3,963 research outputs found
Undergraduate Students\u27 Attitudes About the Collection, Use, and Privacy of Search Data in Academic Libraries
The purpose of this study was to understand undergraduate students’ attitudes about search data privacy in academic libraries and their preferences for how librarians should handle information about what students search for, borrow, and download. This is an important area of study due to the increasingly data-driven nature of evaluation, accountability, and improvement in higher education, along with libraries’ professional commitment to privacy, which has historically limited the amount of data collected about student use. Using a qualitative approach through the lens of interpretive description, I used the constant comparative method of data collection and analysis to conduct semi-structured interviews with 27 undergraduate students at a large, urban public research institution. Through inductive coding, I organized the data into interpretive themes and subthemes to describe students’ attitudes, and developed a conceptual/thematic description that illustrates how they are formed.
Students revealed that a variety of life experiences and influences shaped their views on search data privacy in academic libraries. They viewed academic library search data as less personally revealing than internet search data. As a result, students were generally comfortable with libraries collecting search data so long as it is used for their benefit. They were comfortable with data being used to improve library collections and services, but were more ambivalent about use of search data for personalized search results and for learning analytics-based assessment. Most students expressed a desire for de-identification and user control of data. Some students expressed concern about search data being used in ways that reflect bias or favoritism. Participants had moderate concern about their library search data privacy being used by government agencies to protect public safety. Although some disagreed with the practice in concept, most did not feel that the search data would be useful, nor would it reveal much about their personal interests or selves. Students who were not comfortable with the idea of search data collection in academic libraries often held their convictions more strongly than peers who found the practice acceptable.
The results of this study suggest that academic libraries should further explore student perspectives about search data collection in academic libraries to consider how and if they might adjust their data collection practices to be respectful of student preferences for privacy, while still meeting evaluation and improvement objectives. This study achieved the intended purpose of contributing a foundational body of knowledge about student attitudes regarding search data privacy in academic libraries. It positions librarian-researchers to develop studies that further this line of inquiry in an area that has significant implications for both user privacy and libraries’ practices for assessment and evaluation.
Limitations of this study include its limited generalizability as a result of the qualitative research design, and the fact that it relied primarily on a convenience sampling method
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Technology-enhanced Personalised Learning: Untangling the Evidence
Technology-enhanced personalised learning is not yet common in Germany, which is why we have tasked scientists with summarising the current status of international research on the matter. This study demonstrates the great potential of technology in implementing effective personalised learning. Nevertheless, it has not been assessed yet whether the practical implementation actually works: Even in countries such as the U.S., which lead the way in using techology in classroom settings, hardly any evaluation studies have been done to prove the effectiveness of technology-enhanced personalised learning. In the light of the above, the authors make recommendations for actions to be taken in Germany to make best use of the potential of technology in providing individual support and guidance to students
DeWitt Wallace Library Annual Report 2014-2015
Summary of library and media services activities for 2014-201
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Technology-Based Personalization: Instructional Reform in Five Public Schools
This dissertation addresses the question: How does an attempt to redesign instructional delivery using technology-based personalization affect the technical core of teaching, learning, and student outcomes? In recent years, many prominent educators, business leaders, and philanthropists have suggested that schools be redesigned to personalize students’ learning experiences using technology. However, the justification for these reforms remains largely theoretical. Empirical research on technology-based personalization is sparse, and what little research does exist focuses predominantly on macro effects rather than the specific school-level, class-level, student-level, and lesson-level mechanisms that contribute to overall student achievement. The absence of research that pushes inside the “black box” of implementation is particularly problematic given a century of failed attempts to reform the technical core of instructional delivery, with symbolic reforms typically withering in the face of institutional resistance.
This study attempts to address that gap by examining the implementation of an innovative model for using technology-based personalization to deliver middle school math instruction. I draw upon theoretical tools from institutional theory, instructional improvement, and the history of educational reform to deepen our understanding of how technology-based personalization affects the role of students and teachers, the logistics of content delivery, and students’ learning outcomes. Unlike previous studies in K-12 settings, which typically use summative assessments and virtual control groups to estimate aggregate effects on student learning, this study examines the relationships among a diverse set of lesson-level variables, including instructional modality, instructional content, group size and composition, teacher characteristics, student characteristics, and learning outcomes. In doing so, this study contributes to our understanding of the on-the-ground processes and mechanisms by which technology- based personalization affects (or does not affect) student learning.
Although the instructional model documented in this case study will remain anonymous, it is well known and respected among educators and philanthropists, and regarded as one of the most prominent and archetypical examples of technology-based personalization currently active in American schools. Using multiple methods, including novel applications of hierarchical linear modeling, cluster analysis, and heatmap data visualization, I explore: (a) the degree to which ground-level implementation of technology-based personalization represents an authentic departure from the traditional technology of schooling, and (b) the relationships among various elements of the model and student learning outcomes. I draw on longitudinal data from a full year of implementation in five schools, including the daily lesson assignments and assessment scores of 1,238 unique students supervised by 48 teachers.
This study supports four main findings: (a) the program succeeds in altering the technical core of instruction in several fundamental ways; (b) policy and logistical constraints limit the program’s ability to reform the technical core of instruction to the degree that it aspires; (c) students who enter the program as already higher-performing are more successful on daily exit slips than students who enter the program with lower performance; and (d) the quantitative methods used in this paper represent useful and replicable tools for exploring the data produced by technology-based and personalized models
Undergraduate Bulletin 2017-2019
https://collected.jcu.edu/undergrad_bull/1000/thumbnail.jp
Adapting Project-Based Learning For English-Language Learners In Middle-School Social Studies
This research project addresses the question, how can Project-Based Learning (PBL) be adapted to enhance middle school social studies lessons and learning outcomes for English Language Learners and other struggling students? It reviews theory and practice for middle-school social studies teachers to invite ELLs and others reading below grade level into authentic PBL. Supports for PBL should include effective language acquisition scaffolds like Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD) and content engagement through non-text, multimedia strategies like Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) to invite students into deeper critical thinking and rigorous collaborative projects. Research connections are made to constructivist theories of Dewey and Kilpatrick, social learning theories of Vygotsky, language acquisition theories of Krashen, Project-Based Learning design of Boss, Larmer, and Misco, culturally-relevant teaching of Ladson-Billings and Milner, and VTS implementation of Housen and Yenawine. Findings were that educators can use scaffolding for ELLs in PBL work along with structured roles and routines, small group work, and modeling as needed to facilitate research, writing, and critical discussion. PBL with ELL scaffolds increases literacy and language acquisition because it engages students to solve problems using social learning using both academic and common English. Other outcomes include gains in critical thinking skills, cultural literacy, writing skills, and student self-concept
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