WV Writes and Westest 2 online writing: the impact of writing prompts on student writing proficiency

This study’s purpose was to determine the effects of students practicing writing using practice writing prompts prior to completing the summative state writing assessment. It adds data to the body of knowledge related to the use of practicing writing using practice prompts prior to students taking a high stakes state-level writing assessment. The type of research design used for this study was a quantitative, post hoc, 2 x 2 ANOVA. The data were obtained from the WESTEST 2 Online Writing composite scores and the five analytic trait scores that comprise the WESTEST 2 Online Writing scores. The study had a population of 6,459 11th grade students enrolled in West Virginia public schools. These students had all taken the WESTEST 2 Online Writing as 11th graders in the spring of 2013, and in preparation for the year-end, state level writing assessment completed either Writing Roadmap 2.0 prompts or WESTEST 2 practice prompts. Using random sampling, 190 students who wrote essays using WESTEST 2 practice prompts and 190 students who wrote essays using Writing Roadmap prompts were selected from the student population. This gave a total of 380 students in the sample size. Findings revealed that no significant effects were found when using one type of writing prompt over another on composite writing scores or on the five analytic writing scores. However, significance was demonstrated (p. 000) with the scores of females being greater than male students. Results gave stakeholders evidence that students who had a generic writing prompt versus a mirror image of the high stakes writing assessment scored no better or worse than the other. The new assessment vendors, states, counties, schools, and teachers will all benefit from these study findings as new assessment systems are adopted based on Common Core writing standards across the nation. The results are critical in supporting the discrepancy that stands between females and males and their writing proficiencies. This study can support efforts that focus on addressing the inequalities and ensuring that the discrepancy is removed and male students become better writers

Challenge Based Learning as authentic learning environment for STEM identity construction

Engineering education more and more adopts Challenge Based Learning. In CBL, students learn in groups by taking on open and challenging projects that draw on a broader STEM knowledge base. The challenges reflect and mimic STEM professional core practices (e.g. higher education) or authentic but pedagogically simplified versions (e.g. secondary education). Challenges also connect to societally relevant themes and issues. CBL thus seems well suited to helping students build a positive STEM identity (seeing oneself and being recognized by others as a STEM person c.q., STEM professional). However, CBL is a very new educational concept with little empirical research yet available. Therefore, this paper explores the question of CBL's contribution to STEM identity development at a conceptual level. What, conceptually, can CBL be expected to contribute to STEM identity development?We first explore the concept of CBL as it is currently defined to find its strengths and weaknesses and improve it. We then look for empirical evidence on the effects of conceptually akin education (such as Design-Based Learning and Project-Based Learning) on STEM identities. When learning effects can be traced using educational theories to conceptual features they share with CBL, these can be building blocks for our modelling of CBL's contribution to the development of STEM identities.Current definitions of CBL were found to be purely enumerative and did not clearly distinguish CBL from related concepts such as Problem Based Learning (PBL) or Design Based Learning (DBL). A new definition for CBL is proposed that is based on an underlying pedagogical vision.It is concluded that CBL and related forms of education can be expected to facilitate the construction of STEM identities. Primarily through a combination of a motivation boost, a higher perception of competence and the CBL and STEM identity construction 2 enjoyable and experiential orientation to STEM that it provides students. However, CBL seems limited with respect to the development of STEM identities in vocational or higher education.Engineering education more and more adopts Challenge Based Learning (CBL). In CBL, students learn in groups by taking on open and challenging projects that draw on a broader STEM knowledge base. The challenges reflect and mimic STEM professional core practices (e.g., higher education) or authentic but pedagogically simplified versions (e.g., secondary education). Challenges also connect to societally relevant themes and issues. CBL thus seems well suited to helping students build a positive STEM identity (seeing oneself and being recognized by others as a STEM person c.q., STEM professional). However, CBL is a very new educational concept with little empirical research yet available. Therefore, this study explores the question of CBL's contribution to STEM identity development at a conceptual level. What, conceptually, can CBL be expected to contribute to STEM identity development? We first explore the concept of CBL as it is currently defined to find its strengths and weaknesses and improve it. We then look for empirical evidence on the effects of conceptually akin education (such as design-based learning and project-based learning) on STEM identities. When learning effects can be traced using educational theories to conceptual features they share with CBL, these can be building blocks for our modeling of CBL's contribution to the development of STEM identities. Current definitions of CBL were found to be purely enumerative and did not clearly distinguish CBL from related concepts such as problem-based learning (PBL) or Design-Based Learning (DBL). A new definition for CBL is proposed that is based on an underlying pedagogical vision. It is concluded that CBL and related forms of education can be expected to facilitate the construction of STEM identities, primarily through a combination of a motivation boost, a higher perception of competence and the enjoyable and experiential orientation to STEM that it provides students. However, CBL seems limited with respect to the development of STEM identities in vocational or higher education.</p

A Study of West Virginia Teachers: Using 21st Century Tools to Teach in a 21st Century Context

Technology integration is reinforced not only by the National Educational Technology Standards but also the West Virginia Technology Standards, making teachers more accountable to use technology in their daily teaching practice. Because West Virginia has established a partnership with the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, West Virginia teachers are being encouraged to change instruction to meet the needs of 21st century learners. This includes being more student-centered by integrating instructional technologies to more actively engage students. By determining the frequency of integration of 21st century technology tools to create a 21st century context for learning and the factors that influence them, West Virginia has valuable information for promoting systemic change. This study found that West Virginia teachers frequently use few 21st century technology tools, seldom use 21st century technology tools to create a 21st century context for learning, and identified supports and barriers that enable or prohibit their use of technology. In addition, the teachers provided examples of technology activities in which they frequently engage their students. The results provide the foundation on which to build professional development that will lead transformational change in technology integration in West Virginia schools

The Role of Information and Communication Technology in Secondary Schools

The purpose of this study was to identify the level of teachers’ knowledge and ICT integration according to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Teachers among three urban, secondary schools in Central Texas. This study also investigated why, how and whether teachers in different secondary schools may integrate new literacies (or ICT) differently and whether ICT related professional development activities and procedures might differentially contribute to the integration of ICT into classroom instruction across the three schools. The quantitative findings from the survey instrument suggested that the urban secondary teachers described themselves as having an adequate amount of knowledge of the ISTE Standards for Teachers in Category 1, 2, and 3. The mean scores for the standards in Category 1, 2, and 3 N=12 had a mean of M=3.46. Data collected during teacher observations were compared with the teacher selfreport survey responses as a means to determine the degree of relationship between knowledge, professional development opportunity, and degree of implementation of ICT related instruction. The data indicated that in comparison to the information on the teacher survey, students did not participate in the literacies of the Internet as much as the survey indicated. The results from this study showed that some schools have fallen behind the expectation of the twenty-first century teaching and learnin

THE 2002 NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT (NCLB), THE AMENDED 2004 INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATIONAL ACT (IDEA), AND PROMOTING THE AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC IDEALS OF EQUITY AND ACCESS

Abstract There is a long history relative to the purpose of American public education. Since at least the Founders, in particular Thomas Jefferson, the purpose of public education has been to prepare children to assume the primary political office, that of citizen. The reasoning was that for a democracy to endure citizens would have to make political judgments relative to both preserving the democracy and furthering democratic ideals including equity and access to the ?good life.? This educational philosophy took root more firmly during the 19th century with the advancement of the Common School. The twentieth century saw the dramatic expansion of American public education to include women during the first half and minorities, especially African American children, during the later half. By the third quarter of the 20th century attention was given to the education of mentally and physically handicapped children. This study is a Critical Enquiry to determine if the technologies (methods) of implementation and assessment of the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) relative to the amended 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act (IDEA) are consistent with promoting the American democratic ideals of equity and access. The method of enquiry was through a deconstructive reading (analysis) of policy discourse of two Federal laws intended to improve the academic achievement of students in public schools: 2002 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the 2004 (as amended) Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act (IDEA). The framework for the enquiry consisted of the historical analytics of Michel Foucault and the language games of Jean-Frangois Lyotard. The Critical Enquiry revealed that the although both Acts have noble intents the methods of implementation and assessment seriously contradict the democratic ideals of both equity and access. Given this fundamental contradiction, the study suggests that all educational policies first be scrutinized through a Critical Enquiry before being fully promulgated and implemented

Teaching for quality learning: a leadership challenge

Many educational policies, strategies and action plans are developed based on the available theories and best practices. As learning is central to educational success, this lecture reexamines the field of education, particularly learning and teaching, and how research findings have informed policy development and practices in effecting teaching for quality learning – meaningful change in the knowledge, skills, attitude and behaviour of the learner. First, it explores the dynamic field of education, learning and teaching, zooming into the changing focus of teaching towards student-centred, self-determined, deep and meaningful learning in the wake of 21st century education. Second, teacher effectiveness will be scrutinised to understand how the notion, amid differences in its conception, could bring about impactful teaching on learning. Third, using four major studies undertaken over a span of three decades, teacher and lecturer beliefs and their classroom practices will be analysed to investigate their struggle in implementing the recommended student-centred pedagogies, culminating in the barometer of policy success in educational reforms, and arguing the case of improving teaching for quality learning. The first study highlights how ‘effective’ teachers grapple to understand the concept of student-centredness and teacher effectiveness, implying that continuous empirical investigations are necessary to embed their beliefs and practices that are characteristics of effective teaching for quality learning and, hence, to illuminate the progress of curriculum development and implementation in the uniquely Malaysian context. The second study, the recipient of the Washington Symphony’s International High Notes in Education Award for the year 2000 and has been emulated in the Korean Smart Education initiative, indicates the level of teachers’ and students’ knowledge about smart teaching and learning, confirming the widely held belief that issues of information dilution are widespread in the top-down innovation process, thereby suggesting that a more engaging teacher training strategy should be employed in implementing successful innovation. The third study emphasises the necessity for high order thinking skills as well as a more effective model of teacher recruiting, training, and career development that have become the thrusts of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Preschool to Post-Secondary Education). The final study encapsulates the findings of 15 student-centredness inquiries in higher education institutions that express the demand for a more effective training programme on pedagogy and the need to develop leadership in the pursuit of teaching for quality learning. Fourth, based on the research findings, teacher and academic training and development will be reexamined to facilitate teachers and lecturers. Finally, this lecture explores educational leadership, a contentious but promising academic field of research that has tremendous potential to facilitate the transformation agenda of teaching and learning being put forward in volumes of policies, strategies and action plans. Indeed, visionary, persistent, engaging, continuous and well-informed efforts to bring substantial and sustainable changes in teaching for quality learning, especially through teacher and lecture development and leadership, are pertinent for educational reform

An investigation into the attitudes of teachers in Port Elizabeth to the inplementation of computer assisted learning

In general, insufficient research has been done to validate the usefulness and relevance of computers in educational settings (Hitchcock, 2000; Robinson et al., 2003; Baillie et al., 2000; Housego et al., 2000; Valdez et al., 2004). Schools therefore tend to adopt educational technologies before determining whether and how the technology will be used to its full capacity, or what the human and educational impact would be on learners and teachers (Hobson et al., 1998; McCabe et al., 2003; Hugo, 2002). In South Africa the eEducation policy, scripted by the Department of Education (DOE), has been created as an implementation and integration plan for educational technologies in South African schools, where all South African learners at schools are to be functionally computer literate by the year 2013 (DOE, 2003c). However, a limited amount of research has been performed investigating the educational relevance or optimal method for Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) implementation in South African schools. The purpose of the undertaken research study is to create an understanding of teachers’ attitudes toward CAL implementation and integration, as well as to provide insight into the optimal CAL implementation and integration methods in South African schools. The research problem under study therefore is: What are teachers’ attitudes toward the implementation and integration of CAL systems in South African schools? The research study is performed within the quantitative research paradigm and can be described as both exploratory and descriptive in orientation. In the context of this research the population under study is Grade 10 Mathematics teachers that teach in the city of Port Elizabeth. Out of a total of 153 teachers who form part of the study population, 78 successfully completed survey instruments, returning a high yield of 51% of the total study population. The analysis of the total teacher sample group provides the most statistically robust analysis breakdown of the study, and therefore can be reported with a high level of confidence. However, as the study is exploratory in nature, the analysis of various subject breakdowns have been included and iii reported in the study to provide anecdotal insight across diverse variable groups. Subject breakdowns include gender, demographic groups, and age groups, levels of qualifications and level of computer use experience. The findings indicate that teachers in general feel very positive about the use of computers in schools, specifically for teaching purposes, and believe the use of computers in education is inevitable but provides value in the educational context. Though teachers demonstrate high levels of access to computers and fairly capable computer abilities, they demonstrate low levels of awareness of available computer facilities, as well as low levels of computer use. The findings therefore indicate a need for greater integration of CAL systems into the curricula and greater training opportunities. However, teachers show that they have a preference for traditional teaching methods to CAL instructional methods, demonstrating a specific preference for traditional chalk and whiteboard media. The findings suggest that teachers do not value computers for their instructional purposes, but rather for their practical educational related activities. The findings also suggest that the use of computers to teach is not a priority of education related computer use. Teachers indicate that a variety of both traditional and modern media is best suited to various educational activities. With regard to CAL instruction, teachers demonstrate a preference for a teaching scenario where teachers use computers to prepare and teach lessons, but learners only perform exercises on computers under teacher supervision. Teachers demonstrate greater aversion to teaching situations where learners learn independently off computers. Teachers therefore indicate that Drill and Practice and Testing software are the most suitable for general CAL implementation and use, in support of previous studies in South Africa. Finally, from a developmental perspective in the context of South Africa, teachers overwhelmingly indicate that the widespread implementation of CAL systems should not occur before all schools have their basic needs of water, sanitation, electricity and human resources fulfilled

Developing the teach21 online authoring tool supporting primary school teachers in designing 21st century design based education

Students need to learn '21st century skills'. However, teaching materials for this are scarce. Moreover 21st century teaching is adaptive and teachers often need to design teaching materials themselves. Design Based Learning (DBL) is a promising approach for teaching 21st century skills. This paper describes the development of a tool to support primary school teachers in creating 21st century skills teaching materials, DBL materials in particular. After defining initial requirements, the study moves on as 'design research' comprising iterative design rounds. The resulting tool largely fulfils the stakeholders' and teachers' expectations, supports teachers in creating 21st century education and activates teacher reflection, even though it does not yet produce classroom ready material. To be effective in promoting DBL, it is necessary to further elaborate the concept of DBL and to supplement it with an explicit pedagogical strategy and concrete assessment procedures