Regulating the writing process in the teacher training practicum guided by feedback at the University of Barcelona

This is a longitudinal study that focuses on blog-writing for the purpose of self-assessing competencies, and which was carried out within the practicum of a degree course in Primary Education Teaching at the University of Barcelona. Over the course of three academic years, students and a teacher have used a Platform 2.0 program, specially created for the study, to reflect on their learning processes and to self-assess with respect to the benchmark competences selected. The results show, first, a significant increase in students’ levels of awareness of their own competences, thanks to the optimisation of their communicative competency to explain same, and guided by the teacher’s feedback; and second, a growing level of satisfaction that can be observed in the assessment surveys on the process implemented.     

Bilingual Education Candidates’ Challenges Meeting the Spanish Language/Bilingual Certification Exam and the Impact on Teacher Shortages in the State of Texas,USA

Recruiting certified bilingual teachers have been difficult since 2010 as new testing policies and exams are implemented. Advanced high levels of writing and speaking language proficiency are required from the bilingual education candidate to perform his or her job. This essay examines the impact of Texas language policy for bilingual education teachers, testing requirements, and passing rates on state certification tests previously explored by Guerrero (1997, 1999, 2000), and discusses the topic of teacher shortages that has been addressed for the past two decades. Suggestions to assist bilingual education candidates to improve their passing rates are provided.     

The Simple View of Reading: Is It Valid for Different Types of Alphabetic Orthographies?

We present a meta-analysis to test the validity of the Simple View of Reading Gough & Tunmer (Remedial and Special Education, 7:6–10, 1986) for beginner readers of English and other, more transparent, orthographies. Our meta-analytic approach established that the relative influence of decoding and linguistic comprehension on reading comprehension is different for readers of different types of orthography during the course of early reading development. Furthermore, we identified key differences in the relations among different measures of decoding and reading comprehension between readers of English and other more transparent orthographies. We discuss the implications for reading instruction and the diagnosis of reading difficulties, as well as our theoretical understanding of how component skills influence reading comprehension level.     

STYLES OF THINKING IN THE SCHOOL

Educators know that variables beyond abilities affect students’ performance in school and their interactions with their teachers. Thinking styles are such a variable. Thinking styles are preferred ways of thinking. They are not abilities but rather preferred ways of expressing these abilities. Both students and teachers vary in thinking styles, and in systematic ways. For example, teachers tend to match the stylistic pattern of the school, and students to match the stylistic pattern of their teachers. Teachers tend to overestimate the extent to which their students match their own styles, and also evaluate more favorably students whose styles match their own. Thus, teachers are more likely to identify as “gifted” not only high ability students, but those who match them stylistically.

     

Julian’s Birth

A grandmother of seven and childbirth educator shares her daughter’s successful vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) birth story in Switzerland.     

Engineering design projects as a reflection promoter

This article describes examples of reflection documented in a longitudinal research comprising two studies: a three-year three-stage study on technology project-based learning (TPBL) and a three-year two-stage study on engineering thinking (ET). Both studies used qualitative tools such as interviews, active observations, and document analysis. Reflections expressed by 10th grade pupils from eight high schools and 14 post-secondary school students who participated in the TPBL study as well as the reflection findings of experts and undergraduates from the ET study were used. The data analysis indicates that reflection is not generated on its own; it must be fostered. Reflection takes one of three forms: as a reaction to an irregularity or error made when working on the system design; conducted in groups that is inherent to the design process in industry; and from intuition that something may not be quite right, even though preliminary results seem to be correct.     

Polychronicity: review of the literature and a new configuration for the study of this hidden dimension of online learning

Polychronicity is the natural tendency or preference for structuring time that has an influence on people’s behaviors. Highly polychronic individuals are involved in everything, doing many things at once because they value human relationships and interactions over arbitrary schedules and appointments. In contrast, highly monochronic individuals focus on one thing at a time, perceive other events as interruptions, and stress a high degree of scheduling, and promptness in meeting obligations and attending appointments. Although time is an important variable in educational contexts, and in particular in online learning, there is a lack of studies on polychronicity in educational research. This article reviews, summarizes, and extends the literature on polychronicity conceptualization and assessment; it discusses the limitations of the results and offers a multidimensional proposal for a polychronicity construct. Finally, the implications of students’ time differences and their impact on instructional situations are discussed.