Continuing Dental Education via an Interactive Video Network: course development,implementation and evaluation

The University of Iowa College of Dentistry has expanded its continuing dental education (CDE) offerings to include distance learning on the Iowa Communications Network (ICN). The ICN is a statewide fiber optic network linking 550 sites that provides two‐way interactive audio and video communication. The first course was broadcast on January 30, 1998 to 10 receiving sites across Iowa and was attended by 68 people. The instructor controls what is seen and heard at the remote sites, but participants can enter the discussion by activating their microphones. Recognising that the first distance learning course needed to be successful, the College of Dentistry collaborated with the College of Education to create a highly interactive instructional program. In an evaluation, the participants were almost unanimous in their approval. Ninety‐eight percent said they would attend another course if offered on the ICN. A strong majority of the participants felt the quality of the program was very good and attendance at a site close to their home reduced the cost of their continuing education. Based on the lessons learned from this initial offering, the College of Dentistry plans to expand its distance learning activities to include interactive programs on the ICN and the World Wide Web     

论职业生涯规划对大学生成长及就业的作用

大学生就业能力与大学生的专业素质和综合素质具有非常密切的关系,他们在大学阶段能否为自身就业作好充分的准备,关键取决于是否对自己的职业生涯作出科学的规划,并付诸于实践。职业生涯规划可以引领学生在大学阶段顺利成长,并促进其就业能力的提高。     

Ways students read texts

College students responding to the Preferred Method of Study (PMOS) questionnaire explained how they approach reading a new textbook chapter for comprehension. Results indicated that a significant positive correlation exists between the number of passes a student makes at new textbook material and his/her college grade-point average. Women showed a significant preference for adopting a single method of study. Less than half of the students queried construct “organizational tools” such as outlines or diagrams as they study a textbook. Students said they would alter their textbook strategies in response to the type of test they expected significantly more often than they would for the type of subject matter being studied. Only 6% of the students said they make a conscious effort to link the new concepts in the text to prior knowledge. There was no discernable relationship between the study strategies undergraduate college students employ and their college grade level (freshman through senior).     

高考应是计划的还是市场的——再论统一高考的现时合理性

高考应该是计划的还是市场的,不应作出简单的归类。计划与市场只是操作手段,单纯看其本身,无法显现其优劣。对高考而言,对其操作手段的判断,应看其是否有助于实现高考的核心价值:公平与效率。同时,高考也非普通的商品,不可简单照搬经济规律。     

高校心理咨询现状调查与对策分析

采用问卷调查法对900名大学生进行测量并访谈。结果表明,大学生在寻求专业性心理帮助的态度总分和各维度上,均存在显著民族差异;在寻求专业性心理帮助的态度总分和需要维度上存在性别差异;长期处于心理困惑、内心冲突的人是咨询首选对象;面对心理困难时,大学生倾向选择好友、父母进行求助,部分自己承受;对心理咨询师的首要要求是思想品德好,希望咨询室放松、安静、舒适、温馨;大学生会根据不同的咨询内容选择不同性别、年龄的咨询师,且面谈咨询成为首选咨询方式;大部分人希望高校心理咨询免费,但认为测量和治疗可适当收费。研究初步结论认为,大学生对高校心理咨询的态度与要求将为西北地区高校更优质地开展心理咨询服务提供一定的理论支持与实践基础。     

高校《学生体质健康标准》测试分析研究

全国各高校自2003新学年开始实施《学生体质健康标准》，河北省有20余所高校按时完成了测试及数据上报，以石家庄学院测试结果分析研究，学生的平均得分为80.01分，总体评价为良好，身体素质得分在优良范围，身体形态、机能得分偏低，跳跃性的评分设计对学生评定等级影响较大，不够完善，评分只是对学生是否达到《学生体质健康标准》规定的一种评价，切不可因为得分高而放松体育锻炼。     

Institutional goals: Their impact on adult learners

A research study of Sinclair's College Without Walls program for adult students was recently conducted through the University of Cincinnati using the Educational Testing Service's Community College Goals Inventory. A control group of approximately 100 students enrolled in a traditional program (randomly selected) was compared with an experimental group of approximately 100 College Without Walls students. Statistically, College Without Walls students expressed significantly greater satisfaction with the accomplishment of numerous institutional goals than did their traditional student counterparts. There were no other statistically significant differences in this comparison of two groups on a myriad of other factors from career preparation to institutional environment.     

浅析新时期大学生主导价值观的构建

当代大学生生长在一个多元、开放的社会环境下,在如何构建自己的价值观的过程中,他们会遇到很多问题。面对复杂多变的社会,学生工作者在引导大学生构建主导价值观的时候,一定要有新思路、新办法。本文就这些问题进行了简单的分析,以期对一些问题的解决有所裨益。     

Advising time inventory: Consequences of the general college individualized baccalaureate degree program on faculty advising,activities, and academic load

Faculty of the General College are assigned advising responsibilities in addition to their teaching load. Full-time members, for example, advise 35–40 students per year. When the College initiated an individualized baccalaureate degree program in 1971, little provision was made for consequent changes on the advising function and the academic load. As a result, advisers, faced with the complex and time-consuming matters that adhere to individualized learning programs, felt mounting pressure. Large numbers of evening school students were attracted to the program and sought advice and, upon admission, expected to be assigned a faculty adviser. The College made no formal acknowledgment of the addition of the non-day school advisees to advisers' loads. Strained by the overburden, faculty participated in this study to identify how much real time they spend in advising, with whom, and on what kinds of activities. Evidence from this study was used to support their request for recognition by the College of the changed nature and full scope of their advising work.The author wishes to acknowledge Drs. Paul J. Feltovich and Thomas Brothen for their help with the researching of this paper.     

Re-envisioning the Professional Doctorate for Educational Leadership and Higher Education Leadership: Vanderbilt University's Peabody College Ed.D. Program

This article describes the process by which the faculty of the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College conceived and implemented a new doctoral program designed for senior education practitioners. The authors describe the organizational context in which decisions were made. Next, they explain the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of the revised degree program. Then, specifics of the program curriculum and delivery are detailed. Finally, the article explores how the reconceptualized program is differentiated from the traditional research doctorate. At Vanderbilt, the Ed.D. is designed for mid-career professionals with an orientation to practice who seek a terminal degree and career advancement within their organizations. It is oriented toward solving problems of practice and takes as its goal placement of graduates into senior leadership positions within educational organizations.     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE RETENTION: DIFFERENTIATING AMONG STOPOUTS,DROPOUTS, AND OPTOUTS

One fact often overlooked in discussing the retention issue is that not everyone who fails to return to school is a dropout. Some persons return after an absence of a semester or more; they can be called stopouts. Some intended to take only a few classes and stop attending when they accomplish their educational goals; they can be called optouts. The only persons who should be labeled dropouts are those who failed to accomplish their educational goal and have no definite plans to accomplish it later.

During the 1990‐91 school year, Del Mar College (DMC) and the Texas A&M Adult and Extension Education program developed and executed a plan to identify, count, and interview nonreturnees at DMC. The purposes of the study were toprovide DMC with baseline data on its nonreturnees and to test the feasibility of gathering interview information by telephone.

Stopouts far outnumbered dropouts and optouts among respondents, with 303 of 399 nonreturnees identifying themselves as such.

In this article, we define relevant terms, outline the data‐gathering process and describe the findings of the present study, and present recommendations regarding data gathering and the focus of retention efforts.     

EDUCATION FOR OLDER ADULTS: OUT OF THE COLLEGE AND INTO THE COMMUNITY

On investigation of Union College, a two‐year college in New Jersey, it was discovered that senior citizens failed to take advantage of free college classes, for deep‐seated psychological as well as logistical reasons. In 1979, the college launched a program of bringing classes to older Americans in their own settings (Y's, churches, senior housing complexes, etc.) in subjects and at times of their own choosing. Clearly meeting a great need, the program expanded until it reached nearly 600 students in 25 classes. Success is in large part due to the work of skilled, compassionate teachers. An ongoing teacher‐training regime with emphasis on gerontology keeps them abreast of new techniques and ensures a continuing exchange of ideas. In the course of this training, it has become evident that much remains to be learned about education and the older adult. As a consequence, a joint research project of Union College and the Rutgers University Institute of Aging has been planned, with the Union College classes serving as a field test of the program and more generally of the impact of education on older Americans.     

‘You can't see what the words say’: word spacing and letter spacing in children's reading books

This paper describes two tests designed to find out whether children would be helped in their reading by the use of word and letter spacing that was looser or tighter than commonly used default values. In each test, 24 six‐year‐old children were asked to read aloud in a classroom; the realistic, high‐quality test material was set using a range of either word spacing or letter spacing values. Audiotapes of the children's reading were analysed to determine reading rates; miscue analysis was used to compare the number and kind of errors they made on the different settings. The children were also asked for their views about the texts they read. The results suggest that children in the test groups did not benefit significantly from spacing that was substantially looser or tighter than our default values, and that they noticed differences in letter spacing more easily than differences in word spacing.     

美国社区学院企业办公室管理专业课程体系研究与启示——以明尼阿波利斯社区与技术学院为例

明尼阿波利斯社区与技术学院（简称MCTC）企业办公室管理专业为满足学生多样化的需求,根据不同的职业面向与培养目标,构建了实用而有特色的课程体系。对其课程体系进行详细介绍与分析,并与北京工业职业技术学院法律文秘专业课程体系进行比较研究,能够为法律文秘专业课程改革提供有益的借鉴与启示。     

高职人才培养与区域经济发展现状及对策——以邢台地区为例

高职人才培养以服务于本地区域经济发展为目的,应与区域经济发展相铺相成、互动循环。本文从邢台高职人才培养与区域经济发展的关系入手,考察了两者之间的发展现状,分析了相互制约的因素,并提出了相应的解决办法。     

An intensive primary-literature-based teaching program directly benefits undergraduate science majors and facilitates their transition to doctoral programs

UCLA's Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Program (HHURP), a collaboration between the College of Letters and Science and the School of Medicine, trains a group of highly motivated undergraduates through mentored research enhanced by a rigorous seminar course. The course is centered on the presentation and critical analysis of scientific journal articles as well as the students' own research. This article describes the components and objectives of the HHURP and discusses the results of three program assessments: annual student evaluations, interviews with UCLA professors who served as research advisors for HHURP scholars, and a survey of program alumni. Students indicate that the program increased their ability to read and present primary scientific research and to present their own research and enhanced their research experience at UCLA. After graduating, they find their involvement in the HHURP helped them in securing admission to the graduate program of their choice and provided them with an advantage over their peers in the interactive seminars that are the foundation of graduate education. On the basis of the assessment of the program from 1998–1999 to 2004–2005, we conclude that an intensive literature-based training program increases student confidence and scientific literacy during their undergraduate years and facilitates their transition to postgraduate study.     

Using Collage to Examine Values in College Career Counseling

College students participating in career counseling may experience conflict between the values they express and share with their families and their internal values. This article describes a creative approach to explore values in a nonthreatening yet influential way. The author justifies and describes the use of a values collage, offering a composite case to illustrate application of the process. The author also addresses multicultural and developmental factors and considerations for use in different settings.     

Metropolitan College: Building Community Value Through Education–Business Partnerships

Metropolitan College is a distinctive and innovative business–education partnership that provides educational opportunities to many Kentucky residents who would otherwise be unable to attend college. The program also provides significant, tangible benefits to the business and education partners, as well as to the local and statewide community. This article outlines the structure of the Metropolitan College, chronicles some measures of program impact, and briefly describes the values on which the program was founded and continues to operate.     

Learner preferences and achievement under differing amounts of learner practice

This study examined the effects of program mode (i.e., a lean program version containing a basic amount of learner practice vs. a full mode containing expanded practice) and learner preference (matched or unmatched) for amount of practice on the achievement, time-in-program, and attitudes of university undergraduate students. Subjects completed a 10-item Likert-type prequestionnaire to indicate the amount of practice they preferred, then were randomly assigned to either the type of program they preferred or to the opposite type. Subjects who used the full version of the instructional program scored significantly higher on the posttest than those who used the lean version. Matching subjects to their preferred amount of practice did not yield a significant achievement difference over assigning subjects to their less-preferred amount. Subjects preferred the lean version of the program over the full one, even though the full version produced better test performance.