Thelma de Jager - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Thelma de Jager

The International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation

Effective Teaching Around the World

Across the globe, strategies and investments to strengthen teacher effectiveness are increasingly... more Across the globe, strategies and investments to strengthen teacher effectiveness are increasingly a core component of countries’ efforts to improve educational outcomes for their citizens and, for many, to elevate standards of living. In this chapter, we present evidence demonstrating the role of teacher-student interactions in teachers’ ability to positively influence student development and learning across countries and cultures. We conceptualize teacher-student interactions as proximal processes that drive students’ engagement and learning. Evidence clearly demonstrates that interactions can be assessed through observation and improved through professional development interventions. Drawing on our experience and data available on tens of thousands of classroom observations across different countries and cultures, we present a framework that describes core features of effective teacher-student interactions that appear in common across these highly varied settings and cultural cont...

BCE Official Conference Proceedings

Proceedings of the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting, Apr 1, 2019

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-sgo-10.1177_21582440211040121 for Student Perceptions of Teaching... more Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-sgo-10.1177_21582440211040121 for Student Perceptions of Teaching Quality in Five Countries: A Partial Credit Model Approach to Assess Measurement Invariance by Rikkert M. van der Lans, Ridwan Maulana, Michelle Helms-Lorenz, Carmen-María Fernández-García, Seyeoung Chun, Thelma de Jager, Yulia Irnidayanti, Mercedes Inda-Caro, Okhwa Lee, Thys Coetzee, Nurul Fadhilah, Meae Jeon and Peter Moorer in SAGE Open

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-5-sgo-10.1177_21582440211040121 for Student Perceptions of Teaching... more Supplemental material, sj-pdf-5-sgo-10.1177_21582440211040121 for Student Perceptions of Teaching Quality in Five Countries: A Partial Credit Model Approach to Assess Measurement Invariance by Rikkert M. van der Lans, Ridwan Maulana, Michelle Helms-Lorenz, Carmen-María Fernández-García, Seyeoung Chun, Thelma de Jager, Yulia Irnidayanti, Mercedes Inda-Caro, Okhwa Lee, Thys Coetzee, Nurul Fadhilah, Meae Jeon and Peter Moorer in SAGE Open

The International Journal of Learning in Higher Education

The International Journal of Technologies in Learning, 2022

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-3-sgo-10.1177_21582440211040121 for Student Perceptions of Teaching... more Supplemental material, sj-pdf-3-sgo-10.1177_21582440211040121 for Student Perceptions of Teaching Quality in Five Countries: A Partial Credit Model Approach to Assess Measurement Invariance by Rikkert M. van der Lans, Ridwan Maulana, Michelle Helms-Lorenz, Carmen-María Fernández-García, Seyeoung Chun, Thelma de Jager, Yulia Irnidayanti, Mercedes Inda-Caro, Okhwa Lee, Thys Coetzee, Nurul Fadhilah, Meae Jeon and Peter Moorer in SAGE Open

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2013

Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2019

A concern in higher education is that most students do not acquire higher-order thinking skills, ... more A concern in higher education is that most students do not acquire higher-order thinking skills, ‘cannot think’, are not engaged in reflective student-centred teaching and learning and do not always acquire technology skills. Numerous studies have indicated the importance of a digital learning environment that facilitates the acquisition of IT skills, reflective and critical thinking learning skills while creating an electronic portfolio. To establish the impact of portfolios on the reflective metacognitive learning and the development of higher-order thinking skills in student-teachers (n=167) in the field of science, qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to collect data. The results showed that for the majority of the participants (n=160) it was the first time that they had created an ePortfolio and engaged in reflective metacognitive learning experiences. The researcher was able to identify students’ weaknesses and strengths, their interests and goals in life. Most of...

Lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa Abstract. Science education in South... more Lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa Abstract. Science education in South Africa is ineffective, since significant numbers of secondary school students perform poorly. Only 30 % of Grade 12 students passed science in 2011 and 85% of secondary schools lack laboratories. To combat this problem, the author issued twenty science teachers of 10 historically disadvantaged schools with a science Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) that visualises all science experiments that are prescribed in the Grade 8 and 9 science curricula. The research was based on qualitative data gathered from an open-ended questionnaire that was completed by participants. Analysis of the data indicated the advantages and challenges that participants experienced when using media to visualise science experiments to their students. This study highlighted the following advantages when students visualise science DVD recorded experiments: teachers had more time to facilitate students’ learning activitie...

Journal of Education, 2019

Globally, the striving for decolonised education and acknowledgement of a nation's values, skills... more Globally, the striving for decolonised education and acknowledgement of a nation's values, skills, beliefs, and acquisition of knowledge is being debated. In science education, the integration of cultural values and beliefs into the science curriculum is often ignored, which contributes to students being unable to express their individual views during interactive class discussions. This study therefore aimed to engage millennial science student teachers (n = 120) at a South African university in an action research study to express their views on decolonisation and culturally responsive teaching. The responses were categorised according to the themes of the Hernandez, Morales, and Shroyer (2013) model, which includes content integration, facilitation of knowledge construction, prejudice reduction, social justice, and academic development. The findings indicated that a cross-cultural perspective should be used (with balance between Euro-American centric sciences and indigenous knowledge from diverse cultures), that students should be instructed in their mother tongue, and that content needs to be connected to familiar everyday life experiences. The findings further amplified the importance of technology-assisted methods, the application of various integrated learning methods in science education, and inclusion in science curricula of the science role models of various cultures.

SAGE Open, 2021

This study examines measurement invariance of student perceptions of teaching quality collected i... more This study examines measurement invariance of student perceptions of teaching quality collected in five countries: Indonesia (n students = 6,331), the Netherlands (n students = 6,738), South Africa (n students = 3,422), South Korea (n students = 6,997) and Spain (n students = 4,676). The administered questionnaire was the My Teacher Questionnaire (MTQ). Student perceived teachers’ teaching quality was estimated using the partial credit model (PCM). Tests for differential item functioning (DIF) were used to assess measurement invariance. Furthermore, if DIF was found, it was explored whether an application of a quasi-international calibration, which estimates country-unique parameters for DIF items, can provide more valid estimates for between-country comparisons. Results indicate the absence of non-uniform DIF, but presence of uniform DIF among most items. This suggests that direct comparisons of raw mean or sum scores between countries is not advisable. Details of the set of invari...

Education and New Developments 2019, 2019

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of differentiated assignments, using scaffol... more The aim of this study was to determine the influence of differentiated assignments, using scaffolding methods, on the possibility of improving first-year student teachers’ academic progress in a South African university. Research participants (n=296) were divided into two groups, Group A (n=136) and Group B (n=160), who were engaged in this study during the first semesters of their courses in the years: 2012 (group A) and 2013 (Group B). Only Group B was supported with differentiated assignments that included scaffolding methods. The participants of both groups completed two assignments and a test in the first semester. Results were recorded and compared to formulate findings and recommendations. The results presented in this article will assist lecturers in evaluating differentiated, scaffolding activities, that could be used to support first-year students who are encountering various learning barriers in higher education. These extra scaffolding methods showed to contribute to the...

A growing problem in South Africa is that large numbers of first year Science students are not co... more A growing problem in South Africa is that large numbers of first year Science students are not completing their study courses due to their inability to communicate effectively in English. The aim of the study is to investigate if scaffold-lecturing methods can improve students’ academic performance. This article reports on both qualitative and quantitative data that was collected by using: a questionnaire with an open-ended question and comparing assessment results of three assignments and a test. First year (n = 136) Science student-teachers of a University in South Africa were divided into two classes, Class A and B, of which only Class A received scaffolding lecturing methods during the first semester of the academic year. These classes were lectured in their second language, English. Class A was lectured using visual, graphic, drawing and other scaffold techniques to explicitly teach academic content and to create opportunities in class where students can work through their lang...

Increasing informal settlements are characterised by unplanned land management; lack of housing, ... more Increasing informal settlements are characterised by unplanned land management; lack of housing, sanitation, sufficient water and electricity supplies; overpopulation; high health risks; and growing urban poverty. These informal settlements are mostly occupied by citizens and immigrant families who seek job opportunities in urban areas. To sustain the ecology of the invaded land and provide a liveable informal settlement, education of the inhabitants is essential. Teachers as the implementers of sustainable environment curricula could be valuable in addressing the environmental challenges these informal settlement communities experience by educating children on how to sustain the environment. Data were collected by means of a literature study and an online survey consisting of closed and open-ended questions completed by student teachers (n = 280). Participants’ perceptions, perspectives, and experiences regarding educating informal settlement inhabitants in the sustainment of the e...