Governing Boards in Public Higher Education Institutions: A perspective from the United States

Governing boards have a long tradition and prominent role in U.S. higher education. The diversity of institutional types, and thus governing boards, represents a multifaceted tapestry of functions, roles, and responsibilities. This paper will attempt to define the parameters of public higher education governing boards in the USA and offer critical insights into their degree of effectiveness. It is the author’s position that both positive and negative lessons can be learned through an examination of these public governing boards in the USA. The recent emergence of university boards in Europe is examined and their characteristics are compared against the characteristics of public and private boards in the USA.

     

Filipino parents’ school choice and loyalty: a factor analysis

This quantitative study aims to ascertain the significant relationship existing between parents’ profile, and their school choice and school loyalty. Data were gathered using the researcher’s two-part made instrument. Respondents were first asked to fill in a robotfoto for purpose of profiling their baseline characteristics and were later asked to rate listed indicators, using a modified 8-point Likert scale. Using statistical tools such as the ANOVA, factor analysis, correlation, mean, and standard deviation, data were treated indepth. It is interesting to note that although parents are loyal to their alma mater, this does not have a much impact on their choice of school for their children. On the whole, parents’ choice of school is based on its indispensable qualities. Among the three interval-scale profiles of the parent respondents such as age, income, tuition fee payment and number of children, none of these relate to school choice, but age, income, and tuition fee payment negatively relate to school loyalty. From their nominal-scale profiles, significant differences were noted in their school choice when grouped according to civil status, place of work, and terms of payment. With respect to school loyalty, significant differences occurred in their responses when classified according to gender, terms of payment and their active participation in the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).     

Students with special educational needs and cooperative learning in the ordinary classroom: some learnings from teaching practice

This article presents the results of a study to determine the strategies used by teachers to include students with special educational needs in regular classrooms, primarily using Cooperative Learning strategies. It aims to identify the factors of inclusive learning in order to enhance the participation and learning of all students in the classroom and in their cooperative teams. A qualitative case study was carried out in the context of the teachers participating in a postgraduate course ‘expert in cooperative learning’ offered by the University of Alcalá (Spain), over a period of six years (2011–2017), involving the participation of 176 professional teachers. All the participants attended an annual university continuous training course on cooperative learning. Document analysis, in-depth interviews and a questionnaire designed ad hoc were used. The conclusions include the importance of cooperative work in facilitating inclusive education, with a variety of different strategies used to respond to all students' needs, and those with special educational needs in particular, and the coordination required between teachers and special educational needs specialists to implement those strategies.     

Active Learning session based on Didactical Engineering framework for conceptual change in students’ equilibrium and stability understanding

ABSTRACT

Engineering students on control courses lack a deep understanding of equilibrium and stability that are crucial concepts in this discipline. Several studies have shown that students find it difficult to understand simple familiar or academic static equilibrium cases as well as dynamic ones from mechanics even if they know the discipline’s criteria and formulae. Our aim is to study the impact of a specific and innovative classroom session, containing well-chosen situations that address students’ misconceptions. We propose an example of Active Learning experiment based both on the Didactical Engineering methodology and the Conceptual Fields Theory that aims at promoting a conceptual change in students. The chosen methodology allows, at the same time, a proper design of the student learning activities, an accurate monitoring of the students’ rational use during the tasks and provides an internal tool for the evaluation of the session’s efficiency. Although the expected starting conceptual change was detected, it would require another activity in order to be reinforced.     

The Use of Different Translation Devices to Analyze Knowledge-Building in a University Chemistry Classroom

Research in Science Education - This research draws on Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to understand the epistemic dimension of the higher education classroom discourse of a professor who is well...     

Towards Covid-19 Literacy

Covid-19 literacy, induced by the coronavirus disease (2019), is characterized as the understanding of Covid-19 as well as informed decisions based upon this understanding. This type of literacy is closely related to health literacy, scientific literacy, and scientific media literacy. It may be obvious to say that Covid-19 literacy is a key factor for governments to effectively manage the Covid-19 transition. However, lack of literature exists about Covid-19 literacy among university students. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine the Covid-19 literacy level among 4168 students from a Colombian university. The data were derived from students’ responses to a 25–item anonymous online self-reporting questionnaire. We found that 21–25-year age group, graduate students,?students enrolled prior to 2015, and medical students had a significantly higher mean score. Moreover, the Internet (86.8%) was the most popular source of information from which participants gained most information regarding Covid-19. Furthermore, 58.5% of the participants considered health workers as a source that can provide accurate information. Most importantly, the findings reveal the students’ knowledge about (1) the role of an eventual process of vaccination, (2) the test currently used as diagnostic for Covid-19, and (3) the fatality rate, three aspects of Covid-19 literacy that deserve more attention. The findings provide a useful basis for the formulation of policies and concrete actions in improving Covid-19 literacy.

     

Domain analysis and information retrieval through the construction of heliocentric maps based on ISI-JCR category cocitation

We propose the use of ISI-JCR categories as units of cocitation and measurement for the construction of heliocentric maps. The use of a spatial metaphor allows us to illustrate, analyze and compare domains in terms of the categories and their interconnections or links. We can also move around within the structure of these domains for further analysis, and access the documents associated to the categories and to the links that cocite or relate them.     

对汉语词义生成理论中几个问题的思考

建构汉语语词意义生成理论应首先认识到以下几点：语义生成理论不等于语源学；不应以传统的现代汉语构词法理论代替对语义生成理论的探讨；要充分认识语义生成的多源性与复杂性。