Vocational Students Experiences with Assessment in Workplace Learning

Vocational education, as part of the Norwegian upper secondary education, includes both school-based learning and workplace learning. While school-based learning is characterized by formal structures and guided by aims in the curricula, workplace learning is often informal, incidental and directed by the daily work-tasks. Assessment in workplace learning is mainly formative and different stakeholders are involved in the assessment; namely students, teachers and workplace instructors. However, the guidelines for assessment are vague and call for a close cooperation between the stakeholders. This is demanding and has resulted in a variety of assessment practices. The study presented in this article is a qualitative study of students’ experiences with assessment in workplace learning periods in their first year in vocational education. The aim of the study is to give voice to students` experiences with assessment and illuminate how assessment supports their learning processes. Data was collected through focus group interviews with two groups of students in the Programme for Health and Social Care. The main findings indicate different assessment cultures in school and workplaces. This is expressed through the students’ perceptions of assessment, assessment criteria, tools for assessment and vocational knowledge. It is recommended that an open dialogue about the discontinuity in assessment between schools and workplaces is one of several measures necessary to bridge the gap between the stakeholders.     

A Survey of Scholarly Literature Describing the Field of Bioinformatics Education and Bioinformatics Educational Research

Bioinformatics education can be broadly defined as the teaching and learning of the use of computer and information technology, along with mathematical and statistical analysis for gathering, storing, analyzing, interpreting, and integrating data to solve biological problems. The recent surge of genomics, proteomics, and structural biology in the potential advancement of research and development in complex biomedical systems has created a need for an educated workforce in bioinformatics. However, effectively integrating bioinformatics education through formal and informal educational settings has been a challenge due in part to its cross-disciplinary nature. In this article, we seek to provide an overview of the state of bioinformatics education. This article identifies: 1) current approaches of bioinformatics education at the undergraduate and graduate levels; 2) the most common concepts and skills being taught in bioinformatics education; 3) pedagogical approaches and methods of delivery for conveying bioinformatics concepts and skills; and 4) assessment results on the impact of these programs, approaches, and methods in students’ attitudes or learning. Based on these findings, it is our goal to describe the landscape of scholarly work in this area and, as a result, identify opportunities and challenges in bioinformatics education.     

Challenging the premises of international policy reviews: an introduction to the review symposium

In 2009, a think tank called the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes (IALEI) announced the results of a study entitled Climate Change and Sustainable Development: The Response from Education. Intended for a policy audience, the study offered a glimpse into the status of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and an early look at the emergence of Climate Change Education (CCE), in 10 different nations. As with most international reports, the IALEI report provoked many questions, some of which are more broadly relevant to scholarship and practice. This paper introduces a review symposium that addresses three such questions: (1) How coherent is the concept of ESD across national contexts and what conceptual tensions continue to surround ESD and CCE? (2) Can nation-level analyses tell us anything useful about countries where education is not centrally governed? and (3) In light of the evolving relationship between educational research and policy, how should researchers engage with ongoing policy debates?     

Hot and Cool Self-Regulation,Academic Competence,and Maladjustment: Mediating and Differential Relations

This study examined differential and mediating relations between hot and cool self-regulation (M_age = 48.2 months; N = 1,155, 48% girls), first-grade (M_age = 77.5 months) maladjustment (externalizing [EXT] and internalizing [INT] behavior), and first- and second-grade (M_age = 89.5 months) academic competence (AC). Using teacher reported EXT, INT, and AC, partial support for the differential perspective was found in that only hot self-regulation was significantly related to EXT, whereas both hot and cool self-regulation was significantly related to AC. Moreover, hot self-regulation indirectly predicted second-grade AC through first-grade EXT, lending some support for the mediating perspective also. The findings contribute to an understanding of how self-regulation is related to academic and behavioral school adjustment.     

Facing and bridging gaps in Web searching

Drawing on the ideas of the Sense-Making approach, the ways in which people face and bridge gaps in Web searching are analyzed. The empirical study is based on videotaped Web searches conducted by seven participants. Altogether 11 gaps and 13 search tactics of various types were identified. The gaps faced by the searchers originated from three major factors: problematic content of information, insufficient search competence and problems caused by the search environment. Of individual gaps, no relevant material available, inaccessible content and confusion were most frequent. Of the search tactics used in gap-bridging, following links and activating the Back button were most popular. Gaps related to the problematic content of information led the informants to redirect the search to find Web pages that focus better on the search topic. If the movement was stopped by insufficient search competence, the searchers tended to return to material that was familiar from earlier use contexts in order to regain control of the search process. Alternatively, they tried to specify the search terms. In cases where the search was interrupted by technical problems or other factors originating from the search system, gap-bridging aimed at returning to familiar and technically reliable links. The Sense-Making theory provides relevant conceptual tools to approach the dynamic and discontinuous nature of Web searching in terms of gap-facing and gap-bridging. The concept of gap-facing enables a context-sensitive analysis of the ways in which Web search processes may be stopped. Gap-bridging indicates a general level motive to find alternative ways to continue searching.     

A VBA‐based Simulation for Teaching Simple Linear Regression

In spite of the name, simple linear regression presents a number of conceptual difficulties, particularly for introductory students. This article describes a simulation tool that provides a hands‐on method for illuminating the relationship between parameters and sample statistics.     

The Lamer Social Competence in Preschool (LSCIP) Scale: Structural Validity in a Large Norwegian Community Sample

There is an increasing emphasis on the importance of social competence for children's development, well-being, and learning. Thus age- and context-appropriate measures are needed. This study addresses the structural validity of the Lamer Social Competence in Preschool (LSCIP) scale, developed to accommodate the Nordic model of early childhood pedagogy. The authors specify the theoretical basis for a bi-factor model of social competence. This model is tested in a large (n?=?1157), community based sample of Norwegian children, including teacher- (at age 2, 3, and 4), mother- (at age 4), and father- (at age 3) reports. A model with a main factor for social competence, and three bi-factors fit data across ages and reporters, with factorial, but not strong, invariance over time.     

Hannah Arendt and Norwegian Muslim children’s schooling: in pursuit of democratic practices

The aim of this paper is to consider whether Hannah Arendt’s (1996) [Arendt, H. (1958/1998 Arendt, H. (1958/1998). Vita Activa. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago. [Google Scholar]). Vita Activa. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago] concept of ‘public space’ is a potentially useful and creative way of thinking about aspects of Muslim children’s experiences within the context of education. Following a terror attack in 2011, when 77 people were killed, the then Norwegian prime minister stated that ‘our answer to this violence is more openness and more democracy but not naivety’. Accordingly, this paper draws on data so as to put concepts drawn from Arendt to work. In so doing, we indicate possibilities for ‘more openness and more democracy’ where Norwegian children can have Islam as an important element within their lives in ways that avoid the charge of naivety.     

Pre‐school Verbo‐sensory Motor Status as a Predictor of Educational Life‐courses and Self‐perceptions of Young Adults

During a 15‐year longitudinal study, 31 Finnish students (risk group) who had been identified as having deficiencies in reading and writing readiness at pre‐school through the German Breuer–Weuffen Differentiation Test were compared with their peers (n = 62) in order to study long‐term differences that emerged at the starting point of the study. In 1999, the students in the risk group were found to achieve significantly lower final school grades and they also had lower perceptions of their own scholastic competence. In 2005, students in the risk group perceived themselves as less competent than their peers in social acceptance, sense of global self‐worth areas and in the strength‐perceptions related to mathematical thinking, learning skills, and self‐regulation. Path analyses showed that verbo‐sensory motor status measured at pre‐school age had long‐term effects on participants’ educational life‐course and global self‐worth. Possible explanations of the findings and implications for early identification are discussed.