Lessons for Managers: England's Human Resource Dilemmas

Educating the current and future workforce is an extremely important issue. Historically, the UK has not been concerned with educating and training the masses. In the 1990s, talent will be short in the UK and within the European Community (EC). By 1992, the trade barriers will be lifted for the 12 member nations of the EC. Companies that are creative and open to utilizing avenues to train present and potential workers are going to be more competitive in the EC. If the UK continues to produce an unskilled work force, it will not survive the competition. Business leaders realize the need to develop a work force that is equally or better equipped than the work force that is available to their competitors. core lessons learned from the international visit include (1) HRD is not a “perk,” (2) the changing work force is real, (3) quality is the key to competitiveness, and (4) managers need to stick to the basics of human resource management.     

Performance Indicators in Business Decision Making

It would be difficult to identify an educational group or agency at the national or state level that is not involved in identifying and observing educational indicators (Smith, 1988). The use of such indicators really came to the forefront during the 1980s. With the increased emphasis on accountability and the quality of education in the U.S., one can only expect that the quality and use of educational indicators will increase during the 1990s. A parallel situation canbe found in the private sector. While the terminology may be somewhat different, the use of such indicators in business and industry became important during the 1980s and is expected to increase during the 1990s, as well. Previous studies have demonstrated the utility of performance indicators to educational decision makers in a business setting (McLinden, 1987). In this paper, we discuss two studies which have influenced policy by assessing program impact and influencing strategic direction. The paper concludes by grounding our work in the tradition of secondary research (Kiecolt & Natlar, 1985) and discussing both the pros and cons of this evaluation method.     

Moral rights protection for the visual arts

Beginning in 1979, certain states extended extra copyright protection, known as “moral rights” protection, to visual artists. Moral rights protection, which was incorporated into U.S. copyright law in 1990, ensures that works cannot be altered in a manner that would negatively impact the reputation of the artist. Using difference-in-differences regression strategies, we compare artists and non-artists in states with moral rights laws to those in states without these laws, before and after the laws are enacted. This enables us to test the impact of the laws on the behavior of artists, consumers, and policy makers. Our analysis reveals that the average artist’s income falls by around $4000 per year as a result of moral rights legislation, but we find no impact of the laws on artists’ choices of residence or on state-level public spending on the arts.     

The incidence and utility of the ACID,ACIDS, and SCAD profiles in a referred population

THE ACID, ACIDS, and SCAD profiles are examples of subtest patterns from the WISC-III that have been proposed as potentially helpful in differential diagnosis of exceptionalities. This study investigated the prevalence and utility of these profiles in a large referred population. Although the incidence rates of the ACID and ACIDS profiles in some groups were greater than rates reported for the standardization sample, incidence levels were found to be low in all clinical groups studied. The SCAD profile evidenced generally higher incidence rates but none greater than the rates reported for the standardization sample. The findings support the use of conditional probabilities and incremental gains based on the actual incidence from a referred population to assist in differential diagnosis; however, none of the profiles are recommended as a criterion for determining exceptionality.     

Differentiating instruction for gifted students in regular education social studies classes

Educational reform movements are transforming the shape of schools. Classroom populations are becoming more diverse as the number of students with disparate learning needs increases. Revised standards and performance expectations in the area of social studies are requiring teachers to make major shifts in teaching practices and strategies. Differentiation of instruction is necessary to meet the varied learning needs of diverse learners in social studies classes, especially gifted students. Curriculum compacting provides time for enrichment and/or acceleration for gifted learners. Conceptual thematic units, questioning strategies, interest development centers, independent study programs, and mentor‐ships are enrichment opportunities which can be implemented in regular education social studies classes to meet the learning needs of gifted students.     

Use of Exam Wrappers to Enhance Students’ Metacognitive Skills in a Large Introductory Food Science and Human Nutrition Course

Research shows that students struggle to develop higher order thinking skills and effective study strategies during the transition from high school to college. Therefore, in addition to teaching course content, effective instructors should assist students in developing metacognitive skills, that is, the practice of thinking about their thinking. An effective assignment that assists students in thinking about their exam performance is the exam wrapper. The objectives of this study were to examine students’ metacognitive skills, evaluate the correlation between study behaviors and student performance, and assess student perception of exam wrappers. Exam wrapper assignments were offered as extra credit after the first 3 exams in a large introductory Food Science and Human Nutrition course, and student responses and exam performance were analyzed. Many students with poor exam performance overestimated their exam scores, indicating students’ self‐assessment skills could be sharpened. However, students demonstrated the ability to make and implement goals to improve study strategies throughout the semester. A modest relationship between use of study strategies and improved exam performance was observed, particularly for students with a B exam average, suggesting that students in the middle of the grade distribution may benefit most from this type of intervention. Finally, most students expressed a belief that exam wrappers helped them improve their study habits and exam scores, and that they planned to use the exam wrapper process in future classes. In summary, this study shows that the exam wrapper is a valued and effective postexam reflection tool for improving students’ self‐reported study habits.     

Development and testing of an antitobacco school-based curriculum for deaf and hard of hearing youth

A tobacco use prevention curriculum tailored for deaf/hard of hearing youth was tested using a quasi-experimental design. Two schools for the deaf received the curriculum; two served as noncurriculum controls. Surveys assessed changes in tobacco use, tobacco education exposure, and tobacco-related attitudes and knowledge among students in grades 7-12 over 3 school years (n = 511-616). Current (past month) smoking decreased significantly at one intervention school (23% to 8%,p = .007), and current smokeless tobacco use at the other (7.5% to 2.5%, p = .03). Tobacco education exposure and antitobacco attitudes and knowledge increased significantly at one or both intervention schools. At one control school, reported tobacco education exposure decreased (p < .001) and antitobacco attitudes increased (p = .01). The results indicate that the curriculum increased perceived tobacco education exposure and significantly affected tobacco-related practices, attitudes, and knowledge.     

Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life: An Investigation of Young Children's Beliefs About Robot Intelligence

Children's worlds are increasingly populated by intelligent technologies. This has raised a number of questions about the ways in which technology can change children's ideas about important concepts, like what it means to be alive or smart. In this study, we examined the impact of experience with intelligent technologies on children's ideas about robot intelligence. A total of 60 children aged 4 through 7 were asked to identify the intellectual, psychological, and biological characteristics of 8 entities that differed in terms of their life status and intellectual capabilities. Results indicated that as children gained experience in this domain, they began to differentiate robots from other familiar entities. This differentiation was indicated by a unique pattern of responses about the intellectual and psychological characteristics of robots. These findings suggest that experience may yield a more highly developed viewpoint that reflects an appreciation of the distinctions between biological life, machines, and artificially intelligent technologies.

People who grew up in the world of the mechanical are more comfortable with a definition of what is alive that excludes all but the biological and resist shifting definitions of aliveness.… Children who have grown up with computational objects don't experience that dichotomy. They turn the dichotomy into a menu and cycle through its choices. (Turkle, 1999 Turkle, S. 1999. “What are we thinking about when we are thinking about computers”. In The science studies reader, Edited by: Biagioli, M. 543–552. New York: Routledge.  [Google Scholar], p. 552)