Ethnic Identity Development and Acculturation Preferences Among Minority and Majority Youth: Norms and Contact

This article tests a longitudinal model of the antecedents and consequences of changes in identification with indigenous (Mapuche) among indigenous and nonindigenous youth in Chilean school contexts over a 6‐month period (633 nonindigenous and 270 Mapuche students, M_ages = 12.47 and 12.80 years, respectively). Results revealed that in‐group norms supporting contact and quality of intergroup contact at Time 1 predicted student's changes in Mapuche identification at Time 2, which in turn predicted changes in support for adoption of Chilean culture and maintenance of Mapuche culture at Time 2; some of the relationships between these variables were found to be moderated by age and ethnicity. Conceptual and policy implications are addressed in the Discussion .     

A media course commitment study in a Canadian university: empirical validation of an exchange model

This paper presents a study on the attraction of students to an open‐university‐type, media course programme, and their commitment to remain in the programme over time. The findings from this study include 1. When considering the impact on media (i.e. distance education) course commitment of course satisfaction, investments, and alternatives to media courses, perceived investment alone was able to account for 5% of the variance in the dependent measure.

2. Following multiple discriminant analysis, the profile outlining the highly committed media course student defined one who was regarded, satisfied, highly invested, low‐perceived cost accrued, with a significant number of years out of school (here, 10) prior to commencement in the media course programme.

3. Following multiple discriminant analysis, the profile defining the student who has completed a considerable number of course credits (versus the neophyte) was described as being highly invested, highly cost aware, and relatively lowly satisfied.

Implications of such findings for distance education marketing are discussed.     

Longitudinal Relations Among Positivity,Perceived Positive School Climate,and Prosocial Behavior in Colombian Adolescents

Bidirectional relations among adolescents’ positivity, perceived positive school climate, and prosocial behavior were examined in Colombian youth. Also, the role of a positive school climate in mediating the relation of positivity to prosocial behaviors was tested. Adolescents (N = 151; M_age of child in Wave 1 = 12.68, SD = 1.06; 58.9% male) and their parents (N = 127) provided data in two waves (9 months apart). A model of bidirectional relations between positivity and perceived positive school climate emerged. In addition, adolescents with higher levels of perceived positive school climate at age 12 showed higher levels of prosocial behaviors in the following year. Positive school climate related positivity to adolescents’ prosocial behavior over time.     

Will that be on the test? Perceived task demands and test performance in a classroom context

Departing from a realistic classroom context, this study focuses on the relationship between students’ perception of task demands and their learning performance. History teachers (N=20) and their 11th-grade students (N=375) rated the relative importance of sections of an instructional text on which teachers would be giving a test. In addition, test grades were collected. It was hypothesized that the degree of correspondence between ratings of individual students and those of their teacher would reflect the accurateness of students’ perception of task demands and therefore would be positively related with test grade. Multilevel analysis revealed partly support for this hypothesis. Students with higher grades more consistently showed a relative close correspondence with their teacher than students with lower grades. Nonetheless, a substantial number of students who showed a relatively close correspondence with their teacher, obtained a low test grade. This suggests that a more accurate perception of task demands did not guarantee a higher test performance.     

Motivation and performance within a collaborative computer-based modeling task: Relations between students’ achievement goal orientation,self-efficacy,cognitive processing,and achievement

Purpose of the present study was to test a conceptual model of relations among achievement goal orientation, self-efficacy, cognitive processing, and achievement of students working within a particular collaborative task context. The task involved a collaborative computer-based modeling task. In order to test the model, group measures of mastery-approach goal orientation, performance-avoidance goal orientation, self-efficacy, and achievement were employed. Students’ cognitive processing was assessed using an online log-file measure. As predicted, mastery-approach goal orientation had a significant positive effect on achievement, which was mediated through students’ use of deep processes. No significant relationships could be found between performance-avoidance goal orientation and surface processing and between surface processing and achievement. Results are discussed with respect to general theoretical implications and lead to suggestions for the design of appropriate scaffolds.     

The role and status of non-governmental (‘daike’) teachers in China's rural education

A key ingredient for countries striving to achieve Education For All is the availability of trained qualified teachers with favourable working conditions. The goal is an elusive one, even for some developed countries, though progress is being made toward it. The problem is particularly challenging in poor rural areas of developing countries where qualified teachers are reluctant to work or employing authorities cannot afford to hire them. This paper examines this situation in the context of a Western province in China (Gansu). It considers the role, characteristics and status of non-governmental (‘daike’) teachers and discusses issues that arise from their employment.     

Personal factors and personal information activities behaviors of faculty in selected universities in Ghana

This study examined how demographic characteristics of faculty influence their personal information activities behaviors, namely information creation, information organization, and information storage. Data was collected from a sample of 235 faculty in six universities in Ghana using a questionnaire. Age, gender, rank and university of affiliation predicted personal information activities behaviors in different directions and with different magnitudes. Gender made a difference in information organization and information storage while age made a difference in respect of information creation and information organization only. Faculty ages 4049 years created information the most, followed by those above 50 years. Males stored information more than females. Rank made a difference in information creation, organization and storage, but university of affiliation made a difference in information creation and information storage, and not information organization. It is common among information system designers and managers to implement information management systems without considering the differential influence of personal variables on human information behaviors. This omission denies information users adequate access and maximum use of the information in their information space. Institutional leaders and PIM systems designers should consider demographic and other personal factors of faculty in information literacy programs. Profiling of users' personal characteristics when designing personal information management systems will enhance maximum access and utilisation of personal information.     

NTBFs—the French case

New technology-based firms (NTBFs) represent only a small proportion of the firms established in France each year; they attract very little specific attention from the national statistical apparatus and are considered to be of marginal significance by both the public authorities and financial institutions. Although the definition of NTBFs is problematic, the available evidence suggests that the survival rate of technology-based firms is higher than that of other start-ups. The most successful in terms of growth belong to dense and convergent networks through which they interact with larger firms and research organisations. There is very little public policy specifically targeted on NTBFs in France. Instead, public financing has been devoted mainly to the development of SMEs in general—in support of their role in the creation of new employment—and to supporting technology-based firms, both large and small, to strengthen the international competitiveness of the French industry.