Gender divergence in academics’ representation and research productivity: a Nigerian case study

Gender equity is increasingly seen as an indicator of development and global acceptance in networks of higher education. Despite this, gender divergence in research productivity of academics coupled with under-representation of women in science has been reported to beset female’s scholarly activities. Previous studies provide differing results, hence a need for each academic institution to know its status for the purpose of formulating appropriate policy towards achieving gender equity without trading off productivity. Using a scientometric method, the present study investigates the representation and research productivity of male and female lecturers in the Faculty of Science, University of Ibadan. The study shows that while female lecturers are significantly less represented in the faculty and publish in journals having lower impact factors, their research productivity in terms of number of publications and citation impact are significantly not different from those of their male counterparts.     

Sex and personality differences in French and German performance in British secondary school pupils

An experiment was performed to investigate the relationship between sex, personality and learning style and French and German performance in secondary school pupils. 432 13–14 year old children (216 boys and 216 girls) whose mother tongue was English were given the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory and Raven's Standard Matrices. Half of the subjects were then given three performance tests (comprehension, essay and prose translation), and the rest received three parallel German tests. The main findings were that, although pupils studied each language for the same time, German was easier than French, girls did better than boys, and that language performance increased with extraversion. The results were discussed in terms of their practical implications.     

The reliability and validity of the cultural congruity and university environment scales with Chicana/o community college students

Following the calls for increased research on the educational experiences of Chicana/o community college students, and the development of culturally applicable measures for communities of color, this study examined the utility and the applicability of the Cultural Congruity Scale (CCS) and University Environment Scale (UES) for use with Chicana/o community college students. Applying a psychosociocultural framework, the reliability, construct, and criterion-related validity of the scales for use with a sample of 110 Chicana/o community college students was examined. Results demonstrated adequate reliability and construct validity, with indication of applicability of these scales for the study’s sample. Overall, the study challenges normative practices in educational research that students—despite their race/ethnicity, backgrounds, and histories—face similar educational experiences. Implications are discussed.     

Predicting Graduation Rates at 4-year Broad Access Institutions Using a Bayesian Modeling Approach

This study models graduation rates at 4-year broad access institutions (BAIs). We examine the student body, structural-demographic, and financial characteristics that best predict 6-year graduation rates across two time periods (2008–2009 and 2014–2015). A Bayesian model averaging approach is utilized to account for uncertainty in variable selection in modeling graduation rates. Evidence suggests that graduation rates can be predicted by religious affiliation, proportion of students enrolled full-time, socioeconomic status of the student body, enrollment size and institutional revenue and expenditures. Findings also demonstrate that relatively fewer variables predict institutional graduation rates for Latina/o and African American students at 4-year BAIs. We conclude with implications for policy and key recommendations for research focused on 4-year BAIs.     

A useful framework for teacher professional development for online and blended learning to use as guidance in times of crisis

Educational technology research and development -     

CHARACTERIZING THEMATIZED DERIVATIVE SCHEMA BY THE UNDERLYING EMERGENT STRUCTURES

This paper reports on different underlying structures of the derivative schema of three undergraduate students that were considered to be at the trans level of development of the derivative schema (action–process–object–schema). The derivative schema is characterized in terms of the students’ ability to explicitly transfer the relationship between a function and its first derivative to the derivative function and the second derivative. This conscious shift of properties of derivatives is differently manifested by the students in the trans level of development of the derivative schema and can be considered evidence of the different characteristics of the thematization of derivative schema. From here we suggest that there are different underlying structures in the constructed schema due to the consciousness in which students use the relations between a function and its derivative.     

Implementing E‐learning in the Traditional Higher Education Institutions

This article takes a close look at a large, well‐established traditional European university, the University of Barcelona, as an example of an institution that has a long history of developing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and e‐learning. The results of a systematic peer‐review analysis illustrate the issues, problems, and solutions currently encountered by many European universities in their institutional plans and implementation efforts for integrating e‐learning in face‐to‐face teaching.