Antecedents and Correlates of Course Cancellation in a University “Drop and Add” Period

Most institutions of higher education allow students to drop or add courses in the first 2–3 weeks of each term (D&A). Arguing that course cancellation is not merely an administrative issue involving enrollment trends but represents complex decision making processes taken by students, this study investigated antecedents and correlates of course cancellation during a D&A period in 109 elective courses. Student ratings of the teachers (SRT) and characteristics of the syllabi distributed in the first class session were investigated as predictors of course cancellation. Rates of cancellation were significantly predicted from SRT and from syllabus workload difficulty—lower quality teachers (SRT-based) and more difficult courses (syllabus-based) being cancelled more frequently. Analysis of a sub-sample of truly elective, high-priority courses revealed that these correlations were intensified in teacher-centered lecture courses, but nullified in student-centered seminar courses, in which students write independent research papers. The importance of students’ course selection and course cancellation as decision making processes, the methodology based on institutional data rather than students’ self-reports, and the unique effects of course difficulty on students’ decisions were discussed.

Childhood emotional invalidation and adult psychological distress: the mediating role of emotional inhibition

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a model in which chronic emotional inhibition mediates the relationship between a history of childhood emotional invalidation or abuse and adult psychological distress. METHOD: One hundred and twenty-seven participants completed a series of self-report questionnaires, and a subset of this group (n=88) completed an additional measure of current avoidant coping in response to a laboratory stressor. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate and compare a full and partial mediational model. RESULTS: Findings strongly supported a model in which a history of childhood emotional invalidation (i.e., psychological abuse and parental punishment, minimization, and distress in response to negative emotion) was associated with chronic emotional inhibition in adulthood (i.e., ambivalence over emotional expression, thought suppression, and avoidant stress responses). In turn, emotional inhibition significantly predicted psychological distress, including depression and anxiety symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study found support for a model in which the relation between recollected negative emotion socialization in childhood and adult psychological distress was fully mediated by a style of inhibiting emotional experience and expression. Although it is likely that childhood emotional inhibition is functional (e.g., reduces parental distress and rejection), results suggest that chronic emotional inhibition may have long-term negative consequences for the inhibitor.     

The response of clinical practice curriculum in teacher education to the Covid-19 breakout: A case study from Israel

PROSPECTS - This case study explores how teacher education curriculum in a college in Israel responded to the Covid-19 outbreak. The article focuses on the clinical component of the preservice...     

Symbolism and survival in developing organizations: Regional colleges in Israel [1]

This article draws on the work of John Meyer and others who look at the institutional side of organizations. We analyze the origins and early history of a system of regional colleges in Israel in the context of an emerging postsecondary system. We argue that the terms used to define legitimacy, as well as who defines it, are crucial issues in the institutionalization of educational organizations, especially colleges and universities.     

The Point-Biserial as a Discrimination Index for Distractors in Multiple-Choice Items: Deficiencies in Usage and an Alternative

We show that using the point-biserial as a discrimination index for distractors by differentiating between examinees who chose the distractor and examinees who did not choose the distractor is theoretically wrong and may lead to an incorrect rejection of items. We propose an alternative usage and present empirical evidence for its suitability.     

Teaching effectiveness as measured by student ratings and instructor self-evaluation

The present study is designed to evaluate teaching effectiveness based on effective teacher behaviors. Operationally, it is measured by assessing levels of agreement between perceptions of instructors and students on reported employment rates and rated ability for specific instructional behavior attributes. Individually-based and organizationally-based factors are incorporated in the study for a possible contribution to teaching effectiveness variance. Findings indicate a lack of agreement between perceptions on abstract instructional attributes but that agreement exists for attributes of a concrete nature. Analysis suggests that individually-based and organizationally-based factors do not contribute to agreement variance.     

‘It’s a dark cloud’: experiences of social undermining among people living with HIV in New Mexico

Social undermining as a strong predictor of adverse health outcomes in people living with HIV (PLWH), yet little is known about the experiences that constitute social undermining in this population. We led community-engaged research to identify and understand experiences of social undermining of PLWH in largely rural, minority-majority Southwestern communities. While past research focused on stigma-related experiences, participants in this study also told stories that shared their feelings of being undermined by lack of patient-centered care that they did not attribute to stigma, but to bureaucratic and impersonal service provision that marginalized them. These experiences create stress and serve as barriers for participants’ well-being and care. By bringing to the front experiences and mechanisms of social undermining, these findings advance theory, research, and practice regarding social undermining and living with HIV in diverse communities.     

Self-Control in School-Age Children

Conflicts between immediately rewarding activities and more enduringly valued goals abound in the lives of school-age children. Such conflicts call upon children to exercise self-control, a competence that depends in part on the mastery of metacognitive, prospective strategies. The process model of self-control organizes these strategies into five families corresponding to sequential phases in the process by which undesired and desired impulses lose or gather force over time. Situation selection and situation modification strategies involve choosing or changing physical or social circumstances. Attentional deployment and cognitive change strategies involve altering whether and how objective features of the situation are mentally represented. Finally, response modulation strategies involve the direct suppression or enhancement of impulses. The process model of self-control predicts that strategies deployed earlier in the process of impulse generation and regulation generally will be more effective than those deployed later. Implications of this self-control perspective for school-age children are considered.