scholarly journals The Role of Educational Communication in Promoting a Student-Centered Learning Style in Multicultural Classrooms: A Reflective Essay on Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 838-851
Author(s):  
Hussein AlAhmad

This is a reflective essay on my own experience while learning and teaching in multicultural classroom in higher education in the UK. It emphasizes the indispensable relationship between the two fields of teaching–learning and communication processes in such heterogeneous environment. The essay focuses on how, in such context, teachers are key players, focused on excellent critical learning and teaching skills; these involve more than content expertise, or traditional methods, but becoming a student-centred, flexible and innovative teacher, going beyond the evaluation of feedback, to constantly exploring gaps in the learning and teaching process, and adjusting their teaching methods accordingly. Key emphasize is on how two-way, open communication endorses teachers’ awareness of discrepancies within their student groups and offers alternative individualized learning styles. Reflecting on my own experience, outcomes form focus groups, and qualitative interviews, the paper concludes with that, by meeting essential physiological, pedagogical as well as belonging needs and esteem, educational communication leads our efforts in optimizing teaching technique in class management, students engagement, also guide our efforts to attain a motivational climate for interactive learning. Best practices in educational communication can boost teachers’ efforts in employing the educational goals of HE, and recognize their societal impact.

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 180
Author(s):  
Nosisana Patricia Mkonto

<strong></strong><p>Students who enter higher education have diverse learning needs, andhigher education institutions need to provide for these needs. One way of dealing with this variety of learning needs is to empower students to play an active role in their own learning, by making them aware of their learning styles.  Identifying learning styles is an important facet within the learning process. Assessing learning styles could provide students with an opportunity to be reflective, and interrogate how they learn. Students’ learning styles can be assessed by using a learning styles assessment tool. The Innovative Learning Experiences (ILE) which was developed in this study, caters for the students` voice where students reflect on their past and present learning experiences. </p><br /><strong> </strong>


2019 ◽  
pp. 172-192
Author(s):  
Reza Ghanbarzadeh ◽  
Amir Hossein Ghapanchi

Three Dimensional Virtual Worlds (3DVW) have been substantially adopted in educational and pedagogical fields worldwide. The current study conducted a systematic literature review of the published research relevant to the application of 3DVWs in higher education. A literature search was performed in eight high-ranking databases, and following scrutiny according to inclusion criteria, 164 papers were selected for review. The systematic literature review process was summarized, reviews undertaken by the authors, and results about the applicability of 3DVWs in higher education were extracted. A wide variety of application areas for the 3DVWs in higher education were found, and were classified into five main categories. Various 3DVW platforms and virtual environments used for educational goals were also identified. The results revealed Second Life as the most popular 3DVW platform in higher education. This study also found that by using 3DVW technology a wide range of virtual environments and virtual tools have been designed and applied in teaching and learning for higher education.


2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-354
Author(s):  
Guilherme Luz Tortorella ◽  
Rogério Miorando ◽  
Diego Fettermann ◽  
Diego Tlapa Mendoza

PurposeThis article identifies the association between two methods for teaching lean manufacturing (LM): problem-based learning (PBL) and classroom lectures, and students' learning styles of a postgraduate course.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from graduate students LM courses that present different teaching approaches. Thus, students' learning preferences were gathered through the application of the Index of Learning Style questionnaire, and their performance assessed after each course.FindingsResults indicate that learning styles are indeed associated with LM teaching approaches, and comprehending interaction effects between learning style dimensions is essential for properly adapting the teaching method. However, these interactions have different extensions.Originality/valueAlthough teaching LM has significantly evolved over the past decades, the single application of traditional teaching methods jeopardizes learning effectiveness of graduate students because of the practical nature of LM. This study provides evidence to better understand the effect of complementary teaching methods and their relationship with students' preferences, empirically examining that there is not one best approach for understanding LM.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 490-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darwish Abdulrahman Yousef

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the use of Honey and Mumford’s (1986) learning styles questionnaire (LSQ) in the context of United Arab Emirates (UAE) higher education. In particular, it aims at exploring the learning style preferences of United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) students using LSQ. It also investigates whether there are statistically significant differences in students’ learning style preferences because of their demographic and academic characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a sample of 1,463 undergraduate students at the UAEU. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to present the main characteristics of respondents, to explore the learning style preferences of UAEU students and to find out whether there are significant differences in students’ learning style preferences because of their demographic and academic characteristics. Findings Results indicated that UAEU students have strong preferences for the four learning styles. Results showed that about 68 per cent of UAEU students have strong or very strong preferences for the activist leaning style, whereas about 84 per cent have strong or very strong preferences for the reflector learning style, 78 per cent have strong or very strong preferences for the theorist learning style; about 60 per cent have strong or very strong preferences for the pragmatist learning style. Furthermore, there were statistically significant differences in certain learning styles because of students’ demographic and academic characteristics. Research limitations/implications There are a number of limitations associated with this study. First, data were collected from a single university in the UAE. Second, the results are based on a self-report survey and this in turn might affect the reliability of the results. Another limitation is that this study is of snapshot type. Hence, it might not capture the dynamic nature of learning style. On the other hand, it has a number of implications for students, educators and administrators. Originality/value The present study is the first attempt to explore learning styles preference of undergraduate students using LSQ, not only in the content of UAE higher education but also in the Arab world.


2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052096716
Author(s):  
Rachel J. Voth Schrag ◽  
Leila G. Wood ◽  
Dixie Hairston ◽  
Cynthia Jones

Demonstrated impacts of intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual assault (SA) for college students include negative outcomes related to mental, physical, emotional, and academic well-being. As a result of increasing awareness of the long-standing epidemic of IPV and SA on college campuses, Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) are expanding the services provided to survivors of IPV and SA, including campus-based advocacy services that are adapted from community models. Like community advocacy, campus-based advocacy services focus on empowerment, support, resource provision, and addressing safety needs. However, the unique context of higher education produces specific student-centered needs, including an increased focus on educational goals, academic accommodations, and safety planning. The current study seeks to shed new light on the specific foci and tasks of advocacy in the context of IHEs, related to what we call “academic safety planning,” and to highlight the experience of student service recipients utilizing these forms of advocacy. Thematic analysis of 48 qualitative interviews with advocates ( n = 23) and service users ( n = 25) from five programs at three universities was used to discover practices applied by campus-based advocates and to understand student-survivor needs and preferences within academic safety planning. Findings reveal the core components of academic safety planning, which are: (a) Advocating for emotional and physical safety in the university context, (b) Assessing and identifying needed academic accommodations, and (c) rebuilding connections and institutional trust at school. These interviews reveal that academic safety planning has the potential to enhance the academic outcomes of survivors, which in turn could lead to important improvements in long-term personal safety, well-being, and economic security for student-survivors.


2002 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 503-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Cockerton ◽  
Rukhsana Naz ◽  
Sylvia Sheppard

Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles Questionnaire was derived from the same conceptual basis as Kolb's Learning Style Inventory and may provide a more reliable and valid measure of Kolb's learning style constructs. The Learning Styles Questionnaire has not been psychometrically evaluated as extensively as the Learning Style Inventory. Since there is no published information on how the Learning Styles Questionnaire scales were derived, an attempt was made to factor analyze the responses to the questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis of 284 psychology undergraduates' responses identified a four-factor oblimin solution as the most satisfactory model investigated. Implications for interpretation and use within higher education are discussed.


Author(s):  
Abraham Esquivel-Salas ◽  
Verenice Ábila-Aguilar ◽  
María del Refugio Molina-Wong ◽  
Manuel Ignacio Salas-Guzmán

In this article a first approach was made about the tracking of a student’s learning styles preferences along their higher education. The investigation was applied to students of the Computer Science area, through a comparative evaluation of the Honey-Alonso Learning Styles Questionnaire to selected students, in three moments of their career path. In a first instance, the results show a change in the learning style of the students, later an analysis provides the nature of that change. The study presents the sample size as a limitation, because the tests had to be applied to the selected students and at different times of their professional studies. The interest for get knowledge about learning styles, aims to increasing the comprehension about how the students learn, and in the possibility of developing tools that allow, as far as possible, increasing the learning motivation and personalization.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Saunders

This article draws on qualitative interviews with one autistic student about his experiences accessing higher education, focusing on disability disclosure as a time-based rhetorical practice. I explore how Mike exploits the kairotic dimensions of autism disclosure in risky and contradictory ways to pursue his larger educational goals. Autistic students are often assumed to be unacceptably awkward, incapable of intentional stances, and fundamentally not rhetorical. These assumptions, however, obscure the complexity inherent in their rhetorical practices; this complexity is particularly salient in the timing of disability disclosure. I argue that Mike embodies a temporal expertise that expands the concept of crip time – often conceived as a delay or extension of normative time frames – to encompass time as a rhetorical resource for disabled rhetors.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 356
Author(s):  
Rina Oktafia Putri

<p align="center"><em>Learning is one of the main keys in achieving educational goals. Good learning is a learning that takes place effectively and efficiently. Integrative thematic learning should have the creativity and innovative that teachers do in order to produce creative learners. Each learner has different learning styles because of the background of environmental factors, thinking patterns and interactions. Activities and learning outcomes are influenced by internal factors, both physical and psychological, and external factors in the family, school, work or community environment. The principle of learning, affirming that learning: is a part of development, lasting a lifetime, influenced by innate factors, environment and maturity, covering all aspects of life, takes place at any place and time, with teachers or without teachers, varying from simple to complex</em></p>


Author(s):  
Reza Ghanbarzadeh ◽  
Amir Hossein Ghapanchi

Three Dimensional Virtual Worlds (3DVW) have been substantially adopted in educational and pedagogical fields worldwide. The current study conducted a systematic literature review of the published research relevant to the application of 3DVWs in higher education. A literature search was performed in eight high-ranking databases, and following scrutiny according to inclusion criteria, 164 papers were selected for review. The systematic literature review process was summarized, reviews undertaken by the authors, and results about the applicability of 3DVWs in higher education were extracted. A wide variety of application areas for the 3DVWs in higher education were found, and were classified into five main categories. Various 3DVW platforms and virtual environments used for educational goals were also identified. The results revealed Second Life as the most popular 3DVW platform in higher education. This study also found that by using 3DVW technology a wide range of virtual environments and virtual tools have been designed and applied in teaching and learning for higher education.


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