Learning Spaces Research Articles

To speak or not to speak: Factors influencing medical students’ speech and silence in the operating room

PurposeThe surgical clerkship provides medical students with valuable hands-on experience. This study examined why medical students speak or remain silent in the OR to improve progression from novice to engaged surgical team member. MethodsUsing Constructivist Grounded Theory 37 interviews were conducted concerning expectations and behaviors that encourage or discourage students from speaking during their clerkship. Transcripts were coded, analyzed, and triangulated to develop a conceptual model. ResultsStudents’ decision to speak or remain silent was based on their perception of the OR as a safe learning space. Our findings suggest that better preparation, awareness of critical moments, and informal communication with team members encouraged student speech. ConclusionsMedical students remain conflicted about their speaking in the OR and their evaluation. Key to improving students’ psychological safety is establishment of interpersonal relationships, awareness of OR mood, and assignment of case-related tasks to assist with OR assimilation and improved learning.

Translanguaging space through pointing gestures: Multilingual family literacy at a science museum

Translanguaging theory highlights the dynamic use of multiple languages and communication modes by multilingual people in their daily experiences. Museums are informal family learning spaces where multilingual families use languages and other semiotic resources to create learning opportunities for their children. Using a microethnographic approach to discourse analysis and multimodal interaction analysis, I examined how a multilingual family uses translanguaging practices to organize their family learning in museums and the role of pointing gestures as part of their translanguaging repertoires in multilingual family learning. The analysis of two literacy events highlights that a child and his mother translanguaged with various semiotic resources to organize museum performances, joint attention, and telling, and that pointing gestures played a role in constructing a translanguaging space as they organized the two performances. Pointing involved the family in reading signage texts and allowed the mother to translate them for the child. Viewing translation as part of the translanguaging repertoire, this study recognizes the importance of the role of pointing gestures in constructing family learning at museums, enriching children’s schooling and literacy learning in classrooms. I argue that recognizing pointing as a critical component of translanguaging allows educators to develop strategies that leverage families’ unique repertoires to support multilingual students’ language and literacy learning.

Carving to excise, carving to create: Conversations on creating and sustaining safe spaces in higher education

AbstractIn this piece, we grapple with the conditions of creating and sustaining liberatory, healing spaces connected to higher education, delivering our analysis through a fictive podcast format. We present three different scenes authored by undergraduates, tied together by common, intersecting threads of both struggle and resistance, community in/as healing amidst layered crises and traumas, and deep desires for universities to fulfill their potential as learning spaces of safety, structural critique and connection. We consider our individual and collective roles as faculty and program directors in these institutional settings, and the conditions that help and hinder opportunities for students to co‐construct or live into liberatory spaces. We also consider the threats to the sustainability and viability of these initiatives, as well as the disproportionate impact on minoritized students, staff, and faculty. These learnings are in line with research that highlights the importance of students' sense of safety and belonging, the role of student agency, and perspectives that position educators through the lens of accompaniment.

중세 이탈리아 대학과 조선시대 서원 비교 연구 - 아레초대학 규정과 이산서원 원규를 중심으로

This article seeks to examine the potential for specific case studies that compare medieval European universities with Seowon of the Joseon Dynasty, emphasizing that despite temporal and spatial disparities, these institutions share certain educational similarities. This study examines how the official regulations of educational institutions reflect their structure and operation by analyzing the Statuti of the Medieval University of Arezzo, established in the early 13th century, alongside the regulations of Isan Seowon of Joseon, founded in 1559. The analysis identifies specific similarities and differences between these institutions, which originated in entirely disparate cultural contexts. Both institutions feature similar compositions, including administrators, students, and support staff. However, there are variations in the detailed aspects of these compositions according to their historical contexts. A further point of similarity is the emphasis on mutual respect and honor among members, which derives from the institutions' role as spaces for learning. However, there are notable differences in economic provisions. The University of Arezzo's regulations include specific penalties for various infractions and procedures for tuition collection, while the Isan Seowon regulations lack direct references to financial issues. This discrepancy is attributed to differences in the facilities and operational forms of the two educational settings. Nevertheless, the overall framework of the regulations clearly articulates the educational objectives of both the University of Arezzo and Isan Seowon.

Visual evaluation of graph representation learning based on the presentation of community structures

Various graph representation learning models convert graph nodes into vectors using techniques like matrix factorization, random walk, and deep learning. However, choosing the right method for different tasks can be challenging. Communities within networks help reveal underlying structures and correlations. Investigating how different models preserve community properties is crucial for identifying the best graph representation for data analysis. This paper defines indicators to explore the perceptual quality of community properties in representation learning spaces, including the consistency of community structure, node distribution within and between communities, and central node distribution. A visualization system presents these indicators, allowing users to evaluate models based on community structures. Case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the indicators for the visual evaluation of graph representation learning models.

Creating a Gender-inclusive Learning Environment in Spanish Language Classrooms

Non-binary speakers often struggle to describe themselves within the binary gender system of Spanish. This is even more of a challenge for learners of Spanish who are used to describing themselves in English without having to identify their gender. Our study investigates how we can create a more inclusive learning experience in our Spanish language classrooms. To answer our research question, we conducted a needs analysis through the distribution of an online survey and a series of 20-minute interviews with students and instructors of Spanish in Western Canada. Through these methods, we determined what participants already know about gender-neutral and inclusive language, and what they want or need to know to be able to use and teach inclusive language. Participants were also given the opportunity to share their suggestions and ideas as to how to create a more inclusive learning environment. The key findings indicated that both instructors and students need education and training, and access to teaching and learning resources to normalize the use of gender-inclusive language in the Spanish classroom, which in return will help foster a learning space that is inclusive of all students.

Pengembangan Kompetensi Nilai dan Sikap Kebersamaan dalam Pembelajaran PPKn Melalui Strategi Card Sort

This research aims to describe the development of value competencies and attitudes of togetherness in Civics learning through the Card Sort strategy for XC class students at SMA Muhammadiyah Boarding School Zam-Zam Cilongok. This research uses descriptive research with a qualitative approach. This research design uses case studies of data collection techniques interviews with sources, observation of learning activities, and photo documentation of activities which are then carried out triangulation data validity. The results of the research obtained by the researcher that the teacher has applied the card sort strategy in Civics learning with material related to elements in the indicators of togetherness. So that by presenting the results of student answers in turn and providing mutual feedback, students can increase their self-confidence. The obstacles to the application of this strategy are the lack of time allocation, students do not understand the direction of the teacher, the lack of conducive learning space and there is still individualism, less efficient discussion time, lack of social attitudes in students so that they look indifferent. Solutions that can be done based on these obstacles are that the teacher ensures that the learning instructions reach the students by going around the group in turn, giving a warning to students who do not participate in the discussion, the teacher reminds the rules and attitudes of the correct discussion.

A third player: Chinese linguistic and cultural influence at a UAE university

ABSTRACT As part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a series of large-scale projects have been launched in the Arab Gulf due to its geopolitically strategic position. We examine the influence of Chinese as a third player, in addition to Arabic and English, in a UAE university educationscape together with Emirati students’ attitudes towards its influence. The study takes a case study approach, which employs open-ended questionnaires with university students (n = 40), semi-structured interviews with university students (n = 3) and a university Confucius Institute director and visual data from a walking ethnography of university social, learning, and online spaces. Data are analysed thematically via the lens of ‘Critical, Cultural Political Economy of Education’ (CCPEE), which brings together a range of concepts to interrogate globalising processes within an ‘education ensemble’. Key findings revealed a growing influence and awareness of Chinese language and culture in the UAE as well as generally positive attitudes towards such growth. There was, however, less interest in learning Chinese in comparison with other languages such as Korean and Turkish connected with soft power and media presence via dramas and music. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to informing future language policy directions in the UAE.

Research on the Integration and Innovation Development of Digital Empowered Lifelong Education under the Background of Informatization

Under the impetus of the wave of informatization, lifelong education has ushered in unprecedented development opportunities. Firstly, digital technology has broken educational resources’ temporal and spatial limitations, achieved global resource sharing and provided learners with a broader learning space. Secondly, personalized learning models have emerged with the support of information technology, meeting the diverse learning needs of learners and improving learning outcomes. Finally, cross-border integration and innovative development have become important trends in lifelong education, promoting innovation and development of education models through integration with different industries and the application of emerging technologies. This study analyzes the current development status, challenges and future trends of lifelong education under the background of informatization and proposes corresponding strategies and suggestions to promote the sustainable development and innovation of lifelong education.

Teaching(s) From Dis-ease: Grieving, Teaching and Surrender

This work is a conversation with my fears and wonder in the early days of the COVID pandemic, in which I had to live and work as a high school teacher, parent, scholar and artist. Through the weaving of my poems, paintings and life writing in an Indigenous Métissage, I reached for the teachings I have learned from my Elders and Ancestors, longing to find ways to stay human during those most inhumane days, when dis-ease was worsened by social injustice. Through the refracted world of the pandemic came the distressing news of recoveries of unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools for Indigenous children. This news re-wrote me, unwound me, and re-routed the direction I longed to go to make learning spaces better for youth. Through poetic inquiry, I attempted to process these findings and asked Creator and All My Relations, how to be useful to the work of healing in this dis-ease.

Analyzing the latent space of GAN through local dimension estimation for disentanglement evaluation

The impressive success of style-based GANs (StyleGANs) in high-fidelity image synthesis has motivated research to understand the semantic properties of their latent spaces. In this paper, we approach this problem through a geometric analysis of latent spaces as a manifold. In particular, we propose a local dimension estimation algorithm for arbitrary intermediate layers in a pre-trained GAN model. The estimated local dimension is interpreted as the number of possible semantic variations from this latent variable. Moreover, this intrinsic dimension estimation enables unsupervised evaluation of disentanglement for a latent space. Our proposed metric, called Distortion, measures an inconsistency of intrinsic tangent space on the learned latent space. Distortion is purely geometric and does not require any additional attribute information. Nevertheless, Distortion shows a high correlation with the global-basis-compatibility and supervised disentanglement score. Our work is the first step towards selecting the most disentangled latent space among various latent spaces in a GAN without attribute labels.

Examining Inclusivity in Flexible Learning Spaces: Expectations, Comfort, and Distractions

Examining Inclusivity in Flexible Learning Spaces: Expectations, Comfort, and Distractions

Observation as the throughline of the leadership learning framework.

Observation is the throughline and synthesizing catalyst of the leadership learning framework (LLF). Observation serves as both a stimulus and clarifier through which all other LLF elements come together. This article explores the literature on both intentional and unintentional observational learning and how learners are socialized. Leadership educators should consider how observation of leadership influences students' perception of leading before arriving in the learning space and how they can intentionally imbed observational learning within curricular and extracurricular experiences with special attention given to access and representation.

Autistic re-creation: Live action role-play as a safe and brave space for social learning

Live action role-play (larp) is an improvised and embodied form of storytelling that develops through co-creation. While autistic individuals generally dislike unpredictable situations and social interaction in larger groups, anecdotal reports suggest that they often are found in the larping community. Through interviews with 10 autistic, experienced adult larpers, this study investigates larp as a scene for social learning. The examination focuses on the attraction of larps; what the participants learn about social interaction through larping; and how such insights transfer to everyday life. From a cognitive point of view, larping comes through as an optimal autistic space where players feel safe enough to dare push their social boundaries, which conceivably contributes to the formation of more precise social predictions since experimentation and mistakes facilitate embodied learning. From the participants’ point of view, larping improved their understanding of social nuances, which in turn increased social confidence and well-being in everyday life.

Homing into school to create the ideal classroom: young people want to combine the best of home and school learning environments

ABSTRACT We asked 28 young people (16–18 Years old) from two schools in Lancashire to reflect on their COVID-19 experience and Co-Design the ideal learning environment. In this paper, we present young people’s vision for the ideal classroom that combines the best of the home and school learning environments. Young people would like to have flexible furniture arrangements, with space for group and individual activities, a bespoke learning environment that can be appropriated and adjusted according to individual preferences (e.g. sound, light, temperature, ventilation levels). Furthermore, they aim for comfortable environments with earth colours, natural materials and a direct connection with nature. We argue the importance of taking young people's perspectives presented here to inform future policy, the design of learning spaces and school rebuilding programmes.

Can technology-based intervention improve collaboration skills: a meta-analysis study

ABSTRACT Collaboration skills are essential in the 21st century. As technology becomes increasingly integrated into teamwork, many studies have found that technology plays an important role in the development of collaboration skills. However, it is difficult to determine the effect of technology-based intervention in this respect. To explore the relationship between technology-based intervention and collaboration skills, we conducted a meta-analysis of 39 studies of this topic reported in 34 articles. The results show that technology-based intervention has a positive correlation with collaboration skills. Moreover, multiple factors, including technology category, learning space, learning stage, discipline, and collaboration skills dimension, significantly moderate the relationship. These findings suggest that collaboration skills are closely related to technology and its application methods. Overall, this study not only comprehensively reveals the complex effect of technology-based intervention on collaboration skills, but the findings also have important implications for research on technology-based intervention in promoting such skills.

Mobile Smartphones as Tools for ICT Integration in Geography Teaching

This article seeks to reflect on the opportunities that mobile smartphones (MSPs) present as ICT integration tools in teaching geography. The more extensive study, underpinned by the Professional Development Framework for Digital Learning (PDFDL) in ICT integration, employed a qualitative research approach. Lensed by the Professional Development Framework for Digital Learning (PDFDL), the article used the qualitative approach to garner insights from the participants regarding using MSPs as tools to integrate ICT in geography teaching. Data collection tools included interviews, observations, and document reviews. Researchers sampled (n = 4) schools, interviewed and observed (n = 13) teachers, and interviewed (n = 10) learners and (n = 8) parents in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Furthermore, they used a purposive sampling technique to access the participants, basing the research on the premise that MSPs promote virtual reality for an array of learners. As the findings revealed, although some participants viewed the use of MSPs as a distractor in the learning space, teachers felt compelled to heed the call to modify their teaching pedagogies, such that they integrated mobile phones fruitfully in their teaching. The findings further revealed that such a paradigm shift would benefit homeschooling and facilitate a dual teaching mode at learning institutions. Curriculum planners are responsible for helping teachers accept that uncertainty is the only certainty about the future, considering the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and augmentation (VUCA) challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Extended lockdown periods accelerated the use of MSPs in teaching, requiring every stakeholder in the educational space to become a life-long learner by using a range of technologies and platforms.

Exploring mixed-reality approaches for inclusive blended learning in higher education

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how mixed-reality (MR) can be used to enhance inclusivity in synchronous working activities where groups of people may be present either face-to-face or online – focusing on blended learning in the higher education (HE) context. Design/methodology/approach In a research methods module, 140 university master’s-level students were given the option to attend and engage in seminars/practical sessions either in a real lecture room or online through a virtual version of an equivalent environment, accessible on everyday devices. The MR platform provided two-way video “windows” enabling all students on the module to freely interact with staff and their peers. Attendance was recorded throughout the semester and survey data was captured after all sessions (33% response rate). In addition, student activity was video recorded within both the real and virtual spaces. Findings Attendance was high throughout the semester and students were very positive about this novel approach to their education. Students chose to either engage purely in-person, online or as a mixture of the two; performance on the module was not impacted by this decision. The survey highlighted several factors that impacted on students’ choice of learning space, including those related to intrinsic characteristics of individual students (e.g. desire for traditional/novel social interactions) and those related to extrinsic influences (e.g. weather and travel demands). Video analysis revealed numerous differences in the behaviours exhibited across the virtual and real spaces, related to individual versus team mentalities. Practical implications Conclusions are drawn regarding how MR can be used in HE and potentially other work-related contexts to enhance engagement, a sense of community and ultimately learning/productivity outcomes. Originality/value This study investigated how a large (>100) cohort of students responded to an MR blended learning experience across a whole semester. In this respect, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to consider such issues at this scale in a university education setting.

Cultivating Belonging for Self and Others in Learning Spaces During the Pandemic

Cultivating Belonging for Self and Others in Learning Spaces During the Pandemic

Adaptive-propagating heterophilous graph convolutional network

Graph convolutional networks have significant advantages in dealing with graph-structured data, but most existing methods usually potentially assume that nodes belonging to the same class in a graph tend to form edges, yet inter-class edges exist in many real-world graph-structured data. Due to the propagation mechanism of graph convolutional networks, it is challenging to prevent the interference aggregation from nodes of different classes, which may result in the incorporation of noise and irrelevant data in the outcome, ultimately decreasing the performance of the model. In this paper, we propose a new framework to address this issue on heterophilous graph-structured data. The proposed method comprises two main components. On one hand, the homophily of the graph-structured data is modeled so that the method can adaptively adjust the information propagation process according to the homophily of the edges, and mitigate the influence of inter-class information. On the other hand, the implicit node interaction is captured through the learned feature space, which is then fused with the original interaction to aggregate sufficient intra-class knowledge. Extensive experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method against current state-of-the-art approaches. 22Code to reproduce our experiments is available at https://github.com/rebridger/APHGCN.