Abstract
Volume 24, No. 2, 2018
Better together: Co-teaching in undergraduate applied psychology courses
Elizabeth L. Campbell, Amanda R. Reedy, Mark J. Baird and David M. Baird
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 3–11
This study examined co-teaching – two teachers collaboratively leading one course – in undergraduate applied psychology courses. Previous research has established potential benefits of co-teaching on student success; however, none have examined students’ perspectives on co-teaching in applied psychology courses. The present study hypothesized that students would report more benefits than drawbacks to co-teaching. For this purpose, 50 college students aged 18 to 25 completed an online questionnaire after completing one of two co-taught applied psychology courses in the United States. Results revealed that students perceived more benefits to co-teaching than drawbacks, and this difference was statistically significant. Additional findings suggest that students believe co-teaching to be beneficial, and most report a preference for it. Consensual qualitative coding further revealed that ‘diversity of instructor perspectives’ was the most commonly reported benefit, as related to course content, and the most commonly reported drawback, as related to course management. Study limitations and implications for future research and teaching were also considered.
Keywords
Co-teaching, collaborative teaching, team teaching, applied psychology, higher education, undergraduate, college students.
Disciplining psychology education – a Foucauldian discourse analysis
Imogen Dempsey
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 12–23
This paper explores: a) the impact of psychology education governance on our understanding of subjectivity and b) how this functions for neoliberal capitalist structures. The ways-of-knowing, power relations and perceptions of subjectivity are approached through texts selected from official documents governing the curriculum, and qualitative interviews with psychology students, including postgraduates with teaching responsibilities. Discourse is analysed using Foucauldian theory. The key findings are that a positivist psychology curriculum a) is largely market driven, b) is a way-of-knowing that subjugates and objectifies the subject c) works to substantiate individualist discourses and that, finally, d) despite claims of neutrality, constructs a subject that works to meet neoliberal capitalist objectives.
Keywords
Critical Psychology, Education, Pedagogy, Ideology, Capitalism, Foucault.
Assessing the utility of an online adaptive learning tool in a large undergraduate psychology course
M.J. Dry, C. Due, C. Powell, A. Chur-Hansen and N.R. Burns
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 24–37
In this project we test the utility of an adaptive e-learning study tool (LearnSmart) within the context of a large undergraduate psychology course. We measured student usage of the e-learning tool and the effect that this usage has on academic outcomes, while controlling for the effects of intellectual ability and personality traits such as conscientiousness and openness to experience. The results of our analyses indicate that students who made use of the tool performed significantly better on the assessment tasks when compared to non-users. Further, regression analyses indicated that the extent to which students made use of the tool was a stronger predictor of academic performance than four personality variables that had previously been implicated in the literature as related to academic outcomes, and was a stronger predictor of academic performance than intellectual ability for two of the four academic tasks.
Keywords
LearnSmart, e-Learning, academic achievement, intellectual ability, personality trait.
An evaluation of a programme of problem-based learning within a clinical psychology doctorate
Emma Griffith, Catherine Butler, Jenny Csecs and Cara Davis
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 38–54
Statistics anxiety is experienced by a large number of psychology students, and previous research has examined a range of potential correlates, including academic performance, mathematical ability and psychological predictors. These varying predictors are often considered separately, although there may be shared variance between them. In the present study a wide range of predictors were measured in a sample of 112 first year undergraduate psychology students. For statistics anxiety, trait anxiety was the clearest predictor, with students who have higher levels of trait anxiety also having higher levels of statistics anxiety. For attitudes towards statistics, students who have better mathematical ability, and greater enjoyment of and confidence in their maths ability, also having more positive attitudes towards statistics. These findings suggest that models of statistics anxiety need to consider a wide range of predictors, which may in turn necessitate the development of a range of different interventions to alleviate statistics anxiety.
Keywords
Statistics anxiety, mathematical ability, academic performance, psychology.
Do attitudes towards statistics influence the decision to study psychology at degree level? A pilot investigation
Victoria J. Bourne and Rachel J. Nesbit
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 55–63
Statistics anxiety has often been linked to performance in statistics modules for psychology students, despite this no research to date has examined whether attitudes towards statistics can predict whether or not a student chooses to carry on psychology from pre-tertiary to higher education. In this pilot study 41 second year A-level psychology students completed an online measure of statistics anxiety (Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale, STARS) and answered questions about their current A-levels and whether or not they were applying to study psychology at university. The findings showed that worth of statistics, but no other STARS measures significantly predicted whether or not an individual was planning on studying psychology at university. Findings are discussed primarily in relation to teacher variables that may impact subject choice and statistics anxiety in A-level students.
Keywords
transitions, statistics anxiety, worth of statistics, A-level psychology.
Using the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IFAT) for non-assessments: Student perceptions and performance
Lynne N. Kennette and Dawn McGuckin
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 64–69
This paper examines an experiment conducted at a 2-year college with non-majors. The Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IFAT) is a cross between a lottery scratch ticket and a scantron form which was designed to replace scantrons (EpsteinEducation.com). Using the IFAT in an unconventional way (reviewing class material), we expected to find significant differences in students’ final grades with the IFAT group out-performing the control group (who reviewed class material by re-reading their notes). Our hypothesis was confirmed. Additionally, formal student feedback on the use of this weekly activity was overwhelmingly positive, suggesting the activity is seen by students as a worthwhile undertaking.
Keywords
immediate feedback, assessment, retrieval, collaboration.
Making assessment promote effective learning practices: An example of ipsative assessment from the School of Psychology at UEL
P.R. Penn and I.G. Wells
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 70–74
There is a wealth of literature that attests to the benefits of retrieval practice in the long term retention of academic material (see Roediger & Butler, 2011 for a review). Unfortunately, there is also evidence indicating that students rarely report using this method of study (e.g. Karpicke, Butler, Roediger, 2009). The authors have piloted the use of an Ipsative format of assessment that imposes the use of retrieval practice via self-administered testing in the virtual learning environment Moodle. The purpose of this paper is to identify the rationale for the use of Ipsative Assessment in a programme’s pedagogical repertoire and to briefly overview the implementation of this format of assessment.
‘This answer is excellent: shall we give it 100%?’
John Hegarrty and James Hartley
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 75–76
To obtain their degree, final year students of psychology in the UK normally complete a set of examination papers and a dissertation, and the marks obtained for these pieces of work are usually combined with marks obtained for coursework completed in the second year. With joint-honours degrees the marks obtained for psychology are combined with those obtained for the other subject. Here we comment on some of the difficulties inherent in these procedures and focus, in particular, on how student excellence/exceptionality may be inadvertently suppressed.
Keywords
assessment, grading, combining examination marks.
Should PhD students teach?
Sophie R. Homer
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 77–81
The number of PhD students in the UK is growing exponentially, and in an increasingly competitive labour market, postgraduate research students are facing unprecedented pressure to demonstrate a range of skills within and beyond research management. Due to the popularity and broad-ranging nature of the discipline, psychology students will face particularly fierce competition throughout their careers and must be acutely aware of the need to produce publishable, fundable, and impactful work. Given these pressures on PhD students and their supervisors, does teaching during postgraduate study give worthwhile experience, or is it a needless tax on time that is both limited and strained?
DARTP Inaugural Conference: An introduction
Helen J. Kitching and Steve Newstead
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 82–83
No abstract
DARTP Inaugural Conference abstracts
Various
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 84–100
Abstracts from the conference. Too many to include (see PDF).
Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS) use in Psychology students: A review and analysis with an undergraduate sample
Rachel J. Nesbit and Victoria J. Bourne
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 101–110
Statistics anxiety is extremely common in undergraduate psychology students. The Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS) is at present the most widely used measure to assess statistics anxiety, measuring six distinct scales: test and class anxiety, interpretation anxiety, fear of asking for help, worth of statistics, fear of statistics teachers and computational self-concept. In this paper we first review the existing research that uses the STARS with psychology undergraduates. We then provide an analysis of the factor and reliability analysis of the STARS measure using a sample of undergraduate psychology students (N = 315). Factor analysis of the STARS yielded nine factors, rather than the six it is intended to measure, with some items indicating low reliability, as demonstrated by low factor loadings. On the basis of these data, we consider the further development and refinement of measures of statistics anxiety in psychology students.
Keywords
STARS, psychology, statistics anxiety.
Students in diverse environments – supporting education in prisons
Emma Palmer-Cooper
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 111–114
No abstract
Book reviews
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 117–120
No abstract
Note. The full articles are published in Psychology Teaching Review, Volume 24, No. 2, which can be downloaded from: https://shop.bps.org.uk/publications/psychology-teaching-review-vol-24-no-2-2018.html