Towards a Sustainable and Collaborative Data Model for Periodical Studies

This article advocates the development of a sustainable, structured, and open data model for periodical research. Considering the recent digital turn in periodical studies, it argues that a data model embracing Linked Open Data practices will not only facilitate collaboration among periodical scholars across language boundaries but also contribute to a better understanding of what periodicals are and how the relationships among periodicals may evolve over time. By way of illustration, the article presents the data model developed in the context of an ongoing five-year research project on women editors and their periodicals in early-eighteenth- to early-twentieth-century Europe.     

Changing students’ assessment preferences: The case of an assessment development center in a veterinary gross anatomy course

The present study explores the development of students’ assessment preferences by investigating how these preferences evolve after experiencing an assessment development center in a veterinary gross anatomy course. The sample in this study consists of 42 students in the second year of a Bachelor's degree in medical veterinary science, enrolled in a ‘gross anatomy course’. Data were collected in a pre-test–post-test design using the Assessment Preferences Inventory. The results indicates that students’ experience with an assessment and development centre can result in the development of students’ assessment preferences towards assessment formats testing more ‘higher order’ skills. Results of this explorative study should not be overstated, however, due to sample size and research design.     

Individualization,the new political spectrum and the functions of adult education

The ambivalences of individualization have triggered a new discourse on social policy. The central themes in this discourse are the promotion of social integration and participation. This new political discourse has thwarted the old left‐right continuum and given rise to a new political spectrum. On one side of this new political spectrum are political perspectives that emphasize integration, solidarity, community. The authors call these collectivistic perspectives. On the other side of the spectrum are perspectives that interpret individualization as the triumph of freedom of choice for individuals. The authors call these the individualistic perspectives. They then describe the spectrum between collectivism and individualism in detail and link each perspective to programmes in adult education typical of such a perspective. In conclusion, the authors summarize their own position in respect of the mission of adult education.     

Improving reading achievements of struggling learners

This article questions whether culture and climate can be considered interchangeable concepts in school effectiveness research. Hereto both are compared by describing them thoroughly and reviewing their main advantages and disadvantages. It is argued that the two are different. Preference is given to culture as more suitable and more accurate for examining a school's cognitive structures. Climate, encompassing culture, should be reserved for picturing the school in its entirety.     

Innovating Education Through the Use of New Technologies: Reflections from the Field (Part 1)

Abstract

A series of in‐depth interviews was conducted with a sample of 65 experts on the challenges and opportunities of introducing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) into education. Interviewees were chosen for their expertise in the field, and the interviews reflect mainstream ideas and concerns on learning and learning support of the future, challenges and emerging changes at the organizational level of the educational institution, and new tasks and responsibilities for educational policy makers.     

Instructional development in higher education: impact on teachers’ teaching behaviour as perceived by students

Although instructional development has become an important topic in higher education, little is known about the impact on teaching practice. In this study we investigate the impact of instructional development on teachers’ teaching behaviour as perceived by students. Quantitative student data were assembled for 15 experimental and 12 control teachers. 45 experimental students and 27 control students were interviewed. Repeated measures analyses of variance and analyses of covariance showed no statistically significant impact of instructional development on teaching behaviour. The analysis of the qualitative data sustained this result. Several interpretations and perspectives for further research as well as for the planning of instructional development are discussed.     

Multimodal Versus Unimodal Instruction in a Complex Learning Context

Multimodal instruction with text and pictures was compared with uni-modal, text-only instruction. More specifically, 44 students used a visual or a textual manual to learn a complex software application. During 2 103-116-min training sessions, cognitive load, and time and ability to recover from errors were measured. After training, the authors tested students' learning on trained and untrained tasks. The results for cognitive load, training time, and learning effects initially supported dual coding theory. The results show that even in this complex situation, multimodal instruction led to a better performance than unimodal instruction. That is, the multimodal manual led to a stronger mental model of the computer program, improved identification of window elements and objects, and speeded up the location of window elements and objects.     

School competition and pupil flight in the urban periphery

In France, the existence of competition among schools and pupil flight from local public schools is not easily acknowledged because it calls into question established ideals concerning equality of opportunity and social integration through schooling. However, research on schools on the urban periphery shows that these phenomena are now quite common and reveal important changes in the functioning of schools and in perspectives and actual choices of parents. Faced with pupil flight to more prestigious public or private schools, local collèges create ‘good classes’, reinforce security and discipline and try to strengthen links with feeder schools to improve their image among parents. Parents, however, who are in search of guarantees of the existance of a good leaning environnement, have major doubts about the relevant criteria to judge school quality. Moreover, they differ strongly not only in the will to choose but in the ability to do so. The end result of these transformations in attitudes and behaviors is an increase in school segregation that can only be limited if important measures are taken to homogenize public school provision.     

Educational tracking and sense of futility: a matter of stigma consciousness?

During the past decade, both qualitative and quantitative research have documented strong feelings of fatalism amongst pupils enrolled in technical and vocational tracks in secondary education. Whereas those feelings have been shown to predict decreased school involvement and school misconduct, relatively little is known about their exact origins. In this paper, we explore to what extent they should be considered a stigma consciousness caused by the demeaning impact of perceived contempt to which pupils from technical and vocational tracks are exposed. Data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study from Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, N: 1967) were used to explore the distribution and consequences of perceived contempt with regard to one’s choice of study. About 20% of the pupils enrolled in technical and vocational education reported that some people looked down on them due to their studies. Moreover, even after taking into account different ability measures and social background characteristics, a strong direct relationship remained between perceived contempt and feelings of futility. In the conclusion, we elaborate on the implications of our findings.