Distance education in Malawi

Conclusion Any discussion of technology as a “tool-only” definition is incomplete. Instructional technology also refers to a systematic means of solving problems (Reiser, 1987). In the case of Malawi and so many other low-income societies where tools are difficult to purchase and maintain, one resource that is not in short supply is the number of able and willing people who could themselves provide solutions to the country's many challenges. The important role of the instructional designer should not be ignored. Mzuzu University has the benefit of having five trained instructional technologists among its faculty. Increasing the number of designers with experience in distance teaching and learning would benefit Malawi. The insight provided by people who have taken instructional design, educational psychology, and related courses, would undoubtedly open minds to new possibilities. Not only could they guide instructional development for Web-based learning, they could design and offer training on new technologies as they become available. Although consultants from outside Malawi can offer excellent advice based on their education and experience, such input is necessarily limited by the lack of a true understanding of contextual issues. The advantage indigenous designers have, of course, is first-hand knowledge of their own context, which plays a very important role in shaping instructional decisions (Arias & Clark, 2004; Perkins, 2003; Tessmer & Richey, 1997). Indigenous instructional designers should be called on first to offer guidance as leaders in ministries and at international funding agencies seeking reasonable solutions to the challenges to access and growth that lie before them.     

A Linguistic Perspective on Multiple Choice Questioning

This article critiques the over-emphasis on multiple choice testing in some large first year classes as well as the poor design and construction of many of these tests, and calls for the use of multiple choice questions as part of a broader and more diverse range of assessment measures. It argues that this kind of testing means that students are not given enough opportunity to develop communicative competence in the discourses of the academic disciplines they are studying.     

College presidents' role performance and faculty satisfaction

This research analyzed faculty evaluations of college presidents' role performance with the intent of identifying underlying dimensions and to ask further which dimensions predicted faculty satisfaction with presidents. Data were gathered from 896 faculty members from two technical colleges, three community colleges, two private universities and three public universities in a Western state. The factor analysis revealed three relatively independent dimensions of the presidential role: personal-public image, faculty and student interaction with presidents, and absence of autocratic leadership style. The personal-public image was the most important dimension and predicted faculty satisfaction across the four types of institutions of higher learning. Faculty-student interaction with the president, while not as important a dimension of the presidential role, predicted faculty satisfaction in three institutional types, but not in public universities. The absence of autocratic leadership style predicted satisfaction in community and technical colleges.     

Impact of stimulus format and reward value on quantity discrimination in capuchin and squirrel monkeys

Quantity discrimination abilities are seen in a diverse range of species with similarities in performance patterns, suggesting common underlying cognitive mechanisms. However, methodological factors that impact performance make it difficult to draw broad phylogenetic comparisons of numerical cognition across studies. For example, some Old World monkeys selected a higher quantity stimulus more frequently when choosing between inedible (pebbles) than edible (food) stimuli. In Experiment 1 we presented brown capuchin (Cebus [Sapajus] paella) and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) with the same two-choice quantity discrimination task in three different stimulus conditions: edible, inedible, and edible replaced (in which choice stimuli were food items that stood in for the same quantity of food items that were given as a reward). Unlike Old World monkeys, capuchins selected the higher quantity stimulus more in the edible condition and squirrel monkeys showed generally poor performance across all stimulus types. Performance patterns suggested that differences in subjective reward value might motivate differences in choice behavior between and within species. In Experiment 2 we manipulated the subjective reinforcement value of the reward by varying reward type and delay to reinforcement and found that delay to reinforcement had no impact on choice behavior, while increasing the value of the reward significantly improved performance by both species. The results of this study indicate that species presented with identical tasks may respond differently to methodological factors such as stimulus and reward types, resulting in significant differences in choice behavior that may lead to spurious suggestions of species differences in cognitive abilities.     

Reminiscence Effects on Inter- and Intra-Individual Differences in Pursuit Rotor Performance

Abstract

Sixty male college students were given sixty 15-sec. trials on the pursuit rotor learning task. Practice was interrupted halfway through learning by a 10-min. rest period in order to investigate whether or not a reminiscence effect would influence inter-individual differences and intra-individual variation in performance. Results were consistent with previous experimentation in that inter-individual differences increased as a result of both practice and the interpolated rest period. A corresponding effect on intra-individual variation was barely noticeable.