The power of reflective journal writing for university students from the EFL perspective

English as a foreign language (EFL) university students use reflective journals as learning logs to express or capture their ideas within a scientific conceptual framework. The objectives of this research are to (1) describe the power of reflective journal writing in communicating ideas, and (2) identify the aspects of reflective journal writing that aid learning in an EFL context. The reflective journals were written by 21 EFL university students. This research takes a qualitative approach, with the primary data coming from several reflective journals (N=124) while the secondary data coming from EFL students’ interviews (N=15). The research results showed that reflective journals were useful for students to make critical reflections and self-discovery responses to writing topics. The students learned to focus on writing components such as order, unity, coherence, cohesiveness, content, and organization of ideas through reflective journal writing. The students’ perspectives on aspects of reflective journal writing were primarily concerned with macro-and micro-level linguistic issues, as evidenced from the interview results. Writing a reflective journal necessitated their ability to reformulate thoughts, provide details, and solve problems. Furthermore, critical thinking, metacognitive skills, and self-reflections became increasingly important in helping the students to develop their ability to write reflective journals

Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Awareness and Reflection in Technology Enhanced Learning

Awareness and reflection are viewed differently across the disciplines informing Technology Enhanced Learning (CSCW, psychology, educational sciences, computer science and others). The ARTEL workshop series brings together researchers and professionals from different backgrounds to provide a forum for discussing the multi-faceted area of awareness and reflection. Through the last ARTEL workshops at EC-TEL the addressed topics are converging towards the usage of awareness and reflection in practice, its implementation in modern organisations, its impact on learners and questions of feasibility and sustainability for awareness and reflection in education and work. To reflect the growing maturity of research in ARTEL over the years the workshop particularly invited contributions that dealt with the application of awareness and reflection in practice. This is encapsulated in the workshop motto: 'Awareness and Reflection in Practice: How can awareness and reflection technology become common in work practice and how does it change work practices?

Assessment Portfolios in an Intensive English Writing Program: Opportunities and Challenges

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the opportunities and challenges that the use of the assessment portfolio offered to both instructors and students as they used it for the first time in the writing class of an intensive English program (IEP) in the United States. Although much work has been done on portfolios in L1 and other contexts, almost nothing had been done within IEPs. Therefore, this dissertation provides novel information about portfolios in an important language learning environment. This study spanned over a period of 40-weeks. Data from four instructors and 17 students were collected through multiple semi-structured interviews. Additional data were collected from a group of 37 students through a written survey questionnaire to find the extent to which their opinions matched that of the interviewed students. Other data sources included interview with the IEP director, IEP director’s follow-up meetings with the instructors, faculty meetings, informal conversations with the instructors, and students’ portfolios. Results obtained from the instructors revealed that the assessment portfolio offered them various opportunities. For example, the portfolio served as a repository tool, documented students’ learning, helped instructors monitor students’ writing progress, and demonstrated students’ efforts. The portfolio allowed students to reflect on their progress as writers, and provided a record of their writing performance across different levels. Students’ keeping the portfolios organized, finding class time for portfolio management, and determining the reliability of students’ self-assessment were among some of the concerns that the instructors mentioned. Analysis of the students’ data revealed that most of the students saw the portfolio as a repository, organizational, and learning tool that provided them with an opportunity for monitoring their progress. Some students, however, appeared indifferent to the portfolio. Some students also felt uncomfortable assessing themselves and preferred their instructors’ assessment. All students liked the analytical rubrics used to score their writings. The 37 students’ responses on the written survey were mostly consistent with those collected from the interviewed students. Findings from this study, whether in the form of opportunities and/or concerns, can better inform the planning and implementing of the assessment portfolio in an IEP

E-portfolio in education. Practices and reflections

The main activities of the digiFolio Project include: Building a common knowledge base supported by research work on the theory of portfolio usage; Paper and online publication of the results of the research work; Establishment of the pedagogical model for the training course; Analysis of the existing technological infrastructures for digital portfolio usage; Adjustment of the best tools and training course setup; Piloting and evidencing of the training course; Monitoring of the trainees' work by using a specific online teachers' support structure; International seminar. Website: http://digifolioseminar.org/?The present publication addresses the use of digital portfolios in educational context and it is one of the latest dissemination activities of the Digifolio project – Digital Portfolio as a strategy for teachers’ professional development, a COMENIUS 2.1 project which was carried out between 2005 and 2008. It involved several universities and teacher training institutions from five different European countries. The project, which main focus was the reflection on the potentialities of portfolios and digital technologies in the perspective of teachers’ professional development, came to its end with an international seminar which aimed at disseminating the work produced in the frame of a previous teachers training course, as well as allowing and welcoming the contribution of other education professionals with their practices and reflections on the above-mentioned thematic.Europeen Comissio

Examining the Relationship Between Reflective Writing Behaviour and Self-regulated Learning Competence: A Time-Series Analysis

Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) competence is imperative to academic achievement. For reflective academic writing tasks, which are common for university assessments, this is especially the case since students are often required to plan the task independently to be successful. The purpose of the current study was to examine different reflection behaviours of postgraduate students that were required to reflect on individual tasks over a fifteen-week-long higher education course. Forty students participated in a standardised questionnaire at the beginning of the course to assess their SRL competence and then participated in weekly individual reflection tasks on Google Docs. We examined students’ reflective writing behaviours based on time-series and correlation analysis of fine-grained data retrieved from Google Docs. More specifically, reflection behaviours between students with high SRL and low SRL competence were investigated. The results show that students with high SRL competence tend to reflect more frequently and more systematically than students with low SRL competence. Even though no statistically significant difference in academic performance between the two groups was found, there were statistical correlations between academic performance and individual reflective writing behaviours. We conclude the paper with a discussion on the insights into the temporal reflection patterns of different SRL competence student clusters, the impact of these behaviours on students’ academic performance, and potential suggestions for appropriate support for students with different levels of SRL

Exploring the landscape of reflection

open4noopenFrison, Daniela; Fedeli, Monica; Tino, Concetta; Minnoni, ErikaFrison, Daniela; Fedeli, Monica; Tino, Concetta; Minnoni, Erik

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

An Exploration of ELL Teachers’ Conception of Metacognition and Its Use in Elementary School Classrooms

Metacognitive instruction and pedagogy have been linked to self-aware, independent, and successful learning. A particular student population that may benefit from a focus on metacognitive instruction are English Language Learners (ELL). This Q methodology study uses a mixed methods approach to examine the dominant viewpoints, beliefs, and opinions of ELL teachers on metacognition, metacognitive instruction, and pedagogy. Data were analyzed from 25 suburban New York public school ELL teachers located in Nassau and Suffolk counties concerning their beliefs regarding the metacognition, metacognitive instruction, and pedagogy. In addition, demographics, and exposure to metacognition as a topic were assessed using a baseline survey. This study identified and examined three Q models of shared viewpoints held by ELL teachers. Background characteristics were utilized to describe the clusters of ELL teachers. These characteristics consisted of: grades taught, education levels, certifications held, years of experience, and educational and professional exposure to metacognition as a topic. The three Q models revealed consensus in many areas of metacognition and metacognitive instruction, with some variation between the Q models. The three Q models that emerged were: Critical strategic thinking and reflection lead to ELL student self-awareness and independent learning; Explicit and deliberate planning model coupled with visual organizers; and Explicit monitoring and self-reflection coupled with visual organizers

Innovative learning in action (ILIA) issue five: Learning technologies in the curriculum

Consideration of the papers and snapshots in this edition of Innovative Learning in Action, focused on learning technology, will provide the reader with insights into a range of excellent and innovative approaches to the application of learning technologies to enhance learning both in the classroom and at a distance. It also provides us with examples of how learning technologies can both stimulate and support partnership with staff and students and collaborative learning and working. This edition is particularly timely given the aim of the University’s 2005-2008 Learning Technologies Implementation Plan (LTIP), which is to enhance the quality of, and access to, learning, teaching and assessment by supporting and developing the curriculum through the appropriate and effective use of learning technologies. The LTIP is designed to help us to reach a situation where the effective use of appropriate learning technologies becomes part of our normal teaching, research and enterprise activities, and enhances access to our programmes by all our students whether they are learning on campus, at a distance, or in the workplace. The emphasis at the University of Salford has consistently been on the identification and creative application of the appropriate blends of ICT and traditional methods, shaped by pedagogical, rather than technological drivers, and acknowledging and reflecting different academic contexts and professional and vocational requirements. We have some excellent examples of how this has been achieved here, ILIA once again providing us with an opportunity to reflect on practice and student learning, to share experience and hopefully to identify future areas for collaboration in a key area of curriculum development

L2 writing development: the case of two high-achieving and two struggling college-level students

Researchers and language practitioners have long been interested in the quest for theory-based, research-supported constructs that can adequately characterize L2 writing proficiency and development. The ongoing scholarly inquiry in this research area has led to the mounting recognition that complexity, accuracy and fluency (henceforth, CAF) constitute a conceptual framework capable of charting L2 writing proficiency and benchmarking development. Against this background, the present study aims to investigate four college-level semester-one students’ L2 writing development over a time frame of twelve weeks. Couched within the constructivist paradigm, which advocates learner independence, meaningful learning and collaboration, the study examines the extent and nature of the progress that two highachieving L2 students made as compared with two struggling peers with regard to their written productions. On the basis of case study methodology, a thick description is provided for each student on account of his measurable progress as assessed by theoretically motivated indices of complexity and accuracy. The paper also explores the time spent on online Moodle activities by the four participants to ascertain whether or not a relationship existed with the progress made. Complexity was measured by mean length of t-unit, mean length of clause and number of clauses per t-unit; accuracy was measured by mean number of error-free t-units and the ratio of error-free t-units to total number of t-units. The writing program in which the participants were engaged was based on the use of Moodle as a platform where students have access to myriad supplementary materials including website links, videos, PowerPoint slides, book chapters and exercises handouts. They were also required to post their written assignments in the Moodle-hosted blog and to participate in forums designed for the exchange of feedback. The implications of the results for L2 writing instruction are discussed