Perspective Transformation through Small Group Discipleship among Undergraduate University Students in Nairobi, Kenya

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-360
Author(s):  
Mary Wanjiru Mwangi

This study explored ways in which participating in small group discipleship fosters perspective transformation among undergraduate university students. Sixteen college students, who had participated in small group discipleship for two or more years, were interviewed. Also, two focus group interviews, constituted of small discipleship group leaders, were conducted for triangulation. The findings revealed perspective transformation was fostered through connectedness to God, individual engagements, transformational pedagogy, transformative relationships, and mentoring. The study highlighted the need for teaching foundational knowledge about the Christian faith, equipping learners to: practice spiritual disciplines, do ministry, and competently carry out successful Christian lives, relationships, and mentoring.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 83-102
Author(s):  
Saratha Krishnan ◽  
Aizan Yaacob ◽  
Arsaythamby Veloo

This study examines pre-university students’ metacognitive knowledge and their perception after nine weeks of metacognitive listening strategy training. In total, 31 students were selected from four intact classes in a matriculation college located in the northern region of Malaysia. Students received 9 weeks of Metacognitive Strategy Training (MST) during their listening classes. Focus group interviews were conducted after the strategy training to elicit students’ metacognitive knowledge and their perceptions of MST. Students were divided into five groups for the focus group interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The responses collected from the focus group interviews were reviewed and examined several times to develop themes and subthemes. The findings reveal that students showed a considerable amount of metacognitive knowledge in terms of their role and performance, the process of second language listening, and strategies for listening as second language listeners. Students view MST as helpful and effective to improve their listening skills. Implications for teaching and learning listening in ESL classrooms were discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (65) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun-Yi Lin ◽  
Charles M. Reigeluth

El propósito de este estudio es desarrollar una teoría instruccional para el aprendizaje colaborativo apoyado por wiki en el contexto de proyectos de pequeños grupos para el desarrollo del conocimiento colaborativo en cursos de pregrado. El documento presenta la teoría instruccional desarrollada a través de dos implementaciones y analiza cómo esta teoría puede enriquecer el aprendizaje independientemente de las limitaciones durante la pandemia del COVID19, en la que las reuniones de grupos pequeños son posibles pero las reuniones de clases grandes se trasladan a educación en línea.   Aunque, en teoría, los wikis deberían ser una tecnología poderosa para apoyar el aprendizaje colaborativo, la investigación empírica revela desafíos con respecto a la motivación del estudiante, la dinámica de grupo y la evaluación. Para cerrar las brechas entre la teoría y la práctica, utilizamos el enfoque de investigación basado en el diseño (DBR) y colaboramos con dos profesionales expertos para desarrollar la teoría de la instrucción. El proceso de investigación incluye una teoría inicial, implementaciones en dos casos y refinamiento de la teoría. La recopilación y el análisis de datos incluyen la revisión de la literatura, múltiples entrevistas individuales con expertos antes y durante las implementaciones, observaciones semanales de la clase, entrevistas de grupos focales con los estudiantes durante la implementación, análisis de contenido de los wikis de la clase y entrevistas de grupos focales con expertos para perfeccionar la teoría.   Los resultados del estudio presentado en este documento se centran en la construcción de una teoría instruccional refinada, que a su vez se basa en el trabajo teórico, el conocimiento heurístico de los instructores expertos y la eficacia local. Además, este documento incluye principios de diseño con algunas consideraciones para apoyar el aprendizaje en entornos COVID19. En otras palabras, el éxito de usar wikis para fomentar una cultura de compartir y para aumentar la motivación y participación de los estudiantes en el trabajo de proyectos individuales o grupales, así como en la construcción de conocimiento comunitario para toda una clase, puede enriquecer el aprendizaje durante la pandemia al crear entornos de aprendizaje centrados en el alumno, en el conocimiento, en la evaluación y en la comunidad. The purpose of this stu­­­dy is to develop an instructional theory for scaffolding wiki-supported collaborative learning in small group projects and in collaborative knowledge development for undergraduate courses. The paper presents the instructional theory developed through two implementations and discusses how this instructional theory may enrich learning regardless of the constraints during the COVID19 pandemic, in which small-group meetings are possible but large-class meetings are moved online. Although, in theory, wikis should be a powerful technology to support collaborative learning, empirical research reveals challenges regarding student motivation, group dynamics, and assessment. To bridge the gaps between theory and practice, we used the design-based research approach (DBR) and collaborated with two expert practitioners to develop the instructional theory. The research process includes an initial theory, implementations in two cases, and theory refinement. Data collection and analysis involve literature review, multiple individual interviews with experts before and during implementations, weekly class observations, focus-group interviews with students during implementation, content analysis of class wikis, and focus-group interviews with experts for theory refinement. The results of the study presented in this paper focus on the refined instructional theory, which was grounded in theoretical work, expert instructors’ heuristic knowledge, and local effectiveness. In addition, this paper includes design principles with some considerations to support learning in COVID19 environments. In other words, the success of using wikis to foster a culture of sharing, and to increase student motivation and participation in individual or group project work, as well as in community knowledge building for an entire class, may enrich learning during the pandemic by creating learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered learning environments.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-431
Author(s):  
Mostafa Morady Moghaddam

Abstract This study addresses the issue of politeness in compliment responses (CRs) among Iranian female university students. Using naturally occurring talk, 235 compliment-response exchanges were recorded during focus group interviews. The findings revealed that to mitigate impoliteness the interviewees displayed five extreme culture-specific politeness strategies as (1) tarof, (2) shekasteh-nafsi, (3) hyperreciprocation, (4) sha’n, and (5) double positive response. In female-female CR exchanges, interviewees attempted to foster a good impression by resorting to politeness strategies of tarof, hyperreciprocation, and double positive response whereas in male-female CR exchanges, interviewees tried to undermine the appraised impression imposed by the opposite-sex compliments through politeness strategies that are anchored in sha’n and shekasteh-nafsi. This article concludes that Iranian women respond diversely to compliments by virtue of interaction among integrated components: the compliment topic, the complimenter’s sex, and cultural burdens.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Louise Sarauw ◽  
Simon Madsen ◽  
Simon Madsen

In Greek mythology, the hero Odysseus receives a gift of the world’s wind in a carefully tied sack. Only one favorable tailwind was free to blow his ship safely home. But in the course of the night, the other winds are released with catastrophic consequences for Odysseus’ fleet, resulting in multiple wrecks. In the article we take the myth about Odysseus and the winds as a picture of students’ educational navigation after the Danish Study progress reform (2013). We show how the reform was initially characterized by an unambiguous belief that it is possible to tether and align the various motives and reasons for studying (winds), all while in practice the students translate the reform’s demand for quick completion in a number of unforeseeable ways. With the concept of “risk translation” we show how the students’ navigations is not just a question of fast completion, but also of protecting a number of often enjoyable, study activities, constituting  a good study life. The analysis in this article is built upon a country-wide questionnaire among approximately 4500 university students (2015), along with a series of focus group interviews with students at the University of Copenhagen (2013-2016).


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1637
Author(s):  
Ayşe Koyun ◽  
Tuba Demirel

<p>Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the reasons initiate and continue to smoke of female university students’.</p><p>Method and material: This study is triangulation study. The study conducted in AfyonKocatepe University between May2, 2014 and June 1, 2014. The quantitative study was carried out with 148 female students who smoke selected with cluster-sampling methods. Data were collected using the questionnaire form and Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence. The quantitative study was carried out two semi structured focus group interviews with 11 female students who smoke. The quantitative data were analysed with descriptive statistics and Chi-square test. The qualitative data were analysed with the Miles and Huberman method.</p><p>Results: In quantitative study, the average period for students to continue smoking is 3,8±2,4 years. 37,2% of students start smoking cigarettes before they are 18 years old and 12,2% of them smoke more than half a pack. In 36,5% of the students, the reason for initiate to smoke was wannabe and curiosity. In 42,6% of the students, the reason for continue to smoke was addiction/dependency. Students who started smoking before 18 years old, more than 10 cigarettes smoked per day, and living at home have higher nicotine dependence (p&lt;0,05). It is determined that the students who participated in the focus group interviews initiate and continue smoking to cope with stress.</p><p>Conclusions: The results of the study show that female students initiated smoking with the influence of individuals in the environment and continued smoking due to addiction.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Özet</strong></p><p><em>Amaç:</em> Bu çalışmanın amacı üniversitedeki kız öğrencilerin sigara içme davranışını başlatma ve sürdürme nedenlerini belirlemektir.</p><p><em>Yöntem:</em> Bu çalışmada bir triangülasyon çalışmasıdır. Çalışma 2 Mayıs - 1 Haziran 2014 tarihleri arasında, Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi'nde yürütülmüştür. Nicel çalışma küme örnekleme yöntemi ile seçilen, sigara içen 148 kız öğrenci ile yapılmıştır. Veriler anket formu ve Fagerström Nikotin Bağımlılık Testi kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Nitel çalışmada 11 sigara içen kız öğrenci ile iki yarı yapılandırılmış grup görüşmesi yapılmıştır. Nicel verilerin tanımlayıcı istatistikler ve ki-kare testi ile; nitel veriler Miles ve Huberman’ın yöntemi ile analiz edilmiştir.</p><p><em>Bulgular:</em> Niceliksel çalışmada, öğrencilerin ortalama sigara kullanma süresi 3,8±2,4 yıldır. Öğrencilerin %37,2’nin 18 yaşın altında sigaraya başladıkları ve %12,2’sinin günlük yarım paketten fazla sigara içtikleri belirlenmiştir. Öğrencilerin %36,5’inin sigaraya başlama nedeni özenti ve meraktır. Öğrencilerin %42,6’sının sigara içmeyi sürdürme nedeni bağımlılık /alışkanlıktır. 18 yaşından önce sigaraya başlayan, günde 10’dan fazla sigara içen ve evde yaşayan öğrencilerin nikotin bağımlılık düzeyleri daha yüksektir (p&lt;0.05). Odak grup görüşmelerine katılan öğrencilerin stresle başa çıkmak için sigaraya başladıkları ve sigara içmeyi sürdürdükleri tespit edilmiştir.</p><p><em>Sonuç:</em> Araştırma sonuçları kız öğrencilerin çevrelerindeki insanların etkisi ile sigaraya başladıklarını ve sigara içmeyi sürdürdüklerini göstermektedir.</p>


Author(s):  
Madiha Hashmi ◽  
Moniza Waheed ◽  
Ezhar Tamam ◽  
Steven Krauss ◽  
Abdul Muati Ahmad

The notion of goodness is implicitly central to the discourse relating to person perception. To date, no empirical research has focused solely upon understanding the notion of goodness and how it’s perceived and discerned in others. Utilizing focus group interviews, this paper explores how people perceive and interpret goodness in collectivist cultures of Malaysia and China. Findings revealed that Malaysian and Chinese participants had somewhat similar notions about goodness. “Concern for others’ welfare” was found to have the most resonance across the two nationalities as a key element in discerning goodness in others. Another category emerging from the findings was labelled as “Goodness a subjective notion” which encapsulated additional interpretations surrounding goodness. Directions for future research are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-111
Author(s):  
Po. Abas Sunarya ◽  
George Iwan Marantika ◽  
Adam Faturahman

Writing can mean lowering or describing graphic symbols that describe a languageunderstood by someone. For a researcher, management of research preparation is a veryimportant step because this step greatly determines the success or failure of all researchactivities. Before a person starts with research activities, he must make a written plan commonlyreferred to as the management of research data collection. In the process of collecting researchdata, of course we can do the management of questionnaires as well as the preparation ofinterview guidelines to disseminate and obtain accurate information. With the arrangement ofplanning and conducting interviews: the ethics of conducting interviews, the advantages anddisadvantages of interviews, the formulation of interview questions, the schedule of interviews,group and focus group interviews, interviews using recording devices, and interview bias.making a questionnaire must be designed with very good management by giving to theinformation needed, in accordance with the problem and all that does not cause problems at thestage of analysis and interpretation.


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