Longitudinal high school research revealed: using surveys to assess student motivation and social networks

This case describes a longitudinal study of high school students’ academic and social motivation and social networks at school. When working together as a PhD student and advisor, we built a university-school partnership and conducted a student survey project that spanned five years. A portion of the project data was used for a dissertation on students’ social networks and their academic and social motivation. The case study describes the project context and development of the partnership, the research design and procedure, and an overview of the analysis and dissemination of complex data to school staff. Particular attention is paid to the use of social network analysis (SNA) as a methodological tool for assessing social relationships in schools. The longitudinal nature of the study required maintenance of a sustainable relationship with the school, which is discussed throughout. We conclude the case with lessons learned

Stretching the limits in help-seeking research

This special section focuses on help seeking in a wide range of learning environments, from classrooms to online forums. Previous research has rather restrictively focused on the identification of personal characteristics that predict whether or not learners seek help under certain conditions. However, help-seeking research has begun to broaden these self-imposed limitations. The papers in this special section represent good examples of this development. Indeed, help seeking in the presented papers is explored through complementary theoretical lenses (e.g., linguistic, instructional), using a wide scope of methodologies (e.g., teacher reports, log files), and in a manner which embraces the support of innovative technologies (e.g., cognitive tutors, web-based environments)

The Role of Social Goals in Students’ Academic Help Seeking and Help Giving Among Peers

This study examined the role of social achievement goals in academic help giving among peers within a high school. Students (n = 794) filled out surveys assessing their social goals, how often they are asked for help by their peers, and the type of help they gave to peers (instrumental vs. expedient). Controls included students’ grade point average, popularity, and personal help seeking preferences. Results demonstrated positive benefits of social development goals on students’ reports of how often they were asked for help and type of help given to their peers and negative impacts of social demonstration-avoidance goals on help giving. The findings complement achievement goal theory and provide a more comprehensive understanding of academic help seeking

Students’ interpersonal connections with peers and staff at the start of higher education

Establishing positive social relationships is important for students’ success and retention in higher education (HE). This can be especially challenging during the transition into HE since students often move to a larger educational setting and need to build relationships with new peers and staff. Research is needed to better understand social connections during this critical time, including the role of demographics, curricular and extracurricular participation, and how peer and staff connections predict academic achievement. Surveys of 290 first-year students at a large US public university assessed with whom students were interacting, how often, for what reasons, and with what modes of communication. Results include a detailed description of students’ interpersonal connections at the transition into HE, differences by demographics, curricular, and extracurricular participation, and the associations between students’ patterns of relationships and their academic achievement

Teacher Help-Seeking Beliefs and Help-Seeking Networks

Teachers work within a network of teachers at their school whose members can be an important source of advice and help, yet they must seek help from their colleagues in order to benefit from this network. This study employs social network analysis to examine how help-seeking patterns among teachers are related to teachers’ curricular domain, years of experience, and gender. Additionally, we examined how help-seeking beliefs (instrumental, expedient, and perceived threat) are related to help-seeking networks. Teachers (n = 81) from a representative U.S. high school participated in an online survey. They completed measures of their beliefs of help seeking and listed whom they sought help from at school. The data was used to create a network map of help-seeking relations. Results demonstrated that there were no gender differences. More experienced teachers reported lower instrumental benefits of help seeking but were sought for help more often by their colleagues. There were also differences in help seeking based on teachers’ subject area as indicated by the social network patterns. Associations between beliefs about help seeking and help-seeking network patterns were non-significant although in the hypothesized direction. This study lays the groundwork for further understanding of teachers’ help-seeking beliefs and help-seeking networks, including relevant factors that influence teacher help seeking within schools

Religious Fundamentalism in Eight Muslim‐Majority Countries: Reconceptualization and Assessment

To capture the common features of diverse fundamentalist movements, overcome etymological variability, and assess predictors, religious fundamentalism is conceptualized as a set of beliefs about and attitudes toward religion, expressed in a disciplinarian deity, literalism, exclusivity, and intolerance. Evidence from representative samples of over 23,000 adults in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Turkey supports the conclusion that fundamentalism is stronger in countries where religious liberty is lower, religion less fractionalized, state structure less fragmented, regulation of religion greater, and the national context less globalized. Among individuals within countries, fundamentalism is linked to religiosity, confidence in religious institutions, belief in religious modernity, belief in conspiracies, xenophobia, fatalism, weaker liberal values, trust in family and friends, reliance on less diverse information sources, lower socioeconomic status, and membership in an ethnic majority or dominant religion/sect. We discuss implications of these findings for understanding fundamentalism and the need for further research.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146946/1/jssr12549.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146946/2/jssr12549_am.pd

The benefits of librarian leadership in university teaching and learning centers: An overview and case study

Most library outreach to teaching faculty relies on direct librarian-faculty contact through liaison relationships, and not on involvement in faculty development programs. That is unfortunate since these programs, whether focusing on faculty development or on instructional development, could be a locus for librarian leadership on campus. Our survey of centers for teaching and learning at selected US colleges and universities found significant opportunities for librarians. At Eastern Michigan University, librarians became active leaders on the university-wide Teaching and Learning Resources Team. In that role we collaborated to plan integrated services with the directors of various faculty support offices, including the Faculty Center for Instructional Excellence (FCIE), the Center for Research Support (CRS), and the Center for Instructional Computing (CIC). As a consequence of this collaboration, the support centers were able to design programs that were more successful in meeting faculty needs, and library outreach programs themselves were strengthened. This case study demonstrates the mutual positive benefit derived from librarian leadership in faculty development and teaching and learning programs. Our paper contains specific examples of how librarians can promote information literacy and library learning while supporting faculty development and teaching and learning programs. We show how librarians epitomize the link between classroom skills and the newer concerns of computer literacy and information literacy. Based on our survey, we conclude by suggesting the types of librarian support and collaborative arrangements that would be most beneficial to faculty development or teaching and learning programs

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

Computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning and classroom scripts

This study examined the influence of classroom-script structure (high vs. low) during computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning on help-seeking processes and learning gains in 54 student pairs in secondary science education. Screen- and audio-capturing videos were analysed according to a model of the help-seeking process. Results show that the structure of the classroom script substantially affects patterns of student help seeking and learning gain in the classroom. Overall, students in the high-structured classroom-script condition sought less help but learnt more than those in the low-structured classroom-script condition

Self-Regulation in a Web-Based Course: A Case Study

Little is known about how successful students in Web-based courses self-regulate their learning. This descriptive case study used a social cognitive model of self-regulated learning (SRL) to investigate how six graduate students used and adapted traditional SRL strategies to complete tasks and cope with challenges in a Web-based technology course; it also explored motivational and environmental influences on strategy use. Primary data sources were three transcribed interviews with each of the students over the course of the semester, a transcribed interview with the course instructor, and the students’ reflective journals. Archived course documents, including transcripts of threaded discussions and student Web pages, were secondary data sources. Content analysis of the data indicated that these students used many traditional SRL strategies, but they also adapted planning, organization, environmental structuring, help seeking, monitoring, record keeping, and self-reflection strategies in ways that were unique to the Web-based learning environment. The data also suggested that important motivational influences on SRL strategy use—self-efficacy, goal orientation, interest, and attributions—were shaped largely by student successes in managing the technical and social environment of the course. Important environmental influences on SRL strategy use included instructor support, peer support, and course design. Implications for online course instructors and designers, and suggestions for future research are offered