Understanding Regulated Learning in Situative and Contextual Frameworks

Research on self-regulated learning has focused predominantly on a static individual level to explain various strengths and weaknesses of learners. However, much learning today is highly interactive and technologically enhanced, which an individually oriented perspective to regulated learning does not consider. In this article we discuss regulation by bringing situational and contextual variation of regulated learning into focus. We introduce a situative perspective on regulation of learning and give arguments and examples on how it can offer a way to conceptually and empirically grasp multiple layers of regulated learning in social contexts. We also compare the given perspective with sociocognitive and sociocultural perspectives to regulated learning. We conclude that the situative perspective can significantly enrich understanding about individual and group learning as a regulated activity, because it offers a way to examine regulation beyond the individual while not losing sight of learners as individual subjects.     

IT incidents and business impacts: Validating a framework for continuity management in information systems

Information technology (IT) incidents that make data inaccessible may cause businesses to lose customers, reputation and market position. Previous studies on information management have identified data availability as a key priority, and the literature on disaster recovery and business continuity describes ways of preparing for and avoiding IT incidents. However, no frameworks for information system continuity management (ISCM) have yet been validated. This research draws on a framework for business continuity management, and extends it to the context of information systems. The framework is validated in a survey of IT managers and chief information officers in large private and public organisations operating in Finland. The results suggest that the embeddedness of continuity practices in an organisation has perceived business impacts whereas, in contradiction of previous theory, there is no such direct relation in the case of organisational alertness and preparedness. The theoretical contribution is to validate the ISCM framework statistically. On the practical level, social factors such as committed managers and employees are influential in decreasing negative business impacts. Further research on the embeddedness of continuity practices is called for.     

Understanding the Role of Measurements in Creating Physical Quantities: A Case Study of Learning to Quantify Temperature in Physics Teacher Education

Learning to understand the content and meaning of physics’ concepts is one of the main goals of physics education. In achieving this understanding, the creation of quantities through quantitative measurements, or rather through quantifying experiments, is a key process. The present article introduces a didactical reconstruction for understanding the construction of the meaning of physical quantities from a network point of view, where the quantities are part of networks and the quantifying experiments build up these networks. As a practical example, we discuss how the quantity temperature is constructed in an instructional unit designed for student teachers and what the learning outcomes are.     

An Observational Study of Social Communication Skills in Eight Preschoolers with and Without Hearing Loss During Cooperative Play

Early peer relationships and interactions influence social acceptance and a child’s ability to form social relationships later in life (Ladd 2005). Although it has been reported that some children with profound hearing loss who have experienced the oral approach since diagnosis display language skills similar to children with typical hearing (DeLuzio and Girolametto 2011), many may still be excluded socially and have subtle communication differences that impact friendships. More information is needed about how differences and similarities are manifested in young children with hearing loss. This investigation observed the frequency of three social communicative behaviors displayed by eight preschoolers with and without hearing loss as they played in dyads during unstructured table activities. The results revealed that the children with hearing loss produced about a quarter as many initiated verbal comments; however, they engaged in more verbal and play turns than their playmates with typical hearing. Implications for teaching young children with hearing loss in inclusive preschool settings are discussed.     

Models and Modelling in Physics Education: A Critical Re-analysis of Philosophical Underpinnings and Suggestions for Revisions

The model-based view (MBV) of science education, which strives for authenticity in science teaching, is currently seeking support from the philosophical positions related to the Semantic View of Theories (SVT). These recent advances are promising steps towards establishing a robust philosophical framework, but they need revision in so far as they are meant to apply to physics and physics education. It is suggested here that in physics education, attention needs to be guided to the notion of the empirical reliability of models and modelling, and to the methodological question of how empirical reliability is established in the process of making a match between theory and experiment. The suggested picture – intended for the purposes of physics teacher education – replaces the current more limited philosophical frameworks used in science education with one of a wider scope. Moreover, the revised philosophical background gives a more authentic picture of physics as science, and the modelling activity within it, than the other current stances in the science education.     

Learning from physics text: A synthesis of recent research

Learning from physics text is described as a complex interaction of learner, text, and context variables. As a multidimensional procedure, text processing in the domain of physics relies on readers' knowledge and interest, and on readers' ability to monitor or regulate their processing. Certain textual features intended to assist readers in understanding and remembering physics content may actually work to the detriment of those very processes. Inclusion of seductive details and the incorporation of analogies may misdirect readers' attention or may increase processing demands, particularly in those cases when readers' physics knowledge is low. The questioning behaviors of teachers also impact on the task of comprehending physics texts. Finally, within the context of the classroom, the information that teachers dispense or the materials they employ can significantly influence the process of learning from physics text.     

Relational Predictors of Psychological Distress in Women and Men Presenting for University Counseling Center Services

The authors examined psychological distress and relational patterns in college men and women. Peer, mentor, and community relationships; year in school; and family experiences were hypothesized to predict psychological distress, although predictive patterns were expected to differ in women and men. Overall, results supported the hypotheses. Findings are interpreted from the perspective of the relational‐cultural model. Counseling implications focus on interventions congruent with the specific relational needs of women and men.     

Higher education students’ learning challenges and regulatory skills in different learning situations / Desafíos de aprendizaje y habilidades de regulación en distintas situaciones de aprendizaje en estudiantes de educación superior

First-year higher education (HE) students experience different challenges during their studies. These challenging learning situations can trigger self-regulated learning (SRL) skills, which students use to handle these situations. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate (a) first-year HE students’ cognitive, motivational and emotional challenges experienced in both individual and collaborative learning situations and (b) the relationship between SRL skills and experienced learning challenges. Participants included 107 first-year pre-service teachers. Data consisted of students’ self-reports via (a) open-ended answers on a challenge questionnaire and (b) Likert-scale items from MSLQ and MRS questionnaires. Based on students’ SRL profiles, differential effects on the challenging experiences were investigated. The results show that different aspects related to students’ cognition, motivation, emotions and well-being were challenging for students. Also, connections were found between students’ SRL skills and the types of experienced learning challenges. Students with high SRL reported fewer learning challenges related to motivational aspects and more challenges related to cognitive aspects than students with low SRL.     

Domain knowledge and individual interest: The effects of academic level and specialization in statistics and psychology

Numerous research studies have highlighted the significant impact of domain knowledge and individual interest on learning. However, much of this prior research has neglected several important issues regarding the dynamic interplay of domain knowledge and individual interest both within and between domains as well as across developmental stages of learners. Situated within the Model of Domain Learning, this investigation seeks to respond to those issues. We studied the scores of 267 undergraduate and graduate students representing a variety of majors and programs. Results indicate that domain knowledge and individual interest are related differently for the domains of statistics and psychology. Further, findings indicate that when examining multiple domains of learning (e.g., statistics and psychology), the relationship between domain knowledge and interest changes as an artifact of both students’ academic level of preparation in undergraduate and graduate programs and their academic specialization. Based on these results, we offer implications for future research.