The role of hybrid learning spaces in enhancing higher education students’ employability

Graduate employment rates and self-reported employability are increasingly a feature of higher education funding measures. However, graduate outcomes do not denote the whole learning experience of the student nor is the student experience reducible to a single statistic. This paper discusses a design-centric approach to employability development which was enacted within a hybrid learning space. The study engaged 52 final-year speech pathology students, their lecturer, the lead researcher and a career practitioner (advisor) at an Australian university. Students first created personalized employability profiles using an established online self-reflection tool. The online tool produced a personalized report and enabled students to access developmental resources relating to employability and student success. The project team used anonymized student data to transform a previously generic “careers” workshop into a targeted workshop in which students explored individual and cohort findings and participated in developmental activities informed by the data. The initiative’s contribution to learning space research is in its composition as a hybrid learning space in which educators and students engaged as learners and developers of their online learning spaces, and educators collaborated to analyze student data and inform learning and teaching enhancements within the same study period. It is anticipated that the data from subsequent years will inform the curricular review, particularly if subsequent student cohorts express similar concerns. Implications for higher education policy and practice are discussed.     

The effect of electronic performance support systems on self-regulated learning skills

Electronic performance support systems (EPSSs) are the software programs commonly used in commercial environments since the early 1990s. These software programs are generally called performance-based systems and focus on the complete job rather than providing individual development. For that reason, the usage of these systems in learning environments has not been sufficiently investigated. In this empirical study, availability of using EPSS software for learning processes was investigated in order to contribute to the literature. An EPSS software was developed for undergraduate students to use in programming language courses and the effects of the software on students' self-regulation based learning skills were investigated. During the treatment process, while the experimental group was supported with EPSS, traditional teaching continued in the control group. The results of the study showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of motivational beliefs; however, there were significant differences in terms of cognitive, metacognitive, and resource management strategies.     

Augmented Reality Simulations on Handheld Computers

Advancements in handheld computing, particularly its portability, social interactivity, context sensitivity, connectivity, and individuality, open new opportunities for immersive learning environments. This article articulates the pedagogical potential of augmented reality simulations in environmental engineering education by immersing students in the roles of scientists conducting investigations. This design experiment examined if augmented reality simulation games can be used to help students understand science as a social practice, whereby inquiry is a process of balancing and managing resources, combining multiple data sources, and forming and revising hypotheses in situ. We provide 4 case studies of secondary environmental science students participating in the program. Positioning students in virtual investigations made apparent their beliefs about science and confronted simplistic beliefs about the nature of science. Playing the game in “real” space also triggered students' preexisting knowledge, suggesting that a powerful potential of augmented reality simulation games can be in their ability to connect academic content and practices with students' physical, lived worlds. The game structure provided students a narrative to think with, although students differed in their ability to create a coherent narrative of events. We argue that Environmental Detectives is 1 model for helping students understand the socially situated nature of scientific practice.     

Why are we here? Managing the meaning of an organizational mission statement

The purpose of this study was to identify and test the influences that lead individuals to actively manage the meaning of a company Mission Statement. Communication about a company Mission Statement was hypothesized to be a function of an individual's information environment, level of work unit commitment, trust in management, and organizational role. The Management of Meaning Scale (MMS) was developed to assess specific meaning management behaviors. The MMS was cast as the chief dependent variable in a path analysis using LISREL. The general model was well supported. Implications for practices associated with Mission Statement implementation are discussed.     

Lifelong Education‐‐a New Challenge

Summaries

English

Researchers from Japan, Romania and Sweden, together with the UNESCO Institute for Education (Hamburg), carried out a study of the functions of lifelong learning within education. Dozent Gestrelius reconstructs and comments on the Swedish part of this study. He delineates a comprehensive list of criteria which may be of paramount importance for curriculum renewal in science education. The author describes, in addition, the relations between some parts of Swedish curricula and the principles of lifelong learning (for example, self‐realization, self‐directed learning, creativity, flexibility). These are the results of empirical studies.     

Empirical Considerations on Intelligence Testing and Models of Intelligence: Updates for Educational Measurement Professionals

ABSTRACT

This brief article introduces the topic of intelligence as highly appropriate for educational measurement professionals. It describes some of the uses of intelligence tests both historically and currently. It argues why knowledge of intelligence theory and intelligence testing is important for educational measurement professionals. The articles that follow in this special issue will provide readers with considerable information about the history of intelligence theory and testing, and especially of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model of testing and its implementation. The following articles will also provide a well-reasoned approach to the way science should work in evaluating tests and the models on which they are based.