Television and Political Participation Among Adolescents: The Impact of Television Viewing,Entertainment and Information Preferences

Although sweeping statements about the effect of television viewing on political participation could still be found in the literature in the 1990s, it is now commonly held that the effect of television should be studied as a multidimensional phenomenon. Not only the time spent watching television but also the kinds of programs being watched and even the preference for particular stations are assumed to have an effect. In this article, we report on a survey among 6,330 Belgian adolescents allowing for a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between various dimensions of television viewing and political participation. We focus on adolescents, because research suggests that the decline in participation levels clearly manifests itself in this age group. The results of the analysis confirm a negative impact of the amount of television viewing, which is partly counterbalanced by a positive impact of a preference for information and for public broadcasting. We discuss the implications of these findings among adolescents for adult participation behavior.     

Children and Media: On Growth and Gaps

This essay argues that there is far too little research on the effects of new types of media programming and formats on children. In fact, the gap between the research base and production and policy issues appears to be widening. The essay advocates use of the developmental research model to study media effects on children. More specifically, researchers should focus more on the neuropsychological effects of format characteristics and viewing styles of children.     

Other Foreign Media

Ellen Propper Mickiewicz Media and the Russian Public (New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1981— price not given, but available in hardback and paperback).

Television and Circulation of Program mes and Ideas (RAI—Radiotelevisione Italiana, Viale Mazzini, 14, Rome, Italy—free on request, paper)     

The Author Challenge: Identification of Self in the Scholarly Literature

Considering the expansion of research output across the globe, along with the growing demand for quantitative tracking of research outcomes by government authorities and research institutions, the challenges of author identity are increasing. In recent years, a number of initiatives to help solve the author “name game” have been launched from all areas of the scholarly information market space. This article introduces the various author identification tools and services Thomson Reuters provides, including Distinct Author Sets and ResearcherID—which reflect a combination of automated clustering and author participation—as well as the use of other data types, such as grants and patents, to expand the universe of author identification. Industry-wide initiatives such as the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) are also described. Future author-related developments in ResearcherID and Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge are also included.     

Ronald Reagan and the oral tradition

President Reagan's success stems from his use of rhetorical structures characteristic of the oral epics and his use of the electronic media which partially replicate conditions characteristic of preliterate oral societies. These societies develop a culture transmitted orally through epic poems or recitations. Such recitations are developed by themes, formulas, and repetition as well as by distinctive thought patterns, experiential and non‐analytic. Reagan's methods will have a lasting influence on American political discourse, since future politicians will emulate his techniques.     

Conserving ourselves: Embedding significance into conservation decision-making in graduate education

Graduate conservation students are well educated in many aspects of their work; however, it is difficult in the classroom to teach students how to base their conservation decisions on aspects of cultural significance. It is widely acknowledged that conservation decisions are not neutral, that they depend on cultural context and upon the predilections of the conservator and the owning individual or institution. Partnerships between community members and conservators have had a long history within conservation practices described as ‘ethnographic’, and such methods have arguably influenced working practices within other conservation specialties. A graduate conservation class is described in which students conserved important heritage items belonging to their classmates, in an environment where access to discoveries of significance were encouraged for their ability to inform preservation decisions. Cases are described that link decisions with specific values.     

Measuring business process learning with enterprise resource planning systems to improve the value of education

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) are very large and complex software packages that run every aspect of an organization. Increasingly, ERP systems are being used in higher education as one way to teach business processes, essential knowledge for students competing in today’s business environment. Past research attempting to measure learning business processes with ERP has been inconclusive and lacking in rigor. This paper reports on a comprehensive research study that uses a critical realist approach to measure business process learning from experiential ERP. Using a business simulation game as a proxy for understanding business processes, students from a US undergraduate program in three separate classes, one using ERP experientially, are assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The data analysis uncovers a causal mechanism for learning, complemented by an understanding of the factors that trigger or suppress that mechanism in particular cases. The results validate the efforts of those using ERP in the classroom, and reaffirm other educational business school endeavours to teach business processes, with educational implications as follows. First, before attempting to learn business processes, students must have an understanding of core business concepts. Second, hands-on experience of ERP systems indeed helps students understand business processes. Third, students are showing that they can use the knowledge gained in university classes and apply it to making business decisions. Fourth, students should be encouraged to use all information possible for making business decisions instead of relying on their personal understanding of today’s current market or on their own business intuition.     

Subject Matter Knowledge in a Master of Arts in Teaching Program: Ensuring candidates’ content knowledge through an arts and sciences/education collaboration

All teacher education programs face the challenge of ensuring that their graduates know their subject matter and can teach it effectively. For graduate level teacher education programs, whose candidates may complete their education in the content area at various institutions, this challenge is even greater. The following article describes one institution’s system of assessing candidates’ content knowledge and efforts to incorporate additional content coursework into a Master of Arts in Teaching program. Also provided is information on a set of courses that the arts and sciences and education faculty team teach, with the course for prospective English teachers described in detail.     

Writing Approaches of Graduate Students

The writing approach framework provides a comprehensive perspective on college‐level academic writing based on the relationship of writers’ beliefs and strategies to the quality of written outcomes. However, despite increased demands for more and better writing at the graduate level, little is known about graduate‐level writing processes or about the beliefs of graduate students regarding writing. The goals of this project were the preliminary development of a factor analytic model of graduate writing processes, and of an inventory to measure writing strategies. The results support seven independent factors: elaborative, low self‐efficacy, no revision, intuitive, scientist, task‐oriented, and sculptor, with the intuitive factor predictive of an academic writing outcome. Suggestions are advanced for classroom instruction and for further research.     

Stepping out of the norm: an examination of praxis for a culturally‐relevant pedagogy for African‐American children

This paper examines two Anglo teachers' understanding of their praxis as they attempted to present a culturally‐relevant physical education programme to a class of African‐American 6^th‐grade students. In this case, the content was ‘stepping’, a branch of the African‐American vernacular dance tree. Five specific themes emerged: teacher apprehension; concerns about teacher legitimacy; resolution of apprehension and concerns; the unique nature of the content; and continual ethical uneasiness. The teachers expanded their understanding of praxis beyond thinking, acting, and reflecting to consider the political and social aspects that impact curriculum, pedagogy, and students.