Building friendship through a cross-cultural mentoring program

This paper examines the efficacy of a short-term mentoring program in building cross-cultural friendships between students at an Australian university. Using a quasi-experimental approach, our study found that the mentoring program (Local Aussie Mentoring Program—LAMP) increased cross-cultural interactions for mentees, but not for mentors. About 45% of both mentors and mentees wished to continue their relationship with mentoring partners after the completion of the mentoring requirements. Mentees spent significantly more time with cross-ethnic friends than did controls after the completion of LAMP. We examined whether multicultural aspects of personality, as measured by the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), would positively correlate with cross-cultural mentoring effectiveness and cross-cultural friendship interactions (the dependent variables). Multicultural personality aspects of mentors (as measured by the MPQ) had significant positive relationships with both mentee and mentor-rated mentoring measures. All mentor MPQ scales showed some significant but small and positive relationships, with mentor friendship items, particularly Open-mindedness, Cultural Empathy and Emotional Stability. We found a significant, positive relationship between mentee Cultural Empathy and Social Initiative with cross-cultural friendship. These results show some partial support for a positive relationship between MPQ scales and cross-ethnic friendships.     

The Management Charter Initiative: an interim assessment

The background to the Management Charter Initiative (MCI) and its relationship to National Vocational Qualifications are described. An assessment is made of the MCI approach and the author's experience of a Certificate in Management course.     

Relationship Between Adjustment and Support Types: Young and Mature-aged Local and International First Year University Students

First year university is an important transition context for students. The present study examined the relationship between adjustment and support types, sources and levels of support, and satisfaction with levels of support, for first year students in an Australian university. Comparisons were made between young (17–21 year olds) and mature-aged students and local and international students. Findings indicate that well-adjusted students reported higher levels of social companionship support than the less adjusted group. Many students would have liked more support overall. In comparison to the local group, international students would have liked to receive more emotional, practical and informational support. The implications for service provision and university strategies are discussed.     

A Practical Introduction to Authoring for Computer Assisted Instruction. Part 2: PILOT

PILOT is a CAI author language that is available on a wide variety of computer systems. This paper presents an overview of the language in terms of its structure and mode of operation. Some experiments designed to assess the usefulness of this authoring system are then described.     

ICT背景下的教与学

本文对ICT背景下教师教学和学生学习及其相互之间的关系进行了探讨。以大量的调查材料为依据，提出ICT技术装备的优越性和教学应用中存在的问题。     

Performance Approach,Performance Avoidance and Depth of Information Processing: A fresh look at relations between students' academic motivation and cognition

This study examines the effects of motivational approach on the recall of verbal information processed at shallow and deep levels. Two hundred students attending the same primary school were randomly assigned to either a mastery focused condition, performance approach condition, performance avoidance condition, or a control group. The participants were motivationally manipulated prior to receiving 12 stimulus words designed to be encoded at either shallow or deep levels of processing. A free recall test followed, then a cued recall test. Results indicate that students remembered more stimulus words during cued recall than free recall. Recall of verbal information was superior when processed according to the deeper (category and sentence) levels of processing. Performance approach and avoidance goals resulted in superior recall during free and cued recall, compared with a mastery goal or with the control group. The usefulness of these findings for promoting greater clarity among motivational frameworks and ideas for further research are discussed.