Virpi Slotte

Portfolios as a learning tool in obstetrics and gynaecology undergraduate training.

We developed a structured portfolio for medical students to use during their obstetrics and gynaecology undergraduate training. The main objective was to support the learning process of the students. We also wanted feedback information to enhance teaching.

Spontaneous concept maps aiding the understanding of scientific concepts

This study evaluated concept maps spontaneously constructed by applicants (N = 502) in a medical school entrance examination. In all, 36 maps were produced. Concept maps were evaluated for content of relevant terms and for the number of interrelationships indicated. The aim was to determine whether including relevant ideas on a concept map is related to the learning of those ideas. Because concept maps are effective tools for making the structure of knowledge explicit, it was hypothesized that the quality and content of spontaneously made maps would be related to improvement in the comprehension of text material. Understanding was assessed in terms of success in essay-type tasks designed to measure the ability to define, explain, and apply statistical knowledge. The results indicated that merely including the relevant concepts in a map has little effect on the comprehension of those concepts, whereas the extent and complexity of concept maps plays a powerful role in the understanding of scientific texts.

Industry-University Collaboration for Continuing Professional Development.

Over the past few years developments in higher education have brought us to a position where collaboration between the university and the private sector is becoming more and more common. The industry approach to continuing professional development is based on the needs of acquiring, developing and retaining a skilled and competent workforce. Universities in turn may benefit from the knowledge, ideas and practices of working life outside the academy. Both parties urgently need to prepare people to function in the information society. We argue that successful cooperation between industry and university requires that both parties enter into a thorough-going dialogue concerning current pedagogical and educational thinking. This article highlights the specific needs of organisations and how universities can assist companies in the provision of continuing professional development. Some of the initial insights gained from a case study are presented and possible principles on which to base future development are suggested.

Study-Strategy Use in Learning from Text. Does Gender Make Any Difference?.

Two studies explored the existence of gender differences in spontaneous study-strategies use while learning from texts. In Study I, the Learning-from-text test (LFT), intended to measure deep-level text comprehension skills by high-school graduates, was about philosophy (n = 200) and in Study II about statistics (n = 487).The results of two sets of data showed significant gender-associated differences in strategy use: female participants used overt study strategies, in particular notetaking more often than male participants. However, no differences between men and women in comprehending either statistical or philosophical texts were found. It was concluded that different study strategies more than gender differentiate the learning outcomes.

Note Taking and Essay Writing

This chapter concentrates on the relationship between the quality of note taking during writing and subsequent outcomes — as measured by the content and quality of essay-type answers. During their research project the authors studied the notes of more than 1200 students in order to answer the questions: What kinds of note taking activities are related to sensible and well-written answers in a difficult examination? How note taking can serve more effectively writing as a learning tool? The results demonstrated that writing summary notes has an effect on both learning the content knowledge and on the linguistic features of the resulting essays. Yet, several procedural aspects of writing play crucial roles in the learning process. Spontaneous note taking affects learning and writing operations utilising distinct types of mental representations. This depends on the type of notes taken, the nature of the writing tasks, and the writing conditions — such as notes-present or notes-absent. Overall, these results raise the need to pay more attention to the ability to write notes in one’s own words, argue purposefully and to monitor the coherence and accuracy of meaning. These skills are especially important in learning by writing.

Using Notes During Essay‐writing: is it always helpful?

Abstract This study examined the conditions under which using notes while essay‐writing is helpful. The study was conducted among 226 high school graduates attending an entrance examination to a nursing school. All participants were provided with an opportunity to write notes about the text in any way they desired. Subjects were randomly assigned either to a group which was to write with notes or to a group that was to write without notes. It was assumed that the effectiveness of using notes while essay‐writing would vary depending on the nature of the task. It appeared that when a task called for text‐based reproduction of information, using notes in essay‐writing helped students to write lengthier, more coherent and cohesive essay‐type answers. In contrast, in a task which required critical review of the text information, there was not much use in having the notes present during writing. The results indicated that the advice to write an essay using spontaneously written notes is not applicable in all si...