Student Learning in Higher Education: a Commentary

This commentary begins by summarizing the five contributions to this special issue and briefly recapping the background to the topic of student learning in higher education. Narrative and systematic reviews are compared, and the relative value of different bibliographic databases in the context of systematic reviews is assessed. The importance of measures of effect size is stressed. The relationship of the five contributions to early research on levels of processing and approaches to learning is discussed, along with the presage–process–product model of student learning and historical discussions that are relevant to the current theoretical discussions. This field has benefited from the development of more robust instrumentation, but researchers must continue to develop new kinds of measure, including online measures of students’ strategy use. Researchers need to consider ways of enhancing the quality of student learning through the use of problem-based curricula and other student-centered approaches. Finally, it is suggested that researchers into student learning need to evaluate whether their concepts, methods, theories, and findings are valid in online environments and to investigate how curricula in higher education can build upon those in secondary education

Unearthing learners’ conceptions of reflection to innovate business education for the 21st century

The development of learners’ capacities for critical reflection is an important learning outcome for 21st century business education. Theories suggest that a learner holds a particular orientation to reflection, and that this perspective will be influenced by his or her underlying beliefs. This, coupled with an increased focus on the student experience, personal development, and self-regulation in higher education, offers scope for considering instructional design from a second-order perspective, or in other words, from the student’s point of view. This study sought to understand: 1) the ways that business students orientate to reflection, 2) the different conceptions they hold of reflection, and 3) whether there is a relationship between the two. Reflective learning questionnaires were completed by 112 business students studying at the University of Northampton. Survey results showed that while the research instrument was a good fit for investigating orientations to and conceptions of reflection, there did not appear to be a correlation between the two. Learning analytics such as these will be useful for considering how the University can design more meaningful business curricula. However, the disconnect between conceptions of and orientations to reflection needs to be explored through further research

Promoting reflection in asynchronous virtual learning spaces: tertiary distance tutors' conceptions

Increasingly, universities are embedding reflective activities into the curriculum. With the growth in online tertiary education, how effectively is reflection being promoted or used in online learning spaces? Based on the notion that teachers’ beliefs will influence their approaches to teaching, this research sought to understand how a group of distance tutors at the UK Open University conceptualised reflection. It was hoped that these findings would illuminate their approaches to promoting reflection as part of their online pedagogies. Phenomenographic analysis indicated that these tutors conceptualised reflection in four qualitatively different ways. Furthermore, the data suggested that these educators held a combination of two conceptions: one that understood the origin of being reflective and one that understood the purpose of reflection. Analysis of structural aspects of these conceptions offered insight into tutors’ own perspectives for what is needed to make online learning environments fertile territory for reflective learning

Degree attainment, ethnicity and gender: a literature review

The aim of this literature review is to inform the project on degree attainment, ethnicity and gender undertaken by the Higher Education Academy and the Equality Challenge Unit. For the purposes of the review, attainment is defined with regard to the class of honours awarded to students on their completion of first degrees at UK higher education institutions. The first part of the review therefore provides a discussion of this index of attainment as a point of reference for the rest of the discussion. The role of gender as a predictor of attainment has been considered for nearly 50 years, and so this topic is dealt with in the second part. The role of ethnicity has only been considered more recently, and this will be dealt with in the third part of the review. The final part offers conclusions regarding the role of gender and ethnicity as predictors of academic attainment

The use of Latin-square designs in educational and psychological research

A Latin square is a matrix containing the same number of rows and columns. The cell entries are a sequence of symbols inserted in such a way that each symbol occurs only once in each row and only once in each column. Fisher (1925) proposed that Latin squares could be useful in experimental designs for controlling the effects of extraneous variables. He argued that a Latin square should be chosen at random from the set of possible Latin squares that would fit a research design and that the Latin-square design should be carried through into the data analysis. Psychological researchers have advanced our appreciation of Latin-square designs, but they have made only moderate use of them and have not heeded Fisher’s prescriptions. Educational researchers have used them even less and are vulnerable to similar criticisms. Nevertheless, the judicious use of Latin-square designs is a powerful tool for experimental researchers

An Illustration of Students’ Engagement with Mathematical Software using Remote Observation

Students using three types of spreadsheet calculators for understanding expected value were observed remotely. This remote observation involves the use of webcams and application sharing for observing students learning mathematics. The study illustrates how remote observation can be used for collecting mathematical education data and raises questions about the extent to which such a method can be used in future experiments

Counting What Is Measured or Measuring What Counts? League Tables and Their Impact On Higher Education Institutions in England

This report investigates league tables and their impact on higher education institutions (HEIs) in England. It presents findings from two strands of research: – an analysis of five league tables selected for the study, their methodologies and the underlying data employed, and – an investigation of how higher education institutions respond to league tables generally and the extent to which they influence institutional decision-making and actions. The purpose of the research is to stimulate informed debate about the approaches and limitations of the various league tables, and greater understanding among the users and stakeholders of the implications of making decisions based on these sources of information

Mathematical thinking of undergraduate students when using three types of software

The research investigates how conceptual understanding of mathematics is promoted when using three types of software: black-box (no mathematical intermediate steps shown), glass-box (intermediate steps shown) and open-box (interaction at each intermediate step). Thirty-eight students were asked to think-aloud and give detailed explanations whilst answering three types of tasks: mechanical (mostly procedural), interpretive (mostly conceptual) and constructive (mixture of conceptual and procedural). The software types had no impact on how students answered the mechanical tasks; however students using the black-box did better on the constructive tasks because of their increased explorations. Students with low maths confidence resorted to using real-life explanations when answering tasks that were application related

Technology - Empowering the Educational Researcher through Remote Observation

Observing students using computers often occurs through three methods: user-lab, on-site and remote data logging. Whilst each of these have their advantages with the new type of students such as elearners, an alternative method called web-conferencing remote observation is presented for observing students at a distance. This method collects both audio and video data of the observer through webcams and voice/video conversations. Students are able to interact with the software through application sharing facilities. Further, it allows both quantitative and qualitative data to be collected. This proof-of-concept method is presented here where it has been used in two previous studies using Windows Messenger and Netviewer. Although, video quality is not high the quality is sufficient for observational data

The Legibility of Serif and Sans Serif Typefaces

This open access book provides a detailed and up-to-date account of the relevant literature on the legibility of different kinds of typefaces, which goes back over 140 years in the case of reading from paper and more than 50 years in the case of reading from screens. It describes the origins of serif and sans serif styles in ancient inscriptions, their adoption in modern printing techniques, and their legibility in different situations and in different populations of readers. It also examines recent research on the legibility of serif and sans serif typefaces when used with internet browsers, smartphones and other hand-held devices. The book investigates the difference in the legibility of serif typefaces and sans serif typefaces when they are used to produce printed material or when they are used to present material on computer monitors or other screens and it explores the differences in readers’ preferences among typefaces. The book’s main focus is on the psychology of reading, but there are clear implications for education and publishing. Indeed, the book can be read with benefit by anyone concerned with communicating with others through written text, whether it is printed on paper or displayed on computer screens