The Use of Digital Educational Technology and Third Spaces with Foreign-Born Latinos

This article addresses the concept of educational third spaces that move beyond the paternalistic concept of a teacher as a font of knowledge filling the empty vessels of the students’ minds, especially for foreign-born Latino (FBL) students. These students often struggle and lag behind their native-born peers as they master the new language of instruction while acculturating to a new and challenging environment. However, as digital natives, current elementary FBL students have the potential to empower themselves via the use of educational technology. In organic third spaces, educational technology can foster active learning and personal empowerment.     

The Principle of Assumed Consent: The Ethics of Gatekeeping

The obligation to inform and obtain the consent of human subjects is axiomatic in social and medical research. Yet educational researchers are often reluctant to inform their subjects: class teachers and headteachers, for example, are often used as gatekeepers, and investigators sometimes do not so much seek consent as assume it. This chapter discusses the principle of informed consent, in particular that of children. It proposes guidelines for gatekeepers who may be called upon to authorise research and to grant to investigators access to children in their care.     

Ethics in educational technology research: Informing participants on data sharing risks

Participants in educational technology research regularly share personal data which carries with it risks. Informing participants of these data sharing risks is often only done so through text contained within a consent form. However, conceptualizations of data sharing risks and knowledge of responsible data management practices among teachers and learners may be impoverished—limiting the effectiveness of a consent form in communicating such risks in a manner that adequately supports participants in making informed decisions about sharing their data. At two high schools participating in an educational research project involving the use of technology in the classroom, we investigate teacher and student conceptions of data sharing risks and knowledge of responsible data management practices; and introduce a communication approach that attempts to better inform educational technology research participants of such risks. Results of this study suggest that most teachers have not received formal training related to responsibly managing data; and both teachers and students see the need for such training as they come to realize that their understanding of responsible data management is underdeveloped. Thus, efforts beyond solely explaining data sharing risks in an informed consent form may be needed in educational technology research to facilitate ethical self-determination.     

Sexual Consent as a Scientific Subject: A Literature Review

Despite the presumed centrality of sexual consent to definitions of sexual violence, it remains an ambiguous and often unexamined concept both in lay and professional/scientific discourses. The following literature review of peer-reviewed research studying sexual consent as a scientific object will thematically present major findings from said research and discuss the applications of these findings for educational measures. A reading of existing research in the social sciences on the topic demonstrates the incongruence of many definitions and representations of consent that are used both by researchers and educators alike with the everyday experiences of young people.     

Enhancing consent forms to support participant decision making in multimodal learning data research

Advances in the field of multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) research is often accomplished by actively exploring new technologies and techniques related to the collection and analysis of data. Exploration of ethical principles and procedures for governing the use of new technologies and techniques, however, is not as readily pursued. As collected data grow in complexity and invasiveness, potentially, a growing need is arising to scrutinize ethical aspects of MMLA research. In our study, we introduce an informed consent comprehension test for educational technology research and assess the effects of enhancing MMLA consent forms on comprehension of informed consent and on rates of enrollment in a MMLA study. One form is written from a researcher perspective and the other from a participant perspective. Results of the study involving first-year undergraduate students suggest that the overall level of comprehension did not differ between conditions. Yet, the participant-oriented consent form resulted in significantly lower rates of enrollment. Implications for MMLA researchers are discussed.     

The ages of consent: re-working consensual frameworks in postmodern times

The processes of gaining consent for educational and social research with children and young people have become increasingly complex. A variety of influences contribute to this complexity. In this paper, we use post-structural concepts to focus on the influence of three co-existing and interweaving perspectives: protectionist, participatory and post-structural. Each of these foregrounds different issues in the process of gaining consent for research involving children or young people. We argue for the need to be cognisant of the interplay between the three different perspectives, and what is effected by each. We conclude by proposing a three-overlapping-points-of-entry approach to thinking about research involving children. Our hope is that by sharing the ideas that we have had, we will contribute to those ongoing conversations in which others are trying to re-think consent within the broader framework of why and how do we do research with children and young people.     

Ethical Rationales and Guidelines for the Continued Use of Archival Collections of Embryonic and Fetal Specimens

Benefits from the use of cadavers in anatomical education are well described. Historically, human embryos and fetal cadavers were used in anatomy education to understand development and congenital malformations. Recently, three-dimensional printed models produced from archival fetal specimens, and online repositories of images from archival collections of embryos and fetuses, have been used as an educational tool in human development courses. Given that the archival specimens were likely obtained prior to the era of informed consent, this raises questions about their appropriate and ethical use. Because some institutions in the United States retain archival collections of embryonic and fetal specimens that were once used as educational tools, their existence and utility require frequent reexamination against contemporary ethical frameworks to guide appropriate use or utilization. Four ethical rationales for uses of these collections are examined, including destruction, indefinite storage, use in research, and use in health professions education. Guidelines for the use of archival collections of human embryos and fetuses are presented. Indefinite storage and use in health professions education are supported, while use in research is also permitted, however, such use is limited and dependent on circumstance and purpose. The development of current digital repositories and three-dimensionally printed models based on archival collections that were collected without informed consent, or those promoting commercial opportunity, are not supported. New embryonic and fetal donations obtained with informed consent should include reference to potential uses with new technology and virtual, genetic, or imaging applications.     

A Multilevel Perspective on Student Ratings of Instruction: Lessons from the Chinese Experience

With the rise of democratic institutions and the propagation of consumerism in Asia, the teacher-student relationship has undergone fundamental changes. As a response to the demand for public accountability, course evaluation has been recently adopted as routine in universities in Hong Kong, placing Hong Kong in the forefront of this trend in Asia. Few studies in the educational literature examine whether such a practice applies to cultural settings outside the West, particularly in Asia where the teacher-student relationship is often paternalistic. Using a large dataset collected in Hong Kong, this study examines how Chinese students behave in the course evaluation process. Results suggest that Chinese students, like their Western counterparts, are able to distinguish separate dimensions of teaching quality. Due to their cultural background, however, they pay more attention in their evaluations to the personal qualities of their teachers.     

Guardian consent for children's participation in sociometric research

Sociometric research has been plagued by low consent rates that potentially decrease the validity of assessment results. This study focused on ways to increase consent rates and documentation of guardians' reasons for nonconsent. A planned sequence of increasingly more personalized communication steps with parents yielded a 92% consent rate. Reasons for nonconsent ranged from children telling their parents that they did not want to participate to not having enough information about the research to make an informed decision. Discussion focuses on strategies that may increase guardian support for children's involvement in educational research.     

关于制定我国国家质量教育标准的几点思考——基于美国波多里奇国家质量奖教育标准的比较研究

国家质量教育标准是用以衡量教育组织达到某种程度或水平的质量或数量要求的规定,主要是质量管理方面的要求或优质的规定,具有标志、导向、甄别、激励、促进等功能。制定国家质量教育标准,是一个国家教育质量管理机制健全和完善的主要标志之一,也体现了国家整体的竞争力,目的是为了促进教育组织提高管理效率和绩效。美国在这方面的实践颇具特色,值得借鉴。     

Exploring ethical issues associated with using online surveys in educational research

Online surveys are increasingly used in educational research, yet little attention has focused on ethical issues associated with their use in educational settings. Here, we draw on the broader literature to discuss 5 key ethical issues in the context of educational survey research: dual teacher/researcher roles; informed consent; use of incentives; privacy, anonymity, and confidentiality; and data quality. We illustrate methods of addressing these issues with our experiences conducing online surveys in educational contexts. Moving beyond the procedural ethics approach commonly adopted in quantitative educational research, we recommend adopting a situated/process ethics approach to identify and respond to ethical issues that may arise during the conduct, analysis, and reporting of online survey research. The benefits of online surveying in comparison to traditional survey methods are highlighted, including the potential for online surveys to provide ethically defensible methods of conducting research that would not be feasible in offline education research settings.     

Troubling criteria: A critical commentary on Furlong and Oancea's framework for assessing educational research

Furlong and Oancea's influential framework for assessing the products of applied and practice‐based educational inquiry raises some important issues about the criteria by which research should be judged. They begin by outlining the current significance of the issue, and some of the uncertainties surrounding the definition of applied and practice‐based inquiry. They then present four sets of criteria by which such research can be assessed, covering, in shorthand terms, epistemic, technical, practical and economic dimensions. The issue of assessment criteria has recently been highlighted by public criticism of the quality of educational research, by attempts to incorporate qualitative work into systematic reviews, as well as by the continuing disputes generated by major methodological divisions among qualitative researchers. In this article, several aspects of the framework offered by Furlong and Oancea are examined. To start with, there is a discussion of the mode of argument they employ, and of how they define ‘applied and practice‐based educational research’. It is argued that explicit justification is not presented for some key, and controversial, elements of the argument. One of these is the idea that a new social contract is required between educational researchers and the funders and non‐academic users of their work. The nature of the proposed contract is examined, through a discussion of to whom educational researchers should be accountable, how, and for what. It is argued that the typology of research offered by Furlong and Oancea is inadequate, and an alternative is proposed. The ways that the authors formulate the four sets of criteria by which research should be judged are also examined in some detail. It is suggested that there are potentially serious conflicts amongst these criteria, and that by no means all of them are appropriate standards in terms of which educational researchers, of any kind, should be held accountable.     

Introduction of an accreditation system in Japan

This paper presents the present situations and issues arising during the introduction of an accreditation system in Japan that includes a bit of the conventional assurance system and its problems, the fundamental policy and criteria of the accreditation system, in particular, educational outcomes criteria. The issues discussed are: (1) grouping of engineering fields and establishing the programme criteria; (2) finance; (3) educational reform; (4) setting educational objectives and evaluation; (5) threshold criteria; and (6) relations with the National Institution for Academic Degrees with regard to university evaluation.     

关于构建教育质量国家标准的政策分析与建议

新颁布的《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要(2010-2020年)》提出,未来十年要把提高质量作为教育改革发展的核心任务,并明确要制定教育质量国家标准,因此,制定教育质量国家标准势在必行。目前,我国现有的教育质量标准政策文件还存在着不完善、不规范、不配套等诸多问题,并已经成为制约我国各级各类教育质量提高的瓶颈因素,同时也折射出政策制定与执行过程中的突出问题。要解决这些问题,需要明确政策主体及其职责,认真分析政策问题,明晰研制工作思路,循序渐进地形成教育质量国家标准政策体系。     

THE RIGHT TO DISSENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOLING

In this article Sarah Stitzlein highlights an educational right that has been largely unacknowledged in the past but has recently gained significance given renewed citizen participation in displays of public outcry on our streets and in our town halls. Dissent is typically conceived of as a negative right—a liberty that guarantees that the government will not interfere with one's public self‐expression. Stitzlein argues that, insofar as the legitimacy of the state depends on obtaining the consent of the governed, the state must allow the lively proliferation of dissent. Attending to this negative rights perspective, Stitzlein explores the educational implications of reframing the right to dissent as a positive right. This includes discussing the state's obligation to cultivate the skills of dissent in its young citizens and, correspondingly, student entitlement to this training. These educational implications, especially for civics education, are far more substantial than the thinner implications of the negative right to dissent.     

发展性阅读障碍的筛选标准

对发展性阅读障碍研究的回顾发现,不同研究之间在发展性阅读障碍的筛选标准上存在很大差异。不同研究者使用的发展性阅读障碍筛选标准主要包括:基于排除式定义的筛选标准、基于PASS理论的筛选标准、基于听力理解——阅读理解差异的筛选标准、基于语音意识的筛选标准和基于教育矫治效果的筛选标准。本文分析了这些筛选标准存在的不足,并提出了未来研究筛选标准的取向。     

‘Philanthropizing’ consent: how a private foundation pushed through national learning standards in Brazil

ABSTRACT

This article explores how the Base Nacional Comum Curricular (National Learning Standards), entered the policy debate in Brazil and became the most important reform initiative of the Ministry of Education between 2015 and 2017. We argue that this accelerated policy process was contingent upon the practice of philanthropizing consent: foundations’ use of material resources, knowledge production, media power, and informal and formal networks to garner the consent of multiple social and institutional actors to support a public policy. In other words, these foundations do not impose policies on governments; rather, they ‘render technical’ high-stakes political debates on pressing issues of educational equity and then influence state officials’ consensus about which policies to adopt. We argue that this philanthropic influence is not simply a neoliberal, profit-maximizing scheme; rather, it is an attempt by foundation and corporate leaders to garner power and influence on different scales, and re-make public education in their own image. Although this educational policy game is in many ways participatory and widely accepted, foundations are only able to play this role due to their tremendous economic power, a direct product of the unequal global political economy, and the systematic defunding of the public sphere.     

Educating Turkish Primary School Teachers in Visual Arts: the Past and the Future

Every educational system should meet certain criteria that establish quality in teaching and learning. These criteria are often provided by aims and objectives listed in school curricula. After describing and commenting on the history of school education in Turkey, the main question posed in this research is how to change the Turkish primary school education in visual arts so that its quality will improve. After analysing the situation, this work provides an outline of how this may be achieved. In the future, the insights gained may be very useful for an incorporation of European standards into the Turkish educational system.     

Adaptation of Kirkpatrick’s four level model of training criteria to assessment of learning outcomes and program evaluation in Higher Education

Assessment of educational effectiveness provides vitally important feedback to Institutions of Higher Education. It also provides important information to external stakeholders, such as prospective students, parents, governmental and local regulatory entities, professional and regional accrediting organizations, and representatives of the workforce. However, selecting appropriate indicators of educational effectiveness of programs and institutions is a difficult task, especially when criteria of effectiveness are not well defined. This article proposes a comprehensive and systematic approach to aligning criteria for educational effectiveness with specific indicators of achievement of these criteria by adapting a popular organizational training evaluation framework, the Kirkpatrick’s four level model of training criteria (Kirkpatrick 1959; 1976; 1996), to assessment in Higher Education. The four level model consists of reaction, learning, behavior and results criteria. Adaptation of this model to Higher Education helps to clarify the criteria and create plans for assessment of educational outcomes in which specific instruments and indicators are linked to corresponding criteria. This provides a rich context for understanding the role of various indicators in the overall mosaic of assessment. It also provides Institutions of Higher Education rich and multilevel feedback regarding the effectiveness of their effort to serve their multiple stakeholders. The importance of such feedback is contextualized both in the reality of stakeholder pressures and in theoretical understanding of colleges and universities as open systems according to the systems theory (Katz and Kahn 1966). Although the focus of this article is on Higher Education, core principles and ideas will be applicable to different types and levels of educational programs.