A Video of Myself Helps Me Learn : A Scoping Review of the Evidence of Video-Making for Situated Learning

Nursing, dance and studio-based arts, engineering, and athletic therapy are viewed as practice-oriented professions in which the teaching and situated learning of practical skills are central. In order to succeed, students must perform a series of performance-based assessments, which seemingly require an “able” body to enact complex tasks in situated and/or simulation-based contexts (for example, “safe nursing practice”). Our interdisciplinary research seeks to intervene within the culture of professional learning by investigating what we know about the use of smartphone video recording for situated, practice-based learning, and for supporting interactive video-based assessment as a means of accommodation and extending access for students, including students with performance anxiety, mature students, ESL learners, students with disabilities, and students in remote communities. In this paper we employ a scoping review methodology to present our findings related to students’ and instructors’ perspectives on the use of smartphone video to demonstrate and document practical knowledge and practice-oriented competencies across fields in the arts and sciences. We also examine broader research, as well as the ethical and design implications for the development of our technology-based toolbox project – an online resource created to advance pedagogies deploying smartphones as tools for practical skills acquisition - and for accommodation - within multidisciplinary practical learning environments

Learning and teaching with video games: Toward theoretical progress and educational practice

Learning with video games has been related to several beneficial educational effects, indicating that teaching with video games could also be a promising teaching approach to foster student learning. However, more theoretical guidance and more insights from educational practice are needed to better evaluate potentials of learning and teaching with video games. Therefore, this dissertation presents a reference framework that aims to support theoretical progress in the field of e-learning and the general workflow of e-learning projects (Article 1). Then, with a focus on educational practice and teaching with video games, three field studies were conducted that illustrate how video games could be integrated into two different educational contexts. The results of these studies show that teaching with video games can foster students’ dance skills (Article 2) and reflection processes (Article 3). Considering that teachers decide whether they teach with video games, pre-service teachers were surveyed to examine their intention to teach with digital games in their future school teaching (Article 4). The results indicate that teachers’ intention to teach with video games is related to a small set of key personal characteristics that could be specifically considered in teacher education. Given pandemic restrictions, it was also outlined how video games could provide educational experiences at home and foster physical and mental health (Article 5). In addition, findings from experimental studies show that mobile learning with quiz apps can benefit student learning in terms of cognitive and metacognitive outcomes (Article 6). Overall, this dissertation emphasizes the relevance of theoretical progress and illustrates how learning and teaching with video games can be effective in educational practice

A new framework for the design and evaluation of a learning institution’s student engagement activities

In this article we explore the potential for attempts to encourage student engagement to be conceptualised as behaviour change activity, and specifically whether a new framework to guide such activity has potential value for the Higher Education (HE) sector. The Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) (Michie, Susan, Maartje M van Stralen, and Robert West. 2011. “The Behaviour Change Wheel: A New Method for Characterising and Designing Behaviour Change Interventions.” Implementation Science : IS 6 (1): 42. doi:10.1186/1748-5908-6-42) is a framework for the systematic design and development of behaviour change interventions. It has yet to be applied to the domain of student engagement. This article explores its potential, by assessing whether the BCW comprehensively aligns with the state of student engagement as currently presented in the HE literature. This work achieves two things. It firstly allows a prima facie assessment of whether student engagement activity can be readily aligned with the BCW framework. It also highlights omissions and prevalence of activity types in the HE sector, compared with other sectors where behaviour change practice is being successfully applied

Retrieval-, Distributed-, and Interleaved Practice in the Classroom:A Systematic Review

Three of the most effective learning strategies identified are retrieval practice, distributed practice, and interleaved practice, also referred to as desirable difficulties. However, it is yet unknown to what extent these three practices foster learning in primary and secondary education classrooms (as opposed to the laboratory and/or tertiary education classrooms, where most research is conducted) and whether these strategies affect different students differently. To address these gaps, we conducted a systematic review. Initial and detailed screening of 869 documents found in a threefold search resulted in a pool of 29 journal articles published from 2006 through June 2020. Seventy-five effect sizes nested in 47 experiments nested in 29 documents were included in the review. Retrieval- and interleaved practice appeared to benefit students’ learning outcomes quite consistently; distributed practice less so. Furthermore, only cognitive Student*Task characteristics (i.e., features of the student’s cognition regarding the task, such as initial success) appeared to be significant moderators. We conclude that future research further conceptualising and operationalising initial effort is required, as is a differentiated approach to implementing desirable difficulties

A Meta-Analytic Review of Cooperative Learning Practices in Higher Education: A Human Communication Perspective

The phrase cooperative learning refers to a pedagogical learning and teaching technique in use in schools from kindergarten through higher education. The technique involves the structuring of an active classroom environment with students working in groups to discover, solve, and at its basic, provide a framework for dialogue and conversation. Cooperative learning is grounded in the development of a theory of social interdependence (Morton Deutsch) which states that individuals, working in groups, can in most cases provide for greater productivity and ideas than individuals working alone. The development of cooperative learning was greatly expanded in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s with the invention of specific group learning techniques led by researchers David and Robert Johnson (Learning Together), Elliot Aronson (Jigsaw), and Robert Slavin (STAD). These researchers established guidelines (rules) and taxonomies that provided a basis for research in the area of cooperative learning. At the center of all of these techniques is an element of human communication, most often through the oral/aural communication channel, where group learning and discovery takes place. Cooperative learning and collaborative learning techniques differ in the amount and implementation of teaching guidelines required in the methodology. This study (a metaanalysis) weaves through more than 14-hundred published pieces of literature in a variety of disciplines, narrowing it down to 19 published articles which investigate (through experiments) the effectiveness through learning outcomes of cooperative learning in higher education (college and university level). With studies including more than 2-thousand student-participants in the research, data indicates no significant difference between those classrooms utilizing a cooperative learning format, and those using a traditional lecture/discussion format (d =0.05, 95%, C1:-05 to .14, p\u3e.05, k = 21, N = 2,052). Though there is no statistical difference between the two teaching techniques, researchers do offer a list of positive classroom observations/variables, which provides a launching point for future research into the use of cooperative learning techniques in higher education

AN EXAMINATION OF HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS SUPPORT OF STUDENTS’ PHYSICAL ACTIVITY SELF-EFFICACY

Providing students with experiences to increase their confidence (self-efficacy) to be physically active is important because of the many health benefits associated with physical activity (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2020). Several studies have shown that physical activity (PA) tends to decline as students age (Cooper et al., 2015; Metcalf et al., 2015; Troiano et al., 2008) and the largest declines usually occur in adolescence (Sallis, 2000). It is recommended that physical education (PE) serve as an intervention to promote PA and provide students with experiences to increase motor competence and PA knowledge (Weiss, 2013). Interventions within PE have also been found to increase PA self-efficacy (Annesi et al., 2007), which is a person’s beliefs about their capability to be physically active despite barriers (Voskuil & Robbins, 2015). Several studies have found PA self-efficacy to be significantly associated to PA (Annesi, 2006; Annesi et al., 2007; Van der Horst et al., 2007), which supports an examination of experiences to support PA self-efficacy in PE. Most research provides a general description of how to increase PA self-efficacy by providing students with experiences that align with the four sources of self-efficacy (mastery experience, vicarious experiences, social persuasions, physiological/emotional states). Outside of these studies, it is unclear from the research how high school PE teachers try to support students’ PA self-efficacy beliefs with in-person and online instruction (Pittman, 2020; Voskuil & Robbins, 2015). Asking current high school PE teachers about the practices that they used to support students’ PA self-efficacy while teaching in-person/online provided examples of how PE teachers are trying to support students’ beliefs in their capabilities to be physically active. The study participants were 14 (8 female/6 male) current high school PE teachers with three years teaching experience who have taught both in-person and online high school PE in the United States. The PE teachers participated in individual semi-structured interviews online that lasted around an hour each. Interview questions asked teachers to describe what their normal class routines were based on the sources of self-efficacy and their rationale for those decisions. Participants were also asked about their perceptions of students’ PA self-efficacy beliefs and how PE could support students’ PA self-efficacy. Interviews were analyzed using a deductive thematic analysis based on the sources of self-efficacy. Second-level coding examined themes/patterns within each source of self-efficacy (Boyatzis, 1998). This produced a more complete understanding of how a few current PE teachers are supporting students’ PA self-efficacy through in-person/online practices, what were the similarities and differences of in-person/online instruction, and how the described PE practices aligned with recommended practices to increase PA self-efficacy. The findings indicted that according to teachers, having high PA self-efficacy meant that students have had successful experiences that have resulted in an increase of PA knowledge which allowed students to design their own PA while not being distracted by social comparison. Teachers described having varying levels of control over students’ PA experiences, students’ observations, and the social persuasion that students were provided in PE. Overall, teachers in the study designed and implemented (environmental factor) the PA experiences (behaviors) that students participated in which some teachers believed could influence students’ interpretation of their mastery experiences with PA (theme 1). Teachers decided which PA students would participate in, what a successful PA experience entailed, how PA experiences were designed, and what PA content knowledge instruction and PA management skills were put into practice. Teachers also had some control over the observations that students had in PE (theme 2). The teachers chose who modeled PA to the whole class, when whole group modeling occurred, what different types of modeling experiences students participated in, and how activities like competition and fitness testing were designed. The teachers also provided social persuasion in different ways which they said influenced students’ perceptions of PA and students’ PA self-efficacy (theme 3). The sudden move from in-person to online instruction resulted in many changes to the PA experiences that students were provided in PE. Teachers had to change which physical activities students would participate in, how students would demonstrate participation with PA, and how PA experiences were designed. The observations that students were provided also changed when instruction moved online. Students no longer modeled PA to their classmates and most teachers primarily relied on online videos to model PA to the students. There was limited peer social comparison due to students not seeing each other participate in PA that often and the absence of competition. The social persuasion that teachers provided to students also changed when instruction moved from in-person to online. Teachers struggled to connect with students online and thought it was difficult to provide students with encouragement to be physically active. For the teachers in this study, external factors had some varying degree of influence on teachers’ decisions; however, decisions were mostly based on teachers’ interpretations of the overall PE experience. This resulted in a wide range of experiences that could potentially increase/decrease students’ PA self-efficacy. It is recommended that teachers’ decisions be based more on research than just teacher interpretations of PE to assist in ensuring that PE practices are more aligned to recommended practices in the literature to support student PA self-efficacy