An Initiator-Catalyst Approach to College Counseling Outreach

The authors discuss the evolution of approaches to college counseling outreach, and suggest that an initiator-catalyst approach makes the most sense in contemporary college counseling and mental health settings. A brief history of outreach models and approaches is presented along with an outline of and example of the initiator-catalyst approach. Topics related to this approach are also discussed: mass communications/technology, assessment, faculty, student, and staff change agents; and campus politics.     

Pigeons’ memory for empty time intervals marked by visual or auditory stimuli

In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained to discriminate the duration (2 or 8 sec) of an empty interval separated by two 1325-Hz tone markers by responding to red and green comparison stimuli. During delay testing, a choose-short bias occurred at 1 sec, but a robust choose-long bias occurred at 9 sec. Responding in the absence of tone markers indicated that the pigeons were attending to the markers and not simply timing the total trial duration. The birds were then trained to match short (2-sec) or long (8-sec) empty intervals marked by light to blue/yellow comparisons. For both visual and auditory markers, delay testing produced a choose-short bias at 1 sec and a choose-long bias at 9 sec. In Experiment 2, the pigeons were shifted from a fixed to variable intertrial intervals (ITI) within sessions. On trials with tone markers, the duration of both the empty interval and the preceding ITI affected choice responding. On trials with light markers, only the duration of the empty interval influenced choice responding. Subsequent delay testing in the context of variable ITIs replicated the memory biases previously obtained. In Experiment 3, performance was assessed at various delay intervals on trials in which either the first or the second marker was omitted. The data from these omission tests indicated that the first marker initiated timing but that the second marker sometimes initiated the timing of a new interval. Explanations of these effects in terms of the internal clock model of timing are discussed, and a simple quantitative model of the delay interval data is tested.     

Recovery of conditioned suppression after backward pairings

In four conditioned suppression experiments with rats (Rattus norvegicus), backward pairings of a shock unconditioned stimulus (US) and a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) eliminated an already established conditioned response (CR), but there was recovery of the CR if the shock was later withheld. In Experiment 1, there was recovery after backward pairings, regardless of whether the period after the US was normally shock free or not. In Experiment 2, the occurrence of recovery depended on the CS’s being presented closely after the US in response elimination. Levels of recovery were positively correlated with the resistance of the response to elimination during backward pairings (Experiments 3 and 4). Taken together, these data support the notion that recovery after backward pairings is a form of renewal (see, e.g., Bouton, 1991) and is not due toprotection from extinction.     

Instructional practices of teachers enrolled in educational technology and general education programs

This study investigated classroom practices of 38 teachers enrolled in university masters' degree programs in educational technology and in other areas of education. The classroom practices related to five key concepts associated with educational technology: (a) learner-centered instruction, (b) instructional design, (c) media and technology, (d) assessment, and (e) instructional alignment. Teachers rated their frequency of use of desirable practices in these five areas on a 30-item Likert type survey. In addition, one class of students per teacher rated its own teacher's frequency of use of the practices on 20 items parallel to items on the teacher survey. The mean overall rating across all teachers for the classroom practice items was very close to Often, or 4.0, on the 5-point scale. There were few reported differences between the teachers enrolled in educational technology programs and those enrolled in other education programs. Student ratings indicated less frequent teacher use of the desirable practices on 16 of the 20 common items, with significantly lower student ratings on 8 of these items. However, there was strong teacher-student agreement on several other comparisons.The study reported in this article was conducted as a doctoral dissertation at Arizona State University.     

In Praise of Art Schools

Art schools in France have undergone a profound transformation. From being once considered havens of Bohemia with teaching based firmly on the rapport established between master and pupil in the studio, they have become multi-disciplinary with studio practice established in and augmented by art theory as taught by historians, critics, and philosophers. This pedagogical approach is without doubt a challenging and positive way of encouraging students to pursue their artistic ambitions in an atmosphere of personal experimentation that Universities often deprecate. At this time a School of Art is by definition in an unstable state of equilibrium since it must at the same time restrain itself and maintain a margin of discretion whilst opening its doors to outside influences. In a time therefore of mutation and crisis the training of individuals and encouraging originality is professionally suitable and socially essential, as without the awareness and contemplation of that which gives each one of us our unique particularity, nothing of value can be undertaken. How could it be otherwise when, against the prevailing trends in our media-dominated systems, we know that art is a major form of thought, as powerful and productive as science and philosophy.