Showing papers in "Active Learning in Higher Education in 2013"
TL;DR: The authors found that utility is not only a key feature for students' use of feedback but also some factors, such as lack of strategies for productively using feedback or lack of understanding of academic discourse, may hinder students' possibilities to use the information formatively.
Abstract: Although feedback has a great potential for learning, students do not always make use of this potential. This article therefore reviews research literature on students’ use of feedback in higher education. This is done in order to find answers as to why some students do not use the feedback they receive and which factors are important in influencing students’ use of teacher feedback. Findings show that utility is not only a key feature for students’ use of feedback but also that some factors, such as lack of strategies for productively using feedback or lack of understanding of academic discourse, may hinder students’ possibilities to use the information formatively.
297 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report the results of a quasi-experimental real-life intervention with cooperative learning in an undergraduate course, where in-class participation and student approaches to learning were measured before and after the intervention to assess the impact on students' engagement levels.
Abstract: With an increasing awareness that many undergraduates are passive during teaching sessions, calls for instructional methods that allow students to become actively engaged have increased. Cooperative learning has long been popular at the primary and secondary level and, within recent years, higher education. However, empirical evidence of the impact of cooperative learning at the university level is still limited. This study reports the result of a quasi-experimental real-life intervention with cooperative learning in an undergraduate course. In-class participation and student approaches to learning were measured before and after the intervention to assess the impact on 140 students’ engagement levels. In addition, open-ended comments were analysed, revealing what faculty adopting cooperative learning principles in higher education should be especially aware of.
206 citations
TL;DR: This article found that free-riding behaviour is not necessarily due to apathy or a deliberate attempt to do as little work as possible, but many underlying reasons can lead a student to not contribute equally to a group even if he or she is willing.
Abstract: The increase in popularity of group work in higher education has been accompanied by an increase in the frequency of reports of students not equally contributing to work within the groups. Referred to as ‘free-riders’, the effect of this behaviour on other students can make group work an unpleasant experience for some. Of most frustration to students is receiving the same mark as their fellow non-contributing group members despite producing much of the group’s work. Identifying free-riding behaviour early on in a project can help reduce the impact it has on other group members. What can also be identified is that free-riding behaviour is not necessarily due to apathy or a deliberate attempt to do as little work as possible. Numerous underlying reasons can lead a student to not contribute equally to a group even if he or she is willing. This study involved surveying students (N = 205) from all faculties of an Australian university and asking them of their attitudes towards group work. Free-text responses f...
191 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigate the relationship between contexts in which learning occurs and students' behaviours, cognitions and motivations, and further understand how instruction is related to students' behaviors, attitudes and motivations.
Abstract: Investigations of the relationships between contexts in which learning occurs and students’ behaviours, cognitions and motivations may further our understanding of how instruction is related to stu...
181 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the nature and value of extracurricular activity engagement and the significance of institutional schemes from a UK student perspective, and found that many students are actively engaged in a variety of activities and recognise their value for employability.
Abstract: Students’ experience of higher education comprises not only their academic studies but also their extracurricular activities. This article reports on the findings from a mixed-methods research project, exploring in detail the nature and value of extracurricular activity engagement and the significance of institutional schemes encouraging extracurricular activity engagement, from a UK student perspective. Our findings reveal that many students are actively engaged in a variety of extracurricular activities and recognise their value for employability. However, fewer students are strategic in their patterns of involvement, which may be hindered by a lack of career planning. Furthermore, extracurricular activity engagement can be detrimental to academic study, and engagement alone does not assure employability benefits. However, structured institutional schemes encouraging extracurricular activity engagement may facilitate reflection, enabling students to make best use of their experiences for their future ca...
117 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors revisited the notion that to facilitate quality learning requires teachers in higher education to have pedagogical content knowledge and employed student engagement as a useful proxy for identifying what happens in a learning environment to achieve quality learning.
Abstract: This article revisits the notion that to facilitate quality learning requires teachers in higher education to have pedagogical content knowledge. It constructs pedagogical content knowledge as a teaching and learning space that brings content and pedagogy together. On the content knowledge side, it suggests that threshold concepts, akin to a portal that opens up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about a subject, are useful in quality learning. On the pedagogy side, it employs student engagement as a useful proxy for identifying what happens in a learning environment to achieve quality learning. This article asks what fresh insights might this particular conceptualization of pedagogical content knowledge afford teacher education and teacher development in achieving quality learning in higher education. After outlining characteristics of threshold concepts and student engagement, it brings together the contributions these concepts make to pedagogical content knowledge before detailing some f...
64 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a content quiz group learning assignment was designed to enhance students' capacity to ask appropriate questions to guide their enquiry, identify appropriate resources and tools, and draw links between different learning resources, all skills embedded within their learning in a science unit.
Abstract: This article presents the findings of an empirical study that examined the learning value of a novel group assessment activity aimed at promoting first-year students 19 development of basic self-directed learning skills required for university study. A content quiz group learning assignment was designed to enhance students 19 capacity to ask appropriate questions to guide their enquiry, identify appropriate resources and tools, and draw links between different learning resources, all skills embedded within their learning in a science unit. Questionnaire data and written reflections revealed the extent to which students used core, accessory and optional resources to complete this assignment, which specific resources were perceived as most useful for what aspects of their content learning, and how strategy use was related to achievement. Metacognitive experiences expressed in the open questions and assessed reflections revealed students 19 emerging awareness of how their approach to study impacted on the quality of their learning.
42 citations
TL;DR: Results indicate students were satisfied with this instructional approach and the integration of student-generated audio files foster their engagement and involvement, assisted them in effectively connecting and communicating with peers, and increased their learning.
Abstract: Educators have integrated instructor-produced audio files in a variety of settings and environments for purposes such as content presentation, lecture reviews, student feedback, and so forth. Few i...
41 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that it is often perceived as being the realm of specialists and for specialist journals, when the reality is that understanding assessment is central to everyone in education.
Abstract: Assessment is acknowledged as a central motivator for learning, as being perhaps the most difficult and arduous task for tutors, and also, a defining component of institutional quality, curriculum, courses and degrees. Therefore, given this, surely our understanding of terms, processes and their relationships, which reveal our knowledge of theories, practices and research, would be expected to be coherent and critically defensible. Yet, this study supports other literature that demonstrates that this is not the case. What to do about resolving theoretical and practical issues in assessment is perhaps a key challenge for education and educationalists. One problem is that it is often perceived as being the realm of specialists and for specialist journals, when the reality is that understanding assessment is central to everyone in education.
41 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that the processes of writing and knowledge construction should be an integral part of disciplinary learning, and they contributed to the literaturatura literatura of knowledge and knowledge.
Abstract: Educators and researchers are increasingly calling for the processes of writing and knowledge construction to be an integral part of disciplinary learning. This article contributes to the literatur...
37 citations
TL;DR: It is a well-known phenomenon that generally resourceful students are more likely to employ specific self-control skills, such as academic resourcefulness, to overcome stressors in their life as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: It is a well-known phenomenon that generally resourceful students are more likely to employ specific self-control skills, such as academic resourcefulness, to overcome stressors in their life, and ...
TL;DR: This article outlines an action research–based intervention that involved offering feedback ‘on demand’ to undergraduate students and utilised access statistics data from the virtual learning environment to identify the actual rate of feedback collection by students.
Abstract: There are many pressures on academics to ‘satisfy’ students’ needs for feedback, not least the inclusion of questions about feedback. Many have commentated on the lack of student engagement with su...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the impact of teamwork interest and group extraversion on group satisfaction and found that extraversion dispersion was a better predictor of student satisfaction when individuals were more interested in teamwork.
Abstract: Multilevel modeling is used to examine the impact of teamwork interest and group extraversion on group satisfaction. Participants included 206 undergraduates in 65 groups who were surveyed at the beginning and end of a requisite term-length group project for an upper-division university course. We hypothesized that teamwork interest and both extraversion dispersion and higher mean extraversion would predict satisfaction with the group. Results indicated both teamwork interest and mean extraversion were not a predictor of satisfaction. Contrary to the hypothesis, greater extraversion dispersion and the interaction between teamwork interest and extraversion dispersion predicted less satisfaction. Extraversion dispersion was a better predictor of student satisfaction when individuals were more interested in teamwork. Additionally, extraversion dispersion may be a suppressor variable for teamwork interest. These results have implications for instructors facilitating group work and ensuring students have a pos...
TL;DR: Insight is offered into the implications of successful mobile learning upon a contemporary account of practices and how educators might use text messaging in mobile learning.
Abstract: Nowadays, teaching and learning have been shifted from traditional classrooms to technology-supported learning environment. By offering a convenient, efficient and financially affordable informatio...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors look at issues around the power of the hidden curriculum of assessment and its effects on student behaviour, and the assessment regime at school level has an impact on study approaches at unsupervised level.
Abstract: The study looks at issues around the power of the hidden curriculum of assessment and its effects on student behaviour. The assessment regime at school level has an impact on study approaches at un...
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of assessment tasks on examination result (measured by examination grades) is investigated, and the advantages of electronic assessment tasks are discussed, but few studies have been conducted.
Abstract: In this article, the impact of assessment tasks on examination result (measured by examination grades) is investigated. Although many describe the advantages of electronic assessment tasks, few stu...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address a question for those seeking to deepen engagement with nontraditional students for strategies of widening participation in the higher education setting, and address the question as follows:
Abstract: This article addresses a question for those seeking to deepen engagement with nontraditional students for strategies of widening participation in the higher education setting. The question is as fo...