scholarly journals Engaging students as co-producers: A critical reflection on the policy commission model

Politics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 514-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alasdair Blair ◽  
Steven Griggs ◽  
Eleanor Mackillop
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Traditional Classroom ◽  
Innovative Model ◽  
New Form ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Impact

The teaching of political science has a tendency towards traditional classroom-based learning environments. This article describes the development of an innovative model of student learning that takes place outside the bounded nature of the established curriculum through the creation of a Policy Commission. The Policy Commission established an innovative ‘community of action’ that challenged traditional perceptions of the lone student as a producer of knowledge. This article describes the work of the Policy Commission, which engaged students in the act of ‘doing Politics’ and discusses the impact that it had on student learning. The article examines the potential of the Policy Commission model to offer a new form of learning.

scholarly journals Motivating for Reading through Transmedia Storytelling: A Case Study with Students from a Middle School in the Médio Tejo Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. e23680
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Faria-Ferreira ◽  
Patrícia Alexandra Faria Ferreira ◽  
Célio Gonçalo Marques
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Immersive Learning ◽  
Transmedia Storytelling ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Level Of Motivation ◽  
The Impact

The evolution of information and communication technologies has changed the way we relate to each other and how we build our knowledge. This creates challenges for education systems, as school must provide all students with the educational experiences that will enable them to develop the skills reflected in the profile of the 21st-century student on com  pletion of compulsory schooling. It is up to teachers to find new ways of teaching, making the most of the resources and digital tools made available by mobile technologies. Technology can make a significant contribution to increasing students' motivation because it is closer to what they like and use in their daily lives. And this introduction of technology into the classroom can promote student-oriented teaching, which contributes to the development of skills such as autonomy, critical thinking and self-esteem. One of the areas that can contribute to this paradigm shift is the creation of experiences in immersive learning environments such as Transmedia Storytelling. Immersive learning environments can favour the creation and implementation of projects that promote reading skills in schools. This is the focus of this article. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of transmedia storytelling on the level of motivation of students and on the improvement of pedagogical practices implemented by the teachers involved. This case study was carried out in the subject of Portuguese in three 7th-grade classes of a school from the Médio Tejo region. The results obtained suggest a high level of motivation of students and teachers. The latter recognise that pedagogical routes using Transmedia Storytelling contribute to the motivation, autonomy and improvement of students' learning.

Encouraging and Increasing Student Engagement and Participation in an Online Classroom

2016 ◽  
pp. 426-447
Author(s):  
Kathryn Woods
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Traditional Classroom ◽  
Online Classroom ◽  
Online Learning Environments ◽  
The Impact

Advances in technology have increased opportunities for students to participate in online courses. While some instructors are beginning their careers teaching only online courses, others are discovering a need to teach sections of courses online after they have enjoyed a long career teaching in a traditional classroom. In either situation, it is important for instructors to recognize that students in online learning environments require the use of different strategies for encouraging engagement and participation in class. In this chapter, the author describes the challenges that students and instructors face specifically in the online learning environment as well as strategies for success, including how to maximize the impact of students' experiences and prior knowledge, using multiple platforms to deliver information, discouraging procrastination, setting clear expectations, encouraging individuality, capitalizing on diversity, and providing and utilizing helpful resources.

EduZinc: a tool for the creation and assessment of student learning activities in complex open, online, and flexible learning environments

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-105
Author(s):  
David Becerra-Alonso ◽  
Isabel Lopez-Cobo ◽  
Pilar Gómez-Rey ◽  
Francisco Fernández-Navarro ◽  
Elena Barbera
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Flexible Learning ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Assessment Of Student Learning

White Student Comfort and Conflict in Experiential Racial Dialogues

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-263
Author(s):  
Kelly Maxwell ◽  
Mark Chesler
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
White Students ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
White Student ◽  
Racial Experiences ◽  
White Culture ◽  
The Impact

Background: White students are both curious and sometimes apprehensive about engaging in dialogues about race. Purpose: We investigate white university students’ experience of comfort and conflict in racial interaction in inter- and intragroup dialogues. Methodology/Approach: We analyzed student papers written at the beginning and end of the dialogue as well as their post-semester interviews, for their hopes/fears, classroom racial experiences, and learnings. Findings/Conclusions: White students in two types of semester-long dialogue courses reported issues of relative comfort and conflict as they explored their own and others’ racial histories and outlooks. They reported feeling safer in the white-only (intragroup) dialogues, as they learned about white culture and privilege; they also lamented not having racialized “others” to learn from. White students in the interracial (intergroup) dialogues often reported more discomfort, risk, and tension, as they learned about the impact of white culture and privilege on students of color, as well as about racism as a white problem. Implications: We draw implications for educational practice that include dissonance and conflict as stimuli for student learning and the use of experienced-based pedagogical techniques that encourage student sharing, critical reflection on narratives and encounters, and mutual participation.

scholarly journals A SCALE-UP Mock-Up: Comparison of Student Learning Gains in High- and Low-Tech Active-Learning Environments

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. ar12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula A. G. Soneral ◽  
Sara A. Wyse
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Design Feature ◽  
Learning Gains ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
The Impact

Student-centered learning environments with upside-down pedagogies (SCALE-UP) are widely implemented at institutions across the country, and learning gains from these classrooms have been well documented. This study investigates the specific design feature(s) of the SCALE-UP classroom most conducive to teaching and learning. Using pilot survey data from instructors and students to prioritize the most salient SCALE-UP classroom features, we created a low-tech “Mock-up” version of this classroom and tested the impact of these features on student learning, attitudes, and satisfaction using a quasi-­experimental setup. The same instructor taught two sections of an introductory biology course in the SCALE-UP and Mock-up rooms. Although students in both sections were equivalent in terms of gender, grade point average, incoming ACT, and drop/fail/withdraw rate, the Mock-up classroom enrolled significantly more freshmen. Controlling for class standing, multiple regression modeling revealed no significant differences in exam, in-class, preclass, and Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology Concept Inventory scores between the SCALE-UP and Mock-up classrooms. Thematic analysis of student comments highlighted that collaboration and whiteboards enhanced the learning experience, but technology was not important. Student satisfaction and attitudes were comparable. These results suggest that the benefits of a SCALE-UP experience can be achieved at lower cost without technology features.

scholarly journals A critical reflection on a research partnership

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Nick Zepke ◽  
Linda Leach
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Student Retention ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Research Partnership ◽  
The Third ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds ◽  
The Impact

This critical reflection asks what contributions a research partnership, active between 1997 and 2014, made to knowledge about student learning in higher education. It focuses on three overarching projects. The first, on assessment, addressed ways to empower students in assessment processes and make them fairer for students from diverse backgrounds. The second, on student retention and success, identified ways for students to integrate into higher education while also advocating that institutions adapt their cultures and practices to meet the needs of students from diverse backgrounds. The third, on student engagement, attracted considerable interest for a conceptual organiser of this complex construct. It included ten proposals for action and recognised the impact of non-institutional factors on engagement. It also found that engagement is best researched within institutions. A critical reflection on the influences of the projects suggests that their impact on assessment was negligible. However, the retention and engagement projects have influenced mainstream thinking.

Encouraging and Increasing Student Engagement and Participation in an Online Classroom

2016 ◽  
pp. 1335-1357
Author(s):  
Kathryn Woods
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Traditional Classroom ◽  
Online Classroom ◽  
Online Learning Environments ◽  
The Impact

Advances in technology have increased opportunities for students to participate in online courses. While some instructors are beginning their careers teaching only online courses, others are discovering a need to teach sections of courses online after they have enjoyed a long career teaching in a traditional classroom. In either situation, it is important for instructors to recognize that students in online learning environments require the use of different strategies for encouraging engagement and participation in class. In this chapter, the author describes the challenges that students and instructors face specifically in the online learning environment as well as strategies for success, including how to maximize the impact of students' experiences and prior knowledge, using multiple platforms to deliver information, discouraging procrastination, setting clear expectations, encouraging individuality, capitalizing on diversity, and providing and utilizing helpful resources.

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