An extraordinary amount of data is becoming available in educational settings, collected from a wide range of Educational Technology tools and services. This creates opportunities for using methods ...from Artificial Intelligence and Learning Analytics (LA) to improve learning and the environments in which it occurs. And yet, analytics results produced using these methods often fail to link to theoretical concepts from the learning sciences, making them difficult for educators to trust, interpret and act upon. At the same time, many of our educational theories are difficult to formalise into testable models that link to educational data. New methodologies are required to formalise the bridge between big data and educational theory. This paper demonstrates how causal modelling can help to close this gap. It introduces the apparatus of causal modelling, and shows how it can be applied to well‐known problems in LA to yield new insights. We conclude with a consideration of what causal modelling adds to the theory‐versus‐data debate in education, and extend an invitation to other investigators to join this exciting programme of research.
Practitioner notes
What is already known about this topic
‘Correlation does not equal causation’ is a familiar claim in many fields of research but increasingly we see the need for a causal understanding of our educational systems.
Big data bring many opportunities for analysis in education, but also a risk that results will fail to replicate in new contexts.
Causal inference is a well‐developed approach for extracting causal relationships from data, but is yet to become widely used in the learning sciences.
What this paper adds
An overview of causal modelling to support educational data scientists interested in adopting this promising approach.
A demonstration of how constructing causal models forces us to more explicitly specify the claims of educational theories.
An understanding of how we can link educational datasets to theoretical constructs represented as causal models so formulating empirical tests of the educational theories that they represent.
Implications for practice and/or policy
Causal models can help us to explicitly specify educational theories in a testable format.
It is sometimes possible to make causal inferences from educational data if we understand our system well enough to construct a sufficiently explicit theoretical model.
Learning Analysts should work to specify more causal models and test their predictions, as this would advance our theoretical understanding of many educational systems.
This work presents the analysis of the normalist student’s reflection processes carried out from the theoretical perspective postulated by Schön (1992) through three phases: knowledge in action, ...reflection in and during action, and reflection on action. The space in which the research practice was carried out was the practicum, which is conceived as a curricular space where the knowledge and skills developed by it are integrated, through the training path of professional practice. The methodological design was a qualitative and interpretive case study in which the answers to the following questions were sought: how do normal students reflect during the development of the practicum? How is the knowledge that normalista students use in practicum development characterized? How is the reflection made by normalista students in and during the development of the practicum characterized? How are the reflections that normalista students use about the development of the practicum characterized? The instruments used in gathering the information were the field diary, self-reflection guide and video record. The results made it possible to identify the implicit knowledge, beliefs and theories that normalista students possess; as well as aspects of in situ reflection as components of the reflective exercise in and during the practicum. Reflection was recognized as a continuum that allows the systematization of learning in this process; as well as spaces for innovation and transformation of the practice itself; However, there are pending tasks in this area.
Several major theories have been established in research on motivation in education to describe, explain, and predict the direction, initiation, intensity, and persistence of learning behaviors. The ...most commonly cited theories of academic motivation include expectancy-value theory, social cognitive theory, self-determination theory, interest theory, achievement goal theory, and attribution theory. To gain a deeper understanding of the similarities and differences among these prominent theories, we present an integrative framework based on an action model (Heckhausen & Heckhausen,
2018
). The basic model is deliberately parsimonious, consisting of six stages of action: the situation, the self, the goal, the action, the outcome, and the consequences. Motivational constructs from each major theory are related to these determinants in the course of action, mainly revealing differences and to a lesser extent commonalities. In the integrative model, learning outcomes represent a typical indicator of goal-directed behavior. Associated recent meta-analyses demonstrate the empirical relationship between the motivational constructs of the six central theories and academic achievement. They provide evidence for the explanatory value of each theory for students’ learning.
The education system has been heralded as a tool of liberation and simultaneously critiqued as a tool of social control to maintain the oppressive status quo. Critical consciousness (CC), developed ...by the Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, advanced an educational pedagogy to liberate the masses from systemic inequity maintained and perpetuated by process, practices and outcomes of interdependent systems and institutions. If people are not aware of inequity and do not take action steps to constantly resist oppressive norms and ways of being, then the result is residual inequity in perpetuity. If inequity is likened to a disease or poison, then CC has been deemed the antidote to inequity and the prescription needed to break the cycle. As such, CC is a construct that has important scholarly, practice and policy implications. Scholars, noting the relevance and application of CC to current social problems, have advanced CC theory and practice. However, these innovative advancements have left fissures in the CC theoretical base in need of resolution and consensus to advance a collective and organized body of CC theory. This paper explores the divergent CC scholarship within CC theory and practice articles, provides an in-depth review of the inconsistencies, and suggests ideas to resolve the discrepancies from the literature to support the need for a new, CC-based construct, transformative potential. Without such a review, moving toward conceptual clarity, the lack of a coherent CC knowledgebase will impede the reflection and action needed to transform systems and institutions that maintain and perpetuate systemic inequity that have dehumanizing consequences. If implemented within urban education, theoretical models, grounded in CC theory, could help achieve a system of education that is just, equitable and liberating.
Background: Health care providers require the ability to use critical thinking skills and work effectively in a team as a part of an overall set of competencies. Therefore, educational programs ...should use appropriate methods based in educational theory to effectively graduate learners with these abilities. Team-based learning (TBL) is a method that has been introduced in healthcare education to foster critical thinking skills while students work in high functioning teams.
Aims: This article will show how TBL follows the principles of constructivist learning theory.
Method: The principles of constructivist learning theory are discussed in relation to the teaching method of team-based learning. The effectiveness of TBL in healthcare education is then reviewed.
Results: TBL is learner centered with the teacher acting as an expert facilitator and also provides students with opportunities to expose inconsistencies between their current understandings and new experiences thus stimulating development of new personal mental frameworks built upon previous knowledge. The learning is active using relevant problems and group interaction. Teamwork skills are strengthened by focused reflection on new experiences during the group sessions and on teamwork success by providing feedback to group members.
Conclusion: Since these aspects are all essential components of constructivist educational theory, TBL is solidly grounded in the theory and is a promising method to strengthen healthcare education.
Institutions of higher education have recently been embroiled in a series of controversies concerning two related, though hotly contested ideas: the creation of safe space and the preservation of ...free speech. On one hand, there is a demand for institutional safe spaces - literal refuges or broad university norms that create a sense of inclusion for marginalized students - while on the other hand there is a clarion call for free speech, which seeks to uphold values of ideological diversity in the campus community. The author analyzes these competing claims for justice in higher education communities by drawing on 1) critical curriculum theory, to illustrate why these 'campus culture wars' should be understood as a curricular debate, and 2) democratic education theory to demonstrate that both safe space and free speech advocates assume the purpose of higher education is a democratic education. The article concludes that there is an educational and democratic imperative to resist the false binary of the safe space vs. free speech controversy and instead navigate campus controversies with a democratic lens informed by equal emphasis on Gutmann's (
1987
) two democratic principles: nondiscrimination and non-repression.
Today, multilevel analytics on educational governance, management, and leadership are common in educational leadership research, drawing on a variety of approaches and academic disciplines. This ...article develops a threefold critique of the state of the art. First, this article argues that research on higher education leadership often represents an unreflected position regarding the societal role of higher education—decontextualising leadership from external practices and disregarding its internal object. Second, the approaches applied in leadership as a multilevel phenomenon can be problematic. On one end of the spectrum, we find particularist approaches focusing on individual levels representing disparate and often incompatible theoretical perspectives. As these positions rarely communicate, they have difficulties producing a coherent representation of higher education leadership. Universalist approaches, in turn, study leadership on several levels but offer identical conceptual tools for any societal practice, thereby losing the sensibility of the societal, cultural, and economic tasks of higher-education institutions, and for their specific character as institutions for research and teaching. Thirdly, research on educational leadership mostly fail to provide adequate theory of pedagogical interaction and influence. This is a twofold challenge. On the one hand, research lacks a theory of the object of educational leadership, namely teaching and studying. On the other, although research often defines leadership as a process of influence aimed at supporting learning, it lacks a theory able to explain what constitutes this influence. This article elaborates the possibilities for
non-affirmative theory of education
to provide a theory and language to overcome these challenges.
The outbreak and continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the implementation of physical education theory (PET) curriculums among global colleges and universities. This study aimed to ...describe the design and students’ evaluation of a blended “Sports Multimedia Courseware Design” course among Chinese university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using information communication technologies, a 4-month blended course was developed, which consisted of 36 credits (18-credit online self-learning + 18-credit offline group-learning). A total of 1300 Chinese university students who majored in physical education, completed the blended course from Mar to Jun 2020, among which 238 (69.75% males; 21 ± 1.2 years) were randomly recruited to evaluate the course in terms of three aspects: (1) online self-learning, (2) offline group-learning, and (3) overall learning outcomes. A descriptive analysis was conducted using the IBM SPSS 27.0. Students’ overall positive evaluation supported a successful development and implementation of the blended course. Over 90% of students fulfilled the learning tasks and satisfied with the online learning resources. About 83% of students indicated high levels of autonomous motivation and engagement in online self-learning. Approximately 88% of students showed positive attitudes to the offline group-learning content, while the participation rate (60%) was relatively lower than of the online self-learning. Over 50% of the students indicated self-improvements in diverse aspects after attending the blended course. Blended online and offline pedagogy shows apparent promise in delivering the PET course among Chinese university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further application and comprehensive evaluation are warranted in the future.
Despite the early emergence of oral argumentation, written argumentation is slow to develop, insensitive to alternative perspectives, and generally of poor quality. These findings are unsettling ...because high quality argumentative writing is expected throughout the curriculum and needed in an increasingly competitive workplace that requires advanced communication skills. In this introduction, we provide background about the theoretical perspectives that inform the papers included in this special issue and highlight their contributions to the extant literature about argumentative writing.
This article addresses how 'powerful' curriculum theory might be constructed from the perspective of the German Didaktik tradition-highly compatible with Schwab's the Practical. To start with, I ...scrutinize Joseph Schwab's model of curriculum planning and Wolfgang Klafki's model of lesson preparation and examine two theories of content that underpin the two models. Invoking the German Didaktik tradition, I next explicate a distinctive form of theorizing that yields powerful curriculum/Didaktik theory. I argue that Didaktik, together with the Practical, provides a viable way of constructing powerful curriculum theory-exemplified by a theory of knowledge and a theory of content-in the current context. I conclude by drawing implications for our understanding of the powers of professional educational knowledge and for tackling the current crisis in educational theory.
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