The Dark Side of “Postmodern Moonshine”

In our summer 2006 issue, we ran a comprehensive overview of how postmodernism has degraded composition on our campuses. Steve Kogan enlarges that indictment and charges that the movement has deliberately corrupted every area of English instruction—from the acquisition of skills and knowledge to the more fundamental mission of developing in students the habits of disciplined learning.

Modes of knowledge and patterns of power

The paper attempts to identify the extent to which modes of knowledge can be associated with different patterns of and assumptions about power.It discusses the meanings and scope of power itself, i.e. both within and beyond epistemic communities, as against ‘social robustness’ implying more democratic or inclusive forms of evaluation.It analyses the extent to which knowledge has shifted from an internalist perspective relying on the prestige of epistemic communities towards socially relevant assumptions resting within social contexts. It discusses the factors affecting types of power patterns, such as: the nature of sponsors’ objectives and the uses to which they might put knowledge; epistemic characteristics; the nature of the resource required, and the stage of finalisation reached. It sketches the range of models of sponsorship to which knowledge is subjected – from that of the free standing and autonomous individual through different patterns of sponsorship to the directly managed.It attempts to link these classifications to a range of empirical examples, including the power of knowledge in government and in crossing the boundaries between universities and industry.In discussing the reciprocal relationships between power and knowledge, it accepts that power affects the identification, use and transmission of knowledge. It is concerned, however, to question overdetermined perspectives of the relationships between knowledge and power whose mutual impacts may be strong but not easily predicted or defined.     

Participation in an intergenerational service learning course and implicit biases

Biases against the elderly and people with disabilities can lead to discriminatory behaviors. One way to conceptualize attitudes toward the elderly and people with disabilities is through the differentiation of explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) factors. Although both explicit and implicit attitudes and biases contribute to the full picture of peoples’ attitudes, explicit ideas alone may not accurately reflect people’s attitudes. This may be due to societal pressure to conceal explicit biases or the fact that often times, people are not aware they hold prejudiced views. The Implicit Association Test is a computer-based categorization task designed to assess implicit or unconscious attitudes. This test was used in in the current study to assess the impact of an intergenerational service-learning course. We designed this study to determine if greater exposure or contact with the elderly or people with disabilities might influence college students’ implicit attitudes. Pre- and post-assessment of participating students, using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, found statistically significant decreased biases after participation. Results from this study that suggest participating in an intergenerational service-learning course can positively affect implicit attitudes. This is encouraging, especially because these attitudes are developed over a long period of repeated exposure, are consistently reinforced by cultural factors, and are notoriously difficult to change.     

Course evaluation in medical education

Course evaluation is integral to medical education. We discuss (1) distinctive features of medical education that impact on course evaluation, (2) a framework for course evaluations, (3) details that shape the evaluation process, (4) key measurement issues important to data gathering and interpretation, and (5) opportunities for expanding the scope of research regarding course evaluations. Drawing from higher education and medical education literature, a great deal is known about course evaluations. High-quality rating scales have been developed. There is evidence that ratings are valid and reproducible given sufficient ratings are gathered, but there remain many areas deserving of more research.