Dangerous liaisons: Reflections on a pilot project for state-mandated outcomes assessment of written communication

This study details the development and results of a campus-based writing assessment plan that was mandated by a state-wide university system in order to explore the “value-added” from a writing program curriculum to undergraduate students’ competence with written expression. Four writing samples (two timed essays and two conventional essays) that are produced before, during and at the close of enrollment in the writing program are scored for critical thinking, genre knowledge, rhetorical skills, and mechanics. The results indicate that local campus student achievement related to writing is comparable with performance captured by nationally normed technologies and larger assessment projects at similar state universities. The data also suggest significant performance difference related to the institutional position of students’ instructors as well as students’ own enrollment status. The article concludes that while the data produced by this research project are compelling, the policy and political implications of the undertaking suggest greater sensitivity to the institution's culture and program direction as well as its impact on instructor morale, student learning environment and the place of composition studies in the university.     

The Impact of League Tables on University Application Rates

In the UK, the popular use of league tables in assessing the comparative standing of universities has escalated to such an extent that most UK national newspapers now publish them. A review of literature to date suggests there has been little academic research undertaken to establish the value of such tables or to assess their impact upon student application rates. This paper explores the relationship between league position and application rates in the UK, using rankings from the Sunday Times as an example, with important lessons for higher education across the globe. Results show that in the period when league tables were newly introduced, there was a significant negative association between league table position (ranked from highest to lowest) and the change in application rates (that is, the higher the league position, the faster the growth in applications) an association that subsequently weakened and may have even have reversed. The paper goes on to explore the notion of various divisions within the overall league table, suggesting that there are effectively two 'selecting' divisions, typically choosing from a surplus of applicants, and two 'recruiting' divisions, typically working to avoid an applications shortfall against target numbers.     

广东苏铁及中国东南部几种苏铁的研究

本文对华东南(台湾，广东，海南)产的广东苏铁、台东苏铁及海南苏铁的形态学、解剖学和分类学问题、以及这几种苏铁的亲缘关系进行了讨论。本文附有检索表及图。     

Speech and drama training for lectures as a means of improving university teaching

Although considerable resources have been invested in programs for the improvement of college and university teaching, there is little data available on the effectiveness of these programs. The present study assessed the value of speech and drama training as a method of improving lecturing skills in university teachers. It was found that teachers who received speech and drama training showed significant improvement in student ratings of classroom teaching relative to control teachers. Rival hypotheses involving greater motivation to improve in experimental teachers and generalized placebo and self-help effects were ruled out on the basis of student rating data from previous courses and differential findings for target and nontarget rating scales. It is concluded that speech and drama training can make a small but significant contribution to the improvement of university teaching.     

Deaf college students' comprehension of relational language in arithmetic compare problems

In this study of deaf college students' performance solving compare word problems, relational statements were either consistent or inconsistent with the arithmetic operation required for the solutions. The results support the consistency hypothesis Lewis and Mayer (1987) proposed based on research with hearing students. That is, deaf students were more likely to miscomprehend a relational statement and commit a reversal error when the required arithmetic operation was inconsistent with the statement's relational term (e.g., having to add when the relational term was less than). Also, the reversal error effect with inconsistent word problems was magnified when the relational statement was a marked term (e.g., a negative adjective such as less than) rather than an unmarked term (e.g., a positive adjective such as more than). Reading ability levels of deaf students influenced their performance in a number of ways. As predicted, there was a decrease in goal-monitoring errors, multiple errors, and the number of problems left blank as the reading levels of students increased. Contrary to expectations, higher reading skills did not affect the frequency of reversal errors.