Evaluation of Courses by Whole Student Cohorts: a case study

In a climate of unprecedented change in higher education (HE), accurate and immediate course feedback information is vital to the management of institutions, in assisting the development of course material relevant to present student needs. Student contribution to qualitative course evaluation is commonplace although use of relatively small representative groups of students is usual. However, with class sizes increasing — between 100 and 200 is now common — the ability to acquire accurate qualitative evaluation, representatively, is a major issue. This paper describes a methodology providing opportunity for whole cohort groups of students to be involved simultaneously in the generation of feedback. It considers the effectiveness of student consultation meetings as a collection method, the utility of the results in the course development process, how the issues raised and discussed compare with matters included on a university‐wide questionnaire, and whether participating students feel inhibited in discussing matters so publicly.     

Mentoring african american educational media and technology students

Summary Mentoring appears to help African-American students taking educational media and technology classes to have more confidence in their abilities to integrate technology. It has also provided them with an opportunity to express their concern about their lack of technology skills and anxiety about teaching. Furthermore, they were able to speak to someone who cares about them and who has also had similar concerns and anxieties. The fact that we were all African American facilitated communication and trust between each of my students and me. However, since there is typically a scarcity of African-American faculties to mentor them it is problematic to have same-race mentoring relationships for most African-American students at predominately White academic institutions. Research suggests however, that African-American students feel that having an African-American mentor is less important to them than having a mentor in their career field. With appropriate attitudes and the belief that cultural diversity is an asset and not a deficit, faculty of other races can effectively mentor African-American students. With this in mind coupled with the fact that research indicates that mentoring supports retention particularly for African-American students, all faculties should consider mentoring African-American and other minority students. Mentoring enables faculty to MEET their minority students where they are and move them forward. Remember to Model use of technology in the classroom, Engage students in dialogue in and out of class, Embrace their anxiety and point our their successes, and Team students with partners. Her research interest focuses on factors that support or inhibit preservice and professional teachers from integrating technology.     

Beyond learning by doing: an exploration of critical incidents in outdoor leadership education

This paper argues that outdoor leader education and training is characterized by the development of procedural skills at the expense of crucial but usually ignored non-technical skills (e.g. contextualized decision-making and reflection). This risks producing practitioners with a potentially unsophisticated awareness of the holistic outdoor environment impeding the development of links between theory and practice. This paper analyses the application of critical incident theory to a study of undergraduates in a UK outdoor leadership degree programme in order to examine the processes of developing non-technical reflective skills in the students. The study examines a range of critical incidents in a purposive homogeneous sample of students who were asked to identify and reflect on critical incidents in practice settings of their own choice. These settings spanned from the United Kingdom to remote locations overseas. Qualitative data analysis was carried out using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings indicated that outdoor leadership programmes need to develop a broader and holistic skills base rather than concentrate on primarily physical and technical skills. A focus on the critical incident method early in education has the potential to equip practitioners with the holistic and complex set of skills required in the contemporary outdoor workplace.     

Changement et résistance au changement dans le milieu universitaire roumain

December 1989 meant for the Romanian academie world the break off with the communist dogmaticism and the politics of indoctrination and also the possibility of installing a critical analysis and the continuity of the true values of Romanian universities. Two inquiries conducted in 1990 and 1991 among students and Professors revealed a strong contesting pathos (persons, teaching contents and methods. The entire educational System were contested) and also a true desire to find out the critical aspects which enhances a new ideology in the higher education System. Students and a part of the faculty have discovered expressions like “academic freedom” and “academie autonomy”. They started to use concepts like “change”, “academic democracy”, “social responsibility”. New expectations concerning the behavioural offer of Professors occurred. When defining the direction of this change, authors chose the expression “toward normality”. Indices of normality could be the assumption by the university of new functions and value orientations previously forgotten and abandoned, under the dictatorial system such as creation and diffusion of values, introduction of criteria of competence and morality in evaluating both academic status and behaviour of Professors.     

Learned variability

Potential contributors to sustained levels of variability in the topography of the rat’s barpress were investigated in two experiments. Behavior was classified into discretely defined components, and changes in components and their sequential organization were analyzed. Experiment 1 showed that topographic variability in the rat is modulated by shifts in reinforcement schedules. Variability decreased between either dipper training or extinction and continuous reinforcement (CRF), and increased between CRF and extinction. Once the press was acquired, variability did not change if the schedule (CRF) did not change. Experiment 2 showed that, regardless of subsequent changes in topographic requirements, rats initially shaped to press under more stringent criteria sustained higher levels of variability during CRF, but not during extinction, than rats shaped with less stringent criteria. The results suggest that subjects learn not only what to do during reinforcement but also how differently or variably to do it.     

Gender differences in self-estimates of general, mathematical, spatial and verbal intelligence: Four meta analyses

Four meta-analyses were conducted to examine the magnitude of sex differences in self-estimates of general, mathematical/logical, spatial and verbal abilities. For all but verbal ability males gave significantly higher self-estimates than did females. The weighted mean effect size d for general intelligence was .37, for mathematical .44, for spatial .43 and for verbal .07. As these were significantly heterogeneous, homogeneity analysis was performed to identify moderating factors. These included age, instruction type, country and dominating author's gender. The outcomes were discussed in terms of possible causes of this phenomenon and some concerns about the interpretation of the results were raised.     

Variability and typical error in the kinematics and kinetics of the maximal instep kick in soccer

The purpose of this paper was to establish the variability and typical error of kinematic and kinetic variables representing the maximal instep kick in soccer for both the kicking and support legs. Ten skilled (good amateur or semi-professional) soccer players performed 20 maximal instep kicks of a stationary ball into a goal mouth. Motion of the kicking and support legs was recorded by an optoelectronic motion analysis system, and a six degrees of freedom model was used to compute kinematic and kinetic variables. Participants repeated the kicks on a second day at least 1 week later. The mean within-subject coefficient of variation across the kinematic and kinetic variables, trials, and days was 16% and did not change substantially as trial number increased or between day of test. Increasing trial number reduced the typical error (as determined by the standard error of the mean) such that for 20 trials 75% of the variables were below an arbitrary 5% threshold. It was concluded that for kicking investigations, 10–15 trials could be used and typical errors of 5% should be expected.     

The changing academic environment and diversity in students' study philosophy,beliefs and attitudes in higher education

Student populations in higher education in Australia and elsewhere in the developed world have experienced significant diversity over the past two decades. The existing literature has provided limited clarity about the effects of this diversity on the dimensions underpinning students' study philosophy domain. Based on a large data set from a leading Australian university, this paper analyses students' study philosophy, beliefs and attitudes towards teaching and learning. Factor analysis explored themes (or dimensions) within the survey. Multivariate analysis of variance used these dimensions as dependent variables with age, sex, ethnicity, study discipline, study level, academic performance and sex/ethnicity interaction as grouping variables to identify significant sources of variations. Deep learning, expediency and responsibility reflected the students' study philosophy domain. Deep learning and responsibility varied with ethnicity and academic performance. Expediency differed according to ethnicity, study discipline and academic performance. Students in business-related disciplines displayed greater expediency than peers elsewhere, treating education like any other commodity. The contribution of this study lies in its rigorous analysis of the impact of the diversity of the student population on the study philosophy domain, compared to the existing literature.