Effects of Introducing Classroom Peflormance Assessments on Student Learning

How can performance assessments be used as part of regular instruction? Will this raise student performance on external achievement measures? What aspects of examinee performance improve on the assessment exercises?     

Using video-stimulated recall to investigate teacher awareness of explicit and implicit gendered thoughts on classroom interactions

Teachers believe they don’t interact any differently with boys than with girls. However, an examination of the evidence base on gendered student–teacher interactions shows – at times contradicting – unequal interaction patterns for boys and girls. In this study, the videotaped lessons of 13 secondary school teachers in three schools are analysed by both the teachers themselves and the researchers. Video-stimulated recall is used to bring to the surface the thoughts, images and emotions that evoke teachers’ (re)actions in the classroom. Content analysis and thematic analysis of teachers’ recall reveal three things: (1) when recalling specific situations, gender imbalances in the thoughts and images that accompany teachers’ (re)actions come to the surface; (2) "video-stimulated recall" interviewing is a promising method to raise teacher awareness of these gendered thoughts and images; and (3) with a view to practitioners’ professional learning process, it is important for researchers to allow practitioners to co-investigate their practice.     

Down Syndrome Temperament: The Stereotype at Middle Childhood and Adolescence

MOTHERS AND TEACHERS of 94 children (53 boys) with Down syndrome, between 8 and 14 years of age, rated the children on a temperament scale and provided an overall impression as to whether the child was difficult in comparison with other children. Maternal ratings on the Middle Childhood Questionnaire showed significant differences from standardization scores. Children with Down syndrome were given ratings as less active, more predictable, of more positive mood, less persistent, and more distractible. Some of these dimensions favour the amiable personality stereotype for the syndrome but low persistence was associated with maternal impressions of difficulty. There was little agreement between mothers and teachers regarding the individual children who were rated as being significantly easier or more difficult than other children. Results with a subgroup (n = 32) showed that externalizing behaviours were significantly related to both mother and teacher impressions of difficulty and that mothers also found intense, active, distractible behaviour difficult.     

Promoting academic writing/referencing skills: Outcome of an undergraduate e-learning pilot project

Future health care professionals will require self‐directed learning skills. e‐Learning is a tool to assist in this process and therefore there is a need to develop the capacity and readiness to utilise e‐learning within educational programmes. The aim of this study was to determine if extra‐curricular online referencing and anti‐plagiarism lectures would be utilised and would ultimately improve 1st‐year undergraduate health sciences students’ performance in written assessments. A series of six online archived multimedia lectures (asynchronous) were offered. Adult learning theory principles guided the resource design. Pre‐ and post‐testing of knowledge, attitudes and computer skills was carried out. In‐person tutorials and online email support were also offered. Less than 36% (self‐report) of students accessed the online resources. The poor uptake revealed in this study is consistent with a number of other studies. These findings indicate the need for more careful scrutiny of the learning theory applied in e‐learning design. Prochaska's transtheoretical model is suggested as a framework with strong potential for e‐learning initiatives.     

Culturally Responsive Literacy Practices in an Early Childhood Community

Early childhood educators continue to see an increase in their culturally diverse student population. As our country continues to grow as a multicultural nation, it is imperative that our early childhood classrooms embrace this rich diversity and provide experiences that affirm all students, families and communities. We (teacher educators) synthesized the current research into the following five frameworks that we believe embody the foundation of culturally responsive teaching (CRT) in an early childhood setting: (a) developing a culturally responsive classroom community, (b) family engagement, (c) critical literacy within a social justice framework, (d) multicultural literature, and (e) culturally responsive print rich environments. In this article we situate each framework within the larger context of research. Next we move beyond discussing CRT practices by offering ideas on how culturally responsive classrooms look and how to implement this pedagogy and in an early childhood setting with real classroom practices.     

Mimetic desire and intersubjectivity in disciplinary cultures: constraints or enablers to learning in higher education?

The interplay of the inner lives (intersubjectivity) of students and academics within a range of disciplinary cultural manifestations is a key element in the generation of student learning. This article suggests that research on student learning has yet to adequately articulate how this interplay occurs, suggesting that a focus on the influence of just one or two disciplinary cultural manifestations gives a partial image of how students become oriented toward or away from learning in higher education. Using a method that synthesizes the literature on organizational cultures, humanities cultural theory, cultural linguistic theory, and philosophical approaches to intersubjectivity, it identifies a framework for understanding the core conditions of learning within the disciplines that is complementary to psychological and phenomenological research on student learning. As an outcome of this exercise, this paper suggests that students' orientations are initiated within the intersubjective relationships that they encounter and that these relationships play out through the contradictions that exist between the full range of disciplinary manifestations. It closes by suggesting that how students interact with the paradoxes of the disciplinary environment is key to enabling them to manage the tension between their immediate subject study needs and broader learning patterns for their post-graduation lives.     

Quality assurance of joint degree programs from the perspective of quality assurance agencies: experience in East Asia

Joint degree programs have gained popularity in East Asia, due to the growth of transnational higher education in the region since 2000. However, the external quality assurance (QA) and accreditation of joint degree programs is a challenge for QA agencies, as it normally involves the engagement of several institutions and multiple national accreditation procedures. The purpose of this study is to explore current QA approaches to joint degree programs in Europe and East Asia from the perspectives of QA agencies. There are four major findings from the study. First, East Asian countries tend to stipulate national regulations for a joint degree program. Second, an external QA mechanism for joint degree programs has not yet been developed in East Asian nations. Third, the adoption of international accreditation as the popular approach for joint degree programs in business fields in Asia raises the serious issue of national jurisdiction over higher education. Fourth, the European Consortium for Education's (ECA) single accreditation mode is highly recommended by QA agencies.