Functioning and participation problems of students with ASD in higher education: which reasonable accommodations are effective?

Abstract

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience various functioning and participation problems in higher education, which may cause difficulties such as drop out or low grade point averages. However, it remains unclear how often and during which teaching and evaluation methods the functioning and participation problems occur and which reasonable accommodations are effective in dealing with them. These gaps in the literature are addressed in this survey-based study. In total, 43 students with ASD, 30 student counsellors and 43 students without a disability of institutions of higher education in Flanders (Belgium) participated in the study. The results show that students with ASD most frequently experience problems with verbal and non-verbal communication, are oversensitive to change and have difficulty distinguishing the gist of the syllabus from the details. Furthermore, it is shown that, on average, these problems arise mostly during classical teaching and evaluation methods. Finally, the perceived effectiveness of reasonable accommodations is dependent on the functioning and participation problem experienced by the student with ASD in higher education. In conclusion, both personal and environmental characteristics should be taken into account when selecting and implementing reasonable accommodations for these students.     

Inequality in Preschool Quality? Community-Level Disparities in Access to High-Quality Learning Environments

In recent years, unequal access to high-quality preschool has emerged as a growing public policy concern. Because of data limitations, it is notoriously difficult to measure disparities in access to early learning opportunities across communities and particularly challenging to quantify gaps in access to high-quality programs. Research Findings: Using unique data from Georgia’s universal prekindergarten program, this study provides empirical evidence of the relationship between community characteristics and the availability of high-quality preschool opportunities. We show that in Georgia, a national leader with respect to preschool access as well as quality, there are still meaningful differences in quality across communities. Low-income and high-minority communities offer state preschool classrooms that are rated significantly lower on a widely used and validated measure of classroom process quality. Practice or Policy: This process quality gap is troubling given the positive relationship between our process quality measure and children’s learning. Note that we do not see similar gaps in structural measures of quality, which are the aspects of quality more often regulated but are also weaker, inconsistent predictors of children’s learning. Implications for policy are discussed.     

Toward dynamic assessment of reading: applying metacognitive awareness guidance to reading assessment tasks

This paper focuses on research that aimed to provide a theoretical–practical framework to link literacy assessment practice with learning theory. An experimental study was designed with reference to three theoretical axes: ‘metacognitive awareness’ theory, ‘schema’ theory and the Vygotskian ‘zone of proximal fevelopment’. The study tested the effect of using written metacognitive awareness guidance (MCAG) as a tool for activating and engaging learners’Habits of Mind while processing authentic reading assessment tasks taken from Israeli kits of assessment tasks (Guterman, 2000). The study on 300 Grade–4 pupils used three modalities: a control group, which received no treatment; a placebo group, which received content instructions (CI); and a treatment group, which was given written MCAG. The findings confirmed that applying metacognitive awareness guidance to reading assessment tasks makes a difference in the learners’ level of performance and achievement on those tasks, and also increases learners’ chances of internalising the guidance components.     

Validity of Holland’s theory in adolescence: evidence from a Slovak sample

The underlying calculus assumption of Holland’s theory was tested in two samples of primary school students (N₁ = 400 and N₂ = 250) with an average age of 13.86 and 14.14 years, respectively. Both exploratory and confirmatory multidimensional scaling and Hubert and Arabie’s randomization test of hypothesized order relations were calculated. The circular spatial arrangement of RIASEC types was not confirmed in either of the two samples. The study discusses possible causes of the inappropriateness of using Holland’s model in an adolescent sample.

     

The Impact of Changing Roles on Relationships between Professionals in Inclusive Programs for Young Children

As inclusion of young children with disabilities into preschool programs has become more prevalent, there have been concomitant changes in the roles assumed by the professionals and paraprofessionals in these programs. In this paper we examine the ways in which inclusive models influence the roles assumed by the program staff and the factors that affect the ability of staff members to assume these roles. Data, which included interviews, participant observation and document analysis, were collected as part of a multi-site national study of inclusive education programs and practices. From these data, themes emerged regarding the changing roles and relationships of staff members in inclusive early childhood programs. These themes are discussed as both facilitators of and barriers to successful inclusive programs.     

‘Beyond 2015’, within the modern/colonial global imaginary? Global development and higher education

Efforts to emphasize higher education’s role in development have grown in recent years, but important questions remain about the motivations and effects of these initiatives. In this paper, we employ the concept of a ‘modern/colonial global imaginary’ to consider the impact of the enduring power relations and uneven politics of knowledge in the relationship between higher education and development. Specifically, we consider the Association of Commonwealth Universities’ (ACU) ‘Beyond 2015’ campaign, which was launched in anticipation of the new UN Sustainable Development Goals. We argue that despite the ACU’s intention to provide ‘a platform for diverse voices, particularly from the global South’, the campaign was structured in a way that discouraged dissenting perspectives. More broadly, we consider available possibilities and limitations for challenging mainstream development agendas.     

Empowering learners with personalised learning approaches? Agency,equity and transparency in the context of learning analytics

Abstract

The emergence of personalised data technologies such as learning analytics is framed as a solution to manage the needs of higher education student populations that are growing ever more diverse and larger in size. However, the current approach to learning analytics presents tensions between increasing student agency in making learning-related decisions and ‘datafying’ students in the process of collecting, analysing and interpreting data. This article presents a study that explores staff and student experience of agency, equity and transparency in existing data practices and expectations towards learning analytics in a UK university. The results show a number of intertwined factors that have contributed to the tensions between enhancing a learner’s control of their studies and, at the same time, diminishing their autonomy as an active agent in the process of learning analytics. This article argues that learner empowerment should not be automatically assumed to have taken place as part of the adoption of learning analytics. Instead, the interwoven power relationships in a complex educational system and the interactions between humans and machines need to be taken into consideration when presenting learning analytics as an equitable process to enhance student agency and educational equity.     

‘Everywhere they say that it’s harmful but they don’t say how,so I’m asking here’: young people,pornography and negotiations with notions of risk and harm

Debate about pornography and minors has mainly centred on questions of control, regulation and media policy; the urge to protect children from dangers of sexually explicit content being the primary motivator of these conversations. Instead of discussing the use of pornography by minors in the light of relevant research findings, public discourse on these issues is more usually shaped by views of sexual cultures as inherently dangerous to minors, and young people as vulnerable, easily harmed, and endangered by the media. This paper builds on data consisting of 4212 questions about sexuality that were sent by young people in Finland to experts on sexual health. Only 64 (1.5%) of these contributions explicitly focused on pornography. The small number of porn-related submissions suggests that for young people there are other more important concerns in the field of sexuality than pornography, on which adult guidance is sought. This paper argues that young people’s perceptions of pornography are more diverse than is typically assumed in public debate. Young people challenge risk talk by constantly referring to the vagueness of the alleged harm that characterises the discourse of danger that can be found in much public discussion. According to the findings of this study, blurry notions of harm bother young people more than the actual pornographic content they encounter.