Search Results for
"learning"

Police education and training, in common with education at all levels, was seriously affected by the onset of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Police organisations in England and Wales sought to cope by moving training and education programmes online, almost overnight. This paper presents findings from interviews conducted with learning and Development leaders in 17 police forces in England and Wales to gauge the capacity of organizations to provide blended learning (BL) in the pre COVID period and plans for the future. Findings indicated that although there are challenges, the appetite and capacity to adopt BL methods in forces range on a spectrum. The paper and makes recommendations to support the rollout and use of BL in police education generally and proposes a theory of change to assist the introduction of BL in police organisations. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Background and Context: Based on issues arising around how to best prepare CS teachers and the constantly changing nature of the CS education content, curriculum, and instructional methods, it is crucial to examine the needs of secondary CS teachers. Objective: The primary purpose of this study was to identify secondary computer science (CS) teachers’ needs and make recommendations for future CS education research and practices in the U.S. Method: Using a mixed-method research design, the data were collected from Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA)’s email listserv member discussions (n = 1,706 from 482 unique members), questionnaire responses from 222 secondary CS teachers, and semi-structured interviews with eight CS teachers in the US. Findings: Updating curriculum resources was an important ongoing need for secondary CS teachers. Curriculum resources, materials to assess students learning, and embedding the principles of computational thinking into curriculum were reported as major needs for secondary teachers. Teachers also reported that they need to learn more about student-centered teaching strategies (e.g. problem-based learning and pair programming) and guide students’ learning using scaffolding and team-management strategies. The findings suggest that teachers perceived the need for administrators’, parents’, and other CS teachers’ support. Having an online community for teachers was critical to address their curricular and pedagogical needs. Furthermore, increasing student enrollment and interest in CS was critical for the future of CS education. Implications: The findings of this research have implications for creating professional development plans and support that can address secondary CS teachers’ needs in the US. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

In Austria, binding training objectives are defined for the company-based part of dual training (approximately 70–80 per cent of total training time), but there are scarcely any normative specifications on how these are to be achieved and there is no systematic quality assurance of the practice. The conditions under which vocational training occurs in the company have also scarcely been studied scientifically. Against this background, two surveys (of training companies and apprentices) were used to empirically investigate how vocational learning is specifically designed in Austrian training companies. The results show that the Austrian dual apprenticeship training model can be described primarily as a model of youth employment and secondarily as a training model. But it addresses the two goals of social participation and skill acquisition in an interlocked way. The variance of designs of the company practice is closely linked to the differing motives of the training companies. Based on these results, conclusions are drawn for vocational training policy, educational practice and relevant research, which take up the empirical connection found between a work design conducive to learning and the concrete company design of apprenticeship. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Internships are widely recognized within higher education as a useful work-based learning (WBL) approach to enhance student employability. However, there remains a need to understand whether internships provide a developmental experience that includes higher-level (soft) skills such as self-responsibility, flexibility and innovation. Our study inductively analyses 154 undergraduate student-interns’ reflective diaries over a 3-year period to explore the relationship between internship experience and the development of higher-level skills, or protean ‘meta-competencies’. In the research, we find the interns’ developed three meta-competencies that can broadly be categorized as self-regulation, self-awareness and self-direction. Our findings also highlight the role of socio-political dynamics of internship work in shaping students’ experiences as an indicator of the changing world of work. The study has implications for higher education institutions (HEIs) and host organisations in adopting a WBL approach that supports interns with reflexive engagement with situated organizational practices and accessing (in)formal learning opportunities in the workplace. Our research, therefore, offers insights into a learner-centred WBL approach that contributes towards a more holistic internship/WBL experience that facilitates student interns in developing protean meta-competencies and graduate employability. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Informed by the capability approach and critical discourse analysis, this article examines how the development of green skills among master craftspersons and apprentices in the informal sector of Ghana could be promoted for cleaner production and sustainable futures. The findings show that inequality and poverty; cyclical policy trap; sectoral green initiatives and the green coordination gap; and limited human resource capacity including uncoordinated informal learning approaches serve to constrain the development of green skills among master craftspersons and apprentices in the informal sector of Ghana. To address these challenges, the current study proposes the development of a framework that (1) harmonises the different sectoral initiatives and strategies on green skills to avoid the cyclical policy trap; (2) expands the current green Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) agenda to include green skills development for individuals in the informal TVET sector; (3) closes the coordination gap in government green initiatives by creating an agency responsible for national green agenda; and (4) creates clear qualification models and strategies for the development of green skills in the informal sector. © 2023 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

Internships are widely promoted high-impact practices that can have positive impacts on students’ academic and post-graduate success, yet how specific features facilitate these outcomes is understudied. Instead, internships are often studied in terms of mere participation, without recognizing that these experiences are complex pedagogic spaces shaped by professional cultures and decisions about instructional design. In this sequential mixed-methods study we use sociocultural learning theory to interpret data from online surveys (n = 435) and focus groups (n = 52) with students at five institutions. Stepwise linear regression analyses of demographic and programmatic variables associated with intern satisfaction, developmental value, and career adaptability indicated that first-generation status, sex, race and income level, and supervisor behaviors were significantly associated with satisfaction and development. Analyses of qualitative data revealed that features of positive (clear communication, availability, feedback) and negative (unavailability, inattention to learning) supervision impacted student experiences. These findings reveal that internships should be designed with careful attention to task scaffolding, student autonomy and supervisor assistance, depending on the professional context and situation. These results highlight the need for colleges and employers to design internships as mentored and culturally shaped learning spaces, provide supervisor training, and consider the cultural backgrounds of students when matching them to internships. © 2023 The Ohio State University.

Flight training is a lengthy and resource-intensive process with additional learning, and teaching techniques are often overlooked. One technique is observational learning, or backseating in aviation training, which can accelerate pilot training. This study aimed to analyze the factors that facilitate and hinder the implementation of backseating in flight schools. The perceptions of students, instructors, and managers were investigated using an ethnographic approach. The results show that recognizing the benefits of implementation and the need for change, no extra financial burden, exposure of instructors to different pedagogies, and involvement of instructors in the decision-making process would facilitate the implementation of backseating. Additionally, factors such as practicality issues for implementation, concern about students’ needs, instructors’ self-confidence and emotions, lack of follow-up by managers, and regulatory ambiguity hinder implementation. To implement backseating, legislative ambiguity, instructors’ confidence and emotions, and their concerns about students’ needs should be addressed. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Background: Today, the importance of teaching media literacy in education has been highlighted, and the need for effective instructional design in this field has received more attention. This research attempts to investigate the effect of the Four-Component Instructional Design (4C/ID) model on developing media literacy. Method: This study employs a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test design. The research subjects were recruited from tenth-grade students at secondary schools in Mashhad, Iran. A total of 30 students were selected as the sample using the convenience sampling method. Fifteen students were placed in the experimental group, and the rest were placed in the control group. Result: Statistical analysis (ANCOVA, MANCOVA & MANOVA) showed that designing instruction based on the complex-learning model (4C/ID) improved learning outcomes, critical thinking, and conscious interaction with the media. Conclusion: Acquiring media literacy competence is a complex learning process. Based on the results of this study, the four-component instructional design model (4C/ID) can promote the development of media literacy skills in students. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Whole-of-course approaches have emerged as an important topic in the contemporary outcomes-based education environment. While research-informed accounts of whole-of-course approaches exist, most take undergraduate education as the default. Few examples feature postgraduate education where students seek career enhancement rather than entry. Employing case study methodology, this paper discusses an innovative whole-of-course approach taken in the design and delivery of an Australian postgraduate education course. What marks it as innovative, is that the whole-of-course approach consists of two interrelated strands: One follows a (more familiar) whole-of-course practice of scaffolding graduate attributes, course and subject learning outcomes and is primarily driven by university interests and academics. A second whole-of-course process works alongside the first but is driven by postgraduates’ professional practice and career goals. The paper concludes by suggesting that a whole-of-course approach to design combined with a whole-of-course student process can reconcile postgraduates’ learning needs with the interests of the university. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This study aimed to develop a maker spirit problem–based learning (PBL) innovation and entrepreneurship course and explore its impact on students’ learning effectiveness. A mixed research method was adopted for this study, in which qualitative and quantitative data were collected for inductive analysis. The research subjects comprised 49 students who took the ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship Course’ at a university of science and technology. Further, an 18-week experimental teaching activity was implemented, in which the ‘Maker Spirit–PBL Innovation and Entrepreneurship Course’ was innovatively developed. Results revealed that most students showed significant positive learning effectiveness in two levels, namely ‘innovation and entrepreneurship’, and ‘maker practice’, after the experimental teaching. Therefore, five major implementation points of the ‘Maker Spirit–PBL Innovation and Entrepreneurship Course’ were proposed to provide references for future implementations and applications in the teaching field. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.