The impact of education policy on economic development: Quantity,quality and earnings of labor

Education policy is viewed as affecting the content, and hence production functions, of different types of training and skill-formation. The relationship between skill type and level of education is considered. Optimal investment requires equating rates of return on the extensive and intensive margins, making endogenous the trade-offs between quantity and quality for each skill type. Selected education production functions are discussed with respect to implications for the distribution and levels of different skills and for skill-related earnings differentials. Equality of educational opportunity increases skill levels, upgrades the occupational structure and reduces relative earnings differentials.     

Predicting adult academic success in an undergraduate program

Central Michigan University provides, through the Individualized Degree Program, a bachelor's degree to individuals who could not be served by conventional on-campus programs. The present study was undertaken in an effort to learn more about selected attributes of those in the program. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data revealed characteristics common to participants in the Individualized Degree Program and isolated five factors which are predictive of academic success.     

Measures of Information Seeking: A Validation Study in the Context of Nonmedical Drug Use Behaviors

Health information is readily available and easily obtained from a variety of media and interpersonal sources. Although several studies have examined health-related information seeking, a comprehensive validation study of this measure is still needed. This study uses a longitudinal cohort study of Israeli university students (N = 800) aged 18–30, and a cross-sectional sample of U.S. college students (N = 498) to validate measures of information seeking about the nonmedical use of two drugs (marijuana and amphetamines) from a range of media and interpersonal sources. Information seeking measures for both drug types showed good convergent, discriminant, nomological, and test-retest validity. Results offer support for the use of these measures as valid indicators of the constructs for which they were designed. Implications for the use of these measures in future research are discussed.     

Building an evaluation culture and evidence base for e-learning in three Hong Kong universities

The paper presents a strategy for the systematic evaluation of course websites built under the project e3Learning that operates across three universities in Hong Kong. Tailor‐made evaluation plans were produced for each website; the evaluation was conducted by an evaluation officer, and a report was provided to each teacher, thus supporting continuous development. To date, 58 cases of evaluation data have been collected. In this paper, a meta‐analysis across these cases is presented in order to see which are the most useful web‐assisted functions currently in use in Hong Kong universities. This study indicates the following four functions as being most useful: learning tools such as glossaries, notes and PowerPoints, assessment tasks associated with grades, and creation and exhibition of multimedia projects. The reasons for these rankings are postulated.     

Advising time inventory: Consequences of the general college individualized baccalaureate degree program on faculty advising,activities, and academic load

Faculty of the General College are assigned advising responsibilities in addition to their teaching load. Full-time members, for example, advise 35–40 students per year. When the College initiated an individualized baccalaureate degree program in 1971, little provision was made for consequent changes on the advising function and the academic load. As a result, advisers, faced with the complex and time-consuming matters that adhere to individualized learning programs, felt mounting pressure. Large numbers of evening school students were attracted to the program and sought advice and, upon admission, expected to be assigned a faculty adviser. The College made no formal acknowledgment of the addition of the non-day school advisees to advisers' loads. Strained by the overburden, faculty participated in this study to identify how much real time they spend in advising, with whom, and on what kinds of activities. Evidence from this study was used to support their request for recognition by the College of the changed nature and full scope of their advising work.The author wishes to acknowledge Drs. Paul J. Feltovich and Thomas Brothen for their help with the researching of this paper.     

Malta's National Curriculum: A critical analysis

Malta has recently introduced a National Minimum Curriculum (NMC) for primary, secondary and post-secondary levels. The authors of this article argue that the NMC, like similar national curricula in Britain, the United States and other countries, is underpinned by a conservative ideology. They criticize the NMC for, among other things, discriminating against women, giving insufficient value to non-European cultures, and promoting a hierarchical form of education that is geared to a capitalist concept of work. They argue that the curriculum, in its present form, cannot serve to promote a genuinely democratic education.

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Zusammenfassung Malta hat vor kurzem ein National Minimum Curriculum (NMC — Nationales Minimum Curriculum) für Schulen der Primar-, Sekundar-und Post-sekundarbildung eingeführt. Die Autoren dieses Artikels argumentieren dahingehend, daß dem NMC, wie ähnlichen nationalen Curricula in Großbritannien, den Vereinigten Staaten und anderen Ländern, eine konservative Ideologie zugrunde liegt. Sie kritisieren das NMC u.a. für eine Diskriminierung der Frauen, eine ungenügende Integration nicht-europäischer Kulturen und die Förderung einer hierarchischen Bildungsform, die in ein kapitalistisches Arbeitskonzept mündet. Sie argumentieren, daß das Curriculum in seiner gegenwärtigen Form der Förderung einer wahrhhaft demokratischen Erziehung nicht dienlich sein kann.

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Résumé Le gouvernement de Malte a récemment instauré un programme minimum national (NMC) pour les cycles primaire, secondaire et universitaire. Les auteurs de l'article objectent que ce programme, comparable à ceux de Grande-Bretagne, des Etats-Unis et d'autres pays, se fonde sur une idéologie conservatrice. Ils dénoncent entre autres la discrimination des femmes, la mise en avant de la culture européenne, et la défense d'une hiérarchie pédagogique orientée vers une conception capitaliste du travail. Ils affirment que ce programme dans sa forme actuelle ne peut constituer le fondement d'une éducation véritablement démocratique.

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Sumario Malta acaba de introducir un Curriculum Mínimo Nacional (NMC) para niveles primarios, secundarios y post-secondarios. Los autores de este artículo sostienen que el NMC, al igual que otros currículos similares de Gran Bretaña, los Estados Unidos y otros países está apuntalado por una ideología conservadora. Entre otras cosas, ellos critican el NMC por discriminar a la mujer, valorar insuficientemente las culturas no europeas y promover una forma de educación jerárquica orientada hacia un concepto de trabajo capitalista. Además, opinan que el currículo en su forma actual no podrá servir para promover una educación genuinamente democrática.

     

Remaining connected in the face of cyberbullying: Why social connectedness is important for mental health

It is well documented that cyberbullying can lead to adverse mental health outcomes. Separate research shows that higher levels of social connectedness may result in more positive mental health outcomes, however, the relationship between social connectedness and mental health in the face of cyberbullying is not yet fully understood. An online survey of 229 adolescents (aged 12–17 years) was conducted, and we examined experiences of cyberbullying, levels of social connectedness, depression, anxiety, and stress. Structural equation modeling suggested that social connectedness may act as a protective buffer against the negative mental health outcomes associated with cybervictimization. This paper highlights the fact that social connectedness plays an important role for young people, the more frequently they are victimized. The implications of these findings are far reaching and suggest that understanding the role of social connectedness may be crucial to interventions that seek to mitigate the effects of cyberbullying.