Don’t @ me: rethinking digital civility online and in school

ABSTRACT

Online platforms enable free-form, spontaneous, unbridled political expression, blurring the public and private, the written and spoken, and the norms of formal and casual speech. Consequently, they pose new opportunities and challenges to civic interactions, necessitating a reconfiguration of the norms informing civic exchanges. In this paper, we introduce a relational account of civility attuned to emerging modes of civic interactions online, one which goes beyond prescribing specific modes of speech and conduct. We suggest three characteristics of civility in digital contexts: commitment to ongoing and just dialogue, seeking a diverse audience with a shared goal, and horizontal accountability. We then make the case for schools’ vital role in cultivating digital civility. Rather than introducing new curricular content, we argue for reframing existing school engagement with online communication to support the development of digital civility, in light of the shifting forms of participation that typify youth civic engagement today.     

World Bank okays public interest in higher education

This essay review discusses the report of TheTask Force on Higher Education and Society(TFHES), convened in 1998 by the World Bank butindependently financed and staffed incollaboration with UNESCO and severalfoundations. Peril and Promise marks anhistoric turning point in the framework forpostsecondary educational planning. Rate-of-return analysis has been de-emphasized,while promotion of the public interest hasmoved front and center. The report of theTFHES, published in 2000 by the World Bank, hasreceived deserved attention in some parts ofthe world and has even developed an associatedwebsite (http://www.tfhe.net). As we explainbelow, the framework advocated by the TFHES isalready being used in official policy documentsof the World Bank, whose position will surelymultiply the influence of the Task Forcethrough its effect on other development banksas well as on programs of bilateral nationalassistance. And yet, despite its seminalimportance, the TFHES report has yet to befully appreciated by many researchers of highereducation. With this essay review, we hope tobroaden the discussion of the Task Force, and to offer a preliminary assessment of its impactin the 2002 World Bank policy document, and toconnect its arguments to questions that arecentral in the scholarly literature of ourfield.     

Sentential and discourse context effects: adults who are learning to read compared with skilled readers

In a series of three experiments, we examined how sentential and discourse contexts were used by adults who are learning to read compared with skilled adult readers. In Experiment 1 , participants read sentence contexts that were either congruent, incongruent or neutral with respect to a target word they had to name. Both skilled and less skilled adults benefited from a congruent context, and were not disadvantaged by an incongruent context. Contrary to research conducted on children learning to read, skill level of the adult reader did not interact with context. Experiments 2 and 3 tested readers' ability to make predictive inferences. Again, all readers, regardless of skill level, provided evidence that they were making predictive inferences. This finding is inconsistent with research that has examined individual differences in college readers.     

Making the Most of Our Conferences and Associations: An Important Component for Communication Research,Teaching, and Service

As part of the tradition of outgoing Central States Communication Association Presidents and Executive Directors providing a spotlight column in Communication Studies, I focus on the practical value of academic conferences for the development of knowledge, enhancement of teaching and mentoring practices, and as an outlet for learning about and doing service. Communication is a practical discipline where the research has a potential to make profound and positive differences. The interaction that is allowed at conferences presents an opportunity for communication pedagogy, research, and service to transform in meaningful ways. In addition to practical advice for making the most of a conference experience, some of the most recent developments for CSCA are highlighted. The essay then ends with a personal note.     

Family favoritism: Defining a communication-oriented construct

This study draws from 98 participant interviews to develop an empirical definition of family favoritism. Results indicate that study participants understand favoritism as a consistent, sometimes situational parental demonstration of preferential treatment toward a particular child, especially in consideration of attention, resources, and affection. Considering a communication as constitutive of reality perspective in conjunction with the definition helps to illuminate the communicative nature of favoritism, especially as participants recognize how attention and affection are communicated and resources are offered. The results of this study suggest that communication is constitutive of favoritism, and further studies should consider communication’s centrality in familial favoritism.     

Blocks are educational: revealing discourses through early childhood policy illustrations

Abstract

In the course of a study on the impacts of changing early childhood policy in Aotearoa New Zealand since 1989, the illustrations accompanying three major government reports and policies stood out as encapsulating the changes in underlying discourses. This enabled the illustrations from these three policy reports to be used for a historical analysis of shifting discourses, which highlighted the trends towards human capital theory and an increasing educationalisation of early childhood as the basis for policy. It is noted that the latter two reports feature cover pictures with block play. The particular historic positioning of block play at the juncture between acceptable early childhood and school pedagogy is explored, suggesting a compromise between discourses of early childhood care and education for human capital development purposes, and for the holistic development of the child.     

Development and evaluation of a short RIASEC interest inventory

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This study set out to develop a short interest inventory based on Holland’s model of vocational personality types using items...     

Experimental Effects of Student Evaluations Coupled with Collaborative Consultation on College Professors’ Instructional Skills

This experimental study concerned the effects of repeated students’ evaluations of teaching coupled with collaborative consultation on professors’ instructional skills. Twenty-five psychology professors from a Dutch university were randomly assigned to either a control group or an experimental group. During their course, students evaluated them four times immediately after a lecture (class meeting in which lecturing was the teaching format) by completing the Instructional Skills Questionnaire (ISQ). Within 2 or 3 days after each rated lecture, the professors in the experimental group were informed of the ISQ-results and received consultation. Each consultation, three in total, resulted in a plan to improve their teaching for the next lectures. Controls received neither their ISQ-results nor consultation during their course. Multilevel regression analyses showed significant differences in ISQ-ratings in the experimental group compared to the control group, specifically on the instructional dimensions Explication, Comprehension and Activation. In addition, the impact of each of the three consultations plus differences between targeted versus non targeted dimensions were analyzed. This study complements recent non-experimental research on a collaborative consultation approach with experimental results in order to provide evidence-based guidelines for faculty development practices.