Henry Schulz

A comparison of temporal speech and text cueing in educational multimedia

This research focused on the prediction that children in their school setting would learn more from educational multimedia when critical information was presented as spoken instead of textual cues. Analyses of a study (n = 42) showed that 12-year-olds did not learn any more from temporal speech cueing than from temporal text cueing. The findings suggest that multimedia learning for children is a different kind of learning experience than for adults or older adolescents. The results indicate underdeveloped executive control of the referential connections in the childrens working memory between reading screen text while listening to spoken cues, and between watching on-screen animations play while listening to spoken cues. Further study is warranted. Implications may be derived for educational multimedia research in school settings.

Reliability of the Interprofessional Collaborator Assessment Rubric (ICAR) in Multi Source Feedback (MSF) with post-graduate medical residents

BackgroundIncreased attention on collaboration and teamwork competency development in medical education has raised the need for valid and reliable approaches to the assessment of collaboration competencies in post-graduate medical education. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability of a modified Interprofessional Collaborator Assessment Rubric (ICAR) in a multi-source feedback (MSF) process for assessing post-graduate medical residents’ collaborator competencies.MethodsPost-graduate medical residents (n = 16) received ICAR assessments from three different rater groups (physicians, nurses and allied health professionals) over a four-week rotation. Internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, inter-group differences and relationship between rater characteristics and ICAR scores were analyzed using Cronbach’s alpha, one-way and two-way repeated measures ANOVA, and logistic regression.ResultsMissing data decreased from 13.1% using daily assessments to 8.8% utilizing an MSF process, p = .032. High internal consistency measures were demonstrated for overall ICAR scores (α = .981) and individual assessment domains within the ICAR (α = .881 to .963). There were no significant differences between scores of physician, nurse, and allied health raters on collaborator competencies (F2,5 = 1.225, p = .297, η2 = .016). Rater gender was the only significant factor influencing scores with female raters scoring residents significantly lower than male raters (6.12 v. 6.82; F1,5 = 7.184, p = .008, η 2 = .045).ConclusionThe study findings suggest that the use of the modified ICAR in a MSF assessment process could be a feasible and reliable assessment approach to providing formative feedback to post-graduate medical residents on collaborator competencies.

Do Curriculum Outcomes and Assessment Activities in Science Encourage Higher Order Thinking

The curriculum for two science units in each of Grades 6 and 7 was analyzed to determine the cognitive levels of the outcomes and their cognitive alignment with the assessments that corresponded with these outcomes. This was done for British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada. The outcomes and assessments included a variety of higher and lower thinking skills, with several jurisdictions having distinctly fewer higher than lower order outcomes and assessments. The cognitive alignment between outcomes and assessments ranged from 42 to 71%. Strong alignment between outcomes and classroom assessment increases students’ opportunity to learn and become good thinkers.RésuméLe programme couvert par deux unités pédagogiques de sciences chacune, destinées à la 6e et à la 7e année, a été analysé afin de déterminer le niveau cognitif des résultats obtenus, ainsi que leur alignement cognitif avec les épreuves qui correspondent à ces résultats. Cette analyse a été faite pour: la Colombie Britannique, l’Alberta, l’Ontario et les provinces de l’Atlantique. Les résultats et les épreuves comprenaient une série d’habiletés cognitives simples et complexes, et il ressort que les résultats et épreuves de plusieurs juridictions comprenaient nettement moins d’habiletés complexes comparativement aux habiletés simples. L’alignement cognitif entre les résultats et les épreuves allait de 42% à 71%. Un alignement fort entre les résultats et les épreuves en classe augmente les possibilités d’apprentissage et de croissance cognitive des élèves.

The Effects of Pubertal Timing and School Transition on Preadolescents' Well-Being:

Previous research has indicated that pubertal development and the transition from middle or elementary school to junior high may present problems for some preadolescents. The effects of these transitions on achievement, psychological well-being, and social relations were examined using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. Children were tracked during a 2-year period and the changes in outcome scores were assessed. Results indicate that psychological well-being was closely related to social relations, and socioeconomic status was predictive of achievement and social relations. However, pubertal development and school transition had a minimal impact on outcome.

Speech Cueing on the Web by ‘The Little Dude’: Multimedia Instruction for Young Children

There is a real need for studies on learning from multimedia with school-age children, even pre-school children. In this research, temporal speech cueing was proposed to help young children as they listened to a speaking pedagogical agent direct their attention to details in on-screen text and graphics. An experiment was conducted with 4th and 5th graders (n = 133) who read on-screen text, and listened to cues presented by a pedagogical agent. Results showed that children in the speech cueing group out-performed those in the on-screen text group in immediate and delayed post-tests. Agent movement had no effect. Implications are discussed for helping young children to learn from the on-screen text presented in contemporary educational multimedia.

Evaluation of the Characteristics of a Workplace Assessment Form to Assess Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) in an Undergraduate Surgery Core Clerkship

OBJECTIVE Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are explicit, directly observable tasks requiring the demonstration of specific knowledge, skills, and behaviors that learners are expected to perform without direct supervision once they have gained sufficient competence. Undergraduate level implementation of EPAs is relatively new. We examined the characteristics of a workplace assessment form (clinic card) as part of a formative programmatic assessment process of EPAs for a core undergraduate surgery rotation. DESIGN A clinic card was introduced to assess progression towards EPA achievement in the clerkship curriculum phase. Students completing their core eight (8) week clerkship surgery rotation submitted at least 1 clinic card per week. We compiled assessment scores for the 2015 to 2016 academic year, in which EPAs were introduced, and analyzed relationships between scores and time, EPA, training site, and assessor role. We surveyed preceptors and students, and conducted a focus group with clinical discipline coordinators of all core rotations. SETTING This study took place at the Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada. PARTICIPANTS Third year medical students (n = 79) who completed their core eight (8) week surgery clerkship rotation during the 2015 to 2016 academic year, preceptors, and clinical discipline coordinators participated in this study. RESULTS EPAs reflecting tasks commonly performed by students were more likely to be assessed. EPAs frequently observed during preceptor-student encounters had higher entrustment ratings. Most EPAs showed increased entrustment scores over time and no significant differences in ratings between teaching sites nor preceptors and residents. Survey and focus group feedback suggest clinic cards fostered direct observation by preceptors and promoted constructive feedback on clinical tasks. A binary rating scale (entrustable/pre-entrustable) was not educationally beneficial. CONCLUSIONS The findings support the feasibility, utility, catalytic and educational benefits of clinic cards in assessing EPAs in a core surgery rotation in undergraduate medical education.

Graduate Teaching Assistants' Perceptions of Teaching Competencies Required for Work in Undergraduate Science Labs.

ABSTRACT Many post-secondary institutions provide training and resources to help GTAs fulfil their teaching roles. However, few programmes focus specifically on the teaching competencies required by GTAs who work with undergraduate students in laboratory settings where learning tends to be more active and inquiry based than in classroom settings. From a review of 8 GTA manuals, we identified 20 competencies and then surveyed faculty and lab coordinators (FIS) and GTAs from a Faculty of Science at a comprehensive Canadian university to identify which of those competencies are required of GTAs who work in undergraduate science labs. GTAs and FIS did not significantly differ in the competencies they view as required for GTAs to work effectively in undergraduate labs. But, when comparing the responses of GTAs and FIS to TA manuals, ‘Clearly and effectively communicates ideas and information with students’ was the only competency for which there was agreement on the level of requirement. We also examined GTAs’ self-efficacy for each of the identified competencies and found no overall relationship between self-efficacy and demographic characteristics, including experience and training. Our results can be used to inform the design of training programmes specifically for GTAs who work in undergraduate science labs, for example, programmes should provide strategies for GTAs to obtain feedback which they can use to enhance their teaching skills. The goal of this study is to improve undergraduate lab instruction in faculties of science and to enhance the teaching experience of GTAs by better preparing them for their role.