Reading and Integrated Literacy Strategies (RAILS): An Integrated Approach to Early Reading

The goal of this project was to develop and test the efficacy of a research-based early reading program that provided integrated reading instruction in kindergarten through 2nd grade. The Reading and Integrated Literacy Strategies (RAILS) program provided integrated instruction in word reading, vocabulary development, and comprehension to students in regular and self-contained special education classes in 2 schools serving low-income populations. Teachers provided explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle, phonemic analysis, word reading, vocabulary development, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension. Classes were organized so students received 2 periods of reading instruction daily, a longer morning period of instruction and a shorter afternoon review of instruction. The students in the RAILS program had significantly higher performance on standardized reading and language achievement tests, as well as on individually administered tests of phonemic awareness and reading fluency. The implications for research-based instructional practice that integrates instruction in word reading, vocabulary, and comprehension are discussed.     

Discovering Music: Small-Scale,Web-Scale,Facets, and Beyond

In this presentation, two music librarians addressed the issues related to the discovery of library music resources. Rebecca Belford talked about the Music Library Association’s “Music Discovery Requirements” (MLA MDR) document, and how it applies to some contexts. Tracey Snyder then described the incorporation of MLA MDR into the development of a specific discovery interface. The presenters identified some of the challenges characteristic of music resources and ways in which those challenges may be met, reasoning that a tool capable of handling music will be capable of handling most things in a general collection.     

An examination of the decision-making process used by designers in multiple disciplines

Design-thinking is an inductive and participatory process in which designers are required to manage constraints, generate solutions, and follow project timelines in order to complete project goals. The researchers used this exploration study to look at how designers in various disciplinary fields approach design projects. Designers were asked to describe a project and a decision that they had to make previously. Decisions were analyzed to determine whether they were ready-made versus custom-made solutions. The process by which the designers arrived at the decisions was categorized as idea-imposition or discovery. Results indicated that designers work with multiple constraints while designing, and the majority used a custom-made solution following a discovery process.     

Minor Hassles in Community College Student Life

Over the past several decades, academic stress—the pressures, frustrations and hassles associated with all aspects of college life—has gained increased attention in the literature. In this grant-funded study, a group of 161 students at an urban Northeastern community college took a comprehensive survey. The survey included questions about their academic stressors, their reactions to the stressors, and their coping strategies. In this survey, minor hassles emerged as the most prominent stressor experienced by these students. This paper describes the minor hassles experienced by the students, relates the findings to current and past literature on stress, and presents implications for community college administrators.     

‘Teaching could be a fantastic job but …’: three stories of student teacher withdrawal from initial teacher preparation programmes in England

Retention in initial teacher preparation (ITP) and the teaching profession, in England and elsewhere, has been the subject of numerous articles in academic and professional journals. Whilst a number of common findings are beginning to emerge from research on this subject, notably on the causes of student teacher withdrawal, studies have tended to neglect the difficulties experienced by the individuals who have lived through the process of embarking upon and withdrawing from ITP programmes. Having conducted in‐depth interviews, the authors attempt in this paper to understand the experiences, emotions and decisions of three people who committed themselves to ITP, invested much energy and time, but in the end withdrew. The reasons for their decision are numerous and complex. The impact on each individual was considerable. The experience was painful.     

Predicting university performance in Psychology: the role of previous performance and discipline‐specific knowledge

Recent initiatives to enhance retention and widen participation ensure it is crucial to understand the factors that predict students' performance during their undergraduate degree. The present research used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test three separate models that examined the extent to which British Psychology students' A‐level entry qualifications predicted: (1) their performance in years 1–3 of their Psychology degree, and (2) their overall degree performance. Students' overall A‐level entry qualifications positively predicted performance during their first year and overall degree performance, but negatively predicted their performance during their third year. Additionally, and more specifically, students' A‐level entry qualifications in Psychology positively predicted performance in the first year only. Such findings have implications for admissions tutors, as well as for students who have not studied Psychology before but who are considering applying to do so at university.     

The portole project: supporting e-learning

The PORTOLE (Providing Online Resources To Online Learning Environments) Project was a JISC-funded project which sought to produce a range of tools for tutors which could be used to enable them to discover information resources and to embed these into their course modules from within a University Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The VLE in use at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford is the Bodington system. A key deliverable of the Project was to produce tools that were designed with ease of incorporation into other VLE environments in mind. This paper discusses the background to the project and the key outcomes. A working service has been developed and is now being tested and evaluated with academic staff.     

Chronicling engagement: students’ experience of online learning over time

Although there is ample research into student engagement in online learning, much of this investigates the student experience through surveys administered at a fixed point in time, usually at the exit point of a single unit of study or course. The study described in this paper, by contrast, aimed to understand online student engagement over a whole semester, guided by two overarching questions: What factors impact students’ engagement over a semester? What factors account for fluctuation in engagement levels over time? This paper presents results from weekly feedback on online education students’ engagement over the length of one semester at a regional Australian university. It also chronicles in more depth the experiences of one student across the same semester. The findings offer longitudinal accounts of student engagement, demonstrating that levels of engagement fluctuate and are influenced by a variety of factors.     

Instructional designers as reflective practitioners: developing professional identity through reflection

As the design thinking approach becomes more established in the instructional design (ID) discourse, the field will have to reconsider the professional identity of instructional designers. Rather than passively following models or processes, a professional identity rooted in design thinking calls for instructional designers to be dynamic agents of change who use reflective thinking to navigate the design space and develop solutions to ill-structured problems. Graduate programs in ID will also need to prepare students to manage the complexities they will encounter in their professional practice, including the establishment of design precedents, reflective thinking skills, and the foundations of professional identity. This research explored the use of reflective writing assignments in an introductory ID graduate course, with results indicating that most students are able to engage in meaningful reflection in relation to prompts concerning design concepts, experiences, and identity attributes, although no clear patterns of improvement emerged over time. Future directions for research include the use of feedback and the structure of prompts (including frequency of writing assignments and wording of prompts) to support improved student performance.     

Student experiences of assessment in two problem‐based dental curricula: Adelaide and Dublin

Dental students in third (n?=?35) and fifth years (n?=?50) at Adelaide and Trinity College Dental Schools were surveyed about their experiences of assessment and their perceptions of the importance of particular aspects of assessment. Students reported on their assessment experience within their programmes by describing a critical assessment incident and their response to it, and also rated assessment purposes and features using a 5‐point Likert scale of relative importance. The students described a range of assessment methods, including group assignments, vivas, laboratory assessment, and problem‐based learning tutorials, but written examinations/tests and clinical assessment were discussed most frequently. Negative assessment experiences were commonly noted. The two most frequently raised issues were lack of congruence between student and staff perceptions of performance, and not receiving adequate feedback. There were no significant differences between years or schools in students’ ratings of the importance of assessment purposes. Overall, the students rated the provision of feedback on learning and motivation for learning as the most important purposes (>?80%). Patient‐based scenarios were rated as the most important method for judging students’ learning (>?90%), whilst group‐work tasks were rated of little importance. Overall, students rated clear requirements and feedback as the most important characteristics for positive assessment outcomes. Students’ ratings of assessment purposes, characteristics and methods closely matched the features of good assessment practice found in the literature. However, their assessment experiences indicate the need for review of assessment in both schools, particularly related to student–staff expectations of performance levels, and the provision of feedback.