Enhancing Scientific Communication Skills: a Real-World Simulation in a Tertiary-Level Life Science Class Using E-Learning Technology in Biomedical Literature Perception,Reflective Review Writing on a Clinical Issue,and Self and Peer Assessments

Research in Science Education - This educational study aimed to explore the feasibility and acceptance of a literacy exercise adopted from the realworld of scientific publishing in a cell and...     

Evaluating effects of different forms of revision instruction in upper-primary students

Reading and Writing - This study aimed to establish (a) whether teaching students revision skills provides benefit over and above teaching strategies for setting explicit goals for the...     

Understanding student evaluations of teaching in online learning

In this paper, we have developed a classification model for online learning environments that relates the Instructors Overall Performance (IOP) rating (according to students’ perceptions) with the course characteristics, students’ demographics and the effectiveness of the instructor in his/her teaching roles. To that end, a comprehensive Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) instrument is proposed, which includes not only conventional teaching elements, but also items that encourage twenty-first century skills. The goal of the study is twofold: (i) to quantify the extent to which the selected variables explain the IOP rating, and (ii) determine which teaching and non-teaching variables most affect the IOP rating. The best performing classifier achieved a competitive accuracy, highlighting that the selected variables mainly determine the IOP values. Other important findings include: (i) the IOP value is mainly influenced by the effectiveness of the instructor in his/her teaching roles; (ii) teaching strategies that involve the cooperation between the technical and pedagogical roles should be promoted; (iii) the pedagogical role has the highest impact on the final IOP value; and (iv) the most influential demographic variable is the student’s status (working commitments and family responsibilities).     

Effects on response time and accuracy of technology-enhanced cloze tests: an eye-tracking study

Educational technology research and development - The transition from paper-based tests to corresponding computer-administered tests allows for the incorporation of improved interfaces that support...     

A Layered Approach to Critical Friendship as a Means to Support Pedagogical Innovation in Pre-service Teacher Education

In this article we describe and interpret how two distinct layers of critical friendship were used to support a pedagogical innovation in pre-service teacher education. The innovation, Learning about Meaningful Physical Education (LAMPE), focuses on ways to teach future teachers to foster meaningful experiences for learners in physical education. Critical friendship was applied in two ways: (1) the first two authors served as critical friends to each other as they taught their respective teacher education courses using LAMPE, and (2) the third author acted as a meta-critical friend, providing support for and critique of the first two authors’ development and enactment of the innovation. Over two years, data were gathered from reflective journal entries, emails, recorded Skype calls, and teaching observations. The two layers of critical friendship held significant benefits in advancing and supporting the development of the innovation while also contributing to the professional learning of all participants. Analysis of the first year’s data showed that we entered the critical friendship without thoroughly considering what we each hoped to give and take from the relationship or acknowledging the potential problems that might unfold. In the second year, guided by suggestions from our meta-critical friend, we took a more rigorous inquiry stance as critical friends, contributing contentious feedback and pushing each other beyond our personal and pedagogical comfort zones. This led to a noticeable improvement in our professional learning about teacher education practices and advanced the development of the LAMPE innovation.     

Using blogs to be aware of the development and adoption of professional skills

In view of the challenges facing universities in our days and in accordance with the guidelines of the EHEA, the present article presents the results of a project which aims to unite the use of blogs and a competency approach. Specifically, the project is structured around two basic, complementary aims: 1. The design and implementation of a teaching innovation project which through the use of blogs promotes the development of certain professional competencies and 2. To assess the experiences and comments of students regarding the use of blogs in a university context, in order to appraise how students assess the use of this new learning tool. To achieve the latter aim, we used a methodology that combines a questionnaire with content analysis, using a sample of 82 subjects. The article shows that university students consider the blog as a tool that enables the acquisition of professional competencies, boosts the teaching-learning process, and foments the development of reflection. Based on these results, several proposals are made concerning the use of blogs, including activities related to reflection, provision of training-focused feedback, and the use of labels as an exercise of metareflection, amongst others.     

Academic analytics: Anatomy of an exploratory essay

Investment in technological subsystems to support the activity of teaching and learning and the various areas of the life of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) is of increasing importance in the implementation of the policy and strategy of these organizations. Each of these subsystems collects a huge amount of data that, if properly organized, can provide useful information for decision making and informed action, which results in the need to articulate the strategic vision with Information Systems. This study aims to identify the technological requirements and understand the technical difficulties in accessing data sources of different technological subsystems in order to facilitate dialogue between the departments which hold the data to build a future Academic Analytics in a HEI. To achieve these goals a prototype was conceived which involved the aggregation, cleansing and standardization of data sources and resulted in a database that integrates records from three data sources—the LCMS (Learning Content Management System), academic management services and quality management services. This prototype allows reports and analysis to be made. Future studies for the development and implementation of Academic Analytics that can produce information to support decision making and control of the HEI’s activity are also possible.