A Postmodern Approach to Career Education: What does it look like?

Changes in our concepts of work and career reflect a move from an industrial era to what has been termed a postindustrial, information or postmodern era, an era wherein our concepts of career guidance also need to change. A number of authors have commented on aspects of career guidance practice which need to incorporate changes, such as career education and career counselling (Guichard, 2001; McMahon & Patton, 2000; Watts, 2001). This paper will add to the call for greater application of constructivist approaches to career education. It will critique current practices and present strategies which reflect such approaches

Contemporary developments in teaching and learning introductory programming: Towards a research proposal

The teaching and learning of introductory programming in tertiary institutions is problematic. Failure rates are high and the inability of students to complete small programming tasks at the completion of introductory units is not unusual. The literature on teaching programming contains many examples of changes in teaching strategies and curricula that have been implemented in an effort to reduce failure rates. This paper analyses contemporary research into the area, and summarises developments in the teaching of introductory programming. It also focuses on areas for future research which will potentially lead to improvements in both the teaching and learning of introductory programming. A graphical representation of the issues from the literature that are covered in the document is provided in the introduction

Personal development planning in the first year

The approach to quality and standards in higher education (HE) in Scotland is enhancement led and learner centred. It was developed through a partnership of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Universities Scotland, the National Union of Students in Scotland (NUS Scotland) and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) Scotland. The Higher Education Academy has also joined that partnership. The Enhancement Themes are a key element of a five-part framework, which has been designed to provide an integrated approach to quality assurance and enhancement. The Enhancement Themes support learners and staff at all levels in further improving higher education in Scotland; they draw on developing innovative practice within the UK and internationally The five elements of the framework are: z a comprehensive programme of subject-level reviews undertaken by higher education institutions (HEIs) themselves; guidance is published by the SFC (www.sfc.ac.uk) z enhancement-led institutional review (ELIR), run by QAA Scotland (www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews/ELIR) z improved forms of public information about quality; guidance is provided by the SFC (www.sfc.ac.uk) z a greater voice for students in institutional quality systems, supported by a national development service - student participation in quality scotland (sparqs) (www.sparqs.org.uk) z a national programme of Enhancement Themes aimed at developing and sharing good practice to enhance the student learning experience, facilitated by QAA Scotland (www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk). The topics for the Enhancement Themes are identified through consultation with the sector and implemented by steering committees whose members are drawn from the sector and the student body. The steering committees have the task of establishing a programme of development activities, which draw on national and international good practice. Publications emerging from each Theme are intended to provide important reference points for HEIs in the ongoing strategic enhancement of their teaching and learning provision. Full details of each Theme, its steering committee, the range of research and development activities as well as the outcomes are published on the Enhancement Themes website (www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk). To further support the implementation and embedding of a quality enhancement culture within the sector - including taking forward the outcomes of the Enhancement Themes - an overarching committee, the Scottish Higher Education Enhancement Committee (SHEEC), chaired by Professor Kenneth Miller, Vice-Principal, University of Strathclyde, has the important dual role of supporting the overall approach of the Enhancement Themes, including the five-year rolling plan, as well as institutional enhancement strategies and management of quality. SHEEC, working with the individual topic-based Enhancement Themes' steering committees, will continue to provide a powerful vehicle for progressing the enhancement-led approach to quality and standards in Scottish higher education

Using an online formative assessment framework to enhance student engagement: a learning outcomes approach

Students learn best when they are fully engaged in the learning process, are motivated to test their current level of learning against known standards, and are offered targeted and timely support to help address subsequent personal learning needs. The most usual way to do this is through the use of assessment, but this in itself can act as an overbearing influence on what and how students learn, rather than providing an holistic support mechanism that encourages continuous reflective learning. Summative assessment provides a quantitative measure of learning at specific points in time, but may not encourage students to focus on specific strengths and weaknesses in need of attention. Formative assessment can provide specific reflective and feed-forward support, but given the time-poor nature of many students, is this perceived as a useful part of the learning process? This paper presents an overview of work in progress (funded by Centre for Open Learning in Maths, Science, Computing and Technology CETL at The Open University), on the development and implementation of an online interactive formative assessment framework, that has designed from a constructivist perspective, to promote student engagement and understanding of academic progression, using an learning outcomes approach. The framework specifically aims to enhance student awareness, understanding and recognition of competency levels, and to allow testing of ongoing academic progress at predetermined and self-selected points throughout the year. Each assessment makes explicit links to other components of the course including the summative assessment strategy, as a means of providing an integrated approach to learning. By working through the formative assessments it is hoped that students will become more self-directed and confident in their learning skills and abilities, which in turn should improve retention. The framework uses OpenMark (a web-based system developed within the Open University) in which students have up to three attempts to correctly answer each question, and are offered instantaneous and targeted feedback after each incorrect attempt. The system collects information on the answers submitted, and the time taken to complete each question, offering valuable insight into how (and which) students are engaging with the assessment and course materials. This data permits new targeted feedback to be added in response to common errors, as well as additional support mechanisms to be incorporated in response to specific skills or content that is poorly demonstrated. All feedback in the framework is formative, commenting on how well each of the learning outcomes tested over a period of study has been demonstrated, as well as the overall level of academic competency attained at that point in time. At present, the framework encompasses seven interactive assessments (linked to fortnightly periods of study), consisting of ten variable-format questions (set at two levels of academic complexity). A planned eighth assessment will randomly select questions from preceding assessments, offering an instantaneous interactive revision tool. Preliminary results indicate that students not only rate the assessments as enjoyable, but are revisiting specific assessments as a means of enhancing previous outcomes and checking their progression on aspects they previously had difficulties with

Enabling students to proactively evaluate, test and adapt the effectiveness of their learning through interactive online formative assessment

Whether we like it or not, when it comes to learning, most students are motivated by the desire to demonstrate success in the summative assessment component of the course, rather than implicitly develop their depth of knowledge, understanding and application of subject matter at hand. Viewing learning from this perspective, it is therefore vitally important to select and embed the ‘right’ assessment strategy as this will affect how and what students decide to learn, as well as how much time and effort they prioritise to different tasks and/or learning resources. In an attempt to break this cycle of assessment-driven learning, and in line with Vygotsky’s work on learning progression in which intervention allows an individual to develop further than if left on their own, a formative learning framework was developed to encourage students to take a more reflective and constructivist approach to their learning. The framework (originally funded by the Centre for Open Learning in Maths, Science, Computing and Technology CETL at The Open University), was designed to enhance student awareness, understanding and recognition of competency levels from a learning outcomes approach, and to allow them to test their ongoing academic progress at predetermined and self-selected points throughout the year. By working through each of the formative assessments, it was envisaged that students would become more self-directed and confident in their learning skills and abilities, and that this in turn would aid retention. This paper will present data collected over two-years on how students have engaged with this learning tool, the impact it has had on their perceived learning abilities and progression, the variances between expected and actual use, and the lessons learned on how formative assessment can be used as a successful method of helping students to learn how they learn, and how to do this more effectivel

Does cognition matter? Current pedagogical practice and the need for reform

Recent debate in the educational sphere highlights the continuing dilemma that is the creation and implementation of a true 21st century classroom in secondary schools across Australia. A difficulty with these ongoing attempts to reform teaching and learning is the behaviourist educational paradigm through which Western schools operate. This traditional perspective influences the ways in which modern researchers, policy-makers, teachers and the wider community all conceptualise education and its purpose. As such, this paper aims to establish that this understanding of education needs to be overthrown, in light of a changing global context and the evolving needs of students. Thus, an alternative paradigm will be discussed, specifically with reference to the explicit and effective incorporation of metacognition and metacognitive strategies, which are conducive to lifelong learning. For such a teaching and learning focus to become a reality, however, the re-training of needs of educators would be extensive, as would be the restructuring of pre-service teachers’ programs. This paper therefore aims to establish the need for future research into education programs, as well as the current ability of teachers to incorporate further skills and instruction into their pedagogical practice. Such evidence would contribute to the ongoing discussion surrounding the creation and application of modern schooling practices

Exploring Care in Education

In this article the author highlights three primary results that emerged from his review of the care theory and educational care literature, along with his constructivist grounded theory study of adolescent student experiences of educational care: (1) A clarification and re-articulation of the problem of educational care, (2) a grounded theory of the communication of educational care, and (3) a theory of the establishment of a caring teacher-student relationship. Some possible implications for teachers and educational leaders will also be explored