Trends and Tensions in IT Policy in Universities

This paper charts developments in information technology policy in British universities from the creation of the Computer Board for Universities and Research Councils to the present day. Focusing on institutional issues, the various organizational tensions are examined in the context of quasi-collegial policy formulation and management. The impact of operational tensions, arising from a variety of external and internal influences on the implementation of policy, is similarly assessed. The paper concludes with an outline of likely future trends.     

Assessing Enhancement of Learning, Personal Learning Environment, and Student Efficacy: Alternatives to Traditional Faculty Evaluation in Higher Education

This study was informed by three bodies of important literature: (1) research on faculty teaching performance and course evaluation in higher education, (2) research on students' personal (constructivist-based) views of characteristics of teaching and learning environments, and (3) human efficacy. The article describes the development and validation of a new measure designed to assess students' perceptions of the extent to which higher education learning environment characteristics enhance students' personal learning. Results of factor analyses of the Student Assessment of Teaching and Learning (SATL) and criterion-related validity analyses are reported for 2,190 students in 145 separate classes. Criteria used for analysis are (1) measures of students' perceptions of constructivist-based, personal learning environments and students' self-efficacy beliefs, (2) course emphasis on higher-order thinking skills and personal and applied knowledge, and (3) two summative judgments of overall course quality. Implications of the findings are discussed in light of using student rating information for formative evaluation purposes and using students' reflections on personal learning as an element of assessing the quality of teaching and learning in higher education settings. This latter view is contrasted to procedures that are more traditionally used to evaluate faculty, teaching, and course characteristics.     

Behavioral/emotional indicators of sexual abuse in child psychiatric inpatients: A controlled comparison with physical abuse

Several behavioral and emotional indicators of child sexual abuse were compared for both sexually (n = 29) and physically abused (n = 52) children from a sample of 103 hospitalized psychiatric patients. The measures included (1) scores from a factor-analyzed sexual abuse symptom checklist covering home/community behavior that was rated by parents during a clinical interview and (2) frequency counts of psychological symptoms exhibited by the children during a 3-week period of hospitalization. Results of a 2 (sexual abuse status) X 2 (physical abuse status) X 2 (gender) Multivariate Analysis of Variance indicated that sexually abused children exhibited greater sexual behavior, fear/mistrust/anxiety, and withdrawal at home, and greater sexual behavior, fear/anxiety, and sadness in the hospital than nonabused children. In contrast, there were no significant differences between physically abused and nonabused children, and no significant interactions. Few significant correlations were found between symptoms exhibited at home and in the hospital.     

Expressing community through freedom market and visual connections

ABSTRACT

Building on a long-term university/community research partnership, this article examines how different ways of conceptualizing, interpreting, and producing murals impacted how an urban community saw itself. Using a participatory action research design, university researchers worked alongside community researchers to ethnographically document the transformation. Findings indicate that the mural project constructed pathways for building relationships and community in ways that made neighborhood transformation possible. The mural project embodied this transformative goal by providing a space where people gathered with shared attention to talk and to envision how their lives and their community could be different.     

Effects of emotional intelligence and supportive text messages on academic outcomes in first-year undergraduates

An increase in the number of students entering higher education has intensified the need for targeted strategies to support a wider range of student requirements. Current research suggests that emotional intelligence (EI) may be associated with academic success, progression and retention in university students but the use of EI screening as a prospective measure of success requires further investigation. This study evaluates the utility of prospective EI screening to predict progression rates, mean grades, attendance and online engagement in a sample of first-year undergraduate students enrolled on the same degree programme (N = 358). A supportive text messaging intervention was employed during potentially stressful periods of the academic year with a subsection of participants (n = 60) who demonstrated low total EI scores relative to the cohort. Results showed no effects of EI classification on progression rates, mean grades, attendance or online engagement (all p > 0.418). Alternatively, the text messaging intervention was associated with significant improvements compared with a matched control group for progression rates (p = 0.027), mean grades (p = 0.026) and attendance (p = 0.007). The frequency of access to the virtual learning environment also tended to be higher in the intervention group compared with the control group (p = 0.059). In conclusion, this study did not identify any benefits of EI screening as a prospective indicator of student success but provides encouraging indications that a text messaging support intervention could help to improve progression rates, mean grades, attendance and online engagement in first-year undergraduate students. Further research is warranted to develop these proof-of-concept findings.     

Why Siblings Are Important Agents of Cognitive Development: A Comparison of Siblings and Peers

This study explored older siblings' and peers' influence on young children's cognitive development. Although we anticipated many similarities in siblings' and peers' influence, our principal goal was to test the hypothesis that siblings are unique agents of cognitive development. Young children, their older siblings, and an older, familiar peer first participated in an unstructured building session where each built their own construction. Then, one of the older children taught the younger child how to copy a model windmill. Finally, the younger child was given an individual posttest in which he or she copied the windmill. Although there were many similarities in older siblings' and peers' guidance, the results highlighted the uniqueness of the sibling relationship. In the unstructured building session, young children were more likely to observe, imitate, and consult their older siblings than their older peers, and older siblings were more likely than older peers to provide them with guidance spontaneously. In the teaching session, older siblings provided more explanations and positive feedback and gave learners more control of the task than older peers. However, older siblings' behavior was not independent from the learners', as young children often prompted the siblings' explanations and pressured them into giving them more control of the task. These differences in teaching and learning strategies affected young children's task mastery; Children taught by siblings obtained higher posttest scores than children taught by peers. The discussion interprets these findings within the context of shared and unique functions of siblings and peers in cognitive development and highlights the role of the learner in promoting his or her own development.     

Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions of Their Emotional State,Relationships with Parents,Challenges, and Opportunities During the Early Stage of the Pandemic

Early Childhood Education Journal - This article presents a study about the impact of COVID-19 on childcare center educators in Quebec (Canada). Regulated childcare services were closed...     

Prosodic awareness is related to reading ability in children with autism spectrum disorders

Prosodic awareness has been linked with reading accuracy in typically developing children. Although children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often have difficulty processing prosody and often have trouble learning to read, no previous study has looked at the link between explicit prosodic awareness and reading in ASD. In the current study, 29 early readers with ASD (5–11 years) completed word and nonword reading accuracy tasks and two measures of prosodic awareness. Tasks relating to phonological awareness, oral language, vocabulary, letter knowledge and nonverbal intelligence were also administered. A key finding was that there was a relationship between prosodic awareness and both word and nonword reading accuracy.