How to encourage a lifelong learner? The complex relation between learning strategies and assessment in a medical curriculum

Abstract

To foster lifelong learning skills, we need new didactic approaches with aligned assessment methods. Therefore, we investigated whether the outcomes of a project assignment show a different relation to learning strategies than a longitudinal knowledge-based assessment. We studied learning strategies of first year students of medicine and biomedical sciences (n?=?248) and performed hierarchical regression analyses for the learning strategies and grades of the longitudinal knowledge-based test and project assignment. Scores of students, measured with the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Likert scale 1–7), were relatively low for critical thinking (3.53), compared to rehearsal (4.40), elaboration (4.82), organisation (4.69) and metacognitive self-regulation (4.33). Knowledge based tests showed a significant relation to elaboration (p?<?0.01). For the project-based assessment, we did not find a significant relation to any learning strategy (p?=?0.074). Explained variance of the grades was low for all learning strategies (R² < 0.043). Different types of assessment did not discriminate between students with high or low scores on learning strategies associated with lifelong learning. An explanation is that the curriculum is not aligned with assessment, or students do not benefit in terms of grades. We conclude that, if assessment is to drive lifelong learning skills, this is not self-evident.     

Resilience in higher education students: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

The health, wellbeing and employability of university students are key considerations within higher education. In response, interest in student resilience is on the rise. Reviews of contemporary resilience literature highlight both conceptual and methodological weaknesses, issues which hamper attempts to design effective resilience interventions. To inform the design of a student resilience program, to be piloted at three Australian universities, a scoping review of resilience specific to the higher education context was undertaken. Searches of three electronic databases (PsychINFO, CINAHL and ProQuest) were conducted. Seventy-two peer-reviewed articles published between 2007 and 2017 were included in the review. While the review reaffirms the conceptual and methodological issues found in previous resilience research, it provides a useful critique of key issues in relation to university student resilience and interventions to enhance students’ resilience. Recommendations for educators and researchers are provided.     

Open Source software in US higher education: Reality or illusion?

As institutions of Higher Education try to balance limited resources with the rising costs of technology, some institutions are turning to Open Source software for campus-wide applications such as course management systems and portals. The assumption is that Open Source will provide the flexibility to build pedagogically sound learning environments while increasing technology efficiencies. This paper outlines the current state of Open Source software deployment in US Higher Education based on a survey of 772 Chief Academic Officers and Chief Information Officers conducted in 2006. The results indicate that Carnegie classification is a critical differentiator of awareness, adoption, and perceptions of Open Source software applications, with perceived cost of ownership being the key driver of Open Source adoption. Moreover, the study shows that institutions have made little progress in the development of polices and procedures for Open Source regulatory compliance and security. The study serves as a baseline for future research into the conditions for successful use of Open Source for supporting integrated learning environments that deliver campus-wide efficiencies.

Development of decision making in school-aged children and adolescents: evidence from heart rate and skin conductance analysis

Age differences in decision making indicate that children fail to anticipate outcomes of their decisions. Using heart rate and skin conductance analyses, we tested whether developmental changes in decision making are associated with (a) a failure to process outcomes of decisions, or (b) a failure to anticipate future outcomes of decisions. Children aged 8-10, 12-14, and 16-18 years performed the Hungry Donkey task, a child version of the Iowa Gambling Task, while heart rate and skin conductance activity were continuously recorded. Children aged 16-18 learned to make advantageous choices over task blocks faster than the two younger age groups. Age differences were present for anticipation-related autonomic activity but not outcome-related autonomic activity. The results are interpreted vis-à-vis models of prefrontal cortex maturation.     

Individual, family, and neighborhood factors distinguish resilient from non-resilient maltreated children: a cumulative stressors model

OBJECTIVE: Children who are physically maltreated are at risk of a range of adverse outcomes in childhood and adulthood, but some children who are maltreated manage to function well despite their history of adversity. Which individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics distinguish resilient from non-resilient maltreated children? Do children's individual strengths promote resilience even when children are exposed to multiple family and neighborhood stressors (cumulative stressors model)? METHODS: Data were from the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Study which describes a nationally representative sample of 1,116 twin pairs and their families. Families were home-visited when the twins were 5 and 7 years old, and teachers provided information about children's behavior at school. Interviewers rated the likelihood that children had been maltreated based on mothers' reports of harm to the child and child welfare involvement with the family. RESULTS: Resilient children were those who engaged in normative levels of antisocial behavior despite having been maltreated. Boys (but not girls) who had above-average intelligence and whose parents had relatively few symptoms of antisocial personality were more likely to be resilient versus non-resilient to maltreatment. Children whose parents had substance use problems and who lived in relatively high crime neighborhoods that were low on social cohesion and informal social control were less likely to be resilient versus non-resilient to maltreatment. Consistent with a cumulative stressors model of children's adaptation, individual strengths distinguished resilient from non-resilient children under conditions of low, but not high, family and neighborhood stress. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that for children residing in multi-problem families, personal resources may not be sufficient to promote their adaptive functioning.     

高职生英语听力学习动机、策略和成绩的相关研究

本文通过问卷对高职院校英语专业二年级140名学生听力学习动机、听力学习策略和听力成绩进行调查研究。结果发现：高职生的听力学习动机以应试动机为最高,其次是实用动机和兴趣动机;最常用的听力学习策略是意义策略和社会/情感策略;高职生的学习成绩与学习动机基本呈显著正相关;各种学习策略也与学习成绩呈显著正相关。     

Education,age and skills: An analysis using PIAAC data

The main aim of this article is to analyse the change of adult skills, as captured by cognitive skills assessed in PIAAC, across age cohorts, taking into account that the quality of schooling may change from one cohort to another. We estimate a model that relates numeracy and literacy skills to age, schooling, gender and variables related to both family background and labour market performance. The specification allows us to control for changes in the efficiency of the transformation of schooling into skills when drawing age‐skill profiles. Our results show that the effect of ageing on skills, once isolated from cohort effects related to schooling, decreases monotonically across consecutive cohorts. The change of the efficiency of the transformation of schooling into both numeracy and literacy skills shows a remarkably similar pattern. Nonetheless, this change differs substantially between education levels, with the efficiency of the transformation of schooling into skills showing a steadier profile for intermediate than for higher education. Finally, empirical evidence is provided for the decomposition of the differences in the skill levels of the older vs. the prime age generations. The results suggest that the progressive expansion of schooling across younger generations partially offsets the negative effect of the irrepressible ageing of society on skills.     

How to Support Toddlers’ Autonomy: Socialization Practices Reported by Parents

Autonomy-supportive parenting is found to foster children’s adjustment but relatively few studies have been conducted with toddlers. In the present exploratory study, parents (N = 182) reported what practices they use when asking their toddlers (M age = 26.9 months) to engage in important yet uninteresting activities. Parents rated twenty-six potentially autonomy-supportive practices, along with a well-known scale measuring the extent to which they have a positive attitude towards autonomy support. Research Findings: Using correlational and factorial analyses, eight practices were identified: various ways to communicate empathy, providing developmentally appropriate rationales, describing the problem in an informational and neutral way, and modeling the requested behavior. This subset of autonomy-supportive practices for toddlers was positively related with toddlers’ rule internalization, providing them with further validity. Practice or Policy: These preliminary findings may be useful in guiding future conceptual, empirical, and applied work on the support of toddlers’ autonomy and its assessment in an emotionally-charged and challenging context.     

The directional links between students’ academic motivation and social integration during the first year of higher education

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Previous theoretical research proposed a link between students’ academic motivation and students’ experiences of social integration, but...