Student and Lecturer Responses to the Introduction of Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) in a University Business School

This paper comprehensively reviews the CAL literature before reporting on a study of student and lecturer take-up of the Learning Resource Web (LRW), within the Bristol Business School. The study was multimethod, incorporating a survey of student expectations (n=394) and qualitative interviews with teaching staff (n=12). The LRW initially supported teaching in the sciences. Its implementation in the Business School raised questions about the support it might offer for active and experiential pedagogies. Lecturers tended to use the LRW as an aid to course management, but also saw it as a catalyst for pedagogic change and, in particular, the development of independent learning skills amongst undergraduates. By contrast, students welcomed the system because it appeared to provide a learning safety-net. The study highlights tentative signs that, because of this, the introduction of the LRW may be promoting the instrumentality and dependence on exposition that lecturers often seek to counteract.     

Attitudes toward the level of men's involvement in abortion decisions

College students completed a questionnaire that assessed their attitudes toward the level of male responsibility in abortion decisions. Overall, both men and women thought that men should have some degree of involvement in the abortion decision. However, as expected by the first hypothesis, men indicated a desire for more responsibility in the abortion decision than women thought the men should have. A second hypothesis predicted women would feel more strongly than men that abortion was strictly a woman's issue. Contrary to the hypothesis, women tended to disagree that abortion was strictly a women's issue. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Using Early Learning Standards to Provide High-Quality Education for All Children: The Early Learning Guidelines Toolkit

Today with the rise in the number of 3- to 6-year-old children enrolled in center-based early childhood programs, and a focus on program quality, it becomes imperative for educators to have a better understanding of the role research plays in establishing high-quality programs as these programs provide much of the foundation that supports early learning and development (Child Trends, 2014). Although psychology, and the role of child development research in particular, has always been integral to the field of early childhood education beginning with the seminal works of Piaget, Bronfenbrenner, Bruner, and others (Lickona,1971), the field had never fully embraced the use of research to inform practice, until the 1990s. This had been, in part, because the field of early childhood education originally viewed itself as a field of practitioners that provided for the everyday care and needs of young children, whereas it viewed child development researchers as scientists who paid little attention to the practical needs of classroom teaching (Takanishi, 1981 Takanishi, R. (1981). Early childhood education and research: The changing relationship. Theory into Practice, 20, 86–92.[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Although, today, there is no longer this ideological divide between the two areas, with the child development research being used to inform educational practice and policy (Center for the Developing Child, 2007), nevertheless there still remains a gap in the ability of educators to effectively implement evidence-based practices. Given the increased focus on providing young children with access to high-quality education, and the need for teachers to implement evidence-based practices the present paper attempts to bridge the gap by providing a brief overview of the science of early childhood development, its importance for development of early learning standards, and an overview of the Early Learning Toolkit which was developed to provide early learning educators guidance and resources to support the implementation of early learning standards within their own states as well as well across the nation. The goal of this article is to bridge theory and practice in early childhood education.     

Responding to the challenges of student-staff partnership: the reflections of participants at an international summer institute

This article contributes to the growing scholarly literature about students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education by describing an initiative designed to support partnership and a study investigating international staff and student perspectives. The initiative – an international summer institute – is a four-day, professional development experience that brought together students and staff from seven countries to learn about partnership and develop specific partnership projects. Participants in the institute were invited to contribute to a qualitative study exploring their experiences of students as partners work and their perceptions of the institute’s capacity to support it. Given that much existing research on this topic tends to be celebratory, we focus here on the challenges participants ascribed to student-staff partnership, and on the features of the summer institute they thought particularly useful in helping them to navigate these difficulties. Looking beyond the summer institute, we consider the implications of these findings for those looking to support partnership more broadly.     

Similarities in the social competencies of learning disabled and low achieving elementary school children.

This study sought to examine distinctions in social competencies between children with learning disabilities (LD) and other children who also experience academic difficulties. Eighty-five children with LD (54 male, 31 female) in Grades 3 through 6 from a large urban school district were compared to a group of low achieving (LA) peers matched on achievement as well as sex, race, and grade. The samples were 42% black, 39% Hispanic, and 19% Anglo. Both groups completed two self-concept questionnaires, a loneliness scale, and a measure of their social relationships outside of school. In addition, their classmates completed a peer rating scale and their teachers completed two ratings of the child's social skills. The results indicated that children with LD and LA children were comparable on most measures, although children with LD reported themselves as being less lonely than LA children. In addition, regular-class children rated children with LD as more likable than LA children. The results highlight similarities in the social competencies of children with LD and LA children and suggest that special education classes may offer some social advantages to children with mild handicaps.     

The preparation of cognitively agile principals for turnaround schools: a leadership preparation programme study

The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of two educational leadership university programmes to improve the cognitive agility of their graduates. The research looked to discover whether the aspiring principals exited the programmes with an increased ability to employ cognitive agility – the ability to use the multiple thinking skills of systems thinking, reflecting, and reframing – when engaged in their professional work and solving problems. Both Masters programmes were in School Leadership, offered through the same university department and following the same core curriculum leading to Level 1 educational leadership certification. The results indicate that of the two programmes studied, the Principal Rapid Orientation and Preparation in Educational Leadership (PROPEL) programme, designed to prepare leaders for turnaround schools, produced more cognitively agile graduates than the traditional Master’s programme. The mediating variables of participants’ years of experience and budget responsibility increased the level of cognitive agility of both programme’s graduates.     

Effects of self‐monitoring,token reinforcement and different back‐up reinforcers on the classroom behaviour of retardates

Following a baseline observation period, a class of intellectually handicapped boys were given opportunities to monitor and record their own behaviour as on‐task or off‐task. Following this self‐monitoring phase, the self‐administered check‐marks were used as tokens and exchanged for back‐up consequences, which were initially low‐value objects for consumption (possession). These were later increased in value, and finally changed to access consequences (the opportunity to play with but not possess). Self‐monitoring alone produced a significant increment in the externally assessed level of on‐task behaviour. Only when access back‐up consequences were introduced was there a further significant increment. Provision of high‐value consumption consequences was followed by a loss of accuracy in self‐monitoring, and reduction in on‐task behaviour to baseline levels. The study demonstrated the extension of a self‐control procedure to retardates, the importance of separately measuring the effect of self‐monitoring on the target behaviour, and the need for appropriate selection of back‐up consequences.     

Managerialism and equalities: tensions within widening access policy and practice for disabled students in UK universities

This paper draws on a four-year longitudinal ESRC funded project examining learning experiences of disabled students in higher education in four universities. The focus here is on institutional responses to the demands of audit culture and legislation in relation to making reasonable adjustments for students with impairments. The data comes from institutional documents and face-to-face interviews with key informants within the institutions. The findings indicate that quality assurance regimes and legislation have had some positive effect on improving access for disabled students; however, local factors and type of institution also have a major impact on the way that national policies are expressed in particular contexts.     

Landing techniques in volleyball

Knee injuries such as anterior cruciate ligament lesions and patellar tendonitis are very frequent in volleyball, and are often attributed to micro traumas that occur during the landing phase of airborne actions. The aim of the present study was to compare different jumping activities during official men's and women's volleyball games. Twelve top-level matches from the Italian men's and women's professional leagues were analysed. The jumps performed during the games were classified according to the landing technique used by the player (left or right foot or both feet together), court position, and ball trajectory. Chi-square analyses were performed to detect differences in landing techniques between the sexes, court positions, and trajectories when serving, attacking, blocking, and setting. Significant differences (P?相似文献