Search results

Flipped classroom approaches (FCA) are an educational innovation that could increase students' learning outcomes in, and their enjoyment of, mathematics or STEM education. To integrate FCA into education sustainably, professional teacher development (PTD) is a promising tool. The research aim is to explore which aspects should be considered when developing and implementing professional mathematics or STEM teacher development for flipped approaches.

A total of 20 expert interviews were conducted and analysed according to a synthesis of grounded theory approaches and qualitative interview study principles.

Evaluating the interview data indicates that the characteristics of different teacher types in PTD, learning activities in PTD and the DSE model derived in this study could be vital elements in professional mathematics or STEM teacher development for flipped approaches.

Evaluating the interview data indicates that the characteristics of different teacher types in PTD, learning activities in PTD and the DSE model derived in this study could be vital elements in professional mathematics or STEM teacher development for flipped approaches.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the practice of using student technology teams (STTs) offered at a high school within a 1:1 district.

This qualitative case study (Merriam, 1998, 2009) documents how an STT program functioned in 2015-2016 academic year.

Findings show the STT provided a rich and authentic learning opportunity for students interested in information technology. The district benefits greatly through both cost savings and personnel support related to its 1:1 initiative.

As there is no current research on K-12 STTs, this study serves as a foundation for a practice that is growing within schools.

This article sets out to discuss the Johnson Center Library, a gateway library in a multipurpose academic commons building first opened in 1996 at George Mason University, to identify the successes and limitations of this type of library concept, particularly in the context of more recent thinking about various types of information commons in libraries.

Descriptive information is provided about the architecture and layout of the library, its collections and services. The final part of the article uses a lessons learned approach to identify key experiential and consensus‐based observations of library staff, library administrators, and others about the changing mission of the library over a decade (1996‐2006).

The key findings of the authors focus on the need to revitalize the mission of the Johnson Center Library in order to move beyond the original gateway library concept. The findings also focus on the need to develop programmatic linkages with other stakeholders when a library facility is located in a multipurpose building; to create better architecturally defined spaces in order to enhance collection security; to design more flexible spaces that can be repurposed for changing needs in the networked environment.

The paper discusses a different approach to library services, a variation on the information commons concept, and shows how library‐as‐place is still very significant because of the blending of the social and the academic lives of students, when a library is part of a blended social and academic student center such as the Johnson Center itself.

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) coupled with integrative and deep learning can result in learning that is expansive and comprehensive. Integrated learning, in essence, is helping students develop the ability to make connections and see relationships between subjects, themselves, and the world around them. But these student-driven integrative learning experiences should also encourage deep, long lasting learning. Based on the theoretical underpinning of these three areas – student-driven learning, integrative learning, and deep learning – I designed a term-long inquiry-based project for university freshman at the end of a year-long (three terms) Freshman Inquiry class. The primary project associated with the term is an electronic magazine which addresses an overall conflict, each major stakeholder’s perspective of the conflict, statistical data, a joint conflict resolution piece, and other supplemental information the group deems important. This project which is largely student-driven allows students to explore areas of interdisciplinary interest in a variety of ways. Such a multifaceted project challenges students to make connections between themselves and the seemingly disparate fields of science and social science on a local, national, and international level and ultimately allows them “ownership” of their learning.

This research aims to investigate the role of project-based-learning within graduate sustainability curricula through the lens of key competence development. Project-based learning has become a widely recommended pedagogy for sustainability education. It is hypothesized that through collaboration, student autonomy and real-world application, students develop key competencies for sustainability. This paper also aims to examine the connection between project-based learning and competence development on a program level from the student perspective.

This two-year comparative case study follows the project-based-learning journeys of nine graduate sustainability students from three programs: the Master’s of Sustainability at Arizona State University, the Master’s of Sustainability Science at Leuphana University of Lüneburg and the Global Sustainability Science Master’s, an ASU and Leuphana collaboration. Over four semesters, the students each took part in four competence-oriented self-assessments and interviews to map their perceived learning throughout their programs. Additional contextual information was gathered from program and course materials and descriptions, instructor interviews and in vivo observations.

The defining aspects of project-based learning including collaboration, student autonomy and real-world connection do contribute to students’ self-perceived competence development. Student-driven and program-driven project-based learning experiences equally foster this result, as long as the pedagogical challenges of balancing support and student independence associated with each are mitigated through instructor actions, program design or individual student coping skills.

The results of this research can support higher education institutions in designing sustainability programs aimed at competence development through project-based learning. The focus on the curricular and program level combined with repeated overtime student-reported attribution to specific courses and activities bridges the gap between individual course case studies and theoretical recommendations for curriculum design. In addition to length and depth, this study also forefronts student experience of curricula as delivered.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on teacher coachees’ perceptions of why some coaching goals (selected by coaches or coachees) were more achievable than others and how this knowledge might advance a coaching culture that has the potential for sustainable improvements to teaching and learning.

As educators, the authors took a constructivist approach to grounded theory because the authors believe learning is socially constructed. The relationship between coach and coachees is underpinned by their constructed meanings and co-constructed learning. constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 1996) requires researchers not to start with a theory or hypothesis but to engage with data in a manner (coding, categorising, theorising) that allows for a theoretical understanding to emerge. In total, 22 teacher coachees from one school participated in this research. They were asked to complete an online questionnaire about their coaching experiences, speculating about why some goals (related to improving student reading, writing, speaking and listening, and math) were more achievable than others. One of the researchers had been a coach in the school, but not at the time of the research. Nonetheless online questionnaires were used as they offered teacher coachees anonymity to share their lived experiences (Charmaz, 2006). This data collection method also assisted in limiting accidental leading by an interviewer (Charmaz, 2006).

The investigation into longitudinal coaching (one to six years) indicated how coachees positioned themselves or peers, when reflecting on and seeking to establish why some coaching goals were more achievable than others. Coachees clustered around one of the following themes: Pragmatic I, Pragmatic We, Student Driven, Team Driven, Data Driven, Research Driven. Theorising within and across themes highlighted that while coachees shared the same concerns, they differed in terms of how much they each focused on them. This allowed the authors to gauge the intensity of the concern (dominate, moderate or slight) for each participant. Notwithstanding the overlap, the seventh theme (temporality) serendipitously aligned with their exposure to coaching. Differentiated models of coaching appears to be a way to establish a coaching culture as multiple models could be responsive to divergent coachees’ learning needs. In doing so it is more likely to support sustainable improvements in teaching and learning.

The sample size (n=22) was appropriate for an in-depth analysis which allowed an understanding of coaching from the coachees’ first-hand experiences although it does limit generalisability. Another limitation is that coachees were not asked about teaching experience, hence the relationship between years of teaching and coaching exposure was not analysed. This is something that the authors feel now needs to be included in further research. Implications of the findings are that instructional coaches within schools may need to be more cognisant of the developmental stages and therefore differentiated needs of teacher coachees. This is particularly so if the aim is to promote sustainable pedagogical improvement.

This is a case study of the effects of longitudinal coaching (one to six years) in a school where all teachers are involved in being coached.

The aim was to examine how students in the arctic region of Sweden experienced creating, leading, and participating in student‐driven health promoting activities in cooperation with their teacher.

Inspired by the participatory appreciative action research (PAAR) method 19 Swedish students, ages 10‐11 participated in health promotion work in the classroom through creating, leading, participating in and evaluating their own and their peers’ health promoting activities.

Students developed three themes and related activities which they felt helped them reduce stress and have friendly fun: “the friendly touch” (music and student massage), “the outdoor run for fun” (student physical activity in outdoors), and the sounds of well‐being (music).

This paper provides a comprehensive understanding of how students experienced creating, leading, and participating in student‐driven health promoting activities in cooperation with their teacher, and reveals that when students were asked to choose health promoting activities, they were not only in line with existing research but were able to reflect on how to develop good practice. Students are competent to lead health promoting activities with the support of their teacher and participating in health promoting activities lead by their peers.

The empowerment‐based group assignment in this study offers an example of implementing health promoting activities in school to increase health literacy useful for health educators and teachers.

This paper aims to examine how pedagogical innovations in practical training facilitate professional learning among higher education (HE) students.

Through individual and group interviews and observations, this explorative phenomenological study investigates a technological innovation in nursing education and a student-driven innovation in architectural education, which provide the background for discussion on the potential of professional development through innovative work-based learning (WBL).

The findings revealed that increased involvement and engagement through innovative WBL in real-life scenarios increases students' confidence in their abilities, their critical commitment to their education and their professional knowledge.

This study is limited by the number of participants, which reduces the opportunity to compare results based on, e.g. the different roles of the students or their enrolment status. However, few studies address the students' voices in innovation processes; therefore, the results offer valuable knowledge to inform development work in HE.

The results suggest a stronger emphasis on “scholarship of practice” to increase attention to practice and professional knowledge as a formalised part of the core tasks in HE.

The paper showcases the importance of a learning paradigm that includes students in innovation processes and underscores the value of pedagogical innovation in WBL for students' professional development.

The paper focuses on how student entrepreneurs learn from the process of applying for low-threshold seed capital grants of about €2500

An in-depth inductive study was conducted on the seed capital grant initiative TrønderEnergi–Bidraget (TEB). The research design was based on the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET) to capture the interviewees' perceptions about TEB. From the interviews, 596 codes were identified and grouped into 54 categories. The results are illustrated in a consensus map.

TEB is an enabler of student venture creation processes through both the money awarded and activities fostering learning and development. Learning by doing is visible through two processes: 1) repeated writing of applications and 2) “forced” reflective thinking through the steps in the application process. The iterativeness of these processes due to repeated applications to the low threshold initiative is important for learning.

The authors recommend that university managers and policymakers offer seed funding to student entrepreneurs to ensure that the offering is a low threshold. A low threshold is decisive for generating a positive learning outcome from the application process. The seed funding initiatives should require students to put time and energy into all the integrated processes to make value out of the iterativeness of the processes.

This paper extends the discussion on the additionality of receiving grants by focusing on the process of applying for a grant. This research contributes to the student entrepreneurship literature by suggesting that the design of the application process and forced reflections are important for learning, as well as specifying the antecedents for student motivation for continued entrepreneurial activity in the application process.

The article reports on the development of a collaborative learning method in two master’s level courses given as part of a logistics track within an international business degree programme. The method, termed the three‐way interaction method (3WIM), combines traditional case teaching and problem‐based learning through high intensity three‐way interaction between student groups. The method involves one group taking the role of problem‐solvers (presenters/consultants), another group taking the role of decision‐makers (company executives/board of directors), while the third group evaluates the performance of the other two groups (skill development/quality improvement). As usual in collaborative learning, the 3WIM is student‐driven, so the tutor takes on the role of a facilitator rather than the main disseminator of knowledge. Comparing the course evaluations of the previous approach to learning and the 3WIM, a statistically significant improvement was detected in satisfaction among students. What is more, the method solved other problems, such as increasing the intensity of the learning experience, reducing passenger tendencies and absences.