Exploring the factors affecting the motivation for learning from the perspective of public health students: A qualitative study

Objective. Despite the significant role of motivation in achieving success among public health students, students often do not demonstrate adequate motivation for learning and education. This study was performed to determine factors affecting the motivation for learning from the perspective of public health students via content analysis approach. Methods. This qualitative study was conducted at Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in Sanandaj, Iran in 2017. 15 students were included in the study by using purposive sampling. Data were collected through personal interviews, group discussions, and field notes, and they were analyzed through conventional content analysis. Several parameters were taken into account to support the accuracy and the strength of the data: acceptability, confirmability, and transferability. Results. Five categories were derived from the data analysis, including “University Policy”, “Health Status”, “Teacher’s Role”, “Student-Related Factors” and “University Facilities”. Attention to the health status and its priority in the opinion of people, authorities, and educational system were the most important factors involved in the students’ motivation for learning. Conclusions. To increase motivation for learning, students have diverse needs that should be met. Attention to the components of motivation for learning not only enhances academic achievement but also promotes the formation of health behaviors in the society

Innovate Magazine / Annual Review 2007-2008

https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/innovate/1004/thumbnail.jp

Connectivism: Its place in theory-informed research and innovation in technology-enabled learning

The sociotechnical context for learning and education is dynamic and makes great demands on those trying to seize the opportunities presented by emerging technologies. The goal of this paper is to explore certain theories for our plans and actions in technology-enabled learning. Although presented as a successor to previous learning theories, connectivism alone is insufficient to inform learning and its support by technology in an internetworked world. However, because of its presence in massive open online courses (MOOCs), connectivism is influential in the practice of those who take these courses and who wish to apply it in teaching and learning. Thus connectivism is perceived as relevant by its practitioners but as lacking in rigour by its critics. Five scenarios of change are presented with frameworks of different theories to explore the variety of approaches educators can take in the contexts for change and their associated research/evaluation. I argue that the choice of which theories to use depends on the scope and purposes of the intervention, the funding available to resource the research/evaluation, and the experience and philosophical stances of the researchers/practitioners

Using the Inquiry-based Learning Approach to Enhance Student Innovativeness: A Conceptual Model

Individual innovativeness has become one of the most important employability skills for university graduates. In this paper, we focus on how students could be better prepared to be innovative in the workplace, and we argue that inquiry-based learning (IBL) – a pedagogical approach in which students follow the inquiry-based processes used by scientists to construct knowledge – can be effective for this purpose. Drawing on research which examines the social and cognitive micro-foundations of innovative behaviour, we develop a conceptual model that links IBL and student innovativeness, and introduce three teacher-controlled design elements that can influence the strength of this relationship, namely whether an inquiry is open or closed, discovery-focused or information focused and individual or teambased. We argue that an open, discovery-focused and team-based inquiry offers the greatest potential for enhancing students’ skills in innovation. This paper has several implications for higher education research and practice

Exploring Current Practice of Using Technology to Support Collaborative Argumentation in Science Classrooms

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how middle school science teachers enact the practice of using technology to support collaborative argumentation in their science classroom. This study employed qualitative case study and drew on data sources of interviews and observations. This study identified two themes. Six teachers regarded scientific argumentation as an important science practice, but five of them integrated this practice into their science class without formally introducing it. All teachers integrated different forms of technology to engage students in scientific argumentation. In this study, the findings suggested there is a need to provide professional development for teachers to learn about scientific argumentation. The findings can be used as a basis for the design and development of professional development training experiences for in-servic

Coordinating visualizations of polysemous action: Values added for grounding proportion

We contribute to research on visualization as an epistemic learning tool by inquiring into the didactical potential of having students visualize one phenomenon in accord with two different partial meanings of the same concept. 22 Grade 4-6 students participated in a design study that investigated the emergence of proportional-equivalence notions from mediated perceptuomotor schemas. Working as individuals or pairs in tutorial clinical interviews, students solved non-symbolic interaction problems that utilized remote-sensing technology. Next, they used symbolic artifacts interpolated into the problem space as semiotic means to objectify in mathematical register a variety of both additive and multiplicative solution strategies. Finally, they reflected on tensions between these competing visualizations of the space. Micro-ethnographic analyses of episodes from three paradigmatic case studies suggest that students reconciled semiotic conflicts by generating heuristic logico-mathematical inferences that integrated competing meanings into cohesive conceptual networks. These inferences hinged on revisualizing additive elements multiplicatively. Implications are drawn for rethinking didactical design for proportions. © 2013 FIZ Karlsruhe