Kinds of Keys of student ratings of faculty teaching effectiveness

Three substudies of effects of different formats on student ratings of faculty teaching effectiveness were conducted. One substudy, Kinds of Keys, investigated three main kinds of keys: Agreement, Evaluation, and Needs Improvement. The second, NO TUP, investigated numbers of positive rating categories. The third, Item Wording Direction, investigated the same items worded positively, negatively, and neutrally, respectively. Practically important differences in level of ratings obtained in Kinds of Keys and practically and statistically significant differences obtained in NO TUP and Item Wording Direction. It was concluded that additional research is necessary to determine if apparent differences in teaching effectiveness are actually differences in teaching effectiveness or differences due to the methods of measurement.     

School self‐evaluation and the role of a critical friend

School self‐evaluation is receiving increasing attention in England, partly as a result of changes in the Ofsted inspection framework giving greater prominence to what schools can do to speak for themselves. The relationship between internal self‐evaluation and external inspection was a theme in a high profile policy speech made by the Schools Standards Minister, David Miliband, at the North of England Conference in January 2004. As part of a ‘new relationship with schools’ heralded in the speech, Miliband articulated critical friendship in terms of a ‘school improvement partner’. This article draws upon a number of research projects to critique these proposals, especially in respect of the role of a critical friend in school self‐evaluation. Issues discussed include different models of self and external evaluation, the importance of context, and the various ways in which a critical friend can support school self‐evaluation.     

Adolescents and Cyber Bullying: The Precaution Adoption Process Model

A survey of adolescents (N?=?1,488) documented Facebook use and experience with cyber bullying. The study found that 84 % of adolescents (middle school through college undergraduates) use Facebook, and that most users log on daily. While 30 % of the sample reported being cyber bullied, only 12.5 % quit using the site, and only 18 % told a parent or school official about the abuse. Up to 75 % of middle school Facebook users have experienced cyber bullying. The current study was the first to apply the Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM) to cyber bullying or to test the model with children and adolescents. Results suggest that most adolescents are aware of cyber bullying and acknowledge it as a problem in their school. About half of the adolescents did not progress beyond Stage 2 of the PAPM (aware of the problem, but haven’t really thought about it). Adolescents also exhibited optimistic bias, believing they were less likely than peers to become cyber bullied. Implications for prevention education are discussed.     

Foraging on the radial-arm maze: Effects of altering the reward at a target location

Thirsty rats were trained to collect small water rewards from the end of each arm of an eight-arm radial maze. During these training trials and subsequent testing trials, the subjects were allowed to choose a maximum of eight arms. “Preference” for a target maze location was studied by noting when, in the sequence of eight choices, the target was selected. During testing, when one maze location was consistently devoid of water, rats decreased their preference for this arm over trials (Experiment 1). Similarly, rats that learned a saccharin-lithium association demonstrated lower preferences for a maze location that consistently held the conditioned saccharin solution. This was true for animals that received saccharin-lithium conditioning on the maze (Experiment 3A) and for animals conditioned to saccharin in a separate context (Experiment 3B). An increase in preference for a target maze location consistently containing a sweet chocolate milk solution was observed in animals that were water- and food-deprived (Experiment 2). These studies demonstrate that animals will modify their responses toward (preferences for) maze locations that predictably contain an altered reward.     

Overcoming resistance to formal instructional development processes

The instructional development (id) process sometimes is perceived as being too time-intensive and as delaying instructional materials development. Course writers holding these perceptions may resist following a formalid process or give only cursory attention to early stages in the process. Such a situation can create conflict between course writers and instructional designers responsible for implementing a particularid model. This article describes a way instructional designers can overcome some of the resistance to following theid process.     

Treatment of parents who abuse their children: A literature review and implications for professionals

This article contains a review of the current treatment approaches to child abuse in terms of the following models: psychopathological, sociological, social-situational, family systems and social learning. The psychopathological model of child abuse emphasizes direct services. The services provided may consist of individual, group and lay treatment, volunteer companions, and self-help groups. The sociological model's approach to intervention emphasizes the need for wide-ranging changes in social values and structures. The socio-situational model's approach to treatment is based upon the assumption that the cause of child abuse lies not in the individual, but in the social situation, which may, in turn, be maintaining abusive patterns of behavior. The family systems approach to treatment resembles that of the socio-situational model in that it too emphasizes changing the family's pattern of interaction and behaviors. Finally, the social learning approach to treatment involves the identification of behavioral goals, specific techniques for achieving these goals, and the use of social reinforcers to facilitate this process. Data indicate that parents who abuse their children face multiple social and psychological difficulties. It has been suggested that the reason why treatment programs have not prodoced significant results in treating parents who abuse their children is that they focus on only one of the factors that operate to produce child abuse, i.e., lack of child management skills, marital dissatisfaction, or vocation or interpersonal skills dissatisfaction. It is logical that a treatment approach to abuse must view the problem as multi-determined and services should be structured in such a manner. Thus, the comprehensive treatment program should consist of the following; (1) Child Management Program; (2) Marital Enrichment Program; (3) Vocational Skills Enrichment Program; (4) Interpersonal Skills Enrichment Program. Programs to accomplish the acquisition of requisite skills in each of the four areas of emphasis are chosen from the technology of applied behavioral analysis. Each of the four program components is reviewed along with the rationale for a comprehensive program delivered through a behavioral group work approach. The article concludes with a discussion of the implementation and evaluation of the program.     

Development of Light Weight Structures to Provide Blast-Resistant Designs

In the past, blast-resistant designs for structures were often constructed with massive type structural systems, which relied more on brute strength than on finesse to achieve the required blast resistance. However, structures composed of COLD-FORMED steel components, such as sheet metal and metal studs, have shown great promise in providing blast resistance with the added benefits of low cost and ease of construction. Some examples of using such structures to provide containment for package handling facilities (PHF) are described in the paper for situations where blast containment is needed, such as a potential package bomb being discovered during the package vetting process. Results from tests and analytic data are used to illustrate aspects of design peculiar to such types of applications. Designs for specific capacities of PHF are described.