Are you listening ... are we learning? Radio production as a means of teaching & learning [case study]

This case study focuses upon one aspect of undergraduate teaching and learning within a ‘Research & Development’ unit of BA (Hons.) Media Production degree. Eight final-year students undertook the mentoring, teaching and development of a schools radio project. The paper seeks to develop two key themes: firstly, an evaluation of the usefulness of undergraduate learning via the development and man- agement of an external project suitable for broadcast; secondly, an examination and analysis of the application and adaptation of prior learning during the mentoring process. The latter theme draws partic- ularly from the strategies and metacognitive processes employed by the students

INVESTIGATING VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES OF EFL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT INDRAPRASTA PGRI UNIVERSITY

There are many aspects connected with vocabulary learning so that English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners have to know and understand vocabulary learning strategies to improve their vocabulary. A vocabulary strategy is a special instructional tool and way of going about directly or explicitly as well as independent word learning skills required to learn words independently. Dealing with the reasons, the main purpose of the present research is to investigate the use of vocabulary learning strategies employed by EFL undergraduate students in the third semester, academic year 2014/2015, majoring English Education at Indraprasta PGRI University. According to Schmitt’s classification, vocabulary learning strategies for this research are classified as determination, social, memory, cognitive, and metacognitive strategies. The research data were collected by using Schmitt’s Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLSQ). There were 137 undergraduate students from semester III of English Education Program were involved in this research. The results of descriptive statistics showed that they were as medium strategy users with the mean score of 3.26 and standard deviation of 0.93 for overallstrategy use. Furthermore, the most frequently strategies used were metacognitive strategies while the least frequently strategies used were cognitive strategies.Keywords: Vocabulary Learning Strategies, EFL Undergraduate Student

v. Learning Strategies that Support Undergraduate Research

This section provides an excellent overview of learning strategies that are conducive to supporting undergraduate research in the classroom. Whitfield opens with an overview of the value of a problem-based learning curriculum. Although it is couched in terms of the College of Medicine, the paper is applicable to many disciplines as well as undergraduate and graduate students. She highlights some of the pitfalls, practical tips, and problem development strategies so as to derive the maximum benefit from problem-based learning methods. Williams, Sederberg and Eddins describe research-based learning (RBL) and illustrate the learning strategy with the Marine and Aquatic Research Experience project at the University of South Carolina. RBL presents an alternative educational model that blends research activity, instruction, and curricular offerings to expand the research opportunities for undergraduate student teams while rejuvenating the curriculum. Chaszar focuses her attention on the value of interdisciplinary research. Not only do many research advances occur at the intersection of disciplines, but also honors curricula often carry the distinction of being interdisciplinary and attracting students who integrate fields of study. In their Issue Reaction, Lane and Cawley provide a working definition of inquiry-based learning and an accompanying list of resources for further study. The final paper emphasizes the importance of libraries in the successful implementation of either inquiry-based or problem-based learning. Wright makes the point that libraries provide the infrastructure to support the inherent elements of research found in these active learning strategies. She also describes one course designed and offered by the library to support undergraduate thesis research. The course includes a breadth of relevant topics such as database manipulation, identification of appropriate resources, portfolio development, information literacy, and Internet navigation and evaluation

The complexities of teaching 'inclusion' in higher education

This article considers how action research can support the teaching of 'Inclusion' in Higher Education. As a professional committed to improving educational practices, action research was identified as a practical research approach to study the relationship between theories and practices of inclusive education. This article will report on a short action research project that focussed on an Applied Social Science undergraduate degree unit which is taken in students' final year: 'Contemporary Issues in Exclusion and Inclusion in Education'. Student's own understanding, expectations and reflections on their learning were captured via questionnaires to directly inform teaching and assessment practices. Action research facilitated a critical lens which enabled lecturers to reconsider teaching and assessment strategies in a collaborative, participative manner and early findings indicate an improvement in student learning

Language Learning Strategies and English Proficiency: A Study of Chinese Undergraduate Programs in Thailand

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of language learning strategies by undergraduate students: the extent of use of language learning strategy categories in the Oxford Taxonomy, and the relationship between the use of language learning strategies and English proficiency. Two hundred fifty four Chinese undergraduate students (123 male and 131 female) in Assumption University participated in the study. The results showed that the students were medium users of overall strategies, Compensation Strategy was the most frequently used, and Memory Strategy category was the least used. A positive correlation was found between the use of language learning strategies and the English proficiency, which were indicated by students’ grades and self-efficacy. Suggestions are offered for future research

Assessing the FACTS: A Mnemonic for Teaching and Learning the Rapid Assessment of Rigor in Qualitative Research Studies

Teaching and learning research appraisal strategies is a challenge in undergraduate education and for practitioners alike. The appraisal of rigor in qualitative research papers is particularly complex and sophisticated work for many undergraduate research students and practitioners who want to develop their critical reading skills. The mnemonic strategy (The FACTS) explained in this paper is one pedagogical strategy for establishing a simplified approach to teaching and learning the appraisal of rigor in qualitative research. While not a comprehensive tool, the FACTS are a useful introduction to the complex challenge of qualitative research appraisal

Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) as a Driver of Curriculum: A Staged Approach

Inquiry-based learning provides students with an opportunity to take ownership of their learning while developing important higher order skills necessary for designing innovative solutions to complex modern health problems. In our undergraduate health sciences program, critical thinking, creativity, research skills and innovative thinking are core program learning outcomes, and thus inquiry-based learning is an important pillar of our curriculum. We have taken a staged approach, integrating inquiry-based learning (IBL) into each year of a four-year undergraduate degree program that scaffolds structure and independence to suit undergraduate student needs from the first to third years and culminating in an independent, student-driven honours thesis in the fourth year. In this paper, we share practical IBL strategies that pair with student needs throughout the four-year continuum and highlight strategies to address challenges at each stage of learning

Investigating of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used by Undergraduate Students

The present study aimed to investigate Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLSs) used by undergraduate students (S1) of 6th semester and how they learned or acquired VLSs. In addition, the study compares the use of VLSs between low and high achievers of undergraduate students that consisted of 30 students. An explanatory sequential mixed research method was implemented in this study. The corroboration was used employing a questionnaire adapted from Schmitt’s taxonomy (Classification of VLSs) as the instruments. As for the qualitative approach, the writer conducted interviews to explore how the students acquired VLSs. The research report showed that the mean score indicated the uses of Determination strategies are most frequently used by both of achiever. Likewise, the least frequently used vocabulary learning strategy was Social strategies (Consolidation). There were no great differences found in using vocabulary learning strategies between the low and high achievers and they learn the most frequently used strategy in several situations such as, course, organization, English club, media, and etcetera. Effective vocabulary learning and teaching strategies need to be incorporated into students’ vocabulary learning process

Politeness Strategies Employed by Lecturers in Undergraduate EFL Classroom

This study investigates the politeness strategies employed by lecturers in EFL undergraduate online classroom. This study focuses on answering a research question; (1) how do the strategies employed by the lecturers in their teaching-learning activity. The qualitative method was used to fulfil the objective of the study. The data was collected from sit-in observation during their teaching-learning process. It was transcribed and analysed descriptively. The result shows that there are three strategies that employed by the lecturers namely positive politeness, negative politeness and bald-on-record. It can be concluded that this study will enrich the discussion which relates to the used of politeness strategies in teaching-learning program and how this study helps other lecturers/teacher to enrich their view in conducting kinds of strategies in their teaching-learning activity. Keywords: EFL Undergraduate Classroom, Online Classroom, Politeness Strategie

Students as producers: Designing games to teach social science research methods and ethics

In this paper we explore our experiences of a staff-student collaborative project that sought to design games and learning resources that could be used to 'liven-up' research methods and ethics teaching in the social sciences. Final and second year undergraduate social science students were encouraged to reflect on their own experiences of both research methods teaching and the process of doing primary research, in order to design games resources that would be useful for future cohorts of students. The concept of games was applied twofold in the project: the development of the teaching resources was itself set up in a games format: we based our initial workshops on the style of the BBC's "Apprentice" programme in order to come up with ideas for the games resources and to introduce a competitive element into the design process. Two groups of students were given a brief to design a games resource that would 'liven up' social science research methods and ethics teaching. Groups then spent an intensive day working on the brief alongside an academic facilitator before pitching their final game concept in a presentation at the end of the day when a winner was announced. In subsequent workshops students worked collaboratively to further develop both games before piloting them on further groups of students prior to production. The second application of the games concept lay in the development of an actual learning resource to be used in future research methods and ethics teaching. The premise of developing an undergraduate dissertation, its (realistic) design and the potential ethical and methodological problems encountered when doing research underpinned the learning objectives for the games developed. The developed games resources have been introduced into the curriculum to supplement the existing (more traditional) learning and teaching strategies and to add a 'fun' element into research methods teaching. Developing a game-based learning approach themselves has thereby increased students' influence on the design of teaching and learning strategies and helped produce a useful learning resource for future cohorts. The paper highlights the benefits of staff-student collaboration in the design and production of game resources, and in particular, the potential for harnessing students' experiences of teaching and learning through feeding it into curriculum development. The paper also demonstrates the benefits of gamification - through a discussion of the positive student feedback and evaluation received by the developed games