Defining the Learner Feedback Experience

A surge in the proliferation of educational technology tools and models means that postsecondary learners and instructional designers have more options than ever before. Selecting the most appropriate tool for a given learner-centered instructional situation is challenging. The construct of feedback is central to an effective learner-centered instructional design. The present summary of the research on feedback in learner-centered instructional design models provides a rationale for the value of defining the dimensions of a high-quality learner feedback experience. Six dimensions of feedback are proposed; namely, timeliness, frequency, distribution, source, individualization, and content. Key questions posed include whether an analysis of the learner’s feedback experience is a better proxy for measuring the quality in postsecondary online learning than grades, satisfaction, or regular and substantive contact.     

Children's poetry in the United States: The best of the 1980s

Shelley J. Crisp has taught literature courses, including children's literature, for the past eight years at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she has also directed a program in Women's Studies. She is now working on a study of Victorian women poets.     

One-year experimental study of the ACT objective test with non-traditional students

The Curriculum Committee of the General College (GC) at the University of Minnesota selected the ACT Objective Test to assess general educational outcomes, educational gains, and to provide an individual assessment of academic achievement for graduating Associate of Arts degree candidates.Data analyses to assess general educational outcomes revealed that GC Associate of Arts degree candidates scored significantly lower than an ACT national sample on total score and four out of six subscores.Data analyses to assess educational gains revealed no significant differences between three comparison groups of GC students: Associate of Arts candidates, GC sophomores, and GC freshman; although there was a significant difference on grade-point average (GPA).Finally, data analyses to assess ethnic group performance revealed significant differences between four ethnic groups, although there were no significant differences on GPA. In addition, it was discovered that the relationship between total score and GPA was strongly positive for the Black and Caucasian groups but was negative for the Asian and Other groups.Thus, since the ACT Objective Test did not provide an adequate measure of educational gains, and it appears that the ACT Objective Test might possibly be a culturally biased instrument, it was decided to discontinue use of the ACT Objective Test in the General College after the one-year experimental period.Gloria B. Wood received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Minnesota. She teaches psychology and career planning to a predominantly nontraditional and under-prepared college population. Her research interests include: cognitive development and learning styles; the psychological and motivational variables related to academic performance; and variables related to career assessment and development.     

Where Students Start and What They Do When They Get Stuck: A Qualitative Inquiry into Academic Information-Seeking and Help-Seeking Practices

This study investigates two questions key to academic library resources and services: Which sources are students most likely to use to begin their academic work? Whom do students tend to consult for research assistance? In-depth interviews conducted with 15 undergraduate and graduate students were thematically analyzed through a three-step process. The findings indicate that students are most likely to consult faculty and peers for assistance and are largely unaware of librarians' roles, while they tend to begin research using library databases and do not necessarily start with Google. In addition, student use of small study groups as learning networks and reliance upon alternate sites to conduct research emerged as unanticipated themes.     

Textbook treatments and students' understanding of acceleration

This paper has been accepted for publication in theJournal of Research in Science Teaching. Copies are available from Gloria Dall'Alba, ERADU, RMIT, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne. Vic. 3001.     

Who is Publishing Diverse Books Best?

Small independent publishers are frequently lauded as the bastions of diversity while the Big Five are vilified as the primary contributors to the overwhelming whiteness of book publishing—yet no statistical data has been offered to support either claim. Moreover, the overall percentages of authors of color have remained the same year after year (Low in Where is the diversity in publishing? The 2015 diversity baseline survey results. Lee and Low (blog), 2016). The following study is a comparison of the Big Five publishers and small independent publishers with respect to author diversity. As social media outlets are now claiming to change the landscape of publishing by making diverse books more accessible to readers, data was sourced from an independent, reader-driven list to determine which publishers—if any—are promoting authors of color and whether their books are making it into the hands of readers.     

The Prediction of State Progress in the Implementation of Public Law 99-457, Part H

The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of several state characteristics to predict progress in the implementation of Part H of P.L. 99-457. This analysis utilizes two scales developed by investigators at the Carolina Policy Studies Program. One is intended to measure four potentially influential characteristics of the states: political climate, resources, policies, and interagency systems related to Part H. The second scale is an indicator of the progress states are making in the three stages of policy implementation (policy development, policy approval, and policy application). This study reports findings regarding the relationships between geographic region and state progress, as well as between influential characteristics and progress in the three stages of policy implementation. No statistically significant differences were found in state progress by geographic region. However, the four influential characteristics together predicted overall state progress and progress in each of the three stages. The dimension of system uniquely accounted for a significant proportion of variance in overall state progress, and progress in policy development and policy approval. The results suggest that an administrative structure, mechanisms, and process that promote multiagency planning are important to the successful implementation of Part H of P.L. 99-457.     

Literacies remaking public places: the Umbrella Movement of Hong Kong, 2014

We approach Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement, also known as Occupy Central, encountered in 2 days in November 2014 as an exemplar of literacy as placemaking. As a contemporary city‐based resistance movement, the creation and subsequent resemiotisation of literacy artefacts were an important element of spatialised practice in asserting a new and dynamic sense of citizenship. In their collaborative design, shared commitment to certain values and expressions of political resistance, these occupation sites may be read as an instantiation of Goodsell's concept of public space. The initial research site of engagement gave rise to a dataset of photographs that the authors examined together as discourses in place, informed by cultural knowledge of Hong Kong. Selecting two photographs, we broaden out beyond the linguistic features of texts to consider processes of creative semiotic remediation. We suggest that in such placemaking activities, the Umbrella Movement activists embodied Giroux's concept of literacy as emancipatory practice. Finally, we make suggestions as to how this study might be connected to a critical pedagogy of place.