Thesised Group Differences in Confidence, a Startling Drop in Academic Confidence During the First Year Was Detected
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w* ßæ: tÐ.æ/eld^ 10316264 o rililt I I il llltilil il I ilt il I I ilil FOR USE [N LItsRAf;Y OIILY ( I I UWIC TEARNING CENTRË TIERARY DIVISION.ILANDAFF WESTERN AVENUE CARDIFF CFs 2YB Understanding the learner for more effective university teaching A PhD by Published Works Paul Sander Back when I was a child Before life removed allthe innocence My father would lift me high And dance with my mother and me And then Spin me around 'till lfell asleeP Then up the stairs he would carry me And I knew for sure lwas loved lf I could get another chance Another walk Another dance with him I'd play a song that would never ever end How I'd love love love To dance with my father again When I and my mother Would disagree To get my way I would run From herto him He'd make me laugh just to comfort me yeah yeah Then finally make me do Just what my mama said Later that night when I was asleeP He lefr a dollar under my sheet Never dreamed that he Would be gone from me lf I could steal one final glance One final step One finaldance with him I'd play a song that would never ever end Cause l'd love love love to Dance with my father again Sometimes I'd listen outside her door And I'd hear how mama would cry for him I'd pray for her even more than me I'd pray for her even more than me I know l'm praying for much too much But could you send her The only man she loved I know you don't do it usually But Dear Lord She's dying to dance with my father again Every night lfall asleep And this is all I ever dream "Dance With My Fathef' Luther Vandross Paul Sander Declaration This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being y submitted in candidature for any degree Signed...... (candidate) Date. I J^ ?,ñq Statement I This work is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes and through explicit references. A full list of Signed (candidate) Date. I ðno*/! LüDt Statement 2 I hereby give consent for my work, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside orgamisations. Signed (candidate) Date 8 ðoaaq Lilrh Paul Sander Summary Understanding the learner for more effective university teaching To teach students efficiently and effectively, it is helpful to understand their conceptions of teaching and learning. Given the higher proportion of school leavers entering Higher Education and greater undergraduate diversity, this is more imperative. With the greater likelihood of large class sizes, more formalised means of understanding students must be sought. Whilst using small group work as part of undergraduate teaching can help, some explicit attempts to collect profile information on students can help teachers offer better learning experiences, Student Expectation Research The research programme started with a piece of action research (Stevenson, Sander and Naylor, 1996; Stevenson and Sander, 1998) with distance learning students, by collecting their expectations through both a telephone survey and a postal questionnaire. Action Research has very limited generalisability, but the principle of surveying students' expectations was promising and extended. The USET survey (Sander et al, 2000)found mismatches between the teaching that students hoped for and expected. Expectations do not have to be met, although there may be some merit in doing so (Stevenson, Sander and Naylor, 1997). Expectations may also be managed (Hill, 1995). One finding from the USET study was that different groups of students had different reasons for disliking student presentations, perhaps due to different levels of academic confidence. Students' reasons for disliking presentations were pursued through re-analysis of the USET qualitative data (Stevenson and Sand er, 2002, Sander and Stevenson, 2002). However, that students dislike presentations is worrying given their effectiveness (Sander, Sanders and Stevenson, 2OO2). Academic Gonfidence Research To explore the possibility of a link between academic confidence and reasons for not liking student presentations, the Academic Confidence Scale was developed and validated (Sander and Sanders, 2003). ln addition to finding the hypothesised group differences in confidence, a startling drop in academic confidence during the first year was detected. Paul Sander Contents Preface: Autobiographical background Part 1: The world of Further Education 1 Parl2: The world of Higher Education 2 University of Wales requirements o Submission Overview 6 Evaluation of the field in which I have worked lntroduction 7 Strand one: Student Expectation Research 8 Education, expectations and customer culture 11 Student presentations 16 Strand Two: Academic Confidence Research 19 Theories of academic motivation 19 Social comparison 20 Academic confidence, self-concept and self-esteem 21 Academic confidence scale 24 Confidence and self-efficacy in an educational context 25 Academic confidence as an explanatory variable 29 Aims and Objectives 31 Methodological considerations 32 Educational Action Research 33 The USET Questionnaire 37 Academic Confidence Research 37 My original contribution to understanding the learner for more effective university teach i ng 38 Future directions How does Academic Confidence change over time? 46 Confidence and student presentations 47 What is confidence as measured by the ACS? 47 Frames of reference 48 Conclusion 48 Publications for this submission of a PhD by Published Works 51 Letters from collaborators 52 Copies of papers 54 Paul Sander Suþriitted Papers L. (2003). Measuring confidence in Sander P and Sanders 55 academic s Eledronic Journal of research in and PsYchoPedagogY, 1, 1. Sander, P, Sanders, L an-d Stevenson, K. (2002). Engaging the 73 Learner: Reflections on the use of Student Presentations. Psychology Teaching Revíew, 76-89. Sander, P, and Stevenson,K. (20ß2). Why we don't like student presentations: the students speak. The Fsychologist in 88 Waleç (Newstetter of the Welsh Branch of the British Fsychological Society), 1 4, 3-12. Stevenson, K. and Sander, P. (2OO2). Medical students are from Mars - business and psychology students are from Venus - 99 University'lecturers are'from Pluto. Medical Têacher, 24, 1, 27-31. Sander, P., Stevenson, K., King, M. and Coates, D. (2000). 105 University Students' Expectatio¡s of Teaching. Sfudies ln Higher Ëducation, 25, 3, pages 309-323 Stevenson, K., Sander, P. (1998) l'iow do Open University students P1 expect to be taught at tutoiials. Open Learning 13;(2):'4246 Stevenson, K., Sander, P. & Naylor, P. (1997). ELPO - A Model eZ that uses Student Feedbackto Develop Effective Open Tutoring, Open Learning, 12,, 2, 54---59. (1996)'Student perceptions Stevenson K., Sander P. and Naylor P. 133rv oJthe tutqrs'role in,distance leaming, Open Learning,11,1, 22-30 Comþlete References 143 Paul Sander Understanding the Learner ?nefu,cnt eu*oln;ographÍnaL@ ? a'ú 7 : Th,e¿ w oñÅ, of f urð4^% Ed't wa.fi,ow I "a,rt yn4t te*Í\tJ', tate tpøøk, iwtørh,Cng< w ø/LecÍuwe,r í,w p rychdngy í,w w va.r,íeÍy of fr^ñInp.4. ødur,an ow (fÐ dl"eae* iw Lonà,,ow ø'nàrr14ctEø,tt Ìradlnnà* Acfi.ØIlry, '"I.e-cÍt orør" ít a44, ùerltgranà.,6r1øforw jd>1n:aqA-l,e'vøUtø,olle.4In¡,au'ts tø,c)le,ryuJ?wørcl. Ay u*clu, I øxþuríe¿n"c,eù w grøÍva,rí*-ty of sfu,à,e.v¡fry ow ø/ ra4nøe/ of cotwtor íw a'dÅ,íñ,owtadqet A -lp^/d/ d^ør*toy. 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