Personalised learning in the open classroom: The mutuality of teacher and student agency
- Authors: Deed, Craig , Cox, Peter , Dorman, Jeffrey , Edwards, Debra , Farrelly, Cathleen , Keeffe, Mary , Lovejoy, Valerie , Mow, Lucy , Sellings, Peter , Prain, Vaughan , Waldrip, Bruce , Yager, Zali
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Pedagogies & Learning Vol. 9, no. 1 (2014), p. 66-75
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- Description: In this paper we examine how agency is characterised by teachers and students when personalised learning is enacted in the contemporary open classroom. A case study is outlined that identifies teacher reasoning for practice, the use of physical and virtual learning spaces, and student reaction to teacher facilitation of personalised learning. Agency is conceptualised as a multi-faceted set of behavioural, affective and cognitive choices, as realised by both teachers and students, drawing upon the action possibilities of contemporary educational contexts. A model of the mutuality of teacher and student agency is outlined. The model shows how a shared understanding of the affordances of flexible learning spaces and personalised learning interact to both produce teacher and student expectations and perceptions of their own and other's choices and actions. Specific student choices and actions are examined in relation to problem-solving and open access of resources to achieve the task requirements. Implications are noted for teaching and learning in modern school contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Student perceptions of personalised learning : development and validation of a questionnaire with regional secondary students
- Authors: Waldrip, Bruce , Cox, Peter , Deed, Craig , Dorman, Jeffrey , Edwards, Debra , Farrelly, Cathleen , Keeffe, Mary , Lovejoy, Valerie , Mow, Lucy , Prain, Vaughan , Sellings, Peter , Yager, Zali
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Learning Environments Research Vol. 17, no. 3 (2014), p. 355-370
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- Description: This project sought to evaluate regional students’ perceptions of their readiness to learn, assessment processes, engagement, extent to which their learning is personalised and to relate these to academic efficacy, academic achievement, and student well-being. It also examined teachers’ perceptions of students’ readiness to learn, the assessment process, engagement, and the extent to which students’ learning is personalised. The sample involved students in years 7–10 from six Victorian secondary schools. An instrument Personalised Learning Environment Questionnaire (PLQ) was developed to measure students’ perceptions of the factors effecting the implementation of Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs). It employed the latest scales to assess a range of PLP indicator variables, with all scales modified for use in an Australian context, and the total number of items kept to a minimum. Only scales more sensitive to PLPs were used to minimise the length of the instrument. There were three outcome variables: academic efficacy, academic achievement, and student well-being. The PLPs were assessed through scales that assess several contributing, distinct dimensions: selfdirected learning readiness, personal achievement, goal orientation, learning environment, personalised teaching and learning initiatives, curriculum entitlement and choice, and perceptions of assessment for learning. The trail PLQ was administered to 220 students, resulting in a 19 scale questionnaire with three or four items per scale. This paper reveals good data to model fit for the majority of items and each scale had good reliability. The paper describes the analytic techniques and results, how the instrument was refined and identifies common and uncommon student perceptions based on a post hoc analysis. The main study consisted of 2,407 students from four schools in the Bendigo Education Plan. They responded to this refined 19 scale version of the PLQ that was developed from the trial PLQ. All scales had satisfactory internal consistency reliability. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Explaining Newton's laws of motion : Using student reasoning through representations to develop conceptual understanding
- Authors: Waldrip, Bruce , Prain, Vaughan , Sellings, Peter
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Instructional Science Vol. 41, no. 1 (2013), p. 165-189
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- Description: The development of students' reasoning and argumentation skills in school science is currently attracting strong research interest. In this paper we report on a study where we aimed to investigate student learning on the topic of motion when students, guided by their teacher, responded to a sequence of representational challenges in which their representational claims functioned as both process and product for reasoning about this topic. This qualitative case study entailed collection of data through classroom observation, transcripts of student/teacher interactions, and interviews with teacher and students. We found that students participated in various reasoning processes in generating and critiquing their own and other students' representations on the topic of motion, contributing to positive engagement with the topic and conceptual understanding. We identified several pedagogical principles that support this learning. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Interpersonal behaviour styles of primary education teachers during science lessons
- Authors: Fisher, Darrell , den Brok, Perry , Waldrip, Bruce , Dorman, Jeffrey
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Learning Environments Research Vol. 14, no. 3 (2011), p. 187-204
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- Description: This study reports the first development in Australia of primary science teacher typologies of teacher–student interpersonal behaviour, which was measured by students’ perceptions using the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI). Earlier work with the QTI in The Netherlands has revealed eight different interpersonal styles, which were later confirmed with an American sample of secondary-school teachers and which were similar to types found with Australian secondary-school science teachers. The present study investigated the extent to which typologies found in earlier studies also apply to primary teachers. A cluster analysis was used to determine Australian typologies and to compare these with earlier findings. Prior typologies could only be partially confirmed, and the found typology of six styles was able to explain variance in both student outcomes and perceptions of cultural elements of the learning environment.
Identifying exemplary science teachers through their students' perceptions of the assessment process
- Authors: Waldrip, Bruce , Fisher, Darrell , Dorman, Jeffrey
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Research in Science and Technology Education Vol. 27, no. 1 (2009), p. 117-129
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- Description: This paper reports on part of a large-scale study aimed at examining students’ perceptions of assessment. This paper will report on a study utilising mixed methodology in 150 Australian middle school classrooms. The purpose of the study described in this paper was to use the Students’ Perceptions of Assessment Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (SPAQ) to identify and describe exemplary science teachers. With a sample of over 3000 science students, the reliability of the SPAQ scales ranged from 0.62 to 0.82. The exemplary teachers were identified as those whose students’ perceptions were more than one standard deviation above the mean on three of the five scales of Congruence with planned learning, Transparency, Authenticity, Student consultation, and Diversity. The construct validity of the SPAQ to identify these exemplary teachers was confirmed through interviews with students and these views are reported in the article.
Changing primary students' perceptions of teacher interpersonal behaviours in science
- Authors: Waldrip, Bruce , Reene, Paula , Fisher, Darrell , Dorman, Jeffrey
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Research in Science Education Vol. 38, no. 2 (2008), p. 213-235
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- Description: The paper reports on part of a large-scale study aimed at examining students’ perceptions of teacher–student interactions. This paper will report on a study utilising mixed methodology in 12 Queensland primary classrooms. After the students’ perceptions were established, the teachers, through a consultative process, developed strategies to change the students’ perceptions of their classroom over a 3 month period. The paper reports on what strategies these teachers utilised and what changes in students’ perceptions resulted. The classroom teachers were interviewed about the change in students’ perceptions, what changes they had sought to promote in their classrooms, and what they felt had been achieved in their classrooms. The study found that students were able to articulate what changes the teacher had implemented, what their reaction was to these changes and their perception of the classroom environment as a result of these implemented strategies.
Using the student perceptions of assessment questionnaire (SPAQ) to develop an assessment typology for science classes
- Authors: Dorman, Jeffrey , Waldrip, Bruce , Fisher, Darrell
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Foundation Journal of Science Education Vol. 9, no. 1 (2008), p. 13-17
- Full Text: false
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- Description: This article reports research conducted on students’ perceptions of assessment in science classes in Queensland and Western Australia. A specially developed instrument, the Student Perceptions of Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) which assesses Congruence with Planned Learning, Authenticity, Student Consultation, Transparency, and Diversity was used to collect data from 3,055 students. Hierarchical cluster analysis resulted in a four cluster solution being accepted. While one cluster of 799 students held positive perceptions of assessment, another cluster of 640 students held negative views. The SPAQ allows for a greater focus on classroom-based perceptions of assessment rather than crude external accountability measures that decontextualise classroom assessment.