EXAMINATION OF ALTERNATIVE MODELS OF STUDENTS’ ASSESSMENT OF THEIR COLLEGE: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HARD AND SOFT SCIENCES

This study examines the relationship between the discriminable components of quality of learning experiences (that is, resources, content, learning flexibility, student‐faculty contact, and involvement) and students’ summative assessment of their college. The relative explanatory powers of three alternative combinatory models — the compensatory (linear‐additive), conjunctive, and disjunctive — are tested for. undergraduate students from hard and soft sciences. The conjunctive model provides the maximal predictability for hard sciences whereas all three models have the same explanatory powers in soft sciences. In addition, the five quality of learning experience components explain a higher portion of the variation of assessment in hard sciences than in soft sciences. Finally, the two dominant predictors of assessment in hard sciences are flexibility and involvement while the best determinants of assessment in soft sciences are flexibility and student‐faculty contact. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Predictors of funding in academic fields

This study assesses the relative salience of various predictors of funding in different academic fields. Predictors of funding include the various dimensions of past research performance: articles, articles in leading journals and books. Articles predict quite accurately funding decisions in chemistry (r=0.58; p<.001). Books, on the other hand, are not the dominant predictor of funding in either the social or physical sciences. The implications of these findings for higher education are discussed and elaborated.     

The perception of power in university departments: A comparison between chairpersons and faculty members

This study analyzes differences in power perception across hierarchical levels in university departments and their consequences on studying the power structure of universities. The study's major variables include the holder of power and the nature of decisions involved, controlling for the field and the prestige of the department. Two perceivers were the subjects of the study, chairpersons and faculty members. Comparison between the two perceivers yields considerable differences. The different patterns of power observed by faculty members and chairpersons and the various areas of agreement and disagreement between the perceivers are discussed and analyzed.     

The appearance of literacy in new communicative practices: interrogating the politics of noticing

ABSTRACT

This conceptual article examines how ready-made assumptions about literacy both frame and limit understandings of new communicative practices in educational contexts. Proposing a tripartite heuristic that interrogates the appearance of literacy in terms of emergence, semblance and performance, it uses stories from a study of touchscreen tablets in one early years setting to illustrate the social-material arrangements associated with moments when tablets became texts to be looked at, shared or made. The authors argue that a sociomaterial sensibility can not only sensitise researchers to new communicative practices, but also to the ways in which sociomaterial arrangements help to construct habits of noticing often active in accounts of literacy practice and research. It is their contention that exploring the relations between emergence, semblance and performance is particularly valuable at a time when conceptualisations of literacy are being challenged in response to diversifying communicative practices.     

An organizational behavior model of students' evaluation of instruction

The present study develops and tests an organizational behavior model of students' evaluation of instruction outlining the causal relationships among levels of instruction, feedback, goal-setting, student's accomplishment, and student's instructional evaluation.The major findings of this study are: (a) The organizational behavior model is one of the strongest predictors of student's overall instructional evaluation. (b) Student's accomplishment, while controlling for the effects of other independent variables, does not contribute to predicting overall evaluation of instruction. (c) Feedback and goal-setting are the most powerful predictors of overall evaluation of instruction. (d) The means, standard deviations and reliability coefficients of the various variables and the interrelationships among the various variables are similar at two points of time (mid-semester and end-semester). The implications of these findings are discussed and elaborated.     

Perceptions of the teaching-research nexus: a framework for analysis

This paper reports on the perceptions that senior academic administrators hold on the relationship between the research and teaching components of academic work. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with senior academic administrators from the humanities, sciences, social sciences and professional areas. The findings indicate a strong belief in a symbiotic nexus between teaching and research. Indeed, the data reveal many important, but often subtle, interconnections between these two components of academic work. A three-level nexus between teaching and research is suggested: the tangible nexus, the intangible nexus and, the global nexus. These findings form part of a wider investigation into the nature of academic work in Australian universities and are proposed as a suitable framework for further research.     

COGNITIVE CONGRUENCE BETWEEN TEACHERS’ QUESTIONS AND STUDENTS’ ANSWERS

The purpose of the present study was to assess the impact of a teacher‐training workshop in a medical school upon the cognitive congruence between teachers’ questions and students’ answers. The major findings of this study were: (a) The average number of student‐teacher verbal interactions significantly exceeded the number of separate statements by teacher and students, (b) After the workshop, the number of interactions increased, especially in medium‐ and large‐size classes, (c) The extent of cognitive correspondence was greater at basic cognitive levels (knowledge, comprehension, application) than at high cognitive levels (analysis, synthesis, evaluation). This result was observed both before and after the workshop, as well as in all three class sizes, (d) Following the workshop, the cognitive congruence increased, especially in large classes and within the basic levels.     

Vergleichbarkeit von Abiturleistungen

This article examines differences in the mathematics and English proficiency of academic-track students in Baden-Württemberg (N?=?3526) and Hamburg (N?=?3734), investigating whether and to what extent these differences are reflected in the Abitur grades the students are awarded. The article also examines the extent to which scores in centrally conducted examinations provide better comparability than do coursework grades. Multilevel analyses predicting coursework grades in mathematics revealed clear between-state differences, with students in Hamburg being awarded higher mathematics grades than comparably able students in Baden-Württemberg. These differences are partly attributable to frame of reference effects and their impact on teachers’ grading practices. No corresponding between-state differences were found for English. Mathematics examination scores provided a much better measure of student achievement than mathematics coursework grades. The findings are discussed in terms of meritocratic access to sought-after university and training places.