Personalizing instruction in business and economics

This paper examines personalized instruction in business and economics at the Long Island Learning Center, Empire State College, State University of New York. In this mode of instruction the course of study is tailored to the individual background, interests, needs, and abilities of the student. Learning activities often incorporate some aspect of the student's academic or professional experience. Most of the students have fairly well-established goals, are highly motivated, have jobs, and have enjoyed considerable success in their fields. Various examples are provided that indicate how the subject matter gains relevance when basic theoretical concepts are applied to real-life situations.     

Early Childhood Education and Public School Principals: Constructing a Relationship

This article discusses the results of a statewide study of elementary school principals' perceptions of barriers to the establishment of preschool programs in the public school setting. The study was conducted in response to current federal an: state mandates requiring school districts to provide comprehensive services for developmentally delayed and at-risk preschoolers, as well as other preschool populations. A representative sample of principals responded to a comprehensive questionnaire that included principals' knowledge of child development and their attitudes about establishing programs for preschool children in the public school sector. Results indicate that, across the board, elementary principals foresee major barriers to the effective implementation of such federal mandates as Public Law 99-457. Specific barriers are identified and discussed. Implications for practice and policy are presented.     

Using learning analytics to scale the provision of personalised feedback

There is little debate regarding the importance of student feedback for improving the learning process. However, there remain significant workload barriers for instructors that impede their capacity to provide timely and meaningful feedback. The increasing role technology is playing in the education space may provide novel solutions to this impediment. As students interact with the various learning technologies in their course of study, they create digital traces that can be captured and analysed. These digital traces form the new kind of data that are frequently used in learning analytics to develop actionable recommendations that can support student learning. This paper explores the use of such analytics to address the challenges impeding the capacity of instructors to provide personalised feedback at scale. The case study reported in the paper showed how the approach was associated with a positive impact on student perception of feedback quality and on academic achievement. The study was conducted with first year undergraduate engineering students enrolled in a computer systems course with a blended learning design across three consecutive years (N₂₀₁₃ = 290, N₂₀₁₄ = 316 and N₂₀₁₅ = 415).     

Technology‐enhanced learning in higher education: How to enhance student engagement through blended learning

Blended learning has risen in popularity in the last two decades as it has been shown to be an effective approach for accommodating an increasingly diverse student population in higher education and enriching the learning environment by incorporating online teaching resources. Blending significant elements of the learning environment such as face‐to‐face, online and self‐paced learning leads to better student experiences and outcomes and more efficient teaching and course management practices if combined appropriately. Hence, an appropriate systematic and dynamic approach of blended learning design is crucial for a positive outcome, starting with planning for integrating blended elements into a course and creating blended activities and implementing them. Evaluating their effectiveness and knowing in which environments they work better and improving the blended activities designed from both the student’s and instructor’s perspective are critical for the next delivery of the course. This article aims to increase awareness of higher education educators about how traditional face‐to‐face learning can be transformed into blended courses so as to develop student engagement with both in‐class and online approaches, whilst being time effective for the instructor.     

Converging Subjective and Psychophysiological Measures of Cognitive Load to Study the Effects of Instructor‐Present Video

Many online videos feature an instructor on the screen to improve learners' engagement; however, the influence of this design on learners' cognitive load is underexplored. This study investigates the effects of instructor presence on learners' processing of information using both subjective and psychophysiological measures of cognitive load. Sixty university students watched a statistics instructional video either with or without instructor presence, while the spontaneous electrical activity of their brain was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). At the conclusion of the video, they also self‐reported overall load, intrinsic load, extraneous load, and germane load they experienced during the video. Learning from the video was assessed via tests of retention and transfer. Results suggested the instructor‐present video improved learners' ability to transfer information and was associated with a lower self‐reported intrinsic and extraneous load. Event‐related changes in theta band activity also indicated lower cognitive load with instructor‐present video.     

Exploring the effects of group testing on graduate students’ motivation and achievement

This study explored the impact of individual versus two‐person group testing on graduate students’ achievement and motivation to learn while enrolled in a 16‐lesson educational research methods course. Students in two sections of the course were exposed to the same content and instructional methods, with one exception: students in one section took three professor‐created, criterion‐referenced examinations (during lessons 6, 11 and 16) individually, whereas students in the other section took the same examinations with a partner with whom they could examine and discuss the test items in order to derive a common answer. At the end of the course, the motivation to learn of all students was assessed. Results revealed that students tested with a partner achieved significantly higher scores on two of the examinations and demonstrated significantly higher levels of motivation to learn than did students taking the examinations alone. Qualitative analysis of the students’ written expressions concerning the course and of their comments from group and individual interviews revealed possible explanations for these outcomes.     

Information Communication Technology (ICT) integration in a science education unit for preservice science teachers; students' perceptions of their ICT skills, knowledge and pedagogy

There is an expectation that new science teachers will be able to effectively use a range of information communication technology (ICT) related resources inthe science classroom in order to enhance student learning. All school systems in Australia are in the process of providing teachers with ICT professional development and infrastructure. This paper outlines a range of initiatives designed to integrate ICT in a compulsory science education unit for students enrolled in a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education. An action research model based on constructivist principles was used to evaluate the effectiveness of modelling, open-ended co-operative group activities and authentic assessment in enabling students to enhance their ICT skills, knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in a science education context. Multiple sources of data were generated including a pre and post unit questionnaire that was analysed using Rasch modelling. The questionnaire determined students' perceptions of their preparedness to teach using ICT. The findings of this research suggest that some skills warranted greater attention in the unit, but students' pedagogical knowledge and knowledge and critique of ICT resources were enhanced over the duration of the unit.     

Explaining technology integration in K-12 classrooms: a multilevel path analysis model

The purpose of this research was to design and test a model of classroom technology integration in the context of K-12 schools. The proposed multilevel path analysis model includes teacher, contextual, and school related variables on a teacher’s use of technology and confidence and comfort using technology as mediators of classroom technology integration. Data were collected from 1235 K-12 teachers, who were located in 336 schools in 41 districts across the state of Florida. The results suggest that a teacher’s experience with technology significantly influenced his or her classroom technology integration. Access to technology in classrooms and the availability of quality technology support were related to classroom technology integration. In addition, how frequently a teacher uses technology and his or her confidence and comfort using technology were mediators for classroom technology integration. These results provide preliminary evidence that the proposed model is both useful and relevant in explaining classroom technology integration in K-12 schools.     

Components of Early Childhood Interagency Collaboration: Results of a Statewide Study

This article describes the results of a comprehensive statewide study of early child- hood service providers in a heavily populated midwestern state. Interagency collaboration among early childhood programs and agencies providing services for special needs preschoolers is now required through the passage of Public Law 99-457. Special needs children aged 3 to 5 years are being placed in early childhood education sites, such as public schools, nursery schools, Head Start programs, child care settings, and other preschool/child development environments. This statewide survey investigates existing interagency collaboration efforts, studies factors related to successful collaboration, identifies inhibitors to early childhood collaboration, and determines possible interagency collaboration training needs of early child- hood service providers. Results indicate that training needs for early childhood service providers do exist in the area of interagency collaboration. Implications are identified that relate to teacher preparation and in-service needs regarding integration of special needs children into regular early childhood settings. The study is a part of the state- funded research related to the implementation of EL. 99-457 in school districts and existing early childhood community-based programs.