On-demand publishing in the Humanities: project

This article describes the ‘On-Demand Publishing in the Humanities’ project, funded by JISC as part of the eLib programme, at Liverpool John Moores University. The principal aims of the project were to develop a ‘cheap and cheerful’ model for networking electronic texts, to develop a model agreement for the networking of copyright texts for use with publishers, and to shed light on the problems and benefits of on-demand publishing for all the stakeholders involved. The article sets out the project methods, describes the extent to which the aims of the project have been fulfilled, analyses the reactions of end-users to the materials, and attempts an assessment of the current viability of on-demand publishing as a means of supplying copyright texts to students.     

Using 21st century video prompting technology to facilitate the independence of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities

Barriers in acquiring, maintaining, and generalizing daily living skills are factors that contribute to discrepancies in independent living outcomes among transition age youth and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Acquisition and generalization of daily living skills empowers transition age youth and young adults with disabilities to meet their own needs with minimal reliance on others. Infusing the use of technology as a self‐prompting device facilitates the acquisition of tasks that may not be otherwise attainable. In this study, self‐directed video prompting on an iPad with the My Pictures Talk application was used to help young adults with IDD in a postsecondary program acquire daily living skills in a single subject, multiple probe across subjects design. The effects of the intervention on generalization to tasks that were one, two, and three components different were also assessed. Results demonstrated a functional relationship between the introduction of the intervention and improvement in skill performance.     

Virtual action learning: a pilot in building leadership capacity

This account of practice encompasses a pilot virtual action learning programme with a small group of learners. This was an 18-month extension to the one-week Leadership Open Programme that the participants had previously completed at the Business School. It includes insights from an evaluation study completed in early 2016. It considers in particular the following issues: the structuring of a virtual event; the significance of maintaining continuity of learning; the need for commonality of reference points about leadership in order to enhance it; the selection of problems by participants; whether leadership development itself is a ‘wicked problem’ and the role and skills required of the tutor to add value to the learning experience. Amongst other benefits, the participants found the chance to build relationships broke down the loneliness of leadership and greatly enhanced their learning. These issues will be explored further in a review planned for early 2017.     

Adolescents' development of skills for agency in youth programs: learning to think strategically

This research examines how youth in arts and leadership programs develop skills for organizing actions over time to achieve goals. Ethnically diverse youth (ages 13-21) in 11 high-quality urban and rural programs were interviewed as they carried out projects. Qualitative analyses of 712 interviews with 108 youth yielded preliminary grounded theory about youth's development of strategic thinking, defined as use of dynamic systems reasoning to anticipate real-word scenarios and plan work. Strategic thinking appeared to develop through youth's creative engagement with tactical challenges in the work and feedback from the work's outcomes. Program advisors supported this development by giving youth control and by providing nondirective assistance when needed.     

The Effects of a Comprehensive Early Literacy Project on Preschoolers’ Language and Literacy Skills

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a federally funded early literacy project that aimed to promote the school readiness skills of preschool-age children from low income families. Through daily, explicit, and systematic instruction, the project targeted to improve preschoolers’ oral language skills, phonological awareness, print awareness, and alphabet knowledge that aligned with the existing curriculum of the local school district. Data were collected through multiple sources at the individual child level, classroom level, and from the family/home environment. Significant gains were found between pre- and post-tests in child outcomes, classroom environments, instructional practices, parent attitudes toward early literacy, and family involvement in literacy activities. Additionally, classroom organization was identified as a significant predictor for children’s receptive language skills. Limitations of the current study and implications for future research as well as instructional practices were discussed.     

Tapping the educational potential of Facebook: Guidelines for use in higher education

Facebook is a frequently used Computer Mediated Environment (CME) for students and others to build social connections, with identities and deposited self-expression. Its widespread use makes it appropriate for consideration as an educational tool; though one that does not yet have clear guidelines for use. Whether a social networking site can be used for educational objectives remains largely unexplored as a research question. This paper discusses a study conducted at the University of Auckland and at Manchester Metropolitan University on how their students use Facebook, and its impact on their social and academic lives. Using theories of social capital and knowledge management, we explore some potential educational uses of Facebook. Guidelines are included for the educational use of Facebook by tutors in a university environment. These include both positive recommendations and activities and approaches to avoid; and include educational, administrative and legal issues.     

Contexts and Innovation: a case study of the use of CPVE with A‐level students

Within the post‐16 scene in England, curriculum innovation is currently endemic. Such change is often viewed as taking place in two separate contexts, the practical context of the classroom, and the theoretical, debating context of staffroom and LEA. Both contexts are explored through one case study of a teacher‐led innovation, attempting to use part‐time CPVE with A‐level students. It is shown that the contexts are not separate, but closely linked, in an organic and dialectical way. In the instance reported, the dysfunctional nature of these inter‐relationships was a major point of weakness in the innovation. The paper concludes that previous notions in the literature about the separation of the two contexts are over‐simplified, and that both innovators and researchers should show greater awareness of these interrelationships in future.     

Situated Self-Regulation: Modeling the Interrelationships Among Instruction,Assessment, Learning Strategies and Academic Performance

To succeed academically, college students must actively construct course information, synthesize this information with information from texts and other resources, understand this information so that they can succeed on various forms of assessments and ultimately retain this information for the long term. While the complexity of these demands has been modeled somewhat metaphorically, there has been little ecologically valid research into learning in authentic classroom contexts. The present study examines the interrelationships among student perceptions of the learning context, test complexity, study strategies, and academic performance. Results of a path analysis demonstrated that perceptions of the teaching format and test complexity were positively related to the study strategies reported, and these study strategies were further related to the reported course performance.     

Managing change in the primary school: What we have learnt about the role of external support

Criteria for placement of pupils into bands and the subsequent effect of banding on educational and post‐educational careers were investigated in a longitudinal study of two cohorts of comprehensive school pupils. The abiding influence of social class and measured ability in early assignment of pupils to bands was observed, and a disjunction demonstrated between a banding system with the potential for flexibility and the reality of the situation where it was marked by ossification and early tracking of pupils to differential educational destinations. The notion of the school as an enduring conservative force is investigated, the banding system being both an outcome and a determinant of this conservatism. The data is used to raise methodological questions involved in investigating complex issues, and implications are drawn for teacher behaviour in banded comprehensive schools.     

Estimating the Effect on Grades of Using Multiple-Choice Versus Constructive-Response Questions: Data From the Classroom

This study investigates the degree to which grades based solely on constructed-response (CR) questions differ from grades based solely on multiple-choice (MC) questions. If CR questions are to justify their higher costs, they should produce different grade outcomes than MC questions. We use a data set composed of thousands of observations on individual students in introductory economics classes at a large public university. We note that the instructors of these classes made conscientious efforts to write CR questions that assessed higher levels of learning (Bloom, 1956 Bloom, B. S. 1956. Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals, handbook 1: Cognitive domain. New York: McKay..  [Google Scholar]). Despite this, we find relatively little difference in grade outcomes. Our analysis suggests that switching from an all-CR assessment to an all-MC assessment would produce grade variations that are similar to the differences that are observed for students across different tests. Although other studies have focused on test scores, frequently AP test scores, our study is the first to focus attention on university grades. We hope that our inability to identify substantial benefits to CR questions in terms of grades will stimulate further research to identify substantive benefits from using the more costly CR questions.