Eliciting and developing student's schema of classroom practices using a video-disc system

In this paper we explore the potential of videodisc technology to develop student teachers'capacity to examine their judgements and reasoning critically about typical classroom events. We describe how the type of setting for such activities is committed to and successful at provoking quality collaborative learning. The videodisc system offers a range of exemplars of teaching which are carefully managed to challenge and extend students'existing ideas. We have adapted the key learning constructs of scaffolding and modelling of various strategies so that the intellectual processes of analysis and reconstruction are persistently attended to. In this way, we are designing a more powerful learning environment to support students in acquiring professionally relevant knowledge.     

Evaluation of the initial effects and implementation of Success For All in England

Success For All is a comprehensive programme for restructuring primary schools where students are ‘at risk’ of not developing functional literacy by the end of Key Stage 1 (age 7 years). The programme was developed at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, and uses research-based approaches to curriculum, instruction, assessment and classroom management, with one-to-one tutoring being provided for those students falling behind in their reading. This paper reports on the initial implementation (September 1997 – March 1998) of the Success For All (SFA) reading/school improvement programme in a family of inner city primary schools in Nottingham, England. The purpose of the research was to provide empirical evidence on the process of implementation of SFA in England, and to assess how such an innovative programme could contribute to the British government’s National Literacy Strategy (DfEE, 1998). The main findings suggest that as a result of initial involvement in the SFA programme, students appear to have made as much progress in one term in reading as they would normally have been expected to make in one year, their motivation, behaviour, attitude to and skills in learning have also increased. Furthermore, teachers claim to have learned a great deal from SFA, particularly about the effective teaching of reading, co-operative teaching strategies and their own professional development.     

Leadership in an international collaborative writing groups (ICWG) initiative: implications for academic development

This article presents the results of research examining an innovative initiative designed to build capacity for international, collaborative scholarship of teaching and learning: the development of international collaborative writing groups (ICWG). The study focusses particularly on the role of leadership within the groups as a significant factor in the effectiveness of the initiative. Results from an online survey of 30 former ICWG-participants reaffirm the significance of leadership to the ICWG’s success. In particular, respondents emphasise the value of leadership approaches that foster community and encourage members to take responsibility for tasks. Implications for leadership in related academic development contexts are considered.     

Economic instrumentalism and integration in Australian External Studies

In this article Derek Rowntree of the Open University UK's, Institute of Educational Technology, examines the implications of quality assessment for distance education and other forms of materials‐based learning. He suggests that materials‐based teaching cannot properly be judged in quite the same terms as the conventional, face‐to‐face teaching that academic peers are most familiar with. So what might they be looking for when they come to assess the quality of a department's materials‐based teaching? And what might we expect to result from such assessments?     

COMPONENTS OF QUALITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE CHILD CARE PROGRAMS

A critical information literacy model centers libraries within the curriculum where students find, evaluate and use information in order to conduct successful research (Swanson, 2011). This report documents the process by which the El Centro College (Dallas County Community College District) librarians and the psychology faculty collaborated in bringing information and research skills into the psychology curriculum. The sessions included (a) the research process of finding articles in professional psychology journals, (b) instruction on creating references using NoodleTools ? (an integrated tool for note-taking, outlining, and building references), and (c) how to write in American Psychological Association (APA) style. The integration of the library sessions within the classroom setting of team teaching with the instructor suggests an ideal opportunity for educators to enhance the academic, research, and information literacy education for all students.     

Towards model governance in predictive toxicology

Efficient management of toxicity information as an enterprise asset is increasingly important for the chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries. Many organisations focus on better information organisation and reuse, in an attempt to reduce the costs of testing and manufacturing in the product development phase. Toxicity information is extracted not only from toxicity data but also from predictive models. Accurate and appropriately shared models can bring a number of benefits if we are able to make effective use of existing expertise. Although usage of existing models may provide high-impact insights into the relationships between chemical attributes and specific toxicological effects, they can also be a source of risk for incorrect decisions. Thus, there is a need to provide a framework for efficient model management. To address this gap, this paper introduces a concept of model governance, that is based upon data governance principles. We extend the data governance processes by adding procedures that allow the evaluation of model use and governance for enterprise purposes. The core aspect of model governance is model representation. We propose six rules that form the basis of a model representation schema, called Minimum Information About a QSAR Model Representation (MIAQMR). As a proof-of-concept of our model governance framework we develop a web application called Model and Data Farm (MADFARM), in which models are described by the MIAQMR-ML markup language.     

Beliefs about Genes and Environment as Determinants of Behavioral Characteristics

This study investigates beliefs about the determinants of suchbehavioral characteristics as intelligence, athleticism, obesity,and alcoholism by asking respondents to the 2004 General SocialSurvey to rate vignettes describing individuals exhibiting thesecharacteristics along a 21-point scale ranging from completegenetic determination to complete environmental determination.The vignettes systematically varied the social desirabilityof the characteristic as well as the race and gender of theperson exhibiting it. We analyzed the effect of the carefullycounterbalanced vignette characteristics and the correspondingrater characteristics on respondents’ ratings of the vignettes,hypothesizing that these ratings would reflect mechanisms ofclaiming credit for desirable characteristics and avoiding blamefor undesirable ones. Contrary to our expectations, we foundno effect of any of the vignette characteristics on the ratings,and only two significant main effects of respondent demographiccharacteristics: Black respondents were more likely to use geneticratings; and better educated respondents, environmental ones. Received for publication October 26, 2006. Accepted for publication April 23, 2007.