Trends in Chinese Higher Education

This special issue of Frontiers of Education in China is comprised of six articles from ten authors and co-authors who document several new trends in Chinese higher education.Many of the contributors include an analysis of how government policy,globalization,and internationalization have helped shape these trends over time.Many of the trends identified constitute unique elements toward and against progress within the world's largest higher education system.We encourage further research to better ascertain if these trends will continue in the near future,as China further positions itself as a leader on the global higher education stage.     

Flirting Competence: An Experimental Study on Appropriate and Effective Opening Lines

An experiment was conducted to examine the appropriateness and effectiveness of five flirtatious opening lines enacted by a male participant to initiate conversation with a female participant. Video messages were constructed to represent the following opening lines: direct introductions, direct compliments, humor attempts, cute–flippant lines, and third-party introductions. Participants were 642 college students who viewed one of these five videos and reported on the appropriateness and effectiveness of an opening line after controlling for perceptions of actor physical attractiveness. Results indicated that participants rated the third-party introduction and direct introduction opening lines as the most appropriate, whereas the third-party introduction was perceived as the most effective. Direct compliments, humor attempts, and cute–flippant lines were rated as equally inappropriate and ineffective.     

Stability in the popularity of television programs among children and adolescents

This study analyzed changes in the popularity (ratings) of television programs over the duration of a television season. Results indicated that popularity was quite stable and increased as the season wore on, especially among younger viewers.     

PISSAR's Critically Queer and Disabled Politics

PISSAR (People in Search of Safe and Accessible Restrooms) offers an instructive example about the possibility for critically queer and disabled politics. Using public bathrooms as a site of activism, PISSAR, through the consubstantiality of shame, demonstrates the mutually constitutive and performative properties of bodies interacting in space. PISSAR's actions provide pedagogical insight into the negotiation of coalitional politics, especially those politics inflected with queer concerns.     

Validity and Automad Scoring: It's Not Only the Scoring

What are the validity issues involved in automated scoring of tests? What is the nature of the interplay among construct definition, task design, examinee interface, tutorial, test development tools, and automated scoring and reporting?