Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks

The online participatory exam transforms the traditional exam into a constructivist, cooperative and engaging learning experience. Students learn from designing and answering exam questions, from evaluating their peers’ performance, and from reading questions, answers and evaluations. This paper, aimed at faculty who teach online and at researchers interested in online learning, describes the procedures, advantages, and disadvantages of this new approach to the examination process. Five semesters of participatory exam research are analyzed. A majority of students preferred the participatory exam and believed that it increased their learning

Decolonizing Education: Enunciating the Emancipatory Promise of Non-Western Alternatives to Higher Education

Today’s globalizing world inadvertently creates an imbalance in power relations between the so-called ‘western’ and ‘non-western’ contexts, and discourse about educational excellence often circumvents indigenous paradigms, needs, and ideas about the purpose of education. Further still, the hegemony of western-inspired, industrial-styled education often constrains conversation about the challenges of reforming higher education in ways that suggest a thought-linearity and blindness about the promise of alternatives. In light of the intractable difficulties associated with higher education in the so-called developing world, this paper draws from a post-structuralist, social constructivist, ethos and advocates for a decolonization of the educational milieu. By focusing on examples of unorthodox approaches to education drawn from principally non-western contexts, we support a move towards radical differentiation and pluralisation as a solution to today’s higher education problems. We claim that higher education might be better served if it exists in tension with indigenous alternatives – instead of bearing the sole burden of service. Ultimately, we imagine what alternatives to ‘school’ might look like, and reflexively present the emerging contours of a participatory action research and community-driven, culture-sensitive process that breaks through the linearity and modernistic assumptions of mainstream schooling – a process these authors are embarking on tentatively called ‘Koru’

Pedagogy, curriculum, teaching practices and teacher education in developing countries

This rigorous literature review focused on pedagogy, curriculum, teaching practices and teacher education in developing countries. It aimed to: 1. review existing evidence on the review topic to inform programme design and policy making undertaken by the DFID, other agencies and researchers 2. identify critical evidence gaps to guide the development of future research programme

TEACHERS’ PROBLEMS OF TEACHING OF OXIDATION-REDUCTION REACTIONS IN HIGH SCHOOLS

The study explored how teachers taught redox reactions to senior high school students. Within a case-study research design, six chemistry teachers with a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 12 years teaching experiences from three schools were interviewed. The results revealed four themes; inhibition of instruction, weak instructional strategy, inability to teach concepts, and teachers’ professional development. It was found that teachers employed weak instructional strategies such as expository and out of class group assignments in teaching redox reactions. The study recommends that chemistry educators and researchers should design and develop subject-specific pedagogical content knowledge for teaching redox reactions.  Article visualizations

Acceptance of Educational Technology: Field Studies of Asynchronous Participatory Examinations

This research examines asynchronous participatory examinations, a new technology-mediated assessment strategy especially suitable for online courses. The participatory exam innovation utilizes information technology to support engaging students in the entire examination lifecycle, including creating and solving problems, and grading solutions. These learning processes enable students to not only gain new knowledge but also to strengthen their assessment skills. A five-semester field study in the U.S., supplemented by a small scale replication in Austria, investigated how participatory exams can facilitate higher-order learning and what explains students’ acceptance of the innovation. An extended version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), adapted to the educational context, predicts acceptance based on three key constructs: “perceived enjoyment,” “perceived learning,” and “recommendation for use.” The study results support the premises that participants perceive learning from all stages of the cooperative exam process, and that the innovation acceptance is a function of both intrinsic motivations (e.g., enjoyment of the experience) and extrinsic motivations (e.g., perception that one has learned from the process)

TEACHING AND LEARNING OF HISTORY IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS: HISTORY TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES IN KIGOMA REGION, TANZANIA

This study examined History teachers’ perceptions and experiences on teaching and learning history in secondary schools in Kigoma region in Tanzania. The study focused on teachers’ perceptions of significance of teaching and learning History, teaching methods, perception of how students learn history, perception of learnability of History, and perceived challenges. About fifteen history teachers from seven secondary schools were involved. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using content analysis method. The findings indicated that the teachers highly perceived History as an important subject in secondary school education. They acknowledged the use of both teacher-centred and learner-centred teaching methods in teaching History, with more use of teacher-centred methods. Teachers highlighted various challenges to history teaching and learning in their schools. These include shortage of teaching and learning materials, use of English as the medium of instruction, lack of professional development opportunities and examination oriented teaching. It is recommended that educational authorities give priority to in-service teacher education and professional development and ensure availability of teaching and learning materials in schools.  Article visualizations

A Rule Set for the Future

This volume, Digital Young, Innovation, and the Unexpected, identifies core issues concerning how young people's use of digital media may lead to various innovations and unexpected outcomes. The essays collected here examine how youth can function as drivers for technological change while simultaneously recognizing that technologies are embedded in larger social systems, including the family, schools, commercial culture, and peer groups. A broad range of topics are taken up, including issues of access and equity; of media panics and cultural anxieties; of citizenship, consumerism, and labor; of policy, privacy, and IP; of new modes of media literacy and learning; and of shifting notions of the public/private divide. The introduction also details six maxims to guide future research and inquiry in the field of digital media and learning. These maxims are "Remember History," "Consider Context," "Make the Future (Hands-on)," "Broaden Participation," "Foster Literacies," and "Learn to Toggle." They form a kind of flexible rule set for investigations into the innovative uses and unexpected outcomes now emerging or soon anticipated from young people's engagements with digital media

Using new assessment tools during and post-COVID-19

This work tackles the need to evaluate and identify fresh assessment techniques utilized in LIS education during and after the COVID-19 epidemic. It investigates the impact of digital media, feedback, formative assessments, and concerns such as cheating and authenticity, providing critical insights for future assessment practises in the post-pandemic period. Accordingly, there is a pressing need to employ new assessment tools post-pandemic to adapt to online and hybrid learning challenges. This qualitative study investigates complex social phenomena in higher education assessments by exploring behaviours, preferences, beliefs, customs, attitudes, viewpoints, and experiences. Twelve LIS instructors, 6 teaching and learning administrators, and 20 LIS students from South Africa and Nigeria were chosen using convenience sampling. Key informant interviews were conducted, with constructivist learning orientation-driven questions examining new assessment technologies, the role of digital media in student assessment, authenticity concerns in e-assessment, feedback and formative assessments. The research concludes that incorporating Computer-Based Learning (CLT) in e-assessments for LIS education enhances students’ knowledge construction and accessibility. Digital examinations offer benefits like instant feedback and personalized learning experiences, leading to improved problem-solving skills and decision-making. Future research should focus on larger, diverse samples and longitudinal approaches to evaluate intervention effectiveness and sustainability

Investigating the academic motivations and social experiences of students from the People\u27s Republic of China pursuing graduate degrees in the United States of America : a participatory study

N