Relationships amongst cultural dimensions,educational expenditure and class size of different nations

Many studies have concentrated on investigating educational expenditure and pupil–teacher ratio to see how these two factors can influence the quality of education. This study chooses to examine these two educational factors from a different perspective. If educational expenditure and pupil–teacher ratio really have a significant impact on the quality of education as many studies have claimed, it is important to step back and understand why some regions choose to have high/low educational expenditure and high/low pupil–teacher ratios. This study found that culture has an important impact on these two educational factors. Hofstede's cultural dimensions, namely Power Distance and Individualism, were applied and results showed that these two cultural dimensions, when applied to 43 regions around the world, demonstrated a significant impact on educational expenditure and pupil–teacher ratio.     

From the Adam Smith Institute to the Zapatistas: An Internet Gateway to all development knowledge

This article critically examines a major World Bank Internet initiative, the Development Gateway. It describes the importance of the World Bank as the Knowledge Bank and the threats posed by the Internet to its near monopoly of development thinking. The Bank's Gateway plan attempts to bring together views of all stakeholders on a large number of topics at both global and country level. The article argues that this effort is naive, impossible and dangerous. The initiative, which will marginalise dissident and minority views, reveals biases and misunderstandings in the World Bank's overall approach to knowledge for development.     

New forms of government school provision – an international comparison

Driven by a desire to improve academic outcomes and transform ‘failing’ schools, governments around the world have often turned to the development of new forms of state-funded school. This paper looks at three such instances of the introduction of new forms of schooling, within three urban localities (academy schools in London; charter schools and small schools of choice in New York City; and Schools of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro). It considers the extent to which these types of school did improve academic outcomes for their students and draws comparisons across each case study in order to understand their similarities and differences. It concludes that although the quasi-marketisation of school systems through the introduction of new (often private) providers might improve outcomes, this is not the only means by which improvement can be attained; and that instead the introduction of new forms of school may be successful because this enables certain other changes to happen. It highlights the limited nature of impact evidence available in all instances, which restricts our ability to properly evaluate the effect of new school types on outcomes.     

Reading disabilities and the effects of colored filters

The efficacy of a controversial treatment, using colored filters to remediate reading disabilities, was measured empirically, with colored overlays placed over reading material on white paper. Irlen's (1983) method is to prescribe specific tinted filters as lenses that she claims filter specific light frequencies and remove a range of perceptual disorders that adversely affect reading and related learning performance. Irlen calls this condition "scotopic sensitivity" and claims it is a significant factor in a high percentage of people with learning disabilities. Ninety-two children with significant reading disabilities were classified as either scotopic or nonscotopic using the Irlen Differential Perceptual Schedule, and were randomly assigned to one of six treatment groups using colored or clear overlays. Reading performance (rate, accuracy, and comprehension) as measured by the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Neale, 1987) and the Formal Reading Inventory (Wiederholt, 1986) improved significantly when the scotopic children read with the preferred colored overlay filter compared to clear or different-colored overlay filters. Nonscotopic children showed no change.     

Exploring Factors That Promote Online Learning Experiences and Academic Self-Concept of Minority High School Students

The rapid growth of online education at the K-12 level in recent years presents the need to explore issues that influence the academic experiences of students choosing this method of learning. In this study, we examined factors that promote/hinder the learning experiences and academic self-concept of minority students attending an online high school. Qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty-four African American, and sixteen Hispanic high school students. The results showed that collaborative learning activities, access to resources, time convenience, student-teacher interactions, student-student interactions, improved academic behavior, and parental support helped to enhance online learning experiences and academic self-concept of the minority students. On the contrary, the lack of social presence, and the lack of cultural inclusion in course content constrain online learning experiences and academic self-concept of the students. The findings revealed some similarities between factors that influence minority students learning experiences online, and in face-to-face setting. The study also highlighted the need for teachers of online courses to understand the cultural backgrounds of minority students, and to use their knowledge to improve the learning experiences and academic self-concept of these students. Implications for teaching minority high school students in an online environment, as well as suggestions for future research are provided. (Keywords: minority students, K-12 online school, factors, online learning, self-concept)     

The Crisis in Doctoral Education: A sociological diagnosis

Sociological thinkers help us understand the crisis in doctoral training. Weber shows us that the crisis is the result of a clash of rationalities. Foucault shows us the highly-developed rationality of policymakers/administrators, which emerged in "disciplinary societies". I discuss the new doctoral training that reshapes subjectivity and retunes the relationship between self and education in the name of social progress. Borrowing from Rose, I stress two themes that are crucial for modern doctoral training: expertise and audit. Latour shows how this rationalisation of doctoral education occurred when it did. It had to await a series of translations--beliefs, knowledges, practices, documents, technologies and so forth, which originally arose in another language (business), and had to be packaged up in simplified forms.     

Interactive learning in an urban environmental education online course

Online courses play an increasing role in professional development of environmental educators, yet little information is available on the interactive processes involved in online learning. We examined the relationship of three types of interactions in an urban environmental education online course – participant–participant, participant–instructor, and participant–content – to four course outcomes: participants’ motivation to learn, intent to adapt ideas and information learned through the course in their practice, actual adaptation of ideas in their practice, and development of professional networks. Content analysis was used to characterize participants’ and instructors’ weekly online posts and comments, and generalized estimation equation modeling was used to explore the relationships between interactions and outcomes. The results showed that participant–content interaction had significant positive relationships with participants’ motivation to learn, intent to adapt ideas, and adaptation of ideas. Participant–participant interaction had significant positive relationships with participants’ motivation to learn, and development of professional networks with each other. Finally, participant–instructor interaction had a significant positive relationship with participants’ development of professional networks. The results of this study can be used to improve professional development online courses for environmental educators.     

A comparison of scholarly productivity among current professors who obtained terminal degrees

ABSTRACT

Although scholarship is important in higher education and faculty productivity expectations are continually increasing, we still do not understand the holistic view of faculty productivity. This study takes a different viewpoint on faculty productivity examining differences by university classification and by discipline. Most importantly, we sought to obtain the effects of the delivery mode of terminal degree on later faculty productivity. The mode of terminal degree via Internet delivery looks attractive to students, but this study found that this has implications for future research productivity. These three elements illustrate a different scope that has important implications for administrative leaders looking to hire future faculty as well as students thinking about becoming a future faculty member. To capture this view, 600 faculty members from 59 American universities were surveyed. From this survey, five different variables emerged to create an overall faculty scholarly productivity factor. This factor was then compared against university classification, discipline, and mode of terminal degree. Results showed surprising significant differences between university classifications and disciplines as compared to scholarly productivity. One of the most noteworthy findings was that there is a significant difference in faculty productivity based on the mode of terminal degree. Furthermore, no difference in later faculty scholarly productivity exists between that of a hybridized, online degree and a purely online degree. Again, these results indicate significant finds which have a high influence on faculty scholarly productivity, which holds important implications for the future of the university.     

Linguistic and Cultural Appropriations of an Immigrant Multilingual Literacy Teacher Educator

This autoethnographic self-study describes my interpretations of multicultural awareness, with special attention to multilingual awareness (MLA), based on my interactions with 52 students in the context of two literacy courses over a period of one year. An autoethnographic self-study provided an avenue to harness my reflections on practice and to study the ways in which my practice reflected awareness of my role as an educator. Findings from my teaching videos, written responses to students, and student evaluations suggested that my communication patterns with students reflected certain elements of multicultural awareness, as displayed by my attention to individual predispositions, cultural practices and personal stereotypes. The findings also appeared to indicate that multicultural and MLA interacted to reflect facilitation and symbiosis. Facilitation seemed apparent in my awareness of differences among students’ cultures and my own as I monitored my linguistic processing. Symbiosis appeared to emanate from the recognition of how my response to individual predispositions facilitated my application of conversational strategies based on feedback. This, in turn, heightened my attention to stereotypical attitudes and behaviors. Implications for multicultural teacher education include the benefits of using autoethnographic self-study to scrutinize educators’ awareness in practice as they determine the impact of this awareness on their instructional roles in multicultural teacher education. By extension, the study suggests that autoethnographic self-study research can provide additional lenses through which to interrogate monolithic perceptions of diversity in multicultural teacher education.