Development of a distance education assessment instrument

The study described in this article takes the view that distance education programs are dynamic systems with multiple constituencies. Literature on distance education programs as complex systems and on the critical constituency approach to program evaluation was used to guide the development of a questionnaire designed to assess the components of a distance education program. Instrument development was conducted in four phases using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The data from this study suggest that there are four major components of effectiveness in distance education programs: instruction, management, telecommuting, and support. Within each of these components there are from two to five subcomponents, 14 components in all, which can be used to assess distance education programs. The assessment scale which was developed measures these four components and their subcomponents.     

Development of sex-trait stereotypes among young children in the United Staes, England, and Ireland

The Sex Stereotype Measure II (SSM II), a 32-item revision of the Williams, Bennett, and Best Sex Stereotype Measure, was developed to assess children's knowledge of conventional, sex-trait stereotypes defined by American university students. The procedure employed brief stories and human figure silhouettes which were individually administered to 5- and 8-year-old children in the United States, England, and Ireland and group administered to 11-year-olds in the United States. In the United States, knowledge of sex-trait stereotypes was found to develop in a linear fashion between the ages of 5 and 11, with more male traits than female traits being known at each age level. Cross-nationally, there was a high degree of similarity in the nature of the sex stereotypes being learned by the children in the 3 countries, although the rate of learning appeared slower among the Irish children. In all countries there was a clear progression in sex-stereotype learning from age 5 to age 8. English boys had greater knowledge of stereotypes than English girls, but this was not true in Ireland and the United States. Generally, knowledge of male stereotype traits appeared to develop earlier while knowledge of the female traits increased more rapidly between ages 5 and 8. The similarity in sex-stereotype learning in the 3 countries is discussed, and studies in progress in other countries of greater cultural diversity are noted.     

Boundary Crossing and the Professional Learning of Teacher Educators in New International Contexts

In this collaborative self-study, two teacher educators examine their experiences of working in new international contexts and the impact of those experiences on their professional learning and identities. Mandi moved from a major research university in one country to another, while Judy co-led a group of pre-service teachers on an international practicum for three weeks each year for three years. Using the concept of boundary crossing as a theoretical and analytical framework, each teacher educator identified a boundary-related critical incident or experience that occurred during her work in new international contexts. Through individual and collaborative analysis of their critical incidents, they found that working as a teacher educator in new international contexts involves the crossing and re-crossing of multiple personal, professional, linguistic and cultural boundaries. Working in these boundary spaces involved learning how to negotiate new kinds of relationships with colleagues and students, manage changed roles and responsibilities and, ultimately, a search for a renewed sense of self, as each sought to understand herself differently within a new professional context.     

A real world comparison of the effectiveness of satellite training and classroom training

Businesses and educational institutions use satellite technology to transmit information for a number of purposes, including training. This study assessed the effectiveness of a satellite training program for achieving various learning requirements ranging from recognition and recall of information to the performance of a specific job procedure. This study also compared satellite training with traditional classroom training for two courses in which the same material was taught using both media. Results showed that learning occurred using the satellite medium and that there were slight but statistically significant differences between satellite and classroom instruction for learning job-related skills.Kristen M. Williams is a senior member of AIR's research staff specializing in training research and evaluation. The research reported here was conducted under Contract Number 104230-88-D-1811, Task Order Number 10430-92-D-1296 with the United States Postal Service. Opinions and conclusions presented do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Postal Service.     

The Impact of Prior Counseling on Predictors of College Counseling Center Use

Path analyses revealed that one's tendency to conceal distressing information, social support, psychological distress, and attitudes toward seeking help predicted intended use of counseling services for college students who had and had not previously been in counseling. Prospective analyses revealed that attitudes toward seeking help predicted actual use of the campus counseling center. These findings have implications for campus outreach programs and in‐session work with clients.     

Recovery of conditioned suppression after backward pairings

In four conditioned suppression experiments with rats (Rattus norvegicus), backward pairings of a shock unconditioned stimulus (US) and a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) eliminated an already established conditioned response (CR), but there was recovery of the CR if the shock was later withheld. In Experiment 1, there was recovery after backward pairings, regardless of whether the period after the US was normally shock free or not. In Experiment 2, the occurrence of recovery depended on the CS’s being presented closely after the US in response elimination. Levels of recovery were positively correlated with the resistance of the response to elimination during backward pairings (Experiments 3 and 4). Taken together, these data support the notion that recovery after backward pairings is a form of renewal (see, e.g., Bouton, 1991) and is not due toprotection from extinction.     

Improving the comprehension of disabled readers

Students with learning disabilities (LD) often have difficulty comprehending what they read. Although reading comprehension problems frequently are associated with inadequate word recognition, students also have difficulties related to comprehension itself—a passive approach to the reading task, insensitivity to text structure, and poor metacognitive skills. The reading and language arts curricula that have emerged from today’s constructivist paradigm can pose problems for these students. Whereas the new curricula emphasize personal interpretations of text and relatively unstructured teaching strategies, students with LD do well with explicit, highly structured instruction. This paper introduces an instructional program designed to teach students with serious learning disabilities how to identify a story theme, and how to relate it to their own real-life experiences. The program focused on understanding a text as a whole, and integrating text meaning with concepts and experiences that are personally meaningful, goals shared by a constructivist approach. At the same time, the program incorporates the explicit, structured instruction that these students also need. A study to evaluate the program’s effectiveness is described, as are current efforts to refine the program to promote transfer of comprehension strategies.