Facilitating self-regulation in higher education through self-report

For the purpose of examining a tool to enable students in higher education to systematically reflect on their own self-regulation, a modified version of the Martinez-Pons Scale of Self-Regulation was used in a cohort study of 75 first-year undergraduate students in a Scottish University. Statistical analyses of the data revealed that, consequent to the intervention, participants reported greater use of self-regulatory behaviour. The reported change is explored through the lenses of expertise, pedagogy and personal epistemology. While this study cannot explain the detail of this reported change, its purpose was nevertheless met insofar as a structured self-recording instrument, to focus and inform students on the nature and effectiveness of their current learning behaviour, could be a useful and readily-available pedagogic tool for higher education tutors who wish some support in their practice

The way they see it : an evaluation of the Arts across the curriculum project

This paper reports on an evaluation to interrogate the efficacy of a Scottish Government sponsored initiative to introduce an arts-infused education model to primary (elementary) and secondary (high) schools. Arts Across the Curriculum (AAC) was a three-year pilot project, with ambitious aims. The aims included aspirations to increase pupils' achievement and motivation to learn; to develop the skills of teachers to work collaboratively and creatively; to encourage links between different areas of learning and thus erode subject barriers. In addition, the project sought to improve the ethos of the school and explore the efficacy of the expressive arts as a delivery mechanism across the curriculum (FLaT, 2006). Between April 2005 and December 2007, the evaluation team gathered data using a variety of instruments including surveys, structured observations, interviews and video diaries. This paper presents some of the findings from the evaluation and in particular it focuses on the artists' views of the efficacy of the project; in short we wanted to know how they 'saw it'. It should be noted that the research team that evaluated the initiative had no say in the design of the AAC project

Arts across the curriculum: enhancing pupil learning, the pupil perspective

Paper presented to the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Annual Conference, held at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

The Significance of Knowledge in Learning: A Psychologically Informed Analysis of Higher Education Students\u27 Perceptions

The emergence of what is increasingly becoming known as the knowledge age implies that higher education should prepare students to be, primarily, knowledge workers. This proposition triggered a small scale study in which structured interviews were carried out with 25 second-year undergraduates registered for a psychology module on motivational theory. The purpose of the interview was to discern students’ views on the features of dialogue/talk and of student study behaviour that help them to develop usable knowledge. The dominant finding was that students did not perceive their learning to be facilitated through being required to be cognitively active in processing new information. Rather, they perceived their learning to be most effective when new knowledge was made available to them. The findings are discussed in terms of the complexity of the prior knowledge base on which the success of constructivist approaches depends

GOALS survey: P6 pupils and further and higher education

The Quality in Education Centre (QIE) at the University of Strathclyde was commissioned bythe GOALS Project team to provide baseline data from pupils who had not, as yet,participated in the GOALS programme for the purpose of contributing to a larger evaluation ofthe impact of the GOALS Project, and to make recommendations on the future developmentof the project. This report summarises and discusses data from surveys of a sample of P6pupils and interview data from a smaller sample of their parents

Evaluation of articulate project

The Articulate Project was commissioned by West Dunbartonshire Council, with funding from the Scottish Executive’s Future Learning and Teaching (FLaT) programme,The Scottish Arts Council, West Dunbartonshire Council and West Dunbartonshire Partnership. Activities relating to the project took place between May and December 2004. The overall aim of the Articulate Project was to “explore how or if the arts, and specifically drama and theatre practice, might impact positively on English language skills in the classroom” (AELP, 2005, p5). The five specific aims of the Articulate Project were to: · develop the creative and imaginative writing skills of participating pupils · improve the ability of pupils to communicate effectively · raise levels of pupils’ self esteem and self worth · increase pupils’ motivation to participate in, and enjoy, learning · create a positive impact on thinking skills, problem solving and team working on individuals, schools and the community. The Traverse Theatre devised a programme of pupil activities with the help of a teacher in one of the participating primary schools. In the initial stage, all participating pupils (in each class from each of five schools) were introduced to drama techniques by a Traverse Theatre actress and they attended two theatre performances. In the next stage the focus shifted to creative writing, and a group of ten pupils from each class worked directly in 10 workshops with a Traverse Theatre playwright, in order to develop their own drama sketches, which were performed by professional actors in Denny Civic Theatre. At the same time, the remainder of each class engaged in similar creative writing lessons with their teacher. Although this second Articulate group did not have their work performed, they supported the Denny Civic Theatre production by producing art work with the help of a professional artist. There were three main phases in the evaluation, which began five months after the projectended. A first phase (June and July 2005) was designed to build up a picture of the Project through extended interviews with its key architects and through document analysis. In a second phase (August – October 2005), impact on pupils was explored through theirresponses to Articulate-specific questionnaires and to two standardised instruments (the Marsh Self Description Questionnaire and the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking - ‘Thinking Creatively with Words’), as well as through their focus group contributions. This second phase included evaluation of the project’s impact on staff through one-to-one interviews with school staff and analysis of an extended interview with the Traverse Theatre Literary Development Officer. A third phase (November 2005 – January 2006) was concerned mainly with data analysis, including pre- and post-project attainment level data for reading and writing, but also provided an opportunity for parents and a local community organisation to express views on the project. During this phase final discussions also took place with a primary Head Teacher and the Depute Head in the secondary school

Supporting care leavers in Scottish further education colleges : a research account of a pilot programme aimed at supporting looked after young people and care leavers in further education colleges in Scotland

The aim of the research, conducted between August 2009 and June 2011, was to conduct an evaluation of a programme funded by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) which supported three pilot projects concerned with the engagement in further education (FE) provision of young people aged between 15 and 19 who are in local authority care (at home and away from home) or who have left care. The overall aim of the research was to identify clear lessons for the Council and for the Scottish FE college sector more generally, leading to improved participation by care leavers in post-school education

Evaluation of arts across the curriculum

This is the final report on the evaluation of the Arts Across the Curriculum (AAC) project, prepared bythe evaluation team in the Quality in Education Centre (QIE) at the University of Strathclyde, who were commissioned by the Scottish Government (formerly Scottish Executive) Education Department.Arts Across the Curriculum is a three-year pilot project sponsored by the former Scottish Executive'sFuture Learning and Teaching (FLaT) programme1, the Scottish Arts Council, and seven localauthorities in which the initiative is being piloted. In order to be eligible to participate in AAC, localauthorities had to have a Creative Links Officer in post. The seven Creative Links Officers were responsible for the management of the AAC project in their local authority

Experienced tutors' deployment of thinking skills and what might be entailed in enhancing such skills

In the context of research that reports weaknesses in adults' critical thinking skills, the primary aim was to examine adults' use of critical thinking skills that are described in taxonomies and to identify areas for development. Position papers written by an opportunity sample of 32 experienced adult educators formed the data for a descriptive sample survey design intended to reveal participants' use of critical thinking skills. Each 6000-word paper was written during a development programme that supported such skills. A content analysis of the papers revealed that when participants drew on personal and published ideas about learning to derive their proposals for change, they accepted the ideas uncritically, thereby implying that they might find it difficult to help learners to examine ideas critically. The evidence supports research that implies that critical thinking skills are unlikely to develop unless overall course design privileges the development of epistemological understanding (King and Kitchener 1994, Kuhn 1999). A fundamental assumption underlying the study is that this understanding influences effective citizenship and personal development, as well as employability. A proposition that merits attention in future research is that the development of epistemological understanding is largely neglected in current curricula in formal post-16 education