Specification of the stimulus-reinforcer relation in multiple schedules: Delay and probability of reinforcement

Control of pigeons’ keypecking by a stimulus-reinforcer contingency was investigated in the context of a four-component multiple schedule. In each of three experiments, pigeons were exposed to a schedule consisting of two two-component sequences. Discriminative stimuli identifying each sequence were present only in Component 1, which was 4, 6, or 8 sec in duration, while reinforcers could be earned only in Component 2 (30 sec in duration). Control by a stimulus-reinforcer contingency was sought during Component 1 by arranging a differential relation between Component 1 cues and schedule of reinforcement in Component 2. In Experiment 1, rate of keypecking during Component 1 varied with the presence and absence of a stimulus-reinforcer contingency. When a contingency was introduced, rate of keypecking increased during the Component 1 cue associated with the availability of reinforcement in Component 2. In Experiment 2, the stimulus-reinforcer contingency was manipulated parametrically by varying the correlation between Component 1 cues and Component 2 schedules of reinforcement. Responding in Component 1 varied as a function of strength of the stimulus-reinforcer contingency. The relatively high rates of Component 1 responding observed in Experiments 1 and 2 pose difficulties for conceptions of stimulus-reinforcer control based on probability of reinforcement. In these two experiments, the stimulus-associated probabilities of reinforcement in Component 1 were invariant at zero. An alternate dimension of stimulus-reinforcer control was explored in Experiment 3, in which Component 1 cues were differentially associated with delay to reinforcement in Component 2, while probability of reinforcement was held constant across components. When the stimulus-reinforcer contingency was in force, rate of responding in Component 1 varied inversely with delay to reinforcement in Component 2. In a quantitative analysis of data from Experiments 2 and 3, relative rate of responding during Component 1 was strongly correlated with two measures of relative delay to reinforcement.     

Bring your own device – a snapshot of two Australian primary schools

Background: The use of 1:1 and Bring Your Own Device strategies in schools is in its infancy and little is known about how mobile devices such as tablets are being used to support educational practice.

Purpose: In this article, two suburban primary schools in Sydney, Australia were focused on with an aim to understand how mobile device strategies were developed and implemented and how the devices were being used in the schools.

Design and method: This qualitative study uses a case study method. It draws upon questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations, and builds upon previous research in English and Australian schools.

Findings: Results of the research indicate that the devices have only recently been incorporated into the school and suggest that their usage has been generally embraced by both school staff and parents. Key issues highlighted by these two schools included the importance of the school’s vision and uncertainty about the differences between models of provision. Participant responses also referenced some positive impacts on classroom practice, which amplify constructivist pedagogy: there were examples of device use extending student learning by supporting peer assessment, collaboration, research skills and projects.     

Ratings in the Research Assessment Exercise 2001 – the Patterns of University Status and Panel Membership

Ratings awarded to university departments in the UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2001 were analysed to determine whether they were influenced either by the status of the university (pre‐1992 or post‐1992) or by whether the university was represented on the panel that determined the ratings. There was little evidence that panel membership has any effect on ratings, but an analysis of covariance also showed that, among universities not on the panel, pre‐1992 universities were more favourably assessed, relative to post‐1992 universities, than would be expected on the basis of their ratings in the 1996 RAE. This finding, along with the preponderance of pre‐1992 universities on all panels (even those where the majority of the research is conducted by post‐1992 universities), is used to urge strongly that in future RAEs, panel membership should be made much more representative of higher education in general and of the institutions submitting the research considered by each panel in particular.     

The future role of the school administrator

The paper suggests that there is currently a good deal of uncertainty over the role of the principal, which is frequently described as one of educational leadership. This notion seems obsolete. Currently, there are pressures on principals to substantially modify this role, and these pressures seem to push the principal toward the definition of his role as that of administrator. On the basis of the beliefs of those involved in training programs for educational administrators, it is possible to predict that the future role of the school principal will, in fact, be that of building or school administrator. The role can be defined as that of administrative leader, as opposed to instructional leader. Administrative leadership involves at least the following elements: purpose-definding for the organization; coordination of the work of specialists, including decision-making; and responsibility for external relationships. The paper concludes by pointing out that this redefinition of the role of the school administrator, or administrative leader, has significant implications for in-service training for administrators, collective negotiations, and affiliation with teacher associations.

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Résumé D'après cet article, il y aurait actuellement une bonne dose d'incertitude quant au rôle du principal, rôle assimilé fréquemment à celui d'un leader en éducation. Or cette notion semble être périmée. De nos jours, les principaux d'écoles sont soumis à des pressions pour modifier considérablement ce rôle et ces pressions semblent pousser le principal à considérer son rôle comme celui d'un administrateur. D'après les croyances entretenues par les responsables des programmes de formation des administrateurs scolaires, il est possible de prédire que le rôle futur du principal d'école sera, en fait, comparable à celui d'un administrateur d'école ou d'immeuble. Ce rôle peut être assimilé au rôle de directeur administratif qui se distingue du directeur pédagogique. La direction administrative implique, au minimum, les éléments suivants: définition des objectifs d'organisation, coordination du travail des spécialistes, y compris la formulation de la politique et enfin responsabilité des relations externes. En conclusion, l'auteur souligne que cette redéfinition du rôle de l'administrateur scolaire ou du directeur administratif a des répercussions considérables sur la formation pratique des administrateurs, les négociations collectives et l'adhésion aux associations d'enseignants.

     

Teaching strategy: reflections on professional practice

This paper explores how strategic management concepts, especially the notion of ‘wicked problems’, can be useful in analysing the professional practice of teachers in higher education. The keeping of a dialogical journal with a colleague helped illuminate that strategic management and education have much in common. Both are situated in unstable, unpredictable environments where contradictory demands and conditions exist. The keeping of the journal points to some of the difficulties in self-reflection illustrating the need for a more refined understanding and definition of reflective practice in education. The paper does not attempt to promote an agenda for efficient teaching, or suggests what teachers should do. However, clearly distinguishing between educational problems and technical or managerial problems will serve the educational interests of teachers, students and institutions.     

Creating opportunities for untethered learning

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the use of mobile devices by teachers in two Australian schools. It builds on a theoretical framework which considers the location of mobile learning with respect to time and space. The research used a qualitative methodology in which observations, interviews and document analysis were conducted. The study found that the physical and virtual spaces that were used were different from those used in other lessons. Mobile learning facilitated autonomous learning by students, collaboration with their peers and engagement in topics of interest to them. The study found that students and teachers adopted new roles when using the devices, and were untethered from their conventional learning spaces of the classroom. Learning changed in nature and was aligned with contemporary practices in education.     

Enacting key skills-based curricula in secondary education: lessons from a technology-mediated,group-based learning initiative

Bridge21 is an innovative approach to learning for secondary education that was originally conceptualised as part of a social outreach intervention in the authors’ third-level institution whereby participants attended workshops at a dedicated learning space on campus focusing on a particular model of technology-mediated group-based learning. This paper analyses the current expansion of the Bridge21 project to mainstream schools against a backdrop of government-led reforms for lower secondary education in Ireland. The key skills central to the proposed reforms aim to make education more relevant to the challenges of twenty-first-century living and, among other goals, to empower students to think critically, communicate effectively and work collaboratively. This paper investigates the viability of the Bridge21 model in facilitating the promotion of a selection of these key skills within the context of two case study schools.     

Teaching literacy in primary schools using an interactive whole-class technology: facilitating student-to-student whole-class dialogic interactions

Much of the research conducted on the use of interactive whole-class technologies in primary school classroom focuses on teacher-to-student interactions. This paper, drawing on a social theory of learning, reports on a qualitative case study undertaken with two primary school classes in one school in New South Wales, Australia where the interactive whiteboard (IWB) was used. Here the focus of the lessons was on literacy where students were learning to write reviews. The results of the study demonstrate that the use of the IWB can provide for learning in a whole-class setting where interactions between students feature. Consequently, the teacher is able to take on a facilitator’s role.     

Recent Changes to Reference Services in Academic Libraries and Their Relationship to Perceived Quality: Results of a National Survey

ABSTRACT

A national survey of academic librarians was conducted to examine relationships among reference service staffing changes, reference service innovations, adoption of reference technology, library type and size, and service quality. Analysis of the 606 response sets reveals trends toward reduced use of librarians and increased use of student staff at in-person service points, widespread increases in appointment-based and self-service reference, intensive efforts to reduce demand for reference by improving library instruction, and general improvements in reference service quality. Factors strongly associated with decreases or increases in quality are discussed in detail and implications for reference managers are provided.     

Broadcasting

Jack Lyle's The People Look at Public Television: 1974 (Washington: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1975—$1.00, paper)

Ken Coleman's So You Want to be a Sportscaster (New York: Hawthron Books, 1973—$5.95)

Joseph Fletcher Littell (ed.) Coping with Television (Evanston, Ill.: McDougal, Littell, 1973— cost not given, paper)

Joseph Julian's This Was Radio: A Personal Memoir (New York: Viking, 1975—$8.85)

Dick Cavett and Christopher Porterfield's Cavett (New York: Harcourt, Brace Jevanovich, 1974—$8.95)