students can set up a positive, healthy and correct life view, realize the value and meaning of life, and finally learn to respect life.     

Feedback seeking behaviour in higher education: the association with students’ goal orientation and deep learning approach

To make sure that feedback fulfils its aspirations, students’ active role in feedback should be acknowledged in higher education: It is students’ uptake of feedback that determines its effectiveness. In this study, feedback seeking behaviour of students is introduced in order to enrich our knowledge about students’ active role in feedback. Goal orientation was studied as antecedent of feedback seeking behaviour, and students’ deep learning approach as a mediating factor. Results indicated that students use both monitoring and inquiry strategies of feedback seeking, but they preferred monitoring. The association between feedback seeking behaviour and goal orientation was stronger for mastery goals than for performance goals. The preference for monitoring is stronger for students with more performance goal orientation. Deep learning approach was found to be a mediator in the relationship between goal orientation and feedback seeking behaviour. It can be concluded that students with the goal to learn from the activity will use more deep learning strategies and will seek more feedback, both in an active and passive way. This effect is less present for students with performance goals.     

‘Frictional’ relationships … tension in the camp: focusing on the relational in under-represented students’ experiences in higher education

Drawing upon data collected as part of a research project exploring diversity in Irish higher education, this article focuses on the relational realm of under-represented students’ experiences. It commences with a brief overview of the background and context as well as the methodology of the study. The article then presents and explores a number of interrelated findings with regard to the relationships experienced by these undergraduates, both with other students and with their external friends and acquaintances. Friction was evident in the accounts of the respondents and this article argues that an increased focus on the relational is required by institutions, given the central role played by the social experience in the retention of students in higher education. Further, it is argued that education for diversity and inclusion be incorporated as an explicit and integrated component in all higher education curricula in order to foster mutual understanding and respect between student groups, within the broader educational community and ultimately in the wider society.     

Value types in higher education – students’ perspective

The purpose of the paper is to propose the service-dominant logic in marketing as a framework for analysing the value co-creation process in the higher education sector and present the results of a quantitative study (a survey) conducted among business students from four Polish public universities. The results of the study led to identification of 40 factors of importance, later classified into seven value types expected by business students from their universities: functional, relational, intrinsic, epistemic, conditional, extrinsic and emotional value, with the first three types of value being the most important from students’ perspective. These findings lead to several managerial implications regarding the teaching methods and academic curriculum design, which are presented in the final section of the paper.     

University students’ success: A psycho-sociological approach

The aim of this paper is to propose a basic model to analyse processes of change in educational institutions taking into account both individual and contextual variables. It aims to identify the basic factors of change in order to contribute to reduce the dispersion of research projects, both from close subjects and one subject alone within human sciences, in order to make scientific accumulation easier and to guide social practice better. This proposal is based on Cryer and Elton’s (Studies in Higher Education, 1: 75–86, 1990) contributions, in this case applied to the learning processes of university students. They may account for static and dynamic aspects. To prove its coherence, it has been statistically compared with the data of a survey carried out among university students in Catalonia (Spain).     

Floating on the fringe: College of education students’ discourse about diversity

Abstract

This phenomenological research study focused on how education students perceived diversity in their academic lives, as well as the language they used when they talked about diversity. Focus groups with 36 undergraduate and graduate students in a college of education were conducted to explore these areas. Three themes were identified through a two-phase analytical approach. These were: (a) limited or inconsistent exposure to diversity at the college; (b) instances of othering and exclusion that took place in various spaces; and (c) divergent ways of talking about the diversity climate. The article concludes with a renewed call for increased attention to diversity in colleges of education.     

Classroom behavioural climate in inclusive education – a study on secondary students’ perceptions

Previous studies pointed out that dealing with difficult behaviour is perceived by teachers as a major challenge in inclusive settings. However, research on the students' perception of the classroom behavioural climate (CBC) is rare. Therefore, this study aims to examine students’ perceptions of CBC and to identify predictors of CBC as well as associated variables. The sample consists of 650 German students from secondary schools (5th-9th grade) of whom 83 students are diagnosed with special educational needs (SEN). CBC was measured via four subscales (‘students’ possibilities to study and concentrating on teaching’, ‘disruptive behaviour’, ‘physical and psychological safety’ and ‘caring for the physical environment’). Results show significant differences in students’ perceptions of CBC between students from different school tracks. Furthermore, gender (being male) and SEN (having a) predict the perception of ‘physical and psychological safety’. Additionally, social inclusion, emotional experience as well as teacher support and care are associated with CBC. Accordingly, a positive CBC is important for the successful implementation of inclusive education: while diversity in classrooms is a challenge for behavioural climate, poor behavioural climate may also pose specific barriers to learning for some students with SEN and thus is a general challenge for equity in inclusive classrooms.     

Online education as ‘vanguard’ higher education: exploring masculinities,ideologies, and gerontology

Drawing inspiration from Clegg’s [2008. “Femininities/masculinities and a Sense Self – Thinking Gendered Academic Identities and the Intellectual Self.” Gender and Education 20 (3): 209–221, 241] statement that ‘less traditional universities and areas of course provision and research might be important sites to investigate in relation to academic identity’, I undertake a single strategic case study of an expert, older, male critical educator, employed as an instructor in two ‘less traditional’, for-profit settings: one online university and one brick and mortar university. The article departs from a theoretical consideration of ‘future directions’ of three subfields: masculinities and higher education (HE) from critical and feminist perspectives, masculinities (and other identities) online (through the Internet research subfield of gender and technology), and masculinities and aging from critical and feminist gerontological perspectives. It employs the methodological strategy of ‘sketches’, arguing that these settings, which appear to position critical and feminist pedagogues in the proverbial ‘belly of the beast’, are important spaces in which to explore how a critical pedagogue navigates ‘less traditional’ HE settings.     

Teachers’ reflection on PISA items and why they are so hard for students in Serbia

The study explores how teachers perceive and go about students’ thinking in connection to particular mathematical content and how they frame the notion of applied mathematics in their own classrooms. Teachers’ narratives are built around two released PISA 2012 mathematics items, the ‘Drip rate’ and ‘Climbing Mount Fuji’ (will be referred to as the Fuji item). Teachers show concordance as to the reasons that could make either of the items difficult for students and are able to provide more examples justifying their reasoning for the ‘Fuji’ item. Suggestions linked to making the items more familiar to the students mostly relate to de-contextualization of the items’ content towards a more formal mathematical record. The teachers agree that students need only basic mathematical knowledge, at a level learned during elementary school, in order to solve these problems. Yet, at the same time, many teachers have difficulty clearly verbalising which procedures students are expected to follow to be able to solve the tasks. Disagreement among the teachers is noticeable when labelling the most difficult part(s) of each of the selected items. Mathematics teachers show openness for learning on how to create math problems we examined in this study, but question the purpose and meaning in incorporating more such problems in their own teaching.     

Impact of Korean students’ individual learning time on math performance: differential effect of teachers’ assessment competency

Asia Pacific Education Review - As the 2015 revised national curriculum is being implementing in Korea, a teacher’s assessment competency has become a point of focus for the potential...     

Standardised module evaluation surveys in UK higher education: Establishing students’ perspectives

Standardised module evaluation surveys have recently been implemented or extensively redesigned at many different HEIs across the UK in response to an evolving national context, notwithstanding a body of scholarship that has called student evaluation of teaching (SET) into question. Through a focussed single-institution study, this mixed-methods research fills a notable gap in the current literature in establishing students’ perspectives on standardised module evaluation by means of a paper-based questionnaire. Its participants (N=40) recognised some general advantages of a university-wide system, such as facilitating comparison between different modules; but they also acknowledged several shortcomings relating to its lack of sensitivity to individual module contexts and schedules, yielding the overall view that standardised surveys are only partially effective as a means of teaching evaluation. The conclusion considers the wider implications of these distinctive findings, and suggests that the perceived limitations of SET point to the need to triangulate its results with data obtained through alternative evaluation mechanisms.