Abstract
Do Not Miss the "PLAT" Conference in Salzburg 2017
You know PLAT as a journal, but soon there will also be a conference and, hopefully, a scholarly society by that name. Aren’t you curious to meet people who – just like you – are devoted to improving the learning and teaching of psychology? Some of you might have been part of the Europlat Network that had been funded by the European Union some years ago. This network is the source for a new approach to establish a regular conference and to found a European-based international society dedicated to the teaching and learning of psychology. Jörg Zumbach, who is one of PLAT’s Associate Editors, will be the host of the upcoming conference. He sends us this message:
“The School of Education of the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg is hosting the next European Psychology Teaching and Learning Conference 18th–20th September 2017 in Salzburg, Austria. The main theme of the conference will be ‘Evidence-based Improvement of Learning and Teaching of Psychology'. It includes empirical research on – as well as – innovative or best practice approaches of psychology teaching and learning in all kinds of educational areas and at all levels.
Important dates: Paper submission opens: 1st February 2017 – Deadline: 21st April 2017
Website: http://europlat.sbg.ac.at/
About the venue: The conference will take place at the Unipark building of the University of Salzburg. Located nearby the historic centre of the city of Salzburg, participants will have the opportunity to experience this UNESCO world heritage. Enjoy the Baroque appearance of this city or enjoy the cultural offerings Salzburg provides as the ‘Mozart-City'.
Jörg Zumbach”
The conference will be a great opportunity to get to know the most recent research and innovative teaching and learning approaches. You will get in touch with people from different countries and institutions that work on similar projects as you do. We also plan a special issue for the PLAT journal covering the conference. And if this is not enough to convince you, then come to see the beautiful city of Salzburg.
I look forward to seeing you in Salzburg! And probably some of us will also meet before – at the 6th Vancouver International Conference on the Teaching of Psychology, July 27 to 29, 2017 in Vancouver, Canada.
The Current Issue
After two special issues, the current issue of PLAT is a regular one with five research articles and eight reports. Moreover, you will find the abstracts of the current issues of Psychology Teaching Review and Teaching of Psychology.
In their research article, Whitehead, Smith, and Losonczy-Marshall investigated the use of core references in introductory social psychology and developmental psychology textbooks. Results revealed that only few references were cited across different textbooks. The study also detected differences between citing cultures in the two sub-disciplines compared. This analysis gives food for thought about the shared and non-shared knowledge we teach our students and how standardized or individual introductory classes should be.
Whaley, Clay, and Broussard also investigated introductory psychology textbooks, but with a focus on the coverage of cultural diversity. Because, in the US, introductory psychology is the second most popular course in many colleges, these classes are ideal to promote understanding for the lives of different ethnic and racial groups in a diverse society. Results revealed that colleges lack a strategy to select textbooks according to this and other criteria.
Lyons, Limniou, Shermbrucker, Hands and Downes ask whether all students benefit equally from a flipped classroom and showed differences in students’ preferences according to their personality, beliefs about exam preparedness and motivational orientation. Specifically, students scoring higher on agreeableness and mastery orientation showed stronger preferences for a flipped classroom, whereas a preference for a traditional lecture was predicted by beliefs about exam preparedness.
Although many studies have shown that an implicit malleability theory is associated with better learning outcomes, little is known about the mechanisms behind this. Karlen and Compagnoni investigated the relationship between implicit theories of writing ability and corresponding metacognitive strategy knowledge and strategy use in academic writing. This study showed that an implicit malleability theory was associated with more metacognitive strategy knowledge, but not with more frequent self-reported use of these strategies.
Soicher and Gurung investigated the effectiveness of an approach to improve students’ metacognition and performance in an introductory psychology class. They compared so-called exam wrappers – a method that prompts students to reflect on exam preparation, types of errors made on exams and adjustments for future learning – with a preparation without metacognitive components and a no-treatment condition. All students showed an increase in metacognitive awareness over the course of the semester, regardless of the condition.
The first report in this issue by Bailey, Barber and Nelson examined trends in how psychology internships are supervised compared to current experiential learning best practices in the literature. The top three academic requirements for internship courses were completing a reflection paper, completing a work diary and meeting individually with the faculty supervisor. The authors see an opportunity for improvement in promoting students’ professional development.
Working together in interprofessional teams has become a reality in many fields. Zucchero reports on a brief interprofessional team training for clinical psychology Ph.D.-students. This author concludes that the training may facilitate the development of attitudes necessary for interprofessional competency and provide an opportunity to practice skills central to interprofessional collaboration.
Laski provides a set of useful examples that can help students understand the distinction between the terms “factors” and “mechanisms” in developmental psychology. Whereas factors are related to changes in ways that moderate development, the term mechanism refers to processes that produce change. A precise understanding of the distinction between factors and mechanisms can help students better understand development, parse research findings, and consider policy and practical implications.
Innes and Chambers report on a class exercise that explored student choices of key psychological theorists and their various contributions in social psychology. Analyses revealed that in determining which individual made the greatest contribution to the discipline, students employed a variety of ranking criteria. Describing the social significance of the contributions and elucidating the subsequent applications of the theories were the most frequently employed criteria.
Ebersole and Kelty-Stephen outline the theoretical rationale and process for an integrated-science approach to teaching sensation and perception to undergraduate psychology students that may also serve as an integrated-science curriculum. Students’ responses demonstrated that students perceived large gains in course elements.
Design thinking is a buzz term that comes with the promise of producing new and creative solutions for everyday problems. Ohly, Plückthun, and Kissel evaluated a university course based on design thinking principles. Different from expectations, the course was not effective in enhancing students’ belief that they were able to generate novel and useful ideas. The authors present ideas of how to improve the course and ideas for implications for future research.
Another method assumed to inspire students’ creativity is digital storytelling, where students select a topic, conduct research, write a script and develop the story. Sheafer employed digital storytelling in a social psychology class. An evaluation of the course showed that students’ knowledge about the classic experiments increased significantly and that the students found the assignment enjoyable, an interesting learning experience, hard work, and fun.
Spedding, Hawkes, and Burgess explored the effects of a Peer Assisted Study Session (PASS) on student performance as well as potential mediating mechanisms. PASS is a structured peer led study group where students collectively share knowledge and solve course related tasks. It was found that PASS attendance was positively associated with academic performance and that self-efficacy partially mediated this relationship.
Please also take a look at the abstracts from Psychology Teaching Review and Teaching of Psychology.
I look forward to receiving papers based on your recent work! I hope you enjoy reading this issue of PLAT.
Birgit Spinath
Editor of PLAT
March 2017