Can Summer Vacation Be Detrimental To Learning? An Empirical Look

This study examined the performance of four autistic boys each trained to a criterion of 80 percent correct on two sets of noun labels. After training, one set of labels was reviewed twice a week for nine weeks (summer vacation); the other set received no additional training. Performance on both sets was then retested. Each boy showed greater retention of the rehearsed compared with the unrehearsed material; one, placed on a VR3 schedule of reinforcement during the final stages of training, showed slightly better retention of the unrehearsed material than two trained exclusively with a CRF schedule. The authors argue that these data provide beginning support for the contention that seriously developmentally disabled children need to be in a program which offers year‐round schooling rather than an 180‐day school year.     

Languages discourses in Australian middle-class schools: parent and student perspectives

Much of the literature on social class and language study in schools argues that for middle-class parents and their children, languages are chosen for their capacity to offer forms of distinction that provide an edge in the global labour market. In this paper, we draw on data collected from interviews with parents and children in middle-class schools in Australia to demonstrate how a complex amalgam of elite, cultural identity and/or trade language discourses came into play to explain the choice (or not) to study a language and the choice of specific languages. For many of the parents languages provided a limited form of ‘civic multiculturalism’, as a means of better understanding and respecting the ‘other’. We argue that the value attributed to high status languages via this discourse, means their continued presence in schools hoping to attract middle-class parents, but their relative absence in schools with largely working-class populations, where more ‘practical’ concerns dominate.     

Beeinflusst die Rezession die Integration der Lehrerbildungen? Eine Einladung zur Forschung

Zusammenfassung In diesem Artikel mochten wir einerseits die umstrittene Langewel‐lentheorie beschreiben, die in wirtschaftlichen Kreisen vom Scheinwerfer des Interesses beleuchtet wird. Dabei schenken wir der ebenso umstrittenen Erklärungstheorie Schumpe‐ters fur diese Langewelle unsere besondere Aufmerksamkeit.

Wir legen uns anderseits die Frage vor, ob ein Zusammenhang besteht zwischen dieser Langewelle und den Möglichkeiten, über die man während einer festgesetzten Periode verfügt, um gewisse Innovationen bei der Lehrerbildung einzuführen, zu realisieren und besonders die Kosten dafür zu tragen.

Wir versuchen, unsere Annahme, ‘dass tatsächlich ein solcher Zusammenhang besteht’, zu erläutern mit einer Beschreibung einiger Auffallenden Gegebenheiten der Evolution der (west) deutschen Lehrerbildungen gegen den Hintergrund der Langewelle.

In weiteren Untersuchungen werden wir versuchen, diese provisorisch verfasste aber verantwortbare Annahme zu überprüfen und nachzuweisen. Im Interesse der Sache wäre es zu begrüssen, wenn auch andere Forscher die Folgen fur die Integration der Lehrerbildungen studieren mochten. Wir glauben, eine solche Untersuchung könne gesellschaftlich relevant sein.     

增值--在线课程设计和开发的编辑角色

本文从成功的在线教师所必需承担的8种角色入手,讨论和勾勒了作为成功在线教师所必需具备的能力结构,描述了成功在线教师行为的评价标准,以期为在线教学实践提供有益的参考。     

In search of attributes that support self-regulation in blended learning environments

Blended forms of learning have become increasingly popular. Learning activities within these environments are supported by a large variety of online and face-to-face interventions. However, it remains unclear whether these blended environments are successful, and if they are, what makes them successful. Studies suggest that blended learning challenges the self-regulatory abilities of learners, though the literature does little to explain these findings; nor does it provide solutions. In particular, little is known about the attributes that are essential to support learners and how they should guide course design. To identify such attributes and enable a more thoughtful redesign of blended learning environments, this systematic literature review (n?=?95) examines evidence published between 1985 and 2015 on attributes of blended learning environments that support self-regulation. The purpose of this review is therefore to identify and define the attributes of blended learning environments that support learners’ self-regulatory abilities. Seven key attributes were found (authenticity, personalization, learner-control, scaffolding, interaction, cues for reflection and cues for calibration). This review is the first to identify and define the attributes that support self-regulation in blended learning environments and thus to support the design of blended learning environments. This study may serve to facilitate the design of blended learning environments that meet learners’ self-regulatory needs. It also raises crucial questions about how blended learning relates to well-established learning theories and provides a basis for future research on self-regulation in blended learning environments.     

Effects of kindergarten retention for at-risk children’s psychosocial development

Kindergarten retention is a popular practice for children who are considered unready for primary school. However, past research has not yet succeeded to find consistent, strong empirical evidence supporting the practice. In the current study, kindergarten repeaters’ development in nine psychosocial domains is compared with that of equally at risk but (1) continuously promoted age-mates and (2) promoted age-mates who repeated first grade instead. Analysing data from a large-scale longitudinal study using propensity score matching and multilevel modelling, the findings reveal no harm of kindergarten retention for at-risk children’s long term psychosocial development. Rather, we find that, relative to equally at-risk but continuously promoted children, kindergarten repeaters benefit from retention with respect to higher levels of well-being, and peer relations, and lower levels of hyperactivity, aggression and asocial behaviour. Compared to similar children who were promoted but who were retained in first grade instead, kindergarten repeaters are found to benefit more from retention with respect to higher levels of well-being, self-confidence, attitude to work and independent behaviour, and lower levels of hyperactivity.     

Characterizing cross-professional collaboration in research and development projects in secondary education

Collaboration between practitioners and researchers can increasingly be observed in research and development (R&D) projects in secondary schools. This article presents an analysis of cross-professional collaboration between teachers, school leaders and educational researchers and/or advisers as part of R&D projects in terms of three dimensions: reasons for collaboration, the division of roles and tasks, and the communication structure. Data were collected in interviews with participants from 12 Dutch projects, from documents and from meetings with participants. The results show that the parties involved can have the same reasons for cross-professional collaboration but that the external educational experts may also have additional objectives. Roles and tasks were divided in different ways, depending on who directs and guides the research and development, and whether teachers were involved as teacher researchers in the project. The communication structure appeared to be linked to the division of roles and tasks, but also to the number of participants in the project. The three dimensions proved to be valuable viewpoints to study cross-professional collaboration in R&D projects in Dutch secondary education. Furthermore, we distinguished four types of cross-professional collaboration in R&D projects. These types differ in the extent to which the school or the external party direct and guide the project: (a) School-directed collaboration; (b) School- and researcher-directed collaboration; (c) School- and adviser-directed collaboration; (d) Researcher-directed collaboration. Our findings can support participants to consciously choose a particular type of cross-professional collaboration that fits their purposes and specific situation.