Professional development for scaling pedagogical innovation in the context of game-based learning: teacher identity as cornerstone in “shifting” practice

A dominant discourse on “scaling-up” small-scale innovations based on a limited number of successful classroom trials pervades the educational literature. We view this discourse as insensitive to the professional work of teachers and the human side of school change. Our research investigated how teacher professional development could be conceived and conducted to support take up of digital game-based learning in the context of a 3-week social studies unit on governance and citizenship. Students played a mobile game in their own time. In the classroom, teachers enacted dialogic pedagogy to facilitate students’ meaning-making of their gameplay experience. Our findings indicate that teacher identity, constituted by their interwoven knowing–doing–being–valuing is central to any effort to scale pedagogical and technological innovation. We modified our original model for the appropriation of innovation uptake by teachers to one that places teacher identity as the centrepiece of the model and cornerstone in “shifting” teacher practice.     

Country of origin and country of service delivery effects in transnational higher education: a comparison of international branch campuses from developed and developing nations

Over the last decade, international branch campuses have been established by universities from developing countries as well as developed countries. Little research has been conducted into students’ perceptions of branch campuses from different countries, or how universities from different countries compete in the increasingly competitive market. A framework incorporating the concepts of country of origin and country of service delivery is adopted to assess how potential undergraduate students in Malaysia perceive the home and international branch campuses of universities from the United Kingdom (UK) and India, which are used to represent universities from developed and developing nations. It was found that for a university from a developing nation, students perceived the image, reputation, quality and brand equity of its home campus more positively than its international branch campus. The results suggest that although all universities must devise and implement strategies that enhance the image and reputation of their international branch campuses, institutions from developing countries should seek niche markets where they do not have to compete directly with prestigious universities from developed countries.     

A Practical A.I. Development Module for a Robotics Course

The cheap and powerful personal computer (PC) has become an important and efficient tool for supporting engineering education. In this paper a PC‐based training module, AIROBOT,is presented. The purpose of this module is to provide a platform for students to develop and experiment with artificial intelligence techniques.

The training module, AIROBOT,utilizes an electronic noughts and crosses game board which is interfaced to the Scorbot‐ER VII robot and a PC. The development and implementation of the module are discussed. Two techniques developed by the students are presented to illustrate the utilization of the module. The first technique involves searching a game tree data structure. The learning involves the on‐line generation of the game tree as the games are played. An evaluation function is used to facilitate the search. The other technique is based on the artificial neural network approach using the backpropagation paradigm. The structure of the neural networks, training and performances are presented. The PC‐based training module has the potential to enhance the student understanding through the practical application of artificial intelligence. It is envisaged that similar modules can be easily integrated into most engineering undergraduate robotics courses.     

Authentic game-based learning and teachers’ dilemmas in reconstructing professional practice

Teachers who attempt pedagogical innovation with authentic digital games face significant challenges because such games instantiate open systems of learner activity, inviting enquiry learning rather than knowledge acquisition. However, school environments are normatively sanctioned cultural spaces where direct instruction and high-stakes tests are de riguer. In this paper, we draw on the conceptual frame of dilemmatic spaces to illuminate the dilemmas teachers encounter when attempting to reconstruct professional practice in the classroom. We worked with nine teachers who enacted the Statecraft X social studies curriculum. Drawing on coded interview data, our findings suggest that teachers are forced to wrestle with tensions engendered by misalignments that emerge from the innovation's tacit requirement for change and the system's inherent gravitation towards maintaining the status quo. A school culture that cultivates innovative practice based on greater teacher agency is needed for authentic game-based learning to find traction in the classroom.     

Discontinuum analyses of openings constructed with side drift and limited rock cover

The design of rock support for a typical horseshoe shaped tunnel with considerations of it being excavated into a twin arch tunnel was studied using the distinct element method (DEM). Two different competent rock covers, i.e. 4 m and 7.5 m above the tunnel crown, were analysed. The results are relevant to the granitic geological unit in Singapore which has a weathering profile with rockhead found at some locations to be only 20–35 m below ground level and undulating, leaving limited rock cover for some sections along tunnels of similar depth. The verification of the adequacy of competent rock cover is important to ensure that the choice of ground support is suitable, particularly when the tunnel is excavated using the drill-and-blast method. In the opening geometry analysed in this study, a side drift is excavated adjacent to the first tunnel to create a twin arch opening. This creates a pillar between the openings during the intermediate construction stage. The influence of excavating the side drift on the support of the first opening was studied. We found that the bolt forces in the pillar approximately doubled during the excavation of the side drift, which may have been due to the rock joint inclinations and adopted strength parameters. This paper shows how DEM analyses may be used to complement conventional empirical rock mass classifications to design rock supports. Limitations of the pressure relaxation approach to model 3D effects in 2D are acknowledged.     

Classroom Management and Socioemotional Functioning of Burmese Refugee Students in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Access to Malaysian government schools is prohibited for refugee children, and hidden refugee schools only reach a minority of Burmese students in Malaysia. This study used a participatory culture-specific consultation (PCSC) approach to examine the perspectives of Burmese refugee teachers on Burmese refugee student socioemotional issues and classroom management using interviews, observations, a preliminary refugee teacher focus group (N = 10: 4 men, 6 women; M age = 26 years), and a primary focus group with refugee teachers who were Burmese refugees (N = 9: 6 men, 3 women; M age = 30 years). First, themes suggested that societal pressures have an effect on the classroom environment. Second, refugee student behavior and emotions ranged from externalizing to internalizing. Third, refugee teachers relied on traditional Burmese methods for managing serious misbehavior. Fourth, with mild misbehaviors, teachers employed more “modern,” student-centered methods. Results inform culture-specific consultation designed to meet refugee education needs.     

Can Regular‐Fat Meat Products Actually Be Good for You?

One of the core competencies in the new IFT Education standards is for students to achieve competency in communication skills (that is, oral and written communication, listening, interviewing, and so on). According to the IFT guidelines, by the time students graduate, they should not only be able to search for and condense information, but also be able to "communicate technical information to a non-technical audience."
The Education Division of IFT sponsors an annual writing competition for undergraduate students to bring attention to and promote the development of communication skills. JFSE is pleased to publish this year's winning entry submitted by Chee Syen Ong from the University of Guelph.     

Program and institutional predictors of environmental justice inclusion in U.S. post-secondary environmental and sustainability curricula

Environmental justice (EJ) issues and perspectives, which emphasize the disproportionate environmental hazards experienced by low-income communities and communities of color, are often excluded from higher education sustainability discourses and curriculum. Utilizing a national sample of 297 interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) degree programs, this study identifies program-level values and student racial/ethnic demographics, as well as institutional structural characteristics influencing the inclusion of EJ content in IES curriculum. The findings have important implications for IES curriculum and program development, and racial/ethnic and class dynamics in this emerging field.     

Validation of an Observer Rating Scale of Mathematics Teacher Classroom Performance

School Experience and Teaching Practice are both integral components of the teacher education programmes conducted at the Institute of Education, Singapore (IE). This component stretches over a period of 13 weeks for the Diploma-in-Education programme and it is made up of two parts, namely, an introductory 3-week period of School Experience and a 10-week period of Teaching Practice. The introductory period of school experience is intended to induct student teachers gradually into the process of classroom instruction. It provides the students with the opportunity to observe, work with and learn from experienced teachers. The students will also gain a better understanding of the responsibilities and tasks that make up the total experience of the school teacher. They will be helped to established a linkage between educational principles and instructional practices. Teaching Practice is the period of more intensive and systematic teaching that brings the student teachers into contact with the teaching-learning stituation in the classroom. It gives them the opportunity to put into practice and to develop their teaching skills by translating theory into practice. Their teaching experience will be guided by co-operating teachers in the schools and IE supervisors.     

The effectiveness of an indigenised group counselling programme in aftercare service for drug supervisees: A one-year follow-up study

This paper attempts to examine 2 areas: a) the effectiveness of a group counselling model by comparing an experimental group (N=100) and a control group (N=89) in terms of success rates and effective measurement units one year after completing the programme, and; b) the differences in social characteristics of success and failure cases between the 2 groups.It is shown that this group counselling model is effective in helping ex-drug addicts to kick their drug-seeking behaviour. ?² and t tests also show that the experimental success cases were significantly older and more involved in crimes than were the success controls, while the experimental failures were also found to be significantly older and more likely to be married than the control failures.