Self-efficacy and vicarious learning in doctoral studies at a distance

Even though there are increasing numbers of PhD students in the distance mode, our current understanding of PhD candidature at a distance is limited and incomplete. On the one end of the spectrum are accounts of unhappy and isolated doctoral students who are separated from communities of practice. At the same time, literature offers accounts of PhD students at a distance who view themselves as agential and autonomous and are happy not to get sidetracked by others. In this reflection we ask what distinguishes the conventional PhD student from one who is studying at a distance, and invite more research on self-efficacy and vicarious learning of PhD students at a distance.     

一个标准能适合所有的项目吗:开放教育的选择

基于支持全英开放教育资源项目(英国开放教育资源项目,简称UKOER项目)的经验,本文将探讨该项目开展过程中所涌现出的各种不同的开放教育资源描述方法,及其对资源共享、工作流程计划、资源聚集观的影响.由于UKOUER项目包括个人层面的项目、学科层面的项目和院校层面的项目,而这三种类型的项目又有各自不同的特点,显然难以用一种技术或者描述性的解决方案来适合所有的项目.因此,目前这些项目只提供有限的描述性信息,包括项目标签、作者、题目、日期、链接地址、文件格式、文件大小、权限,以及一些附加信息,包括语言、学科分类、关键词、标签、评论和描述.所有项目可以自由选择编码、存储和分享上述信息的方法.本文通过大量的例证介绍了项目的描述方法,其中还包括工作流程和所作出的尝试.我们将考虑所选择的工具(资源库、Web2.0应用、虚拟学习环境)与标准选择的关系,以及本地需求和更广泛社区需求之间的关系.我们会考虑这些选择对资源传播和发现的影响,例如,资源描述对大量开放教育资源的发现服务的影响.     

Contrasting concepts of learning and contrasting research methodologies: Affinities and bias

This paper analyses the conceptual significance of different methods of researching learning. Based largely upon our own experiences, we briefly compare the use of mini‐ethnography, life history, cross‐sectional surveys and existing panel survey data. We argue that there are strong affinities between each of these methods and significantly different ways of understanding the nature of learning: mini‐ethnographies with learning as participation, life history with learning as construction and both types of survey with learning as acquisition. Three things follow. The first is that decisions about how to research learning are related to decisions about how to conceptualise and theorise learning. The second is that there is no foolproof empirical way to adjudicate between different conceptualisations of learning, though empirical evidence can and should play a significant part in informing such decisions. The third is that though mixing methods (including mixing more than one different qualitative approach) can bring advantages, the integration of the findings of mixed methods in relation to learning requires careful and sometimes difficult conceptual work.     

Anticipating the experience of higher education through computer simulation

In industry the advantages of realistic job preview have been much discussed, but lit-tle is currently done in British schools to prepare students for higher education. This article describes the development stages of a principled adventure game to simulate the experience of higher education. Playing this game is intended to provide realistic role preview for prospective students.The simulation has been developed out of an earlier board game derived, to some extent, from research findings. More recent research on student learning has provided the principles on which the new simulation game is being based. The game not only allows students to try out different study strategies, it also provides advice tailored to the specific strategies used by the individual stu-dent in interacting with the computer. This simulation can be seen as a simple expert system providing a form of intelligent tutoring.The architecture of the computer simulation is described, together with the strategies used to ensure that the game, and the advice provided, are both controlled by principles derived from the research on student learning. Illustrations are used to indicate how a student would experience the interactions with the computer, and how the rules produce tailored advice.     

The development, validation, and applicability of The Personnel Evaluation Standards

Michigan State UniversityAir Force Human Resources Laboratory     

Social moderation,assessment and assuring standards for accounting graduates

Evidencing student achievement of standards is a growing imperative worldwide. Key stakeholders (including current and prospective students, government, regulators and employers) want confidence that threshold learning standards in an accounting degree have been assured. Australia’s new higher education regulatory environment requires that student achievements are benchmarked against intended programme learning outcomes, guided by published disciplinary standards and a national qualifications framework, and against other higher education providers. Here, we report on a process involving academics from 10 universities, aided by professional practitioners, to establish and equip assessors to reliably assure threshold learning standards in accounting that are nationally comparable. Importantly, we are learning more about how standards are interpreted. Based on the premise that meaning is constructed from tacit experiences, social interactions and intentional reflection on explicit information, we report outcomes of three multi-part calibration interventions, situated around judgements of the quality of the written communication skills exhibited in student work and their related assessment tasks. Qualitative data from 30 participants in the calibration process suggest that they perceive that the process both assists them both in developing a shared understanding of the accounting threshold learning standards and in the redesign of assessment tasks to more validly assess the threshold learning standards.     

Robespierre: High priest of the Jacobins

During the turbulence of the French Revolution, a small foppish provincial lawyer arose to preach a rhetoric of virtue designed to legitimize Jacobin rule. Assuming a Christlike ethos, Maximilien Robespierre inspired a cult that met weekly to read his speeches and sing hymns of praise. The Festival of the Supreme Being marked the climax of Robespierre's reign of virtue.