Consumer learning for university students: a case for a curriculum

This article indicates how the application of a simplified version of the analytical abstraction method (AAM) was used in curriculum development for consumer learning at one higher education institution in South Africa. We used a case study design and qualitative research methodology to generate data through semi‐structured interviews with eight learning facilitators at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. This data set forms the basis of the reported research. Application of basic‐ and higher‐level analysis resulted in the identification of patterns that confirmed the need for consumer learning and informed the situation analysis with regard to a ‘readiness climate’ at the institution. We also gained insight into aspects that need to be considered during curriculum development for consumer learning as the AAM has proved to be a useful guiding tool in developing a structured explanatory framework for curriculum development. The article concludes with the view that the promotion of consumer learning in university curricula has been under‐researched and that, despite current efforts, university curricula are slow to adopt consumer learning as a critical learning outcome. We suggest several possibilities that might assist in overcoming this inertia.     

小组合作学习模式在大学英语教学中的运用

作为一种新型的教学模式,小组合作学习模式对大学英语教学产生了积极的影响。该模式不仅缓解了大班教学的尴尬局面,还能充分发挥学生个性并调动他们的英语学习热情。合作学习同时也能提高学生的交际能力。本文分析了小组合作学习模式的必要性,结合教学经验提出了一些行之有效的小组学习活动。     

合作学习在英语口语教学中的实践研究

本文从合作学习的理论出发,进行了英语教学中合作学习的实践研究。并以口语教学为例,积极探索英语口语教学中合作学习的策略应用,创设合作学习的模式,让学生在自主活动中学会交际、学会合作,学会学习。     

How to integrate cooperative skills training into learning tasks: an illustration with young pupils' writing

This study explored how to integrate cooperative skills training into learning tasks in the area of writing. Cooperative learning sessions, aimed at developing both cooperative and cognitive skills, were created and conducted in two elementary school classes (Grade 2, age 7–8). Pupils’ teamwork interactions were videotaped and analysed. Results show that young pupils were able to work cooperatively on writing tasks (WT) without teacher's help, advocating realisable teaching practices. Interactive dynamics likely to enhance pupils’ involvement in constructive interactions and in WT are documented; this typology could be used as a heuristic tool in future qualitative research.     

关于合作学习模式在大学公共英语教学中的应用研究

本文针对合作学习模式的概述展开论述,指出传统合作学习中存在的问题以及合作学习模式的优化与应用。     

Mining learning social networks for cooperative learning with appropriate learning partners in a problem-based learning environment

Many studies have identified web-based cooperative learning as an increasingly popular educational paradigm with potential to increase learner satisfaction and interactions. However, peer-to-peer interaction often suffers barriers owing to a failure to explore useful social interaction information in web-based cooperative learning environments. This easily leads to learners being unable to seek appropriate learning partners for facilitating effective cooperative learning. This problem frequently causes poor learning effectiveness in web-based cooperative learning environments. Generally, instructor assigned or learner selected learning peers cannot ensure to compose suitable learning partners for individual learners in cooperative learning environments. A suitable learning partner can help the learner, who is learning in the personal way and encounters the difficulty, to solve problems. Inappropriate learning partners cannot only easily lead to poor learning interaction and achievement, but can also lead to the meaning of cooperative learning being lost. Although many web-based learning systems have already been developed to assist cooperative learning, supporting peer-to-peer interaction in computer-supported cooperative learning (CSCL) is still immature. As a result, this study presents a novel scheme for recommending appropriate learning partners for individual learners utilizing mining of learning interactive social networks in a cooperative problem-based learning (PBL) environment. Results of this study show that the proposed scheme helps encourage learners to interact with learning peers more actively and positively, and facilitates learning performance in a cooperative PBL environment.     

Implementing a cooperative learning model in universities

In the past few years, many students have begun to lose interest in science and information and engineering technology courses because they find them too boring and hard to learn. To strengthen this field of education and stimulate students’ motivation and interest in learning, this study introduces a theoretical pedagogical framework based on cooperative learning theory and tailored to the realities of the university education system in China. In the framework, a group in a class is treated as a system that goes through different stages and is subject to different input instructions and output outcomes. Based on this structure, teachers’ interventions serve as feedback for controlling inputs to promote the correct operation of the system. This study aims to promote the development of a cooperative learning model for university students. A case study of the application of the framework shows that it has positive and active effects on student learning.     

谈思想政治课的学生合作学习模式

新课程标准强调要鼓励合作学习,促进学生之间的合作交流,使学生能够共同全面的发展.合作学习能够使学生主动参与到思想政治课的学习当中,使原本枯燥乏味、死记硬背的课堂变得宽松自由.本文主要谈谈合作学习模式是如何在思想政治课堂上展开的,以及教师如何能有效的掌控学生的学习过程     

如何有效地在大学英语课堂中实施合作学习

合作学习是目前大学英语课堂中广为采用的教学策略。本文从学习小组的划分,教师的主导作用,评价的方式,合作意识的培养等方面入手,对于如何有效地在大学英语课堂中实施合作学习提出一些建议。     

Bridging the gap: teachers cooperating together to implement cooperative learning

Cooperative learning (CL), in spite of extensive research and documented benefits, is not widely used in England. A review of the literature shows that it requires a staged and sustained approach to implementation, which has led to a gap between its potential and actual use. The case study cited here provides one example of bridging that gap through schools working together, with a community of facilitators, or experts, to provide support. As interest grows internationally into teachers cooperating in professional learning communities, this article argues that collaborative cultures provide the key to implementing and sustaining CL. In other words: teachers cooperating together also support pupils learning together.     

Non-linear improvement in generic problem-solving skills of university students: a longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

Problem solving has been characterized as one of the ‘employability skills’ due to the high demand for such abilities in a modern workplace. Most universities do not monitor progress of the generic problem-solving skills (PSS) of their students due to a lack of available assessment tools. We used previously reported 15-min tests to measure the generic PSS of students over the first three years of university. More than 600 students participated in this study, including 144 who wrote PSS tests in Year 1 and then again in Year 3 of their studies. Two versions of the PSS test were administered in September and December of both years. We observed a non-linear increase in PSS test scores with a significant growth during the first three months of Year 1, a similar increase over the next 21 months, then no change during the first three months of Year 3. Further studies are necessary to pinpoint the instructional techniques and situational factors facilitating the PSS development of students over the first three years of studies. Moreover, the plateau we observe in the third year indicates that proactive steps by universities and individual instructors are required to advance this important skill set in upper-year students.     

小组合作教学模式在传媒艺术类大学英语课堂教学中的使用研究

为改变传媒艺术类院校中大学英语课堂"满堂灌"的教学形式,本文在建构主义理论的指导下进行教学设计,提出用小组合作的模式开展教学,并进行了一学期的实验。实验结果经SPSS 11.5运行验证,证明小组合作的教学模式现实可行,在整体效果上优于传统模式。     

谈师范院校学生亟需提高的几种基本素质

师范院校教育中存在的一个问题－未针对中小学应试教育的弊病而有意识地培养强化学生的素质能力，使相当一部分学生的基本素质和专业素质都达不到合格教师的要求。进而分析师范院校学生基本素质方面最主要的三种缺陷－－人文素质，语文素质和人际交往能力的不足与欠缺。最后提出补救的措施。     

Project-based learning in Geotechnics: cooperative versus collaborative teamwork

Since 2007/2008 project-based learning models have been used to deliver two fundamental courses on Geotechnics in University of Aveiro, Portugal. These models have evolved and have encompassed either cooperative or collaborative teamwork. Using data collected in five editions of each course (Soil Mechanics I and Soil Mechanics II), the different characteristics of the models using cooperative or collaborative teamwork are pointed out and analysed, namely in terms of the students’ perceptions. The data collected include informal feedback from students, monitoring of their marks and academic performance, and answers to two sets of questionnaires: developed for these courses, and institutional. The data indicate students have good opinion of the project-based learning model, though collaborative teamwork is the best rated. The overall efficacy of the models was analysed (sum of their effectiveness, efficiency and attractiveness). The collaborative model was found more adequate.     

Surveying digital competencies of university students and professors in Ukraine for fully online collaborative learning

Collaborative-constructivist online learning appears well aligned with Ukraine’s post-revolutionary aspirations for globalised and transformed higher education. This study explores digital competencies of students and professors at Kyiv National Economic University, Ukraine, to probe readiness for fully online collaborative learning. The General Technology Competency and Use profile tool was completed by 244 participants to measure digital experience and confidence across four categories of human–computer activity. To assess readiness, reported levels of competencies were related to the three dimensions of successful collaborative learning described by the Community of Inquiry model. Despite some key differences between students and teachers, general findings include moderate-to-low levels of self-reported technical, social and informational competency, accompanied by consistently low levels of epistemological competency. These findings suggest that neither students nor teachers are adequately prepared for achieving high levels of social, cognitive and teaching presence in a fully online learning environment. It is recommended that digital-competency development become an educational priority.     

Engagement in learning: a comparison between Asian and European international university students

Drawing on research on both engagement in learning and approaches to learning, we examine the associations between international students’ approaches to learning, factors in the teaching/learning environment and self-assessed academic outcomes. A total of 307 students responded to our survey. Their experience of the purposefulness of their course assignments and the relevance of their studies was related to students having a deep approach to learning and being organised in their studies. Moreover, students applying a deep approach to learning and being organised in studying seemed to perceive their study success more positively. Furthermore, the better students’ perception of how well their courses were organised and aligned with other studies, the lower their stress level was. The Asian students in our study exhibited a slightly more surface approach to learning, and were more organised in their studies than the European students, but the differences were very small.     

The effects of cooperative learning on peer relations,academic support,and engagement in learning among students of color

Abstract

Despite Brown vs. Board of Education, prejudice still exists in the American school system. These attitudes can give rise to negative social experiences for students of color (i.e., discrimination), negatively impacting their mental and physical health and creating disparities in educational outcomes. Rather than seeking to ameliorate these negative experiences, our approach attempts to address the underlying prejudices and, in so doing, reduce these disparities. Using 4 waves of data from a cluster randomized trial (N?=?15 middle schools, 1,890 students, 47.1% female, 75.2% White), we hypothesized that cooperative learning, which has been shown to reduce prejudice in previous research, would create positive gains in peer relatedness, perceptions of academic support, and engagement in learning, and that gains would be larger for students of color; our results confirmed these hypotheses. Our findings highlight the potential role of cooperative learning in reducing disparities and creating greater equity in education.     

合作学习在高职英语阅读教学中的适用性研究

合作学习理论在国外教学界已得到了广泛应用,但国内的英语阅读教学尤其是针刈商职学生的英语阅读教学还研究甚少。本文通过试验和开放式问卷调查的方式,研究合作学习在高职英语阅读教学中的实际效果,以探讨一种行之有效的阅读教学法。     

Seamless learning in the mobile age: a theoretical and methodological discussion on using cooperative inquiry to study digital kids on-the-move

This paper shares the theoretical and methodological frameworks that are deployed in a 3-year study to examine how Singapore primary school students leverage on mobile technology for seamless learning. This notion of seamless learning refers to the integrated and synergistic effects of learning in both formal and informal settings, which is distributed across different learning processes (emergent or planned) as well as across different spaces (in or out of class). Drawing insights from the literature and our study, we assert that we should jettison the technology-centric view to adopt a socio-cultural framework. This move puts us in a better position to make sense of the rich complexities coalescing around the students’ in-situ use of mobile devices. We also critiqued the adequacy of our people-centred data collection method, in particular, cooperative inquiry in capturing instances of seamless learning. Challenges of operationalising the cooperative inquiry approaches are also detailed in the paper.