学生支持的地区结构与管理

作为学生和教材之间的一个重要的界面,英国开放大学的地区中心支持辅导教师通过学习中心为学生提供强有力的学习支持和行政指导.本文介绍了英国开放大学地区中心的职能和结构、地区中心的管理方式、以及地区中心下属的学习中心的职能和作用.     

Travellers' Tales: Reflections on the way to learner autonomy

Student opinion is an important source of information in any quality audit. This paper reports on the views of a small group of 11 part-time UK Open University students taking their first course with the university. The paper reports their views on their experience in the 'phoney' period between application and the start of their course, as well as their views on what the Level 1 (entry-level) courses demanded of them, and of the support they received; the demands on their time and the extent to which they learnt how to study is brought out. The paper then looks at the students' response to assessment-and the extent to which the assignments kept them going, with success as measured by good marks increasing their motivation. Finally, the paper reports on the students' feelings about their developing ability to study, and their awareness of their increasing confidence, fluency, and self-worth.     

Emotion-Related Parenting Styles (ERPS): A Short Form for Measuring Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy

Research Findings: Parents’ meta-emotion philosophy guides their approach to teaching their children about emotions (J. M. Gottman, L. F. Katz, &; C. Hooven, 1997 Gottman , J. ( 1997 ). The heart of parenting: Raising an emotionally intelligent child . New York , NY : Simon &; Schuster . [Google Scholar]) and is measured with the Emotion-Related Parenting Styles Self-Test–Likert (Gottman et al., 1997 Gottman , J. M. , Katz , L. F. , &; Hooven , C. ( 1997 ). Meta-emotion: How families communicate emotionally . Mahwah , NJ : Erlbaum . [Google Scholar], modified by J. Hakim-Larson, A. Parker, C. Lee, J. Goodwin, &; S. Voelker, 2006 Hakim-Larson , J. , Parker , A. , Lee , C. , Goodwin , J. , &; Voelker , S. ( 2006 ). Measuring parental meta-emotion: Psychometric properties of the Emotion-Related Parenting Styles Self-Test . Early Education and Development , 17 , 229 – 251 . doi: 10.1207/s15566935eed1702_2 [Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). The purpose of this study was to explore the underlying structure of this measure, develop a short form, and assess its psychometric properties. In a sample of 107 parents of typically developing children, principal factor extraction with a direct oblimin rotation (delta = 0) identified 3 factors: emotion coaching, parental acceptance of negative emotion, and parental rejection of negative emotion. In a sample of 107 parents of children with developmental disabilities, a 4th factor was identified: feelings of uncertainty/ineffectiveness in emotion socialization. The 4-factor, 20-item short form showed good validity and reliability, with Cronbach's alphas ranging from .70 to .80. Practice or Policy: This short form is a practical means of assessment and may be used to identify parents of typically developing children who perceive similar challenges with their children's emotions as do parents who have children with developmental disabilities. The discussion centers on potential emotion-related parenting practices and the identification of children at risk for emotion regulation difficulties.     

Taking stock and effecting change: curriculum evaluation through a review of course syllabi

A multi-disciplinary academic unit at a Canadian university completed an evaluation of course syllabi used in its undergraduate programmes over the previous five years. This paper examines the reasons for the evaluation, the processes employed to collect and analyse the data, and how the results will be incorporated into the next steps of the overall curricula reform planned within the unit. The evaluation focused on the unit’s adherence to departmental and university policies, course reading materials, experiential learning opportunities, forms of assessments (e.g. types and weighting of assignments), learning outcomes and instructor-specific policies (e.g. group work expectations, late assignments). While a summary of the results of the evaluation are provided herein, these are meant to highlight the administrative and curricular benefits and uses of the data, rather than an analysis and discussion of the results themselves.     

THE STATE POSTSECONDARY REVIEW PROGRAM: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate began a series of hearings in 1990 that uncovered an alarming pattern of waste, fraud, and abuse in the Title IV federal student aid programs. To create a stronger and more coordinated evaluation of institutions desiring to participate in these programs, Congress enacted the new Program Integrity Triad, which significantly increases the gatekeep‐ing functions of each member of the triad and establishes a specific set of responsibilities for accrediting agencies, the states, and the Secretary of Education. Under this program, states are directed to set up agencies known as State Postsecondary Review Entities (SPRE) to assist the U.S. Department of Education in reviewing institutions of higher education referred by the Secretary to determine continued participation in federal financial aid programs. The diverse ways in which students use community colleges will make it difficult, at best, to apply the quantifiable standards for withdrawal, graduation, and placement rates established by the SPRE program. The result could have serious implications for community colleges and their continued participation in Title IV federal student aid programs.     

A Meta-Analysis of Morphological Interventions in English: Effects on Literacy Outcomes for School-Age Children

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of morphological instruction on language and literacy outcomes by synthesizing 92 standardized mean differences (d) from 30 independent studies. Findings show a moderate overall effect of morphological instruction ([dbar] = 0.32), suggesting that children receiving morphological instruction performed significantly better on measures of literacy achievement than comparison groups. Moderator analyses showed that intervention effect varied depending on the literacy outcome. There were significant and moderate intervention effects on morphological knowledge ([dbar] = 0.44), phonological awareness ([dbar] = 0.48), vocabulary ([dbar] = 0.34), decoding ([dbar] = 0.59), and spelling ([dbar] = 0.30) but not on reading comprehension or fluency. Results also suggested differences in effectiveness related to age and research design but not unit of intervention, scope, length, and learner type. Effect sizes decrease by school level (e.g., greater for younger students than middle school and upper elementary students). Also, there were larger effects for quasi-experimental than experimental studies and for researcher-designed measures than for standardized measures. Implications for educational settings and research agendas are discussed.