Using computer generated images and text for the whole of an undergraduate course

Computer generated images are being used to provide text and diagrams for lectures. These images are then openly available to first year undergraduates in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing Systems at the University of Northumbria. A large lecture theatre is fitted with a computer-driven overhead projector and is used to display the files to over one hundred students. The image files and a text file commentary are provided, via automated routines on department computers, for students to copy onto their own discs.
The images are produced in a compressed and self displaying form, allowing all the material for the course to be contained on a single 1.4Mb floppy disc. All the material associated with these lectures is held on magnetic media.
This paper describes the method used, comments on some of the practical problems of using the method, and gives some of the student reaction to it.     

Perseveration of associative strength in rabbit nictitating membrane response conditioning following ISI shifts

The present experiment determined whether associative strength based upon 15 CS-US pairings at various interstimulus intervals (ISIs) could survive shifts of the ISI to influence the subsequent acquisition of the nictitating membrane (NM) CR. The choice of 15 preshift pairings was based upon previous work, which had shown that this training level produced substantial associative strength without NM CR acquisition. Consequently, this experiment, by shifting the ISI before the beginning of CR acquisition, served as an extension to traditional ISI-shift studies that have imposed the manipulation after CR acquisition. The findings of the experiment indicated that 15 preshift pairings in Stage 1 at ISIs from 250 to 4,000 msec were as effective as 15 pairings at a 500-msec ISI in determining the number of trials to the first NM CR in Stage 2 in which the training ISI was 500 msec. Moreover, 15 pairings in Stage 1 at ISIs from 250 to 2,000 msec were equivalent to 15 pairings at 500 msec in controlling the number of trials to 10 successive NM CRs in Stage 2. These outcomes demonstrate that, within a large ISI range, the associative strength based upon relatively few pairings is preserved despite various shifts of the ISI. Therefore, these results suggest that the reductions in CR performance, which have been consistently observed in traditional studies following ISI shifts, are not due to the loss of associative strength.     

Assessing postgraduate student perceptions and measures of learning in a peer review feedback process

Peer review feedback, developed to assist students with increasing the quality of group reports and developing peer review skills, was added to a master’s level Climate Change Policy and Planning unit. A pre- and post-survey was conducted to determine whether students found the process a valuable learning opportunity: 87% of students responding to the post-review survey indicated they saw benefit in both developing and receiving peer review feedback. Peer review design minimising the potential for plagiarism resulted in low levels of student concern surrounding plagiarism. Marks allocated by students were valid (consistent with the lecturer) and were generally reliable; however, distribution of marks had a higher variance where group report quality was low. Training on completing the peer review template could result in more reliable feedback. Consistent with the literature, the feedback developed during the peer review process focused on style and presentation preferentially to content. Seven out of eight group reports improved between report submissions, with all groups responding to peer review feedback. Peer review feedback and changes made to group reports indicated students had limited capacity to judge the quality of referencing and critical analysis.     

Sample design for international studies of educational achievement

Author of numerous publications on the use of social indicators to guide decisions concerning resource allocation within education systems. Co-editor of Planning the Quality of Education (IIEP-UNESCO and Pergamon Press). His research interests are focused on indicators of the quality of basic education in developing countries.     

Emotional regulation and emotional development

Current neofunctionalist views of emotion underscore the biologically adaptive and psychologically constructive contributions of emotion to organized behavior, but little is known of the development of the emotional regulatory processes by which this is fostered. Emotional regulation refers to the extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions. This review provides a developmental outline of emotional regulation and its relation to emotional development throughout the life-span. The biological foundations of emotional self-regulation and individual differences in regulatory tendencies are summarized. Extrinsic influences on the early regulation of a child's emotion and their long-term significance are then discussed, including a parent's direct intervention strategies, selective reinforcement and modeling processes, affective induction, and the caregiver's ecological control of opportunity for heightened emotion and its management. Intrinsic contributors to the growth of emotional self-regulatory capacities include the emergence of language and cognitive skills, the child's growing emotional and self-understanding (and cognized strategies of emotional self-control), and the emergence of a theory of personal emotion in adolescence.     

Postsecondary Student Persistence and Pathways: Evidence From the YITS-A in Canada

The Youth in Transition Survey is used to follow the postsecondary education (PSE) pathways and outcomes of Canadian youth over the mid 2000s. Students starting at community colleges and four year universities are analyzed separately. First program outcomes are reported, showing the proportions of students who leave their first programs but remain in PSE by switching/transferring to other programs, institutions, or levels. Multinomial regression estimates correlates of students’ first program switching and leaving decisions. Five year graduation rates are calculated to show the importance of different pathways (across programs, institutions, and levels) to earning a PSE credential; in the aggregate and for subgroups of students. Transfers constitute important but not terribly large pathways for Canadian students to adjust their PSE and obtain PSE credentials. We calculate the resulting extent to which institution specific measures of persistence, PSE leaving, and graduation rates misstate the rates experienced by students. Compared to American students, university and community college starters in Canada have higher persistence and graduation rates and lower transfer rates across institutions. For community college starters, much of the difference is due to the relative lack of well defined pathways from community colleges to universities in Canada. We find that students with more family resources are better able to transfer across programs or institutions in order to obtain a PSE credential.