Introduction to Vol. 10 No. 2 (2022)
2023-03-24
Dear reader,
I am happy to announce that a new issue of Frontline Learning Research has recently been published. The issue comprises four articles that introduce innovative methodological instruments and provide thought-provoking integration of hitherto unrelated focus areas within learning.
Rogat and colleagues developed a novel instrument for investigating collaborative group work, focusing on engagement in classroom activity. Building on a situative perspective, they conceptualized engagement as a shared and multidimensional phenomenon. Their instrument consists of an observational rubric which evaluates group disciplinary engagement along five dimensions. The authors report on their exploratory testing of the instrument in educational practice. They show how the instrument allows analyses of larger samples than prior approaches with the same level of rich detail.
Turkkila and colleagues explored network analysis as a methodological approach within the theoretical framework of new materialism. They report on the development of a method to construct network data from video. The method was tested and further improved with a video segment from an upper secondary school physics lesson. The test illustrated the viability of the method as regards studying the material-dialogic relationships emerging in students’ investigations in school.
The research by Hirt and colleagues investigated teacher motivation as a core element of teachers’ professional competence in promoting students’ self-regulated learning. Drawing on expectancy-value theory, they identified three motivational profiles for the teachers in their study sample. Their analysis highlighted significant differences between these profiles as regards experience in promoting student self-regulated learning, implicit theory of self-regulated learning, and the promotion of self-regulated learning. The authors stress the importance of this for future professional development programs.
Murtonen and colleagues combined several methods (eye tracking, think aloud experiments, and participants’ numerical evaluation) to research the relationship between university teachers’ professional vision, their conceptions of teaching, and their pedagogical training as regards their focus on students’ learning. Two custom-made videos with trigger events were used to investigate the teachers’ noticing of students. The study showed that teachers who visually noticed important incidents could also formulate a more accurate interpretation. It further pointed to pedagogical education as a stronger predictor of professional vision than teaching experience.
You can find the full issue here.
Enjoy!
Professor, Dr. Nina Bonderup Dohn
Editor-in-Chief, Frontline Learning Research