Educating students with FASD: linking policy,research and practice

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD ) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disability with significant implications for learning and behaviour. International research suggests that the prevalence of FASD in school‐aged children is 2.3–6.3%. In this paper, we address the questions: (1) what is FASD ; (2) what is the prevalence of FASD in schools; (3) what is the impact of FASD ; and (4) why develop special FASD education strategies and programmes? We summarise the 18‐year history of W innipeg S chool D ivision's development of its FASD P rogramme of services, describe the specialised FASD classrooms and then present the results from a consensus‐generating workshop comprised of 36 FASD education professionals, with over 209 years of collective FASD education programme experience, who were asked to identify and reach consensus on best strategies and lessons learned in FASD education programmes. We then suggest that effectively educating children with FASD is critical to get right if positive educational outcomes are to be realised.     

Effects of Web-based Support for the Construction of Competence Maps

Educationalists experience difficulties with the construction of competence maps that describe final attainment levels of educational programs. Web-based support was developed with three supportive aids: A construction kit, a phenomenarium, and an information bank. Each supportive aid was expected to improve perceived process and product quality as well as learning. In a full factorial experiment, 266 educational science students constructed a competence map, whether or not supported by different combinations of the three supportive aids. The availability of the construction kit and the phenomenarium had positive effects on perceived process quality and learning. Furthermore, if there was no phenomenarium with example materials, the absence of the construction kit greatly diminished experienced support (i.e., one aspect of process quality); if a phenomenarium was present, the availability of the construction kit had relatively little effect on perceived support. In general, this study indicates that well-designed Web-based support helps to construct competence maps. in final form: 2 February 2006     

Evaluating the quality of e-learning at the degree level in the student experience of blended learning

This paper reports on the development of a scale for determining the quality of the student e-learning experience at the degree level when the student learning context is predominately a campus-based experience. Rapid developments in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in higher education require methods for evaluating the contribution of such tools to student learning, especially when they are complementing a face-to-face experience. We examine the psychometric functioning of a proposed e-learning scale in relation to a well-validated degree-level teaching evaluation instrument, the Student Course Experience Questionnaire. The e-learning scale has suitable reliability and validity in the present sample of undergraduate students for quality assurance activities around ICT.     

School funding formulae: designed to create a learning society?

The right to education depends upon a willingness to finance education fairly. Addressing the difference in educational achievement between learners of different backgrounds is a key aspect of fairness. Framed by contemporary neoliberal policies around marketisation and competitiveness, this paper examines fairness in the education finance policy (EFP) of three jurisdictions in England, Israel and Oklahoma. Using a comparative analysis of school funding formulae and an international survey on the perceptions of local policy actors, the de jure and the de facto EFPs are examined. Our findings reveal de jure policies attempting to address fairness through integrating different student background characteristics. However, variability is evident in the extent to which the de facto policies align with an aspiration for fairness. This is linked to the marketisation of education in each jurisdiction. We conclude that weightings of students’ background characteristics can only be one feature in policy interventions orientated towards bringing about social equity.     

Effects of playing surface on physiological responses and performance variables in a controlled football simulation

Abstract

In spite of the increased acceptance of artificial turf in football, few studies have investigated if matches are altered by the type of surface used and no research has compared physiological responses to football activity on artificial and natural surfaces. In the present study, participants performed a football match simulation on high-quality artificial and natural surfaces. Neither mean heart rate (171 ± 9 beats · min^?1 vs. 171 ± 9 beats · min^?1; P > 0.05) nor blood lactate (4.8 ± 1.6 mM vs. 5.3 ± 1.8 mM; P > 0.05) differed between the artificial and natural surface, respectively. Measures of sprint, jumping and agility performance declined through the match simulation but surface type did not affect the decrease in performance. For example, the fatigue index of repeated sprints did not differ (P > 0.05) between the artificial, (6.9 ± 2.1%) and natural surface (7.4 ± 2.4%). The ability to turn after sprinting was affected by surface type but this difference was dependent on the type of turn. Although there were small differences in the ability to perform certain movements between artificial and natural surfaces, the results suggest that fatigue and physiological responses to football activity do not differ markedly between surface-type using the high-quality pitches of the present study.     

The struggles for democracy in an information society

Abstract

Japan is the industrialized country that is most closely identified with an overall industrial policy. It has often been assumed that the success of the Japanese computer industry is attributed to a coherent set of policy measures. The article revisits this assumption by examining the scope and nature of government intervention, and the role of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in particular, in the growth of the computer industry. The analysis shows that industrial policy did not contribute as much as is commonly suggested.