Some ideologies of disability

The paper analyses the "separate systems of honour" which constitute the ideologies surrounding disability. After critiquing traditional (false conscious and liberal) and radical (separate development and pseudo-radical) responses to the disadvantaged and humiliating situation of disability, it concludes by advancing a genuinely radical response of its own.     

Implementing Effective Online Teaching Practices: Voices of Exemplary Faculty

This qualitative study explores the process of implementing effective online teaching practices through interviews with thirty exemplary instructors. Emergent themes include providing students with constructive feedback, fostering interaction and involvement, facilitating student learning, and maintaining instructor presence and organization. Analyses of the findings and implications for online instruction are presented.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.Cassandra C. Lewis is a research assistant at the University of Maryland University College. She is also a doctoral candidate in the department of Education Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park. Husein Abdul-Hamid is Associate Provost and Executive Director of the Office of Evaluation, Research, and Grants at the University of Maryland University College. He holds a Ph.D. in Statistics from American University.     

Faculty Service Loads and Gender: Are Women Taking Care of the Academic Family?

This paper investigates the amount of academic service performed by female versus male faculty. We use 2014 data from a large national survey of faculty at more than 140 institutions as well as 2012 data from an online annual performance reporting system for tenured and tenure–track faculty at two campuses of a large public, Midwestern University. We find evidence in both data sources that, on average, women faculty perform significantly more service than men, controlling for rank, race/ethnicity, and field or department. Our analyses suggest that the male–female differential is driven more by internal service—i.e., service to the university, campus, or department—than external service—i.e., service to the local, national, and international communities—although significant heterogeneity exists across field and discipline in the way gender differentials play out.     

Pre-service teachers’ attitude towards inclusive education for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Malaysia

In this study, the pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards the educational inclusion for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were investigated to identify their attitudinal patterns and predictors. An attitudinal survey was conducted with 264 pre-service teachers in a teacher training programme in Malaysia. The study involved 151 special education pre-service teachers and 181 pre-service teachers in Special Education, Sciences, and in English teacher training programmes, in order to identify the effects of teaching specialisations and societal attitude on their inclusive education attitudinal measures. The findings revealed that the special education pre-service teachers were less in favour of the total inclusion of students with ASD in the mainstream, when compared with the non-special education pre-service teachers. The findings also revealed the combined effects of societal attitude and a categorical teacher training model in shaping the pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education for the students with ASD in Malaysia. Such combined effects offered a perspective to explain the delay in the implementation of inclusive education, and also the prospect of its future development in the Southeast Asian region.     

University teacher preparation programmes as a quality enhancement mechanism: evaluating impact beyond individual teachers’ practice

Conceptually, practically and rhetorically teaching is at the core of quality in higher education. University teaching preparation programmes (TPPs) are regularly advocated to foster enhancement of teaching but there remains limited evidence to demonstrate their effectiveness or impact as a quality improvement mechanism. Support for such programmes is largely a matter of faith amongst their advocates. This paper presents an analysis of the impact of one initial TPP to add to the body of evidence on the efficacy of such programmes. The results reinforce other research indicating that such programmes do have beneficial effects on individual academics. The benefits extend to work groups and have value to the institution. However, the transfer of learning by academics to practice takes time and is mediated by many factors. Nevertheless, where institutional and local departmental cultures value teaching, TPPs provide a useful strategy for quality enhancement in higher education.     

Segmental and kinetic contributions in vertical jumps performed with and without an arm swing

To determine the contributions of the motions of the body segments to the vertical ground reaction force (Fz), the joint torques produced by the leg muscles, and the time course of vertical velocity generation during a vertical jump, 15 men were videotaped performing countermovement vertical jumps from a force plate with and without an arm swing. Linear kinematic, Fz, and joint torque data were computed and compared using repeated measures analysis of variance. Maximum jump height was significantly larger in the arm swing jumps compared to the no arm swing jumps and was due to both a higher height of the center of mass (CM) at takeoff (54%) and a larger vertical velocity of the CM at takeoff (46%). The net vertical impulse created during the propulsive phase of the arm swing jumps was greater due to a trend of an increased duration (0.021 s) of the propulsive phase and not to larger average values of Fz. In the arm swing jumps, the arm motion resulted in the arms making a larger maximal contribution to Fz during the middle of the propulsive phase and decreased the negative contribution of the trunk-head and thigh to Fz late in the propulsive phase. Last, the arm swing decreased the extensor torques at the hip (13%), knee (10%), and ankle (10%) early in the propulsive phase but augmented these same extensor torques later in the propulsive phase.     

The high-school dropout decision and its wage consequences

The purpose of this study is to investigate the wage consequences of leaving high school prior to graduation. The dropout process is modeled as interdependent events involving the dropout decision itself and expected wage offers. Since selectivity biases may occur in such models, our empirical analysis permits adjustment for any such biases. Our empirical results provide support for the existence of a self-selection bias in the initial work experiences following high school. We also find that wages for dropouts progressively decline in subsequent years relative to high-school graduates.