Online Learning Self-Efficacy in Students With and Without Online Learning Experience

A need was identified for an instrument to measure online learning self-efficacy, which encompassed the wide variety of tasks required of successful online students. The Online Learning Self-Efficacy Scale (OLSES) was designed to include tasks required of students enrolled in paced online courses at one university. In the present study, the twenty-two-item scale was completed by 338 postsecondary students with and without online learning experience. Separate principal components analyses were performed using data collected from participants who had and had not completed an online course. The results were similar for the two groups. A three-subscale structure was selected for use with all individuals. The three subscales represent items concerning (1) learning in the online environment, (2) time management, and (3) technology use. The reliability and validity of scores on the OLSES was explored through group comparisons and correlations. Suggestions for the use of the instrument with other populations are discussed.     

The Effect of Social Anxiety and Self‐Esteem on College Adjustment,Academics, and Retention

In a survey of 271 undergraduates conducted during the 2nd and 11th week of their 1st semester of college, the authors found that self‐esteem mediated relations between social anxiety and academic, social, and institutional adjustment. Implications for 1st‐year college students with social anxiety are discussed, with an emphasis on early identification and recommendations for counselors to adapt cognitive behavior therapy interventions for use with college populations.     

When you shouldn't do what you want to do: young children's understanding of desires, rules, and emotions

This research investigated 4- through 7-year-olds' and adults' (n = 64) concepts about the emotional consequences of desire fulfillment versus desire inhibition in situations where people's desires conflict with prohibitive rules. Results revealed developmental increases in attributing positive or mixed emotions to story characters that make willpower decisions and negative or mixed emotions to characters that transgress. These developmental changes in emotion predictions were accompanied by age-related differences in emotion explanations. Whereas 4- and 5-year-olds largely explained emotions in relation to the characters' goals, 7-year-olds and adults further explained how rules and future consequences influence emotions. Results are discussed in relation to connections among children's psychological, deontic, and future-oriented reasoning about emotions as well as the development of self-control.     

Voice,empowerment and youth-produced films about ‘gangs’†

This article explores the dissonance between the expansive discourses imagined by the advocates for youth media as helping foster ‘empowerment’ and ‘voice', versus the more circumscribed realities of participatory media production. I focus on a two-part case study – considering both a film-making project for ‘at risk’ young people in South London and the English national government funder that provided the resources for the young people to take part. This case study allows for an exploration of the political economy of youth media, and the relationship between youth media funding and how and why young people in my research often chose to make films about ‘gangs', a striking topic of concern across 11 youth media case study sites. I use this empirical example as a means to analyse how ‘empowerment’ in youth media projects, understood as both critical media literacy and youth voice, moves from abstract discourse to on-the-ground practice.     

Constructivism: Defense or a Continual Critical Appraisal A Response to Gil-Pérez et al.

This commentary is a critical appraisal of Gil-Pérez et al.'s (2002) conceptualization of constructivism. It is argued that the following aspects of their presentation are problematic: (a) Although the role of controversy is recognized, the authors implicitly subscribe to a Kuhnian perspective of `normal' science; (b) Authors fail to recognize the importance of von Glasersfeld's contribution to the understanding of constructivism in science education; (c) The fact that it is not possible to implement a constructivist pedagogy without a constructivist epistemology has been ignored; and (d) Failure to recognize that the metaphor of the `student as a developing scientist' facilitates teaching strategies as students are confronted with alternative/rival/conflicting ideas. Finally, we have shown that constructivism in science education is going through a process of continual critical appraisals.     

A Study of Faculty Perceptions of Summer Compressed Course Teaching

Students take summer and compressed courses for a variety of reasons and research indicates that learning outcomes in these courses are similar to those gained in traditional semester or quarter courses. This quantitative study was an attempt to clarify faculty perceptions about summer compressed courses. One hundred and fifty-one faculty members teaching at a large, multicampus institution completed a survey addressing teaching methodology, approaches to student assessment, and other pedagogical issues relating to such courses. It was determined that many faculty did make adjustments in teaching methods and approaches to student assessment. In addition, perceptions were different between experienced/tenured faculty and inexperienced/nontenured faculty.Mark Kretovics is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration and Student Personnel at Kent State University. He received his Ph.D. from Colorado State University and his research interests include the assessment of student learning, business practices in higher education, distance education, and pedagogical issues in compressed courses. Mark had over 20 years of administrative experience within higher education before transitioning into his current faculty role. Alicia R. Crowe, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teaching, Leadership, and Curriculum Studies at Kent State University. Her areas of interest and research include teacher education, social studies education, teacher learning, and technology integration. Eunsook Hyun, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching, Leadership, and Curriculum Studies at Kent State University. Her area of research interests include teacher education, critical pedagogy, curriculum theorizing, and higher education curriculum     

Among School Teachers: Bearing Witness as an Orientation in Educational Inquiry

In this writing, David Hansen illuminates the aesthetic, moral, and epistemic meaning of bearing witness to teaching and teachers by drawing upon a recently completed field‐based endeavor that included extensive school visits. Hansen shows how bearing witness can bring the inquirer close to the truth of teaching. However, the witness must undertake ethical work to ready her‐ or himself for the task. Even such readiness, which must be continuously re‐won on each occasion, guarantees nothing. The witness in the classroom must work with faith, hope, and a deep sense of the worthwhileness of teaching. Hansen suggests that the witness's practice as well as testimony regarding the work can have a valuable influence on the consciousness, and conscience, of all who concern themselves with teaching and teachers.