The aims of lifelong learning through the dynamic of ambition

This article addresses the personal negotiations that lead individuals to pursue adult education. Analysing this process determines ambitions pursued, and thus makes it possible to identify how the individuals involved perceive their desired future as an improvement. This study found that ambitions were negotiated in order to make them acceptable to the individuals themselves, but that their negotiation also involved others; at the same time, it examined the aims and constraints implied by the process. This negotiation process draws on norms and rules related to the search for a better work–life balance. Three types of ambition were identified as models for negotiating the social organisation of time. The paper concludes with the benefits of studying ambition for the field of adult education, and on the potential contribution that can be made by considering these programmes as a support in the construction of identities, even though this aspect tends to be diminished by neoliberal hegemony regarding adult training programmes.     

The Aftermath of Hobby Lobby and Obergefell: A Reconceptualization of Religious Freedom in the United States and its Potential Implications for Public Schools and Pluralist Democracies

Restricting public employees' free exercise rights or the State to maintain neutrality toward religion has been longstanding precedent in the United States. It has certainly been the case in US public schools beginning in the 1940s and affirmed through the courts over and again through much of the 20th century. The aftermath of 2 recent Supreme Court decisions challenges this long-held precedent, however, as it has led to several instances in which public employees have requested religious exemptions from their professional obligations (e.g., Kentucky court clerk Kim Davis' refusal to grant marriage certificates to same-sex couples). This article provides a foundational framework for exploring the recent reconceptualization of religious freedom and its possible implications for public schools and the larger project of advancing a liberal, pluralist democracy were teachers to refuse to fulfill central elements of their job on the basis of religious objections.     

Global channels of evidence for learning and assessment in complex game environments

In this paper, we take a designer's look at how the activities and data of learning and assessment can be structured in immersive virtual game environments called Massively Multi‐Player Online Games (MMOG). In doing so, we examine the channels of evidence through which learning and assessment activities are derived in MMOGs, offering examples of how multiple evidence channels in operation through game‐based activities can be utilised to construct rich data trails for assessment.     

Comparing Rasch measurement and factor analysis

This article illustrates how Rasch measurement is preferable to factor analysis for reducing complex data matrices to unidimensional variables. The two methods: (a) address the same kind of data, but with different interpretations of numerical status; (b) use the same estimation methods, but with different measurement models; and (c) solve the same problems, but with substantially different utility. Factor analysis is faulted for mistaking ordinally labeled stochastic observations for linear measures and for failing to construct linear measurement. The motivation and mathematical basis for Rasch measurement are introduced. How to use Rasch measurement to replace factor analysis is developed for a dichotomy and demonstrated for a rating scale.     

Assessing the 21st Century After-School Program and the Educational Gains of LEP Participants: A Contextual Approach

This study examines math and English standardized test score progress of students who participated in the 21st century program across 2 years of involvement with a focus on the learning trajectories of limited English proficiency (LEP) students. We find that math and English scores are highly associated with the school and program type—even within a single school district. LEP participants are the furthest behind but have the highest gains compared to other participants. Results vary based on the type of outcome (math or reading), the type of activity (academic or enrichment), and the grade level (elementary or middle school).     

Strategic leadership for large‐scale reform: the case of England's national literacy and numeracy strategy

Both ‘strategic’ and ‘distributed’ forms of leadership are considered promising responses to the demands placed on school systems by large‐scale reform initiatives. Using observation, interview and survey data collected as part of a larger evaluation of England's National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies, this study inquired about sources of leadership, the distribution of leadership functions across roles and how such distribution could also provide the strategic coordination necessary for successful implementation of such an ambitious reform agenda     

Verbal Final Exam in Introductory Biology Yields Gains in Student Content Knowledge and Longitudinal Performance

We studied gains in student learning over eight semesters in which an introductory biology course curriculum was changed to include optional verbal final exams (VFs). Students could opt to demonstrate their mastery of course material via structured oral exams with the professor. In a quantitative assessment of cell biology content knowledge, students who passed the VF outscored their peers on the medical assessment test (MAT), an exam built with 40 Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) questions (66.4% [n = 160] and 62% [n = 285], respectively; p < 0.001);. The higher-achieving students performed better on MCAT questions in all topic categories tested; the greatest gain occurred on the topic of cellular respiration. Because the VF focused on a conceptually parallel topic, photosynthesis, there may have been authentic knowledge transfer. In longitudinal tracking studies, passing the VF also correlated with higher performance in a range of upper-level science courses, with greatest significance in physiology, biochemistry, and organic chemistry. Participation had a wide range but not equal representation in academic standing, gender, and ethnicity. Yet students nearly unanimously (92%) valued the option. Our findings suggest oral exams at the introductory level may allow instructors to assess and aid students striving to achieve higher-level learning.     

The roles of value predispositions,communication, and third person perception on public support for censorship of films with homosexual content

This study aims to examine the roles of value predispositions, communication, and third person perception on public support for censorship of films with homosexual content in Singapore. Findings from a nationally representative telephone survey of adults showed that the majority of Singaporeans supported stricter censorship of films with homosexual characters. Conformity to norms, intrinsic religiosity, and Asian orientation were positively associated with public support for censorship. Media exposure and perceived negative media effects on self were negatively associated with public support for censorship. Our results supported the perceptual component but not the behavioral component of the third person effect.