Optimal Learning Environment Research Articles

Education policies for raising student learning: the Finnish approach

This article argues that system‐wide excellence in student learning is attainable at reasonable cost, using education policies differing from conventional market‐oriented reform strategies prevalent in many other countries. In this respect, Finland is an example of a nation that has developed from a remote agrarian/industrial state in the 1950s to a model knowledge economy, using education as the key to economic and social development. Relying on data from international student assessments and earlier policy analysis, this article describes how steady improvement in student learning has been attained through Finnish education policies based on equity, flexibility, creativity, teacher professionalism and trust. Unlike many other education systems, consequential accountability accompanied by high‐stakes testing and externally determined learning standards has not been part of Finnish education policies. The insight is that Finnish education policies intended to raise student achievement have been built upon ideas of sustainable leadership that place strong emphasis on teaching and learning, intelligent accountability, encouraging schools to craft optimal learning environments and implement educational content that best helps their students reach the general goals of schooling.

Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs: Optimal Learning Environments for Talented Minorities?

The racial, ethnic, linguistic, and economic diversity within urban areas necessitates the creation of scholastic environments that are responsive to the varying academic and social needs of the student population. This qualitative study investigates ways in which teacher and administrator behavior and the school environment contribute to the successes or frustrations of minority students in AP and IB courses. Classroom observations and interviews with 9 administrators, 4 counselors, 43 teachers, and 75 students in 3 urban high schools revealed that consistent, broad-based support scaffolds learning experiences for students, enabling them to experience success and to develop confidence in taking on new challenges in college. Two key factors seemed to be integral to creating environments that nurture the growth of academic talent among students of diverse backgrounds: (a) a pervasive and consistent belief that these students could succeed, which resulted in instructional and group support; and (b) scaffolding to support and challenge able students (e.g., extracurricular help, lunchtime discussion forums, subsidized college visits). Teachers found ways to flexibly tailor their support and expectations to individual student needs in terms of product and performance expectations and the kind of help that was provided.

Prof-in-a-Box: using internet-videoconferencing to assist students in the gross anatomy laboratory

BackgroundThe optimal learning environment for gross anatomy is the dissection laboratory. The Prof-in-a-Box (PiB) system has been developed where an anatomist using distance-learning technologies 'helps' students in a dissection laboratory at a different site.MethodsThe PiB system consists of: (1) an anatomist in his/her office with a computer and video camera; (2) a computer and 2 video cameras in the lab; (3) iChat AV software; (4) a secure server to host the PiB-student 'consultation'. The PiB system allows the students and faculty to interact via audio and video providing an environment where questions can be asked and answered and anatomical structures can be identified 'at a distance' in real-time. The PiB system was set up at a prosected cadaver and made available for student use during 'office hours'.Results25–30% of the students used the PiB system. Anatomical structures were identified, questions answered and demonstrations given 'at a distance' using the system. Students completed an optional questionnaire about the PiB system at the end of the semester. Results of the questionnaire indicate that the students were enthusiastic about the PiB system and wanted its use to be expanded in the future.ConclusionMany of the functions of a faculty member in the gross anatomy dissection laboratory can be performed 'at a distance' using the PiB system. This suggests that a geographically dispersed faculty could assist in providing instruction in the dissection labs at multiple medical schools without needing to be physically present.

Development and testing of a Clinical Learning Environment Diagnostic Inventory for baccalaureate nursing students

Aim. This paper reports the development and testing of the psychometric properties of the Clinical Learning Environment Diagnostic Inventory for baccalaureate nursing students. Background. The quality of the clinical learning environment is an essential factor in determining the quality of nursing students' clinical experience. It is also well-recognized that the clinical setting can be a source of stress and anxiety for students. To design an optimal clinical learning environment for students, instruments based on the cognitive and socio-emotional aspects of the learning process are necessary. Method. The hypothetical construct of the clinical learning environment was derived from a comprehensive review of the literature, including experiential learning theory and the epistemology of practice. Developing the instrument involved the collection of items through semi-structured interviews, assessing content validity and determining the scaling. After a pilot study, the instrument was tested with 312 undergraduate students and 157 preceptors between September and December 2004. The factor structure was determined by exploratory factor analysis. Results. Exploratory factor analysis produced a five-factor solution that was similar to the hypothetical model. Cronbach's alpha internal consistency reliability coefficients ranged from 0.65 to 0.77 across the five factors. Three-week test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.59 to 0.74. Criterion-related validity and construct validity were estimated by the correlation between the Clinical Learning Environment Diagnostic Inventory and appropriate other instruments and a set of comparison data obtained from the students and preceptors. Conclusion. The findings yielded acceptable estimates of reliability and validity of the Clinical Learning Environment Diagnostic Inventory. Therefore, this instrument is considered useful for assessing learning environments in clinical settings.

Language teaching

As Cynthia White points out in this issue's state-of-the-art article, recent years have seen ‘a dramatic expansion of distance education with new language learning opportunities being made available to new audiences throughout the world’. In her review of distance education, she highlights the contribution made in the literature to our understanding of the nature of language learning in non-classroom settings. It is the first critical review to address important issues and debates that have developed within the field – such as the development of learners' interactive competence and the nature of optimal distance language learning environments. Throughout, the article's emphasis is on the complexity of distance language learning and teaching given the presence and interplay of human, institutional, technological and sociocultural influences. Throughout the paper, the author addresses a number of emerging trends for further research.We are delighted to welcome the return of Richard Johnstone's research review. An article in which he reviews research published in 2004 and 2005 on language teaching, learning and policy is available online at <http://uk.cambridge.org/jid_LTA>.

The Development of Coaching Knowledge

Coaches are known to fulfill many different roles including leader psychologist, friend, teacher, personnel manager, administrator, fundraiser and role model. The papers presented in this special issue emphasize these different roles by highlighting how coaches learn and how they foster an optimal learning environment. In the first section of this discussion article, will briefly summarize the main issues covered in the five target papers. will then propose that the learning environment of coaches needs to be put into a larger conceptual framework that would allow one to account for the variability of experiences that coaches go through before becoming a coach. The third section of this paper will describe three different settings in which coaches learn their skills. Finally, I will offer some concluding remarks and briefly outline directions for future studies.

“If You Know Our Names It Helps!”

The purpose of this narrative is to explore students’ perceptions of exemplary and effective teachers, contextualized within contemporary conversations about “evidence-based” instruction and school reform. A brief overview of audience performance texts and their implications for teacher education programs is first provided, followed by the role-play of a panel discussion among students, educators, and policy makers. The text highlights the relationship between students’ perceptions and the research regarding optimal teaching strategies and learning environments.

Evaluation of a number skills development programme

A pre-test post-test correlated groups design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Shuttleworth/Rotary Number Skills Development Programme to enhance the numeracy of Grade 2 learners (N = 1 69) from five primary schools (a private school, a school of auditory impaired learners, and three rural schools). An un structured questionnaire was employed to obtain teachers' views about the program (n = 5). The findings of the study showed that the programme was effective in developing the numeracy of the total sample, and of learners from the different types of schools. It was concluded that the use of concrete educational material should be central in the teaching of number skills in Grade 2. The teachers also indicated that the programme was beneficial to learners and to themselves. However differences in the improvement of the numeracy sc ores of the five c lasses w ere found (possibly du e to difference in instructional quality). Therefore, it is recommended that teachers should be trained in the use of educational equipment and also to create an optimal learning environment. Further research, with more representative samples, is required to verify the effectiveness of (and broaden) the application of the programme, and to explore teacher-related variables that could limit numeracy development in learners. South African Journal of Education Vol. 26(3) 2006: 413–426

Pharmacists in Veterinary Education: Bridging the Gap

Veterinary patients stand to benefit greatly from the collaboration of pharmacy and veterinary medicine, and there are many ways pharmacy and veterinary medicine can work in concert. The best efforts to revise and remodel veterinary and pharmacy education to fit an evolving world of clinical practice are grounded in an understanding of each profession. Veterinary education should impart to its students and residents the skills necessary to critically evaluate drug therapy, select therapies based on facts from drug information sources, and operate a veterinary practice that abides by the legal, regulatory, and operational requirements necessary to maintain and dispense drugs. The academic training environment of each profession must include information on the other, in order to better prepare professionals for a realistic practice environment. When armed with an understanding of what pharmacists can provide their patients, veterinarians can demand these skills where appropriate. With the ultimate goal of producing an optimal learning environment, veterinary curricula should allow both pharmacy and veterinary medicine to work together to build a path to quality patient care and educational superiority.

College Student Involvement and Mobilization: An Ethnographic Study of a Christian Student Organization

This manuscript uses a case study of a faith-based student organization to explore the interrelationship between student involvement and mobilization in student organizations. the authors explore the types of cocurricular offerings students perceive to be especially meaningful and document ways effective organizations mobilize students to enact political agendas. the study answers two questions: (a) How can student organizations be structured in order to create optimal learning environments for students? and (b) How do student organizations mobilize students to achieve their political aims? the authors also include recommendations to structure meaningful co-curricular activities aimed at answering these two questions for both secular and faith-based student organizations.

Collaborative partnerships for nursing faculties and health service providers: what can nursing learn from business literature?

Collaborative partnerships between nursing faculties and health service providers are the cornerstone of successful clinical experience for nursing students. The challenge of providing an optimal learning environment can be enormous given the turbulent and rapidly changing environment in health. The present study uses the business literature to examine what nursing can learn from business about the development of successful collaborative partnerships. The characteristics of sound partnerships are described and a set of best practice guidelines is developed. The guidelines summarize the factors considered to be essential for the effective development of collaborative partnerships. In these times of nursing shortages and high turnover high quality, collaborative partnerships between nursing faculties and the health care sector are seen as a possible solution to optimize clinical learning and therefore graduate preparedness.

Community through Discourse: Reconceptualizing Introduction to Theatre

Community through Discourse:Reconceptualizing Introduction to Theatre Amy E. Hughes (bio), Jill Stevenson (bio), and Gershovich Mikhail (bio) For most college theatre departments, non-majors account for the bulk of the student constituency. Many of these non-majors enroll in an Introduction to Theatre course in order to satisfy a general education requirement. Teachers of Intro face multiple challenges: to meet the curricular expectations of their department and institution, to present material in ways that engage often-reluctant students, and to take advantage of their own scholarly interests and expertise. When designing such a course, we often attempt to balance reading assignments, written work, and exams. We carefully select textbooks that suit our needs as instructors and plays that we believe intersect in some way with our students' values, passions, or cultural backgrounds. In short, we prepare for the course by defining assignments and assessment—texts and tests. But in doing so, we should also craft learning objectives by asking ourselves the following questions: What do we want our students to know by the end of the semester? What skill sets should they acquire in the process? And, perhaps most importantly, what can the study of theatre ultimately offer non-majors? At Baruch College, a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY), the theatre program has experimented with a particular learning objective—to improve students' oral communication skills—in its general education theatre course. Designated a Communication Intensive Course (CIC) as part of a university-wide Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) initiative, Introduction to Theatre Arts (THE 1041C) is exemplary of efforts at Baruch to find a place for oral communication within WAC pedagogy. The course not only attempts to give students an overview of theatrical literature, history, and practice, but also to help them develop competencies critical to their success in college and beyond graduation. The art of theatre is based on a reciprocal exchange between actor and spectator; therefore, theatre studies offers an ideal forum in which to explore the means and methods of effective oral and written communication. As Nancy Kindelan argues, "Theatre programs are exemplary models of what GenEd reformers call the 'optimal learning environment' because their methods speak to the literacies and skills essential to the education of an undergraduate. . . . [one that] encourages cooperation among students, encourages active learning, gives prompt feedback, emphasizes time on task, communicates high expectations, and respects diverse talents and ways of learning" (72). Indeed, the collaborative nature of the theatrical endeavor has a unique potential to build community and foster cooperation among undergraduates, and THE 1041C takes advantage of this opportunity. [End Page 85] The course also addresses learning objectives at the institutional level by offering students the tools they need to engage effectively in intellectual discourse throughout their undergraduate careers. Theoretical work in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) pedagogy, particularly the notion of "insider" versus "outsider" status within discourse communities, illuminates how a communication-based Introduction to Theatre course empowers students by helping them achieve expertise in a particular mode of discourse within a single semester. The classroom becomes a space—a community—in which students discover, practice, and, hopefully, participate in a new discourse. Eleanor Kutz, who defines discourse communities as "communities where people share ways of talking or writing as well as interests, beliefs, and values," observes that ESOL students typically feel like "outsiders to a learning enterprise" in the classroom (75, 77). Significantly, Kutz identifies discourse, not language, as the factor that positions students as outsiders. At the beginning of the semester, this is how many of Baruch's students—both native and non–native English speakers—feel in relation to theatre. Because they do not have a vocabulary for theatre, they feel estranged from it and unable to judge or assess it with confidence. Students not only have difficulty distinguishing between theatre and other modes of live entertainment (sporting events, concerts); they also conflate theatre and cinema in their classroom conversations. We contend that Introduction to Theatre can offer students a way to enter social and intellectual discourse communities from which they might typically feel estranged, and, especially when the course requires students to practice discourse from the very first...

Matching Testing Strategy With Student Personality In A Historically Black University

Most instructors believe that if students know the material that is taught, their knowledge will manifest by successful performance on any type of examination question that instructors devise. The issue that is now evolving is whether or not instructors can alter teaching and testing strategies to bring about an optimal learning environment. More particularly, this study represents an attempt to correlate students’ learning style preferences to performance on four types of examination questions. The results reported in this study shows that intuitive and thinking students do not perform well on open-ended quantitative test. Moreover, intuitive students are not very good when it comes to multiple-choice quantitative test. Finally, feeling, sensing, and thinking students perform better on multiple-choice theory tests.

A “Doc‐in‐a‐Box” for the gross anatomy dissection lab

Within the next decade there will be a critical national shortage of PhD-level faculty trained to teach gross anatomy. The optimal learning environment for gross anatomy is the dissection laboratory where students learn to recognize anatomical structures and their relationships in situ. We have developed an Anatomy Doc-in-a-Box (ADiB) system where an anatomist using distance-learning technologies ‘helps’ students in a dissection lab at a different site. The ADiB system consists of: (1) an anatomist sitting in his/her office with a computer and video camera; (2) a computer and 2 video cameras in the lab; (3) iChat AV software; (4) a catalogue of anatomical resources; (5) a secure server to host the ADiB-student ‘consultation’. The camera in the faculty office allows the students to see the faculty member, providing a more personal aspect to the interaction. The cameras in the lab allow the anatomist to switch between seeing the students and seeing the dissection. The software allows the students and faculty to interact via audio and video providing an environment where questions can be asked and answered and anatomical structures can be identified ‘at a distance’ in real-time. The catalogue provides the anatomist with additional electronic resources that s/he can ‘push’ to the student’s computer in the lab. We set up the ADiB at a prosected cadaver and made the ADiB available for student use during ‘office hours’. In this pilot project, we have demonstrated that many of the functions of a faculty member in the dissection lab can be performed ‘at a distance’ using the ADiB. Therefore, using the ADiB a geographically dispersed faculty could provide laboratory experience for the students at numerous medical schools.

Professors as Architects of Student Learning

The famous French aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, commented about leadership by saying, "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the sea." In a similar fashion, as leaders of learning, professors should follow the precepts of educational psychology to inspire students to deeply learn the course material. A student who is made passionate about learning a topic will fill his or her own bucket with greater expedience and efficiency than any professor can. This is a testament to the virtues of intrinsic, versus extrinsic, motivation. An optimal learning environment can be crafted, first, by providing a setting for academic success. A savvy professor can then design the course assessment scheme around harnessing student desires for autonomy. Role modeling can be integrated into the curriculum to shape student attitude and behavior. In similar fashion, an overall reinforcement plan can be instituted to reward appropriate student behavior. Following these tenets, educators can make learning an autotelic event that it is a self-contained activity, pursue by students not just for a good grade, but for the sake of learning itself (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

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Not since 1910, when Abraham Flexner established a set of standards and an accreditation process for schools of medicine in the United States1, has the foundation of American medical education been so shaken as it has by the 2001 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Outcome Project. Predicated on imperatives derived from a public call for regulation and accountability in support of patient safety and an evolving appreciation of the education process and the optimal learning environment, the ACGME instituted standards and limitations for the work hours of residents participating in accredited programs2. Amid protest largely from the sector of surgical specialists during the period of preparation and review, these restrictions were approved in February 2003 and became effective on July 1, 2003. Averaged over four weeks, resident duty hours are now limited to eighty hours per week, in-house call frequency cannot exceed once every third night, and one twenty-four-hour day in seven must be free of patientcare responsibilities. There is a twenty-four-hour continuous duty limit with a supplemental six-hour transition period to accommodate patient transfer and debriefing logistics as well as didactic activity. A minimum of ten hours must be allowed between scheduled duty periods. Included in the eighty-hour weekly tally are hours spent in-house while on home call as well as moonlighting hours, provided that such activity is approved by the program director. Anticipating resistance to change in the implementation of these guidelines, the Outcome Project also mandated an educational program for faculty and residents on the effects of fatigue, support to reduce time on routine tasks, and a rigorous enforcement program that held program directors, rather than the residents themselves, accountable for performing within the work-hour restrictions. While a 10% increase in duty hours has been offered on a case-by-case basis for …

Post-secondary educators' professional development: Investigation of an online approach to enhancing teaching and learning

Faculty in post-secondary institutions must continually reassess, refine, and revise their teaching, yet it is a challenge for them to gain this professional development with heavy teaching responsibilities and high demands on their time. Creating Optimum Learning Environments (CREOLE) is a collaborative project between one community college and one university to develop an online training program for post-secondary education faculty on the basic principles of teaching and learning and the development of online courses. Four independent modules were developed and taught in a one semester format for educators throughout the U.S. The goal of this research was to identify the strenghts and challenges of this course; determine the changes in pedagogical practice of the participating faculty members; and to examine the resulting changes in participants' course materials to reflect learning and motivation theories, and appropriate online learning strategies. Methods included pre- and post-surveys of the participants, interviews, document analysis, and instructors' reflections. Results demonstrated high expectations from all participants, difficulty in forming a sustained learning community, continuing challenge in technological aspects, and requirement for intense instructor involvement to maintain morale.

웹 기반 교육에서 학습효과 향상을 위한 학습경로 개인화 시스템에 관한 연구

최근의 웹 기반 교수-학습은 학습자 스스로 학습 내용, 학습 시간 및 학습 순서를 선택하고 조직하는 방향으로 나아가고 있다. 즉 학습자 개개인의 특성(선수 지식, 학습 양식, 흥미/관심)에 맞는 적응적인 교수-학습 환경을 제공하는 방향으로 변화되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 웹 기반 교수-학습 과정에서 중요시되고 있는 학습자 특성 변인 중에서 학습자의 학습경로를 Apriori 알고리즘을 이용하여 분석하고, 유사한 학습경로를 갖는 학습자들로 그룹화 하였다. 이를 기반으로 학습자 개인에게 학습경로, 인터페이스, 상호작용 등을 제공하기 위한 학습경로 개인화 시스템을 설계하고 개발하였다. 개발된 시스템은 학습자의 학습 패턴에 맞는 최적의 학습 환경을 제공해 줄 수 있을 뿐만 아니라 학습자 개개인의 학습효과를 향상시키는데 효과가 있을 것으로 기대된다. Today's Web-based teaching-learning is developing in the direction that learners select and organize the contents, time and order of learning by themselves. That is, it is evolving to provide teaching-learning environment adaptive to individual learners' characteristics(their level of knowledge, pattern of study. areas of interest). This study analyzed learners' learning paths among the variables of learners' characteristics considered important in Web-based teaching- learning process using the Apriori algorithm and grouped learners who had similar learning paths. Based on the result, the author designed and developed a learning-path individualization system In order to provide learners with learning paths, Interface, the progress of learning etc. The proposed system is expected to provide optimal learning environment fit for learners' pattern of study and to be enhancing individual learner's learning effects

The Evaluation of an Offshore Professional-Development Programme as Part of a University's Strategic Plan: a case study approach

In response to the need for the tertiary sector to ensure the ongoing quality of teaching and learning, a Western Australian university has implemented a divisional strategic plan in order to gain quality student feedback and support staff professional development. In 2000–2002 the Business Division within the university established a systematic quality assurance mechanism called the Unit Effectiveness Project (UEP) to obtain feedback from students regarding their perceptions of their learning experiences. Based on this feedback a strategic plan to refine the units was implemented, and these planned refinements were then re-examined in the following UEP cycle. While not presenting logistical problems for onshore staff, the use of such a refinement process experienced increased problems in offshore settings and, in 2001, the Business Division proposed to initiate a professional development workshop series in order to enhance the teaching and learning skills of lecturers working in partner institutions. The professional development mirrored the service provided to the onshore campus teaching staff. This case study investigates the results of the research that was conducted with the offshore lecturers who participated in the professional development workshops. These lecturers were generally Singaporeans teaching within the Business School programme. The results of both the quantitative and qualitative data collected suggested that the participants had benefited from the workshop components that dealt with the identification of common presentation faults, planning and organisation, the establishment of optimal learning environments and appropriate teacher characteristics. The sample also agreed that there was a strong need for the on-going provision of staff development for offshore lecturers and that the experience had been of assistance in clarifying a number of issues related to teaching and learning such as the importance of interacting with students and colleagues and sharing ideas associated with good practice. The results indicated that the programme should continue; however, amendments were needed to structure and content such as an increased use of case study approaches, more opportunities to witness and discuss good practice in teaching and learning, and possible formal accreditation for achievement of programme outcomes by offshore participants.

OPTIMAL PSYCHOLINGUISTIC ENVIRONMENTS FOR DISTANCE FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Rational choices among the numerous technological options available for foreign language teaching need to be based, in part, on psycholinguistic considerations. Which technological advances help create an optimal psycholinguistic environment for language learning, and which may be innovative but relatively unhelpful? One potential source of guidance is offered by the 10 methodological principles of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT; Long, 1985, and elsewhere), each realizable by a variety of pedagogic procedures. Interest in TBLT derives from several sources, including its responsiveness to learners' precisely specified communicative needs, the potential it offers for developing functional language proficiency without sacrificing grammatical accuracy, and its attempt to harmonize the way languages are taught with what SLA research has revealed about how they are learned. TBLT's 10 methodological principles are briefly defined and motivated, and illustrations provided of how the principles can inform choices among technological options in the particular case of distance learning for the less commonly taught languages.