Cognitive correlates of visual speech understanding in hearing-impaired individuals

This study examined the extent to which different measures of speechreading performance correlated with particular cognitive abilities in a population of hearing-impaired people. Although the three speechreading tasks (isolated word identification, sentence comprehension, and text tracking) were highly intercorrelated, they tapped different cognitive skills. In this population, younger participants were better speechreaders, and, when age was taken into account, speech tracking correlated primarily with (written) lexical decision speed. In contrast, speechreading for sentence comprehension correlated most strongly with performance on a phonological processing task (written pseudohomophone detection) but also on a span measure that may have utilized visual, nonverbal memory for letters. We discuss the implications of this pattern.     

‘We are at this campus,there is nothing in this campus …’: Socio-spatial analysis of a university campus

This article provides a socio-spatial analysis of a higher education institution operating within a multi-campus system at a location other than the flagship campus. Based on this case study of a technical school, the meanings attached to the university campus are analyzed through semi-structured interviews and official documents. The study reveals how strong resource dependency in terms of the funds necessary for conducting core functions (i.e. research) silences tensions and apathy between the university and the affiliated schools. The socio-spatial analysis based on Lefebvre’s triad reveals hidden concerns such as loneliness, isolation, and inattentiveness. Overall, the paper underlines the importance of viewing the campus as a social space, and presents potential outcomes not only for policy makers but also for multi-campus system research endeavors.     

Piagetian controversies,cognitive competence,and assumptions about human communication

This article is a comment on Ed Elbers' analysis of the debate between R. Gelman and R. Siegler on the development of fundamental counting competencies. An attempt is made to characterize some aspects of the theoretical positions of Gelman and Siegler. It is argued that the tendency to reduce human cognitive performance to an issue of either the application of preformed competencies of various kinds, or, alternatively, of the use of domain specific knowledge, hampers our understanding of cognitive growth and the mastery of intellectual tools. The alternative offered is that all human activity—including what takes place in the experiment — should be seen as socially and culturally situated, and that our focus should be on understanding the resources—mental as well as practical—that people draw on when solving problems.     

The Study of Special Education in Köln

The article briefly outlines the post‐1945 development of the training of teachers for Special Education in Köln and reviews the current structure of courses. The link with research activities is also examined.

L'article expose en bref le dévéloppement, après 1945, de la formation des enseignants pour les handicapés à Cologne et fait la critique des programmes actuels. Il examine ensuite le lien existant entre la recherche et la pratique.     

Job satisfaction of University academics: Perspectives from Uganda

Although several studies in the affluent world have examined the job satisfaction and dissatisfaction of lecturers in higher education, little is known about academic job satisfaction in the low-resource countries. This study probes those factors contributing to academic satisfaction and dissatisfaction in higher education in the developing world. Using a sample of 182 respondents drawn from two universities in Uganda, this analysis reports that the factors most prevalent in the prediction of dons’ satisfaction relate to co-worker behaviour, supervision and intrinsic facets of teaching. Analogously, the stimuli that create academic dissatisfaction are largely extrinsic (contextual) factors with respect to facets of remuneration, governance, research, promotion, and working environment. This article discusses these findings in the light of Herzberg’s dichotomy and concludes that any given factor be it intrinsic or extrinsic can either evoke academic satisfaction or induce dissatisfaction. The present analysis finds that while age, rank, and tenure significantly predict academic job satisfaction, no evidence is adduced to support a gender influence on dons’ job satisfaction. Implications for Ugandan academics’ job satisfaction are formulated, recommendations made, and a further research agenda proposed.     

The utilization,depoloyment and management of primary teachers in Africa South of the Sahara

A member of the programme staff of the International Institute for Educational Planning since 1988. Her principal research themes are education policy and the development of human resources, the role of examinations, and the administration and management of teachers. Main publications include:Stratégies d'innovations technologiques et politiques éducatives en France, en RFA et au Royaume-Uni [Strategies for innovative technology and educational policies in France, the Federal Republic of Germany and the United Kingdom] (1989) and (with F. Caillods and K. Lewin)Science education provision at secondary level: planning and policy issues [forthcoming].     

On Technology

The basic premise of this paper is that the problem of technology is not a technological one, but one of understanding and vision. The entire Western tradition, in its religious as well as its secular modes, has always admired technique. True, the modern age has increased the mechanization of technology, and more recent technological advances have extended our sensory modes of knowing, tempting us to fall in love with them much as Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection. However, there is nothing necessary in these developments or in the views spawned by them.Technology encompasses the instrumentalities with which we create the made world. The made world, not unlike the natural one manifests Being; it is the unconcealment of reality's potential to be made. It is up to us to understand technology in this way and not as the mere manufacture and use of tools.Education is the main means at our disposal to create a new vision of technology and a new yoga to yoke ourselves to Being. The goal is to learn to see technology as an aniconic symbol of Being.