Health literacy and social capital: what role for adult literacy partnerships and pedagogy?

This paper makes the case for adult literacy (including numeracy) practitioners to play a greater role in health literacy initiatives in Australia. The paper draws on data from a national research project that investigated adult literacy partnerships and pedagogy viewed from a social capital perspective. The primary purpose of the project was to produce guidelines on how to deliver integrated adult literacy and numeracy programmes using a social capital approach. Prior experience of partnerships was explored through a review of the literature and an environmental scan of adult literacy providers using an email survey and follow-up interviews. An in-depth case study of a health literacy partnership was trialled using action research. Partnerships between adult literacy and health organisations in Australia were found to be largely ad hoc and rarely documented. To enable sustainable health literacy programmes, partnerships are needed across the three interlinked organisational levels – micro, meso and macro, and in particular the latter, which is currently almost completely absent. The conceptual frameworks outlined for health literacy partnerships and social capital pedagogy in this paper are new and potentially of value to policy makers, researchers and practitioners in the fields of health and literacy.     

Calibration and confidence: Where to next?

One of the key feedback questions is “where to next?” and this article provides some directions as to where to next for research based on a review of the five articles in this special issue. The directions relate to the critical importance of calibration, the multidimensionality of calibration, the relation of calibration to self-regulation strategies, whether calibration is specific to the task or more general within the student, how to measure calibration, how much confidence should be given to partial knowledge when calibrating, the role of overconfidence and knowing “when one does not know”, and how to improve the accuracy of judgments.     

New medical technology: to what does it lead?

In this paper I first discuss the concept of medical technology. (I thank Knut Arnesen, Arvid Fennefoss, and Aslaug H?ye for many informative and educational conversations about problems pertaining to technology). Then, I review some different meanings of the term, and then discuss the relationship between ethics and the scientific method. Finally, the understanding that emerges from this account is applied to a special problem: the relationship between technology and deafness.     

The adequacy of response rates to online and paper surveys: what can be done?

This article is about differences between, and the adequacy of, response rates to online and paper‐based course and teaching evaluation surveys. Its aim is to provide practical guidance on these matters. The first part of the article gives an overview of online surveying in general, a review of data relating to survey response rates and practical advice to help boost response rates. The second part of the article discusses when a response rate may be considered large enough for the survey data to provide adequate evidence for accountability and improvement purposes. The article ends with suggestions for improving the effectiveness of evaluation strategy. These suggestions are: to seek to obtain the highest response rates possible to all surveys; to take account of probable effects of survey design and methods on the feedback obtained when interpreting that feedback; and to enhance this action by making use of data derived from multiple methods of gathering feedback.     

Let’s cut to commercial: where research,evaluation, and design of learning games should go next

Educational technology research and development - This paper is in response to the article titled “Designing and integrating purposeful learning in game play: a systematic review” by Ke...     

Invented spelling: what is the best way to improve literacy skills in kindergarten?

Abstract

We examined the progress made by 132 six-year-old French-speaking children in their preliteracy skills during four kinds of interventions. Three of these interventions concerned invented spelling, where the children tried to spell words. In the first condition, they were encouraged to reflect on conventional spellings. In the second condition, they reflected on spellings that were slightly more complex than theirs, while in the third condition, they reflected on increasingly complex spellings that eventually led to the conventional spellings. The fourth condition (control) consisted of phonological training. We assessed the children’s phonological awareness, letter knowledge, spelling, and decoding skills, controlling for vocabulary and nonverbal cognitive ability. Posttest results indicated progress in each condition. The greatest progress was observed in the second condition for decoding, spelling, letter-name knowledge and syllable awareness, and in the control condition for phoneme awareness. Overall, results showed that all kinds of interventions led to very similar levels of progress, but that improvements were greater for interventions that focused on the children’s initial invented spellings - in other words, when they adopted a Vygotskian perspective.     

Collaborative communication technologies and learning in college courses: which are used,for what purposes,and to what ends?

Web-based communication technologies that enable collaboration and sharing of information among users – such as podcasts, wikis, blogs, message boards, and others – are used commonly in contemporary organizations to increase and manage employee learning. In this investigation, we identify which of these collaborative communication technologies are used in relation to college courses, and with what frequency; we report student evaluations of their use and reasons why students indicate using them. Next, using Keller's ARCS theoretical framework, we examine the role of course-related communication technology use in four dimensions of course-specific motivation. Results indicate that in courses where students perceive that technology is used effectively, motivation to learn is higher than in courses where students perceive technology is used ineffectively – and that technology-related motivation is substantially related to course-specific learning outcomes. Importantly, students reported higher levels of cognitive learning for courses in which technology was perceived as being used effectively than for courses in which communication technology was perceived by students as ineffectively implemented.     

Leveraging insights from mainstream gameplay to inform STEM game design: great idea, but what comes next?

This response to Leah A. Bricker and Phillip Bell??s paper, GodMode is his video game name, examines their assertion that the social nexus of gaming practices is an important factor to consider for those looking to design STEM video games. I propose that we need to go beyond the investigation into which aspects of games play a role in learning, and move on to thinking about how these insights can actually inform game design practice.     

A New Patriotism? Neoliberalism, citizenship and tertiary education in New Zealand

This paper argues that a new patriotism has emerged in New Zealand over recent years. This has been promoted in tandem with the notion of advancing New Zealand as a knowledge economy and society. The new patriotism encourages New Zealanders to accept, indeed embrace, a single, shared vision of the future: one structured by a neoliberal ontology and the demands of global capitalism. This constructs a narrow view of citizenship and reduces the possibility of economic and social alternatives being considered seriously. The paper makes this case in relation to tertiary education in particular. The first section outlines the New Zealand government's vision for tertiary education, as set out in the Tertiary Education Strategy, 2007–12 (Ministry of Education, 2006). This is followed by a critique of the Strategy and an analysis of the model of citizenship implied by it. The paper concludes with brief comments on the role tertiary education might play in contesting the new patriotism.     

Reflexivity for what? A response to Gewirtz and Cribb on the role of values in the sociology of education

This article is a reply to Gewirtz and Cribb's argument for ethical reflexivity, presented in a previous issue of this journal. These authors compared their views with mine, suggesting a way in which the differences between our positions could be overcome. I argue that, while there is certainly substantial agreement, there are also some fundamental differences between us, notably about the goal of research. Indeed, in my view, what they recommend involves a greatly increased danger of bias and a version of scientism. At issue here is, in large part, the kind of ethical reflexivity that is appropriate in sociological work.     

Invitation to trusteeship rather than treat? Higher Education,human rights and student litigation: A response to Fulford (2020)

This article argues that, as tutors, we are bound not only by the rules of contract law (i.e., to avoid breaching the terms of that which was agreed to), but also by our duty of care, and the principles of human rights law that protect the right to education. We must strive to avoid negligent acts and any potentially harmful practices or policies. Looking to recent litigation, we are bound also to provide useful, meaningful guidance on how learners might best achieve—and subsequently evidence—high levels of intellectual attainment and wider ‘learning gains.’. The concepts of fairness and equitable treatment are key, especially where universities have agreed to widen access and improve opportunities. With the protection of vulnerable learners increasingly leaning towards the provisions—and promises—of human rights law, a sort of estoppel‐led ‘trusteeship’ (over shared knowledge and learning processes) can perhaps also be inferred.     

Relational equality in education: what,how, and why?

Relational equality is broadly understood to be about relating to others as moral equals. I consider three questions of relational equality as applied to education: what, how, and why? Relational equality is important on a macro (societal) level, a meso (school) level structuring of relationships, and a micro (interpersonal relationships) level. I focus on micro level relational equality in schools, and connect theoretical perspectives from two neighbouring fields: education and humanistic counselling, suggesting that we might usefully draw on theory from humanistic counselling to inform our understanding of how egalitarian interpersonal relationships might manifest in education. I emphasise the importance of considering what we are trying to communicate through our behaviour and suggest that in order to treat someone as a moral equal, educators should work towards communicating empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence. Such an understanding gives a clearer focus for increasing equality than broader understandings of relational equality, and greater scope for challenging inequality than distributive accounts.     

‘Reporting Trainee Competence: what,and how much do employers need to know?

ABSTRACT

Three major elements in the Australian national workplace reform agenda are the introduction of key/generic workplace competencies, national occupational employment standards and a competency‐based education‐training system that recognises prior learning and assures development of identified competencies, both generic and occupationally specific. Attempts to develop effective and efficient assessment schemes to determine participant competence are underway. A continuing major concern, however, is how best to report information to potential employers. While employers need sufficient relevant information to make informed hiring decisions there is the distinct danger of providing too much detailed information in a competency‐based education system that it is not able to be used in a timely and efficient fashion. This paper reviews the merits of selected reporting schemes being considered, and then presents questions for further research about employers' reactions to reporting of competency information.     

The what,when, and how of preservice teachers and literacy across the disciplines: A systematic literature review of nearly 50 years of research

To organize nearly five decades of research regarding teacher preparation in literacy across the disciplines, this study systematically examined and qualitatively synthesized the what, when, and how of the research, resulting in three overarching categories: (a) perceptions, (b) resistance, and (c) experience. Key findings include that when preservice teachers receive instruction through coursework and practicums, their perceptions toward providing literacy instruction in future teaching contexts became more positive. However, researchers often measured such instruction's effect upon content-area literacy courses in the short term, rarely exploring future classroom implementation. Additionally, recommendations for practice and implications for future research are given.     

The multiple deficit model of dyslexia: what does it mean for identification and intervention?

Research demonstrates that phonological skills provide the basis of reading acquisition and are a primary processing deficit in dyslexia. This consensus has led to the development of effective methods of reading intervention. However, a single phonological deficit is not sufficient to account for the heterogeneity of individuals with dyslexia, and recent research provides evidence that supports a multiple-deficit model of reading disorders. Two studies are presented that investigate (1) the prevalence of phonological and cognitive processing deficit profiles in children with significant reading disability and (2) the effects of those same phonological and cognitive processing skills on reading development in a sample of children that received treatment for dyslexia. The results are discussed in the context of implications for identification and an intervention approach that accommodates multiple deficits within a comprehensive skills-based reading program.