Is accreditation ‘on the right track’? The views of Portuguese academics

In many countries, quality assurance systems rely on study programme accreditation. As with all quality assurance mechanisms, accreditation should also be continuously improved in order to maintain its relevance as a promoter of study programme quality. A way to move accreditation forward is by taking into account academics’ views, interests and needs about the process, since their support for it is paramount for its success and effectiveness. This paper analyses Portuguese academics’ knowledge and views on accreditation with the aim of understanding if the process is being supported and is on the right route for being effective. It is based on the analysis of 1484 academics’ answers to a questionnaire distributed in 16 higher education institutions. This analysis reveals a moderately positive attitude of academics towards accreditation, reflected in an only moderate knowledge of the process as well as in a mild agreement with its characteristics and implementation features. This suggests that there is room for improvement to bring this quality assurance mechanism closer to academics’ expectations and needs and therefore to improve accreditation’s effectiveness.

     

The Spectre of Theory of Curriculum for Educational Research: A Medican Example

Recent educational policies in many parts of the world have tended to underplay the significance of theory in curriculum debates. This article examines examples of this tendency, paying particular attention to a case study of a prestigious education department at a Mexican university where the curriculum over 18 years was systematically drained of theoretical content. The author argues that removing theoretical discussion from the educational field will damage knowledge production in the field and ultimately harm the practice of education.     

Classroom environment in the implementation of an innovative curriculum project in science education

A curriculum project can be positively or negatively influenced by the environment of the classroom in which it is implemented. Analysis of the perceptions of students, teachers, and external observers has allowed us to study the influence of classroom environment in the implementation of an innovative project in science education. The main conclusions indicate that even though the global evaluation is positive, more so among teachers than among students, there are differences between the perceptions of the participants, probably due to differences in interests and needs. Moreover, in the classroom environment, the teacher and the actual dynamic and spatial organization are of great importance, and it can be difficult to maintain interest or to achieve a satisfactory evaluation on the part of those students whose academic performance is lowest. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 655–671, 1998.     

Exploring features for the automatic identification of user goals in web search

Queries submitted to search engines can be classified according to the user goals into three distinct categories: navigational, informational, and transactional. Such classification may be useful, for instance, as additional information for advertisement selection algorithms and for search engine ranking functions, among other possible applications. This paper presents a study about the impact of using several features extracted from the document collection and query logs on the task of automatically identifying the users’ goals behind their queries. We propose the use of new features not previously reported in literature and study their impact on the quality of the query classification task. Further, we study the impact of each feature on different web collections, showing that the choice of the best set of features may change according to the target collection.     

History effects on induced and operant variability

Two experiments evaluated history effects on induced and operant variability. College students typed three-digit sequences on a computer keyboard. Sequence variability was induced (by no reinforcement or variation- independent reinforcement) or reinforced (by variation- or repetition-dependent reinforcement). Conditions with induced and operant variability were presented according to a reverse between-groups design. In Experiment 1, we examined transitions from the variation or repetition contingencies to no reinforcement, and vice versa. In Experiment 2, the variation or repetition contingencies were followed or preceded by variation-independent reinforcement. The results showed that (1) a history of no reinforcement impaired operant variability learning; (2) induced variability levels were higher and lower after a history of reinforcement for variation and repetition, respectively; (3) repetition was more easily disrupted by no reinforcement and independent reinforcement than was variation; and (4) response variability and stability were a function of past and current reinforcement conditions. These results indicate that reinforcement history influences both induced and operant variability levels.     

The effects of accountability on higher education

This paper analyzes the effects of a higher education accountability system in Brazil. For each discipline, colleges were assigned a grade that depended on the scores of their students on the ENC, an annual mandatory exam. These grades were then disclosed to the public and colleges were rewarded or penalized based on them. I find that the ENC had a positive effect on the education and the proportion of full-time faculty and that it increased the number of vacancies offered, applicants and enrollments. Colleges were affected differently depending on grades, ownership and academic organization, changing the distribution of students among them.     

Acute kinematics changes in marathon runners using different footwear

The effects of running with or without shoes on injury prevention have been extensively studied, and several investigations have assessed biomechanical differences between them. However, findings are not consensual and further insights on biomechanical load associated with differently shod or barefoot conditions may be needed. This study aimed to observe if habitually shod marathon runners show acute alterations when running barefoot or with minimalist shoes, and to determine whether the running kinematical adaptations of wearing minimalist shoes were similar to barefoot running. Twelve male marathon runners ran on the treadmill at their average marathon pace in different footwear conditions: habitual running shoes, minimalist shoes, and barefoot. High-resolution infrared cameras and visual 3D software were used to assess kinematic data. The following parameters were studied: foot strike angle, cycle time, stance time, normalized stride length, hip, knee, and ankle angular position at initial contact, and their respective range-of-motion (ROM) during stance phase. Contrary to the expectations, it was found that highly trained habitually shod elite marathon runners changed their lower limb kinematic pattern both when running barefoot or wearing minimalist shoes. Minimalist shoes showed a trend towards intermediate biomechanical effects between running with and without shoes.