Honesty on student evaluations of teaching: effectiveness,purpose, and timing matter!

Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are an important point of assessment for faculty in curriculum development, tenure and promotion decisions, and merit raises. Faculty members utilise SETs to gain feedback on their classes and, hopefully, improve them. The question of the validity of student responses on SETs is a continuing debate in higher education. The current study uses data from two universities (n = 596) to determine whether and under what conditions students are honest on in-class and online SETs, while also assessing their knowledge and attitudes about SETs. Findings reveal that, while students report a high level of honesty on SETs, they are more likely to be honest when they believe that evaluations effectively measure the quality of the course, the results improve teaching and benefit students rather than the administration, and when they are given at the end of the term. Honesty on evaluations is not associated with socio-demographic characteristics.     

The Southern mind and the savage ideal: deconstructing identities of place in the Cracker State

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study discusses one Southern college of education and its engagement with White supremacy. This research stemmed from the Institution’s publication of an offensive catalog cover and the subsequent reactions to its inherent racism. Following this incident, our institution was dubbed ‘Cracker State’ in the media, informing our decision to analyze the historical connotations of this term for our pre-service educators. Utilizing Critical Whiteness Studies and Southern epistemology frameworks, we reconceptualize White Fragility while pulling from this experience and data collected to advance a strategy for confronting Southern White supremacy. Participants included 154 majority White and female students. Data stemmed from document analysis and two years of empirical data drawn from classroom discussions and student assignments. Due to the demographics and location of our college, we utilize the autobiographical demand of place and pay particular attention to understanding the influence of the South on the development of our students’ ideology. We explore this Southern place utilizing the following themes: (1) romantic fictions, (2) the specter of guilt, (3) God’s chosen people, and (4) the final great tragedy of the South. The goal is to begin a conversation regarding place-based pedagogy.     

Identifying pedagogy and teaching strategies for achieving nationally prescribed learning outcomes

With the globalisation of university education, national frameworks are commonly used to prescribe standardised learning outcomes and achieve accountability. However, these frameworks are generally not accompanied by guiding pedagogy to support academics in adjusting their teaching practices to achieve the set outcomes. This paper reports the results of a scoping review of health science literature aimed at identifying pedagogy and teaching strategies relevant to achieve the learning outcomes specified by the Australian Qualifications Framework at a master's degree level. Eight practical teaching messages emerged from the review and three broad pedagogical trends were identified: the need to use authentic disciplinary-based learning activities; ensure that students are able to discover different perspectives about future practice and bring student reflection about their own knowledge into curricula. More critically, the review highlights that academics attempting to translate national learning outcome frameworks into their teaching practices face a complex and time-consuming task which may involve searching beyond their own disciplinary focus to identify practical teaching strategies to meet prescribed learning outcomes.     

The effects of classroom-based dynamic seating interventions on academic outcomes in youth: a systematic review

The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesise and evaluate the literature on the effects of classroom-based dynamic seating interventions on academic-related outcomes, among school-aged children and adolescents. A secondary aim was to examine the effects of interventions on students’ sedentary behaviour and physical activity levels. In September 2017, four electronic databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science) were searched and a total of 5138 titles and abstracts were reviewed. Studies that examined associations between a classroom-based dynamic seating intervention and at least one academic-related outcome in school-aged children or adolescents were included. A best-evidence synthesis and narrative approach was implemented to synthesise the evidence. Thirteen studies published between 2003 and 2017 were identified that met the inclusion criteria for the review. There is some evidence that classroom-based dynamic seating interventions could have positive effects on the in-seat behaviour, academic engagement and attention of school aged-children and adolescents, predominantly those with attention difficulties. It is currently unclear whether dynamic seating has positive effects on students’ on-task behaviour, disruptive behaviour, memory, concentration or academic achievement. No intervention was found to have a detrimental effect on academic-related outcomes. The findings come from low-quality to moderate-quality studies (M?=?60.62%; SD?=?10.44). Classroom-based dynamic seating could be a simple, effective health strategy to reduce students’ static sitting time without compromising student learning and academic performance. The current interventions need to be replicated with larger, adequately-powered RCT designs, valid and reliable outcome measures, and assessment of intervention fidelity.

     

A pedagogy of larger concerns used as a lens to reflect on the design of student learning experiences

ABSTRACT

Although engineering educational endeavours are often described with regard to how well they prepare students to meet national or global engineering concerns, the purpose of this paper is to show how those efforts can also serve the larger educational goals of the educators themselves as they develop learning experiences for their students. This paper describes the reflections of four engineering educators who used a research-based ‘Pedagogy of Larger Concerns’ (PLC) as a conceptual lens for examining important aspects of their courses. A PLC is a set of teaching conceptions that was identified in a study exploring the thinking of outstanding professors in order to improve our understanding of the basis of their effectiveness.     

Partial control and learned helplessness in rats: Control over shock intensity prevents interference with subsequent escape

The effect upon subsequent escape acquisition of control over shock intensity in the absence of control over other shock characteristics was examined. Pretreatment involved random shocks of 1.6 and .75 mA at a density of about 10/min. The experimental group could avoid the higher shock intensity if they leverpressed at least once every 15 sec. Yoked and no-shock rats completed the triadic design. Experimental and yoked animals received all scheduled shocks. Triads were later tested for FR 2 shuttlebox escape at either the .75 mA (low) or 1.6 mA (high) intensity. During testing, avoidance rats performed as well as no-shock rats at the low intensity and escaped even more rapidly at the high intensity. Yoked rats showed interference at both intensities, with interference very marked, including many failures to escape, at the low intensity. These findings indicate that control over shock intensity, by itself, is sufficient to prevent learned helplessness and suggest that control over any salient characteristic of shock may be sufficient for immunization.     

Does students’ heritage matter in their performance on and perceptions of historical reasoning tasks?

This mixed methods study explores how high school students (N = 35) enrolled in a US charter school with a high Latino/a population perform on and perceive (in terms of interest and relevance) document-based type historical reasoning tasks: one about the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and the other about the experiences of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the 1920s. Students wrote essay responses and completed perception inventories about the tasks. We also interviewed 10 focal students to delve more deeply into students’ thinking regarding the tasks and their interest levels in the two topics. We scored students’ responses along the criteria of historical claims, substantiation of claims, use of evidence from documents, sourcing of documents and contextualization. Our hypotheses were that students would perform better on, and be more interested in, tasks that were culturally relevant to them. We found that although students did not perform differently on the two tasks overall, students’ perceptions of the tasks differed, with a significantly greater interest in the task about Mexicans and Mexican Americans. We address the complexity of these findings and discuss implications for curriculum and practise.     

Developmental Relations Among Behavioral Inhibition,Anxiety, and Attention Biases to Threat and Positive Information

This study examined relations between behavioral inhibition (BI) assessed in toddlerhood (n = 268) and attention biases (AB) to threat and positive faces and maternal‐reported anxiety assessed when children were 5‐ and 7‐year‐old. Results revealed that BI predicted anxiety at age 7 in children with AB toward threat, away from positive, or with no bias, at age 7; BI did not predict anxiety for children displaying AB away from threat or toward positive. Five‐year AB did not moderate the link between BI and 7‐year anxiety. No direct association between AB and BI or anxiety was detected; moreover, children did not show stable AB across development. These findings extend our understanding of the developmental links among BI, AB, and anxiety.     

Mandatory parental involvement in contraceptive services for minors

This article examines the issues that are raised by the requirement of mandatory parental notification in cases where adolescents are provided with contraceptives. In 1982, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced its intention to institute a new regulation requiring family planning clinics funded under Title X of the Public Health Service Act to notify parents or guardians of unemancipated minors under 18 years of age within 10 days after the adolescent received prescrrption contraceptive devices or drugs. Although this regulation has not been put into effect, it may reappear in the legislative process and social workers should be prepared to respond. Such a regulation undermines a key objective of Title X to reach teenagers through counseling, education, and confidential medical services that would prevent unwanted pregnancies. Mandatory parental notification would force many teenagers to use less effective contraceptive methods or none at all. It further ignores the harmful effect of forcing a confrontation within a family in which a lack of communication may already be a problem. It has been estimated that parental notification stipulations would result in 33,000 more unwanted pregnancies among teenagers 17 years of age and younger who are now practicing effective contraception. School social workers are urged to experiment with varying approaches that have better changes of building ties to the family than parental notification regulations. If the regulation is put in place, social workers and other professionals must be prepared to help students and their families cope as effectively as possible with the practical reality of the situation.     

Integrating diversity,equity, and inclusion principles into instruction: Case studies from the University of Florida's Health Science Center Libraries

Librarians at the University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries have begun to intentionally incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles into teaching during design, implementation, and evaluation. This article uses four case studies to provide an overview of the librarians' approaches to inclusive teaching (1) an annual workshop for Physical Therapy students on the intersection between DEI, health literacy, and patient education; (2) a librarian-taught one-credit course for public health students, which was revised to create a more inviting syllabus and integrate elements of universal design; (3) an annual project for first year medical students highlighting health disparities and community resources; and (4) piloting the application of critical librarianship principles in library standalone sessions on database searching and reference management. Suggestions are provided for other librarians who are interested in developing a culture of inclusive teaching in their own libraries.