Online vs. offline course evaluation revisited: testing the invariance of a course evaluation questionnaire using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis framework

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Survey-based formats of assessing teaching quality in higher education are widely used and will likely continue to be used by higher...     

l'Utilisation De La Télévision Scolaire Au Niger,En Côte d'Ivoire Et Au Sénégal

Conclusion Les limites de cet article ne permettent de tirer que quelques conclusions d'ordre très général. On peut remarquer tout d'abord que ces opérations demeurent trop peu connues et que l'ignorance tant de leurs caractéristiques que de leurs résultats pédagogiques, ne permet pas d'effacer les opinions négatives erronées qui continuent à être émises à leur sujet. Elles ont mis en évidence le bien fondé d'une approche globalisante, considérant la mise en place d'un véritable système original (et non l'adjonction au système traditionnel d'un élément supplémentaire, comme ce fut presque toujours le cas dans les pays du Nord), fondé sur l'usage de longues séries d'émissions, cohérentes et à fort taux de redondance. Elles ont enfin relevé l'importance déterminante du ‘facteur humain’ à tous les niveaux de l'entreprise qu'il s'agisse de l'adhésion des divers publics concernés, de la cohésion d'équipes, ou, problème qui ne fut jamais résolu convenablement, de la formation des nouveaux spécialistes requis par ces projets.     

Balance in Positive Emotional Expressivity Across School Contexts Relates to Kindergartners’ Adjustment

Positive emotional expressivity has been associated with increased social competence and decreased maladjustment in childhood. However, a few researchers have found null or even positive associations between positive emotional expressivity and maladjustment, which suggests that there may be nuanced associations of positive expressivity, perhaps as a function of the social context in which it is expressed. We examined whether observed positive emotional expressivity balance across peer-oriented/recreational and learning contexts predicted kindergarten children’s adjustment (N = 301). Research Findings: Higher positive expressivity during lunch/recess compared to positive expressivity in the classroom was associated with lower teacher–student conflict, externalizing behaviors, and depressive symptoms. In addition, overall positive emotional expressivity predicted lower externalizing behaviors as well as lower depressive and anxiety symptoms. Practice or Policy: The results suggest the importance of assessing observed positive emotional expressivity in context as a potential indicator of children’s maladjustment risk and the need for children to adapt their emotions to different contexts. Implications for assessing and supporting positive emotional expression balance and training emotional regulation in school are discussed.     

The functional use of a mathematical sign

The question of how a mathematics student at university-level makes sense of a new mathematical sign, presented to her or him in the form of a definition, is a fundamental problem in mathematics education. Using an analogy with Vygotsky's theory (1986, 1994) of how a child learns a new word, I argue that a learner uses a new mathematical sign both as an object with which to communicate (like a word is used) and as an object on which to focus and to organise her or his mathematical ideas (again as a word is used) even before she or he fully comprehends the meaning of this sign. Through this sign usage, I claim that the mathematical concept evolves for that learner so that it eventually has personal meaning, like the meaning of a new word does for a child; furthermore, because the usage is socially regulated, I claim that the concept evolves for the learner so that its usage concurs with its usage in the mathematical community. In line with Vygotsky, I call this usage of the mathematical sign before mature understanding, ‘functional use’. I demonstrate ‘functional use’ of signs (manipulations, imitations, template-matching and associations) through an analysis of an interview in which a mathematics university student engages with a ‘new’ mathematical sign, the improper integral, using pedagogically designed tasks and a standard Calculus textbook as resources.     

Problem length as a structural variable in verbal arithmetic problems

Of five structural variables that in previous studies accounted for a significant amount of the observed variance in the error rate in verbal arithmetic problems, the length variable (number of words in the problem statement) apparently was more important in the upper grades than in the lower grades. In this study three forms of a verbal problem set in which the number of words in the problem statements were systematically varied were administered to classes of students in Grades 4–9. Using regression analysis, the investigator found that although the length variable did not measure a significant amount of variance between two of the forms, with the third it did.This study was begun while the author was a staff member of The Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences at Stanford University. The research was partially supported by National Science Foundation grant G18709.