Differential effects of norm-referenced and self-referenced feedback on performance expectancies,attributions, and motivation

When feedback is provided to students in a norm-referenced manner that compares the individual's performance to that of others, people who perform poorly tend to attribute their failures to lack of ability, expect to perform poorly in the future, and demonstrate decreased motivation on subsequent tasks. The present study examined the hypothesis that the deleterious effects of failure might be attenuated when failure is expressed in self-referenced terms—relative to the individual's known level of ability as assessed by other measures. In this study, subjects received feedback indicating that they did well or poorly on an anagram test, and this feedback was described as either norm-referenced (comparing the individual's performance to that of others) or as self-referenced (comparing performance to other measures of the individual's ability). As predicted, compared to norm-referenced failure, self referenced feedback resulted in higher expectancies regarding future performance and increased attributions to effort. Contrary to expectations, attributions to ability were not affected. The implications of the results for the structure of academic feedback are discussed.     

Attributions in a mastery instructional system: Is an emphasis on effort harmful?

Self-worth theorists have claimed that students of lower ability may reduce effort in likely failure situations to avoid the attribution of poor performance to their own incompetence. The likely success of mastery learning, an instructional technique stressing student persistence, has been questioned because of this phenomenon. Several studies which examined the hypothesized relationship between achievement, effort, and perceived ability within a mastery context were conducted. In none of the studies did it appear that students reduced effort because of the threat of failure or that expending effort led to lower estimates of ability. In fact, students expending effort rated their ability as having a more positive influence on performance than less persistent students. It is argued that mastery learning, like some achievement change programs, encourages students to attribute their performance to their level of effort.     

The importance of interplay between school-based and networked professional development: School professionals’ experiences of inter-school collaborations in learning networks

Previous literature has demonstrated that networks can be valuable sources of professional learning. In 2005 all Liverpool schools formed into ten Learning Networks with the aim of improving the quality, and entitlement of, continuing professional development (CPD) for staff as part of a whole-scale local authority initiative. The Liverpool Learning Networks Research explored professionals’ CPD experiences following this organizational change and whether it has enhanced their practice. Triangulated data, a large-scale survey and qualitative interviews conducted in 2007, seem to suggest that where professionals benefited from professional learning in a networked context, the quality of the networked CPD as well as a positive school culture and intra-school collaboration were all important contributors to the success of networked-CPD. This finding can usefully apply Turbill’s (Teacher learning for educational change. Open University Press, Buckingham, 94–114, 2002) model of professional learning to the intersection between school-based and networked-CPD, which suggests that it is at this intersection between internal and external domains that teacher learning can take place. Two scenarios, where this interplay between school-based and networked CPD is positive (enhancement) or negative (tension), are reported through five case studies of professionals underpinned by the survey data, where relevant.     

概说虚拟存储

虚拟是今天存储业界的热门话题,对数据的管理就是对存储的管理。大小客户如何利用虚拟存储解决方案并通过存储软件和存储硬件自身内部的分区来最大程度地利用自身的存储基础架构呢?与此同时,客户们仍在问究竟什么是虚拟存储呢?如何实现这些技术呢?企业自身的基础架构是否适合实现存储虚拟化呢?     

ASEAN telecommunications: Infrastructure,investment and regulatory policies 1

The ASEAN countries (Association of South East Asian Nations) represent a microcosm of countries in various stages of development. As such, they provide the opportunity to examine and compare telecommunications infrastructure development, investment, and regulatory policy trends similar to other countries. The recent moves towards privatization and increasing private participation in the telecommunications sector in the ASEAN region cover a diverse set of issues that similarly affect many other developing countries and newly industrializing economies. The telecommunications sector is different in each of the ASEAN countries and each must necessarily respond to its own social, political and economic needs. However, as a region, ASEAN provides an example, of the trends towards different forms of deregulation, liberalization of markets and privatization of the telecommunications authorities.     

Maintaining the moral order: a functional analysis of "The Jerry Springer Show"

The prevalence of verbal and physical aggression on daytime television talk shows has earned this genre the designation of “confrontainment.” In recent times academics, politicians, clergy, and media critics have frequently and publicly expressed their concern about the violation of moral values featured on the “The Jerry Springer Show.” On the other hand, sociologists in the functionalist tradition argue that commonly held moral values must be violated and the villains publicly punished for their transgressions to mark and reinforce moral boundaries. The goal of the study reported here was to assess the potential of “The Jerry Springer Show” for fulfilling these social maintenance functions. A content analysis of 100 episodes of the show over an eight-month period revealed that deviance from traditional family values is frequently featured on the show but that the studio audience and Jerry Springer played active roles in the public degradation of these transgressions, casting the show in a morally conservative light.     

Periodical Time in the Nineteenth Century

This article traces the growth of newspapers for African readers in Southern Rhodesia. It focuses primarily on the role played by South African investors in launching newspapers for the Africans. It further looks at the transformation of these newspapers from mouthpieces of the colonial government to being mouthpieces of African Nationalists. Issues of funding as well as reactions by Africans will be addressed. The article also attempts to discuss the impact of these newspapers on both the readers and the politicians.