Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Commitment-to-School Scale Using a Sample of Junior High School Youth in Ghana

Empirical evidence from developed countries suggests that students' commitment to school is fundamental to their academic success. However, in developing countries, validated measures of student commitment to school do not exist. The current study helps fill this research gap by examining the validity and reliability of a commitment-to-school scale (CSS) adapted for the Ghanaian context. With a sample of 6,252 middle school–age students, the study employs exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with weighted least squares means and variance adjusted (WLSMV) to establish and validate the construct as bidimensional. Measurement invariance tests confirm that the two-factor commitment model is generalizable across grade levels but not genders. Given its parsimony and good fit, the adapted CSS might be useful for future research in Ghana. Similarity of the model across grade levels suggests that the scale has potential uses in education research among diverse groups. We suggest that the CSS be developed further for better understanding of students' commitment to school.     

Building a Better M.I.C.E. Trap: Using Virtual Focus Groups to Assess Subject Guides for Distance Education Students

ABSTRACT

Subject guides are often used as an alternative to in-person library instruction for distance education students. However, when students are not on-campus, it can be difficult to assess if they are getting all of the relevant information they need. In an organization that serves students located across the United States and even outside of the country, a method was needed to assess the effectiveness of library information provided to distance learners on specific topics. The William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration (Hotel College) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), offers a number of on-campus and distance education courses, including classes taught at a satellite campus in Singapore. With diverse course offerings via distance education, the conventions and exhibitions subject area was chosen as a case study. Often referred to as M.I.C.E., the study of meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions in a hospitality context is a major subdiscipline within the Hotel College. After researching different approaches to studying the effectiveness of subject guides, a virtual focus group was chosen to gather feedback from students. This paper will demonstrate how focus groups can be created and how the information gathered can be used to increase effectiveness of subject guides. Readers will discover effective techniques and pitfalls for using virtual focus groups in conjunction with subject guides assessment.     

Quality and Early Field Experiences: Partnering with Junior Achievement

This study explored the perceptions of preservice teacher candidates who participated in a pilot partnership between a public teacher education preparation program and Junior Achievement (JA). The partnership was grounded in the premise that providing early field experiences to preservice teacher candidates was a necessary requirement of quality teacher education. In an introductory pedagogy course, preservice teacher candidates in their junior year participated in a five-week field experience where they taught JA lessons in partnership schools. The results suggested that preservice teacher candidates perceived an expanded sense of comfort with teaching strategies, classroom management, and diversity during the actual teaching of the lessons in the field experience. Additionally, participants reported increased confidence levels with their own preparation to teach. The partnership with JA that provided a quality, early field experience may have enhanced the general pedagogical proficiencies needed for preservice teachers to succeed as practicing educators. Suggestions for creating a partnership with JA are provided.     

Adults’ Learning about Science in Free‐choice Settings

This paper synthesizes findings from three studies to answer a general question: What do casual, adult visitors learn about science from their science‐related experiences in free‐choice settings? Specifically we asked whether there are changes in how people think about science in their daily lives, the nature and use of scientific knowledge, and its communication by scientists. The three studies involved samples of visitors to an interactive science centre, visitors to a traditional natural history museum, and attendees at a series of public lectures, each given by an expert scientist in human genetics. Pretest and post‐test data collected by parallel questionnaires indicated that, despite the different nature of their experience in the three different settings, participants became more positive about the value of science and the work done by scientists and their ability to communicate with the public. At all venues, however, participants became less scientific in their thinking about the nature of scientific knowledge, becoming more likely to believe it to be infallible. The consistency of these findings was surprising, and participants’ changed views about the nature of scientific knowledge were unexpected. Possible explanations for theses outcomes were suggested in terms of participants’ reasons for attending the venue, the nature of their engagement, and the non‐controversial ways in which the exhibitions and lectures were structured. The findings suggest that the educational role of free‐choice settings should be considered carefully, particularly with regard to the representation of science.     

‘We’re from the generation that was raised on television’: a qualitative exploration of media imagery in elementary preservice teachers’ video production

In this article the authors present their analysis of preservice teachers’ video production. Twenty‐eight students in the first authors’ Social Foundations of the Elementary Curriculum course produced a 5‐ to 10‐minute video as the major assignment for the class, interviews were conducted with six of the seven video production groups and the videos were analyzed with regard to the interviews and theories of visual culture. The authors suggest that in the video products and in the production process the students exhibited a cultural logic of media imagery. The particular logics of audience and entertainment served as a concealed organizing principle for how the students thought about their videos and the processes involved in making them. Embedded in this logic was an overarching concern that their work occupy a public space, thus troubling the boundaries of consumption and production that frame how we consider the role media culture plays in the processes of human meaning‐making.     

The Interactive Effects of Personal Achievement Goals and Performance Feedback in an Undergraduate Science Class

The authors explored whether manipulating feedback influenced cognition, motivation, and achievement in an undergraduate chemistry course. They measured students’ (N = 250) achievement goals, test anxiety, self-efficacy, and metacognitive strategy use at the beginning and end of the semester. After completing the first set of questionnaires, students were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: (a) control, (b) mastery feedback, (c) performance-approach feedback, and (d) combined mastery/performance-approach feedback. In each condition, students received a raw performance score for each weekly quiz they completed online and, for the treatment conditions, additional feedback reflective of that specific feedback condition. Results provide evidence for the multiple goals perspective (specialized pattern) wherein performance-oriented feedback was beneficial for some outcomes, whereas mastery feedback was beneficial for other outcomes.     

Doctoral ‘orphans’: nurturing and supporting the success of postgraduates who have lost their supervisors

Much research into doctoral student-supervisor relations focuses on developing positive interactions. For many students, however, the research experience can be troubled by breakdowns in communication and even the loss of the supervisor(s), turning the student into a doctoral ‘orphan’ and impacting on their academic identity and ability and confidence in producing a sound doctoral-level contribution to knowledge. Our work with a range of UK- and internationally-based doctoral students looks specifically at reasons for supervisor loss and/or absence and the students' experience of being doctoral ‘orphans’ in terms of identity, confidence and progress. In focusing on those who achieve successful completion, it suggests the need for institutional and community support and highlights the development of effective strategies leading to ownership, empowerment and emotional resilience.