The effect of adult interactive style on the spontaneous communication of young children with autism at school

Relatively little is known about the effect of adult interactive style on children's communication. The aim of this study, written by Lila Kossyvaki, Glenys Jones and Karen Guldberg, all from the University of Birmingham, was to explore the effects of adult interactive style on children's spontaneous communication. The study used an action research methodology. Six children aged between four and five years with autism and three members of staff participated. Each child was video recorded for a total of two hours across four activities. The staff, in collaboration with the researcher, developed and put into practice an Adult Interactive Style Intervention (AISI) intended to promote spontaneous communication. Two months later each child was recorded for two hours across the same activities with staff using AISI. Cohen's d effect size was calculated to measure the differences pre‐ and post‐intervention. The increase in total initiations post‐intervention for all six children was significant. The findings suggest that attention should be paid to adult style when developing communication in children with autism.     

Is the essay resubmission option a formative or a summative assessment and does it matter as long as the grades improve?

Typically, essays are used as summative rather than formative assessments and students experience them as tasks rather than learning opportunities. Thus, the aim of this study was to see whether providing students with detailed formative feedback and an opportunity to resubmit their essay would improve their essays writing skills. Twenty‐six out of 54 third‐year psychology students resubmitted their essay. Of those 26 resubmitted essays, 18 were awarded higher grades. Although the students observed that their skills had improved, they mainly perceived the resubmission option as a ‘safety net’ and were motivated to use it as a way of improving their grades. Lack of time was the most common reason given for not resubmitting. Therefore, lecturers may be faced with a challenge of finding ways of not only providing formative feedback but also encouraging students to use it as such.     

Why do Muslim parents want Muslim schools?

Islam is a way of life, we try to do what the Prophet did. (Muslim teacher)

The small‐scale study focuses on a number of Muslim parents and practitioners who have rejected local primary community schools in favour of Muslim faith schooling. The rejection of the type of schools that we support and that we train our student teachers to prepare for prompts considerable concern. This concern has led us to question in what ways Muslim schools represent a challenge to our own educational beliefs and values. This study is an attempt to identify the source of that challenge and what it means to our understanding of ourselves as white educators and researchers and the work we do with trainee teachers. It leads us to question our perspective on a range of issues including diversity, inclusion, parental rights and ultimately the aims of education.     

The internationalization of Canadian university research: a global higher education matrix analysis of multi-level governance

To date, much of the research on internationalization and globalization of higher education has focused on the institution or higher education system as the unit of analysis. Institution based studies have focused on the analysis of institutional practices and policies designed to further internationalization. System-level studies focus on state policy initiatives or approaches. In this paper we explore the inter-relationships among multiple levels of authority within a higher education system through an analysis of research policies and activities related to internationalization. While we are interested in the internationalization of university research, our primary objective is to explore the relationships between policy initiatives and approaches at different levels. Using the “Global Higher Education Matrix” as a framework, we discuss the policy emphasis on the internationalization of research at the federal, provincial (Ontario), and institutional levels of authority, as well as the international research activities associated with two large professional schools operating at the understructure level. By focusing on the inter-relationships among initiatives at different levels of authority, this study explores the complexity of policy perspectives within the internationalization of research in the context of multi-level governance.     

The protective effects of religiousness and parent involvement on the development of conduct problems among youth exposed to violence

This study examined the protective effects of religiousness and parent involvement for the development of conduct problems beyond the effects of risk factors. Measures of violence exposure, conduct problems, parent involvement, and religiousness, from the longitudinal Social and Health Assessment survey, were completed by 1,703 high-risk urban adolescents (12.5 +/- 1.7 years; 53% female). Witnessing of and victimization by community violence appeared to be significant risk factors for an increase in conduct problems over a 1-year period. Religiousness and parental involvement were each uniquely associated with a decrease in conduct problems. Moreover, several dimensions of religiousness moderated the relationship between violence exposure and conduct problems, buffering the negative effects of violence exposure. Implications of these findings for prevention efforts are discussed.     

BODIES R US: Ethical Views on the Commercialization of the Dead in Medical Education and Research

With the ongoing and expanding use of willed bodies in medical education and research, there has been a concomitant rise in the need for willed bodies and an increase in the means of supplying these bodies. A relatively recent development to enlarge this supply has been the growth of for- profit willed body companies (“body brokers”) in the United States. These companies advertise for donors, cover all cremation and other fees for the donor, distribute the bodies or body parts nationally and internationally, and charge their users for access to the body or body parts. In doing so, they generate substantial profits. This review examines the historical development of willed body programs, the legal and economic aspects of willed body programs, and then provides an ethical framework for the use of willed bodies. The ethical principles described include detailed informed consent from the donors, comprehensive and transparent information about the process from the body donation organizations, and societal input on the proper and legal handling of willed bodies. Based on the ethical principles outlined, it is recommended that there be no commercialization or commodification of willed bodies, and that programs that use willed bodies should not generate profit.     

Collaborating across institutional and jurisdictional boundaries: enabling the emergence of a national innovation system through public knowledge management

Public institutions involved in research that aims to strengthen the productivity, profitability and adaptiveness of industries face a multiplicity of challenges when managing for the emergence of cost effective solutions to problems. We reflect upon the learnings of a Government sponsored Visiting Fellow’s programme that we describe as a knowledge management (KM) intervention within Australia’s primary industries Research, Development and Extension (R, D and E) system. Our central concern is to draw upon the learnings of an internet-based initiative in the United States called eXtension to show how ‘traditional’ D and E activities can be transformed. We argue that organisations and networks involved in such D and E activities need to perceive themselves as belonging to systems that are socio-technical in nature. That is, the development and deployment of cross-jurisdictional and cross-institutional innovations are shaped by both the social interactions between people and the systematic use of technology to support distributed learning. We explain how the elements of an integrated model to support public KM can be developed to create the conditions for enhanced innovation. Our findings have relevance to a wide range of other industry sectors considering contemporary service models involving public and private partnerships.