Bridge21: teamwork,technology and learning. A pragmatic model for effective twenty-first-century team-based learning

There have been calls for decades by many educational writers and commentators for a new model of learning to facilitate what is generally described as twenty-first-century learning. Central to this challenge is the required shift in responsibility for who leads and owns the learning – from teacher to student. Such a shift requires a pragmatic pedagogical model to facilitate the transfer of control and ownership of learning. Vygotsky’s ‘more able other’ identified the peer as a key figure in learning. Teamwork facilitates project-based learning and, when mediated with technology, proves an effective partner in creating an engaging and autonomous learning experience. This paper describes the rationale for the design of a team-based model of twenty-first-century learning, particularly drawing upon the team-based learning model of the World Scout Movement. Results from a year-long study of the implementation of the model in an out-of-school context with 288 second-level students are presented. The authors argue that Bridge21 is a candidate learning model for effective, implementable, twenty-first-century, team-based learning.     

Examination of a learning style topology

This study provides an initial examination of a learning style topology through the comparison of information processing and instructional preference toponymies. It was hypothesized that learning style modes would be discernible within each of these toponymies and that the toponymies would demonstrate orthogonality. Data analyzed for 429 university students supported these hypotheses.     

The impact of training students how to write introductions for academic essays: an exploratory,longitudinal study

Successful academic writing requires strong command of the rhetorical moves that orient the reader to the theme and substantive material of an academic essay. Effective control of the introduction leads to better overall writing. The goal of this study was to devise and evaluate a pedagogy for teaching the writing of academic essay introductions. The study employed a pre-, post-, and delayed post-test design in a single university student learning site. Student writing was scored on eight aspects related to (1) structure and content and (2) style. Confirmatory factor analysis reduced the eight scores aggregated into the two scales. A single two-hour workshop increased the participants’ (n = 87) performance in the rhetorical structure and content of their introductions, but not the style. A longitudinal model (n = 20) using three sets of parcelled scores showed that the structure and content of the introduction positively predicted the grade awarded by the student’s faculty. Direct instruction in writing introductions, through a relatively short, low-cost, genre-based training programme, appears to achieve significant student learning.     

Navigating the Religious Landscape in Schools: Towards Inclusive Leadership

This article identifies historical and contemporary influences of religion in US public schooling. It provides analytical questions that social justice leaders can use to evaluate the practices embedded in their own schools, including an equity audit.     

Exploring the ethical implications of MOOCs

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) represent a potentially exciting opportunity to use technology to realise many of the long-promised benefits of universal higher education. While there are many positive aspects to the MOOCs on offer and in development, there are also significant ethical concerns arising from various initiatives. These include the academic duties of care and integrity, commercial exploitation of learners, as well as research ethics concerns arising from the analytical and other work being done by academics and institutions. These issues are explored and a set of heuristics for individuals and institutions provided as a starting point for ethical analysis of MOOCs and associated activities.     

Perceptions of Barriers to the Evaluation of Workplace Learning Programs

The need to evaluate training programs is indisputable. Measurement can serve a range of purposes, from informing improvements to shaping existing and future courses, to determining the return on training investments. Yet research suggests that evaluation, when accomplished, is most often used to solicit participant reactions. This study examined barriers faced by learning and performance professionals when they attempt to conduct evaluation in their organizations. Lack of access to data in the workplace and reporting data in meaningful and actionable ways are two of the most prominent barriers identified by practitioners. Recommendations for addressing key barriers in the workplace are presented.     

Gullible's Travels

Federal legislation has increased the participation of students with disabilities in higher education, but they are less likely to attain a postsecondary degree than students without disabilities. In this paper, I discuss reasons for academic failure and illustrate ten strategies that instructors can implement to increase the academic success of students with disabilities. The ten strategies are an accessible syllabus, study objectives, study guides, frequent tests, remedial activities, guided notes, response cards, peer tutoring, fluency building, and feedback.     

The Students' Faculties

In this paper, we question how we might disrupt positivist research paradigms that preclude students from engaging and experiencing ownership in the research process. We question what we, as professors, could do to facilitate the transition from traditional research reporting to a disposition of inquiry that allows for ambiguity and discovery in the research process.

Evidence presented was gathered over the course of a two-year qualitative research project completed in a capstone education course. Like most capstone courses, we required a summative research paper, but student work suggested they had minimal interest or enthusiasm for the project. However, by redirecting our students' research interest from traditional research reporting to the generation of authentic research questions drawn from their student teaching experience, a solution emerged. The students' questions provided the basis for the ensuing qualitative inquiry project that afforded them a new and authentic type of inquiry.

This paper describes the process our students engaged in to complete this qualitative inquiry, including the identification of the research question and analysis of field notes and documents. It concludes by sharing samples of the students' research questions and findings that illustrate the authentic inquiry and ownership they experienced as a result of the project.