Belonging and learning to belong in school: the implications of the hidden curriculum for indigenous students

This paper engages with current educational literature in Australia and internationally, in exploring the implications of the hidden curriculum for Indigenous students. It argues that in schools, most of the learning rules or guidelines reflect the ‘white’ dominant culture values and practices, and that it is generally those who don't have the cultural match-ups that schooling requires for success, such as Indigenous and minority students, who face the most educational disadvantage. Howard and Perry argue that Indigenous students ‘… need to feel that schools belong to them as much as any child’ and that to ‘… move towards the achievement of potential of Aboriginal students, it is important that Aboriginal culture and language are accepted in the classroom’. This paper will also provide a discussion into school-based strategies that are considered effective for engaging Indigenous students with school.     

School Effects Indices: Stability of One- and Two-Level Formulations

Three residual-based methods for indexing school effectiveness were compared using data from elementary schools in Maryland. Two of the methods were regression-based procedures at the school level, and 1 was a hierarchical linear model approach, with Level 1 at the student level and Level 2 at the school level. The 2 methods were applied to a data source in which schools were evaluated separately at Grades 3 and 5 using 3 forms of a statewide performance assessment that were administered to randomly formed groups within each school. The hierarchical linear model approach had higher stability across test forms, but the stabilities of the 1-level formulations were almost as high. The authors concluded that 1-level approaches are viable alternatives when the added data necessary for the hierarchical linear model approach are unavailable.     

A nationwide comparative study between private and public university students’ soft skills

The main function of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) is to produce skilled and knowledgeable workforce who are able to not only function with minimal guidance but also to contribute effectively to the hiring organizations. Many studies have indicated that most HEIs have somewhat similar course content and thrived at producing students with good academic achievement. But what differentiated them from one another is their ability to develop knowledge workers with the right employability skills or ??soft skills?? such as communication, problem-solving, interpersonal and other skills deemed important as the foundations by which they require to function at work regardless of the nature of employment. This paper reports findings of a large-scale study looking into the soft skills attainment of Malaysian HEI graduates. A quantitative survey design was employed whereby data were obtained through the administration of an instrument called the Malaysian Soft Skills Scale (My3S). My3S consists of 180 items covering seven elements namely Communications, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Teamwork, Moral and Professional Ethics, Leadership, Life Long Learning and Entrepreneurial aspects. The mean scores for the seven My3S subscales were found to be between 6.3 and 7.8 from the maximum possible score of 10. Specifically, comparisons were made between graduates of public and private institutions with respect to the seven elements. Findings of the study suggest that, in general, students of public HEIs scored higher in all seven skills. With respect to gender, male students scored higher than female students in all elements except for teamwork skills and moral and professional ethics. A comparison between fields of study showed that for both types of HEIs, technical students scored the highest in all skills except for moral and professional ethics. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that in addition to offering specific courses to improve soft skills attainment, HEIs need to embed soft skills in their academic curricula.     

UV-B Induced stimulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase in human fetal hepatocytes

We investigated the effect of UV-B irradiation on PI 3-kinase activity in human fetal hepatocytes. When cells were exposed to monochromatic (304nm) UV-B light, a significant increase in intracellular PI 3-kinase activity was observed in a dose dependent manner with maximal activity upon 1500 Jm⁻² irradiation. At 1500 Jm⁻² dose PI 3-kinse activity increased by 80% in membrane fraction of fetal hepatocytes of 25 weeks gestation. PI 3-kinse inhibitors wortmannin and LY294002 specifically inhibited the UV-B induced lipid kinase activity and blocked significantly the UV-B induced cell viability. The data suggests a correlation between cell survival and elevated levels of PI 3-kinase and suggest that UV-B irradiation at a dose of 1500 Jm⁻² is ideal for fetal hepatocyte transplantation. Also, PI 3-kinase levels could be a representative marker for viable UV-B irradiated fetal hepatocytes for transplantation.     

Overview on agent application to support collaborative learning interaction

Collaborative learning involves students working together to aid their learning and is considered an effective method to implement learning goal. However, it involves complicated processes such as have inconvenient assistance to manage the increasing demand for information and support extension of interaction and how to activate collaboration interaction and communication between different types of interactions. A collaborative learning model based on agent can improve learaing effectiveness and give good impact to learning process. This paper discusses the definition, classification and roles of agent to support collaborative learning interaction in E-learning. It overviews the rapidly use of agents to support collaborative learning and describes the types of interaction and communication tools to enhance interaction between all participants. We identify three types of major agents used in collaborative learning interaction; interface agent, information and internet agent, and collaborative agent.