scholarly journals A Teaching Experience through the use of Tasks: Limits and possibilities for learning Mathematics in a university context

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Ribeiro ◽  
Juliana Paulin

Context: Rethinking mathematics teaching practices in a university context is an emerging research theme. Objectives: In this article, we aim to discuss the limits and possibilities of using mathematical tasks in the teaching and learning processes of the concepts of Derivative, Integral and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. Design: The study is based on a qualitative-interpretative perspective of research, with methodological procedures inspired by a Design-Based Research. Environment and participants: The research was developed with students attending a Functions of a Variable class in a public university in the state of São Paulo. Data collection and analysis: Data were collected through mathematical tasks on Differential and Integral Calculus solved by students. The protocols produced were analysed, pointing out the main aspects identified, which led us to organize categories of analysis and dimensions (i) knowledges mobilized and developed by students in relation to mathematical concepts; (ii) main errors and difficulties presented by students in the development of tasks; (iii) limits and possibilities of the practice of exploratory teaching in the university context. Results: The results reveal aspects that characterize a process of resignifying the mathematical concepts discussed with the students and a deepening of their knowledge about the concepts of the DIC. Conclusions: As future notes, we suggest rethinking university teaching practice, since the study indicated possibilities and potentialities of the use of exploratory tasks in the teaching of Differential and Integral Calculus.

Author(s):  
Aarón Iván González-Neri ◽  
Julia Pérez-Bravo ◽  
Francisco Javier Arellano-Rocha ◽  
Jorge Gabriel Villarreal-Alcalde

The video game represents a great opportunity for the student community to refresh and diversify the activities and tasks inherent in teaching and learning, taking advantage of the immersive, interactive and multimedia features offered by videogames to improve the use of university students. The objective of this work is to identify and make known the characteristic elements that certain videogames must have so that they can be used in university work, since there are endless options in the market whose general purpose is to entertain, however , you can highlight certain elements within them that can support the teaching practice. The present investigation methodology is of the theoretical type with descriptive study through which it is tried to offer validity, utility and universality to the phenomenon of study. The contribution is led towards the improvement of certain university educational procedures by identifying certain distinguishing parameters in video games that provide certainty that they could be used as support to improve the university teaching practice.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-18
Author(s):  
Richard J. Woodman ◽  
◽  
Maria B. Parappilly ◽  

The success of peer review of teaching (PRT) in shaping teaching practice during an academic’s formative years may depend on the peers’ teaching experience and the frequency of evaluation. Two Australian early-career University lecturers with no previous experience of peer review performed a single PRT on one another following a one week academic development program, a mandatory exercise for all new academic staff with teaching roles within the University. Their experiences were recorded and used in the development of a teaching philosophy. The same PRT was then repeated between the same 2 individuals for the purpose of mandatory peer evaluation some 5 years later and after gaining considerable teaching experience. This paper describes the perceived impact of the PRT process on their teaching philosophies and the potential limitations imposed by their inexperience in formative PRT and teaching itself. Despite this relative inexperience, both academics believed their initial PRT accelerated changes to their mainly teacher-focused knowledge-transfer approaches. This case study provides qualitative evidence that PRT programs can successfully shape teaching practice without the involvement of more experienced teaching faculty. Academic developers should highlight the importance of building collegiality and the scholarship of teaching and learning for early-career PRT participants.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Manuel Claro-Vásquez

ResumenEl presente artículo describio las valoraciones que hacen los docentes sobre los usos de la plataforma virtual como un recurso de enseñanza y aprendizaje en los cursos de informática de la Universidad de Santander, sede Cúcuta.  Para la recolección de la información necesaria para la investigación se empleó una encuesta aplicada a ocho profesores pertenecientes al Departamento de Sistemas de la Universidad. Esta encuesta se complementó con una entrevista semiestructurada centrada en las experiencias subjetivas de tres docentes. Entre los resultados más relevantes aparece que los profesores que participaron en el estudio utilizan frecuentemente la plataforma virtual como complemento para el desarrollo de sus cursos. El manejo apropiado de la plataforma se lleva a cabo como un proceso dinámico e interactivo de tal manera que el profesor constituye la base fundamental de la construcción de ideas en su entorno y muestra que el uso de la plataforma virtual en la formación de los estudiantes universitarios ha logrado que se reflexione sobre las técnicas elementales de la educación y puedan ser aplicadas en los procesos de enseñanza basados en la formación virtual.Palabras clave: recursos pedagógicos, espacios virtuales de aprendizaje, plataforma virtual Moodle, trabajo colaborativo Assessment of the use of the Moodle virtual platform as a pedagogical resource in the university teaching of computer scienceAbstractThis article describes teachers’ assessments regarding the uses of the virtual platform as a teaching and learning resource in informatics courses of the University of Santander, Cúcuta. As a means of collecting the information necessary for the investigation, a survey of eight professors belonging to the Systems Department of the university was carried out. This survey was complemented by a semi-structured interview centered on the subjective experiences of three teachers. Among the most relevant results, it appears that the professors who participated in the study frequently use the virtual platform as a complement for the development of their courses. The appropriate management of the platform is executed as a dynamic and interactive process, in such a way that the teacher functions as the fundamental basis for the construction of ideas in its environment. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the use of the virtual platform in the training of university students has managed to reflect on the elementary techniques of education and can be applied in teaching processes based on virtual training.Keywords: pedagogical resources, virtual learning spaces, Moodle virtual platform, collaborative work, Valoração do uso da plataforma virtual Moodle como recurso pedagógico no ensino universitário da informática.Avaliação do uso da plataforma virtual Moodle como recurso pedagógico no ensino Universitário de informáticaResumoResumo: Este artigo descreve as avaliações feitas pelos professores sobre os usos da plataforma virtual como recurso de ensino e aprendizagem nos cursos de informática da Universidade de Santander, Cúcuta. Para a recolha das informações necessárias para a investigação, foi utilizada uma pesquisa aplicada a oito professores pertencentes ao Departamento de Sistemas da Universidade. Esta pesquisa foi complementada por uma entrevista semi-estruturada centrada nas experiências subjetivasde três professores. Entre os resultados mais relevantes, parece que os professores que participaram no estudo freqüentemente usam a plataforma virtual como complemento para o desenvolvimento de seuscursos. O gerenciamento apropriado da plataforma é realizado como um processo dinâmico e interativo, de tal forma que o professor é a base fundamental da construção de idéias em seu ambiente e mostra que o uso da plataforma virtual na formação de estudantes universitários conseguiu refletir sobre as técnicas elementares de educação e pode ser aplicado em processos de ensino baseados em treinamento virtual.Palavras-chave: recursos pedagógicos, espaços virtuais de aprendizagem, plataforma virtual Moodle, trabalho colaborativo 


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Prue Gonzalez ◽  
◽  
Beate Mueller ◽  
Kevin Merry ◽  
Colin Jone ◽  
...  

In this Editorial, we take the opportunity to expand on the second Journal of University Teaching and Learning theme, Developing Teaching Practice. Building on Editorial 18(4), which articulated changes to higher education in the period roughly between 1980 and 2021, we believe it is pertinent to explore the changing conceptions of academic as ‘teacher’. We use Engeström’s cultural-historical activity theory as a lens to consider how higher education teachers are situated in the current context of rapid changes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. We explore possible future purposes of higher education to consider flow-on impacts on the purpose of its teachers and how their roles might change to accommodate future expectations. We assert the need to challenge the notion of the academic as a person who is recruited into higher education largely because of their subject matter expertise and maintains strong commitment to teaching expertise that is grounded in scholarship, critical self-reflection, and agency. In our various teaching and leadership roles, and consistent with the literature, we have observed paradoxical outcomes from the nexus between risk, innovation and development, driving risk aversity and risk management, with significant (contradictory) impacts on teaching, teachers and student learning. The barriers to implementing innovative curricula include questions of do students get a standardised and ‘safe’ educational experience or are they challenged and afforded the opportunity to transform and grow? Are they allowed to fail? Related, do teachers have genuine agency, as an educator, or are they positioned as agents of a higher education system? We explore these questions and invite our readers to engage in serious reflexivity and identify strategies that help them question their attitudes, thought processes, and assumptions about teaching and student learning. We welcome papers that contribute values-based conversations seeking to continue exploring ways of dealing with and adapting to change in our teaching practices, case studies of learning through failure, change and adaptation and the development of the field.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 247
Author(s):  
Wan Hu ◽  
Xuquan Wang

This research uses case study research and employs a news translation module to analyse its synergic teaching method which includes a university teacher, an industry insider and translation learners. They, as the key stakeholders of the teaching and learning process, have their specific roles and continuously interact with each other. Through these interactions, actual trans-editing workflow is embedded into the university classroom. In order to examine the teaching effectiveness of such an innovative model, translation learners’ responses and commentaries are carefully taken into consideration. A wider implication of this research is that translator trainers may have their own reflections on innovating teaching strategies via the integration of academia and the professional world.


Comunicar ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (44) ◽  
pp. 141-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Piñeiro-Otero ◽  
Carmen Costa-Sánchez

Education’s gamification has represented an opportunity to boost students’ interaction, motivation and participation. ARG (Alternate Reality Games) offer a new highly immersive tool that can be implemented in educational achievements. One of the strongest points of these immersive games is based on applying the sum of students participating efforts and resources (so called collective intelligence) for problem resolution. In addition, ARG combine online and offline platforms a factor that improves the realism on the game experience. In this regard, this present work aims to summarise ARG potentialities, limitations and challenges of these immersive games in higher and further education context. In terms of methodology, this research draws from an appropriate theoretical corpus and, analyses the educational potential of AGR that, in fields like marketing or corporate communication, has already started successfully, but it has still not been studied in depth in education. This study compiles, also, best practices developed in several subjects and academic degrees all around the world and not easily traceable. It concludes that, given the antecedents, potentialities and the exposed analysis, the possibility of incorporating alternate reality games into the university teaching practice in the frame of an educational strategy that determines its aims and more suitable system of evaluation, has to be considered. La ludificación de la educación ha representado una oportunidad para fomentar la interacción, la motivación y la participación del alumnado. Los ARG (las siglas inglesas de juegos de realidad alternativa) ofrecen una nueva herramienta altamente inmersiva que puede implementarse en el logro de los objetivos docentes. Uno de sus puntos fuertes consiste en la suma de esfuerzos y recursos (la llamada inteligencia colectiva) aplicada a la resolución de problemas. A esto se añade su combinación de plataformas en los entornos online y offline, lo que favorece el «realismo» de la experiencia. En este sentido, el presente trabajo pretende condensar las potencialidades, limitaciones y retos de los ARG al servicio de la educación universitaria. Basándose, a nivel metodológico, en la elaboración de un corpus teórico relevante y adecuado, analiza el potencial educativo de esta herramienta que, en ámbitos como el marketing o la comunicación corporativa ya ha despegado con éxito, pero que en el área educativa todavía no había sido abordada en profundidad. Recopila, además, ejemplos satisfactorios que se han desarrollado en diversas disciplinas académicas en otros países y que no resultan fácilmente localizables. Se concluye que, dados los antecedentes, potencialidades y análisis expuesto, debe valorarse la posibilidad de incorporar los juegos de realidad alternativa a la práctica de la docencia universitaria en el marco de una estrategia educativa que determine sus objetivos y sistema de evaluación más adecuado.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany Alden Rivers ◽  
Alejandro Armellini ◽  
Ming Nie

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an attributes framework for embedding “Changemaker” – a university initiative for promoting social innovation and social impact – across the disciplines at the University of Northampton. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on the authors’ (2015) phenomenographic study that proposed five different conceptions of Changemaker held by academic staff: (1) Changemaker as institutional strategy; (2) Changemaker as critical thinking, perspective shifting and problem solving; (3) Changemaker as employability; (4) Changemaker as social betterment; and (5) Changemaker as personal transformation. The present study explores pedagogic literature to identify skills, behaviours and attributes associated with each of these five categories. Findings – Findings from this literature review inform a set of Changemaker attributes, which offers a framework to consider skills and behaviours associated with the five conceptions of Changemaker. Research limitations/implications – The conceptions of Changemaker, that form the basis of the Changemaker attributes, represent the beliefs of teaching staff at the University of Northampton. Despite inherent limitations, the approach of using practice-based empirical findings to develop pedagogical tools may be of direct benefit to other education providers as they develop their own models for teaching and learning. Practical implications – The Changemaker attributes will be used by the University of Northampton during the design, approval and review of courses to ensure that social innovation and social impact is embedded across the disciplines. Academic staff can refer these attributes when designing assessments and for inspiration towards innovative teaching practice. Originality/value – The findings of this study will provide a point of reference for other higher education institutions as they look for guidance on embedding social innovation and social impact into their curriculum.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Manrique Arribas ◽  
Cristina Vallés Rap ◽  
Juan Manuel Gea Fernández

Resumen: El siguiente trabajo muestra los resultados de 29 experiencias de innovación en docencia universitaria, en las que se ha aplicado un sistema de evaluación formativa. Han participado en el estudio 7 áreas de conocimiento de 4 universidades, con un total de 1.770 alumnos y 29 profesores. El marco de referencia lo constituye la Red de Evaluación en Docencia Universitaria, centrada en investigar el potencial de la evaluación formativa para mejorar el proceso de enseñanza- aprendizaje del alumnado universitario. La metodología empleada en esta Red de profesorado es la investigación-acción y el estudio de casos. Entre los resultados obtenidos en el estudio destacan las siguientes ventajas: a)-aprender formas alternativas de evaluación, b)-permitir mayor implicación y motivación del alumnado y c)-facilitar la adquisición de competencias de aprendizaje autónomo. Se observan algunos inconvenientes como: a)-mayor carga de trabajo para el profesor y el alumno y b)-falta de costumbre del profesorado y alumnado en la aplicación de este modelo de evaluación formativa. Sin embargo, la relación entre la carga de trabajo para el profesor y el alumno está en consonancia con el requerimiento que establece el nuevo crédito ECTS de los nuevos grados según los datos obtenidos. Los resultados extraídos permiten afirmar que la evaluación formativa supone un medio adecuado para que el alumnado alcance las competencias que exigen las titulaciones, sirviendo también como elemento dinamizador del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje que permite buenos resultados académicos así como la motivación de los alumnos y profesores. Overall results of the implementation of 29 cases on the development of formative assessment in higher education Abstract: In this paper we show the overall results after having implemented 29 innovative experiences in university teaching, based on the application of formative assessment systems. This implementation covers 7 areas of knowledge, 4 universities, 1,770 students and 29 teachers. The framework is the University Formative Evaluation Network, formed by university professors who focus on researching the potential of formative assessment to improve student learning and teaching process. The methodology used is “action research” and case studies. The results show that this evaluation system has many advantages: a) it allows learning new practice of assessment, b) greater involvement and more student motivation and c) it facilitates the acquisition of independent learning skills. It also presents some drawbacks, such as increased workload for the teacher and student, and a traditional lack of practice of teachers in the application of this model. However, the relationship between workload for the teacher and the student is in line with the requirement set by the new ECTS credit of the new degrees. The most important conclusion we have reached is that formative assessment is a very appropriate means to achieve the competencies required by the degrees, and it develops a dynamic process of teaching and learning that improves academic performance and students and teachers’ motivation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 2-4
Author(s):  
Geraldine E. Lefoe ◽  

With this second issue of Volume 9 of the Journal of Teaching and Learning Practice we bring a warm welcome to new members of the Editorial board. The board will be strengthened by their contributions. The Senior Editors are Associate Professor Geraldine Lefoe, University of Wollongong, Australia and Dr Meg O'Reilly, Southern Cross University, Australia. Our editorial board includes members of the host institution (University of Wollongong), Dr Lynne Keevers, Ms Lucia Tome, Associate Professor Greg Hampton, Dr. Michael Jones, Associate Professor Anne Porter, and Dr. Dominique Parrish. Our external board members include Ms Jude Carroll, Associate Professor Andrew Furco, Professor Terence Lovat, and Ms Carolyn Webb. We have particularly appreciated the support of the University of Wollongong’s Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) Professor Rob Castle who has recently retired. His patronage and support of our journal has seen it move from a small internal journal to a much larger international journal. He has been a great champion for teaching and learning in the local and national arena and his contributions to the institution and to the sector have been greatly valued. We wish him well in his retirement and know that he will continue his contributions to the sector in the years to come.


Author(s):  
Ahmed Maajoon Alenezi

This research assess the effects of training program based on the usage of the digital learning objects in teaching practice at the Northern Borders University staff. E Assessment through the tablets and smart phones and the teachers’ attitudes towards such way of evaluation is the major objective of this study as the researcher expects that the assessment mechanism in the university through utilization of tablets and smart phones and its application will inevitably bring in a systematic improvement in the assessment and evaluation process of the curricula. Moreover, making use of the e learning objects in training will make a significant change in e training program of the university. Hence, the researcher has chosen voluntary random samples from the university teaching staff (men\women) from various different faculties (medicine, medical sciences, science, education and arts, business administration, home economics, and science and literature). These samples included 300 members of the teaching staff. In a group of 20 to 25 members, a personal training was conducted regarding the usage of tablets and smart phones and its applications in the assessment process. Each group participated by producing a complete e-assessment for their students in the Northern Borders University and by the e learning system i.e. Blackboard and Question Mark. The research also depends on the semi-experimental design of multiple groups and on testing the groups’ pre and post achievement tests. In addition, the research identifies the level of the university teaching staff in using the tablets and the smartphones and its applications in the assessment process by the note card that the individuals have during the test.


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