Modelling Opportunity Recognition Competence as a Foundation for Teaching and Learning in Vocational Education

Due to tremendous worldwide changes, the entrepreneurial imperative demands innovation. Therefore, companies as well as employees require innovative thinking and acting skills to cope with modern challenges. Opportunity Recognition represents the starting point for such entrepreneurial endeavours. Hence, this paper focuses on modelling Opportunity Recognition as well as the development of an Opportunity Recognition competence model as the foundation for teaching and learning in vocational education. Building on vocational situations that trigger innovations (opportunities) and the necessary competence facets that are needed to apply competent vocational behaviour in such situations (Opportunity Recognition), we conduct a systematic literature review and develop a comprehensive Opportunity Recognition competence model. We thereby link the found vocational situations (opportunities) with the found more abstract and latent competence facets of Opportunity Recognition and operationalise them by more observable indicators, which can be construed as evidence for the latent construct and related to successful performance in associated vocational situations. This modelling procedure of “evidence-based reasoning” allows inferences from the observed behaviour to the underlying, although not directly observable, Opportunity Recognition competence. The resulting Opportunity Recognition competence model may serve as a foundation for developing evidence-based curricular goals for vocational education through both instruction and assessment.     

Administrative perceptions of existing evaluation systems

Summary This research study focused on a number of issues related to the status and effectiveness of post-tenure evaluation practices within the two-year college sector.The results indicate that post-tenure evaluation exists in about 70 percent of the responding institutions who belong to the North Central Association. The stated purpose for the evaluation is formative and specifies that the evaluation is used as a basis for individual faculty development and for improvement purposes. There was, however, a sense that more emphasis should be given to reward systems in terms of merit compensation and/or merit recognition.Administrators generally indicate that a plan for improvement and professional growth is established and supported by institutional resources in their evaluation systems. Yet, there was ambivalence relative to the overall effectiveness of the post-evaluation process. The reasons for such a response centered on the perception that evaluation paid only lip service to faculty development and was not effective in measuring either competence or incompetence. It appears that much work needs to be accomplished in this area in order to improve the outcomes of evaluation systems. There was also significant concern expressed by administrators regarding the inadequacy of the system to identify and weed out poor or incompetent faculty members. Such action appeared to be lacking in those institutions participating in this study.Some well-defined recommendations were put forth by these administrators to improve the evaluation systems. The most prevalent recommendations centered on tying the system to faculty development and to a formative purpose, providing incentives (merit) for excellent performers, and lessening the importance of student evaluations.This study points out some of the gaps as perceived by administrators that exist in post-tenure evaluation systems today. It also provides some recommendations for improvement of evaluation systems for those individuals who are in positions to impact such change positively within institutions.In general, these data underscore the importance for individual institutions to assess the effectiveness of their evaluation systems from both a faculty and administrative perspective. The time and effort expended on an ineffective evaluation system might better be channeled into improving the system or into developing other quality college initiatives. Evaluation of tenured faculty should only be undertaken if it can improve the quality of life within the institution.     

Association of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Perinatal Maternal Depression with Early Childhood Behavioral Problems: An Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Study

This study examined the association of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), prenatal, and postnatal maternal depressive symptoms with externalizing, internalizing, and autism spectrum problems on the Preschool Child Behavior Checklist in 2379 children aged 4.12 ± 0.60 (48% female; 47% White, 32% Black, 15% Mixed Race, 4% Asian, <2% American Indian/Alaskan Native, <2% Native Hawaiian; 23% Hispanic). Data were collected from the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program from 2009-2021. GDM, prenatal, and postnatal maternal depressive symptoms were each associated with increased child externalizing and internalizing problems. GDM was associated with increased autism behaviors only among children exposed to perinatal maternal depressive symptoms above the median level. Stratified analyses revealed a relation between GDM and child outcomes in males only.     

Foop is still floop: A six year follow-up of phonological dyslexia and dysgraphia

A six year follow-up of a previously documented case of developmental phonological dyslexia, is reported. Overal reading and spelling levels have risen significantly, but the qualitative nature of the performance has remained unchanged: impaired non-word reading; morphological and visuo-semantic paralexias; and function word substitutions in text. Rhyming skills also remain impaired. A higher proportion of errors are paralexias and within these a higher proportion are visuo-semantic or morphological. The error pattern of phonological dylexia is thus more pronounced than before. In spelling, only a minority of errors are phonologically plausible. There is no evidence of the mastery of the alphabetic stage of reading or the alphabetic stage of spelling. It is argued that A.H. is reading orthographically not logographically and that current reading models, which require passage through an alphabetic stage before attaining an orthographic stage, do not adequately account for individual variation in the acquisition of literacy skills.This work was supported by a research award from the Wolfson Foundation. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Christine Temple, The Neuropsychology Unit, Radcliffe Infirmary, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HE, United Kingdom.     

Inequalities in the education system and the reproduction of socioeconomic disparities in voting in England,Denmark and Germany: the influence of country context,tracking and self-efficacy on voting intentions of students age 16–18

This article performs exploratory research using a mixed-methods approach (structural equation modelling and a thematic analysis of interview data) to analyse the ways in which socioeconomic disparities in voting patterns are reproduced through inequalities in education in different national contexts, and the role of self-efficacy in this process. The evidence suggests that in Germany and England students with lower socioeconomic status (SES) have lower levels of general self-efficacy, and that this is reinforced through early experiences of inequalities in the education system, such as within- or between-school selection. Low levels of general self-efficacy are then found to reduce political self-efficacy and voting intentions. In Germany and England, it is these students who enter initial vocational education and training (IVET). The experience of IVET then reinforces the distinctions in civic engagement, probably either through peer socialisation and/or curriculum differences. In Denmark, where SES has a weaker association with track placement, the experience of being placed in IVET plays a stronger role in reducing political self-efficacy and voting intentions.     

Student perspectives on climate change through place-based filmmaking

Abstract

The study examined high school students’ perspectives on climate change before and after participation in an informal science education program. During the program, students made a short, place-based film about climate change impacts in their communities. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of student data revealed key themes that illustrate how students characterized climate change before and after developing their films. Following the program, students described climate change as locally-relevant, alarming, and a concern that held increased personal importance to them. They also reported greater confidence in their understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change and indicated a stronger sense of both collective and personal responsibility to take action to address climate change challenges in their communities. The study adds to the existing body of literature that describes how making personally meaningful connections with climate change can inspire a sense of responsibility and agency among students.     

Impacts of an online-supported,resource-based learning environment: does one size fit all?

This paper reports on the use of an online, resource-based learning (RBL) approach in first year psychology at Deakin University. Differences between on- and off-campus students that emerged are examined in the context of the learning goals and study approaches of the two student groups and their attitudes to using computers. Unlike the on-campus students who were less positive about working with computers and reported confusion about how and what to study for the unit, the off-campus students reported feeling confident they had a good study strategy and were more positive about computers. The off-campus students also reported that they spent more time working with electronic resources and attached greater value to them. While all students valued the prescribed resources, the off-campus students found some of the optional, electronic resources valuable because they added to the learning experience. These students also reported greater use of the computer-mediated communication available as part of the online learning environment, and valued this functionality more highly than did the on-campus students. These findings highlight the need to take into account learner characteristics when designing learning environments that cater for individual differences and preferences. While online-supported RBL approaches have the potential to cater to the diverse needs of students, learning environments need to be designed, structured and delivered so the learning experience can be customized to the needs of different student cohorts, while preserving the overarching, pedagogical goals.