This study explores how 33 student teachers’ reflections during 106 ‘bumpy moments’ while in an international student teaching internship reveal their professional beliefs, and how the moments make the student teachers reflect upon their subjective educational theories. Student teachers described four themes of professional beliefs: (1) pedagogical content knowledge, (2) school context, (3) organisational skills and (4) self-reflection. Their reflections highlighted aspects of their subjective educational theories when they perceived they lacked an appropriate practical teaching strategy or they had pedagogical interactions with pupils or supervisors. The student teachers’ reflections on pedagogical interactions in a cross-cultural context made them aware of moral dimensions in teaching and their own position during normative (inter)actions. The findings of this study indicate that teacher educators should focus on everyday teaching details that occur during bumpy moments in a student’s teaching practice to explicate larger concepts such as the student teachers’ beliefs.
LINK
In the following paper I investigate the relation between the purpose of Facebook use and its possible relation with students’ previous education and their subjective study success in higher education. Three surveys (six in total) were conducted in two successive years (cohort 2011-2012 and 2012-2013) amongst the first year students in the Department of Media, Information and Communication at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.Facebook use will be categorized, according to a previous paper, by the motives of Facebook use:1) for information sharing2) for educational purposes3) for social purposes4) for leisure.Furthermore, the use of special group pages on Facebook is also compared with the students’ previous education. The subjective study success is measured by questioning how much time a student thinks he needs to complete all first year exams and is measured in all three surveys in both years, to uncover possible changes in their opinion. All variables are measured amongst the 904 students in both cohorts, using digital surveys and all data is analysed with the help of statistical tests. This study is part of a broader (PhD) research in which I investigate the possible relation between media literacy and students’ success in higher education.
LINK
The concepts of metacognitive refection, refection, and metacognition are distinct but have undergone shifts in meaning as they migrated into medical education. Conceptual clarity is essential to the construction of the knowledge base of medical education and its educational interventions. We conducted a theoretical integrative review across diverse bodies of literature with the goal of understanding what metacognitive refection is. We searched PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PsychInfo, and Web of Science databases, including all peer-reviewed research articles and theoretical papers as well as book chapters that addressed the topic, with no limitations for date, language, or location. A total of 733 articles were identified and 87 were chosen after careful review and application of exclusion criteria. The work of conceptually and empirically delineating metacognitive reflection has begun. Contributions have been made to root metacognitive refection in the concept of metacognition and moving beyond it to engage in cycles of refection. Other work has underscored its affective component, transformational nature, and contextual factors. Despite this merging of threads to develop a richer conceptualization, a theory of how metacognitive refection works is elusive. Debates address whether metacognition drives refection or vice versa. It has also been suggested that learners evolve along on a continuum from thinking, to task-related refection, to self-refection, and finally to metacognitive refection. Based on prior theory and research, as well as the findings of this review, we propose the following conceptualization: Metacognitive refection involves heightened internal observation, awareness, monitoring, and regulation of our own knowledge, experiences, and emotions by questioning and examining cognition and emotional processes to continually refine and enhance our perspectives and decisions while thoughtfully accounting for context. We argue that metacognitive refection brings a shift in perspective and can support valuable reconceptualization for lifelong learning.
LINK
