Authentic Learning Opportunities Research Articles

To choose or not to choose? Effects of choice in authentic context-based learning environments

AbstractContext-based learning (CBL) environments are widely used in science education to create authentic learning opportunities. Contexts can be authentic through their relation to everyday life, to uncommon scientific phenomena, or to the chemical laboratory. Previous research revealed that students choose contexts that are authentic in different ways depending on their individual characteristics. Self-determination theory and psychological research indicate that it is not the choice itself that is beneficial for learning, but rather the congruence between the characteristics of the participants and the task. The extent to which these results are transferable to CBL in chemistry education and the effects on cognitive load have not yet been analyzed. The focus of the present study was to investigate whether the choice of a contextualized task or the congruence between context and student are causal for beneficial effects in situational interest, cognitive load, and task-related satisfaction. We conducted an experimental study with 217 third-year chemistry students comparing three treatments while learning in a CBL environment. In the first group, students could choose a contextual task that was varied in terms of authenticity. Students in the second group were assigned a contextual task by an artificial neural network that matched their individual characteristics. Students in the third group were assigned a contextualized task by the neural network that did not match their individual characteristics. Multilevel analyses show that whether the context is chosen or not is irrelevant for situational interest and task-related satisfaction if the context fits the individual characteristics of the students.

Project digiSTAR – digital augmented Science Teaching and Research

This paper introduces the digiSTAR project, whose primary focus is on bridging the digital gap in undergraduate studies, which arises between the now digitalized schools and the technology-driven master’s programs at universities when undergraduate courses are taught in a more traditional and less digitalized way, by providing teaching-learning modules and digital resources. The second goal is to provide pre-service science teachers with authentic learning opportunities for designing and testing lessons and (peer) feedback on their own developments, in accordance with the DiKoLAN framework, which characterizes digital competencies for teaching in science education. Initial results of the first design-based research cycle, based on a survey of first-year chemistry students, showed that chemistry students have difficulty understanding the physical fundamentals of quantum chemistry needed to understand topics such as molecular orbital theory. These challenges can potentially be eased through the implementation of innovative digital modules, which have been and will be created by teacher students enrolled in the Master of Education program. The project digiSTAR aims to establish a collection of digital modules designed for first-year science courses, with the long-term vision of extending this endeavour to encompassing a broader range of academic disciplines to address and reduce the digital gap.

Into the Brave New Metaverse: Envisaging Future Language Teaching and Learning

The emergence of the Metaverse, supported by innovative technologies, especially extended reality, has opened up new possibilities for various fields of education. Some disciplines like STEM have already derived significant benefits from the immersive, interactive, and authentic learning opportunities afforded by the Metaverse. In contrast, only very few changes have been seen in language education, such as pedagogical design, technical support, and psychological endorsement in the Metaverse. To predict the future pathways of language education, the present paper aims to shed valuable light on the use of the Metaverse by discussing topics such as definitions, features, examples, and existing models. Based on this discussion, a new educational framework for language education in the Metaverse is proposed, covering five dimensions - Design, Pedagogy, Technology, Actors, and Learning. It is hoped that the framework will be of value to different educational stakeholders and provide constructive learning environments and opportunities for future language teaching and learning.

Using Figma to foster authentic digital learning experiences in an online short course

Australia’s healthcare landscape is undergoing a digital transformation that will improve health outcomes and enable better exchange of patient data. Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy calls for a workforce that is educated to harness the potential of technologies that enable this digital transformation. There is an urgent need for effective and innovative methods of training the workforce to meet these demands. This paper discusses the development of an authentic learning activity using Figma, a popular UX/UI design tool. The activity sits within a short course, Opportunities for SMART on FHIR apps, which is a part of a national training programme, addressing workforce capacity-building needs. It teaches a non-technical healthcare workforce to create and share healthcare app prototypes with key stakeholders and developers. The activity highlights the importance of creating an authentic learning opportunity that builds the confidence of the workforce to enable digital health solutions, supporting healthcare’s rapid digital transformation.

A89Paramedic placements: Let’s not forget the non-technical skills

Simulated placements for paramedics are increasing, with some organizations approaching these placements innovatively, focussing on combining undergraduate paramedic facilitation skills with peer reviewing skills [1]. Other HEIs focus on clinical skills with manikin scenario-simulations and on virtual reality driven learning. Effective communication skills are crucial for paramedics and simulated placements provide an opportunity to practice these skills. There is a heavy focus on communication skills in the HCPC Standards of Proficiency for Paramedics [2]; this, combined with our responsibilities to patients and their relatives means that rehearsal of these skills, are not overlooked in preference to technical skill acquisition. A simulation-based education provider and an HEI, co-created a two-day simulated placement for 60 paramedic undergraduates. The scenario content was developed to reflect the broad client base paramedics interact with: patients, relatives, by-standers, other healthcare, and emergency service professionals, all from across the life span and from different cultural and social backgrounds. The scenario focus was: care, kindness and compassion, confidentiality and candour, supporting colleagues, de-escalation, safeguarding, inclusivity, and transgender and gender diversity. Scenario development was undertaken by a range of healthcare professionals, and co-produced with lay developers, people who had experienced paramedic intervention. Actors were coached in role depiction and escalation, briefed regarding the learning outcomes, and had the pre-requisite experience in debriefing and feedback skills. Each learning outcome was scored by the students, for confidence and ability, in a pre-post evaluation. Overall students evaluated the placement as a meaningful learning opportunity. They felt able to consider their existing knowledge, then practice their skills and reflect on their attitudes. They described feeling better prepared for ‘real’ situations. Students reported the usefulness of being able to stop, discuss and restart/resume the simulation. Feedback from actors, peers and facilitators was described as an enhancement, and crucially, the co-production of the scenarios with lay developers, translating their ‘real’ experiences resonated with the students creating genuine, authentic learning opportunities. Communicating is a vital paramedic skill; evidence demonstrates that these vital skills, done well, lead to improved patient outcomes and satisfaction, and a reduction of medical errors [3]. Simulated placements are an essential ingredient in developing these skills and the involvement of actors and experienced facilitators provides a safe environment for students to practice. This initiative provides valuable insights into the co-production of scenarios (with users) and partnerships between HEIs and external simulation-based education providers. Authors confirm that all relevant ethical standards for research conduct and dissemination have been met. The submitting author confirms that relevant ethical approval was granted, if applicable.

Keep it Real: The Case for Introducing Authentic Tasks in the Undergraduate Law Degree

Authentic learning and assessment, which refers to tasks and assessment practices that reflect complex, real-world situations, are a radical departure from the traditional methods of learning and assessment in Higher Education. This article considers feedback from a primary, small-scale empirical study of students taking an optional Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution module which uses authentic learning and assessment practices. Evaluating student feedback from the module, and drawing on the existing literature, the paper concludes that introducing authentic learning and assessment opportunities in the undergraduate law degree has the potential to increase student employability, engagement, and skills development. Finally, the paper examines some of the barriers to incorporating authentic tasks in the law degree, and some “light touch” ways to introduce authentic “moments” in existing modules are explored.

A Review of the Research on Teacher Hiring in the United States (2001–2021)

Hiring quality teachers that best meet localized needs to provide students with authentic learning opportunities is crucial to both school and student success. Despite the clear importance of teacher hiring, especially in the current teacher labor market, a review of literature that synthesizes the entire body of teacher hiring literature has long been missing from the field. This review, which utilizes inclusion criteria for quality in addition to relevance, covers 80 empirical studies in an era of federal accountability (2001–2021) and provides a full portrait of K–12 teacher hiring research. In so doing, we identify what is known while also unearthing the many knowledge gaps that exist due to factors such as sample and methodological limitations. As such, this review of the literature provides practitioners and policymakers with a number of guideposts to help them with hiring decisions. This review also signals to researchers where and how they might build off of the current knowledge base.

Midwifery education: Developing virtual scenarios for inquiry-based learning applied in simulation

The University of South Australia, Bachelor of Midwifery curriculum is founded on constructivist philosophy and experiential learning theories where students are central to learning. The curriculum draws on virtual scenarios to integrate theory and practice and engage students in learning with a focus on women centred, continuity of care. Students apply inquiry-based learning to clinical scenarios they encounter in a fictitious city called ‘Horizon’, which comprises a community of women and their families. Women are brought to life virtually by photos, a life story, and online clinical records. Through tutorials, students are immersed in the life stories of these women which are built around health priorities and represent a spectrum of practice and culture, as well as challenges and concerns. The stories foster a relationship-based philosophy as students grow to know these women and their families and provide care as they interact with these scenarios in the simulated Hospital and Health Service environment. Learning is scaffolded across the entire program providing students authentic learning opportunities as they plan and implement care across a variety of complexities and models of care. Students have opportunity to work in teams, practice clinical skills and decision making and develop effective communication skills.

“Bridging the Gap” international ECLS training and simulation - evaluation of the 10th educational corner on EuroELSO congress 2022 in London, United Kingdom

Introduction: Simulation training offers an authentic team-based learning opportunity without risk to real patients. The Educational Corner at the annual congress of the European Branch of Extracorporeal Life Support Organisation (EuroELSO) provided an opportunity for multiple simulation training sessions facilitated by experts from all over the world.Aim: We aimed to review the educational impact of EuroELSO Educational Corner and whether it provides a quality ECLS training to a wide spectrum of multidisciplinary international attendees utilising high and low fidelity simulation, workshops and hands on sessions.Methods: During the congress, 43 sessions were conducted dedicated to ECLS education with identified educational objectives. The sessions focused on management of adults and children on V-V or V-A ECMO. Adult sessions covered emergencies on mechanical circulatory support with management of LVAD and Impella, managing refractory hypoxemia on V-V ECMO, emergencies on ECMO, renal replacement therapy on ECMO, V-V ECMO, ECPR cannulation and performing perfect simulation. Paediatric sessions covered ECPR neck and central cannulation, renal replacement on ECMO, troubleshooting, cannulation workshop, V-V recirculation, ECMO for single ventricle, PIMS-TS and CDH, ECMO transport and neurological injury.Results: The Educational Corner was attended by more than 400 participants over the two congress days. Majority of responders (88%) reported that training sessions met the set educational goals and objectives and that this would change their current practice. Almost all (94%) reported that they received useful information and 95% would recommend the session to their colleagues.Conclusion: The Educational Corner, as an integral component of the annual EuroELSO congress, achieved the set educational goals and provided quality education based on the recipient survey. Structured multidisciplinary ECLS education with standardised curriculum and feedback is an important key step in delivering quality training to an international audience. Standardisation of European ECLS education remains an important focus of the EuroELSO.

Effects of playing the video game Her Story on multiple dimensions of creativity in EFL writing – An international replication study

AbstractThis international replication study demonstrates how playing a video game is related to multiple dimensions of creativity in foreign language writing. In this research project, university students were asked to interact with a commercial murder mystery video game, Her Story, and produce a piece of creative writing, which was a replication with a new data collection of the original study by Lee (2019). The reason for using this digital game was to provide an authentic learning opportunity for students and analyze whether digital game-based learning facilitates creativity in EFL writing. This replication, involving 25 university students from Poland and 25 university students from Spain, is a media transfer study based on the students transforming one media format (video game) into another (writing). The results demonstrate that the use of a video game with an ambiguous storyline prompts discovery (specific curiosity) and could be the determining factor for producing original, quality ideas in writing even when holding a negative view of one’s creativity. The findings also indicate that the choice of genre and a viewpoint in writing may influence the level of elaboration in the texts produced by students.

Real Lab Day: undergraduate scientific hands-on activity as an authentic learning opportunity in microbiology education.

Traditional lab classes of microbiology are common in several educational institutions, which can provide a learning experience disconnected from the myriad of experiments performed in research laboratories. Attempting to promote an authentic learning opportunity of the functioning of a bacteriology research laboratory, we developed the 'Real-Lab-Day', a multimodal learning experience to develop competencies, abilities, critical analysis, and teamwork skills for undergraduate students. Students were divided into groups and assigned to research laboratories to be mentored by graduate students, to design and carry out scientific assays. Undergraduate students were introduced to methods such as cellular and molecular assays, flow cytometry, and fluorescence microscopy, as tools to address scientific questions about bacterial pathogenicity, bacterial resistance, and other topics. To consolidate their learning, students created and presented a poster in a rotational panel of peer learning. The perceived learning and interest in microbiology research were improved by the Real-Lab-Day experience, and more than 95% of the students approved the Real-Lab-Day as a teaching tool in microbiology. Students exposed to a research laboratory had a positive experience of the teaching method and over 90% saw it as beneficial to improve their understanding of the scientific concepts discussed during lectures. Likewise, their interest in pursuing a career in microbiology was stimulated by the Real-Lab-Day experience. In conclusion, this educational initiative depicts an alternative methodology to connect students to the research and offers an opportunity to be in close contact with experts and graduate students, who gain teaching experience.

A case study of an academic-stakeholder partnership: Evaluation of the '10000 Lives' smoking cessation health promotion program.

In Australia, smoking prevalence is higher in regional areas than in metropolitan cities; Central Queensland, a central-east district of Queensland, has substantially higher smoking rates than the state average. In November 2017, Central Queensland Public Health Unit (CQPHU) launched the '10000 Lives' initiative to reduce the smoking prevalence in the region. The initiative partnered with local hospitals and community organisations to increase the uptake of interventions like Quitline in the region. Evaluating a program like '10000 Lives' is critical for evidence-based health promotion practice. CQPHU partnered with a large metropolitan Australian university to evaluate the '10000 Lives' through a scheme that provided a stipend for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student. This narrative report describes the experience of evaluating '10000 Lives' in a collaborative partnership between CQPHU and the public health academia. A PhD student was recruited to join this collaboration, and both developed a program logic model and completed a process and impact evaluation. This evaluation provided an ideal 'living' case study to embed in the Master of Public Health curriculum and provided the PhD student with teaching experience delivering a demonstration of public health in practice. The collaboration project was highly successful, exemplifying research, learning and practical integration for all partners. SO WHAT?: The partnership demonstrated how universities can work with government health agencies to build practice-based evidence, and importantly give public health students authentic learning opportunities.

Perceptions and factors affecting the adoption of digital games for engineering education: a mixed-method research

Digital games are considered relevant in higher education due to their ability to foster authentic, active and experiential learning opportunities that are of importance in engineering education. However, as a relatively new pedagogical tool, there is the need to understand the perceptions of engineering students as well as to identify factors that influence their adoption of games for learning. So far, only a few studies have investigated the perceptions of higher education students towards learning games and even fewer for engineering students. To bridge this research gap, the current study utilises a mixed-method research design to identify factors that influence the adoption of digital learning games by engineering students as well as their overall perceptions of the use of games for engineering education. Results from the analysed quantitative and qualitative data suggest that engineering students value fun and engagement as well as relevance to the curriculum as factors that would influence their intentions to use digital games for engineering education. Students also showed openness to the use of digital games for learning, but resistance to their use for assessment. These findings have implications for the design of games and classroom deployment of games, as these provide insights to game designers and educators on the factors to consider in the design and classroom deployment of games, respectively.

Utilizing Bloom's taxonomy and authentic learning principles to promote preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge

The global reading crisis has been widely reported. One of the reasons attributed to the reading crisis is teachers' inadequate pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) regarding the teaching of reading. In South Africa, a multilingual country, the reading dilemma and the need for improved PCK have been debated extensively. This study, therefore, explores how utilizing Bloom's taxonomy and authentic learning principles within teacher education can promote the development of PCK in teaching reading. Using an interpretivist paradigm and an exploratory qualitative research design, data were collected from 20 second-year preservice teachers. The data collection consisted of a qualitative open-ended reflection questionnaire and document reviews. Inductive and thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The findings highlight the importance of authentic learning and PCK in teacher education and training. Furthermore, the findings indicate how Bloom's taxonomy can serve as a possible metacognitive framework to promote preservice teachers' PCK development. The benefits and challenges of PCK within teacher education are also elaborated on. Recommendations are made for teacher education programs to explore the value of Bloom's taxonomy as a metacognitive learning framework instead of a hierarchical assessment framework to create authentic learning opportunities to better prepare preservice teachers for practice.

Early Literacy Learning for Future Library Paraprofessionals: Authentic Learning in Library Education

This article describes the professional learning around early literacy experienced by library paraprofessional students at a post-secondary institution in Canada. Students completed a survey to gauge their conceptions of early literacy at the beginning of a course on library services for children and young adults. These students then experienced hands-on, engaging course elements such as in-class discussions, guest speakers, and authentic assessments. At the conclusion of the course, students were again surveyed and were asked to identify course elements that contributed to their learning. Most students aligned with an emergent literacy approach to early literacy. While a comparison between the two surveys did not reveal a significant difference in terms of students’ conceptions of early literacy, multiple students identified the hands-on elements of the course as beneficial. The researchers conclude that providing authentic professional learning opportunities that include knowledge application reinforces learners’ conceptions about emergent literacy.

Bridge2Practice: an interactive skills training e-tool which improves learning outcomes in university health students

Given the challenges with COVID-19 in the past two and a half years, clinical programs have struggled to find placements where students can get hands on experience assessing and working with real patients. Placements have switched to tele-practice or simulations each of which has a range of limitations. A key learning objective in healthcare programs is that students will be able to develop procedural skills, so reduced placement availability impacts students’ opportunity to practice these skills. Learning procedural skills also poses a problem for time-poor educators who must provide feedback to students and opportunities for students to practice in the classroom environment. An online learning tool aims to bridge these learning gaps and address the abovementioned educational challenges. Bridge2Practice (B2P), created by the School of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, enables health students to practice identification of a range of specific features of clinical interventions and receive immediate feedback. B2P uses patient recordings for the learner to identify features of clinical interactions and procedures and subsequently receive immediate feedback and comparison of their assessment to that of their peers and experts. As such, it utilizes consensus learning and harnesses aspects of successful coaching such as reflection and explicit practice (Cushion et al., 2012; Cushion et al., 2003; Madill et al., 2020), to support the learning and teaching of motor and procedural skills to patients in clinical settings. B2P is freely available 24/7 and is utilised by over 7000 users from more than 14 institutions around the world for research and teaching purposes. It is currently used to support skill development in physiotherapy, sports science and speech pathology students and is integrated with online only and blended-learning educational programs. B2P incorporates features of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (Dinmore, 2014), an approach to learning that involves embedding engaging and authentic learning opportunities into teaching and assessment using multiple modes of engagement. B2P also optimises relevance, value and authenticity, fostering collaboration and community and increasing mastery-orientated feedback. In a case example of clinical skills of entry-level speech pathology students, we will show B2P’s flexibility in supporting learning objectives and skill development based on a UDL perspective of learning. Students watch and rate a range of clinical videos in B2P to identify features relevant for clinical practice and receive immediate feedback of their ratings compared to experts’ and other students’ ratings of the same sample. This immediate feedback enables students to see the difference between novice and expert ratings, and observe the formation of a consensus answer by the student group. The benefits of practice via B2P is evidenced by a positive correlation between students who engaged with B2P and improved assessment results. Furthermore, B2P was of benefit to staff in saving them thousands of hours of marking and feedback. In the future, B2P will continue to be implemented to promote student engagement in skill development across a range of allied health settings with the capacity for application in other disciplines where interactive skill-based practice is required.

Design considerations for cases used in pharmacy teaching and learning using the case difficulty cube

IntroductionLearner-centered authentic learning opportunities in health science disciplines can be provided using cases to allow integration of theoretical knowledge across multiple subject areas and development of problem-solving skills. We have previously described the adaptation of the case difficulty cube (CDC), a model from business education, that proposes assignment of case difficulty based on three dimensions (analytical, conceptual, and presentation) in pharmacy education. MethodsThe CDC for use in health science disciplines (modCDC) was evaluated using 13 cases from summative undergraduate pharmacy examinations. Inter-rater agreement (IRA) and inter-rater reliability (IRR) for modCDC ratings were first determined, then a post hoc investigation of the relationship between the modCDC score and student marks was undertaken. ResultsFirst, the IRA for each dimension of the modCDC was adequate for aggregating ratings. IRR was excellent for the conceptual axis, good for the presentation axis, and poor for the analytical axis. Second, analysis of the relationship between the modCDC score and student marks indicated that there was a significant difference between student marks awarded at each level of case difficulty, except for the lower levels of difficulty. The results indicate that the modCDC is a relatively robust tool that could be used to determine case difficulty prior to cases being used in assessments. ConclusionsThe modCDC is a simple tool that can assist academic staff in providing consistent learning opportunities for, and assessment of, pharmacy students at an appropriate level.

Chinese College Students’ Intercultural Competence: Current Situation, Barriers and Solutions

Situated in Byram’s intercultural competence model, this study employed survey questionnaires and face-to-face interviews to investigate the current situation of Chinese college students’ intercultural competence through exploring a class of English majors. The results show that students were not satisfied with their reported intercultural competence; their desire for cultural learning was constrained by the current language teaching methods and content. Suggestions are made on how to position culture in language teaching and learning with implications for how teachers could provide more opportunities for authentic intercultural learning and prepare students to participate as global citizens.

Components of Effective Supervision and Training for Paraeducators

Special education teachers collaborate with numerous professionals, including paraeducators, who are tasked with supporting student learning in various school settings. In their role with paraeducators, teachers provide supervision, training, and coaching to enhance paraeducator skills to support students with disabilities in the classroom. This column provides an approach to paraeducator supervision, training, and coaching guided by the adult learning principles outlined in Kolb’s experiential learning model. In addition, sample fidelity checklists and observation forms are included for use during training and coaching sessions to enrich the paraeducator’s learning experience. Armed with these resources, teachers can cocreate meaningful and authentic learning opportunities in which paraeducators identify individual goals and reflect on their teaching with guidance from the teacher. As a result, teachers and paraeducators work together to provide quality instruction.

Virtual Reality Instructional Design in Orthopedic Physical Therapy Education: A Mixed-Methods Usability Test

Background Physical therapy education benefits from innovative and authentic learning opportunities. However, factors that influence the acceptance of educational technology must be assessed prior to curricular adoption. The purpose of this study was to assess the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of a virtual reality (VR) learning experience developed to promote the clinical decision-making of student physical therapists. Methods A VR learning experience was developed, and an established two-stage usability test assessed player experience as well as the user’s perception of both ease of use and usefulness. Two experts evaluated the VR learning experience and provided feedback. Six student physical therapists and five faculty members completed the VR experience, responded to two questionnaires, and participated in a semi-structured interview to further assess ease of use and utility. Results High levels of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and positive player experiences were reported by both faculty and student users. Faculty users perceived a significantly greater amount of educational and clinical utility from the VR simulation than did student users. Semi-structured interviews revealed themes related to ease of use, benefits, modeling of professional behaviors, and realism. Conclusion Quantitative data supported faculty and student users’ perceptions of ease of use, utility towards learning, practical application, and several constructs related to user experience. Qualitative data provided recommendations to modify design features of the VR experience. This study provides a template to design, produce, and assess the usability of an immersive VR learning experience that may be replicated by other health professions educators where current evidence is limited.