EDUCATION IN A COMPETITIVE AND GLOBALIZING WORLD

STUDENT LEARNING
IMPROVING PRACTICE

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 EDUCATION IN A COMPETITIVE
AND GLOBALIZING WORLD

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EDUCATION IN A COMPETITIVE AND GLOBALIZING WORLD

STUDENT LEARNING
IMPROVING PRACTICE

CHRISTOPHER BOYLE
EDITOR

New York
Copyright © 2013 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

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 CONTENTS

Acknowledgments vii
List of Contributors ix
Introduction xiii
Chapter 1 I Think That I Think I Know What I’m Doing:
Improving Learning through the Use of Meta-Cognition 1
Fraser Lauchlan
Chapter 2 Future Direction of Attribution Retraining for Students
with Learning Difficulties: A Review 13
Jemima Ellen Koles and Christopher Boyle
Chapter 3 The 21st Century Law Student: The Lecture Room
or the Mobile Phone? 31
Tom Serby
Chapter 4 The Creation and Implementation of Interactive Opportunities
to Promote Learning between Lectures 43
Jacqueline Carnegie
Chapter 5 A Design Framework for Enhancing On-Line Learning 59
Wendy Fasso, Cecily Knight and Bruce Allen Knight
Chapter 6 A Study of Factors Influencing Success in an Intro to English
Linguistics 79
Rebecca Babcock, Suzanne Rathbun, Jack Nichols,
Julie McCown and Amanda McCain
Chapter 7 Supporting Student Learning through Collaborative Assessment
Tasks 91
Rosario Hernández
Chapter 8 Examining the Assessment Opportunities for Cultural
Connectedness for Student Learning: A Sociocultural
Analysis 105
Val Klenowski, Stephen Connollyand Robert Funnell
vi Contents

Chapter 9 Student Pathways to Global Citizenship 121

Stephen Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller
Chapter 10 Action-Emotion Style, Test Anxiety and Resilience
in Undergraduate Students 139
Jesús de la Fuente, María Cardelle-Elawar, Paul Sander
and David Putwain
Chapter 11 Critical Thinking: Focal Point for a Culture of Inquiry 151
David C. Johnsen
Index 171
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The people whom we meet and the people whom we learn from influence us. This book
acknowledges both the student and the lecturer/teacher, as the fusion of interest and
discussion creates thinking, which fosters the development of a cerebral environment, thus
benefiting society.
The Editor would like to acknowledge the generous editorial and proofing support from
Ange Jarman, Jake Kraska, Shane Costello, Tony Mowbray, Sarah Rostron, Amira Bosjnak,
Linda Varcoe, Joe Anderson, and Jessica Grembecki.
 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

EDITOR
Chris Boyle, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the Faculty of Education at
Monash University, Australia. Chris has previously worked as a secondary school teacher and
as a school psychologist. His main research interests are in the area of teacher perceptions of
inclusion and students’ attributions for success and failure in learning. He is currently Editor
of the Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist and he has published widely
in psychology and education with over 125 citations to his work since 2007. The Open
University Press has published his latest book, What Works in Inclusion. Current information
is available at: http://education.monash.edu/profiles/cboyle.

CONTRIBUTORS
Rebecca Babcock is Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas of the
Permian Basin, USA. Her research interests include writing centers, disability, and
metaresearch. Her latest book is Tell Me How it Reads: Tutoring Writing with Deaf and
Hearing Students in the Writing Center, published by Gallaudet University Press.

María Cardelle-Elawar is an Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology at Mary

Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, USA. She has active research
interests with recent publications in measuring teacher regulatory process, and students’
learning processes.

Jacqueline Carnegie, Ph.D., M.Ed. is an Associate Professor with the Faculty of

Medicine at the University of Ottawa, Canada. When not lecturing, she develops online
learning and self-testing tools for undergraduate students studying anatomy, physiology and
pathophysiology. She was recently awarded a University of Ottawa Chair in Teaching.

Stephen Connolly Ph.D., is a teacher and researcher with the Faculty of Education
Queensland University of Technology. His research interests include assessment practices
and sociology in education. Stephen was a research team member with a major Australian
Research Council funded project to develop new modes of assessment of the capacities, skills
x Christopher Boyle

and knowledge of at-risk adolescents who have left formal schooling. He has published in the
fields of evaluation and assessment and sociology of education.

Wendy Fasso has gained a Masters degree in Education Technology and has spent four
years as an education technology expert and professional development facilitator in schools
across Queensland, Australia. She has a particular interest in digital pedagogy and the
transformation of learning with technology. Wendy is a lecturer in education at Central
Queensland University, Bundaberg.

Jesús de la Fuente is Professor of Educational Psychology in the Departament of

Psychology at the University of Almería, Spain. He is Editor-in-chief of the Electronic
Journal of Research in Educational Psychology. His research interests are focused on
studying the processes of teaching and learning in the university, and personal self-regulation
and motivational-affective process of learning.

Robert Funnell is a sociologist of education at Griffith University, Queensland,

Australia with an interest in biography and life transitions in rural and urban economies.

Dr. Rosario Hernández lectures in Spanish at University College Dublin, where she is
also a Fellow in Teaching and Academic Development. Her research interests include second
language learning, assessment of student learning, and teaching methodologies. She regularly
publishes in international journals and books, and presents her work at international
conferences.

Dr. David Johnsen received his Doctorate in Dental Science from the University of
Michigan, 1970, his MS Pediatric Dentistry, University of Iowa, 1973, and has been the Dean
of Dentistry, University of Iowa, since 1995. His Research focuses across the following areas:
tooth innervation indicating capacity to transmit pain impulses; early childhood caries/caries
patterns in preschoolers. David was the American Dental Education Association President
from 2002-03, and is currently Dental and Craniofacial Research Council Member (NIH)
(2010-).

Jemima Koles is a Psychologist specialising in the fields of educational and

developmental psychology. She is currently teaching on the undergraduate program at
Monash University in the areas of developmental, biological, social, and cognitive
psychology. Her research and practice interests include learning difficulties, mindfulness, and
positive self-esteem.

Iva Katzarska-Miller is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Transylvania

University in Lexington, Kentucky. She teaches classes related to cultural psychology, social
justice, and diversity. Her research interests focus on self-stereotyping, interpersonal
relationships, and global citizenship.

Val Klenowski is a Professor of Education at the Queensland University of Technology

in Brisbane, Australia. She has research interests in curriculum and assessment reform and
development, evaluation, assessment and learning and social justice issues. Recent research
 List of Contributors xi

interests include teacher judgement, social moderation in the context of standards-driven

reform, culture responsive assessment and pedagogy and the use of digital portfolios. Val has
published in the fields of assessment and learning, curriculum and evaluation.

Dr. Cecily Knight is Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning) at James Cook University,
Australia. She has more than 25 years experience in the field of education and a keen interest
in blended learning and pedagogies for using new technologies in higher education.

Bruce Allen Knight is Professor of Education at Central Queensland University,

Australia. His current research interests are in learning design and pedagogy. He has more
than 200 publications and in 2006 was honoured with a Fellowship of the International
Academy of Research in Learning Disabilities.

Fraser Lauchlan, PhD, is an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde in

Scotland and a registered educational psychologist. He is the owner of his own consultancy
business Fraser Lauchlan Associates (www.fraserlauchlan.com). He has published
extensively in many areas of educational psychology. His latest book is entitled Improving
Learning Through Dynamic Assessment, published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Amanda McCain is a doctoral student at Texas A&M University-Commerce whose

research focus is Composition and New Media Studies. Her dissertation will look the
theoretical application of flow and video games as text in First Year Composition courses.
She completed her MA in English at the University of Texas-Permian Basin.

Julie McCown is a Ph.D. Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University
of Texas at Arlington. Her research interests include Early American Literature, Animal
Studies, and Digital Humanities. McCown received her M.A. in English from the University
of Texas at the Permian Basin in 2011.

Jack Nichols is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and has spent most of his
working life in the oil fields of West Texas. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology
from The University of Texas of the Permian Basin and has a master’s degree pending at that
same university.

David Putwain is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Edge Hill University, UK. He is

hoping to shed new light on the effect of examination-related stress on pupils and provide
some hard evidence on a topic so far shaped predominantly by speculation and guesswork. He
worked for several years for one of the English awarding boards at A and AS-Level and
started to wonder about the psychological factors that impact on performance.

Suzanne Rathbun is a lecturer in Psychology and the data analyst for the Critical
Thinking Initiative at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Her research interests are
in relation to development of adolescents in our changing world. She has presented at both
regional and international conferences.
xii Christopher Boyle

Stephen Reysen is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Texas A&M University-

Commerce. He teaches classes related to social psychology, intergroup relations, and
multicultural diversity. His research interests include topics related to personal (e.g., threats to
interpersonal public identity) and social identity (e.g., global citizenship).

Paul Sander is a Principal Lecturer in psychology at the University of Wales Institute

Cardiff in the UK. He has active research interests and recent publications in measuring
students’ academic confidence, exploring different approaches to studying between male and
female students. He is also an academic with dyslexia.

Tom Serby qualified as a solicitor in England in 1995 and practised law in the City of
London becoming a Solicitor Advocate with rights of audience in all higher courts in 2001;
the same year as he joined Exeter University as a law lecturer. Since 2007, Tom has taught at
Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge where he lectures in business and employment law at
undergraduate and Masters level. His research specialisms include learning and teaching and
sports law and he has presented various conference papers including at the SLSA conference
and has been published in various academic journals including the Liverpool Law Review
and the International Sports Law Review.
 INTRODUCTION
IMPROVING LEARNING AND PARTICIPATION
ST
IN THE 21 CENTURY EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

This book is attempting to bring to the reader an eclectic group of examples of

educational practise, which will assist in improving the knowledge of the reader. Many
respected academics express their skills and expertise in the various projects, which promote
good teaching practice. If you are a practitioner and reading this book then you are already
interested in adapting your style and open to suggestions for improvement, as we all should
be in the role that we are in. No book is complete or can be regarded as the authority on any
subject and this one does not profess to be. Continual improvement in our methods is a
laudable goal in the academic profession and this book will afford the reader some excellent
insights and discussion points but what aspects are regarded as useful, will depend on the
individual taste of each reader.
It would be an understatement to suggest that education is as important as it is universally
desirable and that most governments and international organisations continually strive to
provide access to education whether it be primary, secondary or tertiary in type. An educated
population adds value to the country whether in social benefits or that of a more skilled
workforce. If we agree that the promotion of widely accessible education is key to a
functioning state then the quality of that education system is paramount. The key aspect to
successful education is that of being free from government interference and that aside, the
main ingredient is that of the quality of the instruction, whether in the school or university
system.
Lecturing and teaching are both art forms, at least if it is done well, and these have to be
cultivated and honed. As examples, the best engineers or psychologists do not necessarily
make the best lecturers and this is the same for all professions. Maximising the quality and
strength of the human component and the interaction between student and lecturer is
paramount if learning is to be existent in places of learning. A cartoon that this chapter author
saw in a higher education publication a number of years ago had the scenario where a person
was telling his friend that he had taught his dog to speak and the friend remarked at how
wonderful this was and what a great teacher he must be. He asked for this to be shown to him
but the dog owner said ‘I didn’t say that he could speak but only that I taught him to do it’.
Many people can teach but whether they do it effectively and whether their students learn is a
moot point. This book attempts to provide the reader with strategies and programs that have
xiv Christopher Boyle

been successful in very diverse teaching environments around the world. Not every chapter
will be applicable to every reader but there are many aspects, which allow the successful
instructor to advance their facilitation skills and hopefully improve their practise and thus
learning and participation in the 21st century.
This publication contains eleven exciting and innovative chapters, which cover education
both in the school and that of the tertiary sector. The scope is vast and the writing lively, with
each chapter bringing a particular pedagogical perspective which the reader should find
enlightening and refreshing.
The first two chapters in the book have a focus on school education, however the content
is equally attributable to other education sectors. In Chapter One, ‘I think that I think I know
what I’m doing: Improving learning through the use of meta-cognition’, Lauchlan focuses on
providing the reader with an overview of metacognitive processes in an educational setting.
He discusses practical methods for educational professionals to motivate and inspire their
students through cognitive techniques. Lauchlan uses straightforward examples, which
provide a valuable contribution to improving learning processes in student-teacher
interaction. In Chapter Two, ‘The future direction of attribution retraining for students with
learning difficulties: A review’, Knowles and Boyle introduce to the reader the importance of
understanding the role of students’ attributions for success or failure in learning and how their
motivation to complete future work is affected as a result. Solutions are presented as to how
better to understand and alter current teaching practise to improve students’ ability to achieve
in school but also to recognize their own inherent ability to work positively.
Chapter Three begins the chapters, which focuses specifically on online technology.
Serby starts this section with the chapter entitled, ‘The 21st Century Law Student: The
Lecture Room or the Mobile Phone?’ which discussed the findings of a research study that
attempted to move from face-to-face teaching to that of blended learning with some students
receiving their teaching input by podcast. Serby’s findings provide useful points for how
teaching on university courses may evolve in future years. In Chapter Four, ‘The creation and
implementation of interactive opportunities to promote learning between lectures’, Carnegie
puts forward various technologically influenced strategies which are designed to maintain a
link between lecturers and students outside of the teaching room. Practical examples are used
from Carnegie’s own research work which highlight adaptable solutions which the reader
may find some benefit in adopting in their own respective teaching environments. Chapter
Five completes the section on technology with Fasso and colleagues whose chapter entitled
‘A design framework for enhancing on-line learning’ discuss various pedagogical approaches,
which can be influenced and complemented by using technology in learning. Babcock and
colleagues in Chapter Six, ‘A study of factors influencing success in an introduction to
English linguistics’, emphasize the complexities in having students enrol in this subject with
below average reading ability. Findings from their study are discussed including methods to
assist students whose reading ability is below the requirements for the course. In Chapter
Seven entitled, ‘Supporting student learning through collaborative assessment tasks’,
Hernández puts forward the case for students to be more involved in collaborative learning
and stresses the potential benefits of peer assessment as a key tool in pedagogical techniques
such as Problem Based Learning.
In Chapter Eight Klenowski and colleagues write on the subject of ‘Examining the
assessment opportunities for cultural connectedness for student learning: A sociocultural
analysis’ from an Australian perspective. They put forward methods for teachers working in
 Introduction xv

schools to consider more of the cultural aspects of the students that they are teaching and this
is especially so in respect of indigenous students in Australia who tend me marginalised in
many aspects of Australian schooling society. Continuing the theme of social connectedness,
Reysen and colleagues consider in Chapter Nine ‘Student Pathways to Global Citizenship’,
where a review of the current literature is discussed in relation to what exactly the term
‘global citizenship’ means and how this can influence the current teachings in university.
Practical suggestions are offered so as to ensure that the student-lecturer educational
interactions are improved and thus made more effective.
In the penultimate chapter of the book, de la Fuente and colleagues discuss, in Chapter
Ten, ‘Action-emotion style, test anxiety and resilience in undergraduate students’ where a
study is reported which illustrates the certain characteristics which are inherent in an
undergraduate university population. Links are made between how students react in stressful
situations and how they attribute success or failure in dealing with certain situations. The
authors put forward suggestions for how resilience can be improved and strengthened in this
university population. In Chapter Eleven, the final chapter, Johnsen considers ‘Critical
thinking: Focal point for a culture of inquiry’, as an essential component in the teaching of
university students. The author suggests that critical thinking is an essential component of
university teaching, which does not have the same influence as in previous years and who can
disagree. Johnsen is an advocate for universities promoting ‘thinking’ in their courses and
examples from practise are illustrated which demonstrate the successful building of a culture
of inquiry amongst the students.

CONCLUSION
This book attempts to bring together a very diverse group of academics from various
subject disciplines, university and schools, and it is international in context. This publication
puts forward various suggestions and tangible examples of how pedagogy can be enhanced
and how technology can be used to further improve student outcomes. Whether this book
manages to meet these to the satisfaction of the reader will not be something that the author
can judge. It is hoped that the following chapters will provide some suggestions for different
teaching styles, which may have worked in a university before, and with cultural and subject
adaptations these can be used to improve your pedagogical approach. The chapters that you
will read are evidence based and have been written by esteemed academics in their field thus
illustrating chapters of quality that I hope you will enjoy and ultimately benefit from their
content.

Christopher Boyle
Monash University, Australia
In: Student Learning: Improving Practice ISBN: 978-1-62618-887-7
Editor: Christopher Boyle © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 1

I THINK THAT I THINK I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING:

IMPROVING LEARNING THROUGH THE USE
OF META-COGNITION

Fraser Lauchlan
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

ABSTRACT
The concept of metacognition and the use of meta-cognitive strategies is an approach
to learning that has been around for many decades, however, the extent to which it has
been adopted widely in education could be questioned.
This chapter will provide some background to metacognition, describing the process
in detail and outlining research studies that have demonstrated the effectiveness of
metacognition in a range of different educational settings. The chapter will also offer
some practical examples of how to implement metacognition in the classroom that will
hopefully help students and teachers to profit from this valuable technique.

INTRODUCTION – DEVELOPMENTAL BACKGROUND

What is metacognition? A simple definition that is often seen in introductory textbooks
for psychology students and teachers is the following, “metacognition is the ability to think
about one’s own thought processes” (Cole and Cole, 2001, p.495).
But what does this mean in practice? And how can this be valuable in learning? It is the
purpose of this chapter to answer these questions and to offer some useful, practical strategies
that will help improve the metacognition of students in various education settings and hence
their ability to learn.
If I were to ask you to remember and then recall a list of 20 items that are commonly
found in a shopping list, and then asked you afterwards how you approached such a task, your
answer would give me an idea of your level of metacognitive skill.
2 Fraser Lauchlan

You may have considered different strategies (for example, categorising the items
appropriately, imagining pictures of them, or thinking about where they are found in your
local supermarket) and then decided to stick to one; or you maybe decided to use a
combination of these. Your awareness of how you approached the task, and the strategies you
considered and then adopted, represent the metacognitive process you would have gone
through. It is generally accepted in the literature that metacognition is a fundamental
cognitive process that helps promote the cognitive development of children, young people
and adults. As demonstrated in the anecdote above, metacognition can help us to understand
how difficult a problem may be and will help us to decide upon an appropriate strategy in
order to solve it. In addition, metacognitive strategies might help us to reflect on what we
have done and, if necessary, make appropriate corrections if we have made mistakes.
Metacognition is linked to an information-processing perspective, in other words, it can
relate to the different ways in which people take on board information, use this information
and then store it (Siegler, 1991).
As children mature, their ability to process information improves and becomes more
sophisticated, which, in turn, helps them to problem-solve more efficiently. Children’s ability
to process information can be influenced by, the speed of processing (scanning, recognising
and comparing), their memory (including ‘chunking’, i.e. logically grouping responses or
items into one’s memory and remembering the groups rather than the individual items), and
their level of concentration. All of these skills can be influenced by the child’s ability to use
metacognition, for example, the use of strategies such as planning, monitoring and revising.
Young children are not able to recognise, for example, when they make an error, whereas
older children, as their metacognitive processes improve, are able to know when they do not
understand something, or indeed, if they have made an error (Veenman, Van Hout-Wolters
and Afflerbach, 2006).
The increase in the level of sophistication of a child’s metacognition often reflects their
understanding of a theory of mind, which is their knowledge and beliefs about the mental
states and motives of others, which help them to explain and predict their behaviour. A classic
theory of mind task, and widely adopted in research into the concept is the Sally-Anne
problem (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985; Doody et al., 1998, Frith, 1989). The Sally-Anne problem
is a story involving two children – Sally and Anne – who are playing together with a ball and
two different coloured boxes: one red and one green (for example).
After they have played for a while, Sally has to go out so she decides to place the ball in
the red box. While she is out, Anne takes the ball from the red box and after playing for a
while then places the ball in the green box. Sally returns and wants to play with the ball. The
following question is then asked to the children, “where do you think Sally will look for her
ball? In the red box or in the green box?” The child has to understand the mental state of Sally
and decide that she would look for the ball in the red box and ignore the information that is
known to them (i.e. that Anne placed the ball in the green box).
The story can be difficult for pre-school children to follow, therefore it is accompanied
by real-life dolls and boxes, and questions are asked throughout to ensure that the child is
following the sequence of events, however, in the main, children as young as 4 and 5 years
old should be able to answer the question correctly. The ability to selectively attend to the
information that is important to the context, while ignoring the irrelevant information, is the
beginning stages of children’s theory of mind and reflects an important stage of
metacognitive development.
 I Think That I Think I Know What I’m Doing 3

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PROCESSES

INVOLVED IN METACOGNITION?
As stated above, the main processes involved in metacognition are planning, monitoring,
and evaluating (or reviewing). However, a significant aspect of metacognition is
metamemory, which refers to the ability to understand memory as a process and be aware of
one’s own memory, both in its strengths and in its limitations (Veenman et al., 2006). In other
words, it might refer to a person’s ability to assess what demands are being placed on their
memory for different tasks and to develop suitable strategies as a result (Bukatko and Daehler
2001).
It also includes the skill of monitoring one’s own memory competencies and making
judgements as to how to allocate cognitive resources (“Have I remembered everything here?”
“How can I make sure that I will remember it all?” “Do I need to reflect on the information a
little more?”). It is the development of these skills regarding memory that accounts for the
metacognitive process of metamemory.
A metacogntive skill that is related to the monitoring process is self-regulation (Azevedo,
2008), which is described as “the capacity to monitor and direct one’s activities to achieve
certain goals or meet the demands imposed by others” (Bukatko and Daehler, 2001, p.423).
The opposite of self-regulation is impulsivity, an aspect of behaviour that is often seen in
children with learning problems, and in young children. Self-regulation means that children
will assume greater responsibility for their learning without having to constantly ask their
teacher or parent for help. It is the move from dependent learner to independent learner that is
a key stage in the development of children and their capacity to use metacognitive strategies.
The role of language during self-regulation has been highlighted as especially significant
(Vygotsky, 1962). Verbalising (or speaking out loud what one is doing), while carrying out a
complex task, is something that can help one to reflect and self-correct, and can be an
important metacognitive skill to teach children.
The use of the metacognitive strategy of problem verbalisation can have a significantly
positive impact on childrens’ learning (Bannert and Mengelkamp, 2008; Bethge, Carlson and
Weidl, 1982; Elliott, Lauchlan and Stringer, 1996; Landor, Lauchlan, Carrigan and Kennedy,
2007; Lauchlan, Carrigan and Daly, 2007); indeed even as adults we will often use problem
verbalisation to help us when doing something new or complex. Verbalisation encourages
monitoring and reflection and helps to draw attention to the key features of a task.
Metalinguistic awareness refers to the ability to use knowledge about language. Is a
sentence grammatically correct? What are the pragmatic qualities required when
communicating? How can I make myself understood clearly? These are questions that would
constitute metalinguistic awareness. Research indicates that children do not begin to think
about these kinds of questions until around the early school years (Bukatko and Daehler,
2001). It is linked to children’s awareness of their use of language, which clearly reflects
another metacognitive skill and one that is essential to learning. Metalinguistic awareness can
be demonstrated through the use of jokes or riddles, where the child begins to “play” with
their language, perhaps creating funny words or intentionally mislabelling objects (Bukatko
and Daehler, 2001).
Children’s understanding of metaphor and figurative language reflects their increasing
metalinguistic knowledge.
4 Fraser Lauchlan

It is generally felt that a child’s increase in metalinguistic knowledge reflects the

improvements that have been made in their thinking skills in general (Bukatko and Daehler,
2001). Research has indicated that metalinguistic awareness is generally higher in bilingual
and multilingual children compared to monolinguals (Bialystok, Majumder, and Martin,
2003; Bialystok, Peets and Moreno, 2012; Lauchlan, Parisi and Fadda, 2012).
Metacognition can also be used to help reading comprehension, sometimes referred to as
metacomprehension. In this context, metacomprehension regards how much knowledge a
child has of his/her own reading process, how much they are aware of their own failure to
understand something and the resultant ability to come up with appropriate strategies (Currie,
1999). When a child is reading, or indeed when an adult is reading, it is important that they
are reviewing what they are reading (or self-monitoring) and making judgements about
whether or not they are continuing to understand the passage. If the individual decides that he/
she does not understand the text, then it is important that they take appropriate steps to
remedy the situation (e.g. stopping to pause and reflect, looking for clarification from a
drawing or picture, using the context to predict what was written or even re-reading the last
sentence or two). Of course, most readers will do these things without really noticing it,
however, some children do need to be specifically taught how to do this. Teaching
metacognitive skills for reading comprehension can be challenging and will largely depend
upon the skills of the teacher (Currie, 1999), who must interact with the child, discussing the
problem-solving (metacognitive) strategies in a way that will help the child to develop these
skills independently. The use of mediated learning (Vygotsky, 1978; Feuerstein, Feuerstein,
Rand and Falik, 2002) provides a useful framework in which this can be done.
Mediated learning was first discussed by Vygotsky (1978) but extended and elaborated
upon by the work of Reuven Feuerstein and colleagues, who developed the theory of
mediated learning experience (Feuerstein et al., 1979; 1988; 2002). Essentially, mediated
learning is an approach to teaching that involves carefully tailored intervention by a
‘mediator’ in a way that encourages a process in the child or student from being ‘other-
regulated’ to being ‘self-regulated’.
In other words, the responsibility for learning should be gradually transferred from the
‘mediator’ to the individual learner. This can be done by gradually withdrawing the level of
support so that the student progressively assumes greater responsibility for their own learning,
adopting the strategies that have been ‘mediated’ to them. It is a process that is often referred
to as ‘scaffolding’ (Wood, Bruner and Ross, 1976). For a full discussion of the process of
mediation and the theory of mediated learning experience, the reader is referred to Feuerstein
et al. (2002).

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF METACOGNITION

Various phrases are used to describe metacognition in practice, such as ‘planning to make
a plan’, ‘stopping and checking’ and ‘knowing when, what and how to remember’ (Ashman
and Conway, 1997, p.51). It is the purpose of this section to review some of the research that
has been undertaken on metacognition in various educational settings and also to provide the
reader with some practical applications of metacognitive strategies in order to understand how
one can try to improve this important skill in students’ learning.
 I Think That I Think I Know What I’m Doing 5

Research has demonstrated the value in promoting metacognition in various educational

settings. For example, in a study investigating the use of metacognitive strategies in a
chemistry classroom, Thomas and McRobbie (2001) found that students who were previously
non-metacognitive in their thinking were able to be trained in how to think more in a
metacognitive way, including showing revision of their learning processes. The positive
relationship between the use of metacognition, study strategies and academic achievement has
been demonstrated by recent research with first year university students (Vrugt and Oort,
2008), and it can be hypothesised that similar results would be obtained with younger
students.
The influence of metacognition in the development of critical thinking skills in university
students has been established in a study involving 240 college students (Magno, 2010).
McCormick (2003) offers an excellent review of the literature on the use of metacognition in
the classroom and in particular discusses specific intervention studies that have facilitated the
use of metacognition demonstrating positive results.
Research has also demonstrated the gains made through the use of metacognitive
strategies in children with learning disabilities (Wong, 1987), and in children with specific
learning problems in mathematics (Lucangeli et al., 1998). Pressley and Gaskins (2006)
outlined their research study, which revealed the success of a metacognitive intervention
programme across a whole school for students who had problems with reading proficiency.
It is the purpose of the remainder of this chapter to outline some ideas that can be tried
with individual students or at a whole-class level. The ideas and strategies presented are a
culmination of more than 15 years research and practice undertaken by the author in
collaboration with colleagues who were (and in some cases, still are) practising educational
psychologists (Elliott et al., 1996; Landor et al., 2007; Lauchlan, 1999; 2001; Lauchlan and
Carrigan, 2013; Lauchlan et al., 2007; Lauchlan and Elliott, 1997; 2001; Stringer, Elliott and
Lauchlan, 1997).
Metacognitive questions can be given to students in order to encourage them to ask these
questions to themselves when performing a range of different tasks. The questions can be
divided into three categories: 1) before starting a task, 2) during the completion of a task, and
3) after completing a task.

1. Before starting a task

● It is important that a student asks some essential metacognitive questions before
embarking on a task as it is likely that their answers will help them to undertake
the task more efficiently. For example, the student should ask: What do I have to
do here? Where will I start? After I start, what will I do next?
● Further questions are required of the student regarding the use of previous
knowledge that may help them in the current task, for example, How is this
similar to something I already know/have done? What do I know about this
already? Will anything I’ve learned before help me with this task?
● The requirements of the task should be considered, for example: do I understand
what I need to do here? How much time will I need? Do I know where to get
information that will help me? What do I expect to find out?
● Finally, the use of specific strategies should be contemplated before starting:
What strategies can I use to complete this task? Is there another way I could do
this?
6 Fraser Lauchlan

2. During the task

● While undertaking the task, the student should try to pay attention to their own
thinking using process questions: Am I on the right track? How can I spot a
mistake if I make one? Does this remind me of previous work that I’ve done? If
so, what helped me in that situation?
● Self-regulation is important and the student may ask themselves the following
questions to ensure that they are not being impulsive during the task: Am I being
careful to stop and think about it? Am I taking my time? Am I reflecting enough?
● Problem-verbalisation can help the student specifically: they should be
encouraged to talk their way through the task or problem (but in a way that does
not disturb others if working in a group/class context). This will help them to spot
errors in their thinking and thus self-correct.
3. After the task
● The most basic metacognitive strategy for students to learn is checking their
answer. Thus, they can be encouraged to ask the following, Is my answer correct?
Do I need to change it? Do I need to add more?
● Other supplementary questions are just as important in terms of consolidating the
learning process and encouraging self-reflection that will help with future tasks,
Did I understand everything? Do I need to ask a question? What have I learned by
doing this task? How could I do this task better next time?
● The student may also want to consider what they liked and disliked about the
task, or whether they found it easy or difficult as this can also help with the
reflection and consolidation process, thus, What did I like and dislike about the
task? What did I find easy/difficult?

General Classroom Activities to Encourage the Use of Metacognition

The metacognitive questions provided above are discussed in the context of helping
individual students. However, they can also be used at a whole-class level, perhaps displaying
them on a poster in the classroom where all children can read them and be reminded to use
them. In this way the teacher can incorporate metacognitive questions into their general
teaching routine. Similarly, teachers can encourage the class to check their answers before
submitting a piece of work, perhaps incorporating “Checking Time” into the classroom
routine. Again, this can be done whole-class, or it could be that children have a set time every
day or week where they gather in groups to share what they have done. This could be
scheduled after students have completed their planned activities.
Another metacognitive strategy that could be tried is to include a set time to reflect on
what the children have learned in class, perhaps at the end of the school day. Whole-class
discussion can revolve around the question: “What is something new you have learned
today?” with every student encouraged to provide a response. This can be done verbally,
where each child answers, or alternatively they can be asked to write it down. Another idea is
to use “traffic lights” cards where the children would indicate whether they have had a good
(green), bad (red), or indifferent day (amber). With younger students or those with difficulties
with learning this can also be done through the use of cards with ‘smiley faces’ (good day =
happy face, bad day = sad face, indifferent day = straight face).
 I Think That I Think I Know What I’m Doing 7

With older students, the use of a “Reflective Diary” can be a helpful metacognitive
strategy to encourage, where the students are asked each day to write their reflections on what
they have done in school, and what they have learned. Questions such as: “What did I learn
today at school?” or “What did I enjoy today?” can be adapted according to a child’s age and
stage. For example, more complex supplementary questions could be asked, e.g. “How will
what I learned today help me in the future?”, or “How does what I have learned today relate
to real-life contexts?” Another option, if the child is able and wishes to do so, is to complete
the Reflective Diary through the use of drawings as a way to communicate their thoughts and
feelings about each day.
A key aspect of self-regulation is helping students to learn how to set goals independently
through planning. Students should be encouraged to set goals related to what they have to
study. For younger children, it may be necessary to provide more assistance in this process.
Goal setting can involve many things, but may include completing a series of practice
questions each day to prepare for a quiz or studying five vocabulary words per night for a test
at the end of the week. Children may need help to understand the importance of planning and
goal setting. Developing a plan of attack to achieve their goals is necessary, and will help
children set reasonable goals within a specific time frame.
Examples of planning include completing a study diary or completing parts of a large
project for an hour every other day. At this point, students should ask themselves “what is my
goal (what do I want to do) and by when?” Planning can be both long term and short term, but
ideally, should be done by the student, thereby building independent planning skills; the point
of this is to help students to set goals and plan on their own.
Teachers may wish to make planning a regular part of the school day. In other words,
planning should be a regular classroom activity so students will automatically begin to think
about what they want to do and how to carry it out. It can be useful if the planning is
scheduled at the same time each day: it can be done in small groups, pairs or individually.
With older students, especially with regard to creative project work, they can be
encouraged to elaborate their plans in order to extend their ideas. Asking students to give
details such as where they want to work, what materials they intend to use, the sequence of
their activities and the outcomes they expect to achieve, can do this.
As students enter into the habit of writing down and recording their plans, they will begin
to get the message that their ideas are valuable. With older children, it is important to
encourage them to begin writing down their ideas by themselves. Documentation such as
writing, drawing and photography helps children become more conscious of the process and
value of planning. They are likely to think through and elaborate on their ideas as they
formally record them.

What Parents Can Do to Encourage the Use of Metacognitive Strategies

Parents can also help with the process of developing metacognitive strategies in their
children. They can encourage their child to use lists for planning and remembering. For
example, they can ask the child to design a checklist of five things they need to do in the
morning before going to school. Checklists such as these can be useful planning tools, which
will help with children’s organisational skills and responsibility for their own learning. Other
checklist ideas include planning a bedtime routine or homework routine.
8 Fraser Lauchlan

Before children begin homework, parents can ask them to think about and estimate how
long it should take and then check their estimates. This will encourage planning ahead and
organisation. Some children may enjoy the challenge of seeing if they can ‘beat the clock’,
however, on a cautionary note, it is clearly important that they don’t rush their work as a
result. Agreement can be made that the time estimate is based on making no errors. Rewards
and treats can be used to make it more enjoyable.
Parents can ensure that they provide their child with a weekly planner or homework diary
to help with planning and organisation. These are time planning tools that will help children
get homework in on time and prioritise activities. Parents can also encourage their child to set
goals for the day, week, or month on a regular basis. Helping children set goals is one
tangible way of increasing their planning skills. A practical task that can be given by parents
to encourage their planning skills is to ask them to plan a family event or outing, i.e. giving
them the sole responsibility of planning a family day out (e.g. where to go, how long it will
take, what you will need, and what time you will leave). This will encourage children to look
ahead by working out steps required to achieve goals.

CONCLUSION
The intention of this chapter is to outline the potential benefits that can be gained by
encouraging the use of metacognitive strategies by children in the classroom and at home. An
outline of the developmental background to metacognition was provided and descriptions
given about some of the main metacognitive processes that are discussed in the literature.
Research that has been undertaken on the use of metacognition in specific educational
settings has been discussed, and practical applications have been provided detailing how
teachers (and parents) can implement a metacognitive approach in their classrooms. It is
hoped that such strategies will encourage the use of planning, reflection, self-regulation and
monitoring by students that, in turn, will help improve their learning.
Research detailing the use of metacognition in different educational settings has shown
that significant gains can be made in children’s learning. While some may argue that there
could be more done in promoting the use of metacognition, there is little doubt that the
application of such an approach is becoming increasingly more widespread, if recent research
evidence is anything to go by. However, there remains much work to be done, as stated by
Veenman et al. (2006), “Teachers are absolutely willing to invest effort in the instruction of
metacognition within their lessons, but they need the ‘tools’ for implementing metacognition
as an integral part of their lessons, and for making students aware of their metacognitive
activities and the utility of those activities” (p.10). It is hoped that this chapter will provide
some useful ideas and strategies for students, teachers and parents alike to improve the use of
metacognition in their everyday learning contexts.
 I Think That I Think I Know What I’m Doing 9

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to thank Donna Carrigan for the contribution she has made to some of
the ideas presented in this article.
Some of the material presented in this article has been reproduced by kind permission of
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, taken from Improving Learning Through Dynamic Assessment:
A Practical Classroom Resource that will be published in March 2013 and available from
www.jkp.com. ISBN: 9781849053730

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In: Student Learning: Improving Practice ISBN: 978-1-62618-887-7
Editor: Christopher Boyle © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 2

FUTURE DIRECTION OF ATTRIBUTION RETRAINING

FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES:
A REVIEW

Jemima Ellen Koles and Christopher Boyle

Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

ABSTRACT
Is it possible to improve an individual’s ability without any direct practise of the
topic? Examining the way in which students think about learning and what motivates
them to engage in learning material is a fundamental step in the learning process.
Consideration has to be given to the effect that low self-esteem can have on the
motivation and interest of a child to learn (e.g., Moriarty, Douglas, Punch, and Hattie,
1995).
Once a student encounters difficulties in a particular subject area they appear to
disengage with academic material on that topic (Kunnen and Steenbeek, 1999). If a
student holds the belief that they do not have the capability to achieve in a task, and this
belief is continually reinforced by frequent failures, then it is to be expected that the
student will reduce the amount of effort they apply to that topic and will reallocate it to a
task where positive gains are observed.
For example, if a student with reading difficulties concludes that their ability is the
main reason limiting their progress in reading, it is likely that they will disengage when
reading is the area of study. This is a mechanism to protect their self-esteem, and they
will most likely re-direct their focus to an area which does not threaten their self-esteem,
such as social interaction. This chapter provides a timely review of the literature on
cognitive behavioural approaches and how this can affect students' attributions for
success and failure in learning.

Keywords: Attributions, attribution retraining, student motivation, cognitive behavioural,

self-esteem
14 Jemima Ellen Koles and Christopher Boyle

INTRODUCTION
Is it possible to improve an individual’s ability without any direct practice of the topic?
Examining the way in which students think about learning and what motivates them to engage
in learning material is a fundamental step in the learning process. Consideration has to be
given to the effect that low self-esteem can have on the motivation and interest of a child to
learn (e.g., Moriarty, et al., 1995).
Once a student encounters difficulties in a particular subject area they appear to
disengage with academic material on that topic (Kunnen and Steenbeek, 1999). If a student
holds the belief that they do not have the capability to achieve in a task, and this belief is
continually reinforced by frequent failures, then it is to be expected that the student will
reduce the amount of effort they apply to that topic and will reallocate it to a task where
positive gains are observed.
For example, if a student with reading difficulties concludes that their ability is the main
reason limiting their progress in reading, it is likely that they will disengage when reading is
the area of study. This is a mechanism to protect their self-esteem, and they will most likely
re-direct their focus to an area, which does not threaten their self-esteem, such as social
interaction. This can be beneficial for their development in some ways, as to not further
impede their self-esteem, however are there alternative adaptive ways to assist students with
difficulties to continue engaging with the learning material while preserving self-esteem?
This chapter provides a timely review of the literature on cognitive behavioural approaches
and how this can affect students' attributions for success and failure in learning.
Student attributions are of particular concern for those struggling with learning
difficulties in literacy, given that much of the learning material and assessment presented
across academic domains requires reading and spelling for the communication of information.
The term learning difficulties refers to individuals who are struggling in a specific area of
academic pursuit while possessing average or above average cognitive ability (American
Psychiatric Association, 2000) and such individuals are becoming increasingly recognised in
the Australian educational system.
According to a survey conducted in 2003, the percentage of Australian students not
achieving the minimum National Benchmarks for Reading are approximately 8 per cent at
Grade 3, and approximately 11 per cent at Grades 5 and 7 (Ministerial Council on Education
Employment Training and Youth Affairs, 2005). It is a limiting factor across subject domains,
as much of the material is in written form, which becomes increasingly apparent as students
progress through the education system and literacy expectations are increased at a rate beyond
which students with literacy difficulties can maintain.
It is estimated that in early high school, children with average reading ability will read at
least ten million words during the school year whereas students with reading difficulties will
read less than one hundred thousand words during the same year (Lyon, 2003). By any
criterion, these outcomes are unacceptable in terms of the educational, psychosocial
wellbeing and life opportunities of these individuals.
In order to improve the achievement potential and facilitate literacy skills, not only does
the underlying source of the difficulty need to be addressed by specialised intervention and
support, but the cognitive attribution and motivation of the student must also be recognised as
an integral factor in the process (Au, Watkins, and Hattie, 2010; Connor, 1995; Elkins, 2007).
 Future Direction of Attribution Retraining … 15

SELF-EFFICACY AND MOTIVATION

An individual’s self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1981, 1982), that is, the manner in which
they assess their capabilities to function in a given situation, impacts on the way in which
they behave. From the social learning perspective self-efficacy, whether an accurate or
erroneous appraisal, develops from the intake of four different types of information. These
include: prior performance attainments; vicarious experiences of observing the performances
of others (Nicholls, 1978, 1990); verbal persuasion and a social consensus which imparts
capability information; and finally, physiological state of arousal (e.g. stress level; Bandura,
1982). Once self-efficacy information has been collected, the material undergoes cognitive
appraisal, which is the information that results in an individual’s self-efficacy. Bandura
proposes that self-efficacy profoundly affects an individual’s motivation at two stages, being
influential on thought patterns prior to and during a situation. In the time leading up to an
event people who judge their capabilities as ineffective in coping with the perceived
environmental requirements consider their personal deficiencies in an inflated manner. Once
experiencing the environment such self-referent misgivings create stress and impair
performance by occupying the mind with thoughts of failings and issues that may arise
(Bandura, 1982). On the other hand, those with a strong sense of self-efficacy enter a situation
with the self-concept that they are able to cope with the challenges that arise and utilise their
attention and effort as they see appropriate. Hence, self-efficacy not only affects how an
individual thinks leading up to an event but also during the event itself, possibly hindering or
facilitating performance. Therefore, the way in which we think about ourselves has the
potential to have a profound influence on our behaviour in both adaptive and maladaptive
tendencies, and a subsequent effect on motivation to perform the task.

ATTRIBUTIONS FOR LEARNING

When performing a task, what is it that forms our internal representation of our abilities?
Individuals undertake a causal search for why an outcome occurred, especially when the
outcome is negative or somehow unexpected (Graham, 1997). This search leads to the
formation of an attribution, that is, the cognitive process of the belief about the cause of an
event. Attributions can be seen as the causal explanation of why a particular outcome
occurred. Furthermore, causal attributions provide a reason or justification for the outcome
(e.g., ‘Why did I fail the spelling test?’ or ‘Why do none of the other kids eat lunch with
me?’). For example, attributions can affect academic motivation by influencing the way in
which we perceive our academic outcomes: Carr, Borkowski and Maxwell (1991) compared
underachieving and typically-achieving students and found the attributional beliefs that they
held were fundamental in determining academic success by affecting the way in which they
viewed themselves. Furthermore, students with learning difficulties who attributed their
failures to an internal, unstable and controllable cause (effort), rather than external, stable,
and uncontrollable causes (such as ability) showed improved academic progression (Kistner,
Osborne, and Le Verrier, 1988). Thus, individuals make causal attributions about themselves,
which, in turn, influence the way in which they view themselves and consequently motivation
in that particular area.
16 Jemima Ellen Koles and Christopher Boyle

Self-Efficacy Theory

Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977, 1981, 1982) did not posit that causal
attributions directly influence behaviour, but that they feed into an individual’s self-efficacy
and consequently determine parts of our thoughts and behaviours. Self-efficacy has a strong
relationship with motivation and persistence, including in the academic realm (Bandura,
1982). An individual’s self-efficacy is said to be largely determined by actual performance
accomplishments (past successes and failures) as well as in part by the perceived causes that
have contributed to the achievement outcomes. It is these perceived causes that contribute to
an individual’s self-efficacy in which attribution theory is identified. Bandura developed a
simple theoretical model of how attributions increase and decrease self-efficacy linking
increased self-efficacy to successes being perceived as resulting from ability rather than an
external influence or aid, and decreased self-efficacy to failures being interpreted as the result
of ability rather than an external influence, such as unusual situational circumstances
(Bandura, 1977). Other factors that Bandura also considered to be determining factors of self-
efficacy development include the perceived outcomes of the task at hand, the amount of
perceived effort, and perceived task difficulty. Each factor influences an individual’s self-
efficacy as the causal factor of the achievement (or lack of).

Locus, Stability, and Control

Next, the pattern of factors which are the primary influences of an individual developing
an adaptive or maladaptive attribution style will be taken into consideration. In Weiner’s
model of achievement motivation (see reviews in Weiner, 1986, 1995), the attribution that is
made for success and failure in learning is the primary mediating factor for the relationship
that exists between learning, emotion, and motivation. Weiner (1985, 1995) identified several
factors as the dominant causal perceptions in an achievement context. These are locus, or
whether a cause is internal or external to the individual; stability, that is, if it is stable or
changing over time; and controllability, the amount of control the individual perceives they
have over the outcome and whether other factors have influenced the outcome. The manner in
which an individual attributes a situation on these three factors leads to various outcomes on
the individual’s affect and behaviour. See Figure 1 below for an overview of the general
attributional model.
As seen in Figure 1, perceived causes of an event, which are influenced by the antecedent
conditions, can be categorised into the three causal dimensions of stability, locus, and control.
It is these causal dimensions that drive the psychological and behavioural consequences by
influencing expectancies for success, self-efficacy beliefs, affects, and actual behaviour. Of
note, is that when an individual is said to attribute success to internal and stable factors their
motivation to persevere with the task is increased (Weiner, 1985, 1986, 1995). Whereas,
when the causal attribution of success is perceived as an external factor, such as a teacher is
an ‘easy’ marker, the student’s motivation and perseverance is decreased. Also, on the other
side of achievement, when an individual fails a task and attributes perceived internal, stable,
and uncontrollable factors as the cause of the failure, such as ‘I failed because I’m not smart’,
they are likely to be less motivated to attempt and persevere on the task again as they do not
perceive a possible change of outcome other than failure in continuing to attempt the task.
 Future Direction of Attribution Retraining … 17

Adapted from Weiner (1986, 1995).

Figure 1. Overview of the general attributional model in Weiner’s achievement motivation theory.

Thus, Weiner’s (1985, 1986, 1995) model posits that attributing success to internal and
stable factors (e.g., ability) and not attributing failure to internal and stable factors (e.g.,
ability) reflects an adaptive attribution style.

Learned Helplessness

Once a student has developed a maladaptive attribution style towards a task it is of

concern that they will subsequently believe that they are helpless in future encounters with the
task at hand. An individual is said to be helpless when they believe they are unable to have an
effect on the outcome of a situation and that an unwanted outcome will occur regardless of
their behaviour. This attribution style results in the individual engaging less in that task if a
negative outcome is apparent (Maier and Seligman, 1976; Peterson, Maier, and Seligman,
1993; Seligman, 1975, 1995).
After much work examining the human psyche, psychologist Martin Seligman developed
a model of learned helplessness to explain a particular human behaviour. Specifically, when
students in an achievement setting are confronted with circumstances where they repeatedly
perceive failure, such as not completing a task in an allocated time frame or incorrectly
completing work, they begin to see their outcomes as out of their control. Once they feel
helpless in controlling the outcome of a task the individual’s motivation decreases as they
envision that continuing to engage with the task will not change the outcome. As a large
proportion of the mainstream primary curriculum is often literacy based, one group that is
often confronted by this issue is students with reading difficulties (Kunnen and Steenbeek,
1999).
However, if they believe that an outcome can not be influenced by their own behaviour it
leads to the perception of decreased responsibility for reading achievement (Seligman, 2007).
18 Jemima Ellen Koles and Christopher Boyle

For example, a student with a Reading Disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2000)
who frequently encounters difficulties whilst learning to read, especially if the condition is
not recognised and the educational material provided is above what can be scaffolded, may
develop the belief that their reading ability can not be improved with practice and effort. Once
this helpless belief develops the individual is less likely to engage in reading as they perceive
that effort does not contribute to increased reading ability. Developing a helpless attribution
style results in the individual believing their effort is futile as they feel that they do not have
control over their own development.
Specifically, a major consequence of helplessness in the learning context is lack of
motivation (Nolen-Hoeksema, Girgus, and Seligman, 1986; Seligman, 1975). When an
individual perceives their efforts to acquire knowledge as fruitless and hence uncontrollable it
undermines the motivation to spontaneously engage in an activity in which they feel helpless.
For example, a person who has developed the belief that engaging in reading will not improve
their reading ability and further their knowledge is less likely to pick up a book to read. A
second major consequence is the impact of helplessness on the cognitive processes associated
with successful learning. Even when an individual who perceives themselves as helpless and
unable to control an outcome succeeds at the task (has the desired outcome) they have
difficulty learning that their response has succeeded (Peterson, et al., 1993; Seligman, 1975).
For example, a student who has encountered repeated failures in attempts to read and
developed a helpless attribution style will not identify a successful outcome of reading and be
motivated to continue engaging with reading. They possess a cognitive set in which they
perceive themselves as unable to control the outcomes of certain events and reward
themselves for positive reading outcomes, leaving them with a diminished level of
motivation. Hence, an individual who has developed learned helplessness not only has a
decreased level of motivation in comparison to those who have not, but also when they do
finally make gains during learning have limited efficiency in attributing recognition.

Expectancies and Goals

Researchers Dweck and Reppucci (1973) pioneered the research investigating the effects
of low expectancies in task completion setting, a phrase originally coined as ‘learned
helplessness’ by Seligman, Maier, and Geer (1968). They examined the theory that an
individual develops low expectancies of their behaviour effecting a given learning situation,
and as a result, no longer engage in situations. This was highlighted by Dweck and
Reppucci’s (1973) contrast of students who attributed successes and failures on a block
design task to external or internal and stable or unstable factors. Stability refers to the extent
to which the attribution can change over time (unstable) or is relatively permanent (stable).
The students who persevered the longest on difficult tasks were those who attributed
prolonged failure to effort, rather than ability or external factors. It appears that as early as the
1970’s, research suggested that it is the perceived control which we are able to exert over our
successes and failures that affect our motivation to persevere. Attributing a failure to an
internal, unstable factor, one that we have the power to change, is the key to perseverance
during multiple failures.
In order to further understand the link between the motivation patterns of behaviour and
the underlying psychological process, Elliott and Dweck (1988) and later Grant and Dweck
 Future Direction of Attribution Retraining … 19

(2003), investigated the effect of goals on motivation. Specifically, two classes of goals were
identified: performance goals (in which individuals are concerned with attracting approving
judgements of their competence) and learning goals (in which individuals are concerned with
increasing their competence) (Dweck, 1986, 1992; Dweck and Leggett, 1988). Interestingly,
they found that each class of goal was associated with a different pattern of perseverance.
Performance goals (concerned with social perception of ability) were associated with a
vulnerability to helplessness in the face of difficulties, that is, avoidance or deteriorating
performance when challenged. Whereas, individuals concerned with learning goals (the goal
to further competence), when in the same situation as those with performance goals,
displayed resilience (Molden and Dweck, 2000) by striving to achieve even when failure was
presented. This result may be linked with an individual’s perception of intelligence, that is,
whether they consider it to be a dynamic or static entity (Dweck and Leggett, 1988; Grant and
Dweck, 2003). Therefore, the goal that one aims to achieve from completing a task and their
view of intelligence are factors which affect task perseverance and motivation.
An additional factor in understanding perseverance and motivation in learning is the
reaction to encountered difficulties. Research conducted by Diener and Dweck (1978, 1980)
and later by Cain and Dweck (1995) displayed a stark contrast between the cognitions, affect,
and behaviours of individuals classified as having a helpless response to difficulties, as
opposed to a mastery-oriented response. Students were characterised as helpless based on
their response on the Intellectual Responsibility Scale (Crandall, Katkovsky, and Crandall,
1965) indicating a neglect of the role of effort in their failures (Diener and Dweck, 1978,
1980). Whereas mastery-oriented students were identified based on contrasting responses
indicating an emphasis on effort in the face of failure. The studies found that students
identified as having a helpless response system of failure reported that their failures were due
to inadequate ability (Cain and Dweck, 1995), negative affect (e.g. aversion to the task), and
some diverted attention away from task performance by discussing talents in other domains or
altering task rules (Diener and Dweck, 1978, 1980). In contrast, mastery-oriented students
viewed the tasks which were unsolvable as challenges to be mastered by applying more
effort. In essence, the research showed that students with a helpless response to failure, when
placed in the same success and failure situation as mastery-oriented students, attributed
difficulties as failures and an indication of low ability. Furthermore, Diener and Dweck
(1978, 1980) proposed that they believed any future effort would be useless and possibly
further document their ‘low’ ability. These results suggest that the attributions an individual
holds about personal events of success and failure have a profound effect on their cognitions,
affect, and performance (Dweck, 2000).
The social cognitive theory of attributions towards learning was later put into practice by
manipulating children’s theories of intelligence and by assessing their choice of goal on an
upcoming task (Dweck, Tenney and Dinces, 1982, as cited by Dweck and Leggett, 1988).
Students were oriented toward a theory of intelligence that is linked to either a performance
or learning goal (Dweck and Leggett, 1988) by reading passages that portrayed notable
individuals (e.g. Albert Einstein) in the light of each type of intelligence theory. Interestingly,
after only such a minor exposure to different ways of viewing intelligence, students who were
in the condition linked to learning goals exhibited a learning goal style on a task following the
passage reading, and contrastingly students in the performance goals condition adopted that
style. Thus indicating that students can be oriented, even if only temporarily, toward a style to
approach a task. Once students begin to approach tasks in a learning goal manner, rather than
20 Jemima Ellen Koles and Christopher Boyle

a performance goal style, their likelihood of task perseverance is increased (Molden and
Dweck, 2000), hence increasing the learning that can occur as a result of engaging in the task
itself (Dweck, 2000).

LEARNING DIFFICULTIES AND ACADEMIC SELF-ESTEEM

One group of individuals who are vulnerable to adopting a maladaptive attribution style
is those with learning difficulties. Specifically, individuals with learning difficulties are often
found to have less motivation to persist on a task, which they find difficult in comparison to a
student without learning difficulties (Bear, Minke, and Manning, 2002; Beitchman and
Young, 1997; Zisimopoulos and Galanaki, 2009). They can be expected to experience less
success and receive less positive feedback than do children on average (Kunnen and
Steenbeek, 1999). It has been suggested that experiencing less success than the average
student results in individuals with learning difficulties developing a self-image of having
limited or no control over their achievement outcomes and perceive any effort as a futile
attempt (Fuller and McLeod, 1995; Licht, 1983). This can create an unfortunate cycle as the
individual’s motivation to engage in the task of difficulty is decreased, less opportunities to
learn arise, and their perception of limited control is reinforced, seen as early in the students
education as Grade one (Lyon, 2003). When students with learning difficulties are compared
to students without learning difficulties, several social and academic differences emerge
between the groups indicating that those with difficulties have less motivation, lower
perceived control (Grolnick and Ryan, 1990; Short, 1992), maladaptive attributional style,
low achievement expectations, low persistence on academic tasks and low academic self-
concept (Montgomery, 1994; Nunez, et al., 2005; Nunez, Gonzalez-Pumariega, and
Gonzalez-Pienda, 1995; Tabassam and Grainger, 2002). Furthermore, when students with
learning difficulties fail a task they generally consider it a reflection of their ability, or lack
thereof (Weisz and Stipek, 1982). This, in turn, can threaten self-esteem (Nunez, et al., 2005;
Weisz and Stipek, 1982), leaving students with difficulties in learning with a potential
emotional response to failure.

Broad or Narrow?

It is this cumulative cycle described above that perpetuates into learned helplessness in
individuals with learning difficulties (Halmhuber and Paris, 1993; Onatsu-Arvilommi and
Nurmi, 2000). Sorensen and colleagues (2003) suggest with caution from a two-year
longitudinal study of students with learning difficulties that they are affected in other
psychosocial areas apart from academic progress. However, it appears that the learned
helplessness is limited to those areas in which they experience difficulties (Frederisckson and
Jacobs, 2001). Examining the general potential differences in academic self-concept for
students with learning difficulties and those without, a recent review of the relevant research
investigating the area found that 89% of studies showed students with learning difficulties
had a more negative academic self-concept (Zeleke, 2004). Whereas when assessing general
self-concept, the review found that out of 28 studies only 29% of them showed that normally
 Future Direction of Attribution Retraining … 21

achieving children had significantly higher general self-concept than children with learning
difficulties (Zeleke, 2004).
These results reflect a particular pattern of self-concept that students with learning
difficulties develop, that of a lower self-concept in an academic area but it only affects
approximately one third of students in a profound and encompassing negative general self-
concept. Hence, when targeting the motivation and perseverance of students with learning
difficulties by examining their attribution, it is likely that other areas of strengths can be used
to facilitate their confidence.

Pattern of Attributions

Of consideration when examining atttributions of students with and without learning

difficulties is the level of control which they perceive they hold in a given task. Licht,
Kistner, Ozkaragoz, Shapiro, and Clausen (1985) investigated uncontrollable factors that lead
to decreased motivation in students with learning difficulties and found that attributing failure
to one’s ability was particularly related to decreased task perseverance. Whereas attributing
failure to external factors, such as the teacher or task, was found not to have a negative
relationship with persistence even though it is also uncontrollable. This result highlights the
strong effect attributing failure to ability can have on an individual’s learning motivation.
Furthermore, Frederickson and Jacobs (2001) found that among both students with and
without learning difficulties, those with controllable attributions for success and failure had
higher reading scores and perceived academic self-efficacy compared to those with
uncontrollable attributions. Thus, holding the belief that one has control over the learning
outcomes is an integral aspect of task motivation and perseverance.
As a result of the research linking academic motivation to self-efficacy through adaptive
or maladaptive attributions, Kistner, Osborne, and Le Verrier (1988) tracked the academic
performance of students with diagnosed learning difficulties over a two-year period to
investigate what attribution constituted the best academic outcome. They assessed student
attributions using hypothetical situations for success and failure in the classroom and
compared whether students’ attributions were primarily internal or external, effort expended,
and ability. Internal attributions included ability, whereas external attributions referred to
factors such as task difficulty, and teacher issues. Interestingly, Kistner and colleagues (1988)
found that students with learning difficulties who attributed failures to insufficient effort were
associated with increased academic progress as well as increased teacher approval of
classroom behaviour.
Furthermore, the study found that internal attributions, ability and effort for success and
failure, were associated with academic progress. This finding suggests that students with
learning difficulties who attributed their failures to an internal, unstable and controllable
cause (effort), rather than external, stable, and uncontrollable causes (such as ability) showed
improved academic progression. Similarly, research examining the difference between
academic self-concept found that students with learning difficulties had a lower perceived
academic self-concept than those without (Boetsch, Green, and Pennington, 1996; Casey,
Levy, Brown, and Brooks-Gunn, 1992).
Furthermore, the same pattern of success being attributed to uncontrollable, external
factors (such as luck or level of difficulty) and failures being attributed to uncontrollable,
22 Jemima Ellen Koles and Christopher Boyle

internal factors (such as ability) was observed by Jacobsen, Lowery and DuCette (1986)
among students with learning difficulties. Hence, it is likely, given the relationship between
persistence and an individual’s task performance, that students who attributed their failures to
insufficient effort were more likely to persist on difficult tasks, as perceived past experience
indicates that insufficient effort is associated with failure. In addition, an individual’s
attribution that effort is the cause of task failure can be controlled by the individual, hence
developing the belief that increasing effort can lead to a positive outcome of task success.

Future Direction

As such, students with learning difficulties appear to experience low academic self-
esteem which subsequently affects their academic goals and persistence. This poor motivation
for academic tasks among students with learning difficulties is an area of intervention with
limited research basis in Australia (Elkins, 2007). Yet, it is an area, which is becoming
increasingly recognised as an area of much needed attention, especially among students with
learning difficulties in the upper years of Australian Primary education (Elkins, 2007;
Frederickson, 1998). It has become apparent that merely focusing on the area in which a
student experiences difficultly will not increase their perseverance in that area, whereas
working on changing their attributions from negative to positive may improve task
persistence, practice and progress (Frederickson, 1998). According to a recent review of
attribution training programs by Robertson (2000), they can be effective in creating change in
a young person’s life by working on the way they are thinking and processing their successes
and failures while learning. By suggesting that students are not actually failing because of a
lack of ability, they can begin to consider attributing negative educational experiences to
other, internal, unstable and controllable factors (such as effort). An intervention aimed at
improving the academic self-concept, developed by the manner in which students attribute
their successes and failures in learning, demands the attention of those educating students
with learning difficulties. Once this issue of motivation and perseverance in children with
perceived learning difficulties is addressed the students can then further apply the additional
learning strategies that have been taught over the course of their primary education through
increased task persistence.

INTERVENTIONS TARGETING ATTRIBUTIONS

As discussed above, given that individuals with learning difficulties are likely to have
maladaptive attributions that lead to decreased motivation and perseverance, an intervention
targeting attribution styles should ensure beneficial outcomes. Several techniques have been
attempted over the years including: persuasion techniques (Chapin and Dyck, 1976; Fowler
and Peterson, 1981), instructing students in the ‘correct’ way to think about successes and
failures in learning; the modelling approach (Borkowski, Weyhing, and Carr, 1988; Schunk,
Hanson, and Cox, 1987; Thomas and Pashley, 1982), using attributional retraining alongside
a reading program; operant conditioning approach (Andrews and Debus, 1978), using verbal
and tactile reinforcers to promote increased effort; and finally the cognitive behavioural
 Future Direction of Attribution Retraining … 23

approach (Berkeley, Mastropieri, and Scruggs, 2011; Haynes Stewart, et al., 2011; Toland
and Boyle, 2008), incorporating cognitive and behavioural techniques to bring about meta-
cognitive change.
Overall, the various approaches to an attributional intervention have been effective in
improving the motivation and perseverance of students with learning difficulties. Specifically,
attributing failure on a task to lack of effort was found to be an integral aspect of the
retraining process (Forsterling, 1985; Robertson, 2000). Thus, this study indicates that it is
possible to improve an individual’s task performance and persistence by focusing on
attribution retraining.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL BASED PROGRAMS

Of particular interest is the effectiveness of the cognitive behavioural approach to
attribution retraining. Over the last century, cognitive behaviourism has undergone extensive
development and has become an abundantly recognised area of research. Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy (CBT), a technique pioneered by Beck (1976), refers to the analysis and
use of techniques focusing on our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. It focuses on the
relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviours and ways in which we can have
control over them.
It is based on the idea that a person’s thoughts precede their feelings and behaviours. This
concept aligns with attribution theory, in that it is the cognition or the attribution, about an
event that affects consequent feelings and behaviours. It is the identification and intervention
aimed at this link between an individuals thoughts, feelings and behaviours that has been
shown to be so effective in promoting adaptive attribution style among children with learning
difficulties (Berkeley, et al., 2011; Toland and Boyle, 2008), as well as mental health
concerns such as depression (for example, Klein, Jacobs, and Reinecke, 2007; Seligman,
2007; Verduyn, 2000) and anxiety (for a review see, Ishikawa, Okajima, Matsuoka, and
Sakano, 2007). Given the unity of attributional and cognitive-behavioural theory an
intervention based on this approach appears to be a compelling option to increase the
motivation and perseverance of those with learning difficulties.

Individual versus Group Design

Group intervention is a cost- and time-effective method of assisting individuals using

CBT (Silverman, et al., 1999). However, its effectiveness cannot simply be extrapolated from
the individual interventions with people due to several factors. Conceptually, it is possible
that the presence of other people may interfere with the therapist-child rapport and present
examples of negative modelling. On the other hand it is possible that the group intervention
setting may enhance the therapist-child rapport, participants can also enhance or develop peer
relationships as in previous group programs (e.g. Silverman, et al., 1999; Toland and Boyle,
2008), and present examples of positive modelling.
Of note, many current evidence- and CBT-based programs advocate the use of groups
where peer modelling is a valued commodity integral to the interventions effectiveness (for
24 Jemima Ellen Koles and Christopher Boyle

example, Pertersen and Adderley, 2002; Petersen and Lewis, 2004; Seligman, 2007; Stallard,
2002). Therefore, overall the evidence suggests that a group intervention using a cognitive-
behavioural approach is an effective way to deliver the instructive material.

Cognitive Behavioural Approaches to Attribution Retraining

One such study has applied a cognitive behavioural approach to attribution retraining in
the United Kingdom. Toland and Boyle (2008) conducted 12 group sessions over a six-month
period at public primary schools with students identified as having difficulties learning and
associated poor self-esteem in the classroom. The grade five and six students in groups of five
were presented with the link between thoughts, feelings and actions using discussion,
modelling, role-play and work sheets. After completing the program students significantly
improved on reading ability, yet not spelling ability. Toland and Boyle (2008) suggested that
perhaps this result was due to the classroom labour associated with spelling, rather than the
occasional spontaneous nature of reading. This study highlighted the effectiveness of a
cognitive behavioural approach to attribution retraining in a group intervention program in the
senior primary school years. However, the authors noted that the study was time-consuming
and required a high commitment from the psychologists in the development and execution of
the program.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, there is ample research theorising that attributions are the source of
motivation and shape individual self-efficacy, yet it is apparent that a practical and effective
program using a cognitive behavioural approach can be successfully implemented in an
educational setting. The research discussed throughout this chapter demonstrates that students
with difficulties learning in the classroom are particularly vulnerable to developing
maladaptive attributions. Students with learning difficulties are susceptible to attributing
success to external, stable and uncontrollable sources (such as task difficulty) and failure to
internal, stable and uncontrollable sources (such as ability). The introduction of such an
attribution retraining program appears to be a viable option for inclusion in an educational
setting to increase student motivation to persevere on tasks.

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In: Student Learning: Improving Practice ISBN: 978-1-62618-887-7
Editor: Christopher Boyle © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 3

THE 21ST CENTURY LAW STUDENT:

THE LECTURE ROOM OR THE MOBILE PHONE?

Tom Serby
Anglia Law School, Cambridge, UK

ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the replacement of “face to face” lectures with recorded
lectures (referred to below as “i-lectures” or “screencast lectures” and often referred to by
others as “podcasts”[1]) designed to be listened to online by law students on a
professional postgraduate programme in a British University, where the mode of study
was Part Time. Other online elements introduced into this Part Time law course were the
use of an online Discussion Board where students post comments as part of an online
debate, and online Multiple Choice Questions (“MCQs”) attempted by students after
listening to an i-lecture. Through the use of questionnaires (before and after the
introduction of the online teaching methods) research was undertaken into students’
opinions on online or “blended” learning and whether there was a divergence of opinion
between Full Time and Part Time students. Additional research was made into the
assessment results of the two cohorts (Part and Full Time) after the introduction of online
teaching. A subsidiary aspect of the research was an empirical analysis of the efficacy of
MCQs as an assessment method. The chapter briefly describes the hurdles that exist in
terms of cost and time in the switch to i-learning and enumerates the pedagogical benefits
of blended learning, in particular looking at the concept of so-called “just in time
teaching”[2] associated with the use of formative MCQs. Prior to commencing the
project I was aware of the countervailing views on i-lectures. Some research has been
critical of the pedagogic benefits of i-lectures on account of the lessening of physical
interactivity between students and staff [3] (using some of the timetable time released by
the phasing out of face to face lectures, we set up a forum for our Part Time students to
interact with local trainee solicitors thereby reducing any such isolation-induced anxiety
that may have existed [4]). A number of authors have spoken against lengthy i-lectures
(ie those over twenty minutes, the i-lectures I recorded were on average 40 minutes) [5].
Some writers have even suggested that the use of internet technology can restrict access


(MA Cantab), Solicitor Advocate, Senior Lecturer, Anglia Law School , Cambridge.
32 Tom Serby

to the learning materials to students who are from non-technical backgrounds [6].
Another criticism of blended learning techniques has been that working at home is not
conducive to study as there will be too many distractions [7]. I wished to test some of
these hypotheses during the project this chapter describes.

INTRODUCTION
The postgraduate programme on which the research is based is the professional
qualification, the Legal Practice Course (“LPC”) the passing of which is a prerequisite for
training as a solicitor in England and Wales. Prior to the research project the University
offered, on different campuses, both a one year Full Time LPC and a Part Time LPC (two
years of study) but there was no online learning element to either. Taking the premise that
students enrol on Part Time courses because they prefer to study flexibly [8] I perceived the
lack of any distance/blended learning element in the University’s Part Time postgraduate
professional law programme as a major weakness.
There was no existing experience of i-lectures within the University’s Law School on
which I could draw when implementing the project, and I had no previous experience myself
of any aspect of online learning. Wilson cites three attributes of the lecturer as conditioning
the success of online material: control over the technology, teaching style and attitude
towards technology [9]. I analyse below the results and feedback from the students in
assessing whether the switch to online learning was a success.
The programme was not exclusively online by distance learning as the students also
attended a two hour interactive workshop after every i-lecture. The same programme was
concurrently taught at a different campus to a cohort of Full Time students who continued to
attend face to face lectures, and where the other online features of the Part Time programme
were predominantly absent.
The decision to introduce i-learning into the Part Time course was mine but I did receive
institutional support. Lack of leadership in the Higher Education sector (whether by Budget
holders, Deans or Senior Management Boards) is potentially fatal to innovative expansion of
e-learning [10]. The LPC online learning programme for Part Time students described in this
chapter was part of a formal University Learning and Teaching project.
Prior to the introduction of i-lectures the Part Time LPC students’ one day of study per
week on campus was an eight hour day. This was required to fit in the interactive workshops
and the face to face lectures into the one day. Higher level interactivity has been described by
Carrington and Green as “proper integration of the results of the student pre-class activity into
the face-to-face discussion” [11]. Collaboration between students heightens interactivity, and
pre-class activity enables students to discuss collaboratively. Squeezing teaching into an eight
hour day militated against productive interactivity and was compounded by the fact that, as
the major LPC provider in the eastern region of England, many students would travel long
distances to attend on campus.
In all I recorded 23 screencast i-lectures in the Business Law and Practice (“BLP”)
module of the LPC to replace the 23 one hour face to face lectures. These new MP4
compatible i-lectures or screencasts were loaded onto the University’s online Virtual
Learning Environment (“VLE”) so that the lectures were accessible online at a time and place
of the student’s choice. The only requirement was that students listen to the i-lecture (and
 The 21st Century Law Student 33

attempt the associated online MCQs, see below) before the interactive face to face two hour
workshop which follows every i-lecture. Full Time LPC students, on the University’s other
campus, continued to study through attendance at face to face lectures (about one third of
contact hours) as well as the interactive Workshops (two thirds of overall contact hours). The
Full Time students were only given access to the BLP i-lectures on the University’s VLE
about a month after their lecture and after they had attended the workshop/tutorial relating to
the lecture. Therefore for our Full Time students the i-lectures were available only for the
purposes of revision and watching them was a purely optional exercise. Interestingly there
was no dropoff in attendance at lectures from these Full Time students (a common fear
among teachers contemplating placing i-lectures online). This confirms previous studies such
as the extensive research of Bird et al into i-lectures as a supplement to live lectures [12].
Once loaded onto the VLE the i-lectures remain there so the students can “listen again” more
than once, and many (Full Time and Part Time) chose to do so in the run-up to their
assessments.
The cost of the technology required for the project is absolutely minimal, simply a
licence for one of the appropriate recording software programmes that now exist on the
market (of which there are many eg Audacity, Camtasia, snapzpro) [13]. Powerpoint slides
were created to accompany the voice recording along with links to external websites, such as
UK Companies House online, so that students could access primary materials at the direction
of the lecturer (such as forms filed by businesses at Companies House) as they listened to the
lecture. As Wagstaff has observed: “simply recording the audio component of a weekly
lecture can potentially result in an experience for the listener that is boring, disconnected and
difficult to follow” [14].

BLENDED LEARNING
The introduction of the online features into the Part Time course is an example of
“blended learning” (marrying online learning to traditional classroom teaching) of which
there has been a growth in recent years across a range of Higher Education programmes.
Blended learning has been described as: “a systematic mix of eLearning and learning in face-
to-face contexts, in which coherence across the two contexts from a student perspective is
achieved by focusing on the same intended learning outcomes” [15].
As pointed out by Garrison and Kanuka: “There is considerable intuitive appeal to the
concept of integrating the strengths of synchronous (face-to-face) and asynchronous ….
learning activities. At the same time, there is considerable complexity in its implementation
with the challenge of virtually limitless design possibilities and applicability to so many
contexts” [16]. There is of course much more to blended learning than using a VLE as an
electronic depository of lecture notes. Maharg has led the way in the field of legal education
in pioneering online transactional learning [17]. Previous research I conducted looked at the
use of online transactional learning to study the law of probate [18].
As Mikat, Martinez and Jorstad point out, podcasts (a generic term which includes i-
lectures ) enable students to (i) “listen again”; (ii) pause for further reading or reflection
during the course of a lecture; and (iii) choose a time to learn that is most beneficial to them
rather than to a central timetable [19] and they (podcasts) ‘are versatile, reusable, interesting
34 Tom Serby

and stimulating to the new generation of technology-savvy student’. The traditional lecture,
unlike the i-lecture, is of course only available to students to attend once. Many learners
prefer auditory learning to reading. The ability to relisten, and to listen at a time and place of
the listener’s choice, are unique features of the i-lecture. The i-lectures were supplemented by
online debate on a VLE Discussion Board, which as McCall has commented [20] is an
“asynchronous medium [which] allows students time to develop their responses, come back
to a thread with new thoughts when convenient and allows opportunities for contributions
from less dominating types of students who might be reluctant to speak up in class” [21].
Aside from the pedagogical benefits of blended learning techniques, there are other
considerations; as Ribiero has pointed out, online teaching materials can also easily be
adapted for use as corporate training sessions, providing a commercial spin-off for e-learning
to the Higher Education sector [22]. Increasing online learning can mean a saving in both
staff and student travel time.

THE DIFFERING DEMANDS OF FULL TIME

AND PART TIME STUDENTS

The move towards a greater element of online learning for Part Time students was partly
predicated on an increased demand for flexible learning by a student population who have to
balance studies with “income generation” which is only partly linked to the requirement of
today’s student population to earn while studying. Obtaining work experience in a legal
environment increases law students’ chances of obtaining employment in their chosen field,
but without flexible blended learning, time dedicated to such employment might impede
study. Empirical research into the University’s LPC student body revealed that a far higher
percentage of Part Time than Full Time LPC students combined their LPC studies with paid
work in a legal environment. The demographic differences between Full and Part Time
students in Higher Education generally has been well documented as has the preference of
older students for more interactive teaching methods [23]. My research showed that a
significantly higher percentage of LPC Full Time students are recent graduates (about ninety
percent), with little or no significant work experience, prepared to devote most of their time
during their year studying the LPC to the course. Conversely a higher proportion of Part Time
LPC students (over fifty percent) have had significant work experience and are actually
working whilst studying.

STUDENT OPINION ON FLEXIBLE BLENDED LEARNING

Prior to introducing the i-learning onto the Part Time course student surveys were
undertaken. Student evaluations on their own should not inform changes to teaching practices.
The framing of questions so as to lead to positive answers has been described as a process of
“seduction” and student opinion as to their preferred learning style may not reflect what is
pedagogically best [24]. However the research I carried out through the medium of Lickert
style questionnaires asking students their opinion on blended learning was valuable. In
accordance with the University’s Research Ethics policy students were asked to give their
 The 21st Century Law Student 35

informed consent to the use of the results of the surveys on an anonymous basis. One of the
things I was looking for was empirical evidence of any discrepancy between the views of Part
Time and Full Time students on i-learning. The survey of the part Time students was repeated
again after i-learning was introduced. Broadly the results supported the existing research into
the different expectations of, and attitudes to, “blended learning” of Full Time (characterised
as on-campus) as opposed to Part Time (off-campus) students, done by Rob van Zanten of the
University of Adelaide and others [25].
In the Academic Year before the introduction of the i-learning I polled the existing Part
Time LPC students in regard to the prospective replacement of face to face lectures with
screencast i-lectures, by asking the following questions:

Currently on the Part Time course the students have an eight hour day. It may be possible
by developing remote learning for lectures (LGSs) to reduce the requirement for physical
attendance on campus to 6 hours. I would welcome this.

Strongly agree Agree Indifferent Disagree Strongly Disagree

The advantages of remote learning are outweighed by the disadvantage, namely that there
would be no facility in remote learning to question the Tutor during the LGS session if I did
not understand something clearly. Consequently I would prefer it if all LGSs continued to be
delivered face to face.

Strongly agree Agree Indifferent Disagree Strongly Disagree

All 25 of the students took part in the survey. The result of the survey was that all but two
(over 92%) of the Part Time students endorsed the introduction of screencast i-lectures in
place of face to face lectures on campus, by voting Strongly Agree or Agree to the first
question and Strongly Disagree or Disagree to the second. The same questionnaire was put to
our forty Full Time LPC students all of whom, as referred to above, studied on a different
campus, attending four days rather than one day a week, with never more than five hours
contact time per day. The response to the same survey questions was more evenly split among
our Full Time students with a small majority against replacement of face to face lectures with
i-lectures.
In the following academic year, I did a third survey of Part Time students. This cohort
had experienced both i-lectures (in Business law) and face to face lectures (in their other first
year subjects). The result of this poll, was almost identical to the result of the poll of the
previous cohort of Part Time students, with over 90% of Part Time students wanting
screencast i-lectures in all modules, not just the Business law module, in place of face to face
lectures.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONING

TO REINFORCE I-LECTURES

The major criticism (predominantly from Full Time students) levelled at i-lectures in the
“free comment” section of the student questionnaire reflected student concern that there
36 Tom Serby

would be no means of “checking for understanding” of the i-lectures with the lecturer not
being physically present. A typical comment was:

“I’ve paid a lot of money for this course and I expect the lecturer to be there to answer
my questions”.

There was also concern expressed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (the
professional body which oversees LPC courses) as to the means for checking whether
students had actually engaged in the i-lectures at all, since there would be no register taken of
student attendance.
Both these concerns can be addressed by the use of MCQs. To accompany each i-lecture
I drafted 23 sets of Multiple Choice Questions. The introduction of online MCQs was
primarily intended to make it easier to align constructively the learning outcomes of the i-
lectures and the interactive face to face workshops which followed, and to encourage
reflective and deeper learning of the i-lectures. The MCQs were made available on the VLE
at the same time as the i-lecture. Each MCQ comprised 4 statements and the students had to
choose which ONE of the statements was correct in relation to a given statement.
The University’s VLE automatically generates a score in relation to the success rate of
the students (individually and collectively) in respect of the MCQs they attempted. This
enabled me to prepare before the Tutorial/Workshop to expand on areas where students had
demonstrated an incomplete understanding (described by Novak et al as “just in time
teaching” [26]). The further dialogical feedback made possible during workshop tutorials was
the greatest pedagogic benefit of the MCQs. I was also able to gauge which students were
struggling generally with the course. An important feature of online MCQs is that they report
back to students. Such was the motivational nature of the MCQs that the takeup by Part Time
students was nearly 100 percent. In fact the peer discussions I facilitated during Workshops
about the MCQs meant that students overwhelmingly appreciated the benefits for them of
attempting the MCQs on time so as not to miss out on these discussions.
The advantages of MCQs are obvious both from the perspective of efficiency in marking
and as Johnstone and Ambusaidi put it, “having a compulsory MCQ section allows efficient
testing across a greater range of the syllabus” [27]. It is commonly acknowledged that online
computer-assisted assessment (CAA) can dramatically reduce the time wasted by the teacher
on formative and summative testing. The biggest criticism of MCQs in terms of pedagogy is
that students do not have to engage in a positive formulation of their ideas, since they have
only to choose from a number of pre-prepared answers offered to them. Another argument
marshalled against MCQs is that they are “too easy”, sometimes leading to scores in excess of
the score achieved in longer style written essay answers, and of course they have been
criticised as rewarding guessing, the “lucky monkey” argument. The latter problem can be
vitiated by awarding a negative mark for the wrong answer and the results of my research (see
below) showed that students DID NOT score more highly when assessed by MCQs. In short
MCQs are often disparaged as a means of testing knowledge, especially so in a liberal arts
degree such as Law, but not all legal educators concur with this view [28]. Some researchers,
for example Johnstone and Ambusaidi, have maintained that MCQs are able to test
understanding at a higher cognitive level [29]. There are numerous guides to writing effective
MCQs [30], the overarching focus being on the quality of the “distracter” questions, which
should not be too obviously wrong.
 The 21st Century Law Student 37

The students embraced the MCQs with relish, and commented that they appreciated the
fact that they received immediate automatically generated feedback on their answer. Nicol
and Macfarlane-Dick in their research into the pedagogical efficacy of MCQs discuss the
feedback given to students in relation to MCQ assessment and focus on the issue of learner
self-regulation through MCQ testing [31]. Nicol and Macfarlane’s seven principles of good
feedback can be distilled into three overarching principles or features, all three of which are
present in the format of MCQ testing I used. First, the testing is “open book” and as there is
no time limit imposed on the students they are encouraged to reflect on the question and read
around the subject to improve their chance of choosing the right answer. Secondly, the use of
MCQs in conjunction with i-lectures is directly tied to a classroom activity in that the
workshop/tutorial following on from the i-lecture allows the teacher to discuss with the
students their MCQ experience and the group to discuss together the answers.
Thirdly, the MCQs are repeatable either immediately after the student has received
automatic notification that they have picked the wrong answer, or indeed later in the year, for
example as a revision tool. By this means student confidence in their understanding of the
materials increased as, assuming regular attendance at workshops, where I engaged with
students in discussion of the MCQs and the learning objectives upon which they are based,
students’ MCQ scores increased as they redid the MCQs throughout the year, building up to
their summative assessment which is at the end of the course. This motivational aspect of
MCQs is a powerful tool in inculcating in students an understanding of how they are
“progressing” their understanding and what the learning outcomes of the course are. Another
way of characterising the three phases of feedback present at different stages of the MCQ
cycle is self; peer and tutor. What we have not done on the project, yet, is to take the student
reflection via MCQs to the next level of higher level or meta-learning through MCQs where
the students construct their own MCQs where the instructor perspective no longer has
primacy.

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH OF ASSESSMENT RESULTS,

INCLUDING FORMATIVE MCQS
I undertook some research into students’ pass rates on the formative online MCQs
compared to their pass rates in the summative assessments at the end of the course. First, I
analysed the results of the Full Time students for whom the MCQs (like the i-lectures) were
not compulsory. These students were aware that the MCQs were available online and that
they were self-marking, were not compulsory, and did not count as a form of continuous
assessment. I was interested in two issues:

i. the student’s final mark in their summative and their success rate in the formative
MCQs they attempted;
ii. whether undertaking formative MCQs improved a student’s prospect in the
summative assessment (ie the relationship between the student’s final exam mark and
how many of the formative online MCQs they attempted).
38 Tom Serby

(i) In the first year of i-lectures there were 40 students registered on the Full Time LPC
course, but as the MCQs were not compulsory only 26 students attempted some of the MCQs.
Of these, 16 students attempted half or more of the 23 sets of MCQs (the minimum reliable
sample for the purposes of this analysis). Of these students, four attained an aggregate score
on the MCQs of more than 70%, five scored between 60 and 70%, four scored between 50
and 60% and three scored less than 50%. In every case save one, these students scored within
these margins in their (non MCQ) summative assessment. Each student’s pass rate on the
MCQs proved to be a very reliable indicator of the student’s exam prospects and their overall
understanding of the learning outcomes of the Business Law module.
(ii) On the other hand, there was no correlation between the number of MCQs attempted
by students and their final exam grade. Of the 16 Full Time students who attempted more
than half of the MCQ exercises, roughly equal numbers attained a Fail, Pass, Merit or
Distinction in the summative assessment (with slightly higher proportions in the latter
categories). A significant proportion of students (over thirty percent) attaining a Merit or
Distinction in their summative assessment did not attempt any of the MCQs.
The other aspect of my empirical research into the students’ assessment results was:

iii. a comparison of the summative assessment results of the Part Time and Full Time
students in Business Law.

The overall pass rate for the Part Time students in the summative assessment was higher
by 15% than the pass rate of the Full Time students. The results of the assessments in the
other LPC subjects (where there was no element of i-learning) showed that the only subject
that the Part Time students significantly outperformed the Full Time students in was Business
Law, the only subject where i-lectures (and the other associated i-learning described above)
had replaced face to face lectures.

CONCLUSION
Previous research has elicited evidence for the obtaining of higher grades by students
with a substantial degree of e-learning in their syllabus [32]. Research into the performance in
the summative Business Law assessment of the Full Time and Part Time students in the first
year of the i-lecture project supports that theory, although as a statistical sample (fifty four
students) the findings are far from conclusive on account of the sample’s size.
As a result of the success of this project and positive student feedback colleagues within
the Law School have lost some of their inhibitions towards technology and more online
learning methods have been introduced to a range of programmes in the Law School. All
modules on the University’s Part Time LPC have now replaced face to face lectures with i-
lectures and online MCQs. Change engenders change and “podcasts” have now been
extended to other areas, such as feedback given on student assessments (which has been
extremely well received by students).
Much of the current academic research and orthodoxy [33] suggests that the role of the i-
lecture is to supplement but not to replace the traditional face to face lecture and that students
do not want to abandon the classroom for the MP4 player, but appreciate the i-lecture as a
 The 21st Century Law Student 39

supplementary resource only. My research suggests that for a significant part of the student
body (Part Time students) that is not so. Our Part Time students actively welcome a higher
degree of blended online learning in the LPC programme, and their academic attainments
have actually improved after face to face lectures were phased out in favour of i-lectures.
As has been evidenced by previous research, greater use of MCQs (an online
accompaniment to the i-lectures) as a form of feedback to students gives them a greater idea
as to how they are progressing, and motivates students to revisit the learning materials to
check for understanding in areas where they have not succeeded first time in the MCQs [34].
My research also indicated that the correlation in results between the online formative MCQs
and summative assessments was significantly close.
Before I commenced the research project I strongly suspected that Part Time students
would be more receptive to flexible or i-learning than Full Time students (I was proved right
by the results of the student feedback) and that the performance of the Part Time students in
assessments (which are the same for both cohorts) would be no worse than Full Time student
results (Part Time students actually outperformed their Full Time peers but only in the
module where there was greater i-learning). I also believed that colleagues who run other
modules in the LPC at the University would look at the results of the project and want to
place the i-learning elements in their own modules (they did; there was a strong student
demand for it). I also believed that following the introduction of flexible blended learning at
one campus, applications would rise in proportion to applications to enroll on the Full Time
course at the other campus (right again). For Part Time law students, the majority of whom
wish to supplement their academic learning with relevant work experience, the benefits of the
lecture listened to on the mobile phone, outweigh the attractions of the traditional lecture
theatre.

REFERENCES
[1] For a fuller discussion of what technically constitutes a podcast see the article by D
Watkins “Podcasting: a lawyer’s tale” in The Law Teacher 2010 vol 44(2) p 169.
[2] G. Novak, E. Patterson, A.Gavrin and W. Christian, (1999) Just-in-time-teaching:
blending active learning with web technology Prentice Hall.
[3] D.Garrison and H. Kanuka, (2004) “Blended Learning: Uncovering its Transformative
Potential in Higher Education” 7 (2) The Internet and Higher Education 95-105, at p.
98.
[4] M. Lee and A. Chan, (2007) “Reducing the effects of isolation and promoting
inclusivity for distance learners through podcasting” Turkish Online Journal of
Distance Education, 8(1), pp 85- 104.
[5] A Chan, M Lee and C McLoughlin (2006) Everyone’s learning with podcasting: A
Charles Sturt University experience. Who’s learning? Whose technology? Proceedings
ascilite Sydney 2006.
[6] B O'Connell, (2002). A poor grade for eLearning. Workforce, 81(7) p. 15.
[7] G Shabha, (2000). Virtual universities in the third millennium: An assessment of the
implications of teleworking on university buildings and space planning. Facilities,
18(5), pp 235-244.
40 Tom Serby

[8] J Galusha, (1997)‘Barriers to learning in distance education’ Interpersonal Computing

and Technology Journal 5 (3-4) p 6.
[9] J. Wilson, (2001) “Lessons of a Virtual Timetable,:Education” The Economist, 17
February, p.1.
[10] J. Mapuva and L. Muyengwa, (2009) “Conquering the Barriers to Learning in Higher
Education Through e-Learning”, International Journal of Teaching and Learning in
Higher Education , Volume 21, Number 2, pp 221-227.
[11] A Carrington and I Green (2007) Just in time teaching revisited: using e-assessment
and rapid e-learning to empower face to face teaching; proceedings Ascilite Singapore
2007.
[12] T Bird et al (2006) “Using Enhanced and Video Podcasts of Lecture Recordings to
Support Student Learning, Implementation and Evaluation” University of Bangor.
[13] For a fuller discussion of the technology available for podcasts see the article by D
Watkins “Podcasting: a lawyer’s tale” in The Law Teacher 2010 vol 44(2) p 169.
[14] P. Wagstaff, (2007). Educational podcasting: Fad or future? Proceedings of the
Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, Dunedin December
2007.
[15] R Ellis and R Calvo (2004) “Learning through Discussions in Blended Environments”
40 (1) Educational Media International 263-74 at p. 268.
[16] D Garrison and H Kanuka (2004) “Blended learning: Uncovering its Transformative
Potential in Higher Education” 7(2) The Internet and Higher Education 95-105 at p. 98.
[17] P Maharg, (2010) Simulation and the affective domain; ALT conference Cambridge.
[18] T Serby, (2011) Willing Suspension of disbelief: A study in online learning through
simulation, and its potential for deeper learning in higher Education, Liverpool Law
Rev 32 pp 181–195.
[19] R. Mikat, R. Martinez and J. Jorstad J, (2007) “Podcasting for your class” The Journal
of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 78(5), pp 14-16.
[20] I McCall, (2010) “Online enhanced problem-based learning: assessing a blended
learning framework” The Law Teacher, Vol 4 Number 1, pp 42-58.
[21] I McCall, Op cit p 58.
[22] T. Ribiero, (2002) “From a distance: Look at distance learning’s increased following”,
Education, 152(9), p. 85.
[23] B. Merrill (2001) “Learning and Teaching in Universities: Perspectives from Adult
Learners and Lecturers”, Teaching in Higher Education 6 pp 5-18.
[24] D. Bligh (1998) What’s the use of lectures? Exeter: Intellect p 181
[25] R.Van Zanten, (2008)“The value of lecture podcasting for distance and on-campus
students” Available at: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/
vanzanten (accessed 21 October 2011).
[26] Novak et al. op cit.
[27] E Higgins and L Tatham, (2003) Exploring the potential of Multiple Choice Questions
in Assessment Learning and Teaching in Action, Manchester Metropolitan University
Vol 2 Issue 1.
[28] P Alldridge, (1997) Multiple Choice Examination in Law 21 Law Teacher 167.
[29] A Johnstone and A Ambusaidi, (2000) Fixed response: what are we testing? Chemistry
Education: Research and Practice in Europe, 1(3), 323–328.
 The 21st Century Law Student 41

[30] See for example J. Bull and C. McKenna, (2004) Blueprint for computer-assisted
assessment, (London: RoutledgeFalmer).
[31] D. Nicol and D. Macfarlane-Dick, (2006) “Formative assessment and self-regulated
learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice”, Studies in Higher
Education 31(2), pp 198-218.
[32] D. Holley, (2002) “Which room is the virtual session in please?”, Education and
Training, 44(3), pp. 112-121.
[33] D Watkins (2010) “Podcasting: a lawyer’s tale” The Law Teacher vol 44 (2) pp 169-
180.
[34] D. Nicol, (2006) “Increasing success in first year courses: assessment re-design, self-
regulation and learning technologies” in L.Markauskaite, P. Goodyear and P. Reiman
(eds), Proceedings of the 23rd ASCILITE Conference: Who’s Learning? Whose
Technology? (Sydney, Sydney University Press).
In: Student Learning: Improving Practice ISBN: 978-1-62618-887-7
Editor: Christopher Boyle © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 4

THE CREATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

OF INTERACTIVE OPPORTUNITIES TO PROMOTE
LEARNING BETWEEN LECTURES

Jacqueline Carnegie
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

ABSTRACT
The large student enrolments and content-dense curricula associated with many
undergraduate programs make it difficult for instructors to interact individually with
students during lectures to ensure that essential cognitive links are being made and that
the course content is fully understood. However, the existence of universal student access
to course web sites via the Internet allows the learning environment to be extended well
beyond the classroom by providing a wealth of opportunities for interactive learning as
well as comprehensive self-testing. This chapter will begin with an exploration of the
effective use of online discussion boards and self-testing tools associated with
commercially-available course web site platforms such as BlackboardR and the open
source course management system, MoodleR. The ability of a discussion forum to
promote social constructivism by creating a virtual classroom in which students can ask
questions in a risk-free environment, mentor one another, and even work actively
together in small groups to explore new concepts and complete assignments will be
described. The advantages of instantaneous feedback associated with various online self-
testing tools will be recognized. Guiding principles and methods for the creation of
animations to support e-learning will be briefly reviewed as will the ability of podcasts to
allow students to review lecture highlights anywhere and at any time. Finally, students
will be acknowledged as tremendous assets who can recognize learning challenges and
assist in developing creative approaches to tackling these hurdles.

Keywords: E-learning, social constructivism, discussion forum, self-testing, active learning

44 Jacqueline Carnegie

INTRODUCTION
Key challenges faced by undergraduate students include enrolment within a class that
may number in the hundreds and the need to assimilate and understand a content-dense
curriculum delivered quickly via a finite number of face-to-face hours with the instructor.
While reports have shown that many students continue to place significant value on
traditional teacher-centered educational approaches (Ipsos, 2007; Saunders and Gale, 2011),
the instructor who provides a series of didactic lectures in front of a student-filled
amphitheatre has limited opportunity to become acquainted with individual class members
and even less chance of determining if each student is making the desired cognitive links
before key summative exams are written. As a result, these young adult learners must assume
significant responsibility for their educational success. Instructors should share in that
responsibility by facilitating self-directed learning through the provision of virtual
opportunities for collaborative exploration and discussion as well as feedback-oriented self-
assessment that students can access outside the lecture hall (Mason and Rennie, 2008;
O’Byrne, Patry and Carnegie, 2008). While it is important to recognize that not all students
display the same level of engagement with technology (Bennett, Maton and Kervin, 2008), it
is also widely accepted that majority of today’s students have grown up immersed in the use
of internet-based applications, not only for social interactions, but also for exploration and
knowledge acquisition (Ipsos, 2007; Suchanska and Keczkowska, 2007; Saunders and Gale,
2012). This reality has led to the suggestion that the well-planned use of e-learning can
provide opportunities to enrich the educational experiences of university undergraduates
through the creation of learning communities where students have opportunities to share ideas
and apply their new knowledge within appropriate contexts (Mason and Rennie, 2008;
Saunders and Gale, 2012).
What is learning? Learning involves the reworking and reorganization of new
information as it moves from the limited confines of working memory to become encoded
and logistically integrated within our knowledge warehouse known as long-term memory
(Anderson, 2000; Kirschner, 2002; Kirschner, Sweller and Clark, 2006). Andragogy is
defined as the science of teaching adults and a key proponent of this educational philosophy
during the latter part of the 20th century was Malcolm Knowles (Smith, 2002). When
describing adult learning, Knowles stressed the importance of self-directed and applied
learning so that by active reconstruction, the learner can incorporate this newly acquired
knowledge into a steadily changing perception of the world.(Knowles, 1984; Pratt, 1993).
Also referred to as generative processing, these fundamental principles associated with a
constructivist approach to learning have persevered and continue to guide the development of
online educational tools in which adult learners are encouraged to select, organize and
integrate new information with that already understood and stored in long-term memory
(Mayer, 2008, Mayer, 2010). There are a variety of ways in which active learning and self-
assessment can be encouraged and the benefits and challenges associated with a number of
them will be explored in this chapter. As this journey unfolds, it will be seen that key features
shared by many interactive learning tools include not only requirements for learners to use
constructivism when learning, but also opportunities to extend their knowledge to the
workplace as they practice applying it within suitable practical contexts (Michael, 2006;
Mayer, 2008).
 The Creation and Implementation of Interactive Opportunities … 45

Before going further, it is important to note that an additional essential feature of any
self-directed learning tool is the provision of sufficient guidance for the learner during
completion of the exercise. When learning, students are using the limited dimensions of
working memory because only working memory is associated with knowledge awareness
(Heo and Chow, 2005). However, it is also widely recognized that working memory can
handle only a small number (four to nine) of items at a single time, with item number
inversely affected by item complexity (Miller, 1956; Terrell, 2006). Hence, when developing
interactive online learning and self-testing tools, it is important to minimize sources of
extraneous cognitive load such as inadequate instruction, confusing procedures, or unrelated
distractions because these additional challenges associated with simply the use of the tool
itself can detract from the ability of working memory to support learning (Mayer, 2008).
Reduced extrinsic cognitive load enriches the learning experience by allowing the student to
focus purely on the intrinsic cognitive load, namely the cognitive load that is directly
associated with the concept(s) being explored, evaluated and applied (Kirschner, 2002; Heo
and Chow, 2005; Mayer, 2008).

USING COURSE WEB SITE TOOLS TO PROMOTE

COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
Learning management systems (LMSs) are routinely used to provide varying levels of
support for college and university courses (Carvalho, Areal and Silva, 2011). These range
from limited student engagement, in which LMSs serve almost exclusively as repositories of
course-linked content (instructivist approach), through increasing emphasis on student-
centered constructivist learning (Moule, Ward and Lockyer, 2010). The latter can take the
form of blended curricula in which active learning is promoted via the provision of online
opportunities for bi-directional communication, completion of assignments and self-
evaluations and the receipt of feedback, to fully-online courses where all learning, student-
student and student-professor interaction and assessment occur within a virtual setting
(Francis and Raftery, 2005; Carvalho et al., 2011). This discussion will focus on the middle
option, blended courses in which regular didactic lectures are supported by interactive course
web sites and it will begin with communication tools.
The online discussion boards included in commercially-available course website
management tools such as WebCTR, FirstClassR, BlackboardR as well as the widely used open
source LMS platform MoodleR can be used effectively to encourage students to extend the
amount of time spent interacting with course material beyond the limited number of hours
allotted to lectures (Meyer, 2003; Robb, 2004; Brandle, 2005; Marcus, 2005, Landis, Swain,
Friehe and Coufal, 2007).
The exploration of course content through discussion, be it face-to-face or online, has
been proposed to deepen learning through both student engagement and promotion of the
construction of a scaffold of correctly linked concepts (Brown, Collins and Duguid, 1989;
Rourke and Anderson, 2002; Harris and Sandor, 2007, Andresen, 2009). It has also been
proposed to make students more fully aware of different aspects of a particular concept or
problem, in this way helping them to more fully appreciate the depth of knowledge and
understanding that they need to acquire (Choi, Land and Turgeon, 2005).
46 Jacqueline Carnegie

This social constructivist approach to learning, in which students integrate new

information in a meaningful way with what is already known, requires both collaboration and
cooperation and these activities can certainly be promoted by interactive dialogue, be it face-
to-face or within a virtual classroom (Rourke and Anderson, 2002; Sims, 2003; Hung, Tan
and Chen, 2005). Interactive discussions may also constructively promote better
understanding by requiring students to justify an explanation that they have provided or to
revisit their course notes in order to address gaps in their knowledge and understanding (Choi
et al., 2005).
In the lecture room, face-to-face discussions can involve simultaneous back-and-forth
exchanges, energy, and spontaneity of thinking. Hence they work well for in-class activities
such as brainstorming, visual demonstrations, or heated debates regarding a controversial
topic (Cantillon, 2003; Meyer, 2003). Furthermore, studies have shown that the promotion of
small-group discussion within large undergraduate classes of students studying physiology
and chemistry resulted in a more thorough understanding of course content and better student
outcomes (Kibble, Hansen and Nelson, 2006; Lewis and Lewis, 2008). But can the same
goals be achieved with virtual discussions and are there additional advantages to the use of
online approaches to promote inter-student communication?
Zha and Ottendorfer (2011) quantitatively compared the acquisition of lower-order and
higher-order cognitive skills by students participating in online, asynchronous, immunology-
related discussions and found positive correlation between cognitive achievement in online
discussions and subsequent course learning assessment scores. One important advantage
associated with threaded discussions is that they may support higher-order thinking because
their very asynchronicity combined with the existence of a visual record of the conversation
permits time for reflection and even integration of related concepts before a student posts a
comment (Meyer, 2003; Jin, 2005; Dixson, Kuhlhorst and Reiff, 2006; Andresen, 2009).
Indeed, the construction of a written answer to explain a concept or justify a line of reasoning
promotes the linking of related pieces of information by the learner and this process can lead
to a more thorough understanding of that content (Oliver and Naidu, 1996; Choi et al., 2005).
In comparison with other types of online interactions, such as chat rooms, it should be noted
that discussion boards are likely a better alternative for busy students. Their asynchronous
nature results in the creation of an enduring physical record of the conversation, in this way
allowing students to communicate with one another without needing to be online at the same
time (Dixson et al., 2006).
Survey data has revealed that, while students found online discussions to be more time-
consuming than oral discussions occurring during class, they felt that this time was well spent
in working more extensively with course objectives and in putting additional thought into the
answers they were developing (Meyer, 2003; Shea, Frederickson, Pickett and Pelz, 2004).
Indeed, an in-depth exploration of university student perceptions identified online discussions
as one of the most valued components of e-learning due to its ability to promote participation
and collaboration (Selim, 2005).
Additional advantages associated with online discussion boards include a greater
likelihood that more timid students will be able to enhance their learning experiences by
having the courage to get involved in the discussion and that each student, regardless of his or
her ability to quickly process information and construct a reply, will be able to fully express
an idea without being interrupted by an enthusiastic colleague (Meyer, 2003; Jin, 2005;
Dixson et al., 2006, Andresen, 2009).
 The Creation and Implementation of Interactive Opportunities … 47

The discussion board also allows the instructor to take the time to more fully appreciate
the thoughts and information being presented by students and to assess each student’s level of
understanding of course concepts (Marcus, 2005).
Many students are strategic learners and, therefore, will not be inclined to use an online
tool simply because it exists. Rather, they will make use of a tool if they can see that it links
to course objectives and has the potential to improve assessment outcomes (Saunders and
Gale, 2012). With that in mind, topic-specific folders should be used judiciously to structure
the discussion forum so that students can navigate it easily in order to access relevant postings
by their peers and to submit their own contributions. Participation can be encouraged by using
some in-class time to raise awareness of the forum and explain its relevance to course
learning objectives. As an example of a very basic application, students can readily appreciate
curriculum-related benefits of the forum if it is used to provide a risk-free environment where
they can post questions regarding content that was incompletely understood during lectures in
folders that have been assigned to those topics. Answers to these questions can be provided a
single time for all students (rather than multiple times via private emails to individual
learners), saving valuable time for the instructor and facilitating more widespread
dissemination of explanatory information to students. This chapter author found that the
discussion forum had an additional unexpected benefit of allowing exceptional peer tutors to
be discovered as a consequence their enthusiastic participation in forum discussions.
Interactivity can be classified as learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-learner
(Moore, 1989). These are by no means distinct interactions. They are interdependent and,
indeed, all three can be promoted in various ways using discussion boards (Swan, 2002).
With regard to learner-learner interactivity when exploring course content, peer-led
discussion groups have been widely used to facilitate online collaboration when working on
assignments (e.g., Rourke and Anderson, 2002; Harris and Sandor, 2007; Zha et al., 2011;
Carnegie, 2012). Students can be randomly sorted into discussion groups using forum tools
and optimal discussion has been proposed to occur if group sizes are no larger than seven
(McComb, 1994). Within each group the role of peer leader can also be assigned either
randomly or via peer-selection. Peer leaders are responsible for initiating and moderating the
virtual discussion, editing and critiquing student contributions and posting the final
submission of their group to the rest of the class (Rourke and Anderson, 2002; Harris and
Sandor, 2007; Zha et al., 2011; Carnegie, 2012). The other group members (responders) are
also key participants in this process. They contribute postings to the online discussion and
actively learn through their interactions with other respondents as well as from feedback
provided by the group leader (Rourke and Anderson, 2002; Ferrante, Green and Forster,
2006; Kibble et al., 2006; Lewis and Lewis, 2008). In this approach, private discussion
folders can used to restrict access to only the members of a specific group (and the instructor)
while ideas are exchanged and the answer constructed and refined. The team leader can then
share the final posting via a second folder, a public folder, to which all class members and the
instructor have access (Carnegie, 2012). The use of peer-learning has been reported to
promote student engagement and improve students’ overall course satisfaction (Jiang and
Ting, 2000; Jin, 2005). The results of one study revealed that while students, in general, were
reluctant to assume the higher demands associated with peer leadership, they found that the
added responsibility and time commitment provided them with a superior learning experience
(Zha and Ottendorfer, 2011). This observation led the authors to emphasize the importance of
distributing the role of peer leader among all students whenever possible.
48 Jacqueline Carnegie

ONLINE SELF-ASSESSMENT
LMS software often contains self-testing tools as part of the package. The creation of
course-specific self-assessment exercises using these tools provides opportunities for students
to not only evaluate their progress in learning but also to obtain instantaneous explanatory
feedback when an incorrect answer is selected.
For example, the self-test assessment feature of Blackboard allows multiple-choice
questions to be constructed with an unlimited number of answer choices, a single accurate
answer or multiple correct choices, and immediate educational feedback for every answer at
the moment that particular response is selected by a student. Similarly, Moodle supports the
establishment of test banks that can then be used to generate quizzes that are composed of a
variety of question types, can be timed, allow multiple possible correct answers per question,
permit multiple possible tries per question and per assessment exercise, and include the option
to give question-by-question feedback to students (Robb, 2004; Brandl, 2005; Martin-Blas
and Serrano-Fernandez, 2009; Yasar and Adiguzel, 2010). Such exercises can be
tremendously helpful to students because they address three key items of Robert Gagné’s
Nine Events of Instruction (Gagné, Briggs and Wager, 1992). The Nine Events describe a
series of processes that should take place in order for effective learning to occur and, while
this list was published some time ago, it continues to influence instructional design because it
address basic principles such as the need to engage and motivate learners, to guide them to
make links with what is already known, to provide feedback, and to enhance retention and
transfer (Kinzie, 2005; O’Byrne et al., 2008). With regard to online self-assessment, the
creation of feedback-oriented self-testing exercises offers opportunities for students to
practise applying what they have learned (event six), to obtain immediate feedback so that
they can correct errors in their knowledge or reasoning (event seven), and have their
performance assessed (formative exam scores give students a measurement of their mastery
of course content; event eight). Textbook publishers are increasingly offering similar types of
flexible, online self-testing tools as part of their textbook packages. The creation of course-
specific regular assignments for students using these tools has been shown to improve student
outcomes by encouraging them to interact regularly with course material, to improve their
understanding of course content by making use of the instructional feedback, and to identify
areas of weakness that would benefit from additional study before they tackle summative
examinations (Carnegie, 2011).
The flexibility of Moodle lends itself well to the support of exercises developed using
other software packages as well as alternative types of assessment-based e-learning. For
example, the freeware Hot PotatoesR (http://www.hotpot.uvic.ca/), developed by Half-Baked
Software Inc., has been widely used to develop interactive exercises such as quizzes,
crossword puzzles and matching and ordering activities (Robb, 2004; Ward, 2004; Caric,
Tuba and Moisil, 2010). The creation of a module (HotPot) for Moodle has made it possible
for these exercises to be fully integrated into a Moodle-supported class web site by allowing
student scores to be tracked when they complete these exercises (Robb, 2004). Another
valuable component of Moodle that supports the constructivist vision of learning as an
ongoing process is its Workshop module (Brandl, 2005; Robertson, 2008). Here, students can
assess written work submitted by their peers while they, themselves, are evaluated as to the
quality of the peer assessments they are providing.
 The Creation and Implementation of Interactive Opportunities … 49

Finally, QuandaryR is an action-maze software also produced by Half-Baked Software

Inc. that can be used to promote learning and self-assessment in a variety of ways (Holmes
and Arneil, 2009). It can assume a story-telling function as students make selections that help
them learn about important figures and events in history (Field, 2009), or it can provide
medical students with much-needed practice for bell-ringer anatomy exams or with the
development of their clinical decision-making skills (Carnegie, Iafolla and Weinstangel,
2010).
This author has even used Quandary to construct exercises that help students hone their
writing abilities as they construct answers to short essay-style questions.

DEVELOPMENT OF INTERACTIVE E-LEARNING MODULE CONTENT

An important advantage associated with e-learning is the ability to use additional
presentation modes, such as animations and videos, in order to address alternative modalities
of learning (Moreno and Mayer, 2000; Mayer and Moreno, 2003; Mayer, 2008). Animations
are particularly useful for allowing students to visualize an interdependent sequence of events
whether they are studying history, biology, or mathematics. Compared to static diagrams,
animations can reduce the intrinsic cognitive load for students by allowing them to see the
flow of steps that compose a process and the way in which one step leads to the next, rather
than requiring them to exhaust the limited capacity of working memory to mentally picture
that sequence of events, fill in the visual information gaps and create the linkages for
themselves (Lowe, 2001; Ruffini, 2009). PowerPointR, a presentation software already widely
used by instructors for lecture delivery, has a number of features that lend themselves well to
the development of simple instructional animations (de Wer, 2006; Carnegie, Leddy, De
Jesus, De Jesus and Crawford, 2008; Ruffini, 2009). For example, the four images shown in
Figure 1 are screen shots selected from a short PowerPoint learning module that animates the
process of dehydration synthesis. Students are able to see the two monosaccharides approach
each other, following which the removal of a molecule of water links them via the formation
of a glycoside bond, producing a disaccharide.
Animations can also appeal to student learning styles that may not be addressed strongly
during lectures (O’Byrne et al., 2008). The VARK system categorizes learner preferences as
visual, aural, read/write and kinesthetic (Fleming and Mills, 1992; Fleming and Bonwell,
2001). Studies looking at student populations with reference to medicine and related health
sciences have shown undergraduate classes to be composed of heterogeneous populations of
students employing various combinations of these four strategies as they learn (Baykan and
Nicar, 2007; Slater, Lujan and Dicarlo, 2007; Carnegie, 2008).
Hence, while lectures are often most useful for aural and read/write learners, access to
online animations to support course content can be especially useful for visual learners.
Furthermore, animations that can be manipulated by the student have an added value for
kinesthetic learners.
For all students, the option to replay an animation multiple times as it is contained within
an online learning module, rather than being shown it only a single time during lecture,
affords the opportunity to tackle the information a bit at a time, in manageable chunks, so that
a synthesis of the entire process can eventually be accomplished (Lowe, 2001).
50 Jacqueline Carnegie

Figure 1. Selected images from a PowerPoint-created animation illustrating the process of dehydration
synthesis.

However, animations should be used carefully and with thorough planning, to ensure that
they are constructed in such a way that they address curriculum learning objectives and that
student attention is being directed toward those elements of the animation that will contribute
most to their learning (Lowe, 2000, 2001). Graphics should be kept as simple and direct as
possible, including only those elements that have educational value (Lowe, 2001). Dynamic
arrows and highlighting can be used judiciously to cue learner attention to the most important
aspects of an animation so as to maximize effectiveness (Mayer, 2008). That said, these
visual enhancements should be used sparingly, so as not to be distracting and contribute to
extraneous cognitive load (Mayer and Moreno, 2003; de Wer, 2006). Extraneous cognitive
load represents the extra mental processing required in response to the manner of presentation
of the information and, if excessive, can detract from the quality of the message itself
(Sweller, van Merrienboer and Paas, 1998).
Another strategy to reduce cognitive load when presenting a complex series of events is
to combine audio with the animation so that two modalities can be used simultaneously to
process the information (Mayer and Moreno, 2003). According to the split attention principle,
the auditory and visual pathways of the brain use different short-tem memory systems to
receive, organize and finally integrate new information into long-term memory (Moreno and
Mayer, 2000).
Hence, the use of both neural systems simultaneously by having an instructive animation
accompanied by a verbal explanation frees up a larger volume of short term memory during
learning and allows the various aspects of an intricate process to be more easily assimilated
and understood by the student (Mayer and Moreno, 2003; Mayer, 2008).
 The Creation and Implementation of Interactive Opportunities … 51

MOBILE LEARNING
Mobile learning (m-learning) is an extension of e-learning that has the added advantage
of allowing students to access their course content while on the move using hand-held devices
such as an iPod, an iPad or a smartphone (Evans, 2008). The content is presented in the form
of audio podcasts, with or without accompanying video, that are “pushed” to the feed’s
subscribers making them easily available to all learners who subscribe to that feed (Evans,
2008; Jalali, Leddy, Gauthier, Sun, Hincke and Carnegie, 2011). This level of accessibility
allows busy students to extend their study time and location to include the bus or train during
the daily commute to and from school or even the gym when exercising on a treadmill or
stationary bicycle. It is also important to realize that, while the maximal advantage of
podcasts derives from their ability to be used with mobile devices, they can also be
downloaded onto computers, allowing student access to be almost universal and not
dependent on one’s ability to afford a portable device (Evans, 2008).
Podcasts have been used to provide concise lecture reviews, to help clarify content
covered during lectures, to provide problem solving examples, and to allow efficient revision
of course content when students are preparing for exams (Berger, 2007; Evans, 2008; Jalali et
al., 2011). Students can listen to an entire podcast from start to finish or select certain
components for multiple listening as they grapple with the more challenging concepts in that
lecture (Maag, 2006). Survey data from undergraduate business students indicated a preferred
length of five to fifteen minutes per podcast with very few respondents indicating that they
would listen to a podcast of longer than twenty minutes duration (Frydenberg, 2006). One
concern raised repeatedly by instructors is that the convenience of podcasts might encourage
students to use them as a replacement for rather than a supplement to lecture attendance,
leading them to be increasingly learning in isolation rather than being actively engaged in the
social constructivist learning that can occur within the classroom (Jham, Duraes, Strassler and
Sensi, 2008). A recent review shows that the question of whether or not access to recorded
lectures has a negative impact on class attendance continues to be controversial and that the
answer likely depends to some extent on whether it is the entire lecture or an abbreviated
summary that is being made available as a podcast. While a number of studies have
demonstrated no impact of podcasts on class attendance, the results of other studies have
suggested a link between online availability of lecture podcasts and reduced turnout to class
(reviewed by Jalali et al., 2011). The relatively short podcast duration preferred by students
suggests that this medium is likely better used for the provision of concise reviews or to
amplify a single concept, rather than to serve as an alternative means of accessing a lecture in
its entirety.

STUDENTS ARE AN INVALUABLE RESOURCE

While instructors certainly have significant insight into curriculum content and those
aspects of a course that have the potential to be conceptually more challenging, their students
must also be recognized as important sources of information regarding what they had
difficulty learning and as valuable resources who can contribute creative ideas and alternative
perspectives to the development of student-friendly online learning tools.
52 Jacqueline Carnegie

Students may facilitate the construction of engaging learning tools by having supportive
computer expertise that is not shared by the instructor (e.g. the use of Adobe FlashR to create
interactive animations; O’Byrne et al., 2008). Furthermore, undergraduate students who have
just completed a course are well placed to identify those concepts that they found most
troublesome so that the time spent developing online learning and self-testing tools is used
effectively. Students may also be more inclined to try a risky or innovative idea and may be
better able to script a scenario to which their peers can relate when applying their new
knowledge in context.
Student involvement can be promoted by the institution itself. For example, the
University of Ottawa has recently established an Undergraduate Research Opportunity
Program (UROP) that links interested students with faculty sponsors and provides financial
support for single-term research projects. During the past year, this program has allowed the
author to supervise students who have just completed courses in anatomy and physiology as
they develop videos and interactive exercises that engage student interest, illustrate body
structure and physiological concepts more clearly, provide practice in application, and
promote learning for subsequent sessions of those same courses (Carnegie and Stokes, 2012).
There is one additional way in which students can provide valuable assistance with the
development of learning tools and that is to provide feedback to the instructor as to the actual
ability of that tool to engage their interest, challenge their reasoning, and contribute positively
to their learning experience (Martin-Blas and Serrano-Fernandez, 2008; Moule et al., 2010;
Carvalho et al., 2011).
Concise survey forms with Likert-based questions can easily be developed and
distributed to students in order to obtain anonymous and quantitative data as to the ease of use
of the learning tool, its ability to engage interest and facilitate comprehension and the ways in
which it promoted learning success. The inclusion of some open-ended questions in the
survey can allow the instructor to identify and correct any weaknesses in the learning tool and
also to be made cognizant of any other challenging aspects of the curriculum for which
students would welcome the support of a learning module.

CONCLUSION
Technology can be used effectively and easily to create engaging learning opportunities
beyond the classroom. LMSs support social constructivism through communication tools
such as discussion forums that permit interactive exploration of course content and peer-led
completion of assignments and peer-assessment. Various forms of e-assessment engage
learners by allowing them to monitor their progress in learning, to engage more actively with
course content, and to practice applying new knowledge in appropriate contexts. Mobile
learning continues to expand the dimensions of the classroom in ways never imagined even a
few years ago.
Students can be an excellent resource for both the development and for the subsequent
evaluation of online learning and self-testing modules. Constant advances in technology will
continue to provide new ways to support e-learning. The challenge will be to select those
methodologies that will be effective because they align well with the ways in which students
learn.
 The Creation and Implementation of Interactive Opportunities … 53

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In: Student Learning: Improving Practice ISBN: 978-1-62618-887-7
Editor: Christopher Boyle © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 5

A DESIGN FRAMEWORK FOR ENHANCING

ON-LINE LEARNING

Wendy Fasso,1 Cecily Knight2 and Bruce Allen Knight1

1
Central Queensland University, Queensland, Australia
2
James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes a holistic online course design framework that is drawn from
theory and empirical research-based principles. This framework is aimed at assuring
pedagogical consistency in course design at higher education level and facilitation that
maximises the potential of contemporary technology for student learning. It is organised
into complementary and often overlapping principles about learning that are drawn from
published research. The principles discussed in this chapter included: learning occuring
within a community of practice; learning is learner-centred; learning is flexible and based
on individual needs; learning is resource-based, and technology-mediated; learning is
both individual, and networked; learning is demonstrated when new, and valued
knowledge is created; learning is cognitive, affective, social and sensory-motor; learning
is best supported through constructive alignment of assessment, curriculum and
pedagogy; and learning is best when activities are purposeful and aligned with
assessment.

Keywords: Online learning, learning design, higher education, pedagogy

THE CONTEXT
Over the past decade, e-learning has been successfully integrated into learning and
teaching in universities to support and enhance traditional teaching methods (Laurillard,
2006). However, the uses of the opportunities offered by technology are not as widely used to
support active collaboration, role-play, modelling, creativity, and connectedness to worlds
beyond the university (Davidson and Goldberg, 2012). These technologies offer a multitude
of opportunities to extend and transform pedagogy and learning, nonetheless, as late as 2010,
60 Wendy Fasso, Cecily Knight and Bruce Allen Knight

the claim is still made that higher education practice continues to be isolated from the
growing evidence base about contemporary practice and good learning (Goodyear and Ellis,
2010). Rather than transform teaching practice, lecturers appear to be appropriating those
technologies based on ease of incorporation into existing teaching activity rather than those
which radically change teaching and learning practices (Kirkup and Kirkwood, 2005). Such
practices, however, are understandable if the staff member is a novice regarding teaching with
technology but at the same time an experienced teacher. Working in this learning community
involves an examination of the broader organisational context in which the teaching and
learning takes place.
Much of the literature covering online learning reports the perspectives of organisation,
the role of the course designer and tutor, or the uptake of the technology itself (e.g. Sharpe,
Beetham, de Freitas and Conole, 2010), with significantly less focus on the development of
research-supported online pedagogies appropriate for student learning.
Yet already, much of higher education contemporary face-to-face practice includes a
variety of media, and has been informed by practices emerging from distance education
courses (Kirkup and Kirkwood, 2005). The way we design for interactivity, active learning,
support and administration are now, for the most part, achieved using Information
Communication Technology (ICT) and digital media (Kirkup and Kirkwood, 2005; Salmon,
2002). Beyond this, lecturers have identified changes to their face to face pedagogy, based on
their online teaching experiences, that includes strategies to support greater diversity, student
engagement, and student-centred facilitative approaches to teaching and learning (Duncan
and Young, 2009).
A whole curriculum pedagogical approach is needed for the integration of technologies
into learning and teaching if we are to avoid what Goodyear and Ellis (2010) refer to as the
‘bolt-on effect’ (p. 103). This may occur when teachers reflect on information delivery rather
than the development of students’ understanding, with poor conceptions of the transformative
affordances of ICT used to support teaching and learning. What is needed is an integration of
technologies into teaching so that it becomes part of individual practice (Gosper, nd).
A complete curriculum approach to designing online learning promises also to support
the needs of students enrolled in internal mode, who expect to experience the same online
interactions that are available to students enrolled in external mode (Horsley, Knight and
Huntly, 2010). By adding an online component, lecturers have identified providing a ‘voice’
to less vocal, and more reflective students (Duncan and Young, 2009). Indeed, the modality
of the synchronous tutorial may be the only element that differs between internal and distance
learning. Students have indicated that technology allows them the flexibility to choose not
only when and where to access content and interactive experiences, but also when and where
to access lectures (Gosper, nd). Raised as a common problem in the literature (e.g. Arenas,
2008; Bates, 2011; McNeill and Gosper, 2010), many students no longer attend face to face
lectures regularly, which brings into question the role of the traditional lecture, as well as the
assumptions that internal students are always on campus (Woo, Gosper, McNeill, Preston,
Green, and Phillips , 2008). This is not just an Australian issue as this issue is also
experienced in countries such as the United States and Britain (Massingham and Herrington,
2006). Universities must demonstrate sensitivity to student needs for flexibility, with quality
online learning designs (Barnes and Tynan, 2007). This prompts a necessary inspection of the
way in which on-line courses are framed and designed.
 A Design Framework for Enhancing On-Line Learning 61

LEARNING OCCURS IN A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

Within the learning community, the facilitating role of the lecturer is critical. The lecturer
frames the disciplinary ways of thinking through good learning design that immerses learners
in practice. The role of the lecturer moves from the source of knowledge, to a facilitator of
new knowledge building within the learning community (de Freitas and Conole, 2010).
Furthermore, a skilled teacher overcomes a traditional view of individual learning and
supports collaborative and socially mediated modes of learning using associated pedagogies
(de Freitas and Conole, 2010). They support the creation of a disciplinary lens through which
learners see meanings that are appropriated from a community of practice, leading to the
formation of an identity within that community (Hung and Chen, 2001). From Lave and
Wenger’s (1991) perspective, the identity is analysed as being embedded in the learning
context where individuals all contribute. The role of the teacher then, is to structure the
learning environment so that members are “fully engaged in the process of creating, refining,
communicating and using knowledge” (Lave and Wenger, 1991, p.111).
Within the community of learners, dialogue is critical, with language used as a scaffold to
support the development of individual identities and relationships within the community’s
collective activities. Through this, learners interpret, , apply, act on feedback, and reflect on
their learning (Laurillard, 2002). This conversational approach to learning has been shown to
improve student learning and enhance student outcomes (Bower, Hedberg and Kuswara,
2009). Students receive instruction and resources that are capable of being individualised, and
accommodate their learning needs as they actively contribute to the relationships they
establish with their peers in the community of learners (Hung and Chen, 2001). Feedback is
critical, and within the learning community, technologies provide opportunities for lecturer
support as well as other community support from peers (Creanor and Trinder, 2010).

LEARNING IS LEARNER CENTRED

● The role of the lecturer is to scaffold, model and support learning
● The role of the learner is to construct an individual and contextual knowledge of the
discipline

Wrede (2003) emphasises that lecturers need to design curricula that encourage students’
independence, creativity and networking skills. The institution and its resources are no longer
the sole source of learning for students, whose informal learning and social communication
has been transformed by technology (Davidson and Goldberg, 2012). They have access to
ubiquitous and mobile technologies, interactive social networking software, all sculpted and
customized to suit the individual. The pace of change is accelerating, and higher education is
struggling to keep pace with change.
More importantly, the change in technologies and their affordances should be
transforming pedagogies associated with the mobile, personal web (Johnson, Levine, and
Smith, 2009).
There is a shift in terms of the tools used and artefacts produced towards more
participatory and communicative uses (de Freitas and Conole, 2010).
62 Wendy Fasso, Cecily Knight and Bruce Allen Knight

Associated with this shift is an implicit challenge to the traditional and authoritative
ownership of knowledge by academics. Learners are not only able to access information from
a variety of sources, they are also emerging as creators of digital artefacts, including text,
audio and multimedia, thus blurring the boundaries between users and creators (Luckin
Logan, Clark, Graber, Oliver and Mee, 2008). Open source materials are freely available,
such as those offered by Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT, and learners are able to
take a position of empowerment in critiquing the educational institution and its unique role in
their formal learning (Seely Brown and Adler, 2008).
Many learners enter higher education with significant prior learning and expertise, and
are able to contribute to learning if supported (Ryberg and Dirckinck-Holmfield, 2010). Thus,
the affordances of the web are making learner-centred education a reality, with tools that
enable collaborative creation of text, and media; and social networking capable of supporting
multiple communities of learning (McLoughlin and Lee, 2011).
For students who welcome presentation and didactic pedagogy, the affordances of ICT
are not being currently used to increase expectations and reduce the existing power
relationships in learning (Czerniewicz and Brown, 2010). The implication for online learning
design is that where feasible, learners should be empowered to participate in individually
determined ways, with guidance and scaffolded support created and maintained by the
lecturer. Empowered self-directed learning encourages students to determine goals, identify
appropriate resources and evaluate outcomes.

LEARNING IS FLEXIBLE AND BASED ON INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

● Learners come to a course with individual skill-sets and experiences. The learning of
those less prepared should be highly scaffolded, whilst opportunities are provided for
the growth of the best prepared
● Resources and tools provided should cater to individual needs

Not all individuals have similar requirements when participating in an online course
(Davidson and Goldberg, 2012), with some indicating a preference for working in isolation
and independently while others are highly dependent on interaction and support. Meeting
individual needs to ensure that learners gain the knowledge and skills to enable full
participation in the learning community is a core consideration when designing courses and
online activities.
Online learners indicate a preference for a range of media which present information in
different ways and thus maintain their motivation (Davidson and Goldberg, 2012). They also
value the provision of a range of optional resources to extend their learning (Armatas, Holt
and Rice, 2003).
Learners have been found to use a wide range of self-selected ICT tools, with boundaries
between formal and informal learning blurred (de Freitas and Conole, 2010). A course design
that maximises the potential of learner-selected tools will support individualisation and
flexibility.
Much of learning behaviour is unseen, including that which is transacted in individually
generated and flexible learner networks (Creanor and Trinder, 2010).
 A Design Framework for Enhancing On-Line Learning 63

Reliance on a single selected set of tools, such as discussion forums for learners can
emphasize inequities. In response to this, learners may elect to go ‘underground’ (Creanor
and Trinder, 2010). Whilst the discussion forum has been, from its inceptions as an online
collaboration tool, designed to support the construction of personal meaning through
collaboration (Bates, 1995), the evolution of new online collaboration tools such as wikis and
blogs has not widely resulted in their use in higher education. Messages contributed early in
the thread are accessed widely, however learners who reflect, and then contribute later based
on individual context, learning preference and prior knowledge are not responded to as
frequently (Stodel, Thompson and MacDonald , 2006; Thomas, 2002), leading to inequitable
opportunities for collaboration. Whilst forums evolved over time, a large number of student
messages terminated branches as the contributions become more disjointed and fragmented
with the sense of “monologue vs. monologue” (Thomas, 2002, p. 361).
However, forums were valued by a number of participants in the Thomas (2002) study,
and have been found to increase critical thinking and interactive dialogue. Furthermore, the
nature of discourse in forums potentially disadvantages some learners, with written forms of
communication not necessarily being the medium of communication that is preferred by all
(Stodel, et al., 2006; Thomas, 2002).
Greater attention is needed when designing collaborative activities in courses, with
attention to the collaboration tools, individual needs, and timing being critical in providing
genuine flexibility for individual learners. The shift to openness from private systems (for
instance moving beyond the confines of a Learning Management System LMS into web-
based tools) will support greater engagement from non-participating or silent learners (de
Freitas and Conole, 2010).
It is important to recognise that learners can contribute their own expertise to teaching
and learning (Beetham and Oliver, 2010). The nature of tasks and assessment to meet
individual needs should also be scrutinised. Students will not respond to collaborative work if
it is not relevant, or if there is the potential for inequitable contribution (Duncan and Young,
2009). Whilst some students are ready to participate in establishing discussion threads in
forums, many participate only in the closing stages of the course, and only when this is linked
to assessment (Thomas, 2002).
The course must be structured to balance the goal of learner centeredness and learner
responsibility. While holding students accountable to, and enforcing deadlines is important,
flexibility is necessary within those deadlines to allow for life events.
For many learners, online learning can be isolating, and setbacks can lead to attrition
(Duncan and Young, 2009). Support for all learner needs is critical, and adjustments by
teachers to accommodate the flexibility needs of learners are important.

LEARNING IS RESOURCE BASED, AND TECHNOLOGY MEDIATED

● Resources and technologies should be designed and selected based on identified
learning outcomes
● Resources and technologies should be designed and selected based on learner needs
and preferences
64 Wendy Fasso, Cecily Knight and Bruce Allen Knight

Technology is changing the face of online education. Blogs, podcasts, wikis, emails, web
conferencing and online discussion allow students to extend the classroom into the workplace
and other authentic contexts to extend learning beyond the traditional classroom and into the
broader community (Boulos, Maramba, and Wheeler, 2006; Hemmi, Bayne, and Land, 2009;
Laurillard, 2007). For most students this is reflective of existing social networking practice, in
which they already collaborate, search for information, communicate and socialise using web
technologies as part of their everyday lives.
Although not homogenous across any group, parallel to their use of institutional
technology is the use of learner-selected technologies, which often overlap with their social
technology use (Conole, de Laat, Dillon, and Darby, 2007; Kennedy, Judd, Churchward,
Gray, and Krause, 2008).
However caution is advised if assuming that all learners translate social into learning
practice, or that any use of social software is linked to age (Sharpe and Beetham, 2010). The
prototypical perceptions of the digitally-savvy net generation (Oblinger and Oblinger, 2005)
should be balanced with perceptions of the digital divide.
Already identified in the previous section is the importance of planning learning to
support student needs and offer flexibility. Laurillard (2007), in her foreword to “Rethinking
pedagogy for a digital age”, identifies the capacity of ICT to cater to most of learner needs,
extending even beyond what is manageable in a face-to-face context. However, the selection
of technologies must be planned and pedagogically intentional to maximise their potential.
Increasing the scope for innovative use of Web 2.0 , typified by generating content,
distribution and networking requires an institutional environment that encourages exploration
and risk taking, with decisions best made in a whole-program context (Bates, 2011). In this
way a shift in learning, beyond traditional, hierarchical structures will lead learners to
distribute learning across a range of resources and collaborative groups (de Freitas and
Conole, 2010).
When selecting technologies and creating resources, consideration should be given to the
ways in which not only cognitive, but also social and teaching presences can be created
online. Opportunities for dialogue are critical to enhance socially mediated learning. The
permanency of online participation through text, audio or video allows greater access by
others to the learning of all in an individualised learning environment (Valjataga and Fiedler,
2008). Many teachers and students may still prefer face-to-face contact, and this is well
supported by audio/video-links with students in a group setting (Kirkup and Kirkwood,
2005). In the distance situation, this elevates the importance of web-conferencing tools and
reconceptualises how they are used. Consideration should also be taken of the increase in
mobile technology use for communication.
Other technologies such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, audio and videoconferencing,
interactive simulations are all identified as high end use of ICT, which increase intellectual
exchange and interactivity, and are conducive to higher order thinking and active learning
within a flexible environment (Mason and Rennie, 2008).
A stronger pedagogical focus on online learning design will support and guide students in
learning how to manage tools and services to mediate learning tasks (Bates, 2011). This, of
course, includes learners’ participating as creators of content. As independent learners,
developing expertise in selecting and integrating a diverse range of tools supports
independent and individualised learning (Valtajaga, Pata, and Tammets, 2011).
 A Design Framework for Enhancing On-Line Learning 65

Particularly in higher education, personal control over the technological environment that
mediates work and study activities is increasingly important (Valjataga and Fiedler, 2008).
Course design should forefront digital literacy within the learning materials, and in the
demonstrations of student knowledge through assessment. In the commercial, political,
educational and social environments of contemporary society, screen-based communication
has in most areas replaced paper-based communication (Beetham and Oliver, 2010). When
presenting course materials to learners, it should be acknowledged that the ability to decode
images and video are increasingly essential literacies and should be supported (Beetham and
Oliver, 2010).
It is important to scrutinise the profession we are preparing learners for, and identify the
modes of communication that will be valued in that professional field. In the case of
education, this multimodal communication capacity is valued and commonly used (Goodyear
and Ellis, 2010).
The support of learners and consideration of their needs is critical. From the learner’s
perspective, the uptake of technology for learning is influenced by a range of contributing
factors (de Freitas and Conole, 2010). These factors include the skill of the learner as a
critical filter of information, personal preference and individual ways of working, the nature
of the subject matter, and the technical skill and confidence of the learner. Also included are
issues such as adequate network access, and ownership of computers that are able to access
course materials and online technologies effectively.
For many, new definitions of functional access include mobile access, and access to
networks of people as well as resources (Sharpe and Beetham, 2010). Mobile phone
ownership changes the terms of “access, connectivity, learning environment, temporality and
locatedness” (Czerniewicz and Brown, 2010, p 149), emerging as the most frequently used
technology for peer-to-peer communication and collaboration (Benfield and De Laat, 2010) .
For instance, despite advice to stay on discussion forums, high proportions of learners prefer
to resort to synchronous communication with each other, for instance with mobile phones
(Benfield and De Laat, 2010).
Being institutionally locked into a LMS such as Moodle or Blackboard may limit the
flexibility of technology use and potential pedagogy, making the shift to transformed
pedagogy difficult (Barnes and Tynan, 2007; Kirkup and Kirkwood, 2005). Although there
are administrative advantages and controls, the use of a LMS does not empower learners in
the way Web 2.0 can (Bates, 2011).
The LMS is powerful in providing opportunities to organize resources, guidelines,
procedures and deadlines for students.
However, the utilization of Web 2.0 tools for data collection, access to open content and
experts, and the co-creation and sharing of media rich assignments and materials extends
learning beyond that which can be supported in a LMS (Bates, 2011). This level of co-
production and sharing can lead to a new learner identity online as both a consumer and a
producer of knowledge (McLoughlin and Lee, 2011).
Thus, whilst learners operate within a LMS that is populated with teacher-generated
content, we continue to maintain practices that are no longer congruent with Web
developments and their learning affordances. The Web offers tools and affordances that
support student-centred pedagogies, with a shift towards and emphasis on students’ ideas,
publications, research and interpretations online.
66 Wendy Fasso, Cecily Knight and Bruce Allen Knight

LEARNING IS BOTH INDIVIDUAL AND NETWORKED

● Learners require individualised and self-managed spaces within which to learn.
Within these spaces, they control the locus of information – both human and non-
human
● Sharing of the learning process allows other learners the opportunity for vicarious
learning.

Institutionalized learning environments are structured mainly around content and driven
by the needs of the institution rather than individual students. Furthermore, they represent a
typical, application-centred approach that only allows for the performance of a particular,
predefined set of activities within closed and rather static systems (Arenas, 2008).
Such environments are centrally controlled and managed by the facilitator, who defines
the learning objectives, tasks, media, and expected outcomes. The facilitator has limited
possibilities to adapt to student preferences for tools that support their personal study aims.
Therefore student preferences and prior knowledge are difficult to accommodate. Because a
LMS is usually only available to students enrolled in a given course, the opportunity to
interact with the outside world is limited as identified in the previous section. Also identified,
was the value of distributed environments to enable conversations on subject matter
(terminology, concepts), processes (distribution of work, roles, media), and execution (Fiedler
and Pata, 2009). Web 2.0 technologies allow students to create and share their own personal
learning environments, shifting power from teachers to students. However, this does not mean
that the LMS is not necessary as scaffolding and learner support are still needed, including the
provision of content, models and guidance (Bates, 2011).
When lecturers encourage the use of a range of collaboration tools, students can
personalise the ways in which they interact in the learning community. Any well designed
course should acknowledge the input of students in configuring not only their own learning
relationships, but also their own learning spaces with self-selected mediating technologies
(Goodyear and Ellis, 2010). In this way, contemporary learning theory and socially situated
learning is enacted and modelled in the valuing of learning relationships, the development of
autonomous learners with metacognition and self-regulation (Goodyear and Ellis, 2010;
McLoughlin and Lee, 2011). Web 2.0 tools empower the end-user to create, disseminate and
share information freely. Generally controls are imposed by the users themselves – the
democratization of the web - which empowers learners, and supports formation of networks
(Bates, 2011).

LEARNING IS DEMONSTRATED WHEN NEW, AND VALUED

KNOWLEDGE IS CREATED
● Depending on the discipline, design decisions and assessment should be based on the
opportunities for learners to contribute to the disciplinary knowledge base

The participatory nature of the web allows learners to shift away from authoritative
teacher sources, and towards content generated by the former.
 A Design Framework for Enhancing On-Line Learning 67

In a period of rapid change, knowledge is no longer controlled and stable, and remains
open to renewed interpretation, review, and modification by learners, with dissemination of
new learning to the community of learners (McLoughlin and Lee, 2011). In this way, learners
become producers of knowledge alongside the teacher, with multi-directional learning
enabled (de Freitas and Conole, 2010). With this shift, there is a clear requirement that
assessment and learning activity be reviewed, with sufficient scaffolding to enhance
independent thinking, and spaces to support collaborative and reflective construction of
knowledge (Goodyear and Ellis, 2010).
Goodyear and Ellis (2010) identify issues in online discussions whereby learners rely on
the teacher to know the right or wrong answer, requiring ongoing maintenance of discussions
by the teacher to check and validate students’ ideas. This supports the idea that learning is
about being able to replicate the knowledge of the teacher. The outcome of this type of
discussion may involve large amounts of time spent by the teacher in discussion forums,
without which students will view forums as being a waste of time (Goodyear and Ellis, 2010).
Where the educational design can encourage a shift from ‘teacher knows all’ to learners
identifying that all ideas are open to improvement, meaningful contributions by learners to the
knowledge base can occur and genuine knowledge building take place.
A learning design encouraging students to actively contribute to a course should retain
open-endedness, interactivity and focussed feedback, strongly reinforcing learners’
expectations of collaborative extending of knowledge (Goodyear and Ellis, 2010). Learners
should note that “linearity, narrow problem solving and bounded approaches to learning
where knowledge is managed and patrolled by staff is likely to be inappropriate for learning
at the university in the twenty first century” (Savin-Baden, 2008, p.154). In this way, student
expectations of didactic teacher-controlled learning are challenged. Furthermore, if we wish
to demonstrate that learners have made a valued contribution to the body of disciplinary
knowledge, their input should be sufficiently valued by articulating it into new cohorts of
learners, who are supported to build upon existing knowledge bases (Goodyear and Ellis,
2010)

LEARNING IS COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE, SOCIAL AND SENSORI—

MOTOR
● Learning is complex and based on levels of the cognitive domain
● Learning is affective, and involves domain levels that include attitudes, emotions,
feelings, values, enthusiasm and motivations
● Learning should incorporate the five senses, and be active
● Learning involves socio-cultural processes through communication, participation,
negotiation, collaboration and initiation

Cognitive Learning

Online spaces should be informed by designed learning so that they intentionally support
and scaffold cognitive learning, with tools and artefacts selected based on their affordances
68 Wendy Fasso, Cecily Knight and Bruce Allen Knight

for particular learning purposes (Bates, 2011). These tools and artefacts may include
collaboration spaces and software, and discipline-specific tools.
Collaborative software supports the socio-cultural amplification of knowledge, and
promotes deep learning (Hung and Chen, 2001). Through the digitising of contributions,
learners are able to contribute, and reformulate their contributions (Rosie, 2001). In a deeply
social activity involving transactions with other people, learners are able to see others in the
process of learning (vicarious learning) and re-examine their own worldview in the light of a
range of other perspectives (Brown and Duguid, 2000). It is therefore important that learners
collaborate and share their ideas and perspectives to support not only their own learning, but
also that of others. In particular, as they engage with technologies and generate and remix
content through analysis, communication of their ideas is valuable (Bates, 2011).
Resource-based learning provides access to information and instruction, but for deeper
learning there is a need to have activities embedded in appropriate conceptual tasks. Within
these tasks, subject specific skills will be called upon requiring subject specific softwares
(Bates, 2011). Cognitive tools support simulation, manipulation of variables, and
opportunities to test hypotheses in a safe and non-challenging environment (Candy, 2004).
This may be as simple as graphing calculators, spreadsheets, or concept maps, or as complex
as ecological or engineering simulations. In this way, digital technologies support thinking,
processing, and the amplification of knowledge (Candy, 2004).

Affective Learning

Higher education has traditionally maintained a strong focus on cognitive outcomes,

however knowledge is never value-free (Chalkley, 2006). Affective learning is generally
embedded in the generic attributes of many courses in higher education programs as they
contribute to employability and successful participation in the workplace. Whilst these are
broadly formulated in the institutional learning strategy, they are potentially by-products of
learning, audited and identified after the course design is complete.
The link between ability and behaviour is often not clearly articulated when assessing
student outcomes (Chalkley, 2006). Nonetheless, academics and course designers often
consider affective outcomes when they develop their pedagogical strategies to support
learning. In the education context, there is a need for consistency between the attitudes and
values recognizable in the curriculum, and those characteristics as exhibited in the profession.
In preparing pre-service teachers for their professional roles, any course they participate in
must model responsiveness to attitudes and emotional states, something less difficult in a face
to face situation.
If we value equally affective and cognitive outcomes in online learning, and to the way
that outcomes “shape individuals and societies” (Russell, 2006, p 6). Strategies should be
examined to identify affective nuances through close attention to interactions and artefacts
generated by students. Whilst it is claimed that the distancing effect of online education will
never be overcome, the use of regular, synchronous video-conferencing links, and face to face
meetings where possible, can serve to more closely monitor the attitudes and progress of
learners (Russell, 2006). In particular, tools that are able to monitor students’ emotions and
feelings, such as ‘thumbs up’, smiley faces are able to reduce the distancing effect of online
learning (McGovern and Barnes, 2009).
 A Design Framework for Enhancing On-Line Learning 69

With this in mind, a reconceptualization of the value system underpinning the design of
on-line learning is critical (Russell, 2006), together with a clear identification of the affective
factors supported and developed throughout a course.

Sensori-Motor Learning

Dettmer (2006) stresses that the senses are avenues for concept formation, problem
solving, and experiences as they nurture intellectual skills. Sensory input in online
environments is diverse, ranging from differences in colour, placement, formatting and
organization, to the stimulus provided by images, sound, and animations or video (Ally,
2008). Highly active learning is also supported through gaming, interactive learning objects
and participating in virtual worlds. For adult learners, this often adds new affordances to their
traditional text-based learning environments. These affordances can provide immersive and
active learning experiences rich in sensory input.

Socio-Cultural Learning

Using the capacity of Web 2.0 tools involves a new mindset – from consumption of
resources to the generation of resources and artefacts, and the creation of new knowledge
whilst also supporting personal sense-making and reflection (Bryant, 2007; Downes, 2007) .
The collective intelligence of groups can be harnessed to generate ideas that are fresher,
richer, and more sophisticated than the contribution of individual users. The real power of
Web 2.0 is its capacity to support collaborative and social learning in which learners actively
co-construct knowledge as part of a dynamic learning community. Already addressed in
previous sections is the importance of an authentic, problem-based task within which learning
is a socio-cultural dialogic.
From the perspective of both learner and teacher, the transparency of online learning is
vital (Dalsgaard and Paulsen, 2009). Learners leave permanent digital records of their
activities, as text, sound, images and video, so scrutiny and monitoring is possible by teachers
and peers. Through the validation of individual ideas against those of others, , learners extend
their knowledge through social interaction in seeking a solution to a problem. Ultimately
learning is, however, individual. This emphasizes the importance of the social aspect of
learning, and the learner as “self”. If this is what learners want, design and tool selection
should be to support both social interaction and learning interactions with interchangeability
of purpose with the tools provided (Creanor and Trinder, 2010).
Group activity online is well supported in the democratic environment of a wiki. Careful
scaffolding and modelling can be useful in this case, with online collaboration being self-
maintained rather than being directly supervised by the teacher (Benfield and De Laat, 2010).
Networked learning and networks are essential to support learning. ICT promotes
collaborative or cooperative connections between learners, learners and tutors, and learners
and learning resources to enhance the efficacy of learning (Cameron, 2009).
Both weak and strong ties are important, the former to diversify the perspectives
available to the learner, the latter to deepen critical analysis of these perspectives (Benfield
and De Laat, 2010).
70 Wendy Fasso, Cecily Knight and Bruce Allen Knight

Three levels of social interactivity mediated by technology may be observed online

(Bates, 2011). Firstly, individuals may use social software tools to manage personal
information only, with none of the networking functions being activated. While this is able to
be shared, it is not a primary goal. Secondly, communication is enabled through aggregation
of ideas and resources in online spaces. Finally, social software can be used to support
genuine social networking in which the power of the network can leverage the power of many
(Bates, 2011). Furthermore, this connectivity, communication and collaboration can be
supported in both synchronous and asynchronous ways; thus supporting learning across
boundaries of time and place. The patterns of collaboration and communication may differ
within and between discipline areas to meet the needs of the subject and the learning needs of
all students (Cook, 2006). For instance, collaborative tools are not as commonly used in the
Sciences as in the Humanities (Cameron, 2009; Cook, 2006).
Communication is important in the social community and represents the feelings of its
members regarding connectedness, interdependence and sense of belonging. Many students
may experience isolation which may result in feeling marginalised and disenfranchised
(Jones, Chew, Jones, and Lau, 2009). An individual connecting to other learners is most
important to promote avenues for engagement networking amongst the learning community
members (Duncan and Young, 2009). Providing a physical presence through voice and video
is critical to learners, with regular feedback to them about the way they are meeting course
expectations critical (Duncan and Young, 2009).

LEARNING IS BEST SUPPORTED THROUGH CONSTRUCTIVE

ALIGNMENT OF ASSESSMENT, CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY
● Learning should be by design
● The design should demonstrate clear alignment with theoretical underpinnings
● The design should demonstrate clear alignment between what is stated as the
outcomes, the content and pedagogy, and the demonstration of learning. This should
include alignment between the modality and context of learning

When investigating online learning in a focussed way, four interrelated processes emerge
(de Freitas and Conole, 2010), namely: thinking and reflecting; conversation and interaction;
experience and activity; and evidence and demonstration. The design implications emerging
from these process are the requirement for an online learning environment to provide space,
resources and support for active immersion in learning materials, personal online space for
thinking and reflecting, online spaces for conversations and interaction in collaborative
learning, and individualised opportunities to develop demonstrations of student knowledge
and evidence them with designed and creative artefacts. Decisions about learning design
cannot occur without a prior examination of theory. There should be consistency between the
alignment of curriculum, teaching methods, learning environment and assessment procedures
(Biggs, 2012).
When defining a course outcome, there are implicit assumptions about what is important
(Mayes and de Freitas, 2007). Therefore, clear design principles are essential to promote
course expectations.
 A Design Framework for Enhancing On-Line Learning 71

An example of a course that was redesigned using clear design principles to make explicit
intended outcomes, the learning activities and assessment for the course is described by
Sharpe and Oliver (2007). One design principle explicitly identified was that the tutor in
certain activities was to be approached only as a last resort, and furthermore, access was
restricted to those students who had engaged with the online environment. Peer support
groups formed, and tutorials became intense experiences of non-trivial problems. Thus, as a
design principle, students were expected to engage regularly and routinely, to establish good
study habits (Stubbs, Martin, and Endlar, 2006).
As social constructivism is the framework implicit in our design, students will work
beyond the content and discipline-specific thinking processes, and develop information
literacy skills in effectively finding, evaluating and creating information. Biggs (2012) uses
the term “constructive alignment” to indicate that in his view the guiding assumptions about
learning should be based on constructivist theory. Beyond search and retrieval, we promote
supporting students in contextualizing, analysing, visualising and synthesizing information
(Jenkins, Purushotma, Clintin, Weigel, and Robison, 2006; Lorenzo and Dziuban, 2006) . By
encouraging learners to use learner-generated content, they are supported in intellectual
ownership (Bates, 2011).
Beyond alignment with theory, the principles of constructive alignment (Biggs, 2003)
should be explicitly applied in the learning design of online courses. This approach requires
direct alignment of stated outcomes, student assessment and the learning outcomes
demonstrated by students (Biggs, 2003). In a constructivist learning environment, this entails
a focus on deep transformation of knowledge rather than mere recall of facts (Walsh, 2007).
The outcome of constructive alignment is likely to be more active engagement of learners in
the learning process (Biggs, 2003).
Furthermore, pedagogical approaches should reflect a constructivist approach, implying
that interactive, collaborative learning should replace didactic lecture-based presentations.
Finally, the alignment should occur within an authentic context so that functional
knowledge is demonstrated by learners (Lave and Wenger, 1991). Meaningful linkages
connecting learner experience and professional practice through connections between
knowledge, skills and practice should be explicit.
Organization and pre-planning are vital. The provision of a clear roadmap is essential
online so that students can easily locate all materials on the course website, as well as obvious
step by step instructions on tasks and assignments, comprehensible learning objectives and
detailed criteria on marking and grading. Accumulating course materials supports learners in
directing their own learning, and if learning is to be interactive, then students must complete
their tasks within a bounded timeframe (Duncan and Young, 2009)

LEARNING IS BEST WHEN ACTIVITIES ARE

PURPOSEFUL AND ALIGNED WITH ASSESSMENT
● Activities should explicitly contribute to assessment and involve full participation

In terms of their selection of technologies, learners require strong justification to embrace

new technologies (Creanor and Trinder, 2010). Many are learning-oriented, others are goal-
72 Wendy Fasso, Cecily Knight and Bruce Allen Knight

oriented and will do only what is required to demonstrate learning outcomes (Candy, 2004).
Thus, it is important that activities are meaningfully aligned with assessment to support full
participation. Whilst technologies are increasing in use in higher education institutions, their
use for assessment is not aligned. For instance, academics have reported using closed multiple
choice quizzes to assess creativity (McNeill and Gosper, 2010). Generally tools are used to
assess knowledge in traditional ways with little creative use of technology for assessment
(McNeill, Gosper and Hedberg, 2010).
Technology enhanced learning should unquestionably change assessment. By changing
the nature of the learning process and what can be learned, technology enhanced outputs
inevitably challenge conventional forms of assessment and lead to requirements for different
kinds of assessment (Schoonenboom and Levene, 2007). If we are expecting learners to
become co-participants in a knowledge-building process in a learning community, we need to
simulate and match the demands of the workplace environment, which requires different
assessment that extends beyond recall and demonstration of skills (Laurillard, Oliver,
Wasson, and Hoppe, 2009).

CONCLUSION
The way students learn today has changed radically as they engage and interact with
multiple sources of information. This situation requires a holistic online course design
framework to ensure pedagogical consistency that utilises technology to motivate and actively
involve students as they participate in individual and collaborative learning spaces to locate
and judge the reliability of information for knowledge construction.
To this end, this chapter has outlined principles that need to be acknowledged and
endorsed when designing courses that address the generational shift in learning which is
occurring (Davidson and Goldberg, 2012). As Biggs (2012, p. 54) reminds us:

“Aligning practice on the basis of what students should be doing is likely to be more
fruitful than focussing only on what teachers and administrators do”

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In: Student Learning: Improving Practice ISBN: 978-1-62618-887-7
Editor: Christopher Boyle © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 6

A STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING SUCCESS

IN AN INTRO TO ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

Rebecca Babcock1, Suzanne Rathbun1, Jack Nichols2,

Julie McCown3 and Amanda McCain4
1
UT Permian Basin, Odessa, TX, US
2
Odessa, TX, US
3
UT Arlington, Arlington, TX, US
4
Texas A&M Commerce, Commerce, TX, US

ABSTRACT
At the University of Texas Permian Basin, students exhibited varying levels of
success in an introduction to English linguistics course. In order to investigate this
phenomenon, researchers measured various factors that may have influenced success in
this course. Researchers used the Nelson-Denny reading test, surveys, interviews, and
grades to determine levels of success. After measuring for several factors such as time at
tutoring, time reading or studying, and attitudes, the one standout factor related to success
in the course as measured by grades was reading level with tutoring as a complicating
factor. Our results imply that intro to linguistics courses should carry a minimum reading
level of 13 as a prerequisite, and require tutoring for those who fall below the level (10-
12). Students with an overall reading level below tenth grade should be discouraged from
taking these courses.

Introduction to English linguistics is a historically difficult course at the University of

Texas Permian Basin. The course, called The English Language, is a junior-level course that
covers aspects of English language linguistics including but not limited to phonetics;
phonology; morphology; syntax; semantics; stylistics; discourse; dialects and varieties; global
Englishes; the history of English; lexicography; social factors such as region, age, race, class,
ethnicity and gender; and other relevant topics. Undergraduate ESL/Bilingual minors are
required to take this course, and it meets requirements for English majors, Child & Family
Studies majors, and Multidisciplinary Studies majors. After teaching the course in 2005 and
80 Rebecca Babcock, Suzanne Rathbun, Jack Nichols et al.

2006, Babcock noticed marked differences in achievement among students in the course. She
decided to investigate the factors for success, which included the personal qualities students
needed to succeed in a required class with difficult material. This article reports the results of
a research project designed to measure the factors that students bring with them to the course
that influence success. When the investigation began, these questions were open and
researchers did not have a preconceived hypothesis of what we would find. The fact that
reading level and attendance at tutoring emerged as the most relevant factors is further
support for the previous literature finding these issues as keys to success in other college
courses.
Determining the factors needed for success is important because The English Language
covers a great deal of material that many students find difficult. The reading load is not
exceptionally heavy, but it is done independently, without the support of lectures. Twice a
week homework activities are assigned that are highly dependent on reading skills. When
grading the homework, Babcock found that several students failed to answer the questions as
asked, leading her to suspect they did not comprehend the material. Also, several students
with low reading skills plagiarized on homework, exams, and papers by copying word-for-
word from the textbook or an internet source instead of composing their own work.
During tutoring and study groups, graduate assistants and supplemental instruction
leaders went over the material from the chapters. One graduate assistant reported having to
“break things down to their basic roots” because

Many students seem to lack the rudimentary elements and have some form of floating
mid-knowledge. It sounds bizarre, but it seems that they only understand the mid-range of
English and I would have to break it down to almost verb/noun level. In this specific class,
many were ESL students and while I was trying to help them with phonetics they were more
interested in what they felt they were lacking. Some students just needed what the chapters
were presenting, and they needed to understand how to read an instructional book. The
contents seemed overwhelming at first. As I helped them work through the book, they became
more comfortable with the text. It was as if the contents of the book was a stepping stone to
their real problems. (Eileen Peters, personal communication)

Another graduate assistant who conducted study sessions focused primarily on

completing homework rather than reviewing course material. He reported that he first would
wait for students to arrive at the study session, and then when they did arrive, they would ask
for help with whatever problems they felt they would need assistance with from their current
homework

First they might ask, "Would you help me with this particular problem?" I would
immediately look or ask to see what they had so far. If they had some work done, I'd look over
their work. If the answer was wrong, then I'd begin to question why they thought that was the
appropriate answer. From there, we'd be able to find the answer they were looking for. If the
answer was correct, I'd tell them they had it right. Now, if they had not answered the question
yet, I'd ask them to come up with an answer first. If their reply was, "I don't even know where
to start," then we'd look at the question together. I'd usually, or they would, read the question
aloud. From there, I was able to reference back to a point in class when [the professor] had
gone over the material, which was usually the day of. I never had the study sessions before
class, so the students were usually there to do the current homework from the same day. And
 A Study of Factors Influencing Success in an Intro to English Linguistics 81

no one ever came in on the non-class day (Friday). (Jason Dominguez, personal
communication).

We wanted to find the factors that make this course difficult for some students, while
others completed it with relative ease. The issue could be with the amount or type of content
and the independent reading required. Since we had no preconceptions about what the factors
may have been, in the first iteration of the study the primary researcher asked students about
several factors, including outside work, time spent studying, and whether they had a friend in
the class. See Appendix A for the variety of questions that were asked. Unfortunately the
response was too small to do a statistical analysis on the survey results. After doing this
preliminary work we found the factor that most closely related final course grades was
reading level. Those with a graduate-school reading level had little trouble with the course,
while those with lower reading scores required extreme effort to succeed, if they could
succeed at all. Having noticed this factor after the preliminary results from Summer ‘07, in
the Fall of ’07 Babcock encouraged those with a reading level below 12th grade to attend
tutoring. Since tutoring appears to have a positive effect, the amount and type of tutoring may
also be a factor, and this is something that will be the focus of a future study.

LITERATURE REVIEW
A literature review is difficult to write for an exploratory study that lacked an initial
hypothesis. Here we attempt to relate the factors we explored to factors others have studied as
well. Although there have been previous studies that looked at reading tests, tutoring, and
motivation and their relationship to college course success, especially in writing, we found
little that related specifically to courses in linguistics.

Reading Tests

Spiller and Hall (1978) examined the efficacy of reading tests, specifically the Nelson-
Denny Reading Test (NDRT), in predicting academic success in community college English
courses and found that “there is a positive relationship (r = .11 to r = .27) between reading test
scores and grades received in the English courses” (p. 6). The small positive relationship
could possibly be attributed to the fact that “the English courses used in the sample were
primarily courses emphasizing composition rather than reading. […] As might be expected,
the more important role reading plays in a course, the better the reading test scores correlate
with course grades” (p. 6). Spiller and Hall also noted that those students with low reading
test scores “did not improve enough on their own to succeed in subsequent classes” (p. 7).
This finding suggests that outside intervention is needed in order for students with low
reading test scores to succeed in reading-intensive courses.
Gerow and Murphy (1980) conducted a similar study, assessing “the extent of the
relationship between Nelson-Denny Reading Test (NDRT) scores and introductory
psychology examination scores” (p. 553). Their results showed a median correlation between
NDRT scores and introductory psychology examination scores of approximately 0.56 (Gerow
& Murphy, 1980, p. 555). When standardized test scores were not available, Gerow and
82 Rebecca Babcock, Suzanne Rathbun, Jack Nichols et al.

Murphy recommended the NDRT as a useful substitute in predicting the academic

performance in introductory psychology classes. However, they were careful to point out that,
since “the NDRT is at best able to account for roughly 20 to 45% of the variance in class
grades, explorations for additional predictor variables that individually or collectively could
enhance the predictability of success in introductory psychology courses should continue” (p.
555).
Similar to the findings of Gerow and Murphy (1980), Erwin (1981) found that the NDRT
was a suitable substitute for the SAT-Verbal in predicting college grades, adding that the
NDRT is a more convenient and economical alternative. Wood (1982) also supported the
finding that the NDRT can be used in place of standardized tests, such as the SAT and ACT,
in predicting college freshmen grades and that the validity of the NDRT’s predictive function
increases when combined with high school GPA, which is identified as the “most valid,
single predictor of freshmen grades” (p. 579). Additionally, Royer, Marchant, Sinatra, and
Lovejoy (1990), Baron and Norman (1992), and Hudson, McPhee, and Petrosko (1993) have
all found a correlation between reading test scores and academic performance in college
courses.
King, Rasool, and Judge (1994) pointed to other variables as potentially more predictive
of college performance than SAT and NDRT scores, which they found not to be significant in
predicting success in reading-intensive courses. They suggested several possible explanations
for why these test scores were not good predictors including the importance of other factors
such as “student motivation, professor’s teaching style, or the features of a college (i.e. small
classes or emphasis on teaching rather than research)” as well as “course load, class size,
student learning style, and teaching skill” (p. 11).

Tutoring

Since we did not begin with a hypothesis but tested several possible factors in success,
we included attendance at tutoring sessions as a possible factor. Previous research has shown
that tutoring can improve the academic performance of both tutors and tutees (Juel, 1996).
Tutoring has been shown to benefit students’ academic performance in a number of ways
including keeping them from becoming frustrated and assisting them in completing work in
less time (Merrill, Reisterr, Merrill, & Landes, 1995). Along with tutoring, supplemental
instruction (SI) has been found to be an important component in students’ academic success.
A study conducted by Blanc, DeBuhr, and Martin (1983) concluded that supplemental
instruction was utilized by high-risk students and resulted in improved academic performance
and retention. Supplemental instruction is particularly useful in courses “in which the subject
matter is inherently difficult and presents a challenge even when taught by a skilled teacher to
motivated students” (Wolfe, 1987, p. 232). However, Visor, Johnson and Cole (1992) found
that students with positive self-esteem, internal locus of control and high self-efficacy were
more likely to be regular participants at SI sessions. Students who needed extra help most
were least likely to attend sessions, or if they did attend, they did not persevere.
 A Study of Factors Influencing Success in an Intro to English Linguistics 83

Motivation

In addition to reading level and attendance at tutoring and SI sessions, another important
factor in academic performance is student motivation. In a study of Developmental Education
Biology Students and academic motivation, Moore (2007) concluded that academic
motivation, more so than extra credit work, resulted in higher grades and that “Innate
intelligence is of little use unless it is accompanied by motivation” (p. 32). Schunk (1991)
maintained that while motivation and self-efficacy were related, “High self-efficacy will not
produce competent performances when requisite skills are lacking” (p. 209).

METHODS
In Summer and Fall 2007 a research team consisting of the lead investigator, a
demographer, a statistician and three assistants1 began data collection and got informed
consent on the first day of classes. The final data set consists of Babcock’s sections from
Summer 2007, Fall 2007, and Fall 2008, and 53 students from these sections (Summer ’07
n=20, Fall ’07 n=7 and Fall ’08 n=27) provided the participant pool for this research.
Participants included 11 males and 42 females. Three ethnic backgrounds were identified:
Hispanic (n=26), African American (n=1), Caucasian (n=23), and non-responding (n=3).
From the available data, 13 participants had received course prerequisites from local junior
colleges and 1 from an area University. Participants were not provided with incentives for
their participation.
We chose which factors to study through introspection (a common method in linguistics),
consulting with colleagues, and checking several articles (i.e. Mertens, 1990). The
information collected was the reading level (as reported by the NDRT) and self-reported data
such as the amount of time spent on the course and outside factors such as family and work
responsibilities. We also asked about socioeconomic level and whether or not they had a
friend in the class. In addition, we looked at time spent on various class activities including
reading, homework, and study sessions, and also gathered data on ethnicity (as determined by
the researcher), gender, major, and prerequisites. The Fall 2008 students were also asked
about their first language after the initial analysis showed Hispanics trended toward lower
reading levels.
The primary investigator decided to conduct the study with an assistant so the students
would feel comfortable being open with their responses. The assistant met with students and
got their informed consent. They took the Nelson-Denny reading test in class on the first day
of the semester and were asked to fill out an online survey at the end of the semester. Students
were also asked to keep a time log of their class activities. The assistant then conducted
unstructured follow-up interviews. She attempted to contact all students from the Fall ’06
group, but none of these chose to complete any activities associated with the study. As a
result we then decided to study the Summer and Fall ’07 courses, both in-class, with a follow-
up cohort of the Fall 2008 class.

1
In addition to the listed authors, Eileen Peters and Sherry McKibben were members of this team.
84 Rebecca Babcock, Suzanne Rathbun, Jack Nichols et al.

The data consists of Nelson Denny reading scores (reading level, vocabulary, and total
scores), journal entries, an online survey, and one-on-one interviews. Out of twenty-four
students in the summer 2007 course, twenty volunteered to participate in the study, five of
whom dropped the course. Out of the remaining fifteen participants, six answered the online
questionnaire and two completed interviews. Of the seven students in the fall 2007 class,
there were five participants, four of whom did interviews and only one of whom filled out the
online survey, resulting in a total of twenty grades and reading scores, seven surveys and six
interviews. For fall 2008 there were twenty-seven participants, twenty-two of whom took the
reading test, and one of whom withdrew, making a total of 41 participants with both grades
and reading scores.

RESULTS
Although the data does not lend itself to generalizeable conclusions, here we will point
out trends. We have treated these results as a pilot study to alert us to the factors that we need
to study and those of less importance. For instance, Babcock thought time spent on the course
would be a factor in student success. It became clear through the preliminary data collection
that time spent on the course did not seem to be a factor, nor did completion of all reading
assignments. We did notice, however, that reading score seemed to be an important predictive
factor, and attendance at tutoring and study sessions seemed to help those students who
otherwise might not have succeeded.
This study examined 53 university students in three school sessions (Summer ’07 n=20,
Fall ’07 n=7 and Fall ’08 n=27) to determine the factors associated with success. We looked
at reading levels for all three semesters, and since we suspected that attendance at tutoring
sessions may have been a factor, we recorded those numbers for the Fall ’07 and ’08 cohorts.
Of the five students with reading levels below grade 9, two earned Cs and three earned Fs.
Those who earned Cs attended numerous study sessions and tutoring sessions. Seven students
had reading levels of grades 10, 11, and 12; all these passed. Students with college reading
levels or above tended to do well, even without completing all the readings or spending a
great deal of time on the class. Out of the 41 participants with both grades and reading scores,
nine had reading levels above 17.9. Seven of these students got As, one got a C and one got a
D. In addition, all the students who got As had reading levels of 10th grade and above.
Students with reading scores above grade 12 who completed the course all got As and Bs with
two exceptions. Students who got Fs had the lowest average reading scores (9.2).

Table 1. Grades by reading level

Grades Min Max Mean/SD n=

A 10.3 18.9 16.06/3.15 15
B 12.3 17.3 15.5/1.7 10
C 4.1 18.4 12.2/4.9 11
D 14.6 18.8 16.7/2.9 2
F 5.8 13.9 9.2/4.2 3
 A Study of Factors Influencing Success in an Intro to English Linguistics 85

Table 2. Grades by study sessions

Grades None Some Many

A 3 2 2
B 7 1 1
C 4 6 0
D 4 0 0
F 0 2 0

Table 1 indicates the overall results of the reading levels and final course grades of the
students. Students who received F’s (n=3) in the course had lower reading levels than those
who received A’s-D’s (Table I). The question of whether or not the number of study sessions
attended was related to reading grade level was also addressed. Those few students with low
reading levels who attended more than one study session attained better grades than those
with lower reading levels who atteneded none. (See Table 2). Results indicated that students
with higher reading levels tended to make better grades in the course than those students with
lower reading levels, and students who attend study sessions improved their course grade
regardless of reading level.

DISCUSSION
This study produced more questions than answers, as so much more than reading level
goes into the grades in a class. While the sample was not large enough to formulate
generalizable results, there are some trends that we’d like to discuss.
After collecting data for a few semesters we have realized how important reading skill is
to success in courses in linguistics. Each semester Babcock offers extra tutoring sessions with
both a Graduate Teaching Assistant and a Supplemental Instruction Leader. Yet students still
struggle and all that could benefit do not take advantage of study sessions. A future
qualitative study could investigate students’ reading and study habits to determine what
specific behaviors are conducive to success. It is tempting to establish a minimum reading
score as a prerequisite for the course, but this seems impractical.
Very few students filled out the online surveys or completed the interview process;
however, the students who did so received either As or Bs. This tends to show that students
who are not successful in the course do not follow up on research activities, or even that
students who are not successful are less motivated in general. Perhaps successful students are
exceptionally motivated. Williams & Takaku (2011) found that it was not motivation but
help-seeking behavior that correlated with visiting the writing center and improved grades.
Students with As appeared to be those who had a high reading level without necessarily
putting in excessive hours, those with moderate reading levels who put in extra hours of
studying, or those who attended tutoring and study sessions. Students who failed appeared to
be those with reading levels below grade 9 who did not seek help. Of the four students in the
summer class who completed the course with a failing grade, one stopped attending and the
other three plagiarized. Only one student who plagiarized was a study participant, and her
reading score was 5.8. It appears that students who cannot understand the material they read
86 Rebecca Babcock, Suzanne Rathbun, Jack Nichols et al.

become panicked and then plagiarize as a last desperate act. It seems almost cruel to expect
students with an elementary reading level to complete college-level work, and although
disturbing, the plagiarism is not surprising. Upon repeating the course, this student
plagiarized again, and still has not finished her course work.2

Table 3. Grades by reading level male and female

Grades Reading level male Reading level female

A 15.9
B 17.7 15.9
C 11.0 13.5
D 18.8 14.6
F 13.9 6.8

Table 4. Ethnicity by overall reading level mean and gender reading level mean

Ethnicity Reading Level Mean Male Mean Female Mean

Caucasian 16.3 15.8 16.9
Hispanic 12.5 14.6 12.1
African American 11.1 11.1

Table 5. Grade by ethnicities mean reading level

Grade Caucasian Hispanic African American

A 17.3 14.2
B 15.23 15.21
C 17.6 9.1 11.1
D 18.1 14.6
F 13.9 6.9

At first we thought that whether the student took the prerequisite (Sophomore Literature)
at the junior college or university would have some effect. In actuality, where the prerequisite
was taken did not seem to have any effect on success. There was one student who had not
passed Sophomore Lit at all and was taking the prerequisite of that course (Comp II)
concurrently with the ENGL 3371 course. (She had already failed Comp II once and gotten
two Ds and was on her fourth attempt.) This was the student with a 5.8 grade reading level
mentioned above who failed the course, mainly due to plagiarism and not accepting the help
that was offered by the teacher. She explained later in an interview that English is her second
language and she was never educated in Spanish. She is a generation 1.5 learner; her
grandmother spoke Spanish and read to her in Spanish, and her parents both spoke English
and Spanish. She was placed in an ESL program in school. She had trouble with paraphrasing
but stated the writing center was helpful.

2
As of December 2011 she completed her course requirements to graduate.
 A Study of Factors Influencing Success in an Intro to English Linguistics 87

A study of the data indicated among ethnic groups Caucasians had the highest average
reading level. Gender indications were white females had the highest average reading level
(M = 16.9). See Table 3 for grades by reading level male and female. Students with the
highest reading levels used 88% of the study sessions and tutoring overall. Hispanic students
who used study sessions and tutoring benefited from their use more than any other ethnic
group. See table 4 for reading scores by ethnicity. Table 5 shows that Hispanics had lower
reading levels than Caucasians who achieved the same grades.

FUTURE RESEARCH
From the results we have determined that topics of interest to future research will be to
take a closer look at the intersection between reading levels, attendance at study sessions and
tutoring and resulting course grades. These study sessions can be student led and organized,
or led by the teacher, Supplementary Instruction leader, or graduate assistant. Tutoring is also
offered in reading and writing through student services. Further studies could also look at
race, gender, native language, and ethnicity as factors in success. An even more disturbing
question is why students with such low reading levels are in junior-level courses. Due to the
history of The University of Texas Permian Basin as an upper-level institution, most students
in the study were transfer students. Students more than 24 hours of transfer credit are
admitted with a 2.0 minimum grade point average. Further research may investigate how
students with low reading levels manage to “slip through” and take upper-level courses. It
may be profitable to look more closely at failing students and students with low reading
scores (low reading score appears to be predictive of a C or an F depending on the level of
outside help the student accesses). The difficulty will be following up on the failing students,
as they tend not to participate in follow-up activities. Again, because they do not fill out
surveys or participate in interviews, we don’t know if they are just not motivated or don’t
care, or if they are ashamed, hurt, or bitter and don’t wish to revisit a painful experience.
Closely tracking the type and amount of outside help students recieve should enable us to
verify our suspicions about the relationship of reading level to ultimate outcome in the course.
We will also try to determine the reason for low reading scores. Could it be ethnicity?
Knowledge of English? All students with low reading scores were Hispanic, but since none of
them filled out the survey, we do not know if English was their first or second language, or if
there were other factors such as test bias. Minorities have lower self-efficacy beliefs (Pajares,
2003), but we did not test for this so we cannot tell if there is a relationship. Rather than have
an online survey that students need to log on to fill out after the class is over, we will
personally follow up with students and interview them in person or by phone. The use of an
assistant is a good idea for confidentiality, but the assistant is not as motivated as the primary
investigator to strongly pursue participants to get responses.
We would also like to investigate the nature of the connection between attitude and
motivation and success in the course or attendance at tutoring and SI sessions. In Fall '07
students who did not attend tutoring responded that they didn't have time or the hours
available just weren't convenient for their schedule. In other words, they had other activities
that seemed more pressing than tutoring. None of the students in the off-campus section
attended reading tutoring on-campus. The director of the literacy center did not meet
88 Rebecca Babcock, Suzanne Rathbun, Jack Nichols et al.

personally with the students at the remote location as she did with the summer students who
took the class on-campus. In summer five students attended reading tutoring. Our results
imply that intro to linguistics courses should carry a minimum reading level of 13 as a
prerequisite, and require tutoring for those who fall below the level (10-12). Students with an
overall reading level below tenth grade should be discouraged from taking these courses.
Finally, we did not look at self-efficacy, which in subsequent research we have found is a
likely factor in success (Pajeres, 2003). A 2005 article by Buel and Alexander asserts that
“students’ beliefs about their ability to accomplish a specific task successfully (i.e., self-
efficacy) are related to their task choice, persistence, and performance” (p. 698). Systematic
interventions on the part of the professor can enhance, in a limited capacity, students’ beliefs
in their self-efficacy (Jackson, 2002). Future studies should measure the relationship between
students’ self-efficacy beliefs and their performance in linguistics.
Research designs, like teachers, need to be reflective and recursive, always changing and
updating in a feedback loop as we obtain new data, we refine what we are looking for, and
how we can best access that information. We are hoping to provide a positive experience for
students of all levels, and the continuation of this research should help us to do that.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Thanks to Carol Morris for editing and to Michael O. and Jason Babcock for their
insightful comments. Thanks also to Babcock’s Spring 2011 online ENGL 1301 class and her
online writing group for excellent feedback.

APPENDIX A: SURVEY QUESTIONS

 Do you feel you were successful in the course? (y/n)
 What was your grade?
 How many hours per week did you spend working on the class? (Broken down by
the following categories: Online, in class, reading, studying, doing homework,
researching, doing tests)
 Did you read all assigned materials? (if no, what percent did you read)
 How many times did you read the assigned materials?
 What outside obligations did you have and how many hours a week did these take?
 How many hours were you taking the semester you took 3371?
 Did you have the proper prerequisite? (sophomore English)
 Is English your first language?
 What is your country of birth/citizenship?
 Do you have a computer at home with internet access?
 Do you believe that the responsibility for learning is the teacher’s, student’s or both?
 Was the class an elective or a requirement?
 Did you have another reason for taking this class?
 What is your major and minor?
 A Study of Factors Influencing Success in an Intro to English Linguistics 89

 Did you take advantage of any student services? If so, which ones? (i.e. library,
writing center)
 Did you attempt to get help in any other way? If so, what did you do? (i.e. asked
friends, teacher for help, attend study sessions)
 Did you attend any study sessions, either with the teacher, assistant, or other
students? (You may select more than one.)
 What study or reading strategies did you use, if any?
 How did the performance of the teaching assistant affect your success in the class?
 Have you taken English Grammar or Spanish Linguistics?
 What is your preferred learning style? (auditory, kinesthetic, visual)
 Did you have a friend in the course?
 What is your socioeconomic status?

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the literature. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 19, 139-158. Retrieved from
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In: Student Learning: Improving Practice ISBN: 978-1-62618-887-7
Editor: Christopher Boyle © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 7

SUPPORTING STUDENT LEARNING THROUGH

COLLABORATIVE ASSESSMENT TASKS

Rosario Hernández
University College, Dublin, Ireland

ABSTRACT
The significance of student learning as a social activity often manifests itself in
collaborative learning through interaction and interdependence in higher education
contexts. Approaches such as Problem-Based Learning (PBL), task-based learning and
project work are examples of collaborative learning.
However, the translation of collaborative learning into collaborative assessment is
not always successfully accomplished, and often the collaborative learning approaches
are abandoned in favour of ‘individual’ assessment practices graded by academics; and,
even when students are involved in collaborative assessment, their dissatisfaction is often
reported in the literature.
This chapter makes a case for student interaction through peer-assessment tasks as a
way of supporting collaborative learning. It draws on data collected from students and
faculty staff from several higher education institutions in Ireland on the subject of peer
assessment.
Discussion of the findings highlights that staff and students, in principle, support
collaborative assessment, but its actual implementation seems to be less apparent. It is
argued that failure to recognise the potential of collaborative student peer assessment
tasks may be due to views of assessment held by faculty staff and by students, and to
students not being sufficiently prepared for involvement in collaborative assessment. A
number of proposals are suggested and substantiated by practices already implemented
by the author, which are intended to move forward the current debate on the topic of
collaborative assessment and pedagogical praxis.

Keywords: Collaborative assessment, student learning, student assessment

92 Rosario Hernández

INTRODUCTION
A shift from a teaching to a learning paradigm (Barr and Tagg, 1995), where the focus is
on what the students are learning has taken place in many higher education institutions in the
last few decades. A learning paradigm can unfold itself at different levels including the aims
of the institution, its program structures or the roles of faculty and students, to name a few.
Expressions of this paradigm are at least twofold; first, learning is defined in terms of what
students will be able to do (i.e. learning outcomes; Marsh, 2004) and second, it becomes a
social activity through interaction and interdependence (Vygotsky, 1978). A curriculum based
on learning outcomes has the potential to provide a cohesive structure to the teaching context
where students are required to take more responsibility for their learning. This is one of the
reasons why outcomes tend to be associated with a student-centred approach to teaching and
learning (Biggs, 2003).
Such an approach to teaching and learning entails active participation in the learning
process by the students, often in collaboration with one another.
Collaborative learning is becoming a common feature of students’ higher education
experience (Boud, Cohen, and Sampson, 2006). It epitomises the social constructivist
perspective on learning, emphasising the importance of others, including teachers as
mediators of learning (Vygotsky, 1978). Collaborative learning requires students to be
actively involved in the process of learning from the outset, through Problem Based Learning
(PBL), project work and task-based learning. However, collaborative learning, which is often
reported as conducive to learning (Bryan, 2006; Hernández, 2007c; McDowell et al., 2005), is
not always successfully translated into collaborative assessment. When collaborative
assessment is used, an objection is often raised about the allocation of marks to each student
on the basis of group work (Bloxham and Boyd, 2007; Falchikov, 2005). Thus, concerns
about collaborative assessment often surface in a number of areas including assessment of
process versus final product (Orr, 2010) or issues of fairness and free-loading students
(Maiden and Perry, 2011; Nordberg, 2008).
These matters could lead to resistance from students and faculty staff to engage in
collaborative assessment (Falchikov, 2005; Gibbs, 1999) or lack of support at institutional
level (Muldoon and Lee, 2007). As a result, when it comes to assessment, collaborative
learning approaches tend to be abandoned in favour of ‘individual’ assessment practices
graded by faculty staff. Even when group work is assessed the involvement of students in its
assessment is limited and their dissatisfaction is often reported in the literature. Falchikov
argues that “grading is not the most important aspect of involving students in assessment”
(2005, p. 167). Sluijsmans, Moerkerke, van Merriënboer, and Dochy, (2001) found that
students are not satisfied with awarding grades to their work. Furthermore, Patton (2012)
concluded that students are in favour of peer assessment as a formative exercise but are
highly critical of it as a summative practice. Shifting the involvement of students to formative
aspects of assessment could result in a more positive learning experience for the students than
if collaborative assessment focuses on summative activities that involve students in awarding
marks to each other’s work.
The type of collaborative assessment proposed in this chapter potentially results in deeper
individual learning as students actively engage with the comments that they award and
receive from fellow students and from faculty staff.
 Supporting Student Learning through Collaborative Assessment Tasks 93

LITERATURE REVIEW
Traditionally, assessment of learning in higher education has been teacher-led. Boud
(2007) argued that in the traditional discourse of assessment learners are “passive subjects”
with “no other role than to subject themselves to the assessment acts of others, to be measured
and classified” (p. 17). Thus, assessment that promotes learner-centred approaches is often
problematic because it raises issues of power and control between students and teachers
(Savin-Baden, 2004). In the literature on assessment, peer assessment is regarded as
particularly relevant to ensure that students are “placed at the centre of assessment, working
in partnership with academics to become autonomous and empowered in their learning”
(Bain, 2010, p. 25).
The literature on the use of peer assessment suggests that peer assessment generally
increases student responsibility for their own learning (McDowell and Sambell, 1999).
Sambell, McDowell, and Sambell (2006) argued that reducing the control of the tutor and
trusting students to respond to innovative methods of assessment allows students to exercise
greater learner autonomy. In addition, MacDonald’s (2011) study concluded that peer
assessment is seen positively by students and is perceived to motivate, to facilitate learning,
as is a fair method of assessment. Furthermore, peer assessment can enhance students’
confidence and self-esteem (Hernández, 2007a), and is crucial in the development of life-long
learning qualities (Brew, 1999; Hernández, 2007a; McDowell and Sambell, 1999). Other
benefits include the promotion of critical thinking (Dochy, Segers, and Sluijsmans, 1999),
and the reduction of test anxiety (Ioannou and Artino, 2010).
Resistance from students to becoming involved in collaborative assessment is often
highlighted in the literature (Falchikov, 2005; McDowell and Sambell, 1999; Sluijsmans et
al., 2001). One reason often given by students for such resistance is that they believe that it is
the responsibility of the teacher to assess students’ learning (Falchikov, 2005; Patton, 2012).
Students’ biases in assessing the work of their peers and their lack of knowledge on how to
carry out such tasks are factors often mentioned by teachers as reasons for not involving
students in the assessment of their own learning (Falchikov, 2005). However, Sambell et al.
claim that often students feel they are “thrown in the deep end” (2006, p. 162) and the
provision of structured and guided activities is needed during the early stages of their
university studies to support them in the development of peer assessment practices.
In the same way, Segers and Dochy’s study (2001) concludes that despite positive
attitudes of students about collaborative assessment, there is a need to develop their skills in
this field. McDowell and Sambell (1999) contend that students are in a better position to take
control of their learning when they are provided with the criteria that will be used to assess
their learning.
However, Price and O’Donovan (2006) demonstrated that defined criteria is not enough
to ensure a positive effect on students’ learning unless teachers and learners engage with the
criteria in developing a common understanding. Falchikov (2005) also suggests that time be
devoted to providing an explanation to the learners about their responsibilities and their role
in the process of assessment. In addition to the adequate training and preparation of students
for collaborative assessment, Pettigrew, Scholten, and (2011) argue that an alignment
between assessment tasks and learning outcomes is essential.
94 Rosario Hernández

Falchikov (2005) further suggests that faculty staff need to establish communities of
practice (Wenger, 1998) to share knowledge and obtain support from colleagues who are
already committed to collaborative assessment.

CONTEXT
Collaborative assessment involves the student, their peers and teacher in a critical
assessment of student work. While the assessment is done collaboratively, the tasks may have
been the result of individual or group work.
This chapter makes a case for student interaction through a variety of assessment tasks as
a way of supporting collaborative learning within this new learning paradigm. It addresses the
question of how collaborative assessment tasks support learning by developing students’
capacity to evaluate the quality of their work.
Two case studies, taken from classroom practices developed by the author’s work in a
higher education institution illustrate how student learning can be supported through
collaborative assessment activities. The case studies will be described later in the chapter.
Prior to the case studies, empirical work on peer assessment will be examined in order to
understand how to support students through collaborative assessment. This study was carried
out during 2007-2008 with faculty staff and undergraduate students from the departments of
Hispanic Studies in the seven universities in the Republic of Ireland (Table 1).

METHOD
Influenced by those who promote flexible methods (Robson, 2002) that make use of data
in the form of numbers as well as in the form of words, this study is based on quantitative and
qualitative data collected from two questionnaires and from interviews. To maintain the
anonymity of the institutions, each university has been identified by a letter, e.g. A, B, C, etc.
The faculty staff cohort was drawn from two groups. The larger group comprised of all
academic staff from seven departments/sections of Hispanic Studies in the universities who
completed a postal questionnaire.
The second group was a sub set of the participants in the questionnaire, either in their
capacity as heads of department/section, or as a member of the staff nominated by the head of
the department/section. They participated in a semi-structured interview carried out by the
author. The student sample was drawn from those individuals who were available and/or
willing to participate in the completion of the questionnaire on the day that the researcher
visited their university.

Table 1. Number of participants in target sample and the final sample

Group Target Final

Faculty 68 41
Heads of subject or nominee 7 7
Students 138 138
 Supporting Student Learning through Collaborative Assessment Tasks 95

For the purpose of analysis, 41 completed surveys from faculty staff were classified with
an ID number (S1, S2, … S41). Interviews were fully transcribed and an ID number was
assigned to each interview (I1, I2, … I7) to preserve the anonymity of the participants and
their institutions. Similarly, each student questionnaire was coded according to the university
from which it originated (e.g. A, B, C, etc.) and was given an ID number ranging from 1 to
138.
For example (D.84) refers to a reply given by a student from university D, who has been
given the ID code 84. Qualitative data were coded into categories using content analysis.
Only data connected to collaborative assessment has been utilised in this chapter.

FINDINGS
The findings are structured into two sets. Firstly, quantitative data on the views of faculty
staff and students about the involvement of students in collaborative assessment, specifically
through peer assessment practices are reported.
The data is from the two surveys completed by the participants (faculty staff and
students). The second set of data, which arose from the surveys and from interviews
conducted with a sub-group of faculty staff focuses qualitative data related to the views of
faculty and students who are in favour or against the involvement of students in peer
assessment practices.

Views of Faculty and Students about Student Involvement Peer Assessment

Practices: Quantitative Data

A 5-point Likert scale was used to elicit, in general terms, the extent to which peer
(collaborative) assessment is used by faculty staff. More than half of the respondents (63.4%)
indicated that they ‘never’ or ‘rarely’ involve students in peer assessment practices (Q.
A1.14; Table 2).
To glean an insight from the cohort of students participating in this study on their
involvement in tasks related to the assessment of their learning in Hispanic Studies programs,
they were asked to indicate the extent to which teachers involve the students in practices that
require their engagement in the assessment of the work of their classmates (Q. A6.4). Peer
assessment practices reported by the students appear to be more limited than those reported
by faculty staff, with 56.5% of students stating that it is ‘never’ used and 31.2% reporting that
it is ‘rarely’ used. The results are displayed in Table 3.
A Likert scale (4-point) was used to request faculty staff to provide further details about
the use of specific practices associated with collaborative assessment (Q. A8).

Table 2. Percentage of faculty staff reporting student involvement in peer assessment

Involvement of students in Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

assessment (N= 41) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
‘Peer assessment’ 29.3 34.1 19.5 17.1 0
96 Rosario Hernández

Table 3. Percentage of students reporting their involvement in peer assessment

Involvement of students in Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

assessment (N= 138) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
‘Peer assessment’ 56.5 31.2 10.1 2.2 0

Table 4. Percentage of faculty staff reporting student involvement in peer assessment

practices

Type of student involvement in peer Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently

assessment (N= 41) (%) (%) (%) (%)
‘Orally peer to peer’ 80.5 7.3 0 12.2
‘Orally in groups’ 70.7 2.4 24.4 2.4
‘Written peer to a peer’ 90.3 2.4 4.0 2.4
‘Given written comments in groups’ 82.9 4.9 9.8 2.4
‘Give a grade to another student’ 82.9 4.9 9.8 2.4
‘Giving a grade in groups’ 87.9 7.3 2.4 2.4

Six options were given: a) ‘one student comments orally in class on the work of a
classmate’, b) ‘in groups, students comment orally on the work of a classmate or group work’,
c) ‘a student comments in writing on the work of a classmate’, d) ‘in groups, students
comment in writing on the work of a classmate or group work’ e) ‘a student provides a grade
to the work of another student’, f) ‘in groups, they give a grade to the work of a classmate or
to group work’.
Additionally, there was space for the respondents to include ‘other’ types of peer
assessment practices if the options provided did not cover the peer assessment practices used
in their departments/sections. The only peer assessment practice that appears to be used more
often comes under category b) when ‘students, in small groups comment orally on the work
of a classmate or on group work’, reported as being used ‘frequently’ or ‘sometimes’ by one
quarter of the respondents (26.8%). Assessing work orally, peer to peer was reported as being
used ‘frequently’ by 12.2% of the participants. One reply under the ‘other’ option was ‘the
whole class or group commenting on the work of a student’ (anonymous), which could be
incorporated into category b). The full results are displayed in Table 4.
In an attempt to establish what types of peer-assessment practices were used, the same
question was included in the survey for students (Q. A8). The same six options provided in
the survey for faculty staff appeared on the survey for students. Additionally, there was space
for the respondents to include ‘other’ types of peer assessment practices if the options
provided did not cover the peer assessment practices used in their departments/sections.
The results show that the frequencies with which peer-assessment practices are used in
the assessment of students’ learning are quite low regarding all the options presented to the
students. Peer assessment in the form of ‘oral comments to a student’s work’ was reported as
being used ‘sometimes’ and ‘frequently’ by 8.4% of the respondents and being engaged in
‘oral peer assessment in a group’ was reported as being used ‘sometimes’ and ‘frequently’ by
6.5% of the respondents.
The option to provide ‘other’ types of activities that entailed peer-assessment was not
utilised by any of the students. The results are displayed in Table 5.
 Supporting Student Learning through Collaborative Assessment Tasks 97

Table 5. Percentage of students reporting involvement in assessing work from their

classmates

Type of student involvement in peer Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently

assessment (N= 138) (%) (%) (%) (%)
‘Orally peer to peer’ 87.6 4.3 7.2 0.7
‘Orally in groups” 89.8 3.6 6.5 0
‘Written peer to peer’ 92.7 2.2 4.3 0.7
‘Given written comments in groups’ 93.8 3.5 1.7 0.7
‘Give a grade to another student’ 89.8 5.8 3.6 0.7
‘Giving a grade in groups’ 95.0 2.9 1.4 0.7

Views of Faculty and Students on Student Involvement Peer Assessment

Practices: Qualitative Data

Faculty staff and students’ views, in favour and against the involvement of students in
collaborative assessment, were sought from qualitative data arising from the two surveys and
from the interviews conducted with faculty staff. Due to space constraints, only a brief
summary of the findings is presented.
In general, faculty staff and students alike were quite favourable to the idea of students
being involved in the assessment of their own learning, as demonstrated by 84.2% of faculty
staff replying ‘yes’ to that question (Q. A6) and 52.2% of the students ‘strongly agreed’ or
‘agreed’ with the idea (Q. A9).
Sample quotations of views in favour of student involvement in the assessment of their
learning are presented in Table 6.
Although the majority of faculty staff and students were in favour of the idea of students
being involved in the assessment of their own learning, it should be noted that a significant
minority of faculty (37.8%) and of students (29.6%) gave reasons against the idea (see
summary in Table 7). Only 15.8% of faculty staff were of the opinion that they did not
believe that students should be involved in the assessment of their own learning (Q. A6) and
9.4% of students ‘disagreed’ or ‘strongly disagreed’ with the statement that ‘students should
be involved in the assessment of their learning’ (Q. A9).
Sample quotations of views against student involvement in the assessment of their
learning are presented in Table 7.

DISCUSSION
This study focused on how broadly undergraduate students of Hispanic Studies programs
are involved in assessing the work of their peers. The findings show that there is very limited
involvement of students in assessment that entails collaboration with their peers.
The six categories given to the participants (faculty staff and students) on different forms
of collaborative assessment go from formative practices - orally or in writing form - to the
grading of work which in many cases has a summative function.
98 Rosario Hernández

Table 6. Reasons given by faculty staff and students in favour of the involvement of
students in the assessment of their learning

Sample views from the

Reason Sample views from faculty
students
“You are more likely
Increases student “It builds on their motivation and motivated to learn” (C.29)
motivation engagement” (S27) “It could provide more
motivation to do well” (F.92)
“Students can identify
mistakes, rectify them and
improve” (C.37)
Fosters students’ “Students become more aware of
“In correcting and reviewing
awareness of their issues, be they linguistic or
our work, we have to look
strengths and limitations structural” (S8)
more closely to find mistakes,
which helps us remember
them better” (F.95)
“Students take more responsibility
Contributes to greater for their learning” (S11)
student autonomy and “In order to achieve the
responsibility independent learning of the
student” (S32)
“Find this an excellent method of “It could prove interesting to
Makes students aware of
getting students to understand understand how marks are
what is required
criteria of assessment” (S41) gained or lost” (C.34)

Table 7. Reasons given by faculty staff and students against the involvement of students
in the assessment of their learning

Reason Sample views from faculty Sample views from the students
“It is up to the qualified faculty to
“I believe students are, largely, assess work (D.64)
Only faculty are
immature for such assessment” “Students are neither experts in
qualified and students
(S1) the language nor experts in
don’t have the
“Formal assessment is what the assessment. They do not have a
knowledge
lecturer is there to do” (S38) knowledge of university
requirements” (G.133)
Peer assessment is “Students would be biased
biased towards each others work” (C.31)
“If other students are involved,
Produces classroom
then it can become embarrassing
anxiety
for the student” (C.44)
“Not sure how this could work”
(S33)
General reluctance “I have mixed feelings” (S21)
“Not in third level education”
(S36)
 Supporting Student Learning through Collaborative Assessment Tasks 99

For the purpose of the author’s study, results under categories b) and d) (i.e. students
working in groups are engaged in assessing the work of their classmates, see p. 6), are the
most relevant because of their formative function. However, it may be appropriate to start by
implementing categories a) and c) (i.e. when one student is involved in assessing the work of
another peer on a one-to-one basis) so as to build trust among students in how to assess the
work of another classmate. Great care needs to be taken in the process of involving learners in
their own assessment if it is to be successful. The building of trust among students and
between the teacher and the learners (Carless, 2009) is essential to create an atmosphere
where collaborative assessment can take place. As suggested in the literature (Hernández,
2007b, 2012; Price and O’Donovan, 2006; Sambell, et al., 2006), the involvement of students
in the understanding and development of assessment criteria appears to have a very positive
effect in helping them to internalise the criteria which is an essential step towards the
involvement of students in the process of collaborative assessment. For further details on how
to involve students in the development and understanding of assessment criteria see
Hernández (2007b; 2012).
A further analysis of the six categories listed in Table 4 indicates that although the use of
collaborative assessment is limited, faculty staff appear to be using collaborative assessment
practices with formative functions ‘sometimes’ and ‘frequently’ in oral (26.8%) or written
(12.2%) group activities. This is encouraging as it indicates that faculty staff seem to be
aware of the significance of collaborative assessment to support student learning. Data from
the students (Table 5) on the other hand, is less conclusive as the involvement of students in
collaborative assessment ‘sometimes’ and ‘frequently’ is very low in each of the categories.
Although it is encouraging that collaborative assessment appears to be used somewhat in the
context of oral activities, the results from this study suggest that there is still a long way to go
before collaborative assessment could be a reality in Hispanic Studies.
From an analysis of the qualitative data, it appears that the majority of faculty staff and
students are in favour of students being involved in the assessment of their own learning.
Both groups commented that the participation of students in the assessment process makes
students more aware of their strengths and limitations and provides a better understanding of
the assessment criteria and the standard required of them. These findings concur with those of
Hernández (2007b). As indicated above, another reason given by academics in favour of
student involvement in assessment is that it increases motivation for learning, contributing to
greater responsibility and autonomy on their part for their learning. This supports similar
findings by McDowell and Sambell (1999) who reported that peer assessment gave students
more responsibility and autonomy to take control of their learning. Students in the present
study, however, did not believe that involvement in their assessment significantly enhanced
their responsibility or autonomy. However, they reported that their involvement in the
assessment process encouraged them to act on the feedback received. The findings suggest
that both academics and students recognise the significant benefits of the involvement of
students in the process of assessment.
When looking at the views of faculty staff and students against student involvement in
collaborative assessment, both groups expressed the opinion that only faculty staff are
qualified to assess student learning. In the case of faculty staff, their reluctance to involve
students in the assessment process was attributed to a number of factors including a belief that
it was not appropriate in third level education to engage students in this practice and were
unsure about how it would work, questioning the ability of students to assess their own work.
100 Rosario Hernández

In line with Sambell et al.’s study (2006), it must be acknowledged that students need
training and preparation to successfully participate in collaborative assessment. Students
require guided activities to support them in the development of peer assessment during the
early stages of their university studies. Students were more explicit in expressing their views
against student involvement in collaborative assessment; they perceived peer assessment as
biased and that assessing each other would be embarrassing and stressful. The reluctance
expressed by faculty staff and students to be involved in peer assessment practices may be the
result of tradition and beliefs about how assessment should be approached. These views
reinforce the idea of a teacher-led approach to assessment and give faculty staff total control
of assessment practices with students being mere recipients of assessment practices decided
by their teachers. Although these results are not particularly unique to this study, they
demonstrate the need to address faculty staff and students’ perceptions about student’s ability
to assess their work and to provide the necessary steps to facilitate collaborative assessment.
Numerous case studies on collaborative assessment in higher education that support this
practice can be found in the literature (see for example an edited collection by O’Neill,
Huntley-More and Race, 2007 or McDowell et al., 2005). Two case studies in which
collaborative assessment is a driver of student learning are described below. They are from
the author’s experience of teaching in higher education.

COLLABORATIVE ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES: CASE STUDIES

Case Study 1: Assessment of Group Presentations Done in Groups (Orally)

Level 2 students of Spanish (undergraduate students generally take modules at Level 1,

Level 2 and Level 3) enrolled in a business language module work in groups to develop a
business project. A peer-assessment activity is used earlier in the semester to train students on
how to assess oral work presented by the groups working on the project. A set of criteria is
agreed upon among the students and the teacher and is used to assess a five-minute oral
presentation on one aspect of the group project. There are generally five working groups with
four or five students in each group, as the total number of students taking this module ranges
between 20 and 25 each year. When all the groups have completed their presentations, which
are also video-recorded so that students can obtain a copy of their group presentation, each
group is given an opportunity to express their views orally on each of five short presentations
delivered. The aim of the exercise is to reflect on how to improve the final presentation of
their group at the end of the semester. This activity appears to be a beneficial way of
involving students in the assessment of their work in a non-threatening manner. Each group is
able to see for themselves the aspects of their presentation that need to be improved (e.g.
content, coordination of group work, use of slides, oral skills in Spanish, time management)
when they compare their presentation with the presentations given by the other groups. The
students perceive this activity positively and they are enthusiastic to provide comments on the
presentations. They appear to benefit more from reflecting in groups about their presentation,
having seen the presentations of all the groups, than if the teacher tells them the criteria that
would be used to assess the presentations of the group projects but are not allowed to apply
the criteria on their own work.
 Supporting Student Learning through Collaborative Assessment Tasks 101

Case Study 2: Assessment of Written Texts Done in Groups

(Orally and in Written Form)

Undergraduate students of Spanish enrolled in a Level 3 language module complete a

written task individually (in Spanish) outside the classroom. Students are requested to submit
the stories typed in a Word document format. The teacher removes the names of the students
from the texts and gives each story an ID from 1 to 25 (or whatever is the total number of
texts submitted). The teacher reads the stories and organises them in six sets - four/five stories
in each set - ensuring that in each set there is a mixture of stories whose quality is excellent,
good, adequate or poor. Only the teacher knows who the authors of the stories are.
Then, the students are involved in a peer-assessment activity in class. The teacher divides
students into six groups and the task of each group is to act as the jury of the stories by
agreeing on classifying the stories according to their quality by applying the assessment
criteria that has been adopted to assess previous tasks. The teacher ensures that the members
of the groups are different from those whose stories are distributed so that none of the stories
allocated to them belongs to any member of the group. By doing so, not only is anonymity
ensured but it also allows students to engage in the assessment process without being
embarrassed by confronting them with the assessment of their own story in a public domain.
An amount of class time is allocated to reporting orally from each group. One of the students
in each group acts as spokesperson on behalf of the group and he/she has to report to the rest
of the class the recommendations of the group. Each group also provides a written report on
each story commenting on positive features and providing recommendations to the
anonymous author on what could be improved. This peer-assessment activity is non-
threatening because the names of the students have been removed from the assignments.
Students do not express any fears in providing comments on anonymous assignments
(Hernández, 2007c).

CONCLUSION
This study has shown that faculty staff and students seem to be in favour of the idea of
involving students in the assessment of their learning. However, both groups reported a
limited use of practices where students are involved in the assessment of their learning. The
perception by both groups that assessment is something that should be controlled by the
experts must be challenged, as there is evidence from the literature that students are capable
of assessing their own work if they are provided with the right conditions to do so. The
historical tradition of assessment for grading and certification seems to be a barrier in moving
towards practices of assessment with greater involvement of students in developing skills to
assess the value of their work. Those perceptions suggest that faculty staff need to introduce
practices involving collaborative assessment that do not necessarily entail grading for
summative purposes; only then may students achieve a greater awareness of their ability to
assess their own work and to appreciate its value in enhancing their learning.
Shifting the beliefs of faculty staff and students about the benefits of collaborative
assessment will take time. This shift implies sharing power between faculty staff and
students, fostering engagement and working towards students taking responsibility for their
102 Rosario Hernández

own assessment. In addition, preparing students to get involved in the development of

assessment criteria, and building student confidence in their ability to assess their work are
not easy tasks for faculty staff. Case studies documenting how students can be involved in the
process of assessment provide opportunities for faculty staff to familiarise themselves with
existing practices in which students are involved in collaborative assessment. Besides, faculty
staff that wish to introduce collaborative assessment practices but lack the necessary
pedagogical knowledge could participate in workshops that address how to develop
collaborative assessment tasks and their implementation. Furthermore, the creation of
communities of practice at the departmental/section level would provide the context in which
academics could share their practices with each other and encourage others to introduce
collaborative assessment practices. Communities of practice have the potential to support
faculty staff in the implementation of classroom practices. In addition, communities of
practice could provide the context for faculty staff to engage in research activities such as
action-based research and/or practitioner enquiry studies that would contribute to institutional
change in the areas of pedagogy and in the scholarship of assessment.

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In: Student Learning: Improving Practice ISBN: 978-1-62618-887-7
Editor: Christopher Boyle © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 8

EXAMINING THE ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR

CULTURAL CONNECTEDNESS FOR STUDENT
LEARNING: A SOCIOCULTURAL ANALYSIS

Val Klenowski1, Stephen Connolly1 and Robert Funnell2

1
Queensland University of Technology, Australia
2
Griffith University, Australia

ABSTRACT
The disparity that exists between the highest and lowest achieverstogether with
deficit approaches to teaching, learning and assessmentraise serious equity issues related
to fairness, validity, culture and access,which were analysed in a recent Australian
Research Council funded project. This chapter explores the potential that exists for
teachers to work with Indigenous Teacher Assistants (ITAs) to secure cultural
connectedness in teaching, learning and assessment of Indigenous students. The study
was a design experiment, which was conducted in seven Catholic and Independent
primary schools in northern Queensland and involved semi-structured focus group
interviews with Year 4 and 6 Indigenous students, principals, teachers and Indigenous
Teacher Assistants. Classroom observations and document analyses were also conducted.
This corpus of data was analysed using a sociocultural theoretical lens. The use of a
sociocultural analysis helped to identify cultural influences, Indigenous students’ funds of
knowledge and values. The information from this analysis was made explicit to teachers
to demonstrate how they could enhance theirpedagogic and assessment practices
byembracing and extending the cultural spaces for learning and teaching of Indigenous
students. The way in which teachers construct their interactions for greater cultural
connectedness and enhanced learning would appear to rely on relationship building with
Indigenous staff, Indigenous students’ cultural knowledge, and improved understanding
of assessment and related equity issues.

Keywords: Fairness, assessment, sociocultural analysis, Indigenous education, inclusive

education
106 Val Klenowski, Stephen Connolly and Robert Funnell

This chapter draws on a mathematics education research project centred on teachers’

assessment and pedagogyin classrooms inclusive ofsome Indigenous Australian(Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander) students to explore how such classroom practices could be more
culturally responsive. The study aimed to provide greater understanding about how to build
more equitable assessment to address the issue of underperforming Indigenous students in
regional and remote Australia, and to open up increased opportunities for Indigenous students
to achieve success. While seeking to identify assessment practices that are fair and culturally
responsive the project sought to understand the necessary pedagogical changes required of
teachers. Although the main study included an exploration of the attitudes, beliefs and
responses of Indigenous students to assessment in the context of mathematics learning, this
chapter focuses on teachers and Indigenous Teacher Assistants (ITA) and their classroom
practices. Indigenous Teacher Assistant is used throughout this chapteralthough other terms
that are frequently used are Indigenous Education Worker (IEW) and Indigenous Education
Aide (IEA).
Currently, Indigenous students underachieve in mathematics in schools where the
conditions are unsupportive as the mathematics teachers are generally inexperienced (Warren,
Baturoand Cooper, 2010) and there are limited family capital and resources in these regions.
Such conditions are not evident where above average performance in national standardised
tests is achieved. It is our proposition that when teachers are supported to understand the
importance of cultural awareness, intercultural relationships, code-switching to access
mathematical language and use cultural examples of mathematical concepts, this combination
of understanding promotes energy generating factors that contribute to cultural responsive
pedagogy for more socially just outcomes. We argue that the potential for more cultural
responsive pedagogy and assessment requires productive working relationships with the
students first and foremost, and second with the Indigenous community via the
ITA.Productive working relationships comprise processes and pedagogic practices that
support learning and include content knowledge, knowledge of learners, diagnostic strategies,
high expectations, and an ethic of care. The role of the ITA is little understood and requires
teachers to rethink their working relationships in classrooms, which forms a tenet of our
argument.
We begin with contextual backgroundregarding the sub-field of Indigenous Education
within the Australian field of education. In particular, we provide the policy context of
influential discourses. An overview of the research project and explanation of the
methodology of a design experiment follow. In the discussion we unveil taken-for-granted
approaches within classroom practices and illustrate how ITAs can help to fulfill an important
role as mediators between Indigenous cultures,includingIndigenous students’ funds of
knowledge and teachers’ classroom assessment and learning practices.

BACKGROUND
This chapter is derived from research conducted at seven schools in regional Queensland,
Australia. Our focus is on the relationships within the classrooms that drive everyday
practice, and through which a range of responses are developed to the mediating sociological
factors present in all classrooms at all times. Factors which became most evidently influential
 Examining the Assessment Opportunities for Cultural Connectedness … 107

in our research were found to emanate from two distinct cultures positioned within the sub-
field of Indigenous Education within the Australian field of education; one, the socially
positioned culture of Australian schools, and two, the cultural position of Indigenous students
attending the schools involved in the study.
Sadly the old cliché a clash of cultures is an apt description of the situation encountered.
Despite government rhetoric and the best intentions of some (though not all) school staffto
engage Indigenous students in the standardised, Westernised and White (Hickling-Hudson,
2005; Moreton-Robinson, 1999) form of education prescribed by government curriculums,
many of the Indigenous students in our study were unable to assimilate successfully with
school culture, or succeed in terms of “legitimate” (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990, p. 162)
educational attainment. We found that the majority of Indigenous students in the classrooms
we observed were not provided with the sociocultural tools or ways of participationto fully
engage with and comprehend the intentions of the teachers and school staff, not necessarily in
terms of grasping the nature of prescribed educational content, but more in terms of not being
able to access the privileged language, which refers to the legitimate and recognised
discourses of the school culture.
For some of these students English is a second (or third, or fourth) language and so some
difficulties with translation were experienced, but the greater barrier to understanding was the
culturally situated structure of classroom discourses and the mismatch of meanings and
understandings generated by culturally specific language and terminologies. In this sense, the
problem of a breakdown in classroom interaction resides in understanding, both what teachers
understand to be effective practices of communication and the actual understanding or
reading of those practices by Indigenous students. This disconnection of dialogue exposes the
inconsistency between sociocultural positioning of teachers and students in classroom settings
and emphasises the often incompatible nature of interaction processes initiated by teachers.
Following is a description of the discourses and structures that constitute the school culture
and the teachers’ habitus (Bourdieu, 2007) in the present study.
The schools involved in this research contribute to the various discourses that structure
theory, policy, and practice of Indigenous education in Australia. By this we mean the various
approaches, methods, regulations, and conceptualisations of teaching Indigenous students in
Australian schools. Following Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Apology to Australia’s
Indigenous Peoples in 2008, all Australian governments “adopted a new approach and
committed to six ambitious, long term, Closing the Gap targets which aim to bridge the divide
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in life expectancy, educational
achievement and employment opportunities” (DEEWR, 2008, p. iii). Of the six targets the
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) has key
responsibility for the following:

1. to ensure all Indigenous four year olds in remote communities have access to early
childhood education within five years;
2. to halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for Indigenous
children within a decade;
3. to halve the gap for Indigenous students in year 12 attainment or equivalent
attainment rates by 2020; and
4. to halve the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians within a decade. (DEEWR, 2012)
108 Val Klenowski, Stephen Connolly and Robert Funnell

DEEWR’s commitment to these responsibilities has been documented in several

Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) publications (DEEWR, 2009, 2011a) and several
evaluative reports have been generated from Australian Government Indigenous Education
programs (Australian Government, 2008, 2011; DEEWR, 2008, 2010, 2011b). Thus, the field
of Australian Indigenous education is largely developed from, and regulated by, Government
RAP initiatives and reporting instruments. This approach to policy instigation and
management is homologous with the Australian Government’s development of
nationalisedstandardised education and assessment which has seen the development of the
National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), the My School website
and the Australian Curriculum.
A particular student interaction, teaching and learning context exists for teachers and staff
at the seven schools included within this study; these schools are entrenched in the DEEWR
Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and at the same time accountable for the prescriptive
participation requirements of NAPLAN and the introduction of the Australian Curriculum.
These government initiatives are supported by funding, however budget allocations are
constrained and regulated by accountability and reporting.
Apple (2005) discusses the exponential expansion of commodifying logics in relation to
worldwide trends in education and uses the term audit culture to describe a global
phenomenon of the “odd combination of marketization on the one hand and centralization of
control on the other” (p. 382). He maintains that the prominent discourses and basic
assumptions that generate and foster neoliberal, neoconservative, and new managerial forms
have profoundly influenced not only institutions but even our better judgement.
This form of audit culture has been fostered by successive Australian Governments
(Liberal Party 1996 – 2007; Australian Labor Party 2007 – present) which have
prioritisedstandards and school/staff evaluation as a means of measuring school performance
and regulating funding (Connell, 2009). In the pursuit of raising achievement levels to
compete in international scaling reports, such as the Program for International Student
Assessment (PISA), Government policies have focused on standardised education and
assessment as the catalyst for improved student outcomes in schools (Rawolle and Lingard,
2008; Reid, 2011). Achieving these increases has become a prescriptive and systematised
policy directive in schools, shaping discourses in classrooms, teaching and learning practices,
and school leadership structures and responsibilities (Ball, Hoskins, Maguire, and Braun,
2011). Bartlett, Knight and Lingard(1992) described reforms in education as subsumed within
a “national metapolicy of corporate federalism which is an amalgam of beliefs or discourses
including neocorporatism, economic rationalism, corporate managerialism and human
capital” (p. 19). As Connell (2009) points out, the various state produced professional
standards documents are laden with the language of “corporate managerialism; ‘challenges’,
‘goals’, ‘stakeholders’, ‘partnerships’, ‘strategies’, ‘commitment’, ‘capacity’, ‘achievable’,
‘effective’, ‘flexible’, and ‘opportunities’” (pp. 219-220). This structuring of the Australian
field of education is constituted according to the logical principles(Bourdieu, 1977,1990,
1998; Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990) of evaluation and accountability, which have mediated
classroom relationships.
All Australian states and territories have recently become concerned with teacher
accountability (Connell, 2009). Teacher and school accountability often causes teachers and
school-administrators concern due to institutional dispositions towards evaluation. Teachers
often feel uneasy about ambiguity in prescriptive practice demands and uncertainty of future
 Examining the Assessment Opportunities for Cultural Connectedness … 109

demands in government prioritisededucational initiatives (Conley and Glasman, 2008).

School administrators may experience pressure concerning the multiple and often conflicting
priorities and demands of their work and can bestressed by perceived workloads and
deadlines (Pounder and Merrill, 2001). Nevertheless, Australian governments see the
implementation of professional evaluation as a means of both justifying budget allocation and
ensuring student performance in league tables and national performance in PISA.
These are the contextual issues of the currentstudy. Teachers and students were engaging
in discourses underpinned by Australian government education reforms and couched in the
euphemistic language of equal opportunity and management through accountability and
evaluation. We found teachers were struggling in classroom situations to make sense of the
DEEWR’s teaching approaches prescribed by Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) initiatives in
light of their perceived responsibilities towards an audit culture which is permeating schools
across Australia. Classroom contexts are conflictedby educational systems whichboth group
students in a one-size-fits-all approach to assessment and outcomes, and also only recognise
and reward individual performances in terms of awarding legitimate cultural capital. DEEWR
advocates close relationships and understanding of student needs in RAP documents yet
many teachers have not received adequate training to effectively make these connections with
Indigenous students.
Moreover, this study found that Western-White values were most often the cultural
aesthetic of school work and school discourses produced in classroom sites. Western-White
cultural capital regulates the exchange rates within the schools and Indigenous habitus is
misrecognised. The identification of a view of Indigeneity couched in euphemistic discourses
of remedial approaches to language assimilation, and indeed cultural assimilation, mediated
school culture and classroom discourses. Teachers with good intentions may strive to include
students in the cultural literacy and culturally specific funds of knowledge of the classroom,
but have not had the professional training, nor the cultural experience to provide for effective
or proficient inclusion processes within the classroom. There are degrees of proficiency and
experience but on the whole teachers’ classroom practices are mediated by an audit culture,
are largely driven by dispositions external to classroom settings, and consequently are falling
short of full empathetic recognition, acceptance and inclusion of students from non-dominant
cultural backgrounds in the classroom.

OVERVIEW
This project was an Industry Linkage program funded by the Australian Research
Council, conducted in seven Catholic and Independent primary schools in northern
Queensland with industry partners: Catholic Education and the Association of Independent
Schools, Queensland.The research problem related to the patterns of under-achievement by
Indigenous students as reflected in national benchmark databases such as National
Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and international testing programs
like the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program for
International Student Assessment (PISA). A trend of underperformance in terms of equity has
continued over the past six years as is evident from the comparative analyses of PISA results,
first administered in 2000, in 2003, in 2006 and again in 2009.
110 Val Klenowski, Stephen Connolly and Robert Funnell

We explored the teaching conditions andorganisation of assessment in the sevenschools

where the performance of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students varied and fluctuated. The
perspectives of senior staff, ITAs, and teachers who were teaching at least some Indigenous
students were analysed. The number of Indigenous students in relation to the rest of the
school’s student population in theseresearch schools varied from 5%, 6%, 7% (in two
schools),13%, 21% to 100%. In the latter school, 92% of these Indigenous students had
Languages Other Than English (inclusive of a mix of first, second and possibly third
languages).
A sociocultural conceptual framework was adopted to explain why and how variations in
achievement might occurand this perspective helped to focus the study on factors such as the
students’ language and their sociocultural and socioeconomic circumstances. From a
sociocultural perspective, learning is viewed as occurring as part of our everyday experience
as we participate in the world. This theory of learning does not view a separation between
contexts where learning occurs and contexts for everyday life, rather these are seen as
different opportunities for learning (Murphy, Hall, McCormick and Drury, 2008). It is
important to move away from the notion that the individual is the determinant of learning and
begin to focus onthe activities that they engage in and the actions that they undertake using
the resources and tools available.As Murphy and colleagues (2008, p. 7) stress when they cite
McDermott (1996) “… we can only learn what is around to learn.”From this sociocultural
view of learning the students’ sense of belonging in a classroom of learners is important and
raises the issue of access not only to learning experiences but also to assessment tasks
designed to develop the Indigenous students’ understanding byincreasing their participation.

METHODOLOGY
The project was a design experiment (Design-Based Research Collective, 2003) about
fairness in educational assessment. This research design has been used extensively by
educators in medium-scale curriculum innovation in United States schools (Cobb, Confrey,
diSessa, Lehrer, andSchauble, 2003) and was developed at Vanderbilt, Washington and
University of California, Berkeley. It combines a rigorous approach to data collected on the
effects of an intervention from programme development through action research. The
intervention in this study was a professional development programme of pedagogical and
assessment change that was reviewed and revised in light of new empirical evidence of the
intended and unintended effects. This section reflects on how the intervention was framed and
the discussion provides an analysis of emergent themes with a particular focus on cultural
connectedness, theoretically informed by the sociocultural perspective adopted. In this study,
a sociocultural framing to the design experiment resulted in a more qualitative case study
approach.
This design experiment was predominantly qualitative drawing on a number of data
sources. These included: 1) detailed analyses of NAPLAN data of the Year 4 and 6
Indigenous students’ responses (completed when they were in Year 3 and 5 of the previous
year) from the seven focus schools; 2) an analysis of socio-cultural factors which might
influence their scores (such as cultural specificity of how the item or question was framed, the
linguistic codes and conventions of the test, cultural-specificity of content knowledge,
 Examining the Assessment Opportunities for Cultural Connectedness … 111

possible misinterpretation of questions); 3) interview data about the relations between each
school and the Indigenous students and families; 4) interview data of the cultural and
pedagogic understandings that ITAs bring into classrooms; and, 5) interview data of the
attitudes and dispositions of Year 4 and 6 teachers and senior staff to Indigenous students and
their learning.
Severaliterativecycles of design and development to classroom intervention were
involved in this design experiment (Brown, 1992; Kelly, 2003). Three schools and eight
teachers were involved in the first phase. There were two teachers from two schools (a Year 4
and Year 6 teacher from each, one of the latter has a Year 6/7 class) and four from the third
school (two Year 4 and two Year 6 teachers). The teachers were in schools where the
Indigenous student population varied from 5%, 7% to 21%. In total the number of Indigenous
students was 22 (14 Year 4 students and 8 Year 6 students).During this phase the professional
learning program was developed and refined to consider how assessment could be made fairer
for the Indigenous students. The second phase involved the extension of the professional
learning programme to four other schools with Indigenous student populations ranging from
6%, 7%, 13% to 100% and a further eight teachers. In this second phase there was a move
away from the didactic, ‘telling’ approach which characterised the first phase to an approach
which involved working more closely with teachers and ITAs in their classrooms.
Each school principal and the Year 4 and 6 teachers involved in the project received the
detailed summaries of each Indigenous student’s responses to the NAPLAN tests taken the
year before they entered Year 4 or Year 6. Each question was analysed so that teachers could
check each student’s answers to the different mathematical strands. The descriptive analysis
of each answer aimed to support a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying
concept and to suggest the next steps to be taken to support the student’s development in the
identified mathematical conception or misconception.
Semi-structured focus group interviews were carried out with the Year 4 and 6
Indigenous students. Interviews were conducted with principals and with Indigenous staff
(e.g. ITAs, community liaison staff, education workers) to gain a broad view of cultural
influences and values that affect the dispositions of Indigenous students’ learning, particularly
in relation to mathematics. The background information from these interviews has been
analysed further to augment data from the individual NAPLAN test results. As would be
expected, Indigenous and non-Indigenous students scored across a continuum of band levels.
Further data analyses and reconsideration of interview data resulted in the shift of focus to
culture-responsive assessment and pedagogy.Given that an aim of the project was to
understand factors and school conditions that affect teachers’ assessment and pedagogic
capacity and to scaffold and extend Indigenous students’ mathematical understandings, the
discussion section of this chapter centers on analyses of the interview data which highlight the
value and potential for cultural connectedness.
Data from each school was collated and combined to identify beliefs, attitudes and
practices. All interviews were transcribed andanalysed according to the factors that impact on
teachers’ assessment and pedagogic capacity and understandings of fair assessment practice.
This initial analysis and categorisationwas further analysed using the software program
Leximancer to identify dominant words, phrases and themes. These emergent themes were
again compared and critically analysed for validity purposes. From a sociocultural frame it is
acknowledged that a multiplicity of factors influence views including historical, social and
cultural assumptions that underpin responses.The data analysis on which this chapter is based
112 Val Klenowski, Stephen Connolly and Robert Funnell

revealed a continuum of practice froma prevalence of deficit discourse, low expectations for
Indigenous success and limited understanding of cultural responsiveness in pedagogy or
assessment to increased cultural awareness and substantive attempts to engage with ITAs to
embrace cultural spaces.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

It became evident from the data analyses that although teachers want the best for their
students, they continue to use teaching and assessment strategies that do not recognise the
cultural variations of their Indigenous students and do not appear aware of how these
differences mediate the Indigenous students’ learning and assessment outcomes.The majority
of teachers (14 or 87.5%) interviewed indicated that they felt Indigenous students should be
treated and taught in the same way as everyone else. For example, teachers often stated we
teach Indigenous students “thesame way we do everybody else.”These conditions for
socialisation operated in parallel with Indigenous identity formation. At all levels it was said
that we “keep things the same (for them) as for the others… the same tests, the same method
of teaching”. Another typical comment from one of the teachers interviewed was:

They [Indigenous students] are included in everything … there are kids who struggle a lot
more … So the focus is to promote learning for all regardless of their cultural background.

Similar to other studies (Warren et al.,2010; Cooper, Baturoand Warren, 2005) also found
that the majority of teachers had very little professional development or teacher preparation in
relation to Indigenous cultural awareness. To illustrate, when asked if there was any support
or professional development this teacher responded:

Yes, I think so, a few years ago. I can’t remember what …

Another common Non-Indigenous teacher’s response:

I haven’t had a great deal of experience [with Indigenous students]. They’re very quiet.
They don’t tend to ask questions so you have to be asking them more…

It was also apparent that ITAs had received limited training in how to assist teachers in
supporting Indigenous students’ education. Both Non-Indigenous and Indigenous staff
expressed a keen interest in gaining further understanding.

Deficit Discourse

Internationally, an important understanding of cultural difference has occurred in that

there has been a shift from a deficit view of the learner to a more considered view of how the
school or the system can take responsibility for the development of culturally responsive
models and quality teaching programmes that incorporate formative assessment (Ainscow,
2010; Comber andKamler, 2004; Bishop, O’Sullivan, and Berryman, 2010; Mahuika,
 Examining the Assessment Opportunities for Cultural Connectedness … 113

Berryman and Bishop, 2011). Too often teachers or principals will indicate that very little can
be done to improve the achievement of Indigenous students with explanations for low
achievement directed at the student, the student’s home circumstances or outside of school
experiences. For example in our study one principal had this to say:

He’s the boy who turned up with a stab wound. The little brother, I expelled, came to
school with major ear infections, … mum was sending him to school. Wasn’t even taking him
to the doctor. She couldn’t care less... She was caught up in all these relationships and she was
thinking about herself, you know the kids had no food …

Teachers too were expressing deficit views as evident here:

Looking at the ones I have at the moment, they’re all from either a broken home or, one
in particular is with, what they call, a nanny. So she’s the mother’s aunty. So there’s not a
traditional family setting and the parents that I have met, I’m not sure what their approach to
academics is … school’s somewhere where you just go for the day and I think that can affect
your approach to our academic... If it’s just somewhere you are for the day your level of skills,
the effort that you put in isn’t necessarily a valuable thing.

The teachers’ comments time and again were indicative of their habitus inculcated with
the rhetoric of standardisation and a school audit culture. This contextual field of the teachers
was seen as mediating classroom discourses and dispositions, which tended to result in
misrecognition of the student habitus. As expressed by Mahuika, Berryman and Bishop,
(2011, p.189) in relation to the teachers of their review “… teachers pathologisedMãori
students’ lived experiences by explaining their lack of educational achievement in deficit
terms as something within the child or the child’s home” with the consequence of “the
creation of negative and problematic relationships between teachers and Mãori students;
lowered teacher expectations of Mãori students’ abilities; and a loss of an appreciation of how
powerful agentic teachers can be in bringing about change in learning outcomes for students
previously denied access to the benefits that education has to offer.” These authors emphasise
how teachers who adopt this view tend to blame someone or something beyond their
influence and in so doing suggest that they are unable to take responsibility for the outcomes
of these influences.
As apparent from our analysis some teachers and principals saw the Indigenous students’
home circumstances or the Indigenous students’ parents as the cause for the students’ lack of
achievement at school. Such talk of outcomes, comparative achievement and expectations
also reflects the discourse of an audit culture. Evidence of lower expectations for Indigenous
students was an issue raised by ITAs, for example:

When the new principal came I had a talk with him and our Indigenous students are under
the Learning Support banner. He did have a speech to us, … the aides and the support staff,
and said we don’t have high expectations for our Learning Support studentsWe don’t have
high expectations. They just need to know how to function in society, but they don’t need to
write a great essay. I thought mm, okay. So I was ready to get up and leave then and I thought,
no, if I leave who is going to fight for them. So that’s why I stayed and slowly but surely I
think things have improved, slowly, but they are not to where they were.
114 Val Klenowski, Stephen Connolly and Robert Funnell

Schools and teachers need to develop their capacity to identify “deficit views of
difference” (Ainscow, 2009, p.6) which position students as ”lacking in something” (p.6)
These assumptions that relate to notions of deficit regarding difference are challenged from a
sociocultural perspective of learning and assessment that gives greater respect to the valuing
of difference. A diagnostic and holistic view of the student’s background, culture, language
and demeanour, is seen as more beneficial for the teacher to gain a better understanding from
their use of formative assessment to identify the student’s learning needs. Assessment and
pedagogy that is responsive to cultural variations and that helps to build supportive
relationships between teachers and their students acknowledges that culture is central to
learning. Indigenous students who are supported to draw on their ‘funds of knowledge’ (Moll,
1992, p. 21) or what they know, or their ways of sense making from their culture, gain in
terms of classroom learning. Teaching and assessment that is culture responsive and allows
for different ways of knowing facilitates increased agency for Indigenous students. Culture
inclusive assessment does not attempt to favour different cultural groups, rather it is
recognised that cultural differences can impact on performance, such as on standardised tests.
The way in which teachers construct their interactions for greater cultural connectedness
and enhanced learning relies on relationship building with Indigenous staff, with Indigenous
students’ cultural knowledge and improved understanding of assessment and related equity
issues. How greater cultural connectedness could be achieved emerged from critical analyses
of the interview data of the ITAs.

Relationship Building

Non-Indigenous teacher aides indicated that Indigenous students were not being properly
socialized into the expectations of school life and for them the problem was “not really
[Indigenous students’] ability to be able to do the work: it's more the behaviour side of it; the
conforming to a structured system”. From this perception, Indigenous culture is least likely to
be a background for student identity formation when non-conformity foregrounds assessment
of their worth. Alternatively, where a teacher sees Indigenous children as shy and “slow to
join in”, an ITA sees the problem as a collective issue rather than an individual one, in that
“it’s peer pressure” at the centre of students “not being game to have a go”. From this ITA’s
perspective, “The peers are the main risk, more than any other.” The Indigenous child faces a
balancing act to do well and keep face at the same time: “If you get it wrong then you get
teased and stuff like that”. The ITAs are well positioned to pass on to the teachers with whom
they work understandings of Indigenous students’ attitudes and responses in particular
situations. However, fulfilling this essentially cultural function is only one part of an
equation, the other is the knowledge they derive about teaching Indigenous students from
their daily observations of classroom interactions. These two dimensions of ITA’s work are
now represented and discussed.
Wedraw on the interviews with two ITAs who work with Prep to Year 7 classes in a
school of around 350 students. Kathryn, of Aboriginal descent, works with Indigenous and
non-Indigenous students in 15 classrooms. Sonia, from the Torres Strait Islands, advises and
teaches about Torres Strait Island culture and dance to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous
students. Their names have been changed for ethical reasons. Both women indicated: “Yes,
this is a good school, we’re well looked after”. As mothers, both women made comparisons
 Examining the Assessment Opportunities for Cultural Connectedness … 115

with the education of their own children, and what they considered to be cultural
misunderstandings in the teaching of this school. Each ITA enjoyed the contact with students,
staff and parents and the chance to “think I’ve melted that barrier a little bit”.
Contradictions in the ITAs’ roles were identified, however. Their comments could be
seen as criticisms if taken out of context, but they are in fact barriers that the ITAs would like
to surmount in an environment characterized as supportive of Indigenous education and
dedicated to education for all. The three key themes central to relationship building and
cultural connectedness relate to: code switching, cultural understanding and mathematics, and
furthering relations between Indigenous workers and teachers. To illustrate one ITA
explained in relation to code switching:

…our Indigenous boys, they can talk fine in the classroom but when it comes to writing
it’s in Pidgin English.

This excerpt illustrates a general misunderstanding of variations between school/teacher

language and the problems of switching codes for Indigenous students to accommodate set
classroom tasks. Differences in Indigenous students’ language, and the language used in
classrooms,was an important consideration for the ITAs as illustrated:

Sonia: I think language is one of the cultural barriers for them. I speak the Torres Strait
Creole the majority of the time at home with my kids and so they’re based around that 100 per
cent. When they’re in the community or when they come to school they need to code switch
and speak English … sometimes when they deliver their answer in English it doesn’t come
out right but the teacher doesn’t understand.

Kathryn: … when it comes to writing it’s in Pidgin English. It’s the way we understand
it. The teachers, they come to us and say he’s got problems, he can’t write a sentence right.
Hey, let’s think about the non-Indigenous students, some of them can’t write a sentence
properly. … It needs to be accepted on both sides. You’ve got to understand how they talk at
home. You can’t stop that language from being spoken at home.

The benefits, opportunities and importance of working with an ITA, an Indigenous

teacher or community member cannot be underestimated. The two ITAs not only brought
fresh insights and challenged the deficit discourses evident in the school, but they also
provided opportunities for teachers to ‘see differently’ and for teachers to challenge their own
assumptions. It is in this way ITAs can perform an important role to help remove barriers and
to support opportunities for improved relationships. For the students to have ITAs who
demonstrate such understanding to allow them to switch codes “just to give the kids a lift” is
another important opportunity for Indigenous students to feel as though they belong.
The importance of cultural understanding in the teaching of mathematics is made explicit
by the following ITAs:

No, they don’t like it [mathematics], they struggle. Most of them tell me that ‘I’m not
good at maths’. I think it’s all off the board and onto a piece of paper, more than hands on.
Some of the teachers think the kids are going to play with the blocks but we want to teach
them, show them that there’s an easier way to understand hundreds, tens and ones. Our kids
are more hands on.
116 Val Klenowski, Stephen Connolly and Robert Funnell

Maths is a big up hurdle for a lot of Torres Strait kids. The new way of doing simple
addition is just so confusing … I see a lot of our teachers have a teachers’ book that they carry
in front of them when they do maths. They refer back to that book the whole time. I find the
children understand it but they have a mental block... I have to ask, ‘Oh, can you go back, I
lost you there. Can we?’ … And they always go back which is good. Then I know where I am.

A Torres Strait Islander teacher was saying how maths differs here… to the remote where
they are up in the Torres Strait. For example, if you are to ask a child a question like how long
does it take from Townsville to Cairns, he’ll tell you in kilometres or in hours. Whereas if
you’re asking a child in the Torres Strait, how long does it take from Thursday Island to Badu
Island he’ll tell you how many petrol drums you need. Rather than the distance in kilometres
and hours - that is totally different.

These examples obviously provide insights into differences in the logics underlying
estimation and calculation between Torres Strait and European cultures. But in effect, they
are more likely to raise awareness than inform day-to-day teaching. The fact that ITAs watch
and learn as they work with students means they can integrate their knowledge with that of a
teacher. This can be seen in the case of an ITA who “looks after Grades 3 and 4 kids who are
struggling with either writing or reading or with the sums they are doing”. Her views are
insightful.

The concepts are beyond them, but with others it’s simple… there is a range – some kids
… are fairly advanced to the others who are struggling. I think it’s sometimes reading is the
hardest things to do in maths and ... I simplify it by reading it to them again and ... it’s like
having to sit and do it with them – they stop if you walk away. There are a couple of kids,
even after you do it two or three times, they still stop, because they’re not understanding the
real concept, the fundamental concept ... but others who grasp it they just keep going. They
just go, ‘I’m alright Miss; you can go’.

In many ways the discourse adopted by this ITA(i.e. the tracing to concepts, linking
reading with the teaching of mathematics) are not significantly different from that of a trained
teacher assessing her practices. This being the case, questions need to beposed about
extending the roles of ITAs beyond that of cultural advisor to being partners in teaching and
learning. The action of extending the roles of ITAs is fundamental to the establishment of
powerful relations in the classroom such that they are truly two-way. The non-Indigenous
teacher and the ITA need to work together to build important learning relationships for the
Indigenous students in their classrooms so that these students who are often in the minority
truly feel as though they belong.
The irony in this study was that teachers and ITAs seemed to talk past each other.
Teachers reported that they heavily relied on the ITAs for cultural matters such as reading
body language, information about home life family and siblings. ITAs thought teachers left
them alone to prepare resources and work with difficult children but did not ask their advice
about problems in learning.
In general, ITAs were not confident in approaching the teachers as equals. A
consideration ofthepossibilities for extending ITAs’ relations with teachers as co-partners in
furthering Indigenous learning is evident from the suggestions made by two ITAs, Kathryn
 Examining the Assessment Opportunities for Cultural Connectedness … 117

and Sonia. Both women expressed some frustration about their relations with teachers as co-
partners in furthering Indigenous learning.

Kathryn: We get new teachers in every year so we have to guide them and say this child
here needs extra help; we know the children and who needs help and who doesn’t need help.
Sometime the teachers aren’t aware. They think that children have a problem because they
don’t know the work but teachers don’t look at the background and what’s happening at
home. I think that we might not have that piece of paper that teachers have but we can educate
the teachers how to teach our children. That’s where we can come in.

Interviewer: You would like to be working together on how to teach kids?

Sonia: Yes, rather than you’re a teacher and I’m a teacher aide full stop. ‘I’ve got the
certificate and the number there on that certificate to say that I’m a qualified teacher. I’ve
been teaching for so many years’ sort of thing; and ‘you do what I say’.We need to talk, have
that conversation between one another. We talk about children but not how to teach the
children. Yes, you talk about children that didn’t cope with it, they couldn’t do this, or what
has so and so done – ‘but what about how we’re going to teach them?’

CONCLUSION
As ITAs work with teachers they can model ways for them to embrace cultural spaces of
which they are not aware and thus enlarge their repertoire of strategies for assessment and
intervention. Working together affords an opportunity to enact cultural connectedness and
open up curriculum spaces and to examine taken-for-granted approaches within classroom
practices. Herein lies a number of unexamined assessment opportunities within existing
practices which returns us to questions of why ITAs are seldom called on to act as mediators
between cultural and pedagogical spaces.
The views of ITAs were valued for their fresh insights into practice and understanding of
teaching and learning mathematics. The ITAs in this study have a particular focus on culture-
responsive pedagogy and assessment, and possess knowledge teachers can learn from to
understand how Indigenous students’ funds of knowledge can be drawn upon in activities that
involve, for example, measurement and code switching. Germane strategies such as problem
solving, routine thinking and the impact of language acquisition on students’ competencies to
decode written assessment tasks provide rich territory for further research and where the role
of the ITA becomes significant to realise the potential for relationship building.

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In: Student Learning: Improving Practice ISBN: 978-1-62618-887-7
Editor: Christopher Boyle © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 9

STUDENT PATHWAYS TO GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Stephen Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller

Texas A&M University-Commerce, TX, US
Transylvania University, Lexington, KY, US

ABSTRACT
In the present chapter we review research examining global citizenship in
educational environments. As the world has become increasingly interconnected,
educators are tasked with revising their teaching approach and pedagogy to prepare
students for a vastly different world after school. Global citizenship education serves to
engender prosocial values (e.g., intergroup empathy and helping) and openness to new
experiences that equip students to engage with a globalized world. We define global
citizenship as global awareness, caring, embracing cultural diversity, promoting social
justice and sustainability, and a sense of responsibility to act. Past research (Reysen and
Katzarska-Miller, 2012) has shown that a greater perception that others have in one’s
normative environment (e.g., friends, family) prescribe being a global citizen and global
awareness (i.e., knowledge of the world and connection with others) predict greater
identification with global citizens (i.e., felt psychological connection with the category
global citizen). Global citizenship identification subsequently predicts greater
endorsement of prosocial values (i.e., intergroup empathy, valuing diversity, social
justice, environmental sustainability, intergroup helping, and a felt responsibility to act
for the betterment of the world). In the present chapter we (1) review past theory
regarding global citizenship antecedents (normative environment, global awareness) and
outcomes (prosocial values), (2) review research showing the influence of students’
normative environment and global awareness on global citizenship identification and
related prosocial values, and (3) propose practical interventions that educators can take to
enhance student learning based on the current research.

Keywords: Global citizenship, normative environment, global awareness, education, social

justice
122 Stephen Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller

STUDENT PATHWAYS TO GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

As the world has become increasingly interconnected, institutions of higher education
have begun to revise university goals to focus on internationalizing education (Maringe,
2010). An often-cited motivation by university administration to internationalize the
university is the promotion of values characterizing global citizens (Fielden, 2006). The push
for world, or global citizenship education (educating with a global perspective) began in the
UK in the 1920s, gained momentum in the 1970s and 1980s, and eventually spread to the US
in the 1990s (Heater, 2000; Hicks, 2003). However, global citizenship education is still in its
infancy (Lewin, 2009) as universities struggle to define, conceptualize, and construct
programs with measurable outcomes or academic standards (Andrzejewski and Alessio, 1999;
Pike, 2000; Sperandio, Grudzinski-Hall, and Stewart-Gambino, 2010). In the present chapter
we review past conceptions of global citizenship values and antecedents to viewing the self as
a global citizen, describe recent empirical research showing the antecedents and outcomes of
viewing the self as a global citizen, and provide suggestions for educators who wish to
engender global citizenship in students.

CONCEPTIONS OF GLOBAL CITIZEN VALUES

Global citizenship is theorized to relate to a variety of prosocial values. Although some
theorists highlight certain values and behaviors over others (e.g., Appiah (2006) highlights
morality and ethics while Tarrant (2010) emphasizes environmental sustainability), a review
of global citizenship literature shows consistent themes. The result of a thematic review of
prior theorizing indicates that identifying oneself as a global citizen is related to intergroup
empathy, valuing diversity, social justice, environmental sustainability, intergroup helping,
and a felt responsibility to act (Reysen, Pierce, Spencer, and Katzarska-Miller, 2010). Below
we review prior conceptualizations of each prosocial value that are found in discussions
regarding global citizenship.
Intergroup empathy is a felt connection and concern for people outside one’s ingroup
(Reysen and Katzarska-Miller, 2012). Stokes (2008) posits that global citizens are actively
concerned about global issues and their impact on others. Schattle (2008) notes that
awareness of interconnectedness with others, regardless of subgroup memberships, leads to
greater empathetic concern. Golmohamad (2008) suggests that empathy results from
identifying as a global citizen, and further proposes that empathy will lead to altruistic acts to
help others. Empathetic concern for others is also related to valuing others regardless of their
geographical, cultural, ethnic, or religious backgrounds. Together, theorists have suggested
that global citizens experience empathetic concern for others inside and outside one’s
ingroup.
Valuing diversity represents an interest and appreciation for the diverse cultures of the
world. While most educational programs endorse tolerance for diversity, global citizens
embrace diversity by actively seeking to learn and value other perspectives. Theorists suggest
that global citizens respect diverse perspectives (Morais and Ogden, 2011) and beliefs and
practices of others (Dower, 2002a, 2002b; O’Byrne, 2003), value (Walkington, 1999), and
understand and appreciate diversity (Basirico and Bolin, 2009; Golmohamad, 2008). Baogang
 Student Pathways to Global Citizenship 123

He (2005) proposes that the basic premise of global citizenship is that all people (ingroup and
outgroup) are equal, and global citizens are primarily concerned with cultural equality. Global
citizens’ proposed focus on embracing cultural diversity is also related to the suggestion that
global citizens endorse social justice.
Social justice includes attitudes concerning human rights and equitable treatment of all
humans. Theorists often link global citizenship with the notion of respecting and protecting
human rights (Dower, 2002a, 2002b; Heater, 2000; O’Byrne, 2003; Pitty, Stokes, and Smith,
2008). Heron (2011) describes global citizens as feeling compassion for marginalized people,
both within one’s country and across borders, and acting through social justice movements to
help. Global citizens are posited to display their concern for social justice by evaluating and
identifying global injustices and disparities (Morais and Ogden, 2011) and actively
challenging injustices (Gibson, Rimmington, and Landwehr-Brown, 2008). In effect, global
citizens value social justice and work to correct injustices occurring around the world.
Environmental beliefs are a set of values related to protecting the natural environment
and acting in environmentally sustainable manner. McIntyre-Mills (2000) suggests that
because all humans rely on the environment to survive, global citizens show concern and act
in ways that promote protection of the environment. Global citizens are posited to feel a duty
to the planet (O’Byrne, 2003), responsibility to future generations to protect the environment
from pollution (Heater, 2000), express concern for environmental issues, and display a
commitment for sustainable development (Gibson et al., 2008). Tarrant (2010) proposes that
awareness of global ecological threats and felt obligation to act in environmentally
responsible ways leads global citizens to work for environmental causes (e.g., support
environmental policies, purchase products from companies that produce goods in ways that
do not harm the environment). Together, global citizens care about environmental problems
and subsequently act locally (e.g., recycling, energy conservation) and globally (e.g., work
with environmental groups that aim to protect the environment) to mitigate them.
Intergroup helping is defined as behaviors that aid outgroup members, and are reflected
in behaviors such as donating to charity, volunteering locally, and working with transnational
organizations (e.g., Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders) to help others globally.
Thus, global citizens often act in local organizations that have a global focus (Dower, 2002a).
Dower states that this outcome reflects an adage of “intend globally, act locally” (p. 33).
Thus, global citizens contribute to or assist global organizations, advance prosocial global
agendas (Morais and Ogden, 2011), and identify and work to reduce global problems (Arcaro,
2009). Together, global citizens desire to help others is inextricably linked with a felt
responsibility to act.
Global citizenship is associated with the acceptance of a moral duty, obligation, or
responsibility to act for the betterment of the world (Dower, 2002a, 2002b, 2008). Theorists
describe this felt obligation to act as an acceptance of the shared responsibility to solve the
common problems of the world (Osler and Vincent, 2002), obligations to help marginalized
peoples (Dower, 2008), a commitment to civic action to improve the world (Banks, 2001),
participation in democratic political processes (Ibrahim, 2005), and service in the community
(Golmohamad, 2008). Indeed, for many theorists a felt responsibility to act for humanity is
the key component of global citizenship (Caruana, 2010; Hovey and Weinberg, 2009;
O’Byrne, 2003; Schattle, 2008). The acts of global citizens are often characterized as
grassroots movements opposing global institutions that further inequality, thus connecting
global citizenship values with a bottom-up perspective of globalization (Carter, 2005;
124 Stephen Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller

Caruana, 2010; Falk, 1993; Pitty et al., 2008). For example, consumers can act as global
citizens by boycotting brands and products that harm people or the environment in other
countries (Carter, 2005) and purchase products from socially and environmentally responsible
companies (McGregor, 2003).
To summarize, global citizens are posited to feel empathy for others; value diversity,
social justice, environmental sustainability, and intergroup helping; and feel a responsibility
to act for the betterment of the world. Although the literature regarding global citizenship
spans diverse disciplines and perspectives (e.g., political, moral, developmental, educational),
the above themes are consistently highlighted when discussing the meaning of global
citizenship. In line with prior theorizing outlined above, we define global citizenship as
awareness, caring, and embracing cultural diversity while promoting social justice and
sustainability, coupled with a sense of responsibility to act (Pierce, Reysen, and Katzarska-
Miller, 2010).

CONCEPTIONS OF ANTECEDENTS TO GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

We posit that key determinants to becoming a global citizen include global awareness
and one’s environmental context. Global awareness has been described in multiple ways, such
as a recognition of our common humanity and the felt sense of belongingness with the global
community (Osler and Vincent, 2002), an understanding that one’s local behaviors have
global consequences (Morais and Ogden, 2011), a holistic understanding of the world or
world-mindedness (Richardson, 2008), thinking in an expansive way (Golmohamad, 2008),
taking a global perspective (Chickering and Braskamp, 2009), awareness of
interconnectedness with the world (Banks, 2001), sense of membership in a global
community (Golmohamad, 2009), knowledge of globalization and the effect on everyday
lives (Gibson et al., 2008), knowledge of the world and the ability to view the self as part of a
heterogeneous world (Nussbaum, 2009), and a perspective beyond national boundaries (Pike,
2000). Taken together, the literature suggests that global citizenship requires an awareness of
others, and the cognizance of interconnectedness with others (Che, Spearman, and Manizade,
2009; Davies and Pike, 2009; Dower, 2002a; Hovey and Weinberg, 2009; Oxfam, 1997).
Global awareness is posited to precede global citizenship (Walkington, 1999). When
asked, self-described global citizens indicate that global awareness was the first step toward a
greater global perspective and action toward helping others (Schattle, 2008). Hanvey (1976)
argues that individuals move through increasing levels of planetary awareness (e.g.,
consciousness of varying perspectives, cross-cultural awareness, knowledge of global
dynamics) to become global citizens. Dower (2002a, 2002b, 2008) suggests that everyone is a
global citizen, however due to lack of awareness of the identity, people are unable to
recognize and accept one’s global membership. Each perspective suggests that an awareness
of one’s interconnectedness with others precedes viewing the self as a global citizen.
The environments in which individuals are embedded engender global awareness and
subsequent identification with global citizens. Consistent with the notion of intentional
worlds (Shweder, 1990) and mutual constitution (see Adams and Markus, 2004), individuals
live in cultural settings that afford particular identities, behaviors, values, and beliefs. If the
settings in which individuals engage on a daily basis, or engage in while traveling (e.g., study
 Student Pathways to Global Citizenship 125

abroad), contain patterns reflecting global citizen values, then individuals may be more likely
to identify with global citizens. Schattle (2008) conducted interviews with self-identified
global citizens and found a variety of explanations regarding the origins of their global
citizenship-related values including study abroad, international travel, growing up in diverse
communities, and influential mentors in school. Indeed, Chickering and Braskamp (2009)
show that studying abroad increases self-reported global citizenship identity. The interview
and research evidence suggest that exposure to different world perspectives and global citizen
value-laden cultural patterns lead to greater awareness. Thus, the second antecedent to global
citizenship is therefore the normative patterns connected with the cultural settings in which
individuals are embedded.
Proponents for global citizenship education (e.g., Pike, 2008; Shallcross and Robinson,
2006; Young and Commins, 2002) have noted the need for a larger cultural change to
engender global citizen identity in students. Shallcross and Robinson (2006) highlight the role
of the school to display patterns of global citizenship and to afford students the opportunity to
apply knowledge and values to real world issues in order to prompt global citizen identity.
Young and Commins (2002) suggest the entirety of students’ daily environments (i.e.,
schools, parents, friends, and community members) should model global citizen values and
behaviors. Davies and Reid (2005) encourage teachers to move beyond teaching knowledge
and, instead, immerse students in global citizen issues and applied approaches, such as school
government and community service (Davies, 2006). Pike (2008) posits that global citizen
patterns and values are not embedded in the majority of peoples’ everyday lives, and calls on
educators to weave those patterns into the educational system in order to spread them to other
social and institutional structures. In effect, global citizenship education theorists recognize
the influence of cultural patterns at school, but also the need to expand participation in these
values and actions to students’ wider community (i.e., settings outside the classroom).

A SOCIAL IDENTITY PERSPECTIVE OF GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Critics of global citizenship (e.g., Bowden, 2003; Woolf, 2010) eschew the concept as
idealist and untenable because there is no concrete legal recognition of global group
membership (for a review of such arguments see Carter, 2005; Dower, 2002a). We argue that
membership in the group “global citizen” is psychological in nature. As suggested by
Golmohamad (2008), global citizenship is a mindset or attitude one takes. Individuals
perceive themselves to be global citizens and feel a psychological connection with global
citizens as a group. Indeed, following a social identity perspective, individuals can perceive
themselves to be members of groups that do not have legal rights or organizational structures
(e.g., Reysen and Branscombe, 2010).
Social identity (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) and self-categorization (Turner, Hogg, Oakes,
Reicher, and Wetherell, 1987) theories, when combined, afford an integrated dynamic
theoretical framework (i.e., social identity perspective) to explain intra and intergroup
phenomena (Hogg and Smith, 2007; Reicher, Spears, and Haslam, 2010). Individuals feel
differing levels of identification (i.e., felt connection) with social groups. Each group has a
prototype or set of interrelated attributes (i.e., group content), that are specific to that group
(Hogg and Smith, 2007; Turner, 1991). When a particular group membership is salient, the
126 Stephen Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller

more strongly one identifies with the group the more depersonalization and self-stereotyping
occur in line with the group’s content such as norms, beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviors
(Turner et al., 1987), emotions (Reysen and Branscombe, 2008), and personality (Jenkins,
Reysen, and Katzarska-Miller, 2012). In effect, when an identity is salient, one’s degree of
identification with the group predicts adherence to the group’s normative content (Ashforth,
Harrison, and Corley, 2008; Hogg and Reid, 2006; Turner et al., 1987). For a more detailed
explanation of both theories see Postmes and Branscombe (2010).
Turner et al. (1987) posits that groups have differing levels of inclusiveness, with human
as the most inclusive social identity. Subsequent theorizing and research shows that salience
of inclusive social categories result in prosocial values and behaviors toward outgroup
members (Crisp and Hewstone, 2007; Dovidio, Gaertner, and Saguy, 2007). For example,
Buchan et al. (2011) asked participants to rate their degree of identification with a “world
community”, assign tokens to a world charity, and rate their concern for global issues (e.g.,
global warming, income disparity). The researchers found that identification with the world
community predicted greater giving to the world charity (beyond national and local
identification), and global identification positively correlated with concern for global issues.
Together, the research has emphasized the notion that the content of a particular group
identity is important for understanding how highly identified group members will think and
act when a particular social identity is salient. Applied to global citizenship, when a global
citizen identity is salient, individuals who are highly identified will adhere to the group’s
norms (i.e., prosocial values and behaviors).

EVIDENCE OF ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF GLOBAL

CITIZENSHIP
Following a social identity perspective, Reysen and Katzarska-Miller (2012) tested a
structural model of antecedents and outcomes to identifying as a global citizen. University
students from a variety of majors completed measures regarding their normative environment
(friends and family value and prescribe being a global citizen), global awareness (knowledge
of and connection to the world), global citizenship identification (psychological connection to
the category global citizen), intergroup empathy, valuing diversity, social justice,
environmental sustainability, intergroup helping, and felt responsibility to act for the
betterment of the world. Supporting past theory (Andrzejewski and Alessio, 1999; Davies,
2006; Dower, 2002a, 2002b, 2008; Hanvey, 1976; Oxfam, 1997; Pike, 2008; Schattle, 2008;
Walkington, 1999), students’ normative environment and global awareness (antecedents)
significantly predicted identification with global citizens, and global citizenship identification
predicted endorsement of the prosocial values (outcomes) representing the content of the
identity (e.g., intergroup empathy and helping).
In other words, the degree to which one’s normative context prescribes being a global
citizen, and one’s awareness of and connection to others in the world lead to greater
identification with global citizens.
Identification with the category global citizen subsequently leads to endorsement of a
variety of prosocial values and behaviors (see Figure 1 for the structural model of antecedents
and outcomes of global citizenship identification).
 Student Pathways to Global Citizenship 127

Figure 1. Structural model of antecedents and outcomes of global citizenship.

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF NORMATIVE ENVIRONMENT

AS A PATHWAY TO GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Everyday environments (e.g., home, school, work, cities) are embedded with cultural
patterns (Adams and Markus, 2004). Through interactions with their everyday settings
individuals are constantly producing, reproducing, and modifying the patterns that shape
one’s culture and simultaneously prime and condition others residing in that cultural space.
Everyday cultural settings not only prime and condition beliefs and behaviors, but also afford
individuals’ social identities (Reysen and Levine, in press). If others (e.g., friends, family,
school, media) in one’s cultural setting afford individuals the opportunity to view oneself as a
global citizen, prescribe and value the identity, then individuals embedded in that
environment will be more likely to strongly identify with global citizens.
In a recent study, Blake, Pierce, Gibson, Reysen, and Katzarska-Miller (2011) asked
students to rate their perception of whether their university encourages a global perspective
(university normative environment) and measures of antecedents (normative environment,
global awareness), identification, and outcomes (prosocial values) of global citizenship (see
Figure 1 for the structural model of antecedents, identification, and outcomes of global
citizenship). Students’ perception that the university environment encourages viewing oneself
128 Stephen Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller

as a global citizen predicted higher ratings of their normative environment (valued others
prescribe being a global citizen) and global awareness (knowledge of and felt
interconnectedness with the world). Supporting Reysen and Katzarska-Miller’s (2012) model,
normative environment and global awareness then predicted greater global citizenship
identification, and global citizenship identification predicted endorsement of prosocial values
(e.g., environmental sustainability, social justice). Importantly, students’ perception that their
university encouraged viewing the self as a global citizen indirectly influenced their
endorsement of prosocial values through greater perceived normative environment, global
awareness, and global citizenship identification. In other words, if students perceive their
university’s culture as supportive of global citizenship they will identify more strongly with
global citizens. The results of Blake et al.’s (2011) study support the notion that patterns
reflecting global citizen values in the university setting can lead to greater global citizenship
identification and endorsement of prosocial values and behaviors. Cultural patterns reflecting
global citizen values do not need to be explicit or consciously apparent to influence students’
identification.
Snider, Reysen, and Katzarska-Miller (in press) examined the effect of different framings
of the message of globalization on students’ ingroup identification and endorsement of
prosocial values. College students were randomly assigned to read a speech by a university
administrator that described the negative (job market becoming competitive) or positive (job
market becoming culturally diverse) impact of globalization on students’ future job prospects.
In the control condition no speech was presented. Students rated their degree of global
citizenship and school identification, positive emotions, academic motivation, valuing
diversity, and desire to help others. The results showed that compared to the positive framing,
describing globalization in negative terms lead to significantly lower global citizenship
identification, positive emotion, motivation to succeed in college, valuing diversity, and
desire to help others. Furthermore, students’ identification with global citizens mediated the
relationship between the manipulation of globalization message and students’ positive
emotions, academic motivation, valuing diversity, and desire to help others. The results
highlight the influence that school officials, as interactants in students’ school normative
environment, have on students’ connection to global citizens, desire to succeed in college, and
prosocial values and behaviors. Students’ normative environment, especially school settings,
can also directly influence students’ level of global awareness.

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF GLOBAL AWARENESS AS A PATHWAY

TO GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Theorists suggest (Dower, 2002a, 2002b, 2008; Hanvey, 1976; Schattle, 2008;
Walkington, 1999) and research (Reysen and Katzarska-Miller, 2012) supports the notion that
global awareness is an antecedent to viewing the self as a global citizen. Based on prior
theory (Banks, 2001; Gibson et al., 2008; Morais and Ogden, 2011), we define global
awareness as one’s knowledge of the world and understanding of one’s interconnectedness
with others in the world. School settings are apt environments in which educators can raise
students’ global awareness to engender global citizenship. For example, students’ perception
that a college course raises their global awareness predicts greater global citizenship
 Student Pathways to Global Citizenship 129

identification and subsequent endorsement of prosocial values and behaviors (Blake et al.,
2011).
Reysen, Larey, and Katzarska-Miller (2012) recently examined the influence of
participation in college courses infused with global curriculum on the antecedents,
identification, and outcomes (i.e., prosocial values) of global citizenship. Students (N = 768)
enrolled in a variety classes (e.g., business, English, psychology, agriculture) completed
measures regarding global citizenship at the beginning and end of the semester. The number
of global citizen related words (e.g., culture, responsibility, international, globalization,
environment, justice, helping, rights, interconnected) contained in each class’ syllabus was
tabulated to construct an index representing the degree the class was infused with global
curriculum. While controlling for students’ ratings at the beginning of the semester and item
measurement error, the greater number of global citizen related words in the class syllabus
predicted higher global awareness scores at the end of the semester. Furthermore, students’
post-semester global awareness predicted greater global citizenship identification, and
identification with global citizens predicted greater endorsement of the prosocial values at the
end of the semester. In other words, controlling for students’ pre-semester attitudes, classes
with more global words in the syllabus predicted increased global awareness, which led to
greater global citizenship identification, which led to greater endorsement of prosocial values.
The results show the influence of participation in classes infused with global curriculum on
the change in students’ global awareness, global citizenship identification, and related
prosocial values.
Reysen, Katzarska-Miller, Gibson, and Hobson (2012) provide further evidence of the
relationship between global awareness and global citizenship identification. In two studies,
Reysen and colleagues examined the relationship between global knowledge, and
antecedents, identification, and outcomes of global citizenship. In Study 1, participants
completed a multiple-choice factual world knowledge questionnaire? (e.g., “How many
different languages are spoken in the world?”) prior to completing the global citizen
measures. Results showed that students’ perception of their global awareness was more
strongly related to global citizenship identification than the amount of correct answers on a
factual test of world knowledge. Factual knowledge influenced global citizenship
identification, but the relationship was not direct; the effect of factual knowledge on global
citizenship identification was carried through students’ normative environment and
perception of global awareness. Thus, knowing facts about the world predicted students’
normative environment and perception of their global awareness leading to higher
identification with global citizens. Having found perception of knowledge (global awareness)
to be the proximal predictor of global citizenship, the researchers manipulated perceived
global awareness in Study 2.
In the second study, Reysen and colleagues (2012) invited participants to a laboratory and
gave participants a cover story describing the study as focused on validation of a new
measure of global awareness. After completing the same factual world knowledge
questionnaire as Study 1, students waited while in an adjacent room (within hearing distance
of the participant) the experimenter printed a blank sheet of paper, creating the illusion of
printing the participant’s results. In actuality, the experimenter randomly selected a manila
envelope containing one of three feedback sheets: (1) low global awareness score, (2) high
global awareness score, or (3) no score with an explanation that the quiz is still undergoing
validation (control condition). The experimenter, blind to which condition participants were
130 Stephen Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller

in, gave the envelope to the student and instructed the student to review their score and
complete an additional survey (global citizen measures). Participants who received a high
quiz score rated their degree of normative environment, global awareness, and global
citizenship identification significantly higher than participants who received a low quiz score.
Importantly, the manipulation of global knowledge feedback predicted normative
environment and global awareness, which then predicted global citizenship identification,
which then predicted endorsement of the prosocial values. Together, the results of the current
research support the notion that perceived global awareness leads to identifying with global
citizens.

ENGENDERING GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS

Theorists and current research consistently link viewing the self as a global citizen with
prosocial values and behaviors. Given the array of beneficial outcomes associated with global
citizenship identification, universities are understandably striving to internationalize higher
education to engender such identity in students (Sperandio et al., 2010). Yet, the concept of
global citizenship education has been mired in ambiguity. This lack of clarity results in
unclear academic standards, measurement, and avoidance by faculty who may desire
incorporation of global citizen education in their classes. For example, survey research shows
that pre-service instructors express a desire to include global citizenship related components
in their curriculum, but lack the knowledge and confidence regarding implementation (see
Reimer and McLean, 2009). Thus, compared to other nations, educational institutions in the
United States have been slow to incorporate global education into the curriculum leading to
students’ lack of global awareness (see Zhao, Lin, and Hoge, 2007).
To aid in reducing the ambiguity surrounding global citizenship education, the empirical
findings presented in this chapter point to clear and measurable antecedents and outcomes to
viewing the self as a global citizen. Based on past theory and research we suggest instructors
aim their efforts at influencing students’ normative environment and global awareness.
Following past research (Reysen and Katzarska-Miller, 2012), influencing these antecedents
will lead to greater global citizenship identification and subsequently influence prosocial
values and behaviors. Additionally, interventions can be adapted to influence both
antecedents simultaneously to increase the probability of engendering students’ global
citizenship. For example, including non-western material in the curriculum (Reysen and
Krueger, in press) may increase students’ global awareness and simultaneously place the
instructor as a model of global citizen values in the students’ normative environment.
One method to engender global citizenship identification in students is to raise their
global awareness. As indicated in the prior sections of this chapter, global awareness contains
two components: (1) knowledge of the world and (2) awareness of one’s interconnectedness
to others in the world. As shown in prior research (Reysen, Katzarska-Miller, Gibson, and
Hobson, 2012), factual knowledge leads to greater perceived global awareness, which leads to
increased global citizenship identification and prosocial values. A second method to increase
global awareness is highlighting the interconnectedness of people in the globalized world.
Instructors have the ability to revise their curriculum by including more information that
recognizes the diversity and focuses on understanding local and global inequalities (Arnot,
 Student Pathways to Global Citizenship 131

2009), highlight resistance movements or other battles against oppression (O’Connor and
Zeichner, 2011), and examine the same subject from multiple perspectives (Veugelers, 2011).
Breithorde and Swiniarski (1999) suggest focusing on students’ social experiences, exploring
the context and ramifications of the experience, and through discussion, highlighting the
notion that the experiences are social and global in nature. Additionally, instructors can begin
to question students’ perception of what are considered “normal” attitudes and behavior in
relation to the attitudes and behaviors of others in the world (Merryfield, Lo, and Po, 2008;
Nussbaum, 2002; Soudien, 2011). With greater access to the online resources there exists the
opportunity to highlight the various perspectives on similar issues, or gain a greater
understanding of current global problems (Berson and Berson, 2003; Crawford and Kirby,
2008), and more generally focus students’ attention on future global issues (Burns, 2008;
Hicks, 2001). Furthermore, institutions could require, or instructors could encourage, a
greater emphasis on foreign language learning (Byrnes, 2009; Clarke, 2004). Instructors can
focus on similarities between cultures and the larger sociocultural influences on phenomenon
(Adams, Biernat, Branscombe, Crandall, and Wrightsman, 2008), and highlight the shared
fate of the earth (Golmohamad, 2009), or the interconnectedness of trade, people, and cultural
patterns worldwide. In general, revising curriculum to highlight global connections, non-
western sources of information, and relationships with others outside one’s cultural setting
can raise global awareness to engender global citizenship (Fielden, 2007).
Second, influencing or changing students’ normative environment can lead to greater
global citizenship. Individuals automatically enact habits that are conditioned and cued by
aspects in one’s environment (Adams and Markus, 2004). Therefore, changing students’
normative environment from one that cues ethnocentric values to settings with diverse values
reflecting openness and global citizenship could automatically influence attitudes (see Adams
et al., 2008). To accomplish this task, instructors have the opportunity to present themselves
as models of global citizenship, influence the settings in which students engage to reflect
global citizen values, and encourage students to engage in nonmainstream settings. For
example, to influence students’ current settings instructors could work with community
members to highlight global perspectives inside and outside of school (Andrzejewski, 2005).
Instructors can also revise their curriculum to highlight the community’s ethnic diversity
through assemblies, art, and music events. Such an approach highlights students’ current
environment as globally infused. Indeed, students do not have to leave their current residence
to engage in nonmainstream and culturally diverse settings. For example, instructors may
change students’ normative environment through international collaboration between schools
to exchange materials and information, similar to video pen-pals (Bovair and Griffith, 2003).
Going one step further, instructors could utilize online international collaboration and
communication to conduct action research (Gaudelli and Fernekes, 2004; Price, 2003),
simulate a model UN (Gaudelli and Fernekes, 2004), and more generally focus students
collaborative experience with students in other nations and cultures to solve simulated global
problems (Johnson, Boyer, and Brown, 2011). In the above examples students’ normative
environment is influenced by instructors who infuse or highlight their daily settings as
globally connected; a second method of influencing students’ normative environment is to
actually change their environment. Schools and instructors can encourage students to study
abroad (Goodman, 2009). Indeed, studying abroad has been shown to increase students’
global citizenship (Chickering and Braskamp, 2009) and the experience can be further
enhanced through the completion of service learning while abroad (Greenberg, 2008). Thus,
132 Stephen Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller

students’ normative environment can lead to greater global citizenship by instructors either
changing the current environment or encouraging students to engage in nonmainstream
environments. However, instructors should consistently infuse settings or encourage
engagement with environments that contain patterns of global citizen values and behaviors
and highlight the interconnectedness of humans.

CONCLUSION
Globalization has lead to an emphasis on internationalizing education institutions and
promoting global education (Maringe, 2010). Although global citizenship education programs
have spread (Hicks, 2003), theorists have yet to converge on a definition, conceptualization or
academic standards (Sperandio et al., 2010). To provide much needed clarity to the concept of
global citizenship we have reviewed past theoretical descriptions of the antecedents and
outcomes to viewing the self as a global citizen. We define global citizenship as awareness,
caring, and embracing cultural diversity while promoting social justice and sustainability,
coupled with a sense of responsibility to act (Pierce, Reysen, and Katzarska-Miller, 2010;
Snider et al., in press). Following an empirically established theoretical framework (social
identity perspective), we reviewed recent research showing the antecedents (normative
environment, global awareness) and outcomes (intergroup empathy, valuing diversity, social
justice, environmental sustainability, intergroup helping, and felt responsibility to act for the
betterment of the world) of global citizenship identification. Lastly, based on past theory and
research, we provided practical applications to engender global citizenship in educational
settings. Although educating for global citizenship may appear daunting, there exist a
multitude of simple actions and interventions that instructors can make (e.g., infusing non-
western sources in curriculum, highlighting human interconnectedness) to provide pathways
for students to cultivate a global citizen identity.

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In: Student Learning: Improving Practice ISBN: 978-1-62618-887-7
Editor: Christopher Boyle © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 10

ACTION-EMOTION STYLE, TEST ANXIETY AND

RESILIENCE IN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Jesús de la Fuente1, María Cardelle-Elawar2,

Paul Sander3 and David Putwain4
1
University of Almería, Spain
2
Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, US
3
Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK
4
Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, Lancashire, UK

ABSTRACT
Introduction. The Action-Emotion Style (AES) is the combination of competitiveness
and overwork characteristics, with emotions of impatience and hostility, based in the
construct Type-A Behavior Pattern. Test Anxiety is an emotional reaction involved in
adaptive or maladaptive processes when facing adverse or dangerous events. Resilience
has been defined as a person or group’s capacity to continue moving forward toward the
future, despite destabilizing events, difficult life conditions and sometimes serious
traumas. The objective of the present research is to establish the relationship between
characteristics of action-emotion style with test anxiety and the resilience constructs.
Method. The sample was composed of 121 students of the Psychology Degree
Program at the University of Almería. The measures used were: (1) The Jenkins Activity
Survey for students-Form H (JASE-H), Spanish version, designed to measure AES. (2)
Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI-80), Spanish version. This questionnaire is a reduced,
validated adaptation of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). (3) Resilience, the
Connor-Davison Resilience Inventory, Spanish version was used. Pearson correlation
analyses, ANOVAs and MANOVAs were used to analyse data.
Results. Results showed: (1) Significant positive association between both
competitive-hardworking and impatience-hostility, and test anxiety; (2) significant
positive association between competitive-hardworking characteristics and resilience, and
a negative association between impatience-hostility and resilience. The level of action-
emotion style had a significant main effect.
Conclusion. Evidence is offered to defend the value of the construct AES for
detecting possible learning difficulties stemming from students’ experience of
140 Jesús de la Fuente, María Cardelle-Elawar, Paul Sander et al.

achievement motivation and of certain negative feelings while learning at university,

especially in stressful situations.

Keywords: Action-emotion style, test anxiety, resilience, stress academic, high education

INTRODUCTION
University education is undergoing a profound change with the main exponent of this
change being the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The innovations resulting from
the creation of the EHEA have brought about new demands on both teachers and students,
many of which are the product of a restructuring of the teaching-learning process (Biggs,
2001; Elliot and Dweck, 2007; Entwistle and Peterson, 2004). In this process, students take
on a more active role in constructing their own learning with teachers facilitating in the
construction of their learning by advising, orienting and helping them resolve difficulties that
arise along the way (De la Fuente and Justicia, 2007).

The University Academic Context as a Presage Variable of Stress

The academic context is important because it can operate as a variable that induces or
reduces stress. The topic of stress, as seen from different fields of knowledge, has been well
studied during the 20th century, generating a series of theoretical perspectives for both pure
and applied research in this area (Barraza, 2005). Historically, there have been diverse
conceptions of stress.
The early studies understood stress from a physiological or biochemical viewpoint,
emphasizing the importance of the organic response, and focusing on the internal processes of
the subject.
The more psychological and social viewpoints that came later are more interested in the
situations that generate stress., For example the interactive theory of stress by Lazarus and
collaborators which places more emphasis on interrelationships and mediational or
transactional and appraisal processes (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984; Folkman and Moskowitz,
2004).

Action-Emotion Style as a Motivational-Affective, Presage Variable

of Academic Stress

The construct Action-Emotion Style, (AES; De la Fuente, 2004, 2008, 2011) is a variable
that is based on the psychological construct called the Type-A Behavior Pattern, (TABP;
Bermúdez, Pérez-García and Sánchez-Elvira, 1990, 1991). However, there are certain
differences.
The TABP emerged within the healthcare context, in order to explain certain
characteristics or a certain behavioral pattern in response to stress, found in subjects with high
coronary risk, and in an attempt to establish which elements of this behavior are harmful or
protective. The AES, however, has application within an educational context to explain
 Action-Emotion Style, Test Anxiety and Resilience in Undergraduate Students 141

differences in students’ achievement motivation. It assumes that the components involved are
found in different combinations within the population, and can explain academic
performance, a product variable in the Biggs Model (Biggs, 2001). In fact, a clear relationship
has already been demonstrated between characteristic behaviors of the competitive-
hardworking component, and academic performance in university students (De la Fuente and
Cardelle, 2009).
De la Fuente (1998, 2004, 2008) described Action-Emotion Style (AES) as a person
variable of achievement motivation, resulting from the combined interrelation of the different
components of the Type A behavior pattern, when interacting with the academic learning
process at university. Not all components of TABP or AES (competitive, hardworking,
impatience, hostility) that form part of the construct were found to have the same effect on
learning.
This finding left open the possibility of establishing different student profiles with
different combinations of elements, based on relatively stable behaviors and emotions – or
achievement motivation styles – which students manifest to a greater or lesser degree when
performing learning activities. Prior studies clearly established different student groups in
terms of their achievement motivation style (e.g. De la Fuente, 2011).
The combination of the motivational-affective characteristics of competitiveness and
overwork, with emotions of impatience and hostility, leads to a classification with five
categories of action-emotion style: 1). Type B (low in achievement motivation and negative
emotionality), 2). Impatient-hostile Type (low in achievement motivation and high in
negative emotionality), 3). Medium Type (medium in both aspects), 4). Competitive-
hardworking Type (high in achievement motivation and low in negative emotionality), and 5).
Type A (high in both).

Test Anxiety as a Process Variable of Academic Stress

In order to understand the nature of anxiety and its effects on performance, it is helpful to
conceptualize it in terms of its biological-adaptive function (Spielberger, 1980). Anxiety is an
emotional reaction involved in adaptive processes when facing adverse or dangerous events.
More specifically, its action serves the function of preventing harm, by generating preparatory
responses.
For this purpose, anxiety uses a double mechanism of action. The first is the perception
of a threat through cognitive mechanisms, which is followed by emotional behavior, and has
to do with mobilizing resources to avoid the threat.
These resources may be generic, and either physiological (increased sympathetic activity
of the autonomic nervous system), motoric (increased muscular tension and faster
movements) or cognitive (lower thresholds of alertness and vigilance). Or, they may have an
instrumental nature, directly connected to the demands of the situation (studying longer,
asking others for help, etc.). It is precisely in this instrumental aspect where Action-Emotion
Style has a fundamental influence.
The Test Anxiety construct is a measurement of anxiety in test situations. The first
component, of this construct is the worrying, interfering reoccurring thoughts during the
activity which are a consequence of perceiving the situation to be threatening, leading to a
preoccupation with failure. Associated with this is an awareness of autonomic arousal.
142 Jesús de la Fuente, María Cardelle-Elawar, Paul Sander et al.

Resilience as a Motivational-Affective Variable in the Learning Process

It is also necessary to establish the relationship between action-emotion style and

resilience, a personal variable that is currently attracting much interest (Bermejo, 2011; Forés
and Grané, 2008). Traditionally, psychology has not given sufficient attention to this
phenomenon, but in recent years resilience has become an object of study. From the
etymological viewpoint, this term comes from the Latin saliere, meaning to jump backward,
rebound, be repelled, and bounce back. The prefix re implies repeating or resuming. Resiliar
means ‘to be revived or go forward, after having suffered a blow or having experienced a
traumatic situation’ (Cyrulnik, Tomkiewicz, Guénard, Vanistendael, Manciaux et al., 2004,
p.12). In recent years, the concept of resilience has come to be seen as the quality that a
person has to withstand and to recover from traumatic situations or losses. Resilience has
been defined as a person’s or group’s capacity to continue moving forward, despite
destabilizing events, difficult life conditions and sometimes serious traumas (Manciaux,
Vanistendael, Lecomte, and Cyrulnik et al., 2001).
In the educational context, resilience plays an important role. An individual measures his
or her own strength in the face of different academic and social challenges and demands.
Resilience involves confronting demanding situations and as a result the individual
understands better his or her potential and thus develops confidence, grows stronger, learns
and is able to respond effectively whilst preserving his or her mental health. The few studies
that have addressed this topic have focused mainly on identifying resilient characteristics in a
childhood population (Bradley et al., 1994), in populations that are victims of poverty
(Sammeroff and Seiffer, 1992) or disasters, but the student population remains largely
unexplored (Gargallo, Pérez, Serra, Sánchez, and Ross, 2002).
The learning process involves considerable motivation, not only to adequately withstand
the pace and demand for adaptation, but also to be able to self-regulate so as to respond
adequately without becoming overwhelmed or falling into emotional disturbances such as
defenselessness, apathy, depression, or anxiety (Álvarez and Cáceres, 2010). Some previous
work on resilience in student populations associates these mental health manifestations with a
deficiency in resilience (Bragagnolo et al., 2005). Likewise, research on stress in university
students indicates that lack of self-confidence creates a pattern of vulnerability, leaving
students with low resistance and lack of optimism about themselves, their environment and
their possibilities for getting ahead (De la Fuente, Zapata, Sander and Putwain, in review).
This in turn triggers psychological problems in the educational and social context. These
disorders are not always addressed by institutional support services, and end up affecting
academic performance, social relationships and the student’s own affectivity (Solórzano and
Ramos, 2006).

Objectives and Hypothesis

According to prior evidence, there are anxiety responses that are adaptive in their initial
level of activation, and not adaptive at a higher level. With this logic, our first research
objective was to establish relationships between AES, its dimensions and components, and
Test Anxiety. The second objective was to establish an interdependent relationship between
the two constructs. The first hypothesis states that competitiveness-overwork should have a
 Action-Emotion Style, Test Anxiety and Resilience in Undergraduate Students 143

positive but weaker association with test anxiety, while impatience-hostility would have a
strong association. Similarly, that competitiveness-overwork should have a positive
association with resilience, while impatience-hostility would have no association. The second
hypothesis states that AES will discriminate in terms of level of test anxiety and resilience,
with higher scores in anxiety and lower in resilience of the impatient-hostile type, and lower
scores of anxiety and high in resilience, in the competitive-hardworking type.

METHOD
Participants

The sample consisted of 121 students in the 2nd and 4th years of the Psychology Degree
Program at the University of Almería (Spain), with a mean age of 21.06 (sd=3.10).

Instruments

Action-emotion style. The Jenkins Activity Survey for students-Form H (JASE-H) was
used. This scale, used for measuring the TABP, has been adapted (Bermúdez, Sánchez-Elvira
and Pérez-García, 1991) from the Jenkins Activity Survey in its T version (Krantz, Glass, and
Snyder, 1974), a version of TABP for students. It contains 4 factors: Impatience, Hostility,
Competitiveness and Hardworking. In total, the questionnaire contains 32 items, each with a
six-point Likert-type response format, so that the student participant must choose the extent to
which an item applies to him or her. A value of one means that it is not at all applicable, and
six means that it is totally applicable.
The JASE-H offers both a global TABP score, obtained by adding the scores on each of
the items, and specific score for each of the components that comprise the TABP. Regarding
psychometric properties of this instrument, the correlations between the different subscales
are low but significant, and correlations between each subscale and the total scale are also
high (Bermúdez, Sánchez-Elvira and Pérez-García, 1991). Furthermore, the JASE-H presents
high internal consistency (alpha coefficient of 0.85 for the total scale, and 0.81 for the
Impatience-Hostility factors, 0.82 for Competitiveness and 0.70 for Hardworking) and high
stability over time, both for the complete scale (0.68) and for each of the above factors (0.61,
0.76 and 0.70 respectively).
Test Anxiety. The TAI-80, Test Anxiety Inventory, was used. This questionnaire is a
reduced, validated Spanish adaptation of the STAI (State Trait Anxiety Inventory), by
Spielberger (1980). This inventory provides a measurement of anxiety in test situations,
addressing the two components explained above. The test contains two parts, with 10
questions each. Worry is evaluated through the existence of interfering and automatic
thoughts that prevent the proper functioning of attention, working memory and performance
on the assessment situation. The emotionality is evaluated through negative emotions, which
can also be interfering. Reliability statistics are Alpha= .919, Guttman Split Half=.865 for
worry, and Alpha= .819, Guttman Split Half=.834 for emotionality (Spielberger et al, 1980).
144 Jesús de la Fuente, María Cardelle-Elawar, Paul Sander et al.

Resilience. The Connor_Davidson Resilience Inventory (CD-RISC) was used (Connor

and Davidson, 2003). This Likert-type scale is made up of 25 items, which address five
factors: (1) personal competence, high standards and tenacity; (2) tolerance of negative affect
and strengthening effects of stress; (3) positive acceptance of change, and secure
relationships; (4) control, and (5) spiritual influences. Reliability and Validity measures
reported by the authors are consistent. In our sample, the statistics are Alpha= .868, and
Guttman Split Half=.714 (Connor and Davidson, 2003).

Procedure

All participants received the necessary information about the research and about how to
complete the different questionnaires. Completion of questionnaires was voluntary and took
place during class hours in the months of February and June, 2011-12, respectively, for the
first and second scale. The researchers followed the ethical standards as laid down by the
American Psychological Assoication.

Design and Data Analysis

A correlational and inferential design was used. Pearson bivariate correlations (two-
tailed) were carried out, as well as univariate analyses (ANOVAs) and multivariate analyses
(MANOVAs). In order to determine the type of AES, cluster analysis was carried out,
establishing three levels (low-medium-high) for each dimension. Thus, the five groups were
established as combinations of the low and high levels. For example, Type 2 (impatient-
hostile) is the combination of a high level of impatience-hostility and a low level of
competitiveness-overwork. The remaining students that did not fit into the classification were
discarded which resulted in a total of 68 students that remained out of the initial sample
of 121.

Results

There was a significant, positive correlation of both dimensions of Action-Emotion Style

and test anxiety. Specifically the dimensions associated with test anxiety are overwork and
impatience. See Table 1.
The ANOVA performed between Action-Emotion Style (AES) and total anxiety showed
a significant main effect of AES, F(4,65)=3.923 (Index Pillai), p<.01. The MANOVA by
components was also significant, F(8,130)=2.124 (Index Pillai), p<.05, partial eta2=.117,
with a significant partial effect of AES on Worry F(4,65)=4.369 (Index Pillai), p<.01 and on
emotionality, F(4, 65)=3,010, p<.05.
Direct values are shown in Table 2. Further analyses of paired differences of means
showed that for all types, emotionality was significantly greater than worry. The greatest
difference was produced in students with Type IH (t=-5.85, p<.001), and the least in the
competitive-hardworking types (t=-2.72, p<.02).
 Action-Emotion Style, Test Anxiety and Resilience in Undergraduate Students 145

Table 1. Correlations between the components and dimensions of Action-Emotion Style

and Test Anxiety

C HW IMP HOST CHW IMHOST JASET

WORRY -.07 .381** .388* .191** .249** .280** .261**
EMOTION -.08 .327** .272** .143* .193* .227* .198*
ANXIETY -0.8 .365** .338** .175** .227* .229* .219**
* p<.01, ** p<.001.
C: Competitiveness; HW: Hardworking; IMP: Impatience, HOST: Hostility; CHW: Competitiveness-
Hardworking; IMHOST: Impatience-Hostility; JASET: JASE Total. Worry: Worry, EMOTIO:
Emotionality, ANXIETY: Test Anxiety

Table 2. ANOVA and MANOVA between AES and test anxiety

1. Type B 2.Type IH 3.Type M 4.Type CHW 5.Type A

n=10 n=18 n=15 n=10 n=16
WORRY 1.20 (.33) 1.91 (.57) 1.96 (.64) 1.48 (.40) 2.31 (.66)
EMOTION 1.90 (.45) 2.32 (.63) 2.37 (.74) 1.89 (.51) 2.61 (.74)

ANXIETY 1.76 (.76) 2.11 (.67) 2.17 (.67) 1.68 (.39) 2.46 (.67)
Type B: low in achievement motivation and negative emotionality; Type IH: impatient-hostile; Type
M: Medium; Type CHW: Type competitive-hardworking; Type A: high in impatience-hostility
and competitiveness-overwork. WORRY: worry EMOTION: Emotionality, ANXIETY: Test
Anxiety

We found a significant, positive correlation between some of the dimensions of action-

emotion style and resilience. Specifically, the Competitiveness-Overwork dimension has the
closest correlation to resilience.
Certain dimensions of resilience –tenacity, withstanding stress and the perception of
exercising control – are associated with action-emotion style, especially with competitiveness
and with overwork. See Table 3.
The ANOVA between Action-Emotion Style (AES) and total resilience showed a
significant main effect of AES, F(4,67)=6.118 (Pillai), p<.001, presenting 4 > 2.1 (p<.01)
and 5 > 2 (p<.05).
The MANOVA by components was also significant, F(20, 264)=1.734 (Pillai), p<.02,
2
eta =.116, with a significant partial effect of AES on tenacity, F(4,67)=4.386 (Pillai), p<.003,
(4 > 2,1, p<.05) for withstanding stress, F(4, 67)=6.207, p<.001, (5,4,3, > 2, p<.01) and
adapting to change, F(4, 67)=2.526, p<.05.Direct values are shown in Table 4.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The first research objective was to establish relationships between Action-Emotion Style,
its dimensions and components, and Test Anxiety. It stated that competitiveness-overwork
should have a positive but weaker association with test anxiety, while impatience-hostility
would have a strong association.
146 Jesús de la Fuente, María Cardelle-Elawar, Paul Sander et al.

Table 3. Correlations between the components and dimensions of action-emotion style

and dimensions of resilience

C HW IMP HOST CHW IMHOST JASET

1. TENACI .269** .276** -.052 -.00 .325** -018 .273**
2. STRESS .324** .159 -0.31 .133 .322* .100 .380**
3. CHANG .171 .120 -.069 -.049 .167 .018 .172
4. CONTR .241** .104 -.093 .033 .211* -.021 .166
5. SPIRIT .028 .248** .134 .164 .163 .130 .196*

TOTAL .269** .287** -.014 -.091 .358** .070 .350**

* p<.01, ** p<.001.
C: Competitiveness; HW: Hardworking; IMP: Impatience, HOST: Hostility; CHW: Competitiveness-
Hardworking; IMHOST: Impatience-Hostility; JASET: JASE Total
TENACI: tenacity; STRESS: withstanding stress: CHANG: acceptance of change; CONTR: perception
of exercising control; SPIRIT: spirituality.

Table 4. ANOVA and MANOVA between AES and resilience

1. Type B 2.Type IH 3.Type M 4.Type CHW 5.Type A

n=10 n=18 n=15 n=10 n=16
1. TENACI 3.36 (.63) 3.50 (.73) 3.73 (.50) 4.20 (.44) 4.00 (.51)
2. STRESS 3.29 (.48) 3.14 (.30) 3.69 (.53) 3.80 (.55) 3.79 (.51)
3. CHANGE 3.92 (.58) 3.71 (.54) 3.97 (.36) 4.21 (.50) 4.12 (.37)
4. CONTR 3.72 (.74) 3.55 (1.1) 3.87 (.71) 4.27 (.61) 4.00 (.62)
5. SPIRIT 2.04 (.96) 2.38 (.83) 2.93 (1.1) 2.77 (.90) 2.71 (1.0)
TOTAL 3.27 (.43) 3.25 (.46)* 3.64 (.35) 3.85 (.47)* 3.72 (.30)
Type B: low in IH and CHW; Type IH: impatient-hostile; Type M: Medium; Type CHW: Type
competitive-hardworking; Type A: high in impatience-hostility and competitiveness-overwork
TENACI: tenacity; STRESS: withstanding stress: CHANGE: acceptance of change; CONTR:
perception of exercising control; SPIRIT: spirituality.

Test anxiety is confirmed to be present in both components of Action-Emotion Style. It is

necessary to emphasise that within the competitiveness-overwork component, the latter aspect
is associated with test anxiety. Likewise, in impatience-hostility, test anxiety is mainly
associated with impatience, not with hostility. This evidence helps to show that impatience
and hostility are two distinct negative emotions. Anxiety (worry and emotionality) appears as
an emotional response of activation; for this reason it is associated with overwork and
impatience. It has been confirmed that different components of AES have significant
associations with resilience. It should be emphasised that the competitiveness-overwork
component is most associated with resilience, in particular with tenacity, withstanding stress
and adapting to change. In contrast, the impatience-hostility component is not associated with
these factors, which may be considered stress minimizers. Once more, this evidence helps to
corroborate the possibility that impatience and hostility are negative motivational-affective
elements that do not make use of resilience to protect from stress (Kardum1 and Hudek-
Knezevic, 2012).
 Action-Emotion Style, Test Anxiety and Resilience in Undergraduate Students 147

As for the second objective and hypothesis, referring to the effect of action-emotion style,
an interdependent relationship between the two constructs is confirmed. Specifically, as was
hypothesized, impatient-hostile students have greater anxiety in general, and more
emotionality in particular. Another interesting aspect is that competitive-hardworking
students present the least anxiety. This result can be explained, through the mechanism of
inhibited attention to one’s own responses of activation or fatigue, accompanied by attention
strategies that focus on the task. Similarly, an interdependent relationship between the two
constructs is confirmed. Specifically, as was hypothesized, the competitive-hardworking
students have higher levels of resilience or tenacity, withstanding stress and adaptation to
change which is unlike the impatient-hostile types, who score lower than the mean in contrast
to the competitive-hardworking types and the Type A students. This result is consistent with
the idea of resilience as a variable with a buffering effect against stress.
The implications of this result are important for understanding learning difficulties with a
motivational-affective source, associated with action-emotion style (AES). Based on AES
types, we can consider that students with an impatient-hostile achievement motivation style,
in addition to having a more surface approach to learning, have poorer regulation, persistence,
decision-making, along with high levels of test anxiety. For this reason, students with an
impatient-hostile style should be trained in personal self-regulation processes, in general, and
in self-regulated learning strategies, in particular.
Despite sample limitations, this investigation has shown that the behavioral dimensions
of the construct Action-Emotion Style have value and power to establish associations with
other motivational-affective variables, now considered classic, in university learning. Yet to
be established are relationships between this construct and coping styles, as a strategic
variable in managing stress (Putwain, Symes, Connors, and Douglas-Osborn, 2012) as well as
how this construct affects perception of teaching-learning processes at university (Putwain
and Symes, 2011) and finally, how it mediates in meta-cognitive strategies and in academic
performance.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research was carried out within the framework of the RandD Project ref. EDU2011-
24805 (2012-2014). MICINN and FEDER Funds.

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Chapter 11

CRITICAL THINKING:
FOCAL POINT FOR A CULTURE OF INQUIRY

David C. Johnsen
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, US

ABSTRACT
With the explosion of information, learning more facts and techniques alone will not
allow adaptation to new information, cultures and concepts. Learning how to think
critically, analytically and creatively will be the path to adaptation. This calls for
educational institutions to shift, to go beyond mastering facts and techniques to a focus
on outcomes across disciplines and curriculum years.
This chapter will focus on enhancing a culture of inquiry, including some key
concepts in critical thinking, stating and assessing outcomes, transcending disciplines,
and settings for teaching and learning.
While the ideas presented here have application to other health sciences and beyond,
the examples are from a dental faculty in a university.

Keywords: Inquiry, critical thinking, knowledge, health sciences

THEMATIC QUOTE
The opening lines (in a classroom) from Charles Dickens’ “Hard Times”: “Now what I
want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life.
Plant nothing else, and root out everything else.
You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be
of any service to them…. Stick to Facts, sir!”
Thus, the greatest sociological writer of the 19th century telling of the human difficulties
accompanying the industrial revolution starts his tale not in a factory, but in a classroom. A
recurring theme is the devastating effect from stifling young imaginations.
152 David C. Johnsen

INTRODUCTION: PURPOSE AND BIASES OF THIS CHAPTER

Critical thinking can be an exhilarating activity. It can be the hub for just about
everything we do in education and in our daily lives, including the way we take in and
organize our knowledge, the way we picture the outcome of a technical procedure and the
way we analyze an ethical dilemma. Thinking and judgment pervade every decision, whether
consciously or subconsciously (Johnsen, 2012). The role of the academic or professional
leader is to create a culture of inquiry to adapt to both acute situations and long term trends.
This chapter attempts to focus on critical thinking to include a peek at the nature of critical
thinking, some key concepts from the education literature, the state of development in dental
education, potential application to other health sciences, the necessity to move forward, and to
overcome challenges particularly with methodology and culture.
Critical thinking is different from knowledge because thinking starts with doubt and
reflection (Baron, 2008). Students all learn differently, so a single system of teaching will
probably not fit well to guide student learning. Some equalizing between faculty and students
is likely. A focus on critical thinking creates an interactive formative environment.
To design programs in critical thinking, active discussion is as important as any paper or
formula. Critical thinking has been looked at as the “art” of analyzing one’s thought processes
with the intent of improvement (Paul and Elder, 2006). Art is liberating for the minds of
faculty and students, however elusive to measure. At its core, critical thinking demands the
learner to ask questions in order to reflect, doubt, inquire, challenge, investigate, and create.
Critical thinking is the vortex of learning in higher education. It goes beyond silos. When we
consider the whole of cognitive, moral, and emotional development can be summarized by
the breadth of perspectives a person can take (David Lohman, personal communication), to
gain these perspectives means crossing disciplines and curriculum years. Research has
become interdisciplinary and education can follow.
It is beyond the scope of this piece to assess overall abilities on inquisitiveness, including
open mindedness, flexibility, overall judgment, and asking relevant questions. However, it
does seem worth contemplating whether these important abilities can be assessed in the
absence of structured models or frameworks.

A CULTURE OF INQUIRY AND RESPECT – INSEPARABLE ELEMENTS

With the explosion of information, learning how to think critically, analytically and
creatively will be a path for adaptation to a world we cannot completely foresee. Learning
more facts and techniques are necessary and not sufficient to adapt to new information,
cultures and concepts. This calls for educational institutions to shift, to go beyond mastering
facts and techniques to a focus on outcomes across disciplines and curriculum years (Albino
et al., 2008; O’Donnell, Oakley, Haney, and O’Neill, 2011).
An overarching assumption of this chapter is that critical thinking will drive a culture of
respect because it exudes questioning and exchange. Since thinking starts with doubt (Baron,
2008), an inherent component of critical thinking is a systematic assessment of biases.
Ideally, examining one’s own biases can lead to a culture of inclusion and diversity, which is
based on respect. The root for the words evaluation and validity is “value” which implies a
 Critical Thinking: Focal Point for a Culture of Inquiry 153

subjective, even moral component. Moral values can also be part of the culture because
reasoning and decision making depend on moral values. Intimidation implies fear to express
doubt. While it may be possible to enhance critical thinking in a culture of intimidation, it is
difficult to imagine maximizing the student’s ability to think critically without a genuine
openness to question and respect among all the participants.
One situation which is an exception is the execution of an irreversible procedure
performed by more than one individual. While input may occur during the procedure, the
moment may arrive when the team leader needs authority to direct completion of the
procedure. In such situations the team leader will “make the call” and it will be expected for
colleagues to obey.

CROSSING DISCIPLINES AND CURRICULUM YEARS – LIMITS OF SILOS

AND PROGRESSION FROM NOVICE TO EXPERT

Critical thinking is at the hub of learning and yet is an elusive target when it comes to
guiding learning and precisely assessing performance. Cultural challenges for dentistry and
other health sciences include the notions that thinking starts with doubt in a culture of inquiry,
based on respect crossing disciplines and curriculum years. The purposes of this section are to
firstly offer a set of guiding concepts on critical thinking and then to discuss a set of
implementation concepts with some examples. This approach has potential to be applied to
essentially any exercise reflecting critical thinking.
Two guiding concepts are first (stated previously) the whole of cognitive, moral and
emotional development can be summarized by the breadth of perspectives the person can take
and second to be able to assess performance in complex thought processes the first task is to
know what it is the teacher wants the student to do. For the former, an interpretation is to
engage the student in multiple exercises reflecting critical thinking. The more kinds of
experiences, the more likely the student will adapt to new situations. For the latter, the task is
to emulate the intended thought process for each situation (for example, how does a student
develop a treatment plan?).
The same is true in other disciplines. If the intent is to write fiction then have the student
write fiction, to do math problems then have them do math problems, to play the oboe then
have them play the oboe, to treatment plan a dental patient then have them develop a
treatment plan. For dentistry and other health sciences, the challenge is to succinctly
determine the central components of the thought process the expert uses in a certain situation
– one of the most difficult tasks in education. If we can identify the expert’s thought
processes, we can then articulate what we want the student to do and meaningfully set the
stage to guide learning and assess performance. The thought process thus becomes the
outcome.
Progression from Novice to Expert happens to some extent regardless of the learning
programs and the curriculum. The progression happens from Novice to Advanced Beginner to
Competent to Proficient to Expert (Benner, 2001). For the Novice structure is needed,
structure that becomes a hindrance to the Expert. Thus designing learning programs becomes
a matter of accommodation to the Novice to Expert progression rather than trying to deny its
existence or to affect its course.
154 David C. Johnsen

CRITICAL THINKING – DEFINE IT AND MOVE ON

It is important to collectively define critical thinking as a faculty and just as important not
to get hung up for too long on a definition. Understanding critical thinking is complicated by
the lack of consensus on an operational definition. There is probably not one “right”
definition. One is “The art of analyzing one’s thought process with the intent to improve
it.”(Paul and Elder, 2006, p.54) The “art” component puts critical thinking on a different
footing from knowledge and technical skills. The dental education culture however generally
emphasizes and values things that are “scientific” and highly quantifiable. The American
Dental Education Association (ADEA) defines critical thinking as “the process of
assimilating and analyzing information; this encompasses an interest in finding new solutions,
a curiosity with an ability to admit to a lack of understanding, a willingness to examine
beliefs and assumptions and to search for evidence to support these beliefs and assumptions,
and the ability to distinguish between fact and opinion” (ADEA, 2011). The University of
Iowa College of Dentistry defines critical thinking as “a strategy for evaluating one’s own
thought processes. One of the objectives of critical thinking is to identify strengths and
weaknesses in one’s thought processes and to develop ways to address the weaknesses. The
goal of critical thinking is to achieve a higher level of thinking, a level in which one
recognizes one’s own biases, honestly perceives all sides of an issue, identifies needed
information, and pursues the best possible alternative for the given situation. Critical thinking
provides the basis for self-assessment.” (Paul and Elder, 2006)
Several words and phrases in these definitions separate the approach to guiding student
learning and assessing performance for critical thinking from knowledge and technical skill.
Examples include “analyzing information,” “finding new [alternative] solutions,” “curiosity,”
“one recognizes [systematically] one’s own biases,” “perceives all sides of an issue,” and
“basis for self-assessment.” These definitions reflect complex thought processes associated
with diverse learning experiences (Baron, 2008; Penfield and Lamm, 2000). At its core,
critical thinking demands that the learner ask questions in order to reflect, doubt, inquire,
challenge, investigate, and create. This skill is fundamentally different from knowledge and
technical procedures, and therefore requires instructional approaches that are fundamentally
different (Frederiksen and Collins, 1989; Johnsen et al., 2011; Lane and Stone, 2006).

SETTINGS TO ENHANCE CRITICAL THINKING

The social context will play a role in the effective cultivation of critical thinking. In
addition to developing a culture of inquiry and respect, it is necessary to provide a setting
where critical thinking can be developed.
Engaging students in both small group and one-to-one situations offers a dynamic well
suited to inquiry. Problem-based learning (PBL) and case-based learning have been key
instruments in raising the culture of critical thinking in dental schools (and other health
sciences) and in changing the social context to group or team learning and problem solving
(Marshall, Finkelstein, and Cunningham-Ford, 2010; Von Bergmann, Dalrymple, Wong, and
Shuler, 2007;). Exercises in critical thinking will ideally include alternatives to the same
questions, analyze biases and require self- assessment. Small group and one-to-one
 Critical Thinking: Focal Point for a Culture of Inquiry 155

experiences among faculty and students are well suited to discourse on alternatives, biases
and self-assessment (Johnsen, Finkelstein, Marshall, and Chalkley, 2009). Academic
familiarity (knowing the student in an academic/professional setting) between faculty and
students will also enhance the richness of the exchanges between these groups.

KNOWLEDGE AND CRITICAL THINKING: A LITTLE THE SAME

BUT MOSTLY DIFFERENT

Patient-centered care involves an inseparable set of knowledge, abilities, and professional

traits. For practical reasons, education is segmented into disciplines or domains like
knowledge, technical skills, ethics, and critical thinking (Larkin, McDermott, Simon, and
Simon, 1980).
The comparison between critical thinking and knowledge may be useful because of the
pervasive orientation toward teaching and testing knowledge. With knowledge we are
interested in what the student knows. While critical thinking is a part of assembling
knowledge, the educator focused on knowledge alone will not likely get into how the student
assembled the information for reproduction. While it seems clear that a core of knowledge is
necessary to conduct critical thinking, it is not sufficient by itself.
One approach to capture the differences between the outcomes of knowledge and critical
thinking (and other outcomes in learning programs) is to develop a matrix of outcomes versus
the methodologies used to attain each outcome. An example of a matrix showing outcomes
versus methodologies is shown in Figure 1.
While the content is from our faculty, the horizontal and vertical axes can be used by any
learning organization. This is different from curriculum mapping which emphasizes topical
areas, commonly by discipline.
Methodologies on the vertical axis include definition, cultivation format, assessment
(summative/formative and objective/subjective), institutional coordination and competency
determination (Johnsen et al., 2011). Methodologies are generic while educational outcomes
are particular to an institution.
For our school, the educational outcomes were knowledge, technical, critical thinking,
ethics, practice management and social responsibility. The exercise can be instructive in
articulating one’s outcomes and can show the intricacies of the interfaces between and among
respective outcomes.
The matrix approach allows separate analyses of each outcome as well as a comparison
of fundamental differences for respective outcomes. The matrix approach helps to accentuate
just how different critical thinking is from other outcomes. While general and technical
(procedural) knowledge are straightforward to delineate, they are logistically imposing to
implement.
Large numbers of courses develop factual and technical materials with extensive
instruction and assessment. In contrast, critical thinking is difficult to delineate and less
ponderous to implement logistically. Critical thinking program implementation can be the
more challenging culturally.
 EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
Knowledge Technical Analytical learning oriented to patient care Ethics/ Practice Social
Procedural Foundations for Patient Process Professional Management Responsibility
knowledge Clinical Review Interpersonal Awareness
Critical thinking Management skills
Definition Core of facts Core of The art of analyzing Integration Review of judgment Primacy on Practice Study of and
and concepts Procedures thinking with a and Applic of in clinic: Tx plan, Patient Well Principles care delivery
in designated Know steps, view to improving it Knowledge, EBD Staging Being and for
disciplines staging tech tools and procedures Applications underserved
executing skills to Self Assessment Communicat populations
patient care ion skills to
partner in
oral hlth
Cultivation Lectures, Simulations Principles of critical Small groups: Chairside with 1) Principles Lecture Didactic
METHODOLOGIES

Format Seminars, , Clinic thinking - lecture; Master steps Individual faculty of Ethics, Practice Clinical
Lab, Direct Literature review; in Patient interaction 2) Peer exercise
Assignments instruction Evidence based assessment Exchange Recordings
Self dentistry; and planning; of patient
assessment PBL - small groups Applic of each interactions
step to each
patient.
Summative,
MeasureObjective Criterion- Small groups: Objective to Summative 1) Test Summative - Didactic
Summative/ Referenced Formative/objective know steps Systematic and Summative lecture Completion
Formative Science- + subjective Subjective on Subjective Objective and practice Summative,
Objective/ based Learning reports: application of 2) Complete exercise Objective
Subjective D-1: summative and steps to the Exercise Formative Clinic rotation
Summative formative patient Formative, for Summative/
> objective/subjective Objective/ communicati Formative
Formative; Subjective on review Objective/
D-2: Subjective
Reverse Standards of
Calibrated care
Examiners
Self-
evaluation
 EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
METHODOLOGIES Institutional Dept Autonomy, Extensive over the four years and Widespread "Separate Single One
coordination Institutional Communication among disciplines application, not track coordinator coordinator
highly coordinated Plus Family for each
Dent
Depts Mixed
Competency Collection of Dept and Progressive and coordinated Supportive and not Course/ Reports from Rotation
Determination Course Dir Reports primary Exercise resp Completion
Completion coordinators

Figure 1. Matrix with educational outcomes are listed on the horizontal axis with methodologies listed on the vertical axis. Entries in respective cells were
created in faculty discussions. Entries are abbreviated in the matrix with elaborations in the text. Abbreviations are practical to keep the matrix relatively
concise. Discussion can thus be focused at any point on the matrix, then drawn back to a wide view and then refocused on another specific point without losing
orientation.
158 David C. Johnsen

COMPONENTS TO GUIDE LEARNING AND ASSESS PERFORMANCE –

THE THOUGHT PROCESS IS THE OUTCOME
A key to critical thinking is knowing what is intended for the student to do. A key to
assessing critical thinking is constructing or reconstructing the thought process of the expert.
This is particularly challenging because the expert may have condensed the thought process
to the sub-conscious.
Succinctly stating the intended thought process is one of the greatest challenges in
education. And yet if we cannot express what we intend for the student to do, can we
meaningfully guide learning and assess performance? To guide student learning and assess
performance in critical thinking in specific exercises, the following concepts beyond the
health sciences have been investigated: 1) Emulating the intended activity for validity (Baron,
1991; Bauer, 1981; Clauser, 2000; Frederiksen and Collins, 1989; Lane and Stone, 2006;
Messick, 1994); 2) Gaining agreement of faculty members across disciplines and curriculum
years on the learning construct, application, and performance assessment protocol for
reliability (Clauser, 2000; Haertel and Linn, 1996; Lane and Stone, 2006; Marzano, Pickering,
and McTigue, 1993); 3) Using the same instrument – the learning construct – to guide
learning and assess performance (Messick, 1994; Kane, Crooks and Cohen, 1994) and 4)
Including alternatives, biases and self-assessment.
One such learning construct has been in treatment planning (Figure 2; Johnsen et al.,
2009). Another is guiding a child’s behavior for a dental procedure (Figure 3; Johnsen,
Schubot, and Nash, 1983). The learning construct also serves as the guide to performance
assessment.
Each of the Figures captures the essence of the thought process of the expert and each
was derived from extensive interviews and discussion involving experts. In each case the
construct did not “pop out” from the experts because the actions listed had entered the sub-
conscious.
While these examples apply more to dentistry, the concept is to emulate the thought
process of the expert, then gain agreement of faculty on the content, application and
assessment mechanism, a process relevant to the development of any learning program.

A MODEL TO GUIDE LEARNING AND ASSESS PERFORMANCE

Figures 4.1 and 4.2 represent a condensation of concepts from the education literature
that can be used for implementation in dental education and other health sciences. (Johnsen,
Lipp, Finkelstein, and Cunningham-Ford, 2012).

Gaining Knowledge: A Short and Long Version for Guiding Learning and
Measuring Performance

The first row of the model in Figure 4.1 shows a process for guiding learning and
measuring performance to gain knowledge. In this process, it is possible for one faculty
member (or more) to select facts, deliver the facts (via lectures, website, etc.), administer a
 Critical Thinking: Focal Point for a Culture of Inquiry 159

multiple-choice test, and derive a score. Achievement of acceptable scores in multiple

disciplines can determine overall competency for a knowledge core in dentistry and other
health sciences. The process is additive for respective disciplines with a separate process for
each discipline.

Figure 2. List of minimally essential steps in patient assessment and treatment planning. The list is
applied to cases and patients across the four years and across disciplines.
160 David C. Johnsen

Behavior Management
(Faculty and Self-Assessment)
Proactive tasks
Begin at Appointed Time
Address Child By Name
Comment on Child’s Activity, Dress or Interest
Tell Procedures to Perform
Tell Expected Behavior
Position Dentist and Child For Control
Examine Treatment Area
Begin Injection 2 minutes From Faculty Check
Conceal Syringe
Tell Momentary Discomfort
Talk During Injection
Tell of Expected Sensation
Tell Most Unfavorable Part Over
Profound Anesthesia
Dam Placement When Anesthesia Profound
Tell/Show/Do
Rubber Dam
Handpiece
Restorative Materials
Interactive Tasks
Tell Procedures Accomplished
Make Positive Statement of Behavior
Use Innocuous Words
Center Attention on Child
Direct Behavior by Command
Provide Specific Feedback
Physically Contact Child
Tell Tangible Effects of Behavior
Acknowledge Child’s Experiences

Figure 3. represents actions taken by the expert pediatric dentist in gaining cooperation in delivering
dental care for a child patient for a dental procedure. The learning construct is used to both guide
learning and assess performance.21

For Critical Thinking: A Short Version

The second row of the model in Figure 4.1 shows a single faculty member (or more)
defining an outcome for some aspect of critical thinking. A learning construct is then
developed to guide learning and assess performance. The student performs the steps in the
construct (for example, treatment planning), and the faculty member assesses a level of
performance. Assessment can be completed with a single question or an assessment rubric.
Many rich experiences and individual exercises for students do not cite a body of scholarship
to substantiate the methodology.
 Critical Thinking: Focal Point for a Culture of Inquiry 161

Figure 4.1. Implementation Model to Guide Student Learning and Access Performance.

Figure 4.2. Implementation model for exercises in critical thinking crossing disciplines and curriculum
years.

The students undoubtedly benefit from these efforts in ways that seem self-evident.

For Critical Thinking: An Extended Version

Themes from the education literature support the concept that valid, reliable assessment
for thinking and judgment increases with agreement on a definition and sound teaching. The
central theme is to put the student into multiple situations that reflect critical thinking in
dentistry and other health sciences, bringing increased validity, reliability, and comparability
to the learning process and the assessment. It also requires repetition. This formative
approach brings the benefit of consistency for students.
For any of these situations (for example, treatment planning) a learning construct is
developed to include steps in that process. In addition to steps for that specific situation or
process, additional steps can apply, for example, seeking alternatives, addressing biases, and
self-assessment. The more direct, transparent, applicable, and useable the construct is, the
greater the validity. The same construct is used to guide learning and as a guide for
162 David C. Johnsen

performance assessment. For increased reliability, experts (for us, faculty) gain consensus on
the content of the learning construct, the application of each step of the patient/case/literature
piece and the assessment mechanism. Knowledge of the steps and systematic application of
each step can be assessed objectively. Assessment of the student’s grasp of respective
principles as applied to the respective case will be subjective. Reliability increases with
independent agreement of faculty on the student’s grasp of principles as applied to the
patient/case. A single question or assessment rubric can be used to assess the student’s grasp
of principles. Assessment will be exact enough to determine a general level of performance
(which could be called competency) but not exact enough to rank students. Thus, validity,
reliability, and comparability (as well as consistency from the student perspective) are
increased when a common approach is applied to multiple situations involving critical
thinking.
While still in development, the above process is being used for several experiences in
dentistry reflecting critical thinking, including patient assessment, treatment planning, search
and critique of the literature, caries (tooth decay) risk assessment, self-assessment, ethics,
evidence based dentistry, technology incorporation, and inter-professional education. One
approach can be used for essentially all of the common applications in dentistry, increasing
the comparability and the breadth of perspectives the person can take. Each example crosses
disciplines and curriculum years. The more different situations the student is placed into, the
more likely the student will be able to adapt to other situations calling for critical thinking.
In some of these exercises, there is both an educational component and a scientific
component. Work is in progress to develop learning programs that first assess the science
relative to the exercise and then to develop the thought process to be used by the student (or
clinician) in applying the science to the case or patient.
A side benefit of the approach is that it is highly compatible with a formative philosophy.
Schools are using some of these concepts with potential for increased collaboration across
disciplines and curriculum years (Cronbach, Linn, Brennan, and Haertel, 1997; Frederiksen
and Collins, 1989; Lane and Stone, 2006; Messick, 1994; Shavelson, Ruiz-Primo, and Wiley,
1999; Stone and Hansen, 2000). The above approach is in stark contrast to a discipline based
approach to deliver and assess knowledge resulting in a single score. To cross disciplines and
curriculum years, the above scenario is more likely to occur in a faculty through cultural
evolution than by a proscriptive directive.

FULFILLMENT AND LIMITS ON ASSESSMENT:

ASSESSMENT AND RANKING
Performance assessment for complex thought processes offers an opportunity to focus on
learning and then conduct an assessment with the goal of determining a general level of
performance. Unless we know what is expected, meaningful assessment is limited. So
learning and assessment can occur at the same time. The culture and pressures to rank
students may be a barrier to more widespread use of assessing complex thought processes
(critical thinking) and in assessing progress to a designated performance level. Making
assessments of critical thinking “count” may depend on at least including performance
assessments in conjunction with knowledge scores. Performance assessments in critical
 Critical Thinking: Focal Point for a Culture of Inquiry 163

thinking face the same paradox as does the mission of pre-doctoral dental education with the
grading system widely used – every graduate is expected to attain entry-level competence and
yet the grading system is designed to rank students. Even though entry-level competency can
be reliably determined, the subjective component may cause unease, especially when students
are expecting to be ranked, another difference from knowledge (Linn and Burton, 1994). The
paradox between the pressure for a ranking and the limitations of assessing critical thinking
reliably at a determined level pose a challenge for dental education.
Crossing curriculum years coincides with the developmental transformation of the learner
from novice towards competence. Guiding student learning and assessing performance will
likely be more structured for the novice. The same extensive and effective structure for the
novice may be a hindrance for the expert. If the novice-to-expert concepts are integrated into
the program design, the programs can be enhanced (Benner, 2001). Progression from novice
to expert happens to some extent whether part of a planned program or spontaneously. It
therefore seems logical to anticipate this progression and plan programs accordingly.
The opportunity to take a school-wide (faculty) approach in guiding student learning and
assessing performance would result in increased soundness in methodology and clarity for
students (Dunbar, Korentz, and Hoover, 1991). Assuming a school-wide approach is used, a
leadership structure has not been addressed here. Should it be entirely faculty driven or a
combination of mostly faculty driven with some administrative facilitation to keep the process
moving across disciplines and across years of the curriculum?

INTRODUCTION TO A MODEL FOR CRITICAL THINKING ASSESSMENT

Since the process of critical thinking is complex, it seems logical that some segmentation
of critical thinking will occur as concepts for assessment evolve. The purpose of this section
is to present a model now being used to assess dental student critical thinking abilities in
patient assessment and treatment planning across the four years of the curriculum and across
clinical disciplines. Methodology in this example can be used for other exercises in critical
thinking in dentistry and other health sciences. The model is used when the student assesses
the patient (or case) and develops a treatment plan as well as when the student presents to
faculty or peers. Presented are elements of the model, examples, adaptation from novice to
expert, the role of subjective measurement, variations supportive of the model and correlation
of individual and institutional assessment (Johnsen et al., 2009).
An initial principle is the use of both objective and subjective assessments in arriving at a
final determination of performance. Two of the steps involve objective assessments and can
be done by a single person. First is the determination that the student knows the steps in the
thought process. The assessment is objective. Second is the systematic application of each
step to the patient or case. The assessment is objective. Third is the determination on the
degree to which the student grasps the principles of the exercise as applied to that case. The
assessment is subjective and is done by the student (self-assessment) and the faculty (Linn
and Burton, 1994). Some corroborating assessment by a second faculty increases the
reliability. Not every student needs corroborating assessments, but some calibration increases
reliability. This process will reliably establish a level of performance and can be called
“progress toward competency” or “achievement of competency.” This process will not be
164 David C. Johnsen

precise enough to rank a large number of students and to this point, there is no study to
correlate performance on the objective assessments with the subjective assessment.
Meaningful assessment in establishing competency in critical thinking will result from a
progressive series of formative assessments rather than a single “high stakes” summative test
such as a specialty board exam.

ELEMENTS OF A MODEL FOR ASSESSING CRITICAL THINKING

This section will offer a level of detail in ideal assessment. Abbreviated assessment
formats may be more practical in day to day activities (Johnsen et al., 2009). Faculty can
choose to bundle assessments into a more holistic approach rather than assess each step. The
two elements of the model now in use are a repeating set or “cell” of minimal actions
measured in critical thinking as shown in Figure 5, and an agreed upon set of minimally
essential steps in the critical thinking process applied to patient assessment and treatment
planning as shown in Figure 2 (Bowen, 2006; Stefanac, 2001).

Figure 5. Schematic showing the model for measurement of critical thinking abilities.
 Critical Thinking: Focal Point for a Culture of Inquiry 165

The critical thinking measurement “cell” reflects the smallest set of inter-dependent
actions from which some assessment of critical thinking can be made. The “cell” is repeated,
creating a framework for more general assessments of student thinking abilities. The “cell”
has only five components, making it practical for widespread use.
Figure 5. Schematic showing the model for measurement of critical thinking abilities.
Two “cells” of interrelated activities and measures are shown. A “cell” can be applied to each
step in the process of patient assessment and treatment planning shown in Figure 2.
The critical thinking measurement “cell” has two dimensions as shown in Figure 5. One
dimension is a demonstration of the critical thinking process by the student and the second
dimension is the faculty member’s objective and then subjective measurement of the student’s
performance. Student demonstration of the steps in the critical thinking process is
accomplished with the identification of a step (in the critical thinking process) followed by
application of each respective step to an individual patient. Measurement of the student’s
performance is accomplished with the objective measurement of the student’s identifying the
step in the process followed by the subjective measurement of the student’s application of the
step to an individual patient.
To walk through the two dimensions of the measurement “cell”: The student is first
expected to articulate the step in the process, for example, chief complaint. The student either
articulates the step (chief complaint) or the student does not and the faculty member
objectively measures the performance. The student then applies the step to the particular
patient and the faculty member subjectively measures the student’s performance. For
example, for chief complaint, the student is expected to verbally describe the chief complaint
as well as its significance to the faculty member and seek evidence from the literature that
applies to the patient’s conditions where applicable. While the faculty member’s assessment
of the student’s attainment of this step in the critical thinking process is subjective, it is highly
focused and systematically repeated in every interaction with dental students across the four
years and across clinical disciplines.
The rationale for this sequence is that for the student to demonstrate judgment in applying
their analysis to any step, the student must first know that the step exists. The model is also
suitable for self-assessment of student performance.
The number of facets involved in assessing the student’s performance in applying even
one step of critical thinking to a patient is large. Some faculty members consciously assess
facets such as accuracy, clarity, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance and
fairness in making this subjective measurement. Not all faculty members systematically
consider each of these facets in making the subjective measure of the student’s application of
a step to the patient. We accept that the complexity of the subjective measure may preclude
complete capture of all the inputs by the student and faculty member.
To complete the measurement “cell,” the faculty member then combines the objective
and subjective measures into an evaluation of the student's performance of the critical
thinking step incorporating the consideration of the student's level of development (year in
school).
To continue the demonstration and assessment of the critical thinking process, the entire
critical thinking assessment “cell” is repeated for each step outlined in Figure 2. The process
is repeated until all steps of patient assessment and treatment planning are completed. Both
the critical thinking assessment “cell” and the list of minimally essential steps in patient
assessment and treatment planning can be used across all four years of study and across
166 David C. Johnsen

clinical disciplines. Variations for respective disciplines will be discussed subsequently. The
systematic repetition of all the actions in the assessment “cell” gives a framework of the
planning process.
Systematic repetition of this chain of “cells” allows for institutional inference of critical
thinking abilities in patient care and can be used as a framework for assessing additional
characteristics about students. Bundling of sections of the process can result in an overall
(holistic) assessment of the entire process.
A systematic approach to guide learning and assess performance with agreement of
faculty in each discipline on content, rigor in application of each step and some calibration on
assessment offers validity and reliability for the institution to declare a level of performance –
a level that some professions would deem as competency.
The use of various scales can be considered. The paradox in seeking increased precision
is the inherent limitation on that level of precision. While a level of performance can be
reliably established, it will not be at a level precise enough to rank students.
Two topics are beyond the scope of this chapter. One is the notion of consolidating scores
on multiple-choice knowledge-based exams and the performance assessments for complex
thought processes to give each important learning component its due weight. One opportunity
will be to develop mechanisms to consider and weigh knowledge/technical and critical
thinking in the same field, for example in a table. A second is the use of multiple-choice or
other objective exams to gain insight into cognitive abilities. Both are important future
discussions.

GOOD NEWS: WE ARE ALREADY DOING MUCH OF THIS

Most of the issues discussed here are self-evident. Students learn and faculty teach to
high levels. One analysis of articles in dental education showed many educators following
concepts in the education literature without citing that body of scholarship (Allareddy,
Havens, Howell, and Karimbux, 2011; Berg et al., 2010; Callis et al., 2010; Cho, Chee, and
Tan, 2010; Licari, Knight, and Guenzel, 2008; Lipp, 2008; Lipp, 2010; Marshall, Finkelstein,
and Qian, 2011; Mould, Bray, and Gadbury-Amyot, 2011; Schwartz, Peterson, and Edelstein,
2009; Hendricson et al., 2011).
Many to most of the programs had essential elements in critical thinking, including
emulating the intended activity; gaining agreement of faculty on content, application and
assessment; using the same instrument to guide learning and assess performance, etc.
(Johnsen et al., 2012).
Most commonly absent (or not described) were the systematic search for alternatives,
bias analysis and self-assessment, and the application inserted across disciplines and
curriculum years. All the programs reviewed could be transferable to other disciplines, but
only one was described. No one program fulfilled all of the core concepts from the education
literature.
The potential seems great to call on the extensive body of scholarship to design programs
and substantiate the many programs already going. In many cases the basic design is solid,
however improvements can be made. The biggest barrier to overcome may be cultural more
than methodological.
 Critical Thinking: Focal Point for a Culture of Inquiry 167

CONCLUSION
It seems appropriate for a chapter on critical thinking to close with reflections. An
evolving idea is that critical thinking is a hub and arguably the hub of teaching and learning
for the adaptive person. For some it is a cultural shift to consider that thinking starts with
doubt. Knowledge is an essential base but not sufficient. One differentiating feature of critical
thinking programs is the systematic analysis of alternatives, biases and self-assessment.
Prerequisites for critical thinking are a culture of inquiry and respect aided by a setting with
interactions among faculty and students.
Many concepts from the education literature seem self-evident, are being used
extensively already and can be used to guide the design as well as to substantiate programs.
Two guiding concepts are: 1) Engage students in multiple experiences/exercises
reflecting critical thinking and 2) Emulate the intended activity – the thought process
becomes the outcome. To incorporate these concepts, it is important to consider that
progression from novice to expert happens regardless of program design. This progression is
one of the main reasons programs in critical thinking will cross disciplines and curriculum
years. Once concepts are implemented, there is pressure to assess students in a way to allow
ranking. Valid programs in critical thinking abilities can be reliably assessed progressively to
a precision giving a general level of performance (professions use the term “competency”),
but not precise enough to rank students. To close, it is fulfilling and fun to engage students in
exercises reflecting critical thinking.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
To numerous colleagues in many institutions and schools, particularly at the University
of Iowa, Case Western reserve University and West Virginia University. To Lynn Whittaker,
Michelle McQuistan and Chris White for manuscript assistance.

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 INDEX

American Psychiatric Association, 14, 18, 24

# anatomy, 49, 52, 53, 56
animations, 43, 49, 50, 52, 55, 56, 69
20th century, 44, 140
anxiety, 23, 26, 28, 31, 98, 141, 142, 143, 144, 146,
21st century, xiv, 74
147
anxiety disorder, 26, 28
A APA, 132, 137
apathy, 142
academic learning, 39, 141 arousal, 15, 141
academic motivation, 15, 21, 26, 128 assessment procedures, 9, 70
academic performance, 21, 26, 141, 142, 147, 148 assets, 43, 53, 74
academic progress, 15, 20, 21, 26 assimilation, 109
academic success, 15 atmosphere, 99
academic tasks, 20, 22 attitudes, 35, 53, 67, 68, 75, 106, 111, 114, 123, 126,
access, xiii, 31, 33, 43, 44, 47, 49, 51, 60, 61, 62, 64, 129, 131, 133, 168
65, 68, 71, 105, 106, 107, 110, 113, 131, 168 attribution, xiv, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23,
accessibility, 51 24, 25, 26, 28
accommodation, 153 attribution theory, 16, 23, 26
accountability, 108, 109 audit, 108, 109, 113
action research, 110, 131 authority, xiii, 119, 153
actuality, 129 autonomic nervous system, 141
ADA, 169 autonomy, 93, 98, 99, 104
adaptation(s), xv, 28, 139, 142, 143, 147, 151, 152, avoidance, 19, 130
163 awareness, 2, 3, 4, 9, 45, 47, 98, 101, 106, 112, 116,
adjustment, 26, 28 121, 122, 123, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 132,
administrators, 72, 108 133, 134, 141
adolescents, 26
adult education, 55, 57
B
adult learning, 44, 56
adults, 2, 3, 44
banks, 48
advancement, 76
barriers, 115
age, 7, 64, 73, 74, 75, 76, 133, 135, 143
base, 60, 66, 67, 167
aggregation, 70
behavioral change, 25
agriculture, 129
behavioral dimension, 147
alertness, 141
behaviors, 27, 28, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128,
allocated time, 17
129, 130, 131, 132, 141
ALT, 40, 73
benefits, 31, 34, 36, 39, 44, 47, 93, 99, 101, 103,
altruistic acts, 122
113, 115
amalgam, 108
172 Index

bias, 166 cognitive process, 2, 15, 18

birth weight, 148 cognitive skills, 46, 168
blame, 113 cognitive theory, 19, 56
bottom-up, 123 coherence, 33
brain, 50 collaboration, 5, 46, 47, 59, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69,
brainstorming, 46 70, 92, 97, 131, 162
breakdown, 107 college students, 5
Britain, 60 Colombia, 147
budget allocation, 108, 109 commercial, 34, 65
business education, 103 commodity, 23
businesses, 33 communication, 14, 45, 46, 52, 55, 56, 61, 63, 64,
by-products, 68 65, 67, 68, 70, 107, 131, 135, 156
community(ies), 44, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 66, 67,
69, 70, 72, 74, 94, 102, 106, 107, 111, 115, 119,
C 123, 124, 125, 126, 131
community service, 125
calibration, 163, 166
community support, 61
candidates, 136
comparative education, 119
caries, 162
compassion, 123
case study(ies), 10, 76, 94, 100, 103, 110
competitiveness, 139, 141, 142, 144, 145, 146
catalyst, 54, 108
complexity, 33, 45, 165
categorization, 125, 135, 137
comprehension, 4, 25, 52
categorization theory, 137
computer, 36, 41, 52, 54, 56
causal attribution, 15, 16
conception, 111, 132
certificate, 117
conceptual tasks, 68
certification, 101
conceptualization, 132
challenges, 15, 19, 43, 44, 45, 72, 74, 75, 108, 118,
concordance, 27
142, 152, 153, 158
condensation, 158
chat rooms, 46
conditioning, 32
childhood, 28, 107, 142
conference, 40, 72
children, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22,
conflict, 109, 137
23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 107, 114, 115, 116, 117, 148
connectivity, 65, 70
China, 54
consciousness, 124
cities, 127
consensus, 154, 162
citizens, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 128, 129, 134
consent, 35
citizenship, xv, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127,
consolidation, 6
128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137
construction, 45, 46, 52, 63, 67, 72, 140
clarity, 130, 132, 136, 163, 165
constructivism, 44
classes, 19, 46, 49, 114, 129, 130
constructivist learning, 45, 71
classification, 141, 144
consumer education, 135
classroom, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 21, 24, 28, 33, 37, 38, 43,
consumers, 124
46, 51, 52, 54, 56, 64, 94, 98, 101, 102, 106, 107,
consumption, 69
108, 109, 110, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118,
contact time, 35
119, 125, 133, 135, 151
content analysis, 95, 169
classroom activity, 7, 37
control condition, 128, 129
classroom settings, 107, 109, 118
controversial, 46, 51
clinical problems, 168
convergence, 133
cluster analysis, 144
conversations, 66, 70
cognition, xiv, 23, 53, 74
cooperation, 46, 133, 160
cognitive ability(ies), 14, 166
coordination, 100, 155, 157
cognitive behavioural, 13, 14, 22, 23, 24, 28
coping strategies, 26
cognitive development, 2, 25
correlation(s), 38, 39, 139, 143, 144, 145, 163
cognitive level, 36
cost, 23, 31, 33, 168
cognitive load, 45, 49, 50, 55
 Index 173

course content, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52

creativity, 59, 61, 72
E
critical analysis, 69
economic development, 134
critical thinking, xv, 5, 10, 55, 63, 93, 151, 152, 153,
education reform, 109, 118, 119
154, 155, 156, 158, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165,
educational assessment, 110
166, 167, 168, 169
educational attainment, 107
criticism, 32, 35, 36
educational experience, 22, 44
cultivation, 154, 155
educational institutions, 130, 151, 152
cultural differences, 114
educational programs, 122
cultural influence, 105, 111
educational psychologists, 5, 9, 10
cultural literacy, 109
educational research, 118
culture, xv, 53, 74, 105, 107, 108, 109, 111, 113,
educational settings, 1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 132
114, 117, 118, 119, 127, 128, 129, 132, 133, 137,
educational system, 14, 109, 125
151, 152, 153, 154, 162, 167, 169
educators, 36, 110, 121, 122, 125, 128, 166
curricula, 43, 45, 61
e-learning, 32, 34, 38, 40, 43, 44, 46, 48, 49, 51, 52,
curriculum, 17, 27, 44, 47, 50, 51, 52, 55, 59, 60, 68,
54, 56, 59, 72, 74, 75, 76
70, 92, 103, 110, 117, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133,
elementary school, 25
135, 136, 151, 152, 153, 155, 158, 161, 162, 163,
elementary students, 29
166, 167, 169
emotion, xv, 16, 28, 128, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143,
145, 146, 147, 148
D emotional disorder, 25
emotional health, 25
data analysis, 111 emotional state, 68
data collection, 65 emotionality, 141, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147
deep learning, 68, 76 empathy, 121, 122, 124, 126, 132
deficiency(ies), 15, 142 employability, 68
deficit, 28, 105, 112, 113, 114, 115, 118 employment, 34, 107
dehydration, 49, 50 employment opportunities, 107
democratization, 66 empowerment, 62, 102
demonstrations, 46, 65, 70 energy, 46, 106, 123
dental care, 160 energy conservation, 123
dentist, 160, 167 engagement network, 70
Department of Education, 107, 168 engineering, 53, 68
depersonalization, 126 England, 25, 32
depression, 23, 26, 27, 28, 142 environment(s), vii, xiv, 15, 34, 43, 47, 54, 64, 65,
designers, 68 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 115, 121, 123, 124, 125,
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 137, 142,
Disorders, 24 148, 152, 168
digital divide, 64 environmental issues, 123
digital technologies, 68 environmental sustainability, 121, 122, 124, 126,
discrimination, 132 128, 132
discussion groups, 47 equal opportunity, 109
disequilibrium, 133 equality, 123, 135
disorder, 28 equity, 55, 105, 109, 114, 117, 119
dissatisfaction, 91, 92 ethical standards, 144
distance education, 40, 57, 60, 72 ethics, 122, 134, 155, 162
distance learning, 32, 40, 60 ethnic diversity, 131
diversity, 60, 121, 122, 124, 126, 128, 130, 132, 133, ethnicity, 119
152 Europe, 40
drawing, 4, 7, 110 everyday life, 110
dyslexia, 26 evidence, xv, 8, 23, 27, 35, 38, 53, 55, 56, 60, 70,
101, 110, 125, 129, 142, 146, 154, 162, 165, 168,
169
174 Index

evolution, 63, 162

examinations, 48
H
exchange rate, 109
health, 49, 55, 56, 149, 151, 152, 153, 154, 158, 159,
execution, 24, 66, 153
161, 163
exercise, 33, 45, 48, 92, 93, 100, 153, 155, 156, 162,
health care, 56
163
helplessness, 18, 19, 20, 26, 27
expertise, xiii, 52, 62, 63, 64
high school, 14, 119
exposure, 19, 125
higher education, xiii, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62,
extreme poverty, 135
63, 65, 68, 72, 74, 75, 77, 91, 92, 93, 94, 100,
extrinsic motivation, 27
102, 103, 104, 122, 130, 133, 135, 148, 152
higher-order thinking, 46, 56
F history, 49, 134
homework, 7, 8
factual knowledge, 129, 130 Hong Kong, 24
fairness, 92, 105, 110, 165 hopelessness, 24
families, 111 hostility, 139, 141, 143, 144, 145, 146
federalism, 108 House, 33, 167
feelings, 7, 23, 24, 67, 68, 70, 98, 140 hub, 152, 153, 167
financial, 52 human, xiii, 17, 25, 66, 108, 123, 126, 132, 134, 136,
financial support, 52 137, 151
flexibility, 48, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 152 human agency, 25
Ford, 154, 158, 168, 169 human capital, 108
foreign language, 131, 133 human development, 137
formation, 15, 49, 61, 66, 69, 112, 114 human right(s), 123, 134, 136
foundations, 132 hybrid, 57, 168
framing, 34, 72, 110, 128 hyperactivity, 28
freedom, 136 hypothesis, 5, 142, 147
funding, 108
funds, 105, 106, 109, 114, 117
I

G ID, 95, 101

identification, 23, 69, 109, 121, 124, 125, 126, 127,
geography, 137 128, 129, 130, 132, 135, 165
Germany, 55, 75 identity, 61, 65, 104, 112, 114, 124, 125, 126, 127,
global consequences, 124 130, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137
global education, 130, 132, 134, 135, 136 IEA, 106
global warming, 126 images, 49, 50, 65, 69
globalization, 123, 124, 128, 129, 135, 137 immersion, 9, 70
glycoside, 49 improvements, 4, 166
governments, xiii, 107, 109 income, 34, 126
grades, 38, 92, 170 independence, 61
grading, 71, 92, 97, 101, 163 individual differences, 148
grassroots, 123 individual students, 5, 6, 66
group activities, 99 individuals, 14, 15, 19, 20, 22, 23, 61, 62, 68, 70, 94,
group identity, 126 124, 125, 126, 127
group membership, 125 industrial revolution, 151
group work, 92, 94, 96, 100, 103 industry, 109
growth, 33, 62 inequality, 123
guidelines, 65 infancy, 122
information technology, 54
informed consent, 35
institutional change, 102
 Index 175

institutions, 72, 73, 91, 92, 94, 95, 108, 122, 123, light, 19, 68, 109, 110
131, 132, 167 linguistics, xiv
instructional design, 48, 56, 57 literacy, 14, 17, 65, 71, 76, 133
instructional feedback, 48 locus, 16, 66
integration, 32, 46, 60 longitudinal study, 20, 24, 27
intelligence, 19, 69 long-term memory, 44, 50
interaction process, 107
interactive opportunities, xiv
interdependence, 70, 91, 92 M
internal consistency, 143
majority, 35, 39, 44, 97, 99, 107, 112, 115, 125
internal processes, 140
malocclusion, 169
internationalism, 133
management, 43, 45, 56, 57, 100, 108, 109, 133, 135,
internationalization, 133, 135
155, 168, 169
intervention, 4, 5, 10, 14, 22-24, 28, 110, 111, 117
manipulation, 68, 128, 130
intimidation, 153
mapping, 155
intrinsic motivation, 29
materials, 7, 10, 32, 33, 34, 37, 39, 62, 65, 70, 71,
Iowa, 151, 154, 167
131, 155
Ireland, 91, 94
mathematics, 5, 10, 49, 111, 115, 116, 117
IRT, 170
mathematics education, 106, 118
isolation, 31, 39, 51, 62, 70
matrix, 155, 157, 168
issues, 9, 15, 21, 37, 65, 67, 92, 93, 98, 105, 109,
matter, 65, 66, 75, 153
114, 122, 125, 126, 131, 134, 137, 166, 168
measurement, 48, 117, 129, 130, 141, 143, 163, 164,
165, 168
K media, 60, 62, 65, 66, 76, 127, 133
medical, 49, 53, 56, 57
knowledge acquisition, 44 medicine, 49, 53
membership, 124, 125, 133, 135
memory, 2, 3, 44, 45, 50
L mental health, 23, 142
mental state(s), 2
language acquisition, 117
mentor, 43
languages, 110, 129
meta-analysis, 25, 26
Latin America, 134
metacognition, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 54, 66
lead, 21, 22, 34, 46, 56, 63, 64, 65, 72, 92, 122, 125,
metacognitive skills, 4, 9, 10
126, 128, 130, 131, 132, 152
metaphor, 3, 10
leadership, 32, 47, 54, 108, 134, 163
methodology, 106, 152, 160, 163
learned helplessness, 17, 18, 20, 25, 28
mission, 163
learner support, 66
Missouri, 56
learners, 34, 39, 44, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 61-74, 76, 93,
mobile device, 51
99, 106, 110
mobile phone, 39, 65
learning activity, 67
modelling, 22, 23, 24, 59, 69
learning difficulties, xiv, 10, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23,
models, 56, 66, 74, 112, 131, 152, 170
24, 28, 139, 147
modules, 35, 38, 39, 52, 53, 100
learning disabilities, 5, 10, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
momentum, 122
learning environment, 27, 43, 56, 61, 64, 65, 66, 69,
morality, 122
70, 72, 74, 76, 148
motivation, xiv, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,
learning outcomes, 21, 33, 36, 37, 38, 63, 71, 72, 75,
23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 62, 98, 99, 122, 128, 140,
92, 93, 113
141, 142, 145, 147
learning process, xiv, 5, 6, 13, 14, 55, 57, 66, 71, 72,
multimedia, 55, 56, 62
76, 92, 140, 142, 147, 161
multiple-choice questions, 48
learning styles, 49, 57
musculoskeletal, 53
learning task, 64
life expectancy, 107
176 Index

personality dimensions, 149

N personality traits, 149
persuasion, 22
national identity, 136
physics, 169
nationalism, 136
physiology, 46, 52, 53
negative emotions, 143, 146
PISA, 108, 109
negative relation, 21
policy, 34, 106, 107, 108, 118, 119
negotiating, 73
politics, 118, 119
negotiation, 67
pollution, 123
neoliberalism, 136
population, xiii, xv, 34, 110, 111, 141, 142
Netherlands, 103
positive attitudes, 93
neural system(s), 50
positive correlation, 46, 144, 145
New England, 168
positive emotions, 128
new media, 75
positive feedback, 20
New South Wales, 55
positive relationship, 5
New Zealand, 40, 119
potential benefits, xiv, 8
nursing, 55, 168
poverty, 142, 148
power relations, 62
O precedents, 135
prejudice, 132
online learning, 32, 33, 34, 38, 39, 40, 45, 49, 51, 52, preparation, 93, 100, 133, 136
54, 56, 57, 60, 62, 63, 64, 68, 69, 70, 72, 76 pre-planning, 71
openness, 63, 121, 131, 153 primary school, 24, 105, 109
operant conditioning, 22 principles, 37, 41, 43, 44, 48, 55, 56, 57, 59, 70, 71,
opportunities, xiv, 14, 20, 34, 43, 44, 45, 48, 52, 59, 72, 76, 108, 135, 162, 163
61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 68, 70, 102, 106, 108, 110, prior knowledge, 63, 66
115, 117 probability, 130
oppression, 131, 132 problem solving, 11, 51, 67, 69, 117, 154
organize, 44, 50, 65, 152 problem-based learning, 40, 104, 167, 169
ownership, 62, 65, 71 problem-solving, 4, 169
professional development, 110, 112
professionalism, 118
P project, 7, 31, 32, 33, 37, 38, 39, 91, 92, 100, 105,
106, 109, 110, 111, 132
parents, 8, 113, 115, 125 proposition, 106
Parliament, 118 protection, 123
participants, 23, 47, 63, 72, 94, 95, 96, 97, 126, 129, protective factors, 149
144, 153 prototype, 125
pathways, 10, 50, 132 psychological problems, 142
patient care, 156, 166 psychological processes, 10, 104
pedagogy, xv, 36, 54, 59, 60, 62, 64, 65, 70, 74, 75, psychologist, 17
76, 102, 106, 111, 112, 114, 117, 121, 134, 137 psychology, 1, 10, 25, 118, 129, 137, 142
peer assessment, xiv, 48, 91-97, 99, 100, 103 psychometric properties, 143
peer relationship, 23 psychopathology, 149
perceived control, 18, 20, 29 psychoses, 9
perceived outcome, 16 public domain, 101
perception of knowledge, 129 Puerto Rico, 169
permission, 9
permit, 48, 52
perseverance, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 Q
personal communication, 152
personal control, 65 Queensland, 59, 105, 106, 109, 118
personal learning, 66 questioning, 54, 99, 152
personality, 25, 26, 126, 135, 149 questionnaire, 35, 94, 95, 129, 139, 143
 Index 177

quizzes, 48, 72 science, 44, 53, 55, 162, 168, 170

secondary school students, 24
secondary students, 25
R self-assessment, 44, 48, 49, 53, 103, 154, 155, 158,
161, 162, 163, 165, 166, 167, 169
race, 117
self-concept, 15, 20, 21, 22
racism, 132
self-confidence, 142
reading, xiii, xiv, 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21,
self-efficacy, 15, 16, 21, 24, 25, 27, 28
22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, 107, 116, 169
self-esteem, 13, 14, 20, 22, 24, 93
reading comprehension, 4, 9, 10, 25
self-evaluations, 45
reading difficulties, 13, 14, 17
self-image, 20
reading disability, 25
self-monitoring, 4
reading disorder, 25
self-reflection, 6
reasoning, 46, 48, 52, 151, 153, 168
self-regulation, 3, 7, 8, 37, 41, 66, 147, 148
recall, 1, 71, 72
self-worth, 26
recognition, 18, 109, 124, 125
sensitivity, 60
recommendations, 101, 167, 169
services, 64, 169
reconciliation, 119
shape, 24, 68, 127
reconstruction, 44
short term memory, 50
recycling, 123
siblings, 116
reform(s), 76, 102, 108
simulation(s), 40, 64, 68
regulations, 107
Singapore, 40, 54
reinforcement, 25, 26
skill acquisition, 168
reinforcers, 22
skills training, 28
relevance, 47, 134, 165
social categorization, 134
reliability, 72, 158, 161, 162, 163, 166
social change, 134
reproduction, 155
social connectedness, xv
requirements, xiv, 5, 15, 44, 62, 72, 98, 108
social consensus, 15
researchers, 36, 126, 129, 144
social construct, 43, 46, 51, 52, 71, 92
resilience, xv, 19, 28, 139, 140, 142-148
social constructivism, 43, 52, 71
resistance, 92, 93, 131, 142
social context, 135, 142, 154
resources, 3, 51, 55, 61, 62, 64, 65, 69, 70, 74, 106,
social environment, 65
110, 116, 131, 141
social group, 125, 137
responsibility for learning, 4
social identity, 125, 126, 132, 133, 135, 136
restructuring, 140
social interactions, 44
rhetoric, 107, 113
social justice, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126, 128, 132
rights, 123, 125, 129
social learning, 15, 69
risk, 24, 43, 47, 64, 114, 140, 149, 162
social movements, 135
risk assessment, 162
social network, 55, 61, 62, 64, 70, 75
risk factors, 24
social perception, 19
root, 151, 152
social psychology, 132, 136, 137
social relations, 142
S social relationships, 142
social responsibility, 132, 133, 155
scholarship, 102, 160, 166 society, vii, xv, 10, 65, 104, 113, 118, 119
school, xiii, xiv, xv, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 14, 24, 27, 28, 51, sociocultural psychology, 132
75, 106-115, 118, 119, 121, 125, 127, 128, 131, sociology, 119
137, 154, 155, 163, 165, 167, 168, 169 software, 33, 48, 49, 53, 61, 64, 68, 70, 73-75, 111
school achievement, 28 South Africa, 137
school culture, 107, 109 Spain, 139, 143
school performance, 108, 168 specific thinking, 71
school work, 109 speech, 113, 128
schooling, xv, 28 spelling, 14, 15, 24
178 Index

spirituality, 146 treatment, 123, 153, 158-165, 170

spreadsheets, 68 triggers, 142
stability, 16, 143 Turkey, 53
stakeholders, 108 tutoring, 11
state(s), xiii, 15, 108, 123, 136, 142, 152
statistics, 143, 144
stereotyping, 126 U
stimulus, 69
UK, 1, 9, 31, 33, 75, 103, 119, 122, 133-137, 139
stress, 15, 103, 110, 140, 142, 144-149
UN, 131
structure, 47, 52, 61, 92, 107, 153, 163
undergraduate education, 102
structuring, 108
United, 24, 60, 110, 130, 169
student achievement, 168
United Kingdom, 24
student motivation, 13, 24, 98
United States, 60, 110, 130, 169
student populations, 49, 111, 142
universities, xv, 39, 59, 94, 122, 130, 134
style, xiii, xv, 16-20, 23, 26, 27, 28, 32, 34, 36, 49,
53, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148
subscribers, 51 V
success rate, 36, 37
Sun, 51, 54 validation, 69, 129, 135, 169
support services, 142 variables, 68, 147
support staff, 113 variations, 110, 112, 114, 115, 163
sustainability, 121, 122, 124, 132 verbal persuasion, 15
sustainable development, 73, 123, 137 victims, 142
vocabulary, 7
voting, 35
T
vulnerability, 19, 142
Vygotsky, 3, 4, 10, 76, 92, 104
target, 94, 153
task difficulty, 16, 21, 24
task performance, 19, 22, 23 W
teacher preparation, 112
teachers, xiv, 1, 6, 8, 33, 60, 63, 64, 66, 68, 69, 72, Wales, 32
92, 93, 95, 100, 105-119, 125, 133, 136, 140 Washington, 24, 110, 132, 137, 168
teaching experience, 60 web, 39, 43, 45, 48, 54, 55, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 73, 74
techniques, xiv, 9, 22, 23, 32, 34, 151, 152 web sites, 43, 45
technology(s), xiv, xv, 31, 32, 33, 34, 38, 39, 40, 44, websites, 33
52, 55, 56, 59, 60, 61, 63-66, 68, 70-77, 162 workers, 111, 115
territory, 117 working groups, 100
test anxiety, xv, 9, 93, 139, 140, 143-147, 149 working memory, 44, 45, 49, 143
testing, 36, 37, 40, 43, 45, 48, 52, 53, 109, 155, 168 workplace, 44, 64, 68, 72
testing program, 109 world order, 134
textbook(s), 1, 48, 74 worldview, 68
theatre, 39, 55 worldwide, 108, 131
therapist, 23 written tasks, 103
therapy, 25, 26, 28
think critically, 151, 152, 153
thoughts, 7, 15, 16, 23, 24, 34, 47, 141, 143 Y
training, 22, 28, 32, 34, 93, 100, 109, 112, 118
training programs, 22 Yale University, 27
transformation, 71, 163
translation, 91, 107