Applying Learning Analytics to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

In this article we report on the findings of a project funded by the Australian Office for Learning and Teaching and entitled “Learning Analytics: Assisting Universities with Student Retention.” While this project was primarily focused on retention as a potential outcome of learning analytics, its application could be related to the broader concept of student success. Student success allows for a focus on pedagogy and the use of learning analytics for the improvement of learning and teaching with a firm scholarly evidence base. The data gathered for the project provide the background for a discussion about the potential of learning analytics to inform the practice of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. A case study demonstrates the potential of this approach. Overall, clear pedagogical questions are important in the application of learning analytics to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and we suggest potential ways to explore pedagogical questions with big data methods.     

Differential versus equal student subsidies in post-secondary education: A current Canadian dispute

This paper examines a current proposal that students in higher education should have equal subsidies. The proposal has recently been made on grounds of efficiency and is therefore linked with the justification of subsidies because of public benefits (externalities) from education. The argument is that since we are ignorant of the differential strengths of public benefits from each educational program, it is a safe rule to subsidize each at an equal rate. This equality argument is further supported in this paper with the observation that marginal public benefits diminish with increasing educational duration. This efficiency argument is clearly distinguishable from that of equity or equality of opportunity.The strength of the argument is next tested against the objections to it that are now being made by the Ontario Commission on Post-Secondary Education. Evidence of the degree of present inequality in subsidization in Ontario is fully surveyed. It is shown that the Commission is reluctant to reduce the inequality because this will mean charging full fees for the last stages of professional training. The Commission fears that this would result eventually in the raising of professional fees to the public.This article finally produces an economic model that shows that the Commission's fears are groundless. The case for switching the subsidies in favour of the earlier years of education is indeed stronger than appears at first sight because of the monopolistic tendencies of the professions concerned.     

Changing balances in Dutch higher education

Like many other higher education systems in the Western world, Dutch higher education underwent profound changes during the last decade. In this article we will present an overview of these changes, and try to formulate an analytical framework that might be suited to analyze this process. In order to set the stage, we will begin with an overview of the Dutch higher education system, in which the broad structure is described, and some trends are presented. Next, an overview is given of the retrenchment and restructuring operations with which Dutch higher education was confronted during the last decade. Drawing, mainly, on public administration and political theory, we then attempt to formulate a framework for analysis. In this we focus on the Dutch higher education system as a policy network, and address the relationships that exist between the various key actors in the network: between government and higher education, among higher education institutions themselves, and among the different actors within the institutions, especially administrators and academics. In doing so, we hope to demonstrate that at all these levels some identical basic processes operate which to a large extent determine the outcomes of governmental policies aimed at changing the higher education system. Time and again the modern state stumbles over the academic system (Clark 1983: 137)     

An alternate path to stoichiometric problem solving

Stoichiometric problem solving has always been a stumbling block for many students in introductory chemistry courses. Research has shown that it is quite common for students to rely on algorithms when doing stoichiometric calculations. In previous studies, students were confronted with simple stoichiometric problems that involved comparing molar masses with simple ratios to one another. It turned out that students very successfully used their own problem-solving strategies. It is typical of these strategies that students describe relations in their own words rather than applying mathematical calculations. In this paper, an alternate path to teaching introductory stoichiometry-based on the results of research-will be discussed. The recommendation given is to use problems of the kind mentioned above which can easily be solved by quick mental calculation.     

The treatment of science discipline knowledge in primary teacher education

Whilst there is general agreement that primary teachers have a rather limited understanding of science, as Symington and Mackay (Note 1) have shown there is no universally accepted view amongst teacher educators in Victoria about the steps that need to be taken to improve their subject matter competence in science. This paper addresses the issue by taking a topic which is widely included in primary science programs, namely floating and sinking, and asking what knowledge primary teachers should have to enable them to handle the topic in a primary classroom in a way consistent with constructivist ideas. The paper will also address the issue of how that knowledge could be assessed. Specializations: learning theories, history and philosophy of science, chemical education. Specialization: primary school science.     

中美两国确认不侵犯知识产权诉讼的法律与实践

美国以一个诉讼多的国度而闻名于世。但在美国法院提起确认不侵犯知识产权之诉却决非易事。原告必须满足美国《宪法》"案例和争议"要求才可起诉。美国《确认不侵权法案》的标准并未明确规定处理Medlmmune(医学免疫公司)诉     

The Relation Between Walking and Language in Infant Siblings of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

In typical development, walk onset is accompanied by increased language growth (e.g., Walle & Campos, 2014). The present study explored whether this relation may be disrupted in the infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; heightened risk of receiving an ASD diagnosis; HR), a population exhibiting substantial variability in motor and language development (e.g., Gamliel, Yirmiya, & Sigman, 2007; Landa & Garrett-Mayer, 2006). Receptive and expressive language were examined across the transition to walking in three groups of HR infants (no diagnosis, language delay, and ASD; N = 91, 8–18 months) and in infants with no family history of ASD (N = 25; 9–15 months). Only infants with an eventual ASD diagnosis did not show increased language growth following walk onset.     

Restructuring Teacher Education in Australia

Debate on teacher quality and quality in teaching and teacher education has been as vigorous in Australia as it has been in the UK and the USA. In Australia, however, reform in teacher education has been subsumed within a national metapolicy of corporate federalism which is an amalgam of beliefs or discourses including neo‐corporatism, economic rationalism, corporate managerialism and human capital. The paper analyses the most recent document on reform of teacher education in Australia (the Ebbeck Report) and shows how its policy formulation is influenced by the discourse of corporate federalism. It also shows how micro‐economic reform in this sector is related to reforms in other sectors of education.