Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Catherine Marshall, Feminist Critical Policy Analysis: a perspective from post secondary education
John Elliott, The Curriculum Experiment: meeting the challenge of social change
Nicola Yelland, Gender in Early Childhood
Christine Tilstone, Lani Florian and Richard Rose, Promoting Inclusive Practice
Stanislas Dehaena, The Number Sense. How the Mind Creates Mathematics
Geoffrey Walford (ed), Doing Research about Education
Andrew Sturman, Social Justice in Education
Reynold Macpherson, Jim Cibulka, Ken Wong and David Monk, (eds), The Politics of Accountability: educative and international perspectives
Rob Halsall, Teacher Research and School Improvement
Tony Booth and Mel Ainscow (eds), From Them to Us: an international study of inclusive education
Carrie Paechter Educating the other: gender, power, and schooling
Keith Sullivan (ed), Education and change in the Pacific Rim: meeting the challenges     

Assessment options in higher education

This article evaluates an initiative to introduce assessment choice within a taught unit on an undergraduate healthcare programme as a means of addressing poor performance, especially for those students diagnosed with dyslexia. Students’ perceptions of the assessment experience were sought via the use of two focus group interviews (n = 16). The article describes the effect the assessment experience had on students’ stress levels, individual learning styles and achievement. Students’ performance improved and statistical analyses indicated parity between the assessment methods offered with similar performance profiles between students with and without dyslexia. The conclusion reached is that while the introduction of assessment options may be time consuming for staff to develop, the benefits of an enhanced student‐centred approach to assessment may be well worth this investment in time. Although a limited study owing to the small sample size, the results should be of interest to those academics who are concerned with assessment and its impact on students’ achievement.     

Book Reviews

Handwrought Ancestors. By Marion Nicholl Rawson. Illustrated by the author. E. P. Dutton and Company. 366 pp. $5.00.

Brookings. By Hermann Hagedorn. Illustrated. The Macmillan Co. 334 pp. $3.50.

Death Valley Prospectors. By Dane Coolidge. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton and Co. 178 pp. $2.50.

Her Name Was Wallis Warfield. By Edwina H. Wilson. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton and Co. 117 pp. $1.50.

Pascal. By Morris Bishop. Illustrated. Reynal and Hitchcock. 398 pp. $3.50.

The Lives of Talleyrand. By Crane Brinton. Illustrated. W. W. Norton. 316 pp. $3.00.

The Man Who Built San Francisco. By Julian Dana. The Macmillan Company. 397 pp. $3.50.

A Student's History of Education. Revised Edition. By Frank P. Graves. The Macmillan Co. 567 pp. $2.50.

Bibliographies and Summaries in Education to July, 1935. By Walter S. Monroe and Louis Shores. The H. W. Wilson Company. 470 pp. $4.50.

Educational Psychology. Edited by Charles E. Skinner. Prentice Hall. 754 pp. $3.50.

Educational Statistics. By M. E. Broom. American Book Company. 318 pp.

Foundations of Curriculum Building. By John K. Norton and Margaret Alltucker Norton. Ginn and Company. 599 pp. $3.00

Remedial and Corrective Instruction in Reading. By James Maurice McCallister. D. Appleton-Century. 300 pp.

Schools for a Growing Democracy. By James S. Tippett, in Collaboration with the Committee of the Parker School District, Greenville, South Carolina. Ginn and Company. 338 pp. $2.00.

The Foundations of Modern Education. By Elmer Harrison Wilds. Farrar and Rinehart, Inc. 634 pp. $2.75.

The Ideal School. By B. B. Bogoslovsky. The Macmillan Company. 525 pp. $2.50.

The Marks of Examiners. By Sir Philip Harteg, E. C. Rhodes, and Cyril Burt. Macmillan and Company, Ltd. 344 pp. 8s 6d.

The Young Child in the Home. By John E. Anderson. D. Appleton-Century Company. 415 pp. $3.00.

Honourable Estate. By Vera Brittain. The Macmillan Company. 601 pp. $2.50.

Gaily the Troubadour. By Arthur Guiterman. E. P. Dutton and Company. 224 pp. $2.00.

Pamela's Daughters. By Robert Palfrey Utter and Gwendolyn Bridges Needham. The Macmillan Co. 479 pp. $3.50

A History of England. By C. E. Carrington and J. Hampden Jackson. The Macmillan Company. 803 pp. $2.40.

A New American History. By W. E. Woodward. Farrar and Reinhart. 900 pp. $4.00.

From Alley Pond to Rockefeller Center. By Henry Collins Brown. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton and Company. 299 pp. $3.50.

The Philosophy of Santayana. Selections from the Complete Works. Edited by Irwin Edman. Charles Scribner's Sons. 587 pp. $2.50.

Mexican Interlude. By Joseph Henry Jackson. Illustrated. The Macmillan Co. 232 pp. $2.50.

London. By Sidney Dark. Illustrated by Joseph Pennell. The Macmillan Company. 176 pp. $1.39.

Paris. By Sidney Dark. Illustrated by Henry Rushbury. The Macmillan Company. 139 pp. $1.39.

News from Tartary. By Peter Fleming. Illustrated. Charles Scribner's Sons. 381 pp. $3.00.     

Transforming support for students with disabilities in UK Higher Education

Intended UK government changes to the Disabled Students’ Allowance will have a significant impact on the support that UK universities provide for students with disabilities. In this article we examine the types of transformation that may be needed to support for university students with disabilities, from a socio‐technical perspective. The research reported in this article involved a year‐long case study in a UK university. The potential changes required to support for students with disabilities within the university studied, to cater for the proposed UK government changes to the Disabled Students’ Allowance, include: providing non‐medical helpers through external agencies; developing a dyslexia screening process; providing enhanced library services, including access to printers and scanners and assistance with assistive software; providing laptops with assistive software; making assistive software available in a limited form in computing laboratories; and more co‐ordinated special examination provision.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

This article reports on the distribution of the use of graphic calculators over the whole secondary school population in a Local Education Authority (LEA) in the United Kingdom. Quantitative and qualitative census data on the extent and nature of graphic calculator use have been obtained. A feature of this project is in the use of a teacher research team to gather data naturalistically. This work was designed to augment previous work in this area by providing census details for an entire LEA and by including reasons why graphic calculators are not used. The authors found that the key factors which contributed to use were: expertise within mathematics departments; regard for graphic calculators as learning aides from mathematics staff and as information and communication technology from senior staff; a ‘critical mass’ of older/higher attaining students. Key factors which inhibited use of graphic calculators were: lack of time to learn how to use the calculator and how to teach with it; concern over recent examination restrictions; perceptions of computers being a resource priority     

Dyslexia in higher education: creating a fully inclusive institution

Disability legislation demands inclusive institutional policy and practice to meet the needs of the growing numbers of students disclosing specific learning difficulties (SpLD)/dyslexia. However, surveys of provision indicate mixed levels of student satisfaction. Institutions need to be able to monitor the extent to which their practice embodies their inclusive mission statements. Fuller, Healey, Bradley and Hall developed a stage model of progress towards the fully inclusive institution which suggests that departments or individuals can remain at different stages, delaying transformation of the whole system. This case study, conducted within a small university, used documentation, interviews, questionnaires and focus groups to explore attitudes and practices at each level of the institution to establish the extent to which Fuller's model might enable identification and elimination of ‘disablist institutional practice’ and the development of the fully inclusive ethos. Policy, management, lecturers and students were surveyed to explore attitudes and practices relevant to SpLD/dyslexia. Findings indicated that Fuller's model provided a clear and practical way of charting the institution's journey towards full inclusivity. Participants demonstrated the existence of examples of inclusive culture at all levels in University X, alongside a need for strengthened and clarified systems cementing links between management policy and the work of facilitators and lecturers. Inconsistencies in the systems connecting the levels potentially allow disablist practices to survive. Hence, identifying these gaps can facilitate their closure and promote the establishment of the fully inclusive institution.     

How students with intellectual disabilities experience learning in one Irish university

Over the last number of years, opportunities to learn in higher education for people with intellectual disabilities have increased. Consequently, this subgroup of students is gradually becoming part of an increasingly diverse college community. Because learning varies across different individual cultures and systems of higher education, our current understandings of how students with intellectual disabilities learn are inadequate. This study set out to explore how people with intellectual disabilities learn in one Irish college. Eighteen students with intellectual disabilities were asked to make a drawing of how they understood learning and were interviewed by six of their peers who trained as co-researchers. The findings indicate that the learning experiences of these students are as complex and as multifaceted as any other college student. A model that captures this learning is presented using four categories: the Cognitive Stages of Learning, Self-regulation of Learning, Learning as Collective Meaning Making and the Supportive Environment and Learning. The learning potential for people with intellectual disabilities presented in this paper goes some way to addressing preconceived notions associated with the label of intellectual disability.     

Exploring formative assessment as a tool for learning: students’ experiences of different methods of formative assessment

This study aims to provide a greater insight into how formative assessments are experienced and understood by students. Two different formative assessment methods, an individual, written assessment and an oral group assessment, were components of a pathology course within a medical curriculum. In a cohort of 70 students, written accounts were collected from 17 students and group interviews were carried out to explore the students’ experiences of these two forms of assessment. All students were engaged in both assessment methods, which were conducted a few weeks apart, and data were collected soon after each assessment. Our findings suggest that formative assessments motivate students to study, make them aware of what they have learned and where they need to study more. Thus, formative assessment can act as a tool for learning, contributing to the process and outcomes of learning. A closer look at students’ experiences of each form of assessment reveals interesting differences.     

浅谈加强成人高等教育的学生管理工作

结合成人高等教育学生的特点及现状,本文从建立”以人为本”的管理制度;加强日常学生管理,树立”以人为本”的服务理念;提升辅导员队伍的综合素质三个方面进行论述来探讨如何加强成人高等教育的学生管理工作。     

Assessment for learning: Why assessment does not always support student teachers’ learning

Numerous studies have dealt with the importance of assessment for learning (AfL) in higher education, arguing that AfL helps to promote students’ learning and supports them in becoming self-directed learners. The majority of the recent literature focuses mainly on the role of individual aspects of AfL. Less attention has been paid to the interrelation of different aspects of AfL. The current study argues that AfL combines authentic assessment tasks given to students, feedback from teacher educators, peer assessment and self-assessment. The aim of the current study is to understand student teachers’ experiences of AfL practices in higher education, focusing on the reasons why student teachers do not always find the practices supportive. The study conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 student teachers and analysed them using an inductive content analysis method. The findings indicate that student teachers have had some experiences with individual aspects of AfL. A critical finding is that, when teacher educators continually dominate in the assessment process, summative assessment remains the principal way of assessing student teachers, thus hindering the supportive role of other AfL practices. The current study also finds that learning in higher education is still quite grade-centred, which affects student teachers’ learning.     

A multidimensional approach to examine student interdisciplinary learning in science and engineering in higher education

Preparing science and engineering students to work in interdisciplinary teams necessitates research on teaching and learning of interdisciplinary thinking. A multidimensional approach was taken to examine student interdisciplinary learning in a master course on food quality management. The collected 615 student experiences were analysed for the cognitive, emotional, and social learning dimensions using the learning theory of Illeris. Of these 615 experiences, the analysis showed that students reported 214, 194, and 207 times on, respectively, the emotional, the cognitive, and the social dimension. Per learning dimension, key learning experiences featuring interdisciplinary learning were identified such as ‘frustrations in selecting and matching disciplinary knowledge to complex problems’ (emotional), ‘understanding how to apply theoretical models or concepts to real-world situations’ (cognitive), and ‘socially engaging with peers to recognise similarities in perceptions and experiences’ (social). Furthermore, the results showed that students appreciated the cognitive dimension relatively more than the emotional and social dimensions.     

Book Reviews

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on primary teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning and in particular about their preferred ways of teaching; how they integrate National Curriculum requirements into their teaching programmes and their views about stereotyped ‘models’ of pedagogy. The authors conclude that learning and teaching are understood as highly complex and cannot be subsumed under one particular model. They suggest that most primary school teachers adopt an eclectic approach, but that frequently they are confused about the content of the mix or which approach might be most appropriately used in any particular context.     

基于学习过程的本科教育学情调查报告2009

全面提高质量,大力提升人才培养水平是中国高等教育当前面临的重要任务。本研究聚焦于大学生的学习过程及投入,从大学生作为独立自主的学习者,其学习行为与大学教育实践之间的互动来揭示和分析我国不同类型大学的本科教育状况。本文使用的调查工具是根据全美大学生学习性投入调查(NSSE)问卷,由清华大学教育研究院和美国印第安纳大学共同组成的研究团队完成的汉化版中国大学生学习性投入调查问卷(NSSE-China)。研究数据来自清华大学教育研究院主持的中国大学生学习性投入研究课题组2009年6月在全国23所自愿参加课题研究的本科院校,通过完全随机抽样获得的24252名本科生样本。论文运用五大可比指标、反映教育过程及环节的指标,根据参与院校的不同类型(985院校、211院校、地方本科院校),对大学本科生的学情状况进行实证性描述和分析。     

Motivating the learning of part-time taught-postgraduate students through pedagogy and curriculum design: are there differences in undergraduate teaching?

Interviews were conducted with 29 part-time taught postgraduate (TPg) students to determine forms of teaching and curriculum which motivated their learning. The study was conducted in an open exploratory manner to investigate the aspects of pedagogy or curriculum design which particularly motivated the TPg students which were in any way distinct from typical undergraduate teaching. As most of the TPg students were mature professionals working in a field connected to the course they had enrolled in, they were able to identify relevant knowledge, skills and abilities which ought to be included in the content or curriculum. This distinguishes them from typical undergraduate students. The TPg students appreciated in-class discussion so that they could share experiences and expertise. The interviewees preferred assessment tasks that related to their professional practice. Teaching and learning for TPg students should recognise the expertise of the students and draw upon it as a valuable learning resource.     

Support for Students with Hidden Disabilities in Universities: A Case Study

More students with disabilities are accessing the tertiary sector with many disabilities not easily observed (or hidden), because there are no physical indicators. These “hidden” disabilities affect a variety of cognitive processes and may be developmental or acquired. To ensure students with hidden disabilities can enrol, engage in and benefit from tertiary education, universities generally provide a range of supports. Typically these supports and any reasonable adjustments are negotiated with students taking into account a number of factors including, where available, any supporting documentation that they might be able to provide. This case study reports efforts within one large Australian university to support higher education students with hidden disabilities on campus. Perceptions on the use of and barriers to support available were collected from seven undergraduate students who self-identified as having hidden disabilities and from eight support staff. Results indicated that students found their informal networks to be their most effective supports, closely followed by clear, caring and flexible lecturers and tutors. There were mixed positive and negative perceptions reported on the universal and disability-specific supports available. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Book Reviews

The following books are reviewed.     

Book Reviews

This article examines the student experience for a particular cohort, namely the joint honours students, at a post-1992 university in the United Kingdom. These students are enrolled in degree courses that combine two subjects at one university. Little attention has so far been given to such students whose experience is decidedly different from that of single honours students. By using a mixed methodology including quantitative and qualitative questionnaires, focus groups, individual interview and ethnography, the article attempts to highlight elements of the student experience that are unique to the joint provision. It will draw on the concept of ‘institutional habitus’ to argue that joint honours students experience their time at university often in isolation and as excluded from the institutional norm.     

学习化社会视阈下成人高等教育课程观探论

本文阐述了学习化社会的概念,学习化社会的特征,以及在学习化社会理念引领下的成人高等教育课程观的构建。     

加强成人高等教育学生思想政治教育的思考

当前,成人高等教育学生思想政治教育的问题主要表现在,学生学习的功利性太强、学习自律意识较差、价值观念不明确等。造成成人高等教育学生思想政治教育薄弱的重要原因是,缺乏对思想政治教育重要性的认识;课程数量不断压缩,思想政治教育课程流于形式;管理制度缺失,思想政治教育工作者严重不足。加强成人高等教育学生思想政治教育的途径是:提高对成人高等教育学生思想政治教育工作的认识;创新教学模式,以两课教育平台为主,专业课堂教学为辅;构建教书育人、管理育人、服务育人的全方位思想政治教育体系;丰富成人高等教育学生思想政治教育的教学资源。