Birth,life and death of the Victorian Education Ultranet

This article examines the development and ultimate demise of the Ultranet, a major ICT infrastructure project in the education system of the Australian State of Victoria. The case is interesting as it was a very large project, intended for 1500 schools and funded to $180 m (Au). The study traces the design and implementation of the project as a socio-technical innovation in education. Although there are examples of how this project worked very well, its uptake was less than anticipated. The study found that potential benefits from a very large project like this can be nullified by a number of factors including: change in sponsorship of the project, an over emphasis on security concerns, failure to enrol crucial stakeholders and a naive assumption by technologists that technology with potential benefits will always be accepted. The study also found that technology projects must be delivered where a need exists and one that, most importantly, is recognised by the stakeholders. This will also be the case in other education systems around the world. If resources are not to be wasted the problem must be clearly identified and its need accepted before a solution is proposed. The Victorian Government finally abandoned the Ultranet in June 2013.     

Assessing children's perceptions of prosocial and antisocial peer behaviour

The aims of this study were to administer an assessment measure that would identify prosocial children, bullies and their victims, and to examine the underlying structure of children's perceptions of peer social behaviour in these three groups. Three versions (peer nomination, self and teacher rating) of a newly developed child social behaviour questionnaire (CSBQ) were completed by children (aged 9/10 years, n=321) and their teachers in 14 Scottish primary schools. The CSBQ is distinguished from other extant measures by its joint focus on both prosocial and antisocial child behaviours, and by its use of concrete and empirically derived items. In conjunction with sociometric data, which was also elicited from the children, the CSBQ yielded scores on 12 behavioural dimensions. Based upon the peer nomination data, a set of rigorous criteria, capable of reliably identifying children in the three groups, was developed to take account of varying peer nomination practices within and between schools. Factor analysis of the 12 measures yielded four factors (two antisocial factors, a prosocial factor and a victim factor) which accounted for 71% of the variance, and which offer further insight into the organisation of children's perceptions of social behaviour. Gender differences in peer nomination patterns and comparisons between the different informant groups are discussed in relation to previous work.     

The effect of cooperative and individualistic learning experiences on positive and negative cross-handicap relationships

The effects of cooperative and individualistic learning contingencies on interpersonal attraction, social acceptability, and self-esteem between handicapped and nonhandicapped fourth-grade students were tracked and compared. Sixty-nine students were assigned to conditions on a stratified random basis controlling for handicap, sex, and age. They participated in the study for 45 min a day for 54 instructional days during science class. Nonhandicapped peer ratings of the social acceptability of each handicapped student and several attitude measures were obtained four separate times at 18-day intervals. The results indicate that continued use of cooperative learning contingencies promote positive growth in interpersonal attraction, social acceptability, and self-esteem between handicapped and nonhandicapped students. The results also indicate that when cooperative learning contingencies are replaced with individualized learning contingencies, decay in the above-mentioned variables occurs.     

Light stimulus change evokes an activity response in the rat

Bright light may be a danger signal for rats because they are more vulnerable to predators in bright environments. We examined the fear-evoking properties of bright light with a novel open-field procedure that confronts a rat with the sudden onset or termination of a bright light gradient. The rats did not freeze but exhibited a transient increase in locomotion to light onset and termination, which we call theactivity response (AR). This finding suggests that the AR is an exploratory response geared at investigating stimulus change. The rats also displayed a preference for dark to the lighting differential that was not due to the novelty or slight heating differential supplied by the lamps. These experiments demonstrate that the sudden onset of bright light engages preencounter defensive behavior, as described by the predatory imminence model (Fanselow & Lester, 1988). This task is amenable to studying light-evoked defensive responses.     

Educational ideologies and national development needs: the ’African University‘ in Namibia

Although a new institution, the University of Namibia is facing the same problems of curriculum, funding, and access which hinder academic effectiveness elsewhere. Research on the future prospects for the university was facilitated by the senior authors prior involvement in the effort to construct a modern Namibia in the post-colonial period. Such involvement included several advisory assignments relating to the emerging university. This shared experience provided unusual access for in-depth and confidential interviews with national and university decision-makers. Based on these discussions and previous research, the authors outline a process for facilitating the government and academic leadership so crucial to evolving a responsive university. They discern that success for higher education in the Namibian context will require merging the roles of the University and the Polytechnic and transcending imported models to develop an institution responsive to Namibian needs.