提升就业质量:职业教育发展的新视角

职业教育应努力追求“充分的、生产性的和自由选择的就业”目标的实现;不能仅仅关注毕业生的“就业率”,而更要将“提升就业质量”作为发展的新视角。所谓“就业质量”,一般概括为职业社会地位、工资水平、社会保障、发展空间等四大方面,具体体现在职业声望、职业期望满足程度、职业成就、职业锚、专业方向与职业的适应性、人职匹配诸方面。提升就业质量途径和措施主要概括为:首先,重视提高职业咨询或职业指导的质量;其次,基于就业质量的提升,改革职业教育课程与教学;再次,借鉴发达国家和地区的“现代学徒制”理论和实践经验,创设“本土化的”产学合作现代职业教育模式。     

Development of a competency mapping tool for undergraduate professional degree programmes,using mechanical engineering as a case study

Mapping the curriculum of a professional degree to the associated competency standard ensures graduates have the competence to perform as professionals. Existing approaches to competence mapping vary greatly in depth, complexity, and effectiveness, and a standardised approach remains elusive. This paper describes a new mapping software tool that streamlines and standardises the competency mapping process. The available analytics facilitate ongoing programme review, management, and accreditation. The complete mapping and analysis of an Australian mechanical engineering degree programme is described as a case study. Each subject is mapped by evaluating the amount and depth of competence development present. Combining subject results then enables highly detailed programme level analysis. The mapping process is designed to be administratively light, with aspects of professional development embedded in the software. The effective competence mapping described in this paper enables quantification of learning within a professional degree programme, and provides a mechanism for holistic programme improvement.     

What future teachers believe about democracy and why it is important

This paper analyses pre-service education student perceptions and perspectives related to education for democracy in Australia. Using a critical pedagogical framework datum from an online survey, it presents both quantitative and qualitative responses of contrasting understandings of democracy. It begins by outlining the concepts of thick and thin democracy and why this is important in relation to contemporary debates about the state of civics and citizenship education, and then explains the conceptual framework of critical pedagogy and methodology. The datum analysed is discussed in relation to neoliberalism and indicates that the pre-service teachers in this study view democracy in a narrow or thin way that may impact on their classroom practice where they would be teaching about but not for democracy. A more critical and thicker understanding of democracy is suggested as essential if we desire our students to become active and transformative citizens.     

Issues in Adopting a Laserdisk-Based Science Curriculum

We examined the implementation of a laser-disk based science curriculum in an elementary school. The goal was to develop a richer understanding of the principles for designing a curriculum that will adequately support teachers in adopting a learner-centered framework. Issues included: who has ownership of the classroom discussion; what types of activities are engaged in terms of the constraints imposed; and what is the teacher's response to the specific tools provided (the teacher's guide, the Circle of Learning, and concept maps). In addition to looking at the implementation pattern, we also examined the impact of the implementation on student attitudes and anxiety toward science. Results indicated little adoption of the curriculum, and teachers continued to maintain a high degree of control in the classroom. However, results also indicated significant effects of the curriculum on science attitude and anxiety. Suggestions for future research are included.     

Children's interests in geology and biology

A study of students from a primary school and its local secondary school was conducted to investigate students' relative interests in geology and biology during the years prior to Year 10. Students from Years 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 were interviewed, using an innovative interview technique, and results show that interest in both subjects appears to be fairly evenly distributed throughout all years. This paper reports on the study conducted and illustrates the success of the interview technique developed to accommodate all students, especially those from younger year levels. Specializations: science teacher education, biology teacher education. Specializations: economic geology, mineralogy, geological education. Specializations: primary science education.     

Usage patterns and social circles on Facebook among elderly people with diverse personality traits

Elderly people are exposed to information technologies to keep them in touch with younger generations. Among various technologies, social network sites (SNSs) are seldom used by the majority of elderly people. To bridge the digital divide, it is necessary to dig deeply into the minority elderly users of SNSs. This study explores usage patterns of elderly Facebook users and further investigates how their diverse characteristics influence their usage and social circles. Three findings were derived. First, a sharp digital divide on SNSs does exist, and existing elderly Facebook users are mainly the dabblers. Second, personality profiling could predict elderly people’s SNS usage behaviors. Elderly users with a high level of openness and extroversion have more friends, status updates, and group memberships, and those with a high level of conscientiousness have fewer likes and status updates. Elderly users are likely to seek insightful content on SNSs. Moreover, they may have a higher degree of emotional stability than young users when using SNSs. Third, elderly people tend to build small social circles on SNSs that “copy” the family relationship in the real world; whereas, they build large social circles with interests and hobbies that are difficult to share in the real world. Based on these results, detailed suggestions are presented for better targeting elderly people in ways that move them toward SNSs.     

Intentionality as measured in the persistence and elaboration of communication by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

In human infancy, 2 criteria for intentional communication are (a) persistence in and (b) elaboration of communication when initial attempts to communicate fail. Twenty-nine chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were presented with both desirable (a banana) and undesirable food (commercial primate chow). Three conditions were administered: (a) the banana was delivered (successful communication), (b) half of the banana was delivered (partially successful communication), and (c) the chow was delivered (failed communication). The chimpanzees exhibited persistence in and elaboration of their communication in every condition except when the banana was delivered. Thus, their communication was about a specific item, demonstrating that both intentionality and nonverbal reference are capacities shared by humans with our nearest living relatives, the great apes.     

Assessing sex and career biases in screening candidates for a deanship: An experimental study

To test how sex biases operate in the screening of candidates for administrative positions, an experimental study was conducted to evaluate the contribution of gender and career pattern effects on candidates' ratings. Faculty from seven universities were asked in a task that was judged to be realistic to evaluate vitae of six candidates for a deanship of a college of arts and sciences. Experimental design permitted alteration of the vitae to change gender and career patterns. No significant difference was found in the ratings assigned to male and female candidates. Career break did have a significant effect; candidates with career breaks received higher ratings on the average than those without career breaks. There was no significant interaction of gender and career break. Three different ratings systems were used, but none interacted with either gender or career break. However, closer examination of screeners' ratings did suggest that career experience was evaluated in different ways for male and female candidates.