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

Choosing Management Information Systems as a Major: Understanding the smiFactors for MIS

Given declining management information systems (MIS) enrollments at our university, we seek to understand our students’ selection of a major. Prior studies have found that students choose a major based on a number of factors, with subject matter interest consistently being most important. We contribute to the literature by developing a deeper understanding of what is meant by subject matter interest, which we refer to as smiFactors, for MIS as a major and career. Based on a qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions completed by undergraduate business students, we confirm a number of smiFactors for MIS gleaned from recent studies and identify three new ones. We also relate our findings to broad categories of vocational interests. Of the newly identified smiFactors, one—linking business and technology—is unique to MIS, whereas the other two—practical application of course work and daily variety—apply to MIS as well as other majors and careers. Our findings provide a more complete foundation for helping students make an informed choice of MIS as a major. We use our findings and an extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to identify four types of intervention for increasing MIS enrollments

Choosing Management Information Systems as a Major: Understanding the smiFactors for MIS

Given declining management information systems (MIS) enrollments at our university, we seek to understand our students‘ selection of a major. Prior studies have found that students choose a major based on a number of factors, with subject matter interest consistently being most important. We contribute to the literature by developing a deeper understanding of what is meant by subject matter interest, which we refer to as smiFactors, for MIS as a major and career. Based on a qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions completed by undergraduate business students, we confirm a number of smiFactors for MIS gleaned from recent studies and identify three new ones. We also relate our findings to broad categories of vocational interests. Of the newly identified smiFactors, one—linking business and technology—is unique to MIS, whereas the other two—practical application of course work and daily variety—apply to MIS as well as other majors and careers. Our findings provide a more complete foundation for helping students make an informed choice of MIS as a major. We use our findings and an extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to identify four types of intervention for increasing MIS enrollments

“It’s teaching Jim, but not as we know it”: An examination of the beliefs and attitudes of teachers to the use of technology in Further & Vocational Education from a teacher’s perspective.

This study sought to understand the beliefs and attitudes of teachers in Further and Vocational Education regarding the use and usefulness of technology in their teaching practice. Policymakers and advocates view increased access to, but continued under-utilisation of technology as indicative of how the sector is failing to meet the expectations and demands from industry. This study examined the underlying perceptions of teachers and identified the barriers and enablers that presented themselves to technology integration. I wanted to gain an understanding in what ways and how often teachers were using technology in their teaching practices. Additionally, teacher's perceptions about the potential contribution that technology could make to their teaching practice would be explored. The study was completed in three phases; the first was an online questionnaire distributed through the college intranet networks and yielded 229 responses. The second phase was another online questionnaire; and this one was distributed directly to teachers that had confirmed that they would be prepared to continue with the study and was sent to 31 teacher’s work email addresses resulting in 21 completed surveys. Eleven one-to-one interviews completed the third phase of the study. The interviews used photo-elicitation to examine the beliefs of the teachers from the Further Education (FE) colleges across a range of subject areas. Each phase of the research was designed to elicit information relating to teacher’s perceptions of the utility and value of technology in their teaching. The results presented in this thesis reflect many of the findings from previous research from other education sectors, namely schools and universities; however other perceptions reflected the uniqueness of the Further and Vocational Education sector and are perhaps a reflection of the demographics of the sector. The main findings of the study were that several barriers existed to the integration and use of technology, a perceived lack of time along with lack of training and support in how to teach effectively using technology. Insufficient provision and access to technology within colleges meant that there was a reliance on students using personal devices to supplement lack of provision in the college, raising issues in low socioeconomic areas. Additionally, there was a perception that technology integration had been superseded in recent years by other CPD mandated for external audits and inspection

The Relationship Between Prisoners’ Academic Self-efficacy and Participation in Education, Previous Convictions, Sentence Length, and Portion of Sentence Served

Prison education is an important aspect of adult education. The study investigated current participation in prison education, as well as previous convictions, sentence length, and the portion of sentence served as predictors of academic self-efficacy. Survey data derived from prisoners in all Norwegian prisons provided the empirical evidences for the analyses. A principal component analysis of a 40-item academic self-efficacy questionnaire revealed self-efficacy components in literacy, mathematics, ICT, and self-regulated learning. Educational participation had a positive influence on self-efficacy in both mathematics and self-regulated learning. Participants who reported no previous conviction scored higher than others did on self-efficacy in mathematics, self-regulated learning, and ICT. Furthermore, the results showed that perceived efficacy in ICT decreased with longer sentence length. Portion of sentence served was not significantly related to any of the four self-efficacy components. The findings are discussed with reference to a need for mastery experiences in prison and implications for policy and practic

Examining the high school students’ chemistry motivation, chemistry laboratory anxiety and chemistry laboratory self-efficacy beliefs towards different variables

In this study, it is aimed to investigate the high school students’ chemistry motivation, chemistry laboratory anxiety, chemistry laboratory self-efficacy beliefs and their changes according to different variables. The study was designed in the relational survey model. The sample of the research consists of 642 high school students’. In the research, chemistry motivation scale, chemistry laboratory anxiety scale and chemistry laboratory self-efficacy beliefs scale were used as data collection tools. The difference between the chemistry motivation, chemistry laboratory anxiety and chemistry laboratory self-efficacy beliefs sub-dimensions according to class, gender and school type variables was examined by "Multivariate Variance Analysis MANOVA". The data meet the assumptions. As a result of the research, the high school students’ chemistry motivation, chemistry laboratory anxiety and chemistry laboratory self-efficacy beliefs averages are at medium levels. When the changes in the sub-dimensions are examined, it is seen that there was significant difference according to class, school type and class-school type interaction. This results are similar to other study results

The positive impacts of interactive whiteboards on student learning outcomes in FE colleges, and the conditions under which outcomes can be maximised.

This paper draws from a wider study on the use and impact of ICT within FE colleges. The research questions addressed are: what is it about the ways interactive whiteboards (iWBs) are being used that produce positive impacts on student outcomes, and what institutional and personal factors determine which teachers use iWBs effectively? Multiple case-studies of 6 colleges were designed using a new framework for classifying e-learning uses (ELUs) according to the learning context, learning objectives and the types of software and activities being used. Tutors’ beliefs in the efficacy of iWB use, their intentions for use, teaching style and pedagogical skills, and the subject taught all affected the ways in which iWB were deployed, and in particular the degree of multimedia and pedagogic interactivity. Tutors who made a lot of use of iWBs were in colleges where the leadership vision prioritised ICT within teaching and learning. The strongest impact on student outcomes occurred where iWBs were used in a variety of ways, use was appropriate for the subject, and congruent with the teachers' purposes and intentions for students' learning. Tutors who made little use of iWBs tended to be in colleges where the emphasis on management of learning was stronger than on supporting pedagogic development, and/or they were unaware of the potential of iWBs particularly in relation to their subject

The effect of self-efficacy and psychosocial development on the factors that influence major changing behavior

This quantitative research study sought to determine the factors that distinguish those students who are classified as “major-changers” from those who are classified as “relatively stable” (never changing their initial major or changing only once or twice). Participants of this study were full-time undergraduate students attending the University of Northern Iowa. The following variables were measured as possible factors influencing major-changing behavior: (a) level of psychosocial development, (b) level of self-efficacy, and (c) level of parental education. The Life-Skills Inventory–College Form (LSDI-CF) was used to measure students\u27 level of psychosocial development and the General Self-efficacy Scale (GSES) was used to measure students\u27 level of self-efficacy. Four main research questions framed this study: (a) which factors distinguish those students who change their major multiple times from those who remain relatively stable? (b) how does perceived level of self-efficacy influence a person\u27s ability to make decisions? (c) how does a person\u27s psychosocial development affect their ability to make decisions? and, (d) is there a relationship between parental education and major-changing behavior? Several statistically significant differences between major-changers and relatively stable students were found. Major-changers reported a lower level of self-efficacy than relatively stable students, and those students classified as “relatively stable” were found to have a higher level of self-perception on the Problem-Solving/Decision-Making Subscale on the Life-Skills Development Inventory than those students classified as major-changers. There were no significant differences found between major-changers and relatively stable students on level of parental education

ICT INDICATORS AND MUSIC PERFORMANCE OF MAPEH STUDENTS: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF TEACHING COMPETENCY

This study aimed to determine the mediating effect of teaching competency on the relationship between ICT Indicators and the music performance of MAPEH students. The researcher utilizes a quantitative, non-experimental design via a correlational technique. The researcher obtained data from 300 Grade 11 and 12 students of the three national high schools under the division of Davao del Sur in Region XI. The researcher utilized a stratified random sampling technique and an online survey mode of data collection. The researcher also utilized the statistical tools: mean, Pearson r, regression and med graph using the Sobel z- test. The study results found that there is a very high mean score of teaching competency, high levels of ICT indicators and music performance of MAPEH students. Furthermore, there are significant relationships between ICT indicators and music performance, ICT indicators and teaching competency and teaching competency and music performance of MAPEH students. Further, the result revealed that there was complete mediation on the effect of teaching competency on the relationship between ICT Indicators and the music performance of MAPEH students.  Article visualizations

Understanding STEM career choices: a systematic mapping

STEM disciplines are considered essential for human development, and they are associated with low unemployment rates and good economic prospects. However, many countries are faced with the problem of too few STEM graduates, which raises the question of why more students do not choose STEM majors. This study presents a systematic mapping of studies published prior to 2021 in Web of Science or Scopus in order to examine the research trends on the factors that cause students to choose a career in Computer Science, or more generically, in the STEM fields. These factors have been identified and classified in 3 categories: Environmental factors, Social influencers and Personal factors. The categories are made up of 4 levels of subcategories. We analyzed (1) the countries in which the study was conducted, (2) the characteristics of the study and (3) the frameworks used. The results show that the bulk of the studies were conducted in developed countries, mainly in North America and Europe. The frameworks most commonly used in the studies are Expectancy-Value Theory and Social Cognitive Career Theory, and consequently, the most commonly studied factors for STEM degrees are those related to personal psychological factors. For Computer Science degrees, the most frequently studied factor is career prospects. On the other hand, a small number of studies on the impact of social media on the choice of studies in the technology field were detected. Among the studies analyzed, there is great interest in determining the factors that specifically affect women and the differences between men and women, especially in studies dealing with the Computer Sciences. Furthermore, there are few studies that analyze the effect of informal educational experiences among women. Given that this kind of experiences has become very popular in recent years among women, future research should analyze their impact on the choice of STEM studies. Taking into account the current relevance of the social media, additional research on their impact on the choice of studies should be conducted. It would also be necessary to analyze the situation in underdeveloped countries, especially among women, given that this field is currently a driver of economic development.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version