Student Engagement

Uptake and usage of Virtual Learning Environments in the Irish tertiary sector: findings from a multi-institutional student usage survey

by Theresa Logan-Phelan

Co-authored with

Discursive enactment of power in Iranian high school EFL classrooms

by Faiz Sathi Abdullah

Co-authored with Kobra Hosseini; published in GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, Volume 12(2), Special Section, May 2012, pp. 375-392.

Teachers’ dominance in teaching environments has been criticized as an oppressive educational practice by critical... more Teachers’ dominance in teaching environments has been criticized as an oppressive educational practice by critical theories of education. While critical pedagogy that espouses a problem-posing model of education has sought to promote a more equitable and dialogical teacher-student partnership and to transform the oppressive conditions of the ESL/EFL classroom, the claimed potential of the approach has had only limited success in practice. Drawing upon Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis to make for a principled analysis of EFL classroom practice, this study investigated the discoursal features of unequal power relations in Iranian high school EFL classes. The data was collected via observation of two classrooms, one located in an urban area and the other in a semi-urban area of Iran. The analysis of the observation data, which included transcripts of classroom lessons as well as field notes, indicated that teachers played a disproportionately dominant role to the extent that the students were kept
apparently passive and powerless via a range of discursive strategies including maximizing teacher-controlled talking time, turn-taking, topic control, modes of meaning-construction, and elicitation strategies. The findings of this study are expected
to provide critical and emancipatory insights into ESL/EFL classroom practice and contribute to the transformation of its status quo.

Student and Staff Engagement: Developing an Engagement Framework in a Faculty of Education

by Sharon Pittaway

Student engagement is emerging as a key focus in higher education, as engagement is increasingly understood as a... more Student engagement is emerging as a key focus in higher education, as engagement is increasingly understood as a prerequisite for effective learning. This paper reports on the development of an Engagement Framework that provides a practical understanding of student (and staff) engagement which can be applied to any discipline, year level or course. The Engagement Framework proposes five non-hierarchical elements: personal engagement, academic engagement, intellectual engagement, social engagement, and professional engagement. As well as describing these elements, the paper also explores the theoretical foundations of the Engagement Framework, including a recognition of the importance of conation as one of three faculties of the mind alongside cognition and affect. By adopting this Framework, the Faculty aims to enhance unit design and development, teaching practice, and student support practices.

WTF? Detecting Students who are Conducting Inquiry Without Thinking Fastidiously.

by Jaclyn Ocumpaugh

co-authored with Wixon, Michael, Ryan S.J.d. Baker, Janice Gobet, and Mathew Bachman

20th annual conference on User Modeling, Adaption, and Personalization (UMAP)  20th annual conference on User Modeling, Adaption, and Personalization (UMAP) 

Towards Sensor-Free Affect Detection in Cognitive Tutor Algebra

by Jaclyn Ocumpaugh

Co-authored with: S.J.d. Baker, Ryan, Sujith M. Gowda, Michael Wixon, Jessica Kalka, Angela Z. Wagner, Aatish Salvi, Vincent Aleven, Gail W. Kusbit, and Lisa Rossi.  For the 5th International Conference on Educational Data Mining.

The Role of Social Media in Community Colleges

by Charles H.F. Davis III

CITATION
Rios-Aguilar, C., González Canché, M.S., Deil-Amen, R., & Davis III, C.H.F. (2012). The role of social media in community colleges. Report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University.

This research was supported by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Over the past decade, there has been a growing public fascination with the phenomenon of connectedness. One of the... more Over the past decade, there has been a growing public fascination with the phenomenon of connectedness. One of the most important ways in which society is now connected is through social media –such as social networking sites. While both students and higher education institutions seem to be utilizing social media more and more, there still are enormous challenges in trying to understand the new dynamics generated by social media in higher education, particularly for the context of community colleges.

This research report has several purposes. The first is to document and to describe the various ways in which social media is used specifically by community colleges across the United States. Second, this report explores community college leaders’ perspectives on the value, purpose, and challenges of social media to better understand:

1. The types of social media used by community colleges.
2. Community college leaders’ perspectives, knowledge, and opinions regarding the value of social media, the various uses of social media, the barriers to using social media, and the role social media should play in the specific context of community colleges.

Semantic technology and the question-centric curriculum

by Joshua Fost

In this article I describe software that facilitates “question-centric curricula” in which big questions, rather than... more In this article I describe software that facilitates “question-centric curricula” in which big questions, rather than academic disciplines, are the primary means of organizing educational resources. To find these questions, the software scans course catalogs and extracts all sentences ending in a question mark. To find connections between questions and courses, I present several computational techniques. One leverages the Library of Congress system; another implements so-called semantic technology that uses huge numbers of simple internet searches to ascertain the meaning of texts. The software assembles the results and shows, in one image, how every course at an institution relates to a given question.

Development of the University Experience Survey: Report on findings from secondary sources of information

by Nigel Palmer

Palmer, N. (2011). Development of the University Experience Survey: Report on findings from secondary sources of information. In A. Radloff, H. Coates, R. James & K.-L. Krause (Eds.), Report on the Development of the University Experience Survey. Canberra, Australia: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Available at http://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Policy/Pages/UniversityExperienceSurvey.aspx

In 2010 the Australian Government commissioned the development of a survey focussing on the student experience with... more In 2010 the Australian Government commissioned the development of a survey focussing on the student experience with the broad aims of improving transparency, supporting Performance Funding, and stimulating continuous improvement. The survey complements other initiatives proposed as part of the Advancing Quality in Higher Education initiative, which include the Collegiate Learning Assessment, a composite Teaching Quality Indicator and working with Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) to review and improve the Australian Graduate Survey (AGS) (DEEWR, 2011a).

Surveys of the student experience play an important role for institutions in higher education quality assurance. In recent decades they have been used by governments to monitor and incentivise performance. They also offer important insights into the extent to which the university experience measures up with the expectations and needs of students themselves.
The purpose of this paper is to inform development of the Australian Government’s University Experience Survey (UES) through outlining challenges in defining the student experience, broader aims for which surveys of the student experience might be developed, and background on the characteristics and use of existing instruments. While no single instrument reflecting the student experience can serve every conceivable purpose, this paper takes stock of opportunities to build on the strengths of existing measures.

Planning Urban Segregation?

by tino buchholz

Lutz, Manuel/ Buchholz, Tino (2006): Planning Urban Segregation? In: Raumplanung 129/ 2006. Dortmund: 280-282.

Student engagement in the Scottish Quality Enhancement Framework

by Irakli Gvaramadze

Iran: A Revolutionary Republic In Transition, Chaillot Paper 128

by paola rivetti

Chapter Student movements in the Islamic Republic: shaping Iran’s politics through the campus

This Chaillot Paper examines recent domestic developments in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The volume presents an... more This Chaillot Paper examines recent domestic developments in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The volume presents an in-depth assessment of the farreaching changes that the Iranian state and Iranian society have undergone since the 1979 revolution, with a particular focus on the social and political
turmoil of the past five years.
It is clear that in many ways the Islamic Republic is in the throes of a transition where many of its fundamental tenets are being called into question. Profound and ongoing internal transformations in Iranian society already affect the country’s foreign policy posture, as some of its domestic and external issues converge and will most likely continue to do so. Pertinent examples are the nuclear issue and the socio-political upheaval in neighbouring Arab countries.
Edited by Rouzbeh Parsi, the volume features contributions from five authors who are all specialists in various aspects of Iranian politics and society. Each author explores some of the most crucial variables of the Iranian body politic. Their focus on distinct dimensions of Iranian society and culture casts light on
the changes afoot in contemporary Iran and how the political elite controlling the state respond to these challenges.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Iran at a critical juncture, Rouzbeh Parsi

Factional politics and the Islamic State, Farideh Farhi

Challenges facing the Iranian economy, Evaleila Pesaran

Gendered citizenship and the women’s movement in Iran, Azadeh Kian

Student movements in the Islamic Republic: shaping Iran’s politics through the campus, Paola Rivetti

How Effective Are the NSSE Benchmarks in Predicting Important Educational Outcomes?.

by Tricia Seifert

Representational Guidance and Student Engagement: Examiming Designs for Learning in Online Synchronous Environments

by Florence Sullivan

21C to 700 B.C in a swipe: The Classics meet iPad.

by Scott Symonds

Symonds, S., et, al. (2011). 21C to 700 B.C in a swipe: The Classics meet iPad. Proceedings ascilite Hobart 2011. Best Poster Award.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6228/6228099806_c83390172f_b.jpg

The Tanya Jermaine collection of Greek vase reproductions was purchased by the Massey University School of History,... more The Tanya Jermaine collection of Greek vase reproductions was purchased by the Massey University School of History, Philosophy and Classics through an alumni donation in 2010. The collection was envisioned as a hands-on teaching resource for students to use and experiment with and proved to be the inspiration for a project aimed at mobilising the collection for a wider audience including distance students, high schools and the general public. Classics and the department of Museum Studies, supported by Centre for Teaching and Learning consultants, designed and created both physical and virtual exhibition spaces for the collection. One of the major drivers was to produce an engaging application that would replicate, at least in part, some of the tactile experiences that the vases provide to students in real life. After considering several options, a beta version of Adobe‘s Digital Publishing Suite was used to produce the mobile application.

Taking Sociology online: Boosting teacher presence and student engagement through rich media

by Scott Symonds

Symonds, S., Jamieson, A.S., Bell, A., Wood, W., Patterson, L. and Ryan, A (2010). Taking Sociology online: Boosting teacher presence and student engagement through rich media. In C.H. Steel, M.J. Keppell, P. Gerbic & S. Housego (Eds.), Curriculum, technology & transformation for an unknown future. Proceedings ascilite Sydney 2010 (pp.948-950).

This poster reports an initiative to redesign the teaching of Sociology for the digital age. In 2009, the core of... more This poster reports an initiative to redesign the teaching of Sociology for the digital age. In 2009, the core of Massey University‟s Sociology undergraduate major was redesigned to renew the curriculum, clarify student pathways and exploit new digital technology to improve the experience of distance learners. Major goals were to create an engaging and personalised learning environment and to utilise the expertise of a team of staff to broaden the scope and choice of student study. Teacher presence was prioritized as a key element in achieving these goals. The poster reports some of the decisions that led to the design and implementation of extensive rich media materials in efforts to provide a more immediate teacher presence. Qualitative and quantitative student responses to the redesign were gathered via an online survey and these data are helping to inform the delivery and standard for further work that will be ongoing for some years to come.

Surveying the Stream experience in Sociology in 2009.

by Scott Symonds

Massey University. (2009). Surveying the Stream experience in Sociology in 2009. Palmerston North, New Zealand: Bell, A., Wood, W., Patterson, L., Ryan, A., & Symonds, S.

A report on the findings of an online survey of student perceptions of Stream (Moodle) materials in three Sociology... more A report on the findings of an online survey of student perceptions of Stream (Moodle) materials in three Sociology papers.

The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades

by Reynol Junco

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27(2), 119-132. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00387.x. Co-authors: Heiberger, G., & Loken, E.

Despite the widespread use of social media by students and its increased use by instructors,very little empirical... more Despite the widespread use of social media by students and its increased use by instructors,very little empirical evidence is available concerning the impact of social media use on student learning and engagement. This paper describes our semester-long experimental study to determine if using Twitter – the microblogging and social networking platform most amenable to ongoing, public dialogue – for educationally relevant purposes can impact college student engagement and grades. A total of 125 students taking a first year seminar course for pre-health professional majors participated in this study (70 in the experimental group and 55 in the control group). With the experimental group, Twitter was used for various types of academic and co-curricular discussions. Engagement was quantified by using a 19-item scale based on the National Survey of Student Engagement. To assess differences in engagement and grades, we used mixed effects analysis of variance (ANOVA) models, with class sections nested within treatment groups. We also conducted content analyses of samples of Twitter exchanges. The ANOVA results showed that the experimental group had a significantly greater increase in engagement than the control group, as well as higher semester grade point averages. Analyses of Twitter communications showed that students and faculty were both highly engaged in the learning process in ways that transcended traditional classroom activities. This study provides experimental evidence that Twitter can be used as an educational tool to help engage students and to mobilize faculty into a more active and participatory role.

The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement.

by Reynol Junco

Computers & Education, 58(1), 162-171. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2011.08.004

Educators and others are interested in the effects of social media on college students, with a specific focus on the... more Educators and others are interested in the effects of social media on college students, with a specific focus on the most popular social media website Facebook. Two previous studies have examined the relationship between Facebook use and student engagement, a construct related to positive college outcomes. However, these studies were limited by their evaluation of Facebook usage and how they measured engagement. This paper fills a gap in the literature by using a large sample (N ¼ 2368) of college students to examine the relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Student engagement was measured in three ways: a 19-item scale based on the National Survey of Student Engagement, time spent preparing for class, and time spent in co-curricular activities. Results indicate that Facebook use was significantly negatively predictive of engagement scale score and positively predictive of time spent in co-curricular activities. Additionally, some Facebook activities were positively predictive of the dependent variables, while others were negatively predictive

Sarah and Emma: Case Studies of Two Instructors and How They Use Social Presence in Second Life

by Salwa Khan

The focus of this qualitative multiple case study is on two higher-education instructors who teach online in virtual... more The focus of this qualitative multiple case study is on two higher-education instructors who teach online in virtual worlds, specifically in Second Life, and how they think about and implement social presence strategies in their courses. The study also offers a view into the student learning experience in the virtual world of Second Life. The results of the study are in agreement with previous research that shows that developing social presence is important in online teaching and learning. It provides evidence at least in the two cases under study that communication and interactivity, which are components of social presence, can be fostered in a virtual world. It also indicates that faculty development for instructors who teach online may need to consider instructor characteristics and that institutional support is essential for online courses in virtual worlds.

How are Australian higher education institutions contributing to change through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds?

by Sue Gregory

Gregory, B., Gregory, S., Wood, D., Masters, Y., Hillier, M., Stokes-Thompson, F., Bogdanovych, A., Butler, D., Hay, L., Jegathesan., J.J., Flintoff, F., Schutt, S., Linegar, D., Alderton, R., Cram, A., Stupans, I., McKeown Orwin, L., Meredith, G., McCormick, D., Collins, F., Grenfell, J., Zagami, J., Ellis, A., Jacka, L., Campbell, J., Larson, I., Fluck, A., Thomas, A., Farley, F., Muldoon, N., Abbas, A., Sinnappan, S., Neville, K., Burnett, I., Aitken, A., Simoff , S., Scutter, S., Wang, X., Souter, K., Ellis, D., Salomon, M.,Wadley, G., Jacobson, M., Newstead, A., Hayes, G., Grant, S., Yusupova, A. (2011). How are Australian higher education institutions contributing to change through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds? In G. Williams, P. Statham, N. Brown, & B. Cleland (Eds.), Changing Demands, Changing Directions. Proceedings ascilite Hobart 2011 (pp. 475-590). Presented at the ascilite2011, Hobart: Univeristy of Tasmania. Retrieved from http://www.leishman-associates.com.au/ascilite2011/downloads/papers/Gregory-full.pdf

Over the past decade, teaching and learning in virtual worlds has been at the forefront of many higher education... more Over the past decade, teaching and learning in virtual worlds has been at the forefront of many higher education institutions around the world. The DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group (VWWG) consisting of Australian and New Zealand higher education academics was formed in 2009. These educators are investigating the role that virtual worlds play in the future of education and actively changing the direction of their own teaching practice and curricula. 47 academics reporting on 28 Australian higher education institutions present an overview of how they have changed directions through the effective use of virtual worlds for diverse teaching and learning activities such as business scenarios and virtual excursions, role-play simulations, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insights into the ways in which institutions are continuing to change directions in their teaching to meet changing demands for innovative teaching, learning and research in virtual worlds. This paper highlights the ways in which the authors are using virtual worlds to create opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would be difficult or not possible to achieve through more traditional approaches.