Distance education copyright,intellectual property,and antitrust concerns

Abstract

An empirical examination of accredited American higher education institutions was conducted to obtain baseline data regarding distance education copyright, intellectual property, and antitrust concerns. Additionally, a multiple‐case study involving ten of the top thirty accredited distance education institutions in America was conducted. Policy approaches were examined for all institutions, and differences were discussed between public and private institutions as well as between the following Carnegie Classification institutions: Research I and II, Doctorate I and II, and Master's I and II. Data indicated that, out of the schools surveyed, 22% of the institutions in these Carnegie Classification categories published copyright and intellectual property policies on their institution's Web site. In the case study, it was found that 90% of the institutions centrally controlled their distance education program administration as well as the copyright and intellectual property policies related to it.     

Children's ideas on light and vision

This paper reports a small‐scale longitudinal enquiry into the development of children's ideas on light and vision. It followed the same class from Year 4 (age 9) through to Year 6 (age 11), but the greater part of the information came from Year 5. The data were derived from the children's drawings and written responses, and from small group interviews. Care was taken to ensure that the ideas elicited were the true beliefs of the children. No formal instruction in the subject had been given, nor was any attempted. In the analysis, the children's views have been classified according to a hierarchical set of models, which reflect the strong adherence to an active vision interpretation held by the majority. The extent of progression towards the more scientific view is reported. In the introduction and discussion comparison is made between contemporary non‐scientific conceptions of vision, and the speculations of pre‐scientific philosophers. A final section presents some implications of these findings for teaching the topic.     

Questions to assess learning as a communicative routine for inclusion

In the context of rapid policy transformation from segregation to inclusion in the education of children with special educational needs in Ireland, a study was conducted to investigate the interplay between policy and principles of inclusion, resource teachers' and class teachers' interpretations of this and the manner in which policy and principle is enacted in their practice. Based on nine resource teachers and nine class teachers each paired in a particular school, interviews to elicit teachers' interpretations combined with observations to document the detail of practice generated data from which nine case studies were crafted. Findings revealed that teachers' interpretations and constructions of inclusive practice are grounded in the central tenets of communicative routines, attunement and coherence‐fragmentation. As such, the pedagogical practices central to facilitating inclusion are as follows: teachers' use of questions to assess learning and mediated talk; transactional teaching–learning interactions contributing to transformational teaching‐learning episodes; and optimal interfacing of resource teachers and class teachers. This article, by Órla Ní Bhroin of St Patrick's College, Dublin City University, focuses on teachers' use of questioning to assess learning as a communicative routine for inclusion.     

How can pre-service primary teachers' perspectives contribute to a pedagogy that problematises the ‘practical’ in teacher education?

This study examined pre-service primary teachers' perspectives on teaching and learning experiences within college-based courses in ‘practical’ subject areas within a teacher education programme. Following three individual lectures (one each in art, music and physical education), pre-service teachers (n=11) participated in focus group interviews sharing their perspectives on the teaching and learning experiences. These data were analysed thematically and supported by teacher educators' (n=3) planning and reflection documentation. Although the problematic nature of the ‘practical’ suggests appeal and peril of the ‘practical’, the important nature of negotiating the ‘practical’ to enhance student learning is apparent. Students emphasised the value of practical engagement and expressed a strong preference for working in groups to create a safe learning environment to develop confidence and competence. These insights suggest key aspects of a pedagogy of teacher education in these ‘practical’ areas. The importance of being aware of and, in some cases, challenging student perspectives on how they learn best in these curricular areas is discussed.     

A symposium on “speech act theory in mainstream communication research”: An introduction

The referential, sequential, and inferential dimensions of discourse are explicated and discussed in order to obtain a vantage point from which to view the contributions of speech‐act theory to our understanding of human communication processes. A preview is then provided of four papers, each of which explores the intersection of two or more of these dimensions in order to enrich our understanding of speech‐act theory.     

The validity and reliability of focus groups as a research method in adult education

The article examines the theory and practice of focus groups in adult education research. Three theoretical positions are described: radical hermeneutic, moderate interpretative and pragmatic realistic position trying to bridge the gap with positivist research. This last position has been chosen as the departure point for a further analysis of the focus group elements, which relate to validity and reliability. The research examines four European research projects in the field of adult education. The most important and surprising data are presented with reference to both socio-psychological and technical problems in the use of this method. The results highlight the importance and dynamics of all the elements discussed.     

New methods for life course analysis of lifelong education

Studies of the impact of education on adults’ lives must go beyond the background details of students, the course and the immediate learning outcomes, and be grounded in the changing lives of learners in a changing world. Life histories provide a rich source of data to assess the significance of education but are difficult to analyse. New approaches based on life course analysis show at what stage in students’ various ‘careers’ they participate, what else is going on at the time, and how education affects areas of their lives. The paper begins with a brief review of the literature on collecting life histories and a justification for the method adopted which provides the starting point for life course analysis. A case study of a student living in an area of multiple deprivation who took an Open University community education course is presented to show how life course analysis can be carried out and the place and influence of education evaluated.     

Gender and Social Inequality at Oxford and Cambridge Universities

Abstract

The academic efficiency and social justice of entry procedures at Oxford and Cambridge Universities are examined over the past quarter of a century. For each major subject the mean A‐level scores of males and females entering from state and independent schools are compared with mean final examination scores in the major subjects. In any comparison of state and independent cohorts of the same gender, within the bounds of normal statistical fluctuation, the difference in A‐level score is a good predictor of the difference in finals score. For example, when between state men and independent men the difference in A‐level score is zero, the difference between mean finals score is zero also. The origin of female under‐achievement is examined. In most subjects there is pronounced gender inequality due to the following chain of circumstances: (1) to break‐even in finals women require at entry better grades at Advanced Level than men; (2) women used to have much the better A‐levels and so, in finals a quarter of a century ago, they matched and even — in some subjects — surpassed the men; (3) the A‐levels of women entering Oxford and Cambridge Universities fell off during the 1970s; (4) today female A‐level scores are slightly worse than male A‐level scores, and so female finals scores are much worse, in most subjects, than male finals scores. The concept of an ideal subject is defined; this is a subject in which zero difference in A‐level score between male and female yields zero difference in finals score. Law at Cambridge and chemistry at Oxford are ideal subjects. Ideal subjects are rare at Oxbridge: most subjects exhibit a significant male lead in finals when male and female have equal A‐level scores. The most non‐ideal subject at Oxford is mathematics, in which zero difference in A‐level score between males and females yields a male lead in finals score of 13%: at Oxford the other non‐ideal subjects are physics (male lead at equal A‐levels 11%), philosophy, politics and economics (9%), history (8%), modem languages (8%) and English (5%). An ideal subject is a paradigm which requires even‐handedness between male and female cohorts in the following parameters: (1) efficiency of course selection from school; (2) efficiency of teaching; (3) efficiency of finals assessment; (4) latent ability. A pronounced relative decline in the A‐level scores of girls educated in state maintained schools entering English and Welsh universities occurred in the 1970s; it is attributed to the reform of the state school system, particularly the growth in mixed‐sex comprehensive schools and the decline in the number of female single‐sex grammar schools. A peculiar aspect of the admissions filters at both Oxford and Cambridge ensures that state‐school educated men gaining entry do so with A‐level scores markedly superior to those of the other three cohorts.     

Curriculum Reform and the Legitimation of Educational Objectives: the case of the Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract

Taking the political and scholarly debates about curriculum reform in the Federal Republic of Germany as a case in point, the article develops the notion of ‘compensatory legitimation’ as a theoretical construct for better understanding the political dynamics of making and implementing educational policy under conditions of conflict. Among various strategies of compensatory legitimation, special attention is given to the recourse to legal and constitutional norms, the utilisation of expertise, and the invocation of the discourse of participation.

     

What Makes a Student Group Successful? Student-Student and Student-Teacher Interaction in a Problem-Based Learning Environment

This study investigated student-student and teacher-student interaction in a problem-based course and looked at study success in relation to group dynamics and approaches to studying. Data for this study were provided by 31 law students who were enrolled in a course in legal history at the University of Helsinki in February 2001. The students were divided into three small groups that were tutored by one teacher. Both the students and the teacher were interviewed. The interaction between the students and their teacher, and the group dynamics of each subgroup, were observed during the tutor sessions. The results showed that the student groups were very different from each other in terms of study success, group dynamics and communication between the group members. One group achieved significantly higher grades than the other two groups. There was only one clear difference between the three groups. The interviews and observations showed that the students in the best group participated more evenly and actively in the discussions than students in the other two groups.