The impact of learner characteristics on information utilization strategies, cognitive load experienced, and performance in hypermedia learning

Against the background of an adaptation of Cognitive Load Theory to learner-controlled settings we investigated the impact of learner characteristics on information utilization strategies, cognitive load, and learning outcomes in a hypermedia environment. Based on the data of 79 students, five clusters of students were identified according to their learner characteristics by means of a cluster analysis. Further analyses showed that learners with more favorable characteristics (i.e., higher prior knowledge, more complex epistemological beliefs, more positive attitudes towards mathematics, better cognitive and metacognitive strategy use) tended to show a more adaptive example utilization behavior, reported less cognitive load, and solved more problems correctly than learners with less favorable characteristics.     

Differential scanning calorimetry: Fundamental overview

This paper discusses the fundamentals of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) including functions and outputs of a Differential Scanning Calorimeter along with common uses in academia and industry.     

Global English, Hegemony and Education: Lessons from Gramsci

Antonio Gramsci and his concept of hegemony are often invoked in current debates concerning cultural imperialism, globalisation and global English. However, these debates are rarely cognizant of Gramsci's own university training in linguistics, the centrality of language to his writings on education and hegemony, or his specific engagement with language politics in his own day. By paying much greater attention to Gramsci's writings on language and education, this article attempts to lay the groundwork for an adequate approach to the current politics of global English.
While Gramsci may have left formal education and his studies in linguistics at Turin University as a young man to become a full time journalist and political activist, he certainly did not 'jettison' his study of language as is commonly implied. It has been widely accepted that Gramsci had an expansive conception of education which would curtail any suggestion that 'education' must be limited to formal schooling or university. Likewise, this article demonstrates the importance of Gramsci's lifelong analysis of language, its role in education and the development of hegemony. It argues that Gramsci's writings on language policy in Italy, specifically la questione della lingua [the language question] and his concern with linguistics, are an integral part of his approach to education and hegemony.     

Participation,financial support and the marginal student

This paper examines differences between the decision-making of marginal and nonmarginal students about participation in higher education (HE). We distinguish between two kinds of marginality: being ‘borderline’ on account of prior achievements in school and being ‘unsure’ after taking prior achievement into account. We identify a significant minority of students in their final year of schooling who are unsure about participation in higher education even though they have prior school achievements typical of entrants to HE. Being ‘unsure’ is found to be unrelated to socioeconomic background, but it is associated with significantly different attitudes towards the potential benefits and risks of participation, different levels of knowledge about financial support that is available and different approaches to information search about participation in HE.

How university student–teachers for primary school learn about Department of Education Policy on child sexual abuse,and mandatory reporting: the sources of their professional information

Many regional and local Departments of Education in many countries now require their primary school teachers to be mandatory reporters of child sexual abuse. However, many student–teachers are not provided with courses on child protection and its policy requirements during their pre-service university education. So, how do student–teachers source, and develop, their professional information about this important role? This study examines an Australian university cohort of final 4th year bachelor of education primary school student–teachers, asking them to identify and clarify the nature of any relevant professional information they accessed over the 4 years of their teacher education. The results show that, in the absence of formal child protection courses, such professional information was scarce and sporadic. Student–teachers consistently indicated a pattern of not learning about essential Department of Education policies and procedures whilst at university. These results, although disappointing, provide a rationale for university curriculum planners to design appropriate pre-service university training courses that initiate, develop, and enhance student–teachers’ professional competencies as mandated reporters of child sexual abuse.