Using mid-semester course evaluation as a feedback tool for improving learning and teaching in higher education

The way in which mid-semester course evaluations are structured, administered and reported is important for generating rich and high-quality student feedback for the enhancement of learning and teaching. Mid-semester evaluations usually contain open-ended questions that trigger more elaborative feedback about what is going on in a class than that from end-of-semester evaluations with Likert scale-type questions. The anonymity of the process for students and the confidentiality of the process for instructors make the process more reflective for students and less stressful for instructors. This study describes how the mid-semester course evaluation process can be used as a feedback tool for improving the quality of teaching and learning at an institutional level. Through a longitudinal analysis of 341 mid-semester course evaluation reports, positive areas and areas of concern with respect to learning and teaching were identified, and changes in student evaluations over the years were examined meticulously to make an overall evaluation of the quality of learning and teaching at a non-profit Turkish university. This research showed that the value of mid-semester course evaluations can go beyond course-level if we use open-ended questions and are able to gather the reports together to make some comprehensive analysis at university level.     

Investigating the relationships among students’ self-efficacy beliefs,their perceptions of classroom learning environment,gender, and chemistry achievement through structural equation modeling

Background: Investigating factors contributing to chemistry achievement is important since it enables us to make more concrete instructional decisions related to improving students? chemistry achievement.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate how students? perceptions of learning environment, self-efficacy and gender are related to chemistry achievement.

Sample: Three hundred fifty six high school students with the age range of 14 and 19 from three different schools in the same district were the participants.

Design and methods: A structural equation model was designed and tested. Constructivist learning environment survey, self-efficacy scale were the instruments of the study. Information about students? gender and their chemistry grades belonging to the previous semester were also collected.

Results: The model testing showed that chemistry self-efficacy beliefs, students? perceptions of constructivist learning environment (through chemistry-self efficacy) and gender were significantly related to chemistry achievement. Moreover, the findings showed that students? chemistry self-efficacy beliefs mediated the relation of students? learning environment perceptions to their chemistry achievement.

Conclusions: The present study has some educational implications for teachers, teacher educators and curriculum developers. First of all, self-efficacy was found to have an effect on students? achievement. Therefore, teachers should consider students? self-efficacy beliefs and devise their instruction accordingly. Another implication of this study is the necessity of considering gender differences in designing teachers? instruction.     

Statistical Engineering for Quality and Productivity Improvements

RESUME

The quality concept is today strongly connected with customer satisfaction. One important reason for the quality and productivity success in the Japanese industry is a consequent and systematic use of statistical methods during different stages of the production process. The quality challenge of the European industry therefore implies claims both on the industry to use more statistical methods and on the teaching of statistics at engineering schools at different levels. In this paper we discuss the modern quality development and the role of statistical methods in this development. We also emphasize its strong implications for the teaching of statistics at engineering schools.

Le concept ‘qualite’ est de nos jours en relation étroite avec la satisfaction du client. Une des raisons importantes du succès, en fait de qualité el de productivité, de I'industrie japonaise est I'utilisation conséquente et systématique des méthodes statistiques dans les différentes étapes du processus de production. Le defi ‘qualité’ pour I'industrie europeenne exige alors, d'une part I'intensification de I'utilisation de méthodes statistiques dans I'industrie, et d'autre part I'enseignement de la statistique dans les ecoles d'ingenieurs à differents niveaux. Dans cet article, nous discutons le developpement moderne du concept ‘qualité’ et le rdle des methodes statistiques dans ce développement. Aussi nous insistons sur set grandes implications dans I'enseignement des statistiques dans les écoles d'ingénieurs.     

Navigating the divide between scientific practice and science studies to support undergraduate teaching of epistemic knowledge

There is an urgent need to strengthen undergraduate science students’ epistemic knowledge, which requires having the scientists qua teachers on board. The divide between scientists’ perceptions of science and the perceptions held by those who study science is in this context problematic. Even so, this remains a sorely understudied area. The aim of the study was to identify pragmatic ways that hold the potential to facilitate integration of scholarly studies of scientific knowledge production with experientially based knowledge held by scientists to support the teaching of epistemic knowledge content to undergraduate science students. Earlier studies suggest that trust building is a central component. Our exploratory case study focuses on instructor perceptions and is based on informal interviews, participatory observation and surveys with instructors in a first-year undergraduate science course under revision. We identified the following central components as central to successful navigation of the divide between the scientific practice and science studies: Explicit formulation of learning objectives tied to epistemic knowledge acquisition; Conscious attention to vocabulary that triggers scientists’ aversion to science studies; Careful selection of historic and contemporary cases; and Systematic scaffolding of course activities. The conclusion regarding a common vocabulary stands out: by ridding our instructions from the vocabulary that caused concern among science instructors we succeeded in engaging them in conversations with students about the knowledge-producing process and challenge the view of science as characterised by facts and truths, rather than a form of scholarly inquiry that aims to produce knowledge about the natural world.     

Teachers’ leadership: a maker or a breaker of students’ educational motivation

Teachers’ leadership plays a critical and central role in students’ educational motivations. This indicates that, in the school context, a teacher’s leadership can have both positive and negative impacts on students’ educational motivation and performance. This article explores these assumptions, building on the path-goal theory, more specifically the effects of teachers’ leadership from students’ perspectives. Using a qualitative research design, this study collected data comprising 35 interviews with children and young people in both primary and upper-secondary school. The results show that the degree of teachers’ developmental leadership greatly affects students’ educational motivation and school performance. Two contrasting teachers’ profiles were found: teachers with a high degree of developmental leadership and teachers with a low degree of developmental leadership. Our findings suggest that teachers with the profile of a high degree of developmental leadership create an environment that fosters educational motivation positively among students, facilitating students’ achievement of high performance levels and a sense of well-being about their studies. In contrast, we show that teachers with a low degree of developmental leadership create an environment that is nonconductive for educational motivation, performance or the welfare of schoolwork.     

Student-centred learning (SCL): roles changed?

This paper addresses the espoused and enacted practices of high school teachers with regard to student-centred learning (SCL). Explanatory mixed-method design, where quantitative strand is followed by qualitative one, is employed. While the quantitative strand aims to explore teachers’ perceptions regarding the extent student-centred teacher and student roles are performed, qualitative strand is used to explore how well the enacted roles represent the espoused ones and to explain the discrepancies, if any, between them. The findings indicate discrepancies between espoused and enacted practices of teachers. Qualitative data reveal that teachers’ beliefs about teacher and student roles are still very much teacher centred. Reasons are varied including system-wide barriers hindering the adoption of SCL and teacher training offered. The findings draw attention to an urgent need for alternative teacher training programmes that would focus on changing teachers’ traditional beliefs enabling them to put theory into practice and adopt student-centred roles.     

论改革开放和中国特色社会主义理论体系

中国特色社会主义理论体系是在改革开放伟大历史实践中逐步形成和丰富发展的。改革开放和社会主义现代化建设的实践发展将进一步推动中国特色社会主义理论体系的丰富和发展。坚持中国特色社会主义,就必须坚持改革开放不动摇;坚持改革开放,就必须始终高举中国特色社会主义理论的伟大旗帜。     

Shorter Version of the Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory (COSE): A Sample from Turkish Counselor Candidates (COSE-TR)

Counseling self-efficacy is defined as a counselor’s beliefs regarding their ability to counsel a client effectively. Larson et al. (1992) developed the Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory (COSE) to determine counselors’ self-efficacy in the dimensions of microskills, counseling process, difficult client behavior, cultural competence, and awareness of values. The COSE has been used widely in the United States as well as being adapted to other cultures. The purpose of the present study was to obtain validity and reliability evidence for the COSE in a Turkish sample towards the creation of a Turkish version (COSE-TR). Analyses regarding internal consistency and construct validity were undertaken via CFA and EFA, and divergent and convergent validity assessments were performed. The devised COSE-TR obtained a Cronbach alpha coefficient of .92. Exploratory factor analysis suggested a four-factor model with 53.82% of the total variance explained, which the CFA also supported. The COSE-TR correlated negatively with trait anxiety as measured on the ‘State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale’ (involving only Trait anxiety STAI-T; Spielberger 1983), but positively with generalized self-efficacy as measured via the ‘General Self-Efficacy Scale’ (GSE; Schwarzer and Jerusalem 1995). As for language equivalence, there was no difference between the means of total scores obtained from the original COSE and the created Turkish shorter version. Results revealed that the shortened COSE-TR can be regarded as a valid and reliable instrument for measuring counseling self-efficacy with Turkish counselors. Implications for counseling psychology, counselor education and supervision in developing nations and the transculturality of counseling self-efficacy are discussed.