Teacher Educator Identity in a Culture of Iterative Teacher Education Program Design: A Collaborative Self-Study

Faculty in the School of Education have collaborated to re-envision teacher education at our university. A complex, dynamic, time-consuming and sometimes painstaking process, redesigning a teacher education program from a traditional approach (i.e. where courses focus primarily on theoretical principles of practice through textbooks and university-based classroom discussions) to a model of teacher education that embraces teaching, learning and leading with schools and in communities is challenging, yet exciting work. Little is known about teacher educators’ experiences as they either design or deliver collaborative field-based models of teacher education. In this article, we examine our experiences in the second implementation year of our redesigned teacher education program, Teaching, Learning, and Leading with Schools and Communities (TLLSC) and how these unique experiences inform our teacher educator identities. Through a collaborative self-study, we sought to make meaning of our transformation from a faculty delivering a traditional model to educators collectively implementing a field-based model, by analyzing the diverse perspectives of faculty at different entry points in the TLLSC development and implementation process. We found that our participation in an intensive field-based teacher preparation model challenged our notions of teacher educator identity. In a culture of iterative program design, this study documents the personal and professional shifts in identity required to accomplish this collaborative and dynamic change in approach to teacher education.     

Multimodal Representations in Senior Biology Assessments: A Case Study of NSW Australia

This paper investigates the use of multimodal representations to assess biological understanding in the final senior secondary school public examination in New South Wales, Australia. The investigation emanates from a larger Australian study concerned with the impact of disciplinary and technological innovations on science pedagogy, particularly in molecular genetics where much knowledge is represented in modalities other than, or in conjunction with, language and traditional print-based texts and visuals. The availability of digital technologies and their affordances for the learning and teaching of senior high school Biology now makes it realistic for examiners to include multimodal representations in assessment tasks. A qualitative analysis of final-year Biology examination papers from 2001 to 2013 identified and classified the multimodal representations included in this written external examination. Findings indicate that despite the ready availability of multimodal, multimedia representations in classroom learning and curriculum materials, and evidence of students’ engagement with ICT, the high-stakes examinations make little use of such resources. A consequence of this mismatch between curriculum outcomes and assessment tools is that students may be disadvantaged because their in-depth knowledge and understanding of biological concepts is not effectively demonstrated through traditional pen-and-paper tests. A move towards a range of alternative assessment formats is one way to ensure that assessment aligns with multimodal learning in the classroom.     

Improving comprehension online: effects of deep vocabulary instruction with bilingual and monolingual fifth graders

This quasi-experimental study investigated the effects of an Internet-delivered universally designed depth of vocabulary intervention that targeted both English-speaking and Spanish–English-speaking students. Two hundred forty students, 49% of whom were Spanish–English bilinguals, participated in the 16-week intervention. Intervention students read eight multimedia texts with embedded instruction on 40 words and reading strategy support. Students could access all texts and activities in Spanish and English. In comparison to a control group, there were significant intervention effects on a standardized measure of vocabulary knowledge, but effects were non-significant for comprehension. Similarly, significant effects on researcher-developed measures of vocabulary depth were detected, but not for a researcher-developed measure of breadth.     

Contrasting Social and Cognitive Accounts on Overimitation: The Role of Causal Transparency and Prior Experiences

Three experiments (N = 100) examine the influence of causal information on overimitation. In Experiment 1, a transparent reward location reveals that the reward is unaffected by nonfunctional actions. When 5‐year‐olds observe an inefficient and subsequently an efficient strategy to retrieve a reward, they show overimitation in both phases—even though the reward is visible. In Experiment 2, children observe first the efficient then the inefficient strategy. The latter is always demonstrated communicatively, whereas the efficient strategy is presented communicatively (2a) or noncommunicatively (2b). Regardless of whether the efficient strategy is emphasized through communication or not, most children do not switch from the efficient to the inefficient strategy. Depending on the situation, children base their behavior on social motivations or causal information.     

Acute short-term sleep deprivation does not affect metacognitive monitoring captured by confidence ratings: a systematic literature review

This article presents the results of a systematic review of the literature surrounding the effects that acute sleep deprivation has on metacognitive monitoring. Metacognitive monitoring refers to the ability to accurately assess one’s own performance and state of knowledge. The mechanism behind this assessment is captured by subjective feelings of confidence concerning the accuracy of our judgments or performance. These judgments influence decision behavior. How well these subjective feelings fit with reality is critical for good decision making. For example, a driver who is overconfident in their ability to remain vigilant after a night without sleep is at risk of having an accident. A learner who is overconfident in their ability to perform well on an exam without sleep is at risk of failing. A break down in metacognitive monitoring might be responsible for the increase in poor decision making observed when people are sleep deprived. Using defined search terms and exclusion criteria, electronic database searches identified ten empirical studies suitable for review. Participants in these studies completed performance-based tasks, typically cognitive, while remaining awake for 28–63 hours. In all studies, metacognitive monitoring was assessed via confidence ratings either pre-, on-, or post-task. Extended wakefulness had a significant negative effect on performance in most studies. Evidencing good monitoring, however, the monitoring estimates such as confidence also tended to decline. Moreover, two critical variables that assess the fit of these estimates to actual performance (bias and discrimination) were mostly unaffected by the number of hours awake. Still, some results indicated that these variables may be affected by substances intended to fight sleep deprivation, such as modafinil. Within the limitations of extant literature (e.g., a sampling bias towards young adult male participants), empirical observations to date converge to suggest that metacognitive monitoring remains largely unaffected by the examined quantities of acute sleep deprivation (up to 63 hours).     

Pharmacogenetics and personalized treatment of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a worldwide epidemic with considerable health and economic consequences. T2DM patients are often treated with more than one drug, including oral antidiabetic drugs (OAD) and drugs used to treat diabetic complications, such as dyslipidemia and hypertension. If genetic testing could be employed to predict treatment outcome, appropriate measures could be taken to treat T2DM more efficiently. Here we provide a review of pharmacogenetic studies focused on OAD and a role of common drug-metabolizing enzymes (DME) and drug-transporters (DT) variants in therapy outcomes. For example, genetic variations of several membrane transporters, including SLC22A1/2 and SLC47A1/2 genes, are implicated in the highly variable glycemic response to metformin, a first-line drug used to treat newly diagnosed T2DM. Furthermore, cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes are implicated in variation of sulphonylurea and meglitinide metabolism. Additional variants related to drug target and diabetes risk genes have been also linked to interindividual differences in the efficacy and toxicity of OAD. Thus, in addition to promoting safe and cost-effective individualized diabetes treatment, pharmacogenomics has a great potential to complement current efforts to optimize treatment of diabetes and lead towards its effective and personalized care.