Academic advising as teaching

This short essay proposes establishing faculty-led advising seminars for advisees in order to increase the effectiveness of the academic advising system. Through the seminars, the advising function would be integrated into the course-credit system, thus enhancing the perceived importance of advising for faculty and students alike. Also through the seminars, students would systematically study and reflect on the nature of higher education, thereby creating firmer bases for choices. After briefly describing the organization and operation of such a system, the essay explores some of its implications for coherence and cumulative qualities of students' educational experiences, the distribution of teaching responsibilities among faculty, and faculty development and colleagueship.He is the author of two books on Latin American economic development and history and of numerous articles on economics, history, and higher education.     

Short-cycle higher education: Purposes and issues

This article deals with a worldwide movement called short-cycle higher education - a level of education placed between post-compulsory/post-secondary education and university degree completion. Three types of short-cycle institutions are examined and evaluated: (1) extensions of secondary education, (2) expansions of universities and other senior institutions, and (3) units separated from existing schools.Purposes of short-cycle higher education are next discussed, and finally, major issues are identified, and directions taken by various nations contrasted. Particular attention is given to the relationship between short-cycle and university education referred to as articulation and transfer.     

Editorial Comment

Editorial Introduction

Editorial Comment     

A generalization of the Peano-Baker method

An improvement of the Peano-Baker iterative method (matrizant method) for solving a system of first order linear differential equations with variable coefficients is presented. The new method utilizes the structure of the matrix of coefficients to define iterative schemes which may converge much more rapidly than the traditional method.     

The moderating effect of instructional conceptions on the effect of powerful learning environments

This study aimed at experimentally investigating the moderating role of instructional conceptions on the effectiveness of powerful learning environments (PLE) designed in line with the four-component instructional design model (4C/ID-model). The study also investigated the influence of learning in a 4C/ID PLE on students’ instructional conceptions. To achieve its goal, a study with a one by one by two pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design was done. Three functionally equivalent classes of students from three similar (secondary technical) schools were randomly exposed to three different treatments. The participants consisted of 129 (47, 41, 41) students. The treatments were one control group with a regular method of teaching, and two experimental groups: a 4C/ID PLE with ICT, and a 4C/ID PLE without ICT. The instructional conceptions questionnaire was administered both in the pre-and the post-test to assess students’ instructional conceptions. Pre- and post-tests contain retention and transfer items. Technical teachers were trained to implement the interventions. In contrast to expectation, findings show no moderating effects of students’ instructional conceptions on the learning environments. Finally, the results indicate that students’ instructional conceptions positively change after implementation of the three interventions. The theoretical, research, and practical implications of the results for the instructional design and technology community as well as educational practice are discussed.     

Behavioral problems among children whose mothers are abused by an intimate partner

OBJECTIVES: To determine the association between children's exposure to maternal intimate partner violence (IPV) and behavior problems as measured by the parent report version of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). METHODS: The study population was comprised of 167 2- to 17-year-old children of Seattle women with police-reported or court-reported intimate partner abuse. The CBCL normative population served as the comparison group. Risk of behavior problems was calculated among the exposed children, in the presence and absence of a history of reported child maltreatment, relative to the normative population. Multiple logistic regression served as the primary method of analysis. RESULTS: Children exposed to maternal IPV were more likely to have borderline to clinical level scores on externalizing (i.e., aggressive, delinquent) behavior (RR=1.6, 95% CI: 1.2, 2.1) and total behavioral problems (RR=1.4, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.9) compared to the CBCL normative sample after adjusting for age and sex. Children who were exposed to maternal IPV and were victims of child maltreatment were more likely to receive borderline to clinical level scores on internalizing (i.e., anxious, depressed) behaviors (RR=2.6, 95% CI: 1.5, 3.6), externalizing (i.e., aggressive, delinquent) behaviors (RR=3.0, 95% CI: 1.9, 4.0) and total behavioral problems (RR=2.1, 95% CI: 1.2, 3.2) compared to the CBCL normative sample after adjusting for age and sex. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to maternal IPV is significantly associated with child behavioral problems both in the presence and absence of co-occurring child maltreatment. Appropriate attention to the mental health of children living in households with IPV is needed.     

The impact of kindergarten learning-related skills on academic trajectories at the end of elementary school

Recent research indicates that children's learning-related skills (including self-regulation and social competence) contribute to early school success. The present study investigated the relation of kindergarten learning-related skills to reading and math trajectories in 538 children between kindergarten and sixth grade, and examined how children with poor learning-related skills fared throughout elementary school on reading and math. Latent growth curves indicated that learning-related skills had a unique effect on children's reading and math scores between kindergarten and sixth grade and predicted growth in reading and math between kindergarten and second grade. In addition, children with poor learning-related skills performed lower than their higher-rated peers on measures of reading and mathematics between kindergarten and sixth grade, with the gap widening between kindergarten and second grade. Between third and sixth grade, this gap persisted but did not widen. Discussion focuses on the importance of early learning-related skills as a component in children's academic trajectories throughout elementary school and the need for early intervention focusing on children's self-regulation and social competence.     

Research Aids

William A. Belson and Beryl-Anne Thompson's Bibliography on Methods of Social and Business Research (New York: Hastead Press (division of John Wiley), 1973 -- price not given)

Frederick Holler's The Information Sources of Political Science (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABCClio, 1971 -- coat not given, paper)

John Brown Mason's Research Resources: Annotated Guide to the Social Sciences (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 196C and 1971 -- price not given, two volumes, paper)

W.T.K. Nugent's Creative History (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1973 -- price not given, paper)     

General Media: Related Works

Media Ecology Review (New York: NYU School of Education, 1972—$7.00 for 16 issues which make up the year's volume)

Frederick D. Wilhelmsen and Jane Bret's The War in Man: Media and Machines (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1970—$4.50)

Carl Belz' The Story of Rock (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972—$7.50)

Roger Karshner's The Music Machine (Los Angeles: Nash, 1971—$7.95)

Ann Christine Heintz' Persuasion (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1970—$3.20, paper)