The Victorian College of Pharmacy: a case study of amalgamation failure and success in Australian higher education

Small specialist higher education institutions often face challenges when negotiating with larger partners. In 1988, John Dawkins, Australia’s federal Minister for Education, introduced sweeping reforms to create a Unified National System of higher education. Dawkins’ criteria for funding necessitated mergers for many smaller providers. The Victorian College of Pharmacy in Melbourne, Victoria, presents a case study of how one institution negotiated this policy and asserted its interests to achieve an optimal outcome. It rejected amalgamation with the University of Melbourne, reaching a superior arrangement with Monash University despite state and federal opposition. This article combines archival research from Melbourne and Monash Universities and the state government with interviews of key players. It examines the importance of institutional identity and how small institutions can navigate government policies of consolidation. It also focuses on the deleterious effects of inflexible government policy and how the College successfully overcame these challenges to complete its desired merger.     

Age and Sex Differences in Motor Performance of 3 through 6 Year Old Children

Abstract

This study examined the relationship of age and sex to the performance of 3, 4, 5, and 6 year olds on seven motor performance test items. Although significant age and sex differences were found on most of the motor tests, it appears that age generally was related more to performance than was gender. Overall, change with age was fairly linear except perhaps for balancing and a general tapering in improvement in the 5 to 6 year old category. On the tests of throwing and balancing, gender was as important as age, or more so, in its relationship to performance. Boys were superior to girls at all ages on the throwing tests; girls were superior to boys at age 6 on the Balance test. Gender differences of a lesser magnitude were found on the Speed Run and Standing Long Jump tests with the performance of boys generally being superior to the performance of girls. Thus, it appears that gender differences in motor performance occur as early as the preschool years. Interestingly, except for the Balance test, on all the tests the 3 and 4 year old boys performed similarly and the 5 and 6 year old boys performed similarly. For the girls there were more significant differences from year to year in performance, with the data generally indicating at least three distinct skill groups for girls from age 3 to 6.     

Development of auditory event-related potentials in young children and relations to word-level reading abilities at age 8 years

A relationship between brain responses at birth and later emerging language and reading skills have been shown, but questions remain whether changes in brain responses after birth continue to predict the mastery of language-related skills such as reading development. To determine whether developmental changes in the brain-based perceptual skills are systematically related to differences in word-level reading proficiency at age 8 years, brain event-related potentials (ERPs) to speech and nonspeech stimuli were recorded annually at the ages of 1 through 8 years in a sample of 109 typically developing children. Two measures of word-level reading (one that requires decoding of real words and one of pseudowords) were administered at age 8 years. Growth curve analysis, using the hierarchical linear models, related reading performance (average versus low) to the longitudinal maturation in the ERP waveform peak and latencies. Maturational changes (e.g., slope, acceleration, and cubic growth) in N1 amplitude from ages 1 to 4 were related to proficiency in decoding pseudoword stimuli only, with children who were less proficient in decoding pseudowords evidencing more steeply negative declines in amplitude with age, particularly at the frontal and parietal recording sites in response to both speech and nonspeech stimuli. In contrast, proficiency in decoding real words was related to developmental changes in N2 amplitudes from ages 4 to 8 only at the parietal recording site, and only in response to nonspeech stimuli. The early development of biologically based differences in the perception and processing of auditory information contributes to later group differences in reading proficiencies at school age.     

Time-course of control by specific stimulus features and relational cues during same-different discrimination training

We trained 7 pigeons to discriminate visual displays of 16same items from displays of 16different items. The specific stimulus features of the items and the relations among the items could serve as discriminative stimuli. Unlike in most studies of same-different discrimination behavior, we gave a small number of probe tests during each session of acquisition to measure the time-course of control by the learning of specific stimulus features and relational cues. Both the specific stimulus features and relational cues exerted reliable stimulus control, with the specific stimulus features exerting more control during the final three fourths of same-different learning. These findings replicate research suggesting that pigeons encode both the specific stimulus features and relational cues, and for the first time document the time-course of control by each kind of cue.     

The Web and information literacy: scaffolding the use of web sources in a project-based curriculum

In this article we describe and discuss a three‐year case study of a course in web literacy, part of the academic literacy curriculum for first‐year engineering students at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Because they are seen as ‘practical’ knowledge, not theoretical, information skills tend to be devalued at university and rendered invisible to the students. In particular, web‐searching skills are problematic, given the challenges that the Web poses to academic values and traditional research practices. Consequently, the technical skills of web searching are often taught separately from academic curricula or left entirely unaddressed. We illustrate an alternative, integrated approach to the development of this aspect of information literacy. We apply a critical action research methodology to document, evaluate and reflect on students’ use of evaluative frameworks. Focusing on the facilitation of critical and evaluative use of the Web for exploratory learning, we interrogate the role of ‘cultural capital’ and evaluate the effectiveness of the scaffolding provided by the course design. We find important connections between developing knowledge of academic discourse and successful academic use of the Web, and note that, for students to transfer their skills to a range of contexts, these skills will require sustained attention throughout the undergraduate curriculum. We present evidence that the most effective strategies integrate everyday practical knowledge of research techniques with teaching about academic discourse and building students’ knowledge in a specific domain.     

Exploring undergraduates' understanding of photosynthesis using diagnostic question clusters

We present a diagnostic question cluster (DQC) that assesses undergraduates' thinking about photosynthesis. This assessment tool is not designed to identify individual misconceptions. Rather, it is focused on students' abilities to apply basic concepts about photosynthesis by reasoning with a coordinated set of practices based on a few scientific principles: conservation of matter, conservation of energy, and the hierarchical nature of biological systems. Data on students' responses to the cluster items and uses of some of the questions in multiple-choice, multiple-true/false, and essay formats are compared. A cross-over study indicates that the multiple-true/false format shows promise as a machine-gradable format that identifies students who have a mixture of accurate and inaccurate ideas. In addition, interviews with students about their choices on three multiple-choice questions reveal the fragility of students' understanding. Collectively, the data show that many undergraduates lack both a basic understanding of the role of photosynthesis in plant metabolism and the ability to reason with scientific principles when learning new content. Implications for instruction are discussed.     

The beliefs of teachers and daycare staff regarding children of divorce: A Q methodological study

This Q methodological study explores beliefs of daycare staff and teachers regarding young children’s reactions related to divorce. The Q factor analysis resulted in two viewpoints. Participants on the viewpoint “Child problems” believe that children show various emotional and behavioral problems related to divorce, while those on the “Structure is working” viewpoint believe structure in daycare centers and parental cooperation help children to overcome divorce-related difficulties. Selective perception based on subjective experiences may have influenced these views. Practical implications are discussed. Q methodology and cognitive interviewing techniques seem efficient in exploring daycare staff beliefs.     

Testing a motivational model of achievement: How students’ mathematical beliefs and interests are related to their achievement

Blackwell et al. (Child Development 78(1):246–263, 2007) tested a motivational model of achievement in which an incremental theory of intelligence leads to learning goals and positive effort beliefs, which leads to fewer ability-based, helpless attributions, and more positive strategies, which leads to improved grades. In the present study, we tested this model by using a different population, using domain-specific items, comparing the results across gender, including “interest” as another variable in the model, and assessing the impact of achievement as an antecedent and outcome variable in the model. Participants included 163, mostly White, ninth-grade Algebra students from a suburban school in southwest Virginia, USA. We established that the model had a relatively good fit to the data and all paths were statistically significant when achievement was used as both an antecedent and outcome variable. The standardized path coefficients were consistent with those reported by Blackwell et al. and the model was invariant across genders. Furthermore, we documented that interest could be included as another mediating variable in the model. The results of this study provide evidence to support the validity of the relationships between the constructs in the Blackwell et al. model for the population examined.