Reality Therapy and Personalized Instruction: A Success Story

Abstract

A longitudinal pilot study investigating the cumulative effects of reality therapy counseling and individualized instruction on the control expectancy and success rates of high-risk community college students was conducted. Findings support the tentative hypotheses that control expectancy, achievement, and holding power can be modified by instruction and counseling. The study was conducted over a three-year period at a community college in southeastern North Carolina.     

A National Survey of Community College Baccalaureate Institutions

This study utilized original survey data and a national sample of community college baccalaureate (CCB) institutions to examine how offering baccalaureate programs impacts these colleges and the students they serve. An increasing number of these colleges plan to offer their baccalaureate programs online, and programs in technology are projected to experience the greatest growth. The data suggest that student needs, and not institutional revenue or prestige, are the primary motivation for offering bachelor's degrees. The challenges experienced when establishing the CCB programs were more likely to come from external than internal factors. Collectively, thousands of students have already graduated from these programs. Results from this study can be used by policymakers and college administrators to make data-driven decisions regarding baccalaureate programming at the community college.     

Teachers' Knowledge of Literacy Concepts,Classroom Practices,and Student Reading Growth

We examined the relations of teacher knowledge (n = 42 first-grade teachers), explicit decoding instruction provided, and students' (n = 437) word-reading gains. Results revealed an interaction between teacher knowledge and observed decoding instruction: For students of more knowledgeable teachers, more time in explicit instruction predicted stronger word-reading gains. For students of less knowledgeable teachers, more time in explicit instruction was associated with weaker skill gains. Findings highlight the importance of teachers' specialized body of knowledge about reading as it informs effective instruction.     

Diversifying Academic and Professional Identities in Higher Education: Some management challenges

This paper draws on an international study of the management challenges arising from diversifying academic and professional identities in higher education. These challenges include, for instance, the introduction of practice‐based disciplines with different traditions such as health and social care, the changing aspirations and expectations of younger generations of staff, a diffusion of management responsibilities and structures, and imperatives for a more holistic approach to the “employment package”, including new forms of recognition and reward. It is suggested that while academic and professional identities have become increasingly dynamic and multi‐faceted, change is occurring at different rates in different contexts. A model is offered, therefore, that relates approaches to “people management” to different organisational environments, against the general background of increasing resource constraint arising from the global economic downturn.     

Behind the High Achievement of East Asian Students

Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Singapore are the only East Asian countries in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), but students in these 4 countries outperformed their counterparts in the TIMSS mathematics test. An examination of the student background information showed that there was little commonality among the 4 countries which can be used to explain the superior achievement of their students. The only common background data for the 4 places were their high population density and large class size, which are, in general, not considered favorable factors for achievement. An investigation of the TIMSS attitude data also failed to locate common attitudes that were unique to the 4 countries and which can be used to explain the high achievement of their students. The questionnaire data however indicated that the superior results of the East Asian students might have been achieved at the expense of other aspects of the development of the students. The results also showed that students in the 4 countries displayed relatively negative attitudes towards mathematics, including the lack of confidence in doing mathematics. The predominant Confucian culture in the 4 countries will be discussed in an attempt to explain the negative attitudes of the East Asian students, but it is not clear how these cultural values can be used to explain their superior achievement.     

INSET: Five Types of Collaboration and Consultancy

‘We consider that every school should have an agreed procedure for ensuring that: (i) the needs for in‐service training and professional development of individual teachers of groups of teachers within the school and of the school as a whole are regularly reviewed; (ii) the priorities for in‐service training, and the most appropriate means of meeting the different needs identified, are assessed in consultation with the governors and the LEA in the context of declared curicular aims and objectives’     

Creative Teaching

Decoding disciplinary expertise for novices is increasingly part of the undergraduate curriculum. But how might area studies and other interdisciplinary programs, which require integration of courses from multiple disciplines, decode expertise in a similar fashion? Additionally, as a part of decoding area studies and interdisciplines, how might a sequential experience of library-based research practice support that curriculum? Finally, how might a program introduce students to fellowships and career opportunities in the field early in their studies? Area studies and interdisciplinary departments face particular challenges in this regard because of multiple entry points into the major and the lack of a consistent pattern of student movement through the major (due to students studying abroad or because of the array of different disciplinary courses comprising individual programs of study). A tested course designed to address these issues, and adaptable for other area studies or interdisciplinary programs, is part of the required curriculum for Asian Studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.     

Quintilian: Wisdom and Warning

The implementation of online texts, videos, homework, and tests has changed the process of instruction in introductory college mathematics courses. With this change, more of the students’ learning takes place outside of the traditional college classroom and in places such as tutoring centers and dorm rooms. A combination of chi-square tests—for independence with unordered categorical data—and Mann-Whitney two-sample rank-sum tests—for continuous data and ordered categorical data—were used to analyze student outcomes generated from College Algebra and Applied Calculus courses with class sizes ranging from 37 to 129, with common syllabi, homework, quizzes, and tests. These tests showed that medium classes (30–55 students) had little to no benefit over large classes (110–130 students) in student learning and student achievement, with large classes having small to medium positive-effect sizes over medium classes in the area of student satisfaction. The only area in which the small classes had a small positive effect was in the area of student engagement.     

Facebook use in the learning environment: do students want this?

The Net Generation (those born in or after 1980) rely heavily on ICTs for social and professional interactions, and it has been suggested that they have the expectation that technology will be an integral part of their education. At the same time, it is argued that Facebook has educational potential, and that today's learners should be encouraged and supported to use Web 2.0 technologies for learning in formal education. However, there is growing evidence that the value of Facebook in the educational context does not relate to formal learning at all, but to the ‘social networking’ elements of the site. This Viewpoint article discusses the results of a study to explore students' views towards the use of Facebook in the university setting, especially with regard to learning and integration into university life. The findings suggest support for informal rather than formal learning use of Facebook within the university setting.