Influences of microelectronics on education and training programs and career guidance in Japan

It is the purpose of this article to introduce the influence of current micro-electronic (ME) technology revolution on employment and whole industrial structure as well as guidance and counseling program in Japan. The qualitative impact of ME in Japan has been rapidly changing the job-content and task processing of workers, and further is anticipated to transform the overall employment system and life style of workers. Because of these changes and anticipation, not only education for new skill development but provision of psychological and mental health programs are needed by both workers and managers. Concerning career guidance in schools it is concluded that career guidance workers must realize necessity of their retraining in their professional skills and knowledge, and need to shift the guidance model from matching to career model.     

Heuristics for planning university study at a distance

A model was developed at Murdoch University, Western Australia, to describe distance students’ perceptions of their aims and plans for studying a course. The model follows Polya's Heuristic and Newell & Simon's General Problem Solver of students’ plans and sub‐goals for achieving those plans.

Verbal reports of four students were described using the model, and showed that students’ goals were different from those of the course academic, and that student goals influenced how they planned and organized their study. Implications for the formalization of the model for understanding student behaviour are discussed, as is educational relevance for design of external courses.     

Extending the Cognitive Mediation Model: Examining Factors Associated With Perceived Familiarity and Factual Knowledge of Nanotechnology

This research—a pilot study on the cognitive mediation model (CMM) in Singapore—seeks to revisit and test the applicability of an extended CMM in the context of nanotechnology by examining perceived familiarity as a separate outcome variable in addition to factual knowledge. A cross-sectional survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of 719 adult Singaporeans. Results demonstrated partial support for the hypothesized CMM. First, elaboration was positively associated with both factual knowledge and perceived familiarity, whereas interpersonal discussions about science was associated only with familiarity. Results also showed differential relationships between attention to media platforms (traditional vs. new media) and reflective integration (composed of elaborative processing and interpersonal discussion); whereas attention to science reporting in newspapers and science television programs were associated with elaboration, media attention across all platforms were associated with interpersonal discussions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

‘An essential right’: reflections on evaluating a professional development program for tutors

Abstract

While there is a growing body of research on sessional staff experiences, there are few published accounts evaluating their professional development. This paper reflects on an evaluation of a university-wide professional development program for tutors at an Australian university. A combination of complementary approaches were used to inform the development of the evaluation, namely: Participatory Action Research, monitoring, evaluation, research and improvement, and Participatory Evaluation. Findings of the evaluation reveal valuable lessons for the academic development of sessional teaching staff.     

A neural network model approach to athlete selection

In order to determine the usefulness of neural models in optimisation of recruitment processes, statistical analyses were carried out on measured results of javelin throwers using a full take off. A group of 140 Polish junior javelin throwers took part in the research. In order to choose the optimum combination of model parameters the Hellwig method was used. Linear and multilayer perceptron neural models were constructed and used to calculate combinations of variables. Statistical analysis of the results showed that the linear model was not able to describe precisely the relationship between the dependent variable and independent variables for the investigated group of young javelin throwers. For the investigated group, the perceptron network with a 4-3-2-1 structure gave the best predictive relationship for sports results of the javelin throwers.