Students' Perceptions of Study Modes

This paper reports on a survey of how Australian undergraduate students perceive the benefits of broad study modes: face‐to‐face classes, web‐based study, and print‐based study. Two benefit types were identified through factor analysis: engagement and functionality. Respondents rated face‐to‐face classes highest on engagement and print‐based study highest on functionality. However, they distinguished only marginally between the engagement and functionality benefits of print‐based and web‐based study. Two variables associated with differences in students’ perceptions of study modes were attendance mode and student tenure. The findings raise questions about the learning and marketing rationales for offering web‐based delivery of educational programmes at the expense of both the traditional face‐to‐face experience and the traditional “distance” experience in Australia using print materials.     

A Brief View of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions World Library & Information Congress (IFLA WLIC 2017) in Wroclaw,Poland

A review of select sessions at the IFLA WLIC Congress in August 2017.     

What is political incivility?

Using 23 novel indicators and a 1,000+ sample representative of a full undergraduate population we examined: how much consensus there was about perceptions of the incivility/civility of various categories of speech/behavior; and whether political incivility is a unidimensional or multidimensional latent construct. Confirmatory factor analyses suggest perceived political incivility is a multidimensional construct. Insulting utterances, deception, and behaviors tending to shut down inclusive ongoing discussion can be treated as distinct, underlying aspects of incivility. More than 75% of respondents viewed all 23 indicators, except issue-oriented attacks, as very, mostly, or somewhat uncivil. If replicated on a representative national sample, standardized indicators of political incivility should be constructed and routinely employed in national surveys of political attitudes and behavior.     

'Include me out': a response to John Wilson

Complex cultural and historical forces are often neglected when the development of inclusive education in international comparative research projects are discussed. The purpose of this study was to analyse teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education by examining the ways in which cultural-historical factors in South Africa and Finland may impact on teachers’ attitudes. Data collection methods included the analysis of education policy documents and other relevant documents in countries, an open-ended question on teachers’ own definition of inclusive education and the results of the initial study on teachers’ attitudes to and concerns about inclusive education. A sample of 310 South African and 833 Finnish primary and secondary education teachers in mainstream and special education settings took part. An analysis of the data within a cultural-historical framework indicated that each country’s historical commitment to inclusive education and its attendant legacies about diversity in education have clearly mediated teachers’ views in both countries. As a result, we have been able to develop a deeper understanding of the complex local conditions, and the similarities and differences across national contexts in which inclusive education is implemented that could benefit both countries.     

Teacher candidates' growth in designing mathematical tasks as exhibited in their lesson planning

Abstract

In order to gain insight into preservice teachers' beliefs about planning for mathematics instruction, a study was carried out involving K‐8 teacher candidates enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course. Doyle's (1992) notion of academic task and the research on pedagogical content knowledge served as the theoretical framework for this study. The teacher candidates submitted lesson plans at three intervals during a semester‐long methods course; the lesson plans were then coded based on candidates' planned uses of academic tasks. Analyses of the data revealed trends in these teacher candidates' design of academic tasks over the course of the semester. Recommendations and implications are pre‐sented highlighting the benefits of incorporating the knowledge base on academic task into a mathematics methods course as a means to con‐tribute to teacher candidates' developing pedagogical content knowledge via their designing of academic tasks in lesson planning.