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There is a considerable gap between many of the findings from educational psychology research and educational practice. This gap is especially notable in the field of science education. In this article, the implications of three categories of research and their findings for science educational policy in the USA and other jurisdictions were reviewed. We indicate that a particular category of research that we call “Program-Based Studies,” has dominated the formulation of educational standards while a large number of critical findings from randomized, controlled studies and correlational studies that overwhelmingly show minimal support for the suggested policy have been marked as irrelevant and excluded. The current blanket-emphasis on program-based studies at the expense of the other types of research is misplaced. Educational standards should represent a balanced view of the available data including findings from controlled and correlational studies. Finally, we indicate how these different forms of research might inform each other and provide coherent and consistent implications for educational procedures.

Collaborative learning (CL) can be a powerful method for sharing understanding between learners. To this end, strategic regulation of processes, such as cognition and affect (including metacognition, emotion and motivation) is key. Decades of research on self‐regulated learning has advanced our understanding about the need for and complexity of those mediating processes in learning. Recent research has shown that it is not only the individual’s but also the group’s shared processes that matter and, thus, that regulation at the group level is critical for learning success. A problem here is that the “shared” processes in CL are invisible, which makes it almost impossible for researchers to study and understand them, for learners to recognize them and for teachers to support them. Traditionally, research has not been able to make these processes visible nor has it been able to collect data about them. With the aid of advanced technologies, signal processing and machine learning, we are on the verge of “seeing” these complex phenomena and understanding how they interact. We posit that technological solutions and digital tools available today and in the future will help advance the theory underlying the cognitive, metacognitive, emotional and social components of individual, peer and group learning when seen through a multidisciplinary lens. The aim of this paper is to discuss and demonstrate how multidisciplinary collaboration among the learning sciences, affective computing and machine learning is applied for understanding and facilitating CL.

In today’s and tomorrow’s world, people will be required to work longer. At the same time, their employment future will become increasingly insecure due to technological advances and obsolescence of acquired knowledge and skills. This means that something needs to happen in the education and training of our youth. Using a group concept mapping (GCM) procedure, experts in different fields (educators, educational researchers, human resource professionals, etc.) from primarily Europe and North America generated 239 ideas with regard to the trigger statement: “One specific way to prepare youth to make effective and efficient use of information skills to optimally function in tomorrow’s labour market is . . . .” The generated ideas were sorted into 15 thematic clusters (i.e., Critical Thinking, Skills Transfer, High-Level Thinking, Competences, Metacognition and Reflection, Efficacy [Self-Image] Building, Learn in Authentic Situations, Integrate School and Profession, Collaboration, Teacher Professionalization, Information Literacy, Redesign the School, Literacy, and Numeracy, Information Skills, and Learn for the Future) and then rated with respect to their importance and ease/difficulty of implementation. The results showed a disconnect between what was important and ease of implementation with highly important clusters judged to be difficult to implement and vice versa. This led to the definition of a 3-stage approach to adapting education to prepare youth for shortly nonexistent/not yet existing professions.

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) are important for brain development and function, maybe especially during adolescence. Observational studies have demonstrated an association between fish consumption (a source of LCPUFA) and cognition in adolescents, but intervention trials are lacking. The goal of the current study was to investigate the effect of one year of krill oil (a source of LCPUFA) supplementation on the cognitive performance of adolescents with a low Omega-3 Index (O3I &le, 5%). A double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled supplementation trial with repeated measurements (baseline (T0), three months (T1), six months (T2), and 12 months (T3)) in adolescents (267 randomized) was executed. Participants were randomized to 400 mg eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) per day in Cohort I or placebo and 800 mg EPA + DHA per day in Cohort II or placebo. O3I was monitored by a finger prick at all time points. At T0, T2, and T3, participants executed a neurocognitive test battery. Covariate corrected mixed models were run with either condition (krill or placebo) or O3I as predictors. Krill oil supplementation led to a small but significant increase in mean O3I, but few participants increased to the intended O3I range (8&ndash, 11%). There was no significant effect of supplementation on the neurocognitive tests, nor a relationship between O3I and neurocognitive test scores. The increase in O3I was small in most participants, probably due to non-compliance. Possibly the increase in O3I was too small to demonstrate an effect. More research on the influence of LCPUFAs on cognition in adolescents is needed.

Introduction: Observational studies have shown a relationship between omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) and depression in adolescents. However, n-3 LCPUFA supplementation studies investigating the potential improvement in depressive feelings in adolescents from the general population are missing.Methods: A one-year double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled krill oil supplementation trial was conducted in two cohorts. Cohort I started with 400 mg eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) or placebo, after three months this increased to 800 mg EPA and DHA per day, whilst cohort II started with this higher dose. Omega-3 Index (O3I) was monitored via finger-prick blood measurements. At baseline, six and 12 months participants completed the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Rosenberg Self Esteem questionnaire (RSE). Adjusted mixed models were run with treatment allocation/O3I as predictor of CES-D and RSE scores.Results: Both intention-to-treat and assessing the change in O3I analyses did not show significant effects on CES-D or RSE scores.Conclusion: There is no evidence for less depressive feelings, or higher self-esteem after one year of krill oil supplementation. However, due to a lack of adherence and drop-out issues, these results should be interpreted with caution.

Background Extramuralisation in healthcare has influenced medical and nursing curricula internationally with the incorporation of themes related to primary/ community care. Despite this, students do not easily change their career preferences. The hospital is still favourite, leading to labour market shortages in extramural care. This study investigates how baccalaureate nursing students’ perceptions of community care and placement preferences develop over time in a more ‘community-care-oriented’ curriculum, to gain insights on which curriculum elements potentially influence career choices. Methods A nursing student cohort of a University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands (n = 273) underwent a new four-year curriculum containing extended elements of community care. The primary outcome was assessed with the Scale on Community Care Perceptions (SCOPE). Data were collected each year of study. Descriptive statistics were used to investigate students’ placement preferences and perceptions, and linear mixed model techniques (LMMs) for measuring how students’ perceptions develop over time. Patterns of placement preferences at individual level were visualised. Results Students’ perceptions of community care, as measured with SCOPE, show a slight decrease between year 1 and 4, while items mutually differ substantially. In contrast, the preference of community care for a placement increases from 2.6% in year 1 tot 8.2% in year 4. The hospital is favourite in year 1 (79.8%), and remains most popular. At individual level, students often change placement preferences, although a preference for the hospital is more consistent. The LMMs indicates that, at the four time-points, the estimated marginal means of students’ perceptions fluctuate between 6 and 7 (range 1–10). A placement in community care did not positively influence students’ perceptions, and an intensive 1 week theoretical programme was only temporarily influential. Conclusions Although interest for placement in community care increased substantially, it was not clear which curriculum elements stimulated this, nor did the curriculum positively influence students’ perceptions. As most students do not look forward to the high responsibility of the field, other curricula with educational tracks for more mature students/ nurses with a vocational training may be an alternative contribution to solving the labour market problems in community care.

Technological advancements have generated a strong interest in exploring learner behavior data through learning analytics to provide both learner and instructor with process-oriented feedback in the form of dashboards. However, little is known about the typology of dashboard feedback relevant for different learning goals, learners and teachers. While most dashboards and the feedback that they give are based only on learner performance indicators, research shows that effective feedback needs also to be grounded in the regulatory mechanisms underlying learning processes and an awareness of the learner's learning goals. The design artefact presented in this article uses a conceptual model that visualizes the relationships between dashboard design and the learning sciences to provide cognitive and behavioral process-oriented feedback to learners and teachers to support regulation of learning. A practical case example is given that demonstrates how the ideas presented in the paper can be deployed in the context of a learning dashboard. The case example uses several analytics/visualization techniques based on empirical evidence from earlier research that successfully tested these techniques in various learning contexts.

Background: The shift in healthcare to extramural leads to more patients with complex health problems receiving nursing care at home. However, the interest of baccalaureate nursing students for community nursing is moderate, which contributes to widespread labour-market shortages. This study investigates the effect of a more ‘communitycare-oriented’ curriculum on nursing students’ perceptions of community care. Methods: A quasi-experimental quantitative survey study with a historic control group (n = 477; study cohorts graduating in 2015, 2016, and 2017; response rate 90%) and an intervention group (n = 170; graduating in 2018; response rate 93%) was performed in nursing students of a University of Applied Sciences in a large city in the Netherlands. The intervention group underwent a new curriculum containing extended elements of community care. The primary outcome was assessed with the Scale on Community Care Perceptions (SCOPE). The control and intervention group were compared on demographics, placement preferences and perceptions with a chi-square or T-test. Multiple regression was used to investigate the effect of the curriculum-redesign on nursing students’ perceptions of community care.Results: The comparison between the control and intervention group on students’ perceptions of community care shows no significant differences (mean 6.18 vs 6.21 [range 1–10], respectively), nor does the curriculum-redesign have a positive effect on students’ perceptions F (1,635) = .021, p = .884, R2 = < .001. The comparison on placement preferences also shows no significant differences and confirms the hospital’s popularity (72.7% vs 76.5%, respectively) while community care is less often preferred (9.2% vs 8.2%, respectively). The demographics ‘working in community care’ and ‘belonging to a church/religious group’ appear to be significant predictors of more positive perceptions of community care. Conclusions: Graduating students who experienced a more ‘community-care-oriented’ curriculum did not more often prefer community care placement, nor did their perceptions of community care change. Apparently, four years of education and placement experiences have only little impact and students’ perceptions are relatively static. It would be worth a try to conduct a large-scale approach in combination with a carefully thought out strategy, based on and tying in with the language and culture of younger people. Keywords: Community care, Nurse education, Curriculum design, Perceptions, Career choice

In contemporary education, students often need to use the Internet to find information for solving a problem and completing a learning task. Teachers assume that students are sufficiently skilled to do so, but research shows the skills necessary for effective information problem solving (IPS) are more often than not underdeveloped. This paper presents a study on embedded IPS training consisting of whole IPS tasks integrated in a 20-week course on vocabulary development, and its effects on student teachers' IPS skills. Skill measurements show that student teachers receiving the training search and select information more systematically in the short term, but their search queries, sources, and solutions are not of significantly higher quality than those of student teachers who received the regular course without IPS training. In addition, the improvements were no longer visible after five weeks. The training therefore succeeded in developing cognitive strategies for approaching an information problem, but did not create lasting improvements in all aspects of the IPS skill. Methodological and practical implications are discussed.

PurposeDepression is common in adolescents and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) are suggested to be associated with depression. However, research in adolescents is limited. Furthermore, self-esteem has never been studied in relation to LCPUFA. The objective here was to determine associations of depression and self-esteem with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), Omega-3 Index (O3I), n-6 docosapentaenoic acid (n-6 DPA, also called Osbond acid, ObA), n-3 docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and arachidonic acid (AA) concentrations in blood of adolescents attending lower general secondary education (LGSE).MethodsBaseline cross-sectional data from a krill oil supplementation trial in adolescents attending LGSE with an O3I ≤ 5% were analysed using regression models built with the BayesFactor package in R. Fatty acids and O3I were determined in blood. Participants filled out the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (RSE).ResultsScores indicative of depression (CES-D ≥ 16) were found in 29.4% of the respondents. Of all fatty acids, we found extreme evidence [Bayes factor (BF) > 100] for a weak negative association between ObA and depression score [− 0.16; 95% credible interval (CI) − 0.28 to − 0.04; BF10 = 245], and substantial evidence for a weak positive association between ObA and self-esteem score (0.09; 95% CI, − 0.03 to 0.20; BF10 = 4). When all fatty acids were put in one model as predictors of CES-D or RSE, all of the 95% CI contained 0, i.e., no significant association.ConclusionNo evidence was found for associations of DHA, EPA and O3I with depression or self-esteem scores in LGSE adolescents with O3I ≤ 5%. The associations of higher ObA status with lower depression and higher self-esteem scores warrant more research.

BackgroundDespite the increasing labour market shortage of well-educated community nurses, few baccalaureate nursing students choose for a career in community care. Obtaining knowledge of how students perceive healthcare areas early in their education is important to take meaningful steps in counteracting any existing misconceptions with targeted curriculum redesign.ObjectiveDetermination of factors underlying perceptions of healthcare areas in first-year baccalaureate nursing students.DesignA descriptive qualitative study using focus group inquiry.MethodsThis study follows up on a large-sample quantitative multicentre survey study. Fourteen first-year nursing students at a university of applied sciences in the Netherlands participated in focus group discussions in October 2014. Transcripts of the discussions were coded by two independent researchers at three levels – open, axial and selective coding – on the basis of two templates. The codes were sorted into categories and assigned to suitable main codes in the templates. The number of sub-codes per category and code were added together.ResultsEight main themes were formulated, to wit (1) variety and diversity, (2) challenges, (3) improving people's health, (4) collaboration, (5) role models, (6) patient- or environment-based perceptions, (7) self-efficacy and (8) immediate vicinity. Data suggest that first-year students have clear ideas about the characteristics which they consider important in professional practice. Their perceptions do not necessarily reflect the actual situation, as they expect the hospital to possess all desired characteristics while community nursing seems to be undervalued.ConclusionTo remedy students' misperceptions, four recommendations are formulated for curriculum redesign strategies deriving from the eight themes. These recommendations are based on collaboration between school and care organisations as well as on themes related to in-depth knowledge within the educational programme. The interventions will potentially help to strengthen the focus on community care, which will foster a more optimistic and realistic career outlook on this field.

The paper addresses and explains some of the key questions about the use of data mining in educational technology classroom research. Two examples of use of data mining techniques, namely, association rules mining and fuzzy representations are presented, from a study conducted in Europe and another in Australia. Both of these studies examine student learning, behaviors, and experiences within computer-supported classroom activities. In the first study, the technique of association rules mining was used to understand better how learners with different cognitive types interacted with a simulation to solve a problem. Association rules mining was found to be a useful method for obtaining reliable data about learners' use of the simulation and their performance with it. The study illustrates how data mining can be used to advance educational software evaluation practices in the field of educational technology. In the second study, the technique of fuzzy representations was employed to inductively explore questionnaire data. The study provides a good example of how educational technologists can use data mining for guiding and monitoring school-based technology integration efforts. Based on the outcomes, the implications of the study are discussed in terms of the need to develop educational data mining tools that can display results, information, explanations, comments, and recommendations in meaningful ways to non-expert users in data mining. Lastly, issues related to data privacy are addressed.

Current discussions about educational policy and practice are often embedded in a mind-set that considers students who were born in an age of omnipresent digital media to be fundamentally different from previous generations of students. These students have been labelled digital natives and have been ascribed the ability to cognitively process multiple sources of information simultaneously (i.e., they can multitask ). As a result of this thinking, they are seen by teachers, educational administrators, politicians/policy makers, and the media to require an educational approach radically different from that of previous generations. This article presents scientific evidence showing that there is no such thing as a digital native who is information-skilled simply because (s)he has never known a world that was not digital. It then proceeds to present evidence that one of the alleged abilities of students in this generation, the ability to multitask, does not exist and that designing education that assumes the presence of this ability hinders rather than helps learning. The article concludes by elaborating on possible implications of this for education/educational policy.

In complex cognitive domains such as air traffic control, professionals must be able to adapt to and act upon continuing changes in a highly advanced technological work environment. To function optimally in such an environment, the controllers must be able to regulate their learning. Although these regulation skills should be part of their training, this is not usually the case. This study evaluates a training program that integrates air traffic control skills with regulation skills. The participants were 29 air traffic control students who followed either the original training program (n = 12) or a new program (n = 17) in which the development of regulation skills was embedded in the training of domain specific skills. Compared to students in the original program, the students in the new program showed increased self-efficacy in the use of self-regulated learning skills with improved performance in domain specific competences. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to the daily training practice of complex cognitive skills.

Concept mapping has been employed as a promising tool to facilitate group learning and interaction mainly in the classroom. Computer- and web-based applications provide plenty of opportunities to extend concept mapping mediated group learning to online environments. Nevertheless, the effects of concept mapping on group learning and interaction may vary with the nature of group tasks and other factors. This study investigated the effects of web-based collaborative concept mapping on group interaction in two task situations: concept-oriented task and design-oriented task. Web-based collaborative concept mapping was used to mediate small group learning among college students in an online environment. The findings revealed that there were differences in the effects of collaborative concept mapping on group interaction between the two task situations; collaborative concept mapping functioned more effectively in facilitating group interaction in the concept-oriented task situation than in the design-oriented task situation in several ways.

Objectives‐based instructional design approaches break down tasks into specific learning objectives and prescribe that instructors should choose the optimal instructional method for teaching each respective objective until all objectives have been taught. This approach is appropriate for many tasks where there is little relation between the objectives, but less effective for teaching complex professional tasks that require the integration of knowledge, skills, and attitudes and the coordination of different skills. For the latter, a task‐centred approach that starts designing instruction from whole, real‐life tasks, is more appropriate. This article describes one task‐centred instructional design model, namely the Four‐Component Instructional Design (4C/ID) model and illustrates its application by reflecting on three educational programs in higher education designed with 4C/ID. The first case presents a design for a course that focuses on the development of mobile apps at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. The second case illustrates the integration of information problem‐solving skills at Iselinge University of Professional Teacher Education, a teacher training institute in the Netherlands. The third case is an example from general practice education at the KU Leuven, Belgium. Future developments and issues concerning the implementation of task‐centred educational programmes are discussed.

OBJECTIVES: To review recent literature on student nurses' perceptions of different areas of nursing practice, in particular community care. Healthcare is changing from care delivery in institutional settings to care to patients in their own homes. Problematic is that nursing students do not see community care as an attractive line of work, and their perceptions of community care do not reflect the realities of the profession. Understanding the factors influencing the perception of the professional field is important to positively influence students' willingness to see community nursing as a future profession.DESIGN: Literature search with accompanying narrative synthesis of primary research.DATA SOURCES: ERIC(®), PsycInfo(®), Pubmed(®), and CINAHL(®) (2004-2014) databases using the search terms: 'nursing student', 'student nurse', 'community care', 'community nurse', 'image', 'attitude', and 'perception'.REVIEW METHODS: After screening 522 retrieved article titles with abstracts, the number of articles was reduced based upon specified inclusion/exclusion criteria leading to inclusion of 34. Evaluation of the references in those articles yielded an additional 5 articles. A narrative synthesis of those articles was created to uncover students' perception of community care, other areas of professional practice, and the factors influencing those perceptions.RESULTS: 39 articles were selected. Results show that many nursing students begin their education with a lay person's conception of the profession, shaped by media representations. Work placements in different settings offer clinical experience that helps students orient themselves towards a future profession. Students prefer hospitals as a place of work, because of the acute nature and technologically advanced level of care offered there. Few students perceive mental health and elderly care as appealing. Perceptions of community care can vary widely, the most prevalent view being that it is unattractive because of its chronic care profile, with little technical skill, untrained workers, and a high workload. However, another view is that it offers challenging and meaningful work because of the variety of caregiving roles and the opportunity to work independently.CONCLUSIONS: Few nursing students choose community nursing as a future profession. They have a limited and often mistaken view of community care, and they underestimate the field's complexity because it is less visible than in the environment of acute care. Providing students with specific curricular content and employing a structured approach to preparation for work placement could help build a more positive perception of community care, leading to more students seeing/choosing community care as a desirable field of work.

While most students seem to solve information problems effortlessly, research shows that the cognitive skills for effective information problem solving are often underdeveloped. Students manage to find information and formulate solutions, but the quality of their process and product is questionable. It is therefore important to develop instruction for fostering these skills. In this research, a 2-h online intervention was presented to first-year university students with the goal to improve their information problem solving skills while investigating effects of different types of built-in task support. A training design containing completion tasks was compared to a design using emphasis manipulation. A third variant of the training combined both approaches. In two experiments, these conditions were compared to a control condition receiving conventional tasks without built-in task support. Results of both experiments show that students' information problem solving skills are underdeveloped, which underlines the necessity for formal training. While the intervention improved students' skills, no differences were found between conditions. The authors hypothesize that the effective presentation of supportive information in the form of a modeling example at the start of the training caused a strong learning effect, which masked effects of task support. Limitations and directions for future research are presented. Information problem solving skills in university students are underdeveloped.A 2-h online training increased information problem solving skills.In two experiments, different types of built-in task support were compared.Students receiving no support showed performance equal to that of supported students.The form of task support did not affect reported mental effort during learning.

The field of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is progressing instrumentally and theoretically. Nevertheless, few studies examine the effectiveness and efficiency of CSCL with respect to cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social issues, despite the fact that the role of regulatory processes is critical for the quality of students’ engagement in collaborative learning settings. We review the four earlier lines in developing support in CSCL and show how there has been a lack of work to support individuals in groups to engage in, sustain, and productively regulate their own and the group’s collaborative processes. Our aim is to discuss how our conceptual work in socially shared regulation of learning (SSRL) contributes to effective and efficient CSCL, what tools are presently available, and what the implications of research on these tools are for future tool development.

The increased interest in multimodal data collection in the learning sciences demands for new and powerful methodological and analytical techniques and technologies. It is especially challenging for learning scientists to handle, analyse, and interpret complex and often invisible multimodal data when investigating regulation of learning in collaborative settings as this data can be cognitive, social and/or emotional in nature, much of which is covert in nature. The aim of this paper is to present ways to simplify the analysis and use of rich multimodal data by learning scientists. This is done by making primarily invisible regulation processes and their accompanying social and contextual reactions visible, measurable, and ultimately interpretable. To facilitate data visualisation and processing with respect to the regulation of learning, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) known as SLAM-KIT has been designed. SLAM-KIT reveals principal features of complex learning environments by allowing users to travel through the learners' data and its statistical characteristics. This kit has practical implications as it simplifies complex information and data while making them available through visualisation and analysis to the researchers. Our short-term goal is to simplify this tool for the teachers and learners.

Although students often appear to be skilled in retrieving and making use of information from the internet, research shows that their information problem solving skills are overestimated. They show deficiencies in many of the necessary skills, such as generation of search terms, selection of sources, and critical processing of information. It is therefore necessary to design and develop effective instruction to foster information problem solving skills. Research shows that learning from examples can be an effective approach for teaching complex cognitive skills in ill‐structured domains, such as writing or communicating. To explore whether this also holds for information problem solving, this study investigates the effects of presenting a modelling example in an online information problem solving training. Results of two experiments show that viewing a modelling example, presented as a screencast of an expert thinking out loud and interspersed with cognitive prompts, leads to a higher posttest performance than performing a practice task. The effect persisted on a delayed posttest 1 week later. The results imply that information problem solving instruction in an online setting can benefit from employing video‐based modelling examples.

Argumentation is fundamental for many learning assignments, ranging from primary school to university and beyond. Computer-supported argument scaffolds can facilitate argumentative discourse along with concomitant interactive discussions among learners in a group (i.e., first-order argument scaffolding). However, there is no evidence, and hence no knowledge, of whether such argument scaffolds can help students acquire argumentation competence that can be transferred by the students themselves to various similar learning tasks (i.e., second-order argument scaffolding). Therefore, this conceptual article argues that the focus of argument scaffold design and research should be expanded: from the study of first-order scaffolding alone to including the study of second-order scaffolding as well. On the basis of the Script Theory of Guidance (SToG), this paper presents a guideline for second-order argument scaffolding using diagnosis of the student’s internal argumentative script and offering adaptive external support and various fading mechanisms. It also explains how to complement adaptive fading support with peer assessment, automatic response tools, and adaptable self-assessment to ensure that learners actually understand, learn, and apply targeted argumentation activities in similar situations.

Search, especially library search, is a distinct part of the research process which can be taught and supported separately from the scholarly processes of knowledge creation. We interviewed eight early career researchers (ECRs) composed of doctoral students or recent graduates about their overall scholarly workflows including not only search but also social networking around scholarly information and production of scholarly works. Evidence suggests that search itself is less discrete and library-centric than prior models may have suggested, and that students use both social resources and non-library technologies to discover and locate scholarly works. We argue that taking a workflow-centric and collaboration-centric view, rather than a search-centric view, should inform design of tools and training for search of scholarly resources.

This article explores how personal professional theories (PPTs) develop. PPT development of nine junior accountants and nine novice teachers was monitored by repeated measurements over a period of 1.5 years, from the last year of vocational education until the second year of their professional careers. Computer-supported construction of PPT concept maps was used at three moments to test hypotheses derived from theories on expertise development. It could be concluded that on average PPTs became more complex. The PPTs of teachers also became richer, but the generality of PPTs did not significantly increase. Appearance and disappearance of concepts and changes in their importance were observed and appeared dependent on the professional environment of the participants. The findings indicate that: PPT development is an important manifestation of expertise development which could be used to support the professional development of students and beginning workers; and the concept map method can be used to reveal this development.

BACKGROUNDKnowledge about the beneficial role of physical activity (PA) for health and school performance is growing. Studies investigating the link between PA and school absenteeism due to illness are lacking. Therefore, we investigated associations between habitual PA and school absenteeism due to illness in adolescents and explored whether mental health and cardiovascular fitness mediated this association.METHODSWe studied 328 students in grades 7 and 9 (mean age 13.8 years; 49% boys). The PA was measured objectively by an ActivPAL3 accelerometer attached on the thigh during 1 full week (24 hours/day). Depressive symptoms and self-esteem were self-reported by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, respectively, and included as a proxy for mental health in the analyses. Cardiovascular fitness was measured by the 20-m shuttle-run test. School absenteeism due to illness data was provided by the school administration.RESULTSThe PA was not significantly associated with school absenteeism, though there was an indirect association between PA and school absenteeism by cardiovascular fitness.CONCLUSIONSCardiovascular fitness mediates the association between PA and school absenteeism due to illness. Thus, cardiovascular fitness of students should be improved to reduce school absenteeism due to illness.

On-demand education enables individual learners to choose their learning pathways according to their own learning needs. They must use self-directed learning SDL skills involving self-assessment and task selection to determine appropriate pathways for learning. Learners who lack these skills must develop them because SDL skills are prerequisite to developing domain-specific skills. This article describes the design of an on-demand learning environment developed to enable novices to simultaneously develop their SDL and domain-specific skills. Learners received advice on their self-assessments and their selections of subsequent learning tasks. In the domain of system dynamics - a way to model a dynamic system and draw graphs depicting the system's behaviour over time - advice on self-assessment is provided in a scoring rubric containing relevant performance standards. Advice on task selection indicates all relevant task aspects to be taken into account, including recommendations for suitable learning tasks which meet the individual learner's needs. This article discusses the design of the environment and the learners' perceptions of its usefulness. Most of the times, the learners found the advice appropriate and they followed it in 78% of their task selections.

Though the concept of time is fuzzily defined in education, it embraces many key teaching and learning aspects of the educational situation from scheduling (at the macro, meso, and micro level) through certification (i.e., credit requirements). It is also one of the determining factors within institutions for distance learning where education is almost always time and place independent and where learners and/or institutions make use of online and/or e-learning. Strangely, while these temporal aspects of teaching and learning are extremely important, the time-factor has not received much attention in educational research. This is especially strange since “lack of time” and “out of sync” are two of the most common complaints heard from learners in online educational settings. Thus, educational practice misses adequate research on an important aspect that can improve education/learning in general and online/e-learning in particular. To better understand how research deals with “time” as a factor in learning and education, a systematic literature analysis of articles relating to “time” was carried out in a high-impact SSCI journal on education and educational technology. A total of 966 articles across a period of 11 years was analyzed for the presence of “time” as a factor in the research published. The most important result of this literature analysis was that “time” played almost no role as a variable in research on education and educational technology.

The role of social learning as a governance mechanism in natural resource management has been frequently highlighted, but progress in finding evidence for this role and gaining insight into the conditions that promote it are hampered by the lack of operational definitions of social learning and practical methods to measure it. In this article, we present a simple and flexible method to measure social learning, whether it has occurred and to what extent, among stakeholders in natural resource management. The method yields measurements of social learning that are visual, quantitative and qualitative. First, we elaborate our definition of social learning as a convergence of perspectives and outline how stakeholder perspectives in natural resource management can be described with Cultural Theory. Next, we provide a generic description of the method, followed by two examples illustrating its application to the domains of water and land management. Finally, we discuss relative strengths and weaknesses of the method and how it could be applied to improve our understanding of factors that contribute to social learning.

Although there are research findings supporting the positive effects of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), problems have been reported regarding the learning process itself, group formation, and group dynamics. These problems can be traced back to impeded social interaction between group members. Social interaction is necessary (a) for group members to learn from each other in a CSCL environment and (b) for socioemotional processes to help create a social space where trust, sense of community, and strong interpersonal relationships exist. This article introduces a theoretical framework consisting of three core elements: sociability, social space, and social presence, along with their relationships with group members’ mental models, social affordances and learning outcomes. It postulates that the three core elements influence the social interaction needed for both learning and the emergence of a social space. This framework serves as a basis for a research agenda for systematic social CSCL r...

BackgroundDespite increasing shortages of highly educated community nurses, far too few nursing students choose community care. This means that a strong societal problem is emerging that desperately needs resolution.ObjectivesTo acquire a solid understanding of the causes for the low popularity of community care by exploring first-year baccalaureate nursing students' perceptions of community care, their placement preferences, and the assumptions underlying these preferences.DesignA quantitative cross-sectional design.SettingsSix universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands.ParticipantsNursing students in the first semester of their 4-year programme (n = 1058).MethodsData were collected in September–December 2014. The students completed the ‘Scale on Community Care Perceptions’ (SCOPE), consisting of demographic data and three subscales measuring the affective component of community care perception, perceptions of a placement and a profession in community care, and students' current placement preferences. Descriptive statistics were used.ResultsFor a practice placement, 71.2% of first-year students prefer the general hospital and 5.4% community care, whereas 23.4% opt for another healthcare area. Students consider opportunities for advancement and enjoyable relationships with patients as most important for choosing a placement. Community care is perceived as a ‘low-status-field’ with many elderly patients, where students expect to find little variety in caregiving and few opportunities for advancement. Students' perceptions of the field are at odds with things they believe to be important for their placement.ConclusionDue to misconceptions, students perceive community care as offering them few challenges. Strategies to positively influence students' perceptions of community nursing are urgently required to halt the dissonance between students' preference for the hospital and society's need for highly educated community nurses.

Contains fulltext : 176251pub.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) This paper reports on the findings in the first phase of a design-based research project as part of a large-scale intervention study in Dutch kindergartens. The project aims at enhancing differentiated instruction and evaluating its effects on children's development, in particular high-ability children. This study investigates relevant intervention fidelity factors based on [Fullan, M. (2007). The New Meaning of Educational Change. New York: Teachers College Press]. A one-year intervention in 18 K-6 schools was conducted to implement the screening of children's entry characteristics, differentiation of (preparatory) mathematics and language curricula, and a policy for the differentiation and teaching high-ability children. The intervention fidelity and implementation process were scored for each school using data from observations, field notes and log books. Self-report questionnaires measured participants' perceptions of the intervention (n = 35 teachers, 18 principals). Quantitative results showed that intervention fidelity differed between schools. Qualitative analyses of perceptions and cross-case analyses of three kindergartens showed that a strong need, pressure from parents, an involved principal, and teacher time and motivation contributed to successful implementation. Implementation barriers were the innovation’s complexity, teacher beliefs, an absent principal and low teacher motivation (which was partly due to communication problems). Implications for interventions in general and differentiated instruction for high-ability children in particular are discussed. 19 p.

Item does not contain fulltext This article presents the use of personal professional theories (PPTs) in Dutch higher vocational education. PPTs are internalised bodies of formal and practical knowledge and convictions that professionals use to direct their behaviour. With the aid of high-quality representations of students’ PPTs teachers can access, monitor, and support the professional development of students. Two qualitatively equivalent techniques for representing PPTs are (computer-supported) concept mapping and interviewing. The article reports on a study of the effects of combining these techniques to determine whether (1) this results in higher quality representations and (2), if so, whether technique order will make a difference. The study was conducted in two very different vocational domains: accountancy with 29 participants and teacher education with 20 participants. The results of a counterbalanced quasi-experiment with two factors (i.e. domain and order) show in both domains that combining the techniques improves quality but that the order in which the techniques are applied does not matter. This order independence has practical importance as the combination of first conducting a computer-supported analysis of a student generated concept map and subsequently discussing the results with the student, fosters learning and is well suited to educational practice.

In on-demand education, learners are required to plan their own learning trajectory by selecting suitable learning tasks. A positive effect on learning is expected when learners select tasks that help them fulfil their individual learning needs. However, the selection of suitable tasks is a difficult process for learners with little domain knowledge and suboptimal task-selection skills. A common solution for helping learners deal with on-demand education and develop domain-specific skills is to give them advice on task selection. In a randomized experiment, learners (N = 30) worked on learning tasks in the domain of system dynamics and received either advice or no advice on the selection of new learning tasks. Surprisingly, the no-advice group outperformed the advice group on a post-test measuring domain-specific skills. It is concluded that giving advice on task selection prevents learners from thinking about how the process of task selection works. The advice seems to supplant rather than support their considerations why they should perform the advised task, which results in negative effects on learning. Implications for future research on giving advice in on-demand education are discussed.

Feedback has been shown to substantially influence students' learning. However, not everything characterized as feedback is effective. Sustainable feedback places students in an active role in which they generate and use feedback from peers, self or others and aims at developing lifelong learning skills. First-year higher education students and tutors received sustainable feedback during their problem-based learning. To gain insights into how they perceived the sustainable feedback, students were probed via structured, open-ended questionnaires. While all participants positively valued the feedback, their personal characteristics, previous experience with feedback and concomitant perceptions appeared to have greatly influenced both tutors' and students' specific, individual behavior and responses. Conclusion is that sustainable feedback requires an evolving role of students and tutors with respect to sharing their perceptions of what feedback is, understanding the value and importance of feedback contributions of all participants, and developing the necessary skills to ask questions and give feedback. Keywords: Sustainable Feedback, Perceptions, Individual Characteristics, Asking and Seeking, Self-Efficacy, Goal Orientation During their studies in higher education students are preparing themselves for entering the labor market successfully after they graduate. It can be questioned what and how they should learn in order to become lifelong learners. Lifelong learning skills, such as monitoring and evaluating one's own learning process, should be developed while studying in higher education. From previous research it is known that feedback can have a significant effect on learning, however, not everything that is called feedback contributes to learning positively. In this study it investigated how feedback, directed at becoming lifelong learners is perceived by students and tutors. Sustainable Feedback While teachers in higher education spend much time and effort providing their students with feedback, the quality of this feedback can be improved (Arts, Jaspers, & Joosten-ten Brinke, 2015). One way to do this, according to Boud and Molloy (2013), is to have the feedback be sought and asked for by students instead of having teachers give the feedback without prior solicitation. This type of feedback is known as sustainable feedback (Carless, 2006). Hattie and Timperley (2007) define feedback as "information provided by an agent (e.g., teacher, peer, book, parent, self) regarding aspects of one's performance or understanding" (p. 81). This information should address the gap between what a person has mastered about a task, process, or their self-regulation and what is aimed or required to be mastered (Sadler, 1989). Feedback, as an educational approach or intervention has been found to have a considerable positive effect on learning, with Hattie (2013) reporting an overall effect size of 0.75. However, not everything that is characterized as feedback effectively leads to learning (Boud & Molloy, 2013). Traditionally, feedback is seen as a one-way activity initiated by the teacher (i.e., someone with more knowledgeable in a position of authority and power), who sends feedback messages to learners about the quality of their work with the objective of improving it. It can be questioned whether this provided feedback of the teacher contributes most effectively to the needs of the students in higher education. For example, feedback that is given as a one-way activity might place students in a passive role and might prohibit them to decode and internalise the feedback message. Society and the students' future working environment are in continuous, fast-paced change which requires corresponding learning outcomes (Nijhuis, Segers, & Gijselaers, 2005). This dynamic needs to be reflected in the intended learning outcomes of higher education such that students are equipped to become self-initiating seekers and users of information necessary for ongoing learning throughout their working lifetime (Boud, 2000). …

Collaborative learning is considered a critical 21st century skill. Much is known about its contribution to learning, but still investigating a process of collaboration remains a challenge. This paper approaches the investigation on collaborative learning from a psychophysiological perspective. An experiment was set up to explore whether biosensors can play a role in analysing collaborative learning. On the one hand, we identified five physiological coupling indices (PCIs) found in the literature: 1) Signal Matching (SM), 2) Instantaneous Derivative Matching (IDM), 3) Directional Agreement (DA), 4) Pearson's correlation coefficient (PCC) and the 5) Fisher's z-transform (FZT) of the PCC. On the other hand, three collaborative learning measurements were used: 1) collaborative will (CW), 2) collaborative learning product (CLP) and 3) dual learning gain (DLG). Regression analyses showed that out of the five PCIs, IDM related the most to CW and was the best predictor of the CLP. Meanwhile, DA predicted DLG the best. These results play a role in determining informative collaboration measures for designing a learning analytics, biofeedback dashboard.

Learning teams in higher education executing a collaborative assignment are not always effective. To remedy this, there is a need to determine and understand the variables that influence team effectiveness. This study aimed at developing a conceptual framework, based on research in various contexts on team effectiveness and specifically team and task awareness. Core aspects of the framework were tested to establish its value for future experiments on influencing team effectiveness. Results confirmed the importance of shared mental models, and to some extent mutual performance monitoring for learning teams to become effective, but also of interpersonal trust as being conditional for building adequate shared mental models. Apart from the importance of team and task awareness for team effectiveness it showed that learning teams in higher education tend to be pragmatic by focusing primarily on task aspects of performance and not team aspects. Further steps have to be taken to validate this conceptual framework on team effectiveness.

This article reports on a qualitative study of the construct of shared epistemic agency, investigated in the context of collaborative instructional design activities of university students. The aim of the study is to shed light on the notion of shared epistemic agency and to create empirical grounding for its theoretical description. The current study provides an account of the construct, based on a review of several theoretical conceptualizations and on the analysis of empirical material from 2 case studies from university education. We investigate shared epistemic agency within the specific framework of the knowledge creation perspective on learning, viewing it as the capacity that enables deliberate collaborative efforts of groups to create shared knowledge objects. Our study identifies and describes 2 core dimensions of shared epistemic agency: the epistemic and the regulative dimensions. We identify actions within each dimension that indicate the manifestation of shared epistemic agency in the practi...

To gain insight in the social processes that underlie knowledge sharing in teams, this article questions which team learning behaviors lead to the construction of a shared mental model. Additionally, it explores how the development of shared mental models mediates the relation between team learning behaviors and team effectiveness. Analyses were performed on student-teams engaged in a business simulation game. The measurement of shared mental models was based on cognitive mapping techniques. The results indicate that a team learning perspective provides insight in how people share knowledge. Particularly the team learning behaviors identified as co-construction and constructive conflict are related to the development of shared mental models. In addition, a shared mental model of the task environment in a team leads to improved performance. This underscores the importance of developing shared cognition in teamwork.

Many researchers use information and communications technology (ICT)-tools to augment learning in a great variety of tasks. Their effects are generally measured in terms of intended outcomes. This article argues for the use of additional, more general measures to obtain a more complete impression of the effects of ICT-tools. The first study presented in this article shows why tools should not only be studied in terms of their specific intended outcomes, but also in terms of their effects on working memory, and the cognitive mechanisms needed to achieve the intended outcomes. The second study uses cognitive load measurements and stimulated recall interviews to obtain a more comprehensive view of the effects of learning tools. Results suggest that traditional outcome measures need to be complemented with quantitative and qualitative measures of cognitive processes to substantiate conclusions about intended effects of ICT-tools.

The impact of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) on cognition is heavily debated. In the current study, the possible association between omega-3 LCPUFAs in blood and cognitive performance of 266 typically developing adolescents aged 13-15 years is investigated. Baseline data from Food2Learn, a double-blind and randomized placebo controlled krill oil supplementation trial in typically developing adolescents, were used for the current study. The Omega-3 Index was determined with blood from a finger prick. At baseline, participants finished a neuropsychological test battery consisting of the Letter Digit Substitution Test (LDST), D2 test of attention, Digit Span Forward and Backward, Concept Shifting Test and Stroop test. Data were analyzed with multiple regression analyses with correction for covariates. The average Omega-3 Index was 3.83% (SD 0.60). Regression analyses between the Omega-3 Index and the outcome parameters revealed significant associations with scores on two of the nine parameters. The association between the Omega-3 Index and both scores on the LDST (beta = 0.136 and p = 0.039), and the number of errors of omission on the D2 (beta = -0.053 and p = 0.007). This is a possible indication for a higher information processing speed and less impulsivity in those with a higher Omega-3 Index.

Computer simulation models are increasingly used to support solving complex problems in natural resource management, with social learning as subsidiary goal of the solution process. In this research, a serious game on water management is used where participants receive feedback on consequences of their choices from an Integrated Assessment Meta Model. This study aims to determine if and how social learning takes place and explores the role of the model in social learning. Group discussions were qualitatively analysed to uncover and understand the mechanisms in this process. Results show that social learning took place in 10 of the 12 game sessions. Though model feedback was an important driver for social learning, social learning was driven most by the team's reflection on their perspective. We conclude that using a model can facilitate social learning in a serious-game setting, in particular in combination with reflection on teams' perspectives. We explored the role of a computer model in social learning on water management.Group discussions were qualitatively analysed to understand the role of the model.Model feedback was an important driver of social learning.Social learning was driven most by reflection by people on their perspectives.

Self-efficacy and goal orientation are important variables which affect student learning behaviour. To investigate the relationship between these variables and their effect on learning behaviour over time, a pretest–posttest non-equivalent group design with three repeated measures was used. During an 8-week period, student self-efficacy, goal orientation, and learning behaviour were measured using validated questionnaires among first-year higher education, mixed-nationality (Dutch and German) students in a problem-based learning context. Goal orientations were significantly related to deep learning, and self-efficacy was significantly related to a specific goal orientation, namely the mastery-approach. Mastery goal orientations decreased over time, while the surface learning behaviour increased. Significant differences were found between nationalities with respect to learning behaviour and goal orientation.

Item does not contain fulltext This article introduces a dedicated, computer-supported method to construct and formatively assess open, annotated concept maps of Personal Professional Theories (PPTs). These theories are internalised, personal bodies of formal and practical knowledge, values, norms and convictions that professionals use as a reference to interpret and acquire knowledge, and to direct their behaviour, and which vocational students are expected to develop. Monitoring the development of PPTs and assessing their quality are difficult as they are, essentially, mental schemes. Traditional methods, such as semi-structured interviews and concept mapping, are either too labour-intensive to be used in an educational setting or are not able to reveal their full quality. The study presents a new method which is valid, reliable and easy to use in education and which reveals the quality in a way that is comparable to or better than interviews. 27 januari 2016

Introduction The influence of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) supplementation on brain functioning is debated. Some studies have found positive effects on cognition in children with learning difficulties, elderly people with cognitive impairment and depression scores in depressed individuals. Other studies have found null or negative effects. Observational studies in adolescents have found positive associations between fish consumption (containing n-3 LCPUFAs) and academic achievement. However, intervention studies in typically developing adolescents are missing. Objective The goal of this study is to determine the influence of increasing Omega-3 Index on cognitive functioning, academic achievement and mental well-being of typically developing adolescents. Methods and data analysis Double-blind, randomised, placebo controlled intervention; 264 adolescents (age 13–15 years) attending lower general secondary education started daily supplementation of 400 mg eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (EPA+DHA) in cohort I (n=130) and 800 mg EPA+DHA in cohort II (n=134) or a placebo for 52 weeks. Recruitment took place according to a low Omega-3 Index (