Beginning Teachers Using Information Technology: the Open University model

ABSTRACT

The United Kingdom's Open University launched a part‐time distance taught course for pre‐service teachers in 1994. This paper describes the rationale for such a course which is usually full time and face to face in traditional university settings; how and why the issue of developing competence in IT was addressed through the home loan of a computer; and how the use of computer conferencing enhances students’ experience by enabling them to communicate with each other, members of The Open University course team and part‐time tutors.     

A Transformation in Further Education: Technology,the electronic library and the Cinderella sector

This article reviews the literature on the changes in further education during the last decade. It considers the impact of these changes on students, academic staff and Library and Information Services staff. It highlights the growth in importance of electronic information services in teaching and learning and outlines the research to be undertaken by the JUBILEE in FE Project based in the School of Information Studies, University of Northumbria.     

The Turk's characteristic difficulties in learning English pronunciation

INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMMUNICATIONS. Erik Barnouw, editor in chief. 4 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Published jointly with the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania; pp. 1 (Acti‐Deco): xxv+462; 2 (Demo‐Mead): 506; 3 (Mean‐Rumo): 490; 4 (Sapi‐Zwor): 455. $300.     

Reply to Wilfred Carr on ‘Philosophy,Fantasies and Common‐Sense’

Abstract

A competence based approach to the Advanced Diploma in Education (FE) teacher training course was introduced at beginning of the 1989/90 academic year in the University of Ulster. The following year an evaluation of the course began which was completed in 1994. This included a survey of the attitudes of the staff involved with managing the implementation of the course. Included in this were members of the University Course Team, the college staff who carry out work based assessments and the Education and Library Boards who monitor such assessments. The results showed that all parties positively regarded the competence based approach both in relation to it as an initial teacher training course and as a tool in the professional development of vocational teachers. The study, however, highlighted the difficulties inherent in the maintenance of standards in collaborative teacher education and there are recommendations for the further development of future programmes.     

Practical Object‐Oriented Software Engineering Education

This article describes the effort undertaken at the University of Iowa to institute a software engineering curriculum at the graduate level. Specifically, the article presents the experiences over 2 years in developing a pilot 2‐semester course in object‐oriented software engineering. This pilot course had the goal of introducing practical and realistic object‐oriented software engineering to students, and developed several innovative techniques to achieve this goal on a very limited budget. Students were exposed to realistic software engineering phases, processes and methodologies in developing real‐world software. This pilot course has culminated in a Master of Science subtrack in Software Engineering offered cooperatively by the Departments of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Iowa, which made its debut in the Fall of the 1992/1993 academic year.     

The Relationship between Assignment Completion and the Attrition and Achievement in Correspondence Courses

Abstract

The relationships between the number of assignments completed by students, whether or not they completed a correspondence course, and their final grades were investigated. The subjects were two separate groups of students enrolled in a correspondence course in fundamental accounting during two consecutive years at the School of Continuing Education, University of Toronto. Students who did more than half of the assignments were significantly more likely to complete the course. Furthermore, the more assignments they submitted, the higher their final examination grade tended to be. Explanation for the observed relationships and suggestions to improve the generally low completion rate in correspondence courses are offered.     

Disabled Students in Transition: A tale of two sectors' failure to communicate

This article explores in particular the need for proactive communications between the Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) sectors to ensure that disabled students in transition are appropriately supported. The need for two-way communication was identified along with other significant issues in a research project at the University of Nottingham. The project explored the provision for disabled students available in HE against that which disabled students in both FE and HE institutions stated they required. Issues relating to transition are explored within this short article.     

Using Interviews to Predict the Success of Teacher‐education Students

In November 1987, the School of Education at the University of Tasmania at Launceston (then the Tasmanian State Institute of Technology) commenced a programme of pre‐entry assessment of BEd applicants with a view to conducting an ongoing research programme aimed at improving the quality of trainee teachers. Pre‐entry data gathering included English and mathematics skills, learning style, Higher School Certificate (HSC) aggregate scores and interview assessments of each applicant by a panel of at least two academic staff of the School. This paper reports findings from the interview data gathered on students who entered the BEd programme in 1989. In particular, the evidence from this cohort of students suggests that interview ratings by academic staff are successful predictors of future practice‐teaching performance, whereas HSC aggregate scores are not at all predictive. In addition to this finding, the data indicate that staff interview assessments are only marginally weaker than HSC aggregate scores as predictors of academic performance on the BEd course.     

Widening participation in nursing through progression agreements between a university and two further education colleges: a case study

The School of Nursing, part of the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences within Kingston University/St George's, University of London, has undertaken a number of initiatives to address the widening participation agenda. The student life‐cycle underpins the framework for the university's widening participation strategy and activities. This article provides a case study of the development and implementation of one such initiative, a Progression Agreement project between the School of Nursing and two colleges of further education (FE). The FE colleges provide Access to Nursing/Access to Health and Social Care Professions courses and the university, in partnership with these colleges, has drawn up Progression Agreements to enable successful completers of these access courses to be admitted onto nursing programmes at the university. The article explores the policy issues and literature related to widening participation, how these influenced the development of Progression Agreements, the evaluation of these initiatives and how Progression Agreements have contributed to changes in admission processes for nursing programmes in the university.     

Project Infusion: teachers,training, and technology

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a teacher training project at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida. The purpose of this project is to develop, implement, and evaluate a model for providing district‐wide teacher training in the use and integration of instructional technology to achieve curricular goals that are competency‐based and designed to be world class standards. The project was funded by the US Department of Education's Fund for Innovation in Education for a period of three years. During that time, 284 elementary teachers received graduate credit at Barry University for participation in an intensive course on the infusion of technology across the curriculum and for conducting teacher training at their own schools. This paper describes the teacher training model and preliminary results of the project.     

Institutional policies for part‐time undergraduate higher education in Scotland

Financial pressures, restrictions on full‐time participation and the public commitment to access and lifelong learning, suggest that part‐time provision may be increasingly important in undergraduate‐level higher education. However the scale and organisation of part‐time provision varies across institutions, and its future development may depend on decisions taken at institutional level. This paper describes Scottish institutions’ policies for part‐time provision of first degrees and Higher National Certificates and Diplomas (HNCs and HNDs). It is based on interviews with senior managers in all 23 Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs), and in 11 further education (FE) colleges. Most institutions planned to expand part‐time provision. New (post‐1992) universities were the most committed to expansion; non‐university HEIs and some old universities were the least committed. Policies for expanding part‐time provision were often part of a broader strategy for flexibility. The research revealed two contrasting models of flexibility: many universities pursued flexible integration, bringing full‐ and part‐time study into a common web of provision, whereas FE colleges typically pursued flexible differentiation, maintaining the distinctions between (and within) the modes. Institutional polices were influenced by four sets of factors: institutional mission, other institution‐specific factors, government policy and funding, and demand; funding arrangements and demand were seen as the main drivers. Finally, we question whether the greater formal autonomy of institutions led in practice to more independent decision‐making, and whether the trends anticipated by our interviewees are in fact well entrenched.     

A Process for Developing Regional Business School—Business Community Relationships

ABSTRACT

The relationship between a business school and the local business community can be a mutually beneficial relationship. For the regional business school, building relationships with business executives can be a timely and difficult challenge, which can be compounded by the presence and influence of larger private and state schools. The School of Business Administration at Oakland University (Rochester, MI), faced with these challenges, devised a simple straight-forward process that overcame these challenges and successfully involved 35 local business executives in a mutually beneficial relationship with the School in a very short time. This article describes the process, which can be used by any school or college.     

Systematic and systemic approaches to reducing attrition rates in online higher education

Abstract

Prior to 1997, the Department of Instructional & Performance Technology (IPT) online program at Boise State University faced a high student dropout rate. The IPT turned to Keller's ARCS model, Kaufman's Organizational Elements Model, and Kirkpatrick's evaluation model throughout the processes of improving the motivational appeal of the online course for the first‐time adult learners and solving the attrition problem. In this article, the author describes a long‐term evaluation case study and explains how she systematically designed and implemented various instructional interventions to reduce attrition. She also presents the results of systemic evaluations.     

Robotics for High School Students in a University Enviroment

The Young Scholars Program at the Institute for Systems Research of the University of Maryland at College Park is an innovative summer research experience for high school students from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Its goal is to steer talented high school seniors toward higher education and careers in science and engineering. One particularly popular component of this program is a two‐week mini‐coursein robotics. This course utilizes the resources of the Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory of the university to introduce and demonstrate theoretical and practical aspects of robotics. This paper reports on the characteristics that make this a unique effort in robotics‐related education for both the Young Scholars Program participants and the small group of University of Maryland graduate students who have been responsible for the development and instruction of this course.     

A criminal justice contribution to a general education diversity requirement

In the United States, colleges and universities have recently increased attention to diversity of faculty, staff, and student populations. Among the manifestations of the diversity movement are calls for modifications of general education courses to include coverage of cultural or human diversity. At the University at Albany, one of the first human diversity courses was offered by the School of Criminal Justice. The authors review the objectives of the course, the teaching materials selected, and students' reactions to the first offering of the course. Among the most troubling reactions was students' resistance to history, to explorations of context of criminal justice practice, and to examination of current discriminatory policy and practice.     

Teaching Creativity Creatively

Abstract

A theory of creative thinking is presented as it related to the implementation of computer‐based instructional design. Methods used in a graduate‐level course at Johns Hopkins University for teaching creativity are described. An emphasis on process over product allows instructors to focus on problem‐solving strategies at all levels of development. Finally, the effects of the computer on the creative process are discussed and suggestions are made for avoiding the trap of technological obsolescence.     

FEFC Funding: research on 12 colleges

Abstract

This article is based upon the research undertaken by Dan Taubman of NATFHE, Tom Leney and Norman Lucas of the Post‐16 Education Centre, Institute of Education, University of London. The research focuses on the impact of the FEFC funding on colleges’ curricula, teaching and internal management. The full report of the findings was presented to a NATFHE conference in January 1998 entitled Learning Funding: the impact of FEFC funding, evidence from twelve FE colleges (Leney et al., 1998). This article summarises the main findings of the research — the full version and report of the conference can be purchased from NATFHE or the Post‐16 Education Centre.     

College student perceptions of teaching and learning quality

Numerous instructional design models have been proposed over the past several decades. Instead of focusing on the design process (means), this study investigated how learners perceived the quality of instruction they experienced (ends). An electronic survey instrument containing nine a priori scales was developed. Students responded from 89 different undergraduate and graduate courses at multiple institutions (n = 140). Data analysis indicated strong correlations between student self-reports on academic learning time, how much they learned, First Principles of Instruction, their satisfaction with the course, perceptions of their mastery of course objectives, and global course ratings. Most importantly, these scales measure principles with which instructional developers and teachers can evaluate their products and courses, regardless of design processes used: provide authentic tasks for students to do; activate prior learning; demonstrate what is to be learned; provide repeated opportunities for students to successfully complete authentic tasks with coaching and feedback; and help students integrate what they have learned into their personal lives.

Pastoral Care: Past,Present and Future

Chris Watkins was a member of the first NAPCE executive in 1982, and has continued on that committee and on the London committee ever since. He was chair of NAPCE from 1992 to 1994, and is currently chair of the Publications Committee. He has been a maths teacher in a large secondary school, a teacher in charge of a unit for pupils whose effect on school was disruptive, and a trained school counsellor.

He is now head of the academic group ‘Assessment, Guidance and Effective Learning’ at the University of London Institute of Education, where his current areas of work include school behaviour, mentoring, tutoring, personal–social education – all centrally linked to effective learning in classrooms and school. He is course tutor to the MA in Effective Learning and the MA in School Development, and is involved in consultancy to schools and training others in consultation. Current research projects include ‘The Violence-resilient School’ and ‘Learning about Learning’.     

Grass roots: Natural resources education through videoconferencing

Abstract

This article briefly reviews and compares three offerings of graduate degrees via the Internet—two Master's programs in the field of Management and one Master's program in the area of Library and Information Science. Three different management degrees offered by the University of Phoenix, the Master of Arts in Management offered by The Graduate School of America, and the Master of Science in Library and Information Science offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign are described according to each program's online and printed prospectus. Based on this information, the three programs are compared and evaluated. The article concludes with a “Consumer's Guide” that formulates some key questions that any potential student of these types of programs should ask before enrolling in such a program.