Health-inclusive higher education: listening to students with disabilities or chronic illnesses

This paper reports on a small-scale project undertaken with tertiary students who identified as having an impairment either at enrolment or by registering with the university's Disability Support Unit (DSU). The aim of the study was to explore with these students ways in which the university was currently meeting their academic support needs and the ways in which these needs might be better met. Consistent with the definition of disability within the Australian Disability Discrimination Act, it became apparent that a significant number of students who identified with that definition, or sought help from disability services, also presented with needs arising from chronic illness. The majority of participants cited an emotional or psychological illness, rather than a physical, intellectual or sensory one, as a possible precursor to difficulties in engagement with the university. We conclude by considering whether commonly used institutional categories are apposite to an understanding of the ways in which students perceive themselves and, importantly, their engagement with the university and success within it.     

Learning sorting algorithms through visualization construction

Recent increased interest in computational thinking poses an important question to researchers: What are the best ways to teach fundamental computing concepts to students? Visualization is suggested as one way of supporting student learning. This mixed-method study aimed to (i) examine the effect of instruction in which students constructed visualizations on students’ programming achievement and students’ attitudes toward computer programming, and (ii) explore how this kind of instruction supports students’ learning according to their self-reported experiences in the course. The study was conducted with 58 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in their second programming class. They expect to teach information technology and computing-related courses at the primary and secondary levels. An embedded experimental model was utilized as a research design. Students in the experimental group were given instruction that required students to construct visualizations related to sorting, whereas students in the control group viewed pre-made visualizations. After the instructional intervention, eight students from each group were selected for semi-structured interviews. The results showed that the intervention based on visualization construction resulted in significantly better acquisition of sorting concepts. However, there was no significant difference between the groups with respect to students’ attitudes toward computer programming. Qualitative data analysis indicated that students in the experimental group constructed necessary abstractions through their engagement in visualization construction activities. The authors of this study argue that the students’ active engagement in the visualization construction activities explains only one side of students’ success. The other side can be explained through the instructional approach, constructionism in this case, used to design instruction. The conclusions and implications of this study can be used by researchers and instructors dealing with computational thinking.     

Building student belonging and engagement: insights into higher education students’ experiences of participating and learning together

Student belonging and engagement has received increased attention in the context of an expanding and more diverse higher education student population. Student retention is regarded as a priority with many universities augmenting their retention strategies to instil a sense of belonging. This article provides insights into first year Business Management students’ experiences of starting their degrees and retention interventions at a university in the South of England. It is based on findings from an ongoing study that applied Wenger's social theory of learning and adopted an appreciative inquiry approach to focus group interviewing to investigate students’ perceptions. Students developed a sense of belonging, constructed learner identities, made sense of their learning and gained confidence, but also experienced instances of tension and frustration that raise questions about the extent to which sociality practices within evolving communities of practice can address diverse engagement and identity development needs and mitigate disengagement.     

Does your approach to time matter for your learning? The role of time perspectives on engagement and achievement

Time perspectives have been found to be related to a wide range of psychological phenomena. However, in the educational context, there remains to be a lack of research on how they relate to important academic outcomes. Therefore, the aim of this research was to examine how time perspectives are related to educational outcomes such as engagement, its opposite disaffection and achievement. A model positing time perspectives as antecedents, engagement and disaffection as mediators, and academic achievement as an outcome was proffered. Filipino university students were recruited to answer relevant questionnaires. Results showed that future and past-positive time perspectives were positively associated with engagement and negatively associated with disaffection. Past negative and present fatalistic time perspectives were associated with disaffection. Interestingly, present fatalistic time perspective was related to both positive (engagement) and negative (disaffection) outcomes. A cultural explanation was proposed. Moreover, engagement positively predicted academic achievement, while disaffection negatively predicted it. Implications for integrating research on individual differences in time perspectives and academic outcomes are discussed.     

A New Autonomy-Supportive Way of Teaching That Increases Conceptual Learning: Teaching in Students' Preferred Ways

We tested the educational utility of “teaching in students' preferred ways” as a new autonomy-supportive way of teaching to enhance students' autonomy and conceptual learning. A pilot test first differentiated preferred versus nonpreferred ways of teaching. In the main study, a hired teacher who was blind to the purpose of the study taught 63 college-age participants in small groups the same 48-minute lesson in one of these two different ways, and we assessed participants' perceived autonomy support, autonomy-need satisfaction, engagement (self-report and rater scored), and conceptual learning (self-report and rater scored). Multilevel analyses showed that participants randomly assigned to receive a preferred way of teaching perceived the teacher as more autonomy supportive and showed significantly greater autonomy-need satisfaction, engagement, and conceptual learning. Mediation analyses using multilevel modeling for clustered data showed that this way of teaching enhanced conceptual learning because it first increased students' autonomy. We conclude that “teaching in students' preferred ways” represents a way of teaching that increases students' autonomy, engagement, and conceptual learning.     

Socio-demographic and practice-oriented factors related to proficiency in problem solving: a lifelong learning perspective

This article explores the relative importance of different socio-demographic and practice-oriented factors that are related to proficiency in problem solving in technology-rich environments (PSTREs) and by extension may be related to complex problem solving (CPS). The empirical analysis focuses on the proficiency measurements of PSTRE made available by the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, which is relevant for gaining insight on some of the factors related to CPS. The purpose was to examine the relationship between the broad information processing experience that individuals gather in different contexts over the lifespan, and the chances to develop problem-solving skills that adults receive in different socio-demographic profiles. Results reveal that socio-demographic factors such as age, education and immigration status as well as practice-oriented factors such as ICT use and reading practice at and outside work are strongly related to proficiency.     

父母教育期望与留守儿童的学习投入:父母教育卷入和自我教育期望的中介作用

为系统考察父母教育期望与留守儿童学习投入的关系,以及父母教育卷入和自我教育期望在其中的双重中介作用,采用父母教育期望问卷、自我教育期望问卷、父母教育卷入问卷以及学习投入问卷,对我国河南、四川、贵州、山西等地1535名留守儿童进行了调查研究。结果发现:(1)单亲外出和双亲外出留守儿童知觉到的父母教育期望、自我教育期望、父母教育卷入和学习投入得分均显著低于非留守儿童,而单亲外出和双亲外出留守儿童之间差异未达显著性水平;(2)父母教育期望和留守儿童学习投入呈显著正相关关系;(3)父母教育卷入与自我教育期望在父母教育期望和留守儿童学习投入之间起到双重中介作用。因此,父母教育期望既直接影响留守儿童的学习投入,又通过父母教育卷入和自我教育期望的中介作用影响留守儿童的学习投入。