An electronic workbook to study statistics: Design and evaluation

The present contribution focuses on an evaluation study in which a so‐called Electronic Workbook was designed, developed and experimentally implemented in the first‐year statistics course of the Faculty of Policy Sciences at the University of Nijmegen. The Electronic Workbook was developed as a potential solution to a four‐fold problem statement (study postponement by students, limited relevance of the course within the curriculum, lack of exploration possibilities, lack of insight into study progress by teachers). The Electronic Workbook was experimentally implemented as a regular part of the statistics course and evaluated during two consecutive academic years. The evaluation results show that students appreciated the possibility of active exploration provided by several types of support devices. They were fairly positive on being responsible for their own study activities. The aims — to gain insight into study progression and to meet the problem of study postponement ‐were achieved only to a limited degree in the first evaluation study. Due to some major changes in the educational set‐up of the second evaluation study, students were more actively and regularly engaged in the statistics course.     

How Good an Historian Shall I Be?

The book begins with a discussion of the debates on history education as they developed in Great Britain during the last decades of the previous century. In these debates, reference is often made to the views of the philosopher and historian R. G. Collingwood. However, according to the author, his philosophy of history is usually misunderstood. Besides correcting the various misinterpretations of Collingwood's views on history, special attention is paid to his theory of (historical) imagination. In the final part of the book, the relevance of Collingwood's philosophy for more general educational issues is discussed and compared with the views of Hirst, Bloom and Bruner.     

Metriken für UML-Modelle

Zusammenfassung. Um einen auf UML basierenden Entwicklungsprozess bewerten und verbessern zu können, werden Metriken für UML-Modelle definiert. Wir stellen einen Satz derartiger Metriken vor und diskutieren ihre Tauglichkeit. Unsere Metriken sind generisch definiert, sie werden zur Bewertung der einzelnen UML-Diagramme spezialisiert. Wir berichten vom Einsatz der Metriken zur Evaluation eines Prozessmodells, das in der Lehrveranstaltung Software-Praktikum eingesetzt wird. Eingegangen am 2. Januar 2001/Angenommen am 20. Dezember 2002CR Subject Classification: D.2.2, D.2.8, D.2.9, K.3.2, K.6.3     

Social Media Research: An Assessment of the Domain's Productivity and Intellectual Evolution

The purpose of this study is to conduct a bibliographic investigation and meta-analysis of the full body of social media scholarship produced over eight years, since the domain's emergence in 2004. A total of 610 journal and conference papers were carefully reviewed and subjected to bibliometric and meta-analysis techniques. A number of research questions pertaining to country, institutional, and individual productivity, as well as research design and data practices in the social media field, were proposed and answered. Our results reveal two main challenges faced by the field. First, the social media domain displays limited intellectual diversity in terms of productive and impactful actors—individual, institutions, and countries—as well as publications that have hitherto skewed the domain's focus in a limited direction. Second, the research design approaches and data practices characterizing the domain seem to reflect methodological singularity characterized by a strong tendency for cross-sectional, individual-level, survey or case-based studies. Furthermore, speculative and anecdotal evidence, based on personal opinions and armchair hypotheses, is extremely widespread and stand in the way of the domain's methodological and theoretical advancement. These challenges not only help to improve one's understanding of the identity and intellectual core of social media as a distinct scientific field but can also further prompt academic debate and careful (re)examination of the domain's scholarly practices and assumptions to ensure its future advancement in the most productive manner.     

Do prospective mathematics teachers teach who they say they are?

In this case study, the professional mathematics teacher identity (PMTI) of final year mathematics education students is investigated in terms of their self-perceived and actualised identity. These prospective teachers were required to discuss and describe their own PMTI in terms of three aspects: mathematics specialisation, teaching-and-learning specialisation, and caring. Subsequently, they were observed in the classroom, where the actualisation of their PMTI was considered in terms of the same three. The participants’ perceptions of their own PMTI and the actualisation of that PMTI in the classroom were found not to be congruent. While their self-perceptions regarding their prowess as Mathematics Specialists were accurate, since this is concretely tested as part of their studies, their self-perceptions as teaching-and-learning specialists and particularly as Carers, were not verifiable in their classroom practice. Espoused theory, theory that the individual perceives as true and valid, and which may thus be seen as intrinsic to their PMTI’s, is not necessarily enacted.     

Metacognitive scaffolding during collaborative learning: a promising combination

This article explores the effect of computerized scaffolding with different scaffolds (structuring vs. problematizing) on intra-group metacognitive interaction. In this study, we investigate 4 types of intra-group social metacognitive activities; namely ignored, accepted, shared and co-constructed metacognitive activities in 18 triads (6 control groups; no scaffolds and 12 experimental groups; 6 structuring scaffolds and 6 problematizing scaffolds). We found that groups receiving scaffolding showed significantly more intra-group interactions in which the group members co-construct social metacognitive activities. Groups receiving problematizing scaffolds showed significantly less ignored and more co-constructed social metacognitive interaction compared to groups receiving structuring scaffolds. These findings indicate that scaffolding positively influenced the group members’ intra-group social metacognitive interaction. We also found a significant relation between students’ participation in intra-group social metacognitive interaction and students’ metacognitive knowledge. Twelve percent of the variance in students’ metacognitive knowledge was explained by their participation in intra-group shared social metacognitive interaction. Therefore, future research should consider how to design scaffolds that elicit intra-group social metacognitive interaction among group members to enhance the development of students’ metacognitive knowledge.     

The Role of Reflection in the Effects of Community Service on Adolescent Development: A Meta‐Analysis

This meta‐analysis assessed the effect of community service on adolescent development and the moderation of this effect by reflection, community service, and adolescent characteristics to explicate the mechanisms underlying community service effects. Random effects analyses, based on 49 studies (24,477 participants, 12–20 years old), revealed that community service had positive effects on academic, personal, social, and civic outcomes. Moderation analyses indicated that reflection was essential; the effect for studies that include reflection was substantial (mean ES = .41) while community service in the absence of reflection yielded negligible benefits (mean ES = .05). Effects increased when studies include more frequent reflection and community service, reflection on academic content, and older adolescents. These findings have implications for understanding and improving community service.     

A Gentle Introduction to Bayesian Analysis: Applications to Developmental Research

Bayesian statistical methods are becoming ever more popular in applied and fundamental research. In this study a gentle introduction to Bayesian analysis is provided. It is shown under what circumstances it is attractive to use Bayesian estimation, and how to interpret properly the results. First, the ingredients underlying Bayesian methods are introduced using a simplified example. Thereafter, the advantages and pitfalls of the specification of prior knowledge are discussed. To illustrate Bayesian methods explained in this study, in a second example a series of studies that examine the theoretical framework of dynamic interactionism are considered. In the Discussion the advantages and disadvantages of using Bayesian statistics are reviewed, and guidelines on how to report on Bayesian statistics are provided.     

Critically reflective dialogues in learning communities of professionals

Communities in which professionals share and create knowledge potentially support their continued learning. To realise this potential more fully, members are required to reflect critically. For learning at work such behaviour has been described as critically reflective work behaviour, consisting of six aspects: challenging groupthink, critical opinion sharing, an openness about mistakes, asking for and giving feedback, experimentation and research utilisation. We studied whether and how these aspects can be distinguished in dialogues of seven different communities of veterinary professionals (critically reflective dialogues). Our exploration of the nature of critically reflective dialogues resulted in an analytical framework. Within each aspect four different modes of communication were identified: interactive, on an individual basis, non-reflective and restricted. We assume that professionals use learning opportunities most in the interactive mode of communication. The framework was employed to study the extent to which dialogues showed these modes of critically reflective dialogues. The results demonstrate that in these communities the modes of communication within aspects were largely non-interactive (i.e., individual, non-reflective). The developed framework discriminates between communities in terms of their critically reflective dialogues. Interventions to improve the effectiveness of learning communities should focus on enhancement of members addressing each other's reasons and reflections.