The impact of technological convergence on the regulation of ICT industries

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to identify alternative models of regulation that address the problems and opportunities brought about by convergence. Regulatory convergence involves bringing together previously separate industry‐based regulations into a single legal and regulatory framework. Regulators need to consider different levels of and objectives for regulating sectors as well as overcome inconsistencies in regulation that result from traditional separation. These can result in regulatory arbitrage as companies try to choose the laws and bodies that most benefit them. Regulators also must deal with technological uncertainty and competition policies. There are five alternatives for regulating converging industries: status quo regulator, multi‐sector regulator, ICT regulator, coordination among regulators, and minimal regulation. Each of these represents different degrees of change that can be chosen based on circumstances including: competition, path dependency, perceptions about the environment, knowledge, and power.     

CLASSROOM RESEARCH AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: THREE SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCES‐INVOLVEMENT IN PSYCHOLOGY

The teaching‐learning paradigm that is experientially student‐centered was integrated into the original curriculum development of psychology at Collin County Community College. As a result of the emphasis on active learning from the department's inception, the administration and faculty have been able to observe, ask, review, and evaluate the experiential approach. Based on the data from these sources as well as national research, there appears to be a strong indication that indeed students do learn, grow, persist, and enjoy higher education more when they are actively involved in the learning process.

There are four elements that the department has employed to try to achieve student involvement: a laboratory component, extensive writing to learn, classroom research, and business/industrial linkages through internships. These four elements are inseparable in our educational process as the laboratory and internships require written reports, and the written assignments demonstrate the student's ability to communicate knowledge, understand method of inquiry, and give feedback on the learning process. Two courses, General Psychology and Life‐span Psychology are detailed in the article.

Evaluations conducted over the past three years are included which show active participation by the student in the learning process does promote synthesis and integration of theoretical knowledge as well as promoting the opportunity for students to think critically, creatively, and apply the knowledge to their own lives.     

Policy issues for electronic databases and database systems

Abstract

Database producers of all types, including the federal government, play many roles in the information “industry.” Because of mergers, acquisitions and vertical integration, a given producer may function in virtually any part of the nine‐membered database use chain. The database use chain, together with statistics showing dramatic growth, provides a framework for the discussion of policy issues, problems, and future requirements of the database industry.

The various stages of the database use chain are considered in terms of added value, added production cost, compensation, push and pull mechanisms, proprietorship of data, control of data, and use agreements. The framework for considering policy issues includes the characteristics of the public and private sectors, their products and services, the appropriateness of government involvement in certain subject areas of information and the benefits to society. Problems and issues are standardization, copyright, structural changes in the industry, transborder data flow, and competition between the public and private sectors.     

Race and Gender Differences in Children's Socialization into Sport

Abstract

In order to determine whether race and gender differences occurred in children's socialization into sport, a fixed alternative questionnaire was administered to 193 males (46 black and 147 white) and 222 females (69 black and 153 white) between the ages of 9 and 12 years. Results from several discriminant function analyses indicated that white children are more influenced by specific agents of socialization while black children are more influenced by situational or contextual variables, such as opportunity set and values toward sport. Gender differences appear to be a function of same-sex agents of socialization. However, those agents which most influence white children are not those that most influence black children.     

The Changing Landscape of Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards: An Analysis of Early Adopters of AA-MASs

Several states had an assessment that they considered to be an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS) in place, or in development, when the April 2007 federal regulations on modified achievement standards were finalized. This article uses publicly available information collected by the National Center on Educational Outcomes to analyze changes in states' AA-MAS between 2007 and 2008. The article compares across the 2 years the number of states that had an assessment they considered to be an AA-MAS, states' participation guidelines, and the characteristics of these assessments. We also provide information about the number of students who participated in this assessment option during the 2006–07 school year. In 2007, six states (Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma) either had or were in the process of developing an assessment they considered to be an AA-MAS. In 2008, California, Connecticut, and Texas also offered this assessment option. Six of the nine states that have been early implementers of the AA-MAS were states that had offered an out-of-level testing option until federal policies required that option to be phased out. Most states had fewer items on their AA-MAS than on their regular assessment. States that had participation guidelines for the AA-MAS in 2007 developed them prior to finalization of the federal regulations, and some changes between 2007 and 2008 in states' participation guidelines appear to have been made to better align the guidelines with the regulations. The characteristics of the assessments states consider to be AA-MASs are changing rapidly and will probably continue to change rapidly over the next few years as more is learned about the advantages and limitations of this assessment.     

The needs and potential of the highly gifted: Toward a model of responsiveness

Programs for the general population of gifted and talented children may bypass the needs of the highly gifted, if not responsive to the special, often unique, ways such individuals think, act, and feel. Joseph Renzulli's concepts and enrichment programs, emphasizing task‐commitment and creativity as prerequisites for advanced enrichment services, risk discrimination against children of great potential who fail to display these traits. Insights from David Henry Feldman's studies of prodigies — combined with an alertness to the interplay of emotional, social, and cognitive factors pointed to by Lita Hollingworth, Carl Rogers, D. K. Simonton, and others — suggest the essentials of a model for maximally nurturing the potential of the highly gifted.