Making curriculum relevant to the lives of second level students: Teachers’ classroom practice

Abstract

This paper examines the professional practices of exemplary, post‐primary teachers in Ireland, England and the USA and identifies the ways in which these teachers make classroom experiences relevant to the lives of their students. In making the curriculum relevant, the teachers plan rich experiences and overtly discuss career requirements while focusing on the development of students’ personal and societal values together with their intellectual development and academic attainment. The main strategies used by these teachers to convey the relevance of the curriculum comprised self‐disclosure, the purposeful selection of curriculum content and instructional strategies, and the use of unanticipated opportunities which arise in the course of instruction.     

East-West Perspectives on Elder Learning

This paper describes and conceptualizes the meaning of lifelong learning from two cultural perspectives—East and West. It examines the different principles underpinning lifelong learning that explain why and how elders in the two cultures engage differently in continued learning. Finally, it discusses the cultural impact on elder learning by examining the reasons, choices and processes used by elders in the two different cultural contexts as they conceptualize, experience, and negotiate ongoing lifelong learning.     

Issues in teaching and learning for older adults in Hong Kong and Australia

ABSTRACT

There has not been ample recent research on teaching older adults. However, as described below, there is mounting research in how and why older adults want to learn. This brief discussion is derived from work undertaken for a workshop in Hong Kong on issues in teaching older adults. It combines recent research on learning and teaching in higher education as it applies to older adults. The paper addresses: learning and ageing, learning choices, an information processing view of learning, deep and surface learning, teaching and learning approaches, formal, non-formal and informal learning, teaching roles, evaluation, and technology. Some sections are exemplified with information from teaching older adults in Australia and Hong Kong     

THE PUBLIC CHURCH AS A MODEL FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The concept of Canon in most religious traditions remains that of a static body of ideas, doctrines, and practices usually codified in a sacred book. Jews and Christians share that classical understanding; we are the people of the Book. This essay examines how Canon becomes embodied in religious communities, how that experience forms the faithful in the tradition, and how that experience modifies the Canon of that tradition. Three specific religious communities are examined: Jewish, Catholic, and Lutheran. Each faith is deeply rooted in the Book, yet each is vibrantly alive with change and renewal. Canon is a lived experience!     

Information quality and community municipal portal use

This paper presents an in-depth research investigation of the role information quality plays in the use of community municipal portals. These portals are a new type of website spearheaded by local governments and community agencies in response to citizen calls for a more user-friendly, comprehensive, and convenient way of accessing community-based and local government information via a single entry point. Prior empirical evidence on electronic government adoption and use shapes the study's theoretical model. The model was tested via a survey completed by 1279 respondents across five community municipal portal sites in the province of Ontario, Canada. The survey polled respondents' uptake and perceptions of these portals. Cross-validation using structural equation modeling analysis indicates that information quality plays a critical but indirect role in influencing a person's use of a community municipal portal. In addition, other end-user factors, namely perceived ease of use and compatibility, also affect usage. Importantly, the need to pay attention to the information quality of community municipal portals is raised as a means of rallying citizen response to this new type of website specifically, as well as to local government websites more generally.     

6. GENERAL MEDIA

Robert D. Singer and Robert M. Kaplan, eds. &;ldquo;Television and Social Behavior,&;rdquo; The Journal of Social Issues 32:4 (Fall 1976, $4.00 per copy from Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Publication Office, Box 1248, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106)

Jon Baggaley and Steve Duck's Dynamics of Television (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books [D.C. Heath] , 1977—$15.00

Symposium on Television Violence(Ottawa: Printing and Publishing Supply and Services Canada, 1976—$5.00 in Canada; $6.00 to other countries, paper [also available in the U.S. from Unipub in New York—for $9.25, paper] )

Toward a National Endowment for Children's Broadcasting (Center for Action Research, 20 Nassau St. [Suite 211] , Princeton, N.J. 08540—apparently free on request)

Maureen Harmonay, ed. ACT's Guide to TV Programming for Children— Promise and Performance: Children with Special Needs (Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger Publishing Co. [Lippincott] , 1977—$1230/6.95)

Scott H. Robb's Television/ Radio Age Communications Coursebook (Communications Research Institute, 25 Central Park West [Suite 1B] , New York, N.Y. 10023—$14.50, looseleaf format).

Claude and Barbara Hall's This Business of Radio Programming (Billboard Publications, 1515 Broadway, New York 10036—$15.95)

Frazier, Gross &; Clay Inc.'s Raio in 1985 (Washington: National Association of Broadcasters, 1977—$10.00 to non-members; $5.00 to members, paper)

Traveling F.M. Radio Guide (And/or Press, P.O. Box 2246, Berkeley, Calif. 94702— $2.95, paper     

Rubric Rating with MFRM versus Randomly Distributed Comparative Judgment: A Comparison of Two Approaches to Second-Language Writing Assessment

The purpose of this study is to explore the reliability of a potentially more practical approach to direct writing assessment in the context of ESL writing. Traditional rubric rating (RR) is a common yet resource-intensive evaluation practice when performed reliably. This study compared the traditional rubric model of ESL writing assessment and many-facet Rasch modeling (MFRM) to comparative judgment (CJ), the new approach, which shows promising results in terms of reliability. We employed two groups of raters—novice and experienced—and used essays that had been previously double-rated, analyzed with MFRM, and selected with fit statistics. We compared the results of the novice and experienced groups against the initial ratings using raw scores, MFRM, and a modern form of CJ—randomly distributed comparative judgment (RDCJ). Results showed that the CJ approach, though not appropriate for all contexts, can be as reliable as RR while showing promise as a more practical approach. Additionally, CJ is easily transferable to novel assessment tasks while still providing context-specific scores. Results from this study will not only inform future studies but can help guide ESL programs in selecting a rating model best suited to their specific needs.     

“Mentoring is Sharing the Excitement of Discovery”: Faculty Perceptions of Undergraduate Research Mentoring

Although an increasing number of studies have examined students’ participation in undergraduate research (UR), little is known about faculty perceptions of mentoring in this context. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate four aspects of mentoring UR, including how faculty define high-quality UR mentoring and operationalize it in practice; what the perceived benefits and challenges of UR participation are for mentors and students; how mentoring relates to faculty perceptions of their other roles (teachers, advisors, and scholars); and how participation in various communities of practice influences UR mentoring. Sixty faculty respondents at a private, midsized comprehensive institution completed an online survey. In a series of qualitative analyses, responses to open-ended questions were coded as instrumental, psychosocial, or blended. Analyses revealed that faculty perceptions of UR mentoring were impacted by faculty approach to UR mentoring and faculty rank. These findings may be helpful in the development of UR programs and faculty support programming.