Improving Teaching Quality and Problem Solving Ability Through Contextual Teaching and Learning in Differential Equations: a Lesson Study Approach

Differential equations is a branch of mathematics which is closely related to mathematical modeling that arises in real-world problems. Problem solving ability is an essential component to solve contextual problem of differential equations properly. The purposes of this study are to describe contextual teaching and learning (CTL) model in differential equations course, to improve lecturers' abilities in implementing CTL, and to improve students' problem solving ability in differential equations. The study was conducted in the fifth semester of 2015/2016 academic year with 34 students of mathematics education Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta as participants. The CTL model was applied by lesson study approach which involved three stages namely plan, do, and see in each cycle. This research was conducted in four cycles. The study results found that discovery-based CTL could be applied in differential equations course. The lecturer abilities to design discovery-based contextual learning plan, to present real-world problem in learning process, to design learning strategy and assessment instruments of problem solving improved significantly. Problem solving ability of students also improved during teaching and learning process

Teaching Quality Improvement in a Pediatric Residency Program

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires residents to demonstrate competence in practice-based learning and improvement (PBLI) and systems-based practice (SBP), two competencies dependent on the principles and practice of quality improvement (QI). In addition, pediatric residents at VCUHS are required to complete a QI project during their residency. We judged the pediatric residents to be sub-par in achieving these competencies as demonstrated by the quality of projects submitted during the last academic year, and set out to improve the QI education they receive by designing a longitudinal curriculum integrating both didactic (using lectures and on-line modules provided through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement) and experiential learning (by having residents develop their own QI projects). In the Fall of 2017, we added a structured PBLI experience to this curriculum through the residents’ primary group clinical practice in order to provide a hands-on learning opportunity. Each resident practice group was tasked with design, implementation, and analysis of a QI project based on the groups’ practice data. We reasoned that the learning acquired through participation in a structured QI experience, through the group practice, will enhance their understanding of QI principles and therefore improve their completion of personal projects. Implementation and data gathering is currently on-going

An Empirical Study at Évora’s University about Representations of “Quality Teaching” within an Intercultural Context

In this paper the authors tried to compare the representations of «teaching quality» between African portuguese speakers and portuguese native students’ throughout an attempt of intercultural education course. The students had answered to a questionnaire made specially for that propose and although the pilot character of the study, the analysis of the result seems to show that, in opposite to the expected, the concept of «teaching quality» does not present significative differences between them

University Funding Reform, Competition and Teaching Quality

This paper explores the impact of university funding reform on teaching quality competition. It shows that a graduate tax with differentiated, but state-regulated fees maximises the higher education surplus, whereas student grants as well as pure and income contingent loans do not. Fee autonomy for universities leads to results inferior to properly state controlled fees and can make the majority of students even worse off than a central student assignment system with very poor teaching incentives. --Higher Education,University Competition,Tuition Fees

Measurement and effects of teaching quality : an empirical model applied to masters programs

This study applies service quality and customer satisfaction theory to the field of education, and particularly to postgraduate studies. It examines the impact of multiple indicators of teaching quality on student satisfaction. For this purpose, a model is proposed and verified in which the teaching quality indicators are antecedents of the student's satisfaction with the professor and the program. An innovative aspect of the study is the introduction into education of the concept of customer loyalty as a result of satisfaction. In its analysis of these aspects, the study draws on data from a survey conducted among students of two business administration programs. A total of 2,446 valid questionnaires were obtained. In the proposed model, the latent variable, student satisfaction, is considered to be a consequence of the combined effect of satisfaction with certain aspects of teaching quality and the cause of the variation in the indicators on the satisfaction measurement scale. The model was tested by using the MIMIC [Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes] structural equation technique

Analysing the Research and Teaching Quality Achievement Frontier

The paper analyses the nature of the achievement possibility frontier between research and teaching quality in higher education under a system of quality evaluation by reference to discrete quality grades. It finds several important reasons why the associated feasible set is likely to be non-convex, and hence where the assumptions of the widely used nonparametric frontier performance analysis technique of Data Envelopment Analysis are no longer valid. The paper therefore investigates the use of the alternative Free Disposal Hull technique, and compares the results of deploying these techniques to the performance evaluation of UK Departments of Economics.Research and teaching quality, Higher education, Departments of Economics, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Free Disposal Hull

Educating Arizona: Assessing Our Education System (Birth-Grade 12)

Assesses Arizona's educational challenges, including those presented by demographic and economic factors, and efforts to improve standards and accountability, teaching quality, leadership and governance, school choice, and public school finance