A Longitudinal Evaluation of the Impact of a Problem-Based Learning Approach to the Teaching of Software Development in Higher Education

First year students on Computing courses at tertiary level find Software Development difficult: learner outcomes are poor, with high failure rates and low learner retention. A number of research studies have shown that novice programmers have low intrinsic motivation and low programming self-efficacy. One of the other possible explanations for the difficulties many learners have with Software Development is that it may be a Threshold Concept in Computing. The literature suggests that Problem-Based Learning (PBL) can improve the teaching of difficult concepts, and it has been promoted by professional and funding bodies as a teaching strategy that can improve learner outcomes and bring about positive changes in learner behaviour. The main aim of this research study was to establish the impact on learner outcomes and behaviour of a Hybrid PBL approach used in the teaching of an introductory Software Development module at an Irish tertiary level institution. Learners on the Software Development module are characterised by low prior attainment in State college entry examinations, and the majority are from low income socio-economic backgrounds. Learner outcomes and behaviours were investigated over four cohorts of learners using a large range of data sources. A randomised controlled experimental design was used to measure changes in attainment, programming self-efficacy, motivation, approaches to study and preferences for types of teaching. Questionnaires, data mining of learner activity and attendance logs were used to provide additional information about learner behaviour, and further analysis was undertaken using qualitative techniques such as classroom observations and interviews. Both qualitative and quantitative measures were used to confirm, cross-validate and corroborate findings. The study made significant discoveries about the strengths and limitations of the Problem-Based Learning approach in the teaching of Software Development to low attainment learners. The implications for instructional practice and for educational theory and research are discussed and a number of recommendations are made

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Using a Hybrid PBL Approach in the Teaching of the Java Programming Language to First Year Third Level

First year students on third level Computing courses find Software Development difficult: learner outcomes are poor, with high failure rates and low learner retention. A number of research studies have shown that novice programmers have low intrinsic motivation and low programming self-efficacy. One of the other possible explanations for the difficulties many learners have with Software Development is that it may be a Threshold Concept in Computing. The literature suggests that Problem-Based Learning (PBL) can improve the teaching of difficult concepts, and it has been promoted by professional and funding bodies as a teaching strategy that can improve learner outcomes and bring about positive changes in learner behaviour. The main aim of this research study was to establish the impact on learner behaviour of a Hybrid PBL approach used in the teaching of an introductory Software Development module at an Irish third level institution. Learners on the Software Development module are characterised by low prior attainment in State college entry examinations, and the majority are from low income socio-economic backgrounds. Learner behaviours were investigated over four cohorts of learners using a large range of data sources. A randomised controlled experimental design was used to measure changes in attainment, programming self-efficacy, motivation, approaches to study and preferences for types of teaching. Questionnaires, data mining of learner activity and attendance logs were used to provide additional information about learner behaviour, and further analysis was undertaken using qualitative techniques such as classroom observations and interviews. Both qualitative and quantitative measures were used to confirm, cross-validate and corroborate findings. The study made significant discoveries about the strengths and limitations of the Problem-Based Learning approach in the teaching of Software Development to low attainment learners. The implications for instructional practice an

The low carbon commute: Rethinking the habits that connect home and work in Auckland and London through John Dewey’s pragmatism

Neoliberalism has fundamentally altered how diverse sectors such as energy, health, and transport have come to be understood and governed. In exercising their ‘freedom of choice’ individual consumers are now held responsible for the social or environmental consequences of their decisions and actions. States have accordingly sought to intervene, influence and change the choices of citizens in a variety of spheres of everyday life. This thesis, by exploring how they understand action, demonstrates why these interventions are severely limited. It examines different approaches which have or could inform such interventions and how they theorise, research, and propose to, govern citizen’s actions. Of those considered, it argues John Dewey’s pragmatist writings, especially on habit and experience, by providing a dynamic understanding of how action continually emerges out of an individual’s interactions with their social and physical environments are particularly pertinent. The relevance of this approach for contemporary sustainability and climate change debates is demonstrated through a focus on commuting, which has become a central concern of various behaviour change agendas. The thesis draws on a range of empirical materials generated and collected through interviews, go-alongs and ethnography during fieldwork with local and migrant workers in Auckland, New Zealand and London, United Kingdom. The methodology aimed to produce a range of data on the stable and dynamic aspects of the internal and external environments, and phases, of action. These empirical materials are employed to demonstrate both the limitations of the dominant psychological and economic behavioural models and the potential of a Deweyan-inspired approach for understanding action. The thesis is structured around three associated interventions. First, the soft or libertarian paternalist concept of ‘choice architecture’ is explored. This approach it is suggested is limited in that it fails to problematize and politicise the notion of choice or account for the emergence of purposive and meaningful action. The notion of ‘habit infrastructures’ is introduced as a way of recognising how subjectivities and preferences are always conditioned but not determined by the histories and politics of physical environments and established social norms, values and ideologies, as individuals always retain the capacity to act upon the world. Second, the notion that various ‘barriers’ prevent individuals from making more sustainable choices is critiqued. The concept is too static, fixed, ahistorical and individualistic to account for the complexities of action and social change. It is demonstrated that such a framing offers little insight into why the number of year round cyclists is increasing in Auckland and London, and how regular commuter cyclists anticipate, experience, and negotiate changing weather conditions alongside a range of other everyday routines and practices. Dewey’s theory of situations is instead shown to provide a way of understanding the continuous and contingent contexts in which these experiences unfold and associated habits emerge. Third, dominant behavioural models typically conceptualise habit and thought as polar opposites. Following Dewey the thesis argues they are better understood as phases within human experience. This argument is developed by exploring how people’s commuting practices emerge out of repeated encounters with particular environments. The transition from the unfamiliar to familiar is marked by a development of new habits which alter people’s sense and experience of these environments and allow them to negotiate and adjust to changes in these contexts often with little or no thought. Dewey thus can provide a useful starting point for rethinking the relationship between habit and thought in future interventions. Given the social, economic and political uncertainties it is unlikely that existing urban infrastructures and systems will be radically reconfigured in the near future. Even if they were, history reminds us technology without accompanying social change will not be sufficient to address crises such as climate change. Behaviour change interventions, therefore, will likely remain a primary policy response to the challenges posed by increasing carbon emissions, resource consumption and demand. This thesis contends such interventions need to move beyond existing dominant behavioural models if they are to facilitate change. John Dewey, with his tenacious insistence on the situated, relational, more-than-individual and emergent character of action, provides an alternative approach which helps to reveal both the challenges and possible openings for developing a less carbon and resource intensive world

Ethics and the beyond of language: substitutionary atonement and the concept of "counterlife" (Ἀντίψυχος) in 4 Maccabees

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval, Paleografía y Diplomática. Fecha de lectura: 14-05-201

Developing Data Literacy for Data Enabled Student Success

Tapping in to the potential benefits of learning analytics requires staff and students in higher education to be proficient in data literacy. This poster reports on a project to review and identify professional development needs for learning analytics, with an emphasis on the effective use of learning data to promote student success. We report on the development of an evidence based strategy and implementation plan that addresses the skills gaps and professional development requirements of students and higher education staff who teach or lead teaching and learning enhancement. The outputs will enable upskilling of staff and also facilitate students to be more aware, and make greater use of, their own data ‘footprint’. This facilitates the development of important life skills such as self-regulation and self actualisation. In the broader institutional context, this should have the resulting impact of more widespread adoption of evidence based decisions that support student success initiatives

Cultivating support during COVID ‐19 through clinical supervision: A discussion article

Aim: This article aims to discuss how clinical supervision is an important approach in supporting frontline nurses and students during and post COVID‐19 through the lens of the nursing metaparadigms. Design: Discussion article. Methods: Discourse of the literature considering the importance of working collaboratively with healthcare and educational organisations in operationalising clinical supervision. Results: The evidence base supporting clinical supervision as an effective support strategy for nurses exists, however, its implementation and practice has become sporadic. A resurgence is required to support student's and nurse's during this pandemic. It is timely for nurse educators to creatively engage with clinical partners in supporting clinical supervision to enhance both nurses and students pandemic practice experiences. Clinical supervision is proposed as one strategy to support and guide both nurses and students to develop, strengthen and challenge the effectiveness of their care during COVID‐19

Clinical supervision: A panacea for missed care

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aim: Clinical supervision is proposed as a solution-focused approach that supports nurses in busy health care environments, helping address the mounting incidents of missed care. Background: The pervasive nature of missed nursing care is concerning. The growing body of evidence on missed care predominantly focuses on types and causes. However, the effectiveness of solution-focused interventions used to reduce incidents of missed care has received less attention. Methods: Drawing on the literature, it is proposed that clinical supervision supports personal and professional development, positive working environments and quality patient care outcomes, and therefore reduces missed care incidents. Results: Clinical supervision fosters a supportive working environment where opportunities to critically reflect on caring values are provided, commitment to improving standards of care is nurtured, and courage to challenge care standards is encouraged. Conclusion: In an era of reports highlighting declining standards of nursing care and a wealth of evidence highlighting the benefits of clinical supervision, it remains underused in many areas of nursing. Implications for Nursing Management: Nurse managers need to recognize the value of clinical supervision in improving standards of nursing care and assume leadership in its successful implementation

Plasticity in nest site choice behavior in response to hydric conditions in a reptile

Natural selection is expected to select for and maintain maternal behaviors associated with choosing a nest site that promotes successful hatching of offspring, especially in animals that do not exhibit parental care such as reptiles. In contrast to temperature effects, we know little about how soil moisture contributes to successful hatching and particularly how it shapes nest site choice behavior in nature. The recent revelation of exceptionally deep nesting in lizards under extreme dry conditions underscored the potential for the hydric environment in shaping the evolution of nest site choice. But if deep nesting is an adaptation to dry conditions, is there a plastic component such that mothers would excavate deeper nests in drier years? We tested this hypothesis by excavating communal warrens of a large, deep-nesting monitor lizard (Varanus panoptes), taking advantage of four wet seasons with contrasting rainfall amounts. We found 75 nests during two excavations, including 45 nests after a 4-year period with larger wet season rainfall and 30 nests after a 4-year period with smaller wet season rainfall. Mothers nested significantly deeper in years associated with drier nesting seasons, a finding best explained as a plastic response to soil moisture, because differences in both the mean and variance in soil temperatures between 1 and 4 m deep are negligible. Our data are novel for reptiles in demonstrating plasticity in maternal behavior in response to hydric conditions during the time of nesting. The absence of evidence for other ground-nesting reptile mothers adjusting nest depth in response to a hydric-depth gradient is likely due to the tradeoff between moisture and temperature with changing depth; most ground-nesting reptile eggs are deposited at depths of ~ 2–25 cm—nesting deeper within or outside of that range of depths to achieve higher soil moisture would also generally create cooler conditions for embryos that need adequate heat for successful development. In contrast, extreme deep nesting in V. panoptes allowed us to disentangle temperature and moisture. Broadly, our data suggest that ground-nesting reptiles can assess soil moisture and respond by adjusting the depth of the nest, but may not, due to the cooling effect of nesting deeper. Our results, within the context of previous work, provide a more complete picture of how mothers can promote hatching success through adjustments in nest site choice behavior

An extended set of PRDM1/BLIMP1 target genes links binding motif type to dynamic repression

The transcriptional repressor B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein-1 (BLIMP1) regulates gene expression and cell fate. The DNA motif bound by BLIMP1 in vitro overlaps with that of interferon regulatory factors (IRFs), which respond to inflammatory/immune signals. At such sites, BLIMP1 and IRFs can antagonistically regulate promoter activity. In vitro motif selection predicts that only a subset of BLIMP1 or IRF sites is subject to antagonistic regulation, but the extent to which antagonism occurs is unknown, since an unbiased assessment of BLIMP1 occupancy in vivo is lacking. To address this, we identified an extended set of promoters occupied by BLIMP1. Motif discovery and enrichment analysis demonstrate that multiple motif variants are required to capture BLIMP1 binding specificity. These are differentially associated with CpG content, leading to the observation that BLIMP1 DNA-binding is methylation sensitive. In occupied promoters, only a subset of BLIMP1 motifs overlap with IRF motifs. Conversely, a distinct subset of IRF motifs is not enriched amongst occupied promoters. Genes linked to occupied promoters containing overlapping BLIMP1/IRF motifs (e.g. AIM2, SP110, BTN3A3) are shown to constitute a dynamic target set which is preferentially activated by BLIMP1 knock-down. These data confirm and extend the competitive model of BLIMP1 and IRF interaction