University teacher approaches to design and teaching and concepts of learning technologies

This study investigates the experience of teaching of 19 teachers who are teaching on university courses involving face-to-face and on-line learning. The teachers are asked about how they think about learning technologies and how they approach the design and teaching of their courses across these two contexts. Results show that there are qualitatively different ways of thinking about learning technologies that relate logically and positively to qualitatively different ways of designing and teaching using learning technologies. The results have implications for teachers and those interested in maximising the likelihood of learning for university students when teachers teach with learning technologies.     

一个标准能适合所有的项目吗:开放教育的选择

基于支持全英开放教育资源项目(英国开放教育资源项目,简称UKOER项目)的经验,本文将探讨该项目开展过程中所涌现出的各种不同的开放教育资源描述方法,及其对资源共享、工作流程计划、资源聚集观的影响.由于UKOUER项目包括个人层面的项目、学科层面的项目和院校层面的项目,而这三种类型的项目又有各自不同的特点,显然难以用一种技术或者描述性的解决方案来适合所有的项目.因此,目前这些项目只提供有限的描述性信息,包括项目标签、作者、题目、日期、链接地址、文件格式、文件大小、权限,以及一些附加信息,包括语言、学科分类、关键词、标签、评论和描述.所有项目可以自由选择编码、存储和分享上述信息的方法.本文通过大量的例证介绍了项目的描述方法,其中还包括工作流程和所作出的尝试.我们将考虑所选择的工具(资源库、Web2.0应用、虚拟学习环境)与标准选择的关系,以及本地需求和更广泛社区需求之间的关系.我们会考虑这些选择对资源传播和发现的影响,例如,资源描述对大量开放教育资源的发现服务的影响.     

Contrasting concepts of learning and contrasting research methodologies: Affinities and bias

This paper analyses the conceptual significance of different methods of researching learning. Based largely upon our own experiences, we briefly compare the use of mini‐ethnography, life history, cross‐sectional surveys and existing panel survey data. We argue that there are strong affinities between each of these methods and significantly different ways of understanding the nature of learning: mini‐ethnographies with learning as participation, life history with learning as construction and both types of survey with learning as acquisition. Three things follow. The first is that decisions about how to research learning are related to decisions about how to conceptualise and theorise learning. The second is that there is no foolproof empirical way to adjudicate between different conceptualisations of learning, though empirical evidence can and should play a significant part in informing such decisions. The third is that though mixing methods (including mixing more than one different qualitative approach) can bring advantages, the integration of the findings of mixed methods in relation to learning requires careful and sometimes difficult conceptual work.     

Effectiveness of peers in delivering programs or motivating older people to increase their participation in physical activity: Systematic review and meta-analysis

The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness of peers to deliver programs or encourage older people to be physically active and improve physical outcomes. Peer reviewed articles published in English between January 1976 and June 2016, retrieved from six databases according to the predefined inclusion criteria were included. Where possible results were pooled and meta-analyses conducted. Eighteen articles were included in the review, a total of 3,492 intervention participants, average age 66.5 years and 67.1% were female. Overall, study quality was medium to high. Interventions mainly included resistance, flexibility and cardiovascular training, however there was one aquatic exercise group. Eight studies were delivered by peers and five utilised peer support, which included advice and being positive but was not directly linked to an exercise intervention. While 16 of the 18 studies reported improvement in levels of physical activity and/or noted physical benefits by peer involvement, the meta-analyses findings supported the control groups for the six-minute-walk-test and the timed-up-and-go test. Findings from this review suggest exercise programs involving peers can promote and maintain adherence to exercise programs. However, results were inconclusive as to whether peers have a positive effect on improving older people’s physical function.     

Anticipating the experience of higher education through computer simulation

In industry the advantages of realistic job preview have been much discussed, but lit-tle is currently done in British schools to prepare students for higher education. This article describes the development stages of a principled adventure game to simulate the experience of higher education. Playing this game is intended to provide realistic role preview for prospective students.The simulation has been developed out of an earlier board game derived, to some extent, from research findings. More recent research on student learning has provided the principles on which the new simulation game is being based. The game not only allows students to try out different study strategies, it also provides advice tailored to the specific strategies used by the individual stu-dent in interacting with the computer. This simulation can be seen as a simple expert system providing a form of intelligent tutoring.The architecture of the computer simulation is described, together with the strategies used to ensure that the game, and the advice provided, are both controlled by principles derived from the research on student learning. Illustrations are used to indicate how a student would experience the interactions with the computer, and how the rules produce tailored advice.     

The development, validation, and applicability of The Personnel Evaluation Standards

Michigan State UniversityAir Force Human Resources Laboratory     

Human causality judgments and response rates on DRL and DRH schedules of reinforcement

The effect of various relationships between a response (an investment made in the context of a game) and an outcome (a return on the investment) on judgments of the causal effectiveness of the response was examined. In Experiment 1, response rates and causal judgments were higher for a differential-reinforcement-of-high-rate (DRH) schedule relative to a variable-ratio (VR) schedule with the same probability of outcome following a response. Response rates were also higher for a DRH than for a variable-interval schedule matched for reinforcement rate. In Experiment 2, response rates and causal judgments were lower for a differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedule relative to a VR schedule with the same probability of outcome following a response. These results corroborate the view that schedules are a determinant of both response rates and causal judgments, and that few current theories of causal judgment explicitly predict this pattern of results.     

Social anxiety in learning: stages of change in a sample of UK undergraduates

Social anxiety in learning is prevalent amongst traditional-age students and has a marked effect on their engagement with higher education. It receives little attention from academic or support services and there is a presumption that students will manage their anxieties. Yet it is unclear what psychosocial resources they might bring to this task and how these may develop through the undergraduate years. This study sought to identify possible change processes in student social anxiety by analysing qualitative responses obtained from Level 2 undergraduate students (n=39) in relation to their experience of learning situations such as lectures, seminars and group presentations. Thematic analysis suggested a four-stage developmental progression for students in terms of their experience and orientation to coping with social anxiety. Implications for staff development and student support are outlined.