THE APPLICATION OF REPERTORY GRID TECHNIQUE TO COURSE EVALUATION — A PILOT PROJECT

This paper reports on a pilot project carried out between September 1989 and June 1990 at a large college of Further and Higher Education. Using Interactive software based on Repertory Grid Techniques, the authors monitored the progress of a group of students undertaking theflrst year of the Diploma In Nursing (University of London). The primary focus was on how the students were reacting to the course as a whole and to Illuminate Individual difficulties and concerns, which could then be fed back to the course team. It was hoped that the complete process would provide a unique picture of how individual perceptions and responses changed throughout the year.

The authors explain how the software was used, the data analysed, and how the feedback to students and tutors was managed. The prime purpose of the activity was to gain insights into how the technique could be most effectively used across a wide range of courses within the college and to determine whether it was feasible for students to use each other for reflective analysis and discussion of grids. Such an approach should provide useful Information both to course providers and evaluators.     

Prediction of elite schoolboy 2000m rowing ergometer performance from metabolic, anthropometric and strength variables

In 19 elite schoolboy rowers, the relationships between anthropometric characteristics, metabolic parameters, strength variables and 2000-m rowing ergometer performance time were analysed to test the hypothesis that a combination of these variables would predict performance better than either individual variables or one category of variables. Anthropometric characteristics, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), accumulated oxygen deficit, net efficiency, leg strength and 2000-m rowing ergometer time were measured. Body mass, VO2max and knee extension correlated with 2000-m performance time (r= -0.41, -0.43 and -0.40, respectively; P< 0.05), while net efficiency and accumulated oxygen deficit did not. Multiple-regression analyses indicated that the prediction model using anthropometric variables alone best predicts performance (R = 0.82), followed by the equation comprising body mass, VO2max and skinfolds (R = 0.80). Although the regression equations increased the predictive power from that obtained using single variables, the hypothesis that a prediction model consisting of variables from different physiological categories would predict performance better than variables from one physiological category was not supported.     

Infusing an inter‐professional and inter‐university perspective into healthcare education

A national (USA) student‐led, case‐based CLinician/Administrator Relationship Improvement OrganizatioN (CLARION) competition focuses students in medical and related healthcare programs on the provision of healthcare that is safe, timely, equitable, patient‐centred, effective and efficient. Students work in four‐person, inter‐professional teams to research and analyse a designated case. They then present their findings and recommendations to a panel of independent judges. Students, with support from their faculty advisors, approach the case as they see fit. Following initial participation in this CLARION competition, an inter‐professional team of students from two universities and their advisory faculty developed a two‐semester, pre‐competition course as a model to facilitate transformation in healthcare education. The course is theoretical, empirical and practical. It has multiple levels of learning and is designed to mentor students, develop faculty, measure learning outcomes and stimulate administrators in higher education to think creatively about curriculum development across disciplines. This integrated and inter‐professional approach is pivotal in healthcare education to ensure students learn safe and evidence‐based clinical practice that meets the highest standards for quality care.     

Achieving high performance: A research‐based practical approach by Richard F. Gerson

Before his passing, Richard F. Gerson was president of Gerson Goodson, a consulting firm specializing in evaluating people, teams, and organizations to help them achieve high performance. He was a pioneer in the performance psychology field and an expert in identifying behavioral and mental strategies used to perform at a high level. His specialty was training programs to improve performance. Achieving High Performance (ISBN: 0–87425–927–4) is published by HRD Press and ISPI. The publisher may be reached online at http://www.hrdpress.com or by telephone at 800‐822–2891.     

Effects of pretraining on acquisition of novel configural discriminations in human predictive learning

In two experiments, participants acquired one of two target configural discriminations (a biconditional or negative patterning discrimination) in a predictive learning task. In Experiment 1, participants were pretrained with either a configural or an elemental discrimination; in Experiment 2, they were pretrained with a configural discrimination, an elemental discrimination, or a control discrimination that was not expected to bias them toward elemental or configural processing. In both experiments, acquisition of the target configural discriminations was faster after configural pretraining than after elemental pretraining. In addition, the negative patterning discrimination was acquired faster than the biconditional discrimination. Finally, the results of Experiment 2 were more consistent with the notion that elemental pretraining hindered acquisition of the target discriminations than with the notion that configural pretraining enhanced their acquisition. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Sorting Out the Roles of Research in the Improvement of Practice

This paper discusses the effectiveness of research‐based educational approaches on classroom practice. In order to help educators maximize benefits from research in improving practice, it is important to inform them of the nature and roles of research. This essay begins by discussing current cynicism regarding the usefulness of research‐based strategies in the field of education. Because of the large body of conflicting “research‐based” information, many educators are finding themselves confused and alienated by the phrase “research shows.” Using examples of high‐quality research that utilizes diverse methodologies, a framework is presented for thinking about various types of research and their implications.     

The Role of the Technical Institute in the Next Decade

During the next ten years, technical institute education in the United States should be expanded ten times while other forms of higher education are doubled. Only in this way will we be able to get efficient utilization of our scientists and engineers. The many developments in science and technology that will take place in the next decade will call for a greatly expanded technical manpower team, and the largest potential source of 1957. supply is the manpower pool composed of individuals with aptitudes that qualify them to become engineering technicians. We can produce twice as many engineering technicians as engineers for the invested educational dollar, for the engineering technician is graduated in two years while the engineer needs four years. Through better acceptance of the engineering technician by industry and the engineering profession, this much needed expansion is bound to be realized.     

Exploiting the rights in the agreement

The exploitation of a full range of rights is necessary to make many piblishing projects economically viable. The publishing contract sets out the rights the publisher may exploit and the division of the proceeds between publisher and author. The categories of exploitable rights are reviewed, along with the methods of exploiting them. The impact of consolidation in the publishing industry on rights exploitation is discussed, along with rights issues in the provision of textbooks to developing countries. She is the author ofSelling Rights: A Publisher’s Guide to Success (Chapman & Hall, 1991). Parts of this article were adapted from a presentation at the seminar “East Meets West: Copyright and the Publisher in a Market Economy”, Hamburg, March 1991.