The influence of self-efficacy beliefs for student parents attending university

Student parents (i.e. students who have their own dependent children) are a specific subpopulation of adult learners. This study investigated the impact of self-efficacy beliefs on student parents’ perceived capacity to manage multiple roles and their satisfaction with family, school and life. Survey data collected from 398 student parents enroled at four Canadian universities were analysed. Latent variable analysis was conducted using maximum likelihood estimation with robust standard errors using Mplus. Self-efficacy beliefs were found to influence student parents’ perceptions of satisfaction at school, in the family and with life in general. Perceptions of one’s capacity to manage multiple roles (i.e. school–family balance) were found to mediate the relationship between academic self-efficacy and school satisfaction as well as parental self-efficacy and family satisfaction. Furthermore, preliminary evidence is provided of unique subgroups within the student parent population based on children’s ages, partner status and enrolment status (i.e. full/part-time studies).     

(Re)turning to practice in teacher education: embodied knowledge in learning to teach

Contemporary research conversations about the utility of practice theories to professional education support the reconceptualisation of pre-service teacher education in ways that provide strong preparation for continued professional learning. This paper reports on an empirical inquiry that introduced a theoretically informed practice-based intervention in a pre-service teacher education course in order to judge the utility of such an approach for student learning. Innovations within the Study of Teaching programme illustrate the bringing together of pedagogies of observation, pedagogies of enactment, and pedagogies of reflection toward an integrated theory of teacher education that focuses on the teaching body as a central site for research and for the building of preparatory knowledge and skill for ongoing learning. Data was collected from pre-service teachers involved in the programme through video and audio recordings along with individual and focus group interviews, questionnaires and student reflection on video recordings. These were analyzed within an emerging theoretical framework derived from both practice-theoretical literature and international empirical research into core practices. Initial findings suggest that a focus on practice within pre-service teacher education may enhance traditional understandings of ‘practice-based’ approaches that situate the study of practice outside of the university, in school settings. These findings have implications for the ongoing reform of teacher education in increasingly regulated contexts framed in terms of teacher quality.     

社会化媒体数据质量评价初探

首先阐述事务型数据与社会化媒体数据的概念与特性以及评价数据质量的内容和方法,然后对传统的数 据质量维度如准确性、完整性、一致性、可信性、时效性、可获取性和相关性等进行分析,认为在事务型数据和社会 化媒体数据中,各个质量维度的重要性有明显的不同,并确定可用于评价社会数据质量的质量维度。最后论述利用确 定的质量维度对社会化媒体数据质量进行管理与评估,通过实例分析提出相应的启示与建议。     

Self paced learning: A student perspective

Training reform in Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) has been well under way for over a decade. Reforms include marketisation, the widespread adoption of competency-based training, and most recently an adoption of various forms of flexible delivery. One of these alternative methods of delivery is self paced learning (SPL). SPL is presented by VET management as being advantageous to students and their employers, and in addition is generally less resource-intensive than face-to-face teaching. This paper examines SPL in a TAFE college from a student viewpoint. The research, using qualitative methods, examined the experiences of SPL, in Office Administration subjects, of students who have a Non English Speaking Background (NESB) or no regular access to computers. The paper describes how they adapted, reacted and responded to self paced learning. The difficulties experienced by these students when studying by self paced learning are discussed in detail The findings indicate that, whilst students are appreciative of the flexibility which self paced learning affords, there are some concerns about its efficacy in relation to educational outcomes.     

A Prescription for Global Education in Health and Human Services

Study abroad might be associated primarily with humanities or business majors, but San Diego State University has mandated an international experience for all its health and human services students. Here's why.     

Recipients, agents, or partners?: The contradictions of teacher participation in Mexican secondary education reform

The countries of Latin America have been no exception to global calls for educational transformation and teacher professionalization at the secondary level. One of the newest of these reforms is Mexico’s Reforma de la Educación Secundaria (RS) (Reform of Secondary Education), launched in 2006. This article examines portrayals by various actors of the nature and extent of the participation of both teachers and the teachers’ union in the different phases of the RS, beginning with the initial formulation of the reform through the implementation and the “follow-up.” Findings indicate that in spite of efforts to provide more transparency and opportunities for teacher participation, for the most part secondary teachers in Mexico neither felt like agents nor partners in the RS, nor did they function as such in the reform process. As in previous reform efforts, teachers mostly felt that they were recipients of plans formulated by government officials, and as a result many have evidenced neither complete compliance nor full commitment to the reform. The national teachers’ union, meanwhile, claims to represent teachers’ voices and thus a form of teacher participation, but this claim is denied in the findings. The discussion and conclusions emphasize the multiple significations of teacher “participation” and the need to overcome system-wide contradictions, while drawing on theory about the conditioned state, bureaucracy, and democratizing civil society to help situate and explain the findings.     

Understanding Individual Differences in University Undergraduates: A Learner Needs Segmentation Approach

The purpose of this study was to use the marketing concept of segmentation in a post-secondary context in order to gain a better understanding of undergraduate students. Most post-secondary institutions segment their learners in traditional ways based on demographic characteristics such as age, year of program, gender, special needs, and grade point average. The establishment of identifiable learner-based segments is a unique, and arguably a critical, first step which can be of benefit to institutions as they develop recruitment strategies and academic programs that best serve the needs of their unique mix of undergraduate learners.Partners in Planning and focuses upon strategic development and transformation in the public and not-for-profit sectors, marketing, and product introduction     

A group randomized controlled trial evaluating parent involvement in whole-school actions to reduce bullying

Parents can significantly affect children's peer relationships, including their involvement in bullying. The authors developed and evaluated ways to enhance parents’ knowledge, self-efficacy, attitudes, and skills related to parent–child communication about bullying. The 3-year Friendly Schools Friendly Families whole-school intervention included a family component, which provided training and resources to support school teams to engage families in awareness-raising and skill-building activities. Over 3,200 parents of the Grade 2, 4, and 6 cohorts were recruited. For the Grade 2 and 4 cohorts at both 10 and 22 months postintervention, the family component increased parents’ self-efficacy to talk about bullying with their children and their frequency of doing so. Grade 4 parents reported more provictim attitudes at 22 months. No differences were found for the Grade 6 cohort. These data suggest a whole-school capacity-building intervention in early and middle childhood can improve the likelihood and frequency of positive parent–child communication about bullying.     

Food as a contextual cue in counterconditioning experiments: Is there a counterconditioning process?

In three experiments, counterconditioning was found to reduce fear less effectively than extinction. In Experiments 1 and 2, the resistance to extinction of avoidance was greater if food was given during extinction of fear to the CS than if no food was given, even when exposure to the CS and numbers of food and no food confinement trials were equated. It is suggested that these results could be attributed to contextual control of fear extinction by the food cue and/or to frustration produced by removing food for the counterconditioning group. Experiment 3 also found counterconditioning to be less effective than extinction and provided evidence that this difference occurs because of contextual control of fear extinction by the food cue. Measuring conditioned suppression of licking, in a test with no food present, less fear was shown if no food had been present during fear extinction, and greater fear was shown if no food had been present during fear conditioning. These results indicate that food is an important part of the context controlling fear and fear extinction. It is suggested that there may be no unique counterconditioning process. Rather, when counterconditioning procedures are employed, rules governing interference paradigms in general may apply. Thus, in a test for fear following counterconditioning, fear will be shown to the extent the test situation is similar to that in which fear conditioning occurred rather than that in which fear reduction occurred.     

Transparency and social responsibility issues for Wikipedia

Wikipedia is known as a free online encyclopedia. Wikipedia uses largely transparent writing and editing processes, which aim at providing the user with quality information through a democratic collaborative system. However, one aspect of these processes is not transparent—the identity of contributors, editors, and administrators. We argue that this particular lack of transparency jeopardizes the validity of the information being produced by Wikipedia. We analyze the social and ethical consequences of this lack of transparency in Wikipedia for all users, but especially students; we assess the corporate social performance issues involved, and we propose courses of action to compensate for the potential problems. We show that Wikipedia has the appearance, but not the reality, of responsible, transparent information production. This paper’s authors are the same as those who authored Wood, D. J. and Queiroz, A. 2008. Information versus. knowledge: Transparency and social responsibility issues for Wikipedia. In Antonino Vaccaro, Hugo Horta, and Peter Madsen (Eds.), Transparency, Information, and Communication Technology (pp. 261–283). Charlottesville, VA: Philosophy Documentation Center. Adele has changed her surname from Queiroz to Santana