El alineamiento constructivo de un curso online de aprendizaje-servicio

Service-learning is gaining traction worldwide, including South Africa. This pedagogy requires a different approach to teaching and learning and few resources are available to provide such support. A course for lecturers that either already teach a service-learning course or are interested in doing so, would address this need, but, as with any other course, its constructive alignment is key. Online courses reach more people, but also add another layer of complexity. The aim of this paper is to discuss the constructive alignment of an online community-based service-learning course and to provide a roadmap for other institutions to develop such courses. A community-based service-learning course that brings together the critical elements of how to develop such course and, is revised using a curriculum alignment lens, offers a more critical and relevant experience, for the lecturers, which will lead to more critical and sound service-learning courses for the students.

Malaysian Tertiary Students' Perceptions of Constructive Alignment in Learning in EAP Classrooms: A Qualitative Study

<p>English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is offered as a course in many Malaysian institutions of higher learning. In contrast with English taught at secondary schools, at the tertiary level EAP courses primarily cater to learners’ language needs that arise from learning in a range of disciplines, in the workplace, and eventually in the wider society. This study explores 12 Malaysian tertiary students’ perceptions of how learning takes place in EAP classrooms during reading activities. Biggs’ Constructive Alignment framework and the 3P model (Presage, Process and Product) provide a theoretical framework. The research investigates how students’ factors in learning and the tasks given in the classrooms align with the students’ views of outcomes in learning and by considering the constructive alignment of the student factors, the task and the outcomes (the presage, process and product stages), it is possible to see the potential for deep approaches to learning and to consider whether that potential is realised in particular tasks. This study uses a single embedded explanatory case, consisting of 12 Malaysian tertiary students from three EAP classrooms in a public university in Malaysia. The data collection methods used for this study were semi-structured interviews, stimulated recall interviews and students’ written samples of EAP tasks undertaken in the three classrooms. The tasks were adapted from an EAP workbook used at the university. The data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis. An analytic tool was created using Biggs’ and Collis’ SOLO Taxonomy to ascertain the potential of the tasks to allow a deep approach to learning. The findings of this study showed the complexity of the learning process among these learners in the academic English classroom. The findings showed that the learners did not see the alignment between the presage, process and product stages. In the presage and process stages, the findings showed that there were multiple factors such as background, motives for learning, anxiety in learning, topic and content interests, and prior knowledge that influenced the learners’ engagement with the tasks. Motives for learning were particularly important since the other factors either influenced or were influenced by them. Further, these factors also influenced students’ perceived outcomes of learning in the EAP classroom. In the process and product stages, the students reported that they found the content taught in class did not align with their motives for learning. They also said that they had difficulties seeing the transfer of learning from the content taught in the EAP classroom to their other subjects at the university. Although the students showed some interest and engagement with the reading tasks in the classroom, the lack of alignment could contribute to a surface motive for learning in the EAP classroom. This study also found that a process of internal compromise took place within the learners to adapt themselves to the learning situations in the EAP classroom which was clearly evident in their responses to the reading tasks in the classroom as well as in their opinions about learning in academic English as a whole. Biggs’ concept that learning takes place within a system is particularly important in EAP courses where the learning should be designed to transfer to students’ achievements in other subjects, in the workplace and beyond. An understanding of constructive alignment in EAP courses will enable EAP course designers, material writers and EAP instructors to use this powerful tool to support the achievement of the aims of EAP courses. It also has implications for EAP educators when they consider the design of tasks in their courses and the issues that affect the potential for deep or surface approaches to learning.</p>

Malaysian Tertiary Students' Perceptions of Constructive Alignment in Learning in EAP Classrooms: A Qualitative Study

<p>English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is offered as a course in many Malaysian institutions of higher learning. In contrast with English taught at secondary schools, at the tertiary level EAP courses primarily cater to learners’ language needs that arise from learning in a range of disciplines, in the workplace, and eventually in the wider society. This study explores 12 Malaysian tertiary students’ perceptions of how learning takes place in EAP classrooms during reading activities. Biggs’ Constructive Alignment framework and the 3P model (Presage, Process and Product) provide a theoretical framework. The research investigates how students’ factors in learning and the tasks given in the classrooms align with the students’ views of outcomes in learning and by considering the constructive alignment of the student factors, the task and the outcomes (the presage, process and product stages), it is possible to see the potential for deep approaches to learning and to consider whether that potential is realised in particular tasks. This study uses a single embedded explanatory case, consisting of 12 Malaysian tertiary students from three EAP classrooms in a public university in Malaysia. The data collection methods used for this study were semi-structured interviews, stimulated recall interviews and students’ written samples of EAP tasks undertaken in the three classrooms. The tasks were adapted from an EAP workbook used at the university. The data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis. An analytic tool was created using Biggs’ and Collis’ SOLO Taxonomy to ascertain the potential of the tasks to allow a deep approach to learning. The findings of this study showed the complexity of the learning process among these learners in the academic English classroom. The findings showed that the learners did not see the alignment between the presage, process and product stages. In the presage and process stages, the findings showed that there were multiple factors such as background, motives for learning, anxiety in learning, topic and content interests, and prior knowledge that influenced the learners’ engagement with the tasks. Motives for learning were particularly important since the other factors either influenced or were influenced by them. Further, these factors also influenced students’ perceived outcomes of learning in the EAP classroom. In the process and product stages, the students reported that they found the content taught in class did not align with their motives for learning. They also said that they had difficulties seeing the transfer of learning from the content taught in the EAP classroom to their other subjects at the university. Although the students showed some interest and engagement with the reading tasks in the classroom, the lack of alignment could contribute to a surface motive for learning in the EAP classroom. This study also found that a process of internal compromise took place within the learners to adapt themselves to the learning situations in the EAP classroom which was clearly evident in their responses to the reading tasks in the classroom as well as in their opinions about learning in academic English as a whole. Biggs’ concept that learning takes place within a system is particularly important in EAP courses where the learning should be designed to transfer to students’ achievements in other subjects, in the workplace and beyond. An understanding of constructive alignment in EAP courses will enable EAP course designers, material writers and EAP instructors to use this powerful tool to support the achievement of the aims of EAP courses. It also has implications for EAP educators when they consider the design of tasks in their courses and the issues that affect the potential for deep or surface approaches to learning.</p>

Konzeption, Durchfhrung und Auswertung einer Online-Take-Home-Prfung in den Grundlagen der Elektrotechnik

Remote Take-Home-Prüfungen, also schriftliche Prüfungen die über einen eher kürzeren Zeitraum (einige Stunden) von Studierenden außerhalb der Universität bearbeitet und typischerweise online zur Korrektur und Bewertung eingereicht werden, waren eine Möglichkeit, Prüfungen für größere Studierendenkohorten unter Pandemiebedingungen zu ermöglichen. Solche Take-Home-Exams können naturgemäß nur sinnvoll als Open-Book-Prüfung (alle Resourcen und Materialen sind erlaubt) bzw. sogar als Open-Web-Prüfung (auch die Internetbenutzung ist gestattet) durchgeführt werden und kommen dann ohne Videofernüberwachung bzw. Proctoring aus. Um Plagiate zu vermeiden und die Integrität der Prüfung sicherzustellen, müssen teilnehmende Studierende eine Eigenständigkeitserklärung abgeben. Außerdem werden individualisierte, „internet-feste“ bzw. „nicht-googlebare“, kompetenzorientierte und anwendungsbezogene Aufgabenformate benötigt. Im Vortrag berichtet Mathias Magdowski von der Otto-von-Guericke-Universtität Magdeburg von einer solchen Prüfung im Wintersemester 2020/2021 in einer ingenieurwissenschaftlichen Lehrveranstaltung zu den Grundlagen der Elektrotechnik. Dabei wird auf die Konzeption der Prüfung im Sinne des Constructive Alignment entsprechend den Lernzielen der Lehrveranstaltung und einer Vergleichbarkeit der Prüfungsleistung zu vorherigen Jahrgängen eingegangen, in denen die Prüfungen vor der Pandemie als beaufsichtigte Präsenzklausuren durchgeführt wurden. Demgegenüber wurden die Aufgabenblätter für die Take-Home-Prüfung individualisiert, d.h. jede(r) Teilnehmer*in bekam eigene Aufgaben, die aber in der Schwierigkeit, im Umfang und in den Themenbereichen vergleichbar waren. Dies setzt natürlich einen großen Prüfungsaufgabenkatalog voraus und treibt den Zeitaufwand für die Korrektur in die Höhe, ermöglicht aber in den handschriftlichen Lösungen der Studierenden eine sehr einfache Nachvollziehbarkeit des Ansatzes und Rechenweges sowie der Zwischen- und Endergebnisse. Gegenüber reinen Multiple-Choice- oder Zahlenwert-und-Einheit-Aufgaben können die Studierenden auch sehr einfach Formeln schreiben, Schaltbilder zeichnen oder Diagramme skizzieren, mit denen sich viele Fehlkonzepte sicher aufdecken lassen. Im Vortrag wird neben der Konzeption und Vorbereitung der Prüfung auch auf deren konkrete Durchführung, den Versand der Prüfungsaufgaben an die Studierenden, die Online-Einreichung ihrer Lösungen sowie die anschließende Korrektur, Bewertung, Online-Einsichtnahme und Archivierung der Prüfung eingegangen. Weiterhin werden einige Erfahrungen, Erkenntnisse und Kuriosa diskutiert, die zu einer Weiterentwicklung und Nutzung solcher Prüfungsformate auch außerhalb von präsenzeinschränkenden Pandemiezeiten beitragen. Wichtigste Erkenntnis zur Überzeugung von ingenieurwissenschaftlichen Prüfenden, die einer Open-Book- oder Take-Home-Prüfung eher mit kritischen Bedenken gegenüberstehen, ist die Tatsache, dass sich die Notenverteilung bzw. die Verteilung der Gesamtpunktzahl gegenüber traditionellen Präsenzklausuren mit sehr ähnlichen Aufgaben kaum ändert.

EFL Students' Suggestions for Enhancing the Constructive Alignment of the English Studies Program in response to the English Proficiency Outcome at the C1 Level

This study was conducted to investigate English Studies majored-students’ understanding of the constructive alignment and their suggestions to enhance the constructive alignment in the program in response to the English proficiency outcome at the C1 level. The study was designed qualitatively, employing structured-questionnaires and individual semi-structured interviews as collecting data instruments, which were mainly constructed from the Constructive Alignment theory of Biggs (2003). 34 senior students majoring in English Studies at a university in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam participated in the questionnaires. Among those participants, 5 students were recruited based on their perceptions on the theme to do the interviews. The findings indicated the high level of students’ understanding on the constructive alignment, and their proposed recommendations towards enhancing the constructive alignment in the program. From the findings, the study suggested some implications to boost the constructive alignment. Finally, at the end of the study, the limitations and the suggestions for further research were also discussed.

Exclusion from constructive alignment unmasked by emergency teaching

CONTEXT The research study was conducted at a contact-based, research-intensive university in South Africa, where the faculty of engineering has adopted a feedback-feedforward approach to improving engineering pedagogy through theoretically-supported, interdisciplinary and community-of-practice approaches. The outcomes-based curricula are designed to explicitly align teaching/learning activities, the intended learning outcomes and assessment tasks. The Covid-19 emergency remote teaching (ERT) phase has raised the question of the disjuncture between student perceptions and assessment performance during independent, remote learning.PURPOSE OR GOALA faculty-wide research initiative to determine how undergraduate engineering students were experiencing ERT revealed significant systemic challenges and heightened academic stress. Of particular concern in 2021 is the 2nd year cohort, whose entire 1st year was under ERT conditions. Poor first term assessment performance suggested the need to investigate not only how students were studying, but their perceptions of their practices and efforts in relation to their perceptions of course requirements, and consequently their performance.APPROACH OR METHODOLOGY/METHODS A mixed-method survey-based approach was used to assess second year students’ perceptions of a design-based module. The surveys were sent out when it became clear that performance was going to be substantially poorer than expected for their first in-person and closed-book assessment after ERT. The samples were taken after the assessment, after the model answers lecture, after the marks were published, and again after an intervention. The 2020 marks were compared with the last in-person assessments from 2019. Out of the 280 students, 142 responded to the survey.ACTUAL OR ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES Students overestimated their marks after writing, even after seeing the model answers. Two thirds reported the paper as difficult, which reduced to 58% after the model answers, and 74% after releasing the marks. Two thirds said online lectures prepared them sufficiently, but after the marks only 45% did. After a reflection-in-action intervention, 81% considered them sufficient and the error in estimated marks for the next assessment reduced by 41%. Despite 97% engagement with the lectures and 96% claiming to have done the tutorials and practicals on their own, only 38% used the Q&amp;A forums, and not a single student made an appointment with the lecturer.CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS/SUMMARY While constructive alignment is a common pedagogical approach, it does not explicitly include alignment to student abilities or perceptions. In contact-based, socio-culturally mediated contexts, educators may tacitly be responsive to (mis)conceptions to enhance alignment between student abilities, expectations and intended course outcomes. We suggest, in this paper, that a constructive alignment model needs to include methods to overcome self-efficacy gaps, given that we need to produce critically-thinking, confident, and capable graduates.

Application of Learner-Centered Approach in College English Instruction in China: A Case Study

With a development history of more than half a century, the learner-centered approach has become a new teaching paradigm worldwide. The approach can produce effective and significant learning focusing on learners&rsquo; development, learning, and learning outcomes. This study aimed to determine how a learner-centered approach can increase students&rsquo; engagement, improve their English learning strategies, and enhance their academic performance in a specific EFL setting. Bloom&rsquo;s taxonomy, Zhao&rsquo;s &ldquo;Neo Tri-Centers,&rdquo; Krashen&rsquo;s L2 acquisition theory, and primarily Biggs&rsquo; constructive alignment functioned as valuable guidelines when designing the instructional activities. Constructive alignment holds that intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and assessment tasks should be aligned organically to achieve effective learning. Data collected through the instructor&rsquo;s observations, questionnaires, assessments of the students&rsquo; performances, and colleague&rsquo;s feedback show that the learner-centered approach has remarkably motivated the students, improved their learning strategies, and enhanced their academic performance. The results and implications of this study may be of reference importance for future language teaching in a foreign language or second language setting.&nbsp;