Heterogeneity in the Effects of College Course Placement

Traditionally colleges have relied on standalone non-credit-bearing developmental education (DE) to support students academically and ensure readiness for college-level courses. As emerging evidence has raised concerns about the effectiveness of DE courses, colleges and states have been experimenting with approaches that place students into credit-bearing coursework more quickly. To better understand which types of students might be most likely to benefit from being placed into college-level math coursework, this study examines heterogeneity in the causal effects of placement into college-level courses using a regression discontinuity design and administrative data from the state of Texas. We focus on student characteristics that are related to academic preparation or might signal a student’s likelihood of success or need for additional support and might therefore be factors considered for placement into college-level courses under “holistic advising” or “multiple measures” initiatives. We find heterogeneity in outcomes for many of the measures we examined. Students who declared an academic major designation, had bachelor’s degree aspirations, tested below college readiness on multiple subjects, were designated as Limited English Proficiency (LEP), and/or were economically disadvantaged status were more likely to benefit from placement into college-level math. Part-time enrollment or being over the age of 21 were associated with reduced benefits from placement into college-level math. We do not find any heterogeneity in outcomes for our high school achievement measure, three or more years of math taken in high school.

     

The health and wellbeing of international students at an Australian university

A representative sample of undergraduate and postgraduate international students at a large Australian university (n=979, 64% females) completed a mail-back survey of their health and wellbeing. Most students evaluated their current and previous physical and mental health positively. Health-related risk practices such as unprotected sexual activity, drug use, smoking and gambling, were reported by few students. There was little change in health or risk behaviours since coming to Australia and few changes that were health compromising. Few demographic or situational variables, including age and gender, had a significant impact on students' wellbeing. This study has revealed that few international students find the experience of studying in an overseas country detrimental to their wellbeing. Nevertheless, for those students who encounter difficulties or are at increased risk of health-compromising outcomes, we must ensure better delivery of health promotion education, and access to, and use of, available counselling and health services.

Telling better stories: Toward critical,place-based,and multispecies narrative pedagogies in hunting and fishing cultures

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the ethical and educational functions of storytelling in fishing and hunting practices and pedagogies. I explore various psychological, anthropological, and ethical theories surrounding storytelling as a way of encouraging deeper, more robust engagement among humans, nonhuman animals, and myriad beings that exist alongside of us in our multispecies communities. Drawing on animal studies, narrative theory, and critical pedagogy as well as ongoing qualitative research, I offer potential ways of incorporating a wider “ecology of stories” into situated hunting and fishing practices to engage more ethically with the people and beings that dwell in a given place.     

The Instructional Design Environment: technology to support design problem solving

The problems of efficiently producing effective instruction in areas such as industry, military, and vocational education are exacerbated by several complex factors: increasingly rapid change in technology; substantial variation in training needs and target populations within large organizations; inefficient mechanisms for performing formative evaluations; and a lack of means for efficiently incorporating new models of design into practice. In the context of these increasingly difficult problems, we present the Instructional Design Environment (IDE), a hypermedia system for designing and developing instructional material, including texts, interactive video disk, and intelligent tutoring systems. The representation of design analyses and specifications, and the design activities of IDE users are not constrained by any particular model of instructional design, but can be tailored to suit a wide range of such models. Although the system is continually evolving and exists in several forms, (Swartz and Russell, 1989) we discuss how the features of IDE suggest how computer-based design environments may provide ways simplifying the design problems for technical training in rapidly changing areas.