The Greek elementary “What Is Happening In this Class?” (G-EWIHIC): A three-phase multi-sample mixed-methods study

Students’ perceptions of their classroom psycho-social climate (CPSC) have been found to relate significantly to students’ learning outcomes. The What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) being one of most prominent instruments in measuring these perceptions. The purpose of the present study was to thoroughly examine the structure of preadolescents’ perceptions of the CPSC, through an elaborate mixed-methods three-phase design, in the Greek elementary school context. The study included semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, and two large-scale administrations of the qualitatively adapted WIHIC version. Both qualitative and quantitative results supported the seven-subscale structure of the instrument and identified potential issues with the conceptual content of two of the subscales. Quantitative findings also supported the theoretical second-order factorial structure of the instrument, but with different subscale allocation. The advantages of mixed-methodology in the cross-cultural examination of student’s perceptions of the learning environment and implications for research are discussed.     

The effect of a human agent’s external regulation upon college students’ hypermedia learning

In this study we examined the effectiveness of self-regulated learning (SRL) and externally regulated learning (ERL) on college students’ learning about a science topic with hypermedia during a 40-min session. A total of 82 college students with little knowledge of the topic were randomly assigned either to the SRL or ERL condition. Students in the SRL condition regulated their own learning, while students in the ERL condition had access to a human tutor who facilitated their self-regulated learning. We converged product (pretest–posttest declarative knowledge and qualitative shifts in participants’ mental models) with process (think-aloud) data to examine the effectiveness of SRL versus ERL. Analysis of the declarative knowledge measures showed that the ERL condition group mean was statistically significantly higher than the group mean for the SRL condition on the labeling and flow diagram tasks. There were no statistically significant differences between groups on the matching task, but both groups showed statistically significant increases in performance. Further analyses showed that the odds of being in a higher mental model posttest group were decreased by 65% for the SRL group as compared to the ERL group. In terms of SRL behavior, participants in the SRL condition engaged in more use of selecting new information sources, re-reading, summarizing, free searching, and enacting control over the context of their learning. In comparison, the ERL participants engaged in more activation of prior knowledge, utilization of feeling of knowing and judgment of learning, monitoring their progress toward goals, drawing, hypothesizing, coordination of information sources, and expressing task difficulty. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the international conference of Artificial Intelligence in Education (AI-Ed 2007), Los Angeles, LA (July, 2007).     

How does information consistency influence prospective teachers’ decisions about task difficulty assignments? A within-subject experiment to explain data-based decision-making in heterogeneous classes

In order to provide adaptive instruction in heterogeneous classes, teachers have to consider performance-related information for their decisions on which task difficulty level fits best for a particular student. Focusing on prospective teachers’ data-based decision-making, we aim to investigate their use of proximal and distal indicators of students’ ability and readiness to deal successfully with domain-specific tasks that are available for 32 student cases in a digital test environment. To address several hypotheses on the participants’ information-processing behaviors and decisions, we conducted a within-subject experiment in which we systematically varied the informational consistency of the presented student cases. We used a mixed-methods approach to measure observable information-processing behavior and decision-making. We assessed the effects of consistent/inconsistent cases on the amount, sequence, and perceived relevance of selected information, the type of processed information, the time needed for information processing, and the subjective confidence when making a decision via linear dynamic panel-data modeling.     

Leader–member skill distance,team cooperation,and team performance: A cross-culture study in a context of sport teams

Team heterogeneity research has been traditionally dominated by atomistic or single-culture assumptions. This study extends this stream by investigating the influences of cooperation and culture on the link between leader–member skill distance (one special type of team heterogeneity) and team performance. Building upon input-process-output framework from the perspective of individualist and collectivist cultures, we propose that the association between leader–member skill distance and team performance has an inverted-U shape in individualist cultures. Further, in such cultures, team cooperation can augment the positive effect of leader–member skill distance on team performance. In contrast, in collectivist cultures, the association between leader–member skill distance and team performance has a monotonic and positive shape, and team cooperation will attenuate the positive effect of leader–member skill distance on team performance. We find the empirical support for our views with a mixed-methods design: a qualitative study interviewing informants in different cultures to clarify the psychological mechanisms, and also a quantitative study analyzing the data from US’s National Basketball Association (NBA) and China Basketball Association (CBA).     

Bargaining with the system: A mixed-methods study of Arab teachers in Israel

Research on minority-majority relations usually focuses on the impact of the hegemony on everyday life. In this study we chose to focus on the way minority teachers bargain with the power relations within their work environment as a microcosm of their strategies in the social arena in general. 163 Arab-Israeli secondary-school teachers completed an online questionnaire and were matched with 163 Jewish teachers according to demographic variables. 25 of the 163 teachers completed the optional open-ended question that comprised the data for the qualitative analysis. In the quantitative analysis, we found that Arab teachers showed less knowledge of the Ministry of Education guidelines regarding teachers’ freedom of speech, conducted fewer discussions of Controversial Public Issues (CPI) and rated the importance of their role as promoting active citizenship lower than their Jewish counterparts. In the qualitative analysis, three main strategies Arab teachers use emerged: ‘evasion’, ‘toning down’ and ‘promoting a shared society’. Arab teachers negotiate between their needs for self-preservation, and their national and professional identities in an implicit cost-benefit assessment. This analysis coincides with Kandiyoti’s (1988) model of women’s bargaining with the patriarchy, corresponding to Arab teachers as a governed minority group that negotiates with the hegemony. In each strategy, there is a different balance between the personal benefits, the risks involved, and the community interests one has in mind. The research sheds light on the precarious position of Arab teachers in Israel, and the flexibility that they are pressed to employ in order to muddle through.     

Teacher learning on problem-solving teams

Problem-solving teams address student difficulties. Teams comprised of teachers, specialists, and administrators identify the student problem, develop individualized interventions, and assess student change. Teacher experiences of teams are understudied. In a prospective, mixed-method study conducted in the United States, 34 teachers were followed through the team process. Interview coding showed that 60% of teachers reported they gained new intervention skills. Yet, 40% of teachers reported no professional benefits. Logistic regression showed that differences in teacher learning were partially explained by teachers' negative or positive expectations at the outset of the team. The expectancy effects have implications for teacher professional development.     

Exploring viewer participation in online video game streaming: A mixed-methods approach

Video game streaming (VGS) has attracted hundreds of millions of viewers all over the world to not only watch but also participate in a variety of VGS activities, such as interacting with streamers and other co-viewers, gift-giving, and social sharing of the viewing experience. The success of the VGS paradigm depends on the active participation of the viewers, since it creates economic, hedonic, and social values. This study applied a mixed-methods approach to explore the critical environmental stimuli evoking viewers’ cognitive and emotional state and empirically tested a research model examining viewers’ participation. Using qualitative interviews, three environmental stimuli were identified (i.e., broadcaster appeal, medium appeal, and perceived co-viewer involvement), which were adopted in the quantitative research model. The research findings suggested that environmental stimuli were positively related to both cognitive and emotional organisms, namely cognitive involvement and arousal, which in turn impacted viewers’ participation.