Research Annotations

Records: 322

Humble and Hopeful: Welcoming first?generation poor and working?class students to college

K. Oldfield

APA Citation

Oldfield, K. (2007). Humble and hopeful: Welcoming first?generation poor and working?class students to college. About Campus, 11(6), 2-12.

Annotation

Written by a professor who was himself a first-generation college student, outlines six cultural capital deficits that low-income and first-generation students are likely to have when entering college. These deficits range from knowledge of college and academic-specific terms – like non-medical doctors – to how students and professors are expected to interact. The author then goes on to give four suggestions for reforms to benefit first-generation students, namely celebrating and diversifying . . . the student and professional body. The article ends in a call for research in how socioeconomic backgrounds of students and faculty may contribute to their college experience and how to better support first-generation, low-income students.

View Full Annotation

View Article

I’ll See You On “Facebook”: The effects of computer-mediated teacher self-disclosure on student motivation, affective learning, and classroom climate

Joseph P. Mazer     Richard E. Murphy     Cheri J. Simonds

APA Citation

Mazer, J. P., Murphy, R. E., & Simonds, C. J. (2007). I’ll see you on “Facebook”: The effects of computer-mediated teacher self-disclosure on student motivation, affective learning, and classroom climate. Communication Education, 56(1), 1-17.

Annotation

This study details the effects teacher self-disclosure via Facebook on student motivation, affective learning, and classroom climate. Self disclosure is defined as “any message about the self that a person communicates to another” (p.1) which can vary by amount, valence (positive or negative nature), and relevance to the course content. Other factors increase mediated immediacy, “the communicative cues in mediated channels that can shape perceptions of psychological closeness between . . . interactants,” (p.2) such as font use, language, and punctuation. Students are more likely to communicate with teachers who use immediacy behaviors. 133 students between the ages of 18-23 enrolled in a basic communications course. Teacher self-disclosure was manipulated on Facebook across three experimental groups: high, medium, and low. Students were given names of instructors from the university and asked to browse their Facebook pages. They then completed a research questionnaire that measured motivation, affective learning, classroom climate, manipulation check, and appropriateness of Facebook for a teacher, and supplementary qualitative data. Teacher self-disclosure was found to have a positive influence on student participation and affective learning. Students perceive similarities between themselves and the instructor when the instructor shares certain information.

View Full Annotation

View Article

Implicit Theories of Intelligence Predict Achievement Across an Adolescent Transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention

Lisa Blackwell     Kali Trzeniewski     Carol Dweck

APA Citation

Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child development, 78(1), 246-263.

Annotation

Article describes two different studies:
In Study 1, we followed four waves of entering
junior high school students, measuring their implicit
theories and other achievement-related beliefs at the
outset of junior high and then assessing their
achievement outcomes as they progressed through
the seventh and eighth grades. We then tested an
integrated causal model, based on prior experimental research, of the processes linking achievement-
related beliefs measured at the onset of . . . junior high to
achievement strategies and actual achievement outcomes over the junior high transition.
Students with incremental and entity theories began to pull apart in math in junior high.
If the different theories of intelligence are indeed
associated with contrasting motivational patterns,
then teaching students to think of their intelligence
as malleable should cause them to display more
positive motivation in the classroom, and in turn to
achieve more highly. In Study 2, we first replicated
the test of our mediational model on a new, lower-
achieving sample of students over a shorter time
course. Next, in the spring term, we performed an
intervention to teach an incremental theory to half of
the students, and then assessed the effects on class-
room motivation and achievement, in comparison
with students in a control group.
If students can change their beliefs about the nature of intelligence, it changes their performance.

View Full Annotation

View Article

Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources

Stephen Downes

APA Citation

Downes, S. (2007). Models for sustainable open educational resources. Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects, 3(1), 29-44.

Annotation

This paper cover the three different models that are necessary for the sustainability of Open Educational Resources (OER’s). These three models include: funding, technical and content. The recommendations described in this article are focused on the sustainability of the OER’s and based on the fact that OER’s are only part of the larger picture. This larger picture includes volunteers and incentives, community and partnerships, co-production and sharing, distributed management, and control. . . . problems about the fostering of OER’s are noted in the article. The article digs deeper into the sustainability of OER’s by describing what they are, who creates them, how they will pay for this, how they will distribute them and how they will work with them. The answers to these contribute to how OER’s can be sustained. The article includes multiple funding, technical, content, and staffing models. One of the primary arguments on the improvement of sustainability is based on value and usability. For example, the article stated that UNESCO discussion of OERs participants suggested to establish a global index system that will help potential users to find courseware and then make it easily accessible. They also stated “Open content + community = Open course”

View Full Annotation

View Article

Online vs. Blended Learning: Differences in instructional outcomes and learner satisfaction

Doo Hun Lim     Michael L. Morris     Virginia W. Kupritz

APA Citation

Lim, D.H., Morris, M.L., & Kupritz, V.W. (2006). Online vs. blended learning: Differences in instructional outcomes and learner satisfaction. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 11(2), 27-42.

Annotation

This mixed-method study employed open and closed-ended questions in an online survey. 59 students that took a course on Human Resource Development online and 69 students that took the same course in a blended format filled out the survey. Qualitative analysis was conducted through a content analysis and t-tests & ANOVA were used to quantitatively analyze the data. Both online and blended students reported increases in perceived and actual learning with little difference between the two. . . . Online students felt the course was more difficult, had a higher workload and less instructor support. Students in the blended course also reported less confusion over clarity in assignments. Overall results suggests that perceived and actual learning outcomes don’t appear to differ much from F2F to online to blended however student satisfaction is higher in F2F and blended.

View Full Annotation

View Article

Open Educational Practices and Resources

Guntram Geser

APA Citation

Geser, G. (2007). Open Educational Practices and Resources. OLCOS Roadmap, 2012.

Annotation

Open e-Learning Content Observatory Services (OLCOS) project suggests activities that encourages reuse and sharing of OER (Open Educational Resources) primarily in Europe. This report focuses on the necessity of open practices of teaching and learning within the framework of competency-based education. This road mapping comprises three areas: (1) Policies, institutional frameworks and business models, lifelong learning agenda in Europe which creates welcoming climate for local OER initiatives . . . (2) Open Access and open content repositories, a shift from a static course material to web-based tools for potentially more effective OER (3) Laboratories of open educational practices and resources, Creative Commons will allow researchers and institution to protect their copyrights while providing OER.

View Full Annotation

View Article

Social Network Sites: Definition, history, and scholarship

Danah M. Boyd     Nicole B. Ellison

APA Citation

Boyd, D. M. & Ellison, N.B. (2008). “Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(1), 210-230.

Annotation

Not Available

View Full Annotation

View Article

Some Colleges Provide Success Coaches for Students: New kind of advisor helps hone life and study skills

Elizabeth F. Farrell

APA Citation

Farrell, E. (2007, July 17). Some colleges provide success coaches for students: New kind of advisor helps hone life and study skills. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(46), A25. Retrieved from: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i46/46a02501.htm

Annotation

The article discusses a piloted grant program that sought to provide first-year and transfer students with an academic success coach. The majority of the students at the college identify as first-generation and ethnic minority.
According to the article, ASC are particularly helpful for students who how a low perceived self-efficacy to succeed academically. Thus, the ASC concentrates on helping a struggling or at-risk student see his/her potential to succeed, to create goals and action plans, . . . and to problem-solve. As other articles about ASC have noted, the philosophy behind the ASC program is a proactive rather than a reactive one.
One college hired independent coaches to assist their students. The rationale behind the decision was that these coaches were “impartial observers.” According to a college administrator, “The coaches are there to help the students connect the dots and find the right services on campus to help them, whether it’s the financial-aid office, mental-health services, or academic support.” For this particular study, the success rate was high. 93% of Freshman who had attended seven or more coaching students returned to continue their studies the next semester. The program has been met with criticism, particularly by faculty. The primary criticism is that the ASC program encourages hand-holding of students rather than providing them the skills to develop as autonomous, independent beings.
The article does not discuss competency-based education, yet it provides evidence that a ASC program might be helpful for retention efforts. It also offers an oppositional argument as to why such programs might not obtain support on some campuses.

View Full Annotation

View Article

The Benefits of Facebook “Friends”: Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites

Nicole B. Ellison     Charles Steinfield     Cliff Lampe

APA Citation

Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), article 1.

Annotation

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are examples of communities that use the Internet to supplement for face-to-face contact. One study on college student use of Facebook found that it helped enhance students’ ability to stay connected with the community. Furthermore, because a student’s Facebook network can be bounded by an affiliation to a particular college, Facebook is very much tied to the relationships and interactions that take place offline on a campus.
While there are very . . . few empirical studies that show a link between social media use and student engagement, research on the use of Facebook by college students has shown that there are positives correction to Facebook use and the psychological well-being of the users. Facebook has been found to play an important role in helping students maintain old relationships and also foster new relationships on their college campus. This helps to lower barriers for participation in campus life and a willingness to support the community (Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C., 2007, Steinfield, C., Ellison, N. & Lampe, C., 2008).

View Full Annotation

View Article

A Study of the Relationship between Student Communication Interaction and Sense of Community

Shane Dawson

APA Citation

Dawson, S. (2006). A study of the relationship between student communication interaction and sense of community. Internet and High Education, 9:153-162.

Annotation

N=25 students were given supplementary communication resources in their online course, then asked to complete a survey regarding their perceived sense of community within the course. “The study … demonstrated a clear linkage between the degree of communication interactions students undertake and their level of sense of community experienced.”

View Full Annotation

View Article