e-Learning research: emerging issues?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helen Beetham

2005-12-01

Full Text Available e-Learning research is an expanding and diversifying field of study. Specialist research units and departments proliferate. Postgraduate courses recruit well in the UK and overseas, with an increasing focus on critical and research-based aspects of the field, as well as the more obvious professional development requirements. Following this year's launch of a National e-Learning Research Centre, it is timely to debate what the field of study should be prioritising for the future. This discussion piece suggests that the focus should fall on questions that are both clear and tractable for researchers, and likely to have a real impact on learners and practitioners. Suggested questions are based on early findings from a series of JISC-funded projects on e-learning and pedagogy.

Chemical Education Research: Improving Chemistry Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Dudley Herron, J.; Nurrenbern, Susan C.

1999-10-01

Chemical education research is the systematic investigation of learning grounded in a theoretical foundation that focuses on understanding and improving learning of chemistry. This article reviews many activities, changes, and accomplishments that have taken place in this area of scholarly activity despite its relatively recent emergence as a research area. The article describes how the two predominant broad perspectives of learning, behaviorism and constructivism, have shaped and influenced chemical education research design, analysis, and interpretation during the 1900s. Selected research studies illustrate the range of research design strategies and results that have contributed to an increased understanding of learning in chemistry. The article also provides a perspective of current and continuing challenges that researchers in this area face as they strive to bridge the gap between chemistry and education - disciplines with differing theoretical bases and research paradigms.

ClimateNet: A Machine Learning dataset for Climate Science Research

Science.gov (United States)

Prabhat, M.; Biard, J.; Ganguly, S.; Ames, S.; Kashinath, K.; Kim, S. K.; Kahou, S.; Maharaj, T.; Beckham, C.; O'Brien, T. A.; Wehner, M. F.; Williams, D. N.; Kunkel, K.; Collins, W. D.

2017-12-01

Deep Learning techniques have revolutionized commercial applications in Computer vision, speech recognition and control systems. The key for all of these developments was the creation of a curated, labeled dataset ImageNet, for enabling multiple research groups around the world to develop methods, benchmark performance and compete with each other. The success of Deep Learning can be largely attributed to the broad availability of this dataset. Our empirical investigations have revealed that Deep Learning is similarly poised to benefit the task of pattern detection in climate science. Unfortunately, labeled datasets, a key pre-requisite for training, are hard to find. Individual research groups are typically interested in specialized weather patterns, making it hard to unify, and share datasets across groups and institutions. In this work, we are proposing ClimateNet: a labeled dataset that provides labeled instances of extreme weather patterns, as well as associated raw fields in model and observational output. We develop a schema in NetCDF to enumerate weather pattern classes/types, store bounding boxes, and pixel-masks. We are also working on a TensorFlow implementation to natively import such NetCDF datasets, and are providing a reference convolutional architecture for binary classification tasks. Our hope is that researchers in Climate Science, as well as ML/DL, will be able to use (and extend) ClimateNet to make rapid progress in the application of Deep Learning for Climate Science research.

Learned-Helplessness Theory: Implications for Research in Learning Disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Canino, Frank J.

1981-01-01

The application of learned helplessness theory to achievement is discussed within the context of implications for research in learning disabilities. Finally, the similarities between helpless children and learning disabled students in terms of problems solving and attention are discussed. (Author)

A snapshot of research in learning technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rhona Sharpe

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The papers in this issue present a convenient snapshot of current research in learning technology, both in their coverage of the issues that concern us and the methods that are being used to investigate them. This issue shows that e-learning researchers are interested in: what technologies are available and explorations of their potential (Nie et al. explore the role of podcasting, how to design technology-mediated learning activities in ways which support specific learning outcomes (Simpson evaluates the role of ‘book raps' in supporting critical thinking, the identification of critical success factors in implementations (Cochrane's observation of three mobile learning projects and how such e-learning initiatives can be sustained within an institutional context (Gunn's examination of the challenges of embedding ‘grass roots' initiatives. Finally e-learning research is concerned with investigating the impact of emerging technologies on education – in this case Traxler's discussion of mobile, largely student-owned, devices. Together these five papers demonstrate the scope of research in learning technology and it is with this in mind that we will soon be referring to this journal by its subtitle: Research in Learning Technology.

Research with and by people with learning disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Durell, Shirley

Many people with learning disabilities are frequently excluded from active involvement in research and, as a result, along with researchers, have questioned research processes. These discussions have influenced how research is undertaken by, and with, people who have learning disabilities. Learning disability research is now increasingly framed as inclusive. This article explores the development of inclusive learning disability research by tracing its background and influences, identifying key characteristics and highlighting some of the challenges in its application. It demonstrates how inclusive research can give people with learning disabilities a voice that will help to inform practice.

Effect of Methods of Learning and Self Regulated Learning toward Outcomes of Learning Social Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Tjalla, Awaluddin; Sofiah, Evi

2015-01-01

This research aims to reveal the influence of learning methods and self-regulated learning on students learning scores for Social Studies object. The research was done in Islamic Junior High School (MTs Manba'ul Ulum), Batuceper City Tangerang using quasi-experimental method. The research employed simple random technique to 28 students. Data were…

Research Ethics in Teaching and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Doyle, Elaine; Buckley, Patrick

2014-01-01

The evolution of enquiry-based teaching and learning has broadened the range of research carried out by university students. As a result, the boundaries between teaching and learning and academic research are being blurred to a degree not experienced heretofore. This paper examines whether research undertaken as part of course work should fall…

Notes toward a Philosophy of Action Learning Research

Science.gov (United States)

Coghlan, David; Coughlan, Paul

2010-01-01

The philosophical foundations of action learning research have not received a great deal of attention. In the context of action learning postgraduate and professional programmes in universities, articulation of a philosophy of action learning research seems timely and appropriate. This article explores a philosophy of action learning research,…

Ethical Issues in Qualitative E-Learning Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heather Kanuka

2007-06-01

Full Text Available In the mid 1980s education researchers began exploring the use of the Internet within teaching and learning practices, now commonly referred to as e-learning. At the same time, many e-learning researchers were discovering that the application of existing ethical guidelines for qualitative research was resulting in confusion and uncertainty among both researchers and ethics review board members. Two decades later we continue to be plagued by these same ethical issues. On reflection on our research practices and examination of the literature on ethical issues relating to qualitative Internet- and Web-based research, the authors conclude that there are three main areas of confusion and uncertainty among researchers in the field of e-learning: (a participant consent, (b public versus private ownership, and (c confidentiality and anonymity.

Assessing recall, conceptualization, and transfer capabilities of novice biochemistry students' across learning style preferences as revealed by self-explanations

Science.gov (United States)

Hilsenbeck-Fajardo, Jacqueline L.

2009-08-01

The research described herein is a multi-dimensional attempt to measure student's abilities to recall, conceptualize, and transfer fundamental and dynamic protein structure concepts as revealed by their own diagrammatic (pictorial) representations and written self-explanations. A total of 120 participants enrolled in a 'Fundamentals of Biochemistry' course contributed to this mixed-methodological study. The population of interest consisted primarily of pre-nursing and sport and exercise science majors. This course is typically associated with a high (researcher with an ideal context in which to apply novel transfer assessment strategies. In the past, students within this population have reported very little chemistry background. In the following study, student-generated diagrammatic representations and written explanations were coded thematically using a highly objective rubric that was designed specifically for this study. Responses provided by the students were characterized on the macroscopic, microscopic, molecular-level, and integrated scales. Recall knowledge gain (i.e., knowledge that was gained through multiple-choice questioning techniques) was quantitatively correlated to learning style preferences (i.e., high-object, low-object, and non-object). Quantitative measures revealed that participants tended toward an object (i.e., snapshot) -based visualization preference, a potentially limiting factor in their desire to consider dynamic properties of fundamental biochemical contexts such as heat-induced protein denaturation. When knowledge transfer was carefully assessed within the predefined context, numerous misconceptions pertaining to the fundamental and dynamic nature of protein structure were revealed. Misconceptions tended to increase as the transfer model shifted away from the context presented in the original learning material. Ultimately, a fundamentally new, novel, and unique measure of knowledge transfer was developed as a main result of this study

Innovation Research in E-Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Bing; Xu, WenXia; Ge, Jun

This study is a productivity review on the literature gleaned from SSCI, SCIE databases concerning innovation research in E-Learning. The result indicates that the number of literature productions on innovation research in ELearning is still growing from 2005. The main research development country is England, and from the analysis of the publication year, the number of papers is increasing peaking in 25% of the total in 2010. Meanwhile the main source title is British Journal of Educational Technology. In addition the subject area concentrated on Education & Educational Research, Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications and Computer Science, Software Engineering. Moreover the research focuses on are mainly conceptual research and empirical research, which were used to explore E-Learning in respective of innovation diffusion theory, also the limitations and future research of these research were discussed for further research.

Music lessons: revealing medicine's learning culture through a comparison with that of music.

Science.gov (United States)

Watling, Christopher; Driessen, Erik; van der Vleuten, Cees P M; Vanstone, Meredith; Lingard, Lorelei

2013-08-01

Research on medical learning has tended to focus on the individual learner, but a sufficient understanding of the learning process requires that attention also be paid to the essential influence of the cultural context within which learning takes place. In this study, we undertook a comparative examination of two learning cultures - those of music and medicine - in order to unearth assumptions about learning that are taken for granted within the medical culture. We used a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore experiences of learning within the two cultures. We conducted nine focus groups (two with medical students, three with residents, four with music students) and four individual interviews (with one clinician-educator, one music educator and two doctor-musicians), for a total of 37 participants. Analysis occurred alongside and informed data collection. Themes were identified iteratively using constant comparisons. Cultural perspectives diverged in terms of where learning should occur, what learning outcomes are desired, and how learning is best facilitated. Whereas medicine valued learning by doing, music valued learning by lesson. Whereas medical learners aimed for competence, music students aimed instead for ever-better performance. Whereas medical learners valued their teachers for their clinical skills more than for their teaching abilities, the opposite was true in music, in which teachers' instructional skills were paramount. Self-assessment challenged learners in both cultures, but medical learners viewed self-assessment as a skill they could develop, whereas music students recognised that external feedback would always be required. This comparative analysis reveals that medicine and music make culturally distinct assumptions about teaching and learning. The contrasts between the two cultures illuminate potential vulnerabilities in the medical learning culture, including the risks inherent in its competence-focused approach and the

Use of narratives to enhance learning of research ethics in residents and researchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Sim, Kang; Sum, Min Yi; Navedo, Deborah

2015-03-10

Past didactic pedagogy on biomedical research ethics and informed consent in our program had resulted in passive memorization of information and disengaged learning within psychiatry residents and clinical researchers. The question is how do we better motivate and engage learners within the session. Thus, we incorporated narratives into the learning environment and hypothesised that the use of narratives in the teaching of biomedical research ethics and informed consent would be associated with greater engagement, motivation, understanding, reflective learning and effectiveness of the teaching session. The narratives were chosen from the history of research ethics and the humanities literature related to human subject research. Learners were asked to provide post-session feedback through an anonymised questionnaire on their learning session. An outcomes logic model was used for assessment with focus on immediate outcomes such as engagement, motivation, understanding and reflective learning. Overall, 70.5% (N = 273) of the learners responded to the questionnaire. Amongst the respondents, 92.6% (N = 253) of the participants ranked use of narratives as most helpful in appreciating the historical context of research ethics and informed consent in research. The majority felt engaged (89.8%, N = 245), more motivated to learn (77.5%, N = 212) and better equipped (86.4%, N = 236) about the subject matter. Better appreciation of the learning topic, engagement, motivation to learn, equipping were strongly correlated with the promotion of reflective learning, effectiveness of teaching, promotion of critical thinking and overall positive rating of the teaching session on research ethics (all p ethics and informed consent, and address underlying motivational factors behind learning and understanding of research ethics.

The role of learning technologists in supporting e-research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susi Peacock

2009-12-01

Full Text Available This article explores how the role of learning technologists, a professional group that has emerged during the last 15 to 20 years, may be diversifying to include supporting e-research. It contributes to the current debate about the emerging profession and the roles it should play in contemporary higher education. Previous studies have shown that, typically, the profession's role has focussed almost exclusively on curriculum development; traditionally, learning technologists work with students and tutors to enhance the learning environment with technology. This article presents two case studies of PhD research that used a standard e-learning tool, the virtual learning environment (VLE, to conduct focus groups online. The case studies demonstrate the expert role of the learning technologist in supporting researchers to make informed decisions about whether and how to use e-learning tools to conduct qualitative e-research. The learning technologist advised on the potential advantages and limitations of using the VLE for research and fostered collaborative, working relationships with the researchers, acquiring extensive background knowledge about their projects. This required the learning technologist to draw upon her own experience with research into e-learning and on her professional experience gained from supporting curriculum developments. It is suggested that many learning technologists could extend their roles, transferring their knowledge to include supporting e-research. A more inclusive model of the learning technologist's role in academia could help address the potential polarisation of the profession into researchers and practitioners.

Researches on Learning Disabilities--Where Are We?

Science.gov (United States)

Raja, B. William Dharma; Kumar, S. Praveen

2011-01-01

This article focusses on the review of research studies done on the area of learning disabilities and the need to conduct more research studies in this area. School children are seen to have different types of learning difficulties with regard to academics. Children with learning disability, who occupy the largest number receiving special…

Improving the Design of Workplace E-Learning Research

Science.gov (United States)

Dubois, Cathy; Long, Lori

2012-01-01

E-learning researchers face considerable challenges in creating meaningful and generalizable studies due to the complex nature of this dynamic training medium. Our experience in conducting workplace e-learning research led us to create this guide for planning research on e-learning. We share the unanticipated complications we encountered in our…

Student Approaches to Learning and Studying. Research Monograph.

Science.gov (United States)

Biggs, John B.

A common thread in contemporary research in student learning refers to the ways in which students go about learning. A theory of learning is presented that accentuates the interaction between the person and the situation. Research evidence implies a form of meta-cognition called meta-learning, the awareness of students of their own learning…

Experience Effect in E-Learning Research

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Bing; Xu, WenXia; Ge, Jun

This study is a productivity review on the literature gleaned from SSCI, SCIE databases concerning experience in E-Learning research. The result indicates that the number of literature productions on experience effect in ELearning research is still growing from 2005. The main research development country is Croatia, and from the analysis of the publication year, the number of papers is increasing to the peaking in 2010. And the main source title is British Journal of Educational Technology. In addition the subject area concentrated on Education & Educational Research. Moreover the research focuses on are mainly survey research and empirical research, in order to explore experience effect in E-Learning research. Also the limitations and future research of these research were discussed, so that the direction for further research work can be exploited

A literature review of empirical research on learning analytics in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Saqr, Mohammed

2018-01-01

The number of publications in the field of medical education is still markedly low, despite recognition of the value of the discipline in the medical education literature, and exponential growth of publications in other fields. This necessitates raising awareness of the research methods and potential benefits of learning analytics (LA). The aim of this paper was to offer a methodological systemic review of empirical LA research in the field of medical education and a general overview of the common methods used in the field in general. Search was done in Medline database using the term "LA." Inclusion criteria included empirical original research articles investigating LA using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methodologies. Articles were also required to be written in English, published in a scholarly peer-reviewed journal and have a dedicated section for methods and results. A Medline search resulted in only six articles fulfilling the inclusion criteria for this review. Most of the studies collected data about learners from learning management systems or online learning resources. Analysis used mostly quantitative methods including descriptive statistics, correlation tests, and regression models in two studies. Patterns of online behavior and usage of the digital resources as well as predicting achievement was the outcome most studies investigated. Research about LA in the field of medical education is still in infancy, with more questions than answers. The early studies are encouraging and showed that patterns of online learning can be easily revealed as well as predicting students' performance.

Research evaluation and organizational learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansson, Finn

The paper will address the role of the recent implementation of systems of research evaluation in universities. The role of classic quality control system, the peer review, is to produce the most trustworthy knowledge and at the same time function as a learning system in a peer-to-peer learning p...

A Field Research on Organizational Learning, Crisis Management Capability and Firm Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cemal Zehir

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Turkey has experienced a series of crises in 1994, 1999 and 2001, which induced remarkable damage in Turkish economy. Thus crisis management has been the main topic in Turkish agenda so many years. Besides crisis management, organizational learning also has been focused as an affective crisis management mean. Crisis preparedness process which is a part of crisis management is vital for any organization’s existence because the emergence of crises is inevitable. Therefore the crisis preparedness has been a topic of increasing importance for organizations seeking an effective way to fight against potential crises. In this context, this research aim to investigate the relationship among the crisis preparedness capability, organizational learning capability and organizational performance.  This survey is conducted on 400 managers of 114 firms operating in the Marmara region.  SPSS 15.0 statistics package program was used to analyze the data obtained from 400 questionnaires. Factor analysis, and reliability analysis have been executed to reveal the reliability of scale, and correlation and regression analyses have been executed to reveal the relationship among the crisis preparedness capability, organizational learning capability, and organizational performance.

A Field Research on Organizational Learning, Crisis Management Capability and Firm Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cemal Zehir

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Turkey has experienced a series of crises in 1994, 1999 and 2001, which induced remarkable damage in Turkish economy. Thus crisis management has been the main topic in Turkish agenda so many years. Besides crisis management, organizational learning also has been focused as an affective crisis management mean. Crisis preparedness process which is a part of crisis management is vital for any organization’s existence because the emergence of crises is inevitable. Therefore the crisis preparedness has been a topic of increasing importance for organizations seeking an effective way to fight against potential crises. In this context, this research aim to investigate the relationship among the crisis preparedness capability, organizational learning capability and organizational performance. This survey is conducted on 400 managers of 114 firms operating in the Marmara region.  SPSS 15.0 statistics package program was used to analyze the data obtained from 400 questionnaires. Factor analysis, and reliability analysis have been executed to reveal the reliability of scale, and correlation and regression analyses have been executed to reveal the relationship among the crisis preparedness capability, organizational learning capability, and organizational performance.

Learning outcomes through the cooperative learning team assisted individualization on research methodology’ course

Science.gov (United States)

Pakpahan, N. F. D. B.

2018-01-01

All articles must contain an abstract. The research methodology is a subject in which the materials must be understood by the students who will take the thesis. Implementation of learning should create the conditions for active learning, interactive and effective are called Team Assisted Individualization (TAI) cooperative learning. The purpose of this study: 1) improving student learning outcomes at the course research methodology on TAI cooperative learning. 2) improvement of teaching activities. 3) improvement of learning activities. This study is a classroom action research conducted at the Department of Civil Engineering Universitas Negeri Surabaya. The research subjects were 30 students and lecturer of courses. Student results are complete in the first cycle by 20 students (67%) and did not complete 10 students (33%). In the second cycle students who complete being 26 students (87%) and did not complete 4 students (13%). There is an increase in learning outcomes by 20%. Results of teaching activities in the first cycle obtained the value of 3.15 with the criteria enough well. In the second cycle obtained the value of 4.22 with good criterion. The results of learning activities in the first cycle obtained the value of 3.05 with enough criterion. In the second cycle was obtained 3.95 with good criterion.

Young Academics in E-Learning Research - Editorial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Ebner

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The special track “Young Academics in E-Learning Research”, shortly YAER2012, took place within the “International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning” (ICL 2012 in Villach, Austria. The conference slot aims to invite young researchers in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL to present their thesis or ongoing work. We asked for contributions, which address the interdisciplinary research field. YAER 2012 provided an excellent space for discussions in order to improve learning and teaching of tomorrow. Education without technology seems to be nearly impossible and this issue helps to increase the impact of technology for learning.

A trans-disciplinary review of deep learning research for water resources scientists

OpenAIRE

Shen, Chaopeng

2017-01-01

Deep learning (DL), a new-generation artificial neural network research, has made profound strides in recent years. This review paper is intended to provide water resources scientists with a simple technical overview, trans-disciplinary progress update, and potentially inspirations about DL. Effective architectures, more accessible data, advances in regularization, and new computing power enabled the success of DL. A trans-disciplinary review reveals that DL is rapidly transforming myriad sci...

Educational research methods for researching innovations in teaching, learning and assessment: The nursing lecturer as researcher.

Science.gov (United States)

Marks-Maran, Diane

2015-11-01

The author, who has had previous experience as a nurse researcher, has been engaged in helping nurse lecturers to undertake evaluation research studies into innovations in their teaching, learning and assessment methods. In order to undertake this work successfully, it was important to move from thinking like a nurse researcher to thinking like an educational researcher and developing the role of the nursing lecturer as researcher of their teaching. This article explores the difference between evaluation and evaluation research and argues for the need to use educational research methods when undertaking evaluation research into innovations in teaching, learning and assessment. A new model for educational evaluation research is presented together with two case examples of the model in use. The model has been tested on over 30 research studies into innovations in teaching, learning and assessment over the past 8 years. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Journal of Learning Analytics: Supporting and Promoting Learning Analytics Research

OpenAIRE

Siemens, George

2014-01-01

The paper gives a brief overview of the main activities for the development of the emerging field of learning analytics led by the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR). The place of the Journal of Learning Analytics is identified Analytics is the most significant new initiative of SoLAR. 

The "Journal of Learning Analytics": Supporting and Promoting Learning Analytics Research

Science.gov (United States)

Siemens, George

2014-01-01

The paper gives a brief overview of the main activities for the development of the emerging field of learning analytics led by the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR). The place of the "Journal of Learning Analytics" is identified. Analytics is the most significant new initiative of SoLAR.

Reconceptualizing Design Research in the Age of Mobile Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Bannan, Brenda; Cook, John; Pachler, Norbert

2016-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to begin to examine how the intersection of mobile learning and design research prompts the reconceptualization of research and design individually as well as their integration appropriate for current, complex learning environments. To fully conceptualize and reconceptualize design research in mobile learning, the…

Review of the status of learning in research on sport education: future research and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Araújo, Rui; Mesquita, Isabel; Hastie, Peter A

2014-12-01

Research concerning Sport Education's educational impact has shown unequivocal results according to students' personal and social development. Nevertheless, research is still sparse with respect to the model's impact on student learning outcomes. The goal of the present review is to therefore scrutinize what is currently known regarding students' learning during their participation in Sport Education. This research spans a variety of studies, cross various countries, school grades, the sports studied, as well as the methods applied and dimensions of student learning analyzed. While research on the impact of Sport Education on students' learning, as well as teachers' and students' perceptions about student learning has shown students' improvements during the participation in Sport Education seasons, there is still considerable variance in these results. For example, some studies report superior learning opportunities to boys and higher skill-level students while other studies have identified superior learning opportunities for girls and lower skill-level students. These inconsistent results can be explained by factors not considered in the Sport Education research, such as the effect of time on students' learning and the control of the teaching-learning process within Sport Education units. In this review directions for future research and practice are also described. Future research should define, implement, and evaluate protocols for student-coaches' preparation in order to understand the influence of this issue on students' learning as well as consider the implementation of hybrid approaches. Moreover, future studies should consider the interaction of gender and skill level and a retention test in the analysis of students' learning improvements in order to obtain a more realist and complete portrait of the impact of Sport Education. Finally, in order to reach an entirely understanding of the teaching-learning process, it is necessary to use research designs that

Organizational safety factors research lessons learned

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryan, T.G.

1995-01-01

This Paper reports lessons learned and state of knowledge gained from an organizational factors research activity involving commercial nuclear power plants in the United States, through the end of 1991, as seen by the scientists immediately involved in the research. Lessons learned information was gathered from the research teams and individuals using a question and answer format. The following five questions were submitted to each team and individual: (1) What organizational factors appear to influence safety performance in some systematic way, (2) Should organizational factors research focus at the plant level, or should it extend beyond the plant level to the parent company, rate setting commissions, regulatory agencies, (3) How important is having direct access to plants for doing organizational factors research, (4) What lessons have been learned to date as the result of doing organizational factors research in a nuclear regulatory setting, and (5) What organizational research topics and issues should be pursued in the future? Conclusions based on the responses provided for this report are that organizational factors research can be conducted in a regulatory setting and produce useful results. Technologies pioneered in other academic, commercial, and military settings can be adopted for use in a nuclear regulatory setting. The future success of such research depends upon the cooperation of regulators, contractors, and the nuclear industry

Learning Analytics: Challenges and Future Research Directions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vlatko Lukarov

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In recent years, learning analytics (LA has attracted a great deal of attention in technology-enhanced learning (TEL research as practitioners, institutions, and researchers are increasingly seeing the potential that LA has to shape the future TEL landscape. Generally, LA deals with the development of methods that harness educational data sets to support the learning process. This paper provides a foundation for future research in LA. It provides a systematic overview on this emerging field and its key concepts through a reference model for LA based on four dimensions, namely data, environments, context (what?, stakeholders (who?, objectives (why?, and methods (how?. It further identifies various challenges and research opportunities in the area of LA in relation to each dimension.

Action Research as a Space for Transforming Learning Cultures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elżbieta Wołodźko

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents a three-year educational action research project on autonomous and reflective learning. Students and teachers, being actively engaged in many learning practices, were both participating in process(es of developing educational and research community. These interrelated processes framed a dynamic space for constructing and reconstructing the participants’ learning cultures. Thanks to linking educational and research aspects of students’ activity and to interpenetration of practice and reflection, action research generates particular conditions for learning cultures’ transformation, from “traditional” toward “new” ones, based on reflectivity, authenticity and empowerment. The dynamism of learning cultures was connected to various and conscious and reflective types of educational participation, which affected autonomy of studying (in its numerous dimensions and types, being in turn a constitutive element of participants’ learning cultures.

Research Data Curation Pilots: Lessons Learned

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Minor

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In the spring of 2011, the UC San Diego Research Cyberinfrastructure (RCI Implementation Team invited researchers and research teams to participate in a research curation and data management pilot program. This invitation took the form of a campus-wide solicitation. More than two dozen applications were received and, after due deliberation, the RCI Oversight Committee selected five curation-intensive projects. These projects were chosen based on a number of criteria, including how they represented campus research, varieties of topics, researcher engagement, and the various services required. The pilot process began in September 2011, and will be completed in early 2014. Extensive lessons learned from the pilots are being compiled and are being used in the on-going design and implementation of the permanent Research Data Curation Program in the UC San Diego Library. In this paper, we present specific implementation details of these various services, as well as lessons learned. The program focused on many aspects of contemporary scholarship, including data creation and storage, description and metadata creation, citation and publication, and long term preservation and access. Based on the lessons learned in our processes, the Research Data Curation Program will provide a suite of services from which campus users can pick and choose, as necessary. The program will provide support for the data management requirements from national funding agencies.

Review of the Status of Learning in Research on Sport Education: Future Research and Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Araújo, Rui; Mesquita, Isabel; Hastie, Peter A.

2014-01-01

Research concerning Sport Education’s educational impact has shown unequivocal results according to students’ personal and social development. Nevertheless, research is still sparse with respect to the model’s impact on student learning outcomes. The goal of the present review is to therefore scrutinize what is currently known regarding students’ learning during their participation in Sport Education. This research spans a variety of studies, cross various countries, school grades, the sports studied, as well as the methods applied and dimensions of student learning analyzed. While research on the impact of Sport Education on students’ learning, as well as teachers’ and students’ perceptions about student learning has shown students’ improvements during the participation in Sport Education seasons, there is still considerable variance in these results. For example, some studies report superior learning opportunities to boys and higher skill-level students while other studies have identified superior learning opportunities for girls and lower skill-level students. These inconsistent results can be explained by factors not considered in the Sport Education research, such as the effect of time on students’ learning and the control of the teaching-learning process within Sport Education units. In this review directions for future research and practice are also described. Future research should define, implement, and evaluate protocols for student-coaches’ preparation in order to understand the influence of this issue on students’ learning as well as consider the implementation of hybrid approaches. Moreover, future studies should consider the interaction of gender and skill level and a retention test in the analysis of students’ learning improvements in order to obtain a more realist and complete portrait of the impact of Sport Education. Finally, in order to reach an entirely understanding of the teaching-learning process, it is necessary to

Social learning research in ecological economics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Siebenhüner, Bernd; Rodela, Romina; Ecker, Franz

2016-01-01

Social learning studies emerged as part of the ecological economics research agenda rather recently. Questions of how human societies and organisations learn and transition on the basis of environmental knowledge relate to the core ideas of ecological economics with its pluralistic understanding

Naturalistic Inquiry in E-Learning Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shirley Agostinho

2005-03-01

Full Text Available In this article, the author explains how and why one particular qualitative research approach, the naturalistic inquiry paradigm, was implemented in an e-learning research study that investigated the use of the World Wide Web technology in higher education. A framework is presented that situates the research study within the qualitative research literature. The author then justifies how the study was compliant with naturalistic inquiry and concludes by presenting a model for judging the quality of such research. The purpose of this article is to provide an example of how naturalistic inquiry can be implemented in e-learning research that can serve as a guide for researchers undertaking this form of qualitative inquiry. As such, the focus of the article is to illustrate how methodological issues pertaining to naturalistic inquiry were addressed and justified to represent a rigorous research approach rather than presenting the results of the research study.

E-Learning Research and Development: On Evaluation, Learning Performance, and Visual Attention

Science.gov (United States)

Rüth, Marco

2017-01-01

Digital learning is becoming a prevalent everyday human behavior. Effective digital learning services are integral for educational innovation and constitute competitive advantages for education businesses. Quality management in e-learning research and development is thus of utmost importance and needs both strong conceptual and empirical…

Involving users with learning difficulties in health improvement: lessons from inclusive learning disability research.

Science.gov (United States)

Walmsley, Jan

2004-03-01

In this paper the author considers the lessons to be drawn from what is termed "inclusive" learning disability research for user involvement around health improvement. Inclusive learning disability research refers to research where people with learning difficulties (intellectual disability) are involved as active participants, as opposed to passive subjects. There is by now a considerable body of such research, developed over the past 25 years. From the review, the author draws attention to areas which can inform practice in involvement of users in a way that adds value.

Research on Mobile Learning Activities Applying Tablets

Science.gov (United States)

Kurilovas, Eugenijus; Juskeviciene, Anita; Bireniene, Virginija

2015-01-01

The paper aims to present current research on mobile learning activities in Lithuania while implementing flagship EU-funded CCL project on application of tablet computers in education. In the paper, the quality of modern mobile learning activities based on learning personalisation, problem solving, collaboration, and flipped class methods is…

Experiential Learning and Research Ethics: Enhancing Knowledge through Action

Science.gov (United States)

Teixeira-Poit, Stephanie M.; Cameron, Abigail E.; Schulman, Michael D.

2011-01-01

How can instructors use experiential learning strategies to enhance student understanding of research ethics and responsible research conduct? In this article, the authors review literature on using experiential learning to teach research ethics and responsible research conduct. They present a three-step exercise for teaching research ethics and…

Linear and non-linear dose-response functions reveal a hormetic relationship between stress and learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Zoladz, Phillip R; Diamond, David M

2008-10-16

Over a century of behavioral research has shown that stress can enhance or impair learning and memory. In the present review, we have explored the complex effects of stress on cognition and propose that they are characterized by linear and non-linear dose-response functions, which together reveal a hormetic relationship between stress and learning. We suggest that stress initially enhances hippocampal function, resulting from amygdala-induced excitation of hippocampal synaptic plasticity, as well as the excitatory effects of several neuromodulators, including corticosteroids, norepinephrine, corticotropin-releasing hormone, acetylcholine and dopamine. We propose that this rapid activation of the amygdala-hippocampus brain memory system results in a linear dose-response relation between emotional strength and memory formation. More prolonged stress, however, leads to an inhibition of hippocampal function, which can be attributed to compensatory cellular responses that protect hippocampal neurons from excitotoxicity. This inhibition of hippocampal functioning in response to prolonged stress is potentially relevant to the well-described curvilinear dose-response relationship between arousal and memory. Our emphasis on the temporal features of stress-brain interactions addresses how stress can activate, as well as impair, hippocampal functioning to produce a hormetic relationship between stress and learning.

Advancing Research on Undergraduate Science Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Singer, Susan Rundell

2013-01-01

This special issue of "Journal of Research in Science Teaching" reflects conclusions and recommendations in the "Discipline-Based Education Research" (DBER) report and makes a substantial contribution to advancing the field. Research on undergraduate science learning is currently a loose affiliation of related fields. The…

Changing viewer perspectives reveals constraints to implicit visual statistical learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Yuhong V; Swallow, Khena M

2014-10-07

Statistical learning-learning environmental regularities to guide behavior-likely plays an important role in natural human behavior. One potential use is in search for valuable items. Because visual statistical learning can be acquired quickly and without intention or awareness, it could optimize search and thereby conserve energy. For this to be true, however, visual statistical learning needs to be viewpoint invariant, facilitating search even when people walk around. To test whether implicit visual statistical learning of spatial information is viewpoint independent, we asked participants to perform a visual search task from variable locations around a monitor placed flat on a stand. Unbeknownst to participants, the target was more often in some locations than others. In contrast to previous research on stationary observers, visual statistical learning failed to produce a search advantage for targets in high-probable regions that were stable within the environment but variable relative to the viewer. This failure was observed even when conditions for spatial updating were optimized. However, learning was successful when the rich locations were referenced relative to the viewer. We conclude that changing viewer perspective disrupts implicit learning of the target's location probability. This form of learning shows limited integration with spatial updating or spatiotopic representations. © 2014 ARVO.

Trends in Research on Writing as a Learning Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Perry D. Klein

2016-02-01

Full Text Available This article discusses five trends in research on writing as a learning activity. Firstly, earlier decades were marked by conflicting views about the effects of writing on learning; in the past decade, the use of meta-analysis has shown that the effects of writing on learning are reliable, and that several variables mediate and moderate these effects. Secondly, in earlier decades, it was thought that text as a medium inherently elicited thinking and learning. Research during the past decade has indicated that writing to learn is a self-regulated activity, dependent on the goals and strategies of the writer. Thirdly, the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC movement emphasized domain-general approaches to WTL. Much recent research is consistent with the Writing in the Disciplines (WID movement, incorporating genres that embody forms of reasoning specific to a given discipline. Fourthly, WTL as a classroom practice was always partially social, but the theoretical conceptualization of it was largely individual. During the past two decades, WTL has broadened to include theories and research that integrate social and psychological processes. Fifthly, WTL research has traditionally focused on epistemic learning in schools; more recently, it has been extended to include reflective learning in the professions and additional kinds of outcomes.

The research-based learning development model as a foundation in generating research ideas

Science.gov (United States)

Puspitasari, Poppy; Dika, Johan Wayan; Permanasari, Avita Ayu

2017-09-01

Research Based Learning is learning that requires students to have exploration skills related to their field. By doing so, students are encouraged to create skills in managing the higherorder of abstraction in order to resolve any problems encountered. The study was done to make the schemes and sequences of learning needed by the students in order to help them to explore first ideas for their upcoming thesis. The scheme development resulted in five stages consisting of 1) identifying research journals; 2) track the development of research topics; 3) reviewing research journals; 4) discussing the results of the reviews; and 5) formulating the research topic. Furthermore, the application of 5 the stage receives percentage agreement of students was 85.9%. Therefore, it can be noted that the application of the scheme is definitely a help for students to find research ideas.

The Development Of Learning Sets And Research Methodology Module Using Problem Based Learning For Accounting Education Students

OpenAIRE

Thomas, Partono; Nurkhin, Ahmad

2016-01-01

Improving the learning process is very important for every lecturer by implement innovative learning methods or media. The purpose of this study is to develop a research methodology learning instruction and module based of problem based learning for accounting education students. This research applied research and development design in the research methodology course in Economics Education (Accounting) Department, Faculty Of Economics, Semarang State University. Data analysis was used to test...

Entrepreneurial learning requires action on the meaning generated

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brink, Tove; Madsen, Svend Ole

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper reveals how managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can utilise their participation in research-based training to enable innovation and growth. Design/methodology/approach: Action research and action learning from a longitudinal study of 10 SME managers...... in the wind turbine industry are conducted to reveal SME managers learning and the impact of the application of learning in the wind turbine industry. Findings: The findings of this study show that SME managers employ a practice-shaped holistic cross-disciplinary approach to learning. This learning approach...... is supported by theory dissemination and collaboration on the business challenges perceived. Open mindedness to new learning by SME managers and to cross-disciplinary collaboration with SME managers by university facilitators/ researchers is required. Research limitations/implications: The research...

Problem-centric Process for Research-based Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khaled Shaban

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Research-based Learning (RbL extends Inquiry and Project-based Learning by facilitating an early stage exposure and training for future scientists through authentic research activities. In this paper, an iterative problem-centric RbL process is introduced, and its activities and management aspects are described. The process helps implement course-integrated research systematically and practically. Furthermore, the novel process follows constructivist methods in incorporating inquiry, scaffolding, open-ended projects, as well as a goal oriented learning approach. The RbL process is adopted in two advanced computing courses, at two different universities: a leading comprehensive Western university and a new university in a developing country. The paper summarizes new lessons learned in these rewarding experiences. In particular, the instructor should help students start their projects, by providing them with previous work or data and pre-approving the papers to review by students. He should also maintain a continuous feedback to and from students to keep the students motivated and help the instructor refine and adapt the RBL process. We note that research collaborators can help students in identifying the research topics early. The paper also shows how to alleviate difficulties that may be encountered by students who find the novel approach demanding, and consequently it also helps the instructors better manage the course contents.

Formal to Informal Learning with IT: Research Challenges and Issues for E-Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, M.J.

2013-01-01

For the purpose of clarity and consistency, the term e-learning is used throughout the paper to refer to technology-enhanced learning and information technology (IT) in teaching and learning. IT depicts computing and other IT resources. Research into e-learning has changed in focus and breadth over the last four decades as a consequence of…

Carving the world for language: how neuroscientific research can enrich the study of first and second language learning.

Science.gov (United States)

George, Nathan R; Göksun, Tilbe; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick

2014-01-01

Linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience all have rich histories in language research. Crosstalk among these disciplines, as realized in studies of phonology, is pivotal for understanding a fundamental challenge for first and second language learners (SLLs): learning verbs. Linguistic and behavioral research with monolinguals suggests that infants attend to foundational event components (e.g., path, manner). Language then heightens or dampens attention to these components as children map word to world in language-specific ways. Cross-linguistic differences in semantic organization also reveal sources of struggles for SLLs. We discuss how better integrating neuroscience into this literature can unlock additional mysteries of verb learning.

e-Learning Business Research Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Cowie, Jonathan

2004-01-01

This paper outlines the development of a generic Business Research Methods course from a simple name in a box to a full e-Learning web based module. It highlights particular issues surrounding the nature of the discipline and the integration of a large number of cross faculty subject specific research methods courses into a single generic module.…

Young Academics in E-Learning Research - Editorial

OpenAIRE

Martin Ebner; Ortrun Gröblinger; Stephan Waba; Kai Erenli; Erwin Bratengeyer; Reinhard Staber

2012-01-01

The special track “Young Academics in E-Learning Research”, shortly YAER2012, took place within the “International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning” (ICL 2012) in Villach, Austria. The conference slot aims to invite young researchers in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) to present their thesis or ongoing work. We asked for contributions, which address the interdisciplinary research field. YAER 2012 provided an excellent space for discussions in order to improve l...

Sub-processes of motor learning revealed by a robotic manipulandum for rodents.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambercy, O; Schubring-Giese, M; Vigaru, B; Gassert, R; Luft, A R; Hosp, J A

2015-02-01

Rodent models are widely used to investigate neural changes in response to motor learning. Usually, the behavioral readout of motor learning tasks used for this purpose is restricted to a binary measure of performance (i.e. "successful" movement vs. "failure"). Thus, the assignability of research in rodents to concepts gained in human research - implying diverse internal models that constitute motor learning - is still limited. To solve this problem, we recently introduced a three-degree-of-freedom robotic platform designed for rats (the ETH-Pattus) that combines an accurate behavioral readout (in the form of kinematics) with the possibility to invasively assess learning related changes within the brain (e.g. by performing immunohistochemistry or electrophysiology in acute slice preparations). Here, we validate this platform as a tool to study motor learning by establishing two forelimb-reaching paradigms that differ in degree of skill. Both conditions can be precisely differentiated in terms of their temporal pattern and performance levels. Based on behavioral data, we hypothesize the presence of several sub-processes contributing to motor learning. These share close similarities with concepts gained in humans or primates. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Music lessons: revealing medicine's learning culture through a comparison with that of music

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Watling, C.N.; Driessen, E.; Vleuten, C.P.M. van der; Vanstone, M.; Lingard, L.

2013-01-01

CONTEXT: Research on medical learning has tended to focus on the individual learner, but a sufficient understanding of the learning process requires that attention also be paid to the essential influence of the cultural context within which learning takes place. In this study, we undertook a

Combining Project-Based Learning and Community-Based Research in a Research Methodology Course: The Lessons Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Arantes do Amaral, João Alberto; Lino dos Santos, Rebeca Júlia Rodrigues

2018-01-01

In this article, we present our findings regarding the course "Research Methodology," offered to 22 first-year undergraduate students studying Administration at the Federal University of São Paulo, Osasco, Brazil. The course, which combined community-based research and project-based learning, was developed during the second semester of…

Language learning strategy research and modern foreign language teaching and learning in England

OpenAIRE

Grenfell, Michael

2005-01-01

This paper addresses language learner strategy research. It arises from two sources: firstly, an individual background in research and writing about Language Learning Strategy research in the context of Modern Foreign Language Learning and Teaching in the UK over the past decades; secondly, a newly constituted British based interest group dedicated to this area of applied linguistics - UK Project on Language Learner Strategies (UKPOLLS). The aim of this SIG paper is to introduce and present t...

Collaborative action research: implementation of cooperative learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith-Stoner, Marilyn; Molle, Mary E

2010-06-01

Nurse educators must continually improve their teaching skills through innovation. However, research about the process used by faculty members to transform their teaching methods is limited. This collaborative study uses classroom action research to describe, analyze, and address problems encountered in implementing cooperative learning in two undergraduate nursing courses. After four rounds of action and reflection, the following themes emerged: students did not understand the need for structured cooperative learning; classroom structure and seating arrangement influenced the effectiveness of activities; highly structured activities engaged the students; and short, targeted activities that involved novel content were most effective. These findings indicate that designing specific activities to prepare students for class is critical to cooperative learning. Copyright 2010, SLACK Incorporated.

A problem with inclusion in learning disability research.

Science.gov (United States)

McClimens, Alex; Allmark, Peter

2011-09-01

People with severe learning disability are particularly difficult to include in the research process. As a result, researchers may be tempted to focus on those with learning disability who can be included. The problem is exacerbated in this field as the political agenda of inclusion and involvement is driven by those people with learning disability who are the higher functioning. To overcome this we should first detach the notion of consent from ideas about autonomy and think instead of it as a way to avoid wronging others; this fits the original historical use of consent in research. This allows us to think in terms of including participants to the best of their abilities rather than in terms of a threshold of autonomy. Researchers could then use imaginative ways to include the least able and to ensure they are not wronged in research or by exclusion from it.

Accessible Article: Involving People with Learning Disabilities in Research

Science.gov (United States)

Garbutt, Ruth; Tattersall, John; Dunn, Jo; Boycott-Garnett, Rachel

2010-01-01

This is an article that talks about our research about sex and relationships for people with learning disabilities. It talks about how people with learning disabilities have been fully involved in the research. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

Models of Learning Space: Integrating Research on Space, Place and Learning in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, R. A.; Goodyear, P.

2016-01-01

Learning space research is a relatively new field of study that seeks to inform the design, evaluation and management of learning spaces. This paper reviews a dispersed and fragmented literature relevant to understanding connections between university learning spaces and student learning activities. From this review, the paper distils a number of…

Researching Design, Experience and Practice of Networked Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hodgson, Vivien; de Laat, Maarten; McConnell, David

2014-01-01

and final section draws attention to a growing topic of interest within networked learning: that of networked learning in informal practices. In addition, we provide a reflection on the theories, methods and settings featured in the networked learning research of the chapters. We conclude the introduction...

Secure Learning and Learning for Security: Research in the Intersection

OpenAIRE

Rubinstein, Benjamin

2010-01-01

Statistical Machine Learning is used in many real-world systems, such as web search, network and power management, online advertising, finance and health services, in which adversaries are incentivized to attack the learner, motivating the urgent need for a better understanding of the security vulnerabilities of adaptive systems. Conversely, research in Computer Security stands to reap great benefits by leveraging learning for building adaptive defenses and even designing intelligent attacks ...

Modern machine learning techniques and their applications in cartoon animation research

CERN Document Server

Yu, Jun

2013-01-01

The integration of machine learning techniques and cartoon animation research is fast becoming a hot topic. This book helps readers learn the latest machine learning techniques, including patch alignment framework; spectral clustering, graph cuts, and convex relaxation; ensemble manifold learning; multiple kernel learning; multiview subspace learning; and multiview distance metric learning. It then presents the applications of these modern machine learning techniques in cartoon animation research. With these techniques, users can efficiently utilize the cartoon materials to generate animations

Community-Based Research (CBR in the Education Doctorate: Lessons Learned and Promising Practices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurie Stevahn

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Community-based research (CBR is an advanced form of academic service-learning through which university students, faculty, and community organizations collaborate to conduct inquiry projects aimed at producing social change. Despite its potential for advancing learning in graduate studies, little research exists on CBR implementations or outcomes in doctoral programs. This study examined the effectiveness of integrating CBR into an educational leadership doctorate across three consecutive cohorts in which students worked in teams to conduct CBR projects, each in partnership with a community organization pursuing a social justice initiative. A mixed-methods developmental case study design produced quantitative and qualitative data on students’ perceived effectiveness of cooperative/collaborative interaction and team decision making in CBR, experience with and learning from CBR in the education doctorate, and development of CBR competencies. Triangulated results overall revealed students’ (a positive attitudes toward CBR, (b enhanced understanding of and commitment to CBR and how to conduct it, (c expanded understanding and application of technical research skills, (d growth in coopera-tive/collaborative and conflict resolution skills, and (e development of leadership project management skills. These findings may assist faculty in planning innovative, authentic, applied, professional training in the education doctorate capable of advancing students’ graduate inquiry skills while also enhancing competencies for successful leadership in the field.

Self-Directed Learning: A Tool for Lifelong Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Boyer, Stefanie L.; Edmondson, Diane R.; Artis, Andrew B.; Fleming, David

2014-01-01

A meta-analytic review of self-directed learning (SDL) research over 30 years, five countries, and across multiple academic disciplines is used to explore its relationships with five key nomologically related constructs for effective workplace learning. The meta-analysis revealed positive relationships between SDL and internal locus of control,…

Within- and across-trial dynamics of human EEG reveal cooperative interplay between reinforcement learning and working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Anne G E; Frank, Michael J

2018-03-06

Learning from rewards and punishments is essential to survival and facilitates flexible human behavior. It is widely appreciated that multiple cognitive and reinforcement learning systems contribute to decision-making, but the nature of their interactions is elusive. Here, we leverage methods for extracting trial-by-trial indices of reinforcement learning (RL) and working memory (WM) in human electro-encephalography to reveal single-trial computations beyond that afforded by behavior alone. Neural dynamics confirmed that increases in neural expectation were predictive of reduced neural surprise in the following feedback period, supporting central tenets of RL models. Within- and cross-trial dynamics revealed a cooperative interplay between systems for learning, in which WM contributes expectations to guide RL, despite competition between systems during choice. Together, these results provide a deeper understanding of how multiple neural systems interact for learning and decision-making and facilitate analysis of their disruption in clinical populations.

Mobile learning research: caught between two paradigms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sandberg, J.; Maris, M.; Arnedillo Sánchez, I.; Isaías, P.

2011-01-01

A review of mobile learning research shows that studies take various research approaches and apply a varied number of research methods, ranging from primarily quantitative and experimental to purely qualitative and descriptive. This paper presents a classification framework to position mobile

Undergraduate Research as Engaged Student Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Lorraine W.

2018-01-01

This chapter discusses the impact of undergraduate research as a form of engaged student learning. It summarizes the gains reported in post-fellowship assessment essays acquired from students participating in the Auburn University Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program. The chapter also discusses the program's efforts to increase opportunities…

Reinventing Learning: A Design-Research Odyssey

Science.gov (United States)

Abrahamson, Dor

2015-01-01

Design research is a broad, practice-based approach to investigating problems of education. This approach can catalyze the development of learning theory by fostering opportunities for transformational change in scholars' interpretation of instructional interactions. Surveying a succession of design-research projects, I explain how challenges in…

Learning through research: from teaching science to the sphere of nursing care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ítalo Rodolfo Silva

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Objective: To understand the connections established between the teaching of research in undergraduate school and reflections on the context of nursing care based on the meanings assigned by nurses and undergraduate nursing students. Method: Qualitative research, the theoretical and methodological frameworks of which were Complexity Theory and Grounded Theory. Sixteen nurses and nine undergraduate nursing students participated. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Results: The study revealed that aspects that structure and maintain the scientific practice of nurses are connected with the teaching of nursing in undergraduate school. The transversality of teaching of research and strategies adopted by professors influence this process. Conclusion: In the nursing field, learning through research requires strategies that contextualize research within the context of care delivery, so that students perceive science as an element that structures their profession. For that, research should be a non-linear, transversal procedure that takes place over the course of the undergraduate program.

Exploring the Moderating Role of Self-Management of Learning in Mobile English Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Rui-Ting

2014-01-01

Although a considerable number of studies have revealed that self-management of learning (SML) could be closely related to learning achievements, there is still a paucity of research investigating the moderating effect of self-management of learning on mobile learning outcomes. Accordingly, the primary purpose of this study was to explore the…

A Collaborative Action Research Approach to Professional Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Bleicher, Robert E.

2014-01-01

The field of professional development is moving towards the notion of professional learning, highlighting the active learning role that teachers play in changing their knowledge bases, beliefs and practice. This article builds on this idea and argues for creating professional learning that is guided by a collaborative action research (CAR)…

Distance Learning With NASA Lewis Research Center's Learning Technologies Project

Science.gov (United States)

Petersen, Ruth

1998-01-01

The NASA Lewis Research Center's Learning Technologies Project (LTP) has responded to requests from local school district technology coordinators to provide content for videoconferencing workshops. Over the past year we have offered three teacher professional development workshops that showcase NASA Lewis-developed educational products and NASA educational Internet sites. In order to determine the direction of our involvement with distance learning, the LTP staff conducted a survey of 500 U.S. schools. We received responses from 72 schools that either currently use distance learning or will be using distance learning in 98-99 school year. The results of the survey are summarized in the article. In addition, the article provides information on distance learners, distance learning technologies, and the NASA Lewis LTP videoconferencing workshops. The LTP staff will continue to offer teacher development workshops through videoconferencing during the 98-99 school year. We hope to add workshops on new educational products as they are developed at NASA Lewis.

Conceptions of learning research: variations amongst French and Swedish nurses. A phenomenographic study.

Science.gov (United States)

Dupin, Cécile Marie; Larsson, Maria; Dariel, Odessa; Debout, Christophe; Rothan-Tondeur, Monique

2015-01-01

The development of nursing research capacity and interactions with cultural and structural issues is at various stages throughout Europe. This process appears to be remarkably similar irrespective of the country. Sweden has developed this capacity since the 1990s, whereas France is experiencing a transition. Nevertheless, knowledge about how nurses conceive their learning about nursing research and transitioning toward being researchers is scarce. The aim of this study was to explore French and Swedish RNs' conceptions of research education and educational passage toward research and to describe how learning research contributes to the understanding of their norms and practices. A phenomenographic approach was used to understand and describe the qualitatively different ways in which French and Swedish RNs conceive research and its apprenticeship. A purposive maximum variation sampling of five French and five Swedish Nurse Researchers with PhDs. Individual in-depth interviews conducted in France and Sweden between November 2012 and March 2013 were analysed using phenomenography. The analysis revealed one main category, "Organisational factors to sustain individual apprenticeship". Three descriptive categories have emerged from the data and its variations amongst French and Swedish nurses: (1) entrance into research--modes of commitment; (2) nurses' engagement--the need for dedicated support; and (3) research as the means to resolve nursing situations. This study demonstrates how registered nurses have integrated nursing and researcher roles following different efficient paths. Education in nursing research is part of the strategy needed for the development of nursing research and is supported by the integration of research and practice. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Targeted Learning in Healthcare Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Gruber, Susan

2015-12-01

The increasing availability of Big Data in healthcare encourages investigators to seek answers to big questions. However, nonparametric approaches to analyzing these data can suffer from the curse of dimensionality, and traditional parametric modeling does not necessarily scale. Targeted learning (TL) combines semiparametric methodology with advanced machine learning techniques to provide a sound foundation for extracting information from data. Predictive models, variable importance measures, and treatment benefits and risks can all be addressed within this framework. TL has been applied in a broad range of healthcare settings, including genomics, precision medicine, health policy, and drug safety. This article provides an introduction to the two main components of TL, targeted minimum loss-based estimation and super learning, and gives examples of applications in predictive modeling, variable importance ranking, and comparative effectiveness research.

Collaborative Action Research on Technology Integration for Science Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chien-Hsing; Ke, Yi-Ting; Wu, Jin-Tong; Hsu, Wen-Hua

2012-02-01

This paper briefly reports the outcomes of an action research inquiry on the use of blogs, MS PowerPoint [PPT], and the Internet as learning tools with a science class of sixth graders for project-based learning. Multiple sources of data were essential to triangulate the key findings articulated in this paper. Corresponding to previous studies, the incorporation of technology and project-based learning could motivate students in self-directed exploration. The students were excited about the autonomy over what to learn and the use of PPT to express what they learned. Differing from previous studies, the findings pointed to the lack information literacy among students. The students lacked information evaluation skills, note-taking and information synthesis. All these findings imply the importance of teaching students about information literacy and visual literacy when introducing information technology into the classroom. The authors suggest that further research should focus on how to break the culture of "copy-and-paste" by teaching the skills of note-taking and synthesis through inquiry projects for science learning. Also, further research on teacher professional development should focus on using collaboration action research as a framework for re-designing graduate courses for science teachers in order to enhance classroom technology integration.

Towards Primary School Physics Teaching and Learning: Design Research Approach. Research Report 256

Science.gov (United States)

Juuti, Kalle

2005-01-01

This thesis describes a project to design a primary school physics learning environment which takes into account teachers' needs, design procedures, properties of the learning environment, and pupil learning outcomes. The project's design team has wide experience in research and development work in relation to science education, the use of ICT in…

Service Learning: Applications and Research in Business

Science.gov (United States)

Andrews, Christine P.

2007-01-01

Researchers have described "service learning" as an ideal way to integrate experiential education into coursework while meeting community needs and imbuing students with civic responsibility. They have advocated service learning in business as a method to implement course concepts and increase student understanding of the external environment. In…

Personalised Learning Object System Based on Self-Regulated Learning Theories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Alharbi

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Self-regulated learning has become an important construct in education research in the last few years. Selfregulated learning in its simple form is the learner’s ability to monitor and control the learning process. There is increasing research in the literature on how to support students become more self-regulated learners. However, the advancement in the information technology has led to paradigm changes in the design and development of educational content. The concept of learning object instructional technology has emerged as a result of this shift in educational technology paradigms. This paper presents the results of a study that investigated the potential educational effectiveness of a pedagogical framework based on the self-regulated learning theories to support the design of learning object systems to help computer science students. A prototype learning object system was developed based on the contemporary research on self-regulated learning. The system was educationally evaluated in a quasi-experimental study over two semesters in a core programming languages concepts course. The evaluation revealed that a learning object system that takes into consideration contemporary research on self-regulated learning can be an effective learning environment to support computer science education.

Database functionality for learning objects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sessink, O.D.T.; Beeftink, H.H.; Hartog, R.J.M.

2005-01-01

The development of student-activating digital learning material in six research projects revealed several shortcomings in the current learning management systems. Once the SCORM 2004 and the IMS Sharable State Persistence specifications are implemented in learning management systems, some of these

Enhancing Student Learning with Brain-Based Research

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnema, Ted R.

2009-01-01

This paper discusses brain-based learning and its relation to classroom instruction. A rapidly growing quantity of research currently exists regarding how the brain perceives, processes, and ultimately learns new information. In order to maximize their teaching efficacy, educators should have a basic understanding of key memory functions in the…

Recommender systems for technology enhanced learning research trends and applications

CERN Document Server

Manouselis, Nikos; Verbert, Katrien

2014-01-01

Presents cutting edge research from leading experts in the growing field of Recommender Systems for Technology Enhanced Learning (RecSys TEL) International contributions are included to demonstrate the merging of various efforts and communities Topics include: Linked Data and the Social Web as Facilitators for TEL Recommender Systems in Research and Practice, Personalised Learning-Plan Recommendations in Game-Based Learning and Recommendations from Heterogeneous Sources in a Technology Enhanced Learning Ecosystem

Research on machine learning framework based on random forest algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Qiong; Cheng, Hui; Han, Hai

2017-03-01

With the continuous development of machine learning, industry and academia have released a lot of machine learning frameworks based on distributed computing platform, and have been widely used. However, the existing framework of machine learning is limited by the limitations of machine learning algorithm itself, such as the choice of parameters and the interference of noises, the high using threshold and so on. This paper introduces the research background of machine learning framework, and combined with the commonly used random forest algorithm in machine learning classification algorithm, puts forward the research objectives and content, proposes an improved adaptive random forest algorithm (referred to as ARF), and on the basis of ARF, designs and implements the machine learning framework.

The Learning of Biology: A Structural Basis for Future Research

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Darrel L.

1977-01-01

This article reviews recent research studies and experiences relating the learning theories of Ausubel to biology instruction. Also some suggestions are made for future research on the learning of biology. (MR)

Research Trends in the Use of Mobile Learning in Mathematics

Science.gov (United States)

Crompton, Helen; Burke, Diane

2015-01-01

The use of mobile learning in education is growing at an exponential rate. To best understand how mobile learning is being used, it is crucial to gain a collective understanding of the research that has taken place. This research was a systematic review of 36 studies in mobile learning in mathematics from the year 2000 onward. Eight new findings…

Ethics in Research on Learning: Dialectics of Praxis and Praxeology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SungWon Hwang

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Qualitative social research designed to develop ways of understanding and explaining lived experience of human beings is a reflexive human endeavor. It is reflexive in that as researchers attempt to better understand their participants, they also come to better understand themselves. Consequently, research ethics itself becomes an ethical project, for it pertains to participant and researcher at the same time: Both are subjects, knower and known. Particularly in case of research on learning, reflexivity arises from the fact that the research itself constitutes learning about learning. How is ethics in research on learning reflexive of, in its praxis and praxeology, ongoing events and changes of the human learning? In this study, from our experience of conducting a project designed to inquire into "learning in unfamiliar environments," we develop pertinent ethical issues through a dialectical process—not unlike that used by G.W.F. HEGEL in Phenomenology of Spirit—grounded in our lived experience and developed in three theoretical claims concerning a praxeology of ethics. First, ethics is an ongoing historical event; second, ethics is based on the communicative praxis of material bodies; and third, ethics involves the creation of new communicative configurations. We conclude that ethics is grounded in a fundamental answerability of human beings for their actions, which requires communicative action that itself is a dialectical process in opening up possibilities for acting in an answerable manner. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0501198

Association of learning styles with research self-efficacy: study of short-term research training program for medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Dumbauld, Jill; Black, Michelle; Depp, Colin A; Daly, Rebecca; Curran, Maureen A; Winegarden, Babbi; Jeste, Dilip V

2014-12-01

With a growing need for developing future physician scientists, identifying characteristics of medical students who are likely to benefit from research training programs is important. This study assessed if specific learning styles of medical students, participating in federally funded short-term research training programs, were associated with research self-efficacy, a potential predictor of research career success. Seventy-five first-year medical students from 28 medical schools, selected to participate in two competitive NIH-supported summer programs for research training in aging, completed rating scales to evaluate learning styles at baseline, and research self-efficacy before and after training. We examined associations of individual learning styles (visual-verbal, sequential-global, sensing-intuitive, and active-reflective) with students' gender, ranking of medical school, and research self-efficacy. Research self-efficacy improved significantly following the training programs. Students with a verbal learning style reported significantly greater research self-efficacy at baseline, while visual, sequential, and intuitive learners demonstrated significantly greater increases in research self-efficacy from baseline to posttraining. No significant relationships were found between learning styles and students' gender or ranking of their medical school. Assessments of learning styles may provide useful information to guide future training endeavors aimed at developing the next generation of physician-scientists. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Science of learning is learning of science: why we need a dialectical approach to science education research

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, Wolff-Michael

2012-06-01

Research on learning science in informal settings and the formal (sometimes experimental) study of learning in classrooms or psychological laboratories tend to be separate domains, even drawing on different theories and methods. These differences make it difficult to compare knowing and learning observed in one paradigm/context with those observed in the other. Even more interestingly, the scientists studying science learning rarely consider their own learning in relation to the phenomena they study. A dialectical, reflexive approach to learning, however, would theorize the movement of an educational science (its learning and development) as a special and general case—subject matter and method—of the phenomenon of learning (in/of) science. In the dialectical approach to the study of science learning, therefore, subject matter, method, and theory fall together. This allows for a perspective in which not only disparate fields of study—school science learning and learning in everyday life—are integrated but also where the progress in the science of science learning coincides with its topic. Following the articulation of a contradictory situation on comparing learning in different settings, I describe the dialectical approach. As a way of providing a concrete example, I then trace the historical movement of my own research group as it simultaneously and alternately studied science learning in formal and informal settings. I conclude by recommending cultural-historical, dialectical approaches to learning and interaction analysis as a context for fruitful interdisciplinary research on science learning within and across different settings.

The Role of Research on Science Teaching and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

National Science Teachers Association (NJ1), 2010

2010-01-01

Research on science teaching and learning plays an important role in improving science literacy, a goal called for in the National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996) and supported by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA 2003). NSTA promotes a research agenda that is focused on the goal of enhancing student learning through effective…

The Next Era: Deep Learning in Pharmaceutical Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Ekins, Sean

2016-11-01

Over the past decade we have witnessed the increasing sophistication of machine learning algorithms applied in daily use from internet searches, voice recognition, social network software to machine vision software in cameras, phones, robots and self-driving cars. Pharmaceutical research has also seen its fair share of machine learning developments. For example, applying such methods to mine the growing datasets that are created in drug discovery not only enables us to learn from the past but to predict a molecule's properties and behavior in future. The latest machine learning algorithm garnering significant attention is deep learning, which is an artificial neural network with multiple hidden layers. Publications over the last 3 years suggest that this algorithm may have advantages over previous machine learning methods and offer a slight but discernable edge in predictive performance. The time has come for a balanced review of this technique but also to apply machine learning methods such as deep learning across a wider array of endpoints relevant to pharmaceutical research for which the datasets are growing such as physicochemical property prediction, formulation prediction, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADME/Tox), target prediction and skin permeation, etc. We also show that there are many potential applications of deep learning beyond cheminformatics. It will be important to perform prospective testing (which has been carried out rarely to date) in order to convince skeptics that there will be benefits from investing in this technique.

Learning Cultures in Further Education

Science.gov (United States)

Hodkinson, Phil; Anderson, Graham; Colley, Helen; Davies, Jenny; Diment, Kim; Scaife, Tony; Tedder, Mike; Wahlberg, Madeleine; Wheeler, Eunice

2007-01-01

This paper examines the nature of learning cultures in English Further Education (FE), as revealed in the Transforming Learning Cultures in FE (TLC) research project. In it, we describe four characteristics of a generic FE learning culture: the significance of learning cultures in every site; the significance of the tutor in influencing site…

Researching Learning Difficulties: A Guide for Practitioners

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Jill; Lacey, Penny

2005-01-01

The aim of this book is to provide a source for teachers and other professionals working with children and adults with learning difficulties and disabilities that will enable them to: (1) access selected recent and relevant research in the field of learning difficulties, drawn from a range of disciplines and groups of people; (2) reflect on…

The E-Learning Setting Circle: First Steps toward Theory Development in E-Learning Research

Science.gov (United States)

Rüth, Marco; Kaspar, Kai

2017-01-01

E-learning projects and related research generate an increasing amount of evidence within and across various disciplines and contexts. The field is very heterogeneous as e-learning approaches are often characterized by rather unique combinations of situational factors that guide the design and realization of e-learning in a bottom-up fashion.…

Integrating Research, Teaching and Learning: Preparing the Future National STEM Faculty

Science.gov (United States)

Hooper, E. J.; Pfund, C.; Mathieu, R.

2010-08-01

A network of universities (Howard, Michigan State, Texas A&M, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt) have created a National Science Foundation-funded network to prepare a future national STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) faculty committed to learning, implementing, and advancing teaching techniques that are effective for the wide range of students enrolled in higher education. The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL; http://www.cirtl.net) develops, implements and evaluates professional development programs for future and current faculty. The programs comprise graduate courses, internships, and workshops, all integrated within campus learning communities. These elements are unified and guided by adherence to three core principles, or pillars: "Teaching as Research," whereby research skills are applied to evaluating and advancing undergraduate learning; "Learning through Diversity," in which the diversity of students' backgrounds and experiences are used as a rich resource to enhance teaching and learning; and "Learning Communities" that foster shared learning and discovery among students, and between future and current faculty within a department or institution. CIRTL established a laboratory for testing its ideas and practices at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, known as the Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning (http://www.delta.wisc.edu). The program offers project-based graduate courses, research mentor training, and workshops for post-docs, staff, and faculty. In addition, graduate students and post-docs can partner with a faculty member in a teaching-as-research internship to define and tackle a specific teaching and learning problem. Finally, students can obtain a Delta Certificate as testimony to their engagement in and commitment to teaching and learning. Delta has proved very successful, having served over 1500 UW-Madison instructors from graduate

Researching into Learning Resources in Colleges and Universities. The Practical Research Series.

Science.gov (United States)

Higgins, Chris; Reading, Judy; Taylor, Paul

This book examines issues and methods for conducting research into the educational resource environment in colleges and universities. That environment is defined as whatever is used to facilitate the learning process, including learning space, support staff, and teaching staff. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the series and lays out the process of…

Reframing Photovoice to Boost Its Potential for Learning Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucian Ciolan

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Visual methods are not new within education research field, but they are certainly an innovative approach, especially in higher education where students’ voice is understood as a central need. In this positional article, the authors intend to accomplish two key objectives. First, the article aims to emphasize that visual method, especially photovoice, can be enriching for studying the ways students engage in learning activities and support authentic conversations about how learning takes place and what students are thinking about this process (metacognition. The second objective is to set theoretical and methodological grounds to apply visually based methods such as photovoice and bubble dialogue in education research, particularly in learning research area. The considerations regarding specific methodological aspects are based on the discussion of a study conducted by using photovoice methodology. The authors suggest that participatory analysis and particularly interpretative phenomenological analysis are appropriate to complete the process of data analysis. The article, therefore, contributes to expanding knowledge about specific visual methods and set the ground for methodological innovation in learning research.

Technologies for Learning? An Actor-Network Theory Critique of "Affordances" in Research on Mobile Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Steve; Parchoma, Gale

2011-01-01

How is the link between learner and technology made in mobile learning? What is the value of the concept of "affordances"? And how does research articulating this concept act to position mobile devices as "technologies for learning"? This literature review used both unstructured and structured search samples of published research on mobile…

General practitioners learning qualitative research: A case study of postgraduate education.

Science.gov (United States)

Hepworth, Julie; Kay, Margaret

2015-10-01

Qualitative research is increasingly being recognised as a vital aspect of primary healthcare research. Teaching and learning how to conduct qualitative research is especially important for general practitioners and other clinicians in the professional educational setting. This article examines a case study of postgraduate professional education in qualitative research for clinicians, for the purpose of enabling a robust discussion around teaching and learning in medicine and the health sciences. A series of three workshops was delivered for primary healthcare academics. The workshops were evaluated using a quantitative survey and qualitative free-text responses to enable descriptive analyses. Participants found qualitative philosophy and theory the most difficult areas to engage with, and learning qualitative coding and analysis was considered the easiest to learn. Key elements for successful teaching were identified, including the use of adult learning principles, the value of an experienced facilitator and an awareness of the impact of clinical subcultures on learning.

Research workshops as a Means to individual and organizational learning and transformation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sommer, Finn M.; Sprogøe, Jonas; Nygaard Andersen, Randi

In this empirical paper we explore experiences with organizing so called research workshops in a university of applied science. A research workshop is a action learning oriented didactical and educational format designed to be explorative, and the aim is for the participants to acquire research s...... skills and competencies. However, research workshops are also used strategically to facilitate organizational development. By way of organizational learning theory, we discuss research workshops as way to individual learning and organizational transformation.......In this empirical paper we explore experiences with organizing so called research workshops in a university of applied science. A research workshop is a action learning oriented didactical and educational format designed to be explorative, and the aim is for the participants to acquire research...

An Activity-based Approach to the Learning and Teaching of Research Methods: Measuring Student Engagement and Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eimear Fallon

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses a research project carried out with 82 final and third year undergraduate students, learning Research Methods prior to undertaking an undergraduate thesis during the academic years 2010 and 2011. The research had two separate, linked objectives, (a to develop a Research Methods module that embraces an activity-based approach to learning in a group environment, (b to improve engagement by all students. The Research Methods module was previously taught through a traditional lecture-based format. Anecdotally, it was felt that student engagement was poor and learning was limited. It was believed that successful completion of the development of this Module would equip students with a deeply-learned battery of research skills to take into their further academic and professional careers. Student learning was achieved through completion of a series of activities based on different research methods. In order to encourage student engagement, a wide variety of activities were used. These activities included workshops, brainstorming, mind-mapping, presentations, written submissions, peer critiquing, lecture/seminar, and ‘speed dating’ with more senior students and self reflection. Student engagement was measured through a survey based on a U.S. National Survey of Student Engagement (2000. A questionnaire was devised to establish whether, and to what degree, students were engaged in the material that they were learning, while they were learning it. The results of the questionnaire were very encouraging with between 63% and 96% of students answering positively to a range of questions concerning engagement. In terms of the two objectives set, these were satisfactorily met. The module was successfully developed and continues to be delivered, based upon this new and significant level of student engagement.

Improving the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning through Classroom Research

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Patrícia; Teixeira-Dias, José Joaquim; Medina, Jorge

The scholarship of teaching emerged in the last decades as a fundamental concept to the development of good teaching practices in Higher Education and, consequently, to the enhancement of the quality of student learning. Considering that scholarship comprehends a process as well as an outcome, research on teaching and learning should be viewed as one important aspect of the scholarship of teaching. The goal of this essay is to illustrate how the scholarship of teaching and learning can be enhanced through the development of classroom research rooted on students' questioning, conceived and implemented by both university teachers and educational researchers. Valuing and stimulating students' questions offers an innovative dimension to science education as it puts students at a central role in the learning process. This way, encouraging students' questioning also strengthens teaching-research links by bringing teachers and learners together in a community of inquiry.

Beyond Assessment: Conducting Theoretically Grounded Research on Service-Learning in Gerontology Courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruger, Tina M; Pearl, Andrew J

2016-01-01

Service-learning is a useful pedagogical tool and high-impact practice, providing multiple benefits. Gerontology (and other) courses frequently include service-learning activities but lack theory-based, intentional research on outcomes. Here, the authors define service-learning and contextualize it in higher education, provide an overview of research and assessment in service-learning and gerontology courses, demonstrate the shortcomings of program evaluations, and offer suggestions for future research to advance and generate theory.

Development of an e-Learning Research Module Using Multimedia Instruction Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Kowitlawakul, Yanika; Chan, Moon Fai; Tan, Sharon Swee Lin; Soong, Alan Swee Kit; Chan, Sally Wai Chi

2017-03-01

Students nowadays feel more comfortable with new technologies, which increase their motivation and, as a result, improve their academic performance. In the last two decades, the use of information communication technology has been increasing in many disciplines in higher education. Online learning or e-learning has been used and integrated into the curriculum around the world. A team of nursing faculty and educational technology specialists have developed an e-learning research module and integrate it into the nursing curriculum. The aim was to assist master of nursing and postgraduate nursing students in developing their research knowledge before and throughout their enrollment in the research course. This e-learning module includes interactive multimedia such as audiovisual presentation, graphical theme, animation, case-based learning, and pretest and posttest for each topic area. The module focuses on three main topic areas: (1) basic research principles (for review), (2) quantitative method, and (3) qualitative method. The e-learning module is an innovative use of the information and communication technology to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes in a local context. This article discusses the development journey, piloting process, including the variety of evaluation perspectives, and the ways in which the results influenced the e-learning resource before its wider distribution.

Game-Based Learning in Science Education: A Review of Relevant Research

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ming-Chaun; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2013-12-01

The purpose of this study is to review empirical research articles regarding game-based science learning (GBSL) published from 2000 to 2011. Thirty-one articles were identified through the Web of Science and SCOPUS databases. A qualitative content analysis technique was adopted to analyze the research purposes and designs, game design and implementation, theoretical backgrounds and learning foci of these reviewed studies. The theories and models employed by these studies were classified into four theoretical foundations including cognitivism, constructivism, the socio-cultural perspective, and enactivism. The results indicate that cognitivism and constructivism were the major theoretical foundations employed by the GBSL researchers and that the socio-cultural perspective and enactivism are two emerging theoretical paradigms that have started to draw attention from GBSL researchers in recent years. The analysis of the learning foci showed that most of the digital games were utilized to promote scientific knowledge/concept learning, while less than one-third were implemented to facilitate the students' problem-solving skills. Only a few studies explored the GBSL outcomes from the aspects of scientific processes, affect, engagement, and socio-contextual learning. Suggestions are made to extend the current GBSL research to address the affective and socio-contextual aspects of science learning. The roles of digital games as tutor, tool, and tutee for science education are discussed, while the potentials of digital games to bridge science learning between real and virtual worlds, to promote collaborative problem-solving, to provide affective learning environments, and to facilitate science learning for younger students are also addressed.

European Union - Space of Regeneration, Learning and Innovation in the Context of Sustainable Multidisciplinary Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florin Răzvan Bălășescu

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Objective The Lisbon Strategy set a new goal for the EU economy: the transition to a knowledge based economy, competitive and sustainable at macro and regional levels, by creating the European Research Area – a geographic area without frontiers for researches, where scientific resources are better managed to create more jobs and improve Europe's competitiveness. That means an interaction between specific and multidisciplinary research network. Approach However, general research methodology sustains the importance of static and revolutionary specific criteria of Scientific Research Programs but also reveals the natural process of multidisciplinary researches. In this context, the European Union could be regarded as a specific and multidisciplinary research area, as a network of flows, connections, relationships, interdependencies, and interferences between natural - experimental and social-humanistic research spheres (economics, management, sociology and complex systems ecology. Prior Work: In this respect some researchers suggested that both natural and social systems could be considered as multidisciplinary complex adaptive systems consisting of specific cluster network connections ( in the form of biotic and abiotic nodes, respectively, the competitive and regional poles with the ability to continuous self-organizing, learning and regenerating process especially in crisis situations. Implications and Value Paper Utility The present paper might be useful to illustrate the contribution of technical-economic and socio-ecological researches to increasing the sustainability framework of European Research Area by considering the transition from the R&D approach (development through research process to the L&D approach (development through learning process.

From scientifically based research to evidence based learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosa Cera

2016-02-01

Full Text Available This essay is a reflection on the peculiarities of the scientifically based research and on the distinctive elements of the EBL (evidence based learning, methodology used in the study on the “Relationship between Metacognition, Self-efficacy and Self-regulation in Learning”. The EBL method, based on the standardization of data, explains how the students’ learning experience can be considered as a set of “data” and can be used to explain how and when the research results can be considered generalizable and transferable to other learning situations. The reflections present in this study have also allowed us to illustrate the impact that its results have had on the micro and macro level of reality. They helped to fill in the gaps concerning the learning/teaching processes, contributed to the enrichment of the scientific literature on this subject and allowed to establish standards through rigorous techniques such as systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

New directions in e-learning research in health professions education: Report of two symposia.

Science.gov (United States)

Triola, Marc M; Huwendiek, Sören; Levinson, Anthony J; Cook, David A

2012-01-01

The use of Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) is rising across health professions education. Research to date is of limited use in guiding the implementation and selection of CAI innovations. In the context of two symposia, systemic reviews were discussed that evaluate literature in Internet-based learning, Virtual Patients, and animations. Each session included a debate with the goal of reaching consensus on best current practices and future research. Thematic analysis of the discussions was performed to arrange the questions by theme, eliminate redundancy, and craft them into a cohesive narrative. The question analysis revealed that there are clear advantages to the use of CAI, and that established educational theories should certainly inform the future development and selection of CAI tools. Schools adopting CAI need to carefully consider the benefits, cost, available resources, and capacity for teachers and learners to accept change in their practice of education. Potential areas for future research should focus on the effectiveness of CAI instructional features, integration of e-learning into existing curricula and with other modalities like simulation, and the use of CAI in assessment of higher-level outcomes. There are numerous opportunities for future research and it will be important to achieve consensus on important themes.

Research on Model of Student Engagement in Online Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Wang

2017-01-01

In this study, online learning refers students under the guidance of teachers through the online learning platform for organized learning. Based on the analysis of related research results, considering the existing problems, the main contents of this paper include the following aspects: (1) Analyze and study the current student engagement model.…

Learning Practice-Based Research Methods: Capturing the Experiences of MSW Students

Science.gov (United States)

Natland, Sidsel; Weissinger, Erika; Graaf, Genevieve; Carnochan, Sarah

2016-01-01

The literature on teaching research methods to social work students identifies many challenges, such as dealing with the tensions related to producing research relevant to practice, access to data to teach practice-based research, and limited student interest in learning research methods. This is an exploratory study of the learning experiences of…

Research-based active-learning instruction in physics

Science.gov (United States)

Meltzer, David E.; Thornton, Ronald K.

2013-04-01

The development of research-based active-learning instructional methods in physics has significantly altered the landscape of U.S. physics education during the past 20 years. Based on a recent review [D.E. Meltzer and R.K. Thornton, Am. J. Phys. 80, 478 (2012)], we define these methods as those (1) explicitly based on research in the learning and teaching of physics, (2) that incorporate classroom and/or laboratory activities that require students to express their thinking through speaking, writing, or other actions that go beyond listening and the copying of notes, or execution of prescribed procedures, and (3) that have been tested repeatedly in actual classroom settings and have yielded objective evidence of improved student learning. We describe some key features common to methods in current use. These features focus on (a) recognizing and addressing students' physics ideas, and (b) guiding students to solve problems in realistic physical settings, in novel and diverse contexts, and to justify or explain the reasoning they have used.

Technologies for learning? An actor-network theory critique of ‘affordances' in research on mobile learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gale Parchoma

2011-12-01

Full Text Available How is the link between learner and technology made in mobile learning? Whatis the value of the concept of ‘affordances'? And how does research articulatingthis concept act to position mobile devices as ‘technologies for learning'? Thisliterature review used both unstructured and structured search samples of publishedresearch on mobile learning to critically evaluate the prevalence and influenceof the concept of the affordances of mobile technologies. Actor-networktheory is drawn on as a theoretical lens through which to critically considerhow this concept is articulated, and in particular to explore the way it positionsand controls mobile devices as technologies for learning. Parallels in contemporaryaccounts of mobile learning are drawn with classifications of previous discoursesaround the introduction of computers into schools. An alternativeagenda for mobile learning research is suggested with a focus on authentic andinformal contexts rather than controlled experiments.

Redefining "Learning" in Statistical Learning: What Does an Online Measure Reveal About the Assimilation of Visual Regularities?

Science.gov (United States)

Siegelman, Noam; Bogaerts, Louisa; Kronenfeld, Ofer; Frost, Ram

2017-10-07

From a theoretical perspective, most discussions of statistical learning (SL) have focused on the possible "statistical" properties that are the object of learning. Much less attention has been given to defining what "learning" is in the context of "statistical learning." One major difficulty is that SL research has been monitoring participants' performance in laboratory settings with a strikingly narrow set of tasks, where learning is typically assessed offline, through a set of two-alternative-forced-choice questions, which follow a brief visual or auditory familiarization stream. Is that all there is to characterizing SL abilities? Here we adopt a novel perspective for investigating the processing of regularities in the visual modality. By tracking online performance in a self-paced SL paradigm, we focus on the trajectory of learning. In a set of three experiments we show that this paradigm provides a reliable and valid signature of SL performance, and it offers important insights for understanding how statistical regularities are perceived and assimilated in the visual modality. This demonstrates the promise of integrating different operational measures to our theory of SL. © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Teachers' and Researchers' Beliefs of Learning and the use of Learning Progressions

Science.gov (United States)

Clapp, Francis Neely

In the last decade, science education reform in the United States has emphasized the exploration of cognitive learning pathways, which are theories on how a person learns a particular science subject matter. These theories are based, in part, by Piagetian developmental theory. One such model, called Learning Progressions (LP), has become prominent within science education reform. Science education researchers design LPs which in turn are used by science educators to sequence their curricula. The new national science standards released in April 2013 (Next Generation Science Standards) are, in part, grounded in the LP model. Understanding how teachers apply and use LPs, therefore, is valuable because professional development programs are likely to use this model, given the federal attention LP have received in science education reform. I sought to identify the beliefs and discourse that both LP developers and intended LP implementers have around student learning, teaching, and learning progressions. However, studies measuring beliefs or perspectives of LP-focused projects are absent in published works. A qualitative research is therefore warranted to explore this rather uncharted research area. Research questions were examined through the use of an instrumental case study. A case study approach was selected over other methodologies, as the research problem is, in part, bound within a clearly identifiable case (a professional development experience centering on a single LP model). One of the broadest definitions of a case study is noted by Becker (1968), who stated that goals of case studies are "to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the groups under study" and to develop "general theoretical statements about regularities in social structure and process." (p.233). Based on Merriam (1985) the general consensus in the case study literature is that the assumptions underlying this method are common to naturalistic inquiry with research conducted primarily in the

Brain-Based Learning. Research Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Karen

2005-01-01

What does brain-based research say about how adolescents learn? The 1990s was declared as the Decade of the Brain by President Bush and Congress. With the advancement of MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imagining) and PET (positron emission tomography) scans, it has become much easier to study live healthy brains. As a result, the concept of…

Research into Practice: Grammar Learning and Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen-Freeman, Diane

2015-01-01

This selective review of the second language acquisition and applied linguistics research literature on grammar learning and teaching falls into three categories: where research has had little impact (the non-interface position), modest impact (form-focused instruction), and where it potentially can have a large impact (reconceiving grammar).…

Affordances of Augmented Reality in Science Learning: Suggestions for Future Research

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Kun-Hung; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2013-08-01

Augmented reality (AR) is currently considered as having potential for pedagogical applications. However, in science education, research regarding AR-aided learning is in its infancy. To understand how AR could help science learning, this review paper firstly has identified two major approaches of utilizing AR technology in science education, which are named as image- based AR and location- based AR. These approaches may result in different affordances for science learning. It is then found that students' spatial ability, practical skills, and conceptual understanding are often afforded by image-based AR and location-based AR usually supports inquiry-based scientific activities. After examining what has been done in science learning with AR supports, several suggestions for future research are proposed. For example, more research is required to explore learning experience (e.g., motivation or cognitive load) and learner characteristics (e.g., spatial ability or perceived presence) involved in AR. Mixed methods of investigating learning process (e.g., a content analysis and a sequential analysis) and in-depth examination of user experience beyond usability (e.g., affective variables of esthetic pleasure or emotional fulfillment) should be considered. Combining image-based and location-based AR technology may bring new possibility for supporting science learning. Theories including mental models, spatial cognition, situated cognition, and social constructivist learning are suggested for the profitable uses of future AR research in science education.

A Doctoral Seminar in Qualitative Research Methods: Lessons Learned

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suzanne Franco

2016-09-01

Full Text Available New qualitative research methods continue to emerge in response to factors such as renewed interest in mixed methods, better understanding of the importance of a researcher’s philosophical stance, as well as the increased use of technology in data collection and analysis, to name a few. As a result, those facilitating research methods courses must revisit content and instructional strategies in order to prepare well-informed researchers. Approaches range from paradigm to pragmatic emphasis. This descriptive case study of a doctoral seminar for novice qualitative researchers describes the intricacies of the syllabus of a pragmatic approach in a constructivist/social constructionist learning environment. The purpose was to document the delivery and faculty/student interactions and reactions. Noteworthy were the contradictions and frustrations in the delivery as well as in student experiences. In the end, student input led to seminal learning experiences. The confirmation of the effectiveness of a constructivist/social constructivist learning environment is applicable to higher education pedagogy in general.

Eye-tracking research in computer-mediated language learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Michel, Marije; Smith, Bryan

2017-01-01

Though eye-tracking technology has been used in reading research for over 100 years, researchers have only recently begun to use it in studies of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). This chapter provides an overview of eye-tracking research to date, which is relevant to computer-mediated

A Commentary on Parent-Child Cognitive Interaction Research: What Have we Learned From Two Decades of Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yvette Renee Harris

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The role of family influences on preschool and school age cognitive development has received considerable empirical attention from cognitive developmental psychology researchers in the last few decades. As a result of the interest, investigators have focused their attention on developing coding/observational systems to capture the interactions occurring between mothers and their young children. This paper reviews a select body of research on parent child cognitive learning interactions with the goal of determining how the researchers have operationalized the behaviors that occur within learning interactions. The paper concludes with a discussion of the suggestions on next steps for conducting parent child cognitive learning interaction research in the future.

Research into experiential learning in nurse education.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Barry

2017-09-07

This research is founded on an innovative pedagogical project as part of a higher education lecturer teaching qualification. This project involved redesigning the module 'advanced history taking and physical examination with clinical reasoning', a continuing professional development at a higher education institution. The author undertook an exploration of the literature, considering evidence on teaching styles and the way in which students learn and gain knowledge. The module was redesigned, impelemented and then evaluated by the student participants. Key themes in the evaluation centred on the experiential learning style and experiential teaching style. There are numerous internal and external factors that affect teaching, and student learning. Experiential learning has provided a successful teaching pedagogy when applied to clinical skill acquisition, and has positively benefited the module delivery and pass rate, suggesting it has embedded 'deep learning'. Student feedback was positive, and the redesigned module has had a positive impact on student engagement and the teacher-student interaction.

Agroecology Education: Action-Oriented Learning and Research

Science.gov (United States)

Lieblein, Geir; Breland, Tor Arvid; Francis, Charles; Ostergaard, Edvin

2012-01-01

Purpose: This article examines and evaluates the potential contributions from action learning and action research with stakeholders to higher education in agriculture and food systems. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research is based on our experiences over the past two decades of running PhD courses and an MSc degree programme in Agroecology in…

Recent Research in Science Teaching and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Deborah

2012-01-01

This article features recent research in science teaching and learning. It presents three current articles of interest in life sciences education, as well as more general and noteworthy publications in education research. URLs are provided for the abstracts or full text of articles. For articles listed as "Abstract available," full text may be…

Exploring Practice-Research Networks for Critical Professional Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Appleby, Yvon; Hillier, Yvonne

2012-01-01

This paper discusses the contribution that practice-research networks can make to support critical professional development in the Learning and Skills sector in England. By practice-research networks we mean groups or networks which maintain a connection between research and professional practice. These networks stem from the philosophy of…

The effectiveness of e-learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Noesgaard, Signe Schack; Ørngreen, Rikke

2015-01-01

A structured search of library databases revealed that research examining the effectiveness of e-Learning has heavily increased within the last five years. After taking a closer look at the search results, the authors discovered that previous researchers defined and investigated effectiveness....... The paper answers the following research questions: How is the effectiveness of e-Learning defined? How is the effectiveness of e-Learning measured? What makes e-Learning solutions effective? The authors discovered 19 distinct ways to define effectiveness, the most common of which is ‘learning outcome...... to the findings of the literature study. The study suggests that it is difficult to use e-Learning to improve teaching performance, as participating teachers can apply several strategies to avoid substantially changing their work-related practices. Furthermore, the study shows that only using the fulfilment...

Enabling Transformative Learning in the Workplace: An Educative Research Intervention

Science.gov (United States)

Wilhelmson, Lena; Åberg, Marie Moström; Backström, Tomas; Olsson, Bengt Köping

2015-01-01

The aim of this article is to discuss the potential of an educative research intervention to influence the quality of the learning outcome in the workplace as interpreted from the perspectives of adult learning theory. The research project was designed as a quasi-experimental, mixed-methods study. In this article, quantitative survey data were…

Empowering and Engaging Students in Learning Research Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shuang; Breit, Rhonda

2013-01-01

The capacity to conduct research is essential for university graduates to survive and thrive in their future career. However, research methods courses have often been considered by students as "abstract", "uninteresting", and "hard". Thus, motivating students to engage in the process of learning research methods has become a crucial challenge for…

The Best Practice Unit: a model for learning, research and development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jean Pierre Wilken

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The Best Practice Unit: a model for learning, research and development The Best Practice Unit (BPU model constitutes a unique form of practice-based research. A variant of the Community of Practice model developed by Wenger, McDermott and Snyder (2002, the BPU has the specific aim of improving professional practice by combining innovation and research. The model is used as a way of working by a group of professionals, researchers and other relevant individuals, who over a period of one to two years, work together towards a desired improvement. The model is characterized by interaction between individual and collective learning processes, the development of new or improved working methods, and the implementation of these methods in daily practice. Multiple knowledge resources are used, including experiential knowledge, professional knowledge and scientific knowledge. The research serves diverse purposes: articulating tacit knowledge, documenting learning and innovation processes, systematically describing the working methods that have been revealed or developed, and evaluating the efficacy of the new methods. Each BPU is supported by a facilitator, whose main task is to optimize learning processes. An analysis of ten different BPUs in different professional fields shows that this is a successful model. The article describes the methodology and results of this study. De Best Practice Unit: een model voor leren, onderzoek en ontwikkeling Het model van de Best Practice Unit (BPU is een unieke vorm van praktijkgericht onderzoek. De Best Practice Unit is een variant van de Community of Practice zoals ontwikkeld door Wenger, McDermott en Snyder (2002 met als specifiek doel om de professionele praktijk te verbeteren door innovatie en onderzoek te combineren. Het model wordt gebruikt om in een periode van 1-2 jaar met een groep professionals, onderzoekers en andere betrokkenen te werken aan een gewenste verbetering. Kenmerkend is de wisselwerking tussen

Practising What We Teach: Vocational Teachers Learn to Research through Applying Action Learning Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Lasky, Barbara; Tempone, Irene

2004-01-01

Action learning techniques are well suited to the teaching of organisation behaviour students because of their flexibility, inclusiveness, openness, and respect for individuals. They are no less useful as a tool for change for vocational teachers, learning, of necessity, to become researchers. Whereas traditional universities have always had a…

Dataset-driven research for improving recommender systems for learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verbert, Katrien; Drachsler, Hendrik; Manouselis, Nikos; Wolpers, Martin; Vuorikari, Riina; Duval, Erik

2011-01-01

Verbert, K., Drachsler, H., Manouselis, N., Wolpers, M., Vuorikari, R., & Duval, E. (2011). Dataset-driven research for improving recommender systems for learning. In Ph. Long, & G. Siemens (Eds.), Proceedings of 1st International Conference Learning Analytics & Knowledge (pp. 44-53). February,

Learning through Participatory Action Research for Community Ecotourism Planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Guevara, Jose Roberto Q.

1996-01-01

Ecologically sound tourism planning and policy require an empowering community participation. The participatory action research model helps a community gain understanding of its social reality, learn how to learn, initiate dialog, and discover new possibilities for addressing its situation. (SK)

Economics of Distance and Online Learning Theory, Practice and Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

reviewed by TOJDE

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Economics of Distance and Online LearningTheory, Practice and ResearchBy William Bramble & Santosh PandaPrice: $125.00ISBN: 978-0-415-96388-6, Binding: Hardback, Publishedby: Routledge, New York, Publication Date: March 2008, Pages: 312TOJDEABOUT THE BOOKThis book provides a comprehensive overview of theorganizational models of distance and online learning froman international perspective and from the point of view ofeconomic planning, costing and management decisionmaking.The book points to directions for the further research anddevelopment in this area, and will promote furtherunderstanding and critical reflection on the part ofadministrators, practitioners and researchers of distanceeducation.The experiences and perspectives in distance education inthe US are balanced with those in other areas of the world.Table of ContentsPrefaceSECTION ONE: INTRODUCTIONChapter 1: Organizational and Cost Structures for Distanceand Online Learning, William J. Bramble and Santosh PandaSECTION TWO: PLANNING AND MANAGEMENTChapter 2: Changing Distance Education andChanging Organizational Issues, D. Randy Garrison and Heather KanukaChapter 3: Online Learning and the University, Chris Curran217Chapter 4: Virtual Schooling and Basic Education, Thomas ClarkChapter 5: Historical Perspectives on Distance Education in the United States, Paul J.Edelson and Von PittmanSECTION THREE: FUNDINGChapter 6: Funding of Distance and Online Learning in the United States, Mark J. Smithand William J. BrambleChapter 7: Funding Distance Education: A Regional Perspective, Santosh Panda andAshok GabaSECTION FOUR: COST STRUCTURES AND MODELSChapter 8: Costs and Quality of Online Learning, Alistair InglisChapter 9: Costing Virtual University Education, Insung JungChapter 10: Cost-Benefit of Student Retention Policies and Practices, Ormond SimpsonSECTION FIVE: DISTANCE TRAININGChapter 11: Cost Benefit of Online Learning, Zane Berge and Charlotte DonaldsonChapter 12: Transforming Workplace

Fostering Sustained Learning among Undergraduate Students: Emerging Research and Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Chemosit, Caroline; Rugutt, John; Rugutt, Joseph K.

2017-01-01

Keeping students engaged and receptive to learning can, at times, be a challenge. However, by the implementation of new methods and pedagogies, instructors can strengthen the drive to learn among their students. "Fostering Sustained Learning Among Undergraduate Students: Emerging Research and Opportunities" is an essential publication…

Working Alongside Older People with a Learning Disability: Informing and Shaping Research Design

Science.gov (United States)

Herron, Daniel; Priest, Helena M.; Read, Sue

2015-01-01

Background: There has been an increase in inclusive research in the learning disability field; however, this has not been reflected within learning disability and dementia research, where little is known from the perspective of people with learning disabilities. This paper will define inclusive research, explore reasons for the dearth of inclusive…

The use of technology enhanced learning in health research capacity development: lessons from a cross country research partnership.

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, E; Donaldson, L; Manda-Taylor, L; Brugha, R; Matthews, A; MacDonald, S; Mwapasa, V; Petersen, M; Walsh, A

2016-05-10

With the recognition of the need for research capacity strengthening for advancing health and development, this research capacity article explores the use of technology enhanced learning in the delivery of a collaborative postgraduate blended Master's degree in Malawi. Two research questions are addressed: (i) Can technology enhanced learning be used to develop health research capacity?, and: (ii) How can learning content be designed that is transferrable across different contexts? An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was adopted for the evaluation of technology enhanced learning in the Masters programme. A number of online surveys were administered, student participation in online activities monitored and an independent evaluation of the programme conducted. Remote collaboration and engagement are paramount in the design of a blended learning programme and support was needed for selecting the most appropriate technical tools. Internet access proved problematic despite developing the content around low bandwidth availability and training was required for students and teachers/trainers on the tools used. Varying degrees of engagement with the tools used was recorded, and the support of a learning technologist was needed to navigate through challenges faced. Capacity can be built in health research through blended learning programmes. In relation to transferability, the support required institutionally for technology enhanced learning needs to be conceptualised differently from support for face-to-face teaching. Additionally, differences in pedagogical approaches and styles between institutions, as well as existing social norms and values around communication, need to be embedded in the content development if the material is to be used beyond the pilot resource-intensive phase of a project.

Research on cultivating medical students' self-learning ability using teaching system integrated with learning analysis technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Hong; Wu, Cheng; He, Qian; Wang, Shi-Yong; Ma, Xiu-Qiang; Wang, Ri; Li, Bing; He, Jia

2015-01-01

Along with the advancement of information technology and the era of big data education, using learning process data to provide strategic decision-making in cultivating and improving medical students' self-learning ability has become a trend in educational research. Educator Abuwen Toffler said once, the illiterates in the future may not be the people not able to read and write, but not capable to know how to learn. Serving as educational institutions cultivating medical students' learning ability, colleges and universities should not only instruct specific professional knowledge and skills, but also develop medical students' self-learning ability. In this research, we built a teaching system which can help to restore medical students' self-learning processes and analyze their learning outcomes and behaviors. To evaluate the effectiveness of the system in supporting medical students' self-learning, an experiment was conducted in 116 medical students from two grades. The results indicated that problems in self-learning process through this system was consistent with problems raised from traditional classroom teaching. Moreover, the experimental group (using this system) acted better than control group (using traditional classroom teaching) to some extent. Thus, this system can not only help medical students to develop their self-learning ability, but also enhances the ability of teachers to target medical students' questions quickly, improving the efficiency of answering questions in class.

Research on demand-oriented Business English learning method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhou Yuan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Business English is integrated with visual-audio-oral English, which focuses on the application for English listening and speaking skills in common business occasions, and acquire business knowledge and improve skills through English. This paper analyzes the Business English Visual-audio-oral Course, and learning situation of higher vocational students’ learning objectives, interests, vocabulary, listening and speaking, and focuses on the research of effective methods to guide the higher vocational students to learn Business English Visual-audio-oral Course, master Business English knowledge, and improve communicative competence of Business English.

Incorporating Meaningful Gamification in a Blended Learning Research Methods Class: Examining Student Learning, Engagement, and Affective Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Meng; Hew, Khe Foon

2016-01-01

In this study, we investigated how the use of meaningful gamification affects student learning, engagement, and affective outcomes in a short, 3-day blended learning research methods class using a combination of experimental and qualitative research methods. Twenty-two postgraduates were randomly split into two groups taught by the same…

Improvement The Acquisition of Research Methodology and Self Regulated Learning through Blog Project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heri Retnawati

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract: This classroom action research seeks to improveself-regulated learning (SRL and understanding of research methodology at the graduate school. Nineteen graduate school students were involved. Using project-based learning (PjBL, students were assigned to create online blogs as the main project. The blog was intended for representing their understanding of research methodology by writing review of research articles and submitting a research proposal. The classroom action research was based ona model by Kemmis & McTaggart and was conducted in two cycles. The data were analyzed using mixed methods in which the main data were analyzed qualitatively and further analysed quantitatively. The results of the study showed that after completing the course, students not only gained knowledge about research methods, but were also able to write are search proposal. In addition, the project-based learning could facilitate students to practice their communication skills while writing on their blog and to improve selfegulated learning. Keywords: Action research, project-based learning, blog, self-regulated learning PENINGKATAN PENGUASAAN METODOLOGI PENELITIAN DAN SELF REGULATED LEARNING MELALUI PROJEK BLOG Abstrak: Penelitian tindakan kelas ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kemandirian belajar dan pemahaman metodologi penelitian di sekolah Pascasarjana. Partisipan yang terlibat pada studi ini adalah 19 mahasiswa master di sekolah pascasarjana. Dengan menerapkan pembelajaran berbasis projek (PjBL, mahasiswa diberi tugas membuat blog sebagai projek utama. Projek yang dibuat mahasiswa berupa blog untuk merepresantasikan pemahaman metodologi penelitian mahasiswa melalui tulisan dan usulan penelitian tesis. Penelitian tindakan ini dilaksanakan dalam dua siklus dengan model Kemmis & Taggart. Analisis data dilakukan dengan mixed methods secara kualitatif dengan dilengkapi analisis kuantitatif sebagai pendukung. Hasil studi menunjukkan bahwa setelah menyelesaikan

Visualising the invisible: a network approach to reveal the informal social side of student learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Hommes, J; Rienties, B; de Grave, W; Bos, G; Schuwirth, L; Scherpbier, A

2012-12-01

World-wide, universities in health sciences have transformed their curriculum to include collaborative learning and facilitate the students' learning process. Interaction has been acknowledged to be the synergistic element in this learning context. However, students spend the majority of their time outside their classroom and interaction does not stop outside the classroom. Therefore we studied how informal social interaction influences student learning. Moreover, to explore what really matters in the students learning process, a model was tested how the generally known important constructs-prior performance, motivation and social integration-relate to informal social interaction and student learning. 301 undergraduate medical students participated in this cross-sectional quantitative study. Informal social interaction was assessed using self-reported surveys following the network approach. Students' individual motivation, social integration and prior performance were assessed by the Academic Motivation Scale, the College Adaption Questionnaire and students' GPA respectively. A factual knowledge test represented student' learning. All social networks were positively associated with student learning significantly: friendships (β = 0.11), providing information to other students (β = 0.16), receiving information from other students (β = 0.25). Structural equation modelling revealed a model in which social networks increased student learning (r = 0.43), followed by prior performance (r = 0.31). In contrast to prior literature, students' academic motivation and social integration were not associated with students' learning. Students' informal social interaction is strongly associated with students' learning. These findings underline the need to change our focus from the formal context (classroom) to the informal context to optimize student learning and deliver modern medics.

A blended learning approach to teaching sociolinguistic research methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivier, Jako

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This article reports on the use of Wiktionary, an open source online dictionary, as well as generic wiki pages within a university’s e-learning environment as teaching and learning resources in an Afrikaans sociolinguistics module. In a communal constructivist manner students learnt, but also constructed learning content. From the qualitative research conducted with students it is clear that wikis provide for effective facilitation of a blended learning approach to sociolinguistic research. The use of this medium was positively received, however, some students did prefer handing in assignments in hard copy. The issues of computer literacy and access to the internet were also raised by the respondents. The use of wikis and Wiktionary prompted useful unplanned discussions around reliability and quality of public wikis. The use of a public wiki such as Wiktionary served as encouragement for students as they were able to contribute to the promotion of Afrikaans in this way.

Exploring Constructivist Social Learning Practices in Aiding Russian-Speaking Teachers to Learn Estonian: An Action Research Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Kiilo, Tatjana; Kutsar, Dagmar

2012-01-01

Based on appreciative inquiry and threshold concepts from an intercultural learning perspective, the article makes insights into the constructivist social learning practice of Estonian language learning amongst Russian-speaking teachers in Estonia. The application of educational action research methodology, more specifically that of Bridget…

Developments in cooperative learning: review of research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robyn M. Gillies

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Cooperative learning, where students work in small groups to accomplish shared goals, is widely recognized as a teaching strategy that promotes learning and socialization among students from kindergarten through college and across different subject domains. It has been used successfully to promote reading and writing achievements, understanding and conceptual development in science classes, problem-solving in mathematics, and higher-order thinking and learning to name just a few. It has been shown to enhance students' willingness to work cooperatively and productively with others with diverse learning and adjustment needs and to enhance intergroup relations with those from culturally and ethnically different backgrounds. It has also been used as a teaching strategy to assist students to manage conflict and to help students identified as bullies learn appropriate interpersonal skills. In fact, it has been argued that cooperative learning experiences are crucial to preventing and alleviating many of the social problems related to children, adolescents, and young adults. There is no doubt that the benefits attributed to cooperative learning are widespread and numerous and it is the apparent success of this approach to learning that has led to it being acclaimed as one of the greatest educational innovations of recent times. The purpose of this paper is not only to review developments in research on cooperative learning but also to examine the factors that mediate and moderate its success. In particular, the review focuses on the types of student and teacher interactions generated and the key role talk plays in developing student thinking and learning, albeit through the expression of contrasting opinions or constructed shared meaning. The intention is to provide additional insights on how teachers can effectively utilize this pedagogical approach to teaching and learning in their classrooms.

The Value of Applied Research: Retrieval Practice Improves Classroom Learning and Recommendations from a Teacher, a Principal, and a Scientist

Science.gov (United States)

Agarwal, Pooja K.; Bain, Patrice M.; Chamberlain, Roger W.

2012-01-01

Over the course of a 5-year applied research project with more than 1,400 middle school students, evidence from a number of studies revealed that retrieval practice in authentic classroom settings improves long-term learning (Agarwal et al. 2009; McDaniel et al., "Journal of Educational Psychology" 103:399-414, 2011; McDaniel et al.…

Games and Simulations in Online Learning: Research and Development Frameworks

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, David; Aldrich, Clark; Prensky, Marc

2007-01-01

Games and Simulations in Online Learning: Research and Development Frameworks examines the potential of games and simulations in online learning, and how the future could look as developers learn to use the emerging capabilities of the Semantic Web. It presents a general understanding of how the Semantic Web will impact education and how games and…

The Role of Spirituality in Transition to Parenthood: Qualitative Research Using Transformative Learning Theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Klobučar, Nataša Rijavec

2016-08-01

This article presents results of a qualitative study of 12 adult couples making transition to parenthood. The aim of the study was to research the meaning of transition to parenthood through the lens of transformative learning theory. Transformative learning theory explains learning through meaning-making of that life experience. In this paper, the spiritual dimension of learning is emphasized. An important part of research methodology included biographical method, using semi-structured interviews before and after the birth of the first child. The research showed that transformative learning occurs in different spheres of life during transition to parenthood. This paper discusses the spiritual dimension of learning, meaning-making and presents results of the research.

Learning-Based Research: The Re-Integration of Learning Styles into STEM Research Through the Context of Solar Energy and Climate Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Bosman, L.

2014-12-01

This presentation will provide an overview of a NASA NICE-T funded research project at the College of Menominee Nation, a small federally recognized Tribal College located in northern Wisconsin. One main objective of the research project is to provide an experiential learning opportunity for 4-6 STEM students to construct a user friendly solar energy system evaluation tool, incorporating the real-world performance of different solar modules at Argonne National Laboratory, NASA weather and solar irradiation data, and detailed cost analysis and investment payback period. A natural connection exists between Native Americans and renewable energy. The generally clean character of renewable energies provides a great synergy and complimentary attribute for Native Americans' respect and pride for the environment and the overarching concern for future generations (Council, Pierce et al. 2000). Furthermore, Native American cultures have a strong creative and artistic focus, often motivated by their respect and appreciation for nature. The purpose of this learning-based research is to apply a cross-disciplinary approach to integrate the humanities with STEM research within the context of solar energy and climate literacy. Using 7 different learning styles (visual, aural, verbal, physical, logical, social, and solitary), students have the opportunity to showcase their research efforts through a variety of modes and artifacts including graphic novel development (Visual), spoken word poetry (Aural), conference presentation (Verbal), experiential display and demonstration (Physical), debate (Logical), social media and viral messaging (Social), and article submission (Solitary).

Toward Transdisciplinary Research by Means of Cooperative Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Aureliano Betancourt Bethencourt

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is based on the observation that fifth year Medicine students do not have enough skills in statistics, IT, or information management to adequately prepare and implement research projects. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to describe the experiences obtained by using the cooperative learning method and to present the results obtained by students in their research projects.  In order to meet the proposed objectives the cooperative learning method was applied to several topics of the Public Health course in the Medical Program.  Consequently, students were divided into five groups to interact with health care specialists and workers, workers from other sectors, and the general public. They identified the most urgent health problems in a participative manner and conducted a research project. The students’ acceptance of the method was evaluated using an exploratory statistical technique.  As a result, students analyzed data, drew conclusions, and participated in debates having the professor as the facilitator and coordinator. All groups successfully presented the results of their research projects, which included 2 projects on the control of Dengue and the Aedes aegypti mosquito and 3 on potential maternal mortality risks. Surveys reflected acceptance of the method.  The experiences obtained by using the cooperative learning technique and the results obtained by students in their projects are described; this experience should be systematized.

Lessons Learned from Introducing Social Media Use in Undergraduate Economics Research

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, Martin; Freund, Katarina

2018-01-01

The research process and associated literacy requirements are often unfamiliar and daunting obstacles for undergraduate students. The use of social media has the potential to assist research training and encourage active learning, social inclusion and student engagement. This paper documents the lessons learned from developing a blended learning…

What Can We Learn from PER: Physics Education Research?

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Chandralekha

2014-01-01

Physics Education Research (PER) focuses on understanding how students learn physics at all levels and developing strategies to help students with diverse prior preparations learn physics more effectively. New physics instructors are encouraged to visit http://PhysPort.org, a website devoted to helping instructors find effective teaching resources…

Research on English Teaching and Learning: Taiwan (2004-2009)

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Suchiao; Tsai, Yachin

2012-01-01

This article analyzes research in second/foreign language teaching and learning conducted in Taiwan over the period 2004-2009. Representative articles published in local refereed journals and conference proceedings--not readily accessible outside Taiwan--are reviewed to reflect current trends in English teaching and learning. The main themes…

Three Dimensions of Learning: Experiential Activity for Engineering Innovation Education and Research

Science.gov (United States)

Killen, Catherine P.

2015-01-01

This paper outlines a novel approach to engineering education research that provides three dimensions of learning through an experiential class activity. A simulated decision activity brought current research into the classroom, explored the effect of experiential activity on learning outcomes and contributed to the research on innovation decision…

Researches and Analysis on Middle School Students’ English Learning Motivation

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

陈虹; 韩小乐

2008-01-01

<正>This thesis discusses the relations among English learning motivations, learning strategies and study efficiency under China’s background through reviewing the Chinese and overseas English learning motivation research, analyzing its explanation, characteristics and the questionnaire results. Several suggestions on how to stimulate and foster the students’English learning motivation have been given through the analysis of existing problems in the English study of students. I expect these would be animating English teaching in school.

When Teachers Learn to Use Technology, Students Benefit. Lessons from Research

Science.gov (United States)

Kilion, Joellen

2016-01-01

Joellen Killion is senior advisor to Learning Forward. In each issue of JSD, Killion explores a recent research study to help practitioners understand the impact of particular professional learning practices on student outcomes. The study presented here builds on past research about the relationships between teacher practice and beliefs, teacher…

Action Research in a Business Classroom--Another Lens to Examine Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Janice Witt; Clark, Gloria

2010-01-01

This research study looks at the implementation of an action research project within a blended learning human resource management class in employee and labor relations. The internal and external environment created conditions that converged in the Perfect Storm and resulted in an almost disastrous learning experience for faculty and students. What…

Practical Strategies for Collaboration across Discipline-Based Education Research and the Learning Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Peffer, Melanie; Renken, Maggie

2016-01-01

Rather than pursue questions related to learning in biology from separate camps, recent calls highlight the necessity of interdisciplinary research agendas. Interdisciplinary collaborations allow for a complicated and expanded approach to questions about learning within specific science domains, such as biology. Despite its benefits, interdisciplinary work inevitably involves challenges. Some such challenges originate from differences in theoretical and methodological approaches across lines of work. Thus, aims at developing successful interdisciplinary research programs raise important considerations regarding methodologies for studying biology learning, strategies for approaching collaborations, and training of early-career scientists. Our goal here is to describe two fields important to understanding learning in biology, discipline-based education research and the learning sciences. We discuss differences between each discipline’s approach to biology education research and the benefits and challenges associated with incorporating these perspectives in a single research program. We then propose strategies for building productive interdisciplinary collaboration. PMID:27881446

Distance Adult Students’ Self-Management Strategies of Online Learning Discussion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nur Shaminah binti Mustafa Kamalu

2013-12-01

Full Text Available With distance learning getting more attention, the need for self-management strategies of learning becomes more prevalent since online learning is independent of time and place. This study was conducted to explore adult distance online students’ self-management strategies of learning and the importance of computer skill and their level of self-management strategies with regard to age and gender. A quantitative method survey research design was used to carry out the research which used questionnaire as the instrument for data collecting process. Participants involved were a group of first semester distance online learning students who were full time primary school teachers. They had registered for Technology Instruction course. Findings revealed that the level of self-management strategies of learning among these adult learners was moderate. In terms of the difference in selfmanagement strategies of learning between gender and among different categories of age, the results revealed there were no significant differences. Relationship between each component of self-management and computer skill revealed that the highest correlation was between computer skill and evaluation.

An experimental research on blended learning in the development ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The experimental research conducted for this study is based on a blended learning (BL) approach to the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in China. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of a blended learning approach aimed at improving students' listening and speaking skills.

The e-Learning Effectiveness Versus Traditional Learning on a Health Informatics Laboratory Course.

Science.gov (United States)

Zogas, Spyros; Kolokathi, Aikaterini; Birbas, Konstantinos; Chondrocoukis, Gregory; Mantas, John

2016-01-01

This paper presents a comparison between e-Learning and traditional learning methods of a University course on Health Informatics domain. A pilot research took place among University students who divided on two learning groups, the e-learners and the traditional learners. A comparison of the examinations' marks for the two groups of students was conducted in order to find differences on students' performance. The study results reveal that the students scored almost the same marks independently of the learning procedure. Based on that, it can be assumed that the e-learning courses have the same effectiveness as the in-classroom learning sessions.

Research on demand-oriented Business English learning method

OpenAIRE

Zhou Yuan

2016-01-01

Business English is integrated with visual-audio-oral English, which focuses on the application for English listening and speaking skills in common business occasions, and acquire business knowledge and improve skills through English. This paper analyzes the Business English Visual-audio-oral Course, and learning situation of higher vocational students’ learning objectives, interests, vocabulary, listening and speaking, and focuses on the research of effective methods to guide the higher voca...

Summary of Research on Online and Blended Learning Programs That Offer Differentiated Learning Options. REL 2017-228

Science.gov (United States)

Brodersen, R. Marc; Melluzzo, Daniel

2017-01-01

This report summarizes the methodology, measures, and findings of research on the influence on student achievement outcomes of K-12 online and blended face-to-face and online learning programs that offer differentiated learning options. The report also describes the characteristics of the learning programs. Most of the examined programs used…

Science of Learning Is Learning of Science: Why We Need a Dialectical Approach to Science Education Research

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, Wolff-Michael

2012-01-01

Research on learning science in informal settings and the formal (sometimes experimental) study of learning in classrooms or psychological laboratories tend to be separate domains, even drawing on different theories and methods. These differences make it difficult to compare knowing and learning observed in one paradigm/context with those observed…

The Effectiveness of E-Learning: An Explorative and Integrative Review of the Definitions, Methodologies and Factors That Promote e-Learning Effectiveness

Science.gov (United States)

Noesgaard, Signe Schack; Ørngreen, Rikke

2015-01-01

A structured search of library databases revealed that research examining the effectiveness of e-Learning has heavily increased within the last five years. After taking a closer look at the search results, the authors discovered that previous researchers defined and investigated effectiveness in multiple ways. At the same time, learning and…

Conceptualizing Debates in Learning and Educational Research: Toward a Complex Systems Conceptual Framework of Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobson, Michael J.; Kapur, Manu; Reimann, Peter

2016-01-01

This article proposes a conceptual framework of learning based on perspectives and methodologies being employed in the study of complex physical and social systems to inform educational research. We argue that the contexts in which learning occurs are complex systems with elements or agents at different levels--including neuronal, cognitive,…

Overcoming the obstacles: Life stories of scientists with learning disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Force, Crista Marie

Scientific discovery is at the heart of solving many of the problems facing contemporary society. Scientists are retiring at rates that exceed the numbers of new scientists. Unfortunately, scientific careers still appear to be outside the reach of most individuals with learning disabilities. The purpose of this research was to better understand the methods by which successful learning disabled scientists have overcome the barriers and challenges associated with their learning disabilities in their preparation and performance as scientists. This narrative inquiry involved the researcher writing the life stories of four scientists. These life stories were generated from extensive interviews in which each of the scientists recounted their life histories. The researcher used narrative analysis to "make sense" of these learning disabled scientists' life stories. The narrative analysis required the researcher to identify and describe emergent themes characterizing each scientist's life. A cross-case analysis was then performed to uncover commonalities and differences in the lives of these four individuals. Results of the cross-case analysis revealed that all four scientists had a passion for science that emerged at an early age, which, with strong drive and determination, drove these individuals to succeed in spite of the many obstacles arising from their learning disabilities. The analysis also revealed that these scientists chose careers based on their strengths; they actively sought mentors to guide them in their preparation as scientists; and they developed coping techniques to overcome difficulties and succeed. The cross-case analysis also revealed differences in the degree to which each scientist accepted his or her learning disability. While some demonstrated inferior feelings about their successes as scientists, still other individuals revealed feelings of having superior abilities in areas such as visualization and working with people. These individuals revealed

Density of Visual Input Enhancement and Grammar Learning: A Research Proposal

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Thu Hoang

2009-01-01

Research in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) has been done to ascertain the effectiveness of visual input enhancement (VIE) on grammar learning. However, one issue remains unexplored: the effects of VIE density on grammar learning. This paper presents a research proposal to investigate the effects of the density of VIE on English…

A Call to Action for Research in Digital Learning: Learning without Limits of Time, Place, Path, Pace…or Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Cavanaugh, Cathy; Sessums, Christopher; Drexler, Wendy

2015-01-01

This essay is a call for rethinking our approach to research in digital learning. It plots a path founded in social trends and advances in education. A brief review of these trends and advances is followed by discussion of what flattened research might look like at scale. Scaling research in digital learning is crucial to advancing understanding…

Learning from doing: the case for combining normalisation process theory and participatory learning and action research methodology for primary healthcare implementation research.

Science.gov (United States)

de Brún, Tomas; O'Reilly-de Brún, Mary; O'Donnell, Catherine A; MacFarlane, Anne

2016-08-03

The implementation of research findings is not a straightforward matter. There are substantive and recognised gaps in the process of translating research findings into practice and policy. In order to overcome some of these translational difficulties, a number of strategies have been proposed for researchers. These include greater use of theoretical approaches in research focused on implementation, and use of a wider range of research methods appropriate to policy questions and the wider social context in which they are placed. However, questions remain about how to combine theory and method in implementation research. In this paper, we respond to these proposals. Focussing on a contemporary social theory, Normalisation Process Theory, and a participatory research methodology, Participatory Learning and Action, we discuss the potential of their combined use for implementation research. We note ways in which Normalisation Process Theory and Participatory Learning and Action are congruent and may therefore be used as heuristic devices to explore, better understand and support implementation. We also provide examples of their use in our own research programme about community involvement in primary healthcare. Normalisation Process Theory alone has, to date, offered useful explanations for the success or otherwise of implementation projects post-implementation. We argue that Normalisation Process Theory can also be used to prospectively support implementation journeys. Furthermore, Normalisation Process Theory and Participatory Learning and Action can be used together so that interventions to support implementation work are devised and enacted with the expertise of key stakeholders. We propose that the specific combination of this theory and methodology possesses the potential, because of their combined heuristic force, to offer a more effective means of supporting implementation projects than either one might do on its own, and of providing deeper understandings of

Active sensing associated with spatial learning reveals memory-based attention in an electric fish.

Science.gov (United States)

Jun, James J; Longtin, André; Maler, Leonard

2016-05-01

Active sensing behaviors reveal what an animal is attending to and how it changes with learning. Gymnotus sp, a gymnotiform weakly electric fish, generates an electric organ discharge (EOD) as discrete pulses to actively sense its surroundings. We monitored freely behaving gymnotid fish in a large dark "maze" and extracted their trajectories and EOD pulse pattern and rate while they learned to find food with electrically detectable landmarks as cues. After training, they more rapidly found food using shorter, more stereotyped trajectories and spent more time near the food location. We observed three forms of active sensing: sustained high EOD rates per unit distance (sampling density), transient large increases in EOD rate (E-scans) and stereotyped scanning movements (B-scans) were initially strong at landmarks and food, but, after learning, intensified only at the food location. During probe (no food) trials, after learning, the fish's search area and intense active sampling was still centered on the missing food location, but now also increased near landmarks. We hypothesize that active sensing is a behavioral manifestation of attention and essential for spatial learning; the fish use spatial memory of landmarks and path integration to reach the expected food location and confine their attention to this region. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

How does organizational culture influence organizational learning in a shipping company?

OpenAIRE

Jimenez, Jorge Mario Garzon

2016-01-01

This project targets on organizational culture and organizational learning, aiming to reveal how organizational culture influences on organizational learning within the shipping industry. The main research question is: How does organizational culture influence organizational learning within a shipping company? The two research sub-questions are: 1) Which components of organizational culture are especially important for organizational learning? 2) How is organizational structure...

Job-demand for learning and job-related learning: the mediating effect of job performance improvement initiatives

OpenAIRE

Loon, M; Bartram, T

2007-01-01

This study examined whether job-performance-improvementinitiatives mediate the relationship between individuals’ job-demand for learning and job-related learning. Data were obtained from 115 full-time\\ud employees in a diverse range of occupations. A partial least squares analysis revealed that job-performance-improvement-initiatives mediate partially the effects of job-demand for learning on job-related learning. Several implications\\ud for future research and policy are drawn from the findi...

Postgraduate Conception of Research Methodology: Implications for Learning and Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Daniel, Ben; Kumar, Vijay; Omar, Noritah

2018-01-01

This qualitative inquiry investigates postgraduate students' conceptions of research methodology and how it contributes to their learning. It explores factors likely to motivate student choice of research methodology and challenges in understanding research methods. The research was carried out at research-intensive universities in New Zealand and…

University-affiliated schools as sites for research learning in pre ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Hennie

University-affiliated schools as sites for research learning in pre-service teacher education ... they can also learn from good example, in well-functioning schools, where they can also get .... school can offer in terms of signs and tools to achieve.

Facilitative Components of Collaborative Learning: A Review of Nine Health Research Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Leroy, Lisa; Rittner, Jessica Levin; Johnson, Karin E; Gerteis, Jessie; Miller, Therese

2017-02-01

Collaborative research networks are increasingly used as an effective mechanism for accelerating knowledge transfer into policy and practice. This paper explored the characteristics and collaborative learning approaches of nine health research networks. Semi-structured interviews with representatives from eight diverse US health services research networks conducted between November 2012 and January 2013 and program evaluation data from a ninth. The qualitative analysis assessed each network's purpose, duration, funding sources, governance structure, methods used to foster collaboration, and barriers and facilitators to collaborative learning. The authors reviewed detailed notes from the interviews to distill salient themes. Face-to-face meetings, intentional facilitation and communication, shared vision, trust among members and willingness to work together were key facilitators of collaborative learning. Competing priorities for members, limited funding and lack of long-term support and geographic dispersion were the main barriers to coordination and collaboration across research network members. The findings illustrate the importance of collaborative learning in research networks and the challenges to evaluating the success of research network functionality. Conducting readiness assessments and developing process and outcome evaluation metrics will advance the design and show the impact of collaborative research networks. Copyright © 2017 Longwoods Publishing.

Collaborative Action Research on Technology Integration for Science Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chien-hsing; Ke, Yi-Ting; Wu, Jin-Tong; Hsu, Wen-Hua

2012-01-01

This paper briefly reports the outcomes of an action research inquiry on the use of blogs, MS PowerPoint [PPT], and the Internet as learning tools with a science class of sixth graders for project-based learning. Multiple sources of data were essential to triangulate the key findings articulated in this paper. Corresponding to previous studies,…

Teaching Research Methods and Statistics in eLearning Environments: Pedagogy, Practical Examples, and Possible Futures.

Science.gov (United States)

Rock, Adam J; Coventry, William L; Morgan, Methuen I; Loi, Natasha M

2016-01-01

Generally, academic psychologists are mindful of the fact that, for many students, the study of research methods and statistics is anxiety provoking (Gal et al., 1997). Given the ubiquitous and distributed nature of eLearning systems (Nof et al., 2015), teachers of research methods and statistics need to cultivate an understanding of how to effectively use eLearning tools to inspire psychology students to learn. Consequently, the aim of the present paper is to discuss critically how using eLearning systems might engage psychology students in research methods and statistics. First, we critically appraise definitions of eLearning. Second, we examine numerous important pedagogical principles associated with effectively teaching research methods and statistics using eLearning systems. Subsequently, we provide practical examples of our own eLearning-based class activities designed to engage psychology students to learn statistical concepts such as Factor Analysis and Discriminant Function Analysis. Finally, we discuss general trends in eLearning and possible futures that are pertinent to teachers of research methods and statistics in psychology.

Teaching Research Methods and Statistics in eLearning Environments: Pedagogy, Practical Examples, and Possible Futures

Science.gov (United States)

Rock, Adam J.; Coventry, William L.; Morgan, Methuen I.; Loi, Natasha M.

2016-01-01

Generally, academic psychologists are mindful of the fact that, for many students, the study of research methods and statistics is anxiety provoking (Gal et al., 1997). Given the ubiquitous and distributed nature of eLearning systems (Nof et al., 2015), teachers of research methods and statistics need to cultivate an understanding of how to effectively use eLearning tools to inspire psychology students to learn. Consequently, the aim of the present paper is to discuss critically how using eLearning systems might engage psychology students in research methods and statistics. First, we critically appraise definitions of eLearning. Second, we examine numerous important pedagogical principles associated with effectively teaching research methods and statistics using eLearning systems. Subsequently, we provide practical examples of our own eLearning-based class activities designed to engage psychology students to learn statistical concepts such as Factor Analysis and Discriminant Function Analysis. Finally, we discuss general trends in eLearning and possible futures that are pertinent to teachers of research methods and statistics in psychology. PMID:27014147

Teaching Research Methods and Statistics in eLearning Environments:Pedagogy, Practical Examples and Possible Futures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adam John Rock

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Generally, academic psychologists are mindful of the fact that, for many students, the study of research methods and statistics is anxiety provoking (Gal, Ginsburg, & Schau, 1997. Given the ubiquitous and distributed nature of eLearning systems (Nof, Ceroni, Jeong, & Moghaddam, 2015, teachers of research methods and statistics need to cultivate an understanding of how to effectively use eLearning tools to inspire psychology students to learn. Consequently, the aim of the present paper is to discuss critically how using eLearning systems might engage psychology students in research methods and statistics. First, we critically appraise definitions of eLearning. Second, we examine numerous important pedagogical principles associated with effectively teaching research methods and statistics using eLearning systems. Subsequently, we provide practical examples of our own eLearning-based class activities designed to engage psychology students to learn statistical concepts such as Factor Analysis and Discriminant Function Analysis. Finally, we discuss general trends in eLearning and possible futures that are pertinent to teachers of research methods and statistics in psychology.

Galileo Educational Network: Creating, Researching, and Supporting 21st Century Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Friesen, Sharon

2009-01-01

School and classroom structures designed to meet the needs of the industrial past cannot "maintain the temperature required for sustaining life." Recent learning sciences research findings compel educators to invent new learning environments better suited to meet the demands of the 21st century. These new learning environments require…

Learning and Emotion: Perspectives for Theory and Research

Science.gov (United States)

Hascher, Tina

2010-01-01

There is growing interest in and knowledge about the interplay of learning and emotion. However, the different approaches and empirical studies correspond to each other only to a low extent. To prevent this research field from increasing fragmentation, a shared basis of theory and research is needed. The presentation aims at giving an overview of…

Development of the Learning Health System Researcher Core Competencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Forrest, Christopher B; Chesley, Francis D; Tregear, Michelle L; Mistry, Kamila B

2017-08-04

To develop core competencies for learning health system (LHS) researchers to guide the development of training programs. Data were obtained from literature review, expert interviews, a modified Delphi process, and consensus development meetings. The competencies were developed from August to December 2016 using qualitative methods. The literature review formed the basis for the initial draft of a competency domain framework. Key informant semi-structured interviews, a modified Delphi survey, and three expert panel (n = 19 members) consensus development meetings produced the final set of competencies. The iterative development process yielded seven competency domains: (1) systems science; (2) research questions and standards of scientific evidence; (3) research methods; (4) informatics; (5) ethics of research and implementation in health systems; (6) improvement and implementation science; and (7) engagement, leadership, and research management. A total of 33 core competencies were prioritized across these seven domains. The real-world milieu of LHS research, the embeddedness of the researcher within the health system, and engagement of stakeholders are distinguishing characteristics of this emerging field. The LHS researcher core competencies can be used to guide the development of learning objectives, evaluation methods, and curricula for training programs. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

The Present Affairs and Issues of Research on Collaborative Learning in Mathematics Education

OpenAIRE

松島, 充

2014-01-01

In this research, at first, the previous work of collaborative learning and cooperative learning was investigated on learning sciences and cognitive psychology. It is clarified the difference of interde-pendent, of the epistemology and of the subject who construct knowledge. The secondly, investigation since 1990 of the collaborative learning research in mathematics educa-tion was conducted based on eight sorts of mathematics education academic journals, and the present affairs and the issues...

Emergent frameworks of research teaching and learning in a cohort ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... frameworks for doctoral pedagogies –“democratic teaching/learning participation”, “structured scaffolding”, “Ubuntu” and “serendipity”– as useful explanatory shaping influences which underpin and frame the model promoting a contextually relevant and appropriate doctoral research teaching and learning pedagogy.

Applying Research in Motivation and Learning to Music Education: What the Experts Say

Science.gov (United States)

Cogdill, Susan H.

2015-01-01

Current research on motivation and learning may assist teachers in identifying strategies to help students be successful and persevere in the music classroom. Students' beliefs about their ability to learn, and the impact these beliefs have on their motivation to learn music, is a large focus of the research presented here. Aspects of music make…

CLOUD EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR PHYSICS LEARNING RESEARCHES SUPPORT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleksandr V. Merzlykin

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The definition of cloud educational resource is given in paper. Its program and information components are characterized. The virtualization as the technological ground of transforming from traditional electronic educational resources to cloud ones is reviewed. Such levels of virtualization are described: data storage device virtualization (Data as Service, hardware virtualization (Hardware as Service, computer virtualization (Infrastructure as Service, software system virtualization (Platform as Service, «desktop» virtualization (Desktop as Service, software user interface virtualization (Software as Service. Possibilities of designing the cloud educational resources system for physics learning researches support taking into account standards of learning objects metadata (accessing via OAI-PMH protocol and standards of learning tools interoperability (LTI are shown. The example of integration cloud educational resources into Moodle learning management system with use of OAI-PMH and LTI is given.

Observation of peers in learning to write: Practice and research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rijlaarsdam, Gert

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Elke Van Steendam, Anne Toorenaar,Journal of Writing Research 1(1, 53-83In this paper we discuss the role of observation in learning to write. We argue that the acquisition of skill in such a complex domain as writing relies on observation, the classical imitatio. An important phase in learning to write, at all ages, is learning to write by observing and evaluating relevant processes: writing processes, reading processes or communication processes between writers and readers.First, we present two practical cases: writing lessons in which observation and inquiry are amongst other key elements and where students participate in a community of learners. Then, we review research that may inspire and substantiate proposals for implementing observation as a learning activity in writing education. Two types of studies are discussed: studies in which learners acquire strategies by observing and evaluating writing and reading processes of peers, as a prewriting instructional activity, and studies in which learners are stimulated to 'pre-test' and then revise their first draft, as a post writing instructional activity. The paper closes with some recommendations for further research.

Talking back to theory: the missed opportunities in learning technology research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Oliver

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Research into learning technology has developed a reputation for being drivenby rhetoric about the revolutionary nature of new developments, for payingscant attention to theories that might be used to frame and inform research, andfor producing shallow analyses that do little to inform the practice of education.Although there is theoretically-informed research in learning technology, this isin the minority, and has been actively marginalised by calls for applied designwork. This limits opportunities to advance knowledge in the field. Using threeexamples, alternative ways to engage with theory are identified. The paper concludesby calling for greater engagement with theory, and the development of ascholarship of learning technology, in order to enrich practice within the fieldand demonstrate its relevance to other fields of work.

Perspectives on learning through research on critical issues-based science center exhibitions

Science.gov (United States)

Pedretti, Erminia G.

2004-07-01

Recently, science centers have created issues-based exhibitions as a way of communicating socioscientific subject matter to the public. Research in the last decade has investigated how critical issues-based installations promote more robust views of science, while creating effective learning environments for teaching and learning about science. The focus of this paper is to explore research conducted over a 10-year period that informs our understanding of the nature of learning through these experiences. Two specific exhibitions - Mine Games and A Question of Truth - provide the context for discussing this research. Findings suggest that critical issues-based installations challenge visitors in different ways - intellectually and emotionally. They provide experiences beyond usual phenomenon-based exhibitions and carry the potential to enhance learning by personalizing subject matter, evoking emotion, stimulating dialogue and debate, and promoting reflexivity. Critical issues-based exhibitions serve as excellent environments in which to explore the nature of learning in these nonschool settings.

Improving the Understanding of Research Methodology and Self-Regulated Learning Through Blog Project

OpenAIRE

Retnawati, Heri

2017-01-01

: This classroom action research seeks to improve self-regulated learning (SRL) and understanding of research methodology at the graduate school. Nineteen graduate school students were involved. Using project-based learning (PjBL), students were assigned to create online blogs as the main project. The blog was intended for representing their understanding of research methodology by writing review of research articles and submitting a research proposal. The classroom action research was based ...

Actively Teaching Research Methods with a Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Mullins, Mary H.

2017-01-01

Active learning approaches have shown to improve student learning outcomes and improve the experience of students in the classroom. This article compares a Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning style approach to a more traditional teaching method in an undergraduate research methods course. Moving from a more traditional learning environment to…

Using a Mixed Methods Research Design in a Study Investigating the "Heads of e-Learning" Perspective towards Technology Enhanced Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Almpanis, Timos

2016-01-01

This paper outlines the research design, methodology and methods employed in research conducted in the context of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and focuses on the Heads of e-Learning (HeLs) perspective about Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) by campus-based UK institutions. This paper aims to expand on the research design and the research…

Research on Language Learning Strategies: Methods, Findings, and Instructional Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Oxford, Rebecca; Crookall, David

1989-01-01

Surveys research on formal and informal second-language learning strategies, covering the effectiveness of research methods involving making lists, interviews and thinking aloud, note-taking, diaries, surveys, and training. Suggestions for future and improved research are presented. (131 references) (CB)

Co-researching with people with learning disabilities: an experience of involvement in qualitative data analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tuffrey-Wijne, Irene; Butler, Gary

2010-06-01

People with learning disabilities have been included in research as co-researchers since the 1990s. However, there is limited literature about the processes of involving people with learning disabilities in the more intellectual and analytical stages of the research process. To examine the potential contribution of people with learning disabilities to data analysis in qualitative research. This article is a reflection on one research experience. The two authors include one researcher with and one without learning disabilities. They each describe their experience and understanding of user involvement in analysing the data of an ethnographic study of people with learning disabilities who had cancer. The researcher with learning disabilities was given extensive vignettes and extracts from the research field notes, and was supported to extract themes, which were cross-compared with the analysis of other members of the research team. The researcher with learning disabilities coped well with the emotive content of the data and with the additional support provided, he was able to extract themes that added validity to the overall analysis. His contribution complemented those of the other members of the research team. There were unexpected benefits, in particular, in terms of a more reciprocal and supportive relationship between the two researchers. It is possible and valuable to extend involvement to data analysis, but to avoid tokenism and maintain academic rigour, there must be a clear rationale for such involvement. Extra support, time and costs must be planned for.

Understanding Learning in World Society: Qualitative Reconstructive Research in Global Learning and Learning for Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Scheunpflug, Annette; Krogull, Susanne; Franz, Julia

2016-01-01

Global learning aims to change behaviour and attitudes. Changes in these areas are not easy to assess. This article discusses the documentary method, which belongs to the group of qualitative reconstructive research methods. The authors argue that this method allows reflection on collective orientations and tacit knowledge. The different steps of…

Using teacher action research to promote constructivist learning ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Erna Kinsey

classroom environment have to change as the curriculum changes. Objectives. 1. To modify ... South African schools in terms of the dimensions assessed by the. CLES. 3. ...... middle school. Learning Environments Research: An International.

An Analysis of Research Trends in Dissertations and Theses Studying Blended Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Drysdale, Jeffery S.; Graham, Charles R.; Spring, Kristian J.; Halverson, Lisa R.

2013-01-01

This article analyzes the research of 205 doctoral dissertations and masters' theses in the domain of blended learning. A summary of trends regarding the growth and context of blended learning research is presented. Methodological trends are described in terms of qualitative, inferential statistics, descriptive statistics, and combined approaches…

Towards More Socio-Culturally Sensitive Research and Study of Workplace E-Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Remtulla, Karim A.

2010-01-01

This article advocates workplace adult education and training researchers and scholar practitioners interested in career and technical education (CTE), adult education and technology, and who are attempting social and cultural critiques of workplace e-learning. The emphasis on the technological and artefactual in workplace e-learning research and…

Research Issues in Evaluating Learning Pattern Development in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, John T. E.

2013-01-01

This article concludes the special issue of "Studies in Educational Evaluation" concerned with "Evaluating learning pattern development in higher education" by discussing research issues that have emerged from the previous contributions. The article considers in turn: stability versus variability in learning patterns; old versus new analytic…

Research into Learning Resulting from Quality School Library Media Service.

Science.gov (United States)

Marchant, Maurice P.; And Others

1984-01-01

This annotated bibliography of 20 research reports identifies what has been determined about the effects of library media services on learning and suggests methodologies available for similar studies. Organization is according to area of learning affected--academic achievement; language, reading, and library skills; mathematics; science; social…

Using Data Collection Apps and Single-Case Designs to Research Transformative Learning in Adults

Science.gov (United States)

Roessger, Kevin M.; Greenleaf, Arie; Hoggan, Chad

2017-01-01

To overcome situational hurdles when researching transformative learning in adults, we outline a research approach using single-case research designs and smartphone data collection apps. This approach allows researchers to better understand learners' current lived experiences and determine the effects of transformative learning interventions on…

Learning to Appraise the Quality of Qualitative Research Articles: A Contextualized Learning Object for Constructing Knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Chenail, Ronald J.

2011-01-01

Helping beginning qualitative researchers critically appraise qualitative research articles is a common learning objective for introductory methodology courses. To aid students in achieving competency in appraising the quality of qualitative research articles, a multi-part activity incorporating the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme's (CASP)…

Researching multicultural mathematics classroom through the lens of landscapes of learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alrø, Helle; Skovsmose, Ole; Valero, Paola

Students' motives for learning mathematics cannot be understood by looking solely at mathematical classroom activities. We discuss this claim in a multicultural context using the notion of 'landscapes of learning'. This notion serves as a theoretical and methodological tool that both defines...... a research perspective and sketches a field of empirical research. In this paper we want to focus on the notion and illustrate its usefulness when researching mathematical learning in multicultural contexts. We draw on data and results of an empirical study on student’s foregrounds with 45 teenage students...... in two 8th grade multicultural classes in Denmark. We show the dialectical relationship between each dimension of the landscape and the whole of it; and how, as a whole, it can help us coming closer to better theorisations....

Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching: An Action-Research Study

Science.gov (United States)

Calvert, Megan; Sheen, Younghee

2015-01-01

The creation, implementation, and evaluation of language learning tasks remain a challenge for many teachers, especially those with limited experience with using tasks in their teaching. This action-research study reports on one teacher's experience of developing, implementing, critically reflecting on, and modifying a language learning task…

A Coterminous Collaborative Learning Model: Interconnectivity of Leadership and Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilana Margolin

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This qualitative ethnographic study examines a collaborative leadership model focused on learning and socially just practices within a change context of a wide educational partnership. The study analyzes a range of perspectives of novice teachers, mentor teachers, teacher educators and district superintendents on leadership and learning. The findings reveal the emergence of a coalition of leaders crossing borders at all levels of the educational system: local school level, district level and teacher education level who were involved in coterminous collaborative learning. Four categories of learning were identified as critical to leading a change in the educational system: learning in professional communities, learning from practice, learning through theory and research and learning from and with leaders. The implications of the study for policy makers as well as for practitioners are to adopt a holistic approach to the educational environment and plan a collaborative learning continuum from initial pre-service programs through professional development learning at all levels.

Understanding and Utilizing the Effectiveness of e‐Learning:A Literature Study on the Definitions, Methodologies, and Promoting Factors of e‐Learning Effectiveness

OpenAIRE

Noesgaard, Signe Schack; Ørngreen, Rikke

2014-01-01

A structured search of librarian databases revealed that the research into the effectiveness of e-Learning has heavily increased within the last 5 years. Taking a closer look at the search results, the authors discovered that researchers define and investigate effectiveness in multiple ways. At the same time, learning and development professionals within public and private organizations are increasingly met with a demand to prove the effectiveness of their learning and development initiatives...

Iranian undergraduate nursing student perceptions of informal learning: A qualitative research.

Science.gov (United States)

Seylani, Khatereh; Negarandeh, Reza; Mohammadi, Easa

2012-11-01

Nursing education is both formal and informal. Formal education represents only a small part of all the learning involved; and many students learn more effectively through informal processes. There is little information about nursing student informal education and how it affects their character and practice. This qualitative study explores undergraduate nursing student perceptions of informal learning during nursing studies. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with a sample of undergraduate nursing students (n = 14). Strauss and Corbin's constant comparison analysis approach was used for data analysis. The categories that emerged included personal maturity and emotional development, social development, closeness to God, alterations in value systems, and ethical and professional commitment. Findings reveal that nursing education could take advantage of informal learning opportunities to develop students' nontechnical skills and produce more competent students. Implications for nursing education are discussed.

Researching the Practice of Fostering Transformative Learning: Lessons Learned From the Study of Andragogy

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Edward W.; Laros, Anna

2014-01-01

This article identifies factors that have contributed to the challenges associated with the practice and research of fostering transformative learning (TL), by drawing on the work by Rachal and others in reviewing the study of andragogy--theory, research, and practice. Implications are also discussed of how scholars of TL can best respond to the…

Will Undergraduate Students Play Games to Learn How to Conduct Library Research?

Science.gov (United States)

Markey, Karen; Swanson, Fritz; Jenkins, Andrea; Jennings, Brian; St. Jean, Beth; Rosenberg, Victor; Yao, Xingxing; Frost, Robert

2009-01-01

This exploratory study examines whether undergraduate students will play games to learn how to conduct library research. Results indicate that students will play games that are an integral component of the course curriculum and enable them to accomplish overall course goals at the same time they learn about library research. (Contains 1 table.)

Reflections on Ways Forward for Addressing Ethical Concerns in Mobile Learning Research

Science.gov (United States)

Wishart, Jocelyn

2016-01-01

This paper reflects on a decade of discussions about the range of ethical issues arising in mobile learning research. Research into the educational potential of mobile, handheld technologies to enhance teaching and learning has been regularly frustrated by lecturers' and teachers' concerns about how their students might use such devices. At other…

Listening to Our Students: Understanding How They Learn Research Methods in Geography

Science.gov (United States)

Keenan, Kevin; Fontaine, Danielle

2012-01-01

How undergraduate students learn research methods in geography has been understudied. Existing work has focused on course description from the instructor's perspective. This study, however, uses a grounded theory approach to allow students' voices to shape a new theory of how they themselves say that they learn research methods. Data from two…

Interprofessional Education and Team-Based Learning in a Research Methods Course.

Science.gov (United States)

Schug, Vicki; Finch-Guthrie, Patricia; Benz, Janet

2017-12-18

This article describes team-based pedagogical strategies for a hybrid, four-credit research methods course with students from nursing, exercise, and nutrition science. The research problem of concussion in football, a socially relevant and controversial topic, was used to explore interprofessional perspectives and develop shared problem solving. The course was designed using permanent teams, readiness assurance, application exercises, and peer evaluation to facilitate student achievement of competencies related to interprofessional collaboration and research application. Feedback from students, faculty, and the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale was used to evaluate the learning innovation.

What Motivates Us to Learn as We Grow?-A Research Review on the Relationship between Age and Motivation in Second Language Learning

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

赵丹晨

2013-01-01

Motivation is always a dominatant factor in second language learning and teaching. Dornyei once suggested his model of learners’ motivation, which is, language learning attitudes and the Ideal L2 self. Certainly, this could bring some research interests to other researchers. In this paper, the author reviews a research carried among the Hungarians, where the research focus is clearly given on the relationship between age and motivation to test Dornyei’ s theory and offer a new way to promote learner’s motivation in second language learning.

The Conundrum of Training and Capacity Building for People with Learning Disabilities Doing Research

Science.gov (United States)

Nind, Melanie; Chapman, Rohhss; Seale, Jane; Tilley, Liz

2016-01-01

Background: This study explores the training involved when people with learning disabilities take their place in the community as researchers. This was a theme in a recent UK seminar series where a network of researchers explored pushing the boundaries of participatory research. Method: Academics, researchers with learning disabilities, supporters…

Using Photovoice to Include People with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities in Inclusive Research

Science.gov (United States)

Cluley, Victoria

2017-01-01

Background: It is now expected that projects addressing the lives of people with learning disabilities include people with learning disabilities in the research process. In the past, such research often excluded people with learning disabilities, favouring the opinions of family members, carers and professionals. The inclusion of the voices of…

Exploration of Textual Interactions in CALL Learning Communities: Emerging Research and Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

White, Jonathan R.

2017-01-01

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) has greatly enhanced the realm of online social interaction and behavior. In language classrooms, it allows the opportunity for students to enhance their learning experiences. "Exploration of Textual Interactions in CALL Learning Communities: Emerging Research and Opportunities" is an ideal…

A SURVEY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH ON POLITICAL LEARNING AND SOCIALIZATION.

Science.gov (United States)

DENNIS, JACK

A GENERAL SURVEY WAS MADE OF RESEARCH AND LITERATURE IN THE FIELD OF POLITICAL LEARNING AND SOCIALIZATION, AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY WAS PREPARED. THE SURVEY WAS MADE TO PROVIDE AN INDICATION OF THE MAIN CURRENTS OF STUDY OF CHILDREN'S LEARNING OF POLITICAL CONCEPTS. THE SURVEY INCLUDED MAJOR SUBSTANTIVE PROBLEMS OF POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION RESEARCH--(1)…

Community action research track: Community-based participatory research and service-learning experiences for medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Gimpel, Nora; Kindratt, Tiffany; Dawson, Alvin; Pagels, Patti

2018-04-01

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) and service-learning are unique experiential approaches designed to train medical students how to provide individualized patient care from a population perspective. Medical schools in the US are required to provide support for service-learning and community projects. Despite this requirement, few medical schools offer structured service-learning. We developed the Community Action Research Track (CART) to integrate population medicine, health promotion/disease prevention and the social determinants of health into the medical school curriculum through CBPR and service-learning experiences. This article provides an overview of CART and reports the program impact based on students' participation, preliminary evaluations and accomplishments. CART is an optional 4‑year service-learning experience for medical students interested in community health. The curriculum includes a coordinated longitudinal program of electives, community service-learning and lecture-based instruction. From 2009-2015, 146 CART students participated. Interests in public health (93%), community service (73%), primary care (73%), CBPR (60%) and community medicine (60%) were the top reasons for enrolment. Significant improvements in mean knowledge were found when measuring the principles of CBPR, levels of prevention, determining health literacy and patient communication strategies (all p's Projects were disseminated by at least 65 posters and four oral presentations at local, national and international professional meetings. Six manuscripts were published in peer-reviewed journals. CART is an innovative curriculum for training future physicians to be community-responsive physicians. CART can be replicated by other medical schools interested in offering a longitudinal CBPR and service-learning track in an urban metropolitan setting.

Design as a Process of Inquiry, Dialogic Products and Learning-Centred Research Practices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gunn, Wendy; Said Mosleh, Wafa; Andersen, Pernille Viktoria

2015-01-01

focus on how to register reception of knowledge(s) generated through design anthropological research inquiry. Our main contributions lie here in relating theory and practice and the abstract material in learning-centred research practices. While nurturing skills of engagement within learning...

Reflection on Cuboid Net with Mathematical Learning Quality

Science.gov (United States)

Sari, Atikah; Suryadi, Didi; Syaodih, Ernawulan

2017-09-01

This research aims to formulate an alternative to the reflection in mathematics learning activities related to the activities of the professionalism of teachers motivated by a desire to improve the quality of learning. This study is a qualitative study using the Didactical Design research. This study was conducted in one of the elementary schools. The data collection techniques are triangulation with the research subject is teacher 5th grade. The results of this study indicate that through deep reflection, teachers can design learning design in accordance with the conditions of the class. Also revealed that teachers have difficulty in choosing methods of learning and contextual learning media. Based on the implementation of activities of reflection and make the learning design based on the results of reflection can be concluded that the quality of learning in the class will develop.

Two-way learning | IDRC - International Development Research ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2011-07-08

Jul 8, 2011 ... Government officials have sometimes attended the seminars, which have also given the young scholars a venue to present an early draft of their paper for ... The young researchers are more adept at using the latest econometric techniques and software, so senior scholars also learn from them, Li Shi notes.

The impact of research-based learning on student’s academic performance and motivation

Science.gov (United States)

Sumbawati, M. S.; Anistyasari, Y.

2018-01-01

Undergraduate students often have difficulty in finding the updated research topic for their undergraduate thesis. This is due to students have less knowledge about research in a particular field because they are less familiar with scientific articles. This work, therefore, proposed an implementation of research-based learning and measured students’ academic performance and motivation. The study is conducted in four stages which are the plan, do, check, and act. Research-based learning is conducted based on its syntax. Paper and pencil test is then performed to measure students’ academic achievement and a survey is devoted to determining students’ academic motivation. The results show that most students obtain satisfied score and they feel comfortable to join a class with research-based learning.

Development of Problem-Based Learning Oriented Teaching Learning Materials to Facilitate Students’ Mastery of Concept and Critical Thinking Skill

Science.gov (United States)

Reza, M.; Ibrahim, M.; Rahayu, Y. S.

2018-01-01

This research aims to develop problem-based learning oriented teaching materials to improve students’ mastery of concept and critical thinking skill. Its procedure was divided into two phases; developmental phase and experimental phase. This developmental research used Four-D Model. However, within this research, the process of development would not involve the last stages, which is disseminate. The teaching learning materials which were developed consist of lesson plan, student handbook, student worksheet, achievement test and critical thinking skill test. The experimental phase employs a research design called one group pretest-posttest design. Results show that the validity of the teaching materials which were developed was good and revealed the enhancement of students’ activities with positive response to the teaching learning process. Furthermore, the learning materials improve the students’ mastery of concept and critical thinking skill.

Special ways of knowing in science: expansive learning opportunities with bilingual children with learning disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Álvarez, Patricia

2017-09-01

The field of bilingual special education is currently plagued with contradictions resulting in a serious underrepresentation of emergent bilinguals with learning disabilities in professional science fields. This underrepresentation is due in large part to the fact that educational systems around the world are inadequately prepared to address the educational needs of these children; this inadequacy is rooted in a lack of understanding of the linguistic and cultural factors impacting learning. Accepting such a premise and assuming that children learn in unexpected ways when instructional practices attend to culture and language, this study documents a place-based learning experience integrating geoscience and literacy in a fourth-grade dual language classroom. Data sources include transcribed audio-taped conversations from learning experience sessions and interviews that took place as six focus children, who had been identified as having specific learning disabilities, read published science texts (i.e. texts unaltered linguistically or conceptually to meet the needs of the readers). My analysis revealed that participants generated responses that were often unexpected if solely analyzed from those Western scientific perspectives traditionally valued in school contexts. However, these responses were also full of purposeful and rich understandings that revealed opportunities for expansive learning. Adopting a cultural historical activity theory perspective, instructional tools such as texts, visuals, and questions were found to act as mediators impacting the learning in both activity systems: (a) teacher- researcher learning from children, and (b) children learning from teachers. I conclude by suggesting that there is a need to understand students' ways of knowing to their full complexity, and to deliberately recognize teachers as learners, researchers, and means to expansive learning patterns that span beyond traditional learning boundaries.

Audio-based, unsupervised machine learning reveals cyclic changes in earthquake mechanisms in the Geysers geothermal field, California

Science.gov (United States)

Holtzman, B. K.; Paté, A.; Paisley, J.; Waldhauser, F.; Repetto, D.; Boschi, L.

2017-12-01

The earthquake process reflects complex interactions of stress, fracture and frictional properties. New machine learning methods reveal patterns in time-dependent spectral properties of seismic signals and enable identification of changes in faulting processes. Our methods are based closely on those developed for music information retrieval and voice recognition, using the spectrogram instead of the waveform directly. Unsupervised learning involves identification of patterns based on differences among signals without any additional information provided to the algorithm. Clustering of 46,000 earthquakes of $0.3

The networked student: A design-based research case study of student constructed personal learning environments in a middle school science course

Science.gov (United States)

Drexler, Wendy

This design-based research case study applied a networked learning approach to a seventh grade science class at a public school in the southeastern United States. Students adapted emerging Web applications to construct personal learning environments for in-depth scientific inquiry of poisonous and venomous life forms. The personal learning environments constructed used Application Programming Interface (API) widgets to access, organize, and synthesize content from a number of educational Internet resources and social network connections. This study examined the nature of personal learning environments; the processes students go through during construction, and patterns that emerged. The project was documented from both an instructional and student-design perspective. Findings revealed that students applied the processes of: practicing digital responsibility; practicing digital literacy; organizing content; collaborating and socializing; and synthesizing and creating. These processes informed a model of the networked student that will serve as a framework for future instructional designs. A networked learning approach that incorporates these processes into future designs has implications for student learning, teacher roles, professional development, administrative policies, and delivery. This work is significant in that it shifts the focus from technology innovations based on tools to student empowerment based on the processes required to support learning. It affirms the need for greater attention to digital literacy and responsibility in K12 schools as well as consideration for those skills students will need to achieve success in the 21st century. The design-based research case study provides a set of design principles for teachers to follow when facilitating student construction of personal learning environments.

Different levels of food restriction reveal genotype-specific differences in learning a visual discrimination task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kalina Makowiecki

Full Text Available In behavioural experiments, motivation to learn can be achieved using food rewards as positive reinforcement in food-restricted animals. Previous studies reduce animal weights to 80-90% of free-feeding body weight as the criterion for food restriction. However, effects of different degrees of food restriction on task performance have not been assessed. We compared learning task performance in mice food-restricted to 80 or 90% body weight (BW. We used adult wildtype (WT; C57Bl/6j and knockout (ephrin-A2⁻/⁻ mice, previously shown to have a reverse learning deficit. Mice were trained in a two-choice visual discrimination task with food reward as positive reinforcement. When mice reached criterion for one visual stimulus (80% correct in three consecutive 10 trial sets they began the reverse learning phase, where the rewarded stimulus was switched to the previously incorrect stimulus. For the initial learning and reverse phase of the task, mice at 90%BW took almost twice as many trials to reach criterion as mice at 80%BW. Furthermore, WT 80 and 90%BW groups significantly differed in percentage correct responses and learning strategy in the reverse learning phase, whereas no differences between weight restriction groups were observed in ephrin-A2⁻/⁻ mice. Most importantly, genotype-specific differences in reverse learning strategy were only detected in the 80%BW groups. Our results indicate that increased food restriction not only results in better performance and a shorter training period, but may also be necessary for revealing behavioural differences between experimental groups. This has important ethical and animal welfare implications when deciding extent of diet restriction in behavioural studies.

Language Learning Motivation through a Small Lens: A Research Agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Ushioda, Ema

2016-01-01

In this paper I propose an agenda for researching language learning motivation "through a small lens", to counteract our tendency in the second language (L2) motivation field to engage with language learning and teaching processes at a rather general level. I argue that by adopting a more sharply focused or contextualized angle of…

The Impact of Individual Learning Accounts: A Study of the Early and Potential Impact of Individual Learning Accounts on Learning Providers and Learning. Research Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, Michael; Peters, Jane; Fletcher, Mick; Kirk, Gordon

The impact of individual learning accounts (ILAs) on the success of learners in post-16 education sector in the United Kingdom was explored through an examination of available research on ILAs. The following were among the study's 12 messages for providers, the Department for Education and Skills, and the Individual Learning Account Centre: (1)…

Collaborative Research between Malaysian and Australian Universities on Learning Analytics: Challenges and Strategies

OpenAIRE

Z. Tasir; S. N. Kew; D. West; Z. Abdullah; D. Toohey

2016-01-01

Research on Learning Analytics is progressively developing in the higher education field by concentrating on the process of students' learning. Therefore, a research project between Malaysian and Australian Universities was initiated in 2015 to look at the use of Learning Analytics to support the development of teaching practice. The focal point of this article is to discuss and share the experiences of Malaysian and Australian universities in the process of developing the collaborative resea...

Creating Learning Experiences that Promote Informal Science Education: Designing Conservation-Focused Interactive Zoo Exhibits through Action Research

Science.gov (United States)

Kalenda, Peter

guests engaged with and were impacted by this exhibit. Findings revealed the importance of the location of interactives and signage as well as a range of readability concerns for visitor engagement. In addition, findings highlight the roles of parents in informal learning environments, and the impact of exhibit design on dwell time and questioning. This study demonstrates the value and importance of utilizing an iterative design process informed by action research when creating learning experiences in zoos. This study also reinforces how difficult it can be to both influence and measure the shifting of guests' RCPs.

Metacognitive Language Learning Strategies Use, Gender, and Learning Achievement: a Correlation Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahlam Bouirane

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the relationship between metacognitive language learning strategies (MLLS and gender and achievement of EFL students. Metacognitive language learning strategies are crucial for students of English as a foreign language to learn effectively. The theoretical issues discuss metacognitive language learning strategies in particular, and language learning strategies (LLS in general. The practical research took place at the English language department at Farhat Abbes University, Sétif, Algeria, with third year students learning English as a foreign language. The study hypothesized that there is a positive correlation between metacognitive language learning strategies use and achievement. Two main parts following a qualitative design constitute the body of the present research. The first part uses the Metacognitive Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire (MLLSQ to account for differences in the reported frequency of metacognitive strategies use across all the students, and across gender differences. The second part uses interviews to account for the use of these strategies at the individual level, in their relation to the students’ gender and achievement in language learning. The results of the first part revealed a significant use of metacognitive strategies among all the students and significant differences between male students and female students in the frequency of use of these strategies. Moreover, the results of the second part reflected more significant differences in the use of Metacognitive strategies at the level of gender and learning achievement. The study concludes by bringing together key findings and some suggestions for further research.

Research progress in machine learning methods for gene-gene interaction detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Zhe-Ye; Tang, Zi-Jun; Xie, Min-Zhu

2018-03-20

Complex diseases are results of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. However, the detection of high-dimensional gene-gene interactions is computationally challenging. In the last two decades, machine-learning approaches have been developed to detect gene-gene interactions with some successes. In this review, we summarize the progress in research on machine learning methods, as applied to gene-gene interaction detection. It systematically examines the principles and limitations of the current machine learning methods used in genome wide association studies (GWAS) to detect gene-gene interactions, such as neural networks (NN), random forest (RF), support vector machines (SVM) and multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR), and provides some insights on the future research directions in the field.

Practical Strategies for Collaboration across Discipline-Based Education Research and the Learning Sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Peffer, Melanie; Renken, Maggie

Rather than pursue questions related to learning in biology from separate camps, recent calls highlight the necessity of interdisciplinary research agendas. Interdisciplinary collaborations allow for a complicated and expanded approach to questions about learning within specific science domains, such as biology. Despite its benefits, interdisciplinary work inevitably involves challenges. Some such challenges originate from differences in theoretical and methodological approaches across lines of work. Thus, aims at developing successful interdisciplinary research programs raise important considerations regarding methodologies for studying biology learning, strategies for approaching collaborations, and training of early-career scientists. Our goal here is to describe two fields important to understanding learning in biology, discipline-based education research and the learning sciences. We discuss differences between each discipline's approach to biology education research and the benefits and challenges associated with incorporating these perspectives in a single research program. We then propose strategies for building productive interdisciplinary collaboration. © 2016 M. Peffer and M. Renken. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

RESEARCH ON LANGUAGE AND LEARNING: IMPLICATIONS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Alcón

2004-06-01

Full Text Available Taking into account severa1 limitations of communicative language teaching (CLT, this paper calls for the need to consider research on language use and learning through communication as a basis for language teaching. It will be argued that a reflective approach towards language teaching and learning might be generated, which is explained in terms of the need to develop a context-sensitive pedagogy and in terms of teachers' and learners' development.

Research Tasks on Identity in Language Learning and Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Norton, Bonny; De Costa, Peter I.

2018-01-01

The growing interest in identity and language education over the past two decades, coupled with increased interest in digital technology and transnationalism, has resulted in a rich body of work that has informed language learning, teaching, and research. To keep abreast of these developments in identity research, the authors propose a series of…

Teaching and Learning Children's Human Rights: A Research Synthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Brantefors, Lotta; Quennerstedt, Ann

2016-01-01

The study presented in this paper is a research synthesis examining how issues relating to the teaching and learning of children's human rights have been approached in educational research. Drawing theoretically on the European Didaktik tradition, the purpose of the paper is to map and synthesise the educational interest in children's rights…

The Implementation of Research-based Learning on Biology Seminar Course in Biology Education Study Program of FKIP UMRAH

Science.gov (United States)

Amelia, T.

2018-04-01

Biology Seminar is a course in Biology Education Study Program of Faculty of Teacher Training and Education University of Maritim Raja Ali Haji (FKIP UMRAH) that requires students to have the ability to apply scientific attitudes, perform scientific writing and undertake scientific publications on a small scale. One of the learning strategies that can drive the achievement of learning outcomes in this course is Research-Based Learning. Research-Based Learning principles are considered in accordance with learning outcomes in Biology Seminar courses and generally in accordance with the purpose of higher education. On this basis, this article which is derived from a qualitative research aims at describing Research-based Learning on Biology Seminar course. Based on a case study research, it was known that Research-Based Learning on Biology Seminar courses is applied through: designing learning activities around contemporary research issues; teaching research methods, techniques and skills explicitly within program; drawing on personal research in designing and teaching courses; building small-scale research activities into undergraduate assignment; and infusing teaching with the values of researchers.

Implicit learning as an ability.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaufman, Scott Barry; Deyoung, Colin G; Gray, Jeremy R; Jiménez, Luis; Brown, Jamie; Mackintosh, Nicholas

2010-09-01

The ability to automatically and implicitly detect complex and noisy regularities in the environment is a fundamental aspect of human cognition. Despite considerable interest in implicit processes, few researchers have conceptualized implicit learning as an ability with meaningful individual differences. Instead, various researchers (e.g., Reber, 1993; Stanovich, 2009) have suggested that individual differences in implicit learning are minimal relative to individual differences in explicit learning. In the current study of English 16-17year old students, we investigated the association of individual differences in implicit learning with a variety of cognitive and personality variables. Consistent with prior research and theorizing, implicit learning, as measured by a probabilistic sequence learning task, was more weakly related to psychometric intelligence than was explicit associative learning, and was unrelated to working memory. Structural equation modeling revealed that implicit learning was independently related to two components of psychometric intelligence: verbal analogical reasoning and processing speed. Implicit learning was also independently related to academic performance on two foreign language exams (French, German). Further, implicit learning was significantly associated with aspects of self-reported personality, including intuition, Openness to Experience, and impulsivity. We discuss the implications of implicit learning as an ability for dual-process theories of cognition, intelligence, personality, skill learning, complex cognition, and language acquisition. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Reflective Journey through Theory and Research in Mathematical Learning and Development

Science.gov (United States)

Belbase, Shashidhar

2010-01-01

This paper is an attempt to reflect on class sessions during the fall 2010 in a course "Theory and Research in Mathematical Learning and Development". This reflection as a learning journey portrays discussions based on foundational perspectives (FP), historical highlights (HH), and guiding questions (GQ) related to mathematics learning and…

APA's Learning Objectives for Research Methods and Statistics in Practice: A Multimethod Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Tomcho, Thomas J.; Rice, Diana; Foels, Rob; Folmsbee, Leah; Vladescu, Jason; Lissman, Rachel; Matulewicz, Ryan; Bopp, Kara

2009-01-01

Research methods and statistics courses constitute a core undergraduate psychology requirement. We analyzed course syllabi and faculty self-reported coverage of both research methods and statistics course learning objectives to assess the concordance with APA's learning objectives (American Psychological Association, 2007). We obtained a sample of…

The Research on Informal Learning Model of College Students Based on SNS and Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Peng; Cong, Xiao; Bi, Fangyan; Zhou, Dongdai

2017-03-01

With the rapid development of network technology, informal learning based on online become the main way for college students to learn a variety of subject knowledge. The favor to the SNS community of students and the characteristics of SNS itself provide a good opportunity for the informal learning of college students. This research first analyzes the related research of the informal learning and SNS, next, discusses the characteristics of informal learning and theoretical basis. Then, it proposed an informal learning model of college students based on SNS according to the support role of SNS to the informal learning of students. Finally, according to the theoretical model and the principles proposed in this study, using the Elgg and related tools which is the open source SNS program to achieve the informal learning community. This research is trying to overcome issues such as the lack of social realism, interactivity, resource transfer mode in the current network informal learning communities, so as to provide a new way of informal learning for college students.

Using teacher action research to promote constructivist learning ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The primary focus was to assist South African teachers to become reflective practitioners in their daily mathematics classroom teaching. The study involved a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative data were collected using the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) to ...

Predicting Supervisor Capacities to Foster Higher Forms of Learning through Undergraduate Medical Student Research

Science.gov (United States)

MacDougall, Margaret

2014-01-01

The credibility of short-term undergraduate research as a paradigm for effective learning within Medicine has been recognized. With a view to strengthening this paradigm and enhancing research-teaching linkages, this study explores whether particular types of research supervisor are pre-disposed to providing supportive learning environments.…

Motivating Students for Project-based Learning for Application of Research Methodology Skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Tiwari, Ranjana; Arya, Raj Kumar; Bansal, Manoj

2017-12-01

Project-based learning (PBL) is motivational for students to learn research methodology skills. It is a way to engage and give them ownership over their own learning. The aim of this study is to use PBL for application of research methodology skills for better learning by encouraging an all-inclusive approach in teaching and learning rather than an individualized tailored approach. The present study was carried out for MBBS 6 th - and 7 th -semester students of community medicine. Students and faculties were sensitized about PBL and components of research methodology skills. They worked in small groups. The students were asked to fill the student feedback Questionnaire and the faculty was also asked to fill the faculty feedback Questionnaire. Both the Questionnaires were assessed on a 5 point Likert scale. After submitted projects, document analysis was done. A total of 99 students of the 6 th and 7 th semester were participated in PBL. About 90.91% students agreed that there should be continuation of PBL in subsequent batches. 73.74% felt satisfied and motivated with PBL, whereas 76.77% felt that they would be able to use research methodology in the near future. PBL requires considerable knowledge, effort, persistence, and self-regulation on the part of the students. They need to devise plans, gather information evaluate both the findings, and their approach. Facilitator plays a critical role in helping students in the process by shaping opportunity for learning, guiding students, thinking, and helping them construct new understanding.

Community–University Partnerships: Using Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith Kearney

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This article positions participatory action learning and action research (PALAR as a preferred methodology for community-university partnerships to achieve a holistic outcome that benefits the common interest. Evidence for this claim is illustrated through case studies of two community engagement programs, one in South Africa and the other in Australia. The South African study explains how relationships, reflection and recognition (the three R’s of PALAR are important elements that promote a truly participatory approach to knowledge creation and practical improvement in social circumstances. The Australian study then highlights what can be achieved. It does this by showing the potential for PALAR participants to learn how to design and implement a community engagement program, and how to cascade their own learning into their community to improve educational opportunities. Both studies demonstrate PALAR’s potential to disrupt traditional understandings of the research process, particularly in terms of researcher–participant relationships. At the same time, both studies identify the challenges arising from the theoretical and practical implications of PALAR as an approach to community development. This article is therefore significant for universities and funding organisations engaging in community-based research and development through partnerships, specifically in contexts of disadvantage. Keywords: Participatory action learning and action research, PALAR, community development, community engagement, community partnerships, disadvantaged communities, higher education.

I Can Make a Scientific Research: A Course about Scientific Research Methods, in Which Learning Management System (LMS) Is Used

Science.gov (United States)

Özden, Bülent

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in the perception of teacher candidates towards scientific research process and their self-efficacy in this process, during Scientific Research Methods course that has been conducted using "Learning Management System" based on out-of-class learning activities. Being designed as a…

Perceptions of Online Learning in an Australian University: Malaysian Students? Perspectives - Usability of the Online Learning Tools

OpenAIRE

Renee Chew Shiun Yee

2013-01-01

This study set out to investigate the kinds of learning difficulties encountered by the Malaysian students and how they actually coped with online learning. The modified Online Learning Environment Survey (OLES) instrument was used to collect data from the sample of 40 Malaysian students at a university in Brisbane, Australia. A controlled group of 35 Australian students was also included for comparison purposes. Contrary to assumptions from previous researches, the findings revealed that the...

Research on Language Teaching and Learning in Austria (2004-2009)

Science.gov (United States)

Dalton-Puffer, Christiane; Faistauer, Renate; Vetter, Eva

2011-01-01

This overview of six years of research on language learning and teaching in Austria covers a period of dynamic development in the field. While all the studies reviewed here illustrate research driven by a combination of local and global concerns and theoretical frameworks, some specific clusters of research interest emerge. The first of these…

Extended apprenticeship learning in doctoral training and supervision - moving beyond 'cookbook recipes'

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tanggaard, Lene; Wegener, Charlotte

An apprenticeship perspective on learning in academia sheds light on the potential for mutual learning and production, and also reveals the diverse range of learning resources beyond the formal novice-–expert relationship. Although apprenticeship is a well-known concept in educational research......, in this case apprenticeship offers an innovative perspective on future practice and research in academia allowing more students access to high high-quality research training and giving supervisors a chance to combine their own research with their supervision obligations....

A Road Map for Learning Progressions Research in Geography

Science.gov (United States)

Huynh, Niem Tu; Solem, Michael; Bednarz, Sarah Witham

2015-01-01

This article provides an overview of learning progressions (LP) and assesses the potential of this line of research to improve geography education. It presents the merits and limitations of three of the most common approaches used to conduct LP research and draws on one approach to propose a first draft of a LP on map reading and interpretation.…

Using teacher action research to promote constructivist learning ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Erna Kinsey

2. To describe the learning environment of typical classrooms in. South African ... a more teacher-centred approach to more constructivist teaching ap- proaches and ... control over their lives within a framework promoted through action research ... cycles of questioning, planning, implementing, collecting data and reflecting ...

Example-based learning: Integrating cognitive and social-cognitive research perspectives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

T.A.J.M. van Gog (Tamara); N. Rummel (Nikol)

2010-01-01

textabstractExample-based learning has been studied from different perspectives. Cognitive research has mainly focused on worked examples, which typically provide students with a written worked-out didactical solution to a problem to study. Social-cognitive research has mostly focused on modeling

Realizing research-practice connections: Three cases from the learning sciences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

McKenney, Susan; van Aalst, J.; Forbes, C.; Looi, C.K.; Polman, J.L.; Cress, U.; Reimann, P.

2016-01-01

Empirical insights from the learning sciences must be translatable to contexts of application to maximize impact. Despite the importance of dissemination, however, little guidance is available to help researchers proactively bridge the research-practice divide. To address this need, we draw from

Rethinking Research on Teaching: Lessons Learned from an International Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Doris W.,Ed.; Anderson, Lorin W.,Ed.

1984-01-01

Reviewing their "Classroom Environment Study: Teaching for Learning" and other teaching research literature, project personnel examine the limitations of the process-product paradigm typically used in research on teaching. Topics covered include a conceptual model for teaching; preservice and inservice teacher training; appropriate…

Has Research on Collaborative Learning Technologies Addressed Massiveness? A Literature Review

Science.gov (United States)

Manathunga, Kalpani; Hernández-Leo, Davinia

2015-01-01

There is a growing interest in understanding to what extent innovative educational technologies can be used to support massive courses. Collaboration is one of the main desired elements in massive learning actions involving large communities of participants. Accumulated research in collaborative learning technologies has proposed and evaluated…

Socio-semantic Networks of Research Publications in the Learning Analytics Community

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fazeli, Soude; Drachsler, Hendrik; Sloep, Peter

2013-01-01

Fazeli, S., Drachsler, H., & Sloep, P. B. (2013). Socio-semantic Networks of Research Publications in the Learning Analytics Community. In M. d'Aquin, S. Dietze, H. Drachsler, E. Herder, & D. Taibi (Eds.), Linked data challenge, Learning Analytic and Knowledge (LAK13) (pp. 6-10). Vol. 974, Leuven,

e-Research and Learning Theory: What Do Sequence and Process Mining Methods Contribute?

Science.gov (United States)

Reimann, Peter; Markauskaite, Lina; Bannert, Maria

2014-01-01

This paper discusses the fundamental question of how data-intensive e-research methods could contribute to the development of learning theories. Using methodological developments in research on self-regulated learning as an example, it argues that current applications of data-driven analytical techniques, such as educational data mining and its…

Using Biology Education Research and Qualitative Inquiry to Inform Genomic Nursing Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Linda D

Decades of research in biology education show that learning genetics is difficult and reveals specific sources of learning difficulty. Little is known about how nursing students learn in this domain, although they likely encounter similar difficulties as nonnursing students. Using qualitative approaches, this study investigated challenges to learning genetics among nursing students. Findings indicate that nursing students face learning difficulties already identified among biology students, suggesting that nurse educators might benefit from biology education research.

Learning strategies during clerkships and their effects on clinical performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Lohuizen, M. T.; Kuks, J. B. M.; van Hell, E. A.; Raat, A. N.; Cohen-Schotanus, J.

2009-01-01

Background: Previous research revealed relationships between learning strategies and knowledge acquisition. During clerkships, however, students' focus widens beyond mere knowledge acquisition as they further develop overall competence. This shift in focus can influence learning strategy use. Aim:

Assisted Learning Systems in e-Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriel ZAMFIR

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Human society, analyzed as a learning environment, presumes different languages in order to know, to understand or to develop it. This statement results as a default application of the cog-nitive domain in the educational scientific research, and it highlights a key feature: each essen-tial discovery was available for the entire language compatible society. E-Society is constructed as an application of E-Science in social services, and it is going to reveal a learning system for each application of the information technology developed for a compatible society. This article is proposed as a conceptual one focused on scientific research and the interrelationship be-tween the building blocks of research, defined as an engine for any designed learning system applied in the cognitive domain. In this approach, educational research become a learning sys-tem in e-Education. The purpose of this analysis is to configure the teacher assisted learning system and to expose its main principles which could be integrated in standard assisted instruc-tion applications, available in e-Classroom, supporting the design of specific didactic activities.

Teaching evidence based practice and research through blended learning to undergraduate midwifery students from a practice based perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Mary, Sidebotham; Julie, Jomeen; Jennifer, Gamble

2014-03-01

The international world of higher education is changing with universities now offering students flexible delivery options that allow them to study away from campus and at a time convenient to them. Some students prefer on line learning while others prefer face to face contact offered through a traditional lecture and tutorial delivery modes. The response by many universities is to offer a blend of both. While online and blended mode of delivery may be suitable for some subjects there is little knowledge of the efficacy of blended learning models to teach evidence based practice and research (EBPR) to undergraduate midwifery students. EBPR is a challenging, threshold level subject upon which deeper knowledge and skills are built. This paper describes the design, delivery, and evaluation of an undergraduate EBPR course delivered in blended mode to first year midwifery students. Components of the blended learning innovation included: novel teaching strategies, engaging practical activities, role play, and e-learning strategies to maintain engagement. University-based course evaluation outcomes revealed very positive scores and the course was rated within the top ten percent of all courses offered within the Health Group at the host University. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Embodiment of the interpersonal nexus: revealing qualitative research findings on shoulder surgery patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Glass N

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Nel Glass, K Robyn OgleSchool of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, VIC, AustraliaBackground: The paper reports on the importance of the interpersonal nexus within qualitative research processes, from a recent research project on patient experiences of shoulder surgery. Our aim is to reveal the importance of qualitative research processes and specifically the role of the interpersonal nexus in generating quality data. Literature related to the importance of human interactions and interpersonal communication processes in health-related research remains limited. Shoulder surgery has been reported to be associated with significant postoperative pain. While shoulder surgery research has investigated various analgesic techniques to determine key efficacy and minimization of adverse side effects, little has been reported from the patient perspective.Methods: Following institutional ethics approval, this project was conducted in two private hospitals in Victoria, Australia, in 2010. The methods included a survey questionnaire, semistructured interviews, and researcher-reflective journaling. Researcher-reflective journaling was utilized to highlight and discuss the interpersonal nexus.Results: This research specifically addresses the importance of the contributions of qualitative methods and processes to understanding patient experiences of analgesic efficacy and shoulder surgery. The results reveal the importance of the established research process and the interwoven interpersonal nexus between the researcher and the research participants. The interpersonal skills of presencing and empathetic engagement are particularly highlighted.Conclusion: The authors attest the significance of establishing an interpersonal nexus in order to reveal patient experiences of shoulder surgery. Interpersonal emotional engagement is particularly highlighted in data collection, in what may be otherwise understated and overlooked

Learner Views about Cooperative Learning in Social Learning Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Cankaya, Serkan; Yunkul, Eyup

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to reveal the attitudes and views of university students about the use of Edmodo as a cooperative learning environment. In the research process, the students were divided into groups of 4 or 5 within the scope of a course given in the department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology. For each group,…

Medical students' perceptions of their learning environment during a mandatory research project.

Science.gov (United States)

Möller, Riitta; Ponzer, Sari; Shoshan, Maria

2017-10-20

To explore medical students´ perceptions of their learning environment during a mandatory 20-week scientific research project. This cross-sectional study was conducted between 2011 and 2013. A total of 651 medical students were asked to fill in the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision, and Nurse Teacher (CLES+T) questionnaire, and 439 (mean age 26 years, range 21-40, 60% females) returned the questionnaire, which corresponds to a response rate of 67%. The Mann-Whitney U test or the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the research environments. The item My workplace can be regarded as a good learning environment correlated strongly with the item There were sufficient meaningful learning situations (r= 0.71, psatisfaction with supervision correlated strongly with the items interaction (r=0.78, p work in close collaboration.

Validation of an e-Learning 3.0 Critical Success Factors Framework: A Qualitative Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paula Miranda

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: As e-Learning 3.0 evolves from a theoretical construct into an actual solution for online learning, it becomes crucial to accompany this progress by scrutinising the elements that are at the origin of its success. Background: This paper outlines a framework of e-Learning 3.0’s critical success factors and its empirical validation. Methodology: The framework is the result of an extensive literature review and its empirical substantiation derives from semi-structured interviews with e-Learning experts. Contribution: The viewpoints of the experts enable the confirmation and the refinement of the original framework and serve as a foundation for the prospective implementation of e-Learning 3.0. Findings: The analysis of the interviews demonstrates that e-Learning 3.0 remains in its early stages with a reticent dissemination. Nonetheless, the interviewees invoked factors related to technology, content and stakeholders as being critical for the success of this new phase of e-Learning. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners can use the framework as a guide for promoting and implementing effective e-Learning 3.0 initiatives. Recommendation for Researchers: As a new phenomenon with uncharted potential, e-Learning 3.0 should be placed at the centre of educational research. Impact on Society: The understanding of what drives the success of e-Learning 3.0 is fundamental for its implementation and for the progress of online education in this new stage of its evolution. Future Research: Future research ventures can include the design of quantitative and self-administered data collection instruments that can provide further insight into the elements of the framework.

Ecologies of Learning: Culture, Context and Outcomes of Workplace LES. Research Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Merrifield, Juliet

2013-01-01

There is a need to connect workplace learning and essential skills to a larger domain of workplace learning in general. To do this, the contexts in which learning takes place, and the cultures of the actors and environments involved, should be taken into consideration. Although research on the direct effects of contexts and cultures on workplace…

How Design-based Research, Action Research and Interaction Design Contributes to the Development of Designs for Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Majgaard, Gunver; Misfeldt, Morten; Nielsen, Jacob

2011-01-01

This article explores how action research, design based research and interaction design can be combined and used in the development of educational robotic tools. Our case study is the development of Number Blocks and it combines physical interaction, learning, and immediate feedback. Number Blocks...... supports the children's understanding of place value in the sense that it allows them to experiment with creating large numbers. The development was done in collaboration with a class of 7-8 year old children and their mathematics teacher. The article argues that elements from different research methods...... allowed a structured approach to projects that combines educational research and innovation of new learning technologies. Key elements of this approach is acknowledging the users input, developing a theoretical pre-analysis and using an iterative approach....

Caring, learning, improving quality and doing research: Different ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The aim of this article is to describe the similarities between the consultation process, the quality improvement (QI) process, action- and problem-based learning and participatory action research (PAR). We feel this understanding adds value to our work in enabling personal development as practitioners, fostering teamwork ...

Does Exonerating an Accused Researcher Restore the Researcher's Credibility?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tobias Greitemeyer

Full Text Available Scientific misconduct appears to be on the rise. However, an accused researcher may later be exonerated. The present research examines to what extent participants adhere to their attitude toward a researcher who allegedly committed academic misconduct after learning that the researcher is innocent. In two studies, participants in an exoneration and an uncorrected accusation condition learned that the ethics committee of a researcher's university demanded the retraction of one of the researcher's articles, whereas participants in a control condition did not receive this information. As intended, this manipulation led to a more favorable attitude toward the researcher in the control compared to the exoneration and the uncorrected accusation conditions (pre-exoneration attitude. Then, participants in the exoneration condition learned that the researcher was exonerated and that the article was not retracted. Participants in the uncorrected accusation and the control condition were not informed about the exoneration. Results revealed that the exoneration effectively worked, in that participants in the exoneration condition had a more favorable attitude (post-exoneration attitude toward the researcher than did participants in the uncorrected accusation condition. Moreover, the post-exoneration attitude toward the researcher was similar in the exoneration and the control conditions. Finally, in the exoneration condition only, participants' post-exoneration attitude was more favorable than their pre-exoneration attitude. These findings suggest that an exoneration of an accused researcher restores the researcher's credibility.

Does Exonerating an Accused Researcher Restore the Researcher's Credibility?

Science.gov (United States)

Greitemeyer, Tobias; Sagioglou, Christina

2015-01-01

Scientific misconduct appears to be on the rise. However, an accused researcher may later be exonerated. The present research examines to what extent participants adhere to their attitude toward a researcher who allegedly committed academic misconduct after learning that the researcher is innocent. In two studies, participants in an exoneration and an uncorrected accusation condition learned that the ethics committee of a researcher's university demanded the retraction of one of the researcher's articles, whereas participants in a control condition did not receive this information. As intended, this manipulation led to a more favorable attitude toward the researcher in the control compared to the exoneration and the uncorrected accusation conditions (pre-exoneration attitude). Then, participants in the exoneration condition learned that the researcher was exonerated and that the article was not retracted. Participants in the uncorrected accusation and the control condition were not informed about the exoneration. Results revealed that the exoneration effectively worked, in that participants in the exoneration condition had a more favorable attitude (post-exoneration attitude) toward the researcher than did participants in the uncorrected accusation condition. Moreover, the post-exoneration attitude toward the researcher was similar in the exoneration and the control conditions. Finally, in the exoneration condition only, participants' post-exoneration attitude was more favorable than their pre-exoneration attitude. These findings suggest that an exoneration of an accused researcher restores the researcher's credibility.

[Teaching and learning the science of qualitative research in the health area].

Science.gov (United States)

Calderón, Carlos

2012-03-01

Qualitative research constitutes a necessary perspective of knowledge within the field of health services. Healthcare always occurs in complex contexts and its enhancement requires research methodologies that address this complexity. Nevertheless, the knowledge and use of qualitative research in health services is still very limited. Among the different factors that affect its development, the teaching and learning of qualitative research proves to be fundamental, even beyond undergraduate education. Healthcare professionals and health services present certain specific aspects that must be considered in the design and development of the teaching and learning of qualitative research. Based on an eight-year online training experience with Primary Healthcare professionals, the main challenges are indentified and discussed.

Unsupervised deep learning reveals prognostically relevant subtypes of glioblastoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Jonathan D; Cai, Chunhui; Lu, Xinghua

2017-10-03

One approach to improving the personalized treatment of cancer is to understand the cellular signaling transduction pathways that cause cancer at the level of the individual patient. In this study, we used unsupervised deep learning to learn the hierarchical structure within cancer gene expression data. Deep learning is a group of machine learning algorithms that use multiple layers of hidden units to capture hierarchically related, alternative representations of the input data. We hypothesize that this hierarchical structure learned by deep learning will be related to the cellular signaling system. Robust deep learning model selection identified a network architecture that is biologically plausible. Our model selection results indicated that the 1st hidden layer of our deep learning model should contain about 1300 hidden units to most effectively capture the covariance structure of the input data. This agrees with the estimated number of human transcription factors, which is approximately 1400. This result lends support to our hypothesis that the 1st hidden layer of a deep learning model trained on gene expression data may represent signals related to transcription factor activation. Using the 3rd hidden layer representation of each tumor as learned by our unsupervised deep learning model, we performed consensus clustering on all tumor samples-leading to the discovery of clusters of glioblastoma multiforme with differential survival. One of these clusters contained all of the glioblastoma samples with G-CIMP, a known methylation phenotype driven by the IDH1 mutation and associated with favorable prognosis, suggesting that the hidden units in the 3rd hidden layer representations captured a methylation signal without explicitly using methylation data as input. We also found differentially expressed genes and well-known mutations (NF1, IDH1, EGFR) that were uniquely correlated with each of these clusters. Exploring these unique genes and mutations will allow us to

Researchers and teachers learning together and from each other using video-based multimodal analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davidsen, Jacob; Vanderlinde, Ruben

2014-01-01

integrated touch-screens into their teaching and learning. This paper examines the methodological usefulness of video-based multimodal analysis. Through reflection on the research project, we discuss how, by using video-based multimodal analysis, researchers and teachers can study children’s touch......This paper discusses a year-long technology integration project, during which teachers and researchers joined forces to explore children’s collaborative activities through the use of touch-screens. In the research project, discussed in this paper, 16 touch-screens were integrated into teaching...... and learning activities in two separate classrooms; the learning and collaborative processes were captured by using video, collecting over 150 hours of footage. By using digital research technologies and a longitudinal design, the authors of the research project studied how teachers and children gradually...

Aligning Literacy Practices in Secondary History Classes with Research on Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Nokes, Jeffery D.

2008-01-01

Literacy is a basic element of the discipline of history and of traditional secondary history instruction. However neither the growing body of research on learning with texts nor modern learning theories support the traditional literacy practices that are taking place in many secondary history classrooms. Nor are classroom literacy practices a…

Affordances of Augmented Reality in Science Learning: Suggestions for Future Research

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Kun-Hung; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2013-01-01

Augmented reality (AR) is currently considered as having potential for pedagogical applications. However, in science education, research regarding AR-aided learning is in its infancy. To understand how AR could help science learning, this review paper firstly has identified two major approaches of utilizing AR technology in science education,…

[Learning objectives achievement in ethics education for medical school students].

Science.gov (United States)

Chae, Sujin; Lim, Kiyoung

2015-06-01

This study aimed to examine the necessity for research ethics and learning objectives in ethics education at the undergraduate level. A total of 393 fourth-year students, selected from nine medical schools, participated in a survey about learning achievement and the necessity for it. It was found that the students had very few chances to receive systematic education in research ethics and that they assumed that research ethics education was provided during graduate school or residency programs. Moreover, the students showed a relatively high learning performance in life ethics, while learning achievement was low in research ethics. Medical school students revealed low interest in and expectations of research ethics in general; therefore, it is necessary to develop guidelines for research ethics in the present situation, in which medical education mainly focuses on life ethics.

Contextual learning and context effects during infancy: 30 years of controversial research revisited.

Science.gov (United States)

Revillo, D A; Cotella, E; Paglini, M G; Arias, C

2015-09-01

Over the last 30years a considerable number of reports have explored learning about context during infancy in both humans and rats. This research was stimulated by two different theoretical frameworks. The first, known as the neuromaturational model, postulates that learning and behavior are context-independent during early ontogeny, a hypothesis based on the idea that contextual learning is dependent on the hippocampal function, and that this brain structure does not reach full maturity until late in infancy. The second theoretical framework views infants not as immature organisms, but rather as perfectly matured ones, given that their behavioral and cognitive capacities allow them to adapt appropriately to the demands of their specific environment in accordance with their maturational level. This model predicts significant ontogenetic variations in learning and memory due to developmental differences in what is perceived and attended to during learning episodes, which can result in ontogenetic differences in contextual learning depending on the specific demands of the task. The present manuscript reviews those studies that have examined potential developmental differences in contextual learning and context effects in rats. The reviewed results show that, during infancy, context can exert a similar influence over learning and memory as that described for the adult rat. Moreover, in some cases, contextual learning and context effects were greater in infants than in adults. In contrast, under other experimental conditions, no evidence of contextual learning or context effects was observed. We analyzed the procedural factors of these studies with the aim of detecting those that favor or impede contextual learning during infancy, and we discussed whether existing empirical evidence supports the claim that the functionality of the hippocampus is a limiting factor for this type of learning during infancy. Finally, conclusions from human research into contextual learning

Engaging Karen refugee students in science learning through a cross-cultural learning community

Science.gov (United States)

Harper, Susan G.

2017-02-01

This research explored how Karen (first-generation refugees from Burma) elementary students engaged with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) practice of constructing scientific explanations based on evidence within the context of a cross-cultural learning community. In this action research, the researcher and a Karen parent served as co-teachers for fourth- and fifth-grade Karen and non-Karen students in a science and culture after-school programme in a public elementary school in the rural southeastern United States. Photovoice provided a critical platform for students to create their own cultural discourses for the learning community. The theoretical framework of critical pedagogy of place provided a way for the learning community to decolonise and re-inhabit the learning spaces with knowledge they co-constructed. Narrative analysis of video transcripts of the after-school programme, ethnographic interviews, and focus group discussions from Photovoice revealed a pattern of emerging agency by Karen students in the scientific practice of constructing scientific explanations based on evidence and in Karen language lessons. This evidence suggests that science learning embedded within a cross-cultural learning community can empower refugee students to construct their own hybrid cultural knowledge and leverage that knowledge to engage in a meaningful way with the epistemology of science.

Motor learning in childhood reveals distinct mechanisms for memory retention and re-learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Musselman, Kristin E; Roemmich, Ryan T; Garrett, Ben; Bastian, Amy J

2016-05-01

Adults can easily learn and access multiple versions of the same motor skill adapted for different conditions (e.g., walking in water, sand, snow). Following even a single session of adaptation, adults exhibit clear day-to-day retention and faster re-learning of the adapted pattern. Here, we studied the retention and re-learning of an adapted walking pattern in children aged 6-17 yr. We found that all children, regardless of age, showed adult-like patterns of retention of the adapted walking pattern. In contrast, children under 12 yr of age did not re-learn faster on the next day after washout had occurred-they behaved as if they had never adapted their walking before. Re-learning could be improved in younger children when the adaptation time on day 1 was increased to allow more practice at the plateau of the adapted pattern, but never to adult-like levels. These results show that the ability to store a separate, adapted version of the same general motor pattern does not fully develop until adolescence, and furthermore, that the mechanisms underlying the retention and rapid re-learning of adapted motor patterns are distinct. © 2016 Musselman et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Revealing all: misleading self-disclosure rates in laboratory-based online research.

Science.gov (United States)

Callaghan, Diana E; Graff, Martin G; Davies, Joanne

2013-09-01

Laboratory-based experiments in online self-disclosure research may be inadvertently compromising the accuracy of research findings by influencing some of the factors known to affect self-disclosure behavior. Disclosure-orientated interviews conducted with 42 participants in the laboratory and in nonlaboratory settings revealed significantly greater breadth of self-disclosure in laboratory interviews, with message length and intimacy of content also strongly related. These findings suggest that a contrived online setting with a researcher presence may stimulate motivation for greater self-disclosure than would occur naturally in an online environment of an individual's choice. The implications of these findings are that researchers should consider the importance of experimental context and motivation in self-disclosure research.

Cooperative Learning: Developments in Research

Science.gov (United States)

Gillies, Robyn M.

2014-01-01

Cooperative learning is widely recognized as a pedagogical practice that promotes socialization and learning among students from kindergarten through to college level and across different subject areas. Cooperative learning involves students working together to achieve common goals or complete group tasks. Interest in cooperative learning has…

The Effectiveness of the Gesture-Based Learning System (GBLS and Its Impact on Learning Experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moamer Ali Shakroum

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Several studies and experiments have been conducted in recent years to examine the value and the advantage of using the Gesture-Based Learning System (GBLS.The investigation of the influence of the GBLS mode on the learning outcomes is still scarce. Most previous studies did not address more than one category of learning outcomes (cognitive, affective outcomes, etc. at the same time when used to understand the impact of GBLS. Moreover, none of these studies considered the difference in students’ characteristics such as learning styles and spatial abilities. Therefore, a comprehensive empirical research on the impact of the GBLS mode on learning outcomes is needed. The purpose of this paper is to fill in the gap and to investigate the effectiveness of the GBLS mode on learning using Technology Mediated Learning (TML models. This study revealed that the GBLS mode has greater positive impact on students’ learning outcomes (cognitive and affective outcomes when compared with other two learning modes that are classified as Computer Simulation Software Learning (CSSL mode and conventional learning mode. In addition, this study also found that the GBLS mode is capable of serving all students with different learning styles and spatial ability levels. The results of this study revealed that the GBLS mode outperformed the existing learning methods by providing a unique learning experience that considers the differences between students. The results have also shown that the Kinect user interface can create an interactive and an enjoyable learning experience.

Relationship between the Learning Styles Preferences and Academic Achievement

Science.gov (United States)

Awang, H.; Samad, N. Abd; Faiz, N. S. Mohd; Roddin, R.; Kankia, J. D.

2017-08-01

The individual learning differences that have been much explored relate to differences in personality, learning styles, strategies and conceptual of learning. This article studies the learning style profile exhibited by students towards the academic achievement in Malaysian Polytechnic. The relationship between learning styles of Polytechnic students and their academic achievement based on VARK learning styles model. The target population was international business students of Malaysian Polytechnic. By means of randomly sampling method, 103 students were selected as sample of research. By descriptive - survey research method and a questionnaire adapted from VARK Learning Style Index, required data were collected. According to the results, no significantly difference between learning style and academic achievement of students. Students academic achievement was quite similar to their individual learning styles. These facts reveal that each learning style has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Signature Concepts of Women Researchers in Higher Education Teaching and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Kandlbinder, Peter

2014-01-01

The history of research into higher education teaching and learning has been one led by male researchers. Individual women researchers have always been active in the field but their contributions have not received the same level of recognition as their male counterparts. A review of the research literature in journals focused on teaching and…

Language Learning Careers as an Object of Narrative Research in TESOL

Science.gov (United States)

Benson, Phil

2011-01-01

One of the strengths of narrative research in TESOL is its potential to provide insight into long-term language learning experiences that cannot be investigated in real time. Reliance on retrospection, however, brings two problems that are addressed in this article through the concept of "language learning careers". The first problem is…

Learning Psychological Research and Statistical Concepts using Retrieval-based Practice

OpenAIRE

Stephen Wee Hun eLim; Gavin Jun Peng eNg; Gabriel Qi Hao eWong

2015-01-01

Research methods and statistics are an indispensable subject in the undergraduate psychology curriculum, but there are challenges associated with engaging students in it, such as making learning durable. Here we hypothesized that retrieval-based learning promotes long-term retention of statistical knowledge in psychology. Participants either studied the educational material in four consecutive periods, or studied it just once and practiced retrieving the information in the subsequent three pe...

Working the Dialectic: Teaching and Learning Teacher Research in Social Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Martell, Christopher C.; Sequenzia, Maria R.

2016-01-01

This article presents two narratives of teaching and learning teacher research in social studies. Organized around the concept of working the dialectic, two social studies educators discuss their experiences as teachers and learners of teacher research. This article highlights the power of practitioner research to transform teaching and teacher…

Machine Learning and Data Mining Methods in Diabetes Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Kavakiotis, Ioannis; Tsave, Olga; Salifoglou, Athanasios; Maglaveras, Nicos; Vlahavas, Ioannis; Chouvarda, Ioanna

2017-01-01

The remarkable advances in biotechnology and health sciences have led to a significant production of data, such as high throughput genetic data and clinical information, generated from large Electronic Health Records (EHRs). To this end, application of machine learning and data mining methods in biosciences is presently, more than ever before, vital and indispensable in efforts to transform intelligently all available information into valuable knowledge. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is defined as a group of metabolic disorders exerting significant pressure on human health worldwide. Extensive research in all aspects of diabetes (diagnosis, etiopathophysiology, therapy, etc.) has led to the generation of huge amounts of data. The aim of the present study is to conduct a systematic review of the applications of machine learning, data mining techniques and tools in the field of diabetes research with respect to a) Prediction and Diagnosis, b) Diabetic Complications, c) Genetic Background and Environment, and e) Health Care and Management with the first category appearing to be the most popular. A wide range of machine learning algorithms were employed. In general, 85% of those used were characterized by supervised learning approaches and 15% by unsupervised ones, and more specifically, association rules. Support vector machines (SVM) arise as the most successful and widely used algorithm. Concerning the type of data, clinical datasets were mainly used. The title applications in the selected articles project the usefulness of extracting valuable knowledge leading to new hypotheses targeting deeper understanding and further investigation in DM.

Increasing Skills in Writing Literature Study on Research-Based Learning Through Authentical Assessment Lecturing in Innovation Class of Social Science Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naniek Sulistya Wardani

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to determine whether the improvement of literature review skills on research-based learning can be pursued through the authentic assessment of the lectures of the Innovation of Learning IPS of PGSD students. This type of research is a classroom action research, using a spiral model of C. Kemmis and Robin Mc. Taggart. The research procedure uses 2 cycles, each cycle consists of 3 stages namely, 1 action planning 2 implementation of action and observation, 3 reflection. The subjects of the study were all students of PGSD Class 2014 E of the subjects of Innovation of IPS Learning as much as 27 students consisting of 7 male students and 20 female students. Data collection techniques use observation and product assessment. Data analysis technique is a percentage technique that compares literacy review writing skills through authentic assessment in IPS lectures between cycles. The result of the research shows that there is an improvement of writing skill of study lecture study of IPS learning innovation, which is pursued through authentic assessment. This is evident from the improvement of writing skills worthy of achievement from cycle 1 to cycle 2 ie from 62.14% of 27 students increased to 72.60% of all students in cycle 2. Writing skills in research-based learning is a skill to express the idea of the problem , Organizing facts, concepts and principles, use of EYD grammar and grammar. Authentic assessment is an assessment consisting of connection aspects, reflection aspects, and feedback aspects

A Review of Research on the Teaching and Learning of Thermodynamics at the University Level

Science.gov (United States)

Bain, Kinsey; Moon, Alena; Mack, Michael R.; Towns, Marcy H.

2014-01-01

We review previous research on the teaching and learning of thermodynamics in upper-level, undergraduate settings. As chemistry education researchers we use physical chemistry as a context for understanding the literature. During our synthesis four themes of research emerged: factors that influence student success in learning thermodynamics,…

Implicit Memory Influences on Metamemory during Verbal Learning after Traumatic Brain Injury

Science.gov (United States)

Ramanathan, Pradeep; Kennedy, Mary R. T.; Marsolek, Chad J.

2014-01-01

Purpose: Prior research has shown that individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) may be overconfident in their judgments of learning (JOLs; online measures of self-monitoring of learning and memory). JOLs had been presumed to be driven by explicit processes, but recent research has also revealed implicit memory involvement. Given that implicit…

Learning Psychological Research and Statistical Concepts using Retrieval-based Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Wee Hun eLim

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Research methods and statistics are an indispensable subject in the undergraduate psychology curriculum, but there are challenges associated with teaching it, such as making learning durable. Here we hypothesized that retrieval-based learning promotes long-term retention of statistical knowledge in psychology. Participants either studied the educational material in four consecutive periods, or studied it just once and practised retrieving the information in the subsequent three periods, and then took a final test through which their learning was assessed. Whereas repeated studying yielded better test performance when the final test was immediately administered, repeated practice yielded better performance when the test was administered a week after. The data suggest that retrieval practice enhanced the learning – produced better long-term retention – of statistical knowledge in psychology than did repeated studying.

The Use of Mobile Learning in Science: A Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Crompton, Helen; Burke, Diane; Gregory, Kristen H.; Gräbe, Catharina

2016-01-01

The use of mobile learning in education is growing at an exponential rate. To best understand how mobile learning is being used, it is crucial to gain a collective understanding of the research that has taken place. This systematic review reveals the trends in mobile learning in science with a comprehensive analysis and synthesis of studies from…

Learning Disabilities: Implications for Policy regarding Research and Practice--A Report by the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities, March 2011

Science.gov (United States)

Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2012

2012-01-01

The National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD) affirms that the construct of learning disabilities represents a valid, unique, and heterogeneous group of disorders, and that recognition of this construct is essential for sound policy and practice. An extensive body of scientific research on learning disabilities continues to support…

DISTANCE LEARNING AS A PERSPECTIVE FORM IN DEVELOPMENT OF SUBJECT-REFERENCE PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF TEACHERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kateryna R. Kovalska

2010-08-01

Full Text Available In the article the state and the level of studying of methodological and theoretical bases of distance learning were analyzed and researched; the methodological bases were formed, a list of characteristics was revealed, relevant only to distance learning; a list of advantages and disadvantages of distance learning using for the development of subject-reference competence of information technology teachers was revealed.

ONLINE EDUCATION, ACTIVE LEARNING, AND ANDRAGOGY: An approach for Student Engagement

OpenAIRE

CARUTH, Gail D.

2015-01-01

Online learning opportunities have become essential for today’s colleges and universities. Online technology can support active learning approaches to learning. The purpose of the paper was to investigate why active learning in online classes has a positive effect on student engagement. A review of the literature revealed that research studies have been conducted to investigate the benefits of active learning. There exists extensive evidence to support the notion that active learning enhances...

Mobile Apps for Reflection in Learning: A Design Research in K-12 Education

Science.gov (United States)

Leinonen, Teemu; Keune, Anna; Veermans, Marjaana; Toikkanen, Tarmo

2016-01-01

This study takes a design-based research approach to explore how applications designed for mobile devices could support reflection in learning in K-12 education. Use of mobile devices is increasing in schools. Most of the educational apps support single-person use of interactive learning materials, simulations and learning games. Apps designed to…

Challenges and Prospects of Exchange Activities and Collaborative Learning Towards the Construction of Inclusive Education System : Focusing on eff ective methods of collaborative learning in the future

OpenAIRE

Kawai, Norimune; Nosaki, Hitomi

2014-01-01

Various studies on Exchange Activities have been conducted and revealed many instruction methods to promote exchanging between students with disabilities and those without disabilities. However, for Collaborative Learning that takes place in children between those students, the number of research studies are limited despite the fact that the importance of research on Collaborative Learning has been pointed out by many researchers and teachers. In this study, the nature of Exchange Activities ...

Learning from Action Research about Science Teacher Preparation

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchener, Carole P.; Jackson, Wendy M.

2012-01-01

In this article, we present a case study of a beginning science teacher's year-long action research project, during which she developed a meaningful grasp of learning from practice. Wendy was a participant in the middle grade science program designed for career changers from science professions who had moved to teaching middle grade science. An…

Holding the Reins of the Professional Learning Community: Eight Themes from Research on Principals' Perceptions of Professional Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Cranston, Jerome

2009-01-01

Using a naturalistic inquiry approach and thematic analysis, this paper outlines the findings of a research study that examined 12 Manitoba principals' conceptions of professional learning communities. The study found that these principals consider the development of professional learning communities to be a normative imperative within the…

Learning Evaluation: blending quality improvement and implementation research methods to study healthcare innovations.

Science.gov (United States)

Balasubramanian, Bijal A; Cohen, Deborah J; Davis, Melinda M; Gunn, Rose; Dickinson, L Miriam; Miller, William L; Crabtree, Benjamin F; Stange, Kurt C

2015-03-10

In healthcare change interventions, on-the-ground learning about the implementation process is often lost because of a primary focus on outcome improvements. This paper describes the Learning Evaluation, a methodological approach that blends quality improvement and implementation research methods to study healthcare innovations. Learning Evaluation is an approach to multi-organization assessment. Qualitative and quantitative data are collected to conduct real-time assessment of implementation processes while also assessing changes in context, facilitating quality improvement using run charts and audit and feedback, and generating transportable lessons. Five principles are the foundation of this approach: (1) gather data to describe changes made by healthcare organizations and how changes are implemented; (2) collect process and outcome data relevant to healthcare organizations and to the research team; (3) assess multi-level contextual factors that affect implementation, process, outcome, and transportability; (4) assist healthcare organizations in using data for continuous quality improvement; and (5) operationalize common measurement strategies to generate transportable results. Learning Evaluation principles are applied across organizations by the following: (1) establishing a detailed understanding of the baseline implementation plan; (2) identifying target populations and tracking relevant process measures; (3) collecting and analyzing real-time quantitative and qualitative data on important contextual factors; (4) synthesizing data and emerging findings and sharing with stakeholders on an ongoing basis; and (5) harmonizing and fostering learning from process and outcome data. Application to a multi-site program focused on primary care and behavioral health integration shows the feasibility and utility of Learning Evaluation for generating real-time insights into evolving implementation processes. Learning Evaluation generates systematic and rigorous cross

Perceptions of Teacher Candidates Regarding Project-Based Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Baysura, Ozge Deniz; Altun, Sertel; Yucel-Toy, Banu

2016-01-01

Problem Statement: Project-based learning (PBL) is a learning and teaching approach that makes students search for new knowledge and skills, helps them overcome real-life questions, and makes them design their own studies and performances. Research in Turkey reveals that teachers are not well-informed about PBL, can not guide students in this…

Implementing Action Research and Professional Learning Communities in a Professional Development School Setting to Support Teacher Candidate Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Shanks, Joyce

2016-01-01

The paper reviews teacher candidates' use of action research and the Professional Learning Community (PLC) concept to support their work in their pre-student teaching field experience. In this research study, teacher candidates are involved in a professional development school relationship that uses action research and PLCs to support candidate…

2020 Vision: Envisioning a New Generation of STEM Learning Research

Science.gov (United States)

Dierking, Lynn D.; Falk, John H.

2016-01-01

In this issue, we have compiled six original papers, outcomes from the U.S. National Science Foundation (US-NSF)-funded REESE (Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering) 2020 Vision: The Next Generation of STEM Learning Research project. The purpose of 2020 Vision was to re-envision the questions and frameworks guiding STEM…

Nursing students' satisfaction of the clinical learning environment: a research study.

Science.gov (United States)

Papastavrou, Evridiki; Dimitriadou, Maria; Tsangari, Haritini; Andreou, Christos

2016-01-01

The acquisition of quality clinical experience within a supportive and pedagogically adjusted clinical learning environment is a significant concern for educational institutions. The quality of clinical learning usually reflects the quality of the curriculum structure. The assessment of the clinical settings as learning environment is a significant concern within the contemporary nursing education. The nursing students' satisfaction is considered as an important factor of such assessment, contributing to any potential reforms in order to optimize the learning activities and achievements within clinical settings. The aim of the study was to investigate nursing students' satisfaction of the clinical settings as learning environments. A quantitative descriptive, correlational design was used. A sample of 463 undergraduate nursing students from the three universities in Cyprus were participated. Data were collected using the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher (CLES + T). Nursing students were highly satisfied with the clinical learning environment and their satisfaction has been positively related to all clinical learning environment constructs namely the pedagogical atmosphere, the Ward Manager's leadership style, the premises of Nursing in the ward, the supervisory relationship (mentor) and the role of the Nurse Teacher (p relationship. The frequency of meetings among the students and the mentors increased the students' satisfaction with the clinical learning environment. It was also revealed that 1st year students were found to be more satisfied than the students in other years. The supervisory relationship was evaluated by the students as the most influential factor in their satisfaction with the clinical learning environment. Student's acceptance within the nursing team and a well-documented individual nursing care is also related with students' satisfaction. The pedagogical atmosphere is considered pivotal, with reference to

Toward a Conceptual Model of Mentoring Research: Integration with Self-Regulated Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Schunk, Dale H.; Mullen, Carol A.

2013-01-01

In this article, we present a model for academic mentoring research that incorporates theory and research on self-regulated learning. Academic mentoring research has increased in recent years, and researchers have linked mentoring with positive outcomes for protégés and mentors. This research, however, has not investigated the process whereby…

Guidelines for Developing and Reporting Machine Learning Predictive Models in Biomedical Research: A Multidisciplinary View.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Wei; Phung, Dinh; Tran, Truyen; Gupta, Sunil; Rana, Santu; Karmakar, Chandan; Shilton, Alistair; Yearwood, John; Dimitrova, Nevenka; Ho, Tu Bao; Venkatesh, Svetha; Berk, Michael

2016-12-16

As more and more researchers are turning to big data for new opportunities of biomedical discoveries, machine learning models, as the backbone of big data analysis, are mentioned more often in biomedical journals. However, owing to the inherent complexity of machine learning methods, they are prone to misuse. Because of the flexibility in specifying machine learning models, the results are often insufficiently reported in research articles, hindering reliable assessment of model validity and consistent interpretation of model outputs. To attain a set of guidelines on the use of machine learning predictive models within clinical settings to make sure the models are correctly applied and sufficiently reported so that true discoveries can be distinguished from random coincidence. A multidisciplinary panel of machine learning experts, clinicians, and traditional statisticians were interviewed, using an iterative process in accordance with the Delphi method. The process produced a set of guidelines that consists of (1) a list of reporting items to be included in a research article and (2) a set of practical sequential steps for developing predictive models. A set of guidelines was generated to enable correct application of machine learning models and consistent reporting of model specifications and results in biomedical research. We believe that such guidelines will accelerate the adoption of big data analysis, particularly with machine learning methods, in the biomedical research community. ©Wei Luo, Dinh Phung, Truyen Tran, Sunil Gupta, Santu Rana, Chandan Karmakar, Alistair Shilton, John Yearwood, Nevenka Dimitrova, Tu Bao Ho, Svetha Venkatesh, Michael Berk. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 16.12.2016.

Ark of Inquiry: Responsible Research and Innovation through Computer-Based Inquiry Learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Margus Pedaste; Leo Siiman; Bregje de Vries; Mirjam Burget; Tomi Jaakkola; Emanuele Bardone; Meelis Brikker; Mario Mäeots; Marianne Lind; Koen Veermans

2015-01-01

Ark of Inquiry is a learning platform that uses a computer-based inquiry learning approach to raise youth awareness to Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). It is developed in the context of a large-scale European project (http://www.arkofinquiry.eu) and provides young European citizens

Aspects of Teaching and Learning Science: What students' diaries reveal about inquiry and traditional modes

Science.gov (United States)

Kawalkar, Aisha; Vijapurkar, Jyotsna

2015-09-01

We present an analysis of students' reflective writing (diaries) of two cohorts of Grade 8 students, one undergoing inquiry and the other traditional science teaching. Students' writing included a summary of what students had learned in class on that day and their opinions and feelings about the class. The entries were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. This analysis of students' first-person accounts of their learning experience and their notes taken during class was useful in two ways. First, it brought out a spectrum of differences in outcomes of these two teaching modes-conceptual, affective and epistemic. Second, this analysis brought out the significance and meaning of the learning experience for students in their own words, thus adding another dimension to researchers' characterisation of the two teaching methods.

THE BLENDED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ON THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS: A Balance for Motivation and Achievement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bahar ISIGUZEL

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to determine the effects on motivation and success within the application of blended learning environments in the foreign language class. The research sample is formed by third grade students studying in the tourism and hotel management programs of the faculty for tourism and the faculty of economics and administrative sciences at the Nevsehir Hacı Bektas Veli University (Turkey in fall semester of the 2012-2013 academic year. The research group consists of 62 students and there of 35 students belong to the experimental group and the other 27 persons belong to the control group. While the experimental group was subject to 14 hours online and 6 hours traditional face to face learning, the control group was subject to only 6 hours traditional face to face learning. The research has been completed after a 10 week application. The data on the research have been collected with German course achievement tests via the German Language Learning Motivation Scale. The results reveal that the experimental group of students attending the German classes in blended learning environments has more success and higher motivation compared to the control group attending German language classes in the traditional learning environment. Even if the learners achieve certain success and motivation findings in the classroom and face to face environments performed along with teaching-learning activities mainly in control of the instructor, the success and motivation effect of the blended learning environment could not be achieved.

The Use of Mobile Learning in Science: A Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Crompton, Helen; Burke, Diane; Gregory, Kristen H.; Gräbe, Catharina

2016-04-01

The use of mobile learning in education is growing at an exponential rate. To best understand how mobile learning is being used, it is crucial to gain a collective understanding of the research that has taken place. This systematic review reveals the trends in mobile learning in science with a comprehensive analysis and synthesis of studies from the year 2000 onward. Major findings include that most of the studies focused on designing systems for mobile learning, followed by a combination of evaluating the effects of mobile learning and investigating the affective domain during mobile learning. The majority of the studies were conducted in the area of life sciences in informal, elementary (5-11 years) settings. Mobile devices were used in this strand of science easily within informal environments with real-world connections. A variety of research methods were employed, providing a rich research perspective. As the use of mobile learning continues to grow, further research regarding the use of mobile technologies in all areas and levels of science learning will help science educators to expand their ability to embrace these technologies.

Learning Disabilities and Conductive Hearing Loss Involving Otitis Media.

Science.gov (United States)

Reichman, Julie; Healey, William C.

1983-01-01

A review of research on the relationship of otitis media (ear infection) and learning/language/hearing disorders revealed that incidence of otitis media was twice as common in learning disabled as nonLD students; and that, in general, otitis-prone children scored below controls with frequent evidence of performance deficits. (CL)

Assessing Preschool Teachers' Practices to Promote Self-Regulated Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Adagideli, Fahretdin Hasan; Saraç, Seda; Ader, Engin

2015-01-01

Recent research reveals that in preschool years, through pedagogical interventions, preschool teachers can and should promote self-regulated learning. The main aim of this study is to develop a self-report instrument to assess preschool teachers' practices to promote self-regulated learning. A pool of 50 items was recruited through literature…

Political learning in territories of exclusion, conflict and popular organization (research notes)

OpenAIRE

Paulo J. Krischke

2006-01-01

This paper discusses some interfaces between the approaches to political learning, and their reference to situations of social exclusion, conflict and popular organization. The first part of the paper discusses the approach to the study of political learning among the elites; the second part examines approaches to research of political culture among the masses; and the third part outlines an alternative approach to political learning derived from Jürgen Habermass theory of comm...

Institute for Advanced Learning and Research names new executive director

OpenAIRE

Virginia Tech News

2008-01-01

Virginia Tech's Institute for Advanced Learning and Research has named Liam E. Leightley as executive director, effective Oct. 6, 2008, according to Mike Henderson, chair of the institute's board of trustees.

The effectiveness of research-based physics learning module with predict-observe-explain strategies to improve the student’s competence

Science.gov (United States)

Usmeldi

2018-05-01

The preliminary study shows that many students are difficult to master the concept of physics. There are still many students who have not mastery learning physics. Teachers and students still use textbooks. Students rarely do experiments in the laboratory. One model of learning that can improve students’ competence is a research-based learning with Predict- Observe-Explain (POE) strategies. To implement this learning, research-based physics learning modules with POE strategy are used. The research aims to find out the effectiveness of implementation of research-based physics learning modules with POE strategy to improving the students’ competence. The research used a quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest group control design. Data were collected using observation sheets, achievement test, skill assessment sheets, questionnaire of attitude and student responses to learning implementation. The results of research showed that research-based physics learning modules with POE strategy was effective to improve the students’ competence, in the case of (1) mastery learning of physics has been achieved by majority of students, (2) improving the students competency of experimental class including high category, (3) there is a significant difference between the average score of students’ competence of experimental class and the control class, (4) the average score of the students competency of experimental class is higher than the control class, (5) the average score of the students’ responses to the learning implementation is very good category, this means that most students can implement research-based learning with POE strategies.

Learning strategies and general cognitive ability as predictors of gender- specific academic achievement.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruffing, Stephanie; Wach, F-Sophie; Spinath, Frank M; Brünken, Roland; Karbach, Julia

2015-01-01

Recent research has revealed that learning behavior is associated with academic achievement at the college level, but the impact of specific learning strategies on academic success as well as gender differences therein are still not clear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in the incremental contribution of learning strategies over general cognitive ability in the prediction of academic achievement. The relationship between these variables was examined by correlation analyses. A set of t-tests was used to test for gender differences in learning strategies, whereas structural equation modeling as well as multi-group analyses were applied to investigate the incremental contribution of learning strategies for male and female students' academic performance. The sample consisted of 461 students (mean age = 21.2 years, SD = 3.2). Correlation analyses revealed that general cognitive ability as well as the learning strategies effort, attention, and learning environment were positively correlated with academic achievement. Gender differences were found in the reported application of many learning strategies. Importantly, the prediction of achievement in structural equation modeling revealed that only effort explained incremental variance (10%) over general cognitive ability. Results of multi-group analyses showed no gender differences in this prediction model. This finding provides further knowledge regarding gender differences in learning research and the specific role of learning strategies for academic achievement. The incremental assessment of learning strategy use as well as gender-differences in their predictive value contributes to the understanding and improvement of successful academic development.

Design-based research as a “smart” methodology for studying learning in the context of work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kolbæk, Ditte

Although Design-based Research (DBR) was developed for investigating class-room training this paper discusses methodological issues when DBR is employed for investigating learning in the context of work, as it is an authentic learning environment, a real-world setting for fostering learning...... and creating usable knowledge and knowing. The purpose of this paper is to provide new perspectives on DBR regarding how to conduct DBR for studying learning from experience in the context of work. The research question is: What to consider to make DBR a smart methodology for exploring learning from experience...

Learning on governance in forest ecosystems: Lessons from recent research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine May Tucker

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Research on forest governance has intensified in recent decades with evidence that efforts to mitigate deforestation and encourage sustainable management have had mixed results. This article considers the progress that has been made in understanding the range of variation in forest governance and management experiences. It synthesizes findings of recent interdisciplinary research efforts, with particular attention to work conducted through the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population and Environmental Change and the International Forestry Resources and Institution Research Program. By identifying areas of progress, lessons learned, and challenges for successful forest governance, the discussion points to policy implications and priorities for research.Research on forest governance has intensified in recent decades with evidence that efforts to mitigate deforestation and encourage sustainable management have had mixed results. This article considers the progress that has been made in understanding the range of variation in forest governance and management experiences. It synthesizes findings of recent interdisciplinary research efforts, which indicate that sustainable management of forest resources is associated with secure rights, institutions that fit the local context, and monitoring and enforcement. At the same time, the variability in local contexts and interactions of social, political, economic and ecological processes across levels and scales of analysis create uncertainties for the design and maintenance of sustainable forest governance.  By identifying areas of progress, lessons learned, and gaps in knowledge, the discussion suggests priorities for further research.Research on forest governance has intensified in recent decades with evidence that efforts to mitigate deforestation and encourage sustainable management have had mixed results. This article considers the progress that has been made in understanding the range of

Learning, teaching and researching on the internet a practical guide for social scientists

CERN Document Server

Stein, S D

2014-01-01

Learning, Teaching and Researching on the Internet: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists is directed at students and academic staff who want to be able to access Internet resources quickly and efficiently without needing to become IT experts. The emphasis throughout is on the harnessing of the large volume of potentially useful Internet resources to everyday requirements, whether these be focused on learning, teaching or research. The Internet is a significantly rich information, communication and research resource for all those involved in higher education, whether they be students, academ

How task characteristics and social support relate to managerial learning: empirical evidence from Dutch home care.

Science.gov (United States)

Ouweneel, A P Else; Taris, Toon W; Van Zolingen, Simone J; Schreurs, Paul J G

2009-01-01

Researchers have revealed that managers profit most from informal and on-the-job learning. Moreover, research has shown that task characteristics and social support affect informal learning. On the basis of these insights, the authors examined the effects of task characteristics (psychological job demands, job control) and social support from the supervisor and colleagues on informal on-the-job learning among 1588 managers in the Dutch home-care sector. A regression analysis revealed that high demands, high control, and high colleague and supervisor support were each associated with high levels of informal learning. The authors found no evidence for statistical interactions among the effects of these concepts. They concluded that to promote managers' informal workplace learning, employers should especially increase job control.

Fundamental Research in Engineering Education. Student Learning in Industrially Situated Virtual Laboratories

Science.gov (United States)

Koretsky, Milo D.; Kelly, Christine; Gummer, Edith

2011-01-01

The instructional design and the corresponding research on student learning of two virtual laboratories that provide an engineering task situated in an industrial context are described. In this problem-based learning environment, data are generated dynamically based on each student team's distinct choices of reactor parameters and measurements.…

Machine Learning, Statistical Learning and the Future of Biological Research in Psychiatry

OpenAIRE

Iniesta, Raquel; Stahl, Daniel Richard; McGuffin, Peter

2016-01-01

Psychiatric research has entered the age of ‘Big Data’. Datasets now routinely involve thousands of heterogeneous vari- ables, including clinical, neuroimaging, genomic, proteomic, transcriptomic and other ‘omic’ measures. The analysis of these datasets is challenging, especially when the number of measurements exceeds the number of individuals, and may be further complicated by missing data for some subjects and variables that are highly correlated. Statistical learning- based models are a n...

Communicating Climate Change: Lessons Learned from a Researcher-Museum Collaboration †

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Christopher T.; Cockerham, Debbie; Foss, Ann W.

2018-01-01

The need for science education and outreach is great. However, despite the ever-growing body of available scientific information, facts are often misrepresented to or misunderstood by the general public. This can result in uninformed decisions that negatively impact society at both individual and community levels. One solution to this problem is to make scientific information more available to the public through outreach programs. Most outreach programs, however, focus on health initiatives, STEM programs, or young audiences exclusively. This article describes a collaboration between the Research and Learning Center at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex area. The collaboration was a pilot effort of a science communication fellowship and was designed to train researchers to effectively convey current science information to the public with a focus on lifelong learning. We focus on the broader idea of a university-museum collaboration that bridges the science communication gap as we outline the process of forming this collaboration, lessons we learned from the process, and directions that can support future collaborations. PMID:29904536

Papers of the PTAC Air Issues Research Forum : research priorities, discussion, and networking reception

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-01-01

This meeting was open to representatives from the petroleum industry, regulators, researchers, and service and supply providers. The presenters described technologies that can effectively improve the environmental performance of energy industries. The conference provided an opportunity to learn where research dollars are being spent to improve economic performance while minimizing environmental impacts. It also revealed information on emission reduction regulations and targets and provided an opportunity to learn about the most recent advances in modeling, simulation and expert systems. The meeting featured 10 presentations, of which 4 have been indexed separately for inclusion in this database. tabs., figs

The Development of Learning Activities in Srijanwittaya General Buddhist Scripture School: A Participatory Action Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Phrachakrapol Pongsir

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The objectives of this research were to study: 1 the former and present conditions, problem, expectations, possible alternative solutions to solve problems, achieve expectations and the choices made in formulating an action plan for development of learning activity. 2 the results of both expected and unexpected changes from individual, group and organization, also the new knowledge created from learning by doing processes with participatory action research. The 17 participants consist of administrators, teachers, school committee and 5 stakeholders. Such as administrative officer, caretaker, community leader and representative alumni. Research instruments included an observation form, in-depth interview, and document examination. The research finding were as follows: Srijanwittaya general buddhist scripture school lack of equipment for teaching and learning and modern teaching aids. Teachers have not been development for 21st century learning skills. These were the cause of: bored lesson, low student achievement and school has not passed the third quality evaluation by the office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (Public Organization Researcher focus on solving problem by 4 projects were Follows: 1 promotion and development of teacher project 2 developing school environment project. 3 encourage collaboration for school development project and 4 improving manage potential for school based management project. After improving found that Srijanwittaya general buddhist scripture school, Loei province passed the quality evaluation and higher students achievement. Moreover, researcher and participants were learnt from research practice such as knowledge and experience. The new knowledge had 3 characteristics as follows: 1 new knowledge on participatory performance of school context 2 new knowledge by 5 steps of participle learning principal and 3 new knowledge by lesson learned visualizing from “SRIJAN Model”.

Educational games for brain health: revealing their unexplored potential through a neurocognitive approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick eFissler

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Educational games link the motivational nature of games with learning of knowledge and skills. Here, we go beyond effects on these learning outcomes. We review two lines of evidence which indicate the currently unexplored potential of educational games to promote brain health: First, gaming with specific neurocognitive demands (e.g., executive control, and second, educational learning experiences (e.g., studying foreign languages improve brain health markers. These markers include cognitive ability, brain function, and brain structure. As educational games allow the combination of specific neurocognitive demands with educational learning experiences, they seem to be optimally suited for promoting brain health. We propose a neurocognitive approach to reveal this unexplored potential of educational games in future research.

Teaching Research Methods and Statistics in eLearning Environments: Pedagogy, Practical Examples, and Possible Futures

OpenAIRE

Rock, Adam J.; Coventry, William L.; Morgan, Methuen I.; Loi, Natasha M.

2016-01-01

Generally, academic psychologists are mindful of the fact that, for many students, the study of research methods and statistics is anxiety provoking (Gal, Ginsburg, & Schau, 1997). Given the ubiquitous and distributed nature of eLearning systems (Nof, Ceroni, Jeong, & Moghaddam, 2015), teachers of research methods and statistics need to cultivate an understanding of how to effectively use eLearning tools to inspire psychology students to learn. Consequently, the aim of the present paper is to...

Reflections on foreign language study for students with language learning problems: research, issues and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Ganschow, L; Sparks, R L

2000-01-01

The study of foreign language (FL) learning for individuals who have found learning to read and write in their first language extremely problematic has been an under-researched area throughout the world. Since the 1980s, Leonore Ganschow and Richard Sparks have conducted pioneering research into the nature of difficulties, why they are encountered and how they can be minimized. In this paper the authors trace the development of their research on foreign language difficulties for students with language learning problems. They provide a summary of their findings and suggest new questions and directions for the field.

Networked Learning and Design Based Research for welfare innovation through further education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Østergaard, Rina; Sorensen, Elsebeth Korsgaard

2014-01-01

Abstract This paper sets out on a reflective journey to investigate, theoretically, the potential of a marriage between Networked Learning (NL) and Design Based Research (DBR) (Barab & Squire, 2004) in a creative and innovative pedagogical practice for welfare professionals. With reference...... the entities of a model, which integrate the above mentioned relationships in learning designs. The suggested networked model offers possibilities of innovative learning in further educations. At the same time – in parallel – the suggested networked model offers possibilities of data generation to be used...... help and qualify the development of innovative DBR and NL designs directed towards the future. Assuming the views outlined and promoted in this paper, the authors claim that researchers in the field as well as welfare professionals in pedagogical, social and health areas, must display creative...

The Implementation of Cumulative Learning Theory in Calculating Triangular Prism and Tube Volumes

Science.gov (United States)

Muklis, M.; Abidin, C.; Pamungkas, M. D.; Masriyah

2018-01-01

This study aims at describing the application of cumulative learning theory in calculating the volume of a triangular prism and a tube as well as revealing the students’ responses toward the learning. The research method used was descriptive qualitative with elementary school students as the subjects of the research. Data obtained through observation, field notes, questionnaire, tests, and interviews. The results from the application of cumulative learning theory obtained positive students’ responses in following the learning and students’ learning outcomes was dominantly above the average. This showed that cumulative learning could be used as a reference to be implemented in learning, so as to improve the students’ achievement.

Research on Adult Learning and Memory: Retrospect and Prospect.

Science.gov (United States)

Hultsch, David F.; Pentz, C. A.

1980-01-01

Descriptions of cognitive development are determined by the metamodel on which theories and data are based. The associative and information processing approaches have generated much of the research on adult learning and memory. A contextual approach, emphasizing perceiving, comprehending, and remembering, is emerging in the present historical…

Learning dynamics in research alliances: A panel data analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duso, T.; Pennings, E.; Seldeslachts, J.

2010-01-01

The aim of this paper is to empirically test the determinants of Research Joint Ventures’ (RJVs) group dynamics. We develop a model based on learning and transaction cost theories, which represent the benefits and costs of RJV participation, respectively. According to our framework, firms at each

Educational Technology Research Journals: "Interactive Learning Environments," 2004-2013

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, Steven S.; Andrews, Carolyn; Harris, Scott P.; Lloyd, Adam; Turley, Chad; West, Richard E.

2015-01-01

This study examined the journal "Interactive Learning Environments" to discover trends from 2004-2013. The authors looked at trends in article topics, research methods, authorship, citations, keyword frequencies, phrase counts of article abstracts, and article citations according to Google Scholar. Evidence is provided of the journal's…

Creativity and Learning: What Research Says to the Teacher.

Science.gov (United States)

Hennessey, Beth A.; Amabile, Teresa M.

The pamphlet reviews research on creativity and applies it to the learning process. After discussing the definition and measurement of creativity, the components of creative performance are outlined, including domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant skills, and intrinsic task motivation. Factors which destroy students' creativity are noted,…

On design-oriented research and digital learning materials in higher education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hartog, R.J.M.

2012-01-01

The context of the research described in this thesis is formed by a number of research projects that were aimed at the design, development, implementation, use and evaluation of innovative digital learning materials. Most of these projects were carried out mainly within Wageningen University. In

Design based action research in the world of robot technology and learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Majgaard, Gunver

2010-01-01

Why is design based action research method important in the world of robot technology and learning? The article explores how action research and interaction-driven design can be used in development of educational robot technological tools. The actual case is the development of “Fraction Battle......” which is about learning fractions in primary school. The technology is based on robot technology. An outdoor digital playground is taken into to the classroom and then redesigned. The article argues for interaction design takes precedence to technology or goal driven design for development...... of educational tools....

Meeting the Challenge: Evoking Some Hope; From Personal Advocacy to Public Activism; Seeing Yourself Sitting There; Letting Kids' Gifts Shine Through; Revealing the Secrets of the Brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Sherman, Lee; Lewis, Bryan; Ramsey, Betsy; Tibbetts, Daniel; Kaplan, Kay; Berninger, Virginia

2003-01-01

Interviews with a learning disabled student, parent activist, teacher, tutor, and researcher reveal that learning disabilities are neurologically caused, not the result of low motivation or dysfunctional families. A variety of educational practices are explained that accommodate different learning styles of children with learning disabilities. It…

Getting educated: e-learning resources in the design and execution of surgical trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Bains, Simrit

2009-01-01

An evidence-based approach to research, which includes important aspects such as critical appraisal, is essential for the effective conduct of clinical trials. Researchers who are interested in educating themselves about its principles in order to incorporate them into their trials face challenges when attempting to acquire this information from traditional learning sources. E-learning resources offer an intriguing possibility of overcoming the challenges posed by traditional learning, and show promise as a way to expand accessibility to quality education about evidence-based principles. An assessment of existing e-learning resources reveals positive educational avenues for researchers, although significant flaws exist. The Global EducatorTM by Global Research Solutions addresses many of these flaws and is an e-learning resource that combines convenience with comprehensiveness.

Learning basic programming using CLIS through gamification

Science.gov (United States)

Prabawa, H. W.; Sutarno, H.; Kusnendar, J.; Rahmah, F.

2018-05-01

The difficulty of understanding programming concept is a major problem in basic programming lessons. Based on the results of preliminary studies, 60% of students reveal the monotonous of learning process caused by the limited number of media. Children Learning in Science (CLIS) method was chosen as solution because CLIS has facilitated students’ initial knowledge to be optimized into conceptual knowledge. Technological involvement in CLIS (gamification) helped students to understand basic programming concept. This research developed a media using CLIS method with gamification elements to increase the excitement of learning process. This research declared that multimedia is considered good by students, especially regarding the mechanical aspects of multimedia, multimedia elements and aspects of multimedia information structure. Multimedia gamification learning with the CLIS model showed increased number of students’ concept understanding.

Integrated Analysis of Alzheimer's Disease and Schizophrenia Dataset Revealed Different Expression Pattern in Learning and Memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Wen-Xing; Dai, Shao-Xing; Liu, Jia-Qian; Wang, Qian; Li, Gong-Hua; Huang, Jing-Fei

2016-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are both accompanied by impaired learning and memory functions. This study aims to explore the expression profiles of learning or memory genes between AD and SZ. We downloaded 10 AD and 10 SZ datasets from GEO-NCBI for integrated analysis. These datasets were processed using RMA algorithm and a global renormalization for all studies. Then Empirical Bayes algorithm was used to find the differentially expressed genes between patients and controls. The results showed that most of the differentially expressed genes were related to AD whereas the gene expression profile was little affected in the SZ. Furthermore, in the aspects of the number of differentially expressed genes, the fold change and the brain region, there was a great difference in the expression of learning or memory related genes between AD and SZ. In AD, the CALB1, GABRA5, and TAC1 were significantly downregulated in whole brain, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and hippocampus. However, in SZ, only two genes CRHBP and CX3CR1 were downregulated in hippocampus, and other brain regions were not affected. The effect of these genes on learning or memory impairment has been widely studied. It was suggested that these genes may play a crucial role in AD or SZ pathogenesis. The different gene expression patterns between AD and SZ on learning and memory functions in different brain regions revealed in our study may help to understand the different mechanism between two diseases.

Medical Community of Inquiry: A Diagnostic Tool for Learning, Assessment, and Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rakefet Ackerman

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: These days educators are expected to integrate technological tools into classes. Although they acquire relevant skills, they are often reluctant to use these tools. Background:\tWe incorporated online forums for generating a Community of Inquiry (CoI in a faculty development program. Extending the Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge (TPACK model with Assessment Knowledge and content analysis of forum discourse and reflection after each CoI, we offer the Diagnostic Tool for Learning, Assessment, and Research (DTLAR. Methodology: This study spanned over two cycles of a development program for medical faculty. Contribution: This study demonstrates how the DTLAR supports in-depth examination of the benefits and challenges of using CoIs for learning and teaching. Findings: Before the program, participants had little experience with, and were reluctant to use, CoIs in classes. At the program completion, many were willing to adopt CoIs and appreciated this method’s contribution. Both CoIs discourse and reflections included positive attitudes regarding cognitive and teacher awareness categories. However, negative attitudes regarding affective aspects and time-consuming aspects of CoIs were exposed. Participants who experienced facilitating a CoI gained additional insights into its usefulness. Recommendations for Practitioners\t: The DTLAR allows analyzing adaption of online forums for learning and teaching. Recommendation for Researchers: The DTLAR allows analyzing factors that affect the acceptance of online fo-rums for learning and teaching. Impact on Society\t: While the tool was implemented in the context of medical education, it can be readily applied in other adult learning programs. Future Research: The study includes several design aspects that probably affected the improve-ment and challenges we found. Future research is called for providing guidelines for identifying boundary conditions and potential for further

Involving the public in mental health and learning disability research: Can we, should we, do we?

Science.gov (United States)

Paul, C; Holt, J

2017-10-01

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: UK health policy is clear that researchers should involve the public throughout the research process. The public, including patients, carers and/or local citizens can bring a different and valuable perspective to the research process and improve the quality of research undertaken. Conducting health research is demanding with tight deadlines and scarce resources. This can make involving the public in research very challenging. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: This is the first time the attitudes of researchers working in mental health and learning disability services towards PPI have been investigated. The principles of service user involvement in mental health and learning disability services may support PPI in research as a tool of collaboration and empowerment. This article extends our understanding of the cultural and attitudinal barriers to implementing PPI guidelines in mental health and learning disability services. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Researchers in mental health and learning disability services need to champion, share and publish effective involvement work. Structural barriers to PPI work should be addressed locally and successful strategies shared nationally and internationally. Where PPI guidelines are being developed, attention needs to be paid to cultural factors in the research community to win "hearts and minds" and support the effective integration of PPI across the whole research process. Introduction Patient and public involvement (PPI) is integral to UK health research guidance; however, implementation is inconsistent. There is little research into the attitudes of NHS health researchers towards PPI. Aim This study explored the attitude of researchers working in mental health and learning disability services in the UK towards PPI in health research. Method Using a qualitative methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of eight researchers. A

Can young children learn words from a robot?

OpenAIRE

Moriguchi, Yusuke; Kanda, Takayuki; Ishiguro, Hiroshi; Shimada, Yoko; Itakura, Shoji

2011-01-01

Young children generally learn words from other people. Recent research has shown that children can learn new actions and skills from nonhuman agents. This study examines whether young children could learn words from a robot. Preschool children were shown a video in which either a woman (human condition) or a mechanical robot (robot condition) labeled novel objects. Then the children were asked to select the objects according to the names used in the video. The results revealed that children ...

Civic Education and Deeper Learning. Deeper Learning Research Series

Science.gov (United States)

Levine, Peter; Kawashima-Ginsberg, Kei

2015-01-01

This report proposes that the turn toward deeper learning in education reform should go hand in hand with a renewed emphasis on high-quality civics education. Not only does deeper learning have great potential to promote civic outcomes and strengthen our democracy but, at the same time, civic education exemplifies deeper learning, in that it…

Developing a Framework for Social Technologies in Learning via Design-Based Research

Science.gov (United States)

Parmaxi, Antigoni; Zaphiris, Panayiotis

2015-01-01

This paper reports on the use of design-based research (DBR) for the development of a framework that grounds the use of social technologies in learning. The paper focuses on three studies which step on the learning theory of constructionism. Constructionism assumes that knowledge is better gained when students find this knowledge for themselves…

[Public Health as an Applied, Multidisciplinary Subject: Is Research-Based Learning the Answer to Challenges in Learning and Teaching?

Science.gov (United States)

Gerhardus, A; Schilling, I; Voss, M

2017-03-01

Public health education aims at enabling students to deal with complex health-related challenges using appropriate methods based on sound theoretical understanding. Virtually all health-related problems in science and practice require the involvement of different disciplines. However, the necessary interdisciplinarity is only partly reflected in the curricula of public health courses. Also theories, methods, health topics, and their application are often taught side-by-side and not together. For students, it can become an insurmountable challenge to integrate the different disciplines ("horizontal integration") and theories, methods, health topics, and their application ("vertical integration"). This situation is specific for education in public health but is representative for other interdisciplinary fields as well. Several approaches are available to achieve the horizontal integration of different disciplines and vertical integration of theories, methods, health topics, and their application. A curriculum that is structured by topics, rather than disciplines might be more successful in integrating different disciplines. Vertical integration can be achieved by research-based learning. Research-based learning places a student-led research project at the centre of teaching. Students choose a topic and a research question, raise their own questions for theories and methods and will hopefully cross the seeming chasm between science and practice. Challenges of research-based learning are enhanced demands on students, teachers and curriculum design. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Students' Learning in Asynchronous Discussion Forums: A Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Martono, Fkipuntan; Salam, Urai

2017-01-01

Asynchronous discussion forums are among the most preferred tools chosen to foster learning opportunities and knowledge construction. To reveal the cognitive engagement evidenced in the transcripts of the discussion forums, this study presents 51 papers. 17 papers reported research on students' attitude toward the use of ICT for learning, 16…

Bringing the excitement and motivation of research to students; Using inquiry and research-based learning in a year-long biochemistry laboratory : Part II-research-based laboratory-a semester-long research approach using malate dehydrogenase as a research model.

Science.gov (United States)

Knutson, Kristopher; Smith, Jennifer; Nichols, Paul; Wallert, Mark A; Provost, Joseph J

2010-09-01

Research-based learning in a teaching environment is an effective way to help bring the excitement and experience of independent bench research to a large number of students. The program described here is the second of a two-semester biochemistry laboratory series. Here, students are empowered to design, execute and analyze their own experiments for the entire semester. This style of laboratory replaces a variety of shorter labs in favor of an in depth research-based learning experience. The concept is to allow students to function in independent research groups. The research projects are focused on a series of wild-type and mutant clones of malate dehydrogenase. A common research theme for the laboratory helps instructors administer the course and is key to delivering a research opportunity to a large number of students. The outcome of this research-based learning laboratory results in students who are much more confident and skilled in critical areas in biochemistry and molecular biology. Students with research experience have significantly higher confidence and motivation than those students without a previous research experience. We have also found that all students performed better in advanced courses and in the workplace. Copyright © 2010 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

From conditioning to learning communities: implications of fifty years of research in e-learning interaction design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Ravenscroft

2003-12-01

Full Text Available This paper will consider e-learning in terms of the underlying learning processes and interactions that are stimulated, supported or favoured by new media and the contexts or communities in which it is used. We will review and critique a selection of research and development from the past fifty years that has linked pedagogical and learning theory to the design of innovative e-learning systems and activities, and discuss their implications. It will include approaches that are, essentially, behaviourist (Skinner and Gagné, cognitivist (Pask, Piaget and Papert, situated (Lave, Wenger and Seely-Brown, socioconstructivist (Vygotsky, socio-cultural (Nardi and Engestrom and community-based (Wenger and Preece. Emerging from this review is the argument that effective elearning usually requires, or involves, high-quality educational discourse, that leads to, at the least, improved knowledge, and at the best, conceptual development and improved understanding. To achieve this I argue that we need to adopt a more holistic approach to design that synthesizes features of the included approaches, leading to a framework that emphasizes the relationships between cognitive changes, dialogue processes and the communities, or contexts for e-learning.

COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN DISTANCE LEARNING: A MIXED METHODS STUDY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lori Kupczynski

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Distance learning has facilitated innovative means to include Cooperative Learning (CL in virtual settings. This study, conducted at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, compared the effectiveness of online CL strategies in discussion forums with traditional online forums. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 56 graduate student participants. Quantitative results revealed no significant difference on student success between CL and Traditional formats. The qualitative data revealed that students in the cooperative learning groups found more learning benefits than the Traditional group. The study will benefit instructors and students in distance learning to improve teaching and learning practices in a virtual classroom.

Practitioner research to promote practice development: the continued development by means of practitioner research of a multidisciplinary learning environment within neurorehabilitation care for older persons

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cyrilla van der Donk

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Continuous innovation is required to help clinical practice adapt to healthcare demand and there is a pressing need for sufficient numbers of professionals trained to work in this ever-changing context. New environments for learning are needed to enhance the development of these skills for existing and future care professionals. This article gives an account of how practitioner research was used to further develop a multidisciplinary learning environment for students of the Institute of Health Studies and the Institute of Nursing Studies of HAN University of Applied Sciences in a department specialising in neurorehabilitation for older persons from ZZG Herstelhotel, a public hospital offering long-term residential care in the Netherlands. Aim: The aim of the study was to pursue the development of the learning environment by exploring stakeholders’ visions of their ideal multidisciplinary learning environment. Method: Practitioner research was chosen as a methodology as it deliberately seeks to generate local knowledge and theories through exploring different perspectives, and to encourage learning and reflection. A research group was formed consisting of the first author and three practice supervisors. A mixed-methods approach was used by the research group. First, a selection of relevant publications was reviewed by the group. This was followed by learning sessions in which students, supervisors and managers were invited to dream and design on the basis of their own experiences, thereby linking up with the constructionist-based change approach of Appreciative Inquiry. Results: A collective view of the characteristics of a workbased learning environment was developed by students, supervisors and managers. These characteristics were placed in one of four ideal perspectives: the core professional competencies to be acquired; the resources available; the learning culture; and the supervision. Not all students valued multidisciplinary

Clustering Patterns of Engagement in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): The Use of Learning Analytics to Reveal Student Categories

Science.gov (United States)

Khalil, Mohammad; Ebner, Martin

2017-01-01

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are remote courses that excel in their students' heterogeneity and quantity. Due to the peculiarity of being massiveness, the large datasets generated by MOOC platforms require advanced tools and techniques to reveal hidden patterns for purposes of enhancing learning and educational behaviors. This publication…

Game-Based Learning in Science Education: A Review of Relevant Research

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ming-Chaun; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to review empirical research articles regarding game-based science learning (GBSL) published from 2000 to 2011. Thirty-one articles were identified through the Web of Science and SCOPUS databases. A qualitative content analysis technique was adopted to analyze the research purposes and designs, game design and…

Talking Back to Theory: The Missed Opportunities in Learning Technology Research

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Sue; Oliver, Martin

2011-01-01

Research into learning technology has developed a reputation for being driven by rhetoric about the revolutionary nature of new developments, for paying scant attention to theories that might be used to frame and inform research, and for producing shallow analyses that do little to inform the practice of education. Although there is…

Research On: Motivation to Learn English among College Students in Sudan

Science.gov (United States)

Humaida, Ibrahim Abdelrahim Ibrahim

2012-01-01

This research was conducted to achieve the following objectives: to examine motivation to learn English language among students of faculty of arts, Islamic University-Sudan, to find out if there were significant statistical differences on motivation scores related to both student level and age. To pursue these objectives, the researcher used the…

Exploring Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Approaches to Business Communication Research

Science.gov (United States)

Pope-Ruark, Rebecca

2012-01-01

With our core focus on teaching and scholarship, business communication teacher-scholars are well placed to become leaders in the international Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) movement. In this article, SoTL is defined and contextualized, three SoTL research approaches are introduced, and disciplinary research projects are suggested. A…

ASPIRE: Teachers and researchers working together to enhance student learning

Science.gov (United States)

Yager, P. L.; Garay, D. L.; Warburton, J.

2016-02-01

Given the impact of human activities on the ocean, involving teachers, students, and their families in scientific inquiry has never been more important. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines have become key focus areas in the education community of the United States. Newly adopted across the nation, Next Generation Science Standards require that educators embrace innovative approaches to teaching. Transforming classrooms to actively engage students through a combination of knowledge and practice develops conceptual understanding and application skills. The partnerships between researchers and educators during the Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition (ASPIRE) offer an example of how academic research can enhance K-12 student learning. In this presentation, we illustrate how ASPIRE teacher-scientist partnerships helped engage students with actual and virtual authentic scientific investigations. Scientists benefit from teacher/researcher collaborations as well, as funding for scientific research also depends on effective communication between scientists and the public. While contributing to broader impacts needed to justify federal funding, scientists also benefit by having their research explained in ways that the broader public can understand: collaborations with teachers produce classroom lessons and published work that generate interest in the scientists' research specifically and in marine science in general. Researchers can also learn from their education partners about more effective teaching strategies that can be transferred to the college level. Researchers who work with teachers in turn gain perspectives on the constraints that teachers and students face in the pre-college classroom. Crosscutting concepts of research in polar marine science can serve as intellectual tools to connect important ideas about ocean and climate science for the public good.

Understanding Angle and Angle Measure: A Design-Based Research Study Using Context Aware Ubiquitous Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Crompton, Helen

2015-01-01

Mobile technologies are quickly becoming tools found in the educational environment. The researchers in this study use a form of mobile learning to support students in learning about angle concepts. Design-based research is used in this study to develop an empirically-substantiated local instruction theory about students' develop of angle and…

"Deja Vu"? A Decade of Research on Language Laboratories, Television and Video in Language Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Vanderplank, Robert

2010-01-01

The developments in the last ten years in the form of DVD, streaming video, video on demand, interactive television and digital language laboratories call for an assessment of the research into language teaching and learning making use of these technologies and the learning paradigms underpinning them. This paper surveys research on language…

Traditional & Socio-Cultural Barriers to EFL Learning: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Jameel

2015-01-01

This research tends to ascertain several traditional and socio-cultural barriers to English language learning in Saudi Arabia and to explore more ways than before for making teaching and learning more effective. The findings of four quantitative and qualitative surveys conducted in this regard reveal a unique traditional and socio-cultural milieu,…

Qualitative Insights from a Canadian Multiinstitutional Research Study: In Search of Meaningful E-learning

OpenAIRE

Lorraine M. Carter; Vince Salyers; Sue Myers; Carol Hipfner; Caroline Hoffart; Christa MacLean; Kathy White; Theresa Matus; Vivian Forssman; Penelope Barrett

2014-01-01

This paper reports the qualitative findings of a mixed methods research study conducted at three Canadian post-secondary institutions. Called the Meaningful E-learning or MEL project, the study was an exploration of the teaching and learning experiences of faculty and students as well as their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of e-learning. Importantly, e-learning was conceptualized as the integration of pedagogy, instructional technology, and the Internet into teaching ...

Design-Based Research for Professional Learning for "Cultural Mathematics"

Science.gov (United States)

Kravia, Geori; Owens, Kay

2014-01-01

Design-based research is being used to develop and refine the principles used in professional learning workshops with teachers from three different Papua New Guinean ecologies: highlands, coastal, and inland in a coastal province. The appropriateness of the design of principles for Papua New Guinean Elementary Schools is tried over several phases…

Living and learning food processing

Science.gov (United States)

This year’s annual event promises to be both exciting and educational for those who wish to learn more about food processing. This column will provide a brief overview of the multitude of scientific sessions that reveal new research related to food processing. In addition to the symposia previewed h...

Psychological Characteristics of Personality in Students with Learning Difficulties

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T A Shilova

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents the research of the psychological characteristics of the personality of a student with learning difficulties from the position of the mismatch of mental development in operational sphere. The article considers the system of methods of research with the personality-oriented approach. The influence of certain psychological characteristics of a personality on the outcome of the study is revealed. The ways of building correctional-developing programmes for psychological preparation of junior schoolchildren for successful learning are shown.

A new model in teaching undergraduate research: A collaborative approach and learning cooperatives.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Neal, Pamela V; McClellan, Lynx Carlton; Jarosinski, Judith M

2016-05-01

Forming new, innovative collaborative approaches and cooperative learning methods between universities and hospitals maximize learning for undergraduate nursing students in a research course and provide professional development for nurses on the unit. The purpose of this Collaborative Approach and Learning Cooperatives (CALC) Model is to foster working relations between faculty and hospital administrators, maximize small group learning of undergraduate nursing students, and promote onsite knowledge of evidence based care for unit nurses. A quality improvement study using the CALC Model was implemented in an undergraduate nursing research course at a southern university. Hospital administrators provided a list of clinical concerns based on national performance outcome measures. Undergraduate junior nursing student teams chose a clinical question, gathered evidence from the literature, synthesized results, demonstrated practice application, and developed practice recommendations. The student teams developed posters, which were evaluated by hospital administrators. The administrators selected several posters to display on hospital units for continuing education opportunity. This CALC Model is a systematic, calculated approach and an economically feasible plan to maximize personnel and financial resources to optimize collaboration and cooperative learning. Universities and hospital administrators, nurses, and students benefit from working together and learning from each other. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding Infants' and Children's Social Learning about Foods: Previous Research and New Prospects

Science.gov (United States)

Shutts, Kristin; Kinzler, Katherine D.; DeJesus, Jasmine M.

2013-01-01

Developmental psychologists have devoted significant attention to investigating how children learn from others' actions, emotions, and testimony. Yet most of this research has examined children's socially guided learning about artifacts. The present article focuses on a domain that has received limited attention from those interested in the…

A Draft Conceptual Framework of Relevant Theories to Inform Future Rigorous Research on Student Service-Learning Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Whitley, Meredith A.

2014-01-01

While the quality and quantity of research on service-learning has increased considerably over the past 20 years, researchers as well as governmental and funding agencies have called for more rigor in service-learning research. One key variable in improving rigor is using relevant existing theories to improve the research. The purpose of this…

“I’m Just Really Comfortable:” Learning at Home, Learning in Libraries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariana Regalado

2015-05-01

Full Text Available In Brief: While commuter students may use their college or university libraries, student centers, or other campus locations for academic work, as commuters they will likely also create and negotiate learning spaces in their homes. Our research with urban commuter undergraduates revealed that finding space for their academic work at home was difficult for many […

27 CFR 19.71 - Experimental or research operations by scientific institutions and colleges of learning.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... operations by scientific institutions and colleges of learning. 19.71 Section 19.71 Alcohol, Tobacco Products... Experimental or research operations by scientific institutions and colleges of learning. (a) General. The appropriate TTB officer may authorize any scientific university, college of learning, or institution of...

The Teaching Model through Problem-Based Learning in a Course on Bibliographic Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruth Cristina Hernández-Ching

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The experience of applying problem-based learning (PBL technique in the Bibliographic Research course from a Bachelor of English study plan of a public university during the first half of 2014 is shared. The investigation aimed to answer the following question: Does the problem-based learning technique in the Bibliographic Research course allows to implement the main tenets of the teaching model: epistemological foundation, learning theory, methodology and didactics, and communication processes? The research approach proposed was qualitative, and triangulation for measuring variables was implemented. The following instruments were applied: observation, experience record books, and focus groups. Furthermore, formative learning was measured by means of an online survey. Results of the instruments were categorized using technology-based tools such as Wordle (observation, NVivo (record books and MindNode (focus groups. A convenience sampling was used to collect data from eight students enrolled in the Bibliographic Research course, ten students of Integrated English II for non-English majors, and the researcher, as professor of the courses. It was determined that the PBL technique permitted to reach the main tenets of the teaching model. It was identified that the teacher was the main learner, and the one who benefited from the process, since a culture of knowledge, throughout the course, was created. It was also concluded that this technique allowed to develop twenty-first century skills. It would be valuable to quantify whether the development of the four basic skills of English, especially the conversation one, improves using the technique along with technologies.

An Overview to Research on Education Technology Based on Constructivist Learning Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Asiksoy, Gulsum; Ozdamli, Fezile

2017-01-01

The aim of this research is to determine the trends of education technology researches on Constructivist Learning Approach, which were published on database of ScienceDirect between 2010 and 2016. It also aims to guide researchers who will do studies in this field. After scanning the database, 81 articles published on ScienceDirect's data base…

AN ACTION RESEARCH IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR CHILDREN WITH USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Carolina Coelho Chimenti

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The present article is based on a field research that aimed to provide educational subsidies for the use of digital technologies in teaching and learning process of English language, in two classes of the fifth grade from the elementary school, at the public school located in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Based on the perspective of childhood pedagogy, which conceives the child as the protagonist and also (reproductive of knowledge, activities were carried with YouTube videos, online games, music, and many other learning objects. Likewise, observations, interviews and questionnaires were made with teachers and students involved in the research. Based on the action research, we analyzed aspects related to the contribution of some digital resources in teaching and learning of English at elementary school and we obtained many elements that allowed us to know the importance of learning a foreign language in the childhood nowadays, mainly English, and how new technologies can make learning more contextualized, meaningful, motivating children for language learning in a context in which they can be (criative.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF JOBSHEET-BASED STUDENT TEAMS ACHIEVEMENT DIVISION LEARNING MODEL TO IMPROVE STUDENTS LEARNING OUTCOMES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kadek Dodi Permana

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study aims to improve the Information and Communications Technology (ICT learning outcomes of the students in SMA N 2 Singaraja through the learning model of Job sheet-based Student Team Achievement Division (STAD. This is a classroom action research. The data analysis reveals that learning outcomes in cycle I gain a mean score of 80. 51 and a classical provisions of 15%. There are three students who pass with a minimum score of 85 in cycle I. From these categories, the students’ learning outcomes in the first cycle have not met the criterion of 85%. The mean score of cycle II is 88. 57 and the classical provisions is 90%. In the second cycle, there are 18 students who gain a minimum score of 85. Based on the success criterion, a research study is successful if the minimum completeness criterion reaches 85 and the minimum classical completeness criterion reaches 85%. From the categories, the students’ learning outcomes have been successfully improved since the percentage of classical completeness in the second cycle has reached its expected results.

The Role of Action Research in the Development of Learning Networks for Entrepreneurs

Science.gov (United States)

Brett, Valerie; Mullally, Martina; O'Gorman, Bill; Fuller-Love, Nerys

2012-01-01

Developing sustainable learning networks for entrepreneurs is the core objective of the Sustainable Learning Networks in Ireland and Wales (SLNIW) project. One research team drawn from the Centre for Enterprise Development and Regional Economy at Waterford Institute of Technology and the School of Management and Business from Aberystwyth…

Using Qualitative Research to Assess Teaching and Learning in Technology-Infused TILE Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Van Horne, Sam; Murniati, Cecilia Titiek; Saichaie, Kem; Jesse, Maggie; Florman, Jean C.; Ingram, Beth F.

2014-01-01

This chapter describes the results of an assessment project whose purpose was to improve the faculty-development program for instructors who teach in technology-infused TILE (Transform, Interact, Learn, Engage) classrooms at the University of Iowa. Qualitative research methods were critical for (1) learning about how students and instructors…

Learning autonomy in writing class: Implementation of project-based learning in english for spesific purposes

Science.gov (United States)

Ayu Sukerti, G. N.; Yuliantini, Ny

2018-01-01

This research was aimed to analyze students’ attitude on learning autonomy through the implementation of project-based learning (PBL). Writing has been considered one of the most difficult competencies to master as it incorporates several integrated language skills. Thus, teaching writing in English for Specific Class posts a huge challenge as students often feel discouraged by the complex series of processes involved in producing a well-structured piece of writing. This research implemented PBL as the learning model to boost students’ learning outcomes and construct self-directed learning. Participants were 25 second semester students enrolled in a three-year undergraduate program in Informatics Management. The implementation of PBL in writing class contributed real advantages since it allowed students to collaboratively arrange outline in order to produce individual drafts and final essays. The study revealed that students were able to be involved in a more deep and autonomous learning as they helped each other during group discussion. The students autonomously engaged in the completion of the project in a more positive attitude. They also acquired more knowledge in the aspect of grammar and learned how to use language in proper context based on the feedbacks they got during revising their writing.

Emerging Online Learning Environments and Student Learning: An Analysis of Faculty Perceptions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gary Brown

2004-01-01

Full Text Available New educational technologies and online learning environments (OLEs are infiltrating today’s college classes and campuses. While research has examined many aspects of this permeation, one research gap exists. How do faculty perceive the learning experience in courses that use OLEs compared to courses that do not? One important factor that may influence faculty perceptions are their reasons for teaching with OLEs. This paper seeks to understand how faculty perceive OLEs as a function of their reasons for teaching with this educational technology. This paper also investigates whether faculty evaluations of OLEs differ based on gender and by years teaching. The results of the analysis reveal several noteworthy patterns. First, it appears that favorable opinions about the learning experiences in online learning environments are not because faculty are motivated to learn about new technologies per se, but because they want to update their vitas and teaching skills. Second, the results suggest that it may be harder to convince older and more experienced faculty to use new technologies compared to younger and less experienced faculty. These results apply to both male and female faculty and provide practical implications for universities and support services on how to recruit and then support faculty who implement educational technologies.

PROJECT BASED LEARNING (PBL TO IMPROVE PSYCHOMOTORIC SKILLS: A CLASSROOM ACTION RESEARCH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Sumarni

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the application of project-based learning (PBL to improve student’ psychomotor skills and concept understanding, as well as knowing what PBL contribution to the improvement of student’ psychomotor skills in chemistry learning. The study was conducted in three cycles. Each cycle consisted of planning, implementation, observation, and reflection steps. One set of data consists of student’ psychomotor skills assesment, student’ conceptual understanding and questionnaire responses were obtained from the action research. Learning process was performed in the eleventh grade students included 37 students (10 males and 27 females and 3 collaborators. The successful research was indicated by 85% of students achieve the mastery learning on concept understanding and well on psychomotor aspects. Data collection was performed using documentation method by questionnaire, observations, and tests. Data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that all aspects of the psychomotor assessed include sets, mechanical response, complex response, adaptation, and origination were in high category. At the end of the lesson, the project assigned to students were evaluated jointly between teachers and students. The project results in the form of a series of distillation apparatus is applied to separate the natural compounds.