The relationship between student understanding,satisfaction and performance in an Australian engineering programme

It has often been suggested that actual or anticipated final grades may influence the ratings given by students in student experience surveys but few studies have been able to test this using actual grades. A study was carried out involving six courses over all four year levels of an undergraduate engineering programme, where students were asked to identify themselves in an experience survey by providing their student ID on the survey form. The aim of the study was to investigate a number of questions related to the readiness of students to identify themselves, and to examine any correlation between final examination grades, ratings of student satisfaction and the students’ perception of their level of understanding of material in their courses. Students were discovered to have a poor idea of how well they understand the concepts presented in their courses. This lack of an accurate idea of their own understanding is particularly important because ‘student understanding’ correlated to the ratings they gave to the course. Ratings were largely unaffected by final marks but students who gave their ID outperformed those who did not in end‐of‐year examinations. Higher year level students were more inclined to identify themselves and ratings tended to increase with year level.     

Leading authentically at the cross-roads of culture and context

This article explores the difficulties Hong Kong school leaders face in leading authentically and suggests that a key to seeking this authenticity lies in ongoing learning in context. It is divided into three sections. The first section describes the crossroads of reform and culture in Hong Kong schools by illustrating the tension between traditional values and modern reform demands. It concludes that the environment within which Hong Kong leaders lead is best characterized by hybridity and that this makes becoming authentic both important and difficult. The second section asserts that being an authentic leader is not a matter of adopting a model, a series of actions or even a set of beliefs, but is about engaging in a continual learning process. Some of what we know about leadership learning is discussed, as is the importance of accounting for cultural variation when designing learning approaches. The third section outlines and describes a set of generic leadership learning gateways designed to guide the development of authenticity. These gateways underpin a new programme implemented in Hong Kong which consciously aims to allow principals to construct authenticity.

An Exploratory Study of Cyberbullying with Undergraduate University Students

Understanding the covert events surrounding the undergraduate students’ experience is essential to educators’ and counselors’ involvement in their success. Research into bullying behaviors has documented victims’ feelings of anger, sadness and poor concentration. Affordable technologies have propagated this concern into cyberspace. This exploratory study evaluated the instances of cyberbullying experienced by undergraduate students. Additionally, the forms of technology utilized in cyberbullying were queried. A 27-item survey was distributed to 120 undergraduate students in social science, technology and education departments. The majority of all respondents (54%) and 100% of male respondents indicated they knew someone who had been cyberbullied. The perpetrators primarily used cell phones, Facebook and instant messaging. The study results provide legitimate concerns regarding the undergraduate students’ exposure to cyberbullying and numerous areas for future research.     

Socialization of coping with community violence: influences of caregiver coaching, modeling, and family context

A socialization model of coping with community violence was tested in 101 African American adolescents (55% male, ages 9-13) and their maternal caregivers living in high-violence areas of a mid-sized, southeastern city. Participants completed interviews assessing caregiver coping, family context, and child adjustment. Caregiver-child dyads also discussed a film clip depicting community violence. Parental coaching (caregivers' strategies suggesting how to cope) and child-reported coping were coded from the discussion. Coaching, modeling (caregivers' own coping), and family context each contributed to children's coping with violence. Children's problem-focused coping in response to violence had the strongest associations with changes in their adjustment 6 months later. Implications for interventions with youth and families are discussed.     

A small-scale concept-based laboratory component: the best of both worlds

In this article, we describe an exploratory study of a small-scale, concept-driven, voluntary laboratory component of Introductory Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We wished to investigate whether students' attitudes toward biology and their understanding of basic biological principles would improve through concept-based learning in a laboratory environment. With these goals in mind, and using our Biology Concept Framework as a guide, we designed laboratory exercises to connect topics from the lecture portion of the course and highlight key concepts. We also strove to make abstract concepts tangible, encourage learning in nonlecture format, expose the students to scientific method in action, and convey the excitement of performing experiments. Our initial small-scale assessments indicate participation in the laboratory component, which featured both hands-on and minds-on components, improved student learning and retention of basic biological concepts. Further investigation will focus on improving the balance between the minds-on concept-based learning and the hands-on experimental component of the laboratory.     

Comparisons among Designs for Equating Mixed-Format Tests in Large-Scale Assessments

In this study we examined variations of the nonequivalent groups equating design for tests containing both multiple-choice (MC) and constructed-response (CR) items to determine which design was most effective in producing equivalent scores across the two tests to be equated. Using data from a large-scale exam, this study investigated the use of anchor CR item rescoring (known as trend scoring) in the context of classical equating methods. Four linking designs were examined: an anchor with only MC items, a mixed-format anchor test containing both MC and CR items; a mixed-format anchor test incorporating common CR item rescoring; and an equivalent groups (EG) design with CR item rescoring, thereby avoiding the need for an anchor test. Designs using either MC items alone or a mixed anchor without CR item rescoring resulted in much larger bias than the other two designs. The EG design with trend scoring resulted in the smallest bias, leading to the smallest root mean squared error value.     

圣洁的爱(英文)

爱别人,也要爱自己。世界是美丽的,热情的;它充满挑战和关爱。不要错失良机!当时机叩开你的家门时,不要犹豫,把握时机。每一天,如果你想要取得平衡,必须权衡内在和外界的不同。生命充满机遇和刺激,改变也随之而来,而我们还是有无法改变的事实——     

Inter-parent agreement on four preschool behavior rating scales: Effects of parent and child gender

This study investigated inter-parent agreement on four preschool behavior rating scales. Sixty-four cohabiting biological parents rated their four and five year-old children's positive and negative behaviors. Results indicated low to moderate inter-parent correlations across all four preschool behavior rating scales for the total sample. Although mean score differences were not significantly different by parent or child gender, absolute differences between pairs of mothers' and fathers' ratings were large and consistent across instruments, as well as by gender of child and gender of parent. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.