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The development of enhanced information retrieval strategies in undergraduates through the application of learning theory: an experimental study
No full textIn this paper, I describe an experimental study on the efficacy of concept-based
instruction in developing information retrieval skills in undergraduates. The subjects
were 254 first-year undergraduates at the University of Canberra, Australia. The
study followed the experimental design of a pre-test/post-test control group. The
experimental group was taught information retrieval from electronic databases using
teaching strategies grounded in learning theory.
Results suggested that in the teaching of information retrieval, a conceptbased
approach is significantly more effective than a traditional, skillsdemonstration
approach. This effectiveness was both in terms of increasing
knowledge of the search process and in terms of improving search outcomes. These
results are of particular interest, given the vast amount of information to which
students now have access through electronic databases and internet sources – and the
corresponding need to be able to locate material relevant to an information
requirement
Scaffolding and assisted performance in multilingual classrooms
No full textVygotskian-inspired sociocultural theory and related theoretical approaches ask us
to read carefully the story of the classroom as it is generally told and to act towards
how it might be; not as distanced teachers, researchers or implementers of policy -
possibly putting to one side our own histories and practices - but as agents within a
template of possibility. In agreeing with Lave (1996), we must ask ourselves what
kinds of people are ‘becoming’ in our classrooms? Approaching an answer to this
question, Young (1992, p 2) argues that classrooms and the activity within -
especially the nature of the talk - should be of a kind:
which aims to equip each new generation of learners with problem-solving powers
beyond those of the old generation which is teaching them.
Put another way, teachers need to assist the children in their care to be better
thinkers than they are themselves.
Through a series of everyday scenes and some brief snapshots from my
recent classroom experience, in this paper I provide a practical recount of some
attempts I have made to explore pedagogy from a sociocultural perspective in a
multilingual primary classroom
Critical approaches to leadership in education
No full textThis article begins by presenting four main positions on the leadership in
education territory: critical, humanistic, instrumental and scientific. It is
argued that the current generic and globalised model of transformational
leadership is rooted in the latter two positions and is the preferred model
within government policy in England. The article then goes on to focus on the
knowledge claims underpinning critical approaches by firstly, exploring the
concerns raised about transformational leadership; and, secondly, examining
alternative approaches to leadership theory and practice. In particular,
emphasis is put on how the epistemology of research and theorising in critical
work is inclusive of practice, connects practice with the processes of
democratisation, and so opens up possibilities for teacher, student and
community leadership as an educative relationship
Using film to introduce and develop academic writing skills among UK undergraduate students
No full textThis paper discusses the ways in which film can be used as a pedagogic means to introduce academic writing skills, based on the premise that, since viewing film is already a common literacy practice for many students, its use can help to facilitate learning inside the writing classroom. Specifically, the paper reports on an intensive six-week pilot programme of instruction at The University of Manchester, United Kingdom, which sought to use film as analogous to academic writing in terms of introducing students to concepts such as textual cohesion and coherence . Feedback from students indicates an appreciation of visual teaching methods as a means to explain academic writing conventions. A small increase in average student performance (pre- and post-instruction) is also noted
The impact that Turnitin® has had on text-based assessment practice*
No full textThis article explores the extent to which the use of the copy detection software Turnitin has impacted on, or transformed assessment practice at Massey University. Staff at Massey University have had access to Turnitin since 2004 and during that time they have, to varying degrees, developed a greater understanding of the issues of; authenticity, academic writing skills and subsequently assessment design. It was hoped that the use of Turnitin would have challenged academic staff to think more creatively about approaches to text-based assignments. Structured interviews were conducted with nine staff who have been using Turnitin for some time and who have a good understanding of its capabilities. They were thought to be the most likely to have made changes to their assessment practice. The findings from the interviews show that a strong reliance on detection and the "deterrent effect" has remained. Few staff have considered that alternative or other creative approaches to assessment are a better way of minimising plagiarism.
Two cases studies where alternative approaches have been explored and where improvements have been demonstrated are discussed in detail:
Case study 1 involves enhancing the value of formative assessment by using some of the advanced assignment options in Turnitin namely; resubmission of assignments and students viewing their own reports online.
Case study 2 describes subtle changes to the wording of the summative assessment in a Communications in sciences course that requires students to apply the theory to practice rather than simply reproducing the literature. The second component is the use of the information map or i-map (Walden & Peacock, 2008) which documents the research process that students have used to construct all their assignments.
The paper concludes that to effect a substantial shift in attitude amongst faculty in relation to plagiarism would require more than a single workshop on Turnitin, and that both professional development units and tertiary institutions as a whole need to consider a more holistic approach to issues around plagiarism, assessment and student writing
“They might not like you but everyone knows youâ€: Popularity among teenage girls.
No full textThere is a wealth of research on popularity among adolescents, mainly conducted in the United States. This study utilised a stimulus vignette and semi-structured focus group interviews to investigate teenage girls’ (15 year olds, n = 40) constructions of popularity in two schools of diverse socio-economic background in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. An intensive thematic analysis revealed that the girls perceived popular same-sex peers to be publicly visible, prominent and prestigious and not necessarily well liked. In both schools, popular girls were seen to be physically and fashionably attractive and from wealthier backgrounds. Popular girls projected an image of being anti-school and antisocial rule breakers including smoking, drinking and taking drugs, more-so in the low income school. High status girls were seen as powerful and influential and they used their power in intimidating and aggressive ways including verbal harassment of peers, spreading of mean rumours and manipulation of friendships
Portfolios for assessment and reporting in New South Wales primary schools
No full textTwo trends influencing school assessment practice in New South Wales
(NSW) in the 90s are the authentic assessment movement, involving
performance and situated assessment, and outcomes-based education, which
was introduced with the national curriculum. Portfolios emerged relatively
recently as an assessment and reporting strategy that exemplifies both trends.
This article reports a study involving a survey of 64 randomly selected
primary schools in NSW, and a case study of a single school. The purpose of
the study was to ascertain teacher interpretations of the purpose of portfolios;
to identify what teachers include as contents; to determine how portfolios are
used to assess and report; and to examine the impact of portfolio use on one
school’s assessment and reporting practices.
The results indicate that teachers regard portfolios as strategic
collections of student work demonstrating the achievement of outcomes,
particularly in English and maths, and that student self-assessment and
teacher-student collaboration in content selection are not yet well developed.
These results are explained both in terms of the context and the recency of the
innovation
Educational research: ‘games of truth’ and the ethics of subjectivity
No full textIn an interview a year before his death, Foucault confessed that his real quarry was not an investigation of power but rather the history of the ways in which human beings are constituted as subjects; a process that involved power relations as an integral aspect of the production of discourses involving truths. His work dealt with three modes of objectification in our culture that transform human beings into subjects: modes of inquiry which try to give themselves the status of the sciences; the objectivisation of the subject in ‘dividing practices’; and the way a human being turns him or herself into a subject. For Foucault, ‘games of truth’ are sets of procedures that lead to certain results which, on the basis of the principles and rules of procedures, may be considered valid or invalid. And he asks, ‘How did it come about that all of Western culture began to revolve around this obligation of truth?’ In this paper, I begin by examining Foucault’s approach to truth-telling (parrhesia) in relation to the changing practice of educational research. Foucault’s notion of ‘games of truth’ is applied to educational research, and used to investigate the politics of knowledge and the ethics of the researcher’s identity
Tertiary teaching and learning in Papua New Guinea – building effective intercultural learning and teaching relationships
No full textPapua New Guinea is in the process of nation building. Integral to this national development is the building of a successful vernacular-based early years education program for children aged 6 to 8 years. The program is a new
initiative in a country which formerly provided schooling only from the primary years and conducted in English. The system is being implemented by village-based elementary teachers supported by district trainers. These trainers require skills in early years education, with qualifications and expertise to match their various roles and responsibilities. The PNG
Department of Education, in conjunction with AusAID, chose the early childhood program at the University of South Australia to upgrade the qualifications of 36 trainers to degree level. This was achieved using a two year, mixed-mode delivery, including four two week in-country intensives.
From late 2002 to early 2004, early childhood lecturers traveled to meet their students in-country. In the aftermath, three lecturers and one student reflected on their experiences, both personal and professional, on teaching and learning in one of the most culturally diverse countries on earth. Six strategies for building reciprocal relationships in cross-cultural teaching and learning contexts are identified, with the key theme of the teacher as learner
Learning, identity and classroom dialogue
No full textThe classroom can be understood as the site of various forms of dialogical
interaction. Taken together, engagement in such dialogues results in
experiences for students that can impact positively or negatively on their
personal and social identities. While the research literature acknowledges this
in various ways, there is potential for a research programme more explicitly
focused on how different learners respond differentially to classroom
situations in terms of their developing identities in the broadest sense. Such a
programme could complement life history-based approaches to
understanding educational and career trajectories and evaluations of effective
teaching based on narrow measures of performativity, by providing microlevel
data in the context of a conceptual framework drawn from
developmental and/or discursive psychology