QUALITY INDICES FOR FACULTY EVALUATION

This paper investigates procedures and criteria for the evaluation of faculty in higher education. It first surveys the different indices currently in use for evaluating research, teaching and service activities. It then discusses the use of these criteria in view of the shifting framework of evaluation in the university from that based on promotion and tenure decisions to one which is based on institutional review. Finally, conditions for the success of faculty evaluation are outlined. These include evaluation procedures that are consultative in nature, the specification of criteria and standards, and an emphasis on the critical role of faculty in evaluation and in becoming evaluators themselves.     

Some observations on dropping out in distance education

This paper is an appraisal of drop‐out from a German perspective. This perspective is refreshingly and challengingly different — even to the rather casual German expression, ‘Karteileiche’, which means literally ‘file corpse’. The paper argues that drop‐out cannot and even should not readily be compared across systems, since significant parameters differ. The paper offers different professional viewpoints then moves to consider solutions to the problem. For die FemUniversitat the solution is not pragmatically driven but rather requires a theoretical research base.     

Individual Differences in Infant Visual Attention: Recognition of Degraded Visual Forms by Four-Month-Olds

In 5 experiments, 4-month-old infants were tested for their ability to recognize degraded visual targets as a function of individual differences in fixation duration. Targets were degraded by removing 10% of the total contour either from vertices (vertex-absent) or from midsegments (vertex-present). Both qualitative and quantitative differences were found in long and short lookers' ability to recognize the degraded forms. Short-looking infants were able to recognize degraded forms in both vertex-absent and vertex-present conditions, but the vertex-absent discrimination was more difficult. Long-looking infants required longer familiarization times before showing evidence of recognition in the vertex-present condition, and were unable to recognize targets in which contour was removed at vertices. The findings are discussed within the framework of the persistence of early visual processing strategies, and reliance of long-looking infants on particular local elements in visual analysis.     

Engaging Undergraduate Kinesiology Students in Clinically-based Research

Many undergraduate students in kinesiology are interested in clinical careers and seek research opportunities for advanced study and unique learning experiences. This article describes a process of engaging undergraduate students in a multi-disciplinary, National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded program project investigating factors that may affect pelvic floor support and symptoms in primiparous women during the first year postpartum. Students complete general and protocol-specific training prior to engagement, have specific tasks that reinforce skill development and require independence, and are invited to participate in additional opportunities with the investigative team. The topic of pelvic floor health is novel to most students and participation in this research expands their knowledge beyond a mainstream kinesiology curriculum. Institutionalizing this type of program could formalize undergraduate student research experiences and facilitate ongoing clinical research efforts with a kinesiology focus.     

Map Perspective and the Learning of Text

In two studies, undergraduates learned a map of the city of Rome in either a flat survey map or a one-point perspective format. The perspective map lead to greater feature recall in the first study and to better memory for a related text when features were correctly located in the second study. Both studies suggest that map scanning patterns may differ depending on the learner′s point of view.     

Assessing activity–based learning for a networked course

Networked environments offer new scope for presenting activity based courses, in which activities and reflection form the central backbone of course pedagogy. Such courses promise an enriching approach to study, but there are also challenges for the design of assessment. This paper describes a qualitative study of student and tutor perspectives on the assessment of an innovative undergraduate course at the UK Open University which has employed an activity–based approach. It discusses the relationship between assessment, student participation, and the development of skills, and then outlines the priorities for the design of assessment for such courses.