Jan-Bennet Voltmer

Groups in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) are characterized by diversity regarding several sociodemographic and task-related features (e.g., students differ with respect to their first language and their prior experience with online learning simultaneously). Understanding the effect of this multiattributional diversity on CSCL groups is necessary to inform the design of interventions aimed at managing CSCL group diversity. We used topic modeling to investigate how multiattributional diversity affects discussion topics and subsequent group performance. Twenty topics were derived by Latent Dirichlet Allocation and assigned to 17,720 forum posts by 342 groups of psychology freshmen. Multiattributional sociodemographic diversity was negatively related to the number of posts in two topics concerned with time management and feedback mechanisms in groups where multiattributional task-related diversity was also high. These topics were positively related to subsequent group performance ratings. Findings suggest that this combination of diversity presents a risk for group communication, potentially negatively impacting performance.

The acquisition of online interaction competencies is an important learning objective. The present study explored the relationships between the first-language heterogeneity of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) groups and the development of students’ online interaction self-efficacy via a pretest–posttest design in the context of a nine-week CSCL course. The research participants were 1525 freshmen receiving distance education who were randomly assigned to 343 CSCL groups. Independent of their own language status, students in CSCL groups featuring first-language heterogeneity exhibited lower precourse–postcourse gains in online interaction self-efficacy than students in groups without heterogeneity. Consistent with a theoretically derived moderation model, the relationships between first-language heterogeneity and self-efficacy gains were moderated by the amount of time that the groups spent on task-related communication during the initial collaboration phase (i.e., the relationships were significant when little time was spent on it but not when a great deal of time was spent on it). In contrast, the amount of time that groups spent on communication related to getting to know each other was ineffective as a significant moderator. Follow-up analyses indicated that time spent getting to know each other in first-language heterogeneous CSCL groups seems to have had the paradoxical effect of increasing rather than decreasing perceptions of heterogeneity among group members. Apparently, this effect impaired online interaction self-efficacy gains.

Background: Medical education has a reputation for being demanding and stressful. However, longitudinal surveys across the whole course of study considering risks and resources are rare. Methods: For the evaluation of stress and coping we administered the standard instruments Perceived Medical School Stress Scale (PMSS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Work-Related Behavior and Experience Patterns (AVEM), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and a short form of the Coping Orientations to Problems Experienced Scale (Brief COPE) in three consecutive cohorts of medical students (N = 377) at one German university. Students were surveyed at the beginning of their studies (t0) and again during each consecutive summer semester (t1-t6). Results: Stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression increased in the first two years of medical studies but decreased again towards their end. Consistently, freshmen medical students presented with a large proportion of the healthy pattern at t0 (56 %) that decreased to 30 % at t2, and increased up to 44 % at t6. Correspondingly, the proportion with the burnout-related risk pattern B increased from 9 to 16 % at t2, again decreasing to 7 % at t6. Over the whole course of study there was an almost continuous increase of the unambitious pattern S from t0 13 to 40 % at t6. Characteristic differences especially between the healthy pattern and the risk patterns regarding stress, mental health symptoms and coping were observed. Female students showed a higher vulnerability for stress, anxiety and depression as well as lower proportions with a healthy pattern, and higher proportions with risk patterns for overexertion and burnout. Conclusions: The development of stress, symptoms and behavior and experience patterns especially in the first two years, demonstrating increasing study-related stress in the preclinical years, as well as the high proportion with an unambitious pattern at the end of the course of study emphasize the need for prevention and health promotion at both the individual and contextual levels.

The present study applies a salutogenetic approach to psycho-social stress and wellbeing at work and for the first time analyzes the relation of an extended model of four work-related behavior and experience patterns to work related perceptions, like work ability, job satisfaction and turnover intention, or engagement. Employees of an international financial services company (N = 182) completed the questionnaire Work-related behavior and experience pattern (Arbeitsbezogenes Verhaltens- und Erlebensmuster; AVEM). The AVEM has oftentimes been used for research in helping professions, but research in non-helping professions is scarce. In addition to the AVEM, measures of job satisfaction, work ability, work engagement, presenteeism, and turnover intention were included in this study. Almost half (46.2%) of the sample showed a rather unambitious attitude towards work, followed by a burnout-related risk pattern (22.0%), a healthy pattern (19.8%), and a pattern at risk for overexertion (12.1%). Significantly more favorable scores were found for all work-related perceptions in participants with the healthy pattern compared to those with the burnout-related risk pattern, except for turnover intention where no significant differences were found. For work ability and vigor, those with a healthy pattern also had significantly higher scores than those with an unambitious pattern and a pattern at risk for overexertion. Being at risk for burnout not only affects job-related wellbeing and coping resources, but also work ability and work engagement. A need for personnel and organizational development and health promotion is indicated by a high number of individuals with reduced working motivation and risk patterns for overexertion or burnout.

Purpose The revised version of the Work Ability Survey (WAS-R) assesses work ability on several sub-scales at the intersection of personal and organizational capacity, thus adding to the measurement of work ability by integrating the holistic model. It, therefore, improves on two features of the current standard measurement tool of work ability, the Work Ability Index (WAI): (1) a ceiling effect and (2) limited detail due to a focus on physical health and personal capacity. Method In two samples (n ₁ = 1093, n ₂ = 359), psychometric properties and the structure of the WAS-R were analyzed. To evaluate construct validity, inter-correlations of the WAS-R and WAI, sickness absence, expected and desired retirement age, and post-retirement work intention were calculated. Results The WAS-R was found to be distributed closer to normality than the WAI. The structural analyses yielded acceptable results for the hypothesized model. The WAS-R was adequately correlated with the WAI, negatively with sickness absence, and positively with desired retirement age. Conclusions The WAS-R extends the measurement of work ability, reflecting organizations’ work demands. Its broad sub-scales lead to high acceptance of the results within the participating companies. In particular, the organizational capacity scales can be used to guide interventions aiming at organizational characteristics to improve work ability.