Authors and Open Access： Effective Ways to Achieve OA in China

Although there are effective methods available to authors for providing open access to their work, more than half are still not doing so and provision in China is poorer than in many other countries. There are a number of issues and concerns that dissuade authors from making their work open access ： some are still unaware of the concept and of the increased visibility and impact that open access brings; many are unfamiliar with open access journals and how they work; many are uninformed about self-archiving and for some of those who are aware of the possibility of providing open access by this means, concerns about copyright and technical issues remain. Yet all these worries can be addressed with simple facts that reassure and encourage authors to adopt open access to benefit themselves, their research and their teaching. There is also a wealth of resources now available to authors that provide information and advice on open access and its effects. As institutions and research funders, both with a strong interest in maximising the visibility and impact of research they support, begin to develop formal policies on open access, models for its provision are emerging. The optimal model is a network of institution-based open access repositories from which content can be harvested by open access search engines （ the basic＇ no frills＇ variant） or by service providers who add functionality or selectivity to provide users with value-enhanced products.     

Evaluating Records of Student Experience within Initial Teacher Education

This paper describes the evaluation of an innovative approach to student self‐evaluation which was piloted with PGCE (postgraduate certificate in education) students at the University of Bath. It gives background information on the context of the development of the Record of Student Experience (ROSE) and describes the various models adopted for student use. The ROSE evaluation process and findings are described and a discussion of the central issues concerning this form of self‐evaluation is provided. This paper describes the stages in the development of the ROSE with one group of students and offers some conclusions about the future use of this approach within initial teacher education.     

How Much Do the Effects of Education and Training Programs Vary Across Sites? Evidence From Past Multisite Randomized Trials

Multisite trials, in which individuals are randomly assigned to alternative treatment arms within sites, offer an excellent opportunity to estimate the cross-site average effect of treatment assignment (intent to treat or ITT) and the amount by which this impact varies across sites. Although both of these statistics are substantively and methodologically important, only the first has been well studied. To help fill this information gap, we estimate the cross-site standard deviation of ITT effects for a broad range of education and workforce development interventions using data from 16 large multisite randomized controlled trials. We use these findings to explore hypotheses about factors that predict the magnitude of cross-site impact variation, and we consider the implications of this variation for the statistical precision of multisite trials.     

Success or Failure in a Core University Unit: What makes the difference?

Factors which have been identified as contributing to student academic success at the degree and program level in tertiary study include mode of study, student age, previous tertiary qualifications and past academic performance. Limited published Australian research is available, however, on student academic success in individual subjects. This study investigated identifiable patterns related to the academic success of three separate cohorts of students in an Early Childhood second-year Language, Literature and Literacy unit (N = 601). The data support previous research findings with regard to the effect of mode of study, previous university qualifications and past academic performance on academic success in this subject. In contrast with most previous studies, this study found a significant relationship between previous study at TAFE (college study at a Technical and Further Education institute) and failure in an academic unit, perhaps due to the timing of this unit in the students' overall program. Further implications for Early Childhood teacher education are discussed.     

National Guidelines for the Performance of the Sweat Test in Diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis on behalf of the Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine and the Cystic Fibrosis Centre - Paediatrics and adults,University Hospital Centre Zagreb

The sweat test (ST) is a cornerstone in the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF), together with newborn screening and genetic testing. However, the performance of the ST can depend on the operator’s skill, so several international guidelines have been published to standardise the ST, but inconsistencies remain. The joint Working Group for ST Standardisation (WG STS) of the Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine, in association with cistic fybrosis health professional and the Cistic Fibrosis Centre for Paediatrics and Adults, have issued National Guidelines for the Performance of the Sweat Test in order to ensure consistency in ST performance and accuracy of reported results. Many of the standards were taken from the 2nd Edition of the UK Guidelines for Performance of the ST for the Diagnosis of CF, while others were taken from independent consensus statements from the WG STS based on local ST equipment and practices. The standards cover every step of the ST, from the indications for testing to reporting of results and their interpretation, including the analytical phase and quality control. In addition, National Guidelines include appendices with practical examples in order to aid implementation of the recommendations in routine practice.     

Hearing Truth from Power? Organisation Theory,School Effectiveness and School Improvement

School effectiveness and school improvement researchers have increasingly looked towards establishing some kind of synergy between their respective fields. However, most recent attempts to create such links have not sufficiently addressed their different perspectives on organisational development and change. School effectiveness research has tended to view organisational development in terms of structural change, while the school improvement field has conversely placed an emphasis upon the cultural dimensions of organisational change. This has resulted in a methodological and theoretical divide that has proved difficult to resolve. This article argues that by incorporating the concept of 'power' into the analysis the two fields can be brought together more successfully. The article suggests that this 'third dimension' provides a bridge between structural and cultural analysis. It also highlights some important research questions that arise out of this tripartite relationship. The article concludes by suggesting that an analysis of power may provide the long awaited conceptual and theoretical fusion sought by both fields.