Adaptive Assistance for Learning Improvement Efforts: The Case of the Institute for Learning

Districts across the country face significant demands to strengthen student learning districtwide, and many are turning to intermediary organizations to help them build their capacity for such demanding, large-scale work. However, how these “learning-support intermediary organizations” assist with these capacity-building efforts is little understood. This article reports data from a largely qualitative investigation into how one such intermediary organization, the Institute for Learning (IFL) at the University of Pittsburgh, partnered with multiple urban districts to help build district capacity for districtwide learning improvements. Our conceptual framework draws on sociocultural learning theory to identify key features of the IFL-district assistance relationships that seem associated with these outcomes. We utilized data from interviews, observations, document reviews, and focus groups conducted over a five-year period. Findings elaborate specific features of their assistance relationships—which we call adaptive assistance relationships—such as enabling particular forms of modeling, tools, and opportunities for rich dialogue. We conclude with implications for the research and practice of districtwide learning improvement efforts and the participation of intermediary organizations in the process.     

Epistemic profiles and metacognition: support for the consistency hypothesis

Relations were examined between epistemic profiles, metacognition, problem solving, and achievement in the context of learning in an educational psychology course. Two hundred thirty-one university students completed self-report inventories reflecting their epistemic profiles and use of metacognitive strategies, and were epistemically profiled as rational, empirical, or both rational and empirical in their approaches to knowing. From the larger sample, 78 students participated in a problem-solving session using a think aloud protocol. Results demonstrated that for self-reported metacognitive strategies, students profiled as both rational and empirical had the highest frequency of metacognitive strategy use compared to students profiled as empirical. Similarly, during problem solving, students profiled as both rational and empirical had the highest frequency of regulation of cognition compared to students profiled as empirical or rational. Finally, students profiled as both rational and empirical attained higher levels of problem-solving achievement compared to students profiled as empirical.     

Students as Virtual Scientists: An exploration of students' and teachers' perceived realness of a remote electron microscopy investigation

Remote access technologies enable students to investigate science by utilizing scientific tools and communicating in real-time with scientists and researchers with only a computer and an Internet connection. Very little is known about student perceptions of how real remote investigations are and how immersed the students are in the experience. This study, conducted with high school students and their teachers, explored the impact of students' perception of ownership and virtual presence during a remote investigation using a scanning electron microscope. Students were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: students able to select their own insect to use during the remote investigation, and students that did not select their own insects to view during the remote investigation. The results of this study showed that students in the experimental group who had choice and ownership of their insect reported being more present (less distracted) during the remote investigation than students in the control group, whereas students in the control group reported controlling the technology was easier than the experimental group. Students indicated the remote investigation was very real; however, the teachers of these students were less likely to describe the investigation as being real. The results of this study have practical implications for designing remote learning environments.     

#SheBelieves: the use of Instagram to frame the US Women’s Soccer Team during #FIFAWWC

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine of the representation of women athletes during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. More specifically, we examined how individuals used various event-related hashtags (ie #SheBelieves and #FIFAWWC) on Instagram during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup to frame identity, and challenge or reinforce gender stereotypes from the bottom-up. A content analysis of athlete photos containing #FIFAWWC (n = 706) and athlete photos containing #SheBelieves (n = 629) revealed that users primarily portrayed women athletes as athletically competent. Specifically, nearly 90% of Instagram posts containing either #FIFAWWC or #SheBelieves portrayed athletes in either athletic action or preparing for athletic action. These findings demonstrate that social media provide an opportunity to challenge gender stereotypes in women’s sports and thereby illustrate that social media users are willing to create their own frames around women athletes.     

Field testing of physiological responses associated with Nordic Walking

This study compared the physiological responses (oxygen consumption and energy expenditure) of Nordic Walking to regular walking under field-testing conditions. Eleven women (M age = 27.1 years, SD = 6.4) and 11 men (M age = 33.8 years, SD = 9.0) walked 1,600 m with and without walking poles on a level, 200-m track. For women, Nordic Walking resulted in increased oxygen consumption (M = 14.9 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1), SD = 3.2 vs. M = 1 7.9 ml x kg(-1) min(-1), SD = 3.5; p < .001), caloric expenditure (M = 4.6 kcal x min(-1), SD = 1.2 vs. M = 5.4 kcal x min(-1), SD = 1.2; p < .001), and heart rate (M = 113.7 bpm, SD = 12.0 vs. M = 118.7 bpm, SD = 14.8; p < .05) compared to regular walking. For men, Nordic Walking resulted in increased oxygen consumption (M = 12.8 ml x kg(-1) min(-1), SD = 1.8 vs. M = 15.5, SD =3.4 ml x kg(-1) min(-1); p < .01), caloric expenditure (M = 5.7 kcal x min(-1), SD = 1.3 vs. M = 6.9 kcal x min(-1), SD = 1.8; p < .001), and heart rate (M = 101.6 bpm, SD = 12.0 bpm vs. M = 109.8 bpm, SD = 14.7; p < .01) compared to regular walking. Nordic Walking, examined in the field, results in a significant increase in oxygen use and caloric expenditure compared to regular walking, without significantly increasing perceived exertion.     

Using ePortfolios to Assess Student Achievement within an Online Library and Information Studies Program

As a result of suggestions from the American Library Association (ALA) the Division of Library and Information Science (DLIS) program at St. John's University implemented an end-of-program electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) requirement. The purpose of this ePortfolio is to provide information on student proficiency in the eight ALA core competencies to our external accrediting agency—the ALA Committee on Accreditation (CoA). This article will discuss how a Library and Information Studies (LIS) faculty member and a New Media and Communications Specialist worked together in developing the ePortfolio as an assessment tool for ALA reaccreditation within an online LIS program.     

Examiner practices and culturally inflected doctoral theses

Increase in numbers of postgraduate students worldwide represent an opportunity and necessity for nurturing and recognising the diversity of culturally inflected research topics, methodologies and expression. However, there are tensions in the definitions, encouragement and recognition of diversity in theses, and in balances of power in supervisor, student and examiner relationships involved in doctoral achievement. We consider such tensions and opportunities using small-scale qualitative research with experienced examiners. We explore ways in which examiners perceive they take culturally aware approaches to responding to, enabling and rewarding the quality of culturally inflected doctoral theses.     

Don't Call Me That: A Techno-Feminist Critique of the Term Mommy Blogger

This article argues that although the act of mommy blogging may be empowering, the term itself reinforces women's hegemonic normative roles as nurturers, thrusting women who blog about their children into a form of digital domesticity in the blogosphere. Drawing on 29 blogs posts women wrote debating the term mommy blogger and 649 comments posted on these blogs, the author uses Judith Butler's concept of performativity to rhetorically analyze the term, using a techno-feminist lens and cyber-ethnographic approach. The author asserts that the use of the term mommy blogger continues the culturally ingrained performance of motherhood women learned since childhood, and, in so doing, holds women captive in this subjective norm that may not fit them. The use of mommy, versus mother, highlights the nurturing aspect of motherhood and conjures a prototype of the ideal mother, further marginalizing women by focusing on one attribute that does not apply to all women or even all mothers.     

A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESIDENTS: RESULTS OF A NATIONAL STUDY

The purpose of this study was to compare two surveys of newly appointed community college presidents. The first, conducted in 1997, was published in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice . It was entitled, A National Study on the Community College Presidency (Kubala, 1999). In this study, newly appointed community college presidents were asked about their pathways to the presidency, their motivation to serve, the search process, their first impressions, governance, and learner-centered transformation. Newly appointed presidents were chosen for the study because of the assumption that they were knowledgeable of contemporary issues, team building strategies, planning, and governance. The second survey was meant to lead to a comparative analysis with a new set of presidents. The reasons for selecting these new presidents were the same ones used in the 1997 study. The instrument was essentially the same as well. The participants in this new study were appointed as community college presidents during the period of September 1997 to September 1999. Copies of the survey instrument were sent to 183 presidents, and 101 were completed for a return rate of 55% . An SPSS package was used to collapse the data, and determine cross-tabulations among the participants.