From eating to discovering: How metaphors of learning change during students' enculturation

During their enculturation process students need to adapt their conceptions of learning to the learning culture at the university. However, conceptions are usually implict and thus difficult to assess. Metaphors have been proposed as a possibility to examine conceptions. Therefore, in a longitudinal study (N=30), changes to metaphors of learning were examined over the course of the first year of studies. In general, we found that metaphors were more congruent with university learning culture in the 2nd year of studies than in the 1st year, indicating that students undergo a complex enculturation process changing their conceptions of learning. 16.12.2015 | Elisabeth Wegner & Matthias Nückles (Freiburg

Student teachers’ perception of dilemmatic demands and the relation to epistemological beliefs

Teaching is characterized by contradictory demands, resulting in teaching dilemmas. For example, to promote the continuous learning of students, teachers need to set up rules and control them, which in turn can undermine students’ intrinsic motivation. Teachers have to become aware of these contradictions and need to understand that not all aspects of good teaching can be maximized at the same time. An adequate representation of the dilemmatic nature of problems of teaching is therefore crucial for judging different teaching situations. Also, an adequate epistemological understanding is needed. We assessed student teachers’ (N = 122) perceptions of demands in teaching in general and in regards to specific situations, as well as their epistemological beliefs. Perception of demands in general influenced the judgment of specific situations, but there was also a situation-specific component. Epistemological beliefs were related to the perceptions of demands in general, especially in situations in which the dilemmatic content was highly visible. Together, findings suggest that epistemological beliefs shape the perception of demands in teaching in general, and that the perception of demand in general again influences perception in specific situations

Structural Reforms and Capital Market Interventions during a Financial Crisis

I study how structural reforms in product and labor markets affect an economy that is going through a financial crisis. Of specific interest is the role of credit intermediation in a crisis and how it is influenced by reforms. I consider three key characteristics of the recent financial crisis that are potentially relevant for policy analysis: First, the crisis was triggered in the financial sector; second, there were spillovers from the financial to the real sector due to credit rationing; third, governments actively intervened in the credit market during the crisis. I construct two dynamic general equilibrium models with financial frictions to address these issues --a closed economy model and a monetary union model. I show that permanent structural reforms have positive effects on aggregate output in both the long and the short run. They affect the capital market positively and stimulate credit intermediation. Contrariwise, reforms that are either implemented temporarily or announced to be implemented in the future have negative consequences for output in the short run. Moreover, reforms that are implemented in one country of a currency union have positive short-run effects on both the reforming country and its foreign counterpart. My results also hold if the central bank is constrained by a lower interest rate bound. I also show that reforms have a qualitatively similar impact as a direct intervention in the credit market. Moreover, credit market interventions are complementary to structural reforms

Kompetenzerwerb oder Enkulturation? Lehrende und ihre Metaphern des Lernens

Das Ziel eines Studiums kann sowohl im Erwerb von Wissen und Fähigkeiten ("Aneignungsmetapher des Lernens") als auch in der Enkulturation in eine Fachcommunity verstanden werden ("Partizipationsmetapher", vgl. SFARD, 1998). Der Kompetenzbegriff beinhaltet beide Aspekte des Lernens. In der Studie wurde daher in strukturierten Interviews (N=36) untersucht, in welchen Metaphern Lehrende über Lehren und Lernen denken und welche Ziele sie in ihrer Lehre verfolgen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass ein beträchtlicher Anteil von Lehrenden Lernen im Sinne der Enkulturation ins Fach verstehen. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass die alleinige Auslegung des Kompetenzbegriffs im Sinne des Erwerbs von Fähigkeiten bei vielen Lehrenden nicht anschlussfähig ist und in der Umsetzung von kompetenzorientierter Lehre auch die Perspektive der Enkulturation berücksichtigt werden muss. 23.01.2013 | Elisabeth Wegner & Matthias Nückles (Freiburg

The influence of scientific text formats on text comprehension and epistemological beliefs of educational science students

Die Studie untersucht, ob adaptierte Primärliteratur, ein neu eingeführtes wissenschaftliches Textformat, sowohl Textverstehen als auch elaboriertere epistemologische Überzeugungen fördert. In einem randomisierten Experiment lasen 74 Studierende der Bildungswissenschaften wissenschaftliche Originalliteratur, adaptierte Primärliteratur oder einen Lehrbuchtext. Studierende, die adaptierte Primärliteratur lasen, zeigten ein besseres Textverständnis und elaboriertere epistemologische Überzeugungen bzgl. der Dimension Quelle von Wissen als Studierende, die die anderen beiden Textformate lasen. Für die anderen Dimensionen zeigten sich keine Unterschiede. Es wird diskutiert, welchen Nutzen adaptierte Primärliteratur für die forschungsorientierte Lehre hat. (DIPF/Orig.)This study examines whether adapted primary literature, a newly introduced scientific text format, promotes both text comprehension and elaborate epistemological beliefs. In a randomised experiment, 74 students of educational science read primary scientific literature, adapted primary literature or a textbook text. Participants who read the adapted primary literature displayed a better text comprehension and elaborated epistemological beliefs concerning the dimension of source of knowledge than students who read the other two text formats. With regard to the other epistemological dimensions, no differences were found. It is discussed what use adapted primary literature has for higher education research-based teaching and learning. (DIPF/Orig.

Die Wirkung hochschuldidaktischer Weiterbildung auf den Umgang mit widersprüchlichen Handlungsanforderungen

Die Tätigkeit des Lehrens ist mit in sich widersprüchliche Anforderungen verbunden (z. B. Förderung von selbstgesteuertem Lernen vs. Unterstützung von Lernenden). Lehrende müssen sich der Antinomien didaktischen Handelns bewusst sein, um adäquat mit ihnen umzugehen zu können. 36 Lehrende (16 ohne vs. 20 mit hochschuldidaktischer Weiterbildung) wurden im strukturierten Interview mit dilemmatischen Entscheidungsszenarios konfrontiert. Es wurden fünf Typen im Umgang mit Widersprüchen identifiziert, wobei Weiterbildungsteilnehmer/innen in zwei von vier Szenarios komplexeren Auffassungen zugeordnet werden konnten. Lehrerfahrung hingegen hatte keinen Effekt. Weiterbildung trägt also offenbar zu einem verbesserten Verständnis von Lehren bei. 02.11.2011 | Elisabeth Wegner & Matthias Nückles (Freiburg

"Ich kann Schüler*innen beim Erschließen von Fachtexten anleiten". Ein Training zum Erlernen einer Kernpraktik

Der Beitrag fokussiert auf die Kernpraktik, Schüler*innen beim Erschließen von Fachtexten anzuleiten. Auf Basis des Konzepts Reciprocal Teaching werden instruktionale Aktivitäten beschrieben, welche Lehramtsstudierende erlernen sollen, um dieses Konzept erfolgreich umzusetzen. Der Beitrag vergleicht verschiedene Seminarkonzepte hinsichtlich ihrer Wirkung auf das Wissen über Reciprocal Teaching, die professionelle Wahrnehmung sowie die Ausführung der Kernpraktik. (DIPF/Orig.

When is Learning “Effortful”? Scrutinizing the Concept of Mental Effort in Cognitively Oriented Research from a Motivational Perspective

peer reviewedIn the context of instructional design and self-regulated learning research, the notion of mental effort allocation, monitoring, and control has gained increasing attention. Bringing together a cognitive perspective, focusing on Cognitive Load Theory, and a motivational perspective, merging central accounts from Situated Expectancy Value Theory and Self-Determination Theory, we plea for a three-fold conception of effort that clearly distinguishes the different psychological sources of experiencing and allocating effort in learning environments: effort-by-complexity, effort-by-need frustration, and effort-by-allocation. Such a detailed conception has important implications for how effort should be studied and how it can be influenced by instructional support or by the learning individual itself. A first conclusion we draw is that cognitively oriented research needs to be careful when taking students’ self-reports on the “effortfulness” of a task as an indication of the object-level cognitive requirements of the task, as such appraisals may also reflect the affective-emotional requirements of task execution as well as motivational beliefs regarding the likelihood of success and meaningfulness of a task. A second conclusion is that instructional procedures rooted in cognition-oriented theory ideally are complemented by motivation theory to support student learning optimally

Online help-seeking in communities of practice

Interactive online help systems are considered to be a fruitful supplement to traditional IT helpdesks, which are often overloaded. They often comprise user-generated FAQ collections playing the role of technology-based conceptual artifacts. Two main questions arise: how the conceptual artifacts should be used, and which factors influence their acceptance in a community of practice (CoP). Firstly, this paper offers a theoretical frame and a usage scenario for technology-based conceptual artifacts against the theoretical background of the academic help-seeking and CoP approach. Each of the two approaches is extensively covered by psychological and educational research literature, however their combination is not yet sufficiently investigated. Secondly, the paper proposes a research model explaining the acceptance of conceptual artifacts. The model includes users’ expectations towards the artifact, perceived social influence and users’ roles in the CoP as predictors of artifact use intention and actual usage. A correlational study conducted in an academic software users’ CoP and involving structural equations modeling validates the model, suggesting thus a research line that is worth further pursuing. For educational practice, the study suggests three ways of supporting knowledge sharing in CoPs, i.e. use of technology-based conceptual artifacts, roles and division of labor, and purposeful communication in CoPs