Applying Learning Analytics to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

In this article we report on the findings of a project funded by the Australian Office for Learning and Teaching and entitled “Learning Analytics: Assisting Universities with Student Retention.” While this project was primarily focused on retention as a potential outcome of learning analytics, its application could be related to the broader concept of student success. Student success allows for a focus on pedagogy and the use of learning analytics for the improvement of learning and teaching with a firm scholarly evidence base. The data gathered for the project provide the background for a discussion about the potential of learning analytics to inform the practice of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. A case study demonstrates the potential of this approach. Overall, clear pedagogical questions are important in the application of learning analytics to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and we suggest potential ways to explore pedagogical questions with big data methods.     

Planning for Equity at the University of South Australia

This paper details the approachtaken by one of Australia's newer universitiesto ensure institution-wide commitment to theUniversity's mission to provide educationalopportunities ... to meet the needs of groupswithin the community ... [who] have suffereddisadvantages in education ...'The paper places the University's approachwithin the context of a national policyframework for equity and access in highereducation which aims `to change the balance ofthe student body to reflect more closely thestructure and composition of the society as awhole' (DEET 1990, p. 2). This framework hasrequired all federal government-fundeduniversities to prepare annual equity plans. The allocation of federal equity funding hasbeen tied to these plans.The University of South Australia's approachhas embedded planning for equity and accesswithin the University's comprehensive annualplanning and review processes, to the extentthat each academic school and administrativeunit is required to address equityconsiderations in its annual and medium-termplan.     

Neurobehavioral factors associated with referral for learning problems in a community sample: evidence for an adaptational model for learning disorders

We evaluated community general education (CGE; n = 178), community special education (CSE; n = 30) and hospital-referred (HR, n = 145) children (ages 7-6 to 11-11) prospectively over a 2-year period. During this period, 17 CGE children were referred for evaluation (community referred; CR). Prior to referral, CR children performed more poorly than community-nonreferred (CNR) children on cognitive ability, academic achievement, attention problems, and information processing. CR group performance was equivalent to that of CSE and HR groups, but HR children showed poorer academic achievement. Referred children performed more poorly on all measures than nonreferred, whether they met formal diagnostic criteria for a learning disorder or not. Learning disorders may be better conceptualized as a context-dependent problem of functional adaptation than as a disability analogous to physical disabilities, raising questions about the validity of using psychometric test scores as the criterion for identification.     

A Comparative Study of On-line Pretest Item—Calibration/Scaling Methods in Computerized Adaptive Testing

The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate five on-line pretest item-calibration/scaling methods in computerized adaptive testing (CAT): marginal maximum likelihood estimate with one EM cycle (OEM), marginal maximum likelihood estimate with multiple EM cycles (MEM), Stocking's Method A, Stocking's Method B, and BILOG/Prior. The five methods were evaluated in terms of item-parameter recovery, using three different sample sizes (300, 1000 and 3000). The MEM method appeared to be the best choice among these, because it produced the smallest parameter-estimation errors for all sample size conditions. MEM and OEM are mathematically similar, although the OEM method produced larger errors. MEM also was preferable to OEM, unless the amount of time involved in iterative computation is a concern. Stocking's Method B also worked very well, but it required anchor items that either would increase test lengths or require larger sample sizes depending on test administration design. Until more appropriate ways of handling sparse data are devised, the BILOG/Prior method may not be a reasonable choice for small sample sizes. Stocking's Method A had the largest weighted total error, as well as a theoretical weakness (i.e., treating estimated ability as true ability); thus, there appeared to be little reason to use it.     

CAKES (Cultural Awareness and Knowledge Exchange Scheme): a holistic and inclusive approach to supporting international students

Transition support for international students has traditionally adopted deficit models which attempt to ‘fix’ assumed academic literacy problems. This study explores a more culturally inclusive initiative which supported international students at a UK university in a holistic and developmental way. The initiative was delivered across an academic year and a mix of focus groups and semi-structured interviews were undertaken for evaluation purposes. Although small-scale, the initiative emerged as a lively learning community which was highly successful in facilitating both academic and sociocultural transition. Qualitative data illuminate a number of fruitful methodological foci, including informality of the learning space and exploration of intercultural learning and teaching practices. Findings indicate that these cultural explorations were instrumental in helping students navigate the new learning and teaching system and forge a stronger sense of academic and social belonging. These outcomes were cultivated within an ethos that valued and enhanced the diverse skills, identities and attributes that students brought, rather than one that suppressed their previous learning practices. Findings thus demonstrate how transition and academic success can be facilitated in ways that do not problematize international students and highlight the need for more holistic and inclusive ways of supporting them.     

Formatively assessing prospective teachers’ skills in leading mathematics discussions

Educational Studies in Mathematics - Mathematics discussions are important for helping students to develop conceptual understanding and to learn disciplinary norms and practices. In recent years,...     

Developing Place‐Based Pedagogies to Challenge Institutional Authority

This article discusses a current research project being undertaken by Tate Liverpool with a local university. The study is exploring the impact of a school‐in‐residence programme on children, teachers and the gallery. The invitation to schools to undertake these residencies fits with current agendas within the museum and galleries sector where institutions internationally have increasing ambitions towards handing over to their audiences, encouraging them to take ownership of their physical and intellectual spaces. However, the power dynamics at play, in terms of who makes the invitation and on what terms, have ethical implications that make taking up this offer challenging and potentially limiting. This article will begin to explore the possibilities of Place‐Based Education and its pedagogy as a practice to challenge these positions for both the teacher and gallery.     

Systematic review of young children's writing on screen: what do we know and what do we need to know

Writing is part and parcel of children's active meaning‐making on and with screens, but it has been relatively neglected in the literature focused on children's digital literacies. This study synthesises existing empirical evidence focused on young children's (aged between 2 and 8 years) writing on screen and identifies the relationships between dominant themes in published literature and contemporary theories of children's technology use. A systematic literature review that included studies from diverse disciplines yielded 21 papers. Constant comparative analysis generated five themes that indicate four key directions for future research. We call attention to researchers' theoretical framing to supplement mono‐disciplinary approaches and single levels of analysis. We suggest that future research should provide greater specification of the purpose of children's writing on screen and the different types of tools and applications supporting the activity. We also highlight the need for interdisciplinary approaches that would capture the composing stages involved in the writing process with and around screens. Finally, we point out possible age‐related differences in documenting and reporting the composing process in classrooms. Overall, limitations in the current evidence base highlight the need for research conducted from a critical perspective and focused more directly on multimodality.