Does pragmatism trump motivation in college students’ preferences for examination formats?

Proponents of performance assessments purport that they allow more options for student choice and autonomy and, therefore, are more motivating and more preferred by students. This study explored the role of stakes and the student’s familiarity with the format in these examination preferences. A survey of 148 college students suggested that: their familiarity with open-ended assessments led students to prefer them without reference to stakes; they tended to prefer closed assessments when the stakes are low but open formats when the stakes are high; and their goal orientation had no relationship with these decisions. In the end, students seemed to be rather pragmatic and protective of their grades regardless of their goal orientations, which is only natural. The students’ goal orientations appear, then, to be desiderata for both them and their instructors, but a graded environment stifles their full operation.     

历史选择:培育明日之劳动大军

关于职业教育的历史传统和观点 有历史的观点,才能懂得生涯与技术教育的起源,有助于理解几十年来,课程目标和任务为何,以及如何依政治经济的变化而变化,明白当前所处状态,并且促使对未来发展方向的思考.     

5. Radio and Television

ANCHORS: BROKAW, JENNINGS, RATHER AND THE EVENING NEWS by Robert Goldberg and Gerald Jay Goldberg (New York: Birch Lane/Carol Publishing, 1990—$19.95, ISBN 1-55972-019-0, 399 pp.)

FDR AND THE NEWS MEDIA by Betty Houchin Winfield, 1990—$34.95, ISBN 0-252-01672-6, 276 pp.) takes a broad view of the legendary president and his administration's varied relations with the press throughout his presidency (1933-45)

FOREIGN POLICY AND THE PRESS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES' COVERAGE OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY by Nicholas 0. Berry (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990—$39.95, ISBN 0-313-27419-3, 184 pp.)

SOB SISTER JOURNALISM by Phyllis Leslie Abramson (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990—$35.00, ISBN 0-313-26513-5, 144 pp.)

THE COURSE OF TOLERANCE: FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN NINETEENTH–CENTURY AMERICA by Donna Lee Dickerson (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990—$45.00, ISBN 0-313-27534-3, 272 pp.)     

Educational Media

Jay Stein's Mass Media Education, and a Better Society (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1979---$ )

Gavriel Salomon's Interaction of Media, Cognition, and Learning (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1079---$ )

Dennis D. McDonald et al, Directory of Public Broadcasting Information Resources (Washington: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1979--- free , paper)

Religious media communication, two recent titles     

The Democratic Balance: President McKinley's Assassination as Domestic Trauma

As an ideal, democracy has long been understood as a balance between oligarchy and ochlocracy. In practice, this balancing act has to be articulated within specific socio cultural contexts. This essay examines one such articulation in the discursive response to the assassination of President McKinley in 1901 at the hands of self-proclaimed anarchist Leon Czolgosz. It does so by understanding McKinleyapos;s death as domestic trauma—a shocking event that threatened the nation's democratic identity. In response to this traumatic event, this essay ultimately argues a rationalizing discourse emerged that scapegoated the shooter as a weak-minded immigrant and offered a vision of democracy that required citizens have the fitness to rise above group identities and passions and take on the sober-minded responsibility of self-governance.     

MEDICAL EDUCATION IN GERIATRICS: THE LASTING IMPACT OF THE AGING GAME

In an effort to sensitize medical students to the problems of the frail elderly, a simulation experience known as the Aging Game is a required portion of the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course for medical students at Duke University. The immediate positive effect of the Aging Game has been documented (Journal of the American Medical Association, 262, 1507‐1509), but its long‐term impact has not been established. To obtain follow‐up, a brief 10‐item questionnaire was mailed to all medical students. Both objective and subjective data were collected to ascertain the impact of the Aging Game over time (class years two through four), and objective responses were analyzed by the Mantel‐Haenszel chi‐square test of general association. The lasting effect of the intervention was confirmed over the 2‐year follow‐up period. The experiential nature of the intervention and the resultant increase in empathy for the frail elder explain the success of the Aging Game.     

Community College Employee Wellness Programs

This paper describes the prevalence and characteristics of employee wellness programs in public community colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). A random sample of 250 public community colleges accredited by SACS was mailed a 46-item employee-wellness program survey. The survey solicited program information regarding funding, activities offered, program administration, participation rates, and incentives. The results indicated that the majority of the employee wellness program administrative bodies were either the health and physical education departments or wellness committees. The main coordinators of the wellness programs were either part-time directors within the institutions, wellness committees, or full-time directors within the institutions. Of the institutions surveyed, 27 out of 64 (42.2%) offered employee wellness programs. The findings indicate that the prevalence of employee wellness programs in public community colleges accredited by SACS is below previous research findings in community colleges and universities and do not meet the national health goals of employee health promotion prevalence set forth by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.     

Denying Traditional Senses: lessons about programme change

Abstract

Today, faculty are being challenged to rethink their course and programme offerings, and to bring them in line with the diverse needs of a new student population. In doing so, they are continually asked to confront their ‘traditional senses’ about teaching. This paper reports the struggles of faculty to build new notions about teachings, and learning styles and strategies as they recreated the real estate programme at Arizona State University. It then draws from their experience, certain lessons about programme change.