Feedback,a powerful lever in teams: A review

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of feedback provided to teams in higher education or organizational settings. This review (59 empirical articles) showed that most of the feedback applications concerned “knowledge of results” (performance feedback). In contrast, there is a relatively small body of research using feedback conveying information regarding the way individuals or the team performed a task (process feedback). Moreover, no research compared the effectiveness of process versus performance feedback. Concerning feedback effectiveness, half of the studies implementing performance feedback research reported uniformly positive effects while the other half resulted in positive effects on some dependent variables and no effect on others. All the studies using solely process feedback showed mixed positive results: some dependent variables improved while some others did not change. None of the studies reported any negative effects. This review also highlighted 28 key factors supporting feedback interventions effectiveness.     

What ISPI and performance improvement mean to me

This year, the International Society for Performance Improvement celebrates its 50th anniversary. Over the past half century, our field has moved from programmed learning to programmed instruction to performance improvement. This new column reflects on 50 years of member memories and what it has meant to each of this column's contributors. If you would like to add to the discussion, please contact the PI journal editor: publications@ispi.org     

Performance improvement/HPT model: Guiding the process

This commentary is part of an ongoing dialogue that began in the October 2011 special issue of Performance Improvement—Exploring a Universal Performance Model for HPT: Notes From the Field. The authors feel that the performance improvement/HPT model in its past, present, and potential future iterations is not the only model for our field; however, it makes a systematic and flexible contribution to the field.     

Teachers' attitudes and students' opposition. School misconduct as a reaction to teachers' diminished effort and affect

Recent decades have seen many studies dealing with the effects of teacher expectations. While most have focused on students' cognitive outcomes, we relate teacher expectations to student deviancy. We expect low expectations to be associated with students' feelings of futility and less teacher support, which, according to respectively strain theory and social control theory, give rise to misconduct. Multilevel analyses of data (2004–2005) from 11,844 students and 2104 teachers in 84 Flemish secondary schools suggest that, in schools where teacher expectations are low, students report less perceived teacher support, which is associated with higher rates of self-reported school misconduct.     

Hybrid sliding mode observer for switched linear systems with unknown inputs

This paper addresses the state observation and unknown input estimation of a class of switched linear systems with unknown inputs. This class of systems may have modes in which the state is not fully observable. A state transformation allows implementing two suitable reduced-order observers. The first one, based on second order sliding mode techniques, is proposed to reconstruct the discrete state in the presence of unknown inputs. The second one, based on gathering partial information from individual modes of the switched system and on higher order sliding mode techniques, is introduced to estimate the continuous state. Then, the observer injection signal of the first second order sliding mode observer is used to estimate the unknown inputs. Simulation results highlight the efficiency of the proposed method.     

Student and novice teachers’ stories about collaborative learning implementation

Despite the research evidence on the effectiveness of collaborative learning (CL), the implementation of this teaching strategy has not yet found a profound place in teaching practice. As a consequence, several studies have investigated teachers’ motives regarding and experiences with the use of CL. Most of these studies concern however senior teachers, whereas new generations of teachers are important actors in the process of educational innovation. Hence, it is crucial to explore novice teachers’ stories about CL implementation: what motivates them to implement this teaching strategy, what hinders them and how do they handle the challenges they are confronted with? The answers to these questions may provide useful information for improving the teacher education curriculum regarding CL. In this respect, the present study intends to study pre-service and beginning teachers’ experiences with CL in classroom practice, after a formal training pertaining to CL as part of their teacher education programme. The aim is to identify the main challenges student and novice teachers encounter when they want to implement CL in their teaching practice, and how they position themselves in these challenges. A qualitative case study design with in-depth interviews in the Flemish context (Belgium) was used to gain access to the particular experiences of each teacher, and to the processes of interpretation and meaning-making that go with those experiences. Participants were interviewed individually one week before graduation (n?=?15). After at least half a year of experience in the teaching profession, 10 participants were interviewed for a second time. In the present study, we present the results from a cross-case analysis, using the method of constant comparative analysis to identify similarities or differences, and to capture recurring patterns within the data. The findings reveal several dilemmas that illustrate the conflicting options teachers are facing in relation to their colleagues, their pupils, the curriculum and in the classroom context when they intend to implement CL. In particular, the following dilemmas were identified: two dilemmas related to professional autonomy (student teachers: teacher autonomy vs. pre-service performance assessment; novice teachers: teacher autonomy vs. institutional conformity), further dilemmas related to teachers’ beliefs about pupils’ readiness for CL vs. evidence about pupils’ readiness for CL, investing in innovation vs. curriculum and job pressure, and pedagogical intentions vs. contextual constraints. In most conflicting situations, student and novice teachers position themselves in the challenge by opting for non-implementation.     

Clustering teachers' motivations for teaching

The motivation to teach is a powerful, yet neglected, force in teaching at institutes of higher education. A better understanding of academics' motivations for teaching is necessary. The aim of this mixed-method study was to identify groups with distinctively different motivations for teaching. Six clusters were identified: expertise, duty, subject, passion, reluctance and incompetence. The teachers in these groups differed in perceived personal effectiveness, interest and effort towards teaching. Interview data revealed the competitive function of research and the importance of the subject matter taught. The clusters containing teachers who prioritise the teaching process over the teaching content were the ones with the highest overall motivation scores.     

Perspectives on teaching and regulation of learning: a comparison of secondary and university teachers

Many factors play a role in the successful transition of students from secondary to university education: one of them is the (university) teacher. In this study the similarities and differences in the perspectives on teaching and learning of secondary and university teachers were investigated. A survey was performed among 675 teachers. Three perspectives on teaching and learning could be distinguished: (1) a development orientation with shared regulation, (2) a knowledge orientation with strong regulation, and (3) an opinion orientation with loose regulation. Secondary teachers scored higher on the first perspective than university teachers who scored higher on the third perspective. These findings have implications for the transition of students from pre-university to university education and especially for teachers' roles.     

The Effectiveness of a Faculty Training Programme: Long‐term and institutional impact

Long‐term influences of educational development initiatives for novice faculty members are seldom studied in a systematic way. In this exploratory study the long‐term individual and institutional impact of a novice faculty training programme at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) was evaluated, using a written survey with open questions. The results revealed that 2 years after finishing the programme the respondents still referred to the programme as a means of explaining changes in their day‐to‐day teaching practice. No firm relationship could be established between the strength of individual impact and the extent to which respondents also felt inclined to change things at the institutional level. The data suggests that the long‐term impact of the programme depends mainly on contextual elements. The article further discusses implications for the design of faculty training as well as perspectives for further research.

Onderzoek naar de invloed op lange termijn van onderwijskundige professionalisering voor beginnende docenten is schaars. Dit artikel bespreekt de resultaten van een exploratieve studie over de lange termijn invloed van een opleiding voor beginnende docenten aan de universiteit van Antwerpen (België). Met behulp van een schriftelijke vragenlijst met open vragen werd de invloed van de opleiding op individueel en institutioneel niveau nagegaan. De resultaten tonen aan dat de respondenten twee jaar na datum nog steeds naar de opleiding verwijzen wanneer zij veranderingen in hun dagelijkse onderwijspraktijk duiden. Vastgesteld werd dat docenten die getuigen van sterke veranderingen in hun onderwijsopvattingen, ook meer omvattende veranderingen in hun praktijk beschrijven. Er werd geen verband gevonden tussen de sterkte van de veranderingen op individueel niveau en de mate waarin docenten zich geroepen voelden om veranderingen op institutioneel niveau teweeg te brengen. De resultaten laten vermoeden dat de lange termijn invloed van de opleiding vooral afhangt van contextfactoren. Het artikel gaat in op de implicaties van de bevindingen voor het ontwerp van onderwijskundige professionalisering en op de uitdagingen voor verder onderzoek.

L'influence à long terme des initiatives de développement pédagogique destinées aux enseignants universitaires en début de carrière est rarement étudiée de façon systématique. Dans le cadre de cette étude exploratoire, l'impact à long terme et pour l'institution d'un programme de formation pour les nouveaux enseignants donné à l'Université d'Anvers (Belgique) a été évalué à l'aide d'un questionnaire écrit comportant des questions ouvertes. Les résultats tendent à démontrer que, même deux ans après avoir complété le programme, les répondants faisaient toujours référence au programme pour expliquer les changements survenus dans leur pratique quotidienne d'enseignement. Bien que les changements comportementaux correspondent à l'étendue du changement en matière de conceptions de l'enseignement, aucune relation nette n'a pu être établie entre l'impact institutionnel et la vigueur de l'impact individuel. Les données tendent à démontrer que l'impact à long terme du programme dépend principalement d'éléments contextuels. L'article présente aussi des éléments de discussion relatifs au design d'activités de formation pour les enseignants, de même que de nouvelles perspectives de recherche.