ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Teacher Trainees' Information Acquisition in Lesson Planning
Author: Tanni, Mikko
Date: 2012-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Preservice Teacher Education,Preservice Teachers,Information Seeking,Internet,Information Sources,Information Literacy,Information Skills,Lesson Plans,Library Materials

Introduction: Few studies have addressed teacher trainees' information acquisition in the context of a task. The paper reports findings from an empirical study on teacher trainees' use of information (seeking) channels and sources, and their modes of information acquisition in lesson planning. Method: Semi-structured (retrospectively held) individual interviews and supporting classroom observations were conducted. Analysis: Inductive thematic analysis was applied to the transcribed interviews. Findings: The trainees used various information channels for a single lesson plan, mainly their personal collections and the Web. The information sources acquired comprised documentary and interpersonal sources, various media and contents. Their information acquisition encompasses a continuum of modes beginning with purposeful and goal-orientated, and ending up with accidental and passive modes of information acquisition. Conclusions: Trainees' information acquisition for lesson plans cannot be described only in terms of their present activities or goal-orientated information seeking behaviour. The use of personal collections of information sources, gathered in the past in anticipation of future lessons, constitutes an essential characteristic of their information acquisition. Trainees' modes of information acquisition reflect continuity across work tasks, which calls for capturing across task perspectives in information seeking models. (Contains 2 tables.)
The Waxing and Waning of a Field: Reflections on Information Studies Education
Author: Cronin, Blaise
Date: 2012-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Information Science,Library Science,Archives,Documentation,Information Science Education,Intellectual Disciplines,Prediction,Expertise,Information Scientists,Adjustment (to Environment),Interdisciplinary Approach

In this short paper, avowedly personal, partial and pointillist in nature, I (i) sketch the early days of (mainly Anglo-American) information studies and the field's gradual institutionalization, (ii) describe its maturation, as both an academic discipline and a domain of professional practice, and (iii) speculate on its future in the light of oft expressed predictions of its imminent demise as an autonomous enterprise within the academy. I invoke import-export data to demonstrate the newfound outer-directedness of the field and the growing attractiveness of its research to cognate disciplines. However, I also argue that the permeability of contemporary information studies' boundaries may in fact be the cause of its eventual undoing: in short, epistemic promiscuity comes at a price.
Designing by Decorating: The Use of Pictures in Primary School
Author: Lundh, Anna
Date: 2012-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Elementary School Students,Student Projects,Pamphlets,Role,Multimedia Materials,Visual Aids,Classification,Content Analysis,Information Sources,Use Studies,Internet,Online Searching,Information Literacy

Introduction: This paper concerns the concept of information use. The aim of the study is to understand how information use, as an activity, is shaped when project-based methods are used in primary school. The particular focus here is information use which involves visual information resources. It relates to the overarching aim of a set of studies describing and illustrating how information literacies are enacted and socially shaped in Swedish primary schools. Method: 25 booklets, produced by children at a Swedish primary school when working with project-based assignments, were collected during an ethnographical study. Analysis: An analysis of the relationships between pictures and text in the 25 booklets was conducted. Results: The analysis suggests that the pictures in the booklets are subordinated to written text and their functions are decorative and illustrative. Pictures are seldom used for explaining or narrating. Conclusions: An underpinning idea of the study is to understand information activities as purposeful within the settings where they take place. Given earlier research indicating that project-based working methods tend to be focused on the reproduction of facts and the making of products rather than on contents, it could be argued that the children's use of pictures in this study is purposeful. However, if this use of pictures is a desirable outcome could be a matter of discussion. The findings may be relevant for developing teaching in the multimodal aspects of information use. (Contains 9 figures and 1 table.)
&quot;Friday Is My Research Day&quot;: Chance, Time and Desire in the Search for the Teaching-Research Nexus in the Life of a University Teacher
Author: Boyd, William E.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Faculty,Instruction,Research,Relationship,Theory Practice Relationship,Teacher Effectiveness,Faculty Workload,Reflection,Tourism,Higher Education,Foreign Countries

This paper builds on some ideas recently presented by Boyd et al. (2010). In that paper, the focus was on the ways in which experienced academic staff articulate the teaching-research nexus. By presenting six short case accounts, this paper describes how a reflective narrative activity enabled some &quot;new to academe&quot; teachers to identify the teaching research nexus in their own work. For each of them, there was some particular reason or stimulus that led to them articulating the teaching-learning nexus in their work. Given the effectiveness of this method for enabling staff to consider the teaching-research nexus, this paper speculates on ways of drawing all academic staff to encounter the &quot;concept&quot; of the teaching-research nexus. (Contains 1 footnote.)
From Tinkering to Meddling: Notes on Engaging First Year Art Theory Students
Author: Messham-Muir, Kit
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Technology,Fine Arts,Foreign Countries,Feedback (Response),College Freshmen,Art Education,Theories,Learner Engagement,Teaching Methods,Computer Uses in Education,Lecture Method,Computer Mediated Communication,Student Evaluation,Evaluation Methods,Personal Narratives,College Faculty

This paper considers the two-year-long process of redesigning Art Theory: Modernism, the initial core art theory course at The University of Newcastle in Australia, with the aim of increasing the academic engagement of first year fine art students. First year students are particularly vulnerable to dropping out if they feel disengaged from the University. This paper does not present any grand solutions for teaching today's first year students. It does, however, consider ways of designing authentic assessment items that acknowledge the new conditions of pedagogy today. This paper offers ideas for engaging first year students, by creating multidimensional resources that include online material that supports yet provokes students; by challenging them with assessments that demand students produce knowledge and not simply retrieve information; and by reconsidering how faculty present information in lectures. The redesigning of the Art Theory: Modernism course was informed by current and ongoing research in teaching and learning and guided by student feedback administered by the Planning, Quality and Reporting unit at the University of Newcastle.
Teamwork in First Year Law Units: Can It Work?
Author: Carver, Tracey L.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Foreign Countries,Learning Experience,Teamwork,Cooperative Learning,Undergraduate Students,Student Attitudes,Legal Education (Professions),Student Evaluation,Models,College Freshmen

There is an abundance of literature on the importance of teamwork in undergraduate degrees; how to teach it, how to assess it and how to manage it. However, there is also much recorded about students' dislike of teamwork, especially where an early experience is unsatisfactory and builds resistance against such assessment. Accordingly, despite the revolution of embedding skills into undergraduate university courses, this article commences by examining the issues which commonly arise as impediments to implementing teamwork in this environment--both generally, and in the context of the particular discipline of law. It then examines how the teaching and assessment of teamwork was embedded into a first year law unit at the Queensland University of Technology (&quot;QUT&quot;). Finally, student perceptions of the model implemented are described. These show that, despite the odds, students generally considered that the model had an effective and positive influence upon their learning experience and outcomes. (Contains 1 table, 8 figures and 62 footnotes.)
Developing Animated Cartoons for Economic Teaching
Author: Zhang, Yu Aimee
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cartoons,Economics Education,Discussion (Teaching Technique),Tutors,Misconceptions,Long Term Memory,Teaching Methods,Learner Engagement,Computer Uses in Education,Animation,Surveys,College Freshmen,Foreign Students,Concept Formation,Interviews,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Foreign Countries,English (Second Language)

Purpose: A picture is worth a thousand words. Multimedia teaching materials have been widely adopted by teachers in Physics, Biotechnology, Psychology, Religion, Analytical Science, and Economics nowadays. To assist with engaging students in their economic study, increase learning efficiency and understanding, solve misconception problems, encourage in class discussion, and increase final performance for students (especially for international students and RA students), some animations and cartoons are developed to explain basic economic concepts for both macroeconomic and microeconomic concepts, issues and events. Methodology: Two surveys were first conducted to collect first year and international students' requirement and suggestions. Cartoons and animations were then designed and developed to solve the major misconception and misunderstanding problems facing first year students or international students in their economic studies. Qualitative interviews were conducted to collect feedbacks for the cartoons developed for this project from economic lecturers, tutors, students and other teachers and students without economic backgrounds. Learning efficiencies from animations and text materials are also compared by the length of learning time in this paper. Findings: Surveys in this study support the view that different students have different preferred learning methods. However, practice case studies are the preferred learning method for both first year university students and international students. The animated cartoons developed in this research received strong positive feedbacks from peer colleagues in Economics, teachers from other faculties, tutors in Economics, first year students, international students and RA students with dyslexic problems. Utilisation of these resources can improve learning efficiency, help students in their understanding and long-term memory of the subject, engage students in their studies, and increase interest in undertaking economic studies amongst all other students. Value: The results of this study could be used in any Economics subject, as well as for self-study by Economics students and others. As part of the Teaching and Learning Project, these materials are capable of being further used in mobile applications to assist in engaging students in their learning. (Contains 4 figures and 1 table.)
The Effectiveness of Oral Presentation Assessment in a Finance Subject: An Empirical Examination
Author: Bhati, Shyam S.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Program Effectiveness,Student Attitudes,Foreign Countries,Data Analysis,English (Second Language),Higher Education,Graduate Students,Correlation,Comparative Analysis,Student Evaluation,Gender Differences,Cultural Background

The purpose of this paper is to study the effectiveness of oral presentation as an assessment tool in a Finance subject. Assessment data collected from a postgraduate Finance subject in an Australian university over a period of five years from 2005 to 2009 was analysed statistically to determine the relation between students' performance in oral presentation and other forms of assessments. The sample consists of assessment records of 412 students and 98 group presentations. From the study of correlations between oral presentations and other assessments, it is concluded that students perform better in written assessments compared to oral assessment. The study of effect of gender on students' performance leads to the conclusion that female students perform better than male students in all forms of assessments except oral presentations where male students perform better although difference between males and females in oral presentation is not very large. The study of students' performance based on their nationality leads to the conclusion that domestic students perform better than international students in all forms of assessments. Based on the study of students' performance in oral presentation, it is found that students did well in the development of content of presentations, quality of their analysis, group coordination and organisation of presentation. There is however a general tendency to treat group work as a sum of parts instead of treating the group work as a single task. This study is limited by the fact that effectiveness of oral presentation is studied in only one Finance subject. This study makes an original contribution to the literature as the effectiveness of oral assessment in Finance subject is being studied for the first time. The conclusions arrived in this paper have many implications for policies and practice of learning and teaching in Finance. (Contains 5 tables.)
What Constitutes Effective Feedback to Postgraduate Research Students? The Students' Perspective
Author: East, Martin
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Evidence,Feedback (Response),English,Graduate Students,English (Second Language),Foreign Countries,Mixed Methods Research,Questionnaires,Interviews,Teacher Student Relationship,Supervisor Supervisee Relationship,Student Attitudes

Many Western universities are experiencing considerable growth in the numbers of postgraduate research students, both local and international. This increase and diversification bring with them challenges for how to make these students' research studies successful. In particular, what students may wish to receive by way of supervisor-student relationships, and feedback within those relationships, may differ from what supervisors give, thereby creating potential tensions in the relationship and hindering effective learning. This article looks at what research students report they receive by way of feedback from supervisors, and what they say they find most effective. Evidence from questionnaires (n = 53) and interviews (n = 22) is used to draw some conclusions about how effective feedback is conceptualised from the students' perspective. Analysis includes similarities and differences in response for students who speak English as a first or additional language. (Contains 3 tables.)
Impact of a College Freshman Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum on Student Learning Outcomes: An Exploratory Study
Author: Wang, Ning
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Freshmen,Social Development,Emotional Development,Curriculum Implementation,First Year Seminars,Quasiexperimental Design,Reflection,Interpersonal Competence,Emotional Intelligence,Academic Achievement,Grade Point Average,Program Effectiveness

This study investigates the impact of implementing a social and emotional learning curriculum for college freshmen on student learning outcomes, including social and emotional competence and academic performance. Through the use of a quasi-experimental design, the growth in social and emotional competence of students who participated in the social and emotional learning seminars is compared with that of students who were enrolled in other freshman seminars. This comparison is complemented by a qualitative analysis of students' self-reflections in relation to specific dimensions of social and emotional competence. The results of this study suggest that exposure to a social and emotional learning curriculum during the first semester at college may contribute to the development of social and emotional competence in students. Because of the potential relationship of social and emotional competence to academic success, this study also reports a comparison of the grade point averages (GPAs) of students from the social and emotional seminars with the GPAs of students from the other freshman seminars, while controlling for other predictors of academic success. The results indicate that students exposed to the social and emotional learning curriculum had higher grades than other students across the four semesters following the completion of the seminar. (Contains 3 tables and 6 figures.)
Educators Engage Digital Natives and Learn from Their Experiences with Technology
Author: Downes, John M.
Date: 2012-05-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Technology,Adolescents,Technology Integration,Middle Schools,Middle School Teachers,Learner Engagement,Middle School Students,Educational Change

Advocates of the middle school concept have long espoused the importance of being developmentally responsive to the unique nature and needs of young adolescents (National Middle School Association, 2010). As middle level schools strive to respond to the developmental needs of young adolescents, they should view students' technologies as an effective means to meet these needs. What happens when educators embrace and learn from young adolescents' preferred technologies as a way of engaging students? How and to what extent are middle grades students engaged in technology-rich classrooms? The purpose of this article is to provide a glimpse of the authors' six-year journey into middle grades students' engagement in student-centered, technology-rich classrooms. The authors begin by describing the engagement needs and expectations of "digital native" students (Prensky, 2001, 2010). They then describe the schools with which they have worked and the strategies they applied. Next they share student, teacher, principal, and parent perspectives, derived from interviews and ongoing participant observation. In particular, they highlight the attributes of technology integration that students find most engaging. Finally, they consider the challenges and opportunities that arise when implementing this kind of school change.
Skirting the Issue: Teachers' Experiences &quot;Addressing Sexuality in Middle School Language Arts&quot;
Author: Puchner, Laurel
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Middle School Teachers,Language Arts,Middle Schools,Sexuality,Controversial Issues (Course Content),Curriculum,Teaching Methods,Grade 6,Grade 7,Grade 8,Teacher Attitudes,Semi Structured Interviews,Fear,Anxiety,Educational Practices,Risk,Teacher Role,Adolescent Literature,Parent Attitudes

The goal of this study was to examine perceptions, attitudes, and reported practices of a group of middle level Language Arts teachers concerning sexuality-related issues. Through interviews with 15 teachers, the study found that sexuality was in one sense pervasive, as it came up frequently in the teachers' practice. Yet at the same time the teachers worked hard to avoid the topic of sexuality, even if they believed discussion of sexuality issues could be beneficial. We found a benefit-risk tension that some of the teachers faced on a regular basis, as they struggled with the question of whether directly addressing sexuality was worth the risk. The teachers' testimonies illustrate the extent to which they repress discussion of sexuality. However, because many of the teachers believed in a more direct approach with students, the findings indicate that small changes, such as breaking the silence around sexuality in teacher education and among school faculty and staff, might make a significant positive difference.
&quot;I Feel I'm Important&quot;: Successful Collaborative Teaching and Learning in a New Zealand Intermediate School
Author: Martin, Rachel
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Middle School Teachers,Foreign Countries,Team Teaching,Teacher Collaboration,Teacher Attitudes,Observation,Questionnaires,Interviews,Parent Attitudes,Educational Principles,Teaching Methods,Student Attitudes

The investigation examined a collaborative teaching and learning house structure at a New Zealand intermediate (or middle) school. Using observations, questionnaires, and interviews, we explored the perceptions of staff, children, and parents about the educational value of such a model and whether it meets the principles of good education for the young adolescent age group. We found that a sizeable majority of the participants viewed this model positively and that it does reflect established principles of good education for young adolescent children, such as employing multiple learning and teaching approaches that respond to young adolescents' diversity and providing an organizational structure that supports meaningful relationships and learning (National Middle School Association, 2010). It corresponds particularly well with the principles of collaborative teaching and learning and the practice of keeping classes together for two years. Many parents wanted more information about this collaborative teaching and learning option prior to the current decision point at enrolment. We recommend continuing with this collaborative house structure at the school and suggest this school and other New Zealand intermediate schools explore ways to include more children in this form of education.
Using Action Research in British Columbia: Preliminary Findings from School Improvement Projects in Seven Schools, 2002-2004
Author: Raptis, Helen
Date: 2005-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Action Research,Foreign Countries,Grants,Educational Change,Mathematics Skills,Parent Participation,Parent School Relationship,Reading Skills,Educational Improvement,Outcomes of Education,Socioeconomic Status,Disadvantaged Youth,Teacher Collaboration,Faculty Development,Academic Achievement,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

The School Improvement Grants Program is a British Columbia-based action research project to support efforts to raise literacy and math skills in public schools serving low-socioeconomic status neighborhoods. The program--which provides $25,000 in planning and implementation grants for each participating school over 2.5 years--began in 2001 and has just complete its first cycle of seven schools. Although effects were noted in the domains of teacher learning, staff collaboration, teacher professional development and parental involvement, preliminary findings have not yielded significant improvements in student outcomes. This research highlights some of the challenges of using action research to improve student learning. (Contains 2 notes.)