‘The sky is the limit’: higher education,gender and empowerment in the Bedouin community in the Negev in Israel

This article addresses the meaning that female Bedouin from the Negev in Israel give to higher education. I shall focus the discussion on the processes in which personal and social contexts merge into one another. Although there has been an increase in the number of investigations of the ways in which Bedouin women in the Negev in Israel participate in the public sphere, a survey of the literature reveals that no investigations have been conducted on the meaning educated women attribute to higher education during the course of their lives. Through an analysis of ten in‐depth interviews carried out between 1998 and 2001, this article examines issues such as gender, empowerment and social mobility amongst young Bedouin women in Israel.     

Online Learning Readiness

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relationship between student characteristics of online learning readiness and student outcomes in online courses at two higher educational institution. Data were collected from student surveys (student characteristics of readiness and outcomes) and merged with institutional student information systems data (e.g., demographics and course grades). Multiple regression analyses revealed that several student characteristics of online learning readiness significantly influenced student outcomes. MANOVA analyses were conducted to examine between group differences of each student characteristics among underrepresented student groups. Significant findings are reported for minorities and for students with disabilities.     

Do all roads really lead to Rome? The case of spelling acquisition

The French orthographic code is complex, and its acquisition is laborious (Catach, 2008; Fayol & Jaffré, 2008). Three hypotheses attempt to explain orthographic knowledge acquisition (OKA). For some, exposure to the code leads to OKA through a self-learning process (Share, 2004). For others, OKA benefits from graphophonological processes (Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001). Finally, some authors suggest that OKA is possible thanks to visual specific processes (Ans, Carbonnel, & Valdois, 1998). The main goal of this study was to test these hypotheses in a classroom context with comparable samples. In total, 143 2nd-grade children participated in this quasi-experimental study with a pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest design. We assigned participants to one of four conditions. For three conditions, we created three teaching procedures based on each of the hypotheses: frequency of contacts with target words; explicit teaching of graphophonological properties of words; explicit teaching of visual properties of words. The fourth served as a control group. ANOVA analyses indicated that all three experimental conditions favored OKA, showing that the different teaching procedures led to spelling development. However, the visual condition was the most favorable. Three main conclusions can be drawn from this study: (a) models of OKA should account for the different paths that can lead to spelling acquisition; (b) visual properties of words and their acquisition need additional research, and (c) applied research in real classroom contexts is not only relevant for informing teaching practices but also for better understanding how learning takes place.

     

ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED STUDENTS WHEN CONFRONTED WITH CHALLENGING AND UNCHALLENGING TASKS

Two groups of gifted adolescents solved two similar intelligence tests with differing levels of task difficulty in reverse order. Under both conditions the performance level on the less complex test was much lower, a result not observed in a control group of average intelligence. Behavioural observations revealed that the low performance of the gifted students was combined with lack of effort. This performance pattern is discussed with respect to recent postulates of achievement motivation theory, which empasize the impact not only of the achievement motive, but also of the informational value of a given task for evaluating own level of ability. It is argued that the perceived informational value of the easier test was not high enough to create an incentive for the gifted students to perform at the highest possible level     

The Magellan project: Developing global citizens through independent study abroad

Washington & Jefferson College undergraduate Magellan Scholars explore the world on their own. Tori Haring‐Smith describes this unique program and explains why it offers so much more than a traditional study abroad experience.     

Emergent Supervisors: Comparing Counseling Center and Non‐Counseling‐Center Interns' Supervisory Training Experiences

Predoctoral interns' responses to an internship supervision training questionnaire indicated that counseling center interns supervised more trainees, received more supervision in their supervisory roles, reported more supervision training activities, and yielded higher supervisor development scores than did non‐counseling‐center interns. A qualitative analysis of participants' responses showed that non‐counseling‐center interns desired more supervision training and opportunities to provide supervision during their internship year than did counseling center interns.     

Examining the effect of positive behaviour support on academic achievement of students with disabilities

Students who engage in challenging behaviour compromise the fundamental ability of schools to educate children. Consequently, teachers face the daunting task of designing effective strategies to promote positive educational outcomes for their students. Since the 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act amendments, the use of positive behaviour supports (PBS) to address the behavioural needs of children challenged by disabilities has expanded. There is evidence to support the utility of PBS in reducing challenging behaviour among students. However, successful schools are also gauged by the academic achievement of their students. Hence, it is important to examine the extent to which behavioural outcomes are related to academic outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which PBS interventions aimed at reducing challenging behaviour result in corresponding improvement in academic achievement. A meta‐analysis of extant research indicated a positive correlation of 0.40 between improvement in problem behaviour and academic achievement. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/c9OUU0GkGrw .     

The Relationship Between Undergraduate Attendance and Performance Revisited: Alignment of Student and Instructor Goals

We revisit the relationship between attendance and performance in the undergraduate university setting and apply agency theory in the instructor–student context. Building on agency theory propositions in the educational setting advanced by Smith, Zsidisin, and Adams (2005) , we propose that the student and instructor must align goals to promote the student's achievement of performance learning outcomes, and attendance functions as a behavior‐based alignment mechanism to encourage the convergence of faculty and student interests. Further, we propose that attendance does not equally affect lower‐ and higher‐performing students and that absences are also negatively related to students' cumulative grade point average. We test these hypotheses with data from undergraduates enrolled in management courses at a state university in the southeast. Our results show that attendance is positively related to exam performance, there are more pronounced negative effects of an absence for lower‐performing students than for higher performers, and absences are negatively related to a student's cumulative grade point average. We discuss the implications of our findings for students, instructors, and universities as well as practice in teaching and learning.