Examining the Etiology of Reading Disability as Conceptualized by the Hybrid Model

A fairly recent definition of reading disability (RD) is that in the form of a hybrid model. The model views RD as a latent construct that is manifested through various observable unexpected impairments in reading-related skills and through inadequate response to intervention. The current report evaluated this new conceptualization of RD from an etiological perspective. The sample consisted of 2,737 twin pairs in 1st through 4th grade (M_age = 8.52) from the Florida Twin Project on Reading. Using twin analyses, results showed that a substantial proportion of genetic variance, a small proportion of shared environmental, and a small proportion of nonshared environmental variance was attributed to the RD factor. Findings suggest that the etiological architecture of RD closely mirrors the structure of the hybrid model of RD.     

Beyond the Rhetoric: A framework for evaluating improvements to the student experience

Tertiary Education and Management - A framework is described to assist institutions in evaluating the extent to which activities described as “quality improvements” or “quality...     

The other girls: Culture,psychoanalytic theories and writing

This paper presents a psychoanalytic theory of girlhood linked to a cultural theory of writing. It is a result of an ethnographic study of schooling, where the development of theory links to the immersion of the researcher in the research. There are two expansions of psychoanalytic theory. The first is a feminist poststructural critique of Lacanian psychoanalysis,with the possibility of the existence of a third or tertiary split, as writing eventuates. The second is an extended theory of mothering, through the complex relationships evidenced by girls to women and girls to each other. These theoretical developments are based on a theory of writing that is a poststructural theory of decentred graphics, which accommodates the phonic, the semiotic and the discursive. These theories, with their cultural implications, may be applied beyond the particular ethnography from which they come. In turn they designate knowledge, power, fantasy and desire.     

Public service broadcasting,children’s television,and market failure: The case of the United Kingdom

Domestically produced children’s television is frequently highlighted as both an area of market failure, and also as an area where children’s changing consumption habits necessitate new and different ways of thinking about funding children’s content across a range of platforms. In the light of a recent U.K. proposal to set up a Public Service Content Fund to support “genres” under threat, including children’s programming, this article considers how you fund diverse high-quality children’s content in a more challenging media environment where children’s content is arguably still a market failure “genre.” The first part of the article provides context by outlining the market failure characteristics of children’s content as a framework for analyzing the validity of market failure arguments across a range of platforms. It then investigates the causes of perceived market failure in the U.K. children’s television production market. The final part examines the implications of recent U.K. policy responses to provision for children that seek to address market failure through (1) the possible introduction of a contestable fund for public service content; (2) more stringent obligations on the British Broadcasting Corporation; and (3) the re-imposition of quotas on commercially funded public service broadcastings (ITV, Channel 4, Five). Drawing on regulatory and stakeholder responses, it concludes that attempts to overcome market failure in U.K. children’s television appear unsuited for funding the longer-term curation, distribution, and discovery of new types of content on platforms other than broadcasting.     

The warrant for constructivist practice within educational technology

Educational technology is an instantiation of technical rationality. Technical rationality depends on an objectivist epistemology and a representational model of mind. Currently, a growing number of practitioners in the field of educational technology consider themselves constructivists. Because their epistemological position conflicts with that of technical rationality, these practitioners must currently find a warrant for their practice outside the field. However, a warrant for a strong form of constructivism (enactive constructivism) can be located in recent developments in systems theory, one of the foundational pillars of educational technology. These developments have the potential to provide practitioners a philosophical mooring within the field itself. One of these developments, autonomous systems theory, with its rejection of the representational model of mind, is described, and implications of its application to educational technology are discussed.     

Impact of librarians in first-year medical and dental student problem-based learning (PBL) groups: a controlled study

BACKGROUND: Librarians at the University of Alberta have been involved with teaching undergraduate medical and dental education for several years. After 1 year of increased librarian involvement at the problem-based learning (PBL), small-group level, informal feedback from faculty and students suggested that librarians' participation in PBL groups was beneficial. There was, however, no real evidence to support this claim or justify the high demand on librarians' time. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to determine whether having a librarian present in the small-group, problem-based learning modules for first-year medical and dental students results in an improved understanding of evidence-based medicine concepts, the nature of medical literature, and information access skills. METHODS: One hundred and sixty-four first-year medical and dental students participated in the study. There were a total of 18 PBL groups, each with approximately nine students and one faculty tutor. Six librarians participated and were assigned randomly to the six intervention groups. Students were given pre- and post-tests at the outset and upon completion of the 6-week course. RESULTS: Post-test scores showed that there was a small positive librarian impact, but final exam scores showed no impact. There was also no difference in attitudes or comfort levels between students who had a librarian in their group and those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: Impact was not sufficient to warrant continued participation of librarians in PBL. In future instruction, librarians at the John W. Scott Health Sciences Library will continue to teach at the larger group level.