Complexities in the evaluation of distance education and virtual schooling

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the complexities and issues involved in the evaluation of distance education and virtual schooling. In order to provide an anchor to the issues involved in evaluating online projects we first present the evaluation design of a virtual high school project. Then, the emphasis of the paper is on the goals of the evaluation, stakeholder analysis, evaluator role, data collection, and data analysis. Finally, we discuss the need for evaluation of distance education and the ethical responsibility of the evaluators involved.De la complexité de l'évaluation de l'éducation à distance et de la scolarité virtuelle. Le but de cet article est de discuter des complexités et des problèmes posés par l'évaluation de l'éducation à distance et de la scolarité virtuelle de façon à fournir un ancrage aux problèmes impliqués dans l'évaluation de projets en lignes, nous présentons d'abord un schéma d'évaluation d'un projet d'école secondaire virtuelle. Ainsi l'article met l'accent sur les objectifs de l'évaluation, l'analyse du dépositaire d'enjeux, le rôle de l'évaluation, la collecte des données et leur analyse. Finalement, nous discutons du besoin de l'évaluation de l'éducation à distance et de la responsabilité éthique des évaluations impliquées.Komplexitäten in der Auswertung von Distance Education und virtueller Schulung. Der Zweck dieses Beitrags ist, die mit der Auswertung von Distance Education und virtueller Schulung verbundenen Komplexitäten und Fragen zu erörtern. Als Ausgangspukt zu den Fragen, die mit der Bewertung von Online-Projekten verbunden sind, zeigen wir zuerst den Auswertungsentwurf für ein virtuelles High-School-Projekt. Dann liegt der Schwerpunkt des Papiers auf den Zielen der Auswertung, Interessengruppenanalyse, Auswerterrolle, Datenerfassung und Datenanalyse. Zuletzt erörtern wir den Bedarf nach Auswertung von Distance Education und die ethische Verantwortung der eingebundenen Auswerter.     

What sort of science education do we really need?

The research aims to explore the role of science for employees in science-based industries and for members of the public interacting with science in their everyday lives. Case studies were carried out in a small sample of industries, in community action groups and in personal decision making. The methodology, informed by a tentative model of science, included scrutiny of available relevant documentation and semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that procedural understanding was essential in the higher levels of industry and in interacting effectively with everyday issues, while conceptual understanding was so specific that it was acquired in a need-to-know way. The implications for science education hinge on a substantial reduction in the conceptual content and the explicit teaching of the nature of evidence (procedural understanding). The authors suggest building on primary pupils' enthusiasm for investigative work at UK Key Stage 3 (11-14 years) and developing an issues-based curriculum at Key Stage 4 (14-16 years).     

Effects of arousal on organization of positive and negative affect and cognitions: Application to attitude theory

This study explores the impact of arousal on key relations in attitude theory. Specifically, arousal was hypothesized and found to (a) increase the association between positive cognitions about the consequences of an act and attitudes toward the act and (b) decrease the association between negative cognitions and attitudes, thereby producing positive‐negative asymmetries. No positive‐negative asymmetries were predicted and found, however, for the association between positive or negative affective reactions toward the consequences of the act and attitudes. Finally, arousal was hypothesized and also found to induce a unitization in general affective and cognitive evaluations. High arousal and low arousal were manipulated through the controlled viewing of slides in a fully randomized, two‐group design with measurement error taken into account and electrodermal activity monitored to demonstrate changes in arousal. Subjects were 220 male students who provided judgments, evaluations, and attitudes toward the act of giving blood. Knowledge‐assembly theory and the semantic network theory of memory were used to frame hypotheses that, in turn, are based on a cognitive social learning theory of the self‐regulation of one's emotional states.     

Improving the Academic Performance of Non‐native English‐Speaking Students: the Contribution of Pre‐sessional English Language Programmes

There is an established, if weak, inverse relationship between levels of English language proficiency and academic performance in higher education. In response, higher education institutions (HEIs) insist upon minimum entry requirements concerning language for international applicants. Many HEIs now also offer pre‐sessional English courses to bring applicants up to the designated language requirement. This paper revisits the research into language proficiency and academic performance using data on all full‐time students (17,925) attending a major UK HEI in the academic year 2011–2012, 4,342 of whom were non‐native English speakers. The findings confirm that while higher International English Language Testing System (IELTS) marks at entry translate into higher grade point averages (GPAs), students who undertake pre‐sessional courses do notably worse in GPA terms than students who arrive with acceptable (for the course) IELTS scores. These findings suggest HEIs (and, by extension, international students) could benefit from a review regarding the appropriateness of current pre‐sessional English language proficiency programmes.