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Volume 18 / Number 1 Editorial |
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Abstracts |
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Changes in Students’ Use of Lifelong Learning Skills During a Problem-based Learning Project by Joanna C. Dunlap In a climate of continual change and innovation, lifelong learning is a critical professional development objective which has a direct impact on organizations’ effectiveness and ability to compete and innovate. To help learners continually upgrade their skills and knowledge so they can effectively address emerging organizational and professional needs and opportunities, educators must prepare learners for their professions using teaching methodologies that develop learners’ capacity for and disposition toward lifelong learning. Problem-based learning (PBL) is one such method. PBL uses professional problems of practice as a starting point, stimulus, and focus for student activity, and one of PBL’s stated educational outcomes is students’ use of lifelong learning skills. This study examined the changes in students’ use of lifelong learning skills while participating in a PBL project. Twenty-six undergraduate university computer science students completed a 15-week C++ programming course. Using guided reflective journal responses as process data, students were observed to increase their application of lifelong learning skills during their PBL experience. Design and research recommendations are shared. A Case Study Analysis of the Role of Instructional Design in the Development of Teaching Expertise by Patricia L. Hardré and Ching-Huei Chen This research study examined the role of instructional design knowledge in the development of teaching expertise for university teaching assistants (TAs). ID theoretically supports the development of systematic and meaningful patterns of cognitive organization that characterize teaching expertise. Therefore, it should support TAs in developing more expert-like methods for their teaching design and performance. We utilized a case-study approach to understanding the internal processes and external behaviors that unfold as TAs respond to ID as supportive of their teaching goals. TAs indicated increased self-awareness and metacognitive reflection about their teaching, and increased in satisfaction with their knowledge and skills. TAs’ individual difference characteristics influenced their tendencies to adopt and implement various elements of the ID process and principles, with perceived utility emerging as particularly important. Implications for research and TA professional development are discussed. The Effects of Videoconferencing, Class Size, and Learner Characteristics on Training Outcomes by Kenneth G. Brown, Thomas A. Rietz, and Brenda Sugrue We examined direct and interaction effects of learners’ characteristics (cognitive ability, prior knowledge, prior experience, and motivation to learn) and classroom characteristics (videoconferencing and class size) on learning from a 16-week course. A 2x2 quasi-experimental design varied the class size between large (~60 students) and small (~30 students) and between traditional classes with the instructor always present and classes taught using a videoconferencing system with the instructor present at each site every other week. Theory regarding instructor immediacy was used to predict that larger and videoconferenced classes would have negative effects on learner reactions and learning, but that highly motivated learners would overcome the negative effects on learning. Interactions between videoconferencing and motivation to learn, and class size and motivation to learn, were found in support of the theory. Research and practice implications are discussed. Improving Performance in a Nuclear Cardiology Department by Doug LaFleur, Karolyn Smalley, and John Austin Improving performance in the medical industry is an area that is ideally suited for the tools advocated by the International Society of Performance Improvement (ISPI). This paper describes an application of the tools that have been developed by Dale Brethower and Geary Rummler, two pillars of the performance improvement industry. It allows the reader to follow a step-by-step approach in a project conducted within a cardiology practice. The tools we used are grounded in behavioral systems analysis as well as in applied behavior analysis. The paper describes how these tools help improve the throughput of a department within a medical practice, while taking into account that this department is one part of the entire medical practice, as well as the local and national medical community. Each tool utilized is shown as it .ts into the puzzle of solving the problem described by the client. Training Needs Analysis and Evaluation for New Technologies Through the Use of Problem-based Inquiry by Matthew Scott Casey and Dennis Doverspike The analysis of calls to a help desk, in this case calls to a computer help desk, can serve as a rich source of in-formation on the real world problems that individuals are having with the implementation of a new technology. Thus, we propose that an analysis of help desk calls, a form of problem-based inquiry, can serve as a fast and low cost means of both analyzing training needs and evaluating training. We illustrate the use of problem-based inquiry through a case study of the analysis of help desk calls made after the delivery of a training program that served to introduce a new type of document management system in a professional services firm. Based on the analysis of help desk calls it should be possible to modify future training so as to enhance transfer to the job environment. |