A social realist perspective on student learning in higher education: the morphogenesis of agency

Contemporary critiques of student learning research call for new theoretical and methodological approaches. This article proposes a social realist approach to this research, using the morphogenetic theory of sociologist Margaret Archer. The applicability of this approach is demonstrated by reference to an empirical study of engineering students at a South African university, using narrative analysis. In the article itself, two narratives are given in some detail, illustrating the key outlines of the analysis. Students’ emerging personal identities are shown to be highly dependent on their social backgrounds, yet when in the university the possibilities for the morphogenesis of student agency are very constrained. A critical interrogation of these findings proposes that a true higher education should facilitate the development of an enlarged sense of agency for students.     

The impact of a natural disaster: under- and postgraduate nursing education following the Canterbury,New Zealand,earthquake experiences

While natural disasters have been reported internationally in relation to the injury burden, role of rescuers and responders, there is little known about the impact on education in adult professional populations. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake affected the Canterbury region of New Zealand on 4 September 2010 followed by more than 13,000 aftershocks in the three years to September 2013. As part of a larger study, a mixed method survey was used to explore factors impacting nurses engaged in education through polytechnic and university courses. This paper presents factors that were self-identified by students as supporting their ability to continue with education. Participants were recruited from three nursing settings: undergraduate nursing students, Registered Nurses (RNs) engaged in post-registration education and RNs engaged in postgraduate courses. A total of 290 participants took part in the study. A number of factors identified by participants could be addressed in pre-disaster course planning and curriculum design; through education and support of both students and staff; and the active promotion of personal, professional and institutional resilience.     

Are students really connected? Predicting college adjustment from social network usage

The rapid growth in popularity of social networking sites has spurred research exploring the impact of usage in a variety of areas. The current study furthered this line of research by examining the relationships between social network usage and adjustment to college in the academic, social, personal-emotional and university affiliation domains. Realising the number of students with social networking accounts, some universities have developed strategic plans for social media. Thus, this study also compared two universities, one with a social media strategic plan and one without, to determine if the planning process had an influence on students. Results indicated that social network usage was related to college adjustment. Specifically, those students who reported higher rates of social media use reported lower levels of adjustment to college in all domains. However, there were no differences between the two universities, indicating that having a social media strategic plan does not influence students in the area of college adjustment. These results are discussed in light of retention rates and changing practices within higher education.     

Predictors of Adult Education Program Satisfaction in Urban Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Lifelong learning is receiving greater attention due to population aging in modern societies. Lifelong learning benefits individuals by supporting their physical, psychological, social, and economic well-being. However, older adults generally have lower motivation for learning than younger adults, and facilitating long-term participation in learning activities is still challenging. Previous studies mainly identified negative factors such as barriers and obstacles to individuals’ initial participation in lifelong learning programs. As such, less is known about positive factors that promote long-term participation. To address this gap, data were collected from 330 older adults who participated in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program in an urban community in the United States. Results from proportional odds ordinal logistic regression analysis demonstrated that gender, number of household members, income, religious affiliation, self-rated health, and number of courses taken were associated with satisfaction with the program. In hopes to promote true lifelong learning, possible explanations about the findings are explored and several recommendations for existing lifelong learning programs are derived in this study.     

Coursework versus examinations in end-of-module assessment: a literature review

In the UK and other countries, the use of end-of-module assessment by coursework in higher education has increased over the last 40?years. This has been justified by various pedagogical arguments. In addition, students themselves prefer to be assessed either by coursework alone or by a mixture of coursework and examinations than by examinations alone. Assessment by coursework alone or by a mixture of coursework and examinations tends to yield higher marks than assessment by examinations alone. The increased adoption of assessment by coursework has contributed to an increase over time in the marks on individual modules and in the proportion of good degrees across entire programmes. Assessment by coursework appears to attenuate the negative effect of class size on student attainment. The difference between coursework marks and examination marks tends to be greater in some disciplines than others, but it appears to be similar in men and women and in students from different ethnic groups. Collusion, plagiarism and personation (especially ‘contract cheating’ through the use of bespoke essays) are potential problems with coursework assessment. Nevertheless, the increased use of assessment by coursework has generally been seen as uncontentious, with only isolated voices expressing concerns regarding possible risks to academic standards.     

Using methodological triangulation to examine the effectiveness of a mentoring program for online instructors

In this quasi-experimental mixed methods study, we examined the effectiveness of a faculty-to-faculty mentoring program to increase student success rates in online courses at an American university. Over one semester, 24 faculty mentees worked with 6 faculty mentors on improving course organization and implementing student engagement techniques. Using methodological triangulation, we found positive results for two of our effectiveness measures (i.e., mentor and mentee feedback and mentors’ ratings of mentees’ courses). However, in terms of our third measure (i.e., student learning data), although institutional data showed that there was a 4.1% aggregate increase in online student success after the intervention, the intervention group made no significantly greater gains than two control groups. Our findings highlight some benefits and shortcomings of these types of university initiatives and also emphasize the importance of using triangulation to integrate participant feedback with formal measures of student success.     

A defensive mindset: A pattern of social information processing that develops early and predicts life course outcomes

The hypothesis was tested that some children develop a defensive mindset that subsumes individual social information processing (SIP) steps, grows from early experiences, and guides long-term outcomes. In Study 1 (Fast Track [FT]), 463 age-5 children (45% girls; 43% Black) were first assessed in 1991 and followed through age 32 (83% retention). In Study 2 (Child Development Project [CDP]), 585 age-5 children (48% girls, 17% Black) were first assessed in 1987 and followed through age 34 (78% retention). In both studies, measures were collected of early adverse experiences, defensive mindset and SIP, and adult outcomes. Across both studies, a robust latent construct of school-age defensive mindset was validated empirically (comparative fit index = .99 in each study) and found to mediate the impact of early child abuse (38% in FT and 29% in CDP of total effect) and peer social rejection (14% in FT and 7% in CDP of total effect) on adult incarceration.     

How is “Knowledge” Constructed During Science Activities? Detaching Instructional Effects of “Playing” and “Telling” to Optimize Integration of Scientific Investigations

Research in Science Education - Despite recommendations from science educational standards which claim that science teaching should engage students in scientific investigations the same way...