‘It is my decision,and it's really up to me. But they wanted me to do it’: an exploration of choice in enrolling in a reengagement programme

This study explores how choice to enter a reengagement programme was experienced and understood by students and staff. In seeking to understand choice, we sought to gain insight into one design element that is considered to be vital for effective reengagement programmes: namely, that they are voluntary or choice-based. We interviewed 12 students and 5 staff who were involved in a reengagement programme that was underpinned by philosophy of choice. Specifically, it was a mandate of the programme that students had to actively and voluntarily ‘choose' to enter the programme. Analysis of the interviews revealed that it was not as simple as a student ‘choosing' to enter the reengagement programme and then entering it. Rather, four main construct types emerged through the interviews that explained the ways in which choice was experienced by the students: (1) an opportunity for self-improvement, (2) an escape from the current situation, (3) a threat, for which the alternative would be a severe consequence, and (4) a nudge taken from a respected adult. Using a ‘contexts-for-action’ ecological model of agency, we seek to understand the construct types by exploring the complex factors that constrain or legitimize why, how, when, and with whom a student makes his/her ‘choice'. The contexts that emerged in this study relate to the internal or external influences as well as whether the choice was proactive or reactive.     

Training and Mastery of Techniques in Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy: A response to Michael Luntley

Responding to Michael Luntley's article, 'Learning, Empowerment and Judgement', the author shows he cannot successfully make the following three moves: (1) dissolve the analytic distinction between learning by training and learning by reasoning, while advocating the latter; (2) diminish the role of training in Wittgenstein's philosophy, nor attribute to him a rationalist model of learning; and (3) turn to empirical research as a way of solving the philosophical problems he addresses through Wittgenstein. Drawing on José Medina's analysis of the fundamental role of training in Wittgenstein's later philosophy, the paper offers a tour of key passages in the Investigations and other works to develop an understanding of what Wittgenstein meant by 'mastery of techniques'. In opposition to Luntley's liberal-individual, or his subject as rational agent, the author explores Wittgenstein's non-foundationalist, forms of life approach to how we act with agreement. More effort must be given to differentiating Wittgenstein's view from that of the analytic school, which Luntley appears to echo despite his criticism of the analytic divide.     

The pedagogy of the image text: Nakazawa,Sebald and Spiegelman recount social traumas

The paper discusses the pedagogy of the image text, a term that encompasses the graphic novels of Nakazawa and Spiegelman and the heavily illustrated novels of Sebald. Increasingly, artist-authors have turned to the image-text medium to represent catastrophic social events, and these three authors’ works are discussed as seminal documents of cataclysmic societal events, such as the bombing of Hiroshima or the Holocaust. All have provided a narrative visual framework that attempts to inform us of the lived experience of these traumatic moments, insofar as their medium will permit, and these methods are discussed and compared. The pedagogic impulse – the desire to inform a contemporary audience of such major historical events – is evident in all three selected authors’ works. Their diverse yet comparable visual methods, and the ways in which they seem to imbue us with authentic vicarious experiences arguably constitute a visual pedagogy of social crises.     

Higher education recruitment in the United States: a chronology of significant literature

ABSTRACT

Given the absence of a chronology of the historical philosophies, perspectives, and practices of recruitment within the higher education institutions in the United States, the authors have assembled an overview of the material on recruitment strategies and ideologies of American higher education institutions. Literature from and about the past aids in illuminating the current context while helping to navigate the future of higher education recruitment. The authors have identified five general periods: prior to 1920, 1921 to the end of the Second World War, the post-War decade, mid-1950s through the 1970s, and 1980s to the present. Documentation for each period varies significantly in quality and amount, with the densest data found for the two later periods. Future researchers may explore how recruitment practices and language encourage or discourage under-represented populations in higher education. Further research in other areas of educational recruitment is also suggested.     

Studying Temperament via Construction of the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire

The Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (TBAQ) was constructed by an iterative process of item generation intended to ensure content validity, by repeated item analyses focused on internal consistency and discriminant properties, and by scale revision. During the construction and initial validation processes reported in this article, data from 1,012 records were utilized. Internal consistency reliability estimates typically exceeded .80 for each scale. Evidence for convergent validity with other temperament questionnaires and for longitudinal stability was also obtained. Besides yielding a promising instrument, this assessment research has conceptual ramifications. For instance, components of negative affectivity (anger proneness and fearfulness) were independent, and item analyses suggested that shyness and other fears were independent as well. Consistent with most current views of temperament, the TBAQ temperament scales revealed some relationship and/or contextual specificity, as exemplified by the finding of only moderate parental agreement. The rank ordering on most temperament dimensions was impressively preserved from age 12 months, when the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) was used, to age 18 months, when the TBAQ was used (especially when subtle differences between the IBQ and TBAQ were taken into account). Most of the analyses benefit from replication.     

Mapping differences in access to public libraries by travel mode and time of day

Public libraries strive to provide everyone in their surrounding communities the ability to access their information and services. However, previous research indicates that the closer someone lives to a library, the more likely they are to visit, while reduced proximity can dissuade or even prevent people from visiting. This study extends upon existing research on spatial access to libraries to detail a methodology for measuring how access can differ temporally, either by time of day or by the day of the week, as well as by available travel mode. This is exemplified in a case study of access to libraries in Regina, Canada, finding that those who are reliant on public transit have substantially less access to public libraries than those with a private car. Results also show that travelling to libraries during the morning, evening, or weekend takes longer, on average, than during weekday afternoons due to reduced opening hours.     

Rhetoric and the writer's profile: Problematizing directed self-placement

Open enrollment and walk-in advising at two-year colleges make placement assessment a continual, year-round process, effectively prohibiting the use of placement processes like entrance portfolios. On the grounds of expediency, many two-year institutions have turned to computerized editing tests such as COMPASS for placing entering students into writing courses, even though such tests do not directly measure writing. Forgoing placement assessment entirely through directed student self-placement, such as that described by Royer and Gilles, has also become an attractive alternative for some institutions. Beginning with the premise that assessment is a rhetorical act, the authors describe their reasons for resisting computer editing tests and suggest possible problems with using only directed student self-placement in open access institutions. They then describe a placement process, the Writer's Profile, which they developed. A sample student profile is presented to illustrate the interaction and negotiation among writing teachers as they read profiles and reach an agreement about their placement recommendation. The authors argue that the form of assessment chosen is important because as a rhetorical act assessment affects curriculum, pedagogy, faculty development, and even the surrounding community's expectations and perceptions of college writing.