When Developmental Education is Optional,What Will Students Do? A Preliminary Analysis of Survey Data on Student Course Enrollment Decisions in an Environment of Increased Choice

Historically, college students needing additional academic preparation have been assigned to developmental/remedial courses. In 2013 Florida took a drastic departure from this model by passing Senate Bill 1720, which prohibited institutions from requiring placement tests and made developmental education optional for many students, regardless of prior academic preparation. For this pilot study we conducted a survey at two colleges in the Florida College System to begin to understand the kinds of courses students will take now that developmental education is optional and the factors that students considered when making their course enrollment decisions.     

Adolescents’ use of academic language in informational writing

Reading and Writing - Academic language is a kind of social language for the purpose of schooling. It is central to disciplinary learning, thinking, and communication. This study examined...     

Perception of degraded vocalizations by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)

Three budgerigars were trained with operant techniques to discriminate examples of species-specific contact calls. Once the birds learned the discrimination among a large set of calls, they were tested with the calls altered in various ways. The birds’ performance on altered calls was compared with performance on normal calls. Results show that the birds could tolerate large spectral and temporal alterations in the calls with little or no decrement in performance. A comparison of the birds’ performance across conditions shows clear evidence of a redundancy in information contained in the calls. The birds were equally adept at discriminating among the calls when given only high-frequency information and when given only low-frequency information. The birds also performed just as well when presented with only the short beginning portions of the calls as they did when presented with somewhat longer portions near the end of the calls. This ability of budgerigars to discriminate among species-specific vocal signals that are highly distorted is reminiscent of the ability of humans to discriminate and recognize highly distorted speech sounds.     

亚太(中国)金融并购一笔交易四步流程

从北京到班加罗尔,从悉尼到汉城,并购热潮席卷亚太金融服务业.2005年整个亚太地区银行、经纪和保险并购业务总额高达300亿美元,是过去十年来并购频繁程度排名第二的年度.显而易见,强劲的经济增长,颇具吸引力的目标公司价格促使国际投资者蜂拥在亚太金融市场下注.而中国在整个地区表现最为突出.     

What affects learner engagement in flipped learning and what predicts its outcomes?

The current popularity of flipped learning may be attributed to its reported successes in bringing about enhanced learner engagement and positive learning outcomes. This study aims to improve our understanding of flipped learning (FL) outcomes by examining factors of learner engagement, academic capability, and epistemological beliefs. Data were collected and statistically analyzed from 231 undergraduate students enrolled in a general biology or general chemistry course at a Korean university implemented with the FL model. The results indicated that learners’ epistemological beliefs influenced neither pre-class nor in-class engagement, but that academic capability did affect both pre-class and in-class engagement. Only content/learning-related outcomes, not generic competencies or satisfaction, were affected by both academic capability and epistemological beliefs. Both pre-class and in-class engagement levels affected most types of FL outcomes except generic competencies, which were only affected by the extent of in-class engagement. Learners’ affective engagement was not influenced by epistemological beliefs, but directly and indirectly affected FL outcomes via behavioral and cognitive engagement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed along with recommendations.     

Effective Professional Development in Science and Mathematics Education: Teachers' and Facilitators' Views

This study compares the views of teachers and professional development facilitators about effective professional development (PD). We analyzed interviews with 72 teacher participants and 23 PD facilitators involved in nine science and mathematics PD projects. The teachers' themes for characterizing effective PD included classroom application, teacher as learner, and teacher networking. Similarly, the PD facilitators discussed effective PD as having classroom application and experiences for teachers as learners. In addition, PD facilitators shared the need to develop collegial relationships with teachers and improve teacher knowledge. These views correspond to some of the standards and recommendations described in policy and research documents on effective PD. Criteria of effective PD in these documents that the participants did not mention included: (1) challenging teachers' content and pedagogical content knowledge with transformative learning experiences, (2) encouraging teacher leadership for sustained support, and (3) focusing on student learning by instructing teachers on how to use student data to inform their teaching practice. Our findings have implications for designing PD that reflects the criteria of standards-based reform.     

What contributes to low achievement of middle school students: Evidence from multigroup structural equation modeling

The authors' purpose was to examine the degree to which low achievement is related to ontogenetic factors (i.e., personal psychological traits expressed as attention and depression) or microsystemic factors (i.e., socioeconomic status, parenting, relationship with peers and teachers), using a total of 721 middle school students in South Korea. Based on the percentile rank, low-achieving students (bottom 15%; n = 323) and high-achieving students (top 15%; n = 398) were grouped, and a multigroup structural equation modeling was employed to determine which ecological factor(s) contribute to predict low achievement of middle school students. Results from multigroup structural equation modeling showed that 3 of the 6 ecological and ontological factors had significant direct or indirect effect on low achievement: socioeconomic status (direct effect), attention (direct effect), parenting (indirect effect). The findings are discussed in terms of the intertwined influences of ecological factors on low achievement, finally leading to the discussion on the limitations and future directions for research.     

Identifying the Role of the International Consortium “MIT/ LINC” in Supporting the Integration of ICT in Higher Education in Emerging Countries

The goal of this research effort is to provide insights on what core needs and difficulties exist toward the implementation of ICT in higher education in emerging countries and how a consortium like LINC can best support these efforts. An exploratory research design combining a survey, on-site interviews, participant observation and document analysis were employed to answer the research questions. Main challenges in establishing technology- based learning environments were identified in the area of pedagogies, finances, technological infrastructure, cultural change, organization, and management. LINC, as an non-political organization embedded in an academic environment, can take an important role in facilitating the dialogue among participants through various platforms, take an active role in promoting joint programs and assist with efforts to “localize” tools and practice.

Education and poverty in rural China

We analyze household and school survey data from poor counties in six Chinese provinces to examine the effects of poverty, intra-household decision-making, and school quality on educational investments (enrollment decisions) and learning outcomes (test scores and grade promotion). Unlike previous studies, we use direct measures of credit limits and women's empowerment. Drawing a distinction between the effects of wealth (measured by expenditures per capita) and credit constraints, we find that the former improves learning while the latter reduces educational investments. We find evidence of a story of gender bias in which academically weak girls are more likely to drop out in primary school while most boys continue on to junior secondary school. Women's empowerment reduces the likelihood of dropping out but does not affect other outcomes. Finally, our measures of school quality have some effect on the duration of primary school enrollment but not on learning.     

Relational and Overt Aggression in Disruptive Adolescents: Prediction from Early Social Representations and Links with Concurrent Problems

Children's representations of conflict and distress situations at 7 years were examined as developmental precursors to relational aggression, overt aggression, and psychiatric symptoms in early adolescence. Children were identified in early adolescence. Children were identified in preschool as normally developing or with behavior problems. Overt, but not relational, aggression, was correlated with concurrent disruptive symptoms in adolescence. Childhood predictors of adolescent aggression were found only for girls: Early hostile themes predicted more relational and overt aggression, while prosocial themes predicted less relational aggression. Also for girls only, early emotions foretold later functioning: Sadness predicted a higher ratio of relational to overt aggression, while inexpressiveness predicted disruptive, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Relational and overt aggression are discussed with regard to sex differences in symptom changes over time.