Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Student-centred learning'
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1
Sloman-Gower, Anna. "Re-conceptualising student-centred learning." Thesis, University of Kent, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.322152.
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Poyatos, Matas Cristina. "Exploring grammar learning and teaching as a student-centred process /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2005. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe18762.pdf.
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Khaled, Mélissa. "Learning styles, Personalization, and Learning Management Systems : Towards a Student-Centred LMS Approach." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för ABM, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-447989.
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This study investigates existing learning management systems practices, in this case Canvas and Moodle in relation to user personalization and students’ learning styles as both factors are closely contribute to the design of a meaningful learning experience for learners. With the expansion of these teaching tools and methods, it seems crucial to determine to what extent they actually serve the learner and what role is really given to the student using these online platforms. Factors such as instructors’ feedback, peer communication, learning objects and follow-up will be examined. This study is anchored in a Swedish academic setting, and aims to provide a comprehensive overview of learners' needs, expectations, and preferences to benefit educational institutions as well as LMS developers. The goal is to assess how such factors play an essential role in the personalization of learning tools and to suggest that their consideration can lead to the development of more intuitive LMS platforms that do not solely rely on content uploaded by teachers, but that can in turn potentially offer relevant content tailored to each user.Den här uppsatsen undersöker befintliga praxis för lärande hanteringssystem, i detta fall Canvas och Moodle, i förhållande till användaranpassning och studenternas inlärningsstilar, eftersom båda faktorerna bidrar till utformningen av en meningsfull inlärningsupplevelse för studenterna. På grund av expansionen av dessa undervisningsverktyg verkar det avgörande att bestämma i vilken utsträckning de faktiskt tjänar inläraren och vilken roll studenten verkligen får när hen använder dessa plattformar. Faktorer som lärarnas återkoppling, kommunikation med andra elever, lärandeobjekt och uppföljning kommer att undersökas noggrant. Studien är förankrad i en svensk akademisk miljö och syftar att ge en heltäckande översikt av inlärarnas behov, förväntningar och preferenser. Målet är att förstå hur dessa faktorer spelar en väsentlig roll i personaliseringen av lärverktyg och att föreslå att deras beaktande kan leda till utveckling av mer intuitiva LMS-plattformar som inte enbart förlitar sig på innehåll som laddas upp av lärare, utan som i sin tur potentiellt kan erbjuda relevant innehåll som är skräddarsytt för varje användare.
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Saunders, Daniel M. "Developing student-centred learning within higher education through simulation gaming and innovation." Thesis, University of South Wales, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.284892.
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Jasper, Melanie Ann. "The development of reflective writing strategies in nursing education." Thesis, University of Portsmouth, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.297359.
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Ismail, Nashwa. "Egyptian higher education tutors' perceptions of student-centred learning in the online environment." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2017. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/405525/.
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It is widely acknowledged that student-centred learning (SCL) gives learners feelings of being appreciated and respected, and thus helps students to be engaged and motivated to learn. SCL is an approach implemented in online learning (OL). This study investigates the role of the tutor, in implementing and facilitating SCL as a positive learning environment in the specific context of OL in Egyptian Higher Education (HE). The study examines tutors’ perceptions of SCL in OL as a concept and the factors that influence these perceptions, the pedagogical approaches they need to successfully implement SCL, and the affordances and challenges of this implementation in the specific context of Egyptian HE. Data for this study was collected from 20 online tutors at two major Egyptian universities in Northern Egypt both in focus groups and in individual semi-structured interviews. This study contributes to the area of research into SCL on matters such as definition of SCL, tutors’ approaches to understanding the concept, and its practical application in OL. The study investigates the pedagogical repertoire tutors need to implement SCL, describes approaches and strategies applied in SCL, and highlights results which can be used to offer support and guidance to tutors in order to facilitate their students' ongoing learning processes, leading to individually tailored and flexible education paths. The study findings indicate that online tutors approach the issue of SCL in OL with reference to four main aspects: prerequisites, challenges, concerns and solutions. The main research findings are that student control and independence are not widely practised in online Egyptian HE. There are many concerns for online tutors when empowering students such as: losing control, losing tutors’ respect and the invisibility of online students for monitoring them. Moreover, the research found that student trust is an issue that needs to be resolved. For tutors, tutor-student trust is a process that requires students’ early preparation to learn how to be responsible. The study found that social collaboration in OL offers promising opportunities for educational reform in Egyptian HE, particularly with respect to problems such as overcrowded classes. Furthermore, tutors acknowledged the importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in gaining the professional and experiential skills that they need to develop their teaching practices. Another finding of this study, referring to the low wages for tutors in Egypt, is that financial incentives have a significant impact on tutors’ feelings that they are invested in and acknowledged by their academic institutions. Consequently, tutors are getting engaged with the learning community and using the utmost abilities to pursue their work.
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Sidwell, Danny K. "Great Expectations: An Exploration of Student Academic Learning Expectations." Thesis, Griffith University, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/394723.
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Student-centred learning (SCL) within nursing higher education represents a deliberate move away from historically utilised, traditional, behaviourist teaching approaches. The use of SCL is considered beneficial within higher education, with more meaningful, whole-person, and lifelong learning being created. Specifically, within nursing, SCL is positively viewed due to its apparent congruence to patient-centred care. The term is, however, ambiguous, lacking in clarity and definition, thus resulting in confusion about principles and how it is to be accomplished. Yet, there is general agreement that SCL and teaching methods should promote student activity and involvement and take student interests and expectations into account. This study focuses on one aspect of SCL – student expectations of learning – in the context of the teaching of a higher education nursing program that espouses SCL.
The aim of this study is to investigate and explore the expectations of students toward their academic learning at the beginning of the first year of an undergraduate university nursing degree. More specifically, two research questions have been asked:
1. What are the expectations of first-year undergraduate nursing students toward their academic learning?
2. Do the expectations of first-year undergraduate nursing students include a preference for SCL?
In order to answer these questions, a sequential qualitative-dominant explanatory mixed-method design was utilised, in which the quantitative research phase was used to develop the qualitative phase. A convenience sample of 300 (N = 300) first-year undergraduate nursing students were invited to engage in the project, with 32.66% (n = 98) completing the questionnaire and 3.67% (n = 11) participating in individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews.
Questionnaire data were analysed through the latest edition of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), with qualitative questionnaire data analysed using Leximancer software. Findings from this analysis, combined with information from the literature review, were used to develop a semi-structured interview schedule. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed based on the six phases of analysis as developed by Braun and Clarke.
From the findings of the qualitative data, five key expectations were discovered in relation to students’ university study and academic learning: (1) less support would be provided at university, (2) there would be didactic teaching in tertiary education, (3) personal changes and learning freedom would be required, (4) learning preferences would be catered for by the university, and (5) an occupation-specific degree should include occupation-specific assessment. A sixth expectation was seemingly aligned with SCL (student involvement); however, it was not something explicitly expected or preferred. From these expectations, inferences are made concerning a preference by the students for some level of SCL; however, no explicit mention was made of any forms of pedagogical SCL by the participants within the study.
With the university made aware of students’ expectations, educational changes could be made that incorporate these expectations and thus better meet the needs of the incoming first-year cohort. With the embedding of student expectations into a university’s educational focus, SCL may be able to move from the current rhetoric and penetrate education practice. Tailoring of teaching and resources that integrate these expectations and preferences would likely be a clear and practical way in which the university could deliver a model of SCL as indicated within curriculum documentation.Thesis (Masters)
Master of Education and Professional Studies Research (MEdProfStRes)
School Educ & Professional St
Arts, Education and Law
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McMahon, Tim. "Using self- and peer-assessment in post-sixteen education in order to promote autonomy and deep learning : and through this, helping to engender in students the skills essential to political literacy and make the curriculum more concordant with democratic." Thesis, Anglia Ruskin University, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.389535.
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Tangney, Susan Jean. "An interpretive study of student-centred learning through constructivist, humanist and socio-cultural lenses." Thesis, Open University, 2011. http://oro.open.ac.uk/49153/.
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The notion of student-centred learning is ubiquitous in the pedagogic literature, in learning and teaching statements of universities, and within course documentation. However it is not often defined, and an informal investigation of university staff revealed a variety of conflicting Interpretations. This ambiguity Is problematic for academic developers, and so warranted further Investigation through literature review and interviews with academic staff from the researcher's university. The literature review revealed diversity in understanding, and on examination, ideas were underpinned by a range of perspectives on learning per se. Three different perspectives, namely constructivism, humanism and socio-culturalism were examined for their respective alignment and value in thinking about student-centred learning. Many interpretations were within a constructivist framework, others more aligned with humanist or socio-cultural perspectives. The term student-centred learning was also used in association with contemporary ideas such as employability, widening participation and social justice. A constructivist grounded approach was used to collect data through interviews with lecturers teaching in art and design, and transcripts considered from the three perspectives above. It is argued in the findings that although constructivist interpretations of student-centred learning dominate the literature, other perspectives are also evident in the conceptions and practice of the group interviewed, and incorporation of these offered a more appropriate approach to contemporary issues in higher education, especially in building a partnership approach between lecturers and students. It is suggested that technicist approaches, though often based within constructivism, may have caused the proliferation of a 'slogan' approach to the student-centred learning discourse.
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Zhong, Hua. "The effectiveness of student-centred learning in the development of a new communication curriculum in China." Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2010. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/9102/.
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This study examines the introduction of a new communications key skills course in Chinese vocational education colleges, using a student-centred learning approach. This was established in response to the changing demands of employers in China’s new environment of economic growth and competition. The research explores teachers’ and students’ understanding of key skills and their attitudes to student centred learning, an approach very different to China’s traditional didactic methods. The effects of the new course are examined and barriers to effective implementation are analysed. The research was based on five higher education institutions. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used. Three questionnaires were employed, and three of the institutions were singled out for more detailed qualitative analysis. Through a series of case studies, focus groups, interviews and class observations data was gathered to reveal underlying attitudes towards the experiences of the new course. Both teachers and students welcomed the new approach. It was found to facilitate the development of complex communication ‘key skills’, as students were actively involved, working in groups and learning from each other. The role of the teacher changed significantly, from ‘provider of information’ to facilitator of learning. Designing activities and resources to motivate students and meet their learning needs was a new experience for Chinese teachers, as curriculum development and course textbooks had always been provided centrally. Teachers encountered a number of barriers to successful course implementation; these included difficulties in adjusting to the new methods; lack of suitable resources; poor staff development and lack of support from college management. However, both teachers and students noted an increase in students’ confidence and self-awareness resulting from the new course. Students particularly appreciated the benefits that this might bring in terms of their employability as well as their social capabilities. Recommendations are made for the further development of a student-centred learning model for communication course in Chinese vocational colleges.
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Cook, Neal Francis. "Co-creating person-centred learning and development experiences with student nurses in practice through action research." Thesis, Ulster University, 2017. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.707824.
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BACKGROUND This action research study focused on crafting the practice learning element of a preregistration nursing curriculum in implementing a portfolio as a tool to support learning and development within a person-centred context. METHODOLOGY An emancipatory action research methodology was used over three annual cycles with one cohort of pre-registration nursing students, academics and practice partners. The research questions were: 1. How can the portfolio be enhanced to be an effective tool that enables students to learn and develop in practice? 2. How can the portfolio be enhanced to support the development of person-centred nurses? Data collection occurred annually using the Caring Dimension Inventory (CDI-35), the Portfolios in Nursing Education (PNE) questionnaire and focus groups. Descriptive and comparative statistics were calculated on quantitative data and qualitative data were prepared into verbatim reports as preparatory steps for critical creative hermeneutics analysis. RESULTS Sixty five actions were implemented to improve the portfolio as a successful learning tool. These related to sign-posting learning, supporting the identification of learning needs, accessing learning opportunities, and engaging students in authentic critical reflection. Improving the nature and consistency of support was a strong feature of these actions. Perceptions of caring attributes were sustained and developed further by the point of registration. DISCUSSION In unfolding solutions to improving the portfolio and support in its use, the findings revealed conditions for this to take place within a person-centred context. These were central to creating a culture that enabled transformative learning for human flourishing. Students self-actualised in terms of their concepts of caring and person-centredness in achieving the standards for registration. Authentic collaboration between stakeholders in the curricular approach were core to the success of the project. Theorisation of findings led to a conceptual Framework for Practice Learning (FPL), enabling findings to be applied in curricula in pursuit of person-centredness.
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Law, Barry Alan, and n/a. "Experiential Education as a Best Practice Pedagogy for Environmental Education in Teacher Education." Griffith University. Australian School of Environmental Studies, 2003. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20031117.090529.
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This thesis examines the potential of experiential education as a 'best practice' pedagogy for pre-service teacher education in environmental education. The study involves forty pre-service teachers working collaboratively with the researcher in 1998 to test the assumptions of two previous groups of beginning teachers (1996 and 1997) who indicated in their course evaluations that experiential education may provide an effective teaching and learning approach for environmental education. This study combines two approaches to participative inquiry: action inquiry and cooperative inquiry. Both research approaches promote reflection-in-action and involve groups of individuals working collaboratively together as reflective practitioners. The data sources included reflective journals, a researcher diary, pre and post course questionnaires, individual interviews and group interviews. The environmental education course is a single case study and reflects the experience of three groups of students. The first group completed a 20 hour course in experiential education before starting the environmental education course, the second group completed both courses concurrently, while the third group only completed the environmental education course. The purpose of the literature review in experiential education and environmental education in teacher education is to provide a rationale for using a transformative teaching and learning approach in pre-service teacher education for environmental education. Contemporary best practice pedagogical approaches for environmental education are supported by many of the core principles of experiential education highlighting compatibility between theory and practice. The findings show that a transformative teaching and learning approach in environmental education was achieved by combining four key characteristics of experiential education in a holistic process. The four characteristics included reflection, connection to personal experience, emotionally engaged learning and student-centred teaching and learning. The impact of combining these four characteristics resulted in higher interest, motivation and enthusiasm for achieving the social action outcomes of environmental education. Thus, the pre-service teachers confirmed a synergy emerged between the outcomes of environmental education and the pedagogical process of experiential education. The experiential approach allowed the pre-service teachers to engage in the role of the critical reflective practitioner. Consequently, the pre-service teachers were able to identify the potential and possibilities for implementing experiential education strategies in environmental education and also recognise and challenge the barriers that confine and constrain its use in teacher education and formal schooling. As a consequence the pre-service teachers identified that working in collaborative groups of reflective practitioners was essential to continue developing effective facilitation skills and also to help them challenge traditional practice that limited their professional development. They also identified significant changes to the pre-service environmental education course to ensure a higher quality experience for subsequent groups of beginning teachers. The study highlights the need for more research into how well beginning teacher implementing environmental education function as reflective practitioners in their first few years in teaching and are able to challenge the barriers that limit transformative pedagogical approaches in schools.
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Law, Barry Alan. "Experiential Education as a Best Practice Pedagogy for Environmental Education in Teacher Education." Thesis, Griffith University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/365587.
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This thesis examines the potential of experiential education as a 'best practice' pedagogy for pre-service teacher education in environmental education. The study involves forty pre-service teachers working collaboratively with the researcher in 1998 to test the assumptions of two previous groups of beginning teachers (1996 and 1997) who indicated in their course evaluations that experiential education may provide an effective teaching and learning approach for environmental education. This study combines two approaches to participative inquiry: action inquiry and cooperative inquiry. Both research approaches promote reflection-in-action and involve groups of individuals working collaboratively together as reflective practitioners. The data sources included reflective journals, a researcher diary, pre and post course questionnaires, individual interviews and group interviews. The environmental education course is a single case study and reflects the experience of three groups of students. The first group completed a 20 hour course in experiential education before starting the environmental education course, the second group completed both courses concurrently, while the third group only completed the environmental education course. The purpose of the literature review in experiential education and environmental education in teacher education is to provide a rationale for using a transformative teaching and learning approach in pre-service teacher education for environmental education. Contemporary best practice pedagogical approaches for environmental education are supported by many of the core principles of experiential education highlighting compatibility between theory and practice. The findings show that a transformative teaching and learning approach in environmental education was achieved by combining four key characteristics of experiential education in a holistic process. The four characteristics included reflection, connection to personal experience, emotionally engaged learning and student-centred teaching and learning. The impact of combining these four characteristics resulted in higher interest, motivation and enthusiasm for achieving the social action outcomes of environmental education. Thus, the pre-service teachers confirmed a synergy emerged between the outcomes of environmental education and the pedagogical process of experiential education. The experiential approach allowed the pre-service teachers to engage in the role of the critical reflective practitioner. Consequently, the pre-service teachers were able to identify the potential and possibilities for implementing experiential education strategies in environmental education and also recognise and challenge the barriers that confine and constrain its use in teacher education and formal schooling. As a consequence the pre-service teachers identified that working in collaborative groups of reflective practitioners was essential to continue developing effective facilitation skills and also to help them challenge traditional practice that limited their professional development. They also identified significant changes to the pre-service environmental education course to ensure a higher quality experience for subsequent groups of beginning teachers. The study highlights the need for more research into how well beginning teacher implementing environmental education function as reflective practitioners in their first few years in teaching and are able to challenge the barriers that limit transformative pedagogical approaches in schools.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Australian School of Environmental Studies
Faculty of Environmental Sciences
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Bremner, Nicholas James. "The evolution of Mexican EFL teachers' beliefs about student-centred learning in relation to their teaching practices." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17539/.
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This study analysed the educational life histories of five EFL teachers at a Mexican university. The aims of the study were: 1) to explore how these teachers’ beliefs about student-centred learning had evolved over the course of their lives; and 2) to examine the relationships between their beliefs and teaching practices at different points in time. In order to achieve these aims, a life history approach was adopted, which incorporated a series of extended interviews as well as an innovative timeline activity. Classroom observations and student focus groups were also included, mainly for triangulation purposes. The four main findings which emerged from the study were as follows. Firstly, all five teachers’ felt their early beliefs about teaching were predominately teacher-centred, which appeared to be linked to their immersion in the generally teacher-centred Mexican educational culture. Secondly, all five teachers felt that their beliefs eventually became more student-centred over the course of their educational life histories. These changes towards more student-centred beliefs were attributed to a number of experiences the teachers had over the course of their lives, and in particular, the characteristics of certain training courses. Thirdly, despite all the teachers eventually starting to believe in more student-centred approaches, they reported that they were rarely able to fully put these beliefs into practices. These mismatches between beliefs and practices seem to have been linked to a number of contextual constraints which they encountered within their working contexts. Finally, all five teachers started to believe in more “hybrid” approaches to teaching by the ends of their educational life histories. This implied using a combination of teacher- and student-centred practices, depending on how appropriate they were perceived to be within their specific contexts. The emergence of this more “hybrid” approach raises important questions about what we should realistically expect from educational changes and whether student-centred learning should still be considered the undisputed “gold standard” of education.
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Linde, M. (Merlin). "Knowledge construction and psychological need support in student-centred learning contexts: an experiment with Estonian 6th grade students." Master's thesis, University of Oulu, 2017. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201706022427.
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The present study analysed the learning outcomes and psychological need support of Estonian 6th grade students (N = 43) in collaborative, peer-supported and individual learning contexts. The study compared the three learning contexts in terms of knowledge construction and psychological need support as well as analysed the relationship between knowledge construction, work performance and psychological need support across the learning contexts. The study was experimental and was designed as a problem-based history lesson, where students were asked to complete a problem-based worksheet either collaboratively (N = 23), individually (N = 9) or with peer support (N = 10). Students were also asked to fill in a pre-test and post-test questionnaire to measure their knowledge and self-reported psychological need support or thwarting. The findings of this study suggest that students’ psychological needs are most supported in peer learning contexts. It was also found that learning outcomes are connected to psychological need support and good work performance does not necessarily predict high quality knowledge construction. The study found collaborative learning to be the learning context where students create best-quality products and peer learning to result in the highest quality of constructed knowledge. While the empirical findings of this study supported the theory and the posed hypotheses, additional research could confirm and elaborate these results. Implications for teaching practice and future research were discussed.
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Draper, Fiona J. "Development of a Student-Centred Evaluation Framework for Environmental Vocational Education and Training Courses. Development and validation of a Student-Centred Evaluation Framework for Environmental Vocational Education and Training Courses derived from Biggs' 3P Model and Kirkpatrick's Four Levels Evaluation Model." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5496.
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Individuals and organisations need to do much more if sustainable
development is to be achieved. Appropriate environmental vocational
education and training (EVET) is essential for current decision makers.
Crucial decisions need to be made before the present generation of school
and college students achieve significant positions of authority. An increasing
range of EVET courses and course providers are available within the UK.
However, availability is not synonymous with suitability for either the attendee
and/or his/her (future) employer. Previous research indicates that, as a
component of lifelong learning, EVET courses should and the methods used
to evaluate them should be student-centred.
This thesis describes the development and validation of a new studentcentred
evaluation framework. Preliminary literature reviews identified six
fundamental issues which needed to be addressed. Existing academically
productive evaluation models were examined and critically appraised in the
context of these problems. The output from this process was used to develop
a bespoke research methodology. Empirical research on four commercial
EVET programmes revealed distinct personal, teaching and work-based
presage factors which influenced course attendance, individual learning and
subsequent organisational learning. Modified versions of Biggs' 3P model
and Kirkpatrick's Four level Evaluation Model were shown to provide an
effective student-centred evaluation framework for EVET courses. Additional
critical elements pertaining course utility and the student's long(er) term
ii
retention of knowledge/skill were derived from previous research by Alliger et
al (1997). Work-based presage factors and the student¿s return on
expectation were added as a direct consequence of this research. The
resultant new framework, the Presage-Product Evaluation Framework, was
positively received during an independent validation. This confirmed inter alia
that the framework should also be capable of adaption for use with other VET
courses. Recommendations for additional research focus on the need to
demonstrate this through further empirical studies.
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Draper, Fiona Jane. "Development of a student-centred evaluation framework for environmental vocational education and training courses : development and validation of a student-centred evaluation framework for environmental vocational education and training courses derived from Biggs' 3P Model and Kirkpatrick's Four Levels Evaluation Model." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5496.
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Individuals and organisations need to do much more if sustainable development is to be achieved. Appropriate environmental vocational education and training (EVET) is essential for current decision makers. Crucial decisions need to be made before the present generation of school and college students achieve significant positions of authority. An increasing range of EVET courses and course providers are available within the UK. However, availability is not synonymous with suitability for either the attendee and/or his/her (future) employer. Previous research indicates that, as a component of lifelong learning, EVET courses should and the methods used to evaluate them should be student-centred. This thesis describes the development and validation of a new studentcentred evaluation framework. Preliminary literature reviews identified six fundamental issues which needed to be addressed. Existing academically productive evaluation models were examined and critically appraised in the context of these problems. The output from this process was used to develop a bespoke research methodology. Empirical research on four commercial EVET programmes revealed distinct personal, teaching and work-based presage factors which influenced course attendance, individual learning and subsequent organisational learning. Modified versions of Biggs¿ 3P model and Kirkpatrick¿s Four level Evaluation Model were shown to provide an effective student-centred evaluation framework for EVET courses. Additional critical elements pertaining course utility and the student¿s long(er) term ii retention of knowledge/skill were derived from previous research by Alliger et al (1997). Work-based presage factors and the student¿s return on expectation were added as a direct consequence of this research. The resultant new framework, the Presage-Product Evaluation Framework, was positively received during an independent validation. This confirmed inter alia that the framework should also be capable of adaption for use with other VET courses. Recommendations for additional research focus on the need to demonstrate this through further empirical studies.
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Copping, Warren. "Middle schooling and scientific literacy : bringing the students to science." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2012. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/63597/1/Warren_Copping_Thesis.pdf.
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This study is about young adolescents' engagement in learning science. The middle years of schooling are critical in the development of students' interest and engagement with learning. Successful school experiences enhance dispositions towards a career related to those experiences. Poor experiences lead to negative attitudes and rejection of certain career pathways. At a time when students are becoming more aware, more independent and focused on peer relationships and social status, the high school environment in some circumstances offers more a content-centred curriculum that is less personally relevant to their lives than the social melee surrounding them. Science education can further exacerbate the situation by presenting abstract concepts that have limited contextual relevance and a seemingly difficult vocabulary that further alienates adolescents from the curriculum. In an attempt to reverse a perceived growing disinterest by students to science (Goodrum, Druhan & Abbs, 2011), a study was initiated based on a student-centred unit designed to enhance and sustain adolescent engagement in science. The premise of the study was that adolescent students are more responsive toward learning if they are given an appropriate learning environment that helps connect their learning with life beyond the school.
The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of young adolescents with the aim of transforming school learning in science into meaningful experiences that connected with their lives. Two areas were specifically canvassed and subsumed within the study to strengthen the design base. One area that of the middle schooling ideology, offered specific pedagogical approaches and a philosophical framework that could provide opportunities for reform. The other area, the construct of scientific literacy (OECD, 2007) as defined by Holbrook and Rannikmae, (2009) appeared to provide a sense of purpose for students to aim toward and value for becoming active citizens.
The study reported here is a self-reflection of a teacher/researcher exploring practice and challenging existing approaches to the teaching of science in the middle years of schooling. The case study approach (Yin, 2003) was adopted to guide the design of the study. Over a 6-month period, the researcher, an experienced secondary-science teacher, designed, implemented and documented a range of student-centred pedagogical practices with a Year-7 secondary science class. Data for this case study included video recordings, journals, interviews and surveys of students. Both quantitative and qualitative data sources were employed in a partially mixed methods research approach (Leech & Onwuegbuzie, 2009) dominated by qualitative data with the concurrent collection of quantitative data to corroborate interpretations as a means of analysing and developing a model of the dynamic learning environment.
The findings from the case study identified five propositions that became the basis for a model of a student-centred learning environment that was able to sustain student participation and thus engagement in science. The study suggested that adolescent student engagement can be promoted and sustained by providing a classroom climate that encourages and strengthens social interaction. Engagement in science can be enhanced by presenting developmentally appropriate challenges that require rigorous exploration of contextually relevant learning environments; supporting students to develop connections with a curriculum that aligns with their own experiences. By setting an environment empathetic to adolescent needs and understandings, students were able to actively explore phenomena collaboratively through developmentally appropriate experiences. A significant outcome of this study was the transformative experiences of an insider, the teacher as researcher, whose reflections provide an authentic model for reforming pedagogy. The model and theory presented became an adjunct to my repertoire for science teaching in the middle years of schooling.
The study was rewarding in that it helped address a void in my understanding of middle years of schooling by prompting me to re-think the notion of adolescence in the context of the science classroom. This study is timely given the report "The Status and Quality of Year 11 and 12 Science in Australian Schools" (Goodrum, Druhan & Abbs, 2011) and national curricular changes that are being proposed for science (ACARA, 2009).
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Silén, Charlotte. "Mellan kaos och kosmos : om eget ansvar och självständighet i lärande." Doctoral thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för beteendevetenskap, 2000. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-9746.
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In this thesis, the aim was to attain a deeper understanding according to the students meaning of learning related to their own responsibility and independence within a framework of an educa¬tional programme. An empirical study with an ethnographic approach was carried out during one term of a nursing programme that uses the PBL-approach. Based on observations, conversations, inter¬views and documents, three narratives were formulated. One describes the phases students experience in the planned curricula. Periods characterised of chaos, uncertainty and a heavy workload, alternate with periods of ‘cosmos’, optimism, curiosity and satisfaction. The second narrative is about students' learning objectives while realising that they have to make choices and decisions on their own to succeed. A dialectic driving force emerging from frustration and stimulation, chaos and cosmos, results in questions about what to learn and how to act. The third narrative describes how students handle these questions. The narratives reveal two dimensions. One concerns how the students form attitudes about the relevance of learning objectives and how they go about learning a knowledge base necessary for their future profession. The other dimension takes as its starting point the fact that students try to manage their learning situation taking into consideration the framework of the educa¬tional programme. These dimensions were further analysed using theoretical references. The first dimension was analysed from the perspective of teacher/learner control and a didactic analysis of the meaning of an educational setting. The second dimension was analysed on the basis of phenomenographic learning theory. As regards responsibility and independence there seems to be a point in abandoning the concept of self-directed learning. Instead of emphasising self, the interaction between people, the individual and the educational framework and the interaction with content, are found to be fundamental. This interaction includes communication, dialogue and active participation in all the parts of a learning situation. Based on the results of this study, I claim that the driving force in student-centred learning is the dialectic relation between frustration and stimulation, chaos and cosmos. This stimulates the students to engage in the teachers' traditional didactic ques¬tions concerning an educational programme: what are we going to study, how and why, and what are the objectives? The students' conduct as regards independence, vis à vis dependence, are related to a dialectic relationship between the prerequisites provided by the educational frame¬work and the students' interpretation and ability to use them. Expressions of responsibility and independence emerge as choices and decisions concerning the didactic questions, initiative, activity, search for opportunities to reflect and co-operate and self-confidence. The opposite, dependence, is characterised by strategies for “survival”. The students plan their learning situa¬tion so that the examinations and assignments can be successfully tackled, and the learning situation takes on features of a surface approach. I believe that further insights into learning in student-centred education can be found in the two dialectic relationships described above.
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Kennedy, Chona Pineda. "Application of student-centred learning principles to mixed-mode delivery : an investigation of theory, practice and impact on the quality of learning and teaching." Thesis, Curtin University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/137.
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This study examines how closely aligned the teaching and learning practices, in selected mixed-mode programmes are with a student-centred approach as well as the impact of the practices on the quality of learning and teaching in a New Zealand Māori institution.Using a sequential, mixed-methods research approach, a survey was conducted in class followed by one-to-one interviews with the tutors and students in the sample to gather their perceptions and views regarding learning and teaching practices.
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Melin, Ulf, Karin Axelsson, and Tommy Wedlund. "Project-based Learning : An Emergent Framework for Designing Courses." Linköpings universitet, VITS - Laboratoriet för verksamhetsinriktad systemutveckling, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-36065.
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In this paper we elaborate on a framework, a set of guidelines, for teachers when designing project based courses. The emergent framework presented in this paper will focus on six themes: (1) overall course design, (2) project task, (3) project group, (4) examination, (5) feedback and (6) course evaluation and improvement and is initially grounded in theory and practice. The framework elaborated in this paper should support teachers' development of a professional autonomy within the norms of a professional group and an active curriculum.
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Harris, Lisa, and Lisa Harris@rmit edu au. "Electronic Classroom, Electronic Community: Virtual Social Networks and Student Learning." RMIT University. Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, 2008. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20080717.144715.
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The capacity for online learning environments to provide quality learning experiences for students has been the focus of much speculation and debate in the higher education sector from the late 1990s to the present day. In this area, 'quality' has become synonymous with engaging students in a learning community. This study reports on a qualitative research project designed to explore the significance of community for students when they study in online learning environments. This project used three case studies to explore tertiary students' thoughts and expectations about community in the online environment. The research was constructed iteratively. Data from the initial case suggested the need to explore the relationship between the constructed online learning environment and the development of learning communities or what I have termed Social Learning Support Networks (SLSN). To explore this issue further, the project was expanded and subsequent cases were chosen that included fundamentally different types of online learning environments. The project had two significant results. Firstly, students not only confirmed popular educational theories on the value of learning communities, but also described how this form of social connection might practically benefit their learning. Secondly, the project found that certain forms of synchronous online environments provided enhanced opportunities for students to form social connections that supported their learning. This project provides new evidence of the benefit of community for students studying online and argues that future online learning environments should be shaped by five key principles designed to foster a sense of social connection between students.
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Sproston, Carlyn, and res cand@acu edu au. "When Students Negotiate: an action research case study of a year 8 English class in a Catholic secondary college in regional Victoria." Australian Catholic University. School of Education, 2005. http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/digitaltheses/public/adt-acuvp88.09042006.
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This action research study examines the learning experiences of Year 8 students and their teacher as they negotiate aspects of their English classes. The study takes place in a regional Catholic co-educational secondary college in Victoria, Australia. The question of understanding the lived experience of ourselves and other is fundamental to this study, which is situated within an holistic, enactivist view of the world. From this perspective learning is a shared activity in which students participate in creating their own interpretation as they interact with others to bring forth understanding. The study focuses on classroom practice which aims to include all participants, through negotiation, in the actions that take place in the classroom. I have used a narrative approach to describe the way in which three action research cycles were implemented in the English classroom during one academic year. A variety of data gathering techniques was used and these included: classroom questionnaires, classroom meetings, journals, partnership observation and interviews. The main sources of data were the interviews that I undertook with each of the twenty five students in the class. The three action research cycles allowed both the students and me to reflect upon classroom activities and make appropriate changes as the cycles progressed. In addition, negotiating in this English class has helped me to better understand my students and, through reflection, to improve my teaching practice. Analysis of the data suggests that students experience greater commitment and motivation when they are given opportunities to be actively involved in contributing to their own learning. The data also supports research that recognises the importance of collaboration, positive relationships within the classroom, the importance of metacognitive skills and student voice. In addition, the findings point to the value of action research as a method of improving teaching practice.
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Toh, Yancy. "Sustaining the use of ICT for student-centred learning : a case study of technology leadership in a Singapore ICT-enriched primary school." Thesis, University of Leicester, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2381/27830.
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Policymakers who have invested in the use of ICT in education are often motivated by its promise to realise pedagogical innovations. However, the unrelenting gap between the promise and performance of ICT has continued to prompt further research into how the affordances of technology can be better harnessed in schools. This three-year qualitative case study hopes to shed light into this matter by looking at the: 1) ecological factors of how an ICT-enriched primary school in Singapore had been using technology to support the pedagogical reform for student-centred learning; 2) conditions that led to its sustained use of technology for this purpose. Complexity theory was employed as the analytical framework for the study. By examining the inter-connectedness of systemic influences governing the in-situ use of ICT in the exemplar school, educational leaders and policymakers can gain a holistic perspective of the factors that may promote or impede technology integration effort. Through the use of interviews, lesson and meeting observations as well as document analysis, the trajectory of the school’s ICT journey was mapped out. The development history surrounding the use of technology for teaching and learning provided a precursor to investigate how the school organisation as the unit of analysis had created favourable conditions leading to the sustainability of ICT-related innovations. Specifically, five themes had emerged: 1) continuous scanning of environment; 2) multi-pronged capacity building efforts; 3) mitigating systemic tensions amongst stakeholders; 4) shared accountability and 5) systematic pacing. Based on the findings to the study, a complexity-informed model for technology leadership, stakeholders’ dynamics and guidelines for policymaking were drawn up. The dissertation concludes with reflections on the use of complexity theory and recommendations for future research.
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Mendonça, Marta. "Developing teaching and learning in Mozambican higher education : a study of the pedagogical development process at Eduardo Mondlane University." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för naturvetenskapernas och matematikens didaktik, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-93954.
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This thesis analyses the implementation of a student-centred learning approach at the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), in the context of the current curricular reform. The main objective of the thesis is to gain understanding of the implementation of a student-centred learning approach and how the innovation is related to the acquisition of teachers’ pedagogical competence at the above mentioned university. A sociocultural approach and more specifically Cultural Historical Activity Theory is used as a theoretical framework given that it provides a view of learning as a context based social activity. A qualitative approach based on document analysis, classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with different actors in the process of teaching, learning and teacher training was used. The findings of the three studies carried out and presented in four articles in the thesis show that the lecturers do not feel ownership of the curriculum reform introducing the new pedagogical approach, and revealed a conflict of interests in the process of implementation of the reform. Students appear to be unclear about the significance of the new approach and they cannot judge if it is correctly implemented. Contextual factors such as a high number of students in the classroom, poor infrastructure and inadequate access to educational resources also affect the students’ performance in their learning. The university teachers expressed a need for training and the creation of adequate material conditions in order to be able to apply the innovations. However, signs of positive attitudes towards this approach were also revealed by the informants, which demonstrates the existing potential of the reform. It was found that the role of the teacher is crucial in making students active, motivated and self-regulated. Moreover, the students’ active learning depends on several factors, such as contextual, social and psychological aspects of the process. In relation to the acquisition of teachers’ pedagogical competence, a comparative study of the official documents of Eduardo Mondlane University and Umeå University explicitly shows a focus on the development of pedagogical competence for all categories of teachers. However, due to significant differences in historical pre-conditions, cultural contexts and educational artefacts the findings revealed many differences in the corresponding collective activity systems. In conclusion, the thesis indicates that the implementation of student-centred learning at UEM depends on the availability of good educational infrastructure and also the development of human resources. Furthermore, less hierarchical communication at the university could accelerate the process.
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Ismail, Annafatmawaty B. "We are different : a case study of entrepreneurship education in Malaysia." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2017. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/102894/1/Annafatmawaty%20Binti_Ismail_Thesis.pdf.
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In this thesis the aim is to question the extent to which different pedagogies used in teaching entrepreneurship education influence individual skill development, and how this translates into a likelihood of entrepreneurial intention. A quasi-experimental design and analysis of interview data, shows that although a student-centered approach is widely accepted practice in western education, a teacher-centered approach is more effective in Malaysia due to the system of collective culturally based education.
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Aubrey, Adele. "Investigating enquiry-based learning in higher education : dimensions, dissonances and power." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2015. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/investigating-enquirybased-learning-in-higher-education-dimensions-dissonances-and-power(a2b6d0ad-2d3c-4ca8-958f-fb341002addf).html.
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The purpose of the thesis is to explore excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning (EBL), its philosophical underpinnings, pedagogical implications and possibilities. How pedagogic devices can be used to encourage tutors' reflections on EBL, and is concerned with producing and sharing knowledge in relation facilitating student-centred teaching and learning practices. The study is in the tradition of practitioner research, where my role was that of an educational developer at the Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-based Learning. It is centred around the development of EBL models as pedagogic instruments to facilitate tutors' reflections on their practice. The thesis investigates how to facilitate the incorporation of more student-centred approaches into tutors' practice in a UK university through employing EBL models as a tool for reflection, how these models were introduced to tutors, and the findings from the process. A critical action research approach was undertaken for the educational development practitioner research journey. The primary methods of data collection consisted of interviews with students and tutors, and data obtained during individual reflections and group discussions in a series of workshops that involved tutors studying EBL models. Thirty-one tutors were involved in these workshops and interviews where they quantitatively and qualitatively explored multiple dimensions of teaching and learning. Content analysis of the results was conducted on the data with an emphasis on dilemma analysis to gain insights into tutors' decisions about their practice, and an empirical abductive strategy was employed to inform the development of new EBL models. In the course of the action research phases two new EBL models were iteratively developed informed by the literature and stakeholders. Finally, a new Student Involvement in Learning and Teaching Model was proposed, empirically abducted from student narratives derived from photo-elicited interviews. This Model constituted the development of a new conceptual framework for thinking about EBL within the context of broader teaching and learning practice. This study articulates new student involvement dimensions which conveyed the nature of power within the proximal processes of teaching and learning. The thesis contributes towards the practice of educational development by documenting both the process and outcomes of introducing EBL and learning and teaching models to tutors as reflective instruments, and by proposing a new perspective on excellence in EBL where student involvement is enhanced when reciprocal power relationships exist in the proximal processes between tutors and students. Tutor decisions were framed as a series of dilemmas created by external contextual influences (the University social micro, meso, exo and macro-systems); and internal factors (the tutors' personal force-resource characteristics) which affected tutors' reported actual and espoused ideal practice. The data demonstrated that most tutors espoused including more EBL, but they preferred an incremental change in their practice.
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Ali, Alshatti Safenaz. "Embedding graphic organisers in the teaching and learning of family and consumer sciences (home economics) in Kuwait." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2012. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/60259/1/Safenaz_Ali_Alshatti_Thesis.pdf.
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Educational reforms currently being enacted in Kuwaiti Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) in response to contemporary demands for increased student-centred teaching and learning are challenging for FCS teachers due to their limited experience with student-centred learning tools such as Graphic Organisers (GOs). To adopt these reforms, Kuwaiti teachers require a better understanding of and competency in promoting cognitive learning processes that will maximise student-centred learning approaches. This study followed the experiences of four Grade 6 FCS Kuwaiti teachers as they undertook a Professional Development (PD) program specifically designed to advance their understanding of the use of GOs and then as they implemented what they had learned in their Grade 6 FCS classroom.
The PD program developed for this study was informed by Nasseh.s competency PD model as well as Piaget and Ausubel.s cognitive theories. This model enabled an assessment and evaluation of the development of the teachers. competencies as an outcome of the PD program in terms of the adoption of GOs, in particular, and their capacity to use GOs to engage students in personalised, in-depth, learning through critical thinking and understanding. The research revealed that the PD program was influential in reforming the teachers. learning, understanding of and competency in, cognitive and visual theories of learning, so that they facilitated student-centred teaching and learning processes that enabled students to adopt and adapt GOs in constructivist learning. The implementation of five GOs - Flow Chart, Concept Maps, K-W-L Chart, Fishbone Diagram and Venn Diagram - as learning tools in classrooms was investigated to find if changes in pedagogical approach for supporting conceptual learning through cognitive information processing would reduce the cognitive work load of students and produce better learning approaches. The study as evidenced by the participant teachers. responses and classroom observations, showed a marked increase in student interest, participation, critical thought, problem solving skills, as a result of using GOs, compared to using traditional teaching and learning methods.
A theoretical model was developed from the study based on the premise that teachers. knowledge of the subject, pedagogy and student learning precede the implementation of student-centred learning reform, that it plays an important role in the implementation of student-centred learning and that it brings about a change in teaching practice. The model affirmed that observed change in teaching-practice included aspects of teachers. beliefs, as well as confidence and effect on workplace and on student learning, including engagement, understanding, critical thinking and problem solving. The model assumed that change in teaching practice is inseparable from teachers. lifelong PD needs related to knowledge, understanding, skills and competency. These findings produced a set of preliminary guidelines for establishing student-centred constructivist strategies in Kuwaiti education while retaining Kuwait.s cultural uniqueness.
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Pardàs, Lluïsa. "Constructivism and Collaborative Learning in Music Teaching." Georg Olms Verlag, 2018. https://slub.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A34619.
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The lessons from Catalonia and Sweden, based in instrumental or vocal music performance, are analysed taking into account the respective teachers’ goals and practices. The implications of the two different methodologies used, top-down big ensemble and collaborative small groups, and their relationship to constructivist pedagogies are discussed.
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Kapolka, Felix. "Pupils' Feedback." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för teknik och samhälle (TS), 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-20969.
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In a contemporary world saturated with technology, where data has become a means tounderstand and optimize almost everything, the educational sector seems reluctant towards it.In order to change that, it is argued that formative assessment is a sustainable way to monitorfeedback data for the purpose to improve school environment. Used in the classroom, it shiftsthe focus from the outcome of pupils’ learning to their real needs.This study elaborates on the lack of feedback for teachers and the referring potential oftechnology usage in schools. Due to, inter alia, a co-creation workshop, novice teachers anddesigners collaborated to create several prototypes, which were used in a real classroomsituation afterwards. Those prototypes enabled a deep understanding of the current perceptionof feedback as well as the technology awareness of students and teachers.The research results were discussed from various angles, including young teenagers’and experienced teachers’ views. The outcome analysis led to the need of a student-centredcurriculum which offers explorative access to technology and feedback for everybodyinvolved in a school environment.
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Moyes, Peter. "Max the Apple: A Multimodal Research Project - How Can We Best Exploit the Interactive Possibilities Presented by New Media in Stories for Children?" Thesis, Griffith University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366497.
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This research project poses the question: How can we best exploit the interactive possibilities presented by new media in stories for children? By way of a response, I developed an interactive narrative for children aged five to ten years, Max the Apple. This multimodal picture book presents themes of friendship, loss, grief, and the cycles of nature, as well the representation of a range of cultural practices that respond to these themes.
The story engages on three tiers: the first tier is the first-person narrative that is communicated by text, simple visuals, and a voice-over narration by a five-year-old child; the second tier provides learning content associated with the story’s themes and accessed via interactive buttons; and the third tier presents games also related to the themes that further develop the participant’s investment in the narrative. The project aims to present an entertaining and challenging learning environment by retaining the affordances of traditional media, such as conventional narrative arcs and imaginative readership, while exploiting the possibilities of active participation offered by new media.Thesis (Professional Doctorate)
Doctor of Visual Arts (DVA)
Queensland College of Art
Arts, Education and Law
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Chew, Shiun Yee. "Perceptions of online learning in an Australian university : Malaysian students' perspectives." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2011. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/46133/1/Shiun_Yee_Chew_Thesis.pdf.
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Several researchers have reported that cultural and language differences can affect online interactions and communications between students from different cultural backgrounds. Other researchers have asserted that online learning is a tool that can improve teaching and learning skills, but, its effectiveness depends on how the tool is used. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the kinds of challenges encountered by the international students and how they actually cope with online learning. To date little research exists on the perceptions of online learning environments by international Asian students, in particular Malaysian students who study in Australian Universities; hence this study aims to fill this gap. A mixed-method approach was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data using a modified Online Learning Environment Survey (OLES) instrument and focus group interviews. The sample comprised 76 international students from a university in Brisbane. Thirty-five domestic Australian students were included for comparison. Contrary to assumptions from previous research, the findings revealed that there were few differences between the international Asian students from Malaysia and Australian students with regard to their perceptions of online learning. Another cogent finding that emerged was that online learning was most effective when included within blended learning environments. The students clearly indicated that when learning in a blended environment, it was imperative that appropriate features are blended in and customised to suit the particular needs of international students. The study results indicated that the university could improve the quality of the blended online learning environment by: 1) establishing and maintaining a sense of learning community; 2) enhancing the self motivation of students; and 3) professional development of lecturers/tutors, unit coordinators and learning support personnel. Feedback from focus group interviews, highlighted the students‘ frustration with a lack of cooperative learning, strategies and skills which were expected of them by their lecturers/tutors in order to work productively in groups. They indicated a strong desire for lecturers/tutors to provide them prior training in these strategies and skills. The students identified four ways to optimise learning opportunities in cross-cultural spaces. These were: 1) providing preparatory and ongoing workshops focusing on the dispositions and roles of students within student-centred online learning environments; 2) providing preparatory and ongoing workshops on collaborative group learning strategies and skills; 3) providing workshops familiarising students with Australian culture and language; and 4) providing workshops on strategies for addressing technical problems. Students also indicated a strong desire for professional development of lecturers/tutors focused on: 1) teacher attributes, 2) ways to culturally sensitive curricula, and 3) collaborative learning and cooperative working strategies and skills, and 4) designing flexible program structures. Recommendations from this study will be useful to Australian universities where Asian international students from Malaysia study in blended learning environments. An induction program (online skills, collaborative and teamwork skills, study expectations plus familiarisation with Australian culture) for overseas students at the commencement of their studies; a cultural awareness program for lecturers (cultural sensitivity, ways to communicate and a better understanding of Asian educational systems), upskilling of lecturers‘ ability to structure their teaching online and to apply strong theoretical underpinnings when designing learning activities such as discussion forums, and consistency with regards to how content is located and displayed in a learning management system like Blackboard. Through addressing the research questions in this study, the researcher hopes to contribute to and advance the domain of knowledge related to online learning, and to better understand how international Malaysian students‘ perceive online learning environments. These findings have theoretical and pragmatic significance.
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Peacock, Susi. "A constructive, conceptual analytical review of the Community of Inquiry Framework." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/22319.
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This thesis comprises a critical review and suggestions for enhancement of the Community of Inquiry Framework (CoIF), the frequently cited model of collaborative community-based online learning. It combines a systematic engagement of relevant literature and research, with the application of the CoIF thinking to six of my peer-reviewed publications. Although not initially conceived as forming part of a doctorate submission, these publications are drawn upon throughout this narrative, to assist my interrogation of the CoIF. They are also used to provide evidence of my continuing journey as an education researcher. This thesis is therefore not an exegesis – a traditional meta-narrative encompassing this candidate’s publications. It moves beyond my findings in the publications to create and present supplementary concepts, and develop pointed guidance about using the Framework in supporting online learning in tertiary education. My review first critically interrogates the three constituent elements or Presences of the CoIF. Social presence emerges as a highly complex and multi-faceted construct, in which the de-emphasising of the affective in the CoIF seems at variance with current research reporting the strong student emotional response to working online, and particularly in collaborative, community-based groupings. Then, in Cognitive presence, there has been little consideration of, and specificity about, reflection in the CoIF. My critique proposes that reflection and critical thinking are distinct but inter-related concepts; both of which need to be addressed. Teaching presence is renamed ‘Tutoring presence’ informed by my review based upon my emergent understandings of student-centred learning. Two enhancements to the CoIF are then proposed, together with the rationale for establishment of a Tutors’ Network. The first enhancement, referred to as 'the Influences,’ unites and enriches the individual Presences. The second argues for the existence and use of a personal learning retreat at the heart of a community of inquiry, addressing a perceived omission in the CoIF. This learner ‘space’ provides a ‘quiet, safe place’ for the private (internal) world of the learner, as a foil to the shared collaborative space in the CoIF (the external world). Finally, a Tutors’ Network is outlined as a vehicle for advancing their understandings and knowledge of online, collaborative, community-based learning in general, and in particular of communities of inquiry. This should develop the abilities of online tutors, improve their learners’ educational experiences and encourage research and scholarship into the CoIF.
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Housee, Shirin. "Identity and pedagogy in a university context : a study of student experiences and critique in the work of anti-racism in education." Thesis, University of Wolverhampton, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2436/297606.
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A considerable amount of work has been written on race and education in the British context since the 1960s. This work has largely focused on policy issues, curriculum development and teacher training. This work has been important largely for developments in multicultural education in the school context. In Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), the teaching of race related modules and courses have flourished since the 1980s (Jacobs 2006). This interest, however, has not translated into work on praxis, that is, anti-racist teaching practices that aim to improve the situation that students and teachers face when challenging racism. This PhD study by publication begins to redress this by exploring student experiences and classroom dialogue. It adopts an interpretist methodological perspective and uses participant observation and interview methods. The observations and interviews are drawn from my classroom teaching, specifically, my modules dealing centrally with race and racism. Most of the writing around race and HEIs focuses on institutional matters rather than those that seek to enable praxis. The original contribution to knowledge advanced in this critical commentary and my published works submitted here is that it underlines the importance of anti-racism as it emerges organically within classroom engagement and exchange. Anti-racist practice, I claim, becomes fundamental to the learning process, where student experiences are first considered within the teaching process. This study focuses on students' learning experiences as found in my second and third level modules on the Sociology degree on which I teach at Wolverhampton University. My publications examine students' perspectives on racism as they arise in class. They explore student identities as they are experienced and classroom interaction. In this endeavour, I focus on the ways that Critical 5 Theory and Feminism and Critical Pedagogy can challenge students' prior perspectives on their identities and those of others. This work seeks to add to analyses of the ways that racism currently operates and could be challenged in HEIs. It argues that it can be challenged through more fully developing anti-racist educational practices that must engage with debates about ethnicity and identity in education, as discussed in Section One. This is because students’ lived experiences are core to an understanding of how racism impacts on students' lives. This commentary advances the argument that anti-racist debates in HEIs that organically evolve from classroom teaching and learning are paramount to the work of anti-racist education in HEi, because lived experience is seen to be powerful material that can counter mainstream discourse on racism. What is distinctive about my model of anti-racist teaching and learning practices is my anti-racist practice. This informs my academic work with students and encourages them to reconsider their thinking in classroom teaching and learning. The use of Critical Race Theory and Feminist theoretical and methodological approaches and Critical Pedagogy is central to my anti-racist teaching practices in HEis.
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Moore, Catherine. "Learning to see, seeing to learn: The learning journey of three pre-service teachers in a video club setting." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2015. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1597.
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This study sought to develop a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of professional growth in pre-service teachers during their final practicum. The research was situated in a primary school and involved three pre-service teachers with widely differing backgrounds who brought differing experiences to the practicum. The study identified personal and contextual variables that affected the pre-service teachers’ professional growth and explored how professional discourse within a learning community of peers, informed by multiple perspectives on teaching practice that were facilitated by video, influenced professional growth.
This qualitative research project used a broad phenomenological approach in that the methods used were designed to illuminate the process of a pre-service teacher becoming a teacher. Data were gathered over a six month period using semi-structured pre and post interviews, direct observations, video recordings of lessons, audio recordings of video discussion meetings, student questionnaires, and written feedback and reflections. Triangulated data from multiple sources were collated for each case, then open coded and grouped into themes. Cross-case analysis identified patterns in the emerging themes across all three cases, forming the basis for the discussion.
This study found that pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the roles of teachers and learners influenced their approach to teaching during their final practicum; their approach to the use of feedback for their own learning; and, their response to pressure during their practicum. Pre-service teacher motivation and capacity to interpret and act on mentor feedback was shaped by the mentoring relationship, which in turn was influenced by mentors’ beliefs about their own role, and their expectations of pre-service teacher capabilities upon arrival. The inclusion of video in a purposeful, reflective process enabled pre-service teachers to relive their experiences and to recall the affective factors that influenced their thoughts and actions as they were brought back into the moment of noticing, reasoning and acting. This decreased pre-service teachers’ reliance on mentor feedback and gave them an opportunity to triangulate evidence about their practice and interpret that evidence in a way that continually refined their understanding of teaching and learning. Importantly, this study found that pre-service teachers’ capacity to adapt practice, and to grow as a teacher, is filtered through an affective lens.
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Draper, Paul A. "New learning: The challenge of flexible delivery in higher education." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1999. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36625/1/36625_Digitised%20Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Information technologies now enable people to communicate m real-time on a planetary scale. Previously isolated cultures have become interdependent in dynamic relationships of economy, government and society, where electronic information is a universal currency instantly distributed by a global web of inter-computer networks. Traditional labour theories of value are being rapidly superseded by knowledge value systems. Government and corporate rhetoric is now suffused with references to intellectual capital and employment opportunities that increasingly depend on people who can put knowledge to work in fluid, fast-changing landscapes. Thus, education has a critical and enhanced role in this new world order where knowledge is seen as the key to wealth and the engine of social change. By implication, universities are under increased pressure to develop and produce 'fast' knowledge workers by means of flexible formats of educational delivery. This dissertation examines the implications of these imperatives by undertaking an investigation into the professional development of the author as university teacher. The work responds to what has become known as the 'triple challenge' for universities, that is, i) to provide increased accessibility and student-centredness of higher education, ii) to achieve greater economy of operations but with less traditional sources of funding, and iii) to maintain quality, but also improve learning outcomes. The aim is to scrutinise the meaning of the terms 'flexible delivery' and 'lifelong learning' in the context of changing university structures and priorities. To do so, the author investigates teaching and learning practices that arise from within his specialist domains of professional music-making and education in music technology. The dissertation then argues the implications of this project for an overarching investigation of 'new learning' arising out of global change and its effects on all participants within the pedagogical arena - students, teachers, and the university as an organisational culture.
The research is located amid two sets of contestations - that which exists between corporate managers and practitioners, and that which exists between practical creativity and the traditional research culture. In keeping with the challenge of working in this shifting and fragmented terrain, the research methodology makes a postmodern break with traditional formats by employing a generative 'double-science' approach to practitioner-research. However, the project was not generated out of postmodern theory, but out of the 'messiness' inherent in teaching practice. It is not, therefore, a 'postmodern' project, despite the fact that postmodern scholarship informs recent developments in the author's thinking about pedagogical praxis. The enquiry strives to transcend the divides of 'science' and 'experience' by generating a confluence of knowledges, a co-authorship arising from a symbiosis of analytical scholarship and artistic creativiry. The action is about both 'doing practice' and 'troubling practice'. It acknowledges the non-innocence of any knowledge production where the practitioner is both the researcher and the researched. Central to the design is a double-pronged engagement in/with analysis/application whereby recurring themes are deconstructed in chaptered sub-cycles that spiral toward validation and theory-building. It is a reflexive process which works through compounding reconstructions of information, through re-comparisons and member-checks that provide multiple accounts of the data-as-evidence.
The dissertation argues a new logic that arises out of an explicit interrogation of the complexiry, uncertainty, and artistry of pedagogical practices in the context of the author's work. It demonstrates how flexible learning mechanisms can exist amid the artificially imposed boundaries of class segregation and discipline. In the exploration of these opportunities, it is shown that powerful new relationships can be mobilised by the supportive use of information technologies. An examination of collaborative teamwork, interdisciplinary groupings and cross-year activities suggests ways in which current demands for increased accessibility and student-centredness might be met. With its focus on improving practice, the research documents pedagogical activity that is not only generative of theory, but of learning and self-improvement. In its open-endedness, the dissertation also signals that this pedagogical project is unfinished, yet amenable to completion. It imagines a complete, yet on-going body of work that invites further experimentation, innovation and self-reflection in university teaching.
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Msonde, Charles Enock. "Enhancing teachers' competencies on learner-centred approaches throughlearning study in Tanzanian schools." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2011. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B47229858.
Full textAbstract:
Despite being exposed to the Learner-Centred Approach (LCA) through
traditional teacher professional development since 2000, teachers in Tanzania have
generally failed to implement LCA in secondary schools. However, previous studies
on the learning study in different parts of the world have shown encouraging results
in developing teachers’ competencies. This study investigates how the learning study
guided by the variation theory can enhance teachers’ competencies using the LCA in
Tanzania secondary schools. It addresses two questions: what are the changes of
teachers’ understanding of LCA through learning study rounds in a Tanzanian
secondary school? And, what are the changes of teachers’ capability of
implementing LCA through learning study rounds in bringing about student learning
in a Tanzanian secondary school?
A group of three teachers (John, Benja & Peter) in a school implemented
learning studies for a period of one year. All forms two (N= 255) and three (N=240)
students took part in three research lessons. The study adopted case study and
phenomenographic research approaches. It used teachers’ interview protocols, lesson video recordings, lesson preparatory meetings, teacher’s journals, and students’ tests
as research instruments. The teachers’ experiences and implemention of the LCA
were studied before and during the three rounds of learning studies. Data were
analysed using variation framework and SPSS version 16.0 for students’ tests.
The study has two main findings. First, teachers involved in the three
learning study rounds changed their understanding of LCA. They changed from
seeing LCA as methodological (before the learning study) to treating it as subject
content and even as far as seeing it as object of learning (during the learning studies)
orientations. These changes were gradual and differed slightly, depending on the
particular aspect(s) (the method, the content or the object of learning) a teacher
focused more on than other aspects at a given time.
Second, guided by the variation theory through learning studies, teachers’
capability to implement LCA improved progressively in slightly different ways,
which in turn improved student learning. The teachers changed from simply making
classroom pedagogical arrangements before the learning study to engaging the
learners in either the content or the object of learning and enabling them to discern
critical aspects of the objects of learning in terms of variation and invariance of those
aspects during the learning studies.
The study concludes that implementing learning study - guided by the
variation theory - may be effective in enhancing teachers’ ways of conceiving and
practicing LCA with a primary focus on student learning. In addition, as teachers
increase their understanding of learning study and the use of variation theory they
may advance their understandings in designing and teaching LCA lessons, thereby
increasing possibilities for student learning. Such a conclusion lends credence to
the variation theory which purports that powerful ways of acting originates from
powerful ways of seeing. It also extends this theory to teacher learning of the LCA
pedagogy.published_or_final_version
Education
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy
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Angula, Adelheid. "nvestigating grade 10 geography teachers' implementation of a learner-centred approach in selected Namibian schools." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004459.
Full textAbstract:
Geography, more than other subjects in the curriculum, plays a central role in general education in equipping learners with skills and competencies needed for modern living and global citizenship. A learner-centred education in Namibia was adopted to provide more opportunities for learners to develop the required skills and competencies irrespective of their different cultural background. This small-scale case study investigated three Grade 10 geography teachers' understanding and implementation ofa learner-centred approach to gain insights into how leamer-centred education is being implemented in the context of Geography. The research design adopted a qualitative approach within an interpretative orientation. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations and documentary analysis. The research was conducted at three selected schools in Oshikoto Region with three Grade 10 geography teachers The findings revealed, firstly, that teachers have a limited understanding of the key ideas ofLCE, such as, prior knowledge, role of questioning, and social interaction in learning; use of resources and the types of assessment activities which comply with the aims of LCE. Seconclly, the findings revealed that the policy documents, such as syllabuses, that are being used by the participants are not in line with the tenets ofLCE. Thirdly, teachers appeared to have limited subject knowledge, as revealed by their lack of understanding of how to translate the aims and assessment objectives into their daily lessons. The study therefore raises some possibilities for improving the implementation of LCE in the selected schools if the gaps as identified by this study are reduced.
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Awases, Cherly Lydia. "Secondary school Geography teachers' understanding and implementation learner-centred eof ducation and enquiry-based teaching in Namibia." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/97002.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the understanding of and experiences in the implementation of learner-centred education (LCE) and enquiry-based teaching of Grade 10 Geography teachers against the backdrop of curriculum reform in Namibia. The Namibian curriculum is premised on the view that there is a need for the holistic development and preparation of learners for a knowledge-based society. Globally, LCE, with its potential for broadening access to quality education, has been a recurring theme of national reform policies and has been promoted as an innovative way of teaching. The usefulness of the LCE approach and associated enquiry-based teaching is embedded in constructivism and is introduced with the promise that it will enable learners to develop investigative and critical thinking skills that will put them at the centre of learning. This interpretative study employed a case study approach that utilised qualitative methods to gather information on the experiences of the three Geography teachers at the sampled schools as they implement LCE and enquiry-based teaching. The main data-gathering techniques in phases 1 and 2 of the research respectively were semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The findings revealed that the teachers have different understandings of what LCE and enquiry-based teaching approaches are, although their teaching employs some elements of it. The research also indicated that there is one big factor that impinges on their implementation of LCE and enquiry-based teaching approaches. The teachers admitted that, due to the pressure of learner success in the end-of-year Grade 10 examination, they rather teach to the test. This diverts their teaching from focusing on implementing approaches that actively involve learners in the learning process and nurture enquiry skills when these skills are not formally assessed in examinations. Consequently, teachers fail to implement the syllabus as intended by policy makers and curriculum developers. Even though the findings of this study may be specific to the sampled schools and the participating teachers, it can be assumed that similar situations exist in schools with comparable contexts. It is therefore important that education policy makers and relevant stakeholders strive to allocate sufficient support and resources for teachers to implement LCE and enquiry-based teaching effectively in schools.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die verstaan van en ervarings met die implementering van leerder-gesentreerde en ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrig van Graad 10 Geografie-onderwysers teen die agtergrond van kurrikulumhervorming in Namibië. Die Namibiese leerplan berus op die siening dat daar „n behoefte is aan die holistiese ontwikkeling en voorbereiding van leerders vir „n kennis-gebaseerde samelewing. Leerder-gesentreerde onderrig met sy potensiaal om toegang tot gehalte onderwys te verbreed, is „n tema wat wêreldwyd herhaaldelik in nasionale hervormingsbeleid voorkom en as „n innoverende wyse van onderrig bevorder word. Die nut van die leerder-gesentreerde benadering en gepaardgaande ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrig is in konstruktivisme gebaseer en word voorgestel met die belofte dat dit leerders in staat sal stel om ondersoekende en kritiese denkvaardighede te ontwikkel, wat hulle sentraal in die leerproses sal plaas. Hierdie interpretatiewe studie het 'n gevallestudie-benadering gevolg en kwalitatiewe metodes gebruik om inligting in te samel oor die ervarings van drie Geografie-onderwysers se implementering van leerder-gesentreerde en ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrig by skole wat as steekproef gekies is. Die belangrikste onderskeidelike data-insamelingstegnieke in fases 1 en 2 van die navorsing was semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude en klaskamerwaarneming. Die bevindinge toon dat die onderwysers verskillende begrippe handhaaf van wat leerder-gesentreerde en ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrigbenaderings behels, hoewel hulle onderrig sommige elemente daarvan toon. Die navorsing het ook aangedui dat een belangrike faktor inbreuk doen op hul implementering van leerder-gesentreerde en ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrigbenaderings. Die onderwysers het erken dat die druk van leerdersukses in die graad 10-eksamen aan die einde van die jaar hulle eerder met die oog op die toets laat onderrig gee. Dit verplaas die fokus van hul onderrig weg van die implementering van benaderings wat leerders aktief by die leerproses betrek en die koestering van ondersoekvaardighede, veral ook omdat hierdie vaardighede nie formeel in eksamens beoordeel word nie. Onderwysers slaag gevolglik nie daarin om die leerplan soos beleidmakers en kurrikulum-ontwikkelaars dit bedoel, te implementeer nie. Selfs al sou die bevindinge van hierdie studie slegs spesifiek op die betrokke skole en die deelnemende onderwysers betrekking hê, kan aanvaar word dat soortgelyke situasies in skole in vergelykbare kontekste bestaan. Dit is dus belangrik dat onderwysbeleidmakers en relevante rolspelers daarna moet streef om voldoende ondersteuning en hulpbronne vir onderwysers beskikbaar te stel om leerder-gesentreerde en ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrig effektief in skole te implementeer.
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Гнаповська, Людмила Вадимівна, Людмила Вадимовна Гнаповская, and Liudmyla Vadymivna Hnapovska. "Learner-centred Language Teaching: Teacher-Learner interaction Formats." Thesis, ХНУ ім. В.Н. Каразіна, 2015. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/60131.
Full textAbstract:
The abstract dwells on the key issues related to the necessity of changing teacher-student partnership formats in the context of learner-centred approach to teaching foreign languages. The interpretation of "learner-centredness" as a concept is put into the humanistic perspective, the perspective of practical necessity, and the curriculum design perspective.Тези розглядають основні питання взаємодії викладача та студента у контексті студентоцентричного підходу до викладання іноземних мов. "Студентоцентризм" як концепт інтерпретується з точки зору гуманістичної перспективи, практичної необхідності зміни форматів співробітництва викладача та студента та перспектив розробки навчальних робочих програм з іноземних мов.
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Nonkukhetkhong, Kittiporn. "Teachers' perceptions and implementation of the learner-centred approach in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in Thai secondary school contexts /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2006. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe19545.pdf.
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Kavari, Jackson-Hain Jakavaza Katjiuanjo. "Examining the knowledge and practices of selected Namibian accounting teachers about learner-centred methods of teaching." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1009428.
Full textAbstract:
Learner-centred education has been in force in all schools in the Republic of Namibia since 1996. Progress towards adoption of learner-centred methods of teaching by teachers has been slow. The main purpose of this study is to examine how teachers understand the principles of learner-centred education in selected Secondary Schools in Omaheke Education Region. The secondary purpose of this study is to determine how teachers could be helped to improve the implementation of learner-centred education (LCE). The study used a qualitative approach. Data were collected from a purposively selected sample of Grade 10 accounting teachers in a specific region in Namibia by means of interviews, classroom observations and a qualitative questionnaire. Data were analysed thematically. The results indicated that, although the teachers had a positive attitude towards learner-centred education, they did not have the skills to adapt their teaching in an appropriate way to cope with the learner‟s lack of English literacy. The teachers possessed basic knowledge of learner-centred education practices, but found it very difficult to implement them in resource-poor environments. In addition, factors that hindered the effective implementation of learner-centred education in the classroom were identified. The study suggests ways to improve the knowledge and practices of teachers with regard to learner-centred teaching practices.
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Nyambe, Kamwi John. "Teacher educators' interpretation and practice of learner-centred pedagogy : a case study." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008260.
Full textAbstract:
The objective of this study was to understand how teacher educators in a Namibian college of education interpret and practice the learner-centred pedagogy underpinning the Basic Education Teachers Diploma (BETD) program. In order to achieve this objective, a case study approach was adopted, qualitative-interpretive in orientation and drawing upon interviews, naturalistic non-participant observation and document analysis. Bernstein's theory of pedagogy - in particular his notion ofrecontextualization - offered ideas and concepts that were used to generate and analyse data. The data indicated that, at the level of description, teacher educators interpreted leamercentred pedagogy as a pedagogic practice based on weak rules of regulative discourse, or a weak power relation between themselves and their student teachers. The weakening of the rules of regulative discourse and the waning of educator authority were indicated in the interview narratives, which evoked a pedagogic context characterized by a repositioning of the student teacher from the margins to the centre of the classroom, where he or she enjoyed a more active and visible pedagogic position. Contrary to the dis empowering dynamic within classroom practice under the apartheid dispensation, the repositioning of the student teacher suggested a shift of power towards him or her. Similarly, the identification of the teacher educator as afacilitator, which featured prominently in the interview narratives, further suggested a weakening or diminishing of the pedagogic authority of the teacher educator. With regard to rules pertaining to the instructional discourse, the data revealed an interpretation of leamer-centred pedagogy as a pedagogic practice based on strong framing over the selection of discourses, weak framing over pacing, and strong framing over sequencing and criteria for evaluation. When correlated with the interview data, the data generated through lesson observation and teacher educator prepared documents such as lesson plans revealed a disjuncture between teacher educators' ideas about leamer-centred pedagogy and their practice of it. Contrary to the interviews, lesson observation data revealed that teacher educators implemented leamer-centred pedagogy as a pedagogic practice based on strong internal framing over rules of the regulative discourse. Data further indicated strong internal framing over the selection, sequencing, pacing and evaluation. The study concluded that while some teacher educators could produce an accurate interpretation oflearner-centred pedagogy at the level of description, most of them did not do so at the level of practice. Findings revealed structural and personal-psychological factors that constrained teacher educators' recontextualization of the new pedagogy. A narrow understanding of leamercentred pedagogy that concentrated only on changing teacher educators' pedagogical approaches from teacher-centred to learner-centred, while ignoring structural and systematic factors, tended to dominate not only the interview narratives but also official texts. Learner-centred pedagogy was understood as a matter of changing from teachercentredness to leamer-centredness while frame factors, for instance regarding the selection, pacing or sequencing of discourses, still followed the traditional approach. The study recommends the adoption of a systematic and deliberate approach to address the multiplicity of factors involved in enabling teacher educators to interpret and implement leamer-centred pedagogy at the micro-level of their classrooms.KMBT_363
Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
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Moore, Keri Marie. "Clinical education: an investigation of educational processes: the application of student-centred education and client-centred care during undergraduate physiotherapy clinical practice." Thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/916011.
Full textAbstract:
Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)The literature regarding clinical education strategies, that simultaneously meet both the student's and the client's needs, is limited. The purpose of this research was to identify features of clinical education processes that epitomize student-centred education and client-centred care. The literature explored the concepts of undergraduate clinical education and the need for health practitioners to be client-centred. Focusing on physiotherapy pre-professional education in ambulatory care settings, a mixed method approach using surveys, observation and interviews was used within the analytical and interpretive paradigm of research. The participants were the students, clinical educators and their clients for whom care was provided. It was found that while physiotherapy clinical educators say they have time to participate in professional development in clinical education, they often only attend a one-day workshop. Only in those working in private clinics thought they were underpaid. They all believe, they are well informed, supported by the university. Students report educators display high-quality teaching behaviours. Educators match their style of supervision and teaching strategies to their perception of the students’ learning needs and the clients’ health care needs. There was no association between the model of supervision and the client-centredness of the consultation, or the dialogue and feedback between the student and the educator. The management of the education and health care scenario is dependent on the expertise of the educator. Clients, in the main, are satisfied that clinical education events do meet their expectations and health care needs and they have a positive attitude toward participation in physiotherapy clinical education. Their willingness to participate is balanced with a sense of altruism and self-centeredness. Some clients edit the feedback they offer students, with the idea that their genuine thoughts might negatively affect the students’ learning. If this is not checked in the normal course of management of clinical education, it is possible that students might develop a false sense of how their activities actually affect clients. Thus the student may develop a false sense of their skills and abilities. The findings suggest strengthening the clinical educator’s deeper knowledge of education, particularly around models and theories, might enhance clinical education outcomes because there is a disparity between what students and educators reported regarding the timing of their discussions about episodes of client care. Further, the students’ perceptions are totally different from the educators’ regarding which particular topics they discuss. There is a clear need to strengthen the alignment between students’ learning needs and educators’ foci of discussion – to raise awareness of the importance of de-briefing as an opportunity for promoting deeper reflection on learning. Also, to be more explicit about the active nature of the client’s role in the learning event and to emphasise student–educator discussions about how the client can contribute to the management of the client’s self-care. Such discussion ought to build on the student’s previous knowledge in an effort to provide opportunities to construct learning from prior experience. Kolb's (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle was proposed as a model to critique contemporary clinical teaching practices, but in a way that included the third party (the client) in consideration of any clinical education event. Consequently, Kolb’s model was extended to include the client’s voice in the experiential learning processes, through processes involved in obtaining consent and post-consultation evaluation of the clients’ experience of the clinical education event. Given that the Australian Physiotherapy Council (2006; 2009) advocates for entry level health professionals to be client-centred, this emerging educational framework adds to current approaches on the management of professional practice experiences. It has the potential to significantly inform and impact on the student’s development of a client-centred approach to clinical practice.
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Ferreira, Lucy Mary. "Managing change : the measurement of teacher self-efficacy in technology-enhanced student-centred learning environments." 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10170/639.
Full textAbstract:
The aim of this research was to create a reliable and valid measure of teacher self-efficacy in relation to the use of technology for student-centred learning. This study introduces two scales, the Student-Centred Use of Technology Teacher Efficacy Scale (SCUTTES) and the Student-Centred Use of Technology Teacher Outcome Expectancy Scale (SCUTTOES) for development. This study focused on the initial stages of development which involved the comparison of the two scales with an existing measure of efficacy, the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) as a preliminary test for validity. The surveys were distributed to teachers in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, and the responses were analyzed for reliability, validity, and factor structure. The instruments were found to be valid measures, although further testing with larger sample sizes is recommended. Based on the results, a professional development program is suggested to raise teacher efficacy for the use of technology in student-centred learning.
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(9826772), Josua Pienaar. "Understanding progression in the built environment through an interactive student-centred model of progression." Thesis, 2015. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Understanding_progression_in_the_built_environment_through_an_interactive_student-centred_model_of_progression/13436036.
Full textAbstract:
Student progression is historically dominated by indicators of academic success, denoted by passing subjects and successfully completing qualifications. More recently this university management view of progression has been linked to institutional audit measures with these providing secondary data archives for research into progression. This thesis provides a student perspective on progression. To do so it necessarily encompasses wider student goals and aspirations that extend beyond the university to include career and professional growth. The research uses a sequential mixed methods approach with three main studies (archive, survey and interview) each aligned with a research objective. The first study in the series is an archive study of 1547 university Built Environment student records that were originally collected as part of the requirement for the university to report its work for government audit. The second study was a self-report structured online survey that collected data from a total of 295 students. The student sample was made up of 154 Built Environment students and 141 Engineering students. 97, all Built Environment students, were distance education students and the other 198 students were campus-based students. The final study, the in-depth interview study, used one-on-one interactive conversational interviews with students, graduates, academics, employers and executives from professional organisations. In total 40 interviews were undertaken. A number of influences were found on progression as seen from a student perspective. These include the importance of work-readiness, cadetships and the alignment of qualifications with industry needs and career growth opportunities. The student user perspective also brought into focus a number of the pedagogical assumptions held about and held by students in the Built Environment.
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Martin, Colwyn Deborah. "Learner centred pedagogy - an existence of virtual reality? : an investigation into grade three learners' experiences of pedagogy and schooling." Thesis, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/1945.
Full textAbstract:
The rationale and motivation for this study was based on my personal need to try and
understand the relationship between theory and practice (praxis) and the normative and
empirical variables (hermeneutics) evident in my research, so as to contribute to the body
of literature around learner centredness and learners' experiences of pedagogy and
schooling. Review of educational studies conducted in South Africa reveals that most
research is driven by 'common sense' understandings of learner centredness or what
constitutes 'good teaching practice'. These studies illustrate that well intentioned but
simplistic acceptance at the level of policy is hazardous and that we need to know more
about practices within the classroom. Similarly, within South African policy documents,
a paradox exists around the pedagogic discourse for learner centredness. The majority of
education policy documents implemented after 1994 advocates a learner centred
approach to teaching and learning, which is associated with weak framing over the
instructional and regulative discourse while the National Curriculum Statements calls for
a strongly framed pedagogic discourse. This paradox has significant implications for
policy implementation at the classroom level.
The objective of my study was to capture and analyse learners' experiences of Grade 3
teaching within one school context by focusing on control and regulation within the
pedagogic relationship. Consequently, the research focused on the 'how' of pedagogic
practice i.e. how do learners experience the transmission of knowledge through the
educator's pedagogic practices? The case study involved non - participant observation to
illustrate how different modalities of pedagogic practice provide for acquirers the
principles for the production of what counts as a legitimate text. Bernstein's concept of
framing was used to understand and analyse the locus and relative strength of control of
how knowledge was transmitted, how it was received and of what may or may not be
transmitted in the pedagogic relationship.
The methodology employed in the research was based on developing an external
language of description derived from Bernstein's internal language of description. The
internal language of description was drawn from Bernstein's theory of pedagogic
discourse. The external language of description provided textual pointers of specific
characteristics relating to the internal framing of educational knowledge. It provided the
means to identify specific pedagogic practices of educators and teaching strategies
employed in the transmission-acquisition process. The findings depicted a mixture of
pedagogic practices within one school context with one being based on a mixed
pedagogic mode and the other on a performance pedagogic mode.
The study revealed the possibility of extrapolating findings reliant on interaction with
relevant literature around the framing of pedagogic discourse and the data obtained in the
study. The conclusions reached in the study revealed strong framing over evaluation
criteria, selection and sequencing of educational knowledge. While research has shown
that weak framing over the pacing of knowledge is more likely to promote learning, the
study revealed differential pacing of knowledge ranging from weak to strong. However,
it was evident that learners had adapted themselves to the educators' modus operandi.
Both educators in the study attempted to cater for differential learning needs of learners
by the utilising different teaching strategies. The study revealed strong framing over
hierarchical rule in terms of learner-learner interactions and educator-learner interactions.
The research illustrated that giving learners control at the level of hierarchical rule posed
a significant challenge for both educators. Both educators would make use of school and
classroom rules as a means of maintaining social control.
The study contributes to a better understanding of pedagogy and schooling. It makes
clear that for learners to acquire the competencies and knowledge laid down in policy
documents, the educator would need to make a pedagogic assessment in terms of the
level of difficulty of the lesson, concepts and knowledge to be acquired and the
differential needs of learners. This is more likely to increase the success of learners so
that their enhancement, inclusion and participation in schooling does not become an
existence of virtual reality.Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.
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Pattenden, Frieda [Verfasser]. "Reading "Quality American Television" Drama : a student-centred learning concept based on The Sopranos / vorgelegt von Frieda Pattenden." 2010. http://d-nb.info/1010482459/34.
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Manson, Lynette Anne. "Mathematical practices: their use across learning domains in a tertiary environment." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/8577.
Full textAbstract:
This research presents a case study at a South African University, involving students who had
studied mathematics in a pre-undergraduate Foundation Programme (FP) and who were currently
in their first year of study in Information Technology (IT) at the same institution. The study
investigated a possible relationship between the teaching approach used in the FP mathematics
classroom and the extent of students’ abilities to use important mathematical practices, such as
using procedures flexibly; using representation; understanding/explaining concepts; questioning;
justifying claims; disagreeing; strategising; and generalising, in an undergraduate IT context.
Focus group interviews and task-based interviews were used to answer three related questions:
“To what extent are students aware of differences in teaching approaches between FP
mathematics and undergraduate study?”; “To what extent do students believe that their
experiences of the teaching approaches in the Foundation Programme mathematics class have
helped them in undergraduate study in other courses?”; and “In what ways are the mathematical
practices taught in the Foundation Programme used in undergraduate study in IT?” A bricolage of
learning theories was used as a framework for understanding the possible relationships between
teaching approach, development of mathematical practices and learning transfer. The students in
the focus groups described the teaching approach used in the FP mathematics classes as studentcentred,
whereas many of the undergraduate IT lectures and tutorials were described as teachercentred.
The students felt that the approach used in the FP mathematics classroom was beneficial
to further study, in that it taught them how to become responsible for their own learning and
brought about deep understanding of the mathematical concepts learned in the FP. The task-based
interviews showed that all students used mathematical practices to solve IT problems to a greater
or lesser extent. The use of these mathematical practices was best understood as being influenced
by all past cognitive, social and cultural experiences, and was therefore not a case of “transfer” in
the traditional sense of the word. Instead, the use of mathematical practices could be described as
an extreme case of “cognitive accommodation” from a cognitive constructivist perspective, or a
case of “generality” from a situative perspective. Furthermore, an inter-relationship emerged between student-centred teaching, students’ productive disposition towards mathematics, and the
extent of “transfer” of mathematical practices to the IT domain. This interesting relationship
warrants further investigation.
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Degago, Adinew Tadesse. "Conceptions of teaching and teaching practices in relation to student-centred instruction in selected Ethiopian universities." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18580.
Full textAbstract:
The study explored instructors' conceptions of teaching and their teaching practices in four Ethiopian universities in the light of the existing calls for the employment of student-centred approach to teaching in higher education in Ethiopia. The study was grounded on the assumption that instructors are unlikely to adopt student-centred approach to teaching unless their conceptions of teaching are developed and/or unless the teaching environment is supportive. To address the objective of the study, data were collected using a mixed methods research design using a sequential exploratory strategy. Based on this strategy, data were obtained first qualitatively from 20 instructors through interviews and classroom observations and then quantitatively from 160 instructors and 170 students through questionnaires. The data from the interviews and the classroom observations were analysed qualitatively using a phenomenographic approach and content analysis respectively whereas the data from the questionnaires were analysed statistically using SPSS. From this, frequencies, mean scores and percentages were computed in order to summarise and interpret responses. In addition, independent samples test and one-way ANOVA were applied to examine the differences in conceptions of and approaches to teaching among instructors. Furthermore, Pearson correlation coefficient was applied to examine the relationship between instructors‟ conceptions of teaching and their teaching practices. From the results, it was found that instructors‟ conceptions of teaching in the four universities incline towards the student-centred conception of teaching though there were also instructors whose conceptions of teaching were the traditional teacher-centred. Regarding teaching practices, although the instructors claimed that their teaching practices were student-centred, the results of the study appear to suggest that meaningful instructional practices were still under the influence of the traditional conception of teaching. In addition, numerous factors were found to be impeding the proper implementation of student-centred instruction including the background of the students, the instructors‟ obsession with lecturing and lack of enabling environment. Based on the findings, teaching improvement programs that develop instructors‟ conceptions of teaching were suggested. Furthermore, a supportive environment that enables instructors to translate their changed conceptions of teaching into their teaching practices was recommended. Finally, recommendations for further studies were provided.Curriculum and Instructional Studies
D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)