The tortoise and the hare enigma in e-transformation in Japanese and Korean higher education

Japan and Korea have highly developed information and communications technology infrastructures and have recently reformed their higher education systems and encouraged e-transformation. However, Japanese universities have not embraced e-learning as wholeheartedly as their Korean counterparts. The paper concludes that this is due to governmental and institutional failure to develop a cogent vision and strategic plan for e-learning, to recognise the need for fundamental shifts in organisational cultures and structures and pedagogy and to provide training, funding, recognition and reward for such development. It attributes this to differences in the cultural perspectives, values and customs of the two countries' policy makers, managers and faculty members. The findings are seen to hold important lessons for other countries embarking on e-transformation.     

Revisiting disposition assessment in teacher education: broadening the focus

Today's teacher education programmes across the world strive to equip future teachers with the high‐quality knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to teach students. The assessment of teacher dispositions has thus become essential to cultivate those qualities. However, the current approach to disposition assessment in the United States focuses on personal characteristics and character‐related dispositions and is frequently used as a sorting device to identify those who appear to be inadequately disposed to teaching. Expanding on earlier work by the author and colleagues, this paper examines the issue of whether more efforts should be made to incorporate elements to assess competence‐related dispositions in conjunction with the character‐related dispositions across assessment tools and, if so, how this could be accomplished. In addition, this paper will clarify some dispositional concepts and terms used interchangeably that actually differ from one another and can confuse the consistency of disposition assessment. Finally, a framework for assessing technology disposition as an example of competence‐related disposition and for broadening the focus of disposition assessment is suggested.     

Educational effects of the Tools of the Mind curriculum: A randomized trial

The effectiveness of the Tools of the Mind (Tools) curriculum in improving the education of 3- and 4-year-old children was evaluated by means of a randomized trial. The Tools curriculum, based on the work of Vygotsky, focuses on the development of self-regulation at the same time as teaching literacy and mathematics skills in a way that is socially mediated by peers and teachers and with a focus on play. The control group experienced an established district-created model described as a “balanced literacy curriculum with themes.” Teachers and students were randomly assigned to either treatment or control classrooms. Children (88 Tools and 122 control) were compared on social behavior, language, and literacy growth. The Tools curriculum was found to improve classroom quality and children's executive function as indicated by lower scores on a problem behavior scale. There were indications that Tools also improved children's language development, but these effects were smaller and did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance in multi-level models or after adjustments for multiple comparisons. Our findings indicate that a developmentally appropriate curriculum with a strong emphasis on play can enhance learning and development so as to improve both the social and academic success of young children. Moreover, it is suggested that to the extent child care commonly increases behavior problems this outcome may be reversed through the use of more appropriate curricula that actually enhance self-regulation.     

‘Forgotten’ democracy,student activism,and higher education in Myanmar: past,present, and future

Asia Pacific Education Review - This paper is a historical examination of higher education in contemporary Myanmar, and its relationship to the students, the most important and visible actor in...     

Toward preparing students for change: A critical discussion of the contribution of the history of physics in physics teaching

In this paper I place physics teaching, and the inclusion of the history of physics into teaching, within a wide context. I start from the conviction that there are considerable changes ahead in the life circumstances of people in western industrial societies. This expectation should influence our aims of education generally, and in particular the aims of physics teaching. The paper does not offer final solutions, but analyses the situation and thereby argues for a change in perspective in physics teaching. The main idea is that physics teaching has to solve the problem of balancing seemingly incompatible needs, for example, conveying a stock of stable, dependable physics knowledge to students, and on the other hand to train them to see their physics knowledge within varying contexts of change. It is argued that the history of physics can be of high value in solving this problem.This article was originally published in: F. Bevilacqua and P.J. Kennedy (eds.): 1983, Proceedings of the Conference on Using History of Physics in Innovatory Physics Education, Pavia University.     

The commuter student and student satisfaction

This study examined the variables associated with student satisfaction on a commuter campus. A sample of 38 classes was used and resulted in 782 undergraduates responding to questionnaires. The variables included were: age, student level, student's grade, perception of educational benefits, and satisfaction with college experience. A causal model was built and tested in order to determine the direct and indirect effects of these variables upon student satisfaction. While the student level had a negative influence upon satisfaction, both age and grade had a moderate effect upon student satisfaction. The perception of educational benefits seemed to be the most critical variable in predicting student satisfaction.     

The instructional design portfolio:

Conclusion In order to make PIHnet forum more usable and useful, we recently redesigned the forum tool based on findings from a survey, interviews and observations of user posting patterns. We also developed a journal tool to assist teachers with their personal reflection. Interviews with four users showed that the new forum was easy to use and effectively helped them communicate with other members. We are still developing the journal tool, so user experiences with the new journal tool have not been investigated yet. We will continue to improve the tools based on critical feedback from actual users.     

Open Learning and New Technologies in Teacher Education: new paradigms for development

This paper suggests that teacher education is undergoing significant transformation. In most countries there is a recognition that the quality and extent of provision will need to be raised. Open and distance education, utilising new interactive forms of technology, will have a crucial, perhaps major, role to play in this process. The school will act increasingly as a ‘site’ for learning within evolving models of initial and in‐service teacher education. All forms of teacher education will exploit new technologies. There will be an increasing convergence between conventional and open and distance modes of delivery. New assessments of costs and effectiveness will need to be made. Changes in technology has rendered ‘out‐of‐date’ much of the previous evaluative evidence. National and international expertise in open and distance education, new methodologies and teacher education will need to be developed.     

Korean Immigrant Mothers’ Praise and Encouragement,Acculturation, and Their Children’s Socioemotional and Behavioral Difficulties

Objective. This study examined associations among Korean immigrant mothers’ use of praise and encouragement, their acculturation, their children’s socioemotional and behavioral difficulties, and the moderating role of child gender and age. Design. One hundred and twenty Korean immigrant mothers in the United States and their preschool children participated. Maternal praise and encouragement were observed during free-play interactions. Mothers reported their acculturation level, and teachers reported on children’s difficulties. Results. Mothers used process praise most frequently. Higher maternal American acculturation was associated with more use of person and other praise. Higher Korean acculturation was associated with greater use of person praise among younger children, but less use of person praise among older children. Mothers higher in American acculturation used more encouragement with older children only. Maternal encouragement was associated with fewer child difficulties. Conclusion. Korean mothers’ acculturation impacted their use of praise and encouragement, and maternal encouragement may be important for decreasing children’s difficulties.