A Participatory Action Research Study of the Collaborative Learning Process

The purpose of this participatory action research project was to identify attributes that contribute to a successful collaborative learning experience. Data analysis revealed the following emergent themes to be important: reflection and dialogue, interpersonal relationships, and group and individual responsibilities

Using telehealth clinical case vignettes to enhance clinical confidence and competence in veterinary students

Veterinarians contribute substantially to the health of their patients and enhance the communities in which they live. Delivery of veterinary curricula continues to evolve to ensure that veterinary graduates are prepared to meet their professional obligations on Day One of their careers. In this study, veterinary practitioners were recruited to deliver telehealth case rounds to veterinary students at Kansas State University and Texas A&M University. Case discussions were hosted virtually once per month in the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 academic years for a total of 16 sessions. Each presenting practitioner was instructed to develop a brief presentation for a case routinely seen in their practice, and to discuss important clinical decision points in diagnosis, treatment and management. Cases could also highlight important ethical or communication issues encountered in veterinary medicine. The overall goals of this project were to increase the quantity and diversity of clinical cases to which veterinary students were exposed during their professional training and to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of telehealth technology as a teaching strategy. Student participants were surveyed to determine the effectiveness of telehealth sessions in increasing overall confidence and competence in case management, and veterinary presenters were surveyed to determine motivations for participating in the project and perceived value of the telehealth sessions. More than 95% of students indicated that participation in telehealth sessions increased their clinical confidence and competence. Presenting practitioners unanimously indicated that they would participate in similar instruction in the future. Recommendations are provided to improve the educational experience for future adopters of telehealth teaching sessions

Case Studies of Online Testing in Multicultural School Districts

In this chapter, the authors use excerpts from in-depth case studies to explore the implementation of computer-based testing in diverse contexts. The case studies describe the online testing experiences of six Texas school districts and several individual campuses within each district. The challenges that district personnel reported experiencing in planning and implementing online assessments are highlighted, and the issues that may differentially affect students in multicultural contexts based on variables such as setting (i.e., urban or rural), student age (i.e., elementary or secondary), district financial resources, and student language status (English learner or native English-speaking) are described in detail

Observing Classroom Instruction in Schools Implementing the International Baccalaureate Programme

  The International Baccalaureate (IB) programme utilizes an inquiry-based multi-disciplinary approach and focuses on the teaching of critical-thinking skills. The IB programme is growing at a rapid rate within the United States, with the overall number of IB schools having more than doubled in the last five years. The purpose of the present study was two-fold: (a) to specifically focus on classroom instruction and students’ behavior within Texas IB schools, and (b) to highlight the importance of systematic classroom observation as an evaluative method; in particular, the simultaneous use of three observation instruments to illustrate the importance of examining instruction from multiple perspectives. Systematic observations of 85 classrooms from eight Texas IB schools revealed that instruction in most of the schools was active, with teachers often engaging students, exploring new skills and key concepts, explaining, elaborating, and evaluating. Overall, the general instructional practices and student behaviors/activities observed were favorable and were higher than those found in similar classrooms in Texas schools. The amount of time that students were observed as being on-task was dramatically higher than the amount of student on-task time measured in other observational studies

Developing and Assessing Students’ Collaboration in the IB Programme

The Education Research Center conducted a best evidence synthesis of literature on student collaboration in K-12 settings. The purpose of the synthesis was twofold: (a) to identify research-based practices of teaching with, learning through, and assessing student collaboration, and (b) to use research-based themes in an analysis of IB curriculum documents in order to assess the extent to which IB’s collaborative teaching and learning practices align with research. The study included both a meta-analysis and research synthesis of 153 studies addressing various aspects of student collaboration across K-12 educational settings in reading/writing, humanities, mathematics, and sciences. Additional study foci included culturally and linguistically diverse settings and the use of technology for collaboration. The content analysis examined 47 IB curriculum documents from general IB curriculum documents, as well as the PYP, MYP, DP, and IBCC programmes. The best evidence research synthesis revealed the following components of successful collaborative practices in K-12 settings: • Specific and focused teacher role in collaborative process • Purposeful means of grouping students based on student, task, and culturally-related factors • Targeted incorporation of technology • Roles for individual students • Tasks that are open-ended and/or multi-faceted • Specific structuring of the collaborative process • Consideration of the social complexities of the collaborative process • Sufficient time for cognitive processes involved in collaboration The primary recommendations include the following: • Adopt a clear definition of collaboration for IB stakeholders, especially curriculum writers and practitioners • Revise IB curriculum documents; where necessary, to include research-based aspects of successful collaboration most salient to particular student levels and subjects • Provide professional development and teacher follow-up within each programme area on the definition and practices of successful collaboration • Conduct further research on whether higher education collaboration assessment practices could be successfully utilized with K-12 students In conclusion, the best evidence of research on student collaboration identified collaboration as a social process of knowledge building that requires students to work as an interdependent team towards a clear objective resulting in a well-defined final product, consensus, or decision. Collaborative tasks and groups are structured so that teams of students must rely on one another to share resources (e.g., materials, knowledge, experience, insight, and skills), utilize meta-cognitive processes, and communicate with each other in order to complete a task and/or arrive at a consensus best achieved with equitable participation of all members