Instructional Design Students’ Design Judgment in Action

This case study examines the design practices of instructional design (ID) students while working on a realistic design project (Joel, 1987) to explore whether ID students make design judgments; how, when, and where they are making them; and what kinds of judgments they make during a realistic instructional design process. The perspective taken in this study is that design judgments comprise multiple, complex types and are not confined to moments of overt decision making (Nelson & Stolterman, 2012). In this small‐scale case study, a group of students was observed in the process of designing instruction within a semester. The findings of the study suggest that these ID students continuously made design judgments of many kinds throughout the design process.     

Successful recanalization of chronic total occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery by transradial approach

It is a challenge to confirm chronic mesenteric ischemia (CMI) as a cause of gastrointestinal (Gl) symptoms such as postprandial epigastric bloating,anorexia,and debilitating weight loss.Endovascular intervention for CMI has been gaining popularity because of the high morbidity associated with surgical revascularization.However,in EVI for superior mesenteric artery (SMA) occlusion,the transfemoral approach is limited by difficulty in coaxial alignment of the guiding catheter,which leads to insufficient back-up support.Herein,we report on a 58-year-old male patient with chronic total occlusion of the SMA,which was successfully revascularized by endovascular intervention via the left radial artery.Transradial endovascutar therapy may be another treatment option for the treatment of CMI.     

The attainability of university degrees and their labour market benefits for young Australians

I used data from the 1995 cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth to investigate the factors associated with the attainment of Australian university degrees and estimate their domestic labour market benefits. I considered vertical and horizontal stratification in education and examined monetary and non-monetary benefits. The probabilities of attaining a university degree differed significantly by individual and family background. Individual’s family backgrounds significantly predicted the prestige of their universities, but not their fields of study. University graduates enjoyed higher income and occupational prestige relative to non-graduates. Among university graduates, income and occupational benefits differed significantly by fields of study but less by the prestige of universities. These findings indicate that vertical stratification in education plays an important role in the intergenerational transmission of social status in Australia. My findings suggest that policies should ensure equal access to higher education for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Strategies to reduce inequality in higher education are discussed.     

Do American and Korean education systems converge? Tracking school reform policies and outcomes in Korea and the USA

This study examines key school reform policies and outcomes of the USA and Korea over the past three decades from comparative perspectives. Since the two nations’ unique educational problems brought divergent educational reform paths—standardization versus differentiation, high-stakes testing versus individualized assessment, and centralization versus decentralization—the study tracks international policy benchmarking efforts and potential impact on educational convergence. The study employs mixed methods, including the content analysis of research and media documents and the trend analysis of TIMSS and PISA datasets. The results indicate that, despite significant changes in policy discourse, the gaps between Korea and the USA in student math achievement and school climates did not narrow. The policy lessons from these cases and the issues of international education benchmarking are discussed.     

Using a Dialogical Approach to Examine Peer Feedback During Chemistry Investigative Task Discussion

Peer feedback is an inherent feature of classroom collaborative learning. Students invariably turn to their peers for feedback when carrying out an investigative task, and this feedback is usually implicit, unstructured and may positively or negatively influence students’ learning when they work on a task. This study explored the characteristics of verbal peer feedback during a collaborative investigative chemistry task involving New Zealand Year 13 students. During the planning stage of the students’ investigation, the discussions of five pairs of students were recorded and then transcribed. Analysis of transcribed verbal data focused on interactions that involved peer feedback along two dimensions, interactive/non-interactive and dialogic/authoritative (Mortimer and Scott, 2003). The findings indicated that although students adopted a predominantly interactive/authoritative communicative approach, with peer feedback as confirmation or evaluation, they are also capable of a more interactive/dialogic exchange, characterised by elaborative peer feedback. We discuss how this dialogic perspective on peer feedback provides an alternative approach to the analysis and study of student–student interactions during science investigations. The findings should be interpreted in light of the limitations in terms of sample size, grouping and specificity of the coding scheme. Implications for teacher practice are discussed in relation to facilitating peer feedback discourse in the science classroom.     

Energy Performance and Condensation Risk of DCDV System in Subtropical Hong Kong简

The combined use of dry cooling （DC） system and dedicated ventilation （DV） system to decouple cool-ing and dehumidification process for energy efficiency was proposed for subtropical climates like Hong Kong. In this study, the energy performance and condensation risk of the use of DCDV system were examined by analyzing its ap-plication in a typical office building in Hong Kong. Through hour-by-hour simulation using actual equipment per-formance data and realistic building and system characteristics, it was found that with the use of DCDV system, the annual energy consumption could be reduced by 54%in comparison with the conventional system （constant air vol-ume with reheat system）. In respect of condensation risk, it was found that the annual frequency of occurrence of con-densation on DC coil was 35 h. Additional simulations were conducted to examine the influence of different parame-ters on the condensation risk of DCDV system. Measures to ensure condensate-free on DC coil were also discussed.     

Education hubs and talent development: policymaking and implementation challenges

The discourse on the internationalization of higher education emphasizes revenue generation while neglecting other diverse rationales pursued by governments and institutions. For countries that are seeking to venture into a knowledge economy or accrue greater competitive advantages under globalization, many policymakers view cross-border higher education as a platform for developing human talent. In this pursuit, education hubs stand out as large-scale initiatives supported by extensive planning and investment. By comparing the developments of Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong as education hubs, three distinct objectives are apparent: to develop local talent, to attract foreign talent, and to repatriate diasporic talent. Despite the attention directed at the recruitment of international students, developing local talent remains a fundamental goal among education hubs. Talent development includes manpower planning as well as more inclusive provisions that support the diverse interests among local students. On the other hand, education hubs do not share the goals of attracting foreign and repatriating diasporic talent. Contextual factors such as distinct political economies and ethnic sensitivities mediate the recruitment of external talent. Comparing the policy rhetoric of talent development against the realities of implementation reveals sharp misalignment in some cases. More importantly, the political inertia in Singapore and Hong Kong exerts a gravitational pull that is increasingly turning sentiments against some foreign talent.     

A study on the effects of education welfare action zone policy in Korea

This study was designed to analyze the effects of the support programs provided in education welfare action zones. Education welfare action zone policy came into effect by government from 2003 to guarantee actual educational opportunity to disadvantaged children in urban areas by providing educational, cultural, and welfare service. Education welfare action zones were selected in low-income group area in the metropolis. In this regard, both quantitative and qualitative analytical methods were used to ascertain the effects of the program. The qualitative analysis included a preliminary examination of conditions prior to the actual commencement of the program, which was then followed by an investigation of specific schools used, as case studies in order to identify the changes that had taken place during the program’s implementation process, and the program’s effect. Meanwhile, a quantitative analysis was employed to verify the actual changes that took place in several different aspects, changes that were revealed by the case studies.     

Outcome status of students with learning disabilities at ages 21 and 24

This study investigated whether the presence of learning disabilities (LD) at age 10 was related to later schooling, employment, income, receipt of public aid, involvement in crime, and feeling of victimization at ages 21 and 24. Confidential self-report data were collected in a prospective, longitudinal panel study from a sample of 571 students, of whom 60 (10.5%) were children with LD. After controlling for gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, the following results were obtained: The highest postsecondary school attainment for young adults with LD was not significantly different from that of their peers without LD, both at age 21 and age 24. The rate of employment and amount of earned income of young adults with LD were not significantly lower than those of their peers without LD both at age 21 and age 24. Young adults with LD were not significantly different from their peers without LD at age 21 and age 24 with respect to having children, but young adults with LD received significantly more public aid (such as food stamps, supplemental security income, and unemployment compensation) at age 21 but not at age 24. Young adults with LD were not significantly different from their peers without LD in committing crimes or feeling victimized at age 21 and age 24.