Validity of Holland’s theory in adolescence: evidence from a Slovak sample

The underlying calculus assumption of Holland’s theory was tested in two samples of primary school students (N₁ = 400 and N₂ = 250) with an average age of 13.86 and 14.14 years, respectively. Both exploratory and confirmatory multidimensional scaling and Hubert and Arabie’s randomization test of hypothesized order relations were calculated. The circular spatial arrangement of RIASEC types was not confirmed in either of the two samples. The study discusses possible causes of the inappropriateness of using Holland’s model in an adolescent sample.

     

Continuing professional development: pedagogical practices of interprofessional simulation in health care

The increasing complexity of health care practice makes continuing professional development (CPD) essential for health care professionals. Simulation-based training is a CPD activity that is often applied to improve interprofessional collaboration and the quality of care. The aim of this study is to explore simulation as a pedagogical practice for the CPD of health care professionals. Specifically, the study focuses on how a professional development activity, the simulation, is enacted to support interprofessional collaboration and learning. A practice theory perspective is used as the theoretical framework. In this, the professional practice is conceptualised as being embodied, relational and situated in sociomaterial arrangements. Ten introduction and reflection sessions following interprofessional full-scale manikin-based simulations with professionals were video-recorded. The recordings were analysed following a stepwise qualitative collaborative approach developed for the purpose. The key findings suggest that the professional competence activity is enacted and interconnected with and governed by historical traditions of institutional teaching practices as well as simulation practices. Despite the intentions of team and interprofessional training, the institutional teaching and simulation practices constrain and hinder the intended outcomes of professional development in interprofessional collaboration.     

Dynamic and shared sense-making in large-scale curriculum reform in school districts

ABSTRACT

Shared sense-making is suggested to be key for curriculum reform. Shared sense-making entails constructing a collective understanding of the meaning for reform, its significance and its implications for schools, through dialogue and negotiation across the levels of the educational system. This study explored changes in hands-on strategies of shared sense-making, and ways of orchestrating curriculum reform work in the districts in Finland, following the introduction of new national curriculum policy. Longitudinal focus group interview data collected from curriculum coordinating groups during the reform work was utilised. The data were qualitatively content analysed. The two sets of shared sense-making strategies were identified in this study, including those strategies utilised by the groups in building their understanding of what the reform is all about, and those concerning the reform orchestration. The strategies employed evolved from simple to more complex, during the progression of curriculum work. Results also showed that the coordinating groups were well aware of their high autonomy and resulting responsibility in orchestrating the district-level curriculum work. However, the advance in shared sense-making strategies employed by the groups indicated that they were highly committed to constructing collective understanding about the reform, its significance and implications for schools through dialogue and negotiation with practitioners.     

Scaffolding strategies in a rubric-based intervention to promote engineering students’ ability to address wicked problems

ABSTRACT

In recent years, there has been increasing interest within the engineering education research community to prepare engineering students to address wicked problems (WPs) such as climate change, resource scarcity and violent conflict. Previous research suggests that engineering students are able to address WPs if they are given adequate support, but there is a lack of research on what kinds of support are needed. This paper aims to reduce this gap by reporting on students’ performance in, and approaches to, addressing WPs when different scaffolding strategies were used in different parts of a rubric-based intervention. The intervention aimed to provide undergraduate engineering students with an understanding of the nature of WPs and with a structured way of addressing them. For each part of the intervention, we discuss affordances for learning provided by the different scaffolding strategies. The results suggest that strong cognitive scaffolding can support students’ understanding of the nature of WPs and students’ performance in written responses to WPs, but possibly also limits deep engagement with WPs and transfer of learning to other contexts.     

What do second-order judgments tell us about low-performing students’ metacognitive awareness?

According to the unskilled and unaware effect (Kruger and Dunning 1999), low-performing students tend to overestimate their performance. Differentiating the assessment of metacognitive judgments into performance judgments (PJs) and second-order judgments (SOJs), PJs of low-performing students tend to be inflated, while their SOJs are usually lower than those of high-performing students (Händel and Fritzsche 2016; Miller and Geraci 2011). This suggests some level of awareness. The present study investigated whether low-performers’ lower SOJs actually indicate metacognitive awareness. We studied SOJs after adequate and inadequate PJs, and investigated whether low-performers’ lower SOJs are made by default or whether their lower SOJs differ in a similar magnitude compared to those of high-performers (indicating metacognitive awareness). We address this issue by disentangling student and item effects via generalized linear mixed models. Reanalyzing the data of Händel and Fritzsche (2016) from N?=?116 students, we found that SOJs depended on the students who provided the SOJ and on the items on which the SOJ was made. Overall, SOJs depended on the PJs and on the interaction of performance and PJs, but not on the performance itself. Separate analyses for students of different performance levels revealed that low-performing students showed less awareness, indicated by a non-significant interaction effect of performance and PJs. Thus, it takes mixed models to tell the whole story of low-performing students’ lower SOJs.     

Bias hypotheses under scrutiny: investigating the validity of student assessment of university teaching by means of external observer ratings

To advance the discussion on the validity of student evaluations of university teaching, student ratings of two teaching dimensions – student involvement and rapport – were compared with corresponding observer ratings. Seven potential bias variables were tested with regard to their impact on the students’ teaching assessment: three teacher characteristics (first impression, enthusiasm, humour) and four student characteristics (prior interest, expected grades, study experience, class attendance). Bias was defined as an impediment of the students’ assessment of teaching on course level. By means of bivariate correlations with course averages and two-level latent moderated structural equations, data of 1,716 students in 80 courses were analysed. Results showed that all three teacher characteristics were genuinely connected to rapport, and even explained variance of the student-rated variable when controlling for observer-rated rapport. The assessment of student involvement was not modified by the teacher characteristics except for teacher enthusiasm, which affected the student evaluation when controlling for observed involvement and, moreover, moderated the relation between the observed and the student-rated variable. For the examined student characteristics, no biasing effects were found – neither on rapport nor on student involvement.     

Job satisfaction of University academics: Perspectives from Uganda

Although several studies in the affluent world have examined the job satisfaction and dissatisfaction of lecturers in higher education, little is known about academic job satisfaction in the low-resource countries. This study probes those factors contributing to academic satisfaction and dissatisfaction in higher education in the developing world. Using a sample of 182 respondents drawn from two universities in Uganda, this analysis reports that the factors most prevalent in the prediction of dons’ satisfaction relate to co-worker behaviour, supervision and intrinsic facets of teaching. Analogously, the stimuli that create academic dissatisfaction are largely extrinsic (contextual) factors with respect to facets of remuneration, governance, research, promotion, and working environment. This article discusses these findings in the light of Herzberg’s dichotomy and concludes that any given factor be it intrinsic or extrinsic can either evoke academic satisfaction or induce dissatisfaction. The present analysis finds that while age, rank, and tenure significantly predict academic job satisfaction, no evidence is adduced to support a gender influence on dons’ job satisfaction. Implications for Ugandan academics’ job satisfaction are formulated, recommendations made, and a further research agenda proposed.     

Self-esteem as a predictor of future school achievement

Self-esteem as a predictor of future school achievement was studied in 1253 randomly selected adolescents. Self-esteem was assessed with the Coopersmith’s Self-Esteem questionnaire when the students started a Junior or Senior High School. School achievement was measured when they graduated. Self-esteem appeared to be a valid predictor of the future grade average. From the components of self-esteem, general self-esteem and home-parents predicted the future performance while social self correlated slightly negatively with school achievement. A gender based difference was found: in boys the role of self-esteem was similar in all school stages while in girls the self-esteem was more significant in a comprehensive (i.e. compulsory) school and its role decreased in the later, voluntary schooling.     

Different,yet similar: factors motivating international degree collaboration in higher education. The case of Finnish-Russian double degree programmes

ABSTRACT

The study investigates factors motivating universities to engage in international degree collaboration. The Finnish-Russian university framework is used as the locus for studying international collaboration. The paper employs resource dependency and institutional, stakeholder and market push and pull perspectives in a conceptual model explaining the drivers of international degree collaboration. The research focuses on the interaction of the various factors that motivate partners to seek international degree cooperation, possible sources of conflict, and issues of compatibility and complementarity. In particular, the study compares the roles of different stakeholders and the institutional contexts of Finland and Russia. The motives of the Finnish and Russian universities included in the study were found to be generally compatible, yet different enough to complement each other.