Institutional Researchers' Perceptions of Effectiveness

This article presents the results of a research study that investigated institutional researchers' perceptions regarding their effectiveness in influencing policy changes at their institution. Data were obtained from a mailed survey sent to 304 researchers in the Northeast; a response rate of 73 percent was achieved. Results revealed that those whose work is used in executive decision making, who include policy recommendations in reports, conduct follow-up studies on the impact of their work, have a doctorate, are part of a strong, professional network, and describe their positions as challenging perceive themselves as more effective. The discriminant function including these variables explained 48 percent of the variance and accurately predicted the perceived policy effectiveness for 84 percent of the participants.     

A scientific approach in the assessment of the school-based part of the teacher education programme in Sweden

This article aims to highlight how a scientific and critical approach is used in assessment dialogues during the last period of a practical, school-based teacher education programme. The result is based on 13 assessment dialogues conducted in a course at a Swedish university, where one of the course objectives is to, ‘in a scientific way, analyse teaching situations based on learning theories’. The assessment dialogues were analysed drawing from Bernstein’s concepts of ‘classification’, ‘framing’, ‘horizontal knowledge’ and ‘vertical knowledge’. The result shows that only in a minority of the assessment dialogues are students expected to use theory as an analytical tool and to critically examine their teaching practice. The theory is used in a more instrumental way to legitimize what is considered the ‘right way’ to teach. One conclusion is that the critical tradition of academia is seldom observed despite being clearly stated in the learning goals. The link between general academic knowledge and more school-based contextual knowledge is often missing or not made visible by the students or the teacher educators, and normative content is still clearly prominent.     

The Role of Institutional Research in Higher Education: Enabling Researchers to Meet New Challenges

Based on a survey of 243 New England colleges and universities, this article is designed to contribute to an understanding of the current and projected roles of institutional research and to discuss the implications of these roles for the education and training of future institutional researchers. Results from this study reveal the strongest relationships between the institution's size and the scope of the institutional research function, the reporting relationship, and the size and the qualifications of the institutional research staff. Multivariate analysis identifies the size of the institutional staff and the qualifications of the institutional director as significant predictors of involvement in planning and policy studies. These data indicate the need to enhance the presence, qualifications, and level of activity of institutional researchers in order to enhance the contribution to institutional decision making particularly among small institutions. Recommendations are offered to achieve these goals and prepare the institutional research profession for the challenges confronting higher education now and in the 21st century.     

Uneasy alliances: University,workplace, industry and profession in the education doctorate

The phenomenon of Professional Doctorates in Australia has come at a time of great change in the higher education sector. Such change includes an intensified imperative for universities to establish ‘partnerships’ with industry and the professions. The Professional Doctorate is, in part, a consequence of such changes and is also helping to effect them. However, in its examination of the Education Doctorate, this paper problematises the notion of partnerships and indeed the various policy constructions of the parties involved. Through fictionalised accounts of standpoints of a higher education policy maker, an EdD student, an academic in an EdD program and a member of the education industry, it identifies some of the tensions involved within and between such categories. In so doing it suggests some matters that require research and pedagogical attention.     

Novel application of a predictive skill retention model to technical VLE content production skills among Higher Education teachers: a case study

Periods of no practice in performing a technical procedure may impact on the retention of the procedural skills required to produce VLE content. This exploratory paper reports a case study into the application of a validated skills retention model, the User Decision Aid (UDA). Use of the UDA results in a series of indicative retention rates predicting how long the procedures required to carry out Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) content production tasks will be remembered. Considerable variability in retention rates for differing VLE content production tasks was indicated. The study reveals that improvement in predicted VLE content production skills retention rates may be observed when a quality job aid is available and the mental processing complexity resulting from conducting VLE tasks is reduced. Outputs from this research can inform the design of VLEs, lead to the development of targeted training for teaching staff, and the better design of effective resources in order to mitigate skills fade in VLE content production tasks.     

Enhancing Support for Student Diversity Through Research

Based on a longitudinal studyof freshman students attending a privatecollege in the northeast section of the UnitesStates, the paper demonstrates howinstitutional research can promote anenlightened global perspective by enhancingunderstanding of international students'characteristics, values and aspirations. Results revealed that, compared with domesticstudents, international students had lowerverbal aptitude scores; rated themselves higheron spirituality and understanding of others;put more emphasis on gaining a generaleducation; and were more committed todeveloping a meaningful philosophy of life,helping others and promoting racialunderstanding. Policy recommendationsadvocated designing admission strategies toreflect international students' values;providing language support programmes; anddeveloping programmes for students to learn toappreciate the values and customs ofinternational students' countries.     

The Portrayal of Industrial Melanism in American College General Biology Textbooks

The phenomenon of industrial melanism (IM) became widely acknowledged as a well-documented example of natural selection largely as a result of H.B.D. Kettlewell’s pioneering research on the subject in the early 1950s. It was quickly picked up by American biology textbooks starting in the early 1960s and became ubiquitous throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. While recent research on the phenomenon broadly supports Kettlewell’s explanation of IM in the peppered moth, which in turn has strengthened this example of natural selection, textbook IM entries have actually declined in recent years in favor of other examples. In a previous paper, we drew attention to the pivotal role visual aspects played in the introduction of IM into (and its subsequent removal from) textbook accounts. The present article continues this investigation by analyzing textual passages on industrial melanism within a stratified random sample of textbooks from the 1960s to the 2000s. The fact that this example of natural selection was included by multiple publishers independently, in a short period of time, makes it uniquely qualified for a textbook study of this kind. The purpose of the present project was to determine whether these textbooks contain what has come to be known as the standard peppered moth story. Three complete series were also inspected for change across time. Our analysis focused on (1) the amount of text devoted to industrial melanism; (2) what specific science content elements were present; and (3) what, if any, nature of science (NOS) aspects were included. The study documents an increase in the amount of text devoted to industrial melanism over the decades. In spite of this increase, only modest changes in science content and NOS aspects were found.     

Childbirth experience in women at high risk: is it improved by use of a birth plan?

Women at obstetric high risk more often experience negative feelings related to childbirth than women with normal outcomes. For these high-risk women, an individual birth plan does not appear to improve the overall experience of childbirth; rather, it seems to intensify the negative feelings in several aspects. The increased vulnerability in women at high risk warrants special attention to the possibility that types of care routinely offered to all women may negatively influence the experiences of high-risk women.     

Teachers’ views of co-teaching approaches in addressing pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in multi-grade classrooms

This study focused on primary teachers’ views of co-teaching approaches in addressing the learning needs of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in multi-grade classrooms in Irish primary schools. A case study incorporating a mixed methods approach was chosen. Views of 22 multi-grade and special education teachers (SET) were ascertained through self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that while teachers believe the learning needs of pupils with SEN can be met through co-teaching approaches, the withdrawal of pupils for supplementary support remains the dominant approach. Teachers indicate that they would prefer a combination of withdrawal and in-class support as opposed to choosing one approach over the other. Teachers refer to the challenges posed by co-teaching in delivering instruction for pupils with SEN including planning time, teaching personalities and teaching styles in the multi-grade context. When co-teaching does occur, the most common form used is station teaching. The data demonstrate that teachers lack a clear understanding of the various in-class approaches available and what exactly they entail, and point to teachers’ desire for continuing professional development (CPD) specific to co-teaching.