‘Supportive’, ‘real’, and ‘low-cost’: implicit comparisons and universal assumptions in the construction of the prospective college-based HE student

This paper first argues for the importance of continued analysis of marketising discourses in Higher Education (HE), both despite and because of their ubiquity. Secondly, the paper looks specifically at college-based HE provision in English Further Education (FE). Using the ‘possible selves’ concept alongside critical discourse analysis, the paper analyses the representations of prospective students on marketing web pages for HE provision in FE colleges. Arguing that the web pages reveal more than just the limited language of HE marketing strategy, the paper highlights common representations of the college-based HE student across policy, research and marketing sources. By exploring both the celebratory and the limiting nature of these representations, the paper therefore asks what the pages’ projections of future or prospective students can tell us about current understandings of English college-based HE.     

Speaking Subjects: the Development of a Conceptual Framework for the Teaching and Learning of Spoken Language

Although the National Curriculum demands a wide range of speaking and listening activities in the primary classroom and the National Oracy Project has stimulated a rich variety of empirical work by teachers on children's spoken language, there is still an underdeveloped conceptual framework to the primary oracy curriculum as a whole. This article argues that the recent SCAA (School Curriculum and Assessment Authority) Exemplification of Standards booklet and video sent to every primary school in the country only raises once again some of these unresolved conceptual issues. It attempts to begin to construct a useful conceptual framework for classroom oracy using different concepts which help to frame the familial culture of the young child, the oral culture of the media and the cognitive and rational culture of school discourse.     

Living learning theory through My Fair Lady

In My Fair Lady ( Lerner & Lowe, 1956 ), the play, the renowned linguistics professor, Henry Higgins, attempts to instruct the common flower‐vendor, Eliza Doolittle, in proper English etiquette and speech. Revisit the colourful story from the perspective of a twenty‐first century instructional designer. Set in the 1910s, but written in the heyday of behaviourism, the play reflects the idea that behavioural change is the evidence of learning. As we analyse Professor Higgins's applied theory of learning and instruction, we find unique examples of behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism at work in the instructional strategies and activities and in the good professor's interpretations of Ms Doolittle's actions and attitudes toward learning.     

Reimagining Counselor Education with Diversity as a Core Value

To move diversity from the periphery of counselor preparation to its core requires effort beyond the 1 or 2 “special” courses that have been the mainstay of multicultural counselor education (T. E. Midgette & S. S. Meggert, 1991). The authors describe the processes and outcomes of a systemic reimagining of Auburn University's counselor education doctoral program, as well as community agency and school counseling master's‐degree programs that incorporate diversity as a core value. The development of diversity‐supportive department policies and procedures, curricular and cocurricular changes, and environmental considerations are discussed and evaluated.     

In Seven Countries and Six Time Zones: Working Together across the Globe to Serve Our Students

At Webster University, solo librarians manage libraries on six campuses in Africa, Europe, and Asia. On the home campus in St. Louis, ten librarians at a traditional library serve faculty, staff, and students at metro and military campuses across the U.S., at international campuses, and online. To ensure consistency for users, librarians have constructed a network to communicate and collaborate across borders. The librarians meet on a monthly basis using WebEx software and collaborate asynchronously on instructional projects using LibGuides. Library committees have international librarian representation. The libraries have centralized cataloging and electronic resources at the home campus library. As librarians built an instructional webinar series, they worked together to brainstorm topics and partnered to deliver content to all students. This paper will discuss how this network was built, challenges to communication, and the benefits of tapping into the diversity and expertise of librarians around the world.     

The Home and Community Social Behaviour Scales (HCSBS): dimensionality in social competence and antisocial behaviours

The study investigated dimensionality in the Home and Community Social Behaviour Scales (HCSBS) that assess social competence (Peer Relations and Self-Management/Compliance) and antisocial behaviour (Defiant/Disruptive and Antisocial/Aggressive behaviour) in children and adolescents. The four scales comprising 64 items were completed by 551 parents of children aged 2–12 with emerging or present behavioural problems. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to investigate the latent factor structure of the scales. The results revealed a meaningful three-factor solution for items within each of the following subscales: Peer Relations, Self-Management/Compliance, Defiant/Disruptive, and Antisocial/Aggressive. However, findings revealed some significant cross-loadings within each of the scales. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Preference for 50% reinforcement over 75% reinforcement by pigeons

When pigeons are given a choice between an initial-link alternative that results in either a terminal-link stimulus correlated with 100% reinforcement or a stimulus correlated with 0% reinforcement (overall 50% reinforcement) and another initial-link alternative that always results in a terminal-link stimulus correlated with 100% reinforcement, some pigeons show a preference for the initial-link alternative correlated with 50% reinforcement. Using this procedure, in Experiment 1, we found a relatively modest preference for 100% over 50% reinforcement. In Experiment 2, we decreased the reinforcement density for the second initial-link alternative to 75% and found a significant preference for the 50% reinforcement initial-link alternative. It may be that this “maladaptive” behavior results from a positive contrast between the expectation of reinforcement correlated with the 50% reinforcement initial-link alternative and the terminal-link stimulus correlated with 100% reinforcement. But apparently, the complementary negative contrast does not develop between the expectation of reinforcement correlated with the 50% reinforcement initial-link alternative and the terminal-link stimulus correlated with 0% reinforcement that often follow. Such paradoxical choice may account for certain human appetitive risk-taking behavior (e.g., gambling) as well.     

STRATEGIES TO EXPAND A PENPAL PROGRAM FROM SIMPLE LETTERS INTO A FULL INTERGENERATIONAL EXPERIENCE

The Senior Pen Pal Program offered in the first grade classroom at Mulready Elementary School in Hudson, MAis an example of a successful intergenerational program. The program has evolved from a letter exchange to include the assignment of books about senior citizens, regular correspondence, and structured group visits between participants. Some of the seniors visit the classroom and lead activities. The senior center is visited by the students and an intergenerational concert is held during the holidays.