Sylvia Pankhurst (1882–1960), suffragette,political activist,artist and writer

In this article, a biographical overview is offered of the life of [Estelle] Sylvia Pankhurst (1882–1960), suffragette, political activist, artist and writer, in order to provide a context for her 1959 proposal for an Ethiopian women’s college, which is published for the first time in this journal. Sylvia, one of five children born in Manchester, England, grew up in a radical household where she not only attended political meetings but was exhorted to work for a more equal society. As a young woman, she trained as an artist but was soon drawn into the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) founded by her mother in 1903 to campaign for the parliamentary vote for women. Sylvia, a socialist feminist, often found herself at odds with the radical feminist, women‐centred views of her mother and her elder sister, Christabel, the Chief Organiser of the WSPU and their mother’s acknowledged favourite. The tensions between Sylvia and her relatives intensified during the First World War which they supported and she opposed. During the 1920s she became more revolutionary in her politics and in the 1930s increasingly involved in campaigning against fascism, especially in Ethiopia. After Ethiopia was liberated, she went to live there permanently with her son, Richard, in 1956. A crusader all her life, as well as a prolific writer, the publication of her proposal for an Ethiopian women’s college reveals yet another aspect of her diverse interests.     

Effect of acquisition rates on off‐task behavior of kindergarten students while learning sight words

Assessing a student's acquisition rates (ARs) is a reliable way to determine how many new words should be taught in one lesson without reducing retention. Exceeding a student's AR can result in frustration and problem behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of AR on the off‐task behavior of kindergarten students while participating in a commonly used sight‐word instruction video. Participants included 39 kindergarten students whose ARs were assessed before showing the sight‐word video. Behavior was measured as on‐ and off‐task using momentary time‐sampling with 10‐s intervals. Results indicated that students' time off task increased after exceeding their ARs, with a noticeable immediate increase. The implications and limitations of these results are discussed.     

Beyond magical thinking: Doing the real work of diversifying our institutions

U.S. Supreme Court opinions have left some doors open for institutions to build the kinds of diverse student populations that are known to enrich the learning of all students. But simply inviting diverse students through those doors is not doing nearly enough.     

Using the newspaper to support children's emerging literacy

Young children's literacy development involves emerging knowledge, skills, and attitudes about both written and oral language. However, until relatively recent years, children's oral language development has received the lion's share of attention in most early childhood programs. What young children know about written language and their natural ability to learn about writing and reading have been underestimated and misinterpreted and so have received little developmentally appropriate support from early childhood program administrators, teachers, parents, and the public.June Rose Richie is Associate Professor of curriculum and instruction, while Janet E. Foster is Assistant Professor and John M. Johnston is Professor of early childhood education, at Memphis State University, Memphis, TN.     

E-learning in Chinese higher education: the view from inside

Despite the upsurge in interest in e-learning (or online learning) in Chinese higher education, little is known about the ways in which lecturers design and run their online courses, or about how they perceive e-learning. This paper reports the results of interviews with higher education teachers in China working in conventional, campus-based universities, concerning their conceptions and beliefs of e-learning. The interviews were analysed from a grounded theory perspective that gave rise to seven emerging themes, namely: the ‘centrality of the lecture’, ‘online cooperative learning’, ‘network learning’, ‘student learning’, ‘lecture plus online work’, ‘infrastructure and access’ and ‘professional development’. Discussion of these emerging themes helps us understand the ways in which these teachers think about e-learning and teaching, the beliefs they hold about their ‘e’ practice, the ways in which they implement e-learning, the problems they face in incorporating e-learning into their courses and the ways in which they perceive e-learners. This provides a fascinating and unique insight into e-learning in Chinese higher education. Evidence shows that it is a complex area with many influences, some of which can be attributed to social, cultural and Confucian-heritage factors. It is concluded that, despite enthusiasm by some for innovating e-learning, the dominance of traditional teaching methods in China suggest that the conditions for mainstreaming e-learning in the near future are not strong.     

AN EXAMPLE OF THE APPLICATION OF A BALANCED INCOMPLETE BLOCK DESIGN

A study was conducted to estimate the reliability of oral examinations at the College of Medicine, The University of Iowa. In this paper, a part of the study is presented to provide the reader with an example of the applicability of a Balanced Incomplete Block Design (BIBD). This type of design is used when only fewer than all participating examiners can rate each examinee. Such a design was proposed originally by Yates in 1936.(1 Yates, F. 1936. “Incomplete randomised blocks”. Annals of Eugenics, 7: 121–140. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) The methods for analysing data obtained by BIBD were presented by Fleiss.(2 Fleiss, J. L. 1981. “Balanced incomplete block designs for inter‐rater reliability studies”. Applied Psychological Measurement, 5(1): 105–112. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) The reliability coefficient of the oral examination was .71, higher than some experts would anticipate in a similar situation. When some of the sources of error were eliminated by evaluating students' performances on audio‐tape, the reliability coefficient increased to .88.     

Melvyl联合目录的记录合并机制

联合目录中重复记录的判定和合并是至关重要的。本文介绍美国加利福尼亚大学Melvyl联合目录的系统自动合并记录的机制。