Dispositions of Junior Elementary Teacher Candidates

Schools of teacher education strive to prepare teacher candidates with the most effective dispositions. Qualitative case study was used to gather data from university coursework, teacher candidate fieldwork, fieldwork observations, coursework observations and teacher candidate interviews. The varied data collection and yearlong data collection period allowed the researcher to gain a holistic and longitudinal view of teacher candidate dispositions. The researcher is a teacher educator who serves as an advisor, fieldwork supervisor, and instructor in the initial semester of professional coursework for participants. Particular attention was given to rigor and quality, participant protection, and credibility through specific procedures and processes. Results describe the dispositions of elementary teacher candidates over their first year of professional coursework in the areas of dispositions related to self, dispositions related to students and dispositions related to teaching. When compared to the dispositions of effective teachers, this group of 13 teacher candidates exhibited many of the same dispositions overall with only a few dispositions revealing contradictory results. In longitudinal analysis, dispositions related to self remained consistent over time while dispositions related to students and teaching were more inconsistent. Individual teacher candidate results were much more varied as most candidates exhibited inconsistencies and contradictions in each area. These findings can help guide teacher education programs in assessing and supporting individual teacher candidates with dispositional contradictions, designing and delivering experience for teacher candidates which incorporate feedback to support growth and self-efficacy, assessing and addressing any unwanted trends in individual or group dispositions, and designing teacher candidate screening processes

Strengthening High School Teaching and Learning in New Hampshire's Competency-Based System

For a century, most students have advanced from grade to grade based on the number of days they spend in class, but in New Hampshire, schools have moved away from "seat time" and toward "competency-based learning," which advances students when they have mastered course content. This report profiles how two high schools in New Hampshire made this shift and examines the changes that were necessary to make competency-based advancement an important part of New Hampshire's strategy for implementing the Common Core State Standards and ensuring that students graduate ready for college and a career

The role of cultural diversity in e-based language learning.\ud A comparative study of Bulgarian and Lithuanian learners of German as a foreign language using an online learning platform

The study reported on in this paper focusses on the impact of cultural\ud factors in media-based language acquisition. The study sets out to investigate the\ud role of learners‟ cultural dispositions during the use of media-based programs in\ud language learning. More specifically, the study aimed at finding out to what extent\ud the cultural disposition of learners outweighs the learners‟ individual preferences\ud in a media-based (online) language course. The analysis of input data produced\ud strong differences between the two learning cultures at the outset of the study.\ud Lithuanian learners were found to be more passive, more rule oriented, more\ud reliant on their mother tongue as a means of instruction and less tolerant vis-à-vis\ud ambiguity when they entered the experiment. They also turned out to reject open\ud (less teacher-guided) forms of communicative learning requiring active\ud participation and, instead, preferred language teaching to be (passively)\ud entertaining. Bulgarian learners by contrast were more tolerant vis-à-vis ambiguity\ud and more goal-oriented with respect to learning the foreign language for academic\ud success abroad. They also turned out to be more focussed on and appreciative of\ud the technical aspects of the program and thus were eager to explore new\ud approaches to media-based learning. However, over the course of the study both\ud groups of participants developed an unexpected ability to adapt to the electronic\ud media even though the program seemed to counteract their cultural-specific\ud preferences. The study shows that both groups of learners improved significantly\ud over the course of the experiment with respect to language skills and that\ud acceptance of the program was high in both groups despite the initial resistance\ud and despite the fact that the program requires a well developed level of\ud independence. Despite the fact that a tendency to act according to cultural\ud dispositions can be shown those influences were not found to be statistically\ud significant

Stability and sensitivity of Learning Analytics based prediction models

Learning analytics seek to enhance the learning processes through systematic measurements of learning related data and to provide informative feedback to learners and educators. Track data from Learning Management Systems (LMS) constitute a main data source for learning analytics. This empirical contribution provides an application of Buckingham Shum and Deakin Crick’s theoretical framework of dispositional learning analytics: an infrastructure that combines learning dispositions data with data extracted from computer-assisted, formative assessments and LMSs. In two cohorts of a large introductory quantitative methods module, 2049 students were enrolled in a module based on principles of blended learning, combining face-to-face Problem-Based Learning sessions with e-tutorials. We investigated the predictive power of learning dispositions, outcomes of continuous formative assessments and other system generated data in modelling student performance and their potential to generate informative feedback. Using a dynamic, longitudinal perspective, computer-assisted formative assessments seem to be the best predictor for detecting underperforming students and academic performance, while basic LMS data did not substantially predict learning. If timely feedback is crucial, both use-intensity related track data from e-tutorial systems, and learning dispositions, are valuable sources for feedback generation

Middle school students' perceptions of engineering

This paper focuses on implementing engineering education in middle school classrooms (grade levels 7-9). One of the aims of the study was to foster students’ and teachers’ knowledge and understanding of engineering in society. Given the increasing importance of engineering in shaping our daily lives, it is imperative that we foster in students an interest and drive to participate in engineering education, increase their awareness of engineering as a career path, and inform them of the links between engineering and the enabling subjects, mathematics, science, and technology. Data for the study are drawn from five classes across three schools. Grade 7 students’ responded to initial whole class discussions on what is an engineer, what is engineering, what characteristics engineers require, engineers (family/friends) that they know, and subjects that may facilitate an engineering career. Students generally viewed engineers as creative, future-oriented, and artistic problem finders and solvers; planners and designers; “seekers” and inventors; and builders of constructions. Students also viewed engineers as adventurous, decisive, community-minded, reliable, and “smart.” In addition to a range of mathematics and science topics, students identified business studies, ICT, graphics, art, and history as facilitating careers in engineering. Although students displayed a broadened awareness of engineering than the existing research suggests, there was limited knowledge of various engineering fields and a strong perception of engineering as large construction

A Competency-based Approach toward Curricular Guidelines for Information Technology Education

The Association for Computing Machinery and the IEEE Computer Society have launched a new report titled, Curriculum Guidelines for Baccalaureate Degree Programs in Information Technology (IT2017). This paper discusses significant aspects of the IT2017 report and focuses on competency-driven learning rather than delivery of knowledge in information technology (IT) programs. It also highlights an IT curricular framework that meets the growing demands of a changing technological world in the next decade. Specifically, the paper outlines ways by which baccalaureate IT programs might implement the IT curricular framework and prepare students with knowledge, skills, and dispositions to equip graduates with competencies that matter in the workplace. The paper suggests that a focus on competencies allows academic departments to forge collaborations with employers and engage students in professional practice experiences. It also shows how professionals and educators might use the report in reviewing, updating, and creating baccalaureate IT degree programs worldwide

An international overview of assessment issues in technology education : disentangling the influences, confusion and complexities

Set in the context of wider research, this review of international literature describes some of the issues that contribute towards the prevailing confusion regarding the 'what', 'when' and 'why' of assessment. It explores the complexities embedded within assessment of, for and as learning and the difficulties arising in Technology Education. It discusses what comprises the goals and purposes, and precise nature of 'content' and how this impacts on what is considered as important to measure in terms of attainment, performance and achievement in Technology Education. The paper examines the influence of external assessment, the influence of the teacher and the influence of the various approaches and instruments of assessment on pedagogy, achievement and learner performance and motivation. The dimensions and discriminators of performance and progression in Technology Education are complex. The key issues need to be disentangled to provide some clarity and inform practice. Greater creativity is needed to help devise multi-dimension, multi-expression assessment strategies which celebrate the complexity and influence pedagogy appropriate for learning in the 21st century

Student profiling in a dispositional learning analytics application using formative assessment

How learning disposition data can help us translating learning feedback from a learning analytics application into actionable learning interventions, is the main focus of this empirical study. It extends previous work where the focus was on deriving timely prediction models in a data rich context, encompassing trace data from learning management systems, formative assessment data, e-tutorial trace data as well as learning dispositions. In this same educational context, the current study investigates how the application of cluster analysis based on e-tutorial trace data allows student profiling into different at-risk groups, and how these at-risk groups can be characterized with the help of learning disposition data. It is our conjecture that establishing a chain of antecedent-consequence relationships starting from learning disposition, through student activity in e-tutorials and formative assessment performance, to course performance, adds a crucial dimension to current learning analytics studies: that of profiling students with descriptors that easily lend themselves to the design of educational interventions

Rethinking Assessment: Information Literacy Instruction and the ACRL Framework

Most information literacy instruction (ILI) done in academic libraries today is based on the ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, but with the replacement of these standards by the new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, there is a need to re-evaluate current teaching strategies and instructional techniques so that they can better serve the Framework’s goals. This paper explores current trends in ILI instruction and in the area of assessment in particular, since ILI assessment provides an opportunity not only to evaluate teaching effectiveness but also to reinforce the learning goals of the new Framework itself. It proposes several ways that assessment strategies can be aligned with the goals of the Framework by using guided group discussion, online discussion platforms, and social media platforms, and proposes further avenues for research in the evaluation of such strategies