AbstractDaskalos, Konstantinos & Jellum Ling, Jeppe (2005)Authentic texts or adapted texts – That is the question! The use of authentic and adapted texts in the study of English in two Swedish upper secondary schools and a study of student and teacher attitudes towards these texts. Skolutveckling och ledarskap, Lärarutbildningen 60 p, Malmö HögskolaThe aim of this paper is to find out which attitudes teachers and students have towards authentic and adapted texts used in the teaching of English in two Swedish grammar schools. Furthermore, the paper aims to demonstrate the importance of proper text selection in relation to student motivation.To achieve this, a survey was conducted with second year students in two different schools; on top of this, several interviews were conducted with students as well as an interview with a teacher. This was done to demonstrate the different attitudes towards the textbook and authentic texts and to illustrate the importance of choosing topics that students can relate to.The results show that students preferred to read authentic texts. These texts provided them with interesting topics. The teacher also preferred to use authentic texts and agreed that authentic texts usually created an active classroom, but pointed out that to substitute the textbook entirely with authentic material was unrealistic. Therefore, a combination of the two types of text would be preferable.

In the realm of academic engagement research, students are valuable sources of information to learn how and why students often engage unproductively in mathematics group work. However, although secondary mathematics students are often expected to engage in meaningful mathematical discourse in a small group setting, little research has been conducted to better understand student engagement in this setting from the perspective of the students themselves. This thesis attempts to understand how one junior high student described his own engagement in mathematics small group work as well as what factors influenced this engagement. By conducting several cycles of observations and interviews followed by qualitative analysis, we learned how this student engaged in a variety of ways in group work; on different occasions (and sometimes within the same class period), he talked with his peers about mathematics, remained silent, played on his phone, connected with peers across the room, and pursued off-topic conversation with his group mates. We also discovered that the student participant as well as his peers often ceased to engage productively when they encountered mathematics that they deemed too difficult. Several other factors impacted his engagement in complex ways, including his familiarity with group mates, fear of being singled out, and access to adequate help from a teacher. These results may inform researchers of new data collection and analysis methods to gain insights into student engagement and teachers of ways in which they may adapt instruction to better encourage students to engage productively.

Combined with advancements in technology, prior research investigating the teacher-student relationship has radically changed the way we teach and learn in online education. This study examined the way teacher self-disclosure (TSD) influenced student motivation to enroll in an online course and altered their affect, or feelings, toward the teacher when applied within a purely online learning setting. The experiment took place online and was built within a Boston University’s learning management system (LMS), Blackboard Learn. In the online environment, TSD was controlled to provide high levels of male and female TSD in two treatment groups and a complete absence of TSD in two control groups. Out of the 336 Master of Social Work (MSW) students that responded to the recruitment email, 84 students were placed in one of four online settings led by fictional male and female teachers. Students in the treatment groups were granted access to male or female TSD via a Meet the Professor tab within the online learning environment. This tab provided students with access to content collected from social media websites, such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Twitter on a single web page. The social media content displayed personal and professional information about these fictional instructors and were used to create TSD in the sample online course. The study participants were instructed to explore their assigned sample course not including (control) or including (treatment) TSD. Before and after exploring the sample course, participants completed pre- and post-surveys measuring their motivation to engage in the online course materials, their affect toward the teacher (ATT), and their perceptions of TSD within the online learning environment. Hypothesis testing using ANCOVA, correlation, t-test, and Chi-squared procedures revealed no statistical significance. Findings include recommendations for methodological requirement need to explore the complexities of the teacher-student relationship within a purely online learning environment.

The worldwide crisis, Covid-19 had a tremendous influence on education system. Many higher education systems forced to change into emergency online education while challenges and problems facing in online learning process affected not only students’ population but also lots of teachers. Video conferencing tools as a technology which help users to have virtual meetings need to be effective and user friendly to provide the learning process with the same quality as face-to-face education. The goal of this study is researching about one of the important problems in online learning process which is teachers-students interaction. The primary goal of this research is to find the pain points in students-teachers interaction and students’ motivation and our secondary goal is investigating the effects of this interaction on students’ motivation and providing a solution in video conferencing tools to solve this issue using a prototype. We are using mixed methodology which is including both quantitative and qualitative methodology. Collected data from existing studies and literature review, surveys, and interview are methods which are used. Based on our research questions and the methodology for collecting data the following are studied: 1. The pain points and challenges regarding teachers’ interaction and students’ motivation in online learning 2. The effects of students-teachers interaction in students’ motivation 3. The features in video conferencing tools which can improve this interaction. All the findings present in a prototype using Figma with the goal of improving user experience of video conferencing tools for online learning purpose and solve existing problems. This prototype presented to students and teachers to get their feedbacks through an interview. With the importance of online learning in the future education, more research is needed to explore other aspects which has effect on students’ motivation and presenting other solution or features or using another research methods will bring more value to this subject.

This quantitative study examined teacher perceptions on the relationship between technology, student academic behaviors, and performance in blended 9th-12th grade settings through pre-COVID-19 Pandemic and post-COVID-19 Pandemic learning experiences. This replicate study explored the relationship between teacher perceptions of student motivation and student autonomy and their relation to technology implementation in face-to-face instruction and blended learning environments. Particularly, this study analyzed how student motivation and student autonomy were affected by blended learning technologies and teaching strategies introduced after the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Data were examined to investigate teacher perceptions on the relationship between technology, student academic behaviors, and performance in blended learning 9th-12th grade settings through pre-COVID-19 Pandemic and post-COVID-19 Pandemic learning experiences in two east Tennessee school districts. Participants of this study included 42 high school teachers post-COVID-19 Pandemic in 2023 and 75 high school teachers pre-COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 within two school districts in east Tennessee. Statistical analyses of the data revealed significance on participant teacher perceptions of student motivation and student autonomy. Findings did not correlate to the original study. The research revealed there was a significant difference in teacher perceptions of student autonomy in the face-to-face instructional setting. Findings indicated teacher perceptions of student motivation were significantly higher post-COVID-19 Pandemic compared to pre-COVID-19 Pandemic.

In recent years, research has been done on formative assessment and its connection to student motivation and development, showing both benefits and disadvantages of using the practice. This study investigates further how formative assessment affects students’ motivation and language development in an EFL (English as a foreign language) context, and the possibilities of implementing formative assessment in Swedish upper secondary classrooms. The study was conducted using thematic analysis with nine empirical studies as the basis. The studies contain different forms of formative assessments conducted on upper secondary- and university students, aiming to examine their effects on motivation and development. The results showed that formative assessment is beneficial in motivating students in their language learning as well as aiding students in their language learning development. Teacher feedback, peer review, multiple drafting, and portfolios all positively impact students. Based on the studies’ findings and previous research, it is evident that formative assessment can be used in EFL classrooms with benefits. However, teachers need to be mindful of the way in which they deliver feedback since it can affect students’ motivation. The findings also correlate with the Swedish curriculum for upper secondary school and could therefore be implemented in Swedish schools. Lastly, this study showed that there is a need for further research on the effects of formative assessment conducted on upper secondary school students.

Using resiliency theory as a lens, this qualitative study explored the educational journey and post-graduation experiences of 5 (2 females and 3 males) undocumented Latino college graduates (ULCGs). All participants completed a college degree from a U.S. four-year institution located in a state with an active in-state resident tuition (ISRT) policy. Pseudonyms were used to protect the identity of study participants since a viable path to permanent U.S. residency for undocumented students and/or graduates is currently unavailable. Participants shared their journeys through two 90-minute interviews conducted via Skype, follow-up questions conducted via e-mail, and journal entries collected via e-mail. Consistent with existing literature, findings revealed that participants experienced numerous cultural, academic, legal, and personal barriers, but were relentless in reaching their goals. Contrary to most existing literature, participants in this study enjoyed significant academic capital, aspirational capital, and followed a different and unique decision-making rationale. Findings are presented in five individual portraits and one collective portrait. Individual portraits illustrate participants' struggles, key turning points, and their life decisions. The collective portrait addresses four themes that emerged from the data, including 1) life barriers, 2) reflections of resiliency, 3) decision time, and 4) college education interpretation.

Cognitive Science is interested in being able to develop methodologies for analyzing human learning and performance data. Intelligent tutoring systems need good cognitive models that can predict student performance. Cognitive models of human processing are also useful in tutoring because well-designed curriculums need to understand the common components of knowledge that students need to be able to employ. A common concern is being able to predict when transfer should happen. We describe a methodology first used by Koedinger that uses empirical data and cognitively principled task analysis to evaluate the fit of cognitive models. This methodology seems particularly useful when you are trying to find evidence for“hidden" knowledge components, which are hard to assess because they are confounded with accessing other knowledge components. We present this methodology as well as an illustration showing how we are trying to use this method to answer an important cognitive science issue.

The thesis "A healthy lifestyle and its application in teaching practice" covers the principles of a healthy lifestyle among today̕ s secondary school students and their application in life. The author compares the differences in the healthy lifestyle of secondary school student, how they are interpreted by professionals, and compares them with the results of questionnaire conducted among pupils and their parents in the 2015/2016 school year at SŠ-COPTH (High School - Technical and Vocational Trainning Centre), Poděbradská 12, Prague 9, in the chemist operator and car mechanic fields. The conclusions that the author has come to show to what extent today̕ s secondary school students, whether studying graduation courses or apprenticeships, enjoy a healthy lifestyle and the degree of their motivation to take care of their health. Work on this topic has led the author to reflect on how to continue to reach out to young people to ensure that they maintain a healthy lifestyle. KEY WORDS: health, healthy lifestyle, student motivation, education towards health, food additives

University branch campuses play a vital role in today’s higher education field. Branch campuses help facilitate the delivery of knowledge, development, and learning opportunities to populations that may not have any other prospect in regard to pursuing their educational goals. Branch campuses have also become a new way for institutions of higher education to collaborate and work together to serve students’ interests. Yet, despite enrollment growth across thousands of higher education branch campuses that exist in the United States, the literature on branch campuses is scant. Furthermore, branch campuses, like their main campus counterparts, have a responsibility to ensure that their students are successful and reach their learning objectives. One of the ways in which branch campuses are promoting student persistence is through the use of High Impact Practices (HIPs). HIPs have helped shape education policy at colleges and universities since they were first introduced a decade ago. While there is still active debate on their effectiveness, they have become an established part of the curriculum as colleges and universities invest in resources to implement and institutionalize these practices. Given the lack of literature examining HIPs at university branch campuses, this phenomenological study sought to examine what branch campus students experience in relation to HIPs, and how these experiences influence student persistence. Additionally, this study uncovered other experiences that influence the persistence of branch campus students and assists in providing a fuller understanding of the branch campus student experience.