Investigating the medium effect in computer-aided assessment of school Chemistry and college Computing national examinations

This article presents results of a comparison between paper and computer tests of ability in Chemistry and Computing. A statistical model is employed to analyse the experimental data from almost 200 candidates. It is shown that there is no medium effect when specific traditional paper examinations in Chemistry and Computing are transferred into electronic format. The effect of rewording for computer‐delivered test questions is also investigated and again the conclusion is that no evidence of a difference could be found. These results were obtained as part of the Project for Assessments in Scotland using Information Technology (PASS‐IT).     

The Impact of a Goal-Setting Intervention for Engineering Students on Academic Probation

Research in Higher Education - Many degree-seeking college students struggle academically and ultimately never graduate. Academic challenges and persistence within the major are especially salient...     

Educational research that has an impact: ‘Be realistic,demand the impossible’

This AARE Presidential Address examines what it means to be an educational researcher in the current Australian, and global, political climate. The presentation draws heavily on the work of Levitas (Utopia as Method 2013). The address, using her notions of Utopia as archaeology, as ontology and as architecture, suggests that in the process of promoting a more socially just agenda there is no alternative but to look for alternative ways of doing educational research and being an educational researcher. It concludes by suggesting that associations such as AARE provide opportunities to envisage what academic life could look like for educational researchers in a ‘Realistic Utopia’—one in which they are realistic and demand the impossible.     

Higher Education in a Global Market: The Case of British Overseas Provision in Israel

In recent years there has been a major expansion by higher education institutions in setting up ‘for-profit’, offshore programmes and campuses. It has been claimed that for-profit provision in a free, or unregulated market, responds to student demand and acts as a catalyst for innovation, thus fuelling arguments for a global ‘free market’ in higher education. There are few opportunities to test these claims since higher education is overwhelmingly provided within national systems of education and is generally subject to strong local regulation. Israel, in the 1990s, offered a rare case of an unregulated market in higher education for foreign providers, albeit one which contained significant distortions: British institutions took the leading part in developments. This article examines that experience in the light of documentation in the public domain and of practitioner research and argues, contrary to unsubstantiated claims, that provision fell below acceptable standards. The article concludes that, in this field, consumer demand did not operate on the basis of quality and that the market-place cannot assure standards of higher education in overseas provision. Furthermore, until international standards are agreed, governments have a responsibility to regulate provision which directly affects the lives of their citizens.     

Rethinking approaches to research: the importance of considering contextually mitigating factors in promoting equitable practices in science education research

Cultural Studies of Science Education - In this paper, we explore themes that emerged while reading “How does one recognize contextual mitigating factors (CMFs) as a basis to understand and...     

The‘Real Books’Approach: Is Apprenticeship a Weak Analogy?

If, when considering reading, we treat apprenticeship as a suggestive, rather than exact, analogy, there are useful insights to be drawn from traditional apprenticeship. Two features particularly hold messages for how we help children learn to read. First, the movement in traditional apprenticeship from observation, through coaching, to practice can act as a model for reading instruction. It highlights, for instance, that a‘real books’approach is not laissez-faire, that coaching is required and that, in a cognitive area, part of this coaching involves making explicit to the learner processes which are usually internalised in skilled performance. The implications for teachers are radical. A number of traditional practices, such as hearing children read as a kind of ritual, almost a magical laying on of hands, require major revision. Second, a close look at traditional apprenticeship provides evidence for the importance of the social context in which learning takes place. Again teachers of beginning readers can use the model of traditional apprenticeship to reflect on their own school/classroom practices, to see whether they help create a culture of expert practice for instance, and offer the opportunity for learners to realise the value of their increasing skills. Practices such as peer-tutor schemes and the increasing involvement of parents in reading teaching illustrate that many schools are already working out the implications of this understanding. If teachers are more aware of those areas of relative weakness and strength in the apprenticeship analogy they will have a more principled basis for using the approach in their teaching and a more stout defence against those who might argue that if the analogy is weak, a‘real books’approach is to be avoided.     

Approach and Avoidance Motivation

In this article, we introduce this special issue by establishing a conceptual foundation for the distinction between approach and avoidance motivation. We do so primarily by explicating several reasons why the approach–avoidance distinction should be viewed as fundamental and basic to the study of human behavior. In addition, we compare and contrast the approach–avoidance designation with other designations that have been used in the motivational literature to cover the same or similar conceptual ground. Finally, we conclude by briefly overviewing the other contributions to this special issue, specifically highlighting how they make use of the approach–avoidance distinction.