scholarly journals Teachers’ perceptions about the use of the Learning ePortfolio as learning and assessment tool in Mondragon Unibertsitatea

Author(s):  
Sirats SantaCruz ◽  
Nagore Ipiña ◽  
Eugenio Astigarraga

The aim of the present study is to analyse teachers’ initial perceptions about the use of the Learning ePortfolio as the main learning and assessment tool in Early Years Education and Primary Education Degrees. This is a piece of a major longitudinal research being carried out in the Faculty of Humanities and Education in Mondragon Unibertsitatea. Results show that teachers are aware of the flexibility offered by the Learning ePortfolio to assess students’ learning processes. Indeed, teachers think the Learning ePortfolio is a valuable tool for both students and teachers. However, there are still some outstanding issues to discuss with all the teachers involved in the use of the Learning ePortfolio. Conclusions drawn from this study show that the Learning ePortfolio constitutes a helpful and valuable tool for both students and teachers and it helps when carrying out formative assessment processes. Nevertheless, more training is needed to solve the gaps identified for its use.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-154
Author(s):  
Alhanouf Saleh Alharbi ◽  
Amal Abdullah Alhebshi ◽  
Zilal Meccawy

This study highlights students’ and teachers’ perceptions on using Google Forms as a formative assessment tool in EFL classrooms. The study implemented a mixed methods approach where a questionnaire was administered to students and interviews were carried out with English teachers in public secondary schools in two cities in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire received 354 responses (32 males and 322 females) while in the structured interviews, 24 female English teachers provided their opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of integrating Google Forms into their classrooms. The purpose of this study is to explore students’ perceptions of online formative assessment via Google Forms in terms of perceived usefulness, perceived risk of cheating, and perceived self-efficacy. It also aims to analyze the positives and challenges faced by EFL teachers while using Google Forms as an online formative assessment tool. The results showed that both students and teachers believe that using Google Forms positively impacts students’ learning despite the risk of cheating and demonstrated several limitations with using Google Forms for teachers and students. However, English language teachers are recommended to engage all students in online formative assessment to monitor their progress over the course and design interventions to reduce cheating in online assessment. The present study helps increase the awareness of the positives and negatives of English online assessment in Saudi Arabia.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alhanouf Saleh Alharbi ◽  
Amal Abdullah Alhebshi ◽  
Zilal Meccawy

This study highlights students’ and teachers’ perceptions on using Google Forms as a formative assessment tool in EFL classrooms. The study implemented a mixed methods approach where a questionnaire was administered to students and interviews were carried out with English teachers in public secondary schools in two cities in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire received 354 responses (32 males and 322 females) while in the structured interviews, 24 female English teachers provided their opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of integrating Google Forms into their classrooms. The purpose of this study is to explore students’ perceptions of online formative assessment via Google Forms in terms of perceived usefulness, perceived risk of cheating, and perceived self-efficacy. It also aims to analyze the positives and challenges faced by EFL teachers while using Google Forms as an online formative assessment tool. The results showed that both students and teachers believe that using Google Forms positively impacts students’ learning despite the risk of cheating and demonstrated several limitations with using Google Forms for teachers and students. However, English language teachers are recommended to engage all students in online formative assessment to monitor their progress over the course and design interventions to reduce cheating in online assessment. The present study helps increase the awareness of the positives and negatives of English online assessment in Saudi Arabia.


Author(s):  
Anne Soini ◽  
Anthony Watt ◽  
Arja Sääkslahti

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers have a central role in supporting young children’s physical activity (PA) and overall development in the early years. However, the value of early childhood education teacher training (ECETT) programmes is not widely understood. This study aimed to investigate pre-service teachers’ perceptions of perceived competence when (1) supporting a child’s PA, (2) teaching PE, and (3) observing and assessing a child’s motor skills and PA. These self-evaluations were compared with a range of individual, educational, and behavioural characteristics. Final-year Bachelor degree pre-service teachers (n = 274; 54%) from seven universities in Finland participated in the self-report questionnaire. The results of the linear regression models showed that the relevant PE studies and previous experiences of pre-service teachers predicted higher perceived competence of supporting a child’s PA, teaching PE, and observing and assessing a child’s motor skills and PA. Thus, the study findings demonstrated how teacher training could positively influence perceptions and attitudes to increase a person’s perceived competence when implementing PE in the early years. Overall, results reinforce the importance of PE in ECETT, and the time devoted to this syllabus area should be maintained or increased.


Author(s):  
Wajiha Shadab ◽  
Amna Ahmed Noor ◽  
Saira Waqqar ◽  
Gul Muhammad Shaikh

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to assess the medical students’ opinions and views on undertaking SLICE as a formative assessment. Methods: This was a qualitative, exploratory study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select final year medical students who have undertaken a formative assessment through SLICE in their clerkship rotation. Total 32 students participated in this study .Four sets of focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted from medical students who had recently gone through their clinical clerkship modules for Pediatrics, General Medicine, General Surgery and Gynecology& Obstetrics. Each recorded FGD was transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was conducted manually. Themes were identified from the transcribed data, coded and analyzed. In order to achieve adequate coding and researcher reliability, investigator triangulation was performed. The initial thematic analysis was performed by the primary investigator. Thereafter, two more investigators independently analyzed the data. Before the data was finalized, all the three investigators reached a final consensus upon the themes that had emerged, ensuring triangulation of the analyzed data. Results: A four staged thematic analysis was conducted, in which five major themes and five sub-themes emerged. The main themes being: Purpose, Learning, Timing, Relevancy and Fairness of SLICE. Conclusion: The students generally thought that SLICE was effective in enhancing their clinical skills learning and should be conducted more frequently with minor adjustments. Continuous...


Soundings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (76) ◽  
pp. 128-157
Author(s):  
Celia Burgess-Macey ◽  
Clare Kelly ◽  
Marjorie Ouvry

Early years education in England is in crisis. This article looks at what is needed to better provide the kind of education and care that young children need outside the home, from birth to school-starting age. It explores: the current arrangements and varieties of provision and approaches in England; educational and developmental research about young children's development and early learning; the current national early years curriculum and how it contrasts to other international models and pedagogical approaches; the importance of play-based learning; the role of adults in observing, recording, assessing and supporting young children's learning; and the holistic nature of children's learning - which makes education and care inseparable in young children's lives. Neoliberal governments have had little interest in these questions: they have been focused instead on marketising the sector, which has led to great inequality of provision; and they have been unwilling to provide the necessary funding to train staff and maintain appropriate learning environments; most fundamentally, they have engaged in an ideological drive to impose on very small children a narrow and formal curriculum that ignores all the evidence about good practice in the sector, and is focused on making them 'school ready' - that is, ready to fit into the rigid frameworks they have already imposed on primary school education.


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