Do Computers Enhance or Detract from Student Learning?

Research in Higher Education - Does becoming familiar with computer and information technology during college add to or detract from making progress toward other desirable outcomes of college?...     

教育质量与质量证据：2013年美国高等院校认证标准

美国中北部区域高等教育认证委员会2013年新认证标准对教育质量的评估提出了进一步的要求,强调教育要有质量,质量要有证据,评估重点转型到对学生学习结果的评估,作为判断学生学习质量的主要证据之一。在了解和借鉴境外同行的经验中,处理学校运行常态信息与质量信息的关系,思考教育理念共识与基于文化之教育理念之间的衔接点,可以使教育工作者对教育质量在现实社会大环境中的内涵有比较合理的认识。     

Assessing learning in a sociology department: what do students say that they learn?

Assessment plays a central role in evaluating and strengthening student learning in higher education, and sociology departments, in particular, have increasingly become interested in engaging in assessment activities to better understand students’ learning. This qualitative study builds on previous research on assessment by asking what students in one American university department see themselves learning in the sociology major. Rather than asking students to reflect on what we think they are learning, we asked open-ended questions about skills, topics and modes of education they considered most significant to their learning. The 25 sociology majors in our study included second-year students, graduating fourth-year students and alumni who had graduated five years prior, enabling us to compare what students have learned or are learning across cohorts. Our findings demonstrate that students emphasise a common collection of skills, topics and – especially – modes of learning in the major, despite their various course selections and interests within the discipline, and also that majors’ orientations to sociology vary as they move through, and beyond, the undergraduate curriculum.     

同伴指导对大学生学习结果的影响研究——基于30项实验或准实验研究的元分析

学界对于同伴互动对大学生学习结果的影响效用尚未达成统一结论。本研究采用元分析方法对30项实验或准实验研究展开系统量化分析。研究结果表明：同伴指导对大学生学习结果呈中等偏上的积极促进效应,合并效应值为0.782;同伴指导对大学生学业成绩和专业技能的促进作用突出,但对情感态度发展的促进作用较小;其效应受指导时长、指导形式、指导年级和课程类型等调节变量的影响。高校应优化制度环境,建立协同、可持续的同伴指导机制,选择短周期、跨年级和小组指导的同伴指导模式,从而更为有效地提升大学生学习结果。     

Does peer assessment promote student learning? A meta-analysis

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing use of peer assessment in classrooms and other learning settings. Despite the prevailing view that peer assessment has a positive effect on learning across empirical studies, the results reported are mixed. In this meta-analysis, we synthesised findings based on 134 effect sizes from 58 studies. Compared to students who do not participate in peer assessment, those who participate in peer assessment show a .291 standard deviation unit increase in their performance. Further, we performed a meta-regression analysis to examine the factors that are likely to influence the peer assessment effect. The most critical factor is rater training. When students receive rater training, the effect size of peer assessment is substantially larger than when students do not receive such training. Computer-mediated peer assessment is also associated with greater learning gains than the paper-based peer assessment. A few other variables (such as rating format, rating criteria and frequency of peer assessment) also show noticeable, although not statistically significant, effects. The results of the meta-analysis can be considered by researchers and teachers as a basis for determining how to make effective use of peer assessment as a learning tool.     

Student and novice teachers’ stories about collaborative learning implementation

Despite the research evidence on the effectiveness of collaborative learning (CL), the implementation of this teaching strategy has not yet found a profound place in teaching practice. As a consequence, several studies have investigated teachers’ motives regarding and experiences with the use of CL. Most of these studies concern however senior teachers, whereas new generations of teachers are important actors in the process of educational innovation. Hence, it is crucial to explore novice teachers’ stories about CL implementation: what motivates them to implement this teaching strategy, what hinders them and how do they handle the challenges they are confronted with? The answers to these questions may provide useful information for improving the teacher education curriculum regarding CL. In this respect, the present study intends to study pre-service and beginning teachers’ experiences with CL in classroom practice, after a formal training pertaining to CL as part of their teacher education programme. The aim is to identify the main challenges student and novice teachers encounter when they want to implement CL in their teaching practice, and how they position themselves in these challenges. A qualitative case study design with in-depth interviews in the Flemish context (Belgium) was used to gain access to the particular experiences of each teacher, and to the processes of interpretation and meaning-making that go with those experiences. Participants were interviewed individually one week before graduation (n?=?15). After at least half a year of experience in the teaching profession, 10 participants were interviewed for a second time. In the present study, we present the results from a cross-case analysis, using the method of constant comparative analysis to identify similarities or differences, and to capture recurring patterns within the data. The findings reveal several dilemmas that illustrate the conflicting options teachers are facing in relation to their colleagues, their pupils, the curriculum and in the classroom context when they intend to implement CL. In particular, the following dilemmas were identified: two dilemmas related to professional autonomy (student teachers: teacher autonomy vs. pre-service performance assessment; novice teachers: teacher autonomy vs. institutional conformity), further dilemmas related to teachers’ beliefs about pupils’ readiness for CL vs. evidence about pupils’ readiness for CL, investing in innovation vs. curriculum and job pressure, and pedagogical intentions vs. contextual constraints. In most conflicting situations, student and novice teachers position themselves in the challenge by opting for non-implementation.     

如何激发学生在计算机教学中的求知欲

教学是教与学的协同活动,在于激发学生的学习动机,唤起学生的求知欲望。在计算机教学中巧妙地运用游戏导入,吸引学生的注意力,使其进入最佳的学习状态,可以收到良好的教学效果。     

研究型大学学生学习性投入对学习收获的影响机制研究——基于2009年“中国大学生学情调查”的数据分析

大学生学习性投入是近20年来大学生学习与发展领域中的关键概念,对于探索大学教育过程及其有效性具有重要价值。本研究在大学影响力模型的分析框架之下,采用中国大学生学情调查(NSSE-China)2009年数据,通过结构方程模型取向的路径分析方法,建构了包括大学生教育过程输入、过程、输出三大类变量的因果关系模型,重点考察研究型大学中学生学习性投入对学习收获的影响机制。其结果表明,学生学习性投入作为过程变量对学生学业收获的影响比院校环境和学生家庭背景等输入因素的影响更大;学生学习性投入的各维度对学生学习收获的作用机制及影响大小各不相同。因此,院校教育质量的改进,应当以院校主导的改善学生学习性投入为抓手,加大挑战与强化支持并举,刺激并带动学生主导的学习性投入,促进学生全面发展。     

Multiple Sources of Evidence: An Analysis of Stakeholders' Perceptions of Various Indicators of Student Learning

This study compared different stakeholders' perceived validity of various indicators of student learning used to judge the quality of students' academic performance. Data were gathered from the questionnaire responses of 314 educators in three states that have implemented comprehensive state-wide assessment programs with high-stakes consequences both for educators and for students. MANOVA results showed that while educators generally hold similar perceptions, significant differences exist between school administrators and teachers. Administrators perceived the results from nationally normed standardized assessments, state assessments, and district assessments to be more valid indicators of student achievement than did teachers. In contrast, teachers granted more validity to classroom observations and homework completion and quality than did administrators. The implications of these differences for reform initiatives are discussed, particularly with regard to teachers' motivation to improve results.     

研究型大学生师互动对学业成就的影响:是否因学生背景特征而异

利用H大学“研究型大学本科生就读经历调查”数据,考察不同背景特征学生的生师互动水平,探讨生师互动对认知技能、操作及社交技能、满意度、归属感的影响是否因学生背景特征而异。统计结果表明,男生的生师互动水平显著高于女生;学生家庭收入和父母受教育程度越高,生师互动越频繁;非课程的生师互动对女生学业成就的影响显著高于男生,对低收入家庭和高收入家庭学生的影响高于中等收入家庭,对父母双方均上过大学的学生影响高于父母均未上过大学的学生和一方上过大学的学生;辅助教师进行研究对男生学业成就的影响显著高于女生,对低收入家庭和父母均未上过大学的学生的影响高于同辈。大学应依靠制度性手段提升生师互动的总体水平,采取支持性措施改善弱势学生的生师互动,增强互动情境性以提高课堂互动的质量。     

Welcoming Opposition: Havruta Learning and Montaigne’s The Art of Discussion

Michel de Montaigne’s L’art de Conférer offers a moral groundwork for students’ learning of havruta, a traditional Jewish form of studying in pairs, based on collaborative critical text-based learning, that can be applied to students everywhere. The article attends to the nature of havruta learning and to cultural norms that make it difficult for students to become open to their partners’ opposing ideas. Students’ critical discussion of Montaigne’s essay is then conceptualized as a pedagogical tool for cultivating the welcoming of opposing viewpoints and opening their own ideas to critical scrutiny in text- and discussion-based learning. I draw on Wolfgang Iser’s theory of reading as bringing the reader into deeper self-consciousness and calling into question implicit beliefs about the role of opposing ideas. The article provides an analysis of Montaigne’s ideas and includes study questions to help students adopt a more constructive attitude toward opposing views and expand their understanding of the role of the confrontation of ideas in learning discussions.     

The role of importance and interest in the processing of text

In this review, text-based research on importance and interest is analyzed with several objectives in mind. First, the constructs of importance and interest are unidimensionally considered to show that various forms of each can operate within any text-learning environment. Second, research specifically addressing the interplay between these two factors is explored in relation to the goal of learning from text. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the research on importance and interest from a methodological standpoint and to delineate key findings that emerge from this body of research. Finally, based on the review of the literature, implications for future research and instructional practice are presented.     

Implementing constructive alignment in higher education – cross-institutional perspectives from Australia

ABSTRACT

Constructive alignment (CA) has become internationally established as an educational approach linking strategic planning and corporate policy to discipline and course teaching and learning practice. The literature to date has focused predominantly on either single institutional or specific discipline settings and curriculum level initiatives. This research study seeks to broaden the conceptual and methodological perspective on constructive alignment with a cross-institutional study from two Australian universities. The case study learnings from a top-down institutional implementation of CA at one university and the bottom-up teaching and learning approach within the other have been jointly investigated. By mapping the implementation process of constructive alignment, the key strengths and constraints for both approaches have been identified. These findings offer new insights for institutional managers as well as academics and teaching and learning professionals. In addition, a potential ‘gap in the middle’ at faculty level is highlighted. It is within this nexus that the transitions from institutional policy and targets to successful discipline-specific teaching and learning practices and outcomes are shaped. This research seeks to raise the awareness that CA design, planning and implementation should be conceptualised from the outset as a dynamic, multi-directional and iterative process, irrespective of whether a predominantly top-down or bottom-up approach for implementation is chosen.