Implementing curriculum evaluation: case study of a generic undergraduate degree in health sciences

This case study presents a longitudinal, evidence‐based approach to health science curriculum reform and evaluation. Curriculum in higher education must meet the needs of diverse stakeholders and must respond to dynamic local, national and international contexts, and this creates challenges for evaluation. The long lead time prior to the introduction of new or revised university curriculum (at least two years), the length of degree programmes (three to five years) and the lag time in the availability of objective indicators of degree outcomes (at least one year post‐graduation) mean that findings may be obsolete before an evaluation can be completed. Few would argue that evaluation is important and methods and approaches for conducting curriculum evaluation are proposed in the literature, although few published reports of the outcomes of comprehensive evaluations are evident. This paper discusses potential for evaluation to establish responsive communication between students, teaching staff and programme administrators, ensuring a match between the intended, implemented and attained curriculum.     

Building the next generation of digital government infrastructures

Digital government infrastructures provide generic functionalities that are used by large numbers of users. Typically, they have no central authority, are governed by networks and contain both emerging and purposefully designed parts. Their use varies over time, and a large number of individuals use them for different purposes. The basic digital government infrastructure has evolved over time and the development towards the next generation of digital government infrastructure (NGI) is under development. In this introduction, we discuss aspects of infrastructure development and this special issue contains papers contributing to the development of the NGI in various fields including customs, crisis management, legislation and regulation, providing a number of possible functions and services that may become part of the NGI. We argue that policy-makers should view the NGI from a complex-adaptive systems (CAS) view and that the next generation of infrastructures will provide not only technological services, including connectivity and security, but also shared information and knowledge in various fields, thus making it easier to participate, translate legislation and manage collaboration between public and private parties and in this way advancing digital government.     

Listening to Another's Distress in Everyday Relationships

Talking about a difficult event may reduce discloser distress, but it may increase it in the listener. This essay offers a model that assesses some antecedent and interactional variables proposed to be involved with listening and connected with listeners' negative distress. Based on 82 reports of interactions with close relational others, levels of negative distress correlated positively with the amount of responsibility people felt for the other and time reported listening to the others' disclosure. Those who reported validating the other also reported more negative distress than did those who said their response style was to give advice. This article offers possible modifications to the model based in these results.     

Dartmouth's College Course I

Abstract

This article describes the background, activities, and outcomes of the Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center and its Summer Fellows Institute as a model for disciplinary and cross-disciplinary infusion of environmental science and technology content, curriculum, and methods into the classroom. The authors describe experiences, themes, and activities that occurred during 5 years at the Summer Institute for some of the nation's top high school and community college teachers.     

Teacher influence on pupil cognitive performance

Following the U.S. financial crisis of 2008, demands on our social safety nets grew as federal, state, and local revenues declined. Projected shortfalls are forcing deep cuts in state and local services including education. It is too early to know fully the nature of the cuts or impacts on various communities and constituencies. This article looks to recent reform history to understand the shaping of educational priorities in the context of shrinking public coffers, disenchantment with public institutions, and anxiety about individual and collective positions in the global economy. I employ Steven Lukes's (2005) multidimensional view of power to examine the emergence of performance accountability policy as part and parcel of a neo-liberal reconsideration of schooling. From this recounting, I raise questions about the preference and press for particular reform priorities—reconstitution and pay for performance models of remuneration—ensconced in No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.     

Aging,exercise and motivating engagement

Some older people describe learning to stay fit and healthy and exercise as a regular part of their lives. There is evidence that exercise is beneficial in terms of physical, psychological and social functioning in older adults. This paper is unique in that it is an analysis of the spontaneous discussion of exercise by older people as a priority in their lives. It also provides information about the kinds of exercise they choose. An online written data forum in Australia with responses from 103 people aged 50 to 92 years (F52, M 51) was analysed for all mention of exercise. The respondents were prompted to comment on sustainable lifestyles as they aged. Thirty per cent mentioned exercise as a priority in their lives. Activities included irregular exercise (11%) routine organised exercise such as golf or tennis (8%) and purposeful exercise such as regular gym attendance (11%), where the respondents explained why they needed to exercise. A few (7%) talked about the need to stay healthy without explaining how. Some (2%) described barriers and conditions that made exercise difficult. These figures for engaging in exercise are similar to those identified in 2018 by the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare. As evidenced by the literature in the area, lack of awareness of the specific benefits of exercise and barriers to exercise for older adults are not new problems. However, given the increase in the percentage of older people in the population and the demonstrated beneficial effects of exercise, it is worthwhile to document the motivation for exercise and engagement in older adults and to suggest strategies to increase their activity.     

Involving Older Adults as Co-researchers in Social Work Education

This article examines the contribution of older adults as co-researchers to the evaluation of a gerontological social work course. The evaluation was conducted at an Israeli college as part of a collaborative project with a United Kingdom university. Here, we follow the older adults who are service users through their transition to the role of co-researchers and reflect on their experiences in the process. Insights gained by the different stakeholders from the co-researching experience are discussed, and the growing interest in service-user contributions to social work education in various fields such as aging and disabilities is recognized.     

Disability,curriculum and integration in China

ABSTRACT

Current data indicate that there are six million young people of school age with disabilities in China. Of these, only about 50 per cent attend any form of schooling, with approximately 220,000 of them enrolled in special schools and classes. The remainder attend regular classrooms. This means that there are about three million students with disabilities who at present lack any access to education. In May 1996 it was declared that in order to improve this situation, over the next five years, China plans to provide school places for 80 per cent of its disabled youngsters. In order to achieve this goal, the Chinese central education authorities have announced a significant change in policy direction towards integration. Instead of their previous commitment to the establishment of increasing numbers of special schools, it is now planned that the current number of about 1,400 special schools will be increased to 2,000, so that all regions of the country have access to at least one. At that point, no more special schools will be built. The extra places needed to increase the school attendance rate of youngsters with disabilities will be created in regular classes in regular schools. This paper gives an overview of the curriculum arrangements in China's four types of special schools, including their historical development, subjects taught, teaching arrangements and management. A number of difficulties confronting China's special education policy‐makers are canvassed and reasons suggested for their increasing commitment to a strategy of integration. It is proposed that China enjoys three advantages in the pursuit of an integrated school system.     

Some issues arising from an examination of women's experience of university physics

This paper investigates secondary school pupils’ everyday knowledge of the dangers of electricity. It is based on classroom research by a team of teacher‐researchers working with a total of 241 11‐12 and 13‐14 year olds in English comprehensive schools. The initial data were collected by written questionnaires which probed the general meanings pupils had for electricity. When the responses were analyzed, there was a surprisingly high proportion of children (61% of the 11‐12 year olds and 35% of the 13‐14 year olds) who mentioned danger. The pupils were then divided into ‘fearers’ and ‘non‐fearers’, and group interviews were carried out with both in order to explore features of pupil thinking and influences on it. Results of these interviews include pupil quotations around themes such as personal experiences of electric shocks, excitement, the home, socially‐available knowledge and learning about electricity at school. Questions are raised about the possible effect of fear on motivation, participation in practical work and conceptual learning in general; and it is suggested that the pupils’ ideas should be acknowledged and addressed within a supportive classroom environment.