Working on educational research methods with masters students in an international online learning community

In this paper we discuss the background to this study in the development of the international MSc e‐Learning Multimedia and Consultancy. The aims of the study focus on the conditions for achieving communication, interaction and collaboration in open and flexible e‐learning environments. We present our theoretical framework that has informed the design of programme as a whole which is based on a socio‐constructivist perspective on learning. Our research is placed within an action research framework and we outline our position within the critical or emancipatory tradition and also our standpoint on the use of ICT in education. We discuss the design of the programme and also our pedagogical approach and describe in detail the particular context for this study. We report on the student experience of being learners on this module, their perceptions of what they have gained most from learning from and with each other and their responses to the various ways in which ‘scaffolding’ has been designed and implemented by the tutors. Finally we offer some reflections on the conditions for achieving well‐orchestrated interdependence in open and flexible e‐learning environments.     

Community-based rehabilitation programmes

Conclusion Few CBR programmes have developed beyond small-scale projects to large-scale innovations. Few governments have made any significant commitment to and investment in the development of national CBR services. Most CBR programmes are regarded as ‘additional programmes’. Moreover, the attempts that have been made to work within existing infrastructures have often meant the programmes become little more than a minor facet of existing service provision, to which no particular priority is given. However, despite these limitations, CBR has demonstrated, through several successful examples, what can be achieved. For relatively little money, CBR can create better opportunities for disabled children and engenders in parents a sense that they can play a significant role in the development process. Communities have become more aware of disabled persons in their midst and, at times, have played a major role in planning ways of meeting their needs. CBR offers a new approach to rehabilitation, policy makers, professionals, planners, community leaders and to the disabled persons themselves. Progress has been slow and uneven over the first decade of CBR. It is significant, however, that some of the most creative examples of parental-professional collaboration have come from some of the poorest nations. It may be time for the developed world to look towards the developing countries to find innovative approaches to meet the needs of disabled persons. It is quite clear that traditional approaches can do no more than scratch the surface. A radical reappraisal of our respective roles in the rehabilitation and education of disabled persons is required. CBR offers this new approach. If, however, the vision and courage to tread new paths are lacking, then the danger is that more conferences will be held, more declarations will be written, more slogans devised, and still 98% of the disabled population will remain totally unaware of the international concern being voiced on their behalf. Ph.D. An educational psychologist, O'Toole has been working in Guyana for the past sixteen years. He introduced the first training programme in special education at the University of Guyana, and has been the Director of the Guyana community-based rehabilitation programme. He has written widely on the issue of community-based rehabilitation and has co-edited a book with R. McConkey entitledInnovations in developing countries in disability. He has carried out consultancies for the World Health Organization and a number of non-governmental organizations.     

Psychological Resources as Stress Buffers: Their Relationship to University Students' Anxiety and Depression

The association of protective resources, personality variables, life events, and gender with anxiety and depression was examined with university students. Building on regression analyses, a structural equation model was generated with good fit, indicating that with respect to both anxiety and depression, negative life events and coping resources were mediated by a common distress factor. Personality variables were associated with anxiety, which in turn had a direct relationship to depression.     

RESILIENCE,BULLYING, AND MENTAL HEALTH: FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH IMPROVED OUTCOMES

Resilience is associated with bouncing back from adversity, and the term currently enjoys significant popular appeal. However, understanding of resilience is often superficial. The current paper examined 105 primary and high school students’ experiences of resilience and bullying, and considered resilience as a hierarchical factorial model. The study found that higher levels of resilience subfactors were a protective factor regarding depression and anxiety; that individuals with poorer resilience were more likely to engage in bullying behaviors; that individuals with poorer levels of resilience were more likely to be victims of bullying; and, that gender did not appear to be a major variable regarding resilience and bullying. These findings suggest that resilience interventions that focus on improving specific resilience elements including optimism, trust, tolerance, sensitivity, and impairment may be more efficacious than interventions focused on other resilience elements.     

Mental age and syntactic development in the intellectually handicapped

Language samples from five mildly intellectually handicapped subjects with chronological ages ranging from 11 years 0 months to 11 years 8 months, and mental ages ranging from 6 years 2 months to 10 years 1 month were analysed syntactically. The results indicated problems in identifying the relationship between mental age and indices of linguistic sophistication. Most correlations were not significant, and the results suggested that these eleven year old mildly intellectually handicapped children may not show syntactic differences as great as those of mental age. At this age, differences exhibited in language may be due more to variables of individual experience, and especially the teaching strategies they experience. The results do not support the documented hypothesis that language development is closely related to mental age.