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It is assumed that a programmatic approach to assessment supports students' self-regulated learning (SRL). This study investigated students' perceptions of this assumed support. Using a multiple-case study design, this study examined students' perceptions in two distinct study programmes. In each case, first-year students were enrolled in an assessment programme that was designed in accordance with the principles of programmatic assessment, which integrate both assessment purposes of assessment for learning (AfL) and assessment of learning (AoL). The second-year students in each case were enrolled in an assessment programme with a traditional AoL assessment approach. The findings suggest that in both cases first-year students perceived their assessment programme as more positive for their learning than second-year students. Through a cross-case analysis of students' perceptions of the two assessment programmes, three themes were identified that are essential to support students' SRL: 1) assessment design; 2) assessment as a dialogue; and 3) assessment as an information source. Key aspects of the themes that support or hinder SRL are discussed. The findings of this study highlight the importance of programme-level assessment design to support students in their SRL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporting academics' initial development as university teachers is important for improving their ability to contribute to high-quality education and for reducing anxiety and stress around teaching. Focusing on tasks experienced as challenging is considered a key principle for organising effective teacher professional development. To apply this principle in practice, more knowledge is needed about the development of novice university teachers' self-efficacy in their teacher tasks. Therefore, this study aims to investigate phases in the development of novice university teachers' self-efficacy. Data were collected amongst 201 novice university teachers at a Dutch research-intensive university and associated university medical centre, using a questionnaire measuring self-efficacy in different teacher tasks. Polytomous Rasch analyses were performed on novice university teachers' self-efficacy scores, both across and within teacher tasks. Results suggested three developmental phases in novice university teachers' self-efficacy across teacher tasks: (1) development in 'teaching and supporting learning', (2) development in 'assessment and feedback' and 'educational design', (3) development in 'educational leadership and management' and 'educational scholarship and research'. Two or three phases for the development of self-efficacy were found within each of these teacher tasks. These results expand our knowledge of the development of academics' self-efficacy related to specific teacher tasks. They also provide suggestions for how pedagogic training and workplace learning may be shaped in such a way that they focus novice university teachers' learning on teacher tasks that are difficult but not overchallenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of generic skills for life scientists is commonly recognised by employers, graduates, and higher education institutes. As it remains unclear which generic skills are relevant for different life sciences career paths, this study aims to give an overview to inform and inspire universities and students, by analysing 179 Dutch entry-level job postings. We deductively coded nine career paths, namely: life sciences industry, PhD-student, quality compliance, research-related, sales & business, communication/education, information technology, consultancy, and policy. We coded generic skills using an adapted categorisation consisting of 46 generic skills within four categories, which were: self, others, information, and tasks. The descriptive statistics and cluster analysis results showed that although language, communication, and collaboration were the most requested skills, differences in requested generic skills between career paths and cluster composition were observed as well. We concluded that although some generic skills are important in general, other generic skills are relevant for specific life sciences career paths. To educate skilled life scientists, universities should consider the flexible integration of these generic skills in their life sciences programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we aimed to identify how the learning activities elicited in a lesson study project contributed to self-perceived change in supervisors' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Lesson study is a method which combines both professional and educational development. During a lesson study project, teachers collaborate in a team and develop, teach, evaluate, and redesign a research lesson. During the 4-month lesson study project described here, four supervisors designed a protocol for research supervision meetings aimed at enhancing undergraduate students' learning. During the project, they experimented with open questioning and giving positive feedback instead of giving instruction and explanations. A mixed-methods design was used in this study. Data on the supervisors' learning activities and PCK were gathered using learner reports, video-recordings of meetings, and exit interviews. The analyses of these data showed that the lesson study project contributed to the development of the supervisors' PCK on instructional strategies and student understanding. The learning activity that contributed most to these changes was reflecting on their own practice and that of their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diagnosing teachers are teachers who perceive diagnostic information about students' learning process, interpret these aspects, decide how to respond, and act based on this diagnostic decision. During supervision meetings about the undergraduate thesis supervisors make in-the-moment decisions while interacting with their students. We regarded research supervision as a teaching process for the supervisor and a learning process for the student. We tried to grasp supervisors' in-the-moment decisions and students' perceptions of supervisors' actions. Supervisor decisions and student perceptions were measured with video-stimulated recall interviews and coded using a content analysis approach. The results showed that the in-the-moment decisions our supervisors made had a strong focus on student learning. Supervisors often asked questions to empower students or to increase student understanding. These supervising strategies seemed to be adapted to students' needs, as the latter had positive perceptions when their control increased or when they received stimuli to think for themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supervision meetings give teachers and students opportunities to interact with each other and to co-regulate students' learning processes. Co-regulation refers to the transitional process of a student who is becoming a self-regulated learner by interacting with a more capable other such as a teacher. During a task, teachers are expected to pull back their support and give opportunities to students to take responsibility. This study aims to explore the shifting patterns of co-regulation, feedback perception, and motivation during a 5-month research project. Participants were 20 students conducting research in pairs and six teachers who supervised these students. Two videotaped supervision meetings at the beginning and end of the research process and questionnaires on feedback perception and motivation were analysed. Results on co-regulation showed a constant and comparable level of regulation at the start and at the end of students' research projects. Feedback perception did not change, but motivation decreased significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In higher education, students often write an undergraduate thesis and receive one-to-one or small group support. During mentoring, 10 teachers ideally diagnose students' research skills, to be able to adapt their support to students' needs. In this study, we aimed to answer the question of how mentors apply the diagnostic phases of a diagnostic question, a diagnosis, a diagnostic check and an intervention, during mentoring meetings about 15 students' research skills. Four mentors participated in this multiple case study. Qualitative data were gathered and sixteen videotaped mentoring meetings were coded on the four diagnostic phases. The results were compared within and between mentors, showing that mentors asked several diagnostic questions, seldom articulated and shared their diagnoses explicitly with students, and mainly used interventions. We concluded that more support is needed for mentors who do not automatically use their diagnostic questions to formulate explicit diagnoses about students' research skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate a training programme for Dutch teachers in six institutes for nursing education to support students’ reflection skills. The research question was: what are the feasibility, quality and effects of the programme? The training programme focused on four competences of teachers regarding instructing, guiding, giving feedback on and assessing students’ reflection skills. The programme development was informed by research-based features of effective teacher professional development and expertise about reflection and feedback. Nineteen teachers took part in the training programme and eight teachers formed a control group. Pre-measurements concerned teachers’ initial knowledge, experience, beliefs, practices and self-assessment of competences. During the programme, data were gathered about participants’ appraisal of the content and activities, learning concerns and perceived results. Post-measurements concerned quality and effects of the programme, using teachers’ assessment of own development, current teaching activities and repeated measurement of certain practices, beliefs and self-assessment of competences. Teachers’ appraisal of the training programme was fairly positive. Results indicate that teachers can develop competences in supporting students’ reflection skills and improve their practice in a relatively modest amount of time by participating in a purposeful and coherent programme including relevant content, active learning and expert feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need for assessment of teachers' competencies fostered by a growing attention given to accountability and quality improvement. Important questions are how good the demonstrated competencies of teachers should be for a satisfying assessment and how the different competencies should be weighted. Using a policy capturing method, in two rounds, in stakeholders developed performance standards (or cut-off scores) for teacher assessment on eight criteria (or content standards) that resulted from an earlier study. Between the rounds, the panelists held a structured group discussion. Policy capturing proved to be a clear and useful method generating consistent judgements that can be described according to both a compensatory model and a conjunctive model. From the firs to the second round, the consistency increased. However, while the panelists agreed to a substantial degree on the performance standards, they disagreed on the weights to be assigned to the criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]