This study investigates subject teachers’ practical knowledge and teaching behaviour regarding integrated language teaching in the context of vocational education. The emphasis was on the nature of teachers’ subject-specific language awareness and how they enact this awareness in their teaching practice. For this purpose, teachers in vocational education were interviewed and observed while teaching. The results reveal that teachers differ in their subject-specific language awareness. Some teachers are unaware of the relation between language and learning, while others are aware of this relation and feel responsible towards their students’ language proficiency. Teachers who feel this responsibility stimulate students’ active language use and use more advanced interaction strategies to promote students’ higher cognitive thinking. The results of this study indicate that raising subject teachers’ language awareness needs to be part of activities for teacher professional development.
LINK
We use a randomised experiment to study the effect of offering half of 556 freshman students a learning analytics dashboard and a weekly email with a link to their dashboard, on student behaviour in the online environment and final exam performance. The dashboard shows their online progress in the learning management systems, their predicted chance of passing, their predicted grade and their online intermediate performance compared with the total cohort. The email with dashboard access, as well as dashboard use, has positive effects on student behaviour in the online environment, but no effects are found on student performance in the final exam of the programming course. However, we do find differential effects by specialisation and student characteristics.
MULTIFILE
Increasingly aware of the importance of active lifestyles, many people intend to exercise more. One of the main challenges is to translate exercise intentions into actual exercise behaviour, the so-called intention-behaviour gap. To investigate barriers and enablers that affect this gap, we conducted a 7-day diary study with 16 women. Participants indicated what their exercise intentions and behaviour were per day, and whether and why they changed retrospectively during the day. Through the diary study, we gain insights into (i) the intention-behaviour interplay, and (ii) the experienced barriers and enablers that influence this interplay throughout the day. Based on the findings, we contribute new implications for design in supporting people translating their intentions into exercise behaviour. We propose three design concepts to illustrate underlying design opportunities. The focus is on positively influencing the interplay of enablers and barriers of exercising and how these can be addressed through design
In the last decade, the automotive industry has seen significant advancements in technology (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles) that presents the opportunity to improve traffic safety, efficiency, and comfort. However, the lack of drivers’ knowledge (such as risks, benefits, capabilities, limitations, and components) and confusion (i.e., multiple systems that have similar but not identical functions with different names) concerning the vehicle technology still prevails and thus, limiting the safety potential. The usual sources (such as the owner’s manual, instructions from a sales representative, online forums, and post-purchase training) do not provide adequate and sustainable knowledge to drivers concerning ADAS. Additionally, existing driving training and examinations focus mainly on unassisted driving and are practically unchanged for 30 years. Therefore, where and how drivers should obtain the necessary skills and knowledge for safely and effectively using ADAS? The proposed KIEM project AMIGO aims to create a training framework for learner drivers by combining classroom, online/virtual, and on-the-road training modules for imparting adequate knowledge and skills (such as risk assessment, handling in safety-critical and take-over transitions, and self-evaluation). AMIGO will also develop an assessment procedure to evaluate the impact of ADAS training on drivers’ skills and knowledge by defining key performance indicators (KPIs) using in-vehicle data, eye-tracking data, and subjective measures. For practical reasons, AMIGO will focus on either lane-keeping assistance (LKA) or adaptive cruise control (ACC) for framework development and testing, depending on the system availability. The insights obtained from this project will serve as a foundation for a subsequent research project, which will expand the AMIGO framework to other ADAS systems (e.g., mandatory ADAS systems in new cars from 2020 onwards) and specific driver target groups, such as the elderly and novice.
