Learning by doing: Promoting language teacher competencies for networked teaching and learning

AbstractOne of the opportunities to engage (future) language teachers in the use of ICT for interactive and collaborative language learning is by having them actively participate in ICT-enabled networked learning environments. This participation can take place at the level of task development, the level of task completion and the level of task evaluation. In the European NIFLAR project (Networked Interaction in Foreign Language Acquisition and Research) student teachers acquire competencies for online language teaching by participating in networked tasks for intercultural communicative competence, at these three levels: (1) they develop tasks for intercultural communicative competence by video-web communication and virtual worlds; (2) they participate in the tasks as native speaker interlocutors communicating with foreign language learners; and (3) they carry out action research on the task effects on communication, intercultural competence, language proficiency and added value of the ICT tools

Experimental studies to improve the reliability and validity of regulatory judgments on health care in the Netherlands: a randomized controlled trial and before and after case study

Rationale, aims and objectives We examined the effect of two interventions on both the reliability and validity of regulatory judgments: adjusting the regulatory instrument and attending a consensus meeting. Method We adjusted the regulatory instrument. With a randomized controlled trial (RCT) we examined the effect of the adjustments we made to the instrument. In the consensus meeting inspectors discussed cases and had to reach consensus about the order of the cases. We used a before and after case study to assess the effect of the consensus meeting. We compared the judgments assigned in the RCT with the unadjusted instrument with the judgments assigned with the unadjusted instrument after the consensus meeting. Moreover we explored the effect of increasing the number of inspectors per regulatory visit based on the estimates of the two interventions. Results The consensus meeting improved the agreement between inspectors; the variance between inspectors was smallest (0.03) and the reliability coefficient was highest (0.59). Validity is assessed by examining the relation between the assigned judgments and the corporate standard and expressed by a correlation coefficient. This coefficient was highest after the consensus meeting (0.48). Adjustment of the instrument did not increase reliability and validity coefficients. Conclusions Participating in a consensus meeting improved reliability and validity. Increasing the number of inspectors resulted in both higher reliability and validity values. Organizing consensus meetings and increasing the number of inspectors per regulatory visit seem to be valuable interventions for improving regulatory judgment

Het ene oordeel is het andere niet: Kwantitatieve analyse van de variatie bij IGZ-Inspecteurs

DOEL\ud Onderzoek naar de variatie in oordelen tussen inspecteurs van de Inspectie voor de Gezondheidszorg (IGZ) in het systeem van gefaseerd toezicht op de verpleeghuiszorg en naar de relatie tussen het type oordeel en de aan- of afwezigheid van onderbouwing daarbij.\ud \ud OPZET \ud Descriptief, kwantitatief, retrospectief.\ud \ud METHODE\ud In totaal werden 4914 oordelen met bijbehorende onderbouwingen van 26 inspecteurs uit 182 toezichtrapporten geanalyseerd. De oordelen waren in 2005 en 2006 gegeven op 25 criteria voor verantwoorde zorg in verpleeghuizen. Om de inspecteurs en hun oordelen over verschillende instellingen te kunnen vergelijken, werd met covariantieanalyse statistisch gecorrigeerd voor instellingskenmerken.\ud \ud RESULTATEN\ud Er waren statistisch significante verschillen in beoordeling tussen de inspecteurs. Na correctie voor instellingskenmerken bleven voor 14 van de 25 criteria significante verschillen bestaan. Tevens bleek de aanwezigheid van een onderbouwing bij een oordeel zowel afhankelijk te zijn van de inspecteur als van het gegeven oordeel.\ud \ud CONCLUSIE \ud Beoordelaarsverschillen tussen inspecteurs spelen een rol in de tweede fase van het gefaseerd toezicht op de verpleeghuizen. De IGZ zal resultaten van dit onderzoek gebruiken om haar toezicht verder te ontwikkelen

What textbooks offer and what teachers teach: an analysis of the Dutch reading comprehension curriculum

In the Netherlands, the quality of the reading curriculum is currently under debate because of disappointing results on national and international assessments of students’ reading skills and motivation. In a mixed-method study, we analyzed the content of Dutch textbooks for reading comprehension instruction (i.e., the implemented curriculum) and teachers’ evaluation and use of these books (i.e., the enacted curriculum). A materials analysis of reading comprehension lessons (N = 80) in eight textbooks for grades 4 and 5 was complemented with semi-structured teacher interviews (N = 29) and lesson observations (N = 11), with a focus on the quality of reading strategy and text structure instruction in the curriculum. Main findings are (1) a lack of alignment between lesson goals, theory, and assignments, (2) a strong focus on practicing strategies, (3) limited declarative knowledge about strategies and text structure, (4) little opportunities for self-regulated strategy application. The teachers that were interviewed mention similar problems, but still hardly deviate from the textbook’s content and pedagogical guidelines. We make recommendations to improve the quality of the curriculum

Experimental studies to improve the reliability and validity of regulatory judgments on health care in the Netherlands: A randomized controlled trial and before and after case study

Rationale, aims and objectives We examined the effect of two interventions on both the reliability and validity of regulatory judgments: adjusting the regulatory instrument and attending a consensus meeting. Method We adjusted the regulatory instrument. With a randomized controlled trial (RCT) we examined the effect of the adjustments we made to the instrument. In the consensus meeting inspectors discussed cases and had to reach consensus about the order of the cases. We used a before and after case study to assess the effect of the consensus meeting. We compared the judgments assigned in the RCT with the unadjusted instrument with the judgments assigned with the unadjusted instrument after the consensus meeting. Moreover we explored the effect of increasing the number of inspectors per regulatory visit based on the estimates of the two interventions. Results The consensus meeting improved the agreement between inspectors; the variance between inspectors was smallest (0.03) and the reliability coefficient was highest (0.59). Validity is assessed by examining the relation between the assigned judgments and the corporate standard and expressed by a correlation coefficient. This coefficient was highest after the consensus meeting (0.48). Adjustment of the instrument did not increase reliability and validity coefficients. Conclusions Participating in a consensus meeting improved reliability and validity. Increasing the number of inspectors resulted in both higher reliability and validity values. Organizing consensus meetings and increasing the number of inspectors per regulatory visit seem to be valuable interventions for improving regulatory judgments

Learning paths in synthesis writing: which learning path contributes most to which learning outcome?

This paper presents a secondary analysis of data collected during an intervention study in which students learnt to synthesise pairs of texts presenting opposite views on controversial issues. The original intervention study included two treatments and examined the effects of two instruction conditions when instructional materials and tasks were held constant. The participants were 114 undergraduate psychology students. The object of the instruction was a guide on strategies for writing an argumentative synthesis text. However, the instruction varied between explicit strategy instruction, consisting of explaining each of the process’s four phases (exploring and identifying arguments and counterarguments, contrasting positions, drawing an integrative conclusion, and organising and revising the final draft), modelled via videos, versus self-study of the written strategy guide. After the initial instruction session, the students in both groups practiced collaboratively writing synthesis texts over two sessions with access to the strategy guide. The primary study compared the individually written pre- and posttest syntheses and found statistically significant differences favouring explicit instruction in both dependent variables: the argumentation coverage and the level of integration. The secondary analysis reported in the current paper involved scoring additional written syntheses produced during two practice sessions and then analysing the data for all time points (pretest, posttest, and the two practice sessions) using structural equation modelling (SEM) to test whether explicit instruction directly or indirectly affected the two indicators of good argumentative synthesis texts—argument coverage and integration—via the following collaborative practice. The results suggested two different learning paths for both dependent variables: explicit instruction is effective for both variables, while collaborative practice only has an additional indirect effect on argument coverageThis research project was funded under the National Program for Basic Research Projects 2014–2016 by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (EDU2013-46606-C2-1) and Mobility Stays Salvador Madariaga 2015 by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (PRX15/00042

UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) The Role of Readers in Writing Development: Writing Students Bringing Their Texts to the Test

The role of readers in writing development: writing students bringing their texts to the test Published in: The Sage handbook of writing development Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Rijlaarsdam, G., Braaksma, M., Couzijn, M., Janssen, T., Kieft, M., Raedts, M.

Cost-effectiveness in extracorporeal life support in critically ill adults in the Netherlands

Background: Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is used to support the cardiorespiratory function in case of severe cardiac and/or respiratory failure in critically ill patients. According to the ELSO guidelines ECLS should be considered when estimated mortality risk approximates 80%. ECLS seems an efficient therapy in terms of survival benefit, but no undisputed evidence is delivered yet. The aim of the study is to assess the health-related quality of life after ECLS treatment and its cost effectiveness. Methods: We will perform a prospective observational cohort study. All adult patients who receive ECLS in the participating centers will be included. Exclusion criteria are patients in whom the ECLS is only used to bridge a procedure (like a high risk percutaneous coronary intervention or surgery) or the absence of informed consent. Data collection includes patient characteristics and data specific for ECLS treatment. Severity of illness and mortality risk is measured as precisely as possible using measurements for the appropriate age group and organ failure. For analyses on survival patients will act as their own control as we compare the actual survival with the estimated mortality on initiation of ECLS if conservative treatment would have been continued. Survivors are asked to complete validated questionnaires on health related quality of life (EQ5D-5 L) and on medical consumption and productivity losses (iMTA/iPCQ) at 6 and 12 months. Also the health related quality of life 1 month prior to ECLS initiation will be obtained by a questionnaire, if needed provided by relatives. With an estimated overall survival of 62% 210 patients need to be recruited to make a statement on cost effectiveness for all ECLS indications. Discussion: If our hypothesis that ECLS treatment is cost-effective is confirmed by this prospective study this could lead to an even broader use of ECLS treatment