Development of Hybrid Courses Utilizing Modules as an Objective in ATE Projects

ABSTRACT

Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College (OCtech) has been awarded two National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) grants since 2011 that have the development of module-based hybrid courses in Engineering Technology and Mechatronics as objectives. In this article, the advantages and challenges associated with module-based hybrid courses are discussed. The courses that have been developed deal specifically with alternative energy and robotics. Through modularizing the courses, instructors throughout OCtech may elect to use materials from these courses to supplement face-to-face courses or offer the entire course in a hybrid format. In addition to being used in the college’s traditional curriculum, these courses have been utilized in the Middle College and the Flex/Evening College for working adults with great success. The courses and the included modules are housed on a Learning Management System hosted by OCtech that is available to all the colleges and high schools in the state.     

Re-victimization patterns in a national longitudinal sample of children and youth

OBJECTIVE: To understand to the degree to which a broad variety of victimizations, including child maltreatment, conventional crime, peer, and sexual victimizations, persist for children from 1 year to the next. DESIGN: A national sample of 1467 children aged 2-17 recruited through random digit dialing and assessed via telephone interviews (with caretakers and youth themselves) about a comprehensive range of victimization experiences in the previous year, and then re-assessed (72.3% of baseline sample) after a 1-year interval. RESULTS: The risk for re-victimization in Year 2 was high for children victimized in Year 1, with risk ratios ranging from 2.2 for physical assault to 6.9 for sexual victimization. Victimization of any one type left substantial vulnerability even for different types of subsequent re-victimization (e.g., property crime victimization was associated with higher risk of sexual victimization the next year). Children with four or more types of victimization in Year 1 ("poly-victims") were at particularly high risk of persisting poly-victimization. Persisting poly-victimization was more likely for children who scored high on anger/aggression and who had recent life adversities. Desistence from poly-victimization was associated with having more good friends. Onset of poly-victimization in Year 2, in contrast to persistence from Year 1, was associated with violent or maltreating families, family problems such as alcohol abuse, imprisonment, unemployment and family disruption. Having more older siblings acted as both a risk factor and a protective factor for different groups of youth. CONCLUSION: Children previously victimized in 1 year are at higher risk of continued victimization, and the poly-victims are at particular risk. These findings suggest the potential merit of identifying these high-risk children and making them priority targets for prevention efforts.     

The incidence and nature of letter orientation errors in reading disability

Letter orientation confusions (reversals) in the reading and writing of 10-year-old children with and without reading disability were investigated to determine whether reading disability is associated with letter orientation errors and to identify the nature of the errors. In a variety of tasks measuring letter orientation confusions in reception (reversal detection and recognition) and production (controlled writing, copying), individuals with reading disability made more orientation confusions than average readers. Orientation errors were more frequent for reversible than for nonreversible items in tasks involving long-term memory processes. The results did not appear to be related to group differences in attention or speed of motor responding. Possible sources of orientation confusions, including deficient magnocellular system processing, mislabeling, and overreliance on visual strategies, are discussed.     

Sense of place in environmental education

Although environmental education research has embraced the idea of sense of place, it has rarely taken into account environmental psychology-based sense of place literature whose theory and empirical studies can enhance related studies in the education context. This article contributes to research on sense of place in environmental education from an environmental psychology perspective. We review the components of sense of place, including place attachment and place meanings. Then we explore the logic and evidence suggesting a relationship between place attachment, place meanings, pro-environmental behavior, and factors influencing sense of place. Finally, based on this literature we propose that in general environmental education can influence sense of place through a combination of direct place experiences and instruction.     

The pathway to English word reading in Chinese ESL children: the role of spelling

The present longitudinal study investigated the role of spelling as a bridge between various reading-related predictors and English word reading in Chinese children learning English as a Second Language (ESL). One hundred and forty-one 5-year-old kindergarten children from Hong Kong, whose first language (L1) was Cantonese and second language (L2) was English, were administered tests of phonological awareness, letter knowledge, English vocabulary, spelling and English word reading at three time points (T1, T2 and T3) at 3-month intervals over a 6-month period. Nonverbal IQ was included as a control variable. The results showed that phonological awareness, letter knowledge and English vocabulary at T1 all predicted English word reading (T3) through spelling (T2). Further mediation analyses showed that, for phonological awareness and English vocabulary, full mediation effects were found. For letter knowledge, a partial mediation effect was observed. These results suggest that, in Chinese ESL kindergarteners, reading-related predictors foster word reading via spelling, a process that intersects phonology, orthography and semantics. Practical implications of these findings were also discussed.     

Parental Conceptions of School Readiness: Relation to Ethnicity,Socioeconomic Status,and Children's Skills

Research Findings: This study analyzed the school readiness beliefs of parents of 452 children from public pre-kindergarten and the relations of these beliefs to socioeconomic status and children's readiness skills. Parents conceived readiness largely in terms of the ability to name objects, letters, or numbers, but few included inferential skills. Readiness beliefs were related not to socioeconomic status but to ethnicity. Readiness beliefs about the importance of independence, social competence, nominal knowledge, and inferential skills were related in expected ways to children's skills. Practice or Policy: Infrequent inclusion of inferential skills among parents' readiness beliefs may not bode well for children. Informational programs for parents about the critical role of higher order cognitive skills and ways to promote them are needed.     

Book reviews

Randall, Clarence B., Sixty‐five Plus: The Joy and Challenge of the Years of Retirement. Little, Brown and Company, 34 Beacon Street, Boston 6, Massachusetts, 1963.

Molloy, Julia S., Trainable Children. The John Day Company, 62 W. 45th Street, New York 36, N.Y., 1963, $3.50.

Canfield, Curtis, The Craft of Play Directing. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 383 Madison Avenue, New York 17, N.Y., 1963, $6.00.     

Book reviews

Lee, Irving J. and Lee, Laura L., Handling Barriers in Communication. Harper and Brothers, 49 East 33 Street, New York 16, New York. 1957, $5. Paper.

Auer, J. Jeffery, An Introduction to Research in Speech. Harper and Brothers, 49 East 33 Street, New York 16, New York. 1959, $5.

Brown, Charles T., Introduction to Speech. Houghton Mifflin Company, 432 Park Avenue South, New York 16, New York. 1955.

Uris, Dorothy, Everybody's Book of Better Speaking. David McKay Company, Inc., 119 West 40 Street, New York 18, New York. 1960, $4.95.

Braden, Waldo W., Speech Methods and Resources: A Textbook for the Teacher of Speech. Harper and Brothers, 49 East 33 Street, New York 16, New York. 1961, $6.50.

Marra, Waldo J., How to Streamline Your Letters. National Retail Credit Association, 375 Jackson Avenue, St. Louis 30, Missouri. Multilithed, paper.

Windes, Russell R. and Kruger, Arthur N., Championship Debating. J. Weston Walch, Box 1075, Portland, Maine. 1961 ; paper cover, $3.50 ; plastic cover, $4.50.     

Mothers in methadone treatment and their involvement with the child protection system: A replication and extension study

Objectives

Although a high level of involvement with the child protection system has been identified in families where parental substance use is a feature, not all such parents abuse or neglect their children or have contact with the child protection system. Identifying parents with substance-use histories who are able to care for their children without intervention by the child protection system, and being able to target interventions to the families who need them the most is important. This study interviewed a relatively large sample of mothers about their histories, their children and their involvement with the child protection system. We hypothesized that mothers in opioid pharmacological treatment who are involved with child protection services are different in characteristics to those mothers who are not involved.

Methods

One hundred and seventy-one women, with at least one child aged under 16 years, were interviewed at nine treatment clinics providing pharmacological treatment for opioid dependence across Sydney, Australia.

Results

Just over one-third of the women were involved with child protection services at the time of interview, mostly with children in out-of-home care. Logistic regression analyses revealed that factors which significantly increased the likelihood of the mother being involved with the child protection system were: (1) having a greater number of children, (2) being on psychiatric medication, and (3) having less than daily contact with her own parents.

Conclusions

This study replicates and extends the work of Grella, Hser, and Huang (2006) and the limited literature published to date examining the factors which contribute to some substance-using mothers becoming involved with the child protection system while others do not. The finding that mental health problems and parental supports (along with the number of children) were significantly associated with child protection system involvement in this study, indicates a need for improved interventions and the provision of treatment and support services if we are to reduce the involvement of the child protection system with these families.     

The Pragmatic Barrier

A small-scale phenomenological study reveals interesting and suggestive insights into the pedagogical technology experiences of late-career faculty with institutional recognition as successful instructors. Referred to in much of the literature as “resistant” and assumed to lack training in pedagogical technology and/or to adhere to passive learning strategies, the faculty in this study described attempts, successful and unsuccessful, to integrate technology into their teaching. Their experiences and perceptions point out the questionable effects of taking a “toolism” approach to faculty development and the risk associated with proceeding with unexamined assumptions about such faculty and their technology use.