The impact of peer collaboration on teachers’ practical knowledge

Due to changes in Dutch mathematics education, teachers are expected to use new teaching methods such as enquiry-based teaching. In this study, we investigate how teachers design, implement and evaluate new methods for statistics teaching for 7^th-graders during a professional development trajectory based on peer collaboration. We monitored teachers’ development in a network of four mathematics teachers from the same school. By using a mixed-methods approach in which we combined data from interviews, concept maps and classroom observations, we describe changes in teachers’ practical knowledge. We found how the nature of these changes highly depends on teachers’ personal concerns that emerge during the trajectory. Some teachers considered their concerns as challenges stimulating their learning, while other teachers experienced their concerns as a reason to fall back to previous teaching methods. Based on our results, we give some recommendations for organising teacher networks.     

Enhancing transfer of learning through post-course reflection

This article investigates how a structured post-course follow-up reflection activity affects the depth of reflection and facilitates the transfer of learning. The research is reflective, based on the findings from the Action Learning Management Practicum, a 3^rd year paper at Massey University, New Zealand. The initial reflections at the end of the course generally went no deeper than students “noticing”, or “making sense” of the experiences. With the benefit of distance and time away from the course, the students' reflection was deep and insightful. The findings suggest that the post-course reflection activity enables participants to “make meaning” from their experiences with the benefit of time and distance from the initial post-course reflection, thus enhancing the transfer of learning. The article argues for an extension and adaptation to Kolb's “Experiential Learning Cycle” model in relation to the time of reflection based on the empirical evidence provided.     

Academic personal bests (PBs), engagement,and achievement: A cross-lagged panel analysis

Using a cross-lagged analytic framework, the present study examined (1) the relative salience of prior academic personal bests (PBs) in predicting subsequent engagement and achievement compared with (2) the relative salience of prior engagement and achievement in predicting subsequent PBs. Academic PBs, engagement, and achievement measures were administered to 1866 high school students at two time waves across a one-year interval. Path models suggest the salience of prior academic PBs over subsequent engagement and achievement, and in some instances, evidence of reciprocal effects. The findings hold substantive, applied, and methodological implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to improve students' academic development through academic PBs.     

Is it all memory recall? An empirical investigation of intellectual skill requirements in Leaving Certificate examination papers in Ireland

The terminal examination of post-primary education in Ireland, the Leaving Certificate, is often criticised for the reliance on memory recall over higher order thinking skills in the assessment process. In order to examine the evidence base for these critiques, this article presents an empirical investigation of the intellectual skills and knowledge domains implicit in the tasks in the written examination papers of 23 subjects in the Leaving Certificate in Ireland from 2005 to 2010. Data were collected from two sources: examination papers and student interviews. In an in-depth document analysis of the examination papers, 14,910 occurrences of command verbs were coded for the intellectual skill and knowledge domains required by the assessment task. As the same verb can require different intellectual skills in different subjects and in different tasks, each occurrence of every verb was assigned a specific value depending on its context. The article presents the frequencies and distributions of intellectual skills and knowledge domains within and across subjects. In light of key points in the literature search, the findings indicate concern regarding the level of challenge and stimulation for the development of students of the Leaving Certificate.     

Use of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms 62 (CCAPS-62) as a Repeated Measure

The purpose of this initial, exploratory study was to examine the utility of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-62 (CCAPS-62) as a repeated measure tool at one university counseling center. This study investigated whether clients engaged in individual counseling changed in symptomology while in treatment and when (e.g., session) changes in symptomology occurred. To answer these research questions, reliable change indexes (RCIs) were calculated for each subscale of the CCAPS-62. Results indicated that all eight of the CCAPS-62 subscales demonstrated reliable changes from initial to subsequent administrations, and that changes occurred between sessions 3 and 6 at this specific university counseling center. Findings suggest the importance of incorporating CCAPS-62 information into counseling sessions to inform treatment and assessment.     

Stokingham Sixth Form College: Institutional culture and dispositions to learning

Learning is high on the political agenda for post-compulsory education and training in England. Official discourses about learning assume a predominantly individualist stance, despite the development of theoretical models that stress the contextual and situated nature of learning. In a study following 50 young people through further education over 4 years, it became apparent that the institutional culture of the colleges had a significant impact upon students' dispositions towards their learning. In this paper, we explore the nature and significance of this impact in a case-study sixth form college: an under-researched sector of educational provision. This is followed by a brief discussion of the implications of our analysis for issues of access, widening participation and inequality in relation to current proposals to reform age 16-19 educational provision in England. We conclude by identifying some of the questions about the fine-grained nature of that college culture that our data does not permit us to address directly.     

Towards the university of tomorrow: University policy as a consistent system

In this paper the relationship between new technologies and structural changes in society and the economy are discussed. The roles of engineers are described within this revolution of information technology. Through comparing the international patterns of engineering studies, the German model of engineering education is being questioned. It becomes evident that only a consecutive model of higher education studies can be the goal of further university development in Germany. Subsequently, system analysis will be used to draft a new campus structure of the university: the virtual campus consisting of a system of largely independent entities that are linked by different technological and organizational means. Further education needs to be integrated into this virtual campus university. In this way, Germany may serve as an example of how countries around the world are challenged to change fundamentally their educational systems in order to respond to the ongoing revolution in information technology.     

Knowledge Based Artificial Augmentation Intelligence Technology: Next Step in Academic Instructional Tools for Distance Learning

With augmented intelligence/knowledge based system (KBS) it is now possible to develop distance learning applications to support both curriculum and administrative tasks. Instructional designers and information technology (IT) professionals are now moving from the programmable systems era that started in the 1950s to the cognitive computing era. In cognitive computing or KBS a machine understands natural language, adapts, learns, and generates and evaluates hypotheses. A KBS system can manage data and assist instructional designers in creating tools and curricula that generate meaningful applications. As a proof of the concept, the authors conducted an exploratory case study with the input of twenty subject-matter experts (programmers, instructional designers, and content experts) for development of a proto-type KBS scholarly writing software (SWS) application that can be used for distance/online learning. Philosophical differences between the artificial intelligence and augmented intelligence approaches are also discussed. The role of instructional designers in the development and use of augmented intelligence with IBM’s Watson is also a significant part of the discussion.     

Overcoming Obstacles: Approaches to Dealing with Problem Pupils

Hayley Martin, Teacher of Physical Education at Beacon Community College, Crowborough, and Sid Hayes, Senior Lecturer in Physical Education, Faculty of Education, Sports and Leisure, University of Brighton, consider the effects of feedback to pupils, and identify successful strategies for dealing with problem behaviour.