Perceptions of Business Students' Feature Requirements in Educational Web Sites

There is paucity of original research that explains phenomena related to content organization and site design of educational Web sites. Educational Web sites are often used to provide Web‐based instruction, which itself is a relatively recent phenomenon for business schools, and additional research is needed in this area. Educational Web sites are designed with a different set of criteria as compared with other sites, such as those having an e‐commerce or marketing focus. More research is needed to build a theoretical foundation for feature requirements in educational Web sites. As in any new approach to teaching and learning, critical issues need to be examined before Web‐based instruction is fully integrated into teaching processes. When developing educational Web sites, features that support pedagogy should be given primary consideration. It is therefore important to identify key elements that will have maximum impact on learning. Using Q‐sort analysis (a type of Factor Analysis), this study investigated feature requirements of educational Web sites as perceived by business students. Based on the analysis of user requirements in relation to several variables that were identified from a review of literature, group characteristics emerged from students' responses. Similarities and differences between groups were investigated, and implications of these results for development of educational Web sites are presented in this study.     

A Motivational Intervention to Reduce Cigarette Smoking Among College Students: Overview and Exploratory Investigation

College counselors can play an important role in implementing brief strategies that will motivate students to stop smoking cigarettes. The authors provide an overview of motivational interviewing, a specific protocol that can be applied to college student smoking. The authors also present preliminary evidence of the success of this approach in promoting abstinence from smoking and a desire to change among college smokers.     

The PhD conundrum in South African academia

South African universities need more academics with PhDs, from historically disadvantaged population groups in particular, but they face a conundrum. In order to have more staff with PhDs, they need to produce more PhD graduates. But in order to produce more PhD graduates, they need more staff with PhDs to supervise. This article explores this conundrum by comparing academic qualifications with national policies and targets, by developing a quantitative profile of staff without PhDs and describing government and institutional measures to improve academic qualifications. An institution's supervisory capacity is found to be closely related to institutional history. Four main factors are identified: (a) whether or not the institution was originally established as a traditional university or as a technikon; (b) whether or not it was advantaged or disadvantaged under apartheid, which was closely related to the racial group for which it was established; (c) whether or not it was merged post 2004; and if so, (d) with what type of institution it was merged.     

Specificity and overlap in skills underpinning reading and arithmetical fluency

The aim of this study was to examine unique and common causes of problems in reading and arithmetic fluency. 13- to 14-year-old students were placed into one of five groups: reading disabled (RD, n = 16), arithmetic disabled (AD, n = 34), reading and arithmetic disabled (RAD, n = 17), reading, arithmetic, and listening comprehension disabled (TRIPLE, n = 9), and typically developing students (NON-LD, n = 40). Multivariate analyses of covariance and variance component analyses showed that reading problems are characterised by difficulties with phonological processing and with rapid automatic naming. Problems with executive functioning and with digit span were typical for students with arithmetical fluency difficulties. RAD students had problems with phonological processing, rapid naming, executive functioning, and digit span. Impairments in number fact fluency, digit span, loudness perception, speeded sound manipulation, and coding, which all share a fluency component were common to problems with reading and arithmetical fluency.     

Measurement Issues in the Alignment of Standards and Assessments

Abstract

This study examined the impact of rater agreement on decisions concerning the alignment between the Golden State Examination in High School Mathematics (California Department of Education, 2001a Academic Senate of the California State University. 1997. Statement on competencies in mathematics expected of entering college students Sacramento, CA: Author.  [Google Scholar]) and the University of California (UC) Statement on Competencies in Mathematics Expected of Entering College Students (Academic Senate of the California State University, 1997 Academic Senate of the California State University. 1997. Statement on competencies in mathematics expected of entering college students Sacramento, CA: Author.  [Google Scholar]). The UC faculty and high school mathematics teachers (N = 20) rated the mathematics items of the Golden State Examination relative to the expectations identified in the UC competency statement, identifying item features related to content and dimensionality. Raters assigned values for a primary topic, a secondary topic, item/topic centrality, and depth of knowledge. Agreement within these criteria was the basis of the assessment of alignment. Results showed considerable variability in judgments across raters and different pictures of alignment depending on the particular subset of raters providing the ratings. A few differences emerged between rater types.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL FREE-CHOICE LEARNING AND STUDENTS’ LEARNING, ATTITUDES, AND POLICY VIEWS ABOUT WATERWAYS

Environmental free-choice learning is a strategy that has been shown to have positive short-term impacts upon participants’ attitudes and understanding of desired educational outcomes. However, longitudinal studies in this area are rare due to difficulties inherent in data collection and vast differences in participants in these kinds of educational experiences. This study examined the effectiveness of participation in the Skunk River Navy, a free-choice environmental education experience, 1 – 4 years afterward to determine longitudinal effects of the experience on participants’ attitudes toward waterways and content knowledge. Importantly, participants were compared to non-participants who were also biology majors in the same program, completed the same coursework, and who likely shared similar dispositions, interest in biology, and are of similar demographic backgrounds. Results indicate that attitudes toward waterways and content knowledge were higher among participants, but that content knowledge remains lower than desired by program developers. Therefore, when reducing the impact of selection and variance within the study population, longitudinal positive effects can be seen from free-choice learning experiences when they are coupled with formal classroom experiences that address similar concepts.