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2. Graduation of High School Students in British Columbia from 2010/2011 to 2018/2019: A Focus on Special Needs Status. Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series. Catalogue No. 11F0019M. No. 476
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Statistics Canada, Allison Leanage, and Rubab Arim
- Abstract
Using British Columbia Ministry of Education administrative school data within the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform, this study compared the proportions of high school graduates among Grade 12 students with and without special needs across nine cohorts from 2010/2011 to 2018/2019 before and after controlling for several sociodemographic characteristics. Two major strengths of this study were the use of longitudinal administrative education data integrated with income tax data from the T1 Family File and the further disaggregation of the special education needs categorization. Students with special needs in all different categories (excluding those with gifted status) were less likely to have graduated across all nine cohorts compared with students without special needs, even after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and academic achievement, suggesting that students with special needs may face other types of barriers in completing high school. Yet there was diversity among students with special needs, with the highest proportions of graduation among students with learning disabilities or those with sensory needs and the lowest among students with intellectual disabilities. A larger share of females than males graduated high school among students without special needs. However, sex differences were less consistent among students with special needs status (including students with gifted status). As expected, the proportions of graduation were significantly higher at age 19 compared with at age 18 or younger, with the differences being slightly higher among students with special needs (excluding those with gifted status; 5 to 10 percentage points) compared with those without special needs (3 to 7 percentage points). The largest age differences were observed among students with autism spectrum disorder, behavioural needs or mental illness, and those with physical needs across all nine cohorts.
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- 2024
3. Departmentalized Instruction and Elementary School Effectiveness. Working Paper No. 298-0424
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research (AIR), Ben Backes, James Cowan, and Dan Goldhaber
- Abstract
Departmentalized instruction, in which teachers specialize in one or more core subjects and instruct multiple groups of students in a day, has become increasingly prominent in elementary schools. Using 8 years of data from Massachusetts and a difference-in-differences design, we estimate the effects of departmentalization on student achievement. We find that departmentalization has positive effects in English language arts (ELA) and science and mixed evidence of positive effects in math. These positive effects are not driven by teacher productivity improvements: Consistent with prior findings on teacher specialization, teachers are less effective when specializing in math and no more effective in ELA than when teaching self-contained classrooms. Rather, consistent with the theoretical underpinnings for specialization, departmentalized schools tend to assign teachers to their stronger subjects.
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- 2024
4. Shaping the STEM Teacher Workforce: What University Faculty Value about Teacher Applicants. Working Paper No. 295-0324
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research (AIR), Dan Goldhaber, Roddy Theobald, Amy Roth McDuffie, David Slavit, Jennifer Dechaine-Berkas, John M. Krieg, and Emma Dewil
- Abstract
Who ends up in the teacher workforce is greatly influenced by who is admitted into teacher education programs (TEPs). To better understand how the preferences of teacher education faculty might shape admissions of STEM teacher candidates, we surveyed faculty who teach content or methods courses to STEM teacher candidates across five universities. Faculty reported that they most value information collected from individual interviews with applicants and data on the number of STEM courses taken in college and their performance in these courses, and least value data on university admissions tests, high school GPA, and teacher licensure test scores. When we investigate faculty members' revealed preferences through a conjoint analysis, we find that faculty most value applicants who have worked with students from diverse backgrounds and applicants from a marginalized racial or ethnic community, and least value whether they received high grades in math and/or science courses. Finally, we find significant variation in these perceptions across respondents in different faculty roles, who teach different courses, and from different institutions: for example, Arts and Sciences faculty tend to value TEP applicants' performance in college STEM courses relatively more than STEM education faculty, while STEM education faculty tend to value applicants' race and ethnicity relatively more than Arts and Sciences faculty.
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- 2024
5. MCAS, NAEP, and Educational Accountability. White Paper No. 266
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Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research and Cara Candal
- Abstract
In 1993, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts dramatically overhauled its K-12 education system and created a new school finance formula, building an educational accountability structure to ensure every child has access to a high-quality education. The Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) established academic standards in core subjects, mandated assessments to measure student outcomes on those standards, and established a system for holding schools accountable when students failed to meet basic expectations. This system has helped Massachusetts' public schools become the highest performing in the country. Student outcomes in all tested subjects and across demographic groups have improved steadily over time, but disparities in achievement and attainment exist between the Commonwealth's most privileged students and their less privileged counterparts, many of whom are black or Hispanic. Without the MERA and its requirement to assess every student and publish aggregate academic outcomes, policymakers may not understand the extent of disparity or how to address it as student outcomes data are integral to understanding where Massachusetts' public schools have been, where they are going, and how they can get there. This paper illustrates the importance of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act and how it has positively impacted students over time. It explains why the current accountability system evolved as it did and why preserving the most important aspects of that system is critical if the state is going to fulfill its constitutional obligation to educate all children to a high common standard.
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- 2024
6. Are Online and Paper Tests Comparable? Evidence from Statewide K-12 Tests
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Ben Backes and James Cowan
- Abstract
We investigate two research questions using a recent statewide transition from paper to computer-based testing: first, the extent to which test mode effects found in prior studies can be eliminated in large-scale administration; and second, the degree to which online and paper assessments offer different information about underlying student ability. In contrast to the first test transition in Massachusetts, we find very small mode effects for a more recent transition, which may be attributable to an additional step matching on observable characteristics in the equating process. Second, we investigate the predictive evidence of validity for paper and online tests for predictions of future test scores and grades. We generally find minimal differences for the extent to which scores on paper tests can differentially predict future online versus paper test scores. Finally, online and paper test scores are similarly predictive of future grade point average. We conclude that the online test penalty can vary substantially by test and that extreme care should be taken when administering online tests to some students and paper tests to others.
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- 2024
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7. Students with Disabilities in AICE English General Paper Course: Effects of Academic Ability on Student Success
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Sara Faye Vogel Curry
- Abstract
This study investigated the impact of AICE (Advanced International Certificate of Education) English General Paper courses on the academic progress of 10th-grade students with disabilities, specifically their performance in Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) scores. The primary objective was to examine the correlation between ninth-grade FSA scores and 10th-grade AICE English General Paper scores among students with disabilities. The research sample included 67 students from a large public high school in Southern Florida, all with either Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans. A correlational quantitative approach was utilized to analyze the relationship between FSA and AICE scores. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between ninth-grade FSA scores and 10th-grade AICE English General Paper scores, indicating that students with higher FSA scores tend to perform better in AICE courses. The study holds implications for future studies and policy enhancements aimed at improving the educational experiences of students with disabilities in advanced coursework. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
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- 2024
8. Emotion, Cognitive Load and Learning Achievement of Students Using E-Textbooks with/without Emotional Design and Paper Textbooks
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Chi-Cheng Chang and Tseng-Chuan Chen
- Abstract
This study aims to explore how e-textbooks with emotional design affect students' emotion, cognitive load and learning achievement. There were 147 freshman students in total: the experimental group I, II and control group consisted of 49, 47 and 51 students, using e-textbooks with emotional design, without emotional design and traditional paper textbooks. The results reveal the following: Students' emotion after using e-textbooks with emotional design is more positive than those using e-textbooks without emotional design and paper textbooks. Students' cognitive load after using e-textbooks with emotional design is significantly lower than those using etextbooks without emotional design. Students' learning achievement after using two types of e-textbooks is better than after using paper textbooks. Comparing all types of textbooks altogether, emotion has a significantly positive correlation with learning achievement, and both emotion and learnng achievement are significantly and negatively correlated with cognitive load. For the three types of textbooks, the relationship between emotion and learning achievement all becomes not significantly correlated. For two types of e-textbooks, cognitive load and learning achievement become not significantly correlated, disturbed by the digitalization of textbooks. Instructors are suggested to firstly adopt e-textbooks with emotional design, those without emotional design secondly, and paper textbooks rank last.
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
9. Are Online and Paper Tests Comparable? Evidence from Statewide K-12 Tests
- Author
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Ben Backes and James Cowan
- Abstract
We investigate two research questions using a recent statewide transition from paper to computer-based testing: first, the extent to which test mode effects found in prior studies can be eliminated; and second, the degree to which online and paper assessments offer different information about underlying student ability. We first find very small mode effects for a more recent transition in Massachusetts. Second, we investigate the predictive evidence of validity for paper and online tests for predictions of future test scores and grades. We generally find minimal differences for the extent to which scores on paper tests can differentially predict future online versus paper test scores. Finally, online and paper test scores are similarly predictive of future grade point average. We conclude that the online test penalty can vary substantially by test and that extreme care should be taken when administering online tests to some students and paper tests to others.
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
10. The Effect of Early Childhood Programs on Third-Grade Test Scores: Evidence from Transitional Kindergarten in Michigan. Working Paper 32236
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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Jordan S. Berne, Brian A. Jacob, Tareena Musaddiq, Anna Shapiro, and Christina Weiland
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Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is a relatively recent entrant into the U.S. early education landscape, combining features of public pre-K and regular kindergarten. We provide the first estimates of the impact of Michigan's TK program on 3rd grade test scores. Using an augmented regression discontinuity design, we find that TK improves 3rd grade math scores by 0.29 standard deviations relative to a counterfactual that includes other formal and informal learning options. This impact is notably large relative to the prior pre-K literature. Estimates for English Language Arts (ELA) are imprecise but suggestive of a positive effect as well.
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- 2024
11. The School Management Team's Role of Defining the School Vision and Mission at a South African Rural School
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Selaelo Maifala
- Abstract
Schools in the rural context of Limpopo Province, South Africa have a plethora of challenges, which have a negative impact on learner achievement. This paper argues that for schools to triumph over the obstacles, effective school leaders are necessary. Such leaders must define and communicate a clear vision and mission and work with stakeholders to achieve them. With these assumptions, this paper explores how members of the school management team (SMT) of a rural school in the Limpopo Province define and communicate their school's vision and mission. Through the qualitative research method underpinned by the interpretive paradigm, a case research design was adopted and a single high school sampled to participate. Data were generated from semi-structured interviews with seven SMT members, a focus-group discussion with six teachers, and an observation of the research site. The findings revealed that most participants could not articulate the school's vision and mission. In addition, stakeholders were not involved in the processes of defining the vision and mission and communication methods in this regard were also ineffective. Lastly, the SMT viewed the vision and mission as fixed and did not review them. Based on these findings, I conclude that SMT members must understand that the vision and mission could serve more than a visual purpose when designed as guiding principles to direct smaller objectives within the organisation.
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- 2024
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12. Emotion, cognitive load and learning achievement of students using e-textbooks with/without emotional design and paper textbooks.
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Chang, Chi-Cheng and Chen, Tseng-Chuan
- Subjects
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ELECTRONIC textbooks , *ACADEMIC achievement , *EMOTIONS , *COGNITIVE load , *COLLEGE freshmen - Abstract
This study aims to explore how e-textbooks with emotional design affect students' emotion, cognitive load and learning achievement. There were 147 freshman students in total: the experimental group I, II and control group consisted of 49, 47 and 51 students, using e-textbooks with emotional design, without emotional design and traditional paper textbooks. The results reveal the following: Students' emotion after using e-textbooks with emotional design is more positive than those using e-textbooks without emotional design and paper textbooks. Students' cognitive load after using e-textbooks with emotional design is significantly lower than those using etextbooks without emotional design. Students' learning achievement after using two types of e-textbooks is better than after using paper textbooks. Comparing all types of textbooks altogether, emotion has a significantly positive correlation with learning achievement, and both emotion and learnng achievement are significantly and negatively correlated with cognitive load. For the three types of textbooks, the relationship between emotion and learning achievement all becomes not significantly correlated. For two types of e-textbooks, cognitive load and learning achievement become not significantly correlated, disturbed by the digitalization of textbooks. Instructors are suggested to firstly adopt e-textbooks with emotional design, those without emotional design secondly, and paper textbooks rank last. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
13. Towards a Social Realist Framework for Analyzing Academic Advising in Global South Contexts
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Aneshree Nayager and Danie de Klerk
- Abstract
Academic advising is a proven high-impact practice, shown to have the potential to help increase students' prospects of academic success, increase their sense of belonging and integration at their institution of higher learning, and provide unique insights into the lived realities and experiences of higher education students. For this reason, advising can be seen as a transformative activity within the student support space in South African higher education institutions. As a practice and profession, advising has existed in the Global North (GN) for decades. However, in South Africa -- a developing country in the Global South (GS) -- academic advising remains a nascent field. Consequently, the overarching ideas that inform academic advising in the South African context (both theoretically and practically), tend to be drawn predominantly from the GN and more developed countries. The unchallenged acceptance and tacit dominance of theoretical perspectives and practices from these countries can be considered problematic. This is largely due to differences in the socioeconomic, cultural, and historical contexts of students attending university in GS countries like South Africa. This paper works towards developing a conceptual framework, informed by social realism, for analysing academic advising in GS contexts. It is the anticipated value of a GS framework for analysing the emergence of academic advising in South African and similar contexts that is the core contribution of the paper.
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- 2024
14. Student-Driven Programming Instruction: A Follow-Up Study
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Deepak Dawar
- Abstract
Learning computer programming is typically difficult for newcomers. Demotivation and learned helplessness have received much attention. Besides the subject's intricacy, low in-class participation has been associated with poor student achievement. This paper presents a follow-up, stage 2 study on the novel instructional technique, Student-Driven Probe Instruction (SDPI), to address low in-class participation in programming courses. Instead of the teacher lecturing/explaining content to the class and asking questions, students were shown a snippet of code or other relevant material and given the option to ask questions beforehand. The study was conducted in two stages: stage 1 pilot and stage 2. This paper presents the results of stage 2, while stage 1 operations and results are discussed briefly. The number of questions asked in class, real-time Trello board postings, and emails/Slack conversations with the instructor were used to track participation. In-class participation showed significant improvement. Average quiz and in-class activity scores showed marginal gains. Results from the end-of-course survey show that students preferred SDPI over the traditional lecture style since it stirred their interest in the content and provided them the confidence to ask questions in class. The study is purely exploratory in nature, and no conclusions can be drawn due to the extremely small sample size of the student population.
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- 2024
15. Innovating Workforce Education: Community Colleges at the Forefront of Registered Apprenticeship
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Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and Nick D’Antonio
- Abstract
"Innovating Workforce Education: Community Colleges at the Forefront of Registered Apprenticeship" explores Registered Apprenticeships in the United States, examining their increasing relevance to community colleges and the broader workforce development landscape. At its core, the apprenticeship model integrates paid employment with progressive learning, characterized by on-the-job training, classroom instruction, and mentorship, culminating in an industry recognized credential. This blend of practical and academic learning is pivotal for skill acquisition and provides a pathway to gainful employment. The paper will emphasize the versatility of apprenticeships while clarifying misconceptions. Apprenticeships are not limited to pre-employment training or entry-level positions but encompass diverse career stages and occupational scopes. Additionally, apprenticeships are adaptable in instructional delivery and flexible learning, making them suitable for various learning styles and job roles. In exploring types of apprenticeships, the paper identifies time-based, competency-based, and hybrid models and explores efforts like pre-apprenticeship and youth apprenticeship. Also, the paper closes by proposing future research and practice areas for ACCT, focusing on evaluating apprenticeship models, examining policy impacts, exploring digital learning's role in related instruction, and analyzing the financial models linked to apprenticeship sustainability and expansion.
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- 2024
16. A Multi-Year Professional Development Program to Advance Active Learning Pedagogical Practices for Engineering Faculty
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Lydia Ross, Stephen Krause, Eugene Judson, Keith D. Hjelmstad, Robert Culbertson, James A. Middleton, Lindy Mayl, Sara Hoyt, and Kara L. Hjelmstad
- Abstract
Active learning pedagogical practices are more effective than instructor-centered teaching in building students' knowledge, skills, and understanding of engineering content and concepts. As such, a large-scale professional development (PD) program was created to move faculty toward the use of active learning. The project aimed to engage faculty in active learning best practices through workshops and communities of practice to shift their attitudes, beliefs, and practices toward active learning strategies. This paper examines how and to what extent participation in a large-scale PD program shifts faculty awareness of, attitudes towards, and use of active learning. As such, this paper offers a model and evaluation framework for a large-scale PD program, which can be adapted to PD programs in engineering and across other STEM disciplines. In total, 82 faculty members from seven engineering disciplines participated in the PD program, comprising workshops and communities of practice sessions. Multiple assessments were utilized or created to measure the extent of faculty change using Roger's diffusion of innovation model for individual change and Coburn's cultural change model for organizational change. Faculty awareness, beliefs, and classroom practice shifted from instructor-centered teaching toward student-centered active learning. Instructors progressed moderately well through Rogers' five stages of individual innovation change and fulfilled the three tenets of Coburn's organizational change model. There were only minor shifts in student achievement, particularly for smaller classes, possibly due to insufficient time for instructors to fully implement active learning practices. The PD program influenced the initiation of a sustainable community of new and continuing active learning practitioners in the College of Engineering.
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- 2024
17. Educational Leadership Matters: Educational Leadership Preparation Matters Too
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Ricardo Lozano
- Abstract
There is a growing understanding that, after engaging teaching, educational leadership is the second most important factor accounting for student success. Despite this fundamental declaration, educational leadership has fallen through the cracks. Little interest has developed concerning in-depth studies of this important position in education. Educational leaders carry the unique responsibility to unify the many independent variables at play in schools, and create an atmosphere in which the synergy produced delivers results far beyond academic achievement. As such, educational leadership preparation programs carry the enormous responsibility to address the fundamental difference between an effective school manager and an effective leader. [For the complete Volume 22 proceedings, see ED656158.]
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- 2024
18. Initial Findings on Student Progress and Satisfaction in a New Model of Hyperflexible Online Delivery for University Students
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Colin Beer, Kate Ames, Noal Atkinson, Damien Clark, and Peter Hosie
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University degrees are usually delivered in defined sessions--by term, semester, or in week-based blocks--whereby students are required to complete their studies by the due date. Term or session-based schedules that require students to complete the study within set timeframes are, however, potentially restrictive. Temporal challenges associated with work and life can impede progress and add to the specific problem of student attrition in online learning. As universities seek to deliver innovative options for their students, increased attention is being paid to alternate models of delivery. This paper reports on the development of a hyperflexible online Master of Business Administration (MBA) course by a regional university in Australia, which has grown to more than 1,000 students since its launch in 2017. Delivered entirely online, the degree was specifically designed to address an inequity; MBA programs are traditionally expensive, and in Australia, the requirement for students to travel to attend residential schools and examinations adds significant cost to already expensive tuition fees. This paper analyzed enrollment data, course analytics over a two-year period, and student surveys conducted at the end of the second year of delivery (n = 98) to evaluate the development and implementation of the course as a hyperflexible course whereby students have almost complete control over their study at the postgraduate tertiary level. Results highlight the potential for the model to enable student success through flexibility.
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- 2024
19. Five Decades of Achievement Motivation Research in ELT: A Systematic Literature Review
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Marzia Shurovi, Mohamad Fadhili Yahaya, Hafizah Hajimia, and Md Kamrul Hasan
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Purpose: There is an absence of systematic review papers in the achievement motivation theories literature. In terms of current research trends, English learning motivation is gaining attention as a determiner of success in FLA. Hence, this review aims to trace the trends in the empirical studies on achievement motivation theories and tools, ranging from 1970 to 2022. Methodology: With a focus on theories, diversity of research participants, and practical ELT-related issues addressed by previous researchers, this paper applied the PRISMA Systematic Review Protocol to offer a comprehensive synthesis of 91 empirical studies on theories of achievement motivation. Findings: The majority of the published studies were from China and Iran. There was also a large number of studies conducted on tertiary-level learners. Structural equation modelling was found to be the most widely used analysis. In addition, technology-assisted learning is the current trend in achievement motivation research. Significance: This paper offers new insights into the existing achievement motivation literature and identifies the research gaps. This study recommends more studies on expectancy-value theory including in-depth qualitative studies involving culturally diverse populations and experimental research to develop more effective pedagogical approaches and expand the current understanding of achievement motivation.
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- 2024
20. Inequalities in Undergraduate Participation and Performance in Irish Higher Education
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Vani Borooah and Colin Knox
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This paper focuses on two aspects of gender inequality in Irish higher education: inequality in participation by gender and inequality of performance by gender, institution and subject. We use a rich set of data from the Higher Education Authority of Ireland which detail inter alia enrolment in institutions of higher education--Universities and Institutes of Technology--and record the class of degree received by graduating students, by subject and gender. The first aspect was the participation of women. Although more women enrolled as full-time undergraduates in universities than did men, the reverse was the case in the Institutes of Technology. This had much to do with the subject structure of universities vis-à-vis the Institutes of Technology in tandem with the subject preferences of women and men. The second issue was inequality in performance. A major conclusion of this paper is that "after" enrolment there was little difference between the success rates of women and men in receiving first-class degrees in the different subjects but there was considerable difference between the institutions.
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- 2024
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21. Universal Design for Learning and Writing Centres in South African Higher Education
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Désireé Eva Moodley
- Abstract
Could a transformative, inclusive and emancipatory educational framework like the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) advance academic success for all? Could racism and dis/ableism be dismantled through such an emerging educational trend that offers a redefinition of dis/ability abolishing oppressive pedagogical practices that perpetuate constructed views of special needs, often negatively correlated with racial and intellectual superiority? Could such a framework that foregrounds physical, cognitive and linguistic injustices advance achievement beyond merely meeting academic literacy standards within higher education settings like writing centres in a post-COVID 21st-century South Africa? These critical questions are some of the tensions raised in this paper proposing a compelling, yet controversial attempt at advancing student learning and achievement within an expanded definition of disability offered by the UDL framework developed by Rose and Meyer at the Center for Applied Special Technology at Harvard University. While COVID-19 centred around a pandemic, this global catastrophe accelerated the technological thrust into virtual and blended learning mediums of learning and engagement. Yet, given the technological explosion of the mid- and late 20th century, in many ways education have headed towards this direction. Now more than ever, the awareness of the Universal Design for Learning within the role of the writing centre and academic literacy is especially critical, given the drive for technologically driven approaches to address issues of social justice. This paper seeks to understand the obstacles and opportunities of the UDL framework within the role of writing centres in post-COVID 21st-century South African higher education. Through professional insights as a qualified practising writing consultant both locally in South Africa and in the United States, this reflective critique on the emerging vociferous dialogue around the adoption of the Universal Design for Learning framework at higher education institutions in South Africa, and its implications for the role of the writing centre, are based on this author's pragmatic, commonplace experiences as well as research studies conducted on UDL and the Harvard Review. It is hoped that this reflective paper may make visible some of the inherent juxtapositions Universal Design for Learning may hold for meeting individual students' learning needs principled on its universal approach to learning success for all, affording opportunities for further research and critique.
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- 2024
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22. Student Fatigue and Its Impact on Teaching Effectiveness Based on Online Teaching
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Ye Chen and Xiaoqun Qin
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Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019, many countries have taken measures such as controlling the flow of people, logistics and reducing crowds. Educational institutions have shifted from traditional face-to-face teaching to online teaching. In order to understand the fatigue caused by long-term online teaching and its influence on teaching quality, this paper puts forward the concept of "student fatigue" according to the learning characteristics of students in our education system, and applies statistical principles to compile the student Fatigue Scale-18. In the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, 1236 times of 319 college students in grade 2021 were tested for fatigue, and the average incidence of fatigue was 64.97%. The incidence of fatigue in boys is higher than that in girls. There was a slight difference in the incidence of fatigue in different seasons, but no statistical significance was there. The effect of fatigue on online teaching is empirically analyzed. The degree of fatigue is negatively correlated with test scores. Students with better learning foundations are less affected by fatigue, while girls' scores are less affected by fatigue. This paper analyzes the common causes of students' fatigue, combined with the current research status of students' fatigue at home and abroad, and puts forward that college education should pay attention to students' fatigue, regularly or irregularly monitor students' fatigue, so that the incidence of fatigue is controlled below 30%. The analysis revealed that the degree of fatigue and gender significantly influenced academic performance. A negative correlation was found between fatigue degree and academic performance, indicating that more severe fatigue led to poorer academic results. Boys were more affected by fatigue than girls. The relationship between academic performance and seasons showed no significant impact. Try to avoid severe fatigue. In order to reduce the impact of fatigue on students' study and health, preventive measures should be taken. It provides theoretical and empirical basis for preventing students' fatigue, improving teaching quality and ensuring students' health.
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- 2024
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23. Democratic Policymaking in Schools: The Influence of Teacher Empowerment on Student Achievement. EdWorkingPaper No. 24-989
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Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University and Sara R. Sands
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Despite the popularity of teacher leadership since the 1980s, little research examines its effects on student achievement. In this paper, I assess the influence of the New York City Department of Education's Teacher Career Pathways program, a teacher leadership initiative, on student achievement in grades three through eight. Using difference-in-difference approaches, including new event study estimators, I find that where school leaders staffed teacher leaders into formal roles with defined responsibilities, positional authority, and commensurate salary increases, student achievement in ELA and math improves. Moreover, the improvement in scores compounds over time, with schools exhibiting increasing gains in each year following the initial introduction of teacher leaders. Schools that do not staff teacher leaders do not observe similar outcomes. I consider these results in the context of democratic policymaking and teacher empowerment, suggesting that teachers must be formally empowered in schools to lead meaningful changes that ultimately improve student achievement.
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- 2024
24. Navigating Academic Success: WriteMyPaper.com Showcases the Best University Research Paper Writing Services of 2024
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Academic achievement ,Universities and colleges -- Research ,Business ,Business, international - Abstract
M2 PRESSWIRE-January 3, 2024-: Navigating Academic Success: WriteMyPaper.com Showcases the Best University Research Paper Writing Services of 2024 (C)1994-2024 M2 COMMUNICATIONS RDATE:03012024 * In-depth analysis by an industry expert helps [...]
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- 2024
25. Applying Threshold Concepts Strategies to Teaching Computing Students in an ODL Context
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Jaroslaw Pawel Adamiak
- Abstract
The academic success of first-year students' learning in science faculties is by no means assured, especially in an Open Distance Learning setting with its limited number of face-to-face encounters between students and lecturers or tutors. Therefore, such encounters should be highly efficient in view of the considerable amount of knowledge transfer to students. The University of South Africa (Unisa) makes provision for contact sessions of 15 hours per semester for selected modules in an attempt to elevate the pedagogical efficiency of these sessions by focusing on the threshold concepts as an innovative way of learning. This paper shows that tutorials adopting the threshold concepts approach have the potential to make students academically more successful. The focus of this study is an introductory information systems module that teaches the Python programming language. Our statistical analysis demonstrated that the year marks and final exam scores of the participating students were frequently higher than those of the students in the control group.
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- 2024
26. A Systematic Literature Review of Game-Based Learning in Artificial Intelligence Education
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Zehui Zhan, Yao Tong, Xixin Lan, and Baichang Zhong
- Abstract
In recent years, Game-Based Learning (GBL) has been widely adopted in various educational settings. This paper aims to review empirical studies that adopt GBL in the field of AI education and explore its future research perspectives. After a systematic keyword search in the online database and a snowballing approach, a total of 125 empirical papers with 133 studies were targeted as samples. Results indicated that the games in AI education are mainly fell into five categories: Puzzle games are the most used in the curriculum (27.07%), followed by Reasoning strategy games (23.31%), Robot games (18.05%), Role-playing games (9.02%) and Simulation games (6.77%). Among them, 22.39% of games were with real characters, 11.94% were with virtual characters and 64.18% were with no characters. Besides, games were used in three main forms in AI education: games as teaching tools (78.95%), games as student works (12.03%), and games as a competing mechanism (9.02%). Researchers mainly paid attention to the effect of GBL on students' Opinions and Attitude (52.96%) and Learning achievement (24.04%), while the other three categories such as Skills and ability, Interaction, and Cognition were not extensively measured. The cross-sectional analysis, research gaps, and potential directions for future research were also discussed.
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- 2024
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27. Rising Tides Don't Create Racialized Change: Analyzing Institutional Change Projects in Postsecondary Philanthropy's College Completion Agenda
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Heather N. McCambly
- Abstract
This paper uses critical archival analysis, paired with textual analysis of grant descriptions, to understand how nine foundations -- all with endowments derived from the student loan industry -- have motivated their college completion work and the relationship between these commitments and grantmaking over time (2000-2019). Mobilizing concepts of theorization and racialized change work (RCW) to analyze the relationship between funders' deployed racial frames and their theory of change, this paper offers three primary contributions: 1) A methodological approach to analyzing philanthropic or intermediary-led reform campaigns (e.g. the college completion agenda) as a form of theorization -- a core mechanism of institutional change and diffusion -- inclusive of funders' racial projects; 2) Insights on the qualitative, causal pathway by which one foundation created organization-specific interest convergence that facilitated engagement in RCW, and 3) Evidence demonstrating how race-evasive theorizations, even if efficacious mechanisms for change, fail to deinstitutionalize a core mechanism of racialization: investment in deficit-minded, individual-level projects. These insights speak not only to the material differences between race-evasive and race-conscious theorizations, but also organizational pathways toward durable race-conscious commitments in higher education.
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- 2024
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28. Lecturer's Pedagogical Attributes and Teaching Quality for Construction and Engineering Education in UK Universities: Mediating Effect of Research Informed Teaching
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Dubem Ikediashi, Cletus Moobela, Kenneth Leitch, Nimi Dan-Jumbo, Afolabi Dania, Sani Reuben Reuben Akoh, and Paul Esangbedo
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Purpose: Researchers have opined that the quality of commitment to pedagogical approaches by lecturers is one of the most important factors in determining student academic success. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the mediating effect of research informed teaching on the relationship between lecturer commitment to use of pedagogical approaches and teaching quality, with a view towards enabling delivery of high quality teaching and learning in HEIs. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on an online survey of the perception of 186 undergraduate and postgraduate students in four major UK universities. Covariance-based structural equation modelling (SEM) methodology was used to quantity and clarify the influence of lecturers' pedagogical attributes on teaching quality, mediated by research-informed teaching. Findings: Findings reveal that--lecturers' pedagogical attributes have significant positive effect on teaching quality, research-informed teaching have significant positive effect on teaching quality, lecturers' pedagogical attributes have weak positive effect on research-informed teaching, and research-informed teaching partially mediates (indirect effect) the relationship between lecturers' pedagogical attributes and teaching quality. Practical implications: Structural equation models are useful for clarifying concepts in pedagogy and have implications for education managers on how to improve teaching and learning in HEIs. Originality/value: The paper presents a unique quantitative model for measuring the degree of teaching quality in universities.
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- 2024
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29. Zero-Knowledge Proofs in Education: A Pathway to Disability Inclusion and Equitable Learning Opportunities
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Xiao Xu
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In the evolving landscape of global education, the significance of inclusivity and equity has never been more important. Emphasizing the United Nation Sustainable Development Goal 4, this paper explores the innovative application of blockchain-powered Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) technology in education, with a particular focus on disability inclusion. This study introduces a novel disability management system powered by Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (zk-SNARK). This advanced system enables educational institutions to verify the status of students with disabilities without compromising their personal information, thereby preserving their privacy and reinforcing their identity. This paper evaluates the potential operational efficiency of this prototype system against the existing costs incurred by higher education institutions in disability schemes. It also examines the system's potential to enhance self-disclosure among students with disability, which is pivotal for their academic success. By advocating for privacy and inclusivity, this study highlights the transformative potential of ZKP in creating an educational environment where students with disabilities can comfortably disclose their needs. This approach not only protects their confidentiality but also empowers them academically, aligning with the global commitment to accessible and inclusive education.
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- 2024
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30. Impact of Inflammatory Bowel Disease on Student Experience in Postsecondary Education
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Yashasavi Sachar, Jaskaran Singh Gill, and Nilesh Chande
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Objectives: This literature review seeks to identify based on the current literature how the burden of disease for IBD patients manifests itself as this cohort transitions simultaneously from pediatric to adult care and from secondary to post-secondary education. Methods: This paper reviews the current literature regarding postsecondary students with IBD and provides a summary of research regarding key factors in their quality of experience. The research was conducted through databases including Taylor & Francis, PubMed, as well as searches via Google Scholar. Results: Over the course of this search, thirty-three relevant studies were identified. These studies addressed the themes outlined in this paper, including academic performance, social adaptation, transition of care, as well as overall transition to a postsecondary institution. Each of these is further broken down to identify specific determinants of IBD student experience. Conclusions: Although students with IBD can demonstrate resilience and adaptive behavior, the evidence suggests there are significant limitations impacting their perceived experience. The barriers IBD students face impact their ability to experience postsecondary education as they intend to, forcing them to adjust in adaptive or maladaptive manners. This review also attempts to generate possible solutions to specific barriers identified from current research, generating directions of action for students, physicians, and academic supports.
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- 2024
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31. Can Epistemologies and Methodologies Be Racially Unjust? The Case of Allison Davis and Cultural Deprivation
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Martyn Hammersley
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This paper considers what it could mean to say that epistemologies and methodologies are racially just or unjust. It has been argued that this has nothing to do with whether an individual researcher is racist: he or she could be anti-racist but still use an epistemology that is racially biased. To explore this issue, some pioneering research by Allison Davis, an influential African-American scholar in the 1940s and 1950s, is examined. This research dealt with the effects of social class cultures on academic achievement in the United States. While Davis was well-known at the time, his work in this field is now largely forgotten. Two senses of 'racially-just' are examined in this paper, relating: to the intrinsic character or origin of epistemologies and methodologies; or to the implications for and likely consequences of their use. Davis's investigations employed methods and assumptions that are rejected by many educational researchers today. I will address the question of whether these can be criticised as racially unjust; and, if so, on what basis. This evaluation will lead to a consideration of the broader question of the terms in which it is appropriate to assess educational research, and in particular the epistemologies and methodologies on which it depends.
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- 2024
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32. Towards Tailored Cognitive Support in Augmented Reality Assembly Work Instructions
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Pieter Vanneste, Kim Dekeyser, Luis Alberto Pinos Ullauri, Dries Debeer, Frederik Cornillie, Fien Depaepe, Annelies Raes, Wim Van den Noortgate, and Sameh Said-Metwaly
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Background: Augmented reality (AR) is receiving increasing interest as a tool to create an interactive and motivating learning environment. Yet, it is unclear how instructional support affects performance in AR. Objectives: This study sought to explore how varying the instructional support in AR can affect performance-related behaviours of students with low cognitive abilities during assembly work. Methods: A total of 90 Belgian secondary school students repeatedly executed four different realistic assembly tasks. Three levels of instructional support (low, medium, and high) in AR as well as a control condition with paper instructions with a high level of detail were systematically varied across tasks and participants. Results and Conclusions: Multilevel regression analyses showed that AR instructions yielded lower assembly times and a lower perceived physical effort than paper instructions. Additionally, participants perceived tasks as less complex when given AR instructions with a high or a medium level of detail than when given a low level of detail. No effects of instructional support were established for other performance-related behaviours, namely necessary assistance, error-making, cognitive load, competence frustration, and stress. Effect sizes were small, at least among the instructional support conditions studied, yielding a limited base for adaptivity. Presumably, tailoring the instructional support in AR is only beneficial for highly complex tasks. The results might be useful for the design and implementation of AR in educational settings.
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- 2024
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33. Study on Factors Influencing College Students' Motivation to Engage with Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Jing Liu, Xuanyu Zhu, Chong Huang, Yujie Wang, and Liyan Chang
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With the widespread implementation of COVID-19 prevention and control measures during the pandemic, online classes have become a normal and indispensable part of college students' lives. Analysis of the factors affecting college students' behavioural intention towards online classes will help improve online class quality. This paper sets up a model to analyse the factors that may affect such intentions . The results show that social influence, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have a significant positive effect on college students' behavioural intention, and enabling environment(i.e. the infeasibility of offline teaching due to the pandemic)has a significant negative effect on it. Gender and voluntariness, as moderator variables, also clearly influence behavioural intention. Based on pandemic prevention and control measures, along with education reform and modernisation, this paper offers valuable suggestions to online learning platform and education administrators.
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- 2024
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34. The Myth and Danger of Resilience: How Reckoning with Systemic Oppression Has Forced Us to Reconsider Resilience as a Construct
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Shonda L. Goward and Benjamin M. Torsney
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The purpose of this paper is to consider a different point of view as to why historically underrepresented minority students ultimately succeed in school, but do so at a cost (Goward, 2020). The authors argue that considering John Henryism, i.e., high-effort coping as a response to environmental stressors, as a source of motivation for historically excluded students' academic achievement, can allow stakeholders in higher education a more nuanced understanding as to how students overcome barriers related to their identity. The authors hope this paper can provide college and university professionals with a new lens to examine students' academic achievement as they confront and overcome systemic barriers. They argue stakeholders in higher education (e.g., administration, staff, faculty, etc.) should be investing in high quality systems of support (Rolle et al., 2021) to be able to get students from marginalized backgrounds to graduation, without having to rely on using John Henryism to get there.
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- 2024
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35. Three Essays on the Economics of Educational Opportunity
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Christopher Diehl Brooks
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K-12 educational outcomes are a powerful reflection of social opportunity, both by meaningfully predicting adult wellbeing across measures like health and income, and by encapsulating the breadth of factors that contribute to a child's preparedness, ability, and opportunity to learn and persist in school. In this light, the persistent deficits in educational outcomes experienced by individuals from traditionally disadvantaged identity groups and classes reflect systemic failures to meaningfully address the numerous shortcomings of education and social policy to create equal educational opportunities for all students. The three papers that comprise this dissertation aim to promote more equitable education and social policy by contributing valuable insights into three vital areas of policy that substantively shape the educational opportunities and outcomes of students in the United States. In the first, I extend the existing literature on how air pollutants can contribute to educational inequality by measuring the association between students' proximity to hog farms, their feces lagoons, and fecal fertilizer spraying, and educational outcomes in North Carolina. In the second, I examine the most important school-level resource for student achievement -- teachers -- and how the processes by which students are assigned to classrooms enables the disproportionate assignment of lower performing, nonwhite, and low-income students to less effective teachers within their schools. And finally, I examine districts' proposed spending of federal COVID-19 relief funds, what differences in spending strategies existed for these extremely flexible dollars, and what potential equity implications may exist for student academic learning recovery in the wake of the pandemic. Collectively, these papers contribute new knowledge in three important areas of education and social policy and foreground several promising future research directions by which greater educational equity and equality of social opportunity can be promoted. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
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- 2024
36. Experiences and Forecasts of the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect
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Christopher A. Stockus
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Research on the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) indicates that students evaluate themselves more favorably when they have high rank in low rank schools than low rank in high rank schools. In this integrated dissertation, I provide three empirical papers examining experiences and forecasts of this effect. BFLPE experiences refer to the impact of having either high rank in a low rank group or low rank in a high rank group on one's own self-evaluations and performance-related affect. Forecasts of the BFLPE refer to the predicted impact of these same social comparison conditions on another person's self-evaluations and performance-related affect. In empirical paper one, we examined whether experienced BFLPEs occur in different regional groups (i.e., at the school, state, and country level). In empirical paper two, we tested whether growth mindsets, that is, the belief that one's abilities are malleable and capable of change, ameliorate the negative effects of having low rank in a high rank group. In empirical paper three, we examined whether the BFLPE occurs in empathic forecasting. In sum, this program of research contributes to our understanding of the conditions and contexts in which the BFLPE is likely to emerge, provides additional support for the robustness of the BFLPE, further establishes the causal nature of the effect, and indicates that intergroup comparison neglect is a key mechanism underlying the BFLPE. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
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- 2024
37. Understanding the Effects of Values Affirmation on the Academic Performance and Psychological Well-Being of Deaf Students in Nepal: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial
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Zezhen Wu
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In this dissertation, I seek to understand whether and how values affirmation could have an impact on the academic performance and psychological well-being of deaf students in secondary deaf schools in Nepal. In Paper 1, I reported findings from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) on the impact of values affirmation on the academic performance and psychological well-being in school for 269 deaf students from grades six to ten in three secondary special deaf schools in Nepal. Using a Bayesian framework, I found moderate evidence that the students receiving values affirmation had lower perceived stereotype threats, higher self-integrity and sense of belonging in school, and better academic performance, as compared to control students. Contrary to the evidence in past studies, the affirmation effect on academic performance was stronger among students who initially reported facing fewer stereotype threats. This finding suggests that the intervention might not counter severe threats for some students but could help those facing objectively high, yet relatively lower, stereotype threats by providing a psychological nudge. As the first empirical demonstration of values affirmation's effectiveness for a deaf population in a low- and middle-income country, this paper suggests that values affirmation can be a promising supplement to current system-level educational programs aimed at enhancing academic performance and psychological well-being for deaf students in school. In Paper 2, I conducted a deeper examination of the possible mechanisms through which values affirmation impacted students' academic performance, as demonstrated in both Paper 1 and numerous past studies (see Wu et al., 2021). In Paper 2 Study 1, I thematically coded the reflections in the treatment exercises from deaf students and attempted to explore what direct-change and/or indirect-change mechanisms might have contributed to the positive treatment effect found in Paper 1 by qualitatively examining the themes. Next, I also coded the themes in the control exercises due to concerns around negatively-themed reflections that unexpectedly appeared in the control group. These reflections could potentially introduce an unintended negative effect within the control group--a consequence that might be specific to the design and population of the current study. In Paper 2 Study 2, I analyzed the coded themes as predictors of academic performance, controlling for baseline performance and demographic covariates, separately within the treatment and control groups. I found strong evidence that reflections on the themes "Self-awareness and growth in self-identity" and "Relationship with friends" were positively associated with better academic performance for students in the treatment group. This finding suggests that both a direct-change and indirect-change mechanism might be at play for the students in my study. In addition, within the control group, reflecting on negative themes on "Barriers related to deafness and communication" and "Lack of support from friends and family" did "not" yield any negative effects on academic performance, alleviating the concerns around these negatively-themed reflections having a negative impact on students' learning. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
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- 2024
38. Efficiency of Blended Learning of Calculus Content during the COVID-19 Crisis
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Sladana Mitrovic, Radoslav Božic, and Ðurdica Takaci
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In this paper, we present the analysis of the students' achievements in learning calculus in a dynamic software environment during the COVID-19 crisis. Two groups of students, the experimental and the control one, were monitored. Blended learning was applied to the students in the experimental group, with the help of "Microsoft Teams" and dynamic software "GeoGebra," in autumn 2020. All students in the control group learned in the classroom without using "GeoGebra" in 2019. The comparison between these two groups of first-year students, regarding their calculus test results, is described in this paper. It is interesting that the results of the experimental group were significantly better than the results of students in the control group, despite the fact that the students from the experimental group learned during the COVID-19 crisis.
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- 2024
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39. Theoretical Foundations of Culturally Responsive Teaching and Connections to Saskatchewan Curriculum and Indigenous Education
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Jessica K. Madiratta
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This paper examines the attributes of culturally responsive teaching (CRT) as well as its theoretical foundations. Gay's (2018) work describes the eight attributes of CRT as validating, comprehensive and inclusive, multidimensional, empowering, transformative, emancipatory, humanistic, and normative and ethical. After unpacking each attribute, I present and discuss four dimensions of Gay's (2018) theoretical foundations of CRT which include culturally diverse curriculum, teacher caring, home and school connection, and academic achievement. Further, I write about how CRT and the epistemologies of Indigenous education can lead to healthy and transformative spaces for Indigenous students in Saskatchewan public schools. For the purposes of this paper, I define healthy and transformative spaces as spaces where students have their needs met in the four dimensions of spirit, mental, physical, and emotional health.
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- 2024
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40. Emotions in Online Language Learning: Exploratory Findings from an 'Ab Initio' Korean Course
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Nicola Fraschini and Yu Tao
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Existing studies on language learner emotions mainly focus on Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) and Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE). They are primarily conducted in offline learning settings. This paper reports the empirical findings of an exploratory investigation conducted in a fully synchronous online learning environment for "ab initio" Korean. Through an Achievement Emotions Questionnaire administered to 117 students in an Australian university, this study measures learners' pride as well as their enjoyment and anxiety during four teaching weeks. In addition, this paper examines how learner emotions correlate with academic achievement as well as crucial learner and teacher variables. The study confirms many patterns of learner emotions in offline teaching environments, such as the association of positive emotions with positive outcomes and with some teacher characteristics, and the association of anxiety with negative outcomes. However, it also reveals patterns that appear to be new, warranting further empirical studies. The pedagogical implications of results for L2 teaching and learning are also discussed.
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- 2024
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41. Assessing Impact of Problem-Based Learning Using Data Mining to Extract Learning Patterns
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Shilpa Bhaskar Mujumdar, Haridas Acharya, Shailaja Shirwaikar, and Prafulla Bharat Bafna
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Purpose: This paper defines and assesses student learning patterns under the influence of problem-based learning (PBL) and their classification into a reasonable minimum number of classes. Study utilizes PBL implemented in an undergraduate Statistics and Operations Research course for techno-management students at a private university in India. Design/methodology/approach: Study employs an in situ experiment using a conceptual model based on learning theory. The participant's end-of-semester GPA is Performance Indicator. Integrating PBL with classroom teaching is unique instructional approach to this study. An unsupervised and supervised data mining approach to analyse PBL impact establishes research conclusions. Findings: The administration of PBL results in improved learning patterns (above-average) for students with medium attendance. PBL, Gender, Math background, Board and discipline are contributing factors to students' performance in the decision tree. PBL benefits a student of any gender with lower attendance. Research limitations/implications: This study is limited to course students from one institute and does not consider external factors. Practical implications: Researchers can apply learning patterns obtained in this paper highlighting PBL impact to study effect of every innovative pedagogical study. Classification of students based on learning behaviours can help facilitators plan remedial actions. Originality/value: 1. Clustering is used to extract student learning patterns considering dynamics of student performances over time. Then decision tree is utilized to elicit a simple process of classifying students. 2. Data mining approach overcomes limitations of statistical techniques to provide knowledge impact in presence of demographic characteristics and student attendance.
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- 2024
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42. Hitting for Average: Educational Assessment, Unidimensionality, and the Connection to Baseball Hitting Statistics
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Alex Romagnoli
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The traditional points system and subsequent Grade Point Average (GPA) in education perpetuates an evaluation of academic performance which reflects arbitrary weighting of assignments and/or assessments. As such, GPAs which are calculated using a traditional points system are not unidimensional in their design. The baseball batting and slugging percentage, which serves as established metrics for performance evaluations among baseball players, better reflects unidimensionality. In essence, this paper puts forth an analysis and discussion which posits that baseball batting average and slugging percentage can serve as an example for how unidimensionality can become more prevalent in educational assessments, especially as it relates to the traditional points system and GPA.
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- 2024
43. Exploring the Role of Generic Competencies in Employability and Academic Performance of Students of Psychology
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Teresa de Dios Alija, David Aguado García, and Noemy Martín Sanz
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This paper analyses the relation between generic competencies of students of Psychology and their academic performance and employability. A sample of 43 students of Psychology in a Spanish university was used to measure their generic competencies, academic performance and employability. Correlational and regression tests were conducted to evaluate the relation between the variables. The generic competence 'adhering to principles and values' is positively related to employability, while the competencies 'achieve results/client satisfaction' and 'socialise and create networks' are positively related to academic performance. No significant relationship was found between academic performance and employability. Generic competencies favour both academic performance and employability. The competencies which influence only one of these aspects are different. Our research offers insights to teacher learning communities to engage in a profound reflection on the inclusion of methodologies that facilitate the development of competencies related to academic performance and those most in demand in the labour market within the field of Psychology. Generic competencies are essential part of the education of students of Psychology. These competencies are institutionally developed with the aim of orienting the education of psychologists towards their future professional practice. It is essential to understand how the development of generic competencies may facilitate academic performance and employability of graduates in Psychology.
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- 2024
44. Perceptions of Didactic Strategies among Pupils and Teachers in Primary School
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Monika Mithans, Joca Zurc, and Milena Ivanuš Grmek
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The quality of educational work is inextricably linked to many factors at the system, school, teacher, and student levels. This research was carried out within the project 'Education of Teachers as a Factor of Providing High-quality Life-long Learning in the Learning Society/The Society of Fast Socio-economic Changes and Unsure Future', funded by the Slovenian Research Agency. This paper provides a basic overview of the characteristics of open instruction, an umbrella term that combines active and learner-centred didactic strategies. The empirical section focuses on the use of didactic strategies. The survey was carried out with 1,536 primary school pupils in Grades 7 and 9 and 263 of their teachers. Both pupils and teachers cited problem-based learning and research-based learning as the most commonly used didactic strategies, while project-based learning was the least frequently used. Despite the agreement on the most and least frequently used didactic strategies, there are statistically significant differences between pupils' and teachers' perceptions of all selected didactic strategies. Teachers reported that they used these strategies more often than was perceived by their pupils. We also found a statistically significant impact of better learning performance on the perception of certain didactic strategies. The results of the study raise new research questions, especially in the design of more detailed analyses of the use of didactic strategies in pedagogical practice.
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- 2024
45. Effect of Mobile Phone Dependence on Various Aspects of Academic Achievement: Evidence from Chinese and Czech University Students
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Hongyang Liu, Lucie Vachova, and Irena Plevova
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Mobile phone dependence refers to the excessive use of mobile phones by individuals, which may cause problems in study, work and life. We compared differences in mobile phone dependence among Chinese and Czech university students, and explore the relationship between mobile phone dependence and academic achievement among them in this paper. The subjects of this study included 358 Chinese university students and 282 Czech university students who were recruited during March to April 2022. We collected data through online questionnaires, using the Short Version of the Smartphone Dependence Scale (SAS-SV) to assess the level of students' mobile phone dependence and the Academic Achievement Questionnaire (AAQ) to assess the level of students' academic achievement. The results show that for the level of mobile phone dependence are negatively correlated with the scores of various dimensions of academic achievement and the total score of academic achievement, among them, Chinese students have more significant effect in the relationship between mobile phone dependence and study performance; moreover, the correlations between the three sub-factors of academic achievement in Chinese students were stronger. It can be concluded that mobile phone dependence may lead to lower study performance, more difficulty in handling study demands, and lower social adaptation, or lower academic achievement may also lead to more severe mobile phone dependence.
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- 2024
46. Is there a Link between Teacher Salary and Educational Achievement? An Analysis in OECD Countries
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Djily Diagne
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This paper uses data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and employs multiple regression models to investigate the relationship between teacher salary and educational achievement in mathematics and science across 30 countries. After controlling for alternative wage opportunities and two macroeconomic factors (GDP per capita and educational expenditure as percentage of GDP), the results reveal no significant relationship between teacher salary and educational achievement in mathematics and science. These findings imply the need to look beyond a single policy, such as higher salaries, in favor of policy strategies that address working conditions and other challenges facing new teachers.
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- 2024
47. Evaluating the Impact of Reciprocal Teaching Strategy on International Postgraduate Science Education Programs
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Najeh Rajeh Alsalhi, Abdellateef Abdelhafez Alqawasmi, Bushra Ahmad Alakashee, Sami Al-Qatawneh, Abdalla Falah El-Mneizel, Ali Ahmad Al-Barakat, and Samih Mahmoud Al-Karasneh
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This paper aims to assess the impact of the reciprocal teaching strategy on the academic performance of student-teachers enrolled in the Higher Professional Diploma (HDE) program at Ajman University, United Arab Emirates. The study adopts a quasi-experimental design, employing pre- and post-tests and a control-experimental group configuration. The sample comprises 80 student-teachers selected from Ajman University during the second semester of the academic year 2022-2023. An academic achievement test in a multiple-choice format serves as the research instrument. The study's outcomes reveal noteworthy differences, indicating significant mean variations in the post-test scores between the experimental and control groups, favoring the control group in the context of the Reciprocal Teaching strategy. These results hold implications for international students, prompting considerations about the transferability and generalizability of teaching strategies across diverse cultural and educational settings. The findings suggest the broad effectiveness of the reciprocal teaching method, emphasizing the necessity of aligning teaching strategies with international students' specific needs and preferences. The research underscores the importance of tailoring teaching approaches to meet the unique requirements of a diverse cohort of global learners. It suggests that reciprocal teaching demonstrates efficacy across varied groups of international students, emphasizing the importance for instructors to select instructional methods that cater to the distinct needs of their diverse international student body.
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- 2024
48. Promoting Socioeconomic Equity through Automatic Formative Assessment
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Alice Barana and Marina Marchisio Conte
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Ensuring equity in education is a goal for sustainable development. Among the factors that hinder equity, socioeconomic status (SES) has the highest impact on learning Mathematics. This paper addresses the issue of equity at the secondary school level by proposing an approach based on adopting automatic formative assessment (AFA). Carefully designed mathematical activities with interactive feedback were experimented with a sample of 299 students of grade 8 for a school year. A control group of 257 students learned the same topics using traditional methodologies. Part of the sample belonged to low SES. The learning achievement was assessed through pre-and post-tests to understand if the adoption of AFA impacted learning and whether the results depended on the students' SES. The results show a positive effect of the experimentation (effect size: 0.42). Moreover, the effect size of the experimentation restricted to the low-SES group is high (0.77). In the treatment group, the results do not depend on SES, while in the control group, they do, suggesting that AFA is an equitable approach while traditional instruction risks perpetuating inequalities.
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- 2024
49. Myanmar EFL Learners' Perspectives, Structure, Reasoning and Literacy Practices of Argumentative Writing: A Needs Analysis Study
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Khin May Oo and Takeshi Okada
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Enhancing proficiency in argumentative writing in English has always been a challenge for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Despite the widespread use of argumentative essays in international tests such as International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Tests of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in recent years, the learners usually fail to meet satisfactory achievement levels in the EFL context. This paper investigates the issue closely by reviewing Myanmar EFL learners' needs, wants, and problems in developing argumentative writing. Although there has been some discussion on factors that potentially challenge EFL learners' argumentative writing, more research is needed on the integrated assessment to cater to the learners' needs. This analysis reports the results of a group of undergraduates (n = 44) in Myanmar. This research was based on triangulation data, including sources from questionnaires administered to the students' purposes, preferences, and challenges, and analyzing students' argumentative writing structurally and qualitatively for reasoning. The findings reveal that students were eager to learn argumentative writing, particularly for their immediate needs. Though students were not well trained with a communicative teaching approach in their curriculum, they preferred to learn argumentative writing dialogically, using classroom debates. They favored learning future argumentative writing courses by communicating meaningfully. Regarding the challenges in argumentative writing, most students could not produce counterarguments and rebuttals. Based on the data elicited from the students, this needs analysis proposed implementing the integrated learning-to-argue and arguing-to-learn instructions and using argumentative literacy practices to engage students in dialogic learning in the EFL context.
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- 2024
50. Students' Perceptions of an Online Metacognitive Journal Assignment
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A. Greg Bowden and Cammy J. Purper
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Background: The growth of online higher education programs and the increasing numbers of students seeking remote learning experiences require educators to find new ways of meeting the changing learning needs of their students. One possible approach for facilitating success for online college students is fostering engagement in self-regulated learning (SRL). Objective: This paper discusses student perceptions of an online metacognitive journal assignment designed to promote SRL. Method: Following a brief review of the related literature, we present a study of the perceptions of 206 online students of a series of metacognitive prompts collected through a weekly online journaling assignment. We examined, coded, and reported on the data using descriptive statistics. We also conducted a thematic qualitative analysis of narrative responses to experiential questions. Results: The analysis revealed that the majority of students believed that engaging in the metacognitive exercise was valuable and contributed to success in their online courses. The students also reported that the assignment helped them feel more connected to their professors and contributed to their ability to apply course content to real-life situations. Findings: The students did perceive value in the assignment and provided positive narrative comments. Although the students perceived the assignment to be helpful, no causal relationships between engagement with the assignment and student achievement were demonstrated. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, online instructors may find that using a metacognitive reflection journal is one way to support their students in online courses.
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- 2024
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