Influences of the learning environment of a Regional University Campus on its international graduates

Staff and students at small regional campuses often consider them to be a learning environment with many advantages. Students can benefit from the opportunities for enhanced access to staff provided by factors such as small classes and a compact campus. International students from non-English-speaking backgrounds are one group for whom these factors can be particularly helpful in their adjustment to a new society as well as in their continuing study program. This belief is tested in the study described in this paper. Factors identified by international students as influencing their learning at a small campus situated a considerable distance from the state capital indicate strengths to be built on and celebrated and areas that call for the development of strategies to improve the quality of that learning environment. Former international student graduates were surveyed concerning their perceptions of their regional Australian university experience and the professional preparation it provided. Other Australian higher education institutions, particularly those with regional campuses, can make use of the insights gained through the study: as well as having implications for the provision of a quality learning experience and environment for all students, not only international students, they also have a bearing on international marketing strategies.     

An Exploratory Evaluation of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation to Promote Collaboration Among Family,School, and Pediatric Systems: A Role for Pediatric School Psychologists

Pediatric school psychology is a relatively new subspecialty in the field; however, few specific, prescribed roles have been articulated, and fewer have yielded preliminary efficacy data. In this exploratory study, the acceptability and potential efficacy of conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) as a model for linking families, schools, and pediatric settings to address concerns for children with medical issues were evaluated. Twenty-nine children, their parents, teachers, and consultants were involved in conjoint consultation, a model of cross-system collaboration to address shared concerns of medically referred children. In this structured indirect service delivery model, parents, teachers, and school psychology pediatric consultants worked collaboratively in interdisciplinary problem solving and joint decision making with extensive input regarding medical issues from a developmental pediatrician. Outcome measures included parent and teacher observations of child functioning across home and school settings as a result of consultation-mediated interventions and social validity indices assessing acceptability and consumer satisfaction. Results suggested that CBC is a socially valid procedure for addressing concerns of medically referred children across home and school systems. Both parents and teachers reported the consultation process to be highly acceptable. Preliminary effect size analyses of child outcomes, derived from uncontrolled case study designs, suggest generally positive effects across home and school, although limitations with the methodology preclude conclusive statements. Research is needed to determine the contexts and conditions under which the model is more or less effective using rigorous controlled trials.     

Vibration and Rebound Velocity Characteristics of Conventional and Oversized Tennis Rackets

Abstract

Stroboscope photography and accelerometry techniques were used to measure rebound velocities of tennis balls from impact locations on the strings and vibration levels at the rotation point on the racket handle for both conventional and oversized tennis rackets. The oversized rackets demonstrated lower vibration levels and higher rebound velocities than their conventional counterparts when balls struck by the racket were compared along a transverse axis drawn perpendicular to the racket shaft and through the geometric center of the strings. These differences were, however, only significantly different (p < .01) at the impact location 6 cm along this axis toward the top edge of the racket. Higher rebound velocities were recorded at all impact points from the oversized rackets along the axis in line with the racket shaft. Significantly lower vibration levels were apparent at locations 4 cm, 6 cm, and 8 cm from the string center away from the racket handle. The lower vibration levels, particularly at the extremes of the racket face, in conjunction with higher rebound velocities, support the concept that this new racket design is of practical benefit to users.     

Student experiences of engaged enquiry in pharmacy education: digital natives or something else?

This article reports on research into the student experience of enquiry in two tasks in a university pharmacy course. Students were required to investigate through a field trip how a community pharmacy operated to meet customer needs and the requirements of the Health System in which it operated. Students were also required to investigate interactions and other properties of particular medicines through an online research task. This study looked at the student experience of enquiry in these contexts and the implications of the findings of that investigation for the debate about how digital literacy might relate to experiences of effective enquiry. The study presents evidence that suggests aspects such as variation in approaches to enquiry are an indicator of the extent of student success rather than the technologies ‘per se’. Analysis of the student population data, interviews and open-ended comments in surveys identified qualitatively different experiences of enquiry in both the community pharmacy context and the online investigation. The outcomes suggest that the way students approach and conceive of enquiry is closely related to the quality of their outcomes, and that this appears to be a more significant factor in the nature of effective enquiry than their classification as digital natives as a result of their age.     

The (Non)Importance of a Programming Language in a Software Engineering Course

Our catchy title is intended to be controversial, provoking thought upon the impact (or lack of any) that a programming language has on the curriculum for a software engineering course. Our view on the subject is from both directions, as indicated by the title. As educators, we argue that the language issues are secondary to the fundamental concern of understanding software engineering concepts, specifically object‐oriented concepts. However, we appreciate that expertise in a widely accepted object‐oriented language may be essential towards the more practical aspect of building a critical mass of software engineers versed in object‐oriented techniques. This reflects upon the maturing nature of computer science and engineering as a science, which is evolving its fundamental principles, while at the same time recognizing its impact as an engineering discipline sensitive to practical applications. The evolution of our primary software engineering course, CS250 Introduction to Software Engineering, has been influenced by our own reflections on the state of software engineering in the 1990s, industrial requirements for expertise by our graduates, and the needs of accreditation. We present the internal and external factors that have guided our course design. This process reflects our own experiences in academia and industry. We present this process as a representative model of a sound approach, but make no claims that it is the optimal approach.     

University student approaches to learning science through writing

This study investigates the approaches adopted by students to a university writing programme designed to help them learn first‐year undergraduate science. The research design includes phenomenographic analyses of 19 interviews and 50 open‐ended questionnaires, as well as quantitative analyses of the qualitative data. The main results of the study are the close association between the quality of the students’ approaches to writing, including when they use technology, to the way they think about writing as a way of learning, and to the level of achievement they reach. The results suggest that writing programmes designed to help students learn science would be improved if their tasks embed issues such as what learning is possible through writing, how new technologies can be used to support meaningful writing and who should be offering models of how to approach university writing most meaningfully.     

Being real: Moving inward toward social change

Through poetry and strips of narrative, this paper discusses the embodied experience of chemical sensitivity and the anthropologist author's and other patients' journey through altered perception towards knowledge, community and transformation in the context of a medical clinic. The narratives are situated in several strands of relevant theory, including Merleau‐Ponty's work on the primacy of perception, feminist perspectives on embodied experience and standpoint epistemology, disability studies, identity creation through narrating the self, and Lave and Wenger's situated learning in a community of practice.     

Learning Through Discussions in Blended Environments

This paper reports research into the student experience of learning through discussions in a blended environment. Third year engineering students studying e‐commerce engaged in both face‐to‐face discussions and online asynchronous discussions as key aspects of their learning experience. Adopting a quantitative methodology, questionnaires were completed by students at the end of their learning experience. The results suggest qualitatively different experiences of learning through discussions. The results show that students who have a deep understanding of how the discussions are related to their learning outcomes tend to approach the discussions in more meaningful ways. In the face‐to‐face context, their approach emphasizes learning through the experience of others and, in the online environment, their approach emphasizes reflecting on the problems discussed from a variety of perspectives.

Formation par discussions dans des environnements intégrés. Une étude a été menée sur les expériences d’étudiants avec la formation par discussions dans un environnement intégré. Des étudiants d’ingénierie de troisième année ont engagé des discussions personnelles et des discussions en ligne différés lors de leurs études de commerce en ligne représentant les aspects clés pour leur expérience de formation. En adoptant une méthode quantitative, des questionnaires ont été remplis par des étudiants à la fin de leur expérience de formation. Les résultats suggèrent des expériences de formation qualitativement différentes par discussions. Les résultats montrent que les étudiants qui ont une grande connaissance sur le fait que les discussions influent sur leur issue de formation, tendent à aborder les discussions de manière plus significative. Dans un contexte personnel, cette évaluation met l’accent sur la formation par l’expérience d’autres, et dans l’environnement en ligne, elle met l’accent sur la réflexion des problèmes discutés avec une variété de perspectives.

Lernen durch Diskussionen in integrierten Lernumfeldern. Diese Studie berichtet über die Erfahrungen von Studenten beim Lernen durch Diskussionen innerhalb eines integrierten Lernumfelds. Studenten des Ingenieurwesens im dritten Studienjahr befassten sich während ihres e‐Commerce Studiums sowohl mit persönlichen Diskussionen als auch mit zeitlich versetzt geführten Online‐Diskussionen, die Schlüsselaspekte für ihre Lernerfahrungen darstellten. Mit einer quantitativen Methode wurden am Ende der Lernerfahrung durch die Studenten Fragebögen ausgefüllt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen qualitativ unterschiedliche Lernerfahrungen durch Diskussionen auf. Sie belegen, dass Studenten, die gute Kenntnisse darüber haben, wie Diskussionen ihren Lernerfolg beeinflussen, bedeutend mehr dazu tendieren, an Diskussionen teilzunehmen. Dieser Ansatz beweist, dass in persönlichen Diskussionen der Lernerfolg durch die Erfahrung anderer erreicht wird, wohingegen bei einer Problemdiskussion innerhalb eines Online‐Umfelds der Schwerpunkt auf die Vielfältigkeit der Betrachtungsweisen aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln gelegt wird. Dieser Ansatz hebt im persönlichen Kontext das Lernen durch die Erfahrung anderer und in der Online‐Umgebung die Betrachtung über die aus vielen Blickwinkeln diskutierten Probleme hervor.     

Surveying Adolescent Worries: Development of the ‘Things I Worry About’ Scale

Steve Decker, Anglia Polytechnic University, Death and Loss: Compassionate Approaches in the Classroom, Oliver Leaman. London: Cassell, 1995. 160pp. hb ISBN 0 304 33087 6, pb ISBN 0 304 33089 2, price not available

Alan Dodds, The Ferrers School, Rushden, Northamptonshire, Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do, Dan Olweus. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993. 140pp. pb ISBN 0 631 19241 7

Richard Smith, Elliott School, London, Combating Truancy in Schools, Edith Le Riche. London: David Fulton/ The Roehampton Institute, 1995. 112pp. ISBN 1 85346 337, £11.95

Ron Best, Roehampton Institute, London, Psychology in the Classroom: Reconstructing Teachers and Learners, Phillida Salmon. London: Cassell, 1995. 98pp. hb ISBN 0 304 33254 2, £40.00, pb ISBN 0 204 33256 9, £12.99

David Lambourn, NAPCE Base, Warwick, Primary Teachers at Work, R. J. Campbell and S. R. St.J. Neill. London: Routledge, 1994. 252pp. pb ISBN 0 415 08863 1, £14.99