Vol 13 no 3 october 2015 by ijlter.org

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching And Educational Research

Vol.13 No.3

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research is an open-access journal which has been established for the disChief Editor Dr. Antonio Silva Sprock, Universidad Central de semination of state-of-the-art knowledge in the Venezuela, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of field of education, learning and teaching. IJLTER welcomes research articles from academics, edEditorial Board ucators, teachers, trainers and other practitionProf. Cecilia Junio Sabio ers on all aspects of education to publish high Prof. Judith Serah K. Achoka quality peer-reviewed papers. Papers for publiProf. Mojeed Kolawole Akinsola Dr Jonathan Glazzard cation in the International Journal of Learning, Dr Marius Costel Esi Teaching and Educational Research are selected Dr Katarzyna Peoples through precise peer-review to ensure quality, Dr Christopher David Thompson originality, appropriateness, significance and Dr Arif Sikander readability. Authors are solicited to contribute Dr Jelena Zascerinska to this journal by submitting articles that illusDr Gabor Kiss trate research results, projects, original surveys Dr Trish Julie Rooney Dr Esteban Vázquez-Cano and case studies that describe significant adDr Barry Chametzky vances in the fields of education, training, eDr Giorgio Poletti learning, etc. Authors are invited to submit paDr Chi Man Tsui pers to this journal through the ONLINE submisDr Alexander Franco sion system. Submissions must be original and Dr Habil Beata Stachowiak should not have been published previously or Dr Afsaneh Sharif be under consideration for publication while Dr Ronel Callaghan Dr Haim Shaked being evaluated by IJLTER. Dr Edith Uzoma Umeh Dr Amel Thafer Alshehry Dr Gail Dianna Caruth Dr Menelaos Emmanouel Sarris Dr Anabelie Villa Valdez Dr Özcan Özyurt Assistant Professor Dr Selma Kara Associate Professor Dr Habila Elisha Zuya

VOLUME 13

NUMBER 3

October 2015

Table of Contents Mentorship in the Professional Practicum: Partners‘ Perspectives .................................................................................. 1 Jane P. Preston, Keith D. Walker and Edwin G. Ralph Experiencing Schooling In Another Nation: Advancing Global Awareness of Teacher Candidates ....................... 17 Bobbi Hansen, Ed.D. Generalist Designers, Specialist Projects: Forming Multidisciplinary Teams That Work ........................................... 26 Katja Fleischmann Comprehension Skill Differences between Proficient and Less Proficient Reader in Word-to-Text Integration Processes: Implications for Interventions for Students with Reading Problem............................................................ 41 Stephen Ntim Learning, Unlearning and Relearning with Cutting Edge Technologies ..................................................................... 62 Minakshi Lahiri and James L. Moseley Students‟ Perception of the Role of Counsellors in the Choice of a Career: a study of the Mfantseman Municipality in Ghana ......................................................................................................................................................... 79 Moses Awinsong, Omar Dawson and Belinda Enyonam Gidiglo Teacher’s Knowledge of Students about Geometry ...................................................................................................... 100 Habila Elisha Zuya and Simon Kevin Kwalat Evaluation of Role Play as a Teaching Strategy in a Systems Analysis and Design Course ..................................... 150 Emre Erturk Designing PBL Case Studies for Patient-Centered Care ............................................................................................... 160 Robyn Schell and David Kaufman

A Case Study Approach to Secondary Reanalysis of a Quantitative Research Synthesis of Adult Learning Practices Studies ................................................................................................................................................................. 181 Carl J. Dunst and Deborah W. Hamby

An Exploration of Student-Teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x; Views about the Practice of Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching: English Major Prospective Teachers in Bahir Dar and Haromaya Universities, Ethiopia ..................................................... 192 Demis Gebretsadik, Haileslasie Beyene and Dawit Tesfaye

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 1-16, October 2015

Mentorship in the Professional Practicum: Partners‘ Perspectives Jane P. Preston University of Prince Edward Island Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada Keith D. Walker and Edwin G. Ralph University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Abstract. The goal of this project was to examine the perspectives of teacher-education mentors and their protégés, regarding the effectiveness of the mentoring program within their extended-practicum placements. The participants were mentor/protégé pairs who worked together in a field-based practicum that took place in several schools in an Eastern Canadian province. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant with respect to their thoughts related to the strengths and weaknesses of the mentorship process. The authors examined these views in the light of findings reported in previous related research. They also drew implications from that analysis with a goal of enhancing the mentorship process not only for pre-service teachers, but also for practicum participants in other professional disciplines. The resulting data substantiated findings reported in previous literature with respect both to the positive and negative aspects of mentorship practice. For instance, a key strength was that both protégés and mentors benefitted from the mentorship process when it was deemed effective, while a troubling aspect was the persistent challenge of how to reduce/eliminate the negative elements that seem to re-emerge within the mentorship process, not only in this study but across several disciplines. A major implication of this study is that mentorship planners and practicum educators from all professional fields should make concerted efforts not only to share promising ways to minimize these weaknesses, but to take deliberate measures to ensure that the processes/procedures deemed effective are maintained as well. Keywords: Mentoring; Coaching; Practicum

Mentorship;

Professional

Development;

1.1 Introduction Although the mentorship process traces its beginnings to ancient Greek times (Hansman, 2002), its universal popularity across the professional-education © 2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

landscape has increased substantiality over the past three decades (Caldwell & Carter, 2005). At its core, mentorship is a teaching/learning, developmental relationship (Kram, 1985), whereby mentors who have accumulated more expertise, experience, and knowledge in a particular field, assist protégés, who possess relatively less knowledge and skills in the discipline, to develop their related professional competence and confidence (Hennissen, Crasborn, Brouwer, Korthagen, & Bergen, 2011; Ralph & Walker, 2014b; Rose Ragins & Kram, 2007). The purpose of this present project was to examine the perspectives of teachereducation mentors and their protégés, regarding the effectiveness of the mentoring program within their extended-practicum placements. We identified two research questions for the mentors and protégés, namely, what was effective in the mentorship process and what was ineffective in it? We analyzed the data generated from the interviews in the light of previous pertinent research, and we raise implications of these findings for improving the mentorship process for practicum pre-service education in all professional disciplines.

1.2 Background The literature across the occupational spectrum has repeatedly identified a number of benefits of effective mentorship for all participants (Clutterbuck, 1987; Philpott, 2015). At the same time, however, some research has also indicated the existence of perplexing mentorship problems that seem to re-appear across professions and cultures (Allen & Eby, 2007; Long, 1997; Ralph, Walker, & Wimmer, 2008; Yaman, 2013). For instance, relationship difficulties such as the emergence of partner insincerity/dishonesty, the operation of power differentials between mentors and protégés, and the miscommunication or misinterpretation of partners‘ actions may lead to increased mentorship conflicts (Hamlin & Sage, 2011; Ralph, Walker, & Wimmer, 2007, 2009a; Scandura, 1998). Often, too, these deficiencies are prematurely ignored, inaccurately diagnosed, or inappropriately dismissed with expressions like ―we simply have a personality clash‖ or ―my protégé (or mentor) is just intransigent (or stubborn or lazy)‖ (Ralph, 1998), rather as being accepted as opportunities for growth that need to be engaged (Tillema, Smith, & Leshem, 2011). In another vein, some researchers and practitioners believe that such mentoring issues are normal characteristics of the human condition that inevitably appear whenever two or more individuals interact (Eby, 2007; Scandura, 1998). However, our own previous research has suggested that some of these mentoring limitations can be traced directly to the mentor‘s mismatching of his/her mentoring response or style with the existing developmental level of the protégé to perform a specific task or skill set (Ralph, 2005; Ralph & Walker, 2013). For instance we found that: (a) when a mentor/protégé pair has a clear conceptualization of the holistic mentorship process; (b) when partners understand each other‘s role/responsibility in that process; and (c) when a mentor appropriately adapts his/her mentorship to meet the protégé‘s changing learning needs, then many of the seemingly unavoidable difficulties can be appreciably reduced (Ralph, 1998; Ralph & Walker, 2014a, 2014c). The importance of mentorship has been documented in nearly all professional disciplines (Neville, Sherman, & Cohen, 2005), such as in professional pre-service preparation (Feiman-Nemser, 1996; Kleiger & Oster-Levinz, 2015), professional in-

service education (O'Brien, Rodriguez, & McCarthy, 2006; Richter, Kunter, Ludtke, Klusmann, Anders, & Baumert, 2013), occupational training (Wilding, MaraisStrydom, & Teo, 2003), and apprenticeship programs (Tilley & Callison, 2007).

1.3 Mentorship across the Professions Cross-disciplinary research conducted during the past three decades (Kelly, 2007; Petrila, Fireman, Scholl Fitzpatrick, Wertheimer Hodas, & Taussig, 2015) has confirmed the advantages of effective mentoring for protégés, mentors, clients, and the institutions hosting these mentorship programs. On the other hand, earlier research (Lortie, 1975) also identified the lingering presence of a certain difficulties that persistently emerge within the mentoring relationship (Daloz, 1999; Roycraft, 2014). Some of these deficiencies that spanned professional fields in several countries were an unclear understanding among mentoring participants of the entire mentoring process; an over-dependence on a ―one-size-fits-all‖ mentoring approach; a lack of mentor incentives for assuming the mentoring role; an insufficient orientation/preparation/training of mentoring participants; and inadequate institutional support for the mentorship program (Bukari & Kuyini, 2015; Ralph & Walker, 2011).

1.4 Mentorship in the Teacher Education Practicum Almost all professional preparation programs in higher education, including preservice teacher education, offer a field-based, hands-on practicum within which prospective graduates practice and develop their practical skills and competence to prepare for entrance into their respective fields Ralph & Walker, 2011). Professionals in these disciplines typically rank their practicum/clinical placement as the most influential feature of their professional-preparation experience (Eastman, 1998; Ontario Teachers‘ Federation, 2013; Rajuan, Beijaard, &Verloop, 2008), largely because it provides them with an opportunity to apply knowledge and theory within an authentic, reality-focused setting. As novice teachers venture out into classroom in an effort to hone their instructional skills, the mentorship and support provided by practicum mentors and advisors play an influential role in the teacher candidate‘s overall preparation (Ralph & Walker, 2010). The practicum mentorship role is commonly associated with field-based observations and debriefing sessions between the protégé and his/her mentor(s). The classroom teacher and the university-based mentor/supervisor help the teacher candidate integrate practice with theory and provide them with formative feedback regarding their teaching performance. Further, the practicum mentors provide their protégés with academic, social, and personal support. Yet, the research reports that difficulties typically emerge in mentorship practice (Hansford, Ehrich, & Tennent, 2004; Parks Daloz, 2005). In the present qualitative research study, we identified effective and ineffective facets of the mentorship process, as perceived by a cohort of teacher candidates and their mentors within one Bachelor of Education program in an Eastern Canadian university.

2.1 Research Methodology 2.2 Design In this study, we sought to gain an understanding of the diverse realities of practicum participants in ways that examined their unique professional experiences, viewpoints, and situations. In line with this statement, we grounded our project in a constructivist research paradigm by endorsing participant individuality, subjectivity, and voice, therein capturing the situational and experiential portrayals of participants (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011; Mertens, 2010). We documented the personal experiences and perceptions of teaching mentors and their protégés with regard to the mentorship process in which they participated during the teaching practicum. Because the concepts undergirding phenomenology are inextricably linked with the constructivist research paradigm (Savin-Badin & Howell Major, 2013), we applied a phenomenological research design to this study. Because phenomenology is a research approach that attempts to reveal what participants who experience a similar phenomenon have in common (Creswell, 2013), our study was a composite description of the essence of that lived experience.

2.2 Participants Typically, phenomenological studies involve a small number of individuals, who are interviewed by the researchers in an effort to collect pertinent data regarding the interviewees‘ views of a phenomenon or process being studied (Christensen, Johnson, & Turner, 2014; Merriam, 2009). Our study involved nine teacher candidates (protégés) and five practicum advisors (mentors who were university faculty members or sessional staff).

2.3 Procedure The 14 participants were individually interviewed using a semi-structured interview format (Merriam, 2009), in which each interviewee described his/her respective experiences within the teaching practicum in a Bachelor of Education program in an Atlantic Canadian university. Their teaching practicums were located within elementary and high schools across the province, and were representative of all subject levels. Each interview was audio-recorded and transcribed. We initially read the transcripts to provide familiarity of content or ―openness to all detail‖ (Wertz, 2011, p. 131). Thereafter, we reread each participant‘s interview in a more systematic manner. We identified significant statements deemed relevant to the phenomenon at hand, and we created a preliminary list of key ideas, commonalities, differences, patterns, and/or categories embedded within the transcripts. We then analyzed these significant statements for broad patterns, which converged into broader themes in response to the research purpose (Christensen et al., 20014). At that point, we reread all interviews ensuring that the data represented each theme and that we addressed each research question. We attested that each unit of data fit a composite theme of the process of mentorship as experienced by the partners.

Although the study was largely qualitative in nature, we supplemented our analysis with basic quantitative tabulations. We presented these numerical data to help summarize the qualitative comments by reporting numbers of participants‘ making specific statements related to the themes shown in Tables 1 and 2.

3.1 Findings In Table 1, we summarize protégés‘ views of what they perceived as effective and ineffective aspects of the mentorship process experienced during their practicum period. For each of Table 1‘s sub-categories that emerged from the interview data, we include excerpts of specific interviewee statements that illustrate these themes. The protégés offered slightly more negative observations (68 of 130 discrete units) than they did for the effective category (62 of 130 units).

3.2 Protégés’ Viewpoints on Positive Elements Two typical comments illustrating the largest category (i.e., positive communication among partners) were ―I had great discussions with my co-op who gave me practical advice about our obligation of dealing with hallway behavior;‖ and ―My co-op was always there after every class to debrief with me. He always made time for that.‖ Illustrative protégé contributions regarding the establishment of strong relationships with mentors were ―[My practicum advisor] was so good at creating friendships, so I felt very comfortable around her;‖ and ―He was really friendly, personable, and willing to listen to you and any concerns you had.‖ Statements exemplifying the third largest sub-theme (mentors providing productive feedback) were ―He was very blunt and bold, but it was effective for me. He just tells you straight up what to work on and what you‘re good at; ― and ―He would go over everything he wrote, but he wouldn‘t dwell on it or rub your nose in it, just point it out so you could improve next time.‖ Typical points regarding the fourth sub-theme on support were ―I liked my university advisor because I could go to him, not just my co-op, so I had somebody from faculty to go to;‖ and ―My mentors gave me support and were there to ask questions of. They were people I knew ineffective aspects of the mentorship process experienced during their practicum period. For each of Table 1‘s sub-categories that emerged from the interview data, we include excerpts of specific interviewee statements that illustrate these themes. The protégés offered slightly more negative observations (68 of 130 discrete units) than they did for the effective category (62 of 130 units).

6 Table 1: Summary of teacher candidates’ views’ regarding effective and ineffective mentorship practices experienced in their education practicum (N =9) Category Effective aspects (n =62)

Percentage

1. Positive communication with mentors 20 2. Strong relationship with mentors 9 3. Mentors provided helpful feedback 8 4. Mentors were supportive 5 5. Mentors had professional credibility 3 6. Appreciated working with fellow protégés 2 _____________________________________________________________________________ Ineffective aspects (n = 68) 1. Mentors gave insufficient feedback 5 2. Program inconsistencies/Unhelpful seminars 9 3. Inconsistencies among advisors 8 4. Apparent mismatches of mentors with protégés 7 5. Inadequate/Inappropriate personal-reflection activities 7 6. Non-authentic ―showcase performance‖ for practicum advisor 5 7. Protégés question their career choice 2 ______________________________________________________________________________ Note.In separate interviews the 9 teacher candidates articulated a total of 130 specific points: 48% of which described their perceptions of effective elements and 53% that described ineffective aspects. Percentages indicate portions of the 130 total points. Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

3.2 Protégés’ Viewpoints on Positive Elements Two typical comments illustrating the largest category (i.e., positive communication among partners) were ―I had great discussions with my co-op who gave me practical advice about our obligation of dealing with hallway behavior;‖ and ―My co-op was always there after every class to debrief with me. He always made time for that.‖ Illustrative protégé contributions regarding the establishment of strong relationships with mentors were ―[My practicum advisor] was so good at creating friendships, so I felt very comfortable around her;‖ and ―He was really friendly, personable, and willing to listen to you and any concerns you had.‖ Statements exemplifying the third largest sub-theme (mentors providing productive feedback) were ―He was very blunt and bold, but it was effective for me. He just tells you straight up what to work on and what you‘re good at; ― and ―He would go over everything he wrote, but he wouldn‘t dwell on it or rub your nose in it, just point it out so you could improve next time.‖ Typical points regarding the fourth sub-theme on support were ―I liked my university advisor because I could go to him, not just my co-op, so I had somebody from faculty to go to;‖ and ―My mentors gave me support and were there to ask questions of. They were people I knew you could trust if you had problems with your practicum.‖

Illustrative positive remarks for the sub-category of mentor accessibility were ―He told us we were his priority for the term, and made us feel like he really, really cared;‖ and ―I liked how you could call him any time at home. He was approachable and you had no problem talking to him at all.‖ The sixth sub-theme regarding mentors having credibility was illustrated by such remarks as: ―He had been a teacher for his whole career, so he was knowledgeable and had tons of experience;‖ and ―He had huge credibility and had a story for everything we‘d experience.‖ Sample statements showing protégés‘ gratitude for being able to collaborate with fellow interns were ―The two of us were together for the whole term. It was comfortable for us both to meet with the university advisor together, because the things that were said to her were also beneficial to me and vice versa;‖ and ―We drove together every day so we knew there was always somebody there for each other, plus we could debrief as we built up our peer relationship with one another.‖

3.3 Protégés’ Viewpoints on Ineffective Facets To describe the seven negative aspects of their mentorship experiences summarized in the lower portion of Table 1, we provide examples of remarks contributed by the interviewees. Two comments regarding the most frequent problem (i.e., mentors providing insufficient feedback) were ―I wish he would have come more often and have given me more critical feedback;‖ and ―She thought everything went well with no negative feedback, which is something I would appreciate—some constructive criticism. This is something I definitely wanted.‖ Interviewee comments illustrating the second largest sub-theme (i.e., program inconsistencies and unproductive seminars) were ―Some of the seminars were simply not pertinent, and were a waste of time. Individual meetings with one or two of us to discuss our issues would be better;‖ and ―Instead of using 3 hours with all 10 of us, couldn‘t we have half an hour with the advisor one-on-one with 5 of us during one week and 5 of us the next week?‖ Typical comments illustrating the problem of inconsistencies among mentors were ―When we compared co-ops we found that some were belittling and made the intern their servant. How do they get to be a co-operating teacher?‖ and ―My co-op was not paying attention. She went out to photocopy and I had to chase after her and ask if we could talk. All she said was ‗it went well,‘ but I knew she wasn‘t listening at all.‖ With respect to mismatching of mentors with protégés typical statements were: ―I just didn‘t really click well with her; it was really stressful;‖ ―The co-op really didn‘t tell me right from wrong and didn‘t advise me on how to do things;‖ and ―The vibe I got was he was using an intern in order to make his life easier. I don‘t know if he knew anything about me at all.‖ A fifth deficiency that interns identified in the mentorship process was unhelpful assigned personal-reflection activities. For instance, one interviewee reported, ―We had a lot of good discussion, but to require us to do a formal written reflection seems like busy work: it doesn‘t seem productive in any way.‖ Another stated, ―I‘d say that 95% of our group was sick of doing reflections.‖

A sixth limitation was interviewees‘ perception of the non-authenticity of ―performing‖ for the faculty advisor. One intern said, ―My co-op would even say to prepare a really good lesson with all the bells and whistles for him in order to make sure it looks good;‖ and another individual stated, ―It was not natural teaching most of the time; it was kind of like a highlight package.‖ Two percent of the protégés‘ comments related to the fact that they soon realized that they were incompatible with teaching. One protégé stated: ―I wanted to drop out of the program,‖ while another said, ―I told my coordinator later, but I knew had to get through this practicum regardless, of not intending to teach later.‖ In Table 2, we summarize the comments made by the five university practicumadvisors with respect to their perspectives on the effective and ineffective aspects of the mentorship Table 2: Summary of mentors’ views’ regarding effective and ineffective mentorship practices experienced in the education practicum (N =5)

Category

Percentage

Effective aspects (n =90) 1. Mentors provided protégés with support 2. Mentors forged strong relationship with protégés 3. Mentors provided helpful feedback 4. Program handbook provided guidance 5. Co-operating teachers were recognized as essential agents 6. Mentors were good communicators and listeners 7. All participants benefitted from the mentorship process

20 12 11 11 8 8 6

______________________________________________________________________________ Ineffective aspects (n = 30) 1. Mentors had inadequate mentorship training 2. Not all faculty participated 3. Some faculty advisors lacked field experience 4. Uncertainty in dealing with interns experiencing difficulties

12 6 5 2

______________________________________________________________________________ Note. In separate interviews the 5 university advisors presented a total of 120 specific points, 75% of which described their perceptions of effective elements and 25% that identified ineffective aspects. Percentages indicate portions of the 120 total points. Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

process that occurred during the practicum. Compared to the protégé cohort (9 individuals raising 130 specific points), the mentors generated a comparatively larger number of statements overall in proportion to the number offered by the protégés (5 people identifying 120 discrete elements).

3.4 Mentors’ Viewpoints on Positive Elements The advisors offered three times as many items regarding positive features than they did for ineffective components. One fifth of these points focused on the support that mentors gave to their protégés. Typical mentor comments in this sub-category were ―They‘ll often trust me more than the co-operating teacher, especially if they have a tough class they want to talk to me about;‖ and ―My goal is to build the confidence of those beginning teachers in their ability to teach.‖ Two examples of comments describing the sub-category of building relationships were ―My big thing was trying to build a community within the group and I always made sure we had food;‖ and ―We attempt to build a mutual respect between me and them and a trust we have in each other.‖ Statements illustrating the third sub-theme (i.e., providing the protégés with feedback) were ―I make a whole page of notes, a good side and a bad side, but you try to be unbelievably positive particularly the first couple of times you observed;‖ and ―I was very encouraging but I was also very honest. Celebrate their strengths and help them strengthen the weak areas.‖ A fourth effective aspect that the mentors identified was the program handbook, as exemplified by the following remarks: ―The practicum handbook describes the roles/responsibilities very well so there is no misunderstanding;‖ and ―It is clear on expectations for all parties so that everyone is on the same page.‖ Comments that illustrated the importance of the co-operating teachers in the mentorship process were: ―We have to show the co-ops that we really appreciate the extra time and effort they spend for the student teachers;‖ ―We used to recognize them with receptions and present them with something, but now the money‘s just not there plus we are all very busy;‖ and ―We have great commitment by our volunteer co-operating teachers and they do take their task very seriously.‖ Examples of mentors‘ comments demonstrating the sixth sub-category (i.e., mentors being effective listeners and communicators) were ―We contact them all via phone or email even if we don‘t have the time to meet in face-to-face conversations;‖ and ―I always ask the teacher candidates to call me at any time to chat about how things are going or how they plan to introduce something.‖ Six percent of the contributions emphasized the benefit of the mentorship process for all participants, as illustrated by such statements as ―I also find the program to be a professional development opportunity for myself;‖ and ―I see it as a chance for the pre-service teachers, the co-operating teachers, and the faculty advisors to help each other.‖

3.5 Mentors’ Perspectives on Ineffective Facets The greatest limitation indicated by advisors was the lack of mentorship training they received. Sample comments were ―There‘s no official training that I know of, but we do lean on our experience;‖ ―There is an assumption that anyone can be a practicum advisor but some of our colleagues can‘t because it is just not their strength;‖ and ―Nobody has ever told me how to supervise; we were all assumed to understand, but actually we don‘t really know each teachercandidate‘s particular situation at all.‖

Illustrative statements related to the issue of lack of participation by all faculty members were: ―The number one problem is the lack of commitment by some colleagues to supervise, naively believing that online contact produces the same results as personal classroom visits;‖ ―Some faculty just pay lip service to advising in the practicum but they need to actually nurture personal relationships with teacher candidates;‖ and ―Because of budget issues and increased numbers of practicum students per supervisor, I totally understand why fewer and fewer colleagues don‘t want to supervise at all.‖ The third ineffective aspect (i.e., advisors‘ lack of field experience) was illustrated by statements like: ―I feel full-time advisors should have extensive experience both in teaching in schools and in teacher supervision;‖ and ―If advisors have little experience they will tend to focus on unimportant things rather than paying attention to the TC‘s (teacher candidate‘s) actual delivery,‖ Two percent of the mentors‘ statements identified the challenge of knowing how best to assist protégés experiencing serious difficulties. Examples here were ―In rare cases there is no change in their performance; they are not doing well and don‘t seem to want to improve;‖ and ―A big issue is when they have problems and I try to ride the fine line of supporting everyone but being fair in providing advice to make a decision when necessary.‖

4. Limitations Although the number of interviewees was relatively small, we were not seeking generalizability in the quantitative-research sense, but rather we were searching for transferability of findings, in that perspectives of the participants‘ in this study might help inform the mentoring practices of mentorship stakeholders in practicum programs across the disciplines. Also, we began our semi-structured interviews with only two key questions, but because of the nature of this investigative method, participants‘ early responses logically led the interviewer to pose additional questions and/or to extend prompts inviting interviewees to ―expand,‖ ―elaborate,‖ or ―explain‖ their initial comments. This probing process produced an enriched data field.

5. Discussion We analyzed the interview data according to the two original research questions for each cohort, and synthesized the findings in Tables 1 and 2. We then made five general observations based on this data-analysis. Our first observation was that both cohorts identified a similar grouping of positive qualities that they witnessed in the mentorship program (e.g., supportive mentors, positive mentor/protégé relationships, helpful feedback, and clear communication). However, the relative order of these strengths differed for each group depending on their respective positions in the mentoring process For example the protégés included unique data that acknowledged their mentors‘ professional credibility and their appreciation of being able to work closely with fellow protégés. The mentors, on the other hand, recognized the input of co-operating teachers in the mentoring process and they valued the practicum manual provided by the university in clarifying expectations for all partners.

A second observation was that each sub-group identified relatively similar groupings of ineffective characteristics; however, the protégés identified over twice as many aspects as their counterparts did. Both cohorts identified what they perceived as gaps in mentoring practice and anomalies in the program. Moreover, because of their more extensive professional background, the mentors related these ineffective elements to broader issues not yet fully recognized by the teacher candidates (e.g., insufficient mentorship training or lack of field experience). Third, we noted some apparent discrepancies in the data. For instance, 8 percent of the protégés‘ statements commended their mentors for providing useful feedback, while 15 percent of their comments referred to receiving insufficient feedback. However, further qualitative investigation of the interview data helped uncover possible explanations for the differences, which in turn would assist observers to sidestep the seeming false dichotomy of ―who is right or wrong.‖ Deeper analysis confirmed the reality that both aspects were indeed present among the practicum triads, and that such differences can actually lead to the creation of new mutual understandings and growth, provided that the involved stakeholders would engage in open dialogue about the issues (Tillema, Smith, & Leshem, 2011). For instance, in our study, one plausible explanation for the differences was to recognize that mentoring effectiveness is influenced by a combination of factors, especially during the initial phases of the practicum. Key factors here were the previous experiences, existing beliefs, and current practices of the university advisors and the classroom co-operating teachers, who typically take the leadership role in guiding the mentorship process, because they work daily with the protégés (Kemmis, Heikkinen, Fransson, Aspfors, & Edwards-Groves, 2014). Our interview data suggested that the divergent results were probably due to such elements as insufficient mentorship training/experience, incomplete faculty buy-in and/or participation in the practicum, institutional budgetary limitations, and increased supervisory workload for the mentors. A fourth observation was that the findings in the present study were similar to, but not identical with, results reported in previous practicum-mentorship research both in teacher education (Izadinia, 2015; Ulvik & Smith, 2011) and also in other professional fields such as: business (Ehrich, Hansford, & Tennent, 2004), engineering (Ralph, Walker, & Wimmer, 2009c), industrial training (Hamlin & Sage, 2011), medicine (Frei, Stamm, & Buddeberg-Fischer, 2010; Sanfey, Hollands, & Gantt, 2013), nursing (Ralph Walker, & Wimmer, 2009b), and social work (Petrila, Fireman, Scholl Fitzpatrick, Wertheimer Hodas, & Taussig, 2015). We also noted that the present study contributed a new finding that we had not observed before, either in our own prior research or in the related research literature. That element was the specific recognition by the university advisors of the valuable input of the school-based co-operating teachers with respect to the success of the mentorship program. We found this gesture to honor the mentoring work of their field-based partners to be a refreshing finding, and we are hopeful that this example of mutual respect is a sign that genuine collaboration among all mentoring stakeholders is not only possible but that it

may flourish in the future.

6. Conclusion The results of this study taken together confirmed that: (a) although mentorship practices differ across professions and cultures, the overall mentoring process is characterized by similar sets of positive features (that practicum organizers should strive to maintain) and negative elements (that they should work at eliminating); (b) specific mentorship training and ongoing mentor support were needed in order to enhance mentoring effectiveness; (c) protégé input should not be discounted or ignored, because it can contribute valuable insights for improving mentorship; (d) mentorship deficiencies can be reduced when practicum organizers and mentorship participants collaborate to deal specifically with those limitations; and (e) one mentorship model called Adaptive Mentorship, which the authors have developed and researched during the past two decades (), has been shown to help participants who implement it to improve the mentorship process in their respective disciplines, such as nursing (Fauvel-Benoît, Kerr, Ponzoni, & Arnaert, 2014), second language instruction (Khoii, 2011), and teacher education (Salm & Mulholland, 2015). In conclusion, we believe that the findings from this present study, viewed in the light of previous related research, combine to amplify the call to all interested mentorship practitioners across the professional-education landsscape to make concerted efforts in sharing their unique mentoring experiences and insights with one another (Noe, Greenberger, & Wang, 2002; Ralph & Walker, 2014a). Although each profession‘s educational philosophies and practices are idiosyncratic, there are enough commonalities within the mentorship process for all interested stakeholders to relinquish conventional ―turf protection tendencies‖ and come together in joint conferences, seminars, or colloquia to inform each other of strategies they have found effective in enhancing the mentorship of prospective practitioners in their respective professions. We are convinced that such cooperation will serve to improve practicum programs.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 17-25, October 2015

Experiencing Schooling In Another Nation: Advancing Global Awareness of Teacher Candidates Bobbi Hansen, Ed.D. University of San Diego San Diego, California, United States of America

Abstract. In this paper, the author argues for including international experiences—particularly the visiting of schools abroad—in teacher education programs in order to expand teacher candidates’ personal growth, expanded worldviews, and increased understanding of schooling in other countries. The paper begins by sharing a student’s reflection as an example of a transformative experience that can take place when one is immersed in the educational culture of another country. The remainder of the paper, then, showcases one innovative US school of education’s international experience where teacher candidates participated in extended visits in schools in another nation. Finally, the author asserts that it is imperative that teacher candidates be provided with opportunities and challenges to move beyond their own cultural experiences and be able to understand both the peoples and educational systems in other nations so that they may bring those understandings to bear on the education of their future students. Keywords: Teacher Education; Prospective Teachers; International Experiences; Global Awareness

Introduction

Upon returning home, I have a gained a more global perspective as well. I have noticed that I listen more keenly when I hear situations on the news about other countries, i.e. the attack on Israel, and simple things even my selection in movies. I am beginning to see the bigger picture in politics, education, and even at home. I guess you can say that I am beginning to think “outside the box.” Teacher candidate This deeply felt reflection was written by a teacher candidate who participated in a transformative international experience with a professor and 23 peers from an urban university in southern California. The goal of the experience was to positively impact the preparation of preservice teachers by developing their dispositions regarding global awareness. The project was part of a larger © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

initiative that seeks to influence prospective teachers’ personal worldviews and appreciation for the perspective of the ―other.‖ by internationalizing the teacher education curriculum. This paper sets out the context, aims, content and scope of students’ shared experiences related to visitations to primary and secondary schools in the UK.

Literature Review Educational researchers have long documented the need for teacher education programs to create a teacher force that understands and can accommodate student diversity (Horsley, & Bauer, 2010; Miller, Bennett, Carter, Hylton-Fraser, Castle, & Potter, 2015; Ryan, A. M., Heineke & Steindam, 2014). The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), has created standards for the education of teachers that includes addressing the need for understanding the many aspects of diversity. For example, NCATE’s Standard 4: Diversity requires teacher education programs to ensure ―Experiences provided for candidates include working with diverse populations, including higher education and P– 12 school faculty, candidates, and students in P–12 schools.” (NCATE, 2008, p.12). Visiting schools within another nation provides teacher candidates with firsthand experiences of schooling in a culture other than their own and expands their teacher preparation course work in the area of global studies. It has been documented in the literature that these international experiences result in teacher candidates’ dispositional growth and expanded worldviews (Williams, 2005; Sachau, Brasher & Fee, 2010; Mahan & Stachowski, 1987). Moreover, this global dimension is considered an essential element in teacher education programs (Willard-Holt, 2001) and one that positively impacts teacher candidates’ professional and personal development (Brindley, Quinn, & Morton, 2009; Pence & Macgillivray, 2008) and cultural awareness (Osler, 1998; Stachowski, Richardson, & Henderson, 2003). Those who have been charged with the education of new teachers keenly appreciate their responsibility to increase both the global understandings and multicultural pedagogical skills of teacher candidates (Paige & Goode, 2009; McCalman, 2014). The literature strongly suggests that visitations to schools in another nation augments teacher candidates’ cultural learning through direct interaction with students and teachers (Mahon & Cushner, 2007; Matthews, & Lawley, 2011; Stachowski, Richardson, and Henderson, 2003).

Context The Education Department at one urban university in Southern California adopted, as one of its four strategic goals, the development of highly effective, socially responsible, and marketable students through International Programs. This goal was influenced by the framework of Gilliom (1993) who proposed two critical tenants for teacher education programs, (1) preservice education programs should be designed to cultivate a global perspective in students preparing to teach, and (2) teacher educators, themselves, must be committed to global education if they are to prepare globally oriented teachers effectively (p. 40). In support of this goal, the current project became dedicated to creating © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

international school learning experiences for teacher candidates for their discovery of new points of entry in their own global interpretations and an accompanying passion to share these with their future students. An integral factor in this project was the promotion of transformative learning, a developmental theory whereby ―learning is understood as the process of using a prior interpretation to construe a new or revised interpretation of the meaning of one’s experience in order to guide future action‖ (Mezirow, 1996, p. 162).

Transformative Experience Transformative learning is concerned with ―how learners construe, validate, and reformulate the meaning of their experience‖ (Cranton, 1994, p. 22). Central to transformative learning theory is a change that leads to the development of a new meaning structure (Moseley, Reeder, & Armstrong, 2008). Mezirow (1997) views transformative learning as the essential component of adult education, because it ―helps the individual become a more autonomous thinker by learning to negotiate his or her own values, meanings, and purpose rather than uncritically acting on those of others‖ (p. 11). This was the goal of the project—to lead the teacher candidates to a newly enhanced worldview so that they, then, may assist in the education of globally competent students.

Description of Program A partnership was established between our institution and a university program in the UK to investigate how international experiences impact the beliefs and dispositions of future teachers and also may lead to a transformative experience in their lives. The program is termed ―short-term‖ as opposed to an entire semester or year. These ―short term‖ experiences usually extend for one to two weeks and are intended to provide an overview of the culture and the schooling in that nation. Sometimes short-term programs are criticized for being so short that it is almost like a travel tour. However, experts agree that if the class has had significant pre-class assignments and readings and post-class debriefings, then, the experience, while short, may still serve to be transformative (Cwick & Benton, 2005). If properly structured, the pre-trip course sessions have the potential of engaging students at the outset for a transformative experience. Following is an excerpt from a student’s reflective journal that showcases what can be accomplished in a pre-trip class: It was a long day, no one wanted to be at (the university) so late after student teaching, but we were there. It was the only time we could meet. There was pizza, which took the edge off, and catching up with friends and professors we had not seen in awhile. All of us were curious about what we would learn in England but did not know what to expect. Questions were answered about traveling logistics and housing, last minute details were hammered out and we all got t-shirts. Then the class started and we began to study international education and systems of learning in other nations. This was when the fun began. Despite the fact that we had to be at university late, I found this particular preoverseas evening to be one of the most interesting aspects of the course. We compared and contrasted the way that the different nations had chosen to approach education as well as the history of education in those nations. I found it very interesting to learn that although Korea, Singapore, and Finland all ranked high on the international PISA test, © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

they had extremely different ways of approaching education. Knowing that makes it clear that one way is not right for every nation, so what is right for America? We also discussed US education in the context of a larger world, how global education would benefit our students. There were heated debates about the positives that we saw in the education systems of other nations and why similar systems either would or would not work here in the States. This topic and discussion was the real heart of this course, to make sense of why global education is important for our future students and to see how the American system can evolve to meet 21st century demands. This class will impact my future professional aspirations because it has taught me that having these types of conversations about global education are important. They are important to for me to reflect on as an educator and they are important for my students who will be the ultimate benefactors of any new ideas I can generate while learning about education in other nations. It is vital to study the educational systems of nations because we can see what works in other nations and possibly work towards improving our own system. Teacher candidate

Documenting Students’ Transformative Experiences It would be difficult to catalog the myriad of experiences and learnings from the entire group of teacher candidates. However, examination of the final student reflections revealed that they did, indeed, have a number of transformative experiences. First, however, in an effort to provide the reader with a foundation with which to better understand, these comments have been grouped into two categories, (1) insights regarding academic comparisons between schooling in our country and the host country, and, (2) perceptions that encompassed socialemotional phenomena observed in the school visits. In addressing the transformative experiences regarding academic issues, the school visits were replete with comparative ―ah-ha’s‖ from the students. In fact it was difficult for the teacher candidates not to compare and not to judge the comparisons as either ―better than‖ or ―less than‖ their own culture. Following are a few typical responses: Student 1: One thing that I saw done very effectively in the classroom in Oxford was differentiation. The schools had a very organized and effective system for differentiation that I have not seen in US schools as it changed based on the student or on the difficulty of the lesson being taught. I felt like this impacted me because we have been taught so much about differentiation in the classroom, but I have rarely seen it effectively implemented. This aspect of teaching always seems to be the hardest so observing a teacher who was effectively implementing it throughout her lessons was inspiring. Student 2: The teachers in England focus on both skills and strategies. In the United States we have been learning how to implement similar competencies with the new Common Core Standards. However, I believe that in the US there is a more solid theory attached to these new conceptually driven standards. Therefore, I will be able to take the teaching strategies I observed in my second school visit back to my third grade classroom and implement them in order to help my students develop critical thinking skills while using 21st century skills!

Student 3: An aspect that had an impact on my experience was the hands-on inquiry based learning I saw taking place at the schools I visited. I have learned about inquiry teaching in my classes in the US but have never seen it implemented. Touching back to the outdoor education I saw taking place in the fifth grade class, the students were conducting a science experiment where they were designing a parachute. This had a positive impact on me because it demonstrates how learning can be fun and exciting for the students as well as having them engage with sound inquiry-based teaching strategies. As a future educator, I want to incorporate inquiry-learning projects where the students are in charge and have a sense of responsibility for their own learning.

Social and emotional learning According to Cairesa, Almeidaa, & Vieirab (2012), social and emotional intelligence have become much more central in the education of teachers. They cite countless empirical studies that underscore social and emotional factors to the well-being and success of teacher candidates (Gardner 1983; Sternberg 2003, Goleman, 1995, Mayer 2000). ―When becoming a teacher, these variables can acquire special importance considering the needs of the student teachers to adapt to new situations, innovate and solve problems, lead groups, and assist students,‖ (Cairesa, S., Almeidaa, L., & Vieirab, D., 2012, p.165). Cadet teachers’ transformative experiences in this area were clearly observed by the course instructors. Moreover, student reflections revealed that they encountered many more social/emotional impressions than academic ones. Student 4: This entire course has shown me how to incorporate activities where students learn about other nations’ viewpoints and their significance. In my class, I want my students to develop an acknowledgement of others and the realization that they will work with people who might be completely different from them. Student 5: In the last school visit I was impressed with the entire school and one teacher in particular. The students in the class were comprised of many different ethnic backgrounds. I asked some of the students whether or not they liked their school. Many students said that they do. In my teacher mind, I decided that I wanted to incorporate activities so that my future students could learn about other cultures’ viewpoints concerning major global events. Why would teaching about other cultures be important to American students? For me, it because learning about something different means accepting change. Student 6: While visiting primary schools in England, I was profoundly moved by the administrations’ concern with the holistic development and enrichment of their individual students. It seemed that headmasters and teachers had close and intimate relationships with their students and designed their curriculum and school policies for the greater good of the entire student body. At one of the schools I visited, the headmaster explained how the school focuses on core values and doesn’t just have students memorize these terms and concepts but encourages students to live them. Student 7: This school visit also reinforced the importance of building trusting relationships with families and how important it is for at risk students. This school had its own café on campus. It is meant to be a neutral place where teachers can meet with families in a casual non-threatening or non-intimidating environment. The headmaster © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

said the most difficult children to reach were those of white, working class families who have lost trust in the school system. The café is a place where they can begin to build relationships and promote trust.

Implications For Teacher Education If we consider again the tenants of transformative learning, we must take into account that not all individuals will be able to engage in a transformative experience (Taylor, 1998). However, if transformative learning is the goal of these international experiences, then, how may it best be fostered? As Taylor (1998) states, ―the teacher’s role in establishing an environment that builds trust and care and facilitates the development of sensitive relationships among learners is a fundamental principle of fostering transformative learning‖ (p.2). From the very beginning of the international course the two instructors attempted to establish a trusting environment and one that might alter preconceived perceptions of the superiority of the US educational system. The pre-trip course session allowed for participants to express fears and concerns in a nonthreatening environment, as well as to get to know the faculty prior to departure. The faculty instructors also corresponded with participants who had concerns and questions about traveling to a foreign country. In addition, the instructors traveled with the participants, assisting them with accommodations, public transportation, and school visitations. The project also included several cultural excursions with the faculty team into the country, allowing students— with faculty support—to begin to experience the culture, people, and land that were new to them. This adventure also allowed for intensive, informal conversations among the students and faculty in close quarters. In these discussions, the participants shared what they had learned, expressed their concerns and fears, asked questions and solicited advice from the faculty. In addition, these sessions became excellent opportunities for the faculty to share what this cross-cultural experience meant to them and what they were also learning. The literature has made it clear that teacher candidates need to be able to instill in their future students understandings regarding different peoples and cultures from around the world. To accomplish this goal teacher education programs must craft opportunities for students to learn about others from a less ethnocentric mind set. Moreover, preservice teachers need experiences that cause them to develop their dispositions regarding global awareness and the complexities of the world around them. Visiting schools in international settings allows them to seek and to have direct experiences regarding different philosophies of education as revealed in schooling and teaching practices in other nations’ educational systems.

Conclusion This paper has set forth an argument for including global experiences in teacher education programs. The overall goal was for teacher candidates in an international course to fully understand educational practices in another nation as well as to rethink their own biases, which hopefully led them to assimilate transformative perspectives grounded in ―a more fully developed frame of © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

reference, one that is more inclusive, differentiating, permeable, critically reflective, and integrative of experience‖ (Mezirow, 1996, p. 13). If we, in teacher education, commit to having teacher candidates learn, firsthand, about other cultures and their educational systems it will most likely lead to improved classroom practices and flexibility. This commitment supports Mezirow’s belief that transformative learning must not only consist of the experience itself, but also opportunities for critical reflection and rational discourse with others. As Moseley, Reeder, & Armstrong (2008) assert, ―The changing world as reflected in the diversity of students arriving daily in our classrooms constitutes an increasingly significant aspect of the teaching and learning environment in American public schools.‖ (p. 69.) Therefore, it is imperative that teacher candidates be provided with opportunities and challenges to move beyond their own cultural experiences. This last reflection attests to the cultural and life lessons that can be learned by students and the connections they can make in order for the experiences to come alive and be long remembered. Finally, the whole experience left me with a hunger for more. I think it would be amazing to be able to collaborate with teachers all over the world. In addition to providing my students with 21st Century skills, I am going to find different ways to reach out across the world to provide meaningful content on global awareness in my classroom. It is going to be fun! Teacher Candidate

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 26-40, October 2015

Generalist Designers, Specialist Projects: Forming Multidisciplinary Teams That Work Katja Fleischmann James Cook University Townsville, Australia

Abstract. Designing interactive media is a highly dynamic activity with many projects involving extensive use of technology and collaborating with information technology experts. Digital media design students therefore need to be prepared for a volatile technological future and need to learn to work with others. However, few educators provide a rationale for managing multidisciplinary teams in undergraduate design education in terms of size, team building processes or, determination of skills, abilities and knowledge of students. Multidisciplinary teamwork can be messy when undergraduate students are thrown into the deep end of teamwork. It is suggested that collaborations between students from different disciplines need to be managed not only during the collaborative design process but also during the formation of teams. Being satisfied with the placement in a multidisciplinary team would allow students to focus on the acquisition of new and specialised skills and apply those skills as part of a functional team to a project. This research therefore explores what team building strategies will build effective multidisciplinary teams in undergraduate design education. Two team building strategies (structured educator-led and semi structured Speed Dating) were developed and trialled in two digital media design subjects over a period of three years. Design students have provided feedback via an online survey. Quantitative and qualitative data were analysed to explore the degree to which students were satisfied with team placement and the effectiveness of activities that were developed to support the team forming process. Keywords: undergraduate design education; T-shaped graduate; multidisciplinary collaboration; teamwork, team building

Introduction Designing interactive media is a highly dynamic activity with the majority of digital media design projects involving extensive use of technology and information technology (IT) expertise. Designers must confront an increasingly complex

technological environment. Emerging technologies create a variety of new opportunities for designers, but often require designers to collaborate with other ÂŠ 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

discipline experts to fully explore their potential. Digital media design students therefore need to be prepared for a volatile technological future and need to learn to work with others. Some institutions deal with this situation by teaching design students computer programming or offering double degrees that cover design and IT. The author‘s institution facilitates flexible multidisciplinary collaboration for undergraduate digital media design students whilst promoting the simultaneous acquisition of discipline-specific skills (Fleischmann, 2010). That means students have more time and can specialise in design and build an understanding of other disciplines (e.g. IT) to be able to communicate and collaborate effectively. This approach has evolved in a context that increasingly requires design graduates to be ‗both solidly specialised and flexibly generalised‘ (Hunt, 2011, p. 87) (Longbottom et al., 2007; Friedman, 2012). Graduates need to be prepared to approach the increasing complexity of digital media design projects and the changing technological future as part of multidisciplinary teams.

The Future Digital Design Graduate: Generalists Collaborating on Specialist Projects? Design educators, organisations and employers have articulated the demand for T-shaped design graduates who possess specialist knowledge in one or two areas, a broad understanding of other areas and who have the ability to collaborate with others from diverse disciplines (Fleischmann, 2014). The stem of the ‗T‘ represents specialist knowledge of one or two areas and the horizontal bar stands for a broad understanding and curiosity about other areas and an ability to collaborate across the disciplines (Design Council, 2006; Harris, 2009; Hansen, 2010). Some see the T-shaped graduate as having the ‗capacity to respond to changing conditions, anticipate future technologies and re-define their practice‘ (Triggs & John, 2004, p. 427) and in particular when working in multidisciplinary teams (Bennett, 2009; Ligon & Fong, 2009; Davis, 2011; Hunt, 2011).

How is Multidisciplinary Teamwork Managed in Design Education? Multidisciplinary collaboration occurs when people from different professions or disciplines with varied skills and experiences complement each other when working toward achieving a common objective. Within the context of design education, a multidisciplinary design project can give students a new way of thinking and the opportunity to create innovative outcomes. For instance, the collaboration between design and IT provides a very diverse environment that forces students to explore the nature of their own practice and that of other disciplines, and to understand their own role and value in collaborative projects (Fleischmann & Daniel, 2013). Such collaborations are often complex, and management of multidisciplinary teamwork in practical terms, particularly in undergraduate education, leads educators in to the unknown. Few educators provide a rationale for managing teams in terms of size, team building processes or, determination of skills, abilities and knowledge of students who are collaborating. The method of grouping students in teams is frequently unclear. In some cases student selection for participation in a project © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

appears to be done at random with only the different expertise or geographical locations (mixing students from schools in different locations in case of online collaboration) driving the process (DiPaola, Dorosh & Brandt, 2004; Brown, Lee & Alejar, 2009; Nicole & Kreidler, 2013). In some cases, students had considerable responsibility and autonomy for building and managing their teams on the multidisciplinary collaboration journey (Abu-Mulaweh, Oloomi & Voland, 2004). Students often experience a certain ‗messiness‘ when thrown into the deep end of multidisciplinary teamwork in this way (Rothstein, 2002). At times educators downplay this outcome as being similar to real life experience. Some educators engage students in team exercises for the purpose of team bonding and communication. This allows team members to share values, thought processes and motivations. For example, Nicole and Kreidler (2013) note that the students found the session entertaining and a great boost to their team morale. Such high levels of motivation made it easy for the educators to manage the teams. Other educators report unequal contributions by some team members (Dong & Spiliotoupoulou, 2010) or the devaluation of a particular discipline‘s tasks and input within the team (Brown, Lee & Alejandre, 2009). This suggests that students lacked understanding of the importance of each disciplinary contribution in the collaborative process. Overall there is no clear strategy for educators to follow when facing the task to form multidisciplinary teams in undergraduate design education. Getting multidisciplinary teams to work effectively and building an understanding of other disciplines in students can be a challenging. This is in particular the case when students from disciplines with different subject cultures work together. They have a diverse ‗community of practice‘ (Wenger, 2006) that lacks a common language. For example Design and IT have different work methods, different learning approaches and different ways of completing projects. Specific team forming processes and team activities might help building such understanding and placing students satisfactorily in multidisciplinary teams. This research therefore explores what team building strategies can help building effective multidisciplinary teams in undergraduate design education.

Building and Managing Multidisciplinary Teams: An Australian Case Study The Bachelor of New Media Arts is a three-year programme for students majoring in Digital Visual Arts, Digital Sound, Digital Imaging or Digital Media Design. Students also select a minor from these areas to support the education of a T-shaped graduate. A study year consists of two 13-week semesters with four subjects studied in each semester. Each subject consists of 13 hours of lectures, 26 hours of tutorial or practical work in the computer lab, and requires students to engage in self-directed learning outside class. Digital media design students are educated for employment in the highly dynamic, interactive media design industry. The degree program aims to prepare students for the changing environment they will encounter in the workplace. In order to foster students as confident, self-directed learners who © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

are able to stay abreast of new technological and industry developments, it is necessary to equip students with skills that will allow them to connect and work with others, in particular, with people from disciplines with a different subject culture (e.g. information technology). This will enable digital media design students to initiate, direct or be part of the development of interactive media projects regardless of the expertise required to produce them in the future. During the three years of study, students progress from introductory subjects such as graphic design and information design to advanced subjects such as web design and interactive media design. The latter subjects have more complex production needs requiring depth in more than one discipline, hence are particularly suited to the introduction of multidisciplinary collaboration. This paper describes team forming strategies and supporting team activities in two subjects which are Introduction to Web Design and Interactive Media Design. Students study the subjects in semesters three and five of the degree.

Factors Influencing the Development of Team Building Strategies Both subjects, Introduction to Web Design (refereed to as Web Design) and Interactive Media Design (referred to as Interactive Design), require students in the media design major to acquire new knowledge and skills in an area in which they have no prior experience (e.g. learn how to design and develop a website) and simultaneously apply this knowledge within a multidisciplinary team situation. This is demanding for students. Leaving at the same time the forming of teams in the hands of students (hence throwing them in the deep end of multidisciplinary teamwork) is most likely to create additional stress and team problems. It is argued that in such situations a structured approach to team building is essential for students–and educators. Additional factors influencing the selection of a specific team building strategy are class size, number of participating disciplines, degree of prior multidisciplinary teamwork experience and how well student know their collaborators. For example, challenging can be the number of students participating in these subjects in regards to discipline variations and managing large student numbers. Variations in enrolment numbers, with either insufficient or excess student numbers in a particular discipline, might cause difficulties in building balanced and authentic teams. Introduction to Web Design (Web Design) saw 134 students participating in one of the trials with students being from the disciplines design, multimedia journalism and IT. Interactive Media Design (Interactive Design) had around 50 students during the trials with students from ‗only‘ two disciplines participating–design and IT (see Appendix A for student numbers). It is suggested that subjects with large student numbers and several disciplines involved require the application of a more structured approach to team building to help avoid chaos. The degree of experience students have with multidisciplinary collaboration when participating in these subjects is another important factor that can influence which team building strategy to use. The sequential order of the subjects provides digital media design students with the opportunity to build up © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

and build on multidisciplinary teamwork experience. It is suggested that students with prior multidisciplinary teamwork experience and who have experienced their peers in team situations can build their team based on such experience. Students from other disciplines (e.g. Bachelor of Information Technology) may have no prior multidisciplinary teamwork experience or have not worked with these particular students before and may be less confident in team selection and interactions. In such case a more structured hence educatorled approach to team building is suggested.

Team Building Strategies: Forming Multidisciplinary Teams The aim is to create team dynamics that work. A chaotic approach to teamwork is often promoted as a valuable learning experience, reflecting real world experiences. Nevertheless, the strategy to throw students into the deep end of multidisciplinary teamwork might not always be effective for either students or educators, particularly when students need to acquire new knowledge first and have no or limited multidisciplinary teamwork experience. For students, being part of a dysfunctional team can be a frustrating experience and applying new knowledge and skills can be difficult with projects might not be completed in some cases. For educators, resolving conflicts in teams can be time consuming leaving less time to advise teams on discipline-specific questions. Considering factors that can influence team building, it becomes apparent that a ‗one-size fits all‘ approach cannot be applied for the two subjects under investigation. In the following two different team building strategies are described which take these influencing factors into account. Introduction to Web Design (Web Design, 3rd semester) has large student numbers collaborating (above 120 in two trials) involving at least three disciplines collaborating (digital media design, multimedia journalism, IT). Students entering the subject have no prior multidisciplinary teamwork experience. The subject area (learning how to design and develop websites) is new to all students regardless of their disciplinary background. While the subject is a mandatory subject for digital media design students, it can be taken as an elective subject university wide creating additional challenges. Considering these factors, it was decided to develop and use an educator-led, highly structured approach to team building. Team Building Strategy 1: Highly Structured - Educator Selected Teams. Disciplines involved: digital media design, multimedia journalism, IT Applied in subject: Introduction to Web Design (Web Design, Trial 1-3) Team-building process. Educators selected team members according to the following criteria:  study area  motivation to develop expertise in an area (e.g. more design, concept or technology driven)  existing expertise (e.g. software)  work style and availability. © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

Students of all disciplines submitted answers to a set of questions a week before the teamwork started to help creating teams that have suitable team members (see Appendix B for question catalogue). Each team should have strength in design, IT and organisation/management. Web Design consisted of the following teams for the three-year study: 12 teams in Trial 1, 20 teams in Trial 2, and 26 teams in Trial 3. Each team typically included two design students, one multimedia journalism student and two or three IT students. Interactive Media Design (Interactive Design, 5th semester) has a smaller cohort of around 50 students from two disciplines (digital media design, IT) participating in each trial. The subject is mandatory for both student groups. Digital media design students have participated in Web Design a year earlier and therefore have prior multidisciplinary teamwork experience and know their design peers. Some of the IT students have also participated in Web Design a year earlier but the majority of students have not. Hence the majority of IT students do not have experience in collaborating with students from a creative discipline. Considering these factors, it was decided to develop and use an educator-facilitated, semi structured approach to team building. Team Building Strategy 2: Semi Structured â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Self-Selected Design Group and Speed Dating. Disciplines involved: digital media design, IT Applied in subject: Interactive Media Design (Interactive Design, Trial 1-3) Team-building process. Digital media design students took partial responsibility and control for the team selection. They were encouraged to form their own group within their discipline based on the understanding they had developed in Web Design about how to create a good team dynamic. The IT educator placed IT students in IT groups because most students did not have multidisciplinary teamwork experience. Design groups and IT groups then engaged in a Speed Dating process to explore ideas on work ethics, motivation and personalities. Each group had 2 minutes to ask questions they had developed beforehand. Examples of questions included Are you a morning, afternoon or night-time worker?, Are you happy to collaborate online?, and What do you want to get out of this project? (see Appendix C for topics to explore during Speed Dating and further sample questions). Based on the answers, each group nominated three groups from the other disciplines that they would prefer to work with and one group that they would not like to work with. The educators (Design and IT) facilitated the final matching of design and IT groups trying to meet all preference requirements. Interactive Design consisted of the following teams for the three-year study: 8 teams in Trail 1, 8 teams in Trial 2, and 9 teams in Trial 3. Each team typically included two to three design students and two to three IT students depending on enrollment numbers each year. ÂŠ 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

Activities to Support Effective Team Building and Management of Teams In both subjects, activities that support the team building and help to build an understanding for the collaborating disciplines were conducted. These included the following: 1. Students attended a lecture on teamwork essentials, which focused on understanding each member‘s role, discipline, the importance of frequent communication, and steps to resolve team dysfunction. In the advanced subject: Students attended a lecture on advanced teamwork ethics, which included reflection on common factors for success or failure of multidisciplinary teams, focusing in particular on problems that had occur the previous year (in Web Design) and problems that can occur due to different discipline cultures. 2. The students engaged in an icebreaker exercise to get to know their team members. This included the ―game‖, ‗tell three things about yourself, one of which one is a lie‘. Team members guess which statement is the lie, and learn something about their peers. In the advanced subject the icebreaker exercise asked teams to quickly ‗design‘ a fictional interactive media application (e.g. Weather Forecast App) with each disciplinary group explaining the steps required for its design, and the kind of interactions between the disciplines required to successfully develop the application. 3. A guided session that required teams to discuss and agree on methods of communication (e.g. email, mobile phone), exchange contact details, procedures to deal with low motivated team members, and time and place for weekly meetings (Team Agreement Form). 4. Throughout the project, educators met weekly with project teams to advise on project development, monitor team dynamics and intervene when problems emerged.

Research Methods This study set out to explore the management of multidisciplinary teamwork in undergraduate digital media design education and, in particular, it asked to what extent the developed team building strategies support the building of effective teams. Multidisciplinary team building strategies were trialled in two sequentially advancing subjects over three years. An online survey was conducted after the team building and supporting activities had finished in each trial. The questions in the survey were designed to produce quantitative data for a general evaluation and overview (e.g., Did you like selecting your own team members? Yes/No). Open-ended questions explored the rationales for the previous answer (e.g., Why?), providing deeper understanding of the student‘s motivation and learning experience. The data analysis was conducted as follows:  For quantitative data obtained using online questionnaires, the survey platform (Survey Monkey) automatically provided basic statistical data, such as the tally of response totals, percentages and response counts.  For qualitative data, the software programme NVivo 10 was used to code and theme the responses from open-ended questions. A reflexive qualitative thematic analysis combined codes where applicable. An independent researcher coded the data.

The focus of this study is on digital media design students (DMDesign). See Appendix A for participant numbers from each discipline per trial, and response rates.

Findings Effectiveness of Multidisciplinary Team Building Strategies and Supporting Activities The effectiveness of learning activities often depends on students‘ understanding of their purpose and relevance to their future careers. Therefore, students were questioned about their attitude towards multidisciplinary collaboration at the beginning of each subject. Table 1 shows student views on the advantage of multidisciplinary teamwork as a 3-year average because percentage values were similar in each trial for both subjects.

Table 1. Student perception on multidisciplinary collaboration.

Do you think it is an advantage to work in a multidisciplinary team for the project? (3-year average, Trial 1-3) Subject Trial Student type Yes No Total Web Design 1-3 avg DMDesign 98% (n=140) 2% (n=3) n=143 Interactive Design 1-3 avg DMDesign 98% (n=56) 2% (n=1) n=57 Table 1 shows the students have a highly positive attitude for completing interactive media design projects as a multidisciplinary team. Importantly, students with no prior multidisciplinary teamwork experience (Web Design) also report a positive attitude towards the concept. Feedback from students on their first impressions of their team or team building strategy allowed evaluating the effectiveness of the team building strategies and supporting activities. Feedback from each subject is as follows: Web Design – Highly structured team building strategy. After the teams were formed and members had completed the supporting activities (e.g. icebreaker) students were asked to provide feedback on their first impressions of their team. Table 2 summarises the feedback. Table 2. Student satisfaction with outcome of highly structured team building process.

Are you satisfied with your team makeup? Subject Trial Student type Yes Web Design 1 DMDesign 93% (n=27) Web Design 2 DMDesign 100% (n=49) Web Design 3 DMDesign 98% (n=64)

No 7% (n=2) 0% (n=0) 2% (n=1)

Total n=29 n=49 n=65

The majority of digital media design students who participated in the highly structured approach to team building were satisfied with their team makeup at this early stage of the project. The qualitative feedback revealed that the majority of the responses were positive in regards to team building and conducted © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

supporting activities. Students mentioning positive social, knowledge, skills and motivation benefits. The ‗social‘ theme related to positive group or individual interactions, including words such as ‗friendly‘ or ‗good people‘. A typical comment was, ―My team members seem motivated, committed and friendly‖ (DMDesign Student 9, Trial 1). Students also commented positively on communication and early team interaction: "We seem to be able to discuss things freely and reach agreements‖ (DMDesign Student 2, Trial 2) and another student stated: ―The team constellation is good; we are different but we are ready for compromise‖ (DMDesign Student 29, Trial 3). Interactive Design – Semi structured team building strategy (Speed Dating). Table 3 summarises the feedback from students on first impressions of their team after the Speed Dating and supporting activities were concluded (e.g. icebreaker). Table 3. Student satisfaction with outcome of semi structured team building process.

Are you satisfied with your team makeup? Subject Trial Student type Interactive Design 1 DMDesign Interactive Design 2 DMDesign Interactive Design 3 DMDesign

Yes 83% (n=15) 63% (n=12) 100% (n=20)

No 17% (n=3) 37% (n=7) 0% (n=0)

Total n=18 n=19 n=20

Although the majority of the students who participated in the semi structured team building process were satisfied with their teams at this early stage (47 out 57 students), the feedback across the three trials ranges from only 63% of students being satisfied with their team makeup in Trial 2 to 100% of students being satisfied in Trial 3. A possible rationale may be that students would have preferred to be placed in a team by the educators as they had experienced the previous year. This notion was explored and an overview of results is presented in Table 4. Table 4. Student satisfaction with selecting team members within their own discipline.

Did you like choosing your own group within your discipline? Subject Trial Student type Yes No Interactive Design 1 DMDesign 89% (n=16) 11% (n=2) Interactive Design 2 DMDesign 90% (n=17) 10% (n=2) Interactive Design 3 DMDesign 90% (n=17) 10% (n=2)

Total n=18 n=19 n=19

Table 4 shows that the majority of students liked to select their own team members within their discipline. Only two students per trial did not like selecting their own group members. When asked to reflect on the Speed Dating experience, the qualitative feedback revealed that the majority of responses across the three trials were positive: most students enjoyed the Speed Dating process. They felt it was a good way of learning about other students. A student stated, ―Originally I wasn't overly impressed with the speed dating idea, however after completing the activity I found it to be quite helpful in gaining an © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

understanding of the expectations and abilities of the other students‖ (DMDesign Student 7, Trial 1). Some negative issues with the Speed Dating included not enough time, overly complicated, pointless and social problems. While several students described it as ―good fun‖, others noted that they found it ―weird, awkward, uncomfortable‖ (DMDesign Student 2, Trial 1). A student commented, ―I was nervous at first, but it was a good idea because it forced us to meet everyone and see what everyone is like‖ (DMDesign Student 11, Trial 2). In Trial 1 and Trial 2 a few students (belonging to the same team) referred to the Speed Dating as ‗pointless‘ or stated that ―it was semi-pointless as we didn't end up with the teams we initially picked‖ (DMDesign Student 3, Trial 2). The feedback from digital media design students on the applied team building strategies shows a good outcome for the two strategies and also on supporting activities. Positive reflections from students in Web Design on first interaction with team members, and good communication and exchange within the team at the start of the process, suggest that engaging teams in icebreaker exercises and discussions around the Team Agreement Form works well. The design of both exercises encouraged students to get to know each other, feel comfortable with one another and discuss concepts of compromise. The majority of students in Interactive Media also provided positive feedback, however, one group in Trial 1 and 2 were not matched according to their three preferences leading to negative comments. Although the educators tried to match all groups with one of their Speed Dating preferences, groups that came across as motivated and skilled in the Speed Dating process were nominated more frequently making it difficult to satisfy every team.

Enhancing Team Building Strategies Enhancements suggested by students to the team selection process in Web Design (highly structured team building strategy) included having smaller groups and better group selection. Reducing the team from five students (three design and two IT students) to three students (two design students and one IT student) is a recommendation educators would have liked to introduce. Ideally, educators would build teams consisting of two digital media design and two IT students. However, team sizes are to some extent influenced by university realities such as student enrolment numbers and the numbers of students to be taught within a practical class. After the first trial in Web Design, the educators considered introducing teams of three students (two design students working and one IT student). However, due to the subject being also offered as an elective subject there is a risk of students dropping out after the team building has concluded, with the possibility that a team would be left with no IT expertise. Thus, this solution was unworkable. The following comments from Web Design students suggest grouping higher motivated students in a team would improve group selection. ―When compiling teams use members who have a history of attending all the lectures or know will © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

be committed‖ (DMDesign Student 10, Web Design, Trial 3). Another student commented: ―The team selection could be improved by being aware of students‘ abilities past the survey results‖ (DMDesign Student 17, Web Design, Trial 2). It is understandable that high achieving students would prefer to work with like-minded students in a team. However, it is difficult to implement in practice since all students need to have an equal opportunity to learn and develop in a team. For the semi structured team building strategy applied in Interactive Design, students who participated in Trial 2 suggested a ‗mix of culture and language‘ as the following comment illustrates: ―In our case we had two [international students] who couldn't speak good English and couldn‘t understand the project or their tasks. Each student should have been paired with someone else who is more adept at speaking English to balance it out and not make it unfair for the team‖ (DMDesign Student 4, Interactive Design, Trial 2). Educators implemented this advice in Trial 3. IT students were placed in groups in which national and international students were equally distributed across IT groups.

Conclusion This study set out to explore the effectiveness of team building strategies in managing multidisciplinary teams in undergraduate digital media design education. In the context of educating a T-shaped design graduate, the goal was to enable students to approach the increasing complexity of interactive media projects and the changing technological future in collaboration with others as part of multidisciplinary teams. The team building strategies were developed to help students concentrate on acquiring specialised knowledge and skills in new areas and simultaneously apply the newly acquired knowledge and skills within a multidisciplinary team context to a project. Teams need to be functional right from the start and hence team building strategies can help placing students in teams that work. The two developed and trialled team building strategies, which included also supporting activities, were sensitive to the different stages and characteristics of learners. Although some students experienced challenges, the team building strategies and supporting activities were generally successful in facilitating the makeup of functional multidisciplinary teams. From the educators‘ perspective, a considerable time investment is required to prepare and implement these team building strategies and supporting activities in order to manage multidisciplinary teamwork effectively. However, time was saved in other ways, for example, the chaos and confusion, which often accompanies multidisciplinary teamwork in undergraduate education, was missing in all trials, and only a few students needed particular assistance in sorting out situations of perceived disadvantage or unfair treatment within the team.

Although this case study describes strategies and activities developed according to the particular characteristics of student cohorts at an Australian university, there is certainly the opportunity to select one strategy or to â&#x20AC;&#x2014;mix and matchâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; strategies and supporting activities for application in other educational institutions. The characteristics of undergraduate students are common to many design disciplines, therefore team building strategies and supporting activities can be applied in other design areas. Future research needs to explore perspectives of the other participating disciplines in depth. Furthermore, in context of the growing trend to offer design education online, it will certainly be necessary to explore the management of multidisciplinary collaboration and the incorporation of team building strategies in the online learning environment.

References Abu-Mulaweh, H. I., Oloomi, H. M., & Voland, G. G. (2004). Designing and teaching multidisciplinary project-based courses to satisfy the ABET 2000 Engineering Criteria. World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education, 3(2), 199-203. Bennett, R. (2009). Drawing on the virtual collective: exploring online collaborative creativity (Doctoral dissertation). University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Retrieved from http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au handle/2123/6433. Brown, Q., Lee, F., & Alejandre, S. (2009). Emphasizing Soft Skills and Team Development in an Educational Digital Game Design Course. Paper presented at the CFDG 2009, Orlando, FL, USA. Davis, M. (2011). Relevance in a complex world—Icograda Design Education Manifesto. In A. G. Bennett & O. Vulpinari (Eds.), ICOGRADA Design Education Manifesto (pp. 72-75). Taipei: International Council of Graphic Design Associations. Retrieved from http://www.ico-d.org/database/files/library/ IcogradaEducationManifesto_2011.pdf. Design Council (2006). Lessons from America. Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE). Retrieved from http://www.designcouncil.org.uk publications/Lessons-from-America/. DiPaola, S., Dorosh, D., & Brandt, G. (2004). Ratava’s Line: Emergent Learning and Design Using Collaborative Virtual Worlds. ACM SIGGRAPH. Los Angeles, California. Dong, H., & Spiliotoupoulou, G. (2010). Improving design learning through the use of simulation tools and multidisciplinary collaboration A Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre Mini Project Case Study. Fleischmann, K. (2010). The POOL Model: Foregrounding an alternative learning and teaching approach for digital media design in higher education. Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education, 9(1), 57-73. doi:10.1386/adch.9.1.57_1 Fleischmann, K., & Daniel, R. (2013). Managing increasing complexity in undergraduate digital media design education – the impact and benefits of multidisciplinary collaboration. Design and Technology Education: an International Journal, 18(3), 3547. Retrieved from http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/DATE/index. Fleischmann, K. (2014). Design futures - future designers: give me a ‗T‘? Studies in Material Thinking, 11 Re / materialising Design Education Futures. Retrieved from https://www.materialthinking.org/papers/160. Friedman, K. (2012). Models of Design: Envisioning a Future Design Education. Visible Language, 46(1/2), 133-153. Retrieved from http://visiblelanguagejournal.com/articles/article/861/. Hansen, M. T. (2010). IDEO CEO Tim Brown: T-Shaped Stars: The Backbone of IDEO‘s Collaborative Culture. Chief Executives: CEO Interviews. Retrieved from http://chiefexecutive.net/ideo-ceo-tim-brown-t-shaped-stars-the-backboneofideoae%E2%84%A2s-collaborative-culture. Harris, P. (2009). Help Wanted: ―T-Shaped‖ Skills to Meet 21st Century Needs. TD Magazine, 63(9), 42-47. Holdsworth, A., Watty, K., & Davies, M. (2009). Developing capstone experiences Melbourne University, Centre for the study of higher education. Hunt, J. (2011). Icograda Design Education Manifesto. In A. G. Bennett & O. Vulpinari (Eds.), ICOGRADA Design Education Manifesto (pp. 86-89). Tapei: International Council of Graphic Design Associations. Retrieved from http://www.icod.org/database/files/library/IcogradaEducationManifesto_2011.pdf. Ligon, J. E., & Fong, M. W. K. (2009, October). Transforming Design Thinking into Collaborative Innovation: Meeting the Emerging Needs and Demands of a Complex World through Design Thinking and Collaborative Innovation. Paper presented at the Icograda Education Network Conference, Beijing, China. Longbottom, C., Bell, G., Vrcelj, Z., Attard, M., & Hough, R. (2007, July). Project X: a multi © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

disciplinary design workshop. CONNECTED 2007 - 1st International Conference on Design Education, Sydney. McDonald, J., & Wolfe, R. (2008). Using computer graphics to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in capstone courses Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 24(1), 83-90. Nicole, M. H., & Kreidler, B. (2013, February). An Interior and Graphic Design Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Paper presented at the 2013 SEGD Conference, Academic Summit, San Francisco, CA. Rothstein, P. (2002, July). Closing the Gap between Practice and Education: A Case Study. IDSA National Education Conference. (Industrial Design Society of America), San Jose, California. Triggs, P., & John, P. (2004). From transaction to transformation: information and communication technology, professional development and the formation of communities of practice. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 20, 426–439. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2004.00101.x.

Appendix A Student enrolment numbers, survey participant numbers and response rates from the three-year trial.

Total

N/A

134 N/A

88%

72%

78%

N/A

51%

95%

80%

127 N/A

Response Rate

Other Discipline

Response Rate

Total

DMDesign

Web Design Enrolment 33 numbers Survey 29 participants Interactive Design Enrolment 35 numbers Survey 18 participants

Other Discipline

Students

DMDesign

Students Response Rate

Students

Total

Trial 3

Other Discipline

Trial 2

DMDesign

Trial 1

Appendix B Web Design: Question catalogue to establish suitability of a student to be placed in a team that had strength in design, IT and organisation/management. Teams need to work together during practical time. Which practical time can you attend?  10-12pm  1-2pm  Either would work for me As a member of a web project team, I would like my role to be in:  Web design IT © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

 Web design  Management and production of web projects I am competent in  Photoshop/Illustrator  CSS/HTML  Programming  Writing/researching I am really keen to learn more about  Photoshop/Illustrator/Dreamweaver for web design  CSS/HTML/Dreamweaver for web development  PHP/MySQL for dynamic websites  Writing/researching/marketing and conceptual development of web projects What is your work style?  I prefer working on assignments right from the beginning in order to avoid the last minute stress when the assignment is due.  I need the pressure to build up. I often work on assignments during the last couple of days/nights before they are due.

Appendix C Areas to explore during Speed Dating and question examples from students. Work style  Are you a morning, afternoon or night time worker?  Do you work continuously or in a last minute rush?  Are you a follower or an organiser? Communication style  How quickly do you usually reply to emails?  Are you happy to collaborate online?  How often are you online? Motivation  What do you want to get out of this project?  Are you motivated and prepared put in 100%?  The designers want a particular function that you don't know how to code. Would you give up or research the problem to come up with an answer? Skills  What are you skills and with which software programs have you worked before?  Do you know how to use [software], or are you willing to learn its use?  What coding languages do you know?  How long have you been learning [programming language]? Availability  What is your uni workload like?  Are you able to attend group meetings on Mondays 5 - 7pm?  Do you have a job outside uni?  Which weekdays are you currently available?  When suits you best for group work/meetings?  Are you available to work weekends? Multidisciplinary teamwork experience  Have you worked with anyone in your IT group before?  How would you describe yourself as a team member? Others such as personality, wit/humour  What do you think of the term "HTML is poetry"?

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 41-61, October 2015

Comprehension Skill Differences between Proficient and Less Proficient Reader in Word-to-Text Integration Processes: Implications for Interventions for Students with Reading Problem Stephen Ntim (PhD; M.Phil. M.A; B.Ed.) Faculty of Education Catholic University of Ghana P.O. BOX 363 Sunyani, Fiapre Abstract. The findings of this paper suggest that successful reading of a text especially word-to-text integration is not always contingent upon word identification skills per se, but that skilled reading comprehension is much more complex, requiring both the coordination and the integration of other components of cognitive skills over and above single word identification. Skilled reading as indicated from the findings of this paper in the case of proficient readers compared to less proficient readers is a highly complex capability in which various cognitive and metacognitive processes are likely to be going on simultaneously in parallel during reading which less proficient readers lack. In this respect, to help facilitate learning situations that would optimally enhance students‘ reading skills at the basic level of education, teachers‘ understanding of the underlying cognitive processes in text comprehension would be helpful. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to highlight on the cognitive and metacognitive processes that distinguish proficient readers from less proficient readers in word-totext integration in order to suggest educational intervention for teachers to respond to students with reading problem. Keywords: comprehension; text integration; proficient readers; less proficient readers.

Introduction Reading deficiency is one of the major setbacks in Sub-Sahara Africa. Achieving measurable outcome in literacy especially reading and numeracy has become essential for contemporary economy that is gradually becoming knowledgebased. This notwithstanding, monitoring report across the globe, especially those of UNESCO indicates that access and the right to education have overshadowed the attention to quality. It is in this respect that The Dakar Framework for Action in 2000 emphasized quality as basic determinant of © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

Education for All (EFA) thus committing nations to ensure primary education is of good quality in respect of better cognitive and non- cognitive outcomes (Ghartey, 2010). Assessment of learning achievement report also show that nations south of the Sahara are among those with less than half of children with minimum literacy achievement. These findings have been corroborated by the 2015 UNESCO Report that none of the countries in the region achieved all the goals set at the beginning of the millennium. In Ghana, for example, as far back as 1994, the Criterion-Referenced Testing (CRT) repeatedly showed that grade 6 pupilsâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; performance in literacy skills was poor. Several studies in Ghana confirm that this failure of Ghanaian pupils to learn English may be attributed to poor quality of pedagogical methods (Kraft, 2003). Dzameshie (1997) sees teaching of English in Ghanaian schools as more analytical and grammar-based.

Statement of Problem As of July 2011, attempts have been made globally in fifty countries (50) to implement Early Grade Reading Assessment and twenty-three (23) of them are in Africa. The findings show general reading deficits in many primary schools in Africa (Adea, 2012 Report). The 2013 National Education Assessment report in Ghana show that in both English and Ghanaian language, at least 50% or more performed poorly(http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/arti kel.php?ID=300691). The 2006 Chief Examiners Report for the West Africa School Certificate Examination indicated that for English language, out of a total of one hundred and twenty thousand, four hundred and eighty six (120, 486) who sat for the external examination, only eight thousand, seven hundred and thirty eight (8,738) constituting some 7.25% passed English language. Thus, basic literacy skills are yet to reach the levels needed to enhance these literacy skills. Other recent studies report that many children in Ghanaian public basic schools have learning difficulties especially dyslexia in the Greater Accra region of Ghana: seventy-five percent (75%) of teachers and 80 % of head teachers who took part in a survey admitted respectively of their pupils having problems with reading (Special attention Project, December 2011).

Research Objectives Two fundamental objectives precipitated this study. They are: 1) To investigate how text integration as higher cognitive process produces cognitive structures that are the end desired result of reading. 2) To find out what constitutes the core cognitive/mental difference between proficient and less proficient readers of expository text among Ghanaian children.

Research Questions Based on the above-named objectives, the following two research questions guided this study: 1) How does text integration produce cognitive structures that are the desired end of reading? 2) What constitutes the core cognitive difference between proficient and less proficient readers of expository text among Ghanaian children?

Significance of the Study The development of any nation is largely influenced by the number of citizens who can read and write. It is estimated that in the UK for example, about 99% can read and write. The same cannot be said of many countries in Africa. With consistent reading deficit among many Ghanaian children especially in the less endowed public basic schools compared to the private as backdrop, the findings of this research paper will throw more light on the psychological dynamics of reading comprehension and for that matter be of significance to basic school teachers, as well as the Ghana Education Service. This paper would also be beneficial to all education researchers and contribute to the existing literature in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s reading and comprehension.

Literature Review/Theoretical Framework Word identification and comprehension processes Research in reading comprehension suggests that successful reading of a text is more complex. It begins from bottom-up processes and connected to top-down processes. This implies that basic bottom-up process at the lexical level such as word identification is assumed to be understood in conjunction with text representation as: a) an output in the lexical system and b) as an input to the comprehension processes. This link between word recognition and integrating its meaning into a mental model of the text suggest two hypotheses in the literature: 1) skilled readers do this better than less skilled readers (Huang, Y.T., Hopfinger, J., & Gordon, P.C 2014; Perfetti, Yang & Schmalhofer, 2008; Yang, Perfetti & Schmalhofer, 2005, 2007) and 2) the learning of words is contingent on oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s information regarding the forms as well as the meanings one has acquired in word-learning. Again in this respect, good readers are better able to do this than less proficient readers (Bolger et al.,2008; Van Daalen-Kapteijns & ElshoutMohr, 1981). Perfetti and Stafura (2013) in their proposed Reading Systems Framework place lexical processes especially word identification as key. They postulate three lexical processes that link outcome with comprehension on-line: a) word by word reading, b) eye tracking, and c) event-related potential. All this implies that the skill to comprehend text include the ability to comprehend words (Adlof ÂŠ 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

& Perfetti, 2011). The role of lexical quality in skilled visual word recognition with respect to individual differences has also been found to be typical with meaning-making in reading with individuals who have such skills (Andrews, 2012). Investigating whether or not individual differences in written language proficiency with university students has any prediction with early stages of lexical retrieval, the findings of Andrews and Lo (2012) corroborated that of the lexical quality hypothesis that suggests that variability among skilled readers is contingent upon the level of specified orthographic representations. Using the boundary paradigm approach for computational models of eye tracking in reading to assess how individual differences implicate the extraction of lexical information from the parafovea in the reading of sentence, the findings of Veldre and Andrews (2015) suggested that those readers with accurate lexical representations were better able to extract lexical information from any given word prior to its being fixated- and this was more typical with proficient readers. So, lexical quality is in fact related to the processes of bottom-up and top-down, which contributes to both sentence processing, as well as discourse comprehension (Hersch &Andrew, 2012). This inextricable link between text comprehension and words comprehension implicates the need for word-to-text integration.

Word-to-text integration Van Dijk and Kintch (1983) postulate that word–to-text integration in motivated readers involves mental representation of text situation. Readers‘ ability to identify textual situations and their interactions with the text promote comprehension. Another key assumption regarding word-to-text integration is that comprehension of texts proceeds along more than one input units. What this in effect means is that humans have mental dictionaries or lexicons acquired during language comprehension from the declarative knowledge (propositional knowledge). Lexical access is in fact the result of decoding one‘s store of declarative knowledge from multiple sources. Thus the ability to recall information from more entries or inputs aids word-totext integration. This is because when one is able to relate a word to the phrase of syntax, meaning of the reference is made to the syntax in the text. This is facilitated more when one can recall many more meanings. Thus single processing of words promotes text integration from multiple inputs necessary to comprehend the situation described in a text. So text comprehension means that readers are able to relate meaning of sentences on the basis of message that is accumulated based on both previous text and previous knowledge in the Long Term Memory (LTM). This memory-based position of comprehension emphasizes the amalgamation of evaluated information from text. Indeed, all the foundational theories of text comprehension from 1988-1999 such as the construction integration model of Kintsch (1988), the landscape model (van den Broek et al., , 1996) and the resonance model (Gerrig &McKoon, 1998) consistently suggest that understanding of text is combination of text information, individuals using prior knowledge in the Long Term Memeory © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

(LTM) to make meaning relevant to their individual experiences and situations(Verhoeven & Perffetti, 2008). In a more recent research by Stafura et al (2015) in word-to-text integration, these authors tested the influence of predictive and memory processes. Results indicated the impact of memory processes across sentences. This suggests that memory is crucial in word-to-text integration such that readers who have more memory on what they are reading are more likely to make predictions and meaning-making. Again this skill appears to be proficient with skilled readers than it is with less skilled readers. In a related study by Karimi and Ferreira (2015) in which they reviewed previous studies, they provided evidence for the on-line cognitive ‗equilibrium‘ hypothesis as the basis for good representations in linguistic processing. In other words, when good linguistic representation are made, linguistic comprehension system continues to remain constant confirming the hypothesis that good representation promotes word-to-text integration.

Less proficient readers and event related potential (ERP) Consistent with the findings of most studies, the root cause of comprehension difficulties can be attributed to three broad areas: a) from the lexical level of identifying words, (Perfetti & Hart, 2001), b) the higher level of inferencemaking (Long & Golding, 1993) as well as c) the processes of monitoring comprehension (Baker, 1982; Garner, 1980). Within this general framework, there is also the problem of semantic processing at the word level. In a study by Yang et al (2005) on Event Related Potential (ERP), results showed that text integration was aided by lexico-semantic variable and paraphrasing for skilled readers. This was less so for less skilled readers. These results are in line with the lexical quality hypothesis of Perfetti and Hart (2001) which makes the submission that the key for understanding text has to do with the level of reader‘s background knowledge. This prior knowledge enhances the recalling of relevant ideas as well as making relevant selection of word meanings. Whereas proficient readers with sufficient quality of knowledge are able to use this event related potential due to quality of knowledge, less proficient readers are likely to show difficulties in integrating the meaning of words with subsequent context (cf. Van Petten & Kutas, 1990; Federmeier & Kutas, 2001; cf, Yang et al 2005). Other studies have also found the N400 to be related to and linked to integration of text (van Berkum et al., , 2003; van Berkum et al., , , 2005). In addition to contemporary computational studies that track the movement of the eye during reading, suggesting that successful identification of words is contingent upon saccade initiation, current research in neuroscience also postulates the superiority of binocular relative to monocular presentation during word identification. Thus, variations made in word fixations rather than monocular presentation of word identification is more likely to facilitate ease of text comprehension (Jainta et al., 2014). Besides, the results of other recent studies using event related potential show that linguistic distinctions could be made between lexical and discourse level processing and that each of this distinct cognitive processes have distinct role to play in word-to- text integration © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

(Huang et al 2014), concept generation and drawing logical conclusions in language comprehension (Steinhauer et al. (2010).

Resume The literature review above shows that text comprehension is a multiplicity of various factors that includes the following: a) the ability of the reader to have mental representation of text so that resources of the working memory, especially attention could also be allocated for much higher mental processes, b) comprehension proceeds along more than one input units such that the higher the number of inputs units that one has in terms of knowledge of the subject, the more likely one would be able to comprehend, c) referential meaning of word to sematic representation: the more a reader is able to match meaning of each sentence on the basis of prior knowledge, the more comprehension is facilitated. All the above indicate that word-to-text integration is influenced by various cognitive factors. These theoretical frameworks need to be tested empirically to determine their instructional/pedagogical implications to help teachers to enhance reading comprehension among less skilled readers and to promote the reading skill of proficient readers.

Current study This current study examined those cognitive factors such as lexical access in which meanings of words are identified based on mental dictionaries or lexicons which humans acquire during language comprehension from the declarative (propositional knowledge). The major hypothesis that this paper investigated is that comprehension in the sense of word-to-text understanding is a function of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s declarative knowledge. This means that the quality of knowledge possessed by a reader including prior knowledge is more likely to allow contextappropriate retrieval as well as making relevant selection of words meanings. Two main research questions guided this study: a) How does text integration produce cognitive structures that are the desired end of reading? ; b) What constitutes the core cognitive difference between skilled and less skilled reader of expository text among Ghanaian children?

Research Methodology Sample This study used the experimental research design with a purposive sampling size of two hundred and forty (240) Junior High School pupils between the ages of 14-16 year olds from eight (8) selected Junior High Schools in four (4) administrative districts in Ghana: Kumasi Metropolis, Offinso Municipality, Sunyani Municipality and Brekum Municipality. Two (2) schools were randomly selected from each Municipality. Thirty (30) students were chosen from each school. Out of these thirty students purposively selected from each school to participate in this study half (15) were assumed to be proficient readers and the ÂŠ 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

other half (15) were considered less proficient readers. Four of the selected schools were private while the other four were public basic schools. In a data not tabled here an estimated 60% of the sample was male and the rest were females. These students came from different socio-economic parental background: children of professionals (doctors, lawyers), children from teachers, children from traders as well as children from farmers.

Materials and Design In all, three (3) experiments were tested in this study. The first experiment was a pre-test of students on reading achievement specifically administered to test the over-all reading ability between the two groups through a proficiency test. Later an adapted version of Reading Mastery Test of Woodcock (WRMT–R; Woodcock, 1987), the Gray Oral Reading Test—3 (GORT–3; Wiederholt & Bryant, 1992) also tested other high level comprehension other than word identification. In Experiment 2 and 3, the researcher sought answers to the first and second research questions, namely: how does text integration produce cognitive structures that are the desired end of reading and what constitutes the core cognitive difference between proficient and less proficient skilled readers in text comprehension among Ghanaian children? Experiment 1 This first experiment was pretesting phase to test the ability of these two groups specifically on how proficient they were on reading comprehension. The purpose was to find out whether or not those sampled as ‗proficient readers‘ and ‗less proficient readers‘ from each of these districts in fact have any statistical difference between them in terms of reading comprehension.

Methods Participants Two hundred and forty (240) voluntary third year Junior High School from four selected administrative districts (96 girls and 144 boys) were selected. One hundred and twenty (120) were perceived to be ‗proficient readers‘ and the other 120 considered ‗less proficient readers‘) were purposively selected from eight (8) Junior High Schools (JHS) in Ghana. All participants were between the ages of 11 and 15 and the sample consisted of eighty (80) children from working parents, sixty (60) from professional parents and one hundred children (100) from farming parents.

Materials Two tests on reading achievement were administered to test to the over-all reading ability of the two groups- proficient and less proficient readers using Proficiency Test and the subtest of Woodcock Reading mastery TestsRevised(WRMT–R; Woodcock,1987), the comprehension component of the Gray Oral Reading Test—3 (GORT–3; Wiederholt & Bryant, 1992). The language © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

proficiency test comprised some one hundred (100) multiple choice items covering many grammatical points. Results Table 1: t-test on readers proficiency test in Experiment 1 on reaction time Readers Mean Standard t-value (N=240) deviation Score for proficient Less Proficient 51.60 and less proficient Readers readers on Proficiency Test Proficient 86.02 Readers

6.364

-21.271

p-value

0.000

9.410

Table 1 shows that proficient readers performed better on the proficiency test than the non-proficient. From the table, the proficient readers had a mean score of 86.02 with standard deviation of 9.410, while the less proficient readers had a mean score of 51.60 with standard deviation of 6.364. Their standard deviations however indicate that the scores of the skilled readers were more dispersed than that of the non-skilled readers. To find out if their mean scores were statistically significant, an independent samples t-test was run at an alpha level of 0.05 and the results as in table one show that they were significantly different [t=-21.271, p=0.00].

Discussion The results of this pre-test on proficiency and reaction time, suggest significant differences in performance between the two groups of readers: less proficient M=51.60 (SD=6.364) and proficient 86.02 (SD=9.410). The source of the differences was that proficient readers were found to be more than two times faster at lower order processes than less proficient readers supporting the hypothesis that word decoding, accurate and fast retrieval of lower order processes of phonology is critical in reading comprehension. Lower mental process within the readerâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s mental representation which may include orthography, phonology appears to implicate readersâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; processing speed. The faster they are processed, the quicker readers pay attention to higher processes of meaning-making in text comprehension (Stanovich, 2000). Thus, automaticity at lower order level can either facilitate parallel processing or serial processing helping readers to acquire new information either with ease or with some difficulty (National Reading Panel, 2000; Perfetti, 1998; Samuels & Flor, 1997; Spear-Swerling & Sternberg, 1994). As indicated in this pre-test data, proficient readers unlike less proficient readers appear to have acquired highly automatized skills in lower level processes and because of this automaticity, these skilled readers had enough sufficient cognitive resources allocated for higher mental processes such as inference-making and word-to-text integration as indicated in tables 3, 4 and 5 below. ÂŠ 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

This finding also suggests a probable link between those studies relating working memory capacity and performance load (e.g., Engle & Kane, 2004) thus corroborating Engle (2002) position that High Working Memory Capacity (HWMC) and Low Working Memory Capacity (LWMC) persons do not differ in the amount of attention resources (i.e., WMC) they have per se, but differ in terms of how well they can efficiently allocate these resources, especially in times of interference or when demands on WMC are high. This also supports recent neuropsychological studies on the correlation between Working Memory Capacity (WMC) and attention with specific reference to processing speed of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder. Children with this disorder typically are slow in a variety of performance (Chhabildas et al, 2001; Hinshaw, 2002; Rucklidge & Tannock, 2002; Willcutt et al , 2005; Wodka, Mahone, et al., 2007; Jacobson et al (2011 ). Again, the data in this first experiment give weight to the findings of Huang (2014) with respect to binocular advantages in reading through parallel processing as opposed to serial processing in reading.

Experiment 2 This second experiment sought to find out how word-to-text integration produce cognitive structures that are the desired end of reading.

Methods Participants The same two hundred and forty (240) participants used in the first experiment were also used for this second experiment.

Materials and procedure Ninety multiple choice questions adapted from the Gates-MacGinitie reading test (GMRT) grade level 7-9 was used as the instrument to test how word-to-text integration, specifically the ability of readers to identify textual situations and their interactions with the text to promote comprehension. Questions were categorized along the following variables of different levels of difficulty: verbatim, transform verbatim, paraphrase, transform paraphrase. Readers were requested to weigh the degree of overlap between question and target answer and the passage along these four tasks mentioned above. For example in verbatim, these were questions directly found in the text; transformed verbatim: these were questions similar to what is asked in the text except that different words with the same meaning were used; paraphrase: questions in which correct answers were not used but were paraphrased; transformed paraphrase: these were questions that required making multiple sentence meanings to be able to answer.

Results Table 2: Different levels of item difficulty Readers Mean Verbatim

Transform verbatim

Std. Deviation 4.473

t-value

p-value

-32.812

0.000

Less proficient readers

45.17

Proficient readers Less proficient readers

73.20 35.53

4.877 5.540

-31.764

0.000

64.93 31.22

4.551 6.471

-31.131

0.000

Proficient readers

59.47

2.746

Less proficient readers

26.65

5.781

-39.028

0.000

Proficient readers

58.53

2.574

Proficient readers Paraphrase

transform paraphrase

Less proficient readers

Readers scores on different levels of difficulty as means to measure word-to-text integration were tested along five variables: verbatim, transform verbatim, paraphrase and transform paraphrase. On all the four tested variables, proficient readers outperformed the less proficient. Independent samples t-tests at 0.05 significant levels also indicated statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the two groups on all the four variables. For example, on the variable transformed paraphrase, the non-skilled readers had a mean score of 26.65 with standard deviation of 5.781, while the skilled readers had a mean of 58.53 with standard deviation of 2.574. The standard deviation of the two groups indicates that the scores of proficient readers were more spread than that of the less proficient readers. The comparison of these means with the t-test gave a t-value of â&#x20AC;&#x201C;39.028, p-value of 0.000 indicating a significant difference in these mean scores.

Discussion The scores of the two groups tested along the four variables suggest consistency with other research findings: speed impairment. Proficient readers appear to have a tendency to recall information on phonology much faster and with a higher level of automaticity more than less proficient readers. This corroborates the findings of other research studies such as Booth et al , (2000) as well as Booth, et al. (1999). This implies that effective reading of word-to-text integration is heavily contingent upon oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s ability to decode and to make the needed linguistic input on one hand and on the basis of this, accessing requisite phonological information on the other. This finding suggests among other things individual differences that both proficient readers and less proficient readers bring to reading comprehension such as spillover, executive control as well as phonological rehearsals. For example, the fact that difference between the two groups tended to be wider, the more the level of difficulty, suggests the influence of additional load during reading. Neurological differences such as the brain may not be discounted in this respect. Lower capacity readers seem to have tendency to recruit more cortical resources from right hemisphere areas of the brain. This additional activation is an identified mechanism known to induce additional cortical resources in lower capacity readers unlike skilled readers who tend generally to automatize lower mental processes (Pratt & Just, 2008; Augusto et al 2009). Besides these neurological differences, proficient readers appear to have better higher cognitive comprehension processes because they seem to be able to manipulate information abstractly more than the less proficient readers as indicated in Table 2 corroborating the submission of Hawelka et al (2015), Mason and Just (2006) and Kintsch (1998) that fast readers unlike slow readers are better able to generate forward inferences, as opposed to speed-impaired readers.

Experiment 3 This third experiment examined what constitutes the core cognitive difference between proficient and less proficient readers in text comprehension.

Methods Participants The same sample used in the first and second experiments was also used for this third experiment.

Materials and procedure Ninety questions adapted from the Gates-MacGinitie reading test (GMRT) were used as the instrument to test the following three comprehension variables: text inference, text bridging and text integration.

Results Table 3: t-test on readers’ scores on inference

Score for proficient and less proficient readers on Inference

Readers

Mean

Standard t-value deviation

pvalue

Less Proficient Readers

34.00

8.030

0.000

84.00

4.025

43.119

Proficient Readers

Table 4: t-test on readers’ scores on bridging

Score for proficient and less proficient readers on bridging

Readers

Mean

Less Proficient Readers

51.48

Standard t-value deviation 5.528 -26.119

80.92

6.756

Proficient Readers

pvalue 0.000

Table 5: t-test on readers’ scores on text integration

Score for proficient and less proficient readers on Text integration

Readers

Mean

Standard t-value deviation

pvalue

Less Proficient Readers

51.47

5.420

0.000

85.97

13.701

Proficient Readers

-18.137

In all three variables tested in this third experiment in Tables 3, 4 and 5 results show that proficient readers performed significantly better than the less proficient readers. From Table 3 for example on inference-making, proficient readers scored a mean of 84.00 with a standard deviation of 4.025, while less proficient readers had a mean score of 34.00 and a standard deviation of 8.030. These standard deviations indicate that the scores of the proficient readers were more dispersed compared to the less proficient readers. To test the statistical significance in the mean scores of the two groups, an independent samples ttests were run at an alpha level of 0.05 and as can be seen from the three tables ( © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

Table 3, 4, and 5) the results indicate significant difference [t= -43.119,p=0.00 t= 26.119,p=0.00 and t= -18.137,p=0.00] respectively. These significant differences in the mean score in all the variables were interpreted to mean that there must be some core cognitive/mental differences between skilled and less skilled readers which are both strategic and neurological.

Discussion The above results suggest that skilled comprehenders compared with less skilled readers performed poorly on inference-making, bridging as well as word-to-text integration. These difficultiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; appear to result from impairments in higher cognitive skills. Indeed research work on comprehension from the point of view of mental models framework such as Oakhill (1996, 1984), Cain & Oakhill (1999; Cain et al, 2001), make the submission that most poor comprehenders of text have the tendency to construct incomplete representation of text. Precisely because of this, often they may be likely to be able to coordinate information locally, but are unable to do so at coherent integrated level. This finding corroborates this assertion. Less proficient readers on the inference test failed to generate correct inferences because unlike proficient readers, they used different criteria for textual cohesion and either did not pay attention to or were unaware that inference was necessary. This inability to generate such inferences might have resulted in the poor performance as indicated in Table 3 above. Retrieval error was more typical with less proficient readers. They were four times more to make wrong retrieval than it was with proficient readers. This affected their inference-making ability both on coherent as well as elaborative inference. For a reader to make constructive meaning of text on what is not stated explicitly, he/she needs to combine textual information with background and be able to generate inferences. In this respect, less proficient readers lacked the skill to remember information and made incorrect inferences for most of the time. This confirms the study by Baretta et al (2009) in respect of differential processing of text types by the brain. Regarding word-to-text integration, again the differences between the two groups are statistically significant: the mean scores of 51.47 (SD=5.420) of less proficient readers compared to 85.97 (SD=13.701) of the proficient indicate vast individual differences between the two groups on this test measure. The high ability performance of the skilled readers reflects their ability to retrieve the meaning of words and interpret the meaning in relation to message context sensitivity. This divergence and the dispersed results of skilled readers suggest implication of individual differences on processes involved in retrieving as well as integrating word meaning to text integration. This corroborates Perfetti and Stafura (2013) and other research evidence that proficient readers more than lessproficient readers tend to apply meaning of words to help them integrate text.

General Discussion This research identified two key questions in which comprehension difficulties might arise for most Ghanaian basic school students/pupils, namely, how wordto-text integration can lead to good comprehension and secondly, what constitutes the core cognitive differences between proficient and less proficient readers. Results of the three experiments are consistent with other research work on comprehension especially from the interactive models of reading that provide individual variation framework. In all the three variables tested on the two groups on inference-making, bridging and word-to text integration, scores show huge differences between proficient and less proficient readers in the following three areas: a) differences in requisite general knowledge (without neurological disorder), b) differences in memory recall, c) differences in linguistic ability.

a) Differences in requisite general knowledge As seen from the results on inference-making in Table 3, with a mean score of 84.00 (SD= 4.025) and 34.00 (SD=8.034), the cause of poor performance on inference was not unrelated to poor readers inability to coordinate and integrate information at both the local level (lexical access) as well as other higher cognitive skills. This finding supports the idea that reading comprehension is much more complex, requiring both the coordination and the integration of other components of cognitive skills over and above single word identification (Ntim (in press), Bruce, Shawn, Glynn, & Jeffrey, (1985). These difficulties in poor inference-making in the case of less proficient readers arise from impairments in higher cognitive skill corroborating the work of Oakhill (1996, 1984), Cain & Oakhill (1999), who make the submission that most poor comprehenders of text have the tendency to construct incomplete representation of text.

b) Retrieval error Retrieval error was more typical with less proficient readers. They made more error in recall of information and this affected their performance in all three variables giving support for the â&#x20AC;&#x2014;principle of cue-overloadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in which recall fails to make distinctions between competition and in so doing give cause to interference. This is consistent with Van Dyke and McElree (2006), Van Dyke and Lewis (2003) and Gordon et al. (2004) that individual memory system that subserves language comprehension operates in the same way as memory in other domains. In short in language comprehension, human memory structures tend to limit language comprehension processes corroborating the findings of Ntim (in press) and Van Dyke and Johns (2012).

c) Vocabulary skills Another major finding from this study has to do with the correlation between adequate word reading and vocabulary skills groups. Proficient readers unlike the less proficient demonstrated a high level of adequate vocabulary skills which critically influenced automaticity for efficient ÂŠ 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

reading. Skilled readers possessed more vocabulary in their mental lexicon and therefore spent less time in lexical access unlike less skilled. This means that attention and mind wandering controls continue to mediate Working Memory‘s Capacity‘s (WMC‘s) relation to reading comprehension. It is important to pay attention to attention-deficit and lexical access. Poor readers due to poor vocabulary tend to spend more time on lexical access, whereas good readers, because they possessed large amount of vocabulary had little problem with automaticity and could concentrate on higher cognitive strategies.

Implications for interventions Becoming a successful reader is a process that is not fully understood even by many teachers since reading comprehension involves many cognitive and metacognitive psychological processes. Based on the above findings, the following instructional strategies are suggested to improve reading comprehension.

a) The use of incremental rehearsal technique Individual differences with respect to students‘ general knowledge are vital. The findings of this paper corroborate other research work that the more students have requisite knowledge on a subject, the more likely they are able to comprehend what is being read. This means that, children with limited knowledge of any given topic are more likely compared to those with adequate subject matter knowledge to have difficulty. When less proficient readers manifest difficulty understanding text, classroom intervention such as direct instruction on comprehension needs to be given. Indeed, when students are not comprehending the text they read, it is very likely they lack meanings of words or the concept as well as inability of understanding factual information and hence not able to make inferences and coherent relationships of text message. In short, less proficient readers lack the ability of intertextuality. This deficit can be redeemed through pedagogical intervention such as the rehearsal technique (Tucker, 1988). In this technique, students are made to practise the reading of words that are not familiar so that background knowledge of words can be built. They are given enough time to practice this process where they are presented with about 10% unfamiliar words and 90% familiar words simultaneously. Errors are made known to them.

b) Using Semantic Webs Using semantic webs to enhance instruction for students with reading difficulty is to explain a concept or a word to students. In a form of a web, the key concept is put at the centre and the main characteristics as well as definition placed around underlined words or concepts. Students are guided by the teacher through the use of the main characteristics of words or © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

concepts by asking provoking questions from students. These sematic webs could serve the purpose of pre-instructional tool to introduce concepts and words before and/or after the reading of text to assess whether or not students have understood key concepts and words (Zutell, 1998).

Using Questioning and paraphrasing of text. This technique has to do with the art of using questions after reading any given text. The use of this pedagogical technique consistently show that students are more likely to have better comprehension of text both on factual as well as on inferential grounds (Beck et al. , 1996). Paraphrasing has to do with helping students to acquire the skill of rephrasing or restating what they have read. These two techniques are found to be effective useful instructional tool to assist students with reading problems (Morrow, 1985; Simmons et al., 1995).

d) Reducing Memory Load Consistent with the findings of recent studies attention is largely implicated by Working Memory (WM) in the sense that the former controls the time a person needs to be able to keep information in WM. When attention is not focused learning is most likely to be undermined. Similarly if student is not focused and is distracted in attention, precisely because information is interfered with, the requisite information needed to be recalled from the Long Term Memory (LTM) is affected adversely. This means that the ability that one has in controlling one‘s attention is directly correlated to one‘s academic achievement especially the recall of relevant information from a text. The implication is that precisely because the architecture of the human cognitive system is limited, the teacher needs to reduce memory load through the following strategies: i) breaking learning tasks into smaller units as much as possible without detailed information at a time; ii) reducing the amount of work students are made to complete, iii) keeping new input or information as brief as possible and straight to the point and when needed to frequently repeat in precise form to increase the easiness of depth encoding, iv) to reduce amount of mental processing by giving more learning guidance or ―clues‖ and if need be writing key words on the board. This would help the student from having to hold all of the information concurrently in mind simultaneously, v) the need to provide more examples and non-examples to increase students understanding of material.

Conclusion Research in reading comprehension suggests that successful reading of a text is not always contingent upon word identification skills. Indeed, it is not always the case that individuals who are good readers are necessarily good passage comprehenders. This supports the idea that reading comprehension is much more complex. It requires the ability to coordinate lower lexical processes as well as and the integration of other higher components of cognitive skills over © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

and above single word identification. Skilled reading as indicated from the findings of this paper is consistent with other studies that suggest that reading especially word-to-text integration is considered a highly complex capability in which various cognitive processes are likely to be going on in parallel during reading. In this respect, to be able to enhance classroom learning environments that can maximize students learning, especially students with reading problems, teachers‘ understanding of the underlying psychological/cognitive processes that underlie text comprehension will be helpful. It is within this context that the purpose of this study is to report on the cognitive and metacognitive processes that distinguish proficient readers from less proficient readers and to suggest the needed educational intervention to help students with reading difficulty.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 62-78, October 2015

Learning, Unlearning and Relearning with Cutting Edge Technologies Minakshi Lahiri and James L. Moseley Wayne State University

Abstract. Tim Berners Lee (1998), the inventor of World Wide Web said, “The concept of the Web is of universal readership"... "The dream behind the Web is of a common information space in which we communicate by sharing information.” As consumers of the World Wide Web - an open, free, nonproprietary product, we cannot ignore the immense value and impact of the global system that Lee had created. Very few people in the world today can imagine a life without accessing the web for information or communication purposes. Several organizations heavily rely on the use of the Web and the Internet for their existence. This professional knowledge and skill discussion has changed contexts and circumstances under which organizations and businesses function in the era of media and web based technologies. It advocates innovation, creativity, and collaboration as a community - as the mantra for a successful enterprise. The discussion takes a closer look at some traditional media giants; some new successful web based media that have emerged during the past decade, by disrupting the foundations of the traditional media; and lastly, some very new, recent and fresh innovations in the media world for the Workforce Learning Professional (WLP). The discussion ends by addressing the various ways in which the potential of the Web enabled "Universal University" and the emerging social media can be used by organizations to achieve a shared purpose and add value to the global society. Keywords. Media, Technology, Organizational Performance, Training, New Media

The Evolution of the World Wide Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0…. We are living in a technology driven world. With the increasing use of the World Wide Web, Web 2.0 and, recently, the Web 3.0 in the workplace, organization work culture has undergone a major cultural shift during the last two decades. Availability and access to affordable and fast broadband Internet from workplace, home, or on the move (airports, on the flight, hospitals, malls, etc.) have opened up new opportunities to work, interact, socialize, cooperate, collaborate and communicate. Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 have changed the way in which the users interact with the World Wide Web. Unlike Web 1.0, users now,

are not only passive consumers or receivers of the information on the web, but they also are active participants in the creation of media and content. Web 2.0 enables practice of “sociocracy” in organizations where “employees and participants participate in decision making by consent” (Marks, 2010) and help to accelerate business performance. Innovation is another buzzword in our technology driven era. Koetzier and Alon (2010) have encouraged organizations to embrace and internalize innovations within their regular business processes. According to them, “Organizations need to regard innovation as a business discipline…manage and execute it as an end to end process moving from inside development to idea generation to…marketplace launch.” With increasing dominance of Web 2.0, Web 3.0 and cloud computing, traditional businesses and organizations are compelled to think about innovative ways to compete and survive. Cloud technology offers attractive alternatives to data storage and retrieval for many organizations with benefits such as cost savings and flexibility among many others (Lahiri & Moseley, 2013). It is predicted that proactive organizations that are embracing this paradigm shift, opening up to external global communities and Crowdsourcing platforms to accelerate business and open innovation attempts, will emerge successfully and outperform competitors who are still tied up with developing digital assets via traditional procedures (Bonner, 2011). Organizations need to encourage innovation, creative ideas, collaboration, interest and continued learning and provide opportunities to their employees to interact with technology and communicate with technology professionals in order to keep up with the changing trends and operations. Innovations in business processes help organizations gain competitive advantage, and strengthen market positioning. In the current economic and dynamic technological scenario, innovation in business is critical for success and survival (Toker and Moseley, 2012). Toker and Moseley (2012) also suggest tools like the Cultural Readiness Scale (CuReS) and "Measuring Innovation and Adoption for Web 3.0" (Toker and Moseley, 2013), that can provide helpful insight to decision makers in organizations, assist in assessing the needs, monitoring and evaluating the desired cultural characteristics, or cultural change of a workplace before initiating or after implementing an organization wide Web 2.0 or Web 3.0 project. Hall and London (2012) have explained how the evolving Web based technologies facilitate user driven learning and help in increasing productivity for work teams and businesses by merging work and learning. Since more and more workplace training and learning are shifting to a web based, “anytime anywhere” model, and also with the evolution of the web based media and functions, Hall and London (2012) predict a shift in organizational learning and changing roles of HR professionals in any organization.

The Web and the Media Revolution Technology and technological innovations have resulted in establishment and fresh start ups of several media enterprises that can be used to enhance

communication and interaction within the organization, create connections between different stakeholders, encourage collaborative work, accelerate business processes, increase productivity and provide effective platforms for management of information. The existing media, which traditionally dominated the world, had been struck deep at the heart by the emergence and increased popularity of newer media enterprises during the last decade. Innovations like Amazon, flickr, twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google and such, have, in just over a decade, outperformed the popularity and consumer base of the then prestigious and ruling traditional "transmission" media (we will call them "old" or "traditional" media) like The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, Yellow Pages, Kodak and Penguin Group publications to mention a few. The newer media that emerged during the last decade have rapidly established themselves as the world‟s most important and valuable businesses in the world today, and the mantra that evolves from each of their success stories: adapt, innovate and deliver or disappear and die. During the past few years, with the emergence of cloud computing technologies and Web 3.0, and increased opportunities of innovation and creative thinking, there has been a surge of new media on the Web; we will refer to these as the “new new media”. In these, we will include creative and fresh start ups, like Pinterest, Spottify, Hootsuite, Wattpad, Yammer to mention a few. Each of these new media address the needs of the global consumer market and reflect the present technological, collaborative and social context in which the organizations have to perform and deliver in order to exist and be successful. The graphic represented in Figure 1 depicts the different media categories as the web has evolved. Figure# 1. OLD MEDIA, NEW MEDIA AND NEW NEW MEDIA

Old Media, New Media and New New Media The Tables below provide a brief peek into the different categories of Web based media enterprises that we have identified in the article. Table 1 lists the traditional or the old media, Table 2 lists the New Media and Table 3 lists the fresh startups or the new new media that were founded on fresh and creative ideas. The websites of each of the media are listed to assist the interested reader in further research.

Traditional or Old Media During the last decade, the traditional media businesses have been hit hard. Newspaper publishers, book publishers, music companies and television networks are all struggling and trying to figure out a strategy to survive and hold on to market-share. The traditional process of doing business is not as guaranteed and these businesses have not been able to find new strategies that would be profitable in our digital era of communication. Many traditional media now have digital versions to which customers can subscribe. Experts hold the view that the traditional media need to innovate ways to stay in business, and incorporate strategies like engaging the audience and general readers in conversation, delivering real time news accessible from mobile devices, forming overseas alliances, permitting clients to customize their preferences, following readersâ&#x20AC;&#x; needs and delivering information that is relevant to the customer, and as a necessity, forming collaborations and mergers by embracing the competing company in order to survive as a species in the digital world (Smith, 2005; Feldman, 2012).

Table 1. Traditional or Old Media Name

Brief description

The New York Times is a daily newspaper in the USA that was founded and published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has a strong web presence and can also be accessed from certain mobile devices, like iPhones, iPods and iPads as well as Android devices. Founder: Website:

Henry Jarvis Raymond George Jones www.nytimes.com

Reader’s Digest is a general interest family magazine that was founded in 1922. It has a large global circulation base. It is also published in Braille, digital, audio and a large print format. Founder: Website:

DeWitt and Lila Bell Wallace www.rd.com

Yellow pages is a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category. These were initially printed on paper; now online directories of businesses are referred to as Internet yellow pages. The first yellow page was printed in 1886. Yellow pages are usually published annually, and distributed free of charge to all residences and businesses within a given area.

Kodak is an American multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company that was founded in 1889. It is best known for photographic film products. Founder: George Eastman

The Penguin Group is the one of the largest publishing companies in the world. It was founded in 1935 (Penguin Books Ltd.) and is owned by Pearson PLC, the global media company who also owns the world‟s largest educational publishing Pearson. Founder Website

George Palmer Putnam & John Wiley www.penguin.com

New Media The new media refers to the on- demand access to digital content anytime anywhere with a two way communication channel, interactive user feedback, and solid participation in building a community of participants. The new media, most of which are cloud based web applications, provide flexibility and ease of

access to the user, as well as giving the customers and users a platform to share feedback and personalize their experiences. The customers and users of the new media as participants have a sense of ownership towards the media and are actively engaged in contributing to its growth and success. The new media also affords its users opportunities for social networking and informal learning. Table 2. New Media Name

Description Amazon is an American multinational e-commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon also produces consumer electronics and also is one of the major cloud service provider. The company was founded in 1994. Founder: Jeff Bezos Website: Amazon.com Flickr is an image and video hosting application, and an online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo in 2005. It is widely used by users to share and embed personal photographs. Flickr has apps for iOS, Android and Windows OS and hence can be accessed from mobile devices. Founder : Ludicorp (now owned by Yahoo Inc.) Website: flickr.com Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service which enables users to send and receive e- messages that are called tweets. It was launched in July 2006 and it is based in San Francisco. Users can access Twitter from mobile devices. Founder: Jack Dorsey Noah Glass, Evan Williams, Biz Stone Website: Twitter.com LinkedIn is a professional social networking website. It was founded in December 2002 and then launched in May 2003. It is headquartered in Mountain View, California. Founder: Reid Hoffman

Website: www.linkedin.com Facebook is a popular social networking service that is operated by Facebook Inc. It was launched in 2004. Founder: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes Website: facebook.com Google is an American multinational corporation which provides Internet related products and services including Internet search, cloud computing, software, e-shopping, etc. It was founded in 1996 and the company is based in California. Founder: Larry Page and Sergery Brin Website: google.com Skype is a VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) software application created in 2003 and now acquired by Microsoft in 2011. Users Skype to communicate with peers via audio, video, instant messaging over the Internet. Skype can also be accessed from various mobile devices. Founder: Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom Website: Skype.com

New new media In the new new media we have included the very recent, fresh media start-up innovations that encourage all consumers to become producers of content on the web. The new new media have a global user base, and similar to the new media are interactive, easy to use and learn and accessible anytime-anywhere. The new new media also provide opportunities for informal learning. Users feel empowered with the new new media which result in its rapidly increasing user base and popularity.

Table 3. New new media

Names

Description Pinterest is a pinboard style social networking service. It is a platform of inspiration and idea sharing. It was launched in 2012. It can be accessed from various mobile devices. Founders: Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp and Ben Silbermann Website: Pinterest.com Spotify is a music streaming service. The company was started in 2006, at Stockholm, Sweden. Now the parent company Spotify Ltd is in London. Spotify services can be accessed from various mobile devices. Founder: Daniel Ek Website: Spotify.com HootSuite is a social media management system to effectively manage a multiple number of social media networks. It was first launched in 2008, and is based at Vancouver, Canada. Founder: Ryan Holmes, Dario Meli and David Tedman Website: hootsuite.com Wattpad is a repository for user uploaded electronic texts. Wattpad content includes science fiction, poetry, stories and other kinds of creative writings by undiscovered and unpublished writers from all over the globe which they can share and connect with readers from all over the world. It originated in 2006, and can be accessed from mobile devices. Founder: Allen Lau Website: wattpad.com

Yammer is a freemium (a business model in which a product or service in its very basic form is provided free of charge and a premium fee is charged for additional or advanced functionality) social network that is intended to enhance enterprise collaboration. Yammer is used for communication within organizations and groups. The company was launched in 2008 and was sold to Microsoft in 2012, and is headquartered in California. Founder: David Sacks, Adam Pisoni Website: yammer.com

Tumblr is a social network application and allows microblogging. Users can create blogs and follow blogs of other users; users can also create private blogs that are shared within a community. Tumblr was acquired by Yahoo! Inc. in 2013. Founder: David Karp Website: tumblr.com Instagram is a popular social media for photo and video sharing. Users are able to take pictures and videos and create collages, and share with their community over other social media like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Flickr. Instagram was launched in 2010, as a mobile application, and was bought by Facebook in April 2012. Founder: Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger Website: Instagram.com

New Media, Web 3.0 and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Social Organizationsâ&#x20AC;? According to experts, research data suggest that Web 3.0 and the emerging technology are going to transform the way organizations work within the next decade, and businesses and organizations should start restructuring their business or service models to take advantage of the immense potential of Web 3.0. Web 3.0 offers businesses and organizations unprecedented capabilities to connect and communicate with customers and users. The semantic web enables complex and sophisticated searches, as well as a network of web connected devices and artificial intelligence technology. As a result, customers and users receive personalized browsing opportunities currently experienced in YouTube and Amazon which business organizations can use for product development, improving performance in sales and marketing, expanding customer base and several other business operations. (Goodwin, 2011). Recent research on corporate leadership has indicated that the organizational leaders are realizing the potential of social media in businesses, and are encouraging use of social technologies to engage with customers, suppliers, and even with their own employees within the various departments to be more adaptive and agile. Many organizations are providing a Facebook page for their customers that enable them to praise, send feedback on products, and suggest ideas, post complaints, and make requests for new products through a forum that is open to the entire world. The social media is being used as a "Universal University", a communication channel that allows everyone to learn from each other through comments, feedback, and debates (Williams & Scott, 2012). Edwards and Amos (2011) claim that well managed customer feedback experience and recommendations on social media forums like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, etc. can be utilized to improve service quality and operational performance, increase traffic and create a contented and happy customer base which in turn might result in increasing the customer numbers by transforming their friends into new customers. This has led to the emergence of a new industry called Customer Experience Management or CEM which provides customer feedback to the organizations through social CEM. Information is gleaned from customer surveys conducted online and the respondents are linked to the organization's social network through a link in the survey. Many businesses are already gathering the responses from customers via online surveys on social media by providing incentives like coupons or generous discounts for next purchases. This process helps organizations expand customer base, engage in a real time customer relationship process and also work through a timely "customer rescue" process to help solve problems of a "not so satisfied" customer and mend relationships and finally provide feedback on problems for the organization's operations department to solve. Bradley and McDonald (2011) emphasize that those organizations that wish to be successful during the present era need to exploit the power of social technology - which lies in its ability to build communities, foster new ways of collaboration and utilize the collective efforts to add value to society and achieve a purpose. The significant ways in which this social era has impacted businesses

can be realized if we think about the current successful business models like the freemium model ("freemium" combines two aspects within a model: free and premium- the model makes a product or service available free of charge for basic features and a premium fee is charged for customers subscribing to advanced features and functionalities); and crowdsourcing model (a business model that combines services, contributor to ideas or content from a large group of people, where, not all are employees of a same company but from an online community or pool of volunteers), online communities, social networks and so on. Businesses and organizations today need to observe, listen to and react to the community concerns, as well as adapt, deliver and support community values. Shared vision and purpose make all stakeholders work collaboratively as a team and co-create a successful "Social Organization". The new media can be employed to build a social organization. Recent research has indicated that social media technologies have the potential to become one of the most powerful tools to improve performance and effectiveness of high skill knowledge workers, who help drive innovation and growth across the globe. Many organizations are already advertising and creating their social sites and engaging customers and utilizing the data on customer behavior to fine tune their products or services and improve performance. Research by McKinsey Global Institute found that the social technologies have more potential to create value when they are effectively implemented to improve collaboration and communication across and within the organization. (Manyika, Chui & Sarrazin, 2012). These authors predict that to capture this "value", organizations need to do much more than simply acquiring and investing in some enterprise social technology. They prescribe participation of all employees and inclusion of social technology, by adapting social technology in the daily workflow and by adjusting the current workflow design. Secondly, they recommend that total employee participation on a social platform can only be ensured if the organization and its leaders maintain an environment of openness, information sharing, and trust. They advocate that the leaders of the organizations have to drive the initiative in creating the congenial environment and demonstrate how to use social media to drive value through sharing similar success stories.

New Media, Web 3.0 and Social Learning Communities Communication is one of the most basic activities of human beings that impact education, human behavior, human performance and, broadly, the society. We are living in an era of media information and communication revolution. What are the impacts of this emerging media revolution on human behavior, education, learning experiences, organizational performance and society in general? As discussed earlier, the new media has empowered individuals to become active producers of content, rather than being just passive recipients. This surge in media innovations has resulted in a plethora of information that is easily accessible and available on the web. Educational potential of social media and micro blogging experiences (with Facebook and Twitter for example) are being ÂŠ 2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

researched in higher educational contexts by enthusiastic educators and researchers. Many studies have found that social media has a positive impact on nurturing a learning community and in supporting informal learning beyond the classroom. (Bosch, 2009; Ebner, Lienhardt, Rohs & Meyer, 2010). Dunlap & Lowenthal (2009) described the instructional benefits and guidelines for use of Twitter in online courses, to encourage just-in-time social connections and interactions. Challenges to the educational use of web based new media in higher education such as ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) literacy, uneven access, privacy risks were also identified in certain studies (Bosch, 2009; Hew, 2011). Boulos & Wheeler (2007) suggest careful thinking, testing, evaluation and research in healthcare education and the emerging media, in order to establish „best practice models‟ to boost teaching and learning productivity, foster stronger „communities of practice‟, and support continuing medical education. A recent study by Fisher and Clayton (2012) found patients wanted providers to use some kind of social media for appointment setting and reminders, and as a forum/community for asking general questions. In their article “Connecting Informal and Formal Learning Experiences in the Age of Participatory Media”, Bull, et. al.(2008) suggest that the "World Wide Web is generating multiple formats and channels of communication and creativity" and " The rise of social media reflects new opportunities and outlets for creativity". Klamma, et. al. (2007), in their article suggest social software systems, available to any life-long learner for informal learning. According to Klamma et. al. (2007), with the new social media several learners, outside learning institutions have access to powerful social communities of experts and peers. The emerging media and the web are definitely impacting our lives, values, education and society. Customers, users, and individuals have been empowered by the new media; emerging new media have provided a platform for many individuals to engage in lifelong learning and become active content creators. The new media have presented opportunities for varied forms of communication, collaborative problem solving, creativity and innovation. If carefully incorporated within pedagogy, the new media also supports learning as a social process in all educational contexts and helps in building effective learning communities, where collective knowledge is created and advanced while supporting the growth of individual knowledge (Bielaczyc & Collins, 1999).

Cutting Edge Emerging Technology in Human Performance Improvement and Organizational Performance Davenport, Thomas and Cantrell (2002) identify management and organization, information technology and workplace design as the three factors that influence work performance of employees and the organization‟s performance. They encountered several studies in their research that confirmed that newer

technologies help workers accomplish more complex tasks than they could have done previously. Web and the new media promote organizational learning which in turn helps to improve organizational performance. Social networks form a tool for collaborative knowledge management (Jones, 2001) which includes creation, exchange and transformation of knowledge; that are essentials for any organizational learning. Mansour and Monavari (2008) in their research found that using wikis iteratively in an organization as a shared platform for knowledge creation led to generation of new ideas and improved innovation by leveraging collective intelligence. Vieregge and Moseley (2012) from their survey results mention technology as one of the important issues to consider for the future of HPI (Human Performance Improvement). They call for leveraging mobile devices for smart job aids, embracing virtual technology and focusing on taking advantage of cutting edge technologies for delivering Performance Improvement interventions. The emerging group of HPI participants in the survey viewed Web 2.0 as one of the most important and potentially positive tools to reenergize HPI professionals. Cutting edge technologies and media will definitely influence the evolving HPI field, since it definitely impacts critical business issues and how organizations function. The future of HPI will be defined by incorporating emerging technologies, newer approaches, fresh ideas and understanding as tools for human and organizational performance improvement. Schwaner, Harter & Palla (2013) discussed technological innovation as one of the factors that transformed the nature of workplace culture with respect to inter-personal conduct and trust. Their research discusses the growth of virtual groups or teams (enabled by the growth of World Wide Web since 1990s in workplace) and the impact of virtual team culture on leadership and productivity of organizations.

As we look aheadâ&#x20AC;Ś. Quinn, (2009) states in his article, "What we need, going forward, is the ability to take a continuous read on the environment and to adapt quickly. The nimble organization will be the one that thrives." We are living in a most exciting, dynamic, socially connected and technology driven era. Learning in this digital technology era does not follow the traditional rules. It does not depend on "individual knowledge acquisition, storage, and retrieval; rather, it relies on the connected learning that occurs through interaction with various sources of knowledge including the Internet and the learning management systems and participation in communities of common interest, social networks and group tasks."(Siemens, 2004). The evolution of the Internet, and the World Wide Web, have disrupted the foundations on which organizations have traditionally functioned, performed, and thrived. With the evolution of the Web, the growth in the technology and the emerging media, organizations are being forced to adapt, innovate and look for creative ideas in order to survive and flourish. Today, successful organizations are more than ever engaging with their consumers, tapping the potential of web based social media to create networks and remain connected to all stakeholders, opening up business systems to the Web, gleaning information from customer feedback on the web to improve performance, adding value and fine tuning their products and services, and

involving customers in all phases of the business process through social media, building communities with shared goals and values collaborating and cocreating. According to Alvin Toffler (n.d.), "The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn". If we don't learn to unlearn and relearn, we do not survive long and can be easily replaced by someone who can. No one knows, what the future holds for the technologies noted here. By the time this discussion is published new technologies will be known. We can only build and improve on what we currently have. We offer these guidelines as we prepare for cutting edge technologies: 1. Embrace change - In this technology driven era, we need to embrace change in a positive way, to succeed and survive and make our presence worthwhile. 2. Remain flexible - Remaining flexible to changes and innovations around us can help us accept and embrace change and use the change in our environment as opportunities for success. 3. Become intellectually curious - Genuine curiosity, reflection and openness of mind help in embracing change and in transforming change to a recipe for success. 4. Keep current - We are living in a dynamic period. The total environment around our system is constantly being influenced and reshaped by changes in other systems. It is important for us to remain current in factors and influences that may affect us or our systemâ&#x20AC;&#x;s survival. We need to keep current as well as adapt to our dynamic supra-system and our environment to be a vital player in the whole system. 5. Maintain an open mind - We need to value expertise in others, learn from each other, share information and knowledge, encourage others and ourselves to think differently, pay attention to feedback from the system in which we work and live - keeping an open mind and helping in implementing system wide best practices. 6. Boost and build cultural agility - When organizational leaders operate with limited cultural openness, the result is missed opportunities and poor performance. Being culturally agile is a necessity in this technology driven global economy, to engage a diversity of perspectives, foster strong collaboration and learn and practice new strategies. 7. Collaborate and form partnerships - Collaboration and forming strategic alliances and partnerships help organizations learn from each other and accomplish goals that are not possible otherwise. Similarly, collaborative and transformative leadership within an organization fosters shared vision and commitments, forms relationships, helps to resolve conflicts, and encourages team approaches to problem solving and building a collective knowledge bank for a successful organization. 8. Believe in yourself and the magic will happen!

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 79-99, October 2015

Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x; Perception of the Role of Counsellors in the Choice of a Career: a study of the Mfantseman Municipality in Ghana Moses Awinsong Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Omar Dawson Department of Religion University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Belinda Enyonam Gidiglo Ghana National College, Cape Coast, Ghana. Abstract. This study investigated studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x; perception of the role of counsellors in the choice of career using two schools in the Mfantseman Municipality in the Central Region. The study aimed at finding out the available counselling services in schools, the frequency of access to counselling in schools, and the perception students hold about the role of counsellors in the choice of careers. The descriptive research design was used in this study. Student respondents numbered 349 while 2 counsellors were involved in the study. Questionnaires and an interview guide were used to gather the necessary data for the study.The study revealed that counselling services are available in schools and include educational, vocational, and person-social counselling. Secondly, the study found that students had access to counselling but their frequency of access was inhibited by counsellor characteristics and other factors. Lastly, the study uncovered that students thought counsellors to be central to the process of making career choices. The government, Ghana Education Services, and school authorities should give much heed to counselling especially career guidance by making resources available to counsellors for work. Career guidance programmes should be routinized in schools for greater benefits to students. Counsellors should also endeavour to seek opportunities for skill upgrade and higher training so that they can become more relevant to the needs of students. Keywords: counsellors; perceive; career; decision-making.

Introduction High school drop-out rates result in unemployment, poverty, low quality of life, high dependency ratio and many other social problems which call for an effective career guidance programme in schools. Ocansey (2001) observes that making a correct or realistic career choice as well as planning for it is a difficult or delicate task. It is therefore important that school guidance programmes keep up with the latest trends, so that guidance services are provided in our schools to equip students to make them well prepared to make better choices in life. Whether students make use of school counsellors or not depends on how students perceive these counsellorsâ&#x20AC;&#x; roles in the choice of a career (Mittendorff, Beijaardb, den Brokb, & Koopman, 2012). In the school system, the ultimate aim of both teaching, and guidance and counselling is to prepare and guide students into a better future. Though guidance and counseling may not be a time-tabled activity as teaching, McLaughlin (1999) asserts that it carries an educational function. This means its place in the school system is no less important. The failure to offer or effectively provide guidance services has often led to wrong career path decisions that have adversely affected the victims and the nation. Lack of enthusiasm in a chosen field, low productivity at work, emotional depression, and lack of focus in life are some of the consequences of bad career decisions made by students (Fox & Butler, 2007). The need to maximize the benefits of school-based services like guidance and counselling therefore becomes ever important. But getting students to talk to counsellors remains unrealistic given the varying perceptions students hold about counsellors which hinder the natural human conversation process between both parties (Fox & Butler, 2007). Without such a conversation, good career decisions, which are a product of the conversational process, will not be possible. And since counsellors hold great secrets and information in store, these treasures are lost forever to these students.

Statement of the Problem It is expected that by the time a student leaves Senior High School, they should have decided on the occupation or career they intend to pursue. In contrast, it has been observed that most students complete second-cycle schooling without having an idea as to the occupation to pursue (Kelechie & Ihuoma, 2011). According to Kelechie, & Ihuoma (2011), students do not make informed career choice because they are largely influenced by their peers and parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x; preference for certain careers. School counsellors are not significant in the decision making process because students may have some perception about these counsellors which prevents them from seeking guidance and counselling on career choices. According to Oladele (2000), teachers and school administrators hold different perception about the roles school counsellors play as regards to adolescent reproductive life, academic life, relationship issues, and most of all, career guidance. Examining the perception of people on the role of the counsellor, earlier studies by Alexitch, Kobussen, and Stookey (2004) and Ojirah

(2004) reported different views and ideas from teachers, administrators and parents. The study concluded that the image of counsellors held by most participants was that of an academic advisor. The teachers, for instance, expected the counsellor to be abreast with school courses, curricula, and educational matters as well as personal and social issues. Unfortunately, they did not expect the counsellor to solely deal with career choice. It is then imperative to know students‟ perception of school counsellors‟ role in the choice of a career since some researchers (Oladele, 2000; Ocansey, 2001; Mittendorff, Beijaardb, den Brokb, & Koopman, 2012) have established that even teachers, administrators and parents have different perceptions about the role school counsellors play regarding career choice and other relevant issues. It is this gaps in the research for knowledge and information in education studies that has necessitated this study.

Research Questions The following were questions that were used to guide the study: 1. what are the guidance and counselling services available in SHS in the Mfantseman Municipality? 2. how often do SHS students access guidance and counselling services in their schools? 3. what are Senior High School students‟ perceptions of school counsellors‟ role in the choice of a career?

Review of Related Literature This section presents a review of related literature that supports the current research being undertaken.

Availability of Counselling Services Counselling services in schools have been found to be lacking (Adejimola & Tayo-Olajubu, 2009). This subsequently affects students‟ access to information about career choices at the high school level. Okeke and Okorie (2006) reported from a study in south-east Nigeria that there was a lack of counselling centres in schools. This, they noted, had affected the decision-making of students and resulted in maladjusted behavior. One-on-one counselling interactions between the counsellors and the students was found to be lacking and thus entrenched the belief of counselling unavailability. Offor (2008) concurs that counselling services in most Nigerian schools were non-exist though they are supposed to be. It was realized that though policy makers design policies on counselling and career guidance for schools, the lack of certain fundamentals like resources, administrative commitment, and expertise mitigate the realization of the aims envisaged in such policy documents. Also, Fia (2011) undertook a study of guidance and counselling services in schools in the Ho Municipality. He reported that educational, vocational, and person-social counselling were lacking in schools in Ho even where some of

them possessed clearly demarcated counselling centers to cater for the needs of clients. The absence of group school counselling of students by any counsellor in the school was noted to have created ignorance among students about counselling. Nwokolo, Anyamene, Oraegbunam, Anyachebelu, Okoye, and Obineli (2010) in a Nigerian study discovered that services for academic guidance and counselling were not available in schools. Of five states that were studied, two states-Ebonyi and Enugu- had no guidance and counselling centres in most of their schools. This was attributed to the lack of deepened awareness of the relevance of counselling. They report that group counselling, which can be effective in large schools or school districts, was not carried out. Fox and Butler (2007) explained, while not discarding the fact that services may not be available in some school, that counselling services seem unavailable in school due to low publicity. In their work, they found that no career conferences were organized to educate and introduce students to career options and professional paths. Kano (2012) also contend that guidance and counselling services were unavailable in schools in Tanzania until the government adopted guidelines for the implementation of these programs in schools in 2007. The effect was that many students failed to gain academic, personal, and vocational counselling support when they were in need. There is therefore the preponderance of the view that counselling and guidance services are unavailable in many schools and this affects students‟ welfare in the making of decisions about their career destinies.

Access to Counselling Services in Schools Whether students know about the availability of guidance and counselling services in the school or not is a major determinant of how well they access or do not access them. Fox and Butler (2007) found that some respondents‟ problem with school guidance and counselling services was that it was not widely known. About 29% of respondents in the study recommended better promotion of the service so that it will be frequently accessed by students. Publicity is therefore a major blockade to access to guidance and counselling services and by extension, career guidance. Chan and Quinn (2012) discovered that the worry that other people will find out about one‟s reasons for seeking professional help was the fourth important factor that inhibits access to guidance and counselling. The respondents shied from counselling due the fear of being teased and bullied by peers in the school. This highlights the fact that students did not seek guidance because they might be stigmatized by others who find out or see them going for such services. As much as possible therefore, students avoid the counsellor and their office. This is in sync with Setiawan‟s (2006) observation that the fear of someone finding out limits the urge to seek career guidance. This attitude has been perpetuated due to the rumour and gossip many hold through years of observation in school that guidance and counselling is for those who are academically weak or excessively truant.

Ogunlade and Akeredolu (2012) discovered in a study that most counselors in the school system are untrained and this can affect efficiency and the ability to woo more clients. A majority of students in the study made career choices without much information because professionally trained counsellors with the requisite knowledge were either absent. This absence of professionally trained counsellors discouraged students from seeking guidance and counselling. Eliamani, Richard, and Peter, (2014) also found non-professional counselling greatly affected access to counselling services. The lack of trained counsellors in Tanzanian schools, they found, denied and discouraged many students accessing professional services. Anagbogu (2008) reported that many school counsellors do not have access to the requisite professional training that empower them to be impactful in schools. Ogunlade and Akeredolu (2012) advise that counsellors should be given more training to prepare them for work. Thus, the greater the professional knowledge and expertise of the counsellor, the more likely students are to seek counselling service help in periods of need. Again, some students doubt the degree of confidentiality assured by counselors and that serve as a hindrance to their seeking guidance or counseling services (Le Surf & Lynch, 1999; Jenkins & Palmer, 2011; Mushaandja, Haihambo, Vergnani, and Frank, 2013). Le Surf and Lynch (1999) gathered from respondents in their study that the trust that a counselor would not tell anyone about one‟s secrets no matter how awful can encourage one to seek counseling. Setiawan (2006), who studied undergraduate university students in Indonesia, discovered that most students do not access counseling services frequently due to confidentiality issues among other pressing ones. Jenkins and Palmer (2011) particularly note that fear that one‟s secrets will be exposed made clients dread the counsellor. Even where referrals are made to the school counsellor by teachers or administrators, the counselee will fail to be open about his or her life difficulties. Mushaandja, Haihambo, Vergnani, and Frank (2013), in a qualitative study, found counsellors complaining about the lack of trust learners had in them. This, they attributed to cultural barriers and family influence. “How can a learner trust me if he or she knows I will not keep her information confidential?” one of the counsellors asked. Counselors therefore have a responsibility to win students‟ trust if they are to convince more students to take career guidance seriously. Equally significant is the problematic nature of the dual role of teachercounselors which put restraints on the counsellor‟s time and which can discourage students from accessing counselling facilities (Walker, Alloway, Dalley-Trim, & Patterson, 2006; Kuhn, 2004; Menon, 2010). This finding is supported by Menon (2010) found that the dual responsibilities of teacher and counselor adversely affected access to counseling programmes by most students. Many counsellors in this study complained about the lack of a defined role for the counsellor in the school which results in most counsellors becoming engaged in non-counselling related work. A study by the US Department of Education (2003) asserted that 49% of public schools reported that counselling and guidance staff spent more than 20% of their time on registering students. June, Curry, and Gear (1990) reported that Black students valued interaction with school counsellors as helpful in informing the frequency of their access of counsellors‟ service. Thus, one can conclude that accessibility to the counsellor is

key to most students‟ view of counsellors and the guidance and counselling process. Menon, (2010) and Walker et al (2006) reported that counselors who devoted their time to counseling needs encouraged students‟ decision to seek constant professional support. Conversely, those who paid equal or more attention to other responsibilities like teaching and administrative work were graded very lowly by students. Kuhn (2004) emphasized that the use of counsellors as principals, disciplinarians, and registration officers reduced students‟ value for their roles as counsellors so that they are not propelled to go to them for professional guidance. The lesson is that the availability of the counsellor in the school when truncated by other callings like teaching and administrative work can affect the decisions of students to seek counseling services.

Students Perception of Counsellors’ Role Students‟ perception of counsellors‟ impact in their decisions about the future is covered considerably by the literature (Walker et al, 2006; Alloway, Walker, Patterson, Dalley & Lenoy, 2004; Aspen, Cooper, Liu, Marowa, Rubio, Waterhouse, & Sheridan, 2015). Aspen et al (2015) assert that counsellors play a crucial role in students‟ career decisions and can influence the decision making process through the information they provide students. Contrastingly, Menon (2010) reported that students did not consider counsellors as central in the decisions made about careers. This means the influence of counselors in the career decisions of students is one dictated by students‟ view of how central they, the counsellors, are to the decision making process. Agi (2014) reported from a study that 71.8% of respondents held a negative view of counselling due primarily to perceptions held about the counsellor. Again, 72.5% of respondents held a hostile attitude towards counselling. This was traceable to the lack of informed and well researched counsellors. Ogunlade and Akeredolu (2012) learnt from their study that most students made wrong career decisions because of they had no informed counsellors to support them in their decision-making process. Many students therefore held counsellors to be impactful in their career choice making if these counsellors are well informed, intelligent, and well researched. Counsellors armed with a wide repertoire of knowledge are deemed important and impactful in students‟ choice making (Eliamani, Richard, & Peter, 2014). Walker et al (2006) equally discovered that prompt counsellor response to student inquiries created positive perceptions about the counsellor in the mind of the student. Egbo (2015) contend that respect for and recognition of the individual differences of students is central to the guidance and counselling process. Thus, students perceive counselors to be impactful in their choices in life if those counsellors recognize the individual differences of each student and strive to meet the needs shown by these differences as appropriately as possible. The American Personnel and Guidance Association Statement of Policy on the characteristics of a good counsellor buttress this by saying that a good counsellor is one who belief in each individual. The counsellor believes in the personal worth of each person, in his capacity for growth and change, and in his ability to

cope with life situations. Patterson and Levy (2007) also further that counsellors who took a genuine interest in people rather than just provide information made a great impact on the decisions of students. Many respondents in Patterson and Levy‟ study acknowledged that the personal attention they received from counsellors greatly made them feel better, stronger and informed. The indispensability of counsellor interest in counsellees is appropriately highlighted. Kuhn (2011) tasked 223 student respondents to rate the counsellors‟ work based on their perception of who they think counsellors are. He discovered that students rated „counsellor/coordinator‟ first. Other perceptions included leader, advocate, collaborator, and data utilizer in order of importance. Thus, counsellor professional availability was found to significantly affect students‟ perception of the counsellor. Their finding is in sync with McLaughlin‟s (1999) assertion that counselors who were inaccessible due to added teaching or administrative responsibilities were bound to have limited or no impact at all on students‟ choice of career. When counsellors offer less and less professional services to many students, it becomes difficult for them to influence the decisions students make about their lives (Chan & Quinn, 2012). Lastly, Badu (2011) realized from a study that counsellees favourably perceived the input of counsellors in their decisions when there is a positive counselling relationship between the counsellor and the counsellee. This relationship can include how trustworthy the counsellor is, his paralinguistic skills in making students comfortable, and the commitment shown in helping counsellees. Rafeffebsperger (2010) confirmed this by reporting that a positive counselling relationship was central to the success of the counselling process. Confidentiality, service flexibility, and location of the counselling centres all fed into establishing a positive relationship between the counsellor and the counsellee. Alice, Alice, and Patrick (2013) reported a Unesco study in which 46% of responding students in rural Uganda perceived counsellors negatively due primarily to persistent sexual harassments they had received from counsellors. This means there is the need for human centredness and professionalism in the counselling process. The more honest, humane, and exemplary a counsellor is to students and their difficulties, the more influential he will be in impacting students‟ choices in life including career decisions. From the literature, one notices that a voluminous amount of information exist on career choice-making in schools. Though a lot has been done on school counselling, the perception students hold about the role of counsellors in the choice of career is yet to be more empirically known. The present study will therefore add to the literature by investigating the availability of counselling services in schools, the frequency of use of counselling services by students, and the perceived roles counsellors play, according to students, in the choice of a career.

Methodology Research Design The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. Sarantakos (1998) intimates that descriptive research is able to describe a phenomenon and make generalizations concerning a larger group where a sample was drawn. Amedahe (2003) also holds that in descriptive research, accurate description of activities, objects, processes and persons is objective. This research design will therefore aid the researchers determine the exact nature of conditions that prevail in high schools on counselling and students view of the school counsellor. Descriptive research design is also widely used in educational research since data gathered by way of descriptive survey represents field conditions (Seidu, 2006; Fraenkel and Wallen, 1990).

Population The target population for the study was senior high school students in the Mfantseman Municipality. The accessible population for the study, however, was all students in Mankessim Senior High School and Saltpond Methodist Senior High School. Both are mixed gender schools with students from different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds in the Central Region of Ghana. According to data gathered by the researchers, the total number of total students and counsellors in the two schools for the 2014/2015 academic year is about 4000 (Records of the schools, 2014/2015 Academic Year).

Sample and Sampling Technique A sample size of 351 students and counsellors were used for the study based on the accessible population as described by Krejcie and Morgan (1970). This method of determining the sample size is deemed effective because it gives representative statistical sample in empirical research. Simple random sampling technique was used to select two schools from the municipality. This was done to ensure adequate representation of schools for the study. Also, the researchers simple randomly sampled 176 students out of 2013 students and a counsellor from Mankessim Senior High School, and 173 out of 1989 students and a counsellor from Saltpond Senior High School each school making a total of 351 out of 4002 students. All the students in the two schools were willing to partake but the researchers sampled only 349 students out of the total number. These 349 were those who eventually partook in the study. The allocation of these student numbers to both schools was to ensure representativeness of the sample from each participating school for the study. The school counsellors were purposively selected because of their unique knowledge and experience as guidance and counselling personnel.

Research Instrument Questionnaires were developed and used for the data collection. Indepth personal interviews were conducted with the counsellors. The questionnaire used for the study contained Section A which had information on the bio-data of respondents mainly age, gender, class, and school. Section B

contained information eliciting responses on the availability of counselling services in school with four items. Section C had items that questioned how often SHS students accessed guidance and counselling services in their schools and held eight items. The last part was Section D which enquired into students‟ perception of the role counsellors play in the choice of a career. This section contained seven items. The statements were based on a Likert Scale format ranging from strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree. Students were to tick as was applicable to their situation.

Data Collection Procedure The researchers collected an introductory letter from the Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education, University of Cape Coast to formally introduce themselves to the headmasters in the schools selected for the study. Permission was sought from the management of the schools and respondents before the questionnaires were administered to the respondents. No one was compelled to take part in this study. The researchers administered the questionnaires themselves after explaining the purpose and significance of the study to the respondents. The researchers encouraged the respondents to provide honest responses to increase the girth of reliability of the study. The terms in the questionnaire which were not understood by some respondents were explained in the process of gathering the data. The questionnaires were administered to students during the last week of the school term. The schools scored a return rate of 84.7% and 86.2% for Manksessim SHS and Saltpond Methodist SHS, respectively. Two counsellors were interviewed, the outcome transcribed, and subsequently presented as part of the discussion of the study‟s outcome.

Data Analysis Data gathered from the questionnaires administered were first organized, coded and categorized. Following this, the data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Service Solutions (SPSS) software version sixteen. Descriptive statistical method was also employed during the analysis of the data, making extensive use of frequencies and percentages. The interview with the counsellors was transcribed, and subsequently presented as part of the discussion of the study‟s outcome.

Results and Discussions This chapter discusses and interprets the results based on the data gathered from 351 participants. In analyzing the data, we followed the three research questions that guided the study. Tables showing the frequencies and their corresponding percentages for each item were constructed. The background information of participants, availability of counselling services in schools, access to counselling services, and students‟ perception of the counsellor in the choice of a career were looked at in this chapter.

Background Information of Respondents Table 1: Gender of the Respondents

Gender

Frequency

Percentage

Male

187

62.3

Female

113

37.6

Total

300

100.0

Source: Field Data, 2015. Table 1 represents the gender of respondents and shows a high percentage for male respondents at 62.3% of the total in both schools. The femalesâ&#x20AC;&#x; number is no discouraging because their figure is almost about 40% of the total of respondents who participated in the study. The disparity in access to education between boys and girls in Ghana may account for this difference. Table 2: Age of the Respondents

Age

Frequency

Percentage

13-15

21.7

16-18

176

58.6

19-21

16.7

Above 21 years

3.0

Source: Field Data, 2015. In Table 2 above, we have the age distribution of the respondents. The highest respondent age group is those between 16-18 years. Students who were between 13-15 formed 21.7% and were the second highest age group of respondents. This is unsurprising because many students enter high schools at around 13 to 15. The lowest age groups were those between 19-21 and above 21 years who scored 16.7% and 3% respectively. This is logical given that many people complete high school by the time they are twenty years old. Table 3: Class of the Respondents

Form

Frequency

Percentage

SHS1

21.7

SHS2

166

55.3

SSS3

23.0

Total

300

100.0

Source: Field Data, 2015. Table 3 shows the class of the respondents in the study. Greater numbers of second year students responded to the study than other classes. They formed 55.3% of the respondents. Both first and third year students formed 21.7% and 23.0% of respondents respectively. This was due to the scarcity of third year students for the study since the data were collected during the examination week when many third year students were writing intensive mock examinations. Though all classes were difficult to access due to the examinations, the first and second year classes were not as hard to access as the final year class because of the added burden of preparing for the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). The high numbers of second and third year students gave the study a high degree of reliability because they are those most fitted to inform on the counselling atmosphere due to duration of their stay in the schools. Table 4: Schools of the Respondents Name of School

Frequency

Percentage

146

48.7

Methodist Senior High School

154

51.3

Total

300

100.0

Mankessim Senior High Technical School

Source: Field Data, 2015 The information in Table 4 details the schools of the respondents who participated in the study. The returned questionnaires indicated that Methodist High School in Saltpond registered 51.3% of the total number of respondents for the study. Mankessim Senior High Technical School followed up with 48.7% of the respondents. The figures are very close. This stems from the almost equal nature of the available population in both schools.

Analyses of the Study Availability of Guidance and Counselling Services The information in Table 5 below gives insight into the responses given by students to the first research question which sought to determine the availability of guidance and counselling services in schools in the Mfantsiman Municipality.

Table 5: Availability of Guidance and Counselling Services

Statement

SD N (%) 31(10.3)

D N (%) 50(16.5)

A N (%) 132(44.2)

SA N (%) 87(29.0)

The guidance and counselling coordinator or the tutors discusses privately what I should do as a student to achieve academic success

42(14.0)

57(19.0)

135(45.0)

66(22.0)

The guidance and counselling coordinator meets the student body to provide useful career and life guidance

68(22.6)

132(44.0)

55(18.4)

45(15.0)

The counsellor organizes career conferences for the students Source: Field Data, 2015

114(38.0)

91(30.3)

68(22.6)

27(9.0)

I have heard of counselling since I reported to SHS

On the whole, more than half of respondents agreed that they have heard of guidance and counselling during their stay in the high school. The figure represented is 73.2% for those who agreed. There is therefore a great awareness of the availability of counselling services in the schools of the respondents. Nwokolo et al (2010), Fia (2011) and Fox and Butler‟s (2007) assertion that there is low publicity of guidance and counselling services in schools seems not to be the case in the Mfantseman Municipality. Students also agreed (67% of respondents) that their counsellors have met them to discuss academic strategies so as to help them achieve success in school. This shows that counsellors have been able to attend to students‟ academic needs. It contradicts Okeke and Okori‟s finding that one-on-one interaction between counsellors and students is unavailable in school. However, a majority of students disagreed (66.6%) that the counsellor have ever met the student body to discuss career issues. This concurs Nwokolo et al (2010) and Kano (2012) finding that group counselling is unavailable in most schools. Close on the heels of this staggering fact is the revelation that 205 (61.1%) of students said school counsellor do not organize career conferences for students. These discoveries show that though counsellors meet students singly to discuss academic issues, they do not either meet the general student population or organize formal career guidance events for the students in the schools. It could also be that the school counsellor does well to meet students individually once they report to school but fail to carry follow ups on them as time pass by. The school counsellor‟s work is therefore not routinized to assure maximum benefit for those it is meant to help, namely students. Fox and Butler‟s (2007) view that lack of career conferences created notions of career counselling unavailability is very much confirmed here. There is no general meeting of the school population with the counsellor from time to time. @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

A school counsellor asserted that “mostly career counselling and maybe some minor, minor individual issues like how to study” are the areas of counselling offered by counsellors to students. This largely confirms the response by students that guidance and counselling services are available in their schools. A second counsellor furthered, when asked what kind of counselling services are available in the school, said that counsellors “usually offer counselling with respect to poor academic performance. When a student is seen to be performing poorly or abysmally continually, before the school decides to repeat that child, they normally take the child to the counselling section for them to speak to that child.” He added that “sometimes too if there are behavioural attitudes that seem to be happening often in the school, they (the school counsellors) fish people who are involved and then they talk to them to know exactly what is motivating them to be involved in those acts.” Thus available counselling services are not limited to career guidance but include educational and person-social counselling as well. Both counsellors also held that whereas there are no career guidance programmes on a regular basis, teachers do provide career information to students during normal teaching periods and outside the classroom. It is therefore clear that teachers play an important role in providing career information which the school counsellor might not be able to do due to frequency of teachers‟ meeting with students compared to the counsellor. Overall, there seem to be some form of counselling in schools but their effectiveness in areas like group counselling and career guidance is questionable. That validates Kano‟s (2012) claim of lack of effective counselling in schools.

Access to Counselling Service in Schools The facts in Table 6 details the respondents‟ view on their level of access to counselling in school.

Table 6: Access to Counselling Service in Schools

Statement

SD D N (%) N (%) 97(32.3) 126(42.0)

A N (%) 50(16.6)

SA N (%) 27(9.0)

My school has a counselling centre

45(15.0)

34(11.3)

154(51.3)

67(22.3)

I know where to find the counselling office in the school

45(15.0)

34(11.3)

154(51.3)

67(22.3)

I go for counselling due to the confidence I have in the counsellor that s/he will not tell anyone

89(29.6) 111(37.0)

78(26.0)

22(7.3)

I have gone to the guidance and counselling co-ordinator to discuss a personal issue

I go for counselling because I think the counsellor is well trained to help me

85(29.3) 121(40.3)

43(14.3)

51(17.0)

The counsellor is available always to address my personal issues

71(23.6) 114(38.0)

85(29.3)

30(10.0)

I go for counselling because I do not shy someone will find out Source: Field Data, 2015

83(27.5) 142(47.3)

40(13.3)

35(11.6)

Exactly 51.3% of students indicated that they knew that their schools had a counselling centre and that they knew where to find the counselling office. Thus, access to guidance and counselling services by students is not hampered by a lack of awareness. This response is contradictory to Fox and Butler‟s (2007) finding that publicity is a major hindrance to access to counselling. This is confirmed by 77% of respondents who agreed that they have discussed a personal issue with the counsellor. If they did not know about counselling services or where to locate the office of the counsellor, then students will had been unable to have personal issues discussed with the school counsellor. But one of the counsellors disclosed that “it is only when the issue is at the extreme” that students come for counselling. An important response given by students was the fact that they do not access counselling because of confidentiality problems. A total of 66.6% disagreed that they access guidance and counselling because of their faith in the counsellor that he or she will not tell anyone. This illuminates that students do not have confidence in the secrecy of counsellors. Both Setiawan (2006) and Jenkins and Palmer (2011) had also found confidentiality as inhibiting access to counselling in their own studies. The statistics in this study confirm the studies by Setiawan (2006), Le Surf and Lynch (1999), and Mushaandja, Haihambo, Vergnani, Jenkins and Palmer (2011), and Frank (2013) that confidentiality can be a hindrance to access to counselling. Again, many students (69.6%) disagreed that counsellor had the requisite skill and professional ability to guide them. This shows a lack of skilled professional training visible in the counsellor as observed by students. The totality of disagreement stands at 69.3% of all respondents on this rubric. The figure is significant because it brings to the fore the necessity of professional know-how of counsellors to the guidance and counselling process and how it can positively impact the access level of students to professional guidance support. The discovery of Ogunlade and Akeredolu (2012) that untrained counsellors discourage students from accessing counselling has been aptly buttressed in this study by the almost 70% of respondents who saw ill-trained counsellor as inhibiting access to counselling. Eliamani, Richard, and Peter, (2014) and Anagbogu‟s (2008) contention that untrained counsellors negatively impact students‟ desire to access counselling is even more true given the quantity of response on this statement.

Also, shyness was shown to inhibit the decision to seek guidance and counselling. A majority (74.8%) disagreed that they did not shy seeking counselling. Thus, shyness is a hindrance to seeking counselling. School counsellors also said that shyness was central in students‟ access to counselling. They disclosed that other students had to be depended on to fish out students going through emotional, educational, and other life difficulties because these students will normally not seek professional counsellors‟ help in the school. The location of the counsellor‟s office is likely to inform this trend because if the office is open to the public eye, then students might fear to access it for fear that they might be stigmatized. The outcome of Anagbogu (2008) and Chan and Quinn (2012) and study has been confirmed in this regard. A school counsellor observed that students might not want to access the counsellor‟s office if they realize that there are other people like teachers in or around the office. So the location of the office must be done such that those who have nothing to do with the office or the service are kept at bay. Another counsellor said that students are spoken to often so that they come to recognize that counselling is not for only people who are in trouble. This will sensitize them to stop stigmatizing students who seek counsellors‟ aid. Respondents also denied that counsellor were available to attend to their needs always. One hundred and fourteen students representing 61.6% disagreed that counsellors were always available to listen to their difficulties. This unavailability of the counsellor inhibited the urge to demand or seek counselling service. The reason can be traced to the duality of role the counsellor plays as a counsellor and teacher in schools in most jurisdictions including Ghana. This finding concurs Menon (2010) who found that counsellors who paid little attention to counsellees did not encourage students to seek professional counselling help in schools. McLaughlin (1999) and the US Department of Education (2003) had also reported that students were discouraged to access counsellors once they knew the counsellor will have little time for them. The percentage of response (61.6%) confirms the reports of both McLaughlin and the US Department of Education (2003). The dual role of teaching and counselling was therefore found to inhibit access to counselling by students because counsellors have little time to spend on their core duties of counselling.

Students’ Perception of Counsellor’s Role in Career Choice Instruction Table 7 provides understanding into students‟ perception of the role of a counsellor in the choice of a school career. This table addressed six inquiries. Table 7: Students’ Perception of Counsellor’s Role in Career Choice Instruction

Statement My school counsellor can help me make informed choice concerning my future My school counsellor is

SD N (%) 25(8.3)

D N (%) 62(20.6)

A SA N (%) N (%) 113(37.5) 100(33.3)

56(18.5) 121(40.3) 67(22.3)

56(18.6)

helpful because s/he is prompt in providing me information when I request it My school counsellor is knowledgeable enough to help me make good career choice

78(26.0) 86(28.5)

101(33.6) 35(11.6)

My school counsellor is trust- 67(22.3) 56(18.6) worthy enough to discuss my career decisions with

100(33.3) 67(22.3)

My school counsellor treats me as a unique person My school counsellor is always available to counsel me on career choices

45(15.0) 38(12.6)

126(42.0) 91(30.3)

62(20.6) 58(19.3)

105(35.0) 75(25.0)

My school counsellor is nice to me when counselling me Source: Field Data, 2015

51(17.0) 43(14.3)

128(42.6) 78(26.0)

From the facts captured in Table 7, less than 30% of respondents thought counsellors could not help them make decisions concerning their future. There were 70.8% of students who agreed that that was the case. This means that the faith of students in the ability of their counsellors to help them make intelligent life choice is widely spread among high school students in the study area. But despite this apparent faith in the counsellor to be able to help, students do not see counsellors as helpful when the counsellor is not prompt in responding to their inquiries. There were 40.3% of respondents who disagreed that counsellors were prompt responses to their inquiries when they make them and that lowered the counsellors‟ impact level in the students‟ decision-making process. Only 22.3% of students thought otherwise. This finding agrees with Walker et al (2006) study that counsellors who provided prompt responses to inquiries were perceived as having important roles in students‟ career choice. More than half of students, that is, 54.5% who disagreed, also held that their counsellors were not knowledgeable enough to aid them. This concords with the earlier view expressed by respondents that they do not think counsellors are well trained to provide them the care they need. Agi (2014) finding that lack of knowledgeable counsellors lower students‟ perception of guidance and counselling is true. Also, Ogunlade and Akeredolu (2012) and Eliamani, Richard, and Peter, (2014) view that informed counsellors impact the decisions of students is confirmed. It is therefore imperative that counsellors improve their knowledge through reading and research after training so as to stamp their experiences on the decisions students make about the future.

Many students captured in the study will ideally like to discuss career choice decisions with counsellors. They represent 55.6% of respondents. This view portrays the important role counsellors can play in learners‟ career choice if they are perceived as trust worthy by student. Though respondents do not think counsellors are knowledgeable enough to aid them, the decision to score them high on involving them in career choice making may be due to the fact that counsellors, aside parents, are the next important adult contacts who students fall on to enquire into details of their career choices. The view by Fox and Butler (2007) and Badu (2011) that good counselling relationship like trust worthiness enhance the students‟ decision to seek career advice has been confirmed. Respect for the uniqueness of each individual by the counsellor was taken seriously by students as informing whether they involved counsellors in their career choice or not. There were 72.2% of the students who agreed that counsellors took a unique view of students in the counselling process. The students will therefore feel more comfortable in involving counsellors in their career choice since they know they are important in the eye of the counsellor. Egbo‟s (2015) contention that respect for the unique individuality of counsellees is a catalyst for improving counsellees‟ perception of counsellors has been validated strongly. Patterson and Levy (2007) study that effective counsellors were those who took a genuine interest in students was further given a boost in this study with 72.2% of students agreeing to this fact. Closely tied to this rubric was the revelation that 68.6% of respondents agreed that counsellors were nice to them during counselling. The involvement of counsellors in career choice based on this human aspect of the counsellor is important for students and guidance and counselling profession. School counsellors also realized this characteristic. They asserted that they are „nice‟ or genuinely interested in students in their everyday encounters with students so that even if a student finds it psychologically difficult to approach them, they will be able to find a friend who is more emotionally stable to help bring such a student to the counsellor. The respondents also disclosed that counsellors were available to provide the necessary career guidance when they needed them. Those who agreed formed 60% of total respondents. But the disagreements were substantial, about 40% of the total number of respondents. This means that a significant number of students think otherwise. For these students who responded in the negative, the non-availability of the counsellor inhibits their willingness to involve them in their career choice decision making. But these students who disagreed might also had held availability to mean visibility as opined by Kuhn (2011) and McLaughlin (1993). For students who thought the counsellor was available, such counsellors were involved in students‟ career decision-making.

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations This chapter summarizes information obtained from the study. It is also used to draw conclusions on the study and proffers recommendations based on the findings of the study.

Summary The study‟s aims were to investigate guidance counselling and services available in schools, students‟ access of counselling services, and the perception students hold about the role of counsellors in the choice of a school career in the Mfantseman Municipality. Descriptive survey was the research design used for the study. Questionnaires and in-depth interviews were used to collect data. A sample of 351 respondents was employed in the study. Descriptive statistical method was used in analyzing the data making extensive use of frequencies and percentages. The study‟s summary held that: 1. Guidance and counselling services are available to students in schools and that students have experienced these services. Most of the contacts between the students and the counsellors were one on one contact rather than group or conferential. The meetings between the two players were however not routinized to enable a constant relationship that offers a helping input into students‟ overall academic, social and career needs for high school students in the Mfantseman Municipality. 2. The guidance and counselling services in schools were accessed by students though not without some difficulties. Issues of confidentiality, the training of the counsellor, the degree of shyness, and the professional availability of the counsellor were said to be inhibiting factors to the urge to frequently access counselling services in schools though such services were readily available in schools in the Mfantseman Municipality. 3. Counsellors are important in the process of making a career choice. The consensus was that though the counsellor is important, their personality and professional bearing determines whether they eventually had a role to play in students‟ career choice decisionmaking. The counsellor‟s knowledgeability, promptness in responding to students‟ inquiries, and the extent of uniqueness they see in each student formed a bedrock that determined if students came for counselling and whether they involved the counsellor in the making of career decisions.

Conclusion The study arrived at some conclusions. Firstly, it was realized that guidance and counselling services are available in schools in the Mfantseman Municipality. Students also accessed counselling though the frequency of access was not encouraging. Thirdly, the study showed that students took a positive view of the role counsellor in making career choice especially if the personality @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

and professional commitment of the counsellor were very attractive and convincing.

Recommendations From the outcome of the study a number of recommendations were proffered. 1. Guidance and counselling services should not only be available in schools but that counsellors must routinize their activities to benefit students the more. Conferences on career opportunities as well as group counselling should be encouraged. 2. Counsellors and school authorities should create the necessary institutional and psychological foundations that enables students find it easier to access professional counselling. The location of counselling offices should be encouraging to students to want to seek professional advice. 3. Counsellors must do well to improve their personality and professional know-how to woo more students to the counselling centres in schools. The more personal, professional, attentive, and flexible counsellors are, the greater the students will involve them in the making of decisions about the future.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 100-114, October 2015

Teacher’s Knowledge of Students about Geometry Habila Elisha Zuya and Simon Kevin Kwalat Department of Science and Technology Education Faculty of Education University of Jos, Nigeria Email: elishazuya2@gmail.com; ehzuya@yahoo.com Abstract. This study investigated the adequacy of mathematics teachers in terms of the ability to identify students‟ missing knowledge and suggest strategies to address students‟ difficulties. The participants were 37 secondary school mathematics teachers teaching in senior classes. The teachers‟ years of experience range from 3-10. The teachers were requested to respond to 4 open-ended questions, and the items in the questionnaire required them to identify what knowledge the student lacked and what strategies could be used to help the student. The study revealed that most of the teachers could not indicate the student‟s missing knowledge with respect to angles in parallel lines. The teachers were also unable to help the student, as they could not suggest specific ways that would help remove the student‟s difficulties. Keywords: Teachers‟ knowledge; Students‟ misconceptions; Angles in geometry

Introduction Geometry as one of the branches of mathematics has an important role in the study of mathematics. Geometry is thought-about as an important branch of mathematics. According to Biber, Tuna and Korkmaz (2013), “geometry is a branch of mathematics concerned with point, straight line, plane figures, space, spatial figures, and the relations between them”(p. 1). The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM](2000) stressed the prominence of geometry by stating that “geometry offers an aspect of mathematical thinking that is different from, but connected to, the world of numbers” (p.97). Clements and Battista (1992) pointed out that geometry can be considered as a tool to facilitate the interpretation and reflection on the physical environment. It means, through the knowledge of geometry we are able to describe, analyze and understand the world in which we live. In fact, Ozerem (2012) said, “studying geometry is an important component of learning mathematics because it allows students to analyze and interpret the world they live in as well as equip them with tools they can apply in other areas of mathematics” (p. 23). This means the

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understanding of the environment we live in, and the ability to do well in other areas of mathematics rest on our understanding of geometry. NCTM (1989, 2000) asserted that geometry is of benefit to both teachers and students in other topics in the mathematics curriculum and other disciplines. For instance, geometry is closely related to measurement. NCTM (2000) maintained that there is significant overlap between geometry and measurement. Problems that are related to other branches of mathematics can be solved using the knowledge of geometry, apart from its usage for solving daily life problems. Several mathematics educators have maintained that geometry promotes students‟ knowledge relating to space and the relationship of objects within it, skills of deductive reasoning, and the ability to solve real life problems in which geometrical vocabulary and properties present themselves (e.g. French, 2004; Presmeg, 2006; Marchis, 2012). Since the development of logical reasoning and the ability to solve real-life problems are attributable to a sound knowledge of geometry, it is necessary the teaching of geometry is done in such a manner that students‟ misconceptions are minimized. And this implies teachers of mathematics should be able to identify and address such misconceptions when they arise. Van Hieles (1999) pointed out that conceptual and procedural knowledge in geometry can be accelerated through instruction, and maintained that instruction is a greater determining factor of progress from one level to the next one than age or maturity.

Students’ Misconceptions in Geometry Several studies have indicated that students have problem in comprehending geometric concepts, which is an important aspect of learning mathematics (e.g. Mitchelmore, 1997; Prescott, Mitchelmore & White, 2002; Thirumurthy, 2003). Mayberry (1983) said most students learn geometry based on rote-learning approach. The student may hold the visualization and the verbal definition, but prefer the visual prototype when classifying and identifying geometric figures (Ozerem, 2012). This is indicative of rote learning. Fischbein and Nachlieli (1998) found that students were able to define parallelogram correctly, but when required to classify geometric figures according to shapes, majority of them depended on the visual prototype instead of their definitions. Researchers have given reasons for students‟ misconceptions in geometry. The reasons given by Ozerem (2012) include students‟ reliance on the physical appearances of the figures, inability to associate geometric properties with one another, overgeneralization and rote learning. Also, Clement and Battista (1992) enumerated some of the causes of students‟ misconceptions in geometric concepts, as (i) lack of understanding the subject sufficiently (ii) overgeneralization of specific rules (iii) rote learning and (iv) inability to comprehend geometric concepts exactly. The reasons given by Ozeren (2012) and Clement and Battista (1992) are similar, as they are centered on lack of conceptual knowledge due to rote learning approach. Furthermore, Marchis (2012) pointed out that students have misconceptions in geometry because of concept definition. Formal concept definition generates personal concept image. Marchis (2012) asserted that this concept image may not develop in some students, and in others, it may not be related to the formal

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definition. Archavsky and Goldenberg (2005) found that there has often been conflict between mental images of geometric figures and verbal definitions. There is the need to address these misconceptions when teaching so that it would help the students reflect on where the confusion between the verbal definition and their own mental image comes from (Marchis, 2012). Research has shown that when classifying and identifying shapes preference is given to visual prototype rather than a formal definition (e.g. Ozerem, 2012). These misconceptions are not unconnected with the way and manner teachers handle the subject. The literature has identified some common misconceptions in geometry among students. Mayberry (1983) and Clements and Battista (1992), said geometric shapes presented in non-standard forms are hardly recognized by many students, as they perceive a square as not a square if it is not on a horizontal base. Many students have problems in perceiving class inclusions of shapes, for example, they do not think that a square is a rectangle, or a square is a rhombus, and a rectangle is a parallelogram (Mayberry, 1983; Feza & Webb, 2005; Marchis, 2008). Other common misconceptions include, using the bottom line as the base of the triangle in calculating the area of a triangle; larger space means larger angle; inability to understand the angles in parallel lines- alternate and corresponding angles; inability to recognize and perceive the properties of quadrilaterals; learning formulas and definitions inadequately. According to Biber, Tuna and Korkmaz (2013) students lack knowledge of parallel lines and they calculate angles based on the physical appearances of the figures. In this study, the focus was on teachers‟ knowledge of students about angles related to parallel lines. Though there are several studies on the investigation of students‟ misconceptions in geometry, the literature review indicates absence of studies on investigating teachers‟ knowledge of students‟ misconceptions in geometry, especially in Nigeria. The present study investigated the adequacy of mathematics teachers in identifying and addressing students‟ misconceptions in geometry, in specific, angles in parallel lines. The need for the study therefore cannot be overstressed considering the importance of geometry in school mathematics curricula and its usage for solving real-life problems.

Teachers’ Knowledge of students Educational research has identified three core components of teachers‟ knowledge. These are subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and generic pedagogical knowledge (Baumert, Kunter, Blum, Brunner, Voss, Jordan, Klusmann, Krauss, Neubrand & Tsai, 2010). The effectiveness of any teacher depends on the possession of these components of knowledge. The knowledge of concepts and procedures brought to the learning of a topic by the students, and the misconceptions the students may have developed are both aspects of the pedagogical content knowledge (Carpenter, Fennema, Peterson & Carey, 1988). This knowledge also has to do with the teachers‟ knowledge of methods for evaluating students‟ conceptual and

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procedural knowledge, and misconceptions.

the

adequacy of

dealing

with

students‟

One of the key components of teacher competence is a sound knowledge of teachers about students (Baumert et al, 2010). Teachers‟ knowledge of students includes ability to identify students‟ sources of misconceptions and to predict their thinking processes. Teachers‟ knowledge of students enables a variety of classroom strategies (Hill, Chin &Blazar, 2015), and ranks high among the teacher capabilities identified as important to effective teaching (Cohen, Raudenbush & Ball, 2003). Zhao (2012) pointed out that teachers‟ knowledge should be such that it enables students to learn skills and affect positively their learning strategies. Hill, Chin & Blazar (2008) noted that there is a general consensus among Mathematics educators that teachers who have uncommon knowledge of students‟ mathematical ideas and thinking are effective. And teachers who have adequate knowledge of students‟ mathematical ideas and thinking processes are expected to be able to identify students‟ difficulties in mathematics, and also the sources of their errors and misconceptions. However, the literature reveals that mathematics teachers have difficulties in identifying students‟ misconceptions, and predicting students‟ thinking processes (Asquith, Stephens, Knoth & Alibali, 2007; Zuya, 2014). This study examined the adequacy of mathematics teachers‟ knowledge in identifying and dealing with students‟ misconceptions in geometry; specifically angles in parallel lines.

Statement of the Problem Students‟ meaningful learning of geometry could help them solve and appreciate real-life problems. However, the literature reveals that students have a lot of misconceptions in learning some geometric concepts. This study was proposed to determine whether mathematics teachers are adequate in identifying and dealing with students‟ misconceptions associated with angles in geometry. Teachers‟ adequacy in this study refers to ability to identify and suggest strategies in dealing with students‟ misconceptions associated with angles in parallel lines.

Purpose of the Study The main purpose of the study was to investigate mathematics teachers‟ knowledge of students about geometry. Specifically, the study focused on the adequacy of mathematics teachers in identifying students‟ misconceptions in calculating angles related to parallel lines and strategies in dealing with such misconceptions.

Research Questions The following research questions were formulated to guide the study: 1. How adequate are mathematics teachers in identifying students‟ misconceptions associated with angles in parallel lines? 2. How adequate are mathematics teachers in suggesting strategies to address students‟ misconceptions associated with angles in parallel lines?

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Methodology Research Design The qualitative research approach was implemented in this study. This is because qualitative method of analyzing data has emphasis on process rather than product (Woods, 2006). The focus was on how mathematics teachers explain their knowledge of students about geometry.

Participants The participants were mathematics teachers randomly selected from public secondary schools in Bauchi State, of Nigeria. The participants were 37 in number, and of varying qualifications and years of experience. Their qualifications were either Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) or First degree in/with Education. Of the 37 participants, 12 were NCE holders and 18 degree holders. Their years of experience range from 3-10, and were teaching mathematics in the secondary schools.

Instrument for Data Collection In this study, the instrument used for data collection was partly adapted from Biber, Tuna and Korkmaz (2013) and partly designed by the researcher. The misconceptions exhibited by the students in their study formed the basis for the questionnaire designed for collecting data in this study. The studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x; solutions were displayed, and the teachers were asked to identify the causes of the misconceptions and to suggest strategies for dealing with the misconceptions. The instrument consisted of 4 open-ended questionnaires, and each questionnaire indicates the given question and the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x;s solution. Questionnaires 1, 2 and 3 are shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 respectively, and there are two items under each questionnaire. The fourth questionnaire has three items, and it is shown in Figure 4. The items designed by the researchers to collect data from the participants were given out for validation. Two experts in Mathematics Education read the items, and agreed that the items would elicit the information required.

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A student was asked to calculate the angle in the figure below. Given that DE//BA, find angle DCB. F

D 130 0

. B

40 0

Studentâ&#x20AC;&#x;s solution:

a) Identify what knowledge the student lacks. b) How would you help this student?

Figure 1 Mathematics Teaching Questionnaire I

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In the figure below, ED//BA, find angle DCB. C

100 155 Studentâ&#x20AC;&#x;s solution: E

a) What does the student not know? b) How would you help the student?

Figure 2 Mathematics Teaching Questionnaire II

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Find angle EBA in the figure below, given EF//CA. E A ?

Studentâ&#x20AC;&#x;s solution:

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F D

95 C

a) What knowledge does the student lack? b) What strategies would you use to remove this misconception?

Figure 3 Mathematics Teaching Questionnaire III

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Given that DF//BA, calculate angle DEB in the figure below. F

D x 2x E

120

y 2y A

Student‟s solution:

a) What is the student‟s thinking? b) Identify what knowledge the student lacks. c) Suggest how the misconception can be avoided. Figure 4: Mathematics Teaching Questionnaire IV

Results and Discussion Results This study answered two research questions. The first research question is: How adequate are mathematics teachers in identifying students‟ misconceptions associated with angles in parallel lines? To answer this question, teachers were requested to respond to questions in which their answers are expected to demonstrate their ability in identifying students‟ misconceptions in angles. The

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questions required the teachers to identify students‟ knowledge about parallelism. Such knowledge as „the sum of supplementary angles is 1800‟, „the sum of interior angles of a triangle is 1800‟, and „the recognition of corresponding/alternate angles as being equal‟. Four different problem situations were given, and in each, teachers were requested to identify the knowledge the student lacks with respect to the displayed student‟s solution.

Teachers’ responses to item 1(a) Variety of responses was obtained from the mathematics teachers. Of the 37 mathematics teachers who were the respondents to the study, 5(13%) of them said “The student lacks the knowledge of angles and intercepts on parallel lines”, while 5 (13%) others wrote: “The student lacks the knowledge of geometric theorems and how to apply them in solving problems”. It can be said that the 5 teachers who said the student lacks knowledge of angles and intercepts on parallel lines were, to some extent, aware of the knowledge the student needed for the solution. This is because the student must know what a line which transverses two parallel lines means before he/she can make good attempt. The other 5 teachers‟ response was vague, as it did not identify a particular knowledge relating to some specific geometric properties. 13 (35%) mathematics teachers response was that “The student lacks the knowledge of Pythagoras‟ theorem”. In fact, some among them said the student should have used Pythagoras‟ theorem in calculating the given angle. This clearly indicates inadequacy of these teachers. These teachers do not themselves have the knowledge they are expected to identify as lacking in the student. This also revealed that these teachers were relying on the physical appearance of the figure without thinking about its geometric properties. 4 (10.8%) of the teachers wrote, “The student lacks the knowledge of dividing angle C as to alternate with 400”, 1 (2.7%) said “The student lacks knowledge of angle measurement”, while 2 (5.4%) others said, “The answer to the problem should be 1700 and not 100”. These responses revealed that these teachers are themselves having difficulties understanding the problem situation. The response that the answer should be 1700 and not 100 is irrelevant and an indication of the avoidance of the question asked. Of the 37 teachers, 7 (18.9%) did not respond to this item. No response could mean different things. It could mean not understanding the problem situation or not having the knowledge required to solve the given problem. Whichever is applicable, there is evidence of inadequacy on the part of the teachers involved.

Teachers’ responses to item 2(a) Of the 37 teachers, 6 (16.2%) said “The student does not know that in solving or proving any geometric problem, a theorem is required to prove each step”. This was in response to the question, “What knowledge does the student lack?” This response does not identify the knowledge the student lacks. The given problem situation is not on proof. The response, therefore, does not show adequacy on the part of the teachers. 17 (45.9%) other teachers stated that “the student lacks the knowledge of Pythagoras‟ theorem”. This group of teachers either relied on the physical appearance of the geometric figure, or lacked the knowledge required to solve the problem. The knowledge required for solving the problem

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is the knowledge of the line that transverses two lines which are parallel, and not knowledge of Pythagoras‟ theorem. Still 5 (13.5%) others said “the student did not apply the rules”, but did not specify which rules. And 3(8.1) of the teachers said “the student did not know that he is supposed to extend line AB to cut CD”. This again is not correct identification of the knowledge the student lacks. Of the 37 teachers, 6 (16.2%) did not respond to this item. The responses of the teachers clearly indicate that they were unable to identify the knowledge required to solve the problem, as none of the responses could suggest the student‟s missing knowledge.

Teachers’ responses to item 3(a) On this item the teachers were expected to use their knowledge about „parallelism‟, „the sum of supplementary angles is 1800‟, „the sum of interior angles of a triangle is 1800‟, or „the sum of interior angles of a quadrilateral is 3600‟. Of the 37 teachers, 13 (35.1%) said „the student lacks the knowledge of sum of angles in a parallelogram and alternate angles‟. These teachers saw the quadrilateral as a parallelogram. 11 (29.7%) teachers responded by writing, “the student lacks the knowledge of geometric theorems”. This response is too general, as it does not point to any particular theorem and there are many theorems in geometry. This is indicative of the fact that the teachers did not know which knowledge is required to solve the given problem. And 13 (35.1%) of the teachers did not respond at all to this item, which shows that the teachers themselves lack the knowledge needed to solve the problem.

Teachers’ responses to item 4(a) This item required the teachers to predict the student‟s thinking process. 12 (32.4%) of the teachers said “the student thinks that the figure ABCD is to be divided into two parts and extend the line to be parallel to DE”. This prediction does not make sense as the line drawn by the student and the side DE touch each other. The teachers did not consider other parts of the student‟s solution, such as the computation. The student solution shows that parallelism was noticed, and the student wanted to apply the knowledge that alternate interior angles are equal, but unable to bring other knowledge into play. Other 8 (21.6%) teachers predicted that “the student thinks extending BC to form interior angle at C would be twice angle DEB”. This prediction does not follow from the student‟s solution. It is not clear which angle is referred to as interior angle at C after extending BC. This is again inability to predict the student‟s thinking with respect to the solution. 17 (45.9%) teachers did not respond at all to this item. This indicates the teachers having difficulty themselves with the problem. On item 4(b), teachers were requested to identify the knowledge the student lacks. Of the 37 teachers, 12(32.4%) wrote: “The student did not know that adjacent sides are equal and diagonals intersect each other at right angles”. These responses are irrelevant. These teachers did not understand the problem themselves, and so could not identify what knowledge is required for solving it. The remaining 25(67.5%) teachers simply said “The student lacks the knowledge of geometry”. This is vague.

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Research Question 2: How adequate are mathematics teachers in suggesting strategies to address students’ misconceptions associated with angles in parallel lines? To answer this research question, teachers were requested to respond to questions that their answers would demonstrate their understanding of the subject matter and reveal their strategies in helping the students. On problems 1 and 2, the question is: How would you help this student? Of the 37 participating teachers in this study, 18 (48.6%) responded by saying the student should be taught geometric concepts. This response is too general, and it indicates inadequacy on the part of the teachers. With respect to 1(b), one teacher said, the student should divide angle C into two so that the angle below will alternate with 400. This is a case of considering how the figure appears physically, and ignoring its geometric properties. And on problems 3 and 4, the question is: What strategies would you use to remove or avoid this misconception? Of the 37 respondents, 32 (86.4%) suggested that the student should be taught. One suggested solving many similar problems as examples. In his/her words, „I will solve many examples to show how the concepts learnt could be used in solving other problems‟. It should be noted here that all those who suggested teaching as the strategy to help the student did not specify the aspect of knowledge that should be the focus of the teaching considering the problem in question. This is indicative of the inadequacy of the teachers in identifying the knowledge the student lacks. On all the four problems, 19 (51.3%) of the teachers either attempted solving the problems or did not suggest any strategy for addressing the student‟s predicament. For instance on problem 1, instead of explaining how the student could be helped, a respondent tried using Pythagoras‟ theorem and obtained incorrect answer. This implies the teacher considered the physical appearance of the geometric figure instead of the geometric properties. In response to „How would you help the student?‟ with respect to problem 2, the teacher attempted the question as „The student should extend AB to cut CD, after extending AB, y=180-100 …‟ Instead of suggesting what to do to help the student, the teacher tried to solve the problem, and unfortunately could not solve it successfully. Since the teachers were generally unable to identify the student‟s misconceptions or the knowledge the student lacked, they were also inadequate in addressing the student‟s difficulties. This has far reaching implications in the teaching and learning of geometry in particular, and mathematics in general.

Discussion One important finding of the study was that teachers were generally inadequate in identifying the knowledge students lack with regard to angles in parallel lines. Questions 1 and 2 were very much alike; they required the student to use almost the same knowledge for solving. Teachers were unable to identify the missing knowledge because they focused on only the physical appearances of the figures. Biber, Tuna and Korkmaz (2013) working with 8th grade students found that the students were at the level of visualization-focusing only on physical appearances of geometric figures. Unfortunately, this reliance on physical appearance was true of most of the teachers in this study as their responses were tailored towards physical appearances without considering the

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geometric properties of the figures. Majority of the teachers in this study lacked the knowledge expected of them in the subject matter. This therefore means these teachers would not be competent to teach this area of geometry. The competence of any teacher is largely dependent on the possession of the subject matter knowledge (Baumert et al, 2010). Unfortunately, these teachers did not demonstrate that they have this aspect of the teacher‟s knowledge from their responses. Another important finding was the inability of the teachers to adequately suggest ways or strategies to address the student‟s problems. In all the four problem situations in this study, the questions were similar, requiring the teacher‟s knowledge of students and methods. Buamert et al (2010) pointed out that teacher‟s sound knowledge about students is a key component of teacher competence. Similarly, Cohen, Raudenbush and Ball (2003) said teacher‟s knowledge of students is necessary for effective teaching. A competent teacher must possess the necessary components of teacher‟s knowledge, which include subject matter knowledge, knowledge of methods and knowledge of student‟s cognition. None of this knowledge was demonstrated by the teachers in this study. Teacher‟s knowledge should help students learn skills and also enhance the ways students learn (Zhao, 2012), but regrettably these teachers did not possess such knowledge.

Conclusion The knowledge of geometry can help appreciate the environment we live in. However, the teaching and learning of this important branch of mathematics seems to be in jeopardy, as the teachers who are expected to be knowledgeable in the area are having difficulties themselves. The failure of most of the mathematics teachers to identify the student‟s missing knowledge in this study calls for serious concern. As it is an indication that the teachers themselves do not possess the knowledge required to solve the problems in question. Their failure to identify the knowledge the student lacked in solving the problems in this study was not unconnected with their inability to suggest ways of helping the student. This is a case of „you cannot give what you do not have‟. Since the teachers did not have the required knowledge for solving the problems themselves, they were not adequate in pointing out the knowledge the student lacked, hence could not know what to do to help the student. There is therefore the need to reflect on teacher education program provided by institutions concerned with the production of teachers. This is with a view to ensuring adequate preparation of teachers. Teachers‟ knowledge of students, which is one of the components of teachers‟ knowledge, is necessary for teachers‟ effectiveness in addressing students‟ difficulties.

Reference Archavsky, N. & Goldenberg, P. (2005). Perceptions of a quadrilateral in a dynamic environment. In: D. Carraher, R. Nemirovsky (Eds.), Medium and meaning: video papers in Mathematics Education research, Journal of Research in Mathematics Education Monograph XIII. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

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Asquith, P., Stephens, A., Knuth, E., & Alibali, M. (2007). Middle school teachers‟ understanding of core algebraic concepts: Equal sign and variable. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 9(3), 249-272. Baumert, J., Kunter, M., Blum, W., Brunner, M., Voss, T., Jordan, A., et al. (2010). Teachers‟ mathematical knowledge, cognitive activation in the classroom, and student progress. American Educational Research Journal, 47, 133–180. Biber, C., Tuna, A. & Korkmaz, S. (2013). The mistakes and the misconceptions of the eighth grade students on the subject of angles. European Journal of science and mathematics education, 1 (2), 50-59. Carpenter, T. P., Fennema, E. Peterson, P. L., Carey D. A. (1988). Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Students' Problem Solving in Elementary Arithmetic. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 385-401. Clements, D. H. & Battista, M. T. (1992). Geometry and spatial reasoning. In D. A. Grouws (Ed), Handbook on mathematics teaching and learning. (pp. 420-464). New York: Macmillan. Cohen, D. K., Raudenbush, S. W., & Ball, D. L. (2003). Resources, instruction, and research. Educational evaluation and policy analysis, 25(2), 119-142. Feza, N. & Webb, P. (2005). Assessment standards, van Hiele levels, and grade seven learners‟ understanding of geometry. Pythagoras 62, 36-47. Fischbein, E. & Nachlieli, T. (1998). Concepts and figures in geometrical reasoning. International Journal of Science Education, 20 (10), 1193–1211 French, D. (2004). Teaching and Learning Geometry. London: Continuum. Hill, H. C., Ball, D. L., & Schilling, S. G. (2008). Unpacking pedagogical content knowledge: Conceptualizing and measuring teachers' topic-specific knowledge of students. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 39(4), 372–400. Hill, H.,Chin, M. & Blazar, D. (2015). Teachers‟ knowledge of students: Defining a domain. Marchis, I. (2008). Geometry in primary school mathematics, Educatia 21, vol. 6, 131-139. Marchis, I. (2012). Preservice primary school teachers‟ elementary geometry knowledge. Mayberry, J. W. (1983). The van Hiele levels of geometric thought in undergraduate preservice teachers. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. 14, 58-69. Mitchelmore, M. C. (1997). Children‟s Informal Knowledge of Physical Angle Situations. Cognition and Instruction, 7 (1), 1-19. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1989). Curriculum and Evaluation standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

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Ozerem, A. (2012).Misconceptions in geometry and suggested solutions for seventh grade students. International Journal of New Trends in Arts, Sports & Science Education, 1( 4), 23-35. Prescott, A., Mitchelmore, M. C., & White, P. (2002). Students‟ Difficulties in Abstracting Angle Concepts from Activities with Concrete Material. In the Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australia Incorporated Eric Digest ED 472950. Premeg, N. (2006). Research on visualization of teaching and learning mathematics. In A. Gutierrez & P. Boero (Eds.), Handbook of Research on the Psychology of Mathematics Education: Past, Present and Future (pp. 205-236). Sense Publishers. Thirumurthy, V. (2003). Children‟s Cognition of Geometry and Spatial Reasoning: A cultural Process. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA. Van Hiele, P. M. (1999). Developing Geometric Thinking through Activities That Begin with Play.Teaching Children Mathematics. 5 (6), 310-316. Woods, P. (2006). Qualitative research. Faculty of Education, University of Plymouth Zhao, F. (2012). Student Teachers‟ Knowledge Structure and Their Professional Development- based on the study of EFL student teachers. Journal of Cambridge Studies, 7,(2),68-82. Zuya, H. E. (2014). Mathematics teachers‟ responses to students‟ misconceptions in algebra, International Journal of Research in Education Methodology, 6,( 2), 830836.Council for Educative Research.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 150-159, October 2015

Evaluation of Role Play as a Teaching Strategy in a Systems Analysis and Design Course Emre Erturk Eastern Institute of Technology Napier, New Zealand

Abstract. The goal of learning design is to help create educational settings and sessions that are learner and activity centred. Authentic learning activities can better engage learners. Role playing is an interesting example of an active learning and teaching strategy. It can incorporate drama, simulations, games, and demonstrations of real life cases related to any topic. This strategy has been applied recently (from 2013 through 2015) at the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) in New Zealand tertiary, in the systems analysis and design course. It has involved students in the computing and information technology bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x;s degree programme. Learning design plans were prepared with the expectation that role play activities would contribute positively to this course. First, this paper describes how the role play sessions were carried out. Next, the paper discusses the effectiveness of this strategy. This reflection is not only from a pedagogical perspective, but also in terms of its benefits as a useful information technology (IT) analytical practice. Furthermore, the paper presents the findings from this applied and reflective research, along with practical suggestions for teachers interested in practising this approach. An important recommendation is to begin with short role plays and move gradually to longer activities, while giving students advanced notice and time to prepare and become familiar with their roles. Keywords: teaching strategy; information technology education; systems analysis; role play

Introduction The learning design process, as its name suggests, is about creating an educational setting with sessions that are learner centred (rather than teacher centred). The goal is to implement authentic activities that can engage learners (Reeves, Herrington, & Oliver, 2002). The content and the resources should not be the organizing elements, as they would be for many traditional lectures. Instead, their purpose is to support the learning activities and the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x; independent learning. Through the learning design process, teachers can also create a constructive alignment between learning activities, assessments, and learning outcomes (Biggs & Tang, 2011). Good learning design also encourages ÂŠ 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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important two way feedback between teachers and students through experiential learning and active dialogue (Coffield, 2008). This is also true for role play, which is an active learning and teaching strategy. Role play typically involves adaptations from real life situations, related to topics being studied. The students demonstrate particular behaviours or performances that show their understanding and competence with a given case and the relevant concepts. Systems Analysis and Design is a core course for the Information Technology (IT) Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x;s degree, and helps prepare students for jobs such as IT project manager, business analyst, and systems analyst. Students learn to examine information systems, collect requirements, and design solutions. The course also teaches diagramming for development and documentation. Graduates will collaborate and communicate with various stakeholders during a project within a company, and are expected to bridge the gaps between different groups of people. Role play can be a useful approach to help the students in developing these important communication and collaboration skills.

Literature Review During the learning design process and in preparation for the lessons, it is important for teachers to consider the numerous factors on which successful student learning depends: for example, needing/wanting, doing, digesting, and feedback (Race, 2010). Therefore, teachers need to organize engaging activities, instead of delivering pure lectures that keep the students in a passive state. Role play, as an active teaching strategy, can incorporate these positive elements of enjoying learning and digesting knowledge, when designed accordingly and implemented successfully. For teachers who are interested in this strategy, a relatively broad paper written by McSharry and Jones (2000) explains various types of role play with interesting examples from science education and suggestions to consider for all teachers. According to McSharry and Jones (2000), although role play may not be difficult for many learners, it is advisable to start with short role plays and move gradually to longer role plays after both the teachers and the students gain some initial experience and confidence. The role play activity also should not come immediately before or right after an exam because the exam can cause stress for the students and negatively influence the effectiveness of this activity (Case & Cheek-Oâ&#x20AC;&#x;Donnell, 2015). In this course, the activity was appropriately timed so that it did not conflict and did not become affected by an exam or another critical event. Furthermore, a small number of teachers have recently started using role play in systems analysis and design courses, in particular. In a broader context, Green and Blaszczynski (2012) suggested that role play is suited for teaching soft (personal and social) skills to students and professionals.

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The systems analysis and design course itself offers many opportunities for role play. The obvious scenarios include client interviews, proposal presentations, and team meetings. However, this paper is about a more novel, original and recent role play approach: using analytical IT diagrams as scenarios or scripts for the role play sessions. For example, in 2011, Costain and McKenna from the University of Auckland in New Zealand reported on their implementation of a role play activity coupled with Use Case Diagrams, which are part of the Unified Modeling Language (UML). The use case diagram method is so far the most common one in the literature, as opposed to other IT diagrams. This is due to the pictorial and often simpler nature of this specific type of diagram. However, role play should not be limited to use case diagrams. Other examples of IT documentation and diagram artefacts that have been used as a basis for role play by Borstler (2010) at Umea University in Sweden are class-responsibility-collaboration cards and so-called role play diagrams (derived from the UML Class and Object Diagrams). Choosing which type of diagrams to use is an important and interesting consideration for IT lecturers. Although UML diagrams may often be preferred in industry and IT curricula, students also like Data Flow Diagrams (DFD), which are also still taught in systems analysis and design courses (Millet, 2009). In comparison, DFDs may also provide rich stories and have good role play potential, as they are often less sequential, have a greater scope, and are more open to interpretation. As a process oriented diagram, a similar UML counterpart to the DFD is the UML Activity Diagram. The role play activity described in this paper was conducted at the Eastern Institute of Technology, New Zealand. Both DFDs and Activity Diagrams have been used to stimulate role play activities among IT students in recent years (from 2013 through 2015) during the systems analysis and design course. The lessons plans were first written for DFDs (as can be seen in the next section); the same instructions were used for role play activities based on Activity Diagrams.

Implementation in Courses The two class sessions discussed in this paper were on Data Flow Diagrams (DFD) and Activity Diagrams. The first session involved students in using the software in the computer lab. The learning outcome was to demonstrate their analysis of a case by drawing these diagrams. The second session had students reviewing, digesting, and critiquing completed diagrams. Students did this through a role play activity about the library systems and how they function. The learning outcome included explaining the diagram (by acting it out) to others, including non-technical people as well as technical IT staff. It is unnecessary to reproduce all of the diagrams involved in these class activities. One example (a UML Activity Diagram showing just one segment of the library environment) is in Figure 1 below:

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Figure 1: A sample UML Activity Diagram related to a school library.

From a pedagogical perspective, as can be seen in the learning design plans (Appendix 1), there were three specific teaching approaches that were incorporated. The self-instructions were as follows:

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Catering for Learner Needs: It is emphasized (in the beginning of the first session) that diagrams are used in business and systems analysis jobs. This includes reminding students that DFDs and similar diagrams can also be found in other subjects and classes. This increases their awareness of the wider context for this learning topic. The second session is to begin with a picture of a small computer game flowchart, telling the students how modeling and planning are important for creating any kind of software, not just business related software but also games. This helps relate the learning content to something they enjoy in their free time. In summary, these are plausible ideas to try to create a connection with the students‟ learning needs and career goals. Throughout these explanations, some references to their previous classes and sessions will also help provide a continuum of learning. Active Learning Approaches: The first session involves learning by doing where each student has a computer to work hands on using software in the lab to draw data flow diagrams individually as well as helping each other. They gradually work in groups like a pyramid – first in pairs exchanging ideas and assistance with the person sitting next to him/her, and then in groups of four to come up with a complete and ideal group diagram. In the second session, the students are to discuss a sample DFD and „role-play‟ the case, with peer feedback from observing students. The next step is to go around the class, and let the students identify and explain possible areas on the diagram that may have IT impact. Overall, both sessions feature different and interesting activities but they use the same case; this helps to build knowledge by covering different aspects of the same topic. Feedback to Learners: In addition to the teacher‟s feedback to learners, it is important to explore ways that they can give feedback to one another. For example, they discuss the case with each other in the first session as they draw the diagrams. In the second session, there is more discussion with peer feedback, between the role players and the observers (during and after the role play activity). The teacher also collects the diagrams submitted by each group for the purposes of feedback. During the sessions, the teacher regularly interacts with the students in order to understand their level of learning. Each session has formative assessment activities that help them review and measure their knowledge of subject related terminology. The students are encouraged to do the formative assessment seriously, and advised to study more depending on the results. As a note for IT lecturers, students use two computer applications for drawing the diagrams: Microsoft Visio and Dia. Although not as commonly used as Visio, Dia is free and open source, as opposed to proprietary and commercial software. Free software makes an important contribution to education in general (Erturk, 2009). Therefore, teachers and students interested in diagram based role play do not need to be limited by financial concerns. Another interesting aspect for this type of activity is the how roles are distributed. Although the teacher is the facilitator, students are given a choice (Tolipov & Tolipova, 2015).

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Evaluation of Teaching After the conclusion of the above sessions, the teaching was reflected upon and evaluated from the perspective of the three strategies that are part of the learning design process. In addition, a peer evaluation was done by an experienced colleague. The findings from these evaluations are as follows. Catering for Learner Needs: Using a ball and throwing it between the students energized the dialogue as they took turns. Everyone got a chance to say something based on their interpretation during the second lesson. As a future improvement, a pre-prepared white board or a projected slide with a session outline can give the students a welcome and a compass for each session. Although the introduction and agenda were done verbally this time, this can be done at the beginning of every future session in writing without much effort. Active Learning Approaches: Asking students to do pair discussions every now and then was effective in keeping students active within the classroom and associating with each other as learners. The crossword in the first session was interesting and different for the learners, and served well as an assessment and feedback resource while being puzzling and enjoyable at the same time. The quiz/lottery in the second session (which was also for the purpose of assessment and feedback) was also effective because it built anticipation and engagement among the students. Next, the students also participated enthusiastically and effectively in the role play activity. As the peer observer suggested, the role play activities can be made even more effective. This requires, for example, preparing the students ahead of time, spending more time getting people into their roles, and slowing and fine tuning the learning process. Feedback to Learners: During the sessions, a strong amount of positive feedback and acknowledgement was given to students and their responses. This even included a funny component by presenting an Academy Award to the role players, and joking with the observers about Wellywood and Hollywood. The teacher selected student diagrams to base the role play session on, for critiquing and explaining the case. This was done after reviewing the diagrams they created in the computer lab in the previous session, also for the purpose of giving them individual feedback about their work with the software. According to the peer observer, this was a very validating move (using studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x; diagrams instead of textbook diagrams) and helped build the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x; confidence. This was fair feedback as the work was good enough; but the potential impact on them as learners was also significant. One of the diagrams came from one of the groups that had been catching up with the other groups and had been somewhat withdrawn. Within two weeks after this, that particular group had become more confident and productive. Peer Evaluation: Some of the comments from the peer observer have been mentioned earlier in this section. Furthermore, as noted by the observer, the session was well supported by other resources that were shown on the projector screen, such as slides, pictures, and references to the online learning materials.

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During the observation, the students were enthusiastic and actively engaged. The following statement by the observer summarizes both the initial intent and the eventual outcome of this role play activity: “Learners were well supported by you with props and prompts. Clear links made between role play and communication expectations with lay people.” The peer evaluation report with details can be found in Appendix 2.

Conclusions Some ideas for future improvements have already been mentioned in this paper. Furthermore, there are other specific actions that will be discussed in this section of the paper. These are a result of the self-evaluation done by the teacher, while reviewing the success of the learning design plans. After reflecting on the question of catering for learner needs, it is possible to use a computer game related case study next time for practice with the future cohort (instead of the library). This might draw them closer toward the learning activities. In turn, they can become even more enthusiastic about this type of work, and will still do more serious Data Flow Diagrams or Activity Diagrams for their course assignment anyway. So far, the role play activities in this course have been concise and experimental. The future direction of role play in the course is to implement more sophisticated role play activities. In order to achieve this, it will be necessary to prepare the students more ahead of time, and to allow more time for students to familiarize with their roles. Longer role play activities are likely to cause more reflection, and students can learn even more from such an experience. Next, it is important for teachers to improve their questioning skills, to help stimulate the learners during role play and afterwards to help them reflect. Although it is important to complete the lesson on time, it would be beneficial to give learners more time to ponder and formulate answers. It will be useful to put the questions in writing on the board or the screen. Alternatively, the questions can be given to the students in advance of a session (if possible or appropriate). Providing time for discussion and digestion is important for teaching practice in general. This is true both for the LBKO (learning is building knowledge with others) approach and for the LIS (learning is individual sense making) approach (Watkins, 2011).The students‟ self-directed learning time can also be used better for digestion and application of knowledge and skills. Therefore, it is interesting to consider the students‟ learning styles, not just in the classroom but also outside. In order to understand a specific group of learners better, it is important to have deeper learning conversations with them about how they are studying and making progress outside of the class meetings. This would help the teachers get to know them better and provide more innovative or authentic feedback and support. In turn, these would better prepare the students for role play and other active learning strategies. Role play as an active learning strategy can be used, not just in face-to-face classes, but also in blended or distance learning. This type of learning activity can be implemented more often in the context of business and computing courses. Teachers, who have already used this strategy before, can continue to experiment with role play by thinking of new scenarios for their courses.

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References Biggs, J. & Tang C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university (4th ed.). Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. Börstler, J. (2010). Using role-play diagrams to improve scenario role-play. In G. Engels, C. Lewerentz, W. Schäfer, A. Schürr, & B. Westfechtel (Eds.), Graph Transformations and Model-driven Engineering (pp. 309-394). Heidelberg: Springer Verlag. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-17322-6_14 Case, G. & Cheek-O'Donnell , S. (2015). A better way for role play [Workshop notes]. Available at https://medicine.utah.edu/faculty-dev/programs/academy-mededucation/docs/symposium_2015_powerpoints/ws-a-better-way-for-roleplay.pdf Coffield, F. (2008). Just suppose learning and teaching became the first priority. London, England: Learning and skills network (LSN). Available at http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/Coffield_IfOnly.pdf Costain, G., & McKenna, B. (2011). Experiencing the elicitation of user requirements and recording them in use case diagrams through role-play. Journal of Information Systems Education, 22(4), 367-380. Erturk, E. (2009). International technology transfer: the case of free computer software. Paper presented at the International Academy of Business and Public Administration Disciplines (IABPAD) Conference, Orlando, Florida. Available at http://repository.digitalnz.org/system/uploads/record/attachment/596/inter national_technology_transfer__the_case_of_free_computer_software.pdf Green, D., & Blaszczynski, C. (2012). Effective strategies and activities for developing soft skills. Journal of Applied Research for Business Instruction, 10(2). McSharry, G., & Jones, S. (2000). Role-play in science teaching and learning. School Science Review, 82, 73-82. Millet, I. (2009). Student perceptions of data flow diagrams vs. use cases. In L. Tomei (Ed.), Information Communication Technologies for Enhanced Education and Learning: Advanced Applications and Developments (pp. 94-102). Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. doi:10.4018/978-1-60566-150-6.ch007 Race, P. (2010). Making learning happen: A guide for post-compulsory education (2nd ed.). London, England: SAGE Publications Ltd. Reeves, T. C., Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2002). Authentic activities and online learning. Paper presented at the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) International Conference, Perth, Australia. Available at http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/7034/1/authentic_activities_online _HERDSA_2002.pdf Tolipov, U., & Tolipova, F. (2015). Didactic Games and their role in the continuous educational process. The Advanced Science Journal, 3, 29-31. Watkins, C. (2011). Learning: a sense maker’s guide. London, England: Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) - the education union. Available at http://www.atl.org.uk/Images/Learning%20a%20sense%20makers%20guide% 20-%202011.pdf

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Appendix 1: Lesson Plan

Appendix 2: Peer Observation Topic: Data flow diagrams Catering for learner needs: Some of the positives: •Colour coding of library system diagram assists learners to bundle different components of data flow •Role play provided a valuable experiential learning activity which demanded translation of data flow diagram into real-life sequences •Conclusion – provided information to students about „next steps‟ giving them a sense of direction For your consideration: Work on allowing time and space for learners to respond to your questions. There were a number of occasions where you moved on too quickly, not allowing time for students to ponder the question before offering a response.

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Learning activities: This session was „activity-rich‟ and so provided some sound learnercentred opportunities for building new understandings. Specific activities included: •Role-play activity – case and library data-flow system slides shown in advance to provide clear context for activity. Role play provided opportunity for students to deconstruct a data flow diagram and perform the described actions, in a context (i.e. library) familiar to learners. This brought the data-flow to life. Learners were well supported by you with props and prompts. Clear links made between role play and communication expectations with lay people. •Pairs discussion re what areas might have an IT factor, saw enthusiastic and focussed engagement Points to ponder: •An awesome first-time role-play activity! I encourage you to explore the value of spending a little more time getting people into their roles (nonparticipants can help here too), slowing the process down and re-running certain parts to develop the character further or build in observer feedback, to enhance learning. Feedback to learners: Some of the ways I observed you offering feedback to or providing feedback opportunities for learners were: •Selecting a student diagram for an in-class activity is very validating for the learners and serves to build confidence •Your responses to learner questions are generally acknowledging of the intention of the question, and provide clarification for the learner Food for thought: •Don‟t forget that with some questions asked of you, you can throw them back to the student cohort, instead of responding yourself – this can also provide useful feedback to learners about their understanding Conclusion: Your learning design overview is incredibly thorough and your lesson plan well organised and sequenced. You used a range of resources effectively within the session – slides, EIT online, reference to the text and provided diverse learning activities which saw the student cohort actively engaged in their own learning. Thank you for the opportunity to observe your teaching practice. Keep up the exciting development.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 160-180, October 2015

Designing PBL Case Studies for Patient-Centered Care Robyn Schell Teaching and Learning Centre, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6 David Kaufman Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6

Abstract. Although patient-centered care is a medical practice ideal and is known to be associated with better patient outcomes, patientcenteredness declines as students progress through medical school. There is a need to integrate components into medical education that develop patient-centeredness through communications skills training, practice-based learning, and reflective practice. PBL can offer a venue for enhancing these types of skills. PBL cases based on stories can create a more authentic learning environment by telling narratives from the patient’s perspective while providing engaging, memorable contexts for practicing patient-centered skills. Recounting ―thick‖ narratives through the medium of video and supporting PBL with multimedia resources can provide a richer experience for learning and teaching. Implementing design-based research in conjunction with quantitative and/or qualitative research methodologies could provide new insights into PBL in relation to patient-centered skills and values. Although design-based research can be challenging, using it together with other research methodologies offers the possibility of new contributions to situated, constructivist theory within a PBL setting. Keywords: patient-centered care; problem-based learning; hidden curriculum; narrative; design-based research

Introduction Patient-centered skills and values are not as ubiquitous as we might expect. Despite years of attempts to create curricula that build patient-centered skills and values, there is evidence that as medical students progress through medical school and clinical training, their patient-centeredness declines. The biomedical approach is predominant in patient-physician encounters, and this perspective is embedded in both the explicit curriculum and what is called the ―hidden

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curriculum,‖ where students learn through the processes of enculturation and socialization. Studies show that patients experience better outcomes when their care is oriented to their needs and desires and when they are involved in their own care. Medical education has an important role in developing new physicians’ patient-centered skills. Widespread in medical education, problem-based learning (PBL) focuses on the case study as a motivator and tool for teaching and learning. As such, PBL and case study design may have the potential to support the development of patient-centered skills and values. Currently, as education transitions to the web, PBL is becoming a viable alternative to teaching patientcentered skills, particularly in decentralized systems where medical students are training in multiple regional centers. This article explores theoretical foundations and practical considerations for integrating patient-centeredness into PBL cases in order to support development of these values and skills in medical education.

What is Patient-Centered Care? An ideal that can mean many things to many people, patient-centered care lacks a single clear definition (Mead & Bower, 2000, 2002). Nevertheless, there appears to be some consensus that patient-centered care focuses on the needs, life context, and perspective of the patient. It depends on developing a productive two-way relationship between the patient and the physician. Patient-centered care views the patient as a person with unique needs and life history. It involves interactions in which the physician engages with the patient and the patient can speak openly and ask questions (Stewart, 1984). Patientcentered care requires that the patient’s concerns, preferences, experiences, and emotions be considered as part of the doctor-patient relationship. In Epstein and Street’s (2011) description, ―patients are known as persons in context of their own social worlds, listened to, informed, respected, and involved in their care— and their wishes are honored (but not mindlessly enacted) during their health care journey‖ (p. 100). Mead and Bower (2000) identified five dimensions common to published descriptions of patient-centeredness, including a biopsychosocial perspective, sensitivity to the ―patient-as-person‖ and their experience of illness, sharing of power and responsibility between patient and doctor, a therapeutic alliance between them, and recognition of the importance of the personal qualities and subjectivity of the doctor. More recently, a review by Constand, MacDermid, Bello-Haas, and Law (2014) identified communication, partnership, and health promotion activities as core strategies of 25 frameworks found in the literature. Patient-centered care is believed to be a factor in producing favorable patient outcomes (Bertakis & Azari, 2011; Mead & Bower, 2002; Radwin, Cabral, & Wilkes, 2009; Stewart et al., 2000). Recent research distinguishes between outcomes desired by the patient, such as subjective feelings of satisfaction, optimism, trust in doctors and nurses, and quality of life, and outcomes that © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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reflect objectively improved health or treatment compliance (Epstein & Street, 2011; Radwin et al., 2009). These appear to be interconnected; it is thought that patients who report more positive doctor-patient experiences are more likely to follow treatment plans, achieve better health outcomes, and use the healthcare system less often (Bertakis & Azari, 2011; Kuehn, 2012), although evidence is mixed to date (Epstein & Street, 2011; Rathert, Wyrwich, & Boren, 2012). The U.S. report Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (Committee on Quality of Health Care in America, 2001) identifies patient-centered care as one of six indicators of medical care quality. The U.S. federal government now measures and reports annually on ratings of patientcentered care across the country’s health care system (e.g., see Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2014) and is funding research on appropriate measurement (Methodology Committee of PCORI, 2012). This has greatly increased its prominence in the U.S. health care industry and among researchers. Since 2010 there has been a marked increase in research measuring both patient engagement and clinical outcomes in order to attempt to establish clearer relationships (Covington, Veley, & O’Donnell, 2014). Most definitions of patient-centered care seem to agree that communication is crucial and that patients and physicians should make shared medical decisions about patient care that take into account patient values, attitudes, and preferences. However, many barriers exist to its implementation, including deficiencies in physicians’ knowledge about patient needs, and physician attitudes that cling to an authoritarian, biomedical practice model (Luxford, Safran, & Delbanco, 2011; Visser, Deliens, & Houttekier, 2014). These knowledge and attitude gaps can be addressed through education. Learning about patient-centeredness can be seen as a function of both formal and informal curriculum, both of which may involve practices that deter the development of patient-centeredness. Patient-centeredness is typically learned from both doctors’ role modeling (Michalec, 2012) and from curriculum implemented by medical educators. In this way, the interactions and attitudes that form the doctor-patient relationship are learned not from the patient’s point of view but from other physicians. Furthermore, medical education’s culture focuses on biomedical disease mechanisms, and on instilling respect for physicians’ authority and autonomy, rather than on issues and subjects that are central to the patient (Hafferty, 1998; Haidet & Stein, 2006; Michalec & Hafferty, 2013). Despite efforts to integrate into the medical curriculum concepts and skills related to patient-centered practice, studies show that the distance between medical students and their patients increases as students progress through their training. This trend strengthens in the clinical years of the medical program, as students lose sensitivity to patients’ views and life contexts, and this phenomenon is more pronounced for male students than for females (Haidet, Kelly, & Chou, 2005; Tsimtsiou et al., 2007; Woloschuk, Harasym, & Temple, 2004).

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The Hidden Curriculum The socialization process that shapes the medical student’s professional identity is partially attributed to the effect of the ―hidden‖ curriculum (Hafferty, 1998; Hafferty & Franks, 1994). The hidden curriculum refers to what is being taught through the informal exchanges and relationships that occur between students and faculty. Many medical students begin their studies idealistically but lose their optimism as experience shows the fallibility of medicine and reinforces objectivity, and often cynicism, in the face of illness and death. Also, medical students learn quickly that government policy, administration, and patient advocates can challenge doctors’ traditional autonomy. Through the hidden curriculum, students are ingrained into a paternalistic culture that contributes to traditional behaviors such as a reluctance to openly acknowledge uncertainty and ambiguity in clinical situations (Bleakley & Bligh, 2008; Michalec, 2012). Studies of patient-centeredness in medical education have focused primarily on medical students’ attitudes, rather than their behaviors (Haidet et al., 2001, 2002; Woloschuk et al., 2004). These attitudes are often described in terms of ethics or values, rather than as activity informed by theory (Bleakley & Bligh, 2008; Krupat et al., 2009). The literature is only beginning to consider how medical students might learn about and from patients in ways that would shift learning away from the prominence of physician-educators’ role modeling and embodied attitudes. Studies describing medical students’ attitudes towards patients suggest that undergraduate medical education has far to go in developing positive, patientcentered views (Haidet et al., 2001; Lamiani, Leone, Meyer, & Moja, 2011), although recent cases show promise (Christianson, McBride, Vari, Olson, & Wilson, 2007; Haidet, Kroll, & Sharf, 2006; Lévesque, Hovey, & Bedos, 2013).

The Patient’s Perspective Although recent studies (Alharbi, Carlström, Ekman, Jarneborn, & Olsson, 2014; Rathert, Williams, McCaughey, & Ishqaidef, 2015) have explored patients’ experiences of overall patient-centeredness, few have been concerned with the patient’s specific perceptions of doctors in terms of patient-centered care. The patient’s ability to influence the medical education curriculum has often been unappreciated (Boudreau, Jagosh, Slee, Macdonald, & Steinert, 2008). On the other hand, the 1990s ―Educating Future Physicians for Ontario‖ project (Maudsley et al., 2000) and the international conference ―Where’s the Patient’s Voice in Health Professional Education?‖ (Towle, 2006) both suggested that patients should be consulted when designing curriculum. The McGill University Faculty of Medicine also considered patients when redesigning their curriculum in 2003, leading to a new component that focused on the concept of ―physicianship‖ (Boudreau et al., 2008). As described by Boudreau et al., physicianship included developing professional attributes that would improve the patient’s experience. In a survey of patients, © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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terms commonly used in the curriculum were largely absent in the patient’s vocabulary, for example, the word ―healing‖ and ―healer.‖ Although there was an overlap in the faculty’s and patients’ expectations of a doctor’s ideal behaviors, the words to describe these behaviors were quite different, underlining the fact that the language of patient’s world and the medical world are distinct. While patients spoke in active terms: ―is straightforward‖; ―encourages me‖; faculty used passive terms such as ―insight‖ or ―openness.‖ The patients viewed the word ―professionalism‖ in a negative light and rarely expressed their expectations of doctors in these terms. In some studies, listening has been highlighted as a crucial characteristic of ideal physician behavior (Weissmann, Branch, Gracey, Haidet, & Frankel, 2006). Listening was found to be more visible than expertise, an unexpected discovery for the researchers involved in the McGill study. Patients also deemed as important a doctor’s ability to see and treat the patient as a unique individual. In other words, patients appreciated behavior that demonstrated that a doctor was interested in them as an individual, not just as a patient. Depersonalization was an important theme of patient survey responses, and researchers concluded that this was related to findings in other studies of a decline in later years of training of medical students’ patient-centered attitudes (Boudreau et al., 2008). In a study exploring patients’ ideas of patient-centeredness, Stewart et al. (2000) surveyed 315 patients of 39 family doctors, asking patients to assess the patientcenteredness of their visits. Patients rated their experience based on the doctor’s communication skills, understanding of patient as a whole person, and finding common ground with the patient in the interview. Communication skills received a high score when the doctor asked about the patient’s feelings, ideas, and expectations in addition to symptoms and function. Doctors who explored issues such as life context, family, and personality received a high score on understanding of the whole person. Finding common ground was rated highly if the doctor clearly explained the problem and management plan, answered questions, and reached explicit agreement with the patient on the plan. The study’s authors found that higher scores in patient-centered communications were associated with fewer diagnostic tests and referrals and better recovery. The importance of doctors’ (and other health professionals’) communication skills is confirmed by others including Alharbi et al., (2014), Epstein and Street, 2007; and Ferguson, Ward, Card, Sheppard, & McMurtry (2013).

The Doctor’s Perceptions A doctor’s perception of patients also affects patients’ experience of patientcentered care. Studying 29 doctors and 207 patients, Street, Gordon, & Haidet (2007) found that doctors displayed more patient-centered communication when a patient’s communication skills were well developed. When patients asked questions, made requests, and expressed their opinions, concerns and fears, doctors were often more informative, supportive, and accommodating. This could mean that patients with less education, older patients, or those from some ethnic groups could experience less patient-centered communication and fewer © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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associated benefits than educated, young, Caucasian patients. If so, this could have important implications for developing the kind of curriculum that builds patient-centered skills. For example, training physicians in self-awareness and reflective skills could help them build skills to better engage those who have difficulties in communicating or who might not understand the consultation process (Alharbi et al., 2014). These suggestions imply that change must happen at the level of the patient/doctor interview. The taking of case histories is a pivotal point of contact in a doctor/patient encounter that results in an account of the patient’s sickness and a basis for medical care. In most medical schools, students learn to write case histories that describe the history of the present illness, which focuses on the onset, symptoms, and course of disease, as gathered from the patient’s story of their personal experience. Students learn to translate the patient’s story into an impersonal, biomedically-oriented disease narrative (Donnelly, 1996). The differences in the doctor’s and patient’s accounts can be considerable (Hunter, 1991). In the process of the interview and writing of the medical record, the sick person as subject is changed into an object of professional inquiry. In his paper on this phenomenon, Donnelly (1996) suggests that the patient be attended to as a unique person, and recommends changing the problemoriented medical record to one with a more holistic picture of the patient’s life, one that involves composing a medical case history as a story of human illness. To do this, he proposes a patient-centered medical record that contains steps such as introducing the patient as a person and using words such as ―chief concern‖ rather than ―chief complaint‖ to change the orientation of the interview. In the ―History of Present Illness‖ section he suggests first collecting information relating to the biomedical aspects of the disease, then collecting information relating to the patient’s perspective. The latter includes items such as:  

 

The patient’s understanding of the disease; The impact of the disease on the patient’s life, work or relationships, especially as they relate to the physical, mental and emotional experiences of loss, pain, worry or fear; The patient’s personal goals regarding health; The patients’ expectations of medical care.

In a later discussion of patient medical records, Donnelly provides examples of the kinds of questions a doctor can ask a patient that embodies the patientcentered approach (Donnelly, 2005, p. 35). In his view, teaching communication skills using patient-centered techniques addresses the patient’s illness as competently as those that document a patient’s biomedical disease. Problembased learning could offer a learning environment for practicing these types of communication skills and so bring about changes in students’ and physicians’ patient/doctor orientation.

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Case studies are ubiquitous as a tool for medical education, particularly in problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials. PBL was conceived by Howard Barrows at McMaster University in the 1960s and plays an important role in many medical school education programs (Srinivasan, Wilkes, Stevenson, Nguyen, & Slavin, 2007). PBL has the potential to create an authentic environment where members of a professional community undertake realistic activities using tools common to that community. Usually PBL is carried out in small groups of students meeting together with a tutor who provides guidance and feedback (Wilkerson & Feletti, 1989). PBL generally takes place in face-to-face tutorials using paper-based cases, although newer communications and delivery technologies are increasingly transforming the PBL experience (Duffy, Dueber, & Hawley, 1998; Ellaway & Masters, 2008; Jin & Bridges, 2014; Poulton, Conradi, Kavia, Round, & Hilton et al., 2009). Traditionally, the facilitator discloses the case study in stages; students identify and discuss the case issues, their relevant knowledge, and what they need to find out in order to resolve the case. To move forward, students research the learning issues that they identify during the tutorial and share their new information with the group, repeating the steps if the case progresses in multiple stages. In summary, the first step is being presented with the problem. Group members than address the problem by applying clinical reasoning skills. By interacting with their peers, learners work together to determine the gaps in their knowledge and what they need to learn. Group members learn the required material outside of the tutorial (class) and then apply it to solve the problem and summarize what has been learned from the case (Barrows, 1985). A PBL tutorial often concludes with the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evaluating the session and the resources that supported the case. In general, case resources supplement and illustrate the case study with items such as images, journal articles, x-rays, test results, and photos. PBL can be considered within the constructivist tradition (Savery & Duffy, 1995). The focus is on the learnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; construction of their own knowledge in a context similar to one where it will be used. Understanding emerges as a result of interactions within an environment; learning is distributed and knowledge is created through social negotiation. Collaboration is key for the testing and formation of understanding. PBL case studies are based on authentic situations with no obvious solution. Information is often vague and conflicting. As information is delivered to students, they define what is relevant, develop a hypothesis that might account for the situation, then do research to confirm the hypothesis (Barrows, 1985). The objective of this method is to develop competencies, critical reasoning, and learning skills (Barrows, 1984), as well as the ability to appreciate other points of view, work collaboratively, and to conduct self-assessments (Kamin, Deterding, Wilson, Armacost, & Breedon, 1999).

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Savery and Duffy (1995) suggest that PBL is an approach related to cognitive apprenticeship, incorporating the knowledge domain and the problem solving methodology associated with a particular profession, for example, medical education. In PBL, the case study drives learning and the construction of knowledge, so the design, structure, and orientation of the case study influences the students’ content acquisition and overall learning experience. For example, case design could influence how medical students decide what is important in problem-solving situations involving clinical reasoning. This in turn, might influence how medical students perceive patients and themselves as members of the medical community of practice. Taylor and Miflin (2008) contend that the PBL we see today is a product of many years of evolution in many diverse settings. Case resources can now include not only physical artifacts, but a wide variety of multimedia and links to the Internet. Cases themselves can be depicted in video stored remotely, rather than distributed in person through paper cases. In other words, there are so many variations in PBL that it is very challenging to compare results from one study to another. This is not to say that PBL has not produced the positive outcomes described in the literature, but it does help to explain why there are so many diverging opinions on how useful PBL is for producing competent doctors. There is good evidence to support claims of PBL’s benefits (e.g., Kaufman & Mann, 1998; 1999), but studies are based on differing views of desirable outcomes. PBL applications vary greatly, often departing from Barrow’s original conception. Research involving PBL must be carefully documented so that readers can clearly understand the innovations and components that make up the research environment and can interpret the results within the appropriate context.

Models of PBL in the Preclinical and Clinical years PBL was originally intended to introduce clinical problems in the pre-clinical years of medical training. Often PBL cases, while encouraging discussion in a group setting, emphasize the biological mechanisms underlying a particular disease, with the aim of developing clinical reasoning skills in response to possible clues in the case (Taylor & Miflin, 2008). Gradually PBL has been expanded into the clinical years (Taylor & Miflin, 2008), and some claim that its limitations are more evident in these years (Mamede, Schmidt, Rikers, Penaforte, & Coelho-Filho, 2007). As students begin to work in clinical sites, integrating real patients into PBL becomes more desirable (Dammers, Spencer, & Thomas, 2001) and can provide ample opportunity for practicing and reflecting on patient-centered care (DiSalvo, 2015; Staun, Bergström, & Wadensten, 2010). This approach could include some type of hybrid PBL combining face-to-face and online sessions and providing access to opportunities to practice with real people after seeing best practices modeled in video or in person. This is offered as one possible scenario; there are many others.

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The design of effective PBL cases could be quite different for clinical and preclinical students. Simpler cases in more structured tutorial settings may not require the deeper analytical and non-analytical reasoning used by more experienced physicians (Harris, Boyce, & Ajjawi, 2011). These simpler cases, however, can undermine efforts to integrate the patient’s perspective, and a patient-centered care mindset, into preclinical medical education. PBL case studies can be viewed as having a significant influence on a medical student’s perspective on patients and how they diagnose and treat illness. For instance, cases told from the perspective of the physician may de-contextualize the patient and enhance a tendency towards detachment (Kenny & Beagan, 2004). MacLeod’s (2011) review of 67 cases at one medical school identified six themes that dehumanize the patient and lead the student to consider the patient as merely a collection of symptoms that must be diagnosed and treated by the ―expert‖ physician. Examples include a focus on ―playing detective‖ to ―solve‖ a case; interchangeable disease symptoms that do not take gender into account; humorous patient names (e.g. ―Jack Daniels‖ for an alcoholic); case descriptions that lack patients’ voices or details that could help students to visualize real persons; and race, social class, gender, and other stereotypes.

PBL and Narrative-Based Case Studies Problem-based learning cases describe an encounter between a patient and doctor. Case studies structured around a story may help provide a richer context for learning than simple PBL cases, especially when these stories are told from the patient’s perspective. Creating PBL case studies as a story or narrative could have a number of advantages for producing more robust situated learning experiences that could shape both individuals and culture (Polkinghorne, 1988) by framing our experience, helping us to remember it, and to cope with new situations (Schank & Cleary, 1995). Stories can also help people to remember and apply information within new situations and are thought to be central to the way humans make sense of their world (Polkinghorne, 1988; Schank & Cleary, 1995). PBL is rooted in authentic learning situations where the problem is the driving force for learning about the professional world. In medical education, the problem presents the patient and their illness as the venue for resolving medical problems. It is generally assumed that cases strongly reflect, at some level, real patients and situations that physicians would encounter in their medical practice. Cases impart information and values about the profession (Kamin, O'Sullivan, Deterding, & Younger, 2003) and play a role in the transmission of not only medical information, but also the unspoken assumptions, attitudes, and values of the health care professional culture (Kenny & Beagan, 2004). Reframing case content to reflect both the doctor’s and patient’s points of view, using language that can be understood by the patient, presenting a time line that better reflects the patient’s experience, and developing a detailed picture of the patient and those in his/her world may contribute to a more authentic case study (Kenny & Beagan, 2004). Table 1 shows a summary of questions Kenny © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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and Beagan asked in order to analyze the level of patient-oriented content in PBL case studies. This approach creates an awareness of case perspective and can contribute to the development of cases that represent multiple voices and so diversify the PBL case study repertoire. Table 1. Summary of Questions for Analyzing Patient-Centeredness in PBL Cases.

Narrative Component Language

Questions

Audience

For whom is the case written?

Point of View

Does the case narrative unfold from the patient’s or the doctor’s point of view?

Time Frame

What is the time frame of the case? What information is there on the patient’s previous health? How much information is there about the patient’s experience with the symptoms?

Crisis Point

Is there a resolution to the case? Are we told what happens to the patient after the diagnosis? Is there a sense of villain or hero in the story?

Dialogue

Is there any dialogue in the case study? Is the patient quoted? Is there any commentary on the patient’s account of the illness?

Character Development

To what extent are characters present other than the doctor and patient, such as family and loved ones? How much do we get to know the patient or others important to their life? Do we get to know their emotions?

Is the case in the patient’s language or is it presented in medical terminology?

Source: Summarized from Kenny and Beagan (2004)

The development of case studies that are rich in narrative information, called ―thick narrative,‖ may provide a more robust context for learning than traditional case studies because rich cases more accurately reflect the complex reality of patient presentation and interaction. They also may help to lay the foundation for the development of a more holistic and ―patient-centered‖ awareness during the training of health professionals. According to Bruner’s (1986) definition, case study narratives, no matter how thin or rich, can influence students’ sense of reality, appropriate behavior, and time. Charon (2001) argues that ―narrative medicine‖ models medical practice that is both humane and effective, and ―narrative competence‖ can enrich it with © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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―empathy, reflection, professionalism, and trustworthiness‖ (p. 1987). In a pilot test on the use of narrative, video-based PBL case studies, Bizzocchi and Schell (2009) found that students were generally engaged by the thicker case study narrative descriptions and reported that video deepened their experience. Most participants responded positively and found that the more robust story and video presentation within a media rich narrative seemed appropriate and functional. The power of narrative, especially in a video format, may provide learning opportunities and alternatives that supplement the current repertoire of paper-based cases. Narrative constitutes a context in which audiences can immerse themselves, acting as observers and participants, while media affords the construction of narrative and a sense of immersion (Murray, 1998). Learning evolves when collaborative groups and individuals interact, create meaning, and construct knowledge as afforded by the structures where these interactions take place (Jenkins, 2006). In a similar way, online narrative-based PBL may help medical students to understand the structures shaping their world and to develop a collective and individual patient-centered orientation.

Studying PBL through Design-Based Research If narrative-based case studies can shape the professional development of a medical student, influence their perceptions, and create a more authentic learning environment, what stories should be told and how should they be told? When patient-centered skills have been studied, patients tell us that being a good listener is an important skill for doctors to learn, and patients value being treated as individuals (Bleakley & Bligh, 2008; Constand et al., 2014; Ferguson et al., 2013). Needed skills and awareness might be stimulated through the components of the story and by telling the story of the medical encounter from the patient’s viewpoint. However, the case study is only one element of the complex PBL process, and there are many others that can influence learning and teaching outcomes, such as facilitation, participant exchanges, case resources, and technological enhancements. The PBL experience unfolds in a multi-faceted environment, and research within this setting would entail studying the phenomenon of learning and teaching as it takes place in this context. Design-based research (DBR) is concerned with studying how design works within the context of the learning environment, that is, the everyday world of the classroom settings (whether online or off) and in the process has developed theories with general application for learning and instruction. DBR is not simply a process of trial and error to see what works. The results should have a wider applicability: ―Design experiments ideally result in greater understanding of a learning ecology—a complex, interacting system involving multiple elements and by anticipating how these elements function together to support learning‖ (Cobb, Confrey, di Sessa, Lehrer, & Schauble, 2003, p. 9). Designing environments that contribute to learning theory seems particularly challenging. Usually education research is based on a theoretical framework, but theoretical frameworks are rarely prescriptive. Problem-based learning, for © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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example, is a pedagogy in medical education that applies a constructivist approach where understanding is seen as a function of the content, context, activity and goals of the learner (Savery & Duffy, 1995, p. 136). From a situated constructivist theoretical perspective, PBL attempts to create a learning experience where students work as a group using conceptual tools to resolve authentic medical problems. PBL in its traditional form presents a rather limited implementation of situated learning theory because it relies on linear paper cases to develop learning. However, it is not obvious how the theory of situated constructivist learning theory can determine the specifics of effective design. DBR offers a possible solution to this difficulty, since it builds on a theoretical framework and works in conjunction with qualitative or quantitative methods (or both) to study and assess a phenomenon.

Designing Online PBL for Patient-Centered Teaching and Learning Studies have shown that the deterioration in communications skills experienced by medical students can be prevented or reduced through a greater emphasis on the importance of communication and increased training in the curriculum (Kaufman, Laidlaw, & Macleod, 2000). Since PBL tutorials can support the professional development of medical students and since the case study is the heart of the PBL process, the case study design is critical for the development of these skills. As described earlier, cases impart information and values about the profession (Kamin et al., 2003) and transmit assumptions and attitudes to students about the culture of health care professionals (Kenny & Beagan, 2004). Design-based research might offer a research methodology to investigate domain specific learning processes such as the development of patient-centered competencies and attitudes. As Cobb et al. (2003, p.9) suggest, ―A theory of this type would specify successive patterns in students’ reasoning together with the substantiated means by which the emergence of those successive patterns can be supported.‖ As DBR is concerned with the dynamic ecology of a learning environment, the study of PBL would include factors such as the kind of problems the students are asked to solve, the timing and content of the unfolding elements of the case released during the course of the PBL tutorial, learning processes of the students, tutorial facilitation, and the resources and tools provided. When considered from a DBR perspective, these elements would be seen as interacting components of a larger learning system rather than a list of factors that independently influence learning. Cobb et al.’s description of how to prepare for DBR includes an arc of ―conjectured starting points, elements of trajectory, and prospective endpoints‖ (Cobb et al., 2003, p.11) resulting in the formulation of a design that produces ―significant shifts in student reasoning and the means of supporting these shifts‖ (Cobb et al., 2003, p.11). To begin DBR and define the scope of the research project, a researcher should answer the following questions (Cobb et al., 2003, p. 11):

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

What is my theoretical intent? What is the point of the study? For example, identify and account for successive patterns in student thinking by relating these patterns to the means by which their development can be supported and organized. What are the salient ideas and reasoning behind the goals or endpoints for student learning? This can be discovered by conducting a systematic review of the literature in the domain. What is an alternate conception of this domain, i.e. case study design as related to factors outlined earlier, thought of as patient-centered skills or to have promoted patient-centeredness? What is the starting point for this innovation? Define current student capabilities, current practices and draw on lit review to establish this. Document learning ecology as it relates to the tutorial learning focus.

With these guidelines in mind, research on narrative-based case design within the context of PBL may focus on variations on designs that have the potential to enhance patient-centeredness. Assessment could involve the analysis of student performances showing deep or shallow understanding of patient-centeredness as compared to the student’s initial interpretations and understandings. To be consistent with the goals of DBR, overall, these outcomes should illuminate the dynamics of situated constructivist learning and teaching. The literature indicates that design-based research is uncommon in medical education research, perhaps due to its status as a relatively new approach to research and to the overwhelmingly positivist emphasis of medical research itself. Studies focusing on technology-supported education could make a useful contribution to the literature, since there is little research to date informing technology-supported educational practice in medical education (Cook, 2009). This is despite evidence that shows technology-based medical education has similar or slightly better outcomes than non-technology supported medical education (Cook et al., 2008). Therefore studies centering on the best use of technology in medical education, including pedagogies such as PBL, could yield useful information. The development of patient-centered skills is an important concept in medical education (MacLeod, 2011) and as such, research in this area within the PBL context can be considered a worthwhile contribution to the field. Despite a lack of studies that involve all aspects of research described in this paper, that is, using DBR as an approach to study online PBL case studies in connection with patient-centered skills and values, there are many studies concerned with design-based research, online PBL, and the development of patient-centered skills. Drawing the threads together calls for implementing DBR and employing qualitative and/or quantitative methods to identify, collect, and assess the research findings. But first, as Cobb recommends, we must specify the patient-centered skills we’d like to foster in PBL tutorials, and the practices that might promote them, drawing on situated constructivist learning as the anchor to bring these elements together coherently.

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Street et al. (2007, p. 586) offer a simple, workable model that captures the salient characteristics of patient-centered behaviors that produce positive patient outcomes. In this model, the quality of care a patient receives depends on the doctor’s communication skills. Doctors who are informative, supportive, and respectful, and facilitate patient participation, generally have patients who are more satisfied, more committed to their treatment plans, and experience better treatment outcomes. Stewart et al. (2000) explore similar territory, offering more tangible examples of patient centered communication skills (Table 2). Table 2: Stewart’s Examples of Patient-Centered Communication.

Component Exploring the illness experience

Example The doctor explores the patient symptoms, function, ideals, feelings, and expectations.

Understanding the patient as a whole The doctor elicits and explores person issues relating to life stage, life context including family, and personality. Finding common ground

The doctor clearly defines and answers questions about the problem and the management plan and takes the time to discuss and agree on them with the patient.

Source: Summarized from Schwartz, Webb, & Mennin (2001) and Stewart et al. (2000)

Once patient-centered skills are defined, the next step from the viewpoint of design research is to develop opportunities for practice within the PBL environment that can support the student’s acquisition of patient-centered values and specific skills, such as learning the patient’s perspective, getting to know the patient’s life context, and working out a mutually agreed treatment plan. This may be possible, since studies have shown that PBL can offer greater opportunities to integrate patient-centered values such as humanism and empathy into their curriculum than those curricula without a PBL program (Newton, Barber, Clardy, Cleveland, & O'Sullivan, 2008). There are many factors that could shape the PBL experience in the pursuit of patient-centered care skills and values. In a medical curriculum, doctor/patient relationships can be enhanced by mindful practice, communication training, and recognition of cultural formation (Frankel, Eddins-Folensbee, & Inui, 2011). Case design may also be a powerful tool in shaping patient centered skills and values by telling the story of the patient experience. Kenny and Beagan’s work © 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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on embodying the patient perspective in case design may offer some insights on this. Access to resources that model patient-centered interviewing techniques may be another avenue to explore. However, for the purposes of this article, it is important to establish what is meant by patient-centered skills and values, as well as to understand how current practices may hinder their development. From here we can suggest how PBL might be designed to offer the opportunity to develop these skills and values and outline a strategy to create and test design options. Both quantitative and qualitative methods can shed light how well our research goals have been met. Studying the medical student experience, skills, and attitudes before, during and after PBL tutorials may provide valuable insights about how patient-centeredness can be nurtured and developed. Quantitative research can offer data that measures patient-centered skills and attitudes. However, qualitative methods are more helpful for understanding a studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feelings, beliefs, values, and subjective experiences in relation to patientcentered care and how these may evolve within PBL tutorials. For example, narrative research is based on the assumption that humans interpret their own world based on their construction of reality, and that telling the story from the perspective of the individual is important. This idea is closely linked to the constructivist view that individuals generate knowledge and meaning within a social context of experience (Clandinin, 1989). Narrative research could therefore help us understand the development of patient-centered attitudes in a PBL tutorial. In particular, we are interested in understanding how the experience of just-the-facts cases (called thin cases) and rich narrative cases (thick cases) may develop different perceptions of the patient and affect the patient-physician relationship. Although it is a bit premature to pinpoint the exact methodology for our research, implementing DBR in conjunction with narrative research may provide findings that illuminate the subjective experience of PBL.

Next Steps Since learning happens in the complex, messy context of the PBL interactive setting, other components will need to be further studied, such as the teaching and learning of communication skills, the value of video cases and multimedia case resources, tutorial facilitation, and the supports necessary to encourage group discussion, an activity central to PBL. It is also necessary to recognize that PBL does not operate in a vacuum but is a component of medical education as a whole, within the socio-cultural world of the medical school experience. However, the scope of a research project will need to be defined within certain specified parameters in order to be carried out and interpreted.

Conclusion Although patient-centered care is a medical practice ideal and is known to be related to better patient outcomes, patient-centered attitudes decline as students ÂŠ 2015 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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progress through medical school and related skills are not well-developed. Both the formal and informal medical school curricula influence the acquisition of patient-centered attitudes and skills. There is a need to recognize and integrate educational components that develop patient-centeredness through communications skills training, practice-based learning, and reflective practice. PBL can offer a venue for enhancing these types of skills. Creating cases based on stories can make the learning environment more authentic by telling a narrative from the patient’s perspective while providing engaging, memorable context for practicing patient-centered skills. Recounting ―thick‖ narratives through the medium of video and supporting PBL with multimedia resources may provide a richer experience for learning and teaching. Implementing design-based research in conjunction with quantitative and/or qualitative research methodologies could provide new information on PBL as a whole and case study design in particular, in relation to patient-centered skills and values. Quantitative methods could involve measuring the level of patientcenteredness through tools like the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (Krupat, Hiam, Fleming, & Freeman, 1999) and newer scales under development (Methodology Committee of PCORI, 2012; Van Den Assem & Dulewicz, 2015; Zill, Scholl, Härter, & Dirmaier, 2013), while qualitative methods may focus on the experience of the students as they progress through the PBL tutorial. The goal is to not only to investigate domain specific learning processes like the development of patient-centered competencies and attitudes but to develop theory that describes successful patterns in students’ reasoning together with the means to support them. More work is needed to specify the features of PBL that might contribute to a patient-centered learning environment and so define the iterations that could be studied within the context of design-based research. Although design-based research can be challenging because of the evolving learning ecology like PBL, this type of research, used in combination with other research approaches, appears likely to make significant contributions to situated, constructivist theory within a PBL setting.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 181-191, October 2015

A Case Study Approach to Secondary Reanalysis of a Quantitative Research Synthesis of Adult Learning Practices Studies Carl J. Dunst and Deborah W. Hamby Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute Asheville and Morganton, North Carolina, USA

Abstract. A secondary reanalysis of a quantitative research synthesis of four adult learning practices is described where a case study research methodology was used to identify which practices with which characteristics under which conditions were associated with the largest sizes of effects for different adult learner outcomes. Results showed that a case study approach was able to detect patterns of relationships among four adult learning practices (job-embedded learning, authentic learning opportunities, learner reflection, extended professional development supports) and adult learning outcomes that otherwise were not explicitly apparent from a quantitative analysis of the studies in the research synthesis. This was discerned from pattern matching and both literal and theoretical where studies including the adult learning practices had the largest effect sizes and those not including the practices had the smallest effect sizes. Keywords: Case study methodology; meta-analysis; secondary reanalysis; adult learning practices; pattern matching; replication logic.

1. Introduction This paper includes a description of how a case study research methodology was used to conduct secondary reanalysis of a research synthesis of four different adult learning practices to identify the characteristics of and conditions under which the adult learning methods and strategies were most effective in terms of changes and improvements in learner outcomes. According to Rossman, Yore, Hand, and Shelley (2009), secondary reanalysis of studies “with a common focus, method, or outcome” (p. 589) is analogous to a multiple case study where “consolidated results of…data from [different] studies with a similar research focus can afford greater discovery power” (p. 587). The secondary reanalysis was motivated by the results from a metasynthesis of reviews of inservice professional development studies where remarkably similar results were found for quite varied types of inservice training with educators, teachers, and other school personnel (Dunst, Bruder, & Hamby, 2015). Findings

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from the metasynthesis were used to recode and reanalyze data from a metaanalysis of adult learning practices to determine if a case study methodology could reveal generalized patterns of results that would otherwise remain hidden by only the quantitative analysis of the studies (Gibbert & Nair, 2013; Rossman et al., 2009). Generalized pattern of results refers to the extent to which the relationships between independent and dependent variables are systematically

replicated in the different studies in the analyses of multiple case study data (Yin, 2014). The meta-analysis of the adult learning practices was one of 15 reviews in the metasynthesis of inservice professional development afforded preschool, elementary, and secondary educators.

1.1. Metasynthesis of Inservice Professional Development Review The metasyntheses of inservice professional development reviews (Dunst et al., 2015) involved secondary reanalysis using replication logic (Hak & Dul, 2010b; Yin, 2014) and pattern matching (Hak & Dul, 2010a; Yin, 2014) to identify the common features of inservice professional development associated with changes and improvements in educator and student outcomes. The 15 research reviews included 550 studies of more than 50,000 early childhood intervention, preschool, elementary, and secondary education teachers, educators, and practitioners and the children and students with whom they worked. A unique feature of each research review was researchersâ&#x20AC;&#x; attempts to identify which studies with which characteristics under which conditions were associated with optimal educator and student outcomes. Results from the metasynthesis showed that inservice professional development was most effective when it included job-embedded educator learning opportunities, active and authentic educator learning experiences, opportunities for the educators to reflect on their learning experiences, coach or mentor supports or performance feedback during the inservice training, extended follow-up supports to reinforce inservice learning, and inservice training and follow-up supports of sufficient duration and intensity to have discernible educator and student effects. The results provided evidence for literal replication (Hak & Dul, 2010b; Yin, 2014) where the researchers independently came to the same or very similar conclusions about what matters most in terms of inservice professional development having optimal educator and student outcomes. Results showed that all 15 reviews included evidence for the benefits of job-embedded educator learning opportunities, all 15 reviews included evidence for the effectiveness of active and authentic educator learning experiences, 13 reviews included evidence for the effectiveness of extended follow-up supports, and 12 reviews included evidence for the effectiveness of sufficient dosage (duration and intensity) of inservice professional development. What was not able to be determined from the reviews was whether there was evidence for theoretical replication (Yin, 2014) since researchers did not describe or attempt to determine whether studies that had no effects or yielded equivocal results did not include the characteristics found to be effective in the studies with positive results. Theoretical replication would therefore need to be inferred rather than demonstrated which limits the generalizability of the findings (de Vaus, 2001;

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Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007; Gibbert & Nair, 2013). There was, however, one review in the metasynthesis that included sufficient information and data to conduct secondary reanalysis to ascertain theoretical as well as literal replication. This meta-analysis was the source of information and data for the secondary reanalysis described in this paper.

1.2. Adult Learning Practices Meta-Analysis The adult learning practices that were the focus of secondary reanalysis were coaching (Fletcher & Mullen, 2012; Leat, Lofthouse, & Wilcock, 2006), guided design (Hancock, 1991; Selby & Tuttle, 1988), just-in-time training (Beckett, 2000; Rosen, 2005), and accelerated learning (Meier, 2000; Wlodkowski & Kasworm, 2003). The four adult learning practices are grounded in principles that emphasize a readiness to learn, autonomous learning, active learner participation in the learning process, critical thinking and reflection, and real-life relevance and application of learning content, material, or practice (Merriam, 2001; Trotter, 2006). The four practices, however, differ in terms of the methods and strategies that were used by professional development specialists to support and facilitate adult learning. The meta-analysis included 57 randomized design studies of more than 4,000 adult learner participants. A content analysis of the studies of the four adult learning practices found that they could be categorized in terms of the patterns of practices shown in Table 1. Based on the different patterns of characteristics of the four adult learning practices, the outcomes associated with each adult learning practice at different levels of extended supports were expected to vary in terms of the sizes of effects for the relationships between the practices and outcomes. More specifically, coaching (which included job-embedded learning, authentic learning experiences, active learner reflection, and large doses of extended supports) was hypothesized to be associated with the largest adult learner benefits, whereas accelerated learning (which included none of the four adult learning practices used in the coaching studies in smaller doses) was hypothesized to be associated with the smallest adult benefits.

Table 1: Patterns of Professional Development Characteristics of the Four Adult Learning Practices Professional Development Characteristics

Adult Learning Practices Coaching Coaching Guided Design Guided Design Just-in-Time Training Just-in-Time Training Accelerated Learning Accelerated Learning

Job Embedded Learning Yes Yes No No No No No No

Authentic Learning

Learner Reflection

Extended Supports

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No

Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No

Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

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The coaching studies were characterized by job-embedded learning opportunities, active and authentic learner experiences, and opportunities for learner reflection on their learning experiences. The guided design studies employed real world problems as authentic learning experiences to develop decision-making skills and instructor led group discussions for engaging learners in reflection on their learning experiences. The adult learning practice, however, was not job-embedded inasmuch as learning opportunities only took place in workshops or university classroom settings. The just-in-time training studies included active and authentic learning experiences specifically in response to learner requests for guidance or mentoring where the assistance was offered in non job-embedded settings (typically the mentors‟ offices or classrooms) and there was no explicit attempt to engage the learners in reflection on the use of mentors‟ guidance. None of the accelerated learning studies were job embedded, included authentic learning experiences, or learner reflection on their experiences. Rather, the studies included procedures for creating a relaxed emotional state (e.g., breathing exercises), imagery and dramatic readings, and skits or role playing for participants to learn content knowledge or practice.

1.3. Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study described in this paper was to conduct secondary reanalysis of the Dunst et al. (2010a) meta-analysis of adult learning practices using the framework and results in the Dunst et al. (2015) metasynthesis to guide the reanalysis. The reanalysis was done in order to confirm or disconfirm both literal and theoretical replication (Yin, 2014) using pattern matching (Hak & Dul, 2010a) as an analytic strategy for determining if there was a match between an „“observed pattern‟ (a pattern of measured values) with an „expected pattern‟ (a hypothesis), and deciding whether the patterns…result in [confirmation or] disconfirmation” of the hypothesized relationships (Hak & Dul, 2010a, p. 1). The metric for accomplishing this was the effect sizes for the relationship between the different combinations of practices shown in Table 1 and the adult learner outcomes and the patterns of those effect sizes. The goals were to determine whether (1) a case study research methodology could be applied to quantitative data (Rossman et al., 2009) and (2) to determine if there was value-added yield in terms of a better understanding of the types of adult learning methods and strategies that are related to optimal learner outcomes (de Vaus, 2001).

2. Method 2.1. Sources of Case Study Data The sources of information and data for the secondary reanalysis of the four adult learning practices was the meta-analysis of the studies of the practices (Dunst et al., 2010a), supplemental tables and data on the different characteristics of the practices (Dunst, Trivette, & Hamby, 2010b), and other publications of findings from the meta-analysis relevant to the purposes of the study described in this paper (Dunst & Trivette, 2011, 2012). These various sources included all the necessary information to categorize the adult learning

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practices in terms of the Table 1 characteristics and to compute the effect sizes for the relationships between the classified practices and study outcomes.

2.2. Professional Development Characteristics Operational definitions of the four professional development characteristics were used on an a priori basis to categorize each of the adult learning practices as either including or not including each of the four characteristics in Table 1 and for determining how many studies of each adult learning practice included each characteristic.

2.2.1. Job-Embedded Learning Opportunities Job-embedded adult learning opportunities were defined as professional development occurring in the work settings of the study participants whereas non job-embedded was defined as professional development occurring in workshops, college or university classrooms, or other non work settings (Croft, Coggshall, Dolan, Powers, & Killion, 2010). Fourteen of 15 coaching studies included job-embedded professional development whereas 3 of the 21 accelerated design studies, 1 of 6 just-in-time training studies, and none of the 13 guided design studies used job-embedded professional development practices.

2.2.2. Authentic Learning Experiences Authentic adult learning experiences were defined as context-specific active learning opportunities that occurred or were representative of what learners would experience as part of real life problems or challenges (Firestone & Mangin, 2014). The operative used to characterize adult learning practices as authentic was active learner participation in acquiring knowledge or mastering skills directly applicable to learnersâ&#x20AC;&#x; professions or practices. All 13 guided design studies, 14 of the 15 coaching studies, 4 of 6 of the just-in-time training studies included authentic learning opportunities, and none of the accelerated learning studies included these types of learning experiences.

2.2.3. Learner Reflection Learner reflection was defined as an explicit effort by professional development specialists to engage adult learners in evaluation or assessment of their mastery of the content knowledge or practice learned as part of the learning opportunities and experiences afforded learners (Essuman, 2015). All 13 guided design studies, 10 of the 15 coaching studies, 2 of the 21 accelerated learning studies, and 1 of the 6 just-in-time training studies included some type of practice to engage learners in reflection on their learning experiences.

2.2.4. Extended Supports Extended supports were operationally defined in terms of the number of professional development hours afforded study participants. A median split of the hours of training was used to divide all 57 studies into those including less than 20 hours of professional development and studies of more than 20 hours of inservice training. A 4 Between Adult Learning Practices x 2 Between Hours of

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Training ANOVA showed no differences in the hours of training afforded study participants for the four adult learning practices, F (3, 53) = 0.65, p = .645, but a significant between hours of training effect, F (1, 53) = 47.44, p = .001. The average hours of training afforded study participants in the low and high extended support groups was 8.43 (SD = 6.64) and 46.31 (SD = 17.22) respectively. The Cohenâ&#x20AC;&#x;s d effect size for the between hours of training comparison was 2.85 which indicated a very large difference in how much professional development was afforded the study participants.

2.3. Adult Learner Outcomes The study outcomes were categorized as either learner acquisition of content knowledge or skills, or learner attitudes toward or beliefs about the efficacy of the adult learning methods. Content knowledge included measures of mastering course or workshop content knowledge or on-the-job requirements. Learner skills included measures of proficiency in the use of teaching methods or job performance. Learner attitudes included measures of satisfaction with the adult learning practices or judgments of the value of the learning experiences afforded the study participants. Learner beliefs included measures of learner confidence or competence in terms of either learning content or skills having intended learner outcomes or benefits.

2.4. Methods of Analysis The methods of analysis were guided by the thoughtful methodological discussions of de Vaus (2001) and Rossman et al. (2009) who have articulated procedures for combining quantitative and qualitative information and data to identify the relationships between independent and dependent study variables as part of reanalysis of quantitative research findings. The Cohenâ&#x20AC;&#x;s d sizes of effect (Hedges, 2008) for the different combinations of adult learning practices characteristics shown in Table 1 at the two different levels of extended supports were examined for both dependent measures as well as for both measures combined to determine if expected patterns were supported by the obtained patterns (Hak & Dul, 2010a; Yin, 2014) and to confirm or disconfirm either or both literal and theoretical replication (Hak & Dul, 2010b; Yin, 2014).

3. Results The average effect sizes for the four different adult learning practices at the two levels of extended supports for all learner outcomes combined are shown in Figure 1. For each adult learning practice, more than 20 hours of extended supports was associated with larger sizes of effect compared to less than 20 hours of extended supports. The pattern of results indicated that coaching, which included all four adult learning practices characteristics, was associated with a larger average effect compared to the other three adult practices, and that coaching, which included jobembedded learning, authentic learning opportunities, learner reflection, and more than 20 hours of extended supports was considerably more effective than the other three adult learning practices, and far superior to accelerated learning which included none of the four adult learning

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practices characteristics hypothesized to be associated with optimal learner outcomes.

1.25 < 20 Hours of Extended Supports

MEAN EFFECT SIZE

1.00 20 + Hours of Extended Supports 0.75

0.50

0.25

0.00

Coaching

Guided Design

Just-In-Time Accelerated Training Learning

ADULT LEARNING PRACTICES Figure 1: Average Effect Sizes for the Presence of the Four Adult Learning Practices Characteristics and the Study Outcomes Table 2 shows the average effect sizes for the relationships between the four different adult learning practices and the two adult learning study outcomes at less than and more than 20 hours of extended professional development supports. In every instance, the sizes of effect for 20 or more hours of extended supports were larger than those for less than 20 hours of extended supports for both of the adult learning practice outcomes. In addition, at each level of extended supports, coaching, which included all four professional development characteristics (job embedded learning, authentic learning, learner reflection, 20+ hours of extended supports), had larger sizes of effects for both outcomes compared to the other three adult learning practices as was found for both outcomes combined (Figure 1), indicating that the patterns of relationships between the practices and the two different outcomes were almost identical.

4. Discussion Results from the secondary reanalysis of the four different adult learning practices described in this paper provided evidence for both literal and theoretical replication by demonstrating (1) that the coaching studies which

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included all four adult learning practices characteristics constituting the focus of investigation had the largest sizes of effects with each adult learner outcome (literal replication) and (2) that the other three adult learning practices which did not include all four adult learning practices characteristics had smaller sizes of effect (theoretical replication). Literal and theoretical replication were also

Table 2: Average Weighted Effect Sizes for the Relationships Between the Four Adult Learning Practices and the Learner Outcomes Learner Outcomes Knowledge/Skills Beliefs/Attitudes Adult Learning Practice Effect p-value Effect p-value Size Size Coaching 20+ hours of extended supports 1.24 .0000 .91 .0000 < 20 hours of extended supports .92 .0000 .64 .0000 Guided Design 20+ hours of extended supports .55 .0000 .76 .0000 < 20 hours of extended supports .33 .0009 .21 .1087 Just-in-Time Training 20+ hours of extended supports .58 .0000 < 20 hours of extended supports .37 .0098 Accelerated Learning 20+ hours of extended supports .50 .0000 .33 .1248 < 20 hours of extended supports -.29 .0001 .01 .9375

demonstrated by the fact that the individual coaching studies each “serve as a distinct experiment that stands on its own as an analytic unit [and] like a series of related laboratory experiments, multiple cases [i.e., studies] are discrete experiments that serve as replications, contrasts, and extensions of emerging theory” (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007, p. 25). Accordingly, the results provide evidence that the presence of the same professional development characteristics in different studies hypothesized to be related to optimal learner outcomes were in fact associated with predicted benefits, and the absence of the professional development characteristics in other studies were related to less than optimal benefits also as predicted. The fact that hours of extended professional development supports had valueadded effects in terms of the learner outcomes deserves comment because it illustrates that a larger dose of different combinations of adult learning practices characteristics was clearly a factor contributing to learner outcomes. This is consistent with contentions by Desimone (2009) and Guskey (2002) who noted, based on both research and practice, that job-embedded learning, authentic learning opportunities, and learner reflection are more likely to have expected results if done on repeated occasions over extended periods of time measured in the present study in terms of the hours of extended professional development supports (see also Dunst, 2015).

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Both deVaus (2001) and Rossman et al. (2009) describe how case study research can be combined with quantitative data to test hypothesized relationships between independent and dependent variables. A case study logic was used in the study described in this paper to categorize four adult learning practices according to the presence or absence of four different professional development practices characteristics where quantitative effect sizes were used to discern the relationships between eight different predicted patterns (Table 1) and the sizes of effects with two different adult learner outcomes (Table 2). This was neither new nor innovative (see e.g., Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007). What was innovative was the secondary reanalysis of the studies of adult learning practices where studies that had the same characteristics were treated as multiple case examples and where the combined results from those studies were used as the metric for testing whether observed relationships provided support for hypothesized relationships. This permitted a better and more complete understanding of which adult learning practice (coaching) with which characteristics (job-embedded, authentic learning, learner reflection) under which conditions (20 or more hours of extended professional development supports) was associated with different adult learning outcomes. As a result, both goals of the study were achieved: (1) demonstrating the utility of a case study approach for secondary reanalysis of a quantitative meta-analysis and (2) identifying which adult learning practices with which characteristics had valueadded explanatory yields.

5. References Beckett, D. (2000). Just-in-time training as anticipative action and as inferential understanding. In C. Symes (Ed.), Proceedings [of the] International Conference on Working Knowledge: Productive learning at work (Vol. 1, pp. 15-20). Sydney, Australia: University of Technology, Research Centre for Vocational Education and Training. Croft, A., Coggshall, J. G., Dolan, M., Powers, E., & Killion, J. (2010). Job-embedded professional development: What it is, who is responsible, and how to get it done well: Issue brief. Retrieved from Washington, DC: de Vaus, D. (2001). Research design in social research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Desimone, L. M. (2009). Improving impact studies of teachers' professional development: Toward better conceptualizations and measures. Educational Researcher, 38(3), 181-199. doi:10.3102/0013189X08331140 Dunst, C. J. (2015). Improving the design and implementation of inservice professional development in early childhood intervention. Infants & Young Children, 28(3), 210-219. doi:10.1097/IYC.0000000000000042 Dunst, C. J., Bruder, M. B., & Hamby, D. W. (2015). Metasynthesis of in-service professional development research: Features associated with positive educator and student outcomes Educational Research and Reviews, 10(12), 1731-1744. doi:10.5897/ERR2015.2306 Dunst, C. J., & Trivette, C. M. (2011). Disaggregating adult learning practices to identify what works best in explaining learner outcomes. In C. Prachalias (Ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Education (pp. 55-61). Athens, Greece: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Dunst, C. J., & Trivette, C. M. (2012). Moderators of the effectiveness of adult learning method practices. Journal of Social Sciences, 8, 143-148. doi:10.3844/jssp.2012.143.148

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Dunst, C. J., Trivette, C. M., & Hamby, D. W. (2010a). Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of four adult learning methods and strategies. International Journal of Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning, 3(1), 91-112. Dunst, C. J., Trivette, C. M., & Hamby, D. W. (2010b). Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of four adult learning methods and strategies: Supplemental tables and references. Asheville, NC: Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute. Available at http://www.puckett.org/docs/ijcelldocs.pdf. Eisenhardt, K. M., & Graebner, M. E. (2007). Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. Academy of Management Journal, 50(1), 25-32. doi:10.5465/AMJ.2007.24160888 Essuman, S. O. (2015). Exploring the reflective learning experiences of primary school teachers during the use of Open Educational Resources. Journal of Education and Training, 2(2), 163-179. doi:10.5296/jet.v2i2.7793 Firestone, W. A., & Mangin, M. M. (2014). Leading professional learning in districts with a student learning culture. In L. E. Martin, S. Kragler, D. J. Quatroche, & K. L. Bauserman (Eds.), Handbook of professional development in education: Successful models and practices, pre-k - 12 (pp. 319-338). New York: Guilford. Fletcher, S., & Mullen, C. A. (Eds.). (2012). The SAGE handbook of mentoring and coaching in education. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Gibbert, M., & Nair, L. B. (2013). Towards rigorous case study research: How replication logic enhances internal and external validity. Academy of Management Proceedings (Meeting Abstract Supplement), 2013(1), 15672. doi:10.5465/AMBPP.2013.15672abstract Guskey, T. R. (2002). Professional development and teacher change. Teacher and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 8(3/4), 381-391. doi:10.1080/135406002100000512 Hak, T., & Dul, J. (2010a). Pattern matching. In A. J. Mills, G. Durepos, & E. Wiebe (Eds.), Encyclopedia of case study research (pp. 664-666). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Hak, T., & Dul, J. (2010b). Replication. In A. J. Mills, G. Durepos, & E. Wiebe (Eds.), Encyclopedia of case study research (pp. 805-807). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Hancock, B. (1991). Guided design: A case study approach to enhance problem-solving. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 4(1), 55-62. doi:10.1111/j.19378327.1991.tb00491.x Hedges, L. V. (2008). What are effect sizes and why do we need them? Child Development Perspectives, 2, 167-171. doi:10.1111/j.1750-8606.2008.00060.x Leat, D., Lofthouse, R., & Wilcock, A. (2006). Teacher coaching: Connecting research and practice. Teaching Education, 17, 329-339. doi:10.1080/10476210601017477 Meier, D. (2000). The accelerated learning handbook: A creative guide to designing and delivering faster, more effective training programs. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Merriam, S. B. (2001). Andragogy and self-directed learning: Pillars of adult learning theory. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 89, 3-13. doi:10.1002/ace.3 Rosen, D. (2005). Just-in-time instruction: Supporting teacher education candidates developing technology skills. Technology and Teacher Education Annual, 2, 12211223. Rossman, G. B., Yore, L. D., Hand, B., & Shelley, M. C. (2009). Stitching the pieces together to reveal generalised patterns: Systematic research reviews, secondary re-analyses, case-to-case comparisons, and meta-syntheses of qualitative research studies. In M. C. Shelley, L. D. Yore, & B. Hand (Eds.), Quality research in literacy and science education: International perspectives and gold standards (pp. 575-602). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer Science + Business Media. Selby, M. L., & Tuttle, D. M. (1988). Guided design: Evaluation of a model for teaching nursing research. Journal of Nursing Education, 27, 303-308.

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Trotter, Y. D. (2006). Adult learning theories: Impacting professional development programs. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 72(2), 8-13. Wlodkowski, R. J., & Kasworm, C. E. (2003). Accelerated learning: Future roles and influences. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 97, 93-97. doi:10.1002/ace.92 Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research e-ISSN: 1694-2116, p-ISSN: 1694-2493 Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 192-209, October 2015

An Exploration of Student-Teachers‟ Views about the Practice of Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching: English Major Prospective Teachers in Bahir Dar and Haromaya Universities, Ethiopia Demis Gebretsadik, Haileslasie Beyene and Dawit Tesfaye Jimma University, Ethiopia Abstract. The present study explored the views and perceptions of trainee teachers towards Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching (PGDT) training in general and the teaching profession in particular. A descriptive survey research design which in corporate both qualitative and quantitative data types was employed. The total population of the study was all available fifty (50) prospective teachers who were enrolled in two Ethiopian universities in the year 2014/15. Questionnaire, key informant interview, and focus group discussion were the data collection tools employed. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were the techniques used to analyze the data. The findings of this study disclosed that majority of the trainee teachers joined PGDT program due to lack of other job options. This in return, revealed lack of the trainees‟ inherent interest towards teaching profession. Moreover, promotion about the importance of teacher education is not so far made by the stakeholders to attract graduates to the teaching profession. The PGDT implementation guideline in admitting trainees and follow up procedures are not uniform across universities. Likewise, there are inadequacies of material and financial resources too. To the betterment of the program, stakeholders need to promote the teaching profession. Course modules should also be revised to meet the trainees‟ needs. Equally important, the shortage of time allotted for teaching practice, and the per diem paid to the trainees during practicum should be re assessed together with the other shortcomings of the program. Keywords: Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching, view, student teachers, education.

Introduction The introduction of modern education in Ethiopia is traced back to Emperor Menelik II regime (1889-1993). However, a noticeable development in Ethiopian modern education was registered during the period of Emperor Haile Selassie I (1930 –1974) though it was limited to few elites. Because of this, the Faculty of @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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Education was established at Haile Sellassie I University, the now Addis Ababa University, in 1961. This university was named right after the emperor‟s name; it was the only pioneer institution in the country to train secondary school teachers for several decades (Marew et al., 2000 as cited in Ahmed, 2013). Nevertheless, changes in educational system and educational services continued during the imperial period (1934-1974) and the Derg regime (1974-1991) respectively. Above all, the most significant turn in Ethiopian education sector took place in 1991 when the country‟s political system was changed. The Federal Democratic Republic Government of Ethiopia (FDRGE) introduced a new educational reform, which brought about a major change in the history of Ethiopian education system. Thus, the new Ethiopian Education and Training Policy was adopted in 1994 to assert four educational goals of the nation: quality, access, relevance, and equity. Accordingly, the major policies and reforms introduced to advance the education scheme in the country were „Education and Training Policy‟ (1994), „Teacher Education System Overhaul Program (TESO)‟, and „Teacher Development Programs (TDPs)‟. Therefore, teacher education programs in Ethiopia have undergone structural changes over the years (Ahmed, 2013). Currently, Ethiopian primary school teachers are trained through Cluster and Linear models, and the candidates are awarded a diploma in teaching with a 10+3 education program (MOE, 2013). However, secondary school teachers are obliged to pass through different training program. For example, earlier to 2010, teachers were given training for three consecutive years in which applied, pedagogy, and practical courses were offered simultaneously. However, starting from 2011, Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching (PGDT), which is a new system of secondary teacher education, came into effect. Accordingly, the four years pre-service secondary school teacher education was reshaped to three years training period to qualify candidates for applied degree, and later on after their graduation, teacher trainees are required to attend pedagogical and practical training for one year before they go to secondary schools for the actual teaching. However, Ethiopia achieved remarkable achievements due to this educational policy and mass enrollment of trained and skilled teachers; their proficiency and their perception towards the profession remains questionable. In line to the changes to Ethiopian policy, literature dictates few local studies conducted so far on the Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching program. For instance, a study conducted by Adugna (2012) revealed PGDT trainees join the teaching profession to advance their education, and get job opportunities. Similarly, according to study conducted by Koye (2014) the primary motive of trainees to join the teaching profession was lack of any other career opportunities. Similarly, Koye and Yonas (2013) studied that change of modality, lack of understanding between the Ministry of Education (MoE) and other stakeholders, low motivation of students, shortage of appropriate mentors, and absence of organized teaching materials were the main problems of PGDT implementation. @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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According to Muhammed et al (2014), lack of experienced mentors and insufficiency of materials and facilities to properly carry out practicum activities were among the main problems to affect PGDT program smooth run. Related overseas study conducted by Tefo (2005) showed student teachers chose the teaching profession mainly for extrinsic reasons such as job security and economic advancement while some of them chose teaching as a career to serve the community. Therefore, the present study was conducted to contribute to the existing body of knowledge and to address the research gap focusing on PGDT trainees who were enrolled in two Ethiopian universities. Consequently, the study is different from the previously discussed studies in terms of the focus groups and scope of the study. While the above studies focused on PGDT trainees in general, this study focused on English major prospective teachers who were attending their PGDT training in Haromaya and Bahir Dar universities.

Statement of the Problem The transfer of Ethiopian student-teachers‟ education and specialty in teaching profession from the B.Ed. degree program, in which prospective teachers were trained to teach at secondary schools, to Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching is a very recent experience; it was commenced here in Ethiopia in 2011. Obviously, the on-going developments in education and a number of other related variables likely influence changes to teachers training education, especially at Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching level. Nevertheless, since PGDT is recently introduced to Ethiopia‟s teacher education program, its practicality in terms of trainees‟ motivation, skill, knowledge, competence, perceived academic satisfaction and trainees views about the training and the teaching profession has remained less studied. Graduates‟ willingness is one of the admission parameters used to recruit applicants to the training program. However, the investigators previous observation witnessed that prospective teachers were not interested and dedicated to attend the training. Consequently, many student teachers dropped out the training. Pertinent to this scenario, a study conducted by Koye (2014), showed that the main motive of prospective teachers for choosing teaching as a career was absence of any other job opportunities. Thus, trainee teachers might leave the program either at the middle of the training or immediately after completion when they get any other job. Muhammed et al (2014) pointed out “PGDT practicum implementation is among the major challenging areas in the current teacher-training program and more importantly, it needs unreserved interventions across the nation (p.3).” They further highlighted that even though the challenges of PGDT practicum implementation are tackling the development of teacher education here in Ethiopia, the issue has not gained substantial attention by scholars in the field of higher education. Although there are few local studies carried out on this area, no study was conducted that focused on English major PGDT trainees. Therefore, this study sought to explore English major PGDT trainees‟ views towards postgraduate diploma in teaching training, and it assessed the participants‟ acquisition of @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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knowledge and skills from the training. Therefore, the research objectives listed beneath were addressed by this study:

Objectives of the Study This study was aimed at exploring English major Ethiopian public universities student teachers‟ views about the practice of PGDT program in general and the teaching profession in particular: perception, expectation, satisfaction, skill, and knowledge. Precisely, this study had the following specified research objectives: 1. to identify student-teachers perceptions of teaching profession and the PGDT program; 2. to examine student-teachers expectations of PGDT training; 3. to find out student teachers‟ training implementations;

views towards their teachers and the

4. to identify trainees perceived academic satisfaction, knowledge and skills in teaching education; 5. to check trainees reflection on their mentors and supervisors on PGDT training; and

6. to point out if the training has met trainees needs and expectations Review of Related Literature 1. An Overview of Teacher Education in Ethiopia and the Birth of PGDT The major themes of the 1994 Ethiopia‟s education and training strategy are expansion of the educational infrastructure, access to educational opportunity, and improvement of quality of education. Ahmad (2013) further explained that quality, access, relevance, and equity are the four educational goals that were focused by the 1994 Education and Training Policy framework. Thus, the policy was drafted to meet the overall educational development challenges within the country with greater stress on the teacher education programs (Ahmad, 2013). Pertinent to this, training qualified teachers was planned and carried out concurrently with the development of the education scheme. Moreover, new teacher training colleges were also established aiming at upgrading and improving the quality of education as well as the academic qualification of teachers. The reform directed colleges and institutions not only to provide educational and ethical values, but also to improve methodological approaches of teachers. More specifically, the Ethiopian Educational Training Policy dictates, “teachers are expected to have the ability, diligence, and professional interest, and the physical and mental fitness appropriate for the profession (Ministry of Education 2012 cited in Ahmad 2013:12).” Moreover, according to Adugna (2012), previously, Ethiopian secondary school teachers were trained at universities in four-year degree program that combined @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

196

educational coursework and teaching practicum, and student teachers majoring in various disciplines enrolled in different departments for three years stay at universities. However, starting from 2011 the recruitment standard and the education plan of secondary school teachers is revised. As per the change, teaching methodology coursework were set to be offered by faculties of education aster graduates successfully complete their applied degree in different disciplines. Accordingly, qualification requirements were amended in 2010, and primary school teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x; training was changed from a one-year certificate to a three-year diploma program. Similarly, secondary school teachers training programme was reshaped from a three years B.Ed. (bachelor of education degree) to a three-year BA degree. Students were also made to rejoin universities after they have already secured their BA degree, and they were required to have one additional year on professional teacher training to obtain a Post-Graduate Diploma in Teaching (PGDT). Adugna (2012) further explained that the one-year Professional education program consists of preparation in how-to-teach basics, schoolwork, and teaching practicum. Accordingly, graduates who are interested in the teaching profession and can satisfy the requirements of Ministry of Education (MoE) are selected, and they are enrolled in the PGDT program to become secondary school teachers. Nevertheless, literature reveals that implementing the training in line with the already set guidelines is found to be one of the main challenging issues in the current Ethiopiaâ&#x20AC;&#x;s teacher education program.

2. The Teaching Profession and Teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Perceptions Ajayi (2004) defined a teacher as someone who causes learning to take place; someone who imparts knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to a group of learners. According to this author, a teacher can be viewed as a professionally trained person, who imparts the necessary skills, and the one who guides and facilitates learning to take place. Teaching is a profession that comprises activities, such as initiating, guiding, smoothing, aiding, and helping so that learning can take place in line with the intended aims and goals. Thus, the person effecting all these actions is the teacher. Therefore, teacher is the key part of the teaching/learning process. According to Halawah (2008), positive attitude towards the teaching education can be formed by taking part in the teaching profession directly, experiencing the general values and standards given to the teaching profession by the society, and by experiencing the livelihood of the teachers. These statements imply that the attitude towards teaching can be inherited from the living conditions of those who are already teachers and from the values and perceptions of the wider society in which the teacher is the part. Because of this, even though prospective teachers do not practically face the difficulties and prospects of the teaching profession, their feeling about teaching as a profession is similar to those who are already teachers.

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Methodology of the Study A descriptive survey research design, with both quantitative and qualitative data types, was used. Questionnaire, key informant interview and focus-group discussion were the research instruments employed. Forty-eight (48) statements among which 45 closed and 3 open-ended questions were used. The questionnaire was developed based on the literature review and relevant studies conducted in the area. To maintain its validity, it had been piloted before it was used in the final study. Its reliability was also checked statistically, and the Cronbach‟s alpha coefficient was .87. The prospective teachers who participated in the study responded to the closed ended questions on a 5 point Likert scale labeled as 5=strongly agree, 4= agree, 3= neutral, 2= disagree, 1=strongly disagree. Accordingly, the questionnaire was coded, and fed to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences [SPSS] 20.0, and it was analyzed quantitatively. The 5-point Likert scale is merged to 3 scales to suit for interpretation; here, a similar procedure was adapted like that of Musa and Bichi (2015). To this end, strongly agree and agree merged to agree; neutral remained as it was. Likewise, disagree and strongly disagree merged to disagree. Therefore, the data obtained through questionnaire was analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics: frequency, percentage, means, and standard deviation whereas the open-ended items are categorized, integrated and analyzed qualitatively. On the other hand, key informant interview was conducted with the coordinators of PGDT program in the study universities. The coordinators were purposively selected because they followed the students‟ situations more closely; therefore, they were found rich information about the trainees. The contents of the interview included: efforts made by universities to promote PGDT program, assessments of PGDT implementation, orientation level of stakeholders and their roles as well as problems of students during PGDT learning and practice. During the interview, a note was taken and analyzed qualitatively (organizing, categorizing, integrating, and summarizing the responses). In addition to this, focus group discussion was conducted with 20 PGDT trainees from the two universities. They were included based on their willingness to take part in the discussion. The main purpose of the trainees‟ FGD were to get supplementary data about trainees‟ motivation to join PGDT, facilities to discharge PGDT training, trainees‟ satisfaction and challenges as well as their effects later on their academic career as a teacher. The data obtained through FGD were analyzed qualitatively using content analysis and response summary. As far as the size of trainee participants is concerned, the total number of English major trainee-teachers enrolled in Ethiopian universities was only 50, and they were admitted in two selected Ethiopian public universities namely: Bahir Dar and Haromaya universities. It was only this number of students that were attending the PGDT training in Ethiopian higher institutions in the year 2014/15. Thus, since the number of the population was small and manageable, all the trainees were taken using comprehensive sampling technique.

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Findings and Discussion Table 1: Perceptions of Students for Choosing PGDT Degree of frequency

Statements

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Mean

Std. D

I chose PGDT because it suits my personal interest

62.0

2.0

36.0

3.2600

.96489

I chose teaching profession because it was the only alternative for me

36.0

6.0

58.0

3.2200

.95383

I joined teaching because it is a noble profession

8.0

62.0

30.0

3.3200

.91339

I joined teaching because it grants me a respect/autonomy in the society

30.0

18.0

52.0

3.2200

.88733

I joined PGDT because I was advised by my parents and peers

46.0

22.0

32.0

2.8600

.88086

I joined PGDT to increase the chance for employment

30.0

10.0

60.0

3.3000

.90914

Valid N (list wise) 50*

As it is demonstrated in Table 1 above, majority of the respondents that accounts 62% asserted that PGDT training is not their personal interest where as only a few of them that accounts 36% joined the program based on their choice. Therefore, this result deduced that the trainees joined the program without their interest. On the other hand, 58% of the respondents chose teaching profession because they had no any other option, but 36% of them disagreed with this claim. Therefore, taking the opinion of the majority, the prospective teachers joined PGDT for the fact that they had no any other option. With regard to the nobility of the teaching profession, majority of them (62%), do not take sides, but 30% of them agreed that they joined teaching for it is a noble profession. Therefore, it can be deduced that majority of respondents do not think teaching is a noble profession. Thus, it is not the reason why they are attending the training. On the other hand, 52% of them agreed that they joined teaching profession for it grants them a respect and autonomy in the society. In contrast to this, 30% of them disagreed that their reason for joining the program was not the reasons stated while 18% them remained neutral. Regarding the involvement of others in their choice to join PGDT, 46% of them confirmed that they were advised by their parents and peers to do so whereas 32% of the trainees disagreed with the statement implying that their reason for joining PGDT is not others pressure. Similarly, significant number of the respondents, 60%, asserted that they took part in the training to increase their chances for employment. In contrast to this, 30% of them disagreed that the reason for joining PGDT is not @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

199

what is stated. Thus, based on majority response, we can understand that the trainees choose PGDT for it increases the chance for employment. Table 2: Students views towards their teachers and the training implementations Degree of frequency Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Mean

Std. D

I found adequately trained teachers/lectures who can inspire me to teaching profession

28.0

8.0

64.0

3.3600

.89807

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x;m learning high level of competence and commitment in teaching from my role model lectures

20.0

10.0

70.0

3.5000

.81441

Usually my PGDT instructors show high motivation and subject mastery in teaching

20.0

8.0

72.0

3.5200

.81416

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x;m usually interested with all that is taught in my class

64.0

8.0

28.0

2.6400

.89807

I feel the lessons offered in my training can help me to be a good secondary school teacher

8.0

76.0

3.6000

.75593

I feel the courses that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x;m taking are valuable

26.0

18.0

56.0

3.3000

.86307

The courses offered to me as a PGDT are not attractive

54.0

10.0

36.0

2.8200

.94091

My instructor plans usually innovative class activities, techniques and assignments

18.0

16.0

66.0

3.4800

.78870

Class activities are usually clear and well organized (task oriented)

26.0

10.0

64.0

3.3800

.87808

Statements

Valid N (listwise) 50*

With regard to the adequacy of trained teachers and lectures who let trainees inspire to teaching profession, majority of the respondents that accounts 64%, agreed that they were able to meet qualified teachers who inspired them to teaching profession where as 28% of them are not inspired by their teachers. On the other hand, 70% of the respondents agreed that they are experiencing high level of competence and commitment in teaching from their role model lectures. Thus, it is possible to infer that a significant number of PGDT trainees are developing high level of commitment and competence because of their teachers who are role models. Likewise, it can be deduced that instructors are motivated and posses subject mastery of teaching which might help the prospective teachers acquire the necessary skills and competence. However, majority of the respondents that accounts 64 % are not usually interested with courses they are taught. Moreover, significant number of the respondents (76%) confirmed that the lessons they are offered can help them to be good secondary school teachers. @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

200

On the other hand, (56%) of the participants agreed that they feel the courses that they are taking are valuable whereas (54) of them disagreed that the courses offered to them as a PGDT are attractive. Similarly, (66% and 64%) of the respondents agreed that their instructors plan usually innovative class activities, techniques and assignments; Class activities are usually clear and well organized (task oriented) respectively. Table 3: Students Perceptions/Views to Infrastructure Degree of frequency Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Mean

Std. D

I think my class room and the overall learning environments are not attractive

42.0

10.0

48.0

3.0600

.95640

I feel Iâ&#x20AC;&#x;m getting adequate services as a PGDT trainee

56.0

8.0

36.0

2.8000

.94761

My university provides me adequate materials

52.0

10.0

38.0

2.8600

.94782

Schools work allocation and residence for PGDT students is suitable

60.0

12.0

28.0

2.6800

.89077

Statements

Valid N (listwise) 50*

As it is vividly illustrated in table 3 above, majority of the respondents that accounts 48% agreed that their classrooms and the overall learning environments are not attractive; nonetheless, 42% of them disagreed with this statement. The remaining 10% of the participants do not take either of the sides. On the other hand, it is possible to deduce from the significant number of the trainees (56%) that they are not getting adequate services. In contrasts to this, 36% of them did not sense the inadequacy of services. Similarly, most of the respondents (52%) claimed their university did not provide them adequate materials that would support them in the training. This result is consistent with the results obtained from the key informant interview and focus group discussion. Regarding the schoolwork allocation and residence provision of the trainees, it can be possible to deduce from the majority of the students (60%) that the aforementioned services are not suitable for the prospective teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x; trainees. Table 4: Perceived Academic Satisfaction of Students Degree of frequency

Statements Iâ&#x20AC;&#x;m satisfied with my performance in the tests/assessments

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

28.0

14.0

58.0

Mean

Std. D

3.3000

.88641

201

I think attendance and pass mark is enough for me

44.0

12.0

44.0

3.0000

.94761

I feel PGDT courses could have been offered before I completed my applied degree in English

20.0

10.0

70.0

3.5000

.81441

I feel my applied degree in English is enough to be a secondary school teacher (PGDT is a waste of time)

40.0

24.0

36.0

2.9600

.87970

I know graduated students in applied English are already teachers at secondary schools

30.0

14.0

56.0

3.2600

.89921

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x;m proud to be a teacher, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x;m proud to express it

20.0

10.0

70.0

3.5000

.81441

I think I will not be a teacher in my entire career/life

32.0

56.0

3.0000

.94761

I would like to have another profession other than teaching as soon as I get it

20.0

16.0

64.0

3.4400

.81215

I feel teaching is a despised profession; not wanted by many.

36.0

18.0

46.0

2.9800

.91451

6 12.0

Valid N (listwise) 50*

As it is demonstrated in the above table 4, 58% of the respondents agreed that they are satisfied with their performance in the tests and assessments while 44% of them agreed attendance and pass mark is enough for them. In contrast, equal number (44%) of respondents disagreed to this claim. Regarding the timing of the training, a majority of the respondents that accounts 70% felt the PGDT courses could have been give parallel to their applied degree in English courses. This result is also consistent with the result obtained from the focus group discussion. Nonetheless, 40 % of respondents sensed their applied degree in English is not enough to be a secondary school teacher showing that PGDT is not a waste of time while 36% of them agreed that their applied degree in English is enough to be a secondary school teacher implying that PGDT is not needed. On the other hand, 56% of participants replied that they knew graduated students in applied English are already teachers at secondary schools. Moreover, a majority of the respondent that accounts (70) % asserted that they are proud to be a teacher. However, 56% of the respondents do not want to pursue their career in the teaching profession. Furthermore, a majority (64%) of the prospective teacher like to have another profession other than teaching. It is also summarized in the above table 4 that 46% of the respondents confirmed that they feel teaching is a despised field. In contrast to this, 36% of the respondents claimed teaching is not a despised profession. The result summarized in above table 4 is consistent with the findings obtained from the FGD data.

202

Table 5: Perceived Knowledge/Skills into Teaching Education

Statements

Degree of frequency Disagree Neutral Agree N

Mean

Std. D

In my practice as a student teacher, I inculcated positive moral value through my teaching The training enables me to demonstrate professional commitment and work ethics I feel Iâ&#x20AC;&#x;m ready to implement ministry of education initiatives into class room practice I plan lessons that take into account the different abilities of students I work well with colleagues at school

20.0

10.0

70.0

3.5000

.81441

20.0

4.0

76.0

3.5600

.81215

20.0

10.0

70.0

3.5000

.81441

16.0

8.0

76.0

3.6000

.75593

12.0

4.0

84.0

3.7200

.67128

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x;m being able to evaluate myself for improvement I usually participate actively and attentively in class discussions and activities I clearly know Ministry of Education plans and goals about PGDT and teacher education I am satisfied with the knowledge, concepts, procedures and principles of teaching profession I acquired from the training.

8.0

2.0

90.0

3.8200

.56025

8.0

12.0

80.0

3.7200

.60744

38.0

18.0

44.0

3.0600

.91272

28.0

12.0

60.0

3.3200

.89077

I am ready and motivated to implement the practice in the workplace The training enables me to further develop my language(English) and communication skills

16.0

12.0

72.0

3.5600

.76024

16.0

8.0

76.0

3.6000

.75593

Valid N (listwise) 50*

As it is clearly depicted in table 5 above, a majority of the respondents (70%, 76%, & 70%) respectively agreed that they inculcated positive moral values in their practice as a student teacher; the training enabled them to demonstrate professional commitment and work ethics; and they are ready to implement the ministry of education initiatives into classroom practice. On the other hand, (76%, 84%, 90%, 80%, and 60%) of the respondents agreed that they plan lessons based on studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x; abilities; work well with colleagues at school; they are able to evaluate themselves for improvement; participate actively and attentively in class discussions; they are satisfied with the knowledge, concepts, procedures and principles of teaching profession they acquired from the training respectively. However, as for clearly knowing the ministry of education plan and goals about PGDT is concerned, only 44% of the participants confirmed that they are clear with the mission about PGDT and teacher education. The confusion of the remaining 56% of respondents, including those who remained neutral, implies that there is a need for an urgent refreshment and awareness creation campaign in this area. On the other hand, a majority of the respondents (72% & 76%) agreed that they are motivated and ready to implement the practice in the work place; the training enabled them to further develop their @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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communicative skills respectively. Therefore, based on the majority response, we can deduce that perceived academic satisfaction of students is high. Table 6: Students’ Reflection on Their Mentors and Supervisors on PGDT Training Degree of frequency Statements University supervisors supervise over all activities regularly Our mentors usually give us timely feedback Our performance is continuously assessed to check our progress Our mentors adhere to professional and ethical standards Our mentors dedicate their regular time to help us overcome education Our mentors understand our common problems as beginner teacher

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Mean

26.0

18.0

56.0

3.3000

.86307

28.0

12.0

60.0

3.3200

.89077

22.0

8.0

70.0

3.4800

.83885

24.0

8.0

68.0

3.4400

.86094

26.0

20.0

54.0

3.2800

.85809

26.0

8.0

66.0

3.4000

.88063

Std. D

Valid N (listwise) 50*

As it is clearly depicted in table 6, it is possible to deduce from the majority of the respondents (56 %) that university supervisors supervise trainees overall activities regularly while a few them (26%) felt supervisors do not act according to the guidelines set for supervision. Similarly, significant number of the prospective teachers that accounts 60% assured their mentors usually gives them timely feedback. However, 28% of the respondents replied that their mentors do not give them timely feedback. On the other hand, from the significant number of participants (70%), it can be inferred that teachers continuously assess students‟ performance and progress. Similarly, regarding, mentors‟ professional and ethical standards, 68% of the trainees confirmed that mentors are adherent to the qualities specified. Moreover, a majority of the respondents (54%) claimed their mentors dedicate their regular time and help trainees to overcome their education. In contrast to this, 26% of the respondents claimed their mentors do not provide them regular feedback where as 20% of the respondents remained neutral. Generally, a significant number of the respondents (66%) agreed that their mentors understand their common problems, and they have positive outlook towards PGDT trainees.

Results Obtained From Open Ended Questions 1. PGDT Trainees’ Expectations The data obtained through the last three open-ended questions were labeled based on participants‟ responses regarding their expectations of the training, and the responses then converted into numbers. Accordingly, nearly 45% of the participants explained that the training has met their needs and expectations in terms of the major points summarized as follows: they got both theoretical and practical knowledge that would help them to teach at secondary schools. They @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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also pointed out that the training enabled them to develop their skills, knowledge and confidence, and it helped them assess their performance. In addition to this, trainees were also able to experience school work and working with colleagues. In contrast to this, nearly 55% of the respondents explained that the training has not met their expectations because of the following reasons. The universities where they were assigned to attend the training do not fulfill the necessary materials for them, and lack of coordination and communication among the stakeholders made the training boring. It was also found that the training does not meet their needs and expectations. Particularly, participants who were attending their training in Bahir Dar University were made to attend the PGDT program at Agriculture Campus (â&#x20AC;&#x17E;Zenzelimaâ&#x20AC;&#x; Campus) where there were no relevant materials for the training. The distance of the training place from the main campus was challenge to the trainees and the supervisors. Moreover, the time given to teaching and practices was inadequate, and the per diem they were given during practicum was insufficient. Likewise, mentioning the training was essential for them, the respondents complained about the quality of some of the courses and materials they were provided as PDGT trainee. They also pointed out that they could have taken this training while they were at universities for applied degree in English, and they sometimes feel that attending this training is waste of time and finance. Moreover, they explained that the training has not met their expectations in that the number of courses they are required to take and the time given to complete the training are not proportional. This in return, made the trainees to be overloaded with courses though the time and the finance allotted for the training were not appropriate, planned and fair.

2. Trainees Problems and Suggested Solutions to improve the PGDT Implementation The respondents of the present study pointed out a number of problems they faced during the training, and they suggested the following way out solutions: first, the trainees felt the time given to the training was too long and boring. Second, they added that there are no relevant and sufficient materials, references and textbooks. Besides, in very rare cases lack of experienced mentors and more skilled professional teachers was also a problem encountered. Third, lack of adequate treatment from the university society, and lack of motivation of the trainees themselves were among the problems. Lack of communication among the coordinators, the trainees and school principals was also mentioned as a problem they encountered during their training. Poor financial incentives and delayed campus placements were also the other troubles mentioned. Finally, courses they were taking tend to be more of theoretical instead of focusing on the practical English language teaching/learning aspects. To overcome, the above problems mentioned, the trainees suggested MOE to revise the program and the materials designed for the raining so as to bring about quality education and sustain the PGDT program.

Results of Key Informant Interview The key informant interview and FGD helped the researchers of the present study to elicit an in-depth data about the issue in discussion. Therefore, the @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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result obtained from the key informant interview showed that there are no promotions made at university level to attract trainees to the teacher education program. Therefore, brochures, quotes and pamphlets were not even posted to attract trainees to the teaching profession. From this result, it can be possible to conclude that insignificant attention is given to the development of teachers‟ education and fulfillment of the necessary physical infrastructure that triggers students to come to this field of study. This situation significantly affects the quality of education and the students‟ career. In connection with the implementation of PGDT program, there are in consistencies right from the admission of the trainees to their universities. The students spent their time at home after they are already assigned; they waited at home as late as January specifically this year. Therefore, it was difficult for the universities to discharge the training on time. Thus, the key informants reported that only a month was allocated for students‟ practical teaching and learning at secondary school; consequently, the trainees face limited time for practice. However, the students are oriented about their way out for teaching and learning as well as for research problem identification, general ethical issues and assignments of supervisors with in this limited time. Lastly, the key informants explained the challenges such as shortage of time, inadequacy of committed and qualified supervisors, lack of professional payment for supervisors and limited resources (modules, action research guidelines). In return, these inconveniences affected the smooth implementation of PGDT program.

Results of Students’ FGD The PGDT trainees discussed the reason/motivation behind joining the teacher education-training program. According to discussants response, they had no inherent motivation to be teachers except it was the only option to get job. In this case, the discussants reported, “Nothing motivated us to join the teacher education, but it was the only option.” Moreover, the trainees claim, “We joined PGDT because it was the only means of survival for us; it was difficult to get other job.” Likewise, the trainees felt that some of the modules are not well prepared and not related to nature of their subject matter. Some of the materials are downloaded and even not edited well. This result showed that a majority of the trainees were not with the right motivation that helps them to pursue their training and bring threshold for their career. Furthermore, the trainees discussed the evaluation of their working environment they experienced as PGDT trainee. The trainees‟ evaluation in this regard showed that they faced financial problems, harsh working environment, scarcity of resources and unsmooth physical infrastructure; follow up problems, far school placement, lack of books in the practice areas, limited time allocated to collect data for action research and lack of computers. The above result showed that although experienced teachers can overcome the problems, they could be discouraging for beginner teachers such as PGDT trainees. The above unprecedented situation of the trainees possibly affects the trainees‟ motivation to be teachers. Equally important, the PGDT trainees discussed the support of the stakeholders in PGDT implementation. The discussants response showed that the college is committed and very serious in offering the PGDT courses, and @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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the secondary school communities were supportive to the PGDT program. However, secondary school students were not willing to learn through PGDT trainees. This problem negatively affected the trainees teaching practice and confidence to be teachers. Moreover, the traineesâ&#x20AC;&#x; focus group discussion showed high dissatisfaction of the trainees on the program. They said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are dissatisfied with the program. The modules, time allocations to the program, and materials are not prepared in a way we get meaningful learning out of it.â&#x20AC;? Likewise, they claimed they are dissatisfied with the admission time, logistics and with the long time training schedule; they felt their applied degree could be suffice. This scenario can adversely affect the trainees teaching profession and quality of education at large. Lastly, the trainees mentioned their challenges such as duration of the training, budget allocation and lack of relevant promotion in the area. To overcome the aforementioned mentioned challenges, they forwarded the following solutions. First, the training should be supported financially. Second, they suggested the duration of the training to be minimized to 4 months, or the PGDT courses to be offered parallel to their applied English major courses so that they can immediately go to work after graduation. This shows that the trainees do not like to stay in the teaching profession for a number of reasons among which low salary is a major cause. Moreover, they claimed the teaching and learning materials to be appropriate to nature of their subject matter and their profession. Therefore, this situation of the trainees calls for an urgent attention to promote or refresh the teacher education discipline in Ethiopian context.

Conclusions and Recommendations 1. Conclusions Based up on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: Trainees were not interested with the program because most of them joined the program for they had no any other job opportunity. Consequently, most of the trainees do not think teaching is a noble profession. It is also found that their parents advised trainees and peers to attend PGDT and increase their chances for employment. Therefore, this shows that prospective teachers are not intrinsically motivated to join the teaching profession. Moreover, though trainees felt that the lessons they were offered in general can help them to be good secondary school teachers, they were not interested with courses they taught in class implying that there are some irrelevant courses that they are made to take. Likewise, the classroom and the overall learning environments were not attractive and sufficient too. Despite all the problems they are encountering, trainees are satisfied with their performance in the tests and assessments. However, the trainees perceived that PGDT courses could have been offered before they had completed their applied degree in English. It was found that trainees have inculcated positive moral values in their practice as a student teacher; the training enabled them to demonstrate professional commitment and work ethics. Although they are still @2015 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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somewhat doubtful about the plans of MoE, they are ready to implement ministry of education initiatives into classroom practice. Nonetheless, the universities where trainees are assigned to attend the training do not fulfill the necessary materials required for the training. There is lack of coordination among the stakeholders; the number of courses that trainees are required to take and the time given to complete the training are not proportional; in return all these challenges made the training boring to meet the trainees‟ needs and expectations. Particularly, participants who are attending their training in Bahir Dar University mentioned that they were made to attend PGDT program at Agriculture Campus where there are no relevant materials for the training. It was also found that the time given to teaching practice was inadequate, and the per diem they were given during practicum was insufficient. The result of the study also revealed that promotions were not made at university level to attract trainees to the teacher education program. Brochures, pamphlets and quotes that encourage students‟ into teaching profession were not made. And all these show that much attention is not given to the development of teacher education and fulfillment of the necessary physical infrastructure that triggers students to come to this field of study. Hence, it is undeniable that this situation significantly affects the quality of education and the students‟ career. There are also inconsistencies in the implementation of the PGDT program. The students spent their time at home after they were already assigned; they waited at home for months. Besides, it was difficult for the universities to discharge the training on time. Shortage of time, absence of committed and qualified supervisors, lack of professional payment for supervisors and limited resources (modules, action research guidelines) were also affecting the smooth implementation of PGDT program. These challenges negatively affected the attitude of students towards the teaching profession and career as teachers. Lastly, the trainees had no inherent motivation to be teachers except it was the only option to get job. In addition to this, the course materials prepared for PGDT students were bulky and unmanageable. Moreover, trainees face financial problems, harsh working environment, scarcity of resources and unsmooth physical infrastructure, far school placement, lack of books in the practice areas, limited time allocation to collect data for action research and lack of computers. Therefore, this scenario can adversely affect the trainees‟ teaching profession and quality of education at large.

2. Recommendations Based up on the results obtained and the conclusions drawn, the following recommendations were forwarded: 

Most of the trainees were found extrinsically motivated, and most of them were dissatisfied with the training. This scenario might have come from lack of promotion towards the PGDT program. Consequently, to

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alleviate this problem and to intrinsically motivate trainees, the MoE and other stakeholders should promote the teaching profession.  PGDT implementation cannot be effective unless stakeholders join hands together for its success. In this case, the admission date of the students, time allocation for teaching and practice, the PGDT guideline and follow up procedures, student teachers orientations about the training, supervisors follow up and timely feedback should be thought a head of time uniformly in all the institutions.  Financial incentives energize PGDT supervisors and trainees to discharge their program successfully. In this case, supervisors and mentors should get appropriate per diems and incentives for their accomplishments. Likewise, since the trainees are assigned for PGDT practice far from their universities and harsh environments, the government should reconsider the trainees per diem and high school teachers‟ salary to attract graduates to the profession; otherwise, the trainees may easily lose interest towards the teaching profession.  Learning and training materials are almost preconditions to bring trainees positive view towards the teaching profession. To this effect, the trainees‟ modules and materials should be revised content and profession wise to meet the trainees‟ needs and the program‟s intended outcomes. Moreover, trainees should attend the training in universities where there are adequate resources that help them to discharge their training.  Encouragement and refreshment campaigns should be carried out before or right from the arrival of PGDT trainees in their respective institutions/universities. Consequently, influenced by this effort, trainees can value teaching profession and attend the training appropriately, though naturally resources can be limited. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to express our gratitude to the student teachers who helped us in giving the necessary information through questionnaire and FGD. Next, our heartfelt appreciation goes to the program coordinators who were interviewed and gave us their precious time for the successful accomplishment of the data collection through key informant interview. Lastly, we also would like to thank Jimma University, particularly, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, for funding and sponsoring this research.

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