Policies on Inequality in the Third World: dependency or autonomy?

Analysis of the national planning documents of selected Third World countries reveals common key issues in policies on educational inequality. Expansion, national unity, decentralisation, positive discrimination and terminal education are highlighted as recurring themes. A further focus on the dimensions of aid, training, nationalism, regionalism and finance provides a framework which can be used both to assess the degree of dependency or autonomy exhibited in equity planning and to provide a critique of over‐simplified applications of dependency theory regarding educational policy.     

Politics,Identity, and College Protest: Then and Now

Kathryn Lynn Weiland, Amilcar Guzman, and KerryAnn O'Meara explore historical and contemporary student protest movements at three academic institutions and provide suggestions to educators on how to support students (and their learning) through their protest activities.     

A General Approach to Defining Latent Growth Components

We present a 3-step approach to defining latent growth components. In the first step, a measurement model with at least 2 indicators for each time point is formulated to identify measurement error variances and obtain latent variables that are purged from measurement error. In the second step, we use contrast matrices to define the latent growth components representing the constructs of substantive interest. The corresponding matrix of structural coefficients is then computed by inverting the contrast matrix. In the third and last step, the first 2 steps are integrated into a structural equation model. The particular strength of this approach is that it permits construction of latent growth components in such a way that they represent interesting contrasts from a substantive point of view. This is illustrated using data of cancer patients obtained from 3 fatigue scales of the multidimensional fatigue inventory measured at 4 time points.     

德国实施“博洛尼亚进程”的进展及其存在的争议

"博洛尼亚进程"从根本上改变了德国的高等教育体系。当前的德国高等教育以三级学位体系为基础。在"博洛尼亚进程"实施的过去10年中,德国高等教育课程逐渐现代化,也更加以学生学习为中心。在整个课程学习过程中,学分的获得主要依据学习现状及取得的成绩。"博洛尼亚进程"的目标在于促进国际流动,系统的质量保障始终贯穿整个进程之中。本文介绍了德国进程改革的一些关键因素,并通过"博洛尼亚进程"的拥护者与批评者的各自立场,分析了由进程改革而引发的争论。     

Developing strategic readers: a multimodal analysis of a primary school teacher's use of speech,gesture and artefacts

Research on implementing reading strategy instruction has primarily focused on teachers' verbal communication with limited attention to other semiotic resources such as gesture and artefacts. In this paper, we construct a ‘telling case’ on the basis of how one primary teacher from the United States used speech, gesture and artefacts as a means of communication while instructing her students in reasons to predict when reading. Data sources for this case study consisted of field notes, artefacts and digital video. We analysed the teacher's use of gesture, speech and artefacts from a social semiotic multimodal perspective. Findings indicate that the teacher created meaning by interweaving multiple modes in the communicative contexts of strategy instruction using speech, deictic gestures, metaphoric gestures and artefacts. These findings are important to reading strategy instruction because much of the research and discussion of practice to date has centred on the instruction of reading strategies using teacher and student speech and not attending to the use of semiotic resources beyond speech.     

Quintilian: Wisdom and Warning

The implementation of online texts, videos, homework, and tests has changed the process of instruction in introductory college mathematics courses. With this change, more of the students’ learning takes place outside of the traditional college classroom and in places such as tutoring centers and dorm rooms. A combination of chi-square tests—for independence with unordered categorical data—and Mann-Whitney two-sample rank-sum tests—for continuous data and ordered categorical data—were used to analyze student outcomes generated from College Algebra and Applied Calculus courses with class sizes ranging from 37 to 129, with common syllabi, homework, quizzes, and tests. These tests showed that medium classes (30–55 students) had little to no benefit over large classes (110–130 students) in student learning and student achievement, with large classes having small to medium positive-effect sizes over medium classes in the area of student satisfaction. The only area in which the small classes had a small positive effect was in the area of student engagement.     

Creative Teaching

Decoding disciplinary expertise for novices is increasingly part of the undergraduate curriculum. But how might area studies and other interdisciplinary programs, which require integration of courses from multiple disciplines, decode expertise in a similar fashion? Additionally, as a part of decoding area studies and interdisciplines, how might a sequential experience of library-based research practice support that curriculum? Finally, how might a program introduce students to fellowships and career opportunities in the field early in their studies? Area studies and interdisciplinary departments face particular challenges in this regard because of multiple entry points into the major and the lack of a consistent pattern of student movement through the major (due to students studying abroad or because of the array of different disciplinary courses comprising individual programs of study). A tested course designed to address these issues, and adaptable for other area studies or interdisciplinary programs, is part of the required curriculum for Asian Studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.     

The optimization of online searches through the labelling of a dynamic, situation-dependent information need: The reference interview and online searching for undergraduates doing a social-science assignment

An important user group in academic libraries is the undergraduate student seeking information for coursework in the social sciences. With the proliferation of electronic databases, a major challenge for reference librarians is to conduct a quick and effective reference interview to determine the undergraduate's information need while also providing instruction on using the information system. The present article proposes a reference-interview strategy that will allow the reference librarian to (1) efficiently assess the information need of the undergraduate, (2) label the information need, and (3) assign the most appropriate search strategy to satisfy this need.     

A review of literature and hypotheses on new technology-based firms

This paper examines the existing literature on new technology-based firms in an attempt to understand how such companies contribute to the vitality of an economy and to see which variables are critical in enabling them to do so. From recent research efforts, we have drawn together a set of hypotheses and organized them around four central questions: (1) What do new firms contribute to the economy? (2) What factors contribute to the success of such enterprises? (3) In what cultural contexts do new businesses succeed? and (4) Which government policies are effective in stimulating and supporting new companies? We found that existing studies suggest (1) that new technology-based firms contribute significantly to an economy in terms of exports, employment, taxes paid, research and development, and innovations; (2) that the founders of these new businesses tend to have a strong entrepreneurial heritage, a development- rather research-oriented background, and a high need to achieve and are young and highly educated; (3) that sector differences may be a more important influence on company location than are regional policies; and (4) that no one government program has proven itself to be more than marginally successful in stimulating industrial innovation.     

The Cognitive Predictors of Computational Skill with Whole versus Rational Numbers: An Exploratory Study

The purpose of the present study was to explore the 3rd-grade cognitive predictors of 5th-grade computational skill with rational numbers and how those are similar to and different from the cognitive predictors of whole-number computational skill. Students (n = 688) were assessed on incoming whole-number calculation skill, language, nonverbal reasoning, concept formation, processing speed, and working memory in the fall of 3rd grade. Students were followed longitudinally and assessed on calculation skill with whole numbers and with rational numbers in the spring of 5th grade. The unique predictors of skill with whole-number computation were incoming whole-number calculation skill, nonverbal reasoning, concept formation, and working memory (numerical executive control). In addition to these cognitive abilities, language emerged as a unique predictor of rational-number computational skill.