Advice from Rural Elders: What it Takes to Age in Place

Older adults prefer to age in place (AIP), and there are psychological, physiological, and economic benefits in doing so. However, it is especially challenging to AIP in rural communities. AIP models have been tested in urban settings and age-segregated communities, but they are not appropriate for rural communities. This paper presents rural AIP variables identified in the literature as well as those described by 39 older adults in five focus groups.     

Towards the improvement of the student experience of assessment and feedback in construction management education

It is widely accepted across Higher Education that assessment practices have a link with learning and a key factor in this link is formative assessment. Formative assessment is generally defined as taking place during a module/programme with the express purpose of improving and enhancing student learning. It is important to understand how lecturers in construction engineering education perceive their own roles and the roles of their students in using effective assessment strategies. An investigation into lecturers’ perceptions of their roles and their conceptions related to the assessment process of students in those programmes is reported. An on-line survey was conducted with over 30 Irish academics involved in the area of construction management. Discussion is focused on a critical evaluation of the findings of the study and how it relates to the current literature on the roles of academics in the formative assessment process. Recommendations are made on how lecturers/teachers might better formulate appropriate assessment strategies that will encourage deep and effective learning.     

Student Motivation to Learn via Computer Conferencing

This study investigates why some university students appear motivated to learn via computer conferencing (CC) whereas others do not, exploring the correlations of three key aspects of student motivation—reasons for engaging in academic learning (goal orientation), beliefs that they can acquire the ability to use CC (self-efficacy), and beliefs that learning to use CC will help them learn the course material (outcome expectations)—with satisfaction and with the frequency of CC contributions. Participants (n = 79) came from 4 graduate-level face-to-face courses and 1 undergraduate DE course. The results suggest that students who believe that CC will help them learn the course material are more likely to express satisfaction and to be active online, that students who believe that they are capable of learning how to use CC are more likely to be active online, and that students who are concerned about their relative performance compared to others tend to send fewer messages to conferences where online activity is not graded. Practical implications for instructors and suggestions for future research are described.     

Benefits of Brief Counseling Training for Master's‐Level Trainees in University Counseling Centers

Little has been addressed in the literature about the advantages of brief counseling training for master's‐level trainees working in university counseling centers. This article discusses the benefits that time‐limited treatment affords trainees and offers implications for training and research.     

The Introduction of Computer‐based Testing on an Engineering Technology Course

The current situation in higher education is one of increasing student numbers with a decreasing unit of resource. To help cope with this situation lecturers are exploring the possibility of using non‐traditional methods in some aspects of their work. One possibility is to apply new technology in the assessment of students. This paper presents a controlled comparison between traditional paper‐based tests and those using a computer. It is concluded that the new technique is acceptable to students and produces results with no deterioration in their validity; it also has great potential for the saving of staff time.     

Helping new science teachers with phone assistance for teachers of science (PATS)

This material is based upon work supported in part by a grant from the Southwestern Bell (SBC) Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the SBC Foundation.     

The Bedlam Academy

This article explores the polemical presentation of Oxford, the royalist capital between 1642 and 1646, in parliamentarian newsbooks. It argues that the novel seriality of the form offered opportunities for constructing political identities and identifying enemies through strategies of repetition and echoing within and across parliamentarian news media. Discussion of Oxford in these news titles suggests ways in which seriality helped establish and elaborate anti-royalist discourses by repeated reference to the corrupted centre of royalist politics. Sustained attention given to Oxford in weekly newsbooks built up a cumulative and complex picture of the city, and by extension royalism more broadly, as variously mired in Catholicism, subject to the damaging influence of female and foreign rule, riven by deviant sexualities, and possessed of a form of collective madness. The composite image of Oxford built up across parliamentarian news media helped construct a journalistic shorthand in which ‘Oxford’ came to denote a wealth of polemicised meanings readily accessible to comparatively humble readers. The article thus argues for a better recognition of the ways in which civil war news authors adopted the opportunities of serial publication for the elaboration of novel political stereotypes.     

How Language Supports Adaptive Teaching Through a Responsive Learning Culture

For students to learn optimally, teachers must design classrooms that are responsive to the full range of student development. The teacher must be adaptive, but so must each student and the learning culture itself. In other words, adaptive teaching means constructing a responsive learning culture that accommodates and even capitalizes on diversity to ensure that each student is learning optimally. There are 2 primary resources for accomplishing this, engagement and the classroom talk that the teacher orchestrates.     

Considering FERPA requirements for library patron databases within a consortial environment

This case study examines patron record privacy and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) within a consortial environment. FERPA requirements were examined, as well as college and library policy and procedure. It was determined that information in library patron records is directory information and, under most circumstances, does not need FERPA protections. However, the needs of the confidential student, who requests confidentiality of all information, including directory information, were identified as not having been addressed. Reed Library adjusted policy and procedures to meet the needs of the confidential student and fulfill FERPA requirements.