Koh, Caroline

Recent advances in technology have introduced new tools to enhance learning. In the context of polytechnic education, simulation based learning (SBL) has been used to improve learning and motivation of engineering students studying Machining Techchnology in the Mechatronics course. This study investigates the effect of SBL on students’ learning and motivation in a practice-oriented topic. In the study, students in the control group received conventional instructions and workshop practices while students in the experimental group had an additional component on SBL in the laboratory. Both groups, however, received an equal amount of time on the subject. A post intervention test followed by a survey was administered at the end of the study. This paper highlights the findings from both instruments, showing that SBL can improve student learning outcomes as well as the motivation to learn.

Digital portfolios have gained an increasing prominence in teacher education programmes around the world as a consequence of research which purports their multiple benefits to users and of their potential to represent beginning teachers’ practices. Despite the current popularity of digital portfolios, the nature of their use is still not well understood. This article explores how student teachers use digital portfolios in a teacher education programme in Singapore from an economics perspective. It posits that the adoption of an economic lens would shed new light on existing understandings and raise awareness of how and why student teachers use digital portfolios the ways they do. Reference to a range of economic concepts would will help to better understand educational outcomes. The article considers the implications of the findings for informing how digital portfolios are implemented and raises issues for consideration in further implementation efforts and in future research.

In this study, we shared findings from selected student teachers in National Institute of Education (a teacher education institution in Singapore) who have created eportfolios that presented their learning and teaching practicum experiences. The eportfolios were constructed with the aim to document their learning journey and teaching practices, and to reflect and showcase what they have achieved. Data were extracted from their eportfolio artifacts in order to seek evidence of their teacher identity formed during this process. The main research questions addressed in this paper were: ―What type of teacher identity was reflected through pre-service teachers’ use of eportfolios?‖; and ―How their teacher identity developed in different contexts over time?‖ The paper concluded that student teachers‘ identities evolved as they went through the teacher education program. Such identity constructions are never fixed, and develop under the influence of student teachers‘ surrounding contexts and experiences.

Eportfolios were introduced into teacher education in the 1980s. Since then, educational researchers and practitioners have increasingly cited the use of portfolios as an important assessment and learning tool in teacher education programs. In the domain of teacher education, the need to improve quality, attain established standards and to resolve accreditation issues have led to the increased use of ePortfolios in many European states and others around the world (Granberg, 2010). An electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) is often defined as “a digitized collection of artifacts, including demonstrations, resources and accomplishments that represent an individual, group, community, organization, or institution. This collection can comprise of text-based, graphic or multimedia elements archived on a Web site or on other electronic media (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005, p. 3).” In pre-service teachers’ ePortfolios, artifacts can be samples of work that include lesson plans, stimulus materials, videos, pictures and picture files, classroom assignments, classroom tests, newsletters, and inservice materials produced by the pre-service teacher (Bruneau & Bie, 2010). With the creation of ePortfolios, student teachers can document their journey in becoming a teacher by selecting, sharing, and reflecting on artifacts such as educational philosophies, classroom management plans, unit and lesson plans, plans to meet the needs of diverse and special needs pupils, and video clips of practice teaching (e.g., Strudler & Wetzel, 2005). They can not only showcase their best work as a professional, but also exhibit the knowledge and skills in using technology.

Our students today face a knowledge-based economy, which requires the ability to learn independently, to be innovative in using and synthesizing knowledge, and to adapt fast to the changing world. Project Work (PW) is introduced as one of the instructional models for a more student-centered approach of learning in Singapore. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of project work (PW) and study the motivational processes of PW using a self-determination theory (SDT) framework. A total of 435 students from Normal Academic stream (NA) and Normal Technical stream (NT) were recruited from four secondary schools in Singapore. Students‟ perceptions of the values of PW, basic psychological needs, relative autonomy, enjoyment, and grades were measured across three time points. Results showed that students valued the PW experience. However, their enjoyment, needs, and relative autonomy decreased significantly in the 10 to 12 weeks of PW experience. Multiple regression analyses revealed that post-PW enjoyment negatively predicted PW grades, while psychological needs, relative autonomy and pre-PW enjoyment positively predicted post-PW enjoyment. After 6-month PW, post-PW enjoyment emerged as a stronger predictor than grades in predicting the perceived skills learned from PW. The study applies self-determination theory to the PW context and highlights the importance of facilitating the three psychological needs in the PW context to enhance students‟ motivation and achievement in PW.

A large body of Western research literature has provided extensive discussions on the development of moral values, moral education and moral reasoning in adolescents and youths. Of particular interest, are the theoretical frameworks proposed and/or debated by researchers such as Kohlberg, Gilligan, Rest Lickona and Lipman. Whereas Kohlberg is credited as the originator of the theory of moral development, purporting six stages the cognitive development of moral judgment, his epic work has been critiqued, refined and improved over the years. In Asian contexts, however, research in these areas is still at the stage of early progression and expansion. Nevertheless, values education and moral development are two pertinent aspects in the citizenship building agenda of young nations such as Singapore. This paper explores the moral development of Singaporean youths using a Kohlbergian research framework, with the aim of providing an Asian perspective to the existing model. It presents an overview of the role of moral development in the Singapore educational context, before describing the methodology used and the interim results obtained.

Reflection is recognised as a significant goal in teacher education. Digital portfolios have considerable potential for developing teacher reflective capacities, but more research is needed for documenting the content and quality of the reflections within it and for understanding the factors related to its occurrence. Many schemes of analyses have been developed. However, they do not accord sufficient attention to the situated nature of reflection and the sociocultural context within which reflection occurs. In this study, we seek to analyse and understand student teacher reflections as captured in digital portfolios. We propose using a lens that combines a framework on types of reflection with a situative perspective. Results suggest that student teachers do not typically reflect at deep levels, unless the situation legitimizes or privileges it, even if they may be able to do so. Findings are discussed in relation to contextual factors. It is surmised that student teacher reflections may be tied to the sociocultural context in which they learn and in which reflection is enacted.

Researchers on creativity and psychology have long been fascinated with the high incidence of psychotic behavior amongst geniuses and individuals of exceptional creativity. The aims of this paper are first, to review the existing findings for a better insight into the socio-contextual factors underpinning the mad genius conundrum, and secondly, to discuss how the development of postmodern thoughts and beliefs have influenced our perception and understanding of the emotional fabric of highly creative, though mentally-ill individuals. While one cannot ignore the substantial body of evidence in support of the relationship between genius and madness, it is likely that many of the factors inducing psychosis in geniuses are no different from those achieving the same effects in ordinary people. Furthermore, the unique features of post-modern times may have contributed to erasing the fine line between creativity and insanity, in ways that would not have been possible a century earlier.