Abstract
Open Education
The way psychological science is done is changing markedly. This pertains not only to research but to teaching as well. I am talking about Open Science, Open Access, and Open Education. These three movements arose for different reasons but share a common core belief: science should be open for everybody. Barriers in terms of secluded data or payment walls should be torn down. As science educators, we should be at the forefront of these movements and teach future generations of psychologists a new way to do science, to apply it, and to use scientific resources.
While I have been following the current developments on Open Science and Open Access closely for some time now, until recently I was not aware of what is happening in terms of Open Education. It took a visit of Rajiv Jhangiani, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, at Heidelberg University to raise my attention to these important activities. I realized once again how different the conditions under which psychology is taught are in different countries. Whereas in Germany, there are no tuition fees at the vast majority of universities, in countries such as the US and Great Britain tuition fees are massive. On top of the subscription fees come the costs for textbooks and other teaching material. Different from Germany, where instructors rarely focus a course on textbooks, this is much more the case in other countries, for example in the US and Canada. Students who cannot afford these textbooks – and they can be quite expensive – will struggle with the course. These are typically students who are disadvantaged in other respects as well, such as first-generation students, students with low socioeconomic status, and students belonging to minorities. It is obvious that the Open Education movement is a human rights movement that aims to achieve social justice and equal opportunities. I was impressed to see that there is convincing empirical evidence showing how especially students that are disadvantaged in one or the other respect benefit from using educational resources that are freely available (e.g., Fischer, Hilton, Robinson, & Wiley, 2015; Jhangiani, Dastur, LeGrand, & Penner, under review). Rajiv Jhangiani has compiled this work in a recent book that he edited together with Robert Biswas-Diener (2017): Open: The Philosophy and Practices that are Revolutionizing Education and Science. Yes, it is freely available (https://www.ubiquitypress.com/site/books/10.5334/bbc/).
As psychology instructors, we can create new, freely available resources for teaching together with our students. We should use our courses more often to let students generate material that can be used by following student generations. These resources can be texts, videos, experimental demonstrations, computer programs and many more. I look forward to seeing these and other new ways of teaching in the near future. Maybe you want to report your experience with these innovative teaching methods in PLAT.
The Current Issue
The current issue of PLAT contains four research articles and three reports. Moreover, you will find the abstracts of the current issues of Psychology Teaching Review (i.e., PTR23(2)) and Teaching of Psychology (i.e., ToP44(4)).
In their research article, Gibbs Thomas and Thomas investigated the effects of personalized, tailored feedback given to first and second year college students with below average exam performance. In a randomized, experimenter-blind study design, the authors found that students who had received feedback after their first exam scored higher in subsequent exams and skipped fewer of them. These results show that a relatively easy-to-implement instructional method can have important effects on students’ performance.
Heyder, Bergold and Steinmayr introduce a test assessing secondary school teachers’ knowledge about intellectual giftedness. How important it is for teachers to have knowledge about giftedness becomes obvious in view of the finding that teachers with higher rates of misconceptions had more negative attitudes toward fostering gifted students.
Merced, Stutman and Mann give insight to the typical way of teaching in the US by investigating syllabi of History and Systems Psychology courses. This analysis reveals that most courses are taught in a traditional way, using lecture formats, relying on textbooks, and ending with a written exam. This analysis underlines the need to rethink teaching methods not only against the backdrop of Open Education.
Mallonee, Phillips, Holloway and Riggs compared the effectiveness of two methods preparing behavioral health clinicians to administer evidence-based treatments. In-person training, which is the most widely used method, was compared to a new online method using Second Life. Results showed that the two training methods did not lead to differences in learning, but that in-person trainees were more satisfied with their training.
Gray Deering reports on an innovative teaching format using literature to teach crisis intervention. Specifically, this author employed novels and autobiographies as case studies to which psychological theories and concepts were applied. Guidelines for structuring assignments and examples of relevant novels and autobiographies are provided.
Waggoner Denton reports on introducing a reflective learning journal in an introductory statistics course. As is well-known, statistics courses are not among the favorite classes of many students, and are frequently even associated with worry and fear. Reflective learning journals invite students to think about their learning habits, and are an outlet for emotional responses. This method makes learners more active in the learning process, and might empower them to become more effective.
Butler, Lenore and Nunez report on an innovative learning partnership between undergraduates in an educational psychology course and fifth graders at an elementary school. For learners on each side, this partnership opened a window into a different world with many opportunities to learn. This was possible by employing videoconferencing as a technology-based method to bring different perspectives together.
I hope you enjoy this issue of PLAT.