Domains and Levels of Pedagogical Innovation in Schools Using ICT: Ten Innovative Schools in Israel

The study reported here is based on the results of two international studies: IEA's Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) Module 2, focusing on innovative pedagogical practices at the classroom level, and OECD/CERI Case Studies of ICT and Organizational Innovation, focusing on ICT related innovations at the school system level. In the paper we analyze the data collected in ten innovative schools in Israel which have incorporated ICT in unique ways and have succeeded in devising innovative classroom pedagogies and school system changes. The major research questions addressed are: (a) What levels of innovation were observed in the participant schools, and in which domains? (b) How does the level of innovation in the various domains vary among and within schools? (c) What correlation patterns among levels of innovation in the various domains can be identified? The results of ten comprehensive case studies of exemplary schools in Israel were analyzed by mean of the innovation analysis schema developed by us for characterizing ICT-based educational innovations.     

Course withdrawals: A probit model and policy recommendations

Withdrawals from college courses prior to the assignment of grades, but after the add-drop period, are analyzed. In a probit model student withdrawals appear to occur randomly with notable exceptions. The more experience a student has in college, the more likely it is that he or she will withdraw from any given course. Students who have withdrawn from courses in the past tend to withdraw again. Student motivation measures are related to the withdrawal decision. Physical and mental disabilities affect withdrawals only in certain courses while athletes are no more likely to withdraw from courses than nonathletes. Finally, there appear to be economies of scale in teaching: The more students an instructor teaches in other courses, the less likely it is that students will withdraw from the course under consideration. The number of students enrolled in the course, however, is not significantly related to withdrawals.     

The interaction of student and program variables for the purpose of developing a model for predicting graduation from graduate programs over a 10-year period

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is some factor or set of factors which will predict the probability of graduation from doctoral programs. This study concentrated on two areas: (a) the factors available to the selection committee when the students apply for admission into graduate programs, and (b) those factors emerging after admission, resulting from the students' meeting program-imposed requirements for graduation. Data were collected from the file of each student admitted to the doctoral program in Educational Administration. The results of the study indicated that program variables are more important than admission variables in predicting graduation. and the technique of Path Analysis is highly recommended to study the problem of student progression through graduate departments.     

Modeling Zero-Inflated and Overdispersed Count Data: An Empirical Study of School Suspensions

The purpose of this article is to develop a statistical model that best explains variability in the number of school days suspended. Number of school days suspended is a count variable that may be zero-inflated and overdispersed relative to a Poisson model. Four models were examined: Poisson, negative binomial, Poisson hurdle, and negative binomial hurdle. Additionally, the probability of a student being suspended for at least 1 day was modeled using a binomial logistic regression model. Of the count models considered, the negative binomial hurdle model had the best fit. Modeling the probability of a student being suspended for at least 1 day using a binomial logistic regression model with interactions fit both the training and test data and had adequate fit. Findings here suggest that both the negative binomial hurdle and the binomial logistic regression models should be considered when modeling school suspensions.     

Measuring the quality of e‐learning

This paper shows how concept mapping can be used to measure the quality of e‐learning. Six volunteers (all of them 3rd‐year medical students) took part in a programme of e‐learning designed to teach the principles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Their understanding of MRI was measured before and after the course by the use of concept mapping. The quality of change in individuals' maps was assessed using criteria developed to distinguish between meaningful and rote‐learning outcomes. Student maps were also scored for evidence of conceptual richness and understanding. Finally, each map was compared directly with the content of the electronic teaching material. The results show that many of the student misconceptions were put right in the course of their learning but that many of the key concepts introduced in the teaching were ignored (or sometimes learnt by rote) by the students. This was because the teaching material locked these new ideas in structures and terminology that precluded meaning‐making among non‐experts. Our data suggest that students' prior knowledge is a key determinant of meaningful learning. We suggest that this must be acknowledged if the design and use of electronic teaching material is also to be meaningful. Ultimately, measures of student learning are the only authentic indicators of the quality of teaching through technology.     

EDUCATION, MARKETS AND THE PEDAGOGY OF PERSONALISATION

ABSTRACT:  The marketisation of education in England began in the 1980s. It was facilitated by national testing (which gave objective and comparable information to parents), and by the New Public Management (which introduced a posteriori funding and competition among providers). Now a new complementary phase of marketisation is being introduced: personalisation, whose intellectual provenance is in marketing theory. Conceptually, personalisation is imprecise; practically, at this stage, its intended effects within schools may amount to no more than a new legitimatory rhetoric which leaves pedagogy and the curriculum little changed.     

THE WINNING WAYS OF A LOSING STRATEGY: EDUCATIONALIZING SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN THE UNITED STATES

Abstract In this essay, David Labaree examines the paradox of educationalization in the American context. He argues that, like most modern Western societies, the United States has displayed a strong tendency over the years for educationalizing social problems, even though schools have repeatedly proven that they are an ineffective mechanism for solving these problems. He starts by examining the ways in which the process of educationalizing social problems is deeply grounded in American beliefs, social processes, political and organizational tensions, and structural possibilities. These include utility, individualism, optimism, professional interest, political interest, political opportunity, structural limits, and formalism. Then Labaree examines the roots of education’s failure in the role of social reform agent. Finally, he closes with an analysis of why we continue to pursue educationalization in the face of its ineffectiveness.     

EDUCATIONALIZATION: ON THE APPROPRIATENESS OF ASKING EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS TO SOLVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

Abstract Educationalization is a term most frequently used to indicate that government (in particular) has inappropriately imposed on educational institutions responsibility for providing the solution to some social or economic problem. In this essay David Bridges illustrates, however, the way in which educational institutions collude in this process, where they see doing so as in their interests. He also points to the way idealistically (rather than cynically) educators might seek to contribute to the wider social agenda of their age. Indeed it is arguable that there is a conceptual link between the idea of education and that of social improvement. These observations frame the question about educationalization as one concerning the appropriateness or otherwise of looking to educational institutions to solve social problems and how one might determine such appropriateness. To what extent, Bridges asks, can and should educational institutions play a role in addressing the wider social and economic political agenda? In this essay he attempts the beginning of an answer to both these questions.     

The Chinese Government Scholarship Program: An Effective Form of Foreign Assistance?

International Review of Education - This study investigates the effectiveness of Chinese international education assistance through an examination of student experience in the Chinese Government...     

The Chinese Government Scholarship Program: An Effective Form of Foreign Assistance?

This study investigates the effectiveness of Chinese international education assistance through an examination of student experience in the Chinese Government Scholarship Program, an important mechanism of Chinese foreign aid. Grounded in Pascarella’s (1985) model of the impact of college on students, the study investigates participants’ level of satisfaction with their higher education experience in China and their perception of the role of the scholarship program in promoting positive relationships between China and the scholarship students’ home countries. Findings indicate that participants are generally satisfied with their experiences in China and are positive about the impact of the program in building friendships with their home countries. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in terms of China’s emerging prominence as a provider of international development assistance.