PROSPECTIVE MEMORY TRAINING IN OLDER ADULTS

This study evaluates the results of a training program for prospective remembering. The goal of the training was to improve prospective memory by associating cues from the retrieval situation with the to be remembered information. The training group consisted of 20 participants, aged between 45 and 81 years. The effects of strategy training were compared with those of an educational training group (N = 23 , age range 45-84) directed at reducing worries about forgetfulness, and a retest control group (N = 22 , age range 46-74). The educational training and retest control groups did not differ in demographic characteristics and test performance and were combined into one control group. Subjective evaluations revealed that subjects were very satisfied with the effects of training. This also was true for subjects in the educational training condition. The objective effects of training were evaluated with a telephone task which had to be performed in the daily life situation, and a prospective categorization task performed in the laboratory. Despite the low reliabilities of the prospective tasks, a significant but small effect of training compared to the combined control group was found on the sum score of prospective tests. The training effect was not related to age or pretraining performance level. At the three months follow-up, however, performance of the control group had increased to the level of the trained group. As expected, training effects did not generalize to other memory measures (assessed with tests for remembering names) or control measures (assessed with visuo-motor reaction time tests).     

The Innovative School: Organization and Instruction

Researchers in the area of educational effectiveness should attempt to develop a new theoretical framework. A critical analysis of the current models of educational effectiveness research is provided and reveals that a dynamic model of effectiveness must: (a) be multilevel in nature, (b) be based on the assumption that the relation of some effectiveness factors with achievement may be curvilinear, (c) illustrate the dimensions upon which the measurement of each effectiveness factor should be based, and (d) define relations among the effectiveness factors. In principle, each factor that refers to the classroom, school, and system, can be measured by taking into account five dimensions: frequency, focus, stage, quality, and differentiation. Examples of measuring effectiveness factors operating at different levels using these 5 dimensions are given. More attention in describing in detail factors associated with teacher behaviour in the classroom is given, since this is seen as the starting point for the development and the testing of the dynamic model. Finally, suggestions for the next steps in the development of other parts of the model are provided.     

On Being Specific

Dr. Elsmere urges that student teachers be given more specific suggestions and criticism and that they be required to meet more specific requirements.     

The boundaries of adult education for active citizenship fiinstitutional and community contexts

In common with many other countries, the 1980s and early 1990s in New Zealand were years of considerable upheaval. The welfare state along with many democratic institutions was under attack from the forces of multinational capital. This article reports some findings from a largescale study investigating the impact of these changes on the provision of education and training opportunities for adults as well as possible effects of some of these programmes on wider policies and practices. It is hoped that the study will contribute to greater understanding of the complex relationships between the ‘curriculum’ of adult learning and education and wider social, economic and political forces. This article focuses exclusively on adult education programmes for active citizenship, i.e. programmes explicitly intended to promote, inform, analyse, critique, challenge, or raise public consciousness about public policies and issues. It investigates the nature and extent of the contributions of educational institutions and voluntary organizations to adult and community education for active citizenship. The findings suggest that from one perspective adult education for active citizenship was alive and well in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The period saw an increase in the number of social movements and ‘non-educational’ voluntary organizations and groups engaged in adult education for active citizenship. Much of this drew on progressive or radical democratic traditions. From another perspective the position was by no means as positive. Educational institutions varied widely in their commitment to adult education for active citizenship. Most institutions, drawing on conservative and pragmatic traditions, demonstrated little commitment, while those that were involved drew on liberal traditions. These traditions, grounded in discourses that de-politicized education, reinforced the boundaries between adult education and political action and thus served to legitimate the neo-liberal ideologies.     

Innovation in Technology-Based Flexible Learning: Dentaltec,a case study

The DentalTec project at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) was funded by a BT University Development Award between 1998 and 2000. The project was intended to lever change in technology and pedagogy in the teaching of Dental Technology, using emerging video and web approaches. The methods established by the project are still in use and are subject to ongoing development work--to that extent the project was a success, and those successes are discussed. However, key stakeholders to the project (educational development staff and subject leaders) concluded that the project had only limited impact where more had been expected. Drawing upon the Latchem and Hanna and the Collis and Moonen articles in this edition, this article reflects on the reasons for the successes and limitations of the DentalTec project.