Copyright and Regulation

Information Hotline, “Special Copyright Issue, (November 1976)“ (Science Associates/International, Inc., 1841 Broadway, New York 10023—$8.50, paper, with a discount scale for bulk purchase)

Copyright Revision Act of 1976: Law, Explanation, Committee Reports (Commerce Clearing House, Inc., 4025 West Peterson Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60646—$12.50, paper)

Media Law Reporter has come to light since the brief note in the January issue (see 8:52)

Robert Trager and Donna L. Dickerson's College Student Press Law (NCCPA Publications, School of Journalism, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701—$5.00, paper)

William Ruckelshaus and Elie Abel, eds. Freedom of the Press (Washington: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1976—$2.50, paper)

Richard Olin Berner's Constraints on the Regulatory Process: A Case Study of Regulation of Cable Television (Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger Publishing Co., 1976—price not given, but about $15.00)     

SELECTING THE APPRENTICE∗

This paper reports an investigation into the attitudes of 200 mixed secondary pupils from both rural and urban schools towards programmed instruction as a teaching method and towards geography, as a subject studied in this way. Pupils in their second year in each school were divided into experimental and control groups matched on the basis of achievement, verbal and quantitative aptitude tests. The attitudes of both groups towards geography and programmed instruction were pre‐tested by questionnaire. The groups then underwent two different learning sessions for three weeks. Despite more positive attitudes shown initially by the control group to both geography and programmed learning, the experimental group later performed better and showed more favourable attitudes towards map reading than those taught by conventional texts, this being even more so for boys. Reasons for the results and certain features of the study are discussed.     

THE ATTITUDE OF PART‐TIME DAY. RELEASE STUDENTS

Matched groups of pupils from consecutive intakes of a recently opened boys’ grammar school were compared as to academic performance at GCE ‘O’ level and as to attitude to school, while the school, which began by being rigidly streamed, was gradually being unstreamed. The main conclusion has been that significantly more boys have done well at GCE ‘O’ level (gaining five or more passes) as a result of less streaming but slightly at the expense of the brightest pupils, not as to the number of passes these boys have obtained but as to the quality of those passes. There has also been social gain under conditions of less streaming: the behaviour of the boys has improved in general, although the overall attitude to school, as measured by analysis of questionnaires, has not altered.     

Quality Teaching and Learning in Australian and South African Universities: Comparing policies and practices

Over the last decade universities across the world have been grappling with quality and quality assurance issues. In several countries national policies on higher education quality assurance have been evolving, mostly with the purpose of putting external systems of quality assurance in place. In many instances, these policies and systems had less effect on the quality of teaching and learning than had been expected. This paper serves as a comparison of national quality policy developments in two countries, Australia and South Africa, and goes on to investigate the emerging tensions in quality policy processes in these countries. Whereas a number of similarities were discerned, differences were as evident, verifying the underlying assumption of the authors that notions of quality, and quality policies and their implementation are very much dependent on the particular localised contexts in which they exist.     

Hidden dimensions in the so-called reality of a mathematics classroom

Teaching and learning of mathematics in classrooms is interpreted as a situation of human interaction in an institutionalized setting. Using theories and categories from different disciplines - e.g., ethnomethodology, linguistics, cross-cultural studies—a documented mathematics classroom episode is re-analyzed. The analysis of the example is used to identify four hidden dimensions in the classroom process and thus deficient areas of research: The constitution of meaning through human interaction, the impact of institutional settings, the development of personality, and the process of reducing classroom complexity. Consequences for teacher training towards more reflected classroom experience are drawn.     

Ten years of forfeitures by the federal communications commission

The following analysis of how the FCC has used its recently granted (1960) power to levy fines and forfeitures is a companion piece to the authors’ “Station License Revocations and Denials of Renewal, 1934–1969,” which was published in the Journal of Broadcasting, X1V:4:411 (Fall 1970). Charles Clift is assistant professor in the School of Radio‐Television of Ohio University; Fredric Weiss is lecturer in the Division of Radio‐TV‐Film of the Department of Speech and Dramatic Art of the University of Maryland; and John Able is assistant professor in the Department of Television and Radio of Michigan State University.