Thinking critically about learning analytics,student outcomes,and equity of attainment

Abstract

This is the introduction to the special edition on learning analytics.     

How economists think about family resources and child development

Research in child development reveals that the sources, level, stability, and uses of family resources have a profound effect on children's well-being and long-term outcomes. Although that research has incorporated economic constructs and measures, developmentalists generally ignore the formal economic framework for thinking about family resources and child outcomes. Building on the premise that children are an investment, that framework explains how families allocate resources and links that decision to other family choices and to key child outcomes, such as schooling, morbidity, and mortality among others. This article explains economists' general approach to family behavior (the so-called theory of household production) and then describes how that framework is useful for thinking about families and children. The article then outlines how economists model parental investment in children and examines the implications of that approach for developmental science. This discussion is illustrated using an example of interest to developmentalists--the involvement of children and adolescents in after-school activities. A concluding section discusses the benefits of and potential barriers to collaboration between economists and developmentalists.     

Just a knock back? Identity bruising on the route to becoming a male primary school teacher

Men who choose to do ‘women’s work’ and enter the female culture of the primary school can often initially face a range of stereotyped responses to their choice. Drawing on stories from a small sample of trainee and serving male teachers, we adopt the term ‘identity bruising’ to describe the ‘knock backs’ that occur to them in primary schools. How the men react to ‘bruising’ is of considerable interest, given the current concern in the UK to improve the recruitment and retention of men in primary training and teaching. An inductive and reflexive methodology is used whereby we work with the men to explore how they become aware of, understand and negotiate the problematic nature and gendered assumptions of masculinities that underpin the restrictions that they encounter.     

Effects of radiant heat exposure on pacing pattern during a 15-km cycling time trial

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of different durations of skin temperature manipulation on pacing patterns and performance during a 15-km cycling time trial. Nineteen well-trained men completed three 15-km cycling time trials in 18°C and 50% relative humidity with 4.5-km (short-heat), 9.0-km (long-heat) or without (control) radiant heat exposure applied by infrared heaters after 1.5 km in the time trial. During the time trials, power output, mean skin temperature, rectal temperature, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion were assessed. The radiant heat exposure resulted in higher mean skin temperature during the time trial for short-heat (35.0 ± 0.6°C) and long-heat (35.3 ± 0.5°C) than for control (32.5 ± 1.0°C; P < 0.001), whereas rectal temperature was similar (P = 0.55). The mean power output was less for short-heat (273 ± 8 W; P = 0.001) and long-heat (271 ± 9 W; P = 0.02) than for control (287 ± 7 W), but pacing patterns did not differ (P = 0.55). Heart rate was greatest in control (177 ± 9 beats · min^?1; P < 0.001), whereas the rating of perceived exertion remained similar. We concluded that a radiant heat exposure and associated higher skin temperature reduced overall performance, but did not modify pacing pattern during a 15-km cycling time trial, regardless of the duration of the exposure.     

A conceptual model and set of instruments for measuring student engagement in learning

This work has its origins with research into the effects of pedagogy on student engagement and learning outcomes. It summarises the development of self-report and observation instruments for measuring student engagement suitable for early years to senior secondary. The measures are sensitive to the context and experience of learning rather than, as is more common, a general disposition towards learning or school. The measures are distinctive in three ways: (1) they avoid the use of proxies such as attendance which link only weakly to learning outcomes; (2) they are designed to be sensitive to the effect of learning environments and quality of pedagogy on engagement; and (3) they do not assume that the learning environment involves conventional schooling. However, the use of the instruments has also revealed a deep structure to engagement which is a distinctive contribution and links prior research into learner dispositions and interest to the engagement construct.     

Unemployment: A Moral Issue

If any man would know the very cause

Which makes me to forget my speech in rhyme,

All the sweet songs I sang in other time,— I'll tell it in a sonnet's simple clause.

I hourly have beheld how good withdraws

To nothing, and how evil mounts the while; Until my heart is gnawed as with a file,

Nor ought of this world's worth is what it was.

GVERZO DI M0NTECANTI—13th Cent. Translation by D. G. ROSSETTI

     

Text and Context: the Passion of the Christ and Other Jesus Films

Looking back on his vocational journey, the author explores three “conversations” among academic and local church religious educators originating in teaching practice that culminate in a discussion of religious education as a field of study. These conversations focus attention on teaching in the transformation of persons and communities, on community as context and agency of teaching, and on public life as the setting for teaching to live responsibly into the providential intent of God. From this perspective religious education is described as an inherently theological practice emerging from the engagement of teachers and students in faith communities at the edges of our collective ignorance of the “intent of God” and at the intersection of our various religious traditions.     

Knowing Your Limitations

This article reflects on whether probability statements can usefully be made about one‐off exceptional events.     

A Framework for Creating a Climate of Transparency for Professional Performance Assessment: Fostering Student Investment in Gatekeeping

Students unfamiliar with their counseling program's professional performance assessment policies may consider such policies pejorative. Moreover, student beliefs about the primacy of ethical service to clients may be confounded when faculty members are reluctant or fail to formally address concerns about deficient professional performance of students. The authors propose a framework intended to promote openness and transparency in professional performance assessment and believe this framework is critical to students' accurate perceptions of the assessment process, their trust in faculty members, and their future investment in safeguarding public welfare and the ethical integrity of the counseling profession through gatekeeping.