Reading,listening and feeling: audio feedback as a component of an inclusive learning culture at universities

Feedback on student performance is an important part of university assessment procedures. However, effective feedback is hampered by various obstacles. The growing heterogeneity of the student body increases these barriers, particularly with regard to the reception of feedback. One strategy to overcome these obstacles can be to communicate feedback in the form of audio files. The study presented here tested the possibilities of this procedure by giving students feedback, both as an audio file and in writing. The survey shows that some of the students find audio feedback particularly easy to assimilate, while others prefer written feedback. The aim of the study was to go beyond the level of simplistic evaluation (better–worse), and to be able to make more nuanced statements about the strengths and also the weaknesses of audio feedback. All the students stated that they felt the audio feedback was more personal and appreciative than the written feedback. It becomes clear that the different needs of students can best be catered for with a variety of forms of communication. Audio feedback cannot be considered a comprehensive solution to the different problems associated with feedback, but it can contribute to the development of an inclusive university.     

Truth is in the eye of the beholder: Perception of the Müller-Lyer illusion in dogs

Visual illusions are objects that are made up of elements that are arranged in such a way as to result in erroneous perception of the objects’ physical properties. Visual illusions are used to study visual perception in humans and nonhuman animals, since they provide insight into the psychological and cognitive processes underlying the perceptual system. In a set of three experiments, we examined whether dogs were able to learn a relational discrimination and to perceive the Müller-Lyer illusion. In Experiment 1, dogs were trained to discriminate line lengths using a two-alternative forced choice procedure on a touchscreen. Upon learning the discrimination, dogs’ generalization to novel exemplars and the threshold of their abilities were tested. In the second experiment, dogs were presented with the Müller-Lyer illusion as test trials, alongside additional test trials that controlled for overall stimulus size. Dogs appeared to perceive the illusion; however, control trials revealed that they were using global size to solve the task. Experiment 3 presented modified stimuli that have been known to enhance perception of the illusion in other species. However, the dogs’ performance remained the same. These findings reveal evidence of relational learning in dogs. However, their failure to perceive the illusion emphasizes the importance of using a full array of control trials when examining these paradigms, and it suggests that visual acuity may play a crucial role in this perceptual phenomenon.     

Early Childhood Education in Societal Context: Teachers in Three Countries Speak About Early Childhood Education

Building on the cross-cultural patterns and systems research as well as social constructivism, in-depth interviews were conducted with key informant early childhood teachers in three regions with similar characteristics in Sweden, Russia, and in the United States. Inductive analyses revealed differences in responses among Swedish, Russian and American informants related to the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels of societal system. United States teacher informants had a great number of separate topic comments and distributed them more evenly across all levels than did Russian and Swedish teacher informants who had more emphasis at the meso level. United States and Russian teacher informants discussed the lack of societal support for young children and their families, while Swedish teacher informants seemed to almost take this support for ranted. United States teacher informants suggested that early childhood programs were important in developing support networks among parents, while Russian teacher informants often gave information to parents and Swedish teachers spoke about mutually sharing information. United States teacher informants desired both strict rules with strong academic content and extension of the child's initiations through play; they emphasized activities and materials. Swedish teachers discussed a child- centered approach to social learning and creativity and desired to be with children rather than do activities with them. Russian teacher informants emphasized the importance of obedience, aesthetic education, and preparation for school and the labor of the larger society. These study outcomes deepen understanding about the multidemensional relationships between early childhood programs and societal contexts in which they are embedded, and they suggest alternative approaches to working with young children and their families.     

Pretraining and discrimination reversal learning by rhesus monkeys

Groups of five to seven macaques were trained on repeated reversals of a visual (or spatial) discrimination habit after no pretraining, extended discrimination training, or repeated reversal training on spatial (or visual) cues. Neither sort of pretraining had a significant effect on reversal learning on the second cue. These results indicate that monkeys’ capacity to develop generalized “win-stay, lose-shift” hypotheses may have been exaggerated in previous experiments.     

The company of others: generating knowhow in later life

Abstract

This paper explores some important aspects of the generation of practical knowledge through later life. It is about the relationship between knowledge generation, agency and capability, developed informally through the life experiences in and through the Company of Others. It emphasises how the everyday processes of socialisation create invaluable opportunities to know how to navigate the diverse and complex changes thrown up in the journey through later life. It asks where and how knowhow is generated after workforce participation ceases and pays particular attention to ‘third places’, opportunities in the community that enable social connections beyond the first and second places, home and work, respectively. The empirical and theoretical data come from two main Australian sources amplified by new international research in cognate fields. The first is a study about Generating knowhow in later life. The second derives from insights from research for a book into the origins and nature of the now international Men’s Shed Movement.     

Increasing Teacher Mathematical Talk During Shared Book Reading in the Preschool Classroom: A Pilot Study

Research Findings: Shared book reading provides opportunities for adults to engage in literacy-related interactions with children in meaningful ways. Research has examined various dimensions of adult and child behavior during shared book-reading interactions with some focus on how book type affects the reading experience. Little research, however, has examined systematically the use of shared book reading in a mathematical context. Thus, the purpose of the study was twofold: (a) to examine the effect of book type on teacher use of mathematical talk during shared book reading in preschool classrooms and (b) to examine the effect of training teachers specifically to use mathematical talk during shared book reading. A multielement design with 2 female preschool teachers who taught in inclusion classrooms in an urban school district was used. Results generally indicated that the use of mathematical storybooks resulted in increased teacher mathematical talk compared to the use of nonmathematical storybooks. Training and instructional supports resulted in an increase in mathematical talk over that achieved by mathematical storybooks alone. Practice or Policy: Because shared book reading is a common practice in preschool classrooms, strategically choosing books to address mathematical skills can increase attention to mathematics throughout daily routines and provide a means of increasing teacher mathematical talk.     

Labels and Labelling in the Field of Educational Leadership

This paper reports on theorising based on developing histories of the field of educational leadership in higher education in the UK. These histories are being constructed through the collection of professional biographies of field members, reading the outputs of the field in the form of journals and books, and analysing the papers from the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society. In this paper I focus on how the field has changed its label over the last forty years from “educational administration” to “educational management”, and more recently “educational leadership”, and the link between labels and knowledge claims. In particular I argue that while there is a continuity of knowledge underpinning this relabelling process there is also a mutation in the form of management in education that has become performance leadership in schools. The latter is official government policy and practitioners are being located in an all‐embracing training framework. The paper argues that knowing about knowledge claims and field labels is an important means by which we can control our practice and identities. Through Bourdieu's theory of practice I describe and explain the development of the field and the struggle to be located and to stay located within higher education. By putting Bourdieu to work in this way I also seek to analyse how habitus and field can contribute to the development of explanatory frameworks regarding the power structures underpinning knowledge production.     

Beyond Plumbing and Prevention: feminist approaches to sex education

This article offers a feminist critique of existing sex education policies and programmes in Canada, as well as examining common right‐wing arguments against more progressive approaches. Two major forces shaping adolescent girls’ developing sexuality—male sexual violence and compulsory heterosexuality—are discussed, and recent initiatives in Ontario to introduce these issues into sex education programmes evaluated. Toronto Board of Education's new policy on sexual orientation and the Ontario Ministry of Education AIDS Education Curriculum are assessed and strategies for anti‐sexist, anti‐heterosexist sex education developed.     

At the bridging point: tutoring newly arrived students in Sweden

In Sweden, tutoring in the mother tongue is a special support measure primarily intended for newly arrived students to facilitate their transition into the Swedish school system. Tutoring is premised on the collaboration between the class teacher, responsible for subject-related expertise, and the tutor, who contributes with knowledge of the student’s mother tongue and previous context of studies. In this case study of class teachers’ and mother tongue tutors’ conditions for collaboration at a multi-ethnic primary school, six mother tongue tutors and six class teachers were asked about the purpose of their work, how it was organised, and what could be done to improve working conditions. Interviews with head teachers, and data on work organisation from observations, document study, and participation in meetings for a period of one and a half years supplemented the teacher interviews. The analysis focuses on whether tutors and teachers belong to the same or different Communities of Practice, based on shared concerns and opportunities for collaboration, as well as looking at the relative positioning of languages and teaching roles. Findings suggest that the degree of collaboration between tutors and teachers was not sufficient to allow tutoring to function in the way it is envisaged by national steering documents. Tutoring was instead based on the tutors’ own knowledge of the subjects they taught. Recruitment of suitable tutors was difficult. However, conditions for collaboration and more effective tutoring in the schools could be improved with relatively simple support structures at the level of the municipality.     

Authenticating Sexual Diversity in School: Examining Sociolinguistic Constructions of Young People’s Sexual Identities

Recent research into sexuality and education shows that homophobia is particularly prevalent and problematic in schools. However, little of this work has drawn on linguistic frameworks. This article uses the tactics of intersubjectivity framework to examine how a group of LGB-identified young people understand their sexuality identities in relation to the secondary school context. The application of this framework offers deeper insights into sexual orientation and education than can be gained from thematic analysis alone and can contribute towards developing understandings of sexual diversity issues in schools. The framework is applied to interview data in which young LGB people talk about their school experiences. Findings show that in the schools attended by the young LGB people, they have experienced a state of pervasive illegitimation surrounding LGB identities. The participants express a desire for this perceived institutional illegitimation to be replaced by authorisation using a range of authentication strategies.