Scaling up from the Pioneers: The TeleTOP Method at the University of Twente

At the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology, University of Twente, in The Netherlands, pioneer faculty members have been making innovative use of WWW-based course support sites since 1994. By 1996, seven instructors were active; by the first part of 1999 more than half the faculty were involved, and the rest will be joining soon (in a systematic plan, all the first-year courses in 1998, the second-year courses and many of the senior electives in 1999, etc). In addition we are working with other faculties, to support the same progression. How are we doing this? In this article, the TeleTOP method (http://teletop.edte.utwente.nl) will be described, showing clearly how it has developed based on an implementation model and the experience we had already acquired with innovative use of the WWW for our courses. The eight aspects of the TeleTOP method, including the pedagogical principles, the change strategies, the instructor-engagement strategies, and the technology, wi ll be described, and illustrated with examples from the courses that have now been redesigned. In particular, results after the first year in terms of usage, of instructional choices made by the instructors, of the diversity of instructional approaches that are supported, of the on-going formative evaluation, and of the adaptation of the TeleTOP method for another faculty with a different pedagogical culture will be given. The applicability of the TeleTOP method to other faculties and settings is discussed.     

The TeleTOP Implementation Model: Establishing the Use of a WWW-Based Course Management System in a University

The process that accompanies the decision to make an institutional commitment to new ways of teaching and learning supported by a WWW-based course management system is complex. Such a process is underway in the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology at the University of Twente in the Netherlands via its TeleTOP project (http://teletop.edte.utwente.nl). A model was needed to guide the change process. In this paper, the development of the first version of the TeleTOP Implementation Model is described and an exploratory study of the generalizability of the model to other settings is reported upon. The general conclusion of this preliminary investigation is that the model appears to be generally applicable in other institutional contexts also involved in systematic change processes involving WWW-based course management systems, but that some revision of the model is needed. Based on the preliminary exploration study, an introduction to version 2 of the model is presented here.     

Using educational theory and research to refine agricultural extension: affordances and barriers for farmers’ learning and practice change

Purpose: To examine the factors that support and hinder farmers’ learning and to investigate the impact of an innovative learning program on farmers’ practice change.

Design/methodology/approach: Individual interviews and focus group discussions were held with 24 farmers over 20 months. Observations were made of these farmers as they participated with eight agricultural and social scientists in a range of innovative experiences to learn about chicory and plantain establishment and management. These learning experiences were designed around evidence-informed educational pedagogies. Data sets were analyzed using NVivo to determine common themes of affordances and barriers to learning and actual practice changes.

Findings: The affordances for learning and practice change include belonging to a learning community, enhancing self-efficacy, engaging with scientists, seeing relative advantage, reinforcing and validating learning, supporting system’s integration and developing an identity as learners. Barriers to learning and practice change include issues of: trialability, complexity, compatibility and risk.

Practical implications: The importance of basing new models of extension around evidence-informed pedagogies known through educational research to promote learning and practice change.

Theoretical implications: Sociocultural theory and self-efficacy theories of learning are critical to the success of effective agricultural extension programs.

Originality: To date, little empirical research about the affordances and barriers for pastoral farmers’ learning has been based on contemporary educational research.     

Collaboration,knowledge and innovation toward a welfare society: the case of the Board of Social Farming in Valdera (Tuscany), Italy

Purpose: Through an analysis of a social farming (SF) case study, this article investigates how collaboration and knowledge co-creation between different actors can support the process of rural transition in order to stimulate innovation in the welfare system using agricultural resources.

Methodology: We used the ‘Antecedent-Process-Outcome Framework’ developed by Wood and Gray [1991. “Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Collaboration.” The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 27 (2): 139-162] and adapted by Thomson and Perry [2006. “Collaboration Processes: Inside the Black Box.” Public Administration Review 66 (s1): 20-32], to analyse the collaborative process within the Board of Social Farming (BSF) in Valdera, Italy. The BSF in Valdera is particularly important as it was the first transition arena developed in Italy for SF development.

Findings: The article highlights the difficulties and opportunities encountered by the BSF in the knowledge co-creation and collaboration, and identifies key elements to facilitate innovation in SF and more generally in transition processes.

Practical implications: The article aims to generalize crucial practical elements in the relationship between collaborative approaches and innovation in the field of innovative welfare society, which is increasingly key to rural transition.

Theoretical implications: Innovation in SF is complex due to the need to identify new knowledge, diverse kinds of organizations and innovative interactions among many private and public stakeholders. The article explores the concept of collaboration in SF in order to re-define the production of public and private goods within local and rural communities.

Originality: The article aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of collaboration in order to reinforce rural transition pathways.     

Perceived teacher affective support in relation to emotional and motivational variables in elementary school science classrooms in Turkey

Background: In recent research, affective learning environments and affective support have been receiving increasing attention for their roles in stimulating students’ learning outcomes. Despite its raising importance, little is known about affective support in educational contexts in developing countries. Moreover, international student assessment programmes (e.g. PISA and TIMSS) reveal poor science proficiency of students in most of those countries, which provokes the question of how to make positive changes in students’ perspectives and attitudes in science.

Purpose: In the current study, the purpose was to investigate the relations among perceived teacher affective support (PTAS), academic emotions (academic enjoyment, academic anxiety, and academic hopelessness), academic self-efficacy and behavioural engagement in elementary school science classrooms in Turkey.

Sample: A total of 633 fourth- and fifth-grade students in eight elementary schools in Istanbul, Turkey were participated in the study.

Design and methods: A self-report questionnaire was administered to participating students. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling.

Results: Findings showed that PTAS was both directly and indirectly related to the given variables. PTAS was found to be significantly positively associated with students’ academic enjoyment, academic self-efficacy and behavioural engagement and significantly negatively related to their academic anxiety and academic hopelessness in science classrooms. An important finding is that the total effect of PTAS on behavioural engagement, a factor strongly associated with academic success in all disciplines, was as strong as the effect of students’ perceived academic self-efficacy beliefs in science.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that PTAS may help promoting positive emotions and motivation among students in science classrooms, eventually leading to more desirable attitudes and achievement outcomes in science. Teacher affective support deserves greater recognition from researchers, educational policy-makers, administrators and teachers to build better learning conditions for all students.     

Do farm advisory services improve adoption of rural development policies? An empirical analysis in GI areas

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to evaluate how advisory services stimulate the adoption of rural development policies (RDP) aiming at value creation.

Design/methodology/approach: By linking the use of agricultural extension services (AES) to policies for value creation, we will put forward an empirical analysis in Italy, with the aim of evaluating the capability of AES in bringing about higher access to rural policies for value creation in geographical indications (GI) contexts.

Findings: Results of our analyses evidence, on the one side, higher capability of funds attraction in GI areas. On the other side, path dependency schemes in accessing RDP are evident. Higher rates of access with the support of advisory services emerge, but only in traditional measure to fund farms’ investments. On the contrary, the use of AES does not facilitate access to other measures for value creation.

Practical implications: Our hypothesis is that AES include the support towards farm strategies of development through the adoption of RDP aiming at value creation in GI areas. Our analysis presents practical implications, in terms of a clear need for upgrading and broadening AES’ competencies in the field of projecting farm development and knowledge transfer in the field of funds to be obtained by RDP.

Theoretical implications: From a theoretical point of view, the paper may provide a contribution to theoretical debate by offering new insights into the role of advisory services in stimulating innovations and access to support policies.

Originality/value: This paper tries to fill a gap in the agricultural extension literature. We posit that the role of AES should comprehend a deeper knowledge (and knowledge transfer) concerning the opportunities provided by RDP.     

The Pitfalls of Differentiation in the Financing of Russian Universities

Study objective: To identify the causes and consequences of the growing stratification of universities in terms of the volumes and sources of funding that they have access to as well as in the programs of study that they offer.

Methods: We used statistical and economic analysis to study the outcomes of university activity. We assessed the interrelationships between the resource base of higher education and the production and economic potential of the Russian regions through the application of an econometric model. We also conducted an empirical analysis of the factors that are influencing the increasing public demand for higher education.

Results: We identified trends in how the demand for higher education has structurally changed between 2001 and 2014. We assessed how sources of funding at universities differ from region to region given the transition to the performance-based contract model. We identified the main risks (pitfalls) associated with the structural misalignment of the demand for higher education and the proposed quotas for public scholarship-funded seats in various fields of study. This process is unfolding against a background of increasing regional differentiation, which is contributing to the stratification of Russian universities in terms of the volumes and sources of their financial support and heightened financial obligations caused by raising the salaries of faculty members and leading to a shortage of funds that are available for facilities maintenance as well as supporting the learning process. This latter factor jeopardizes the quality of educational programs.

Findings: We were able to identify trends in how the demand for higher education is structurally changing in Russian higher education on the basis of an empirical analysis that was carried out using an econometric model. We assessed the impact of the global economic crisis and the effective ability of families to pay for higher education. We also identified the risks (pitfalls) that result from the regional differences in university funding .

Practical significance: Specialists may apply the main arguments and conclusions of the article in the field of economics and management when drafting university financial plans and development strategies.     

Recognition as support for reasoning about horizontal motion: a further resource for school science?

Background: Even infants can recognize whether patterns of motion are or are not natural, yet an acknowledged challenge for science education is to promote adequate reasoning about such patterns. Since research indicates linkage between the conceptual bases of recognition and reasoning, it seems possible that recognition can be engaged to support reasoning.

Purpose: Noting the theoretical and practical significance of showing that recognition can support reasoning, the reported research aimed to examine the possibility in relation to horizontal motion.

Sample: The research was conducted with 167 children (mean age = 9.51 years) from Years 4, 5 and 6 of an English-medium school located in Lisbon, Portugal.

Design and methods: Individual pre-tests were administered to all participants to assess initial reasoning about the direction and speed with which rolling balls travel after collision. Reasoning was assessed in the sense of both predicting and explaining. Thereafter, about two-thirds of the sample worked with software that, via simulations of the incorrect patterns that were typically predicted (and comparison with simulations of correct patterns), engaged recognition as feedback on reasoning. The remaining children became an untutored control group. Replicating characteristic computer use in classrooms, half of the software sample worked as singletons with adult guidance available on request and half worked in pairs without the option of guidance. A few weeks later, all participants were post-tested following pre-test procedures.

Results: Pre- to post-test change amongst the children who worked with the software exceeded pre- to post-test change within the control group, and this was observed with both predictions and explanations. The differences were strongest amongst the children who worked as singletons, even though they seldom requested adult support.

Conclusions: Although issues remain to be addressed before the approach can be optimized, its viability as support for reasoning has been demonstrated, and this may have relevance beyond horizontal motion.     

How teaching practices are connected to student intention to enrol in upper secondary school physics courses

Background: In developed countries, it is challenging for teachers to select pedagogical practices that encourage students to enrol in science and technology courses in upper secondary school.

Purpose: Aiming to understand the enrolment dynamics, this study analyses sample-based data from Finland’s National Assessment in Science to determine whether pedagogical approaches influence student intention to enrol in upper secondary school physics courses.

Sample: This study examined a clustered sample of 2949 Finnish students in the final year of comprehensive school (15–16 years old).

Methods: Through explorative factor analysis, we extracted several variables that were expected to influence student intention to enrol in physics courses. We applied partial correlation to determine the underlying interdependencies of the variables.

Results: The analysis revealed that the main predictor of enrolment in upper secondary school physics courses is whether students feel that physics is important. Although statistically significant, partial correlations between variables were rather small. However, the analysis of partial correlations revealed that pedagogical practices influence inquiry and attitudinal factors. Pedagogical practices that emphasise science experimentation and the social construction of knowledge had the strongest influence.

Conclusions: The research implies that to increase student enrolment in physics courses, the way students interpret the subject’s importance needs to be addressed, which can be done by the pedagogical practices of discussion, teacher demonstrations, and practical work.     

Assessing pre-service science teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) through observations and lesson plans

Background: Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) is critical for effective teaching with technology. However, generally science teacher education programs do not help pre-service teachers develop TPACK.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess pre-service science teachers' TPACK over a semester-long Science Methods.

Sample: Twenty-seven pre-service science teachers took the course toward the end of their four-year teacher education program.

Design and method: The study employed the case study methodology. Lesson plans and microteaching observations were used as data collection tools. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-based lesson plan assessment instrument (TPACK-LpAI) and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Observation Protocol (TPACK-OP) were used to analyze data obtained from observations and lesson plans.

Results: The results showed that the TPACK-focused Science Methods course had an impact on pre-service teachers’ TPACK to varying degrees. Most importantly, the course helped teachers gain knowledge of effective usage of educational technology tools.

Conclusion: Teacher education programs should provide opportunities to pre-service teachers to develop their TPACK so that they can effectively integrate technology into their teaching.     

Perception of teaching competencies by administrators,faculty and students of Indian agricultural universities: an assessment of faculty training needs

Purpose: The study aims at finding out relevance and knowledge levels of selected teaching competencies as perceived by educational administrators, faculty and students, in order to assess the training needs of faculty of agricultural universities.

Methodology: Relevance and knowledge levels were tested through a teaching competency questionnaire developed and run on 292 respondents fitting into administrator, faculty and student groups. Needs Assessment Model by Borich [1980. “A Needs Assessment Model for Conducting Follow-up Studies.” Journal of Teacher Education 31 (3): 39–42] is used to identify training needs.

Findings: Results indicate differences in perceptions among groups towards teaching competencies. Prioritized training needs were identified which provide the content and direction for the development of faculty in-service educational programmes.

Practical implications: Faculty of agricultural universities need periodic in-service training programmes in order to improve their teaching competencies so that they become effective and competent teachers in the present educational environment.

Theoretical implications: The statistically validated methodological framework provides for capturing the perception of all stakeholders on the teaching competencies among the faculty members of Agricultural Universities in India, and offers a scope for scaling up the study for similar educational setting in the region.

Originality/value: The perception of students and administrators was also considered along with the self-perception of faculty about the relevance and knowledge levels of teaching competencies.     

Understanding argumentation about socio-scientific issues on energy: a quantitative study with primary pre-service teachers in Spain

Background Argumentation is an important discourse process in science that needs to be taught and learned as part of a repertoire of strategies to support the acquisition of scientific literacy. Research in science education indicates that beliefs or perceptions and the epistemological orientations of teachers influence their approaches to science teaching.

Purpose The paper aims to illustrate primary pre-service teachers’ understanding of argumentation based on a study using quantitative methodology. In particular, it aims to illustrate how these teachers view quality of arguments and teaching strategies related to argumentation in the context of a socio-scientific issue on energy.

Sample 332 pre-service teachers enrolled in a university teacher education programme in Spain were investigated. Many studies on argumentation have been conducted with small sample sizes of teachers. Hence, given the sample size, the study provides findings that are likely to be generalisable.

Design and methods A questionnaire was administered to the participants. The design of the questionnaire was guided by some existing analytical tools which were adapted for primary education purposes in the context of socio-scientific issues. This adaptation is novel in that the questionnaire items can potentially be used as diagnostic questions to assess primary teachers’ understanding of argumentation.

Results The results suggest that pre-service teachers had difficulty in understanding arguments and different pedagogical strategies to promote argumentation in classroom. For example, they did not understand the role and the meaning of warrants in scientific arguments and their understanding of the use of different kind of strategies is limited to debates, open discussions and experiments. The age range of the participants and the length of teaching experience had no impact on the quality of their understanding of argumentation.

Conclusions Pre-service science teacher education will benefit from incorporation of more robust and lengthy sessions on argumentation. For example, sessions could focus on quality as well as structure of arguments in science and more diverse pedagogical strategies to support argumentation in science lessons, such as the use of writing frames and presentations.     

Vader-Mccormick,Nancy (2011). the Engaged Teacher: What Works with Today's Students.

Community colleges have responded to the increased use of technology for instruction by providing support and professional development opportunities for faculty. However, differences in perceptions, expectations, and opportunities exist between full-time faculty at community colleges and their adjunct colleagues when it comes to adopting technology into instruction. Because adjunct faculty represent 68.5% of faculty teaching at community colleges (U.S. Department of Education, 2007 U.S. Department of Education . ( 2007 ). National Center for Education Statistics, 2007 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Winter 2007–08. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/index.asp  [Google Scholar]), it is imperative to understand their intentions to integrate technology into instruction. This study adopted the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) as a theoretical framework to survey 130 community college adjunct faculty member's intentions to participate in technology integration. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that DTPB was useful in explaining much of the variance in the intention to integrate technology into teaching by community college adjunct faculty. Results also suggested that community college administrators can play an important role toward increasing technology integration by adjunct faculty through leveraging types of influence in support of behavioral intention. Research implications for instructional technologists at community colleges indicated that professional development programs should be designed based on the significant predictors in the DTPB.     

Rhetorical meta-language to promote the development of students’ writing skills and subject matter understanding

Background: Feedback is one of the most significant factors for students’ development of writing skills. For feedback to be successful, however, students and teachers need a common language – a meta-language – for discussing texts. Not least because in science education such a meta-language might contribute to improve writing training and feedback-giving.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore students’ perception of teachers’ feedback given on their texts in two genres, and to suggest how writing training and feedback-giving could become more efficient.

Sample: In this study were included 44 degree project students in biology and molecular biology, and 21 supervising teachers at a Swedish university.

Design and methods: The study concerned students’ writing about their degree projects in two genres: scientific writing and popular science writing. The data consisted of documented teacher feedback on the students’ popular science texts. It also included students’ and teachers’ answers to questionnaires about writing and feedback. All data were collected during the spring of 2012. Teachers’ feedback, actual and recalled – by students and teachers, respectively – was analysed and compared using the so-called Canons of rhetoric.

Results: While the teachers recalled the given feedback as mainly positive, most students recalled only negative feedback. According to the teachers, suggested improvements concerned firstly the content, and secondly the structure of the text. In contrast, the students mentioned language style first, followed by content.

Conclusions: The disagreement between students and teachers regarding how and what feedback was given on the students texts confirm the need of improved strategies for writing training and feedback-giving in science education. We suggest that the rhetorical meta-language might play a crucial role in overcoming the difficulties observed in this study. We also discuss how training of writing skills may contribute to students’ understanding of their subject matter.     

Determining the factors that influence parents’ views about science and technology

Background: Children generally adopt the behaviours and attitudes they see in their home environment. Because of this, education provided in the school can be effective, as long as it is supported at home and by extension to the entire environment where the child interacts. Isolating the family from school influences the continuance of the school’s educational impact. In this sense, families do have a significant impact on their child’s attitude about.

Purpose: The objective of this study is to determine how parents view science and technology, the factors that influence their views (gender, age, educational level), and the relationship between these opinions and the students’ science academic achievement.

Sample: The present study was conducted with the parents of 169 students attending randomly chosen primary schools in a city in western Turkey.

Design and methods: The ‘Scale for Determining Views of Parents regarding Science and Technology’ (SFDVPAST) was developed by the researchers and used in the present study. The scale’s reliability was 0.88. Data obtained from SFDVPAST were analysed with SPSS 11.5 using frequency (f), percentage (%), average (X), standard deviation (SD), one-way MANOVA, a univariate ANOVA for each dependent variable as a tracking test, and simple linear regression analysis to determine the relationships.

Results: At the completion of this study, findings indicated that gender does not have an impact on how parents view science and technology, but age and educational level do impact parents’ views on this topic. The science academic achievement of the student correlates with the views of his/her parents on science and technology.

Conclusions: Parents’ views towards science and technology have affected their age and education level, but have not affected their sex. In addition, parents’ positive view towards science and technology has affected their science academic achievement of the students.     

University students’ meta-modelling knowledge

Background: As one part of scientific meta-knowledge, students’ meta-modelling knowledge should be promoted on different educational levels such as primary school, secondary school and university. This study focuses on the assessment of university students’ meta-modelling knowledge using a paper–pencil questionnaire.

Purpose: The general purpose of this study was to assess and to describe university students’ meta-modelling knowledge. More specifically, it was analysed to what extent the meta-modelling knowledge, as expressed in a questionnaire, depends on the scientific discipline to which university students relate their answer and the concrete model to which they refer while answering.

Sample: N = 184 students from one German university voluntarily participated in this study.

Design and methods: The questionnaire was developed based on a theoretical framework for model competence and includes constructed response items asking about the purpose of models, ways for testing models and reasons for changing models. Students written answers were first analysed qualitatively based on the theoretical framework to decide whether they expressed advanced understandings or not. Further analyses then were conducted quantitatively.

Results: Findings suggest that only few university students possess an advanced meta-modelling knowledge. However, significant more students who relate their answers to the STEM-disciplines expressed advanced understandings than those who referred to social sciences or linguistics/philology. Furthermore, university students who expressed an advanced meta-modelling knowledge referred to rather abstract kinds of models in order to explain their view.

Conclusions: The present study supports the assumption that meta-modelling knowledge may be situated and contextualised. Both the scientific discipline and the concrete model to which university students refer seem to be relevant item features influencing university students’ expressed meta-modelling knowledge. Implications for assessment and teaching are discussed in the article.     

A theoretical understanding of the literature on student voice in the science classroom

Background: Incorporating student voice into the science classroom has the potential to positively impact science teaching and learning. However, students are rarely consulted on school and classroom matters. This literature review examines the effects of including student voice in the science classroom.

Purpose: The purpose of this literature review was to explore the research on student voice in the science classroom. This review includes research from a variety of science education sources and was gathered and analyzed using a systematic literature review process.

Design and methods: I examined articles from a variety of educational journals. I used three key terms as my primary search terms: student voice, student perceptions, and student perspectives. The primary search terms were used in conjunction with qualifiers that included science education, science curriculum, student emergent curriculum, student centered curriculum, and science. In order to be included in the literature review, articles needed to be published in peer-reviewed, academic journals, contain clearly defined methods (including quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods), include research conducted in K through 12 classrooms, include the term ‘student voice’, and focus specifically on science. I included articles from a variety of science classrooms including general middle school science, science-specific after-school programs, secondary science classrooms in a variety of countries, and physics, biology, and aerospace classrooms. No restrictions were placed on the country in which the research was conducted or on the date of the research.

Conclusions: The results of the literature review process uncovered several themes within the literature on student voice. Student voice research is situated within two main theoretical perspectives, critical theory and social constructivism, which I used as the main themes to structure my findings. I also identified subcategories under each main theme to further structure the results. Under critical theory, I identified three subcategories: determining classroom topics, developing science agency, and forming identities. Under social constructivism, I discovered four subcategories: forming identities, incorporating prior knowledge and experience, communicating interest in topics and classroom activities, and improving student–teacher relationship. The research supports that allowing students a voice in the classroom can lead them to feel empowered, able to construct their own meaning and value in science, demonstrate increased engagement and achievement, and become more motivated. I conclude students should be allowed a voice in the science classroom and to continue to ignore these voices would be a disservice to students and educators alike.     

Actor diversity and interactions in the development of banana hybrid varieties in Uganda: implications for technology uptake

Purpose: We examine the nature of networks through which new hybrid banana varieties (HBVs) in Uganda are developed, and how different actors engage in the technology development process.

Design/methodology/approach: We collected the data through 20 key informant interviews and 5 focus group discussions with actors involved in the process. We analysed the data with NVivo and Social Network Analysis software.

Findings: The process of developing HBVs involves many actors with a diversity of roles and interests. The network density was 29.4, implying existence of only 29.4% of the possible direct linkages. Strong ties mainly existed among research-oriented actors, with other actors in the periphery.

Practical implications: The current position of smallholder farmers and other non-research actors inhibits their influence on decisions in the technology development process. We recommend that smallholder farmers should be empowered through better organization so that they can influence the process of developing HBVs. Researchers, supported with appropriate policies, should engage more with actors in the intermediary, enterprise and support service domains for a more vibrant agricultural research system.

Theoretical implications: Application of the systems approach to technology development requires a dynamic process that supports involvement of a diverse range of actors. However, close attention to context is important in dealing with issues of power asymmetries and determining to what extent various actors engage in the process.

Originality/value: This work contributes to literature on systems approaches to agricultural and rural development. The paper demonstrates that actor diversity and interactions are critical in technology development and uptake.