Alternatives to the entrepreneurial university: New modes of knowledge production in community service programs

Globalisation has significantly altered patterns of research and development, and production. In turn, this has generated new organisational forms and practices in higher education knowledge production. As a result, a strong trend towards the 'entrepreneurial' university has emerged, characterised by increasing market-like behaviour and governance. Within the dominant neo-liberal global consensus, this primarily serves the market and the private good. However, this is a growing counter concern for higher education's contribution to equity, community development and the public good. Drawing from various case studies, focusing on South Africa, this paper identifies the higher education-community partnership model as a complementary alternative to the entrepreneurial university. It is shown that knowledge production in these partnerships closely resembles so-called mode 2, applications-driven knowledge production. Potentially, however, the partnership model integrates and mutually enhances experiential learning, relevant research and community development.     

Antecedent reinforcement schedule training and operant response reinstatement in rats

Rats were trained on reinforcement schedules which generated high or low response rates. After extinguishing responding by eliminating food-reinforcement delivery, response-independent food presentations reinstated responding. Higher response rates occurred if the schedule preceding extinction controlled high response rates, suggesting that discriminative stimulus properties of the reinforcer were a function of antecedent training schedules.     

Development of an instrument measuring student teachers’ perceived stressors about the practicum

The Stressors about Practicum Inventory, a self-report measure of perceived stressors about the practicum, was designed to provide those responsible for the training of primary school teachers with an informative, inexpensive and psychometrically sound tool. The present study describes the development and validation of the 94-item inventory in a sample of 138 Greek primary student teachers. It also investigates its initial factor structure and reliability. The scale was administered both before and after a four-week period of practicum. Content validity was examined using a panel of experts and student teachers, whereas convergent validity was assessed with the use of a measure of neuroticism. Factor analyses revealed four sources of perceived stress. No gender differences were found. However, the experience of the practicum significantly reduced student teachers’ perceived stress. All perceived stressors were moderately correlated with neuroticism, but after the practicum the size of the correlations was reduced.     

Voting for Change: an International Study of Students’ Willingness to Support Measures to Ameliorate Climate Change

Research in Science Education - Voting for various pro-environmental governmental policies is an indirect, but potentially effective, action that citizens can take to reduce global warming (GW) and...     

The Effects of Engagement in Inquiry-Oriented Activities on Student Learning and Personal Development

Using data from the College Student Experience Questionnaire research program between 1998 and 2004, this study examined the effects of student engagement in inquiry-oriented activities on a range of self-reported college outcomes. The results indicate that (1) engaging in inquiry-oriented activities has significant and positive effects on a global measure of gains; (2) engagement has positive effects on some college outcomes but negative effects on others; (3) the effects of inquiry-oriented activities are conditional, with some students benefiting more than others. This study reveals the complexity of the influences of inquiry-oriented activities on college students and points to implications for institutional policies and programs that may be effective in fostering desired college outcomes. Shouping Hu  is Associate Professor of Higher Education at Florida State University. He received his M.S. degree in Economics and Ph.D. in Higher Education from Indiana University. His research and scholarship focuses on college access and success, student engagement, and higher education finance. His contact information is 113 Stone Building, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306. George D. Kuh  is Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University Bloomington. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Iowa. His research focuses on the quality of undergraduate education. Shaoqing Li  is a senior research analyst in the Office of Institutional Research at Florida A&M University. She received her M.S. degree in Computer Science and Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University. Her expertise includes information technologies, learning theories, and institutional research.     

Negative correlation between tone (S−) and water increases target biting during S− in rats

Eighteen Long-Evans rats were exposed to a MULT VT 30-sec EXT schedule of water presentations. The EXT schedule was signaled by a 2500-Hz, 70-dB tone. Mean number of bites of a plastic target during atone (S?) increased across sessions, whereas the mean number of target bites during the VT component signaled byno tone (S+) decreased across sessions. Changing the multiple schedule to MULT EXT EXT produced a decrease in target bites during the tone. Reinstating the original MULT VT 30-sec EXT schedule produced an increase in number of target bites during the tone (S?). Changing the multiple schedule to VT 30-sec VT 30-sec produced a decrease in target bites during the tone. The results indicate that target biting in rats increases in the presence of the exteroceptive tone (S?) of the MULT VT 30-sec EXT schedule, and that target biting during the tone varies directly with the negative correlation between tone and water presentations.     

Overshadowing of environmental cues by an odor in toxicosis-based conditioning in rats

It was demonstrated that an odor presented to rats in a distinctive environment can interfere with toxicosis-based conditioning to the environmental cues. Rats poisoned when they drank unflavored water in a black compartment odorized with oil of eucalyptus exhibited no suppression of water intake when they were subsequently tested in the same compartment minus the odor. In contrast, rats poisoned in the same compartment minus the odor later exhibited reduced water consumption in that environment. Oil of eucalyptus proved to be as effective an overshadowing stimulus as a taste cue (a 1.5% NaCl solution).