Enhancing science performance in students with learning disabilities using cover,copy, and compare: A student shows the way

A student who participated in a previous study where he was trained to use a self‐managed academic intervention known as cover, copy, and compare (CCC) to enhance his mathematics performance developed the specific intervention used in the current study. Without prompting, this student adapted and employed this procedure to learn bone in the human body. In the current study a multiple baseline across tasks design was used to determine if CCC could be used to enhance accuracy in identifying parts of the human heart in three students with learning disabilities. Three students learned how to perform the self‐management procedures during one session that lasted less than 15 minutes. Results showed that immediately after implementing the CCC intervention students' accuracy improved. Following 11 brief sessions, students were able to identify 15 parts of a human heart with an overall accuracy of 80% over 2 consecutive days. Discussion focuses on limitations and implications of this study and school psychologists' and students' contributions to the development and empirical validation of academic interventions. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Orchestrating policy ideas: philanthropies and think tanks in US education policy advocacy networks

While think tanks are a global phenomenon, their role in shaping US policy offers an instructive example of think tank influence on policymaking due to the immensity of resources directed towards those ends, with education policy serving as a prime example. Focusing on a distinct set of “incentivist” education policies, this analysis describes the think tank-philanthropy linkage in US education policymaking. We offer examples of how philanthropists provide financial, empirical and political resources to advance think tanks’ policy ideas through advocacy networks; describe the multiple functions performed through advocacy networks of intermediary organisations, noting the diffusion of form and function around tasks such as knowledge production, political and media support; and we highlight the ways in which US venture philanthropists and think tanks connect around “idea orchestration” in order to advance ideas in policy processes. We suggest that, especially in the realm of incentivist policies, think tanks do not appear to produce or incubate but rather promote ideas, and actually often only a single idea. The concluding discussion considers advantages evident in idea orchestration and the implications of private control of public policymaking.     

How much role conflict is there in the job of university lecturer? An international comparison

Teaching members of two South African and two Nigerian universities were asked to rate the importance of four roles in their jobs; teaching, administration, research, and character building of students. The Nigerian lecturers rated teaching and character building as more important than did the South African lecturers, who rated research as more important than did the Nigerian lecturers. In both countries the emphasis on research was positively related to the prestige and size of the university; while that on teaching and character building was greater in both countries among lecturers in the humanities than among those in the natural sciences. The results are interpreted in the light of the growing conflict faced by lecturers between the research role (to secure promotion, tenure, and salary increments) and the teaching and character development roles (to satisfy students).     

Southern agency and digital education: an ethnography of open online learning in Dili,Timor-Leste

ABSTRACT

This ethnography, based on fieldwork in Dili, Timor-Leste between 2015 and 2017, adopts an orthodox sociological theorising of agency to investigate the ways in which people in Dili negotiate the numerous interacting structural barriers to digital education. Having identified a lack of attention to learner agency in the literature on the promotion and adoption of MOOCs and OER in the Global South (King, Pegrum, and Forsey [2018]. ‘MOOCs and OER in the Global South: Problems and Potential’. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 19 (5): 2–20. doi:10.19173/irrodl.v19i5.3742), the paper addresses Connell’s [(2008). Southern Theory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in Social Science. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin] influential criticism of the imbalances in global knowledge production, and explores the parallels in technologically enhanced learning. A new concept- Southern agency- is developed through the stories of three Timorese students and their engagement with digital education, focussing on the influences of local infrastructure, family, literacies and the colonial legacy. The paper highlights the need for more extensive research into local practices of learning with technologies and advocates Southern agency as a heuristic device to gain valuable insights into the lived experience of Southern learners.     

A preliminary investigation of trunk and wrist kinematics when using drivers with different shaft properties

It is unknown whether skilled golfers will modify their kinematics when using drivers of different shaft properties. This study aimed to firstly determine if golf swing kinematics and swing parameters and related launch conditions differed when using modified drivers, then secondly, determine which kinematics were associated with clubhead speed. Twenty high level amateur male golfers (M ± SD: handicap = 1.9 ± 1.9 score) had their three-dimensional (3D) trunk and wrist kinematics collected for two driver trials. Swing parameters and related launch conditions were collected using a launch monitor. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant (p ≤ 0.003) between driver differences; specifically, faster trunk axial rotation velocity and an early wrist release for the low kick point driver. Launch angle was shown to be 2° lower for the high kick point driver. Regression models for both drivers explained a significant amount of variance (60–67%) in clubhead speed. Wrist kinematics were most associated with clubhead speed, indicating the importance of the wrists in producing clubhead speed regardless of driver shaft properties.     

Criteria-referenced formative assessment in the arts

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of criteria-referenced formative assessment on achievement in the arts. Seventy-five schools in New York City were assigned to either the treatment or control condition. The treatment involved 3195 elementary, middle, or high school students instructed by 43 music, visual arts, theater, or dance teachers. The teachers were involved in a professional development program focused on formative assessment practices, particularly criteria-referenced peer and self-assessment. The control group consisted of 2445 students in classes instructed by 32 teachers who did not receive the professional development. Discipline-specific, performance-based pre- and post-measures were used to evaluate student learning. Fidelity of implementation was examined before the analysis of the treatment effect. Propensity score matching analysis was used to examine group differences in performance on the post-assessment. Results based on a sample of 611 matched pairs of students showed that, overall, criteria-referenced formative assessment had a statistically significant, positive effect (d = .26) on students’ arts achievement.     

Negotiating self- and peer-feedback with the use of reflective journals: an analysis of undergraduates’ engagement with feedback

Abstract

Self- and peer-feedback are commonly used in higher education, and in most cases, it is assumed that students will engage with the feedback. There is, however, limited systematic exploration of how students use the feedback. This study proposes a structured reflective journal for students to engage with both self- and peer-feedback in the context of teamwork competencies. In total, 519 undergraduates’ self- and peer-ratings and feedback and a matching number of reflective journals were coded for how students internally negotiate self- and peer-feedback on teamwork competencies. The analysis of ratings shows upward trajectories of self- and peer-ratings over time, and the analysis of journals suggests students were more effective in building their teamwork competencies when they negotiate their experiences by giving attention to positive affect, goal intention and performance. These findings highlight the importance of priming students to be reflective of self- and peer-feedback via a written and codified reflective journal.