The effects of formative assessment pre-lecture online chapter quizzes and student-initiated inquiries to the instructor on academic achievement

This study's goal was to quantify the effects pre-lecture online quizzes and student-initiated inquiries to the instructor, either virtually or in person, had on students' achievement. Pre- and post-course tests were also implemented to an experimental and a comparison section of the same course. The number of electronic administrative contacts was positively related to achievement, and the number of in-person contacts was negatively related. The number of quizzes taken in the first section of the course was positively related, while the number of quizzes taken in subsequent sections of the course was not related, nor was quiz performance. Perhaps providing the opportunity to take the quizzes prompted the students to become involved in the course earlier on, thus establishing a sound basis for the following material. Complementing traditional teaching methods was not intrusive to highly structured course content already in place.     

Readiness and expectations questionnaire: a cross-cultural measurement instrument for first-year university students

The readiness and expectations questionnaire (REQ) assesses first-year students’ expectations and preparedness for their first year in university. This measurement instrument is useful for educational policy and curriculum development; it can also be used to predict the outcomes of the first year of college. This instrument was initially developed to compare students enrolled in programs in the Netherlands and New Zealand, with predominant populations of domestic students. However, the Bologna process and globalisation trends also have increased the availability of international degree programmes. This raised the question whether the REQ can be used to compare groups of international students. Therefore, this article aims to assess the cross-cultural measurement equivalence of the REQ in international bachelor degree programmes in economics and business in a Dutch university, taught in English. The results indicate that not all aspects of the instrument achieve measurement equivalence, but most of its scales, with some adaptations, can evaluate students’ expectations and preparedness and thus encourage a better match between student and institution.     

The Performance of German Motion Pictures,Profits and Subsidies: Some Empirical Evidence

This paper pursues three objectives. First, it seeks to identify the determinants of performance of German motion pictures in terms of cinema admissions and producers’ rates of return. Second, against the background of heavy subsidization of the German film industry, it discusses two types of subsidy allocation: committee principle allocation and reference principle allocation. Third, the profitability of the industry is considered as the presumed economic non-viability of the industry constantly recurs in the public debate as an argument for subsidies.     

The influence of the curriculum organization on study progress in higher education

During the last decade the demand foruniversity education in the Netherlands hasgrown, and until two years ago there was stilla yearly increase in the number of studentsattending university. However, not all of thesestudents graduate and those that do often takelonger than the programmed four years to finishtheir studies. The policy of the Minister ofEducation aims to increase the rate ofcompletion and to reduce the time needed tograduate. Within the last decade far moreattention has been paid to research as well asthe policy on factors within the curriculumorganization. This is in stark contrast to thesixties and seventies, when student-relatedfactors were more prominent. This articlefocuses on the relationship between curriculumorganization and academic success in the firstyear of university education. In this researchacademic success is defined as the number ofstudents succeeding for the first-yearexamination and can be seen as fraction, withenrolling students as the numerator and students that passed the first-year examinationwithin one year as the denominator. Weinvestigated the academic success of fivegroups of students (enrolment years 1987–1991)within six different departments at theUniversity of Groningen, the Netherlands.Aspects of curriculum organization thatcontributed positively to academic success werefor example, decreasing the study load byspreading exams and programming fewer parallelcourses, whereas it was better not to spreadre-tests over the whole year.     

Relational Aggression and Friendship During Early Childhood: I Won't Be Your Friend!

Associations between relational aggression and mutual, dyadic friendships during early childhood were assessed in the context of a year-long, short-term longitudinal study. Children's mutual friendships were determined via sociometric ratings and their relationally aggressive behavior among peers was assessed via naturalistic, free play observations. Generally, children who were more relationally aggressive had more mutual friends, although this relation differed by gender and time of assessment. Future work should include measures of friendship quality and investigate the role of relational aggression within friendship dyads.     

The Leadership of Transition: Correction, Conciliation and Change in South African Education

This paper focuses on educational leadership in the context of social transition to post-apartheid democracy in South Africa. Transitional leaders manifest behaviours, attitudes, values and strategies that are deeply related to the contexts within which they work. Social norms and political climate may not be supportive of educational leaders wishing to rise to the challenge of unplanned transition; however this paper focuses on leaders who take up this challenge. Narratives of three educational leaders, two white and one black, provide an understanding of the complexities and challenges involved in bringing about change that goes against the grain of social, community, or institutional expectations. Five common strands that bind the narratives of the three leaders are revealed. These commonalities are: a sense of moral purpose, a sense of human frailty, a sense of racial inclusion, a sense of political complexity, and a sense of personal growth. In conclusion, seven propositions that may form the building blocks for new ways of thinking about leadership in post conflict societies are presented.     

Functioning and participation of students with ADHD in higher education according to the ICF-framework

Due to an increasing number of students with ADHD in higher education and the difficult course of their academic career, a comprehensive overview of participation and functioning of this group is needed. A comprehensive search was performed in MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, CINAHL and ERIC electronic databases in June 2014. This systematic literature review synthesises 22 articles. Most selected articles focused on body functions and structures (n = 16). If we want to support students with ADHD in higher education (e.g., by implementing effective accommodations), it is important to take into account characteristics of the individual student as well as the environment.     

The relationship between perceived competence and earned credits in competence-based higher education

We explored how two types of study outcomes, perceived competence and earned credits, are interrelated, and influenced by self-regulation, motivation (intrinsic value and expectancy of procrastination) and deep approach to learning. The relationships between these variables were analysed in a sample of 894 first-year Dutch university students, using linear structural modelling. Results show that learning process factors play other roles in explaining perceived competence than in explaining earned credits. Perceived competence and earned credits, as two sides of the same coin in competence-based education, are only weakly related. Furthermore, this study shows that it is most likely that perceived competence affects earned credits, but a model in which earned credits affects perceived competence as possible causal relationship was also accepted, although the relationship remains weak. The practical implication of this study is that, as long as perceived competence and the number of credits are not related, competence-based higher education will not obtain optimal efficiency. For participants and researchers in higher education, it remains important to be aware that different learning goals may evoke different study behaviours in students, and the challenge for higher education is to align these goals.