Rooted in the heart of Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, mediation has recently received considerable attention in the field of TEFL. The existing literature suggests that mediation can play an essential role in language learners’ performance development. In addition, learners need to know about their thinking process which is interpreted as metacognition. This study aimed to investigate the effect of teacher- and peer-assisted evaluative mediation on learners’ metacognitive awareness development. To this end, 40 homogenized intermediate EFL learners were selected using a (...) test of English language proficiency. The participants were then randomly divided into teacher-assisted (n=20) and peer-assisted (n=20) groups. Before the instructional phase, a metacognitive awareness questionnaire was given to the participants. At the instructional phase, the learners in the teacher-assisted group received teacher-assisted mediation. The learners in the peer-assisted group, however, were exposed to mediation provided by their peers. After the instructional phase, the metacognitive awareness questionnaire was given to the participants as the posttest of the study. SPSS was used to analyze the data. The descriptive statistics, the Shapiro-Wilk test of normality, and the Paired Sample T-test for inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The findings showed that peer-assisted evaluative mediation had positive effects on developing students’ level of metacognitive awareness, whereas teacher-assisted evaluative mediation did not reveal such effects. It could be concluded that peer-assisted evaluative mediation is an effective tool for improving students’ metacognitive awareness. (shrink)

Recent studies on the effects of mandatory online teaching, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, have widely reported low levels of satisfaction, unwillingness to continue online teaching, and negative impacts on the psychological well-being of teachers. Emerging research has highlighted the potential role of psychological need thwarting, in terms of autonomy, competence, and relatedness thwarting, resulting from online teaching. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immediate and delayed effects of PNT of online teaching on teachers’ well-being, intention to (...) continue online teaching, and job satisfaction. Moreover, data collected from both cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys allowed for a systematic validation of an important instrument in the field of teacher psychology, the Psychological Need Thwarting Scale of Online Teaching, in terms of longitudinal reliability and validity. The data reveal the usefulness of the construct of PNT in terms predicting and explaining teachers’ willingness to continue using online teaching as well as the degree of burnout after a period of 2 months, such that PNT is positively associated with burnout and negatively associated with willingness to continue online teaching. As such, the PNTSOT is recommended for future research evaluating the long-term psychological, affective, and intentional outcomes stemming from teachers’ PNT. Moreover, based on our findings that the impact from PNT of online teaching is persistent and long-term, we suggest that school leaders provide flexible and sustained professional development, model respectful and adaptive leadership, and create opportunities for mastery for the development of community of practice that can mitigate the thwarting of teachers’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness during times of uncertainty. Additionally, in terms of the psychometric properties of the PNTSOT instrument, our empirical findings demonstrate internal reliability, test–retest reliability, measurement invariance, and criterion validity based on cross-sectional and longitudinal data. (shrink)

Alternative Learning System (ALS) has been adopted in Philippine basic education, yet there is no academic institution in the region prepares ALS teachers in teaching life skills. ALS teachers graduated from different programs of teacher education for formal education. In response, an extension project was conceptualized and implemented to enhance the teaching capacity and effectiveness of ALS teachers. Case study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. It explored the transfer of life skills among ALS (...) teachers. Data were collected from multiple sources. Interview and written responses, and feedbacks were analyzed using thematic narrative analysis. Other data were analyzed using document and descriptive analyses. The project had achieved its objectives and rated best by participants. These indicate that the project was implemented effectively and successfully. ALS teachers have acquired life skills and transferred them to others. Thus, the project has made a difference in the lives of these teachers. (shrink)

In order to better improve the teaching quality of university teachers, an effective method should be adopted for evaluation and analysis. This work studied the machine learning algorithms and selected the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm to evaluate teaching quality. First, the principles of selecting evaluation indexes were briefly introduced, and 16 evaluation indexes were selected from different aspects. Then, the SVM algorithm was used for evaluation. A genetic algorithm (GA)-SVM algorithm was designed and experimentally analyzed. (...) It was found that the training time and testing time of the GA-SVM algorithm were 23.21 and 7.25 ms, both of which were shorter than the SVM algorithm. In the evaluation of teaching quality, the evaluation value of the GA-SVM algorithm was closer to the actual value, indicating that the evaluation result was more accurate. The average accuracy of the GA-SVM algorithm was 11.64% higher than that of the SVM algorithm (98.36 vs 86.72%). The experimental results verify that the GA-SVM algorithm can have a good application in evaluating and analyzing teaching quality in universities with its advantages in efficiency and accuracy. (shrink)

The multimedia technology and computer technology supported by the development of modern science and technology provide an important platform for the development of college physical education teaching activities. To better play the role of network auxiliary teaching platform in college sports teaching and improve the effectiveness of college sports teaching, the construction method of multimedia auxiliary teaching effect evaluation model based on the random number forest algorithm is proposed. Through the specification of the random forest algorithm and the (...) optimization of the teaching quality evaluation index, the auxiliary teaching level of the college physical education network is analyzed, and the evaluation of the multimedia auxiliary teaching effect of the physical education courses is completed. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of the evaluation model designed in this article, with a user satisfaction of 72%. Teachers and students can use the evaluation model to improve the teaching quality and teaching efficiency, improve the management work, and promote the scientific, standardization, and specialization of physical education teaching management in colleges and universities. (shrink)

Teaching is, to date, one of the most prone jobs to experiencing occupational stress and burnout. Owing to burnout’s negative personal, social, organizational and economic impacts, researchers, practitioners and education policy leaders are interested in developing practices and interventions aimed at preventing/reducing its prevalence. With teachers’ main professional demands to be of a social and emotional nature, interventions designed with a view to promote teachers’ social and emotional competence appears to be particularly promising, positively impacting teachers’ well-being and personal accomplishment (...) and contributing to a decrease in their psychological distress, namely emotional exhaustion. However, theoretical and empirically grounded interventions with ecological validity and specifically targeting teachers are still scarce. Thus, to bridge the previously identified gaps, the present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and the quality of the intervention’s implementation of the A+, an online social and emotional learning intervention for elementary-school teachers. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with a total of 81 participants from three different school contexts. School clusters were similar in size, organizational structure and socioeconomic level, and as regards previous attendance at social and emotional learning interventions; however, they differed with regards to perceived organizational climate. Data on the efficacy of the A+ was collected across four waves using a set of self-report questionnaires that assessed proximal variables and distal variables, and analyzed through Robust Linear Mixed-Effects Models. Coefficient omegas suggested adequate reliability of the measures. Additionally, two trained observers completed an observation grid to evaluate the quality of the A+ implementation, with excellent inter-rater reliability. Results suggested that, over time, the A+ had positive impacts across proximal and distal variables favoring the experimental group. However, results differed across the school contexts. These findings were accompanied by good implementation quality indicators, namely high fidelity in the delivery of the A+ contents and high participants’ responsiveness. Despite its limitations, this study contributes to a growing body of research which reinforces the importance of investing in social and emotional learning interventions to prevent teachers’ burnout and improve their occupational health. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of implementation quality research as a component of program planning with a view to enhancing programs’ efficacy, as well as the need to adapt and consider context variables in research and practice. (shrink)

Student–teacher relationships have been examined by many studies. However, an omission still exists, the existing scales are not appropriate for studying STRs in private colleges because of the special character of these schools. This paper presents the development and validation of Private-College Student–Teacher Relationship Scale, the first instrument to evaluate student–teacher relationships in private colleges. The PCSTRS has six dimensions: trust, interaction, intimacy, care, approval, and comfort. In our main study, the validity and reliability of the six-factor (...) PCSTRS model were demonstrated. The result of internal consistency coefficient indicated the high reliability of the scale, and the result of concurrent validity indicated the significant correlational relationships between the PCSTRS with other STR measures. In supplementary study, the PCSTRS was administered to 360 participants to confirm the applicability of PCSTRS and investigate the relation of STRs and students’ traits, performance, and wellbeing, as well as the differences between the private school and the public school in this relation; the analyses revealed that there were significant differences in trust, intimacy, and care between private and public colleges; positive correlations were found between STRs and self-esteem, self-efficacy, academic performance, extracurricular activity involvement, and subjective wellbeing. Present research firstly develops the PCSTRS, examined the reliability and validity, and provides the proposed nomological network among related constructs. (shrink)

Summary The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a whole school behaviour management programme on teachers? use of encouragement in the classroom. Given that the performance of the school has become an important dependent variable in school effects research, it follows that interventions which address behaviour management and the improvement of academic performance, have also taken on a school?wide focus or orientation. In Australia, where this study was conducted, there has been an increased interest in (...) the use of school?wide behaviour management and discipline programmes, which are characterized by their focus on improving teachers? classroom management skills. In the present study randomly selected teachers from schools involved in a school?wide behaviour management programme participated in an experimental evaluation of the effects of the programme. Continuous data collection indicated that the majority of teachers made increases in their use of encouragement over the course of the intervention. However, observations conducted during a follow?up phase revealed reductions in levels of encouragement following the withdrawal of the intervention. (shrink)

The introduction of multiple intelligence theory into sports professional football teaching is a requirement of educational innovation, which helps to expand and play the multiple functions of football, and can effectively improve the comprehensive quality of football professional science. Under the perspective of multiple intelligence theory, college sports professional football teaching will focus on the all-round development of students, actively cultivate students’ multiple intelligence, and reflect the democratization, individualization, and diversification of teaching in the process of educational concept innovation. This (...) article explains the origin and characteristics of the particle swarm optimization algorithm and discusses the application status of the PSO algorithm in detail. We introduced the standard PSO algorithm, including mathematical forms, iteration steps, and flowcharts. In addition, it also specifically describes the proposed new PSO improved algorithm, including the food chain strategy and reproduction strategy, as well as the implementation of the algorithm. Through analysis, it is concluded that the implementation and implementation of relevant systems is the guarantee for the sustained and sound development of campus football. The amount of football lessons is insufficient, and the classroom teaching effect is not ideal. Physical education teachers are acceptable, but the football professional knowledge training of physical education teachers needs to be strengthened. The selection and setting of the teaching content of football lessons lack systematic, scientific, and adaptable, and the teaching methods and teaching model concepts are backward. In the process of football teaching, teachers ignored the evaluation and assessment of students’ nonphysical and nonintellectual factors, and campus football activities did not achieve the expected goals. (shrink)

Many factors affect the teaching of massively open online courses. In this study, to explore the factors that influence the effective teaching of MOOCs, a large number of relevant studies are analyzed. Based on grounded theory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 students and teachers who used MOOCs for online teaching. The interview data were subjected to four research processes –open coding, axial coding, selective coding, and saturation testing– to explore the factors influencing MOOCs’ effective teaching and the interactions between (...) them. The results demonstrate that: Effective teachers, effective tuition, effective communication, active online learning, social support guarantees, and online course design have important positive effects on effective teaching, while only certain online learning behaviors will seriously affect the teaching effectiveness of MOOC, resulting in negative effects. Effective communication is essential for effective teaching in MOOCs; effective teachers are the leading factor, thus teachers should take the initiative to study and understand the students to understand their various learning needs and difficulties. Reasonable and effective classroom teaching design is key to improving MOOCs’ teaching efficiency. E-learning is respected, cared for, and valued by society, including cognition, emotion, and learning platform support from family, school, teachers, and classmates, and has an important impact on students’ motivation and the effects of online learning. The results of this study further clarify factors influencing effective teaching of MOOCs, thus helping to enrich and supplement the theory of effective teaching and evaluation and providing theoretical guidance for teachers to effectively implement MOOC teaching. (shrink)

The feeling thinking talking intervention was designed because early childhood seems to be a prime time for fostering young children's language skills. This intervention involved teaching teachers from N = 28 kindergarten groups in N = 13 German kindergartens language support strategies to be used in everyday conversations with the children in their care. The FTT intervention was evaluated in a business-as-usual control group design with N = 281 children who were individually tested using objective tests on grammar, vocabulary and (...) working memory before and after the FTT intervention, and in a follow-up about one year after T1. After propensity matching was applied, multilevel models demonstrated that the children taught by the intervention group teachers made faster progress in their understanding of sentences, their application of morphological rules, and their memory for sentences when numerous covariates were controlled. Results suggest that complex language processing abilities in young children can be promoted by a teacher-led intervention in early childhood education. Improved language skills will further all children's academic and social success in school. (shrink)

Research on economization processes is increasingly taking seriously the social and material processes through which various policy domains are transformed into economic problems and solutions. This article engages “Value Added Modeling” (VAM) in teacher evaluation systems as a case study in economization. VAM is a statistical technology for evaluating the effectiveness of schoolteachers using student test scores, which wrests authority for the determination of quality teaching away from education professionals and toward quantitative economic modelers. Mobilizing field theory, (...) we trace a half century of changing relationships among economists, other academics, and various policy audiences (from media to philanthropists to state and federal government) in struggles to define education policy concerning teacher quality. We show that economization is a set of overlapping, sometimes contradictory processes that can take different forms: in this case, the spread of an “economic style of reasoning” or the establishment of “economic policy devices.” The case of VAM shows stages of economization in which processes first proceeded independently of one another, then interacted in contradictory ways, and finally, mutually reinforced one another. What primarily drove these interactions was the struggle for scientific capital within the economics discipline and the changing place of education policy and VAM within it. Ultimately, VAM’s original role as a policy device for evaluating and selecting individual teachers has foundered even as it has become an important tool for economists to accrue scientific capital and expand their style of reasoning to broader audiences. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to examine student perceptions of teaching behavior. Additionally the aim was to examine if teacher characteristics (educational level, gender, and teaching experience) could explain differences in student perceptions of their teachers. Teaching behavior was studied from the research on teaching and teacher effectiveness perspective. Secondary students (N = 7,114), taught by 410 teachers in Spain, participated in the study. Survey data were analyzed using non-parametric tests, Kruskal-Wallis, U Mann-Whitney with Bonferroni correction, (...) and the analysis of effect sizes. Furthermore, a regression model was applied. Results showed that teaching behavior was perceived as sufficient to good, depending on the teaching behavior domain. Results indicated interesting differences between lower secondary education, upper secondary education and vocational education and training teachers. The effect size values (rU statistic) ranged between 0.43 and 0.63, highlighting the significant effect of teachers’ teaching experience on the six teaching skills domains: learning climate, efficient classroom management, clarity of instruction, activating teaching, differentiation, and teaching learning strategies. Those teachers with less teaching experience were the ones who showed higher scores. Findings from the regression model showed that educational level had a significant predictive effect on the six teaching skills domains, mainly for male teachers. However, in several domains female teachers were perceived by students to outperform their male counterparts. (shrink)

This paper presents an impact evaluation of the policies for teacher education programs within the framework of the National Development Plan 2014-2018. The programs were compelled to obtain high-quality accreditation, increase the credits in school practices, and the English level, among other requirements. Relying on multivariable regression, it shows that, for the year 2021, there is no association between high-quality accreditation in most modules of the Saber Pro tests, or it is negative in the global score and quantitative (...) reasoning. In a second step, using Differences–in–Differences, it evidences how the changes made by the programs had positive effects on the performance of students compared to other professional programs. The results show significant improvement in most modules of the Saber Pro test, except for the English module. The effects were homogeneous by characteristics of the students and institutions, but heterogeneous by area of knowledge, indicating that the effect is mainly due to the curricular changes of the programs. (shrink)

Teachers obviously serve as the medium for causing the result of policy as they carry it into schools and classrooms and deliver it to pupils. They mediate between education policy and practice. Knowledge of the exact nature and effects of this vital role is limited. Drawing on a range of research and evaluation of both national and local policy in practice, carried out by the authors in England, this paper illustrates how teachers mediate policy and the resulting outcomes. Further, (...) it proposes a typology of teacher adaptation to education policy. The paper argues that as yet the appropriate professional role for teachers within policy?making and implementation has not been achieved, and outlines what this might be. Finally, it outlines some implications for teacher education. (shrink)

The promotion system in Chinese universities has been undergoing a reform since 2017. This study employed an online survey validated by confirmatory factor analysis with 372 Chinese teachers to investigate the extent to which they were empowered by the two practices of participation in decision-making and professional growth in the reform and level of their appraisal of and behavioral intentions toward the new promotion system. Structural equation modeling was used to measure how the two empowerment practices influenced the teachers' appraisal (...) of and behavioral intentions toward the new system. The findings suggest that the Chinese teachers had low participation in decision-making and medium institutional support for professional growth, relatively low nonmonetary cost-benefit appraisal and medium practicality and fairness appraisal of the new system, and relatively high behavioral intentions to increase efforts according to the new system. Besides, participation in decision-making had a significantly direct effect on practicality and nonmonetary cost-benefit appraisal. Professional growth had a significantly direct effect on practicality, fairness, and nonmonetary cost-benefit appraisal and behavioral intentions. Nonmonetary cost-benefit appraisal had a significantly direct effect on behavioral intentions. The implications are that, in promotion system reforms, the two empowerment strategies of shared decision-making and professional growth can help establish a new promotion system with high nonmonetary cost-benefits for teachers and raise teachers' behavioral intentions to develop and pursue promotion. They can also contribute to the formulation of a new promotion system that effectively evaluates individual teacher's achievements according to the characteristics of the specific university, teacher type, and discipline. This study had the limitations of using convenience sampling, collecting cross-sectional data through self-administered questionnaires, and reporting only teachers' side of the story. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies target both teachers and administrators, employ a mixed-method design, collect quantitative data through random sampling, and take a longitudinal view. (shrink)

Modern education attaches great importance to interdisciplinary skills, among which computational thinking is a core element, and heralds a new era. IT application has shaped education in the 21st century. Computational thinking has provided further impetus for building an all-encompassing social network and fostering a DIY culture enabled by digital technologies. One empirical study used four apps to test children's development in computational thinking and fluency. The article will help students overcome their fears of coding. Peer reviews provide students with (...) an opportunity to learn from each other and become more motivated. These reviews also serve as feedback for teachers to evaluate students' performance. Experimental design is used in this study, and a peer review system is implemented. Freshmen attending a programming class in a university are used as samples. At the class, students write computer programs with f-Chart, which provides a graphical user interface for students to learn programming logic and design. Zuvio, a cloud-based interactive response system, is used to conduct the peer reviews. The data of this study are analyzed through R. The results show not only an improvement in students' learning performance but also a gap between students' peer review scores and teachers' evaluation scores. Learning feedback and evaluation is crucial to transform education between students and teachers into a sustainable cycle system. (shrink)

The inclusion of the history and philosophy of science in science teaching is widely accepted, but the actual state of implementation in schools is still poor. This article investigates possible reasons for this discrepancy. The demands science teachers associate with HPS-based teaching play an important role, since these determine teachers’ decisions towards implementing its practices and ideas. We therefore investigate the perceptions of 8 HPS-experienced German middle school physics teachers within and beyond an HPS implementation project. Within focused interviews these (...) teachers describe and evaluate the challenges of planning and conducting HPS-based physics lessons using collaboratively developed HPS teaching materials. The teachers highlight a number of obstacles to the implementation of HPS specific to this approach: finding and adapting HPS teaching material, knowing and using instructional design principles for HPS lessons, presenting history in a motivating way, dealing with students’ problematic ideas about the history of science, conducting open-ended historical classroom investigations in the light of known historical outcomes, using historical investigations to teach modern science concepts, designing assessments to target HPS-specific learning outcomes, and justifying the HPS-approach against curriculum and colleagues. Teachers' perceived demands point out critical aspects of pedagogical content knowledge necessary for confident, comfortable and effective teaching of HPS-based science. They also indicate how HPS teacher education and the design of curricular materials can be improved to make implementing HPS into everyday teaching less demanding. (shrink)

I argue that university supervisors should not use student evaluations of teachers (SETs) as a measure of teaching effectiveness in personnel assessments because the evidence suggests SETs likely violate several duties university supervisors have toward their instructional employees. I focus on the duty to not knowingly impose a wrongful risk of harm on nonconsenting and innocent others. Many university employers impose a wrongful risk of harm on instructors by not using relevant, merit-based performance indicators that have adequate construct validity, (...) by using uncorrected indicators that likely perpetuate discrimination, and by incentivizing instructors to do wrong. The use of SETs imposes unjust risk of harm on all instructors, but the risk is higher for women, minorities, and those in precarious, teaching-focused roles. In conclusion, I tentatively suggest some other means of evaluating student learning and assessing instructors. (shrink)

Universities introduce intermediate assessment because it is understood to have positive effects on student behaviour and achievement. Yet, how intermediate assessment is perceived might be conditional for its success. The current study investigates both teachers’ and students’ perceptions of intermediate assessment. Teachers and students were interviewed and Student Evaluations of Teaching were examined. Results indicate that both teachers and students had generally positive perceptions of intermediate assessment. However, the two groups provided different reasons for their positive perceptions. Teachers and students (...) agreed that intermediate assessment helps students to keep up with their study work. Moreover, teachers mentioned that they could assess various knowledge and skills with intermediate assessment, whereas students preferred intermediate assessments to test the same knowledge and skills as the final exam. This finding suggests that teachers and students in our study had different goals... (shrink)

The quality of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in higher institutions is closely related to the degree to which the undergraduates absorb relevant innovation and entrepreneurship knowledge and their entrepreneurial motivation. Thus, an effective Evaluation of Educational Quality is essential. In particular, fault tree analysis, a common EEQ approach, has some disadvantages, such as fault data reliance and insufficient uncertainties handleability. Thereupon, this article first puts forward a theoretical model based on the deep learning method to analyze the factors of (...) IEE quality; consequently, based on the traditional FTA, fuzzy fault tree analysis is proposed to evaluate the reliability of IEE classroom teaching for college teachers and students. Finally, based on the top event of entrepreneurial teaching failure, the hyper-ellipsoid model is implemented to restrict the interval probability of basic events and describe the deviation of uncertain events. Furthermore, the model accuracy is verified by a questionnaire survey, based upon which the factors of IEE quality are analyzed. The results show that the designed QS has good reliability, validity, and fitness; the path coefficients of cooperative ability to critical thinking and innovative thinking are 0.9 and 0.66, respectively, indicating that the students’ cooperative ability plays a vital role in the classroom teaching. By calculation, the probability of “teaching failure” in entrepreneurial classroom teaching is 0.395, 3, 0.462, and 5. To sum up, the proposed method can effectively and quantitatively evaluate the quality of IEE in higher institutions, thus providing a certain basis for formulating relevant improvement strategies. The purpose is to provide important technical support for improving the IEE quality. (shrink)

Research on motivation has mainly concentrated on the role of goal orientation and self?evaluation in conducting learning activities. In this paper, we examine the relative importance of teachers? teaching and their efficacy beliefs to explain variation in student motivation. Questionnaires were used to measure the well?being, academic self?efficacy, mastery goal orientation, performance avoidance, intrinsic motivation and school investment of students (n = 3462) and the teaching practices and teachers? sense of self?efficacy (n = 194) in primary schools. Results of (...) the multi?level analyses show that connection to the students? world and cooperative learning methods had a positive effect on students? motivation, while process?oriented instruction by the teacher had a negative effect on motivational behaviour and motivational factors of students. Finally, the results lend credence to the argument that teachers? sense of self?efficacy has an impact on both teachers? teaching and students? motivation to learn. (shrink)

It is common practice within primary classrooms for teachers to spilt children into different ability groups so that children of similar level are taught together. Whilst this practice is used across the globe, research is mixed on the benefits of such grouping strategy. This paper presents data collected from mixed methods research which investigated teachers use of grouping strategies and social comparison, the act of comparing oneself with others. It focuses on when, why and with whom children from different ability (...) groups compare themselves and the impact this has on their self-perceptions. Drawing upon data from children aged between 10 and 11 years from 12 primary schools, social comparison was found to play a significant role in daily classroom life for some children. The study identified different strands of the social comparison process including acknowledgment, topic, target, and direction, and it revealed positive and negative effects of social comparison. A difference by ability group was identified. Children within the low ability group were particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of social comparison and found to engage in more frequent and intentional social comparisons which were heavily relied upon for self-evaluation and performance evaluation. The paper discusses the educational implications of social comparison regarding pupil ability grouping strategies, motivation, engagement, and academic performance. Implications for teacher education and professional development is discussed. (shrink)

In this paper, we draw on Foucault's and Deleuze's theorisations of discipline and control, respectively, to understand a teacher accountability system in the US state of Texas: the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (hereafter, T-TESS). Specifically, we focus on the interplay of physical and virtual modes of governance – which we develop here as physical–virtual hybridity – and the techniques that make these physical and virtual domains compatible via language interoperability, with T-TESS deployed as a representative (...) empirical case to show how such technologies work to govern teacher subjectivity. First, in-person appraiser meetings and observations re-code teachers’ linguistic behaviours, so their physical bodies and practices can become legible to and interoperable with the hybrid T-TESS system. This avoids any possible syntax errors between the linguistic expression of physical teacher speech and the digital coding language of T-TESS. Second, these digital bodies of data can now be viewed as proxies for the physical teacher body in the classroom, allowing the constant modulation in physical space (teacher bodies) and digital space (bodies of data). This is the physical–virtual hybridity of T-TESS, whereby discipline and control work symbiotically to govern both the physical and the digital expressions of teachers and their teaching. In this way, the disciplining of teachers’ language has profound effects on teachers’ bodies, both corporeal and digital. (shrink)

The growth of high-stakes testing in state accountability systems necessitates further examination of their impact on stakeholders. Prompted by broader state-level reform in Kentucky, this evaluation aims to provide insight into a new accountability system's effect on social studies teachers. Using a goal-free evaluation model and case study design, the researchers examined the content and instructional decisions made by a group of U.S. history teachers in response to a new end-of-course exam designed by ACT-QualityCore. The evaluation incorporated (...) a content analysis of teacher materials, observation of a professional learning community meeting, and teacher interviews. The results of this evaluation indicate that teachers generally support the changes in the new assessment system but find specific elements frustrating and hesitate to completely revamp their instructional practices. Considering these assessment system changes occurred to advance Kentucky's goal of college and career readiness for all, this evaluation provides insight into what is actually happening in classrooms and should assist teachers and administrators as they assess the impact of these reforms on classroom practice. (shrink)

Taking up the case of Jane Gallop, this paper explores whether an eroticized pedagogical style can be truly effective for teaching feminist philosophy and to what extent there exists the possibility of consensual romantic relationships between teachers and students. In a book published five years after accusations of discriminatory sexual harassment, Gallop argues that an eroticized pedagogy more effectively delivers a feminist message than non-eroticized pedagogies because it provides a context in which sexual norms can be foregrounded, challenged, and even (...) broken. By extension, Gallop argues that if any relationship between a student and a teacher can be consensual, it is one that takes place between a student and teacher who both identify as feminists since their studies so often focus on sexual norms. The author challenges this view, arguing that the vulnerability which attends being subject to evaluation structures the initial terms of engagement such that students can’t possibly enter into a romantic relationship on equal terms with their professor. In light of this imbalance of power, the author argues that eroticized pedagogies may also threaten students, giving the impression that their evaluations depend on their responses to the erotic element of their professor’s pedagogical style. (shrink)

Evaluation of an accompanying collaborative device is a sensitive element that questions in particular the effect of the accompanying people. The literature has relied in particular on the notion of socio-cognitive conflict to support this perspective. In this article, we study the specific case of a collaborative device for veterinary student guidance with the collaboration of teachers and vet practitioners. The proposed mixed evaluation of the process and these effects shed light on the roles of these professionals from (...) an animatic perspective of groups. The asymmetries of status, the roles defined, and the social climate specific to the generation of a socio-cognitive conflict appear as essential in any accompanying collaborative device. (shrink)

This paper presents the results of an empirical study that reflects monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of some legal acts on the labour of the Republic of Lithuania. The analysis of legal documents at the national and international level is provided. A review of cognate studies conducted by foreign and Lithuanian researchers is presented and the professional situation of a Lithuanian teacher from the employee rights perspective is highlighted. The professional activities contexts and sectors, wherein systematic violations (...) of teachers’ rights to a healthy and safe working environment are possible, are distinguished. A lack of generalized scientific data of employee (especially teacher) working conditions, the actual security of relevant rights and its monitoring and evaluation is still felt both in the country and abroad. A contradiction between: a) insufficient research of the issue and b) its importance to science and practice, exactly presupposes the scientific problems of the empirical study presented in the given paper. The subject of the study: teachers’ rights to a healthy and safe working environment and a fair remuneration for their work. The objective of the study: to conduct monitoring and evaluation of the effective implementation of relevant legal norms and legal acts applying a written sociological survey. The study is based on the results of a mass country-wide written survey of teachers. (shrink)

Contemporary theories of learning and instruction as well as a large body of research have pinpointed the benefits of effective self-regulated learning (SRL) for students' academic achievements, yet research findings indicate that teachers' actual promotion of students' SRL strategies and students' actual use of such strategies are less common than expected. To extend the investigation of how and when teachers' expertise develops regarding SRL instruction practices in authentic classrooms, the current study compared preservice vs. inservice teachers' “noticing” of explicit SRL (...) teaching behaviors in videotaped classroom vignettes. Preservice teachers in a university teacher training program (N= 296) and inservice elementary, junior high, and high school teachers (N= 305) were presented with six online video cases accompanied by questions about the videotaped teachers' instruction of SRL planning, monitoring, and evaluation strategies. The results suggested that, overall, both preservice and inservice teachers failed to notice the expert teachers' explicit SRL teaching. Furthermore, their noticing ability failed to increase over the career span, with growing teaching experience. Thus, targeted instruction is recommended during both preservice training and inservice development programs to promote all teachers' application of evidence-based explicit SRL teaching strategies. (shrink)

Preservice teachers' preparedness, perception, and affect toward certain technology systems influence the student acquisition of science knowledge, process skills, teaching innovation, and willingness to use technology in their classroom. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' affective responses to a virtual reality-enabled scientific experiment system. Fifty-one preservice teachers majoring in educational technology participated in the study. They were divided into two groups, and their reactions were measured separately on two occasions. The first occasion used a standard system following (...) the principle of Donald Norman's affective design model. The VaSE system was then revised with a strict version of ADM before the participants' reactions were measured for a second time. The positive and negative affect scale was utilized for affective state evaluation. Semi-structured interviews that focused on affective experiences were organized using an ADM framework and conducted immediately after the participants used VaSE. The results indicated that the positive affect experienced by the preservice teachers was significantly enhanced, and the negative affect was significantly weakened. Academic level, gender, and prior experience were important random effect factors that impacted the affective experience. It was also revealed that participants were more likely to be affected by immersion and interactivity in terms of enhancing positive affect and were more likely to be affected by behavioral layer elements in terms of weakening negative affect. A conclusion has been drawn to provide theoretical and practical suggestions for training preservice teachers in ways that improve their ability to integrate technology into the classroom. (shrink)

Resumen: Asociadamente a la complejización del sistema educacional, toman forma procedimientos que buscan su regulación y que, al mismo tiempo, van dando forma a las metas a lograr. En el caso de Chile, en los últimos 50 años se ha constituido un dispositivo de evaluación del sistema educacional de gran alcance, que incluye pruebas nacionales como el SIMCE y la PSU, el Sistema de Evaluación Docente, el Sistema de Acreditación Universitario, la evaluación de la productividad académica, pruebas internacionales como PISA (...) y TIMSS, y la elaboración de rankings de instituciones educacionales. Este dispositivo es una tecnología clave de gubernamentalidad que posibilita regular la conducta de la población. En su constitución se entretejen conocimientos, teóricos y técnicos, provenientes de las ciencias sociales, con preocupaciones y estrategias que buscan el gobierno de la población. Se combinan ciencia social y poder. El dispositivo constituye una tecnología político moral con poderosos efectos performativos que dan forma a lo que asumimos, para todos los efectos prácticos, como la calidad educacional de las diferentes entidades del sistema -estudiantes, escuelas, programas, profesores, universidades, etc.- y que las valoriza en términos de tal calidad. El texto busca articular conceptualmente las operaciones de este dispositivo y sus derivaciones.: Associated with the increasing complexity of the educational system, procedures that seek its regulation take form and, at the same time, shape the goals to be achieved. In the case of Chile, in the last 50 years, a powerful evaluation device for the educational system has been established, which includes national tests such as SIMCE and PSU, the Teacher Evaluation System, the System of University Accreditation, the evaluation of the academic productivity, international tests such as PISA and TIMSS, and the elaboration of rankings of educational institutions. This device is a key technology of governmentality that makes possible to regulate the behavior of the population. In its constitution are interwoven theoretical and technical knowledge from the social sciences and concerns and strategies for the government of the population. Social science and power are combined. The device constitutes a moral and political technology with powerful performative effects that shape what we assume, for all practical purposes, as the educational quality of the different entities of the system -students, schools, programs, professors, universities, etc.-, which are valued in terms of such quality. The paper seeks to articulate theoretically the operations of this device and its derivations. (shrink)

With the continuous development of “Internet + Education”, online learning has become a hot topic of concern. Decision tree is an important technique for solving classification problems from a set of random and unordered data sets. Decision tree is not only an effective method to generate classifier from data set, but also an active research field in data mining technology. The decision tree mining algorithm can classify the data, grasp the teaching process of the teacher, and analyze the overall (...) performance of the students, so as to realize the dynamic management of the educational administration and help the educational administration personnel to make the right decision, with more reasonable allocation of resources. This paper evaluates students’ academic performance based on the learning behavior data of online learning, so as to intervene in students’ learning in advance, which is the key problem that needs to be solved at present. Taking students’ learning attitude, completion of homework, and attendance as factors, the paper uses decision tree technology to analyze the factors affecting students’ performance, and evaluates students’ performance. Firstly, this paper collects the high-dimensional behavioral characteristic data of students’ online learning and conducts correlation analysis after preprocessing the behavioral characteristic data. Then, the decision tree C4.5 algorithm is used to construct a performance evaluation model. Students’ performance is evaluated by the model, and the evaluation accuracy is about 88% compared with actual performance. Finally, through the model analysis, it is concluded that the video task point completion is the most influential in students’ achievement, followed by chapter test completion and chapter test average score, and the course interaction amount and homework average score are the least influential in students’ achievement, which has a practical reference value for effectively serving online learning and teachers’ teaching. (shrink)

Although elementary schools are considered a fertile ground for promoting positive behaviors among students, to date, almost no study has examined the effectiveness of a cyberbullying prevention program among elementary school students of typical and non-typical development. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of such a school-based European funded preventive program among sixth graders with and without special educational needs. The study also examined the predictive role of self-esteem in students’ cyberbullying involvement. Overall, 240 students from randomly selected (...) Greek schools completed a self-report questionnaire, which included a scale on cyberbullying and self-esteem. Following an experimental longitudinal research design, the intervention was applied to the experimental but not to the control group of students. Each group consisted of both students with and without SEN. The evaluation was based on the completion of the self-report questionnaire before, immediately after, and 6 months after the intervention was completed by trained general and special education teachers. According to the findings, students’ cyberbullying engagement decreased significantly in the second and third phase, and especially for those with SEN. Additionally, self-esteem negatively predicted students’ involvement in cyberbullying in all three phases. The findings partially support the appropriateness of interventions within the elementary school context in order to enhance self-esteem and promote a safe online culture among students of typical as well as atypical development. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Evaluation, Standards, Normalization: Historico-philosophical Formations and the Conditions of Possibility for Checklist Thought Bernadette Baker University of Wisconsin-Madison In education today a new vocabulary has emerged that is far more than just words. In the context of educational policy the setting of goals or objectives is now being subsumed under terms such as statewidestandards, child development is now being adjectivized by descriptors such as learning disability or emotionally (...) disturbed, and the evaluation ofclassroom-based performance is now being collated in aportfolio. These are more than just buzz words-at one level they are new ways of governing children and teachers, of organizing action, and of perceiving the world. What, for instance, does it tell us about ourselves when first-grade students Mikey, Enrique, Waldo, orDonal are introduced to visitors to the school by labels such as LD, ED, ADD, ADHD, and so forth, rather thanby their name? What does it tell us about ourselves when we say a curriculum or program of study is in line with the standards established somewhere else? And what story do we think is being narratedin the documentation of a child's performance in portfolio form across a semester or year? In consideringwhyterms suchasstandards, child development, or even evaluation have such contemporary currency I am necessarily drawn into a study of the timespaces in which they did not have such currency at all. This paper maps four moves into a moment that I think of as a rather long present-day-a present that is not simply this morning, yesterday, or the daybefore, but one that links the subjectivities ofthose now living in educational workto those made available about one hundred years ago. The four moves that I analyze here can be thought of as conditions of possibility for the operation of contemporary educational mies of reasoning, especially those that have formed around the resurgent popularity of"checklist thought" in reform efforts. The four moves collectively historicize how notions of standards, child development, and evaluation can pop up as commonsensical tropes through which to gather and degather action in the educational field. The first ofthese moves is that which flows from the operation ofan ideal to the operation of a norm. The second move is that which flows between the advent of statistics and the advent of eugenics. The third move is that which flows between the appearance ofnovels and fiction and the novel ficticityoffacts. And the fourth move is that which flows from the fictions of child development narratives to the stories that standards tell us. Collectively, these historico-philosophical moves will enable reconsideration of what we think evaluation, standards, and norms for child development actually narrate, lending food for thought to the specificityoftheir uptake in music education. From Ideal to Norm One way inwhichto examinethe shift from a seventeenth-century concept of the ideal to the nineteenth-century concept of the norm is by telling a story that was told in the early twentieth century. At this time when the educational field was formalizing, there was great care taken to record discussions held at conferences. When conferenceproceedings werepublished, theywere usually structured so that the presenter's paper©Philosophy ofMusic Education ReviewlO, no. 1 (Fall, 2002): 92-101. Bernadette Baker 93 was followed by a transcript of the conversation held after it. Like today, in the discussion time, audience members asked questions or made comments. Unlike today, the names of such participating audience members were typed into the proceedings and their specific questions or comments were written up as part ofreporting on the paper presented. In a discussion held at a conference in 1 905 on the topic of methods for training children labeledas feebleminded, apresenterhadspokenof the positive uses of a vegetable garden in the disciplining of feebleminded girls. The audience members relayed their own versions of experimenting with gardening and gathering, some complaining oftoo little space and others indicating the effects of having too many fields from which to gather. Dr. Dunlap was one such participant, indicatingimplicitlytheeffectsofhavingtoo many choices. In the spirit ofthe hunter/gatherer dichotomy, thegirlslabeledas feeblemindedatthe institutionwhereDr. Dunlap worked weresentout to pick com. The following story emerged. Dr. Dunlap: Our girls go out under an attendant and gather vegetables... (shrink)

Entrepreneurship education has become an important component of higher education development. The purpose of this study is to evaluate entrepreneurship education and determine the extent of satisfaction with the education program. Firstly, based on the CIPP model, this article theoretically analyzes the factors affecting the quality of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities, and clarifies the keys to improve that education quality. On this basis, using analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, the evaluation index system and (...) fuzzy evaluation model of entrepreneurial education are established. The results show that student participation is the most important factor affecting the quality of entrepreneurship education. Empirical analysis indicates that students have the highest satisfaction with teachers and the lowest satisfaction with the entrepreneurial environment. Apart from convenient and effective measurement of entrepreneurship education, the proposed model provides an important reference for improving the quality of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities. (shrink)

In this study, teachers' views are evaluated to determine whether there is a relationship between the humor styles of school principals and the health of an organization. The study is based on a mixed research approach with both quantitative and qualitative aspects. In the quantitative study, the teachers were asked to describe their principals' senses of humor using the “humor behavior scale” and to evaluate the organization in which they worked using the “organizational health inventory.” In the qualitative dimension, principals (...) working in primary schools were interviewed and asked to evaluate their own sense of humor and the school's health. When the quantitative findings were examined, the regression results showed that school principals with a cynical style of humor negatively predicts organizational health, and productive social and affirmative styles of humor positively predict organizational health. In the qualitative study, the content analysis results revealed that a school administrator who uses humor effectively is capable of effectively solving problems in the school. However, it has been stated that the humor style of the school principal can have negative effects as well as positive effects. School principals are advised to recognize the teachers with whom they work and to distinguish which teachers are receptive to humor. (shrink)

I sometimes entertain my non-academic friends by telling them that, at the end of each course I teach, before I compute my students’ grades, I pause nervously while I wait to be graded by my students. This process can be described less paradoxically, but surely no more truthfully, as follows. In my department, and as far as I know all the departments at my university, each course ends with students anonymously filling out forms in which they evaluate the teacher (...) and the course. The form includes several questions in which the student is asked to rate the teacher in various respects (such as clarity and organization, availability outside the classroom, and so forth) along a numbered scale (in our case, from one to five); they are also asked one very general question in which they are told to rate the instructor’s overall effectiveness. They are also invited to write comments on these matters. Mean scores (in effect, grades) are calculated for each question and published by the university. In addition, these student evaluations of teaching (often called SETs for short) are used each year by the committee that decides merit pay increases for faculty. When the faculty member is being considered for advancement to tenure or promotion to the rank of Full Professor, these evaluation forms are supplemented by faculty evaluation of teaching, in which faculty members visit the candidate’s classes and report on her or his effectiveness as a teacher. Except for these two once-in-a-lifetime events, the student evaluation forms are the only way in which we judge the quality of teaching. In other words, teaching is for the most part evaluated by students and not by faculty. (shrink)

This study aimed to explore the mediating role of emotional regulation strategies in the relationship between emotional intelligence and subjective well-being among Chinese university teachers, and evaluate whether effort-reward imbalance moderated the mediating effect of emotional regulation strategies. A total of 308 Chinese university teachers were recruited for this study. The results showed that emotional regulation strategies played a partial mediating role in the relationship between EI and SWB. Moreover, an effort-reward imbalance moderated the relationship between emotional regulation strategies and (...) SWB. For individuals with more balanced perceptions, EI had a significant effect on SWB via cognitive reappraisal, while for individuals with more imbalanced perceptions, EI did not have a significant effect on SWB via cognitive reappraisal. These findings provide a better understanding of the effects of EI and emotional regulation strategies on SWB, which could provide interventions for promoting SWB among teachers. (shrink)

This paper is inspired by Philip Cam’s book Twenty Thinking Tools. Cam recommends classroom dialogue as the primary means for students to achieve conscious, strategic, and eventually habitual command of the intellectual moves needed for building and evaluating arguments. Classroom dialogue has indeed been found to be effective for developing students’ higher-order thinking skills, but only when students are engaged in dialogic argument. This paper addresses the dual concerns that dialogue is not widespread in classrooms, and that even where it (...) is practised, it rarely involves argument. To address these concerns, an enhancement to teacher professional learning programs is proposed: the use of authentic examples, i.e. examples drawn from students’ real-life dialogic argument. Reflecting on numerous examples of this kind is likely to boost teachers’ confidence and competence as facilitators, with the consequent benefits of broadening the use of dialogue in classrooms and enhancing the rigour of students’ dialogic argument. Authentic examples of dialogic argument are surprisingly scarce in the relevant published literature. This paper provides several such examples, together with suggestions for how they may be constructively embedded in professional learning programs. (shrink)

Children’s readiness for school is often threatened by the occurrence of both externalizing and internalizing problems. Previous research has shown that Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports is particularly effective for fostering children’s behavioral skills and reducing externalizing problems. However, whether PBIS can enhance children’s emotional skills and reduce internalizing problems is less clear. Therefore, TIME-IN was developed, which extends PBIS by also including emotional support systems. It was tested whether TIME-IN was effective for improving emotion regulation and reducing depressive symptoms. (...) Furthermore, it was tentatively explored whether TIME-IN is accompanied by more than natural fluctuations in both children’s externalizing and internalizing problems. The effectiveness of TIME-IN was evaluated in a non-randomized study, in which an intervention group was compared with a matched control group. Both research questions were addressed in a sample consisting of 81 children between 8 and 12 years of age with special educational needs. Questionnaires for teachers, children, and their parents were administered at the beginning and the end of the school year using multi-informant assessment. Only indicative evidence was found for the hypothesis that TIME-IN improved children’s emotion regulation. Practical implications, strengths, and limitations were discussed.Clinical Trial Registration: This work was retrospectively registered at International Standard Registered Clinical/soCial sTudy Number registry ISRCTN54456609. Registered 28 March 2017. (shrink)

This essential that prospective teachers develop critical thinking skills. However, they cannot develop these skills simply by reading the assigned text, taking notes during lecture, and completing exams. The case method of instruction (CMI) relies on real-life situations to teach students general problem solving and decision making through active participation in the leaming process. Thus, CMI offers an effective means of developing the critical thinking skills of prospective teachers. This article presents guidelines teacher educators can follow to create case-based (...) classrooms. Specific recommendations are offered regarding case selection, case presentation, case writing, and case evaluation procedures. (shrink)

Basic Digital Education is already planned to be integrated with the forthcoming curriculum for Austrian primary schools as it was already implemented for lower secondary schools in 2018. BDE includes the most essential and novel developments of Computational Thinking, which are fundamentally responsible for nurturing students' problem-solving skills. Thus, evaluating teaching materials, scaffolding guidelines, and assessments is becoming increasingly important for the successful implementation of CT in Austrian classrooms. This study is a part of a longitudinal multi-cycle educational design research (...) project aiming to explore how to foster CT and to raise the awareness, importance, and confidence of teachers and students in applying CT for everyday uses. Our paper focuses on a sub-study in which teaching units for grade 3 and 4 students were designed by combining an Open Educational Resource textbook and Physical Computing with the micro:bit device. The designed learning environment consists of three units and was implemented in two classes over 3 weeks. The two classes were further split into two groups each, to ensure better support during implementation. The class teachers received upfront teacher training and conducted pre- and post-test assessments with the students. The resulting data was then analyzed to gain insights into the effects on CT skills of the young learners. Results showed that combining block-based programming and physical computing devices could become a promising approach to promote computational thinking skills in lower school grades. Furthermore, the observed direction of the designed units supports low-barrier access to increase the desired uses of CT in classrooms. (shrink)

This study explores new pedagogical trends in China’s teacher education from a holistic policy analysis perspective. The emerging idea of ‘new normal/teacher education’ is explored in this study. Applying the comprehensive policy text analysis, we examined the quality of teacher education as the core; explored the comprehensive quality and pursuit of excellence; examined the collaborative sharing training model; and focused on the evaluation of students’ training quality. We argued that the ‘new normal/teacher education’ should be (...) guided by the industry needs reflected in the reform of teacher qualification certification system, implement the overall and advanced curriculum of teacher education, reform the teaching content and teaching methods, and enhance the effectiveness of practical teaching such as education probation and educational practice for normal students according to the professional standards and examination syllabus of teachers. In addition, the conclusion and discussion have also been provided in the end. (shrink)

Teachers face significant stressors in relation to their work, placing them at increased risk for burnout and attrition. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about additional challenges, resulting in an even greater burden. Thus, strategies for reducing stress that can be delivered virtually are likely to benefit this population. Mental and Physical Training combines meditation with aerobic exercise and has resulted in positive mental and physical health outcomes in both clinical and subclinical populations. The aim of this pilot study was to (...) evaluate the feasibility and potential effectiveness of virtual MAP Training on reducing stress and improving mood and well-being in teachers. Participants were from recruited online from kindergarten to grade twelve schools in the Northeastern region of the United States and randomly assigned to a 6-week program of virtual MAP Training or no training. Primary outcomes included pre-intervention and post-intervention ratings on self-report measures of social and emotional health. Changes in cognitive functioning and physical health were also examined in secondary analyses. By intervention end, participants in the MAP Training group reported less anxiety and work-related stress compared to those who received no training. Additionally, MAP Training participants reported improvements in depressive symptoms, rumination, work-related quality of life, perceived stress, and self-compassion, whereas no changes were observed in the no training group. Participants also reported increased subjective ratings of executive functioning, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and fewer sleep disturbances. Together, these results suggest that the combination of meditation and aerobic exercise is an effective virtual intervention for improving mental health and well-being among K-12 teachers and may enhance resilience to stressful life events such as occurred during the coronavirus pandemic. (shrink)

Student evaluations of teaching are ubiquitous in higher education; however, most prior research has focused on the numeric ratings, with little systematic attention given to the qualitative comments. In this study, written comments were collected as part of the regular evaluation of a community health nursing course over four semesters. Taken as a whole, student comments were strikingly consistent and mostly negative. Students emphasized the authority of the textbook and framed the course as preparation for the National Council Licensure (...) Examination (NCLEX). Instructor efforts to focus on critical analysis of social issues were met with confusion, suspicion, and resistance. Student comments were further analyzed in relation to 3 levels of discourse: the student/teacher level, the nursing‐education level, and the social–historical level. For each level, the comments reveal problems, but not the ones suggested by a conventional reading of student evaluations. If students and teachers have conflicting expectations about goals and methods for learning, formal student evaluations may be less useful as a measure of teaching effectiveness. This study also raises troubling concerns about current practices in nursing pedagogy, particularly the emphasis on standardized testing and highly structured didactics, and the overlap between student evaluation systems and the technologies of neoliberalism. (shrink)

Student authentication and authorship checking systems are intended to help teachers address cheating and plagiarism. This study set out to investigate higher education teachers’ perceptions of the prevalence and types of cheating in their courses with a focus on the possible changes that might come about as a result of an increased use of e-assessment, ways of addressing cheating, and how the use of student authentication and authorship checking systems might impact on assessment practice. This study was carried out within (...) the context of the project TeSLA (an Adaptive Trust-based e-assessment System for Learning) which is developing a system intended for integration within an institution’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) offering a variety of instruments to assure student authentication and authorship checking. Data was collected at two universities that were trialling the TeSLA system, one in Turkey, where the main modes of teaching are face-to-face teaching and distance education, and one in Bulgaria, where the main modes of teaching are face-to-face teaching and blended learning. The study used questionnaires and interviews, building on existing TeSLA project evaluation activities and extending these to explore the specific areas we wished to examine in more depth.In three of the four contexts cheating was seen by teachers as a serious and growing problem, the exception was the distance education context where the teachers believed that the existing procedures were effective in controlling cheating. Most teachers in all four contexts expected cheating to become a greater problem with increased use of e-assessment. Student authentication was not seen as a major problem in any of the contexts, as this was felt to be well controlled through face-to-face proctored assessments, though the problem of assuring effective authentication was seen by many teachers as a barrier to increased use of e-assessment. Authorship checking was seen as a major issue in all contexts, as copying and pasting from the web, ghost writing and plagiarism were all reported as widely prevalent, and authorship checking was seen as becoming even more important with increased use of e-assessment. Teachers identified a third category of cheating behaviours, which was the accessing of information from other students, from written materials, and from the internet during assessments.Teachers identified a number of approaches to addressing the problem of cheating: education, technology, assessment design, sanctions, policy, and surveillance. Whilst technology was not seen as the most important approach to prevention, student authentication and authorship checking systems were seen as relevant in terms of reducing reliance on face-to-face proctored examinations, and in improving the quality of assessment through supporting the employment of a wider range of assessment methods. The development of authorship checking based on computational linguistic approaches was an area of particular interest. Student authentication and authorship checking systems were not seen as being able to address the third category of cheating behaviours that the study identified. (shrink)