Problem-Based Learning for Engineering Students: An Evidence-Based Comparative Study

This paper describes two studies, one a pilot and the second, an enhanced study, that compare problem-based learning and lecture-based learning in library instruction for first-year engineering students. Two distinct assessment strategies were used to provide empirical evidence that supports the use of problem-based learning as an effective teaching method. Based on the results of the enhanced study, the authors conclude that problem-based learning leads to better outcomes for the learning styles of engineering students.     

The WIL to learn: students’ perspectives on the impact of work-integrated learning placements on their professional readiness

ABSTRACT

Work-integrated learning (WIL) has assumed life as a central feature of higher education curriculum design in a wide range of disciplines with the ultimate goal of producing work-ready graduates. Under recent Australian government initiatives affecting teacher education, placement forms of WIL have been touted as the panacea for perceived problems with graduate teacher quality; resulting in the national regulation of placement design and length in this discipline. This article reports the findings of a qualitative study into the perspectives of fifteen teacher education students from one regional Australian university. The study investigated these students’ placement experiences and the impact of these experiences on their perceptions of readiness for a career in the teaching profession. Thematic analysis is the method used to identify two key themes in the data collected through semi-structured interviews. Despite recognising the benefits of real-world opportunities for skill development and practice inherent in WIL placement experiences, the study highlights important limitations of these forms of WIL on the development of professional readiness arising from the contextual features of particular placement sites; relationships with workplace supervisors and performance pressure associated with assessment during placements. These findings not only confirm the importance of social processes in the preparation of work-ready graduates but question reliance on placement forms of WIL learning for nurturing graduates’ readiness for professional work.     

Treatment fidelity reporting in intervention outcome studies in the school psychology literature from 2009 to 2016

Both student outcomes and treatment fidelity data are necessary to draw valid conclusions about intervention effectiveness. Reviews of the intervention outcome literature in related fields, and prior reviews of the school psychology literature, suggest that many researchers failed to report treatment fidelity data. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous reviews of treatment fidelity in four school psychology journals between 2009 and 2016. Results indicate that a plurality of studies reviewed operationally defined some, but not all intervention(s). Further, the majority of studies (72.8%) include a quantitative treatment fidelity data, a 35% increase from the Sanetti, Gritter and Dobey (2011) review of these same journals. Results also indicate many studies include data on multiple dimensions of fidelity. Of the multiple dimensions, adherence is (a) the most commonly reported dimension, (b) most often reported using a single index, (c) assessed using in vivo observation, and (d) high in a majority of studies. Further, results indicate some study and design characteristics are associated with the presence of operational definitions and treatment fidelity data.     

Op. cit.: publishing in the humanities and social sciences

Do the humanities and social sciences have the same publishing requirements as the sciences? What can be done to counter perceptions that acquisition funds have migrated away from publications in the fields of the humanities and social sciences to meet the escalating cost of electronic and print journals in the natural and applied sciences? With university presses, non-profit publishers, and the academy itself under strain, we examine the problems, discuss the continuing requirements of scholarship, the implications for funding strategies, and the role of technology, and give examples of new ventures that suggest possible solutions to the problems. We conclude that the primary values that scholars in the humanities and social sciences hold are not dramatically different from those of other academic disciplines and make recommendations for building a broader base of support for scholarship in these areas.     

Portfolio People: Teaching and Learning Dossiers and Innovation in Higher Education

As teaching portfolios have become more commonplace in higher education, interest has grown in student portfolios. Both innovations embody the same core process—reflection—and both have similar potential benefits and similar drawbacks. This paper commends portfolios as innovative in themselves and as a response to the new mandates that are confronting higher education. Accounts of the potential of and problems with portfolios are summarized, and attention is then given to key issues in successfully introducing them. The underlying position is that students can best gain from their years of study when the systemic reflection that is characteristic of portfolios engages them (through learning portfolios) and their teachers (through teaching portfolios). Embedding such thinking in practice is, itself, a powerful and innovative approach to re-framing the curriculum.     

Assessment matters—Research and learning intensive: Bowling Green State University commits to both

Ten years ago, BGSU pledged to become the premier learning community in Ohio and one of the best in the nation. With campuswide agreement and widespread assessment, the institution has made gains and has a clear sense of what it needs to do next.