scholarly journals Is It Better to Be Feared Than Loved? Investigating the Efficacy of Different Teaching Methods on the Learning of Specific Content

2014 ◽  
Vol 47 (04) ◽  
pp. 855-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Amyot

ABSTRACTThe use and efficacy of problem-based learning (PBL) exercises during single class periods, especially in political science courses, have largely been unstudied. This article explores the ability of a PBL exercise to provide better learning outcomes than a standard lecture-discussion presentation on a particular topic in an introductory political science course. The author finds that the PBL approach, as a one-time pedagogical exercise, is not more effective at producing learning. In exploring the data, however, the author finds that differences in course structure and methods of learning assessment can have a larger impact on learning outcomes than specific teaching techniques.

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (03) ◽  
pp. 547-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Wedig

AbstractClassroom simulations can make a significant contribution to learning outcomes in political science courses, provided that they are firmly linked to course content and learning objectives. This article offers a step-by-step decision framework for instructors seeking to use simulations as a core component of their courses, including selection of an exercise, pre-simulation preparation, instructor role during a simulation, and techniques for debriefing after the exercise. Options such as online and face-to-face, synchronous and asynchronous, distributed and single classroom, and individual and team formats are compared, with a focus on their associated learning outcomes.


Author(s):  
Maija Ročāne ◽  
Alīda Samuseviča

The article highlights the topicality of assessment in the context of promoting learning achievements and students` self-efficacy. The aim of the article is to analyze the sources of literature and stimulate scientific discussion about strategies for assessing students' learning achievements and individual progress, which provide opportunities to develop each student's potential by improving cognitive activity and learning outcomes. The authors of the article analyse the perspectives of assessment of the learning process, systematize theoretical findings on the basic principles and methods of learning assessment improvement, identify and describe the pedagogical potential of diverse assessment strategies. 


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 727
Author(s):  
Moustafa M. Nasralla ◽  
Basiem Al-Shattarat ◽  
Dhafer J. Almakhles ◽  
Abdelhakim Abdelhadi ◽  
Eman S. Abowardah

The literature on engineering education research highlights the relevance of evaluating course learning outcomes (CLOs). However, generic and reliable mechanisms for evaluating CLOs remain challenges. The purpose of this project was to accurately assess the efficacy of the learning and teaching techniques through analysing the CLOs’ performance by using an advanced analytical model (i.e., the Rasch model) in the context of engineering and business education. This model produced an association pattern between the students and the overall achieved CLO performance. The sample in this project comprised students who are enrolled in some nominated engineering and business courses over one academic year at Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia. This sample considered several types of assessment, such as direct assessments (e.g., quizzes, assignments, projects, and examination) and indirect assessments (e.g., surveys). The current research illustrates that the Rasch model for measurement can categorise grades according to course expectations and standards in a more accurate manner, thus differentiating students by their extent of educational knowledge. The results from this project will guide the educator to track and monitor the CLOs’ performance, which is identified in every course to estimate the students’ knowledge, skills, and competence levels, which will be collected from the predefined sample by the end of each semester. The Rasch measurement model’s proposed approach can adequately assess the learning outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis-Javier Márquez-Álvarez ◽  
José-Ignacio Calvo-Arenillas ◽  
Estíbaliz Jiménez-Arberas ◽  
Miguel-Ángel Talavera-Valverde ◽  
Ana-Isabel Souto-Gómez ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Professional reasoning provides a firm basis for the development of teaching and assessment strategies to support the acquisition of skills by healthcare students. Nevertheless, occupational therapy educators should use diverse methods of learning assessment to examine student learning outcomes more fully with an evaluation that supports the overall complexity of the process, particularly learners’ subjective experience. The aim of this article is to identify the range of perspectives among occupational therapy undergraduates regarding terms or concepts that are key for improving their professional reasoning. Methods Q-methodology was used to address the aim of the study. A concourse relating to a series of ideas, phrases, terminology, and concepts associated with various studies on professional reasoning in occupational therapy, specifically on students in this field, was generated. The terms that had the clearest evidence, the most relevance or the greatest number of citations in the literature were collected (n = 37). The P-set was assembled by non-probabilistic sampling for convenience. It comprised undergraduate university students in occupational therapy. Factor analysis was conducted using Ken-Q Analysis v.1.0.6, reducing the number of Q-sets to smaller groups of factors representing a common perspective. Results Through statistical analysis of the Q-sorts of 37 occupational therapy students, 8 default factors were identified. The four factors in accordance with the selection criteria were rotated by varimax rotation to identify variables that could be grouped together. Each viewpoint was interpreted, discussed and liked to different aspects of professional reasoning in occupational therapy. Conclusions The observed perceptions were linked to the various aspects of professional reasoning that have been widely discussed in the occupational therapy literature. For most of the students, there was a strong correspondence between the narrative, interactive and conditional aspects of the various components.


1987 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 14-15
Author(s):  
Clyde Wilcox

Many Political Science courses include sections on campaign finance activity. Courses on Congress and on the Presidency may include sections on the financing of elections for these offices, and courses on campaigns and elections will probably cover campaign finance. In addition, courses on interest groups and on parties may include sections that focus on the activities of these actors in financing campaigns for public office.The Federal Election Commission can provide an assortment of materials that may be useful in teaching about campaign finance. Some of these materials are most useful as sources of data for lecture preparation, while other offerings can be used as part of student projects or papers. In the sections below, these materials will be described, and some classroom uses will be suggested.


2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 201-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine P. Supiano

While palliative care is best delivered in an interdisciplinary format, courses teaching the interdisciplinary approach to palliative care are rare in healthcare education. This article describes a graduate-level course in palliative care for students in nursing, pharmacy, social work, and gerontology taught by faculty from each discipline. The overarching goals of this course are to convey core palliative care knowledge across disciplines, articulate the essential contribution of each discipline in collaborative care, and to define interdisciplinary processes learners need to understand and navigate interdisciplinary palliative care. Learning outcomes included increased knowledge in palliative care, enhanced attitudes in practice and application of skills to clinical practice settings, increased ability to contribute discipline-specific knowledge to their teams' discussions, and a sense of increasing confidence in participating in the care of complex patients, communicating with families, and contributing to the team as a member of their own discipline.


1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Christopher Daniel

Computers inspire mixed emotions among political scientists. Love, hate, fascination, ennui, and frustration sometimes occur during the course of a single computer work session. Individuals come to terms with the beast in varying ways; obviously personal work style and level of computer dependency are each scholar's own business. However, expanded use of information technology in the disciplinary curriculum is a common concern deserving discussion. Like earlier debates between behavioralists and traditionalists, the current discussion raises questions about the discipline's central purpose. This essay reviews proposals to “computerize” political science curricula in light of contemporary theories about information and managerial work.Historically, political scientists' computer involvement has been limited, but it is now intensifying in response to educational, technological, and environmental influences. Political scientists have used computers as teaching tools since at least the early 1970s, when the APSA “SETUPs” began appearing, but as novelty items, diversions reflecting the devotion of idiosyncratic individuals. This publication has disseminated many such “experiments,” as have Social Science Computer Review and the National Collegiate Software Clearinghouse. Even as desktop machines began proliferating in the early 1980s, their use in the classroom was considered to be optional, something peripheral to the discipline which one could attempt if one had the inclination.This laissez-faire ambience may be ending in the face of societal transformations. In the classroom political scientists foster intellectual skills broadly useful to former students. A student may be an activist or an avid pre-lawyer, but his or her future professional development will be built on analytical, and communications skills honed in political science courses. This linkage between political science classrooms and the professional world could weaken if we do not adopt to societal change.


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