The concept of a university of the world

Abstract

Long‐distance education is now possible because of advancements and improvements in international telecommunications. This paper sets forth the concept of a “University of the World” in which students use computers, radio, and television to take courses in their chosen discipline and, in return, receive course credit and even academic degrees. The author describes the concept, its educational goals and objectives, the availability of courseware, the impact of global instructional technology, and questions of cost and technological capability. The organization, governance, funding, and operation of the University of the World are also described, including remarks on the benefits of membership and the functional value as seen from the student's perspective.     

Adolescent Peer Relationship Qualities as Predictors of Long-Term Romantic Life Satisfaction

Adolescent-era predictors of adult romantic life satisfaction were examined in a multimethod, prospective, longitudinal study of 165 adolescents followed from ages 13 to 30. Progress in key developmental tasks, including establishing positive expectations and capacity for assertiveness with peers at age 13, social competence at ages 15 and 16, and ability to form and maintain strong close friendships at ages 16–18, predicted romantic life satisfaction at ages 27–30. In contrast, several qualities linked to romantic experience during adolescence (i.e., sexual and dating experience, physical attractiveness) were unrelated to future satisfaction. Results suggest a central role of competence in nonromantic friendships as preparation for successful management of the future demands of adult romantic life.     

The Adolescent Relational Dialectic and the Peer Roots of Adult Social Functioning

The long‐term import of a fundamental challenge of adolescent social development—establishing oneself as a desirable peer companion while avoiding problematic behaviors often supported within peer groups—was examined in a community sample of 184 adolescents, followed from ages 13 to 23, along with parents, peers, and romantic partners. The dialectical nature of this challenge appeared in findings that autonomy vis‐à‐vis peer influences predicted both long‐term success avoiding problematic behavior but also more difficulty establishing strong adult friendships. Conversely, being a desirable peer companion in adolescence predicted more positive adult relationships but also greater alcohol use. Adolescents who established themselves as both desirable companions and as autonomous vis‐à‐vis peers were rated as most successful by their parents at age 23.     

Development of a Framework to Characterise the Openness of Mathematical Tasks

Educators usually mean different constructs when they speak of open tasks: some may refer to pure-mathematics investigative tasks while others may have authentic real-life tasks in mind; some may think of the answer being open while others may refer to an open method. On the other hand, some educators use different terms, e.g. open and open-ended, to mean the same construct, while others distinguish between these terms. It is difficult to hold a meaningful discussion or to define clearly an area of research on open tasks if the idea of what constitutes the construct of openness is vague. Moreover, what students learn depends on the types of tasks that they are given, and different kinds of tasks place differing cognitive demands on students. Thus, the objectives of this article are to clarify the types of mathematical tasks and develop a framework to characterise their openness based on five task variables: goal, method, task complexity, answer and extension; and to discuss how different types of tasks and openness may affect student learning. The openness framework can help teachers to design or select more appropriate tasks to cater to students with different abilities in order to develop in them various kinds of mathematical thinking processes, and it can also make it easier for researchers to study the interaction between different types of openness and student learning.     

A test-retest analysis of the Vanderbilt Assessment for Leadership in Education in the USA

The Vanderbilt Assessment for Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) is a 360-degree learning-centered behaviors principal evaluation tool that includes ratings from the principal, supervisors, and teachers. The current study assesses the test-retest reliability of the VAL-ED for a sample of seven school districts as part of multiple validity and reliability assessments based on various samples of real users of the VAL-ED. We administered the VAL-ED twice and examined the correlations and mean differences between time 1 and time 2. We find that the principal and teacher ratings from time 1 and time 2 have large, positive, and significant correlations. Additionally, for both time points, principals are rated as being at least satisfactorily effective. Principals rate themselves slightly higher at time 2, while teachers rate principals slightly higher at time 1.     

Subgroups of adult basic education learners with different profiles of reading skills

The purpose of this study was to identify subgroups of adult basic education (ABE) learners with different profiles of skills in the core reading components of decoding, word recognition, spelling, fluency, and comprehension. The analysis uses factor scores of those 5 reading components from on a prior investigation of the reliability and construct validity of measures of reading component skills (MacArthur, Konold, Glutting, & Alamprese, 2010). In that investigation, confirmatory factor analysis found that a model with those 5 factors fit the data best and fit equally well for native and non-native English speakers. The study included 486 students, 334 born or educated in the United States (native) and 152 not born nor educated in the US (non-native) but who spoke English well enough to participate in English reading classes. The cluster analysis found an 8-cluster solution with good internal cohesion, external isolation, and replicability across subsamples. Of the 8 subgroups, 4 had relatively flat profiles (range of mean scores across factors <0.5 SD), 2 had higher comprehension than decoding, and 2 had higher decoding than comprehension. Profiles were consistent with expectations regarding demographic factors. Non-native speakers were overrepresented in subgroups with relatively higher decoding and underrepresented in subgroups with relatively higher comprehension. Adults with self-reported learning disabilities were overrepresented in the lowest performing subgroup. Older adults and men were overrepresented in subgroups with lower performance. The study adds to the limited research on the reading skills of ABE learners and, from the perspective of practice, supports the importance of assessing component skills to plan instruction.     

Cowboys,Angels, and Demons: American Exceptionalism and the Frontier Myth in the CW's Supernatural

The CW network series Supernatural (2005–) draws its text from the horror and fantasy genres as well as religious mythology. Concurrently, it transmits a core “American” mythos. As its protagonists keep watch along a supernatural frontier and eradicate threats to the American way of life, this program both reinforces and alters aspects of the frontier myth and the myth of American exceptionalism by depicting its main characters as representations of America writ large whose mission has grown from an appointment by God to being equals to God. In this manner, Supernatural forwards a new American exceptionalism through the notion that America is exceptional because it is not just divinely appointed by God, but is divine itself.     

Eco‐Webbing: A Teaching Strategy to Facilitate Critical Consciousness and Agency

Eco‐webbing is a teaching strategy that can be used to help counselor educators integrate a social justice focus into their courses. Preliminary data indicated increased critical consciousness and social justice agency as a result of using eco‐webbing with counseling students (N = 17). The authors provide implications for counselor educators and future research.     

A Subtle Tyranny: Rediscovering the Purpose of the Liberal Arts

Discord in the academy currently manifests in divisions over political correctness, the content of the canon and the defects of modernity. As scholarly and intellectual matters these concerns arise exclusively from the domain of the liberal arts. At their core, these controversies arguably develop from deep epistemic roots reflecting fundamental differences concerning the nature, purpose and value of the liberal arts. At issue is the integrity of the liberal arts and understanding the nature, purpose and value of these fields depends upon appreciating the distinction between professional, theoretical, and moral studies. One can begin to understand these distinctions by considering the contrast in ordinary language between knowledge and wisdom. For it is arguable that while the notion of wisdom is presumably irrelevant to production or dissemination of knowledge in all other disciplines, it is demonstrably central to the purpose and value of both research and teaching in each and every liberal art. If this can be shown then it is possible to understand why emphasis on expertise and professionalism, on knowledge for its own sake undermines commitment to common purposes and concerns. By institutionalizing new patterns of behavior, stress on professionalism changes the nature and conception of liberal arts scholarship in ways that produce deep confusions about meaning and value in these fields. The object of this article is to show that unlike other disciplines the liberal arts depend upon shared purposes and concerns such that participation of in a common moral discourse is essential to the integrity and worth of each field.