The supposed demise of bureaucracy: Implications for distance education and open learning — more on the post‐Fordism debate

This article contributes to the current controversy concerning the application of the Fordist framework to distance education and open learning by showing that bureaucratic practice can best be understood from within the Fordist framework. In addition, it draws attention to the distinction between bureaucratic and post‐bureaucratic practices, These issues are of particular significance to distance education institutions for frequently their success has been measured by the size of their student populations, and large student populations increase the prospects of bureaucratic practices being the norm.     

The contextual nature of university-wide curriculum change

We explored the relationships between social contexts and factors that promoted and inhibited curriculum change at two universities. Thirty interviews were analysed using a general inductive approach to identify factors and forces in three social contexts (lecturer, departmental, and institutional). Curriculum change was characterised by six forces: ownership, resources, identity, leadership, students, and quality assurance, each composed of factors that differed in their direction (enabling or inhibiting) and/or intensity (strong or weak). Academic developers should find the approach and lessons learned useful for planning interventions and identifying where they may encounter resistance or enablers in the process of change.     

Is the environmental literacy of university students measurable?

We report the development and piloting of an evaluative instrument and process for monitoring the environmental literacy (EL) of undergraduate students in one large research-led university in New Zealand. The instrument addresses knowledge, affect and competencies in the general area of EL in line with this institution’s adoption of EL as a graduate attribute (or in a US context, a general-education learning outcome, and something to be fostered throughout a student’s education). The instrument and associated processes were designed to fit within conventional institutional mechanisms that manage student feedback on the quality of teaching. The instrument was tested with more than 600 students from more than eight programmes over the course of a year and its use stressed that students were anonymous within the survey. We conclude that evaluating (or in a US context, assessing) the extent to which students acquire EL is an achievable objective and is a reasonable expectation for any higher education institution that claims to foster this attribute.     

The supposed demise of Fordism: Implications for distance education and higher education

The recent shift in Australian Government policy for Distance Education at the Higher Education level, as intimated by the increasing usage of the notion, Open Learning, is outlined. Such an emphasis on Open Learning contrasts markedly with the concerted effort to centralise and rationalise distance education in the late 1980s. This shift is related to a more general debate concerning the restructuring of industry which is formulated using an analysis grounded in the conceptualisation of Fordism, its crisis and its likely successor. The complex and contested nature of the debate about Fordism is revealed, as is its important connection with postmodernism. The relevance of this broader debate to higher education is then displayed and linked to the particular place of academic staff and their opportunity and ability to influence future policy.     

Some Reflections on the Personal Impact of Thomas Kuhn

Science &; Education -     

Tour de France,Giro, Vuelta,and classic European races show a unique progression of road cycling speed in the last 20 years

Abstract

Road cycling ranks among the most intense endurance exercises. Previous studies and mathematical models describing road cycling have not analysed performances per se. We describe the evolution of road cycling performance over the past 116 years. We studied the top ten cyclists' mean speeds in eight famous classic races and three European Grand Tours, using a previously published multi-exponential model that highlights the different progression periods of an event during the century. In addition, we measured an indicator of difficulty for the Tour de France by calculating the climbing index (i.e. the total altitude climbed over total distance). The eleven races' mean speed increased progressively from 23.13 km · h^?1 in 1892 to 41.19 ± 2.03 km · h^?1 in 2008. Road cycling development, like other quantifiable disciplines, fits a piecewise progression pattern that follows three periods: before, between, and after the two World Wars. However, a fourth period begins after 1993, providing a speed progression of 6.38% from the third one. The Tour de France's climbing index also provided insight into a recent paradoxical relationship with speeds: when the climbing index increased, the winner's speed also increased. Our results show a major improvement (6.38%) in road cycling performance in the last 20 years and question the role of extra-physiological parameters in this recent progression.