Student Perceptions as Distance Learners in Internet-Based Courses

With the increasing prevalence of Internet-based courses in higher education, it is important to examine students' experiences to provide an optimal learning environment. This research found that students reporting positive attitudes about their online course experience exhibited attributes of constructivist learners, including self-direction. Students with negative attitudes seemed less able to understand the course content and to trust self-assessment of their learning, and reported the need for more guidance. In addition, students' expectations were a determining influence in their online course experience and strategies. This study also explored strategies that students use to be successful and discusses ways by which instructors can recognize and meet the needs of a wide range of learners.     

Cross‐Curricular Gallery Learning: A Phenomenological Case Study

This article examines the strategies that can be used to enhance students' understanding of how subjects link together and whether cross‐curricular approaches, through a gallery project, have any real impact on students' understanding of the links between subjects. A substantial part of this article, however, describes the methodological aspect of the project. A phenomenological case study approach was used in order to engage fully with individual students' learning experiences. It was found that the students who were involved directly with the study felt that the links between subjects had more relevance to their learning when the teacher made such links explicit. They were unaware of the relevance of many cross‐curricular links made in lessons, but the study indicated that cross‐curricular learning can enable students to transfer skills and knowledge in order to understand concepts more fully.     

Writing as a Tool in Teaching Sketching: Implications for Architectural Design Education

This article discusses the process of a study designed to develop university students' sketching skills in schools of architecture. Acknowledging the relationship between cognition and writing, it aims to investigate the role of writing in learning sketching among architecture students and to examine how students regulate their thoughts by writing as they work on their free hand sketches. It includes writing texts before and after sketching tasks to improve sketching. The study was implemented in a school of architecture at a Turkish university as part of an elective course on sketching. The students' works were evaluated in terms of their sketches, texts and self‐reports of their thinking and the views and comments of the tutor who carried out the programme. This article discusses how the study was conceived and developed. The results of this study may provide insights for educators in developing strategies in teaching and learning of sketching and design, using multi modes of thinking.     

Learning How to Learn in a Technology Course: A Case Study

There is a growing interest in helping students to become better learners, and this article describes how the team designing an Open University distance-learning course set out to create a course that would explicitly attempt to help students acquire the learning characteristics of mature and capable practitioners in the field. The article discusses how the course team went about this task in ways that turned out to be consistent with both experiential and constructivist perspectives of learning. It explains how the learning-to-learn goals of the course were explicitly articulated to students and how the course structure and the assessment policy sought to 'impel' students to acquire and deploy learning skills that would stand them in good stead after graduation. The article ends by reviewing the evidence, available from students' marked assignments and from surveys, of how well students actually did 'learn how to learn'.     

On Becoming a Qualitative Researcher: A View Through the Lens of Transformative Learning

This article describes a graduate-level qualitative research course informed by transformational learning theory. It presents strategies an interdisciplinary team of instructors used to engage and support students as they entered and moved through the course. The strategies focused on creating a safe, supportive, learner-centered environment, fostering critical reflection, engaging in ongoing discourse, and focusing on the centrality of experience by situating cognition in the personal context of students' lives and the research process itself.     

Investigating classroom community in higher education

The purpose of this research was to demonstrate an empirical relationship between classroom community and students' achievement goals in higher education, and to offer a possible explanation for differences in this relationship for cooperative and non-cooperative classrooms. Structural equation modeling techniques revealed that students' perceptions of interactive learning significantly mediated the relationship between students' goals and their sense of classroom community, but only for classrooms that used cooperative learning techniques. In the traditional lecture-style course surveyed, students' feelings of classroom community and interactive learning were significantly lower than in cooperative learning classrooms. Finally, while mastery goals were significantly higher for cooperative learning students, performance-approach goals were significantly higher for traditional lecture students.     

On the dynamics of students' approaches to learning: The effects of the teaching/learning environment

This study investigates the effects of the learning/teaching environment on students' approaches to learning (i.e. combination of intention and learning strategies) and compares a lecture based to a student-activating setting within the first year of elementary teacher education. Data collection (N = 790) was carried out using a pre-test/post-test method by means of the Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory (ALSI). Though students' approaches were similar at the start of the course, a clear distinction was found after experiencing the lecture based and student-activating teaching/learning environments. However, the direction of change was opposite to the premise that student-activating instruction deepens student learning. Instead, the latter pushed students towards a Surface Approach to learning and students' Strategic Approaches suffered significant lowering.     

Classroom research into good learning behaviours

This article examines the work conducted by two teacher-researchers involved in a study of their students' learning behaviours in their science classes. The teacher-researchers were strongly influenced by the PEEL project (Project to Enhance Effective Learning) and became members of the PAVOT project (Perspective and Voice of the Teacher) through which the research reported in this article was conducted. The teacher-researchers studied their students' approaches to learning and then introduced new teaching strategies (drawn from the PEEL literature) designed to positively influence their students' learning behaviours. In implementing new teaching strategies and exploring how their students' learning behaviours altered, these teacher-researchers suggest a number of important issues about the teaching and learning environment. The article also illustrates the importance of teacher-researchers being able to find ways of communicating their professional knowledge to the larger education community.     

Learning mechanisms in multidisciplinary teamwork with real customers and open-ended problems

Recently, there has been a trend towards adding a multidisciplinary or multicultural element to traditional monodisciplinary project courses in computing and engineering. In this article, we examine the implications of multidisciplinarity for students' learning experiences during a one-semester project course for real customers. We use a qualitative research approach and base our analysis on students' learning reports on three instances of a project course titled Multidisciplinary working life project. The main contribution of this article is the unified theoretical picture of the learning mechanisms stemming from multidisciplinarity. Our main conclusions are that (1) students generally have a positive view of multidisciplinarity; (2) multidisciplinary teams enable students to better identify their own expertise, which leads to increased occupational identity; and (3) learning experiences are not fixed, as team spirit and student attitude play an important role in how students react to challenging situations arising from introduction of the multidisciplinarity.     

The effect of an MSN agent on learning community and achievement

The use of instant messaging to support e-learning will continue to gain importance because of its speed, effectiveness, and low cost. This study developed an MSN agent to mediate and facilitate students' learning in a Web-based course. The students' acceptance of the MSN agent and its effect on learning community identification and learning achievement were investigated using the technology acceptance model. Results indicated that the MSN agent proved easy to use, and that students recognized its benefits with regard to their learning. In more detail, students perceived that the MSN agent would be beneficial to learning community identification, but this perceived usefulness had less effect on their learning achievement. However, it was found that perceived system usage of the MSN agent was significantly related to learning achievement, which differed from the result of analyzing students' perceived usefulness of the agent. Rather than using a systematic recording log, the perceived system usage of the MSN agent was measured through questionnaires. Interview feedback revealed that effective learning was related to the learners' engagement in the MSN agent and not just from their perceived usefulness of it. Therefore, the MSN agent could have more potential to facilitate students' learning in an online environment if learning activities related to study are designed to promote students' engagement.     

Students with special educational needs and cooperative learning in the ordinary classroom: some learnings from teaching practice

This article presents the results of a study to determine the strategies used by teachers to include students with special educational needs in regular classrooms, primarily using Cooperative Learning strategies. It aims to identify the factors of inclusive learning in order to enhance the participation and learning of all students in the classroom and in their cooperative teams. A qualitative case study was carried out in the context of the teachers participating in a postgraduate course ‘expert in cooperative learning’ offered by the University of Alcalá (Spain), over a period of six years (2011–2017), involving the participation of 176 professional teachers. All the participants attended an annual university continuous training course on cooperative learning. Document analysis, in-depth interviews and a questionnaire designed ad hoc were used. The conclusions include the importance of cooperative work in facilitating inclusive education, with a variety of different strategies used to respond to all students' needs, and those with special educational needs in particular, and the coordination required between teachers and special educational needs specialists to implement those strategies.     

Activity-based learning of statistics: Using practical applications to improve students' learning

Many obstacles are involved in teaching statistics to undergraduates, including high attrition rates, students' anxiety, and a limited ability to grasp difficult concepts. These concerns can be addressed effectively by implementing strategies that require students to be actively engaged in the learning of statistics. First, we discuss how activity-based strategies and information technology can be an effective way to teach a statistics course. Second, we discuss how we changed a statistics course to include activity-based strategies. Finally, we discuss how cooperative learning, as a type of activity-based strategy, can increase students' understanding of statistics.     

Learning through Teaching: Challenges and Opportunities in Facilitating Student Learning in Food Science and Nutrition by Using the Interteaching Approach

ABSTRACT: Interteaching is a new pedagogical strategy for classroom instruction that demonstrates great effective student learning outcomes in the field of psychology. It is a 20 to 30 min student‐to‐student discussion addressing the main points in a specified body of reading materials. Interteaching includes elements such as reciprocal peer tutoring, cooperative learning, and problem‐based learning. These elements have been well theorized and their effectiveness has been empirically documented. To date, little is known about the effects of interteaching on students' perceived learning outcomes in food science and nutrition. This case study describes how the interteach method was employed in an undergraduate nutrition and food science course with specific examples of the tools used, such as interteach preparation guides, the interteach record form, and the peer assessment form. Based on the continuous feedback provided by the students during the course work, several specific modifications were made from the conventional interteaching methods, including 4‐person interteaching instead of one‐on‐one interteaching, as well as the use of in‐class thought‐provoking “synthesis” questions. At the end of the course, we assessed the students' perceptions of interteaching, as well as the students' perceived learning outcomes. The method generally fostered critical thinking and enhanced their motivation, which led to their perceived learning. On the other hand, some of the students expressed challenges in learning from peers due to their peers' varied preparation levels, as well as tackling complex scientific concepts prior to lectures. Further investigation is needed to develop possible strategies for accommodating the challenges among students with different learning styles.     

Overcoming Graduate Students' Negative Perceptions of Statistics

Although there has been some attention in the literature to such issues as students' attitudes toward statistics, instructors are still constantly faced with the challenge to engage students; understand their perceptions, motivations, and interests; and deal with their reluctance and negative attitudes toward the field of statistics. The purpose of the present study was to (1) examine students' attitudes toward statistics; (2) identify characteristics of students with the most negative attitudes toward statistics; (3) determine methods of statistics instruction that students most prefer; and (4) present strategies to overcome fears, resistance, anxiety, and negative attitudes and enhance the learning environment. The findings from the study of 195 graduate social work students demonstrate that factors contributing to statistics anxiety include math phobia, lack of relevance to social work, instructor's characteristics, and classroom environment. Among the preferred instructional methods students identified helpful strategies such as instructors' being attentive to students' anxiety, setting a slow course pace, and providing additional tutoring. The study findings suggested three major areas for enhancing statistics learning: (1) fostering environment that is nonthreatening, friendly, and conducive to learning; (2) clarifying statistical concepts in plain terms; and (3) offering practical skills relevant to students' field of specialization.     

MAKING AGING "REAL" FOR UNDERGRADUATES

While there is ample evidence that introductory aging courses can enhance students' appreciation of older adults and aging issues, few studies report the impact of such courses on students' view of their own aging. We developed a one-credit, undergraduate course, "Introduction to Aging," to sensitize students to the aging experience, the diversity of the aging population, and the value of intergenerational communication. To achieve these goals, the curriculum was developed and taught using transformational learning methods that emphasize attitude and belief changes through self-reflection. This article shares the responses of students to an experiential, web-based exercise "Calculating Your Life Expectancy" that was assigned to "situate" students in the aging process. Our findings demonstrate that this exercise is an excellent transformational learning tool to stimulate student thinking and discussion of their own aging.     

Older and Wiser?: A Comparison of the Learning and Study Strategies of Mature Age and Younger Teacher Education Students

‘Non‐traditional’ students are increasingly a part of university populations. This study examined differences between mature age and younger university students in their learning and study strategies as measured by the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI). Subjects were 21 mature age and 104 younger teacher education students enrolled in The Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) course at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Significant correlations were found between the students' LASSI scores and both their self‐reported level of global skill and their perceptions of how difficult the course was. There were significant differences between the two groups in terms of their learning and study strategies, with mature age students reporting themselves to be using effective strategies more often, on average, than younger students. The validity and implications of these findings in terms of student learning, support and instruction in study and learning and in predicting academic success are discussed.     

Effects of elicited reflections combined with tutor or peer feedback on self-regulated learning and learning outcomes

This study investigated the effects of students' reflections, combined with suggestive feedback, on the development of self-regulated learning and learning outcomes. Suggestive feedback alerts students that further reflection is advisable, without being very directive. Forty-nine students participated in a regular web-based distance education course on work psychology. In two experimental conditions students were prompted to reflect on their learning process, and received feedback on their reflections, either from peer students or a tutor. These conditions were compared to a control condition in which students studied the regular course without reflection and feedback. In line with the hypothesis, results showed that reflection combined with feedback positively affected students' self-regulated learning. In addition, students in the condition with tutor feedback outperformed students in both other conditions on learning outcomes.     

Communicating to Learn Multivariable Calculus: Students' Blackboard Presentations as a Means for Enhancing Mathematics Learning

This paper reports observations and reflections from a pedagogic intervention intended to enhance mathematics students' learning of course content in a course in multivariable calculus. The intervention design required students to structure, practice, and deliver an oral presentation that was a synthesis of the teacher's weekly lectures, for the benefit of themselves and their peers. The intervention appears to have incentivized students to engage with and learn mathematics contents in an effective way, and it also helped the mathematics teacher to reflect on, adapt, and develop his teaching strategies. To conclude, it would seem that both students and teachers in mathematics have much to gain from giving students opportunities to develop their own voice in learning contexts otherwise relying on books and lectures.