Studies in Educational Evaluation最新文献

Being able to self-regulate can positively impact learners’ academic achievement. An inherent catalyst of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) is internal feedback, the new knowledge which is generated when comparing current knowledge against reference information. Learners may not always generate internal feedback, hampering further SRL. Supporting SRL can be done with a Learning Analytics Dashboard (LAD), in which reference frames allow for comparisons and facilitate internal feedback generation. This study explores internal feedback generation using a LAD and the effect of reference frame availability. A multiple method design examined the interplay of reference frames, comparison processes, internal feedback generation and preparatory activities engagement. Differences between three conditions were explored using Bain ANOVA’s. Results showed that reference frames almost exclude other external comparators and are used in parallel with an internal comparator. A peer reference frame leads to most verbalizations of internal feedback, and potentially to most verbalizations of preparatory activities.

Many studies show cognitive gains from peer feedback. However, no previous study has explored reciprocal and nonreciprocal peer tutoring and mentoring, with associated implications for peer feedback. University students (n = 446) completed an online questionnaire at the end of their first year. Participants numbered 166 (37 %), while comparison non-participants numbered 280. The questionnaire investigated social and academic integration, using elements of three published scales of known reliability and validity. Analysis focused on participants vs. non-participants, with supplementary comparison of effect sizes regarding impact of the different interventions. Results showed nonreciprocal peer tutoring better enhanced students’ academic integration. However, reciprocal peer mentoring better enhanced social integration. Nonreciprocal peer mentoring better enhanced student persistence. Types of feedback between methods were explored. Overall, the type of intervention(s) recommended might be tailored to the presenting needs of each student. Informing students of the likely outcomes of different types of peer assisted learning should assist them to choose optimally effective forms for their own purposes.

This study reports on the role of students’ reflections in their teacher written feedback. Informed by a qualitative case study approach, this study collected data from 18 students across a semester of an English-as-a-foreign language writing course at a university in China. In the course, teacher written feedback and students’ reflections were both informed by writing as a meaning-making process. The data sources included 72 pieces of student essays, 144 pieces of reflection written by the students, and post-semester interviews with the students. The study showed that engaging students in writing reflections was helpful for developing their knowledge of writing, although the process somewhat followed a zigzag trajectory. The exercise helped them transcend their previous knowledge repertoires, thereby assisting them in critically understanding their revision process and refining their knowledge of writing in response to the teacher’s written feedback. In particular, the students felt that the meaning-making-based reflections provided clear and accessible layers for them to understand the close relationship between language and content. As such, the students felt that they were able to harness their reflections as a written venue through which they could critically digest the teacher’s written feedback and develop their knowledge of writing as a meaning-making process while dialoguing with their instructor.

Sustaining professional learning communities (PLCs) focused on data use is a challenge for schools. Sustainability is achieved by making the PLC’s core components evident in schools’ organizational routines. Leadership can support sustainability according to literature, but it is unclear what leadership for sustainability looks like in practice. We therefore investigated what sustainable data use PLCs and leadership look like in three secondary schools, and explored how leadership influences sustainable data use PLCs. A mixed methods design (observations, social network questionnaire, school documents) was used to gain in-depth insight. The findings show that sustainability is difficult to achieve at both the ostensive and performative level. The schools differed in the form of sustainability they achieved. A broad set of leadership practices (e.g., organize meetings, participate actively in PLC, know content and procedure) were carried out in interplay by both formal and informal leaders.

Despite the generally positive learning effects of peer-assessment (PA), there are some undesirable signs and troublesome behavior needed to be addressed (e.g., biased judgments, superficial-level engagement). Anchoring on the concept of individual accountability and assessment validity, while attending to other important elements (including both subjective and objective criteria, individuals’ differentiation ability across the points on the assessment scale, and completion rate), a measure was proposed for PA quality control. This measure consists of four indexes/variables and enables the quantification and appraisal of the peer-assessor’s performance. A validation study involving two classes of undergraduate students (N = 103) engaged in the assessment of peers’ oral presentations was conducted to evaluate the effects of the proposed measure. The statistically significant results confirmed the efficacy of the proposed measure to promote better online PA performance. Additionally, to assess its applicability, sensitivity analysis targeting different aspects of our proposed measure (i.e., different plausible weighting for each of the associated indexes/variables, different correlation values between peers’ and the teacher’s ratings, and different bound values for the scale) was conducted. All significant results of the 281 test cases further substantiated the applicability and efficacy of our proposed measure under various assessment schemes for PA quality control.

The present study explored the relations of students’ age and noncognitive traits (grit, growth mindset, and college self-efficacy) on writing self-efficacy and writing motivation. Participants (N = 457) wrote a short reflection in response to a quote, after which they evaluated similar responses, purportedly written by their peers, that were either exemplary or poor. Participants who read the exemplary essays were less likely to believe they could write as well as their peers (writing self-efficacy) and less likely to write a second essay (writing motivation), demonstrating a discouragement by peer excellence effect. Grit, growth mindset, and college self-efficacy were all positive correlates of writing self-efficacy. Writing self-efficacy, in turn, predicted the willingness to write another essay. Older students reported higher levels of writing self-efficacy and exhibited greater writing motivation. Older students also reported higher levels of grit, college self-efficacy, and growth mindset. A parallel mediation analysis revealed an indirect effect of college self-efficacy on the relation between age and writing self-efficacy. These results suggest that educators should judiciously model the works of students’ exemplary peers and foster noncognitive traits that improve writing self-efficacy. The results also suggest that older students are more receptive to writing.

Intercultural competence has been placed increasing attention in globalized educational systems. The study presents a series of qualitative and quantitative investigations to construct and validate scores on a brief self-report measure assessing intercultural competence of university students. Following a comprehensive literature search and qualitative expert reviews in the scale construction process, 50 potential items were classified based on the attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral intercultural competence framework. In the psychometric evaluation process, a unidimensional structure was obtained to represent the 50 items. Item response theory analysis was performed to yield a brief measure of five content-specific items measuring intercultural competence, capturing cross-cultural self-efficacy, cultural knowledge application, perspective taking/suspending judgment, and behavioral regulation in intercultural situations. Not just contributing to measurement advancement, but the newly developed and validated instrument holds promise for guiding the design of intercultural competence educational programs and assessing students’ intercultural competence performances/gains.

Despite the substantial growth of research on language assessment literacy (LAL), the emotional side of LAL has been under-researched. In response to this gap of knowledge, the present study explored Iranian English language teachers’ LAL through the lens of emotional critical incidents (CIs). Drawing on an ecological lens as embedded in a case-study design, data were collected from narrative frames, classroom observations and post-class discussions, and semi-structured interviews. Data analyses revealed three personal, institutional, and sociocultural ecologies that shaped the teachers’ LAL-related emotional CIs and the associated sense-making, practice, and perceptions about assessment. In particular, we found that the emotional side of LAL is defined by agency, emotion labor, the need for voice, and broader discourses of assessment in Iran. Based on the findings, we provide implications for running professional development courses that build on teachers’ LAL and account for emotions as a key component of such courses.

While prior studies have primarily relied upon quantitative methods to understand student attendance, the goal of this study was to extend prior research by utilizing qualitative data to gain additional insight into college students’ perceptions of class attendance. Data from five focus groups with undergraduate students revealed four primary themes impacting attendance: (1) students’ use of time, (2) class content and type, (3) the student-professor relationship, and (4) university and course policies. Overall, students believe they are the best judge of how to use their time, campus culture and overcommitment play a critical role influencing attendance, and there are practical strategies to promote student engagement and class attendance. Based on these findings, recommendations are provided to institutions and professors on how to promote class attendance and optimize the student learning experience.

The global classroom is an emerging technology-based pedagogy used internationally by educational institutions. To evaluate a global classroom, we conducted a qualitative study using written reflections and semi-structured interviews of global classroom participants, based on two theoretical frameworks: Kearsley and Shneiderman’s engagement theory and Kolb’s experiential learning theory. We analyzed student reflections and transcribed interviews, using the software package, NVivo, with two objectives: (1) to evaluate if global classroom is engaging and experiential to students and (2) to elucidate how student engagement is fostered in the global classroom through experiential learning. Results illustrated a complex relationship between student engagement and experiential learning. During the experiential learning cycle, engagement theory (relate-create-donate) principles contributed to student engagement at varying levels and for different purposes. Based on the results of this study, we created a framework that demonstrates the interactivity of engagement theory and experiential learning theory to describe how student engagement featured in experiential learning during this global classroom, with strategies to maximize student engagement in experiential learning.