Examining the role of social goals in school: A study in two collectivist cultures

Achievement goal theorists have mostly focused on the role of mastery and performance goals in the school setting with little attention being paid to social goals. The aim of this study was to explore the role of social goals in influencing educational outcomes in two collectivist cultures: Hong Kong and the Philippines. Results showed that social goals were able to predict additional variance in various adaptive educational outcomes even after controlling for the effects of mastery and performance goals. Implications for cross-cultural research are discussed.     

The Needs of Secondary School Information Technology Co‐ordinators in the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on a survey of secondary schools in the West Midlands, England, in 1991 and was conducted to measure the tasks required of information technology co‐ordinators and the training requirement of their schools. The main emphasis of information technology work was still on taught, examination courses and there was a perceived need for information technology awareness courses for all pupils. Many co‐ordinators had no clear perspective of the level of information technology permeation across the curriculum in their schools, and thus demonstrated an urgent need for audits of staff awareness and pupil access. Information technology co‐ordinators also saw a need for further in‐service training for many staff to enable delivery of their pupils’ information technology entitlement. Most staff training was school based and included collaborative teaching and courses run by the school staff. Little use was made of co‐operation with subject staff from other schools or outside specialists. The co‐ordinators defined their needs as being predominantly in the areas of time for co‐ordination duties, assessment of information technology across the curriculum, and training in new developments in the wider aspects of information technology.     

PISA as an ideational roadmap for policy change: exploring Germany and England in a comparative perspective

Education policy has undergone transformation in many countries over the last decade. In this article, we focus on the effects of the most significant international initiative in secondary education, which is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We analyse two countries that provide variation regarding the degree of change in their respective education policy-making due to this study; while Germany substantially reformed its education system in reaction to its mediocre PISA results, almost no change has been observed in England. As we show, alterations and shifts in ideas of education policy best account for such a change.     

At the intersection of technology and pedagogy: considering styles of learning and teaching

Abstract

In considering those forms of teaching and learning that most favor the use of information and communication technologies, this article explores assumptions related to technology use and education; describes technology use in learning contexts that favor teacher-centered and studentcentered approaches; refers to the literature on learning styles; and presents some of the evidence supporting a move towards technology-based, studentcentered learning environments. In analyzing this information, the article concludes with a statement supporting a ‘pedagogy of learning’ as the most favorable context/style for the use of appropriate educational technologies     

Has Communication Research Made a Difference? A Response to the Respondents

This response is part of a joint Communication Monographs and Journal of Applied Communication Research special project titled, “Has Communication Research Made a Difference?” The responses to the joint forum can be found in Communication Monographs, Volume 77, Issue 4, and the Journal of Applied Communication Research, Volume 38, Issue 3.     

Children's sensitivity to their own relative ignorance: handling of possibilities under epistemic and physical uncertainty

Children more frequently specified possibilities correctly when uncertainty resided in the physical world (physical uncertainty) than in their own perspective of ignorance (epistemic uncertainty). In Experiment 1 (N=61), 4- to 6-year-olds marked both doors from which a block might emerge when the outcome was undetermined, but a single door when they knew the block was hidden behind one door. In Experiments 2 (N=30; 5- to 6-year-olds) and 3 (N=80; 5- to 8-year-olds), children placed food in both possible locations when an imaginary pet was yet to occupy one, but in a single location when the pet was already hidden in one. The results have implications for interpretive theory of mind and "curse of knowledge."     

Liberal Studies in Hong Kong: A new perspective on critical thinking through group work

This article reports research that is contextualised within reforms of secondary education in Hong Kong and the reintroduction of Liberal Studies, which jointly emphasise the need for a learning environment that facilitates the practice of group work and the development of critical thinking. A study is described that explores the relevance of group work for fostering critical thinking, looking in particular at the participation of teachers in small group activity. While attention is paid to the results of critical thinking tests and excerpts extracted from the students’ dialogues, the research also seeks to highlight the role of the teacher in breaking stalemates in discussion with appropriate interventions. In sum, this article concludes by illustrating the importance of collaborative group work in the development of students’ critical thinking skills.     

A simple,low‐cost stereographic video capture and viewing solution for teaching psychomotor skills using online delivery

It is recognised that the teaching of complex psychomotor skills using online delivery is difficult without the support of either face‐to‐face coaching and tuition or a stereoscopic viewing system that provides users with a feel for the spatial nature of the skills being taught. To date, the limitations of bandwidth, and the high cost and sophistication of existing three‐dimensional video production and viewing technologies have limited the use of stereoscopic video imaging to highly funded fields, such as sports and medical research or military applications. The advent of desktop video editing software, along with personal video players (such as the Apple iPod and iPhone) with small screens utilising efficient video codecs, means that high‐quality video podcasts can now be effectively created and delivered via the Internet. Combining these new video technologies with a conventional analogue stereo viewing and capture system makes the production of stereoscopic video potentially much more accessible to educators as a practical teaching tool. This paper seeks to alert educational designers to an exploratory study into a potentially useful methodology for the capture, production, dissemination and viewing of stereoscopic video images using existing, low‐cost technologies. Aside from the production of a simple viewer, the process is straightforward and requires only basic and readily available equipment. Applications in education as well as vocational and sports training are self‐evident.     

Students as Consumers of Knowledge: Are They Buying What We’re Selling?

Academic entitlement, an attitude marked by students’ beliefs that they are owed something in the educational experience apart from what they might earn from their effort, has received attention recently in the literature. In previous work, academic entitlement has been shown to be related to parenting styles and personality constructs. The current study departs from previous research by taking a phenomenological approach to understanding academic entitlement. Focus groups were conducted with a total of 52 first-year students. Responses were coded into six facets of academic entitlement: product value of education, social promotion, role of professors, teaching assistants, administrators, and shoppers or scholars.