Orientations to Enrolment of Part-time Students: A classification system based upon students' perceived lifelong learning needs

This article develops a classification system for the orientations to enrolment of part-time students based upon their practical lifelong learning needs. Orientation to enrolment is seen as a complex construct embodying all the reasons, purposes, expectations and motivations that cause students to pick a particular course and elect to study by the part-time mode. Virtually all of the interviewed students had a vocational orientation so some previously used categorisation schemes were not suitable. Instead seven categories relating to lifelong learning needs provided a scheme which covered the cases and related well to explanations given by interviewees for enrolling in the courses. These were re-training or further development for those who need to make a career shift; education for professionals who need to undertake continuing professional development through their careers; an opportunity for a tertiary education for those who did not previously have the chance; an education at the tertiary level for those who did not do sufficiently well at school to qualify for direct entry to university; an alternative to mainstream education; education for adults; and learning for pleasure throughout the lifetime.     

Paternal Sensitivity and Children’s Cognitive and Socioemotional Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review

In a series of meta-analyses, paternal sensitivity was associated with children’s (age range: 7 months–9 years) overall cognitive functioning (N = 3,193; k = 23; r = .19), including language skills (k = 9; r = .21), cognitive ability (k = 9; r = .18), and executive function (k = 8; r = .19). Paternal sensitivity was not associated with children’s overall socioemotional functioning (N = 2,924; k = 24; r = −.03) or internalizing problems, but it was associated with children’s emotion regulation (k = 7; r = .22) and externalizing problems (k = 19; r = −.08). In the broad cognitive functioning, executive function, broad socioemotional functioning, and externalizing problems meta-analyses, child age was a significant moderator.     

Do Mothers or Children Lead the Dance? Disentangling Individual and Influence Effects During Conflict

Are mother–child conflict discussions shaped by time-varying, reciprocal influences, even after accounting for stable contributions from each individual? Mothers were filmed discussing a conflict for 5 min, separately with their younger (ages 5–9, N = 217) and older (ages 7–13, N = 220) children. Each person’s conflict constructiveness was coded in 20-s intervals and data were analyzed using dynamic structural equation modeling, which separates individual and influence effects. Children influenced their mothers’ behavior under certain conditions, with evidence for developmental differences in the magnitude and direction of influence, whereas mothers did not influence their children under any circumstance. Results are discussed in the context of child effects on parent behavior and changes in parenting across middle childhood.     

Some effects of the award algorithm on honours degree classifications in UK higher education

In earlier work the Student Assessment and Classification Working Group (SACWG) found that up to 15% of honours classifications in UK higher education might be different if the results had been fed through another institution's award algorithm. In this article a more sensitive analysis has been applied to two blocks of institutional results that have been treated to reflect two variations that can be found in the range of honours degree award algorithms in use in UK higher education: (a) the relative weighting of performances in the second and third (or final) year of full‐time study; and (b) the number of results that can be ‘dropped’ in determining the degree classification. The analyses indicate that a student's honours degree classification may be affected by the way in which a degree classification is computed. Dropping the ‘worst’ 30 credit points from the normal 240 of the final two years of study might raise one classification in six, and (separately) changing the weightings of Year 2:Year 3 results from 50:50 to 25:75 might change one in ten, the majority of changes being upwards.     

Development of a school building model for educating students with handicaps and at-risk students in general education classrooms

This study, conducted in the context of a 4-year project to redesign special and remedial services in an elementary school, examined the effects of cooperative learning, cross-age tutoring, and in-class services for students with handicaps and remedial students. All students (524) in Grades 1 through 6 in two medium-sized elementary schools took part in the study. All three treatments were introduced into one of the schools, with the second school serving as a control. The cooperative learning treatment was delivered to all sixth-grade students, cross-age tutoring to special and remedial students in Grades 1 through 3, and the in-class services to all grade levels. Results indicated that, although the character of the instructional services changed markedly, none of the three treatments had much impact on achievement. Reasons for the findings are explored.     

The culture of the kitchen: Recipes for transformative education within the African American cultural experience

Toby S. Jenkins uses the cultural space of the African American kitchen as a guide for creating academic spaces of liberation and inclusion.     

Encouraging teacher development through embedding reflective practice in assessment

Learning to become a teacher is a developmental process, part of which is learning to become a reflective practitioner. The authors have implemented a structured approach to developing the habits of critical reflection, the purpose of which is to guide their university students (who are pre-service teachers) to progress through the stages of teacher development and to facilitate self-motivated professional growth. Their attempts to incorporate into these pre-service teachers' learning the ‘practice’ part of reflective practice have included the development of different kinds of practical and applied tasks. In turn, their attempts to incorporate the ‘reflective’ part of reflective practice have involved the embedding in assessment activities of different scaffolds for metacognitive reflection. Their innovative processes of embedding reflection in assessment have been guided by Dewey's and Schön's views of reflection, their own views of the teacher education process, and Brookfield's conception of ‘critical lenses’ which can be used as a scaffold to structure professional growth and development.     

Charting the development of technology-enhanced learning developments across the UK higher education sector: a longitudinal perspective (2001–2012)

This article reviews key findings from six surveys of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) across the UK higher education (HE) sector, conducted by Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association in association with Jisc. Updating the findings presented by Jenkins, Browne, Walker, and Hewitt [2010. The development of technology enhanced learning: Findings from a 2008 survey of UK higher education institutions, Interactive Learning Environments. First published on: 22 January 2010 (iFirst)], the article reports on the emerging and planned patterns of TEL across the UK HE sector over the last decade. Our analysis shows that against the backdrop of Higher Education Funding Council for England capital funding, institutions have made considerable investments in technology and infrastructure to support learning and teaching – specifically in the domain of learning management and assessment systems. While the drivers for TEL development have consistently focused on enhancing teaching and learning over the years, the subject of this investment has been directed to the implementation of enterprise-wide systems to manage and control learning processes, delivering efficiencies of scale and standardised learning experiences through centrally managed solutions, rather than support for student-controlled tools. In contrast, the diffusion of technologies supporting collaborative learning and knowledge sharing has been more a feature of local TEL provision, as evidenced through the informal learning practice of students and departmental projects. The evolution of course delivery models and pedagogic developments supported through the use of technology have been noticeably much slower to realise; growth in “web-dependent” rather than “supplementary” course design models has been quite limited across the sector and we have observed negligible growth in distance learning provision over this period. The evidence suggests that challenges remain in developing course delivery models which focus on active student learning, maximising the opportunities that web and mobile technologies now offer for interactive student-centred learning design. We speculate that the recent upsurge of interest in Massive Open Online Courses may act as a catalyst in this respect, in driving campus-based courses to embrace new learning models supported by TEL tools.     

Who Upgrades to Higher Level Qualifications in Midlife?

This paper investigates why people return to study in their 30s and beyond and upgrade to a higher level qualifications. Some previous research has argued that attitudes formed in childhood, via family background and schooling, continue to shape a person’s engagement in learning throughout the adult lifecourse. Psychologists distinguish extrinsic motivation, determination to progress in a career, from intrinsic motivation, love of learning and suggest that both may be relevant to participation in adult education. A well-established education literature focuses on barriers to adult learning, such as lack of time or lack of funds.

The research focuses on people who did not enter higher education at the conventional ages of late teens or early twenties but who did subsequently obtain degree-level or equivalent qualifications in midlife, defined here as from their early 30s through to age 50. The research uses data from the 1958 British birth cohort, a large-scale longitudinal survey. In the paper, a comparison group methodology and binary logistic regression models are used to isolate the key factors which explain why cgertain individuals progress to higher level qualifications in midlife while others do not.