Developing the scales on evaluation beliefs of student teachers

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to investigate the validity and the reliability of a newly developed questionnaire named ‘Teacher Evaluation Beliefs’ (TEB). The framework for developing items was provided by the two models. The first model focuses on Student-Centered and Teacher-Centered beliefs about evaluation while the other centers on five dimensions (what/ who/ when/ why/ how). The validity and reliability of the new instrument was investigated using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis study (n=446). Overall results indicate that the two-factor structure is more reasonable than the five-factor one. Further research needs additional items about the latent dimensions “what” ”who” ”when” ”why” “how” for each existing factor based on Student-centered and Teacher-centered approaches

Educators’ reflections of the Swaziland junior secondary Integrated consumer science curriculum: towards development of a unique content area.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The purpose of the research study is to explore educators’ reflections on the Swaziland Junior Secondary Integrated Consumer Sciences curriculum with the intention of improving it, particularly its subject matter. The study was necessitated by a common understanding and observation that Consumer Sciences educators are locked in a battle in which they are implementing a curriculum that does not spiral up from primary phrase through secondary phase (JC) to senior phase. The curriculum is supposedly integrated, yet in fact, the curriculum is fully dictated by curriculum and examination bodies, thus leaving the educators without a voice. Interestingly, reflection is the best system of learning that can transform educators, assisting them to overcome emerging challenges and to investigate the past, present, and the future. The study, therefore, pursues educators’ reflections, with the intention of empowering educators to take action to improve the curriculum. This action research, grounded on a critical paradigm, was used to address the following research questions: a) what are educators’ reflections on the Junior Secondary Integrated Consumer Sciences curriculum? b) Why do educators reflect in particular ways? and c) What lessons may be learnt from the educators’ reflections which could improve the curriculum? This study, through an extensive literature review, concluded that, for educators to be effective in any curriculum issue, three forms of reflection (own, public, and certified) must be employed as the lens through which to review the curriculum. In the case of the Consumer Sciences educators, their own reflections, in particular, had to be developed for the educators to be able to balance influences from both certified reflections and public reflections. This may be achieved only once educators understand their identity; thereafter they may begin to reflect. This study was conducted through face-to-face interviews, observations, reflective activity, and focus-group discussions. The data was analysed using a framework analysis. Literature review led to the development of a Microscopic Curriculum framework framed by Van den Akker’s curriculum spider web, useful in analysing and interpreting data. The findings of the study reveal that Consumer Sciences educators’ rationale for teaching is greatly informed by demands of the discipline internationally, as per their training and a need from the public to impart hands-on skills to learners. This became evident in teachers’ drive to foster learning outcomes as outlined by the curriculum policy document. Even though the educators could not differentiate between aims and objectives, skills, and knowledge, and xvii lacked conceptualization of other curriculum concepts, the action research was effective in their emancipation. Furthermore, contents in Consumer Sciences are dominated by influences from both certified reflections (knowledge, information, concepts, and theories) and public reflections (skills, practical competences). Educators are being controlled by these forces, thus lack clarity and a rationale for inclusion of certain content. Educators believe that some content does not adequately represent the focus of the discipline in this modern age, recommending removal of certain content, while supplementing other. Also, the assessment in Consumer Sciences is controlled by both certified reflections (assessment of learning) and public reflections (assessment for learning). It therefore lacked self-assessment and peer-assessment on the part of both students and teachers. Intervention through action research empowered educators to take action in reviewing the curriculum, so that it reflected the interests and needs of the learner, clarifying how assessment as learning can improve their teaching. The findings of this study indicate that educators reflected on challenges while organising and financing the teaching of Consumer Sciences. First, insufficient time is allotted to the teaching of the subject. Time allocated does not cover content. Time is also lost during the second term and during everyday subject change-over. Educators therefore teach on Saturdays and holidays to make up such lost time. Secondly, hardware resources such as computers, sewing machines and stoves are inadequate, compelling educators to teach learners in groups while sharing these resources. Educators demonstrated willingness to use computers and software to aid teaching, yet facilities do not allow for such technology, thus compelling teachers to exploit the traditional face-to-face learning environments. Lastly, financial resources are not professionally managed by the school principals and the heads of Consumer Sciences departments. The study findings compared with those found in the literature eventually gave birth to a Tri-Star curriculum theory. It has been observed that action research has been effective in developing the own reflections of educators, empowering them to challenge the curriculum issues that were oppressing them. It is therefore recommended that research that actively engages educators apropos of their scope of work be used frequently. Action research should be used in teaching Consumer Sciences. The National Curriculum Centre (NCC) should remove certain content, as per recommendation of the focus groups in this study

Characterizing lab instructors' self-reported learning goals to inform development of an experimental modeling skills assessment

The ability to develop, use, and refine models of experimental systems is a nationally recognized learning outcome for undergraduate physics lab courses. However, no assessments of students' model-based reasoning exist for upper-division labs. This study is the first step toward development of modeling assessments for optics and electronics labs. In order to identify test objectives that are likely relevant across many institutional contexts, we interviewed 35 lab instructors about the ways they incorporate modeling in their course learning goals and activities. The study design was informed by the Modeling Framework for Experimental Physics. This framework conceptualizes modeling as consisting of multiple subtasks: making measurements, constructing system models, comparing data to predictions, proposing causes for discrepancies, and enacting revisions to models or apparatus. We found that each modeling subtask was identified by multiple instructors as an important learning outcome for their course. Based on these results, we argue that test objectives should include probing students' competence with most modeling subtasks, and test items should be designed to elicit students' justifications for choosing particular modeling pathways. In addition to discussing these and other implications for assessment, we also identify future areas of research related to the role of modeling in optics and electronics labs.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures, 5 tables; submitted to Phys. Rev. PE

The design and evaluation of distributed virtual environment to support learning in global operations management

The primary goal of this research is to design and develop an education technology to support learning in global operations management. The research implements a series of studies to determine the right balance among user requirements, learning methods and applied technologies, on a view of student-centred learning. This research is multidisciplinary by nature, involving topics from various disciplines such as global operations management, curriculum and contemporary learning theory, and computer aided learning. Innovative learning models that emphasise on technological implementation are employed and discussed throughout this research

The Road Ahead for State Assessments

The adoption of the Common Core State Standards offers an opportunity to make significant improvements to the large-scale statewide student assessments that exist today, and the two US DOE-funded assessment consortia -- the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) -- are making big strides forward. But to take full advantage of this opportunity the states must focus squarely on making assessments both fair and accurate.A new report commissioned by the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy and Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), The Road Ahead for State Assessments, offers a blueprint for strengthening assessment policy, pointing out how new technologies are opening up new possibilities for fairer, more accurate evaluations of what students know and are able to do. Not all of the promises can yet be delivered, but the report provides a clear set of assessment-policy recommendations. The Road Ahead for State Assessments includes three papers on assessment policy.The first, by Mark Reckase of Michigan State University, provides an overview of computer adaptive assessment. Computer adaptive assessment is an established technology that offers detailed information on where students are on a learning continuum rather than a summary judgment about whether or not they have reached an arbitrary standard of "proficiency" or "readiness." Computer adaptivity will support the fair and accurate assessment of English learners (ELs) and lead to a serious engagement with the multiple dimensions of "readiness" for college and careers.The second and third papers give specific attention to two areas in which we know that current assessments are inadequate: assessments in science and assessments for English learners.In science, paper-and-pencil, multiple choice tests provide only weak and superficial information about students' knowledge and skills -- most specifically about their abilities to think scientifically and actually do science. In their paper, Chris Dede and Jody Clarke-Midura of Harvard University illustrate the potential for richer, more authentic assessments of students' scientific understanding with a case study of a virtual performance assessment now under development at Harvard. With regard to English learners, administering tests in English to students who are learning the language, or to speakers of non-standard dialects, inevitably confounds students' content knowledge with their fluency in Standard English, to the detriment of many students. In his paper, Robert Linquanti of WestEd reviews key problems in the assessment of ELs, and identifies the essential features of an assessment system equipped to provide fair and accurate measures of their academic performance.The report's contributors offer deeply informed recommendations for assessment policy, but three are especially urgent.Build a system that ensures continued development and increased reliance on computer adaptive testing. Computer adaptive assessment provides the essential foundation for a system that can produce fair and accurate measurement of English learners' knowledge and of all students' knowledge and skills in science and other subjects. Developing computer adaptive assessments is a necessary intermediate step toward a system that makes assessment more authentic by tightly linking its tasks and instructional activities and ultimately embedding assessment in instruction. It is vital for both consortia to keep these goals in mind, even in light of current technological and resource constraints.Integrate the development of new assessments with assessments of English language proficiency (ELP). The next generation of ELP assessments should take into consideration an English learners' specific level of proficiency in English. They will need to be based on ELP standards that sufficiently specify the target academic language competencies that English learners need to progress in and gain mastery of the Common Core Standards. One of the report's authors, Robert Linquanti, states: "Acknowledging and overcoming the challenges involved in fairly and accurately assessing ELs is integral and not peripheral to the task of developing an assessment system that serves all students well. Treating the assessment of ELs as a separate problem -- or, worse yet, as one that can be left for later -- calls into question the basic legitimacy of assessment systems that drive high-stakes decisions about students, teachers, and schools." Include virtual performance assessments as part of comprehensive state assessment systems. Virtual performance assessments have considerable promise for measuring students' inquiry and problem-solving skills in science and in other subject areas, because authentic assessment can be closely tied to or even embedded in instruction. The simulation of authentic practices in settings similar to the real world opens the way to assessment of students' deeper learning and their mastery of 21st century skills across the curriculum. We are just setting out on the road toward assessments that ensure fair and accurate measurement of performance for all students, and support for sustained improvements in teaching and learning. Developing assessments that realize these goals will take time, resources and long-term policy commitment. PARCC and SBAC are taking the essential first steps down a long road, and new technologies have begun to illuminate what's possible. This report seeks to keep policymakers' attention focused on the road ahead, to ensure that the choices they make now move us further toward the goal of college and career success for all students. This publication was released at an event on May 16, 2011

Exploratory Study Asks Adults With ADD/ADHD to Consider and Share a Project & the Learning Processes That Led to Success

Purpose — This study explored the learning processes related to projects used by adults with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), along with the environmental factors that aided or detracted from learning. Design/methodology/approach — Using a modified appreciative inquiry type question approach, adults with ADD/ADHD were asked to participate in either an online questionnaire or a focus group conducted in late 2015. The population consisted of adults, age 18 or older, who could attest to having ADD/ADHD diagnosed in childhood or as an adult. The intent was to discover successful strategies employed by this population to start, create, and finish projects. The theoretical approaches included selflearning, embodiment as a different way of knowing, and transformational learning. Findings —The results indicate that complexity, novelty in using new programs or researching a topic, persistence, passion for a topic or process, and choice were motivational factors among the participants. Participants also shared the challenges, such as procrastination or electronic distractions, that they adapted to in order to create final portfolios for classes, spearhead resistance to urban sprawl, start on a masters degree or graduate school, and to organize, fundraise, create a business plan, and apply life experiences in advocating for others. Originality/value — The results can be used to consider ways to improve instruction and add to a growing field of research into whole-body ways of learning. These findings could also start a conversation that focuses on how this population can add to a better understanding of adult learners overall, rather than concentrating on deficits