Open access megajournals: The publisher perspective (Part 2: Operational realities)

This paper is the second of two Learned Publishing articles in which we report the results of a series of interviews, with senior publishers and editors exploring open access megajournals (OAMJs). Megajournals (of which PLoS One is the best known example) represent a relatively new approach to scholarly communication and can be characterized as large, broad‐scope, open access journals, which take an innovative approach to peer review, basing acceptance decisions solely on the technical or scientific soundness of the article. Based on interviews with 31 publishers and editors, this paper reports the perceived cultural, operational, and technical challenges associated with launching, growing, and maintaining a megajournal. We find that overcoming these challenges while delivering the societal benefits associated with OAMJs is seen to require significant investment in people and systems, as well as an ongoing commitment to the model.     

Student demand and progress at the Open University – the first eight years

At its inception educationalists and politicians alike were sceptical about the likelihood of the Open University being anything more than a pipe‐dream. Demand was not proven, students would not stay the course, degree level work could not be taught in such a way – the criticisms were numerous. This paper attempts to assess, after ten years, how far the University has succeed ed in its task of providing degree opportunities for adults. It considers the level and nature of demand for the OU, student progress through the University and graduation patterns. It concludes that, despite all the initial scepticism, the level of demand for the OU has continued at a high level, more students have survived than anyone had anticipated, and that these include significant groups without the requisite qualifications for entry to normal university. Despite this, there are many for whom the OU is not as open as it should be, and this represents the challenge over the next few years.     

Raising the stakes: the challenges for teacher assessment

These are changing times in Australia for teachers and their students, with the introduction of a national curriculum and standards driven reform. While countries in Europe such as England, and in Asia such as Singapore, are changing policy to use assessment in the support of and improvement of learning it appears that we in Australia are moving towards creating policy that will raise the assessment stakes for the putative purposes of transparency, accountability and fairness. What can be learnt from countries that have had years of high stakes testing? How can Australia avoid the mistakes of past curriculum and assessment reform efforts? And how can Australian teachers build their capacity to maximise their use of the learning power of assessment? These are the questions that are addressed in this article, with reference to innovative research from global networks that have maintained the assessment focus on learning rather than accountability practices.     

Portfolios for learning,assessment and professional development in higher education

This article focuses on the use of portfolios for learning and professional development in Higher Education (HE). Recent research findings related to learning and assessment help to contextualize the study. The use of portfolios for summative assessment and development of teaching and reflective practice dominates the literature. What is lacking is research that provides insights into how a portfolio for learning can be used in HE to develop understanding into one’s own learning, assessment and professional practices. The action research findings related to portfolio use for learning purposes identified in the three case studies include: the importance of establishing the purpose of the portfolio; the impact of portfolio use on the approach to learning, to teaching and to professional development; the changes to professional practice brought about as a result of the learning; and the need to consider issues related to ethics and confidentiality.     

'I felt like I did something good'— the impact on mainstream pupils of a peer tutoring programme for children with autism

There have been many research projects studying the use of peer intervention strategies to develop the social, communication and interaction skills of children with autism, yet few of these studies focus in detail on the impact of such strategies on the mainstream peers. In this article, Val Jones, an advisory teacher for autism spectrum conditions, explores the impact of peer tutoring children with autism on the peer tutors themselves. This enquiry focuses on ten to eleven-year-old mainstream pupils who were paired with twelve children with autism and associated learning difficulties for weekly peer tutoring sessions at a primary school with a specialist autism unit. At the end of a series of tutoring sessions, the perspectives of the peer tutors were gathered through questionnaires. All of the peer tutors reported that they had enjoyed the experience and most felt that the peer tutoring had brought them direct benefits by building confidence, teaching responsibility, encouraging caring attitudes and helping them to acknowledge diversity. Val Jones also gathered the views of parents and school staff who again reported largely positive outcomes from the peer tutoring process. While this small-scale study focuses on findings from one school, there are wider implications here for the development of inclusive policies and practices and this article will be of interest to professionals working across the range of specialist and mainstream settings.     

Using peer feedback in a Master's programme: a multiple case study

This article draws on the findings of a longitudinal case study, which investigated the writing experiences of five students who spoke English as an additional language (EAL). The major interest was in examining what it was like to be an EAL writer and what changes occurred in EAL students' perceptions of academic writing and of themselves as academic writers during their one-year Taught Masters course at a major UK University. This article reflects on the perceptions of peer feedback held by research participants and their engagement with providing and receiving peer comments. Although peer feedback is often viewed as an attractive tool for supporting student writing, most participants did not fully capitalise on the benefits of these practices. Such factors as students' lack of prior peer feedback and their perceptions of peers' ability to provide valid feedback constituted potential barriers to the success of peer feedback. The article suggests that the use of well-structured collaborative activities and tutors' intervention are required for peer feedback to be effective.     

Professional development models and transformative change: A case study of indicators of effective practice in higher education

Unrelenting and radical change in universities over the past two decades has increased pressure on all groups of staff to clarify and adapt their roles to accommodate transformation within the sector. The challenge for professional developers is to understand and develop roles that effectively meet the diverse needs of key employee groups who are negotiating this massive change and, as a consequence, experiencing role conflict and ambiguity. Studies over the past 10 to 15 years have attempted to define models of effective professional development practice, but there is limited research on effectiveness indicators of professional developer roles in large-scale change. The research reported here addresses this gap. The paper presents a case study in which ten academic and general staff members developed a profile of indicators of an effective professional developer role in transformative change, and raises questions about the theoretical foundation and practice of professional development in higher education.     

Contribution of Early Childhood Education to a Sustainable Society: Influences from Home in Preschool Children’s Understanding of Composting in France

Early Childhood Education Journal - Today, the understanding of environmental concerns is of great significance, making it desirable for children to investigate the scientific concepts underlying a...