Teaching large classes in an increasingly internationalising higher education environment: pedagogical,quality and equity issues

Marketisation, increased student mobility, the massification of Higher Education (HE) and stagnating staff numbers in universities have combined to cause a ripple effect of change both in the demography and size of university classes across the world. This has implications for the quality and equity of learning and the need to examine and to transform pedagogical practices. Despite the growing attention of literature on teaching large classes, there is a scarcity of research addressing the twin issues of large classes in an increasingly internationalised context. This paper seeks to contribute towards filling this gap. The paper provides a theoretical exploration of the causes of such classes in HE, reviews the empirical evidence against large class teaching and examines the difficulties associated with teaching demographically diverse classes in HE. The paper identifies eight pedagogical strategies to address the issues of class size and diversity, which relate to increasing student participation and engagement; increasing curricula access and the language of instruction; increasing staff intercultural understanding; increasing opportunities for deep learning for all; on-going monitoring of student satisfaction; increasing opportunities to achieve; diversification of assessment; and the merit of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS). It calls for new research on global learning cultures; reviews of global assessment and promising pedagogical practices and processes.     

General Communication

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP edited by Donald Sexton and Raymond Smilor (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1986—$32.00)

MINORITIES AND MEDIA: DIVERSITY AND THE END OF MASS COMMUNICATION by Clint C. Wilson II, and Felix Gutierrez (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1985—price not given, paper)

MEDIA GRATIFICATIONS RESEARCH: CURRENT PERSPECTIVES edited by Karl Erik Rosengren, et al. (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1985—pricenot given, paper)

PROGRESS IN COMMUNICATIONS SCIENCES VII edited by Brenda Dervin and Melvin J. Voigt (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1986—$45 to institutions, $29.50 to individuals)

MASS MEDIA VS. ITALIAN AMERICANS by Adolph Caso (Brandon Publishing, 21 Station St., Box 843, Brookline Village MA 02147 $4.95, paper)     

Degradability of building stone: Influence of the porous network on the rate of dissolution of carbonate and evaporitic rocks

The susceptibility to weathering of eleven carbonate and evaporitic Spanish building rocks was studied by means of dissolution experiments. Mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry and porosity of the rocks were also characterized in order to determine the potential relationships between these properties of the rocks and their dissolution rates. Rock slabs were submerged in a 0.1 M HCl acid solution for 72 h and the amounts of Ca, Mg and S released were measured, as well as the weight loss of the samples during the acid attack. Alabasters, which presented very low porosity, were dissolved to a lesser extent than limestones and dolostones in the time of the experiment. A significant positive correlation was found for connected with the weight loss of the rocks during dissolution and with the kinetic rate of Ca dissolution. Overall, the results highlight the influence of the porous network in the degradability of building stones by controlling their rate of dissolution. There is a positive correlation for all the rocks between weight loss along acidic attack and connected porosity, but no relationship between mineralogical and petrographical composition and susceptibility to dissolution.     

双元制职业教育——德国经济竞争力的提升动力

以国际标准衡量,双元制职业教育属于一种迄今只在少数几个国家达到较高发展水平的职业教育与培训形式.但近年来,很多国家对于引进双元制职业教育模式的兴趣越来越高(Rauner,Smith,2010).本文将阐释德国的企业、职业联盟、工会组织以及联邦和各州政府坚持这一职教模式并使其实现持续现代化发展的原因.     

双元制:消除职业教育与高等教育间界限的途径

实现职业教育与高等教育间的渗透与衔接是各国以及国际教育研究和政策发展的一个重要问题,但从国际水平来说,比较成功的双元制继续学习范例是很少的。为消除职业教育与高等教育间的界限,要实施一个从职业教育向高等教育过渡的更加规范的框架,并需要对不同的生涯路径以区别对待。     

The adult heritage Spanish speaker in the foreign language classroom: a phenomenography

For heritage speakers, the Spanish classroom is not the first point of contact with their native language. Though such learners would benefit from an educational philosophy that affirms the heritage language as a springboard for learning and increased self‐awareness, there has been little support for non‐dominant language research in the USA. This inattention breeds negative consequences not only for heritage speakers themselves, but also for national economic concerns as well. This study takes a phenomenographic approach to reveal the experiences of adult heritage Spanish speakers in programs designed for monolingual English speakers. The data gleaned from this research sheds light on the educational, social, and individual challenges faced by the adult heritage speaker in their quest to improve literacy skills in their native language.     

Factors affecting teachers’ student-centered classroom computer use

The present study aims at investigating which factors are relevant to induce teachers’ student-centered classroom computer use. Survey data were collected from 361 teachers at comprehensive schools. Based on a systemic view of technology use in schools, different individual teacher characteristics and school contextual factors were examined. Results from a four-step hierarchical regression reveal that student-centered classroom computer use could be significantly predicted by certain contextual factors: the type of school (secondary modern and high school), the existence of an ICT school policy plan, as well as by the individual teacher characteristics of belief in constructivist pedagogy and their frequency of classroom computer use. The final regression model accounted for approximately 31% of the variance in the outcome measure for these factors.     

How the design and complexity of concept maps influence cognitive learning processes

Educational technology research and development - Concept maps are assumed to enhance learning as their inherent structure makes relations between information more salient. Nevertheless, research...