Carmela Aprea

Financial Literacy of Adolescents and Young Adults: Setting the Course for a Competence-Oriented Assessment Instrument

This chapter presents research activities that aimed at contributing to an educationally sound financial literacy assessment for adolescents and young adults. In particular, it describes the development and pilot testing of a first version of a competence-oriented assessment instrument involving 198 secondary students in Germany. The instrument mainly consists of 23 test items that intended to mirror different phases of financial decisions. Moreover, self-reports on motivational and attitudinal aspects as well as questions on students’ socio-demographic background were included. The study intended to exemplarily test the items on financial literacy. The results of the pilot testing are reported and discussed with regard to implications for further development of the assessment instrument.

Stakeholders′ conceptions of connecting learning at different sites in two national VET systems

Abstract Learning through active participation and engagement in education and workplace settings is a prerequisite for effective professional competence development through Vocational Education and Training (VET). Equally important is that learning from multiple sites and sources needs to be purposefully connected and integrated to construct meaningful knowledge and understandings. The quality of connectivity and learning outcomes is influenced by conceptions of the different actors. The aim of the research reported in this article was to gain an understanding of key stakeholders’ (learners, teachers, trainers and managers/coordinators) conceptions of connections between school-based and work-based learnings which offer the main sources for developing vocational competence, and are the main sites for the enacted and engaged curriculum for VET. We identify and compare conceptions of vocational learning and teaching across education and workplace settings in Swiss and Australian VET actors. Differences and similarities are discussed and implications for VET research and development of teachers and trainers are outlined.

A model for designing hypervideo-based instructional scenarios

ABSTRACT In this article, we provide a conceptual model for the design of instructional scenarios integrating hypervideo as an instructional tool. The model provides a structural aid for making design decisions about using hypervideo in instruction. We start by introducing the theoretical rationale for hypervideo as a tool, exploiting three different interactivity functions. We then examine the cognitive and socio-cognitive theories that can inform the design and usage of hypervideo. Next, we present the instantiation of these functions and theories in a software interface, after which we present the model, which is based on the following two layers of design decisions: the first pertains to the interactivity features and the second is connected with the instructional strategy. Three main design steps are presented in the form of guidelines, corresponding to a preparation phase, a production phase, and a use phase. Finally, a set of cases exhibiting exemplary implementations of a hypervideo-based instructional scenario are described.

Adolescents’ and Young Adults' Naïve Understandings of the Economic Crisis

Over the last decade, Financial Literacy (FL) and interventions aimed at improving it, that is Financial Education (FE), have been the focus of increased attention from economists, governments, and international organizations such as the world Bank and OECD, but much less by scholars in the fields of Learning and Instruction. We examined open-ended written answers on the causes of the economic crisis that started in 2007-2008, as given by 381 Italian secondary school and university students, and 268 Swiss Italian-speaking secondary school students. Most Italian students mentioned internal political causes (i.e., corrupt politicians or inefficiency of the government), whereas Swiss students mentioned banks more often. International factors were rarely mentioned by either group, and explanations were generally very poor, listing a few causes without making connections between them. These findings indicate the need for economics education aimed at making people more knowledgeable of the workings of the economic system and the effects of financial systems on the real economy.

Scuolavisione: teaching-and-learning with hypervideos in the Swiss Vocational system.

Videos have been more and more used in the last decade for educational purposes, given the value they may have for representing dynamic processes or complex systems which need to be observable for a proper and deep understanding. However, the video in itself does not enable students to actively interact with the contents, nor to support those reflective processes which can really foster learning. To overcome these limitations, traditional videos can be enriched with additional information, to be transformed into hypervideos. This contribution presents a short selection of illustrative experiences conducted by a group of teachers who used a specific hypervideo tool developed in the framework of the project ‘Scuolavisione’ in the Swiss vocational education system. The aim is to show which kind of instructional activities can be supported by hypervideos and how both teachers and apprentices perceive this tool with regard to its ease-of-use and usefulness. Results show that hypervideos can be used to flexibly support different pedagogical strategies, and that the tools presented here are perceived as usable and effective both by teachers and apprentices. This encourages further research on hypervideos as a new means to put video-based learning into practice.