Digital media as a reflective tool: creating appropriate spaces for students to become introspective

Global citizenship and competency development have become integral parts of political, economic and education discourses. This is particularly true in the USA, where higher education institutions are answering the global citizenship call through the promotion of short-term study abroad. Unfortunately, the ‘just do it’ analogy too often influences the ideology of study abroad, whereby simply providing students with an international experience is perceived to be sufficient in shaping global citizenship. Global citizenship, as an educational outcome, is optimally facilitated when educational experiences are married with appropriate pedagogy, including the shaping of subsequent understandings and actions with critical reflection. We postulate that reflective experiences can be further enhanced by meeting students on the platforms and forums where they live, communicate and already engage. Specifically, this communication, using the context of short-term study abroad programmes, will argue that: (1) critical reflection is an essential step to fostering global citizenship and (2) digital story telling (mobile pedagogy) can be a powerful tool for enriching the critical reflection process.     

Universities and the Public Purse: an Update

This paper examines the arguments put forward by the author in an article published in Minerva in 1967 about what he saw as the demonstration of the incompatibility between the state-funding of higher education and university autonomy, in their relation to developments since that time. It deali with the increased intmentionism of the DES and the Treasuy during the period between that date and the Education Reform Act of 1988 and the likely impact of the new finding system upon what survives of university autonmny. The paper argues that the increased pressure upon universities - unnecessary and damaging as it is - does not flow merely from the policies of individual governments or the ambitions of civil semants but reflects the indqference of the general public to university values. Given that other democracies have in various ways seen something of the same, the paper concludes that we may be witnessing the end of the university as an autotumous community of scholars.     

Micro-Counseling: An Experimental Study of Pre-Practicum Training in Communicating Test Results

Micro-counseling techniques were used to train 10 beginning graduate students in communicating test results. Training emphasized listening and responding to cues given by the client, brief and concise statements about test-related information, and relating the information to the client's experiences and needs. Training aids included programmed materials, brief videotapes of positive and negative models, role-playing, and videotape feedback of the role-playing and test interpretation sessions. Judges' ratings of trainees in the experimental group were significantly higher than their ratings for the 10 trainees in the control group. Client ratings of counselor effectiveness did not differ significantly for the two groups. Changes in clients' pre- and post-test attitude scores and knowledge scores were statistically significant. An enthusiastic response to the micro-counseling approach was evident from both inexperienced and experienced graduate students.