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Students' Perceptions Of Group Work
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Abstract
Abstract
Purpose: Group Work (GW) as a collaborative learning method for university students is a much-researched topic in literature. However, a fairly neglected area is that of students’ perceptions of the same. This study purports to bridge this gap in the extant literature via identifying the determinants of these perceptions.
Design/methodology/approach: Using primary data gathered from a sample of 443 university students, the study applies the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to estimate the impact of both personal traits and past experiences, on the students’ perceptions.
Findings: The SEM results reveal that students’ perceptions of group work are determined by their relevant past experiences not by their personalities. This position is contradictory to other relevant studies undertaken thus far.
Implications: Accordingly, the study stresses the need for educators to create positive group experiences among students, and to convert their past negative experiences into positive ones.
Originality/value: Whilst group work holds significant learning benefits for students, negative perceptions about this rich method could eventuate in students refraining from participating in the same. By isolating the determinants associated with students’ negative perceptions of group work, this study provides educationists with a strong case for developing suitable interventions aimed at enhancing students’ positive perceptions of group work, and resultantly further maximizing its potential benefits.
Keywords: Group work, Personal traits, Outcome expectations, Past experiences, Perceptions, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM)
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A central thesis of this article is that ability tests can be analyzed as items of symbolic culture. This theoretical perspective, based in cultural psychology, provides psychological researchers and clinicians with the tools to detect, correct, and avoid the cross-cultural misunderstandings that undermine the validity of ability tests applied outside their culture of origin. When testers use tests developed in their own culture to test members of a different culture, testees often do not share the presuppositions about values, knowledge, and communication implicitly assumed by the test. These cross-cultural issues have important relevance for ability testing in an ethnically diverse society.
The current study investigated the effectiveness of Collaborative Summary Writing (CSW) on university students’ second language (L2) development. The study used 86 first year students in three intact classes studying in Urmia University of Medical Sciences. In one of the classes, students were assigned to dyads, and in the second one the participants were assigned to triads. These two classes were used as experimental groups and the third one was the control group in which the students were required to carry out the summary writing task individually. The study lasted 16 weeks and involved a pre- and post-test. Writing quality was determined by a holistic rating procedure that included content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics. Results of the study showed that CSW experience had an overall significant effect on all students’ L2 development; however, it was evidenced that students in pairs benefited the most. Considering writing improvement, it was observed that students’ writing ability improved significantly in terms of content, organization, and vocabulary, but not for grammar or mechanics. Finally, a number of theoretical and pedagogical implications for further research are presented.
Using survey data the authors investigate the impact of grade point average (GPA) on students’ preferences for classroom group work and its structure. Topics range from general attitudes and beliefs (benefits to grades, impact on mastery of material, professors’ motives) to administration (group composition, grading, peer reviews, group leadership). It was hypothesized that students act as GPA maximizers (prefer higher grades if holding all else equal) and therefore high achievers would answer many of the questions differently than low achievers. Regression results suggest that, generally, GPA better explains survey results for non-business majors than for business majors.
Discriminant validity assessment has become a generally accepted prerequisite for analyzing relationships between latent variables. For variance-based structural equa-tion modeling, such as partial least squares, the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the examination of cross-loadings are the dominant approaches for evaluating discriminant validity. By means of a simulation study, we show that these ap-proaches do not reliably detect the lack of discriminant valid-ity in common research situations. We therefore propose an alternative approach, based on the multitrait-multimethod ma-trix, to assess discriminant validity: the heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations. We demonstrate its superior performance by means of a Monte Carlo simulation study, in which we compare the new approach to the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the assessment of (partial) cross-loadings. Finally, we provide guidelines on how to handle discriminant validity issues in variance-based structural equation modeling.
Purpose
– Using the case of a cross-cultural setting, the purpose of this paper is to compare perceptions of students towards face-to-face learning and blended learning. A social constructivist perspective is used which implies that cultural data are in fact social constructs made on the basis of the participants’ own cultural thought patterns and the concepts and categories to which they are socialised within learning organisations. This paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
– Perceptual evidence forms the primary qualitative and quantitative data for this study. The paper uses social constructivist approach with empirical data in developing the notion that cross-cultural management is a process whereby people, through social interactions, acquire participative competence for working in cross-cultural settings.
Findings
– Perceptual data emerging from this study point out that considering the learning objectives of a cross-cultural context are paramount when engaging in cross-cultural management curriculum and teaching design. Such social contexts, while complex and challenging, is often a perfect opportunity where cross-cultural competence can be developed.
Originality/value
– The value of the study lies in the original insights it offers into student experiences and the challenges to adopt a “one size fits all” strategy in a cross-cultural setting.
Groupwork is an increasingly popular method of learning in higher education and the ability to work effectively with others is important for academic success and employability. This systematic review investigated the use of outdoor adventure education (OAE) in facilitating the development of transferable groupwork skills in higher education. The studies reviewed provided some support in favour of OAE benefitting students’ per- ceived groupwork skills, the functioning of existing student work groups, attitudes and confidence towards groupwork, and the cooperative and social environment within higher education. However, this evidence was limited by methodological weaknesses such as the use of non-validated questionnaires and a variety of problems with study design and analytical methods. Research was also lacking into the long-term impact of OAE on students’ groupwork behaviour and their experience of higher education and subsequent employability. Recommendations are made to advance this area of research, including the use of training evaluation models for more rigorous assessments of skill development and transfer.
Group work is used as a means for learning at all levels in educational systems. There is strong scientific support for the benefits of having students learning and working in groups. Nevertheless, studies about what occurs in groups during group work and which factors actually influence the students’ ability to learn is still lacking. Similarly, the question of why some group work is successful and other group work results in the opposite is still unsolved. The aim of this article is to add to the current level of knowledge and understandings regarding the essence behind successful group work in higher education. This research is focused on the students’ experiences of group work and learning in groups, which is an almost non-existing aspect of research on group work prior to the beginning of the 21st century. A primary aim is to give university students a voice in the matter by elucidating the students’ positive and negative points of view and how the students assess learning when working in groups. Furthermore, the students’ explanations of why some group work ends up being a positive experience resulting in successful learning, while in other cases, the result is the reverse, are of interest. Data were collected through a study-specific questionnaire, with multiple choice and open-ended questions. The questionnaires were distributed to students in different study programs at two universities in Sweden. The present result is based on a reanalysis and qualitative analysis formed a key part of the study. The results indicate that most of the students’ experiences involved group work that facilitated learning, especially in the area of academic knowledge. Three important prerequisites (learning, study-social function, and organization) for group work that served as an effective pedagogy and as an incentive for learning were identified and discussed. All three abstractions facilitate or hamper students’ learning, as well as impact their experiences with group work.
Background: The popularization of problem‐based learning has introduced management of small groups as a critical skill for medical faculty. Some faculty have found themselves in dysfunctional groups without the skills necessary to correct the learning climate.Purpose: This study was conducted to generate strategies faculty can use to deal with difficult tutorial groups.Methods: Twenty‐three experienced tutors were arranged into 5 groups, then rotated through 5 training stations. Each station consisted of 5 students trained to behave according to a dysfunctional scenario. Tutor groups assessed the problem of each station group, planned an intervention, and intervened via one of the group's tutors.Results: Assessments of the difficulties in each group varied according to the particular station group scenario being observed. Interventions were tailored to the specific assessments tending from less invasive (i.e., asking questions while the case is being discussed to influence the direction of discussion) to more invasive (e.g., stopping discussion and invoking ground rules) to address the identified problems.Conclusions: We concluded that (1) establishing ground rules is important to the successful development of groups, (2) tutors and groups should deal with conflict directly as it arises, and (3) tutors should intervene strategically to foster positive group development. A model for strategic intervention is offered.
Purpose
– This paper seeks to examine the changes in the methods of graduate recruitment and selection that have been used by UK‐based organisations and to establish the reasons for the main changes and developments in the process of attracting and recruiting graduates.
Design/methodology/approach
– Data were collected through the use of a structured questionnaire. Questionnaires were sent to 700 UK‐based employers selected from the Prospects Directory, the Graduate Employment and Training (GET) Directory and the Times Top 100 Graduate Recruiters. The response rate was just over 50 per cent and the data were analysed by using the statistical analysis software SPSS. The variables used were organisation size, recruitment methods, selection methods, cost, skills and reasons for the use of methods.
Findings
– The analysis has shown that all employers, regardless of organisation size or activity type, tend to use more sophisticated, objective and cost‐effective methods of recruitment and selection than before. The process of graduate recruitment and selection in the UK has become more person‐related than job‐oriented because many employers are more interested in the attitudes, personality and transferable skills of applicants than the type or level of qualification acquired. Although some of the usual methods such as interviewing remain popular, there is a greater variety of ways by which graduates are attracted to and selected for their first jobs.
Originality/value
– The findings of this study are expected to be useful for employers considering the introduction of new graduate recruitment programmes and for those wishing to improve their existing ones as well as for institutions of higher education to reconsider the type of knowledge and skills they provide in order to prepare their students for the real world of work.
The present study compares the effects of the cooperative jigsaw II method and traditional teacher-centred teaching method on improving vocabulary knowledge and active–passive voice in English as a foreign language for engineering students and the students' attitudes towards learning English. Jigsaw is a cooperative learning model that involves small groups of 5–6 students teaching each other subject matter with success dependent upon student cooperation. Sixty-six engineering students participated in the study and a pre-test–post-test control group experimental design was employed. The students were randomly assigned into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group used cooperative Jigsaw II as an instruction method while the control group used traditional teacher-centred instruction. The groups were administered an achievement test, as a pre-, post- and delayed post-test. The results revealed statistically significant differences in favour of the experimental group on the dependent variables of improving vocabulary knowledge and learning active–passive voice in English. The attitude scale results showed that the cooperative learning experience had a significant positive effect on engineering students' attitudes towards learning English and promoted better interactions among students as well.
Although teachers often report that they subscribe to cooperative learning (CL) to help students attain social and academic goals, research indicates that they often have difficulties implementing and sustaining their commitment. The purpose of this study is to report on the reflections of seven middle‐year teachers who had embedded CL in their social science curriculum for the past two years to investigate their responses to this pedagogical practice, and to gauge their perceptions of how students with behavioural and learning needs responded to it. Data from the interviews indicated that all teachers believed that their lessons were more interesting, the children learned more, they felt more confident, and they often learnt to work more closely with their colleagues. However, all teachers did note that CL needed to be well planned, students needed to be prepared to work in groups, and teachers’ expectations needed to be explicitly stated if the benefits attributed to CL were to be realised.
Reports the results of meta-analytic integration of the relation between group cohesiveness and performance. Overall, the cohesive–performance effect was highly significant and of small magnitude. The effect was stronger in correlational studies than in experimental studies. The effect was also stronger in smaller groups than in larger groups and stronger among real groups than among artificial groups. The cohesive–performance effect is due primarily to commitment to task rather than interpersonal attraction or group pride. A meta-analytic cross-lagged panel correlation analysis suggested that the most direct effect might be from performance to cohesiveness rather than from cohesiveness to performance. Discussion considers the implications of these results for future research on group cohesiveness and performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Globalisation, cultural diversity, and structural reconfiguration in organisations of all types, have led to academics in New Zealand tertiary institutions embracing changes in their course delivery approaches. One of these changes is the emphasis on collaborative learning, featuring group work and group assignments.
Universities are increasingly using group based assessment tasks; however, as with workplace teams, such tasks often elicit mixed feelings from participants. This study investigated factors that may predict student satisfaction with group work at university. Final-year business students completed a questionnaire addressing experiences of group work. Quantitative and qualitative data suggest that the major barrier to students’ group work satisfaction was workload issues. Conversely, perceptions of learning and feelings of group-based achievement contributed most to satisfaction. Knowledge of predictors of satisfaction allows teaching staff to identify potential problems in groups, and improve the quality of the group work experience.
In keeping with cognitive appraisal models of emotion, it was hypothesized that sadness and anger would exert different influences on causal judgments. Two experiments provided initial support for this hypothesis. Sad Ss perceived situationally caused events as more likely (Experiment 1) and situational forces more responsible for an ambiguous event (Experiment 2) than angry Ss, who, in contrast, perceived events caused by humans as more likely and other people as more responsible. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 showed that the experience of these emotions, rather than their cognitive constituents, mediates these effects. The nonemotional exposure to situational or human agency information did not influence causal judgments (Experiment 3), whereas the induction of sadness and anger without explicit agency information did (Experiments 4 and 5). Discussion is focused on the influence of emotion on social judgment.
This study tests whether 2 types of response distortion (self-deception and impression management) affect the predictive validity of 2 of the "Big 5" personality dimensions, conscientiousness and emotional stability, in 2 applicant samples of long-haul semitruck drivers (n = 147 and n = 139). As hypothesized, conscientiousness (p = -.26 and -.26) and emotional stability (p = -.23 and -.21) were valid predictors of voluntary turnover in the 2 samples. Also as hypothesized, conscientiousness was a valid predictor of supervisory ratings of performance (p = .41 and .39) in the 2 samples. Although not hypothesized, emotional stability was also significantly related to supervisor ratings of performance (p = .23 and .27). Results from structural equations modeling indicated that applicants did distort their scores on both personality dimensions and the distortion occurred both through self-deception and impression management; however, neither type of distortion attenuated the predictive validities of either personality construct.
Ecologies shape cultures; cultures influence the development of personalities. There are both universal and culture-specific aspects of variation in personality. Some culture-specific aspects correspond to cultural syndromes such as complexity, tightness, individualism, and collectivism. A large body of literature suggests that the Big Five personality factors emerge in various cultures. However, caution is required in arguing for such universality, because most studies have not included emic (culture-specific) traits and have not studied samples that are extremely different in culture from Western samples.
To evaluate the effectiveness of training and institutionalizing teamwork behaviors, drawn from aviation crew resource management (CRM) programs, on emergency department (ED) staff organized into caregiver teams.
Nine teaching and community hospital EDs.
A prospective multicenter evaluation using a quasi-experimental, untreated control group design with one pretest and two posttests of the Emergency Team Coordination Course (ETCC). The experimental group, comprised of 684 physicians, nurses, and technicians, received the ETCC and implemented formal teamwork structures and processes. Assessments occurred prior to training, and at intervals of four and eight months after training. Three outcome constructs were evaluated: team behavior, ED performance, and attitudes and opinions. Trained observers rated ED staff team behaviors and made observations of clinical errors, a measure of ED performance. Staff and patients in the EDs completed surveys measuring attitudes and opinions.
Hospital EDs were the units of analysis for the seven outcome measures. Prior to aggregating data at the hospital level, scale properties of surveys and event-related observations were evaluated at the respondent or case level.
A statistically significant improvement in quality of team behaviors was shown between the experimental and control groups following training (p = .012). Subjective workload was not affected by the intervention (p = .668). The clinical error rate significantly decreased from 30.9 percent to 4.4 percent in the experimental group (p = .039). In the experimental group, the ED staffs' attitudes toward teamwork increased (p = .047) and staff assessments of institutional support showed a significant increase (p = .040).
Our findings point to the effectiveness of formal teamwork training for improving team behaviors, reducing errors, and improving staff attitudes among the ETCC-trained hospitals.
Abstract:
Free riding behavior may threaten the success of teamwork when one or more group members receive the benefits of other members’ achievements with little effort or cost of their own. This study investigates the students’ collaborative behavior to address this behavior in university settings. The study shows that students have positive views of group work despite the existence of free riders. Students like to form their own groups; consequently, peer evaluation appeared to be unreliable. The study points at free riding as a serious threat to academic productivity and calls for actions and strategies from the institution and the instructor to eradicate this behavior. The mobile application enables the instructor to track free riders and to some extent discourage their behavior.
Keywords: Freeriding, Higher education, Group work, Mobile Learning, Finance students, UAE.
Purpose
The study uses data drawn from a senior finance major cohort of 78 female undergraduates at Zayed University (ZU)-UAE to investigate factors, which increase the likelihood of achieving better academic performance in an Islamic finance course based on information about socioeconomic background of female students. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was conducted based on a survey designed to collect one-time individual data. Even though gender is considered as a variable affecting students’ performance as documented in the literature, it shall not be addressed in this study as the sample of our survey is limited to the female gender only. Whereas the population under investigation is a cohort of undergraduate female students enrolled at a finance course: Islamic finance and banking (BUS426) at one of the national universities in the UAE. ZU was established in 1998 by the federal government of the United Arab Emirates to educate UAE national women, in 2008 ZU started to accept male students in a separated campus building. The university is organized academically into six colleges: Arts and Sciences, Business Sciences, Communication and Media Sciences, Education, Information Technology, and University College. The primary language of instruction is English, though graduates are expected to be fully fluent in both English and Arabic (Zayed University, 2016). BUS426 is one of the major courses offered to students majoring in finance. The course is taught in English and requires mathematical skills on basic levels, but is mostly dependent on logical and critical thinking skills.
Findings
The study found that among the socioeconomic variables tested that being married, having a highly educated mother and having high pre-entry qualifications were significant variables as they increase the likelihood of an “A grade” performance.
Originality/value
The extent to which socioeconomic factors and lifestyle could contribute to student performance outcomes in an Arab culture setting is not clear due to the scarcity of research on this particular topic; hence the study attempts to fill this gap.
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
Digital technologies are now an integral aspect of the university student experience. As such, academic research has understandably focused on the potential of various digital technologies to enable, extend and even ‘enhance’ student learning. This paper offers an alternate perspective on these issues by exploring students’ actual experiences of digital technology during their academic studies - highlighting the aspects of digital technology use that students themselves see as particularly helpful and/or useful. Drawing on a survey of 1658 undergraduate students, the paper identifies 11 distinct digital ‘benefits' - ranging from flexibilities of time and place, ease of organizing and managing study tasks through to the ability to replay and revisit teaching materials, and learn in more visual forms. While these data confirm digital technologies as central to the ways in which students experience their studies, they also suggest that digital technologies are not ‘transforming’ the nature of university teaching and learning. As such, university educators perhaps need to temper enthusiasms for what might be achieved through technology-enabled learning and develop better understandings of the realities of students’ encounters with digital technology.
Purpose
Higher education is influenced, to an increasing extent, by changing student demographics. This requires educators to design and deliver learning systems which will enhance students’ learning experience with innovative, real world and engaging resources. The authors predict that transformations in the learning systems will increase as higher learning institutions seek to add educational value. The authors maintain that current pedagogies in cross‐cultural education are insufficiently adapted to student learning‐style needs. This problem is particularly noticeable in one cross‐cultural setting. This study aims to explore games, as an alternate pedagogy, to enhance learning systems.
Design/methodology/approach
Students’ feedback formed the primary qualitative data for this study. The paper develops a conceptual model which provides an organised framework to manage intercultural differences, using games. The Mapping, Bridging, Integrating (MBI) model creates an opportunity for students to appreciate differences and understand the model's implications for their careers in international management.
Findings
Participants’ responses to the games were overwhelmingly positive. Participants’ responses indicated games as a preferred method for developing the intercultural competence, team work, decision making and self awareness skills essential for business and entrepreneurship.
Practical implications
There is a growing need to consider and align the relationship between education, the increasing cultural diversity in student populations, and the learning and teaching styles of a changing student population in order to enhance the extent of expected knowledge transfer.
Originality/value
In this study, the authors adopted a qualitative approach to trialling the use of games in a cross‐cultural context with the view to reducing international cross‐cultural barriers and developing skills in intercultural competence, self awareness, collaborative working and decision making. This study shows the need for alternative, more integrative models of education comprising elements of complexity that fit with an increasingly complex world.
It is common to consider Tukey's schematic ("full") boxplot as an informal test for the existence of outliers. While the procedure is useful, it should be used with caution, as at least 30% of samples from a normally-distributed population of any size will be flagged as containing an outlier, while for small samples (N<10) even extreme outliers indicate little. This fact is most easily seen using a simulation, which ideally students should perform for themselves. The majority of students who learn about boxplots are not familiar with the tools (such as R) that upper-level students might use for such a simulation. This article shows how, with appropriate guidance, a class can use a spreadsheet such as Excel to explore this issue.
This study investigated the effects of personality on attitudes toward academic group work among a sample of 225 business students. Data were collected using pre-existing scales for measuring personality and attitudes toward academic group work. Specifically, the Neo-FFI scale was used to measure the five personality dimensions of openness, agreeableness, extroversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism. Regression analysis indicated that extroversion was the best predictor of respondents' attitudes toward academic group work. Individuals with high extroversion scores had positive attitudes toward academic group work. Neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness were also related to respondents' preference for group work and discomfort with group work. Interestingly, respondents' level of openness had no impact on any of the work group attitude variables.
Group work is used as a means of learning at all levels of most educational systems. However, teachers often use group work without considering its ‘pros and cons.’ Such a mode of non-reflected application may sometimes end up in positive experiences and learning, but the likelihood is that the outcome will be the opposite. The aim of this qualitative study is to address students’ experiences of collaborative group work, that is, when working as a group. What features do students emphasise in their experiences and descriptions of constructive and destructive group work? A prime aim is to give the students a voice in the matter. Data were collected by means of six focus groups with students aged 13–16, and a qualitative content analysis was performed. The originality of this research is three-folded. First, it discloses what students consider as important requisites for a successful group work. Their inside knowledge about classroom activities end up in a list (a taxonomy) of crucial conditions for high-quality group work. Second, the conditions mentioned by the students have all been confirmed by recent scientific research. Thus, thirdly, the present study may provide teachers with evidence-based knowledge about successful group work.
Business school faculty have been placing students into teams for group projects for many years, with mixed results. Obvious benefits accrue in using teams, but so do numerous problems. One of the main issues is that many business faculty often place students in teams with little or no guidance on how teams properly function. In this article, the author synthesizes a detailed review of the literature on teams and teamwork, examining the benefits and problems of using student teams and then suggests processes business faculty can put in place to maximize the benefits of group projects, while minimizing the problems. A preliminary study of student perceptions of team projects is also included in this review.
One thousand job advertisements in four occupational categories (marketing, general management, finance, human resource management) appearing in a number of graduate recruitment databases over a two-year period were examined in an attempt to obtain an objective assessment of the transferable personal skills demanded of graduate job applicants. It emerged that advertisements within each category were significantly more likely to ask for certain skills potentially relevant to jobs within that category than for others. Advertisements for managerial and highly paid jobs also tended to request particular sets of skills. The personnel managers or other executives concerned with graduate recruitment in 500 of the companies that had placed the advertisements were sent a questionnaire concerning their reasons for stipulating the personal skills mentioned in their firms' advertisements for graduate employees. Logical motives for including interpersonal skills requirements in job advertisements were cited by the majority of the respondents. Two-thirds of the companies used formal job analysis to determine the personal skills specified in advertisements.
The role of the instructor in influencing students’ attitudes, beliefs, and concerns toward group projects was assessed in a survey of students at 32 educational institutions. Results from a path-analytic model support the view that the instructor plays a significant role in influencing students’ attitudes, perceived benefits, and work and grade equity concerns regarding group work. The research showed that students were more likely to have positive attitudes about group work if they had instructors who discussed group management issues (e.g., group dynamics) and used methods to evaluate individual performance within the group (e.g., peer evaluations). In addition, the findings indicate that in general, instructors are not doing enough to facilitate students’ group experiences.
ABSTRACT Two-hundred-and-ninety secondary school students from Years 7, 9 and 11 completed questionnaires relating to motivational goals, metacognitive awareness, need for affiliation, social anxiety and feelings towards group work. Factor analysis revealed three attitudes towards participation in group work: a preference for group environments, a preference for individual work environments, and a sense of discomfort in group environments. Students reporting a preference for group work also indicated higher levels of sociability, lower levels of social anxiety, stronger mastery and performance goals, and greater levels of metacognitive awareness. Students expressing a preference for individual work environments reported lower levels of sociability and higher levels of social anxiety, but were not differentiated on any of the cognitive measures. Students reporting discomfort in groups similarly reported enhanced levels of social anxiety combined with lower levels of sociability, but also indicated lower levels of metacognitive awareness. Results are discussed in the context of current theoretical and empirical work on group-based learning.
The effects of within-class grouping on student achievement and other outcomes were quantitatively integrated using two sets of study findings. The first set included 145 effect sizes and explored the effects of grouping versus no grouping on several outcomes. Overall, the average achievement effect size was +0.17, favoring small-group learning. The second set included 20 effect sizes which directly compared the achievement effects of homogeneous versus heterogeneous ability grouping. Overall, the results favored homogeneous grouping; the average effect size was +0.12. The variability in both sets of study findings was heterogeneous, and the effects were explored further. To be maximally effective, within-class grouping practices require the adaptation of instruction methods and materials for small-group learning.
The purposes of this research were: 1) to study the effects of cooperative learning on English reading skill development of 40 first-year students at BU, 2) to survey the students' attitudes towards cooperative learning method used in English classroom, and 3) to examine their cooperative learning behaviors. A Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) program was used with the subject group over an eight-week period. The instruments used were the reading comprehension test, the questionnaire of attitudes towards cooperative learning, the cooperative learning behavioral assessment form, and the interview. The researcher administered the English reading comprehension test before and after teaching. The pre-test and post-test scores of the group were compared using a t-test dependent measure. Results indicate that the students obtained higher reading comprehension scores for the post-test than the pre-test scores at the .05 level of significance. As to their attitudes towards cooperative learning, the findings indicate that most students rated cooperative learning moderately positive. Also, assessment forms show they performed good cooperative learning behaviors in their tasks.
Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) is a sound academic practice that contributes to adult learning by linking formal and informal learning. However, it has not been widely accepted by Canadian educational institutions. In 1996, a consortium of seven colleges and an independent PLAR consultant began a study to create a comprehensive database of PLAR learners and their characteristics, identify PLAR activities in participating institutions, analyze the effects of PLAR on students and the institutions, and compare the costs of credits achieved through PLAR with those produced through traditional course delivery. Study results found that: the average course grades of PLAR learners are as high or higher than those of traditional students in the same programs; PLAR strengthened adult learners' confidence and represented important efficiencies for part-time adult learners by shortening their programs; the low number of PLAR learners and programs signal that delivery of PLAR has not been economical for some institutions; early benefits from PLAR training within institutions diminished over time; and there is a need for greater public awareness of PLAR. The report concludes with a series of recommendations addressing institutions, public policy makers, adult learners, and workplaces. (Contains 30 references, 31 tables and charts, and 14 appendices.) (JA)
In this paper, we theorize a bottom-up model of personality and delineate ways in which personality traits can develop and change from the accumulation of daily situations and behaviors over time. We posit that social roles, which represent important classes of situations, could elicit different types of short-term goals. We then argue that these goals can serve as psychological components of situations, thus exerting an influence on personality states, which aggregated over the long-term can shape broad personality traits. We discuss both the long-term processes involved in the transformation of personality traits as a function of roles, as well as the micro-level processes that occur in people’s daily lives, linking social roles, short-term goals, and personality states. Finally, we discuss future directions extending the scope of our model.
This study examines the growth and development of structural equation modeling (SEM) from the years 1994 to 2001. The synchronous development and growth of the Structural Equation Modeling journal was also examined. Abstracts located on PsycINFO were used as the primary source of data. The major results of this investi-gation were clear: (a) The number of journal articles concerned with SEM increased; (b) the number of journals publishing these articles increased; (c) SEM acquired he-gemony among multivariate techniques; and (d) Structural Equation Modeling be-came the primary source of publication for technical developments in SEM. Structural equation modeling (SEM) has become the preeminent multivariate technique, and the Structural Equation Modeling journal has become the preemi-nent place for the publication of developments and applications in SEM. To work-ers in SEM, this statement will come as no surprise, nor invite controversy. To oth-ers not as committed or as familiar with SEM, this statement may appear dubious. To them, this article is intended. The purpose of this study is to show how both structural equation modeling as a technique and Structural Equation Modeling as a journal, have simultaneously grown since the journal's inception in 1994. This contemporaneous development is no mere coincidence: Both the technique and the journal have given strength and momentum to each other.
This study investigated the differential effects of learning task complexity on both learning process and outcome efficiency of 83 individual and group learners in the domain of biology. Based upon cognitive load theory, it was expected that for high-complexity tasks, group members would learn in a more efficient way than individual learners, while for low-complexity tasks, individual learning would be more efficient. This interaction hypothesis was confirmed, supporting our premise that the learning efficiency of group members and individuals is determined by a trade-off between the group's advantage of dividing information processing amongst the collective working memories of the group members and its disadvantage in terms of associated costs of information communication and action coordination. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The current study examined the psychometric properties and validity of the Multidimensional Outcome Expectations for Exercise Scale (MOEES) in a sample of older adults with physical and functional comorbidities.
Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the hypothesized 3-factor model in 108 older adults (M age 85 yr) residing in continuing-care retirement communities.
Analyses supported the 3-factor structure of the MOEES reflecting physical, social, and self-evaluative outcome expectations, with a 12-item model providing the best fit. Theorized bivariate associations between outcome expectations and physical activity, self-efficacy, and functional performance were all supported.
The 12-item version of the MOEES appears to be a reliable and valid measure of outcome expectations for exercise in this sample of older adults with physical and functional comorbidities. Further examination of the factor structure and the longitudinal properties of this measure in older adults is warranted.
This study examined the quality of college students' experiences during cooperative learning (CL) tasks. Undergraduate educational
psychology students were assigned to small groups to discuss how they could apply important psychological principles to teaching—learning
projects. In addition to responding to questionnaires measuring goal orientations, attitudes toward CL, and perceived ability
in educational psychology, they were interrupted during a small-group discussion using Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, and Whalen's
(1993) experience sampling method to measure their quality of experience. Results indicated that quality of experience was
predicted by perceived skill for the task, as well as importance of the task. Measures of pre-existing individual differences
were not predictive.