Competence-oriented instruction in vocational education in Austria: An empirical comparison between two instructional approaches

A distinct feature of the Austrian education system is its differentiation of programs in vocational education. Among these programs, the dual education system has a long tradition: Students undergo an apprenticeship in a company while also attending a vocational school in part-time. More than other forms of education, this combination of on-the-job training at the work place and instruction in vocational school requires constant adaptation to economic requirements. Against this background, a new instructional approach, so called areas of learning with a focus on competence were introduced in the vocational school Eisenstadt in the year 2010. The introduction of this approach offered an opportunity for comparing it with a “traditional” subject-oriented approach. Results of the comparison will be presented and discussed in this article

Editorial: Kompetenzen, Kompetenzorientierung und Employability in der Hochschule

Editorial 2012 | Niclas Schaper (Paderborn), Tobias Schlömer (Oldenburg) & Manuela Paechter (Graz)

Editorial zum zweiten Themenheft "Kompetenzen, Kompetenzorientierung und Employability in der Hochschule"

Editorial 2013 | Niclas Schaper (Paderborn), Tobias Schlömer (Oldenburg) & Manuela Paechter (Graz

Factors Influencing Postsecondary STEM Students’ Views of the Public Communication of an Emergent Technology : a Cross-National Study from Five Universities

Recent efforts in the science education community have highlighted the need to integrate research and theory from science communication research into more general science education scholarship. These synthesized research perspectives are relatively novel but serve an important need to better understand the impacts that the advent of rapidly emerging technologies will have on a new generation of scientists and engineers including their formal communication with engaged citizenry. This cross-national study examined postsecondary science and engineering students’ (n = 254 from five countries: Austria, Finland, France, Israel, and USA) perspectives on the role of science communication in their own formal science and engineering education. More broadly, we examined participants’ understanding of their perceived responsibilities of communicating science and engineering to the general public when an issue contains complex social and ethical implications (SEI). The study is contextualized in the emergent technology of nanotechnology for which SEI are of particular concern and for which the general public often perceives conflicting risks and benefits. Findings indicate that student participants’ hold similar views on the need for their own training in communication as future scientists and engineers. When asked about the role that ethics and risk perception plays in research, development, and public communication of nanotechnology, participants demonstrate similar trajectories of perspectives that are, however, often anchored in very different levels of beginning concern. Results are discussed in the context of considerations for science communication training within formal science education curricula globally.Peer reviewe

Good performance in difficult times? Threat and challenge as contributors to achievement emotions and academic performance during the COVID-19 outbreak

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as one of the most formidable global crises, leading to the disruptions to education systems worldwide and impacting learning attitudes and psychological well-being of various learner groups, including university students. In this context, students’ appraisals of adverse learning situations play a key role. It is not just the learning situation, but rather students’ appraisal of it which impacts their emotions, attitudes, and behaviors in academic context. The aim of the present study was to investigate how university students’ challenge and threat appraisals were related to emotional learning experiences and learning outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the study focuses on the role of personal and external resources for learning in this context.MethodsAltogether, 428 students, who attended a Psychology lecture at one Austrian university, filled in a questionnaire about their challenge and threat appraisals of learning circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic, achievement emotions they experienced during this time as well as gender, proneness to anxiety, academic self-concept, and learning resources. Additionally, students’ performance in the examination was recorded.ResultsThe structural equation model emphasizes a crucial role of challenge and threat appraisals for students’ achievement emotions in learning and exam preparation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Challenge appraisals were the strongest predictor for pleasant emotions and threat appraisals were strongest predictor for unpleasant emotions. Proneness to anxiety was related to threat appraisal as well as to experience of more unpleasant and, surprisingly, to positive emotions in adverse learning situation. Academic self-concept and learning resources were identified as important resources for learning in adverse learning situation. Unpleasant achievement emotions were directly and negatively related to academic performance and may thus be seen as a critical variable and crucial obstacle to academic performance.DiscussionThe present study provides implications for learning and instructions which could be implemented by universities in order to support learning and learning attitudes among university students in adverse learning situations

Evaluierung des flexiblen Lernbedarfs bei Studierenden – Implikationen für die Praxis

In der vorliegenden Evaluationsstudie wurden Studierende und Lehrende einer österreichischen Universität befragt, in welchen Bereichen der Lehre sich Studierende eine stärkere Flexibilisierung wünschen und inwieweit sich diese Wünsche von der Einschätzung Lehrender unterscheiden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Studierende und Lehrende in ihren Präferenzen zur Lehrveranstaltungsgestaltung zum großen Teil übereinstimmen, sich aber auch in einzelnen Bereichen unterscheiden. Insbesondere hinsichtlich einzelner Aspekte von Zeit, Inhalt, Lernressourcen und Support, Beurteilung und Bereitstellung schätzen Studierende Flexibilität bedeutsamer ein als Lehrende. Es zeigen sich hier bedeutsame statistische Effekte

Exploring the transition to the digital age in higher education teaching

The global Covid 19-pandemic led to many challenges for higher education (HE) teachers. However, it also provided  an opportunity to not only re-evaluate a previously  unquestioned teaching culture, but also to fundamentally  question the capabilities of HE institutions and teachers to  implement digitally supported education at the  organizational, teaching, and learning levels. In this study,  we analyzed data from 1,339 HE teachers’ conclusions for  post-pandemic teaching terms of instructional course  quality. Our findings shed light on HE teachers’ mindsets  toward traditional face-to-face and online teaching, as well  as (im)probable changes in academic teaching culture. Our  results offer a “bottom-up” basis for recommendations on  how institutions can support their faculty for digital  transformations in HE based on teachers’ expertise and  perceptions of the advantages and hindrances of HE online  teaching

Learning and communicating in virtual seminars and lectures

The main concepts of instruction in the virtual university, virtual seminars and virtual lectures, are explained and illustrated by examples. Then, based on a model of instruction two important aspects and often obstacles to successful learning on the net are investigated more closely: communication and self-regulation of learning. The former aspect mainly refers to the concept of social presence, i.e. the extent to which a personal interaction with the communication partners is possible. Text- based communication which is predominant in internet instruction allows only a low degree of social presence, a rather anonymous interaction in which visual or auditory information as gesture or speech cannot be transmitted. Such a kind of communication poses severe obstacles to the learners\u27 satisfaction with the whole learning setting as a survey in a virtual seminar could show. Another important aspect in virtual instruction are the high demands on learners\u27 abilities to self-regulate their learning processes. They do not only have to determine when and where to learn but also how to process the learning material. Yet a survey in a virtual seminar showed that the possibility to decide on one\u27s own learning processes is highly valued by students. (DIPF/orig.

Auditory and visual text in computer-based learning

Ausgehend von gedächtnispsychologischen und medien- didaktischen Theorien wurde ein Konzept zum Einsatz visueller und auditiver Texte entwickelt und in ein computerunterstütztes Lernsystem umgesetzt. Im Vergleich mit anderen Lernsystemvarianten wurde empirisch untersucht, wie sich das Lernen und die Nutzung einer Lernsoftware durch eine unterschiedliche Informationsdarbietung und durch unterschiedliche PC-Erfahrung der Lernenden verändern können.(DIPF/Orig.