Integrating Formative Assessment with Foreign Language (English) Process Writing Instruction: Lessons from Two College Writing and Reading Classes in Germany

Timed single-draft essays as summative assessment tasks have been argued to be inadequate for both teaching and assessing writing in the context of process writing. This is because single draft essays assess product rather than process. To address this concern, the authors developed, implemented, and evaluated two FL (foreign language) English writing courses that integrate various formative assessment activities for teaching writing. The course-embedded evaluation methodology included three techniques: pre-testing, collecting teacher-student conference reports, and administering a student opinion survey at the end of the semester. Pre-testing and collecting conference reports were both used as techniques for simultaneous teaching and inquiry into this teaching. The student opinion survey evaluated the course design grounded in the new teaching methodology. The findings of the study indicate that consistent use of formative assessment in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing class increases student confidence and motivation to develop their writing skills. Results demonstrate that academic (C1 level) and college (B2 level) writing courses that integrate formative assessment into teaching process writing can be a valuable addition to an array of FL (English) language courses offered by the departments of foreign languages at European universities.

Construction of Legal Education in College Education through Pancasila Education

Legal awareness is a noble ideal when juxtaposed with the realization of smart and good citizens in Indonesia. This study aims to interpret, systematically identify efforts to build legal awareness in Higher Education. The research method used in this research is the Mixed Method. The data were obtained from a questionnaire given to 116 students from the non-law department and non-PPKn department at Ahmad Dahlan University, Yogyakarta. The results showed that 1) Building legal awareness through the substance of Pancasila Education material, 2) Student opinion about building legal awareness and law-abiding behavior was that 79% said it was enough, 12% was not optimal. 3) The relevance of Pancasila Education material with efforts to build legal awareness is Pancasila as an ethical system, Pancasila as a philosophical system, the practice of Pancasila, Pancasila as the state ideology, 4) Assessment in Pancasila education is through tests, observations, assignments and projects.

Identifying student opinion leaders to lead e-cigarette interventions: protocol for a randomized controlled pragmatic trial

Background After the US Surgeon General declared youth electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use an epidemic in 2018, the number of youth e-cigarette users continued to surge, growing from 3.8 million in 2018 to over 5 million 2019. Youth who use e-cigarettes are at a substantially higher risk of transitioning to traditional cigarettes, becoming regular cigarette smokers, and increasing their risk of developing tobacco-related cancer. A majority of youth are misinformed about e-cigarettes, often believing they are not harmful or contain no nicotine. Middle school students using e-cigarettes have been affected by its normalization leading to influence by their peers. However, social and group dynamics can be leveraged for a school-based peer-led intervention to identify and recruit student leaders to be anti-e-cigarette champions to prevent e-cigarette initiation. This study outlines a project to use social network analysis to identify student opinion-leaders in schools and train them to conduct anti-e-cigarette programming to their peers. Methods In the 2019–2020 academic school year, 6th grade students from nine schools in the Pittsburgh area were recruited. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with three arms—expert, elected peer-leader, and random peer-leader—for e-cigarette programming. Sixth grade students in each school completed a network survey that assessed the friendship networks in each class. Students also completed pre-intervention and post-intervention surveys about their intention-to-use, knowledge, and attitudes towards e-cigarettes. Within each peer-led arm, social network analysis was conducted to identify peer-nominated opinion leaders. An e-cigarette prevention program was administered by (1) an adult content-expert, (2) a peer-nominated opinion leader to assigned students, or (3) a peer-nominated opinion leader to random students. Discussion This study is the first to evaluate the feasibility of leveraging social network analysis to identify 6th grade opinion leaders to lead a school-based e-cigarette intervention. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04083469. Registered on September 10, 2019.

Design and Evaluation of a Collaborative Educational Game: BECO Games

This paper describes the design and validation of a game based on a platform for easy deployment of collaborative educational games, named BECO Games platform. As an example of its potential, a learning experience for an Economics subject was created through a collaborative game to understand the concept of common goods. The effectiveness of the game was tested by comparing the performance of Bachelor students who used the platform and those who did not (137 students vs. 92 students). In addition, it was controlled that in previous years when students played the game through forums and an Excel sheet, these differences did not exist. Results indicate that the performance differences between students who participated in the online game and those who did not were greater than in previous years. In addition, a satisfaction survey was delivered to the students to understand their impressions better. This survey assessed student opinion about the platform, about the educational experience, and about their behavior during the game.

Evaluation of the tutoring program of the Colegio Primitivo y Nacional de San Nicolás de Hidalgo on the tutoring program in times of Covid-19 pandemic: student opinion

Tutoring is a strategy to contribute to the development of skills and support students in solving academic problems; help in the promotion of their autonomy and comprehensive training, as well as contribute to improving their academic performance through adequate personalized and group guidance. In addition to implementing it in the educational center, it is important to evaluate it to know the perspective, progress and improvements for each school year, taking into account the needs of the student population. In the present, the results of a survey applied to 375 young people are presented to know their perception of the mentoring program of this cycle under the virtual modality due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the specific results show that: 74% consider that attending tutorials benefited their adaptation to academic life. Regarding whether the tutoring sessions have helped them to better understand the services that the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo provides to students, 87% consider that they met this objective. And on whether they consider that the activities aimed at integration (workshops, tutorials, etc.) are sufficient, 81% consider that they are. The above shows a general satisfaction with the sessions, schedules, the attention received, the topics, etc.