Assessment of the Reading Curriculum in Basic Education in the Philippines Context

This study aimed to assess the reading curriculum in Philippine basic education. It specifically focused on determining the reading competencies, the approaches in reading instruction and assessments before and during COVID-19, and the alignment of the written and intended to the implemented and assessed curriculum. This qualitative research employed the following data gathering techniques: document analysis, online focus group discussion, and constructive alignment checklist. Findings reveal that the basic education curriculum includes reading competencies categorized into text processing and task management competencies. In terms of the reading levels, it was found that there are more instructional readers than independent readers in basic education. Further, a number of students from different year levels, including in the secondary level, were also found to be non-readers. Regarding the approaches to reading instruction and assessment, the approaches were more extensive, varied, and teacher-directed before the COVID-19 pandemic involving class and group dynamics, while in the new normal, teachers employed self-paced/independent reading using printed modules and a few digital reading resources. Finally, the curriculum assessment reveals that there is generally a low alignment between the written, assessed, and delivered curriculum in reading. This implies that there are learning outcomes specified in the K-12 curriculum guide that have not been processed and assessed by teachers. © 2023, Universitas Negeri Makassar- Faculty of Languages and Literature. All rights reserved.

Valuable unintended learning outcomes when practicum for student teachers in kindergartens is carried out online.

This article presents a study of an educational experiment conducted at the early childhood education programme at UiT, the Arctic University of Norway. As COVID-19 made social distancing an issue, the traditional practicum in kindergartens was moved to online platforms. Constructive alignment was used as an analytical framework to investigate the possibilities and limitations of student teachers' learning outcomes in a collaborative online learning activity. Overall, 8 out of 9 practicum teachers found the online practicum form a better alternative than supplying the student teacher with a written assignment, and 72.7% of the student teachers agreed or somewhat agreed with facilitating learning outcomes from the online practicum regardless of social distancing. The need for professional digital competence is central, as digital technology is not simply part of pedagogical practices but is becoming an integrated part of communicating and collaborating with colleagues and parents. This study broadens the understanding of how collaborative online learning can facilitate unintended valuable learning outcomes and critically debates the limitations related to emphasising a too-strong focus on intended learning outcomes as a premise for constructive alignment in education.

Exclusion from constructive alignment unmasked by emergency remote teaching

CONTEXT The research study was conducted at a contact-based, research-intensive university in South Africa, where the faculty of engineering has adopted a feedback-feedforward approach to improving engineering pedagogy through theoretically-supported, interdisciplinary and community-of-practice approaches. The outcomes-based curricula are designed to explicitly align teaching/learning activities, the intended learning outcomes and assessment tasks. The Covid-19 emergency remote teaching (ERT) phase has raised the question of the disjuncture between student perceptions and assessment performance during independent, remote learning. PURPOSE OR GOAL A faculty-wide research initiative to determine how undergraduate engineering students were experiencing ERT revealed significant systemic challenges and heightened academic stress. Of particular concern in 2021 is the 2nd year cohort, whose entire 1st year was under ERT conditions. Poor first term assessment performance suggested the need to investigate not only how students were studying, but their perceptions of their practices and efforts in relation to their perceptions of course requirements, and consequently their performance. APPROACH OR METHODOLOGY/METHODS A mixed-method survey-based approach was used to assess second year students' perceptions of a design-based module. The surveys were sent out when it became clear that performance was going to be substantially poorer than expected for their first in-person and closed-book assessment after ERT. The samples were taken after the assessment, after the model answers lecture, after the marks were published, and again after an intervention. The 2020 marks were compared with the last in-person assessments from 2019. Out of the 280 students, 142 responded to the survey. ACTUAL OR ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES Students overestimated their marks after writing, even after seeing the model answers. Two thirds reported the paper as difficult, which reduced to 58% after the model answers, and 74% after releasing the marks. Two thirds said online lectures prepared them sufficiently, but after the marks only 45% did. After a reflection-in-action intervention, 81% considered them sufficient and the error in estimated marks for the next assessment reduced by 41%. Despite 97% engagement with the lectures and 96% claiming to have done the tutorials and practicals on their own, only 38% used the Q&A forums, and not a single student made an appointment with the lecturer. CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS/SUMMARY While constructive alignment is a common pedagogical approach, it does not explicitly include alignment to student abilities or perceptions. In contact-based, socio-culturally mediated contexts, educators may tacitly be responsive to (mis)conceptions to enhance alignment between student abilities, expectations and intended course outcomes. We suggest, in this paper, that a constructive alignment model needs to include methods to overcome self-efficacy gaps, given that we need to produce critically-thinking, confident, and capable graduates. Copyright © Booysen and Wolff, 2021.

A Blended Learning Toolbox for Educators

The focus for blended learning in education has grown immensely in the last decade. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 ignited the need to transform the traditional face-to-face classroom setting to online and blended learning environments. These transitions can be a daunting and challenging task, especially in underprivileged communities where resources are few and facilitators and institutions are not well-equipped to make the change. This chapter provides a theoretical overview of blended learning that focusses on defining blended learning, benefits and challenges of blended learning, and blended learning models. The chapter concludes by presenting "a blended learning toolbox" that can be used to assist facilitators in the design process of blended learning environments.

Pedagogical Principles in the Online Teaching of NLP: A Retrospection

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought online education to the forefront of pedagogical discussions. To make this increased interest sustainable in a postpandemic era, online courses must be built on strong pedagogical foundations. With a long history of pedagogic research, there are many principles, frameworks, and models available to help teachers in doing so. These models cover different teaching perspectives, such as constructive alignment, feedback, and the learning environment. In this paper, we discuss how we designed and implemented our online Natural Language Processing (NLP) course following constructive alignment and adhering to the pedagogical principles of LTU. By examining our course and analyzing student evaluation forms, we show that we have met our goal and successfully delivered the course. Furthermore, we discuss the additional benefits resulting from the current mode of delivery, including the increased reusability of course content and increased potential for collaboration between universities. Lastly, we also discuss where we can and will further improve the current course design. ©2021 Association for Computational Linguistics.

On-line Meetings for Educating the Minds of Future Safety Engineers during the COVID Pandemic: An Experience Report

World-wide opportunities for “meetings of minds” was the goal of the research of visionaries who contributed to the creation of networked communication systems. During 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutes massively exploited these systems enabling virtual spaces of synchronous and asynchronous meetings among students and among students and teachers. Technology alone, however, is not sufficient. Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge (TPACK) and competence are paramount. In this paper, I report about my experience in pedagogically designing and implementing an on-line version of an advanced master course on safety-critical systems engineering, conceived and delivered as a series of Zoom-based, and Community-Of-Inquiry (COI)-oriented meetings plus Canvas-based threads of discussions for educating the minds of future safety and software engineers. I also report about the limited but still talkative COI-specific questionnaire-based evaluation, conducted with the purpose of better understanding the limits of moving the course on line and elicit areas of improvement, given that likely education on-line is now here to stay. Finally, I elaborate on a roadmap for future development, based on the results from the first instance. Copyright © 2021 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved.

The Design and Development of an Adaptive Intelligent Tutoring System Based on Constructive Alignment and Cognitive Theories

Online learning is becoming a popular education trend worldwide, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when learners cannot go directly to the training institution to participate in face-to-face classes. However, besides the advantages of online learning, such as overcoming the boundary of space and time to study or saving travel costs, online learning also has limitations. One of the challenges for online learning is accurately measuring and assessing learners' capacity development during and after the completion of the course against the intended learning outcomes of the course. This study introduces a new adaptive intelligent tutoring system based on two theories: Constructive Alignment and Cognitive Theories to provide adaptive learning paths for each learner. During the study, learners are regularly assessed for their ability to meet intended learning outcomes requirements. © 2022 IEEE.

DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXTENDED CONSTRUCTIVE ALIGNMENT MODEL FOR REDESIGNING COURSES TO FIT DISRUPTED CONTEXTS

Nowadays engineers are required to solve unprecedented, complex and context-related problems. To address this challenge, many universities have reformed their education systems to more efficient and innovative ones. However, due to the global Covid-19 crisis, universities are challenged to ensure the continuity of education without compromising the attained quality of learning they have invested in. Therefore, adapting engineering education systems to the probable lasting Covid-19 context is of critical importance today. Besides, the existing course-models (suitable for a normal context) cannot be equally efficient when delivered in their original format in the new constrained context. Thus, educational institutions need to envision new structures for their learning;particularly, new delivery patterns to complement traditional physical classrooms. Hence, to ensure continuity of quality education, emphasis should be placed on the consolidation of best practices in learning by taking into account the present disrupted contexts of both students and schools. In this regard, this work proposes an extended constructive alignment vision that integrates context outcomes as a new pillar into the methodology, to which has to be aligned, the intended learning outcomes, the teaching and learning activities and the appropriate assessment methods. The context outcomes, as key parameters of school and student connectivity for instance, are obtained by using a collection of human-centered design exploration tools. Consequently, an instructional design process is proposed based on this vision. Thereby, to illustrate the redesign of courses to fit disrupted contexts, the transformation of an existing course on Product Design for engineering students is documented following the proposed process. Finally, to continue building the future skilled engineering workforce in period of education disruption, the proposed approach is intended to help educators navigate world shifts by adapting their courses to changing contexts without compromising the quality of education.

A Phenomenological Study of Online Assessment Perceptions of Macao Higher Learning Institutions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Online assessment is the key issue of studying online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Often, online assessments are understood as the mirror to face-to-face learning assessments. In fact, online assessment should start from the premise that all interactive learning strategies are assessment strategies, and as such should be considered for their value in measuring the experiences of students and instructors. This study used the phenomenological method of qualitative research through in-depth interviews with 14 college students and 6 instructors. Based on this, it explored the perception of online assessment in Macao higher learning institutions from the complementary perspectives of college students and instructors, and constructed a theoretical model. The main research findings are that after the assessment shifted from offline to online, some new features appeared, and corresponding changes in form and function occurred. Formally, online assessment is manifested as single subjectivity and flexible diversity, which leads to the assessment dilemma of lack of constructive alignment. At the same time, the functions of assessment have also been extended and even alienated. So the effect of online assessment is not satisfactory. The recommendations for the development of the technological environment and the changes of formative and summative assessment are also discussed in this paper. In terms of the technological environment, efforts need to be made to provide more authentic online learning experiences with synchronous feedback and flexible interaction. In order to help develop a holistic person with online learning, which is the ultimate goal of learning, corresponding criterion-referenced assessment and functions of assessment should be improved accordingly to promote student learning while considering students' recognition and facilitate the co-construction of knowledge between instructors and students. In addition, future research can focus on the development of the readiness of assessment technology, as well as the form and purpose of assessment. Overall, this study provides a more comprehensive understanding of online learning and assessment from the dual perspectives of instructors and students, which could help further studies in this field. © 2022 ACM.

"Involve Me and I Learn": Active Learning in a Hybrid Medical Biochemistry First Year Course on an American-Style MD Program in the UAE.

Perceived as a subject with abstract jargon, requiring extensive memorization of complex metabolic pathways, chemical structures, and names, students lose sight of the significance of biochemistry on their MD journey (Afshar M, Han Z. Teaching and learning medical biochemistry: Perspectives from a student and an educator. Med Sci Educ. 2014;24:339-41.). A disconnect between what is taught in the classroom and its application to clinical settings arises through over emphasis on the need to pass board exams, documented to be a poor measure of core competencies. Employing active learning strategies with meaningful activities with clinical applications, centered around the curriculum, cognitively engages students and is a deviation from the didactic way in which biochemistry is traditionally taught.

The Digitalization of Engineering Curricula: Defining the Categories that Preserve Constructive Alignment

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the education domain boosting its digitalization. A pedagogical shift from live to virtual teaching, learning, and assessment activities is the primary outcome of this transition. This work analyses two courses included in the Industrial Engineering program offered in two prominent European higher education institutions. The Constructive Alignment (CA) approach is the baseline of this work and is used to analyze how the Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs) and the Assessment Tasks (ATs) of the selected courses are adjusted to maintain alignment with the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) defined before the Digital Transition (DT). The main contribution is the definition of the relevant categories, i.e., Technology, Interaction, and Time, to guide the DT in engineering and beyond by maintaining the alignment on ILO-TLA-AT. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The digital use of simulated patients in times of the corona pandemic - considerations and proposals.

The corona pandemic has posed major challenges for teaching with simulated persons (SPs), which usually requires the physical presence of the participants. Within a short period of time, a large number of individual solutions were developed. The committee "Simulated Persons" of the Society for Medical Education has developed considerations and proposals in five areas to meet the qualitative challenges of the method. First and foremost, the safety of the SPs is at stake, both in terms of infection prevention and role-related stress to which the SPs are now exposed at home alone instead of the usual setting, where they are in a teaching building with the connection to the staff on site. Furthermore, it should be noted that the changed framework conditions also require a reflection on behalf of the learning objectives, since not all teaching scenarios with SPs can be transferred from a real setting to a digital environment. Furthermore, even under corona conditions, the constructive alignment must not be disregarded, i.e. the question of testability must be considered from the very beginning. Aspects of the technical infrastructure for all participants and compliance with data protection requirements must also be considered. Last but not least, the forced changes are also an opportunity to take a proactive approach to the topic of telemedicine in teaching.