GSR Feedback as an Aid in Developing Counselor Empathy

The authors evaluated the effectiveness of Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) feedback as an aid in developing empathy in novice counselors. Counseling psychology graduate students were matched and randomly assigned to either an experimental group that received a display of client skin conductance level during counseling sessions or a control group that did not receive physiological feedback. The communicative aspect of empathy was measured by the Counselor Verbal Response Scale (CVRS), and the perceptual aspect was measured by the Affective Sensitivity Scale (ASS). An analysis of gain scores suggested that training with biofeedback is associated with more affective responding by the counselor. This procedure did not facilitate counselor communication of understanding of the clients' specific concerns, nor was a pervasive increase in perceptual sensitivity observed. Qualitative evidence gathered from a postexperimental inquiry augmented the statistical findings.     

The National Accreditation System for Higher Education Institutions in Russia

The national accreditation system for higher education institutions in the Russian Federation is presented. The procedure for the integrated assessment of university activities, which is provided by the Ministry of Education, is described. The article examines licensing and attestation requirements and the procedure for achieving state accreditation. The requirements for gaining public professional accreditation are examined, as well as the tasks of the Russian Association for Engineering Education in this field. The experience of Tomsk Polytechnic University in developing an internal attestation system and quality assurance for its educational process is discussed, as well as the involvement of the institution in international co-operation.     

Analysis of the Effects of School Variables Using Multilevel Models

Multilevel models allow data to be analysed which are hierarchical in nature; in particular, data which have been collected on pupils grouped into schools. Some of the associated variables may be measured at the pupil level, and others at the school level. The use of multilevel models produces estimates of variances between schools and pupils, as well as the effects of background variables in reducing or explaining these variances. One data set which has been analysed relates to the national surveys of mathematics carried out in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In this case the basic unit of analysis was a pupil's performance in a group of items within one of 12 sub‐categories of maths. Each pupil tackled two such item groups (or sub‐tests) and thus a three‐level model was required, with the levels representing sub‐tests, pupils and schools. A number of background variables at both pupil and school levels were also measured, and interesting results were obtained when a multilevel model was fitted. The program used was a version of one developed by Professor H. Goldstein. A quite different data set related to pupils’ responses to a questionnaire survey about their reactions to their current course of study. The dependent variable was a measure of pupils’ satisfaction with the course derived from their responses, and other pupil level variables were also derived, relating to their school experiences and personal attributes. School level variables such as size and type of school were obtained from a schools data base. The program Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) was used to model these data, using only two levels. The two multilevel program used have different strengths and capabilities, but are related in terms of the kinds of models that can be fitted. Such models can lead to greater insights into the relationships between school and pupil level variables, and their influence on pupil results or attitudes.     

Materialist epistemology lends design wings: educational design as an embodied process

Educational technology research and development - Materialist design is presented as an embodied perspective on educational design that can be applied to redesign of classroom-based learning...     

组织学习的跨文化效应:中国和荷兰的比较

基于克拉克洪和斯托德伯克的跨文化分析架构就中国和荷兰的社会文化对组织学习过程、组织学习氛围和组织学习能力的影响进行比较,提出一些有待进一步证实的命题,以期引起人们对跨文化组织学习实证研究的关注,为跨国公司在华子公司打造学习型组织实践提供理论基础。     

Soil micromorphology in archaeology

Soil micromorphology has been a recognized technique in soil science for some 50 years and experience from pedogenic and palaeosol studies first permitted its use in the investigation of archaeologically buried soils. More recently, the science has expanded to encompass the characterisation of all archeological soils and sediments and has been successful in providing unique cultural and palaeoenvironmental information from a whole range of archaeological sites.     

Montagu's variolation

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is sometimes mentioned by both medical and literary historians as the introducer to England of smallpox inoculation. Usually, the story is garbled by confusion with Edward Jenner's later invention, vaccination. Some historians have rejected her claim, arguing that the credit belongs to the medical establishment of the day. So just how much importance has this gifted amateur in the story of medical science?     

The funding of university research: A comparative study of the United Kingdom and Canada

This paper extends previous work concerning the allocation of resources through the mechanism of peer-adjudicated grants in the Science Research Council to the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The aim of this research has been to draw comparisons between the flows of these research resources from the research councils to the universities in the United Kingdom and Canada over the period 1964 to 1974 inclusive. The paper analyses the data using two indicators; one which measures concentration of resources and another which measures the median level of support for a given field. The principal results suggest for both countries that the concentration of resources is not a function of their availability; that the concentration of resources has tended not to vary over time; and that concentration has increased with the level of institutional aggregation. The main differences between countries are that the Science Research Council tended to have the higher level of concentration at the level of the scientist but that the National Science and Engineering Research Council had higher levels of concentration at the department and university levels.With regard to median levels of support it appears that for both countries the levels of support have remained constant or declined over time; and that there are national differences in the costs of research in areas supported by the two research councils. The implications of these findings are discussed with reference to the dynamics of the peer-review system.