Impact of accreditation on public and private universities: a comparative study

Based on two cycles of assessments for accreditation, this study assesses the differential impacts of accreditation on public and private universities in Ghana. Analysis of the evaluator reports indicates no statistically significant difference – improvement or deterioration – between the two cycles of evaluations for both types of institutions. A test comparing the two-cycle aggregated assessment scores between the two categories of universities, however, indicated a significant difference, with the public universities achieving better scores (improvements). Drawing on the evaluators’ reports and the opinions expressed by academics from both categories of institutions, the conclusion was that isomorphic pressures, largely faced by the private universities, accounted for their implementation of suggestions for improvement by the evaluators.     

Wirkungen zentraler Abschlussprüfungen im Mehrebenensystem Schule. Eine Zwischenbilanz internationaler und nationaler Befunde und Forschungsdesiderata

Statewide exit exams have become a central governance instrument at the end of secondary schooling in Germany. In the article, the current state of research in Germany is systematized from an international comparative perspective in relation to intended and unintended effects. Findings regarding state exam policies and effects at the school and instructional level are presented as an interim report on a comparably young field of research. The findings show differences by states, subjects and courses which suggest that there is no general effect of statewide exams. In this context, future research should account for the heterogeneity of exam procedures to a greater degree.     

Qualifizierungsstrategien deutscher Unternehmen in Japan,Indien und China – Deutsche Vorbilder oder einheimische Verfahrensweisen?

For many years the possible introduction of the German dual vocational education programme into other countries has been discussed. The transferability of the German vocational education and training system into other countries has been controversially discussed in the work of development assistance and in international comparative vocational education research for a long time, even though the empirical basis is quite narrow. The present study focuses on the vocational and training behaviours of German corporations in their subsidiaries in Japan, China and India. Even though all three nations are important countries for the German corporations the culture, the vocational education and employment systems are very different. Based upon the theory of the EPRG model in international management, this study analyses the vocational education and training activities and in terms of the EPRG model by interviews with experts. The findings indicate that a polycentric approach is used exclusively in India and to a significant extent in China. In Japan, in addition to the prevalent polycentric approach, there is also a strong influence of geocentric training styles. The similarities can be partly explained by the stronger focus on theoretical training institutions and a more academic attitude in society as a whole, which means that purely vocational training plays a marginal role with low esteem. In this context, it would be difficult to implement the German style of vocational education and training.     

A decade revisited and a step toward the future: incremental but quintessential progress

This study scrutinizes Asia Pacific Education Review (APER) that has been weathered 13 years of journey from its inception. Numerically, 504 peer-reviewed articles have been published so far, and 0.5 of impact factor has been achieved. This article recollects the history of APER, overhaul the accomplishment and shortcomings of it. Through an overview of the annually submitted and published articles, 14 domains of research area, research methods, and the demographics of contributors were examined; 30 nationalities of authors’ papers were published, and 2/3 of articles used quantitative research method. The most published domains were educational administration and policy, educational psychology and special education, and higher education; however, the most cited articles covered all research area of education impartially. This study also suggested APER’s contribution to the advancement of education research community internationally and interdisciplinarily.     

Quantifying Stakeholder Values of VET Provision in the Netherlands

It is well-known that the quality of vocational education and training (VET) depends on how well a given programme aligns with the values and interests of its stakeholders, but it is less well-known what these values and interests are and to what extent they are shared across different groups of stakeholders. We use vignettes to quantify the values that four groups of stakeholders assign to nine attributes relating to VET quality. The four stakeholders are students, teachers, workplace training supervisors, and policymakers. The nine attributes are employers’ appreciation of students, graduation rate, obtained language skills of students, mentoring hours in workplace learning, challenge, structure, students’ appreciation of teachers, schooling hours, and attention to civic education. Five hundred thirty-one Dutch respondents were repeatedly asked to rank a set of four hypothetical programmes, each with a specific value on the nine quality indicators. Through conjoint analysis we obtain the values that the stakeholders assigned to the nine attributes when evaluating the quality of VET programmes. The values assigned to the attributes ‘a challenging curriculum’ and ‘employers’ satisfaction’ were similar across the four groups of stakeholders, yet the values assigned to the remaining attributes differed substantially across stakeholders. This illustrates the diversity in values and interests of different stakeholders, and points to a need to quantify these values, for use by both the Dutch government and VET colleges, to improve the overall quality of education and the match between vocational programmes and their stakeholders.     

Combining fiber dissection,plastination, and tractography for neuroanatomical education: Revealing the cerebellar nuclei and their white matter connections

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in white matter anatomy of the human brain. With advances in brain imaging techniques, the significance of white matter integrity for brain function has been demonstrated in various neurological and psychiatric disorders. As the demand for interpretation of clinical and imaging data on white matter increases, the needs for white matter anatomy education are changing. Because cross‐sectional images and formalin‐fixed brain specimens are often insufficient in visualizing the complexity of three‐dimensional (3D) white matter anatomy, obtaining a comprehensible conception of fiber tract morphology can be difficult. Fiber dissection is a technique that allows isolation of whole fiber pathways, revealing 3D structural and functional relationships of white matter in the human brain. In this study, we describe the use of fiber dissection in combination with plastination to obtain durable and easy to use 3D white matter specimens that do not require special care or conditions. The specimens can be used as a tool in teaching white matter anatomy and structural connectivity. We included four human brains and show a series of white matter specimens of both cerebrum and cerebellum focusing on the cerebellar nuclei and associated white matter tracts, as these are especially difficult to visualize in two‐dimensional specimens and demonstrate preservation of detailed human anatomy. Finally, we describe how the integration of white matter specimens with radiological information of new brain imaging techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging tractography can be used in teaching modern neuroanatomy with emphasis on structural connectivity. Anat Sci Educ. 7: 47–55. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

Identifying Key Features of Effective Active Learning: The Effects of Writing and Peer Discussion

We investigated some of the key features of effective active learning by comparing the outcomes of three different methods of implementing active-learning exercises in a majors introductory biology course. Students completed activities in one of three treatments: discussion, writing, and discussion + writing. Treatments were rotated weekly between three sections taught by three different instructors in a full factorial design. The data set was analyzed by generalized linear mixed-effect models with three independent variables: student aptitude, treatment, and instructor, and three dependent (assessment) variables: change in score on pre- and postactivity clicker questions, and coding scores on in-class writing and exam essays. All independent variables had significant effects on student performance for at least one of the dependent variables. Students with higher aptitude scored higher on all assessments. Student scores were higher on exam essay questions when the activity was implemented with a writing component compared with peer discussion only. There was a significant effect of instructor, with instructors showing different degrees of effectiveness with active-learning techniques. We suggest that individual writing should be implemented as part of active learning whenever possible and that instructors may need training and practice to become effective with active learning.     

Conditioned avoidance responses survive contingency degradation in the garden slug,Lehmannia valentiana

Joint presentations of a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) strengthen the contingency between them, whereas presentations of one stimulus without the other degrade this contingency. For example, the CS can be presented without the US either before conditioning (CS–no US and then CS–US; latent inhibition) or after conditioning (CS–US and then CS–no US; extinction). In vertebrate subjects and several invertebrate species, a time lapse usually results in a return of the conditioned response, or spontaneous recovery. However, in land mollusks, spontaneous recovery from extinction has only recently been reported, and response recovery after latent inhibition has not been reported. In two experiments, using conditioned aversion to a food odor as a measure of learning and memory retention, we observed contingency degradation via latent inhibition (Experiment 1) and extinction (Experiment 2) in the common garden slug, Lehmannia valentiana. In both situations, the contingency degradation procedure successfully attenuated conditioned responding, and delaying testing by several days resulted in recovery of the conditioned response. This suggests that the CS–US association survived the degradation manipulation and was retained over an interval of several days.     

Radiocarbon geophysics

Radiocarbon dating is, and remains, one of the most powerful methods of dating archaeological artefacts. Initially, it was assumed that the carbon-14 content of atmospheric carbon dioxide had remained constant, but latterly it has been shown that this assumption is not valid. It has now proved possible, mainly by correlation with tree-growth rings, to measure historic fluctuations in carbon-14 content and to make the necessary corrections—of up to one thousand years—to the conventionally calculated dates.