"Have I learnt it?" Evaluating skills for resource-based study using electronic resources

Electronic information resources are increasingly in use for courses at all levels of Higher Education. They may be employed as reference material when researching particular topics for assignments, as part of a conventionally structured course, or alternatively their use may be a central part of resource based course philosophy. Whilst the use of these resources may offer many advantages in terms of developing more independent learners, there are also information handling skills which students must acquire. This paper discusses the relevance of these skills and the factors influencing their acquisition for students on two networked resource based courses at the UK Open University     

Panel discussion

The question “Is Creativity a Plausible Educational Goal?” is central to any discussion of creativity from an educational vantage point. In the period from the 1960s until now, it has been more or less taken for granted that creativity is a realistic goal of education. However, there is a variety of issues which this presupposition can cause to arise. One is the issue of the early identification of “creative” individuals independent of their ever creating anything. Another is the question of fostering creativity as opposed to the fostering of actual creation. The strategies range from the early identification of the creative and “leaving them alone” to the refusal to make the identification and the fostering of creativity in Everyman. Others deny that there is any way of either identifying creativity or of fostering it. Virtually all these positions are represented in the following panel discussion.     

A written,reflective and dialogic strategy for assessment feedback that can enhance student/teacher relationships

In response to the shortcomings of current assessment feedback practice, this paper presents the results of a study designed to examine students’ and teachers’ experience of engaging in a written, reflective and dialogic feedback (WRDF) strategy. The strategy was designed to enhance the learning experience of students undertaking a large first-year core course at a regional Australian university in semester 2, 2012. The evaluation consisted of three components: student surveys pre- and post-WRDF; a student focus group post-WRDF; and a teacher survey post-WRDF. Participating students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the WRDF assessment feedback suggested that students value feedback highly, and show a preference for feedback combining written, reflective and dialogic processes. The research findings suggest that the WRDF framework can be utilised to address the immediate, practical problem of students’ and teachers’ dissatisfaction with the practice of assessment feedback. Thus, WRDF may be used to nurture teacher/student relationships and enhance the learning process. Although a relatively intensive process, the WRDF strategy can serve an integral role in enhancing feedback practices and supporting students.     

The immediate and longer‐term effectiveness of a speech‐rhythm‐based reading intervention for beginning readers

Despite empirical evidence of a relationship between sensitivity to speech rhythm and reading, there have been few studies that have examined the impact of rhythmic training on reading attainment, and no intervention study has focused on speech rhythm sensitivity specifically to enhance reading skills. Seventy‐three typically developing 4‐ to 5‐year‐old children were randomly allocated to one of three treatment groups and received a speech‐rhythm‐based intervention, a phonological‐awareness‐based intervention, or a control intervention over 10 weeks. All children completed pre‐test, post‐test and delayed post‐test measures of speech rhythm sensitivity, single‐word reading, phonological awareness and vocabulary. The results show that it is possible to train speech rhythm sensitivity in this age group and that children who undertook the speech rhythm intervention showed a significant improvement in their word reading performance compared to children in the control group. Group differences were maintained 3 months later.     

Who am I? Why am I here? and Where do I come from? Responding to philosophical picturebooks

ABSTRACT

This article gives a brief overview of reader response theory before sharing the views of some nine-year-old children working collaboratively as part of a community of readers. Prior to responding to some philosophical picturebooks the children talked about what they thought philosophy was, they then shared their thoughts on some of the very questions of existence to include: Who am I? Why am I here? Where did I come from? and Where will I go to? Their initial thoughts and responses were followed by detailed reading, thinking and responding to one specific picturebook, Die Schopfung (The Creation) by F.K. Waechter.     

Creative Contexts: work placement subjectivities for the creative industries

This article examines reflections on work placement experiences generated for the Creative Contexts website by higher education students. The article outlines the aims of Creative Contexts to generate and share placement experiences and stories. The article analyses the reflections films available on the website, and reveals a continuum of agency in which students’ contributions generally foreground the individual at the expense of the structural. The analysis reveals that whilst Creative Contexts can help foreground the subjective dimensions of employability, the students’ focus on individual dispositions and attributes does little to question industry and placement norms and structural challenges.     

Developmental and Temperamental Differences in Emotion Regulation in Infancy

One of the major adaptations during the infancy period is the development of the ability to cope with arousing or uncertain events. The following study was designed to examine emotion regulation strategy use between 6 and 18 months. 75 infants (25 each of 6-, 12-, and 18-month-olds) were videotaped interacting with 3 female strangers. Coping strategies were coded using a portable computer with a continuous sampling program, enabling coders to record both frequencies and durations of behaviors. Results indicated that 6-month-olds were more likely than 12- or 18-month-olds to use gaze aversion and fussing as their primary emotion regulation strategies, and were less likely than the older infants to use self-soothing and self-distraction. 18-month-olds were more likely than the younger infants to attempt to direct their interactions with the strangers. Infants' strategy use also differed as a function of their wariness of strangers, particularly at 12 months of age.