The impact of visuals: using a poster to present metaphor

Studying metaphor with students from similar fields but from different specializations may seem an overwhelming experience. However, the use of a contextualized poster where the images are more important than the actual words has demonstrated how the use of images in the classroom is a valuable tool. Analysis of a questionnaire handed out to a sample of 'English for Specific Purposes' students confirmed these conclusions. The following paper deals with the pedagogical implications that the use of a poster has proved to have with a multidisciplinary group of students.     

Comparing the phonological and double deficit hypotheses for developmental dyslexia

This study tested the predictions of thephonological and double deficit hypotheses byexperimentally examining speech perception,phoneme awareness, lexical retrieval (serialand discrete), articulatory speed, and verbalSTM in school age child (N = 35) and adolescent(N = 36) dyslexics, and both chronological age(CA) and reading age (RA) controls. Theresults confirmed the findings of previousstudies of a deficit in phoneme awareness indevelopmental dyslexia. At both age levels,dyslexics performed significantly more poorlythan both their CA and RA controls. Althoughdeficits in the other processes investigated,particularly in rapid serial naming, were alsoapparent, they were not as clear-cut as thedeficit in phoneme awareness. In general,definite evidence of a deficit in rapid serialnaming was limited to the more severelyimpaired dyslexics. Furthermore, although rapidserial naming contributed independent variationto various literacy skills, its contributionwas modest relative to the contribution ofphoneme awareness, regardless of whether theliteracy skill relied more or less heavily onphonological or orthographic coding skills. Further analyses suggested that variation inrapid serial skill is particularly importantfor fluent reading of text, whereas phonemeawareness is particularly important for thedevelopment of the ability to read byphonologically recoding letters or groups ofletters in words into their phonological codes.This explains the relatively strongcontribution of phoneme awareness to readingand spelling ability in general. In sum, thephonological hypothesis offers a moreparsimonious account of the present resultsthan the double deficit hypothesis.     

Detection of Differential Item Functioning with Nonlinear Regression: A Non‐IRT Approach Accounting for Guessing

In this article we present a general approach not relying on item response theory models (non‐IRT) to detect differential item functioning (DIF) in dichotomous items with presence of guessing. The proposed nonlinear regression (NLR) procedure for DIF detection is an extension of method based on logistic regression. As a non‐IRT approach, NLR can be seen as a proxy of detection based on the three‐parameter IRT model which is a standard tool in the study field. Hence, NLR fills a logical gap in DIF detection methodology and as such is important for educational purposes. Moreover, the advantages of the NLR procedure as well as comparison to other commonly used methods are demonstrated in a simulation study. A real data analysis is offered to demonstrate practical use of the method.     

Effectiveness of a digital literacy programme for primary education students / Efectividad de un programa de alfabetización digital para estudiantes de educación primaria

This study carried out an assessment of the effectiveness of a digital literacy programme for primary education students. A quasi-experimental design with repeated measures of assessment was used. The sample consisted of 364 students (206 male and 158 female) from the sixth year of primary education. The students were assessed in their own schools and the sample was divided into two groups: experimental group (N = 190) and control group (N = 174). The assessment was carried out in three sessions: pre-intervention, post-intervention and six-month follow-up. The programme was composed of three sessions aimed at improving digital literacy, as a way of developing a safe and responsible use of the internet. The results obtained after the intervention showed statistically significant differences in the comparison between the two groups. Specifically, the experimental group reached a significantly higher degree of digital literacy (conceptual, procedural and attitudinal) than the control group after passing through the programme.     

The Heterogeneous Non-resident Student Body: Measuring the Effect of Out-Of-State Students’ Home-State Wealth on Tuition and Fee Price Variations

More than 40 years of research has found a positive relationship between increases in the proportion of non-resident students enrolling in an institution and increases in the tuition prices this institution charges to these same students. Notably, this line of research has consistently treated this non-resident student body as if they constitute a homogeneous group in terms of their socioeconomic well-being, when in reality these students come from states with differing levels of socioeconomic prosperity. Notably, given that tuition and fee charges to non-resident students are market-based, institutions charge what out-of-state students are willing to pay. Under this rationale, it follows that the wealthier the student body of an institution is, the more institutions will be able to charge them in terms of tuition and fees for their education. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it offers a method to measure the level of wealth of the non-resident student body enrolling at an institution considering the level of wealth of these students’ home states, therefore creating a measure of heterogeneity of the non-resident student body. The second purpose is to evaluate whether this measure of heterogeneity is associated with larger increases in the net tuition and fee prices charged to these students compared to the increases related to the homogeneous structure that ignores these students’ home-state wealth. This twofold purpose was addressed utilizing a dataset built from regional, state, and institutional information of 1743 public and private not-for-profit 4-year institutions across the contiguous United States. Since all the outcome variables were found to be spatially dependent, spatial econometrics techniques were employed for model estimation. Results corroborated that treating non-resident students as a homogeneous structure rendered downwardly biased estimates of institutions’ abilities and/or decisions to set higher or lower tuition and fee prices compared to the estimates obtained using the heterogeneous structure. Considering current general disinvestment of states in higher education, the analysis of factors driving non-resident tuition and fee price-setting has become especially relevant for public policy officials and decision-makers at both the institution- and state-levels. Accordingly, this study examines a critical issue in the finance of higher education—the setting of institutional tuition and fees for non-resident students.     

Investigating the Multidimensionality of Need Fulfillment: A Bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling Representation

This article assesses the multidimensionality of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) using bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (bifactor ESEM). The first study relies on a sample of community adults (N = 2,301), and revealed the superiority of a bifactor ESEM representation, supporting the 6-factor structure of BPNSFS ratings, and the presence of a single continuum of need fulfillment relative to 2 distinct dimensions reflecting need satisfaction and frustration. These results were replicated in a second representative sample of the Hungarian adult population (N = 504), as well as across gender, and found no evidence of differential item functioning as a function of age. Relative to males, females presented higher levels of relatedness satisfaction and lower levels of competence satisfaction. Finally, autonomy frustration decreased with age, whereas competence satisfaction and frustration presented opposite curvilinear tendencies, showing that the fulfillment of this need increased sharply for younger participants, a tendency that became less pronounced with age.     

The policy of school autonomy and the reform of educational administration Hungarian changes in an East European perspective

The paper presents the background, the main elements and the contradictions of the reform of educational administration in Hungary in the late '80s in a Central and East European perspective. It also tries to provide an analysis of the challenges that have emerged with the political changes of the '90s. The introductory part of the paper analyses the differences between policies of decentralization in Eastern and Western Europe. In the second part, the most important changes introduced by the 1985 Hungarian Education Act are summarized, and the policy background of these changes is presented. It is assumed that the policy behind the decentralization measures had a negative character: it intended more to abolish the existing structures of control than to establish new ones. In the final part of the paper those factors are presented which may play a role in the future for or against the policy of decentralization.

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel befaßt sich mit Hintergrund, Hauptelementen und Widersprüchen der Reformen der ungarischen Bildungsverwaltung in den späten 80ern aus zentral- und osteuropäischer Perspektive. Er versucht außerdem, die Herausforderungen zu analysieren, die mit den politischen Änderungen der 90er Jahre einhergingen. Der erste Teil des Artikels untersucht die Unterschiede in der Dezentralisierungspolitik in Ost- und Westeuropa. Der zweite Teil faßt die wichtigsten vom ungarischen Bildungsgesetz von 1985 eingeführten Änderungen zusammen und geht auf den politischen Hintergrund dazu ein. Es wird vermutet, daß die Politik hinter den Dezentralisierungsmaßnahmen negativen Charakter hatte: man wollte eher die bestehenden Kontrollmechanismen abbauen als neue einführen. Der Schlußteil des Artikels stellt die Faktoren dar, die sich in Zukunft positiv oder negativ auf eine Politik der Dezentralisierung auswirken könnten.

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Résumé Cet article présente le contexte, les éléments majeurs et les contradictions de la réforme de l'administration de l'éducation introduite en Hongrie à la fin des années quatre-vingt dans la perspective de l'Europe centrale et de l'Est. Il tente, par ailleurs, d'analyser les défis qui ont émergé avec les changements politiques apparus dans les années quatre-vingt-dix. L'introduction de l'article analyse la différence entre les politiques de décentralisation en Europe de l'Est et de l'Ouest. La deuxième partie renferme un résumé des changements majeurs introduits par la loi sur l'éducation hongroise de 1985 et une présentation du contexte politique de ces événements. L'auteur prétend que la politique sous-jacente aux mesures de décentralisation avait un caractère négatif: elle visait davantage à abolir les structures de contrôle en place qu'à en établir de nouvelles. La dernière partie de l'article présente les facteurs pouvant jouer un rôle à l'avenir pour ou contre cette politique de décentralisation.

     

Towards a controlled vocabulary on software engineering education

Software engineering is the discipline that develops all the aspects of the production of software. Although there are guidelines about what topics to include in a software engineering curricula, it is usually unclear which are the best methods to teach them. In any science discipline the construction of a classification schema is a common approach to understand a thematic area. This study examines previous publications in software engineering education to obtain a first controlled vocabulary (a more formal definition of a classification schema) in the field. Publications from 1988 to 2014 were collected and processed using automatic clustering techniques and the outcomes were analysed manually. The result is an initial controlled vocabulary with a taxonomy form with 43 concepts that were identified as the most used in the research publications. We present the classification of the concepts in three facets: ‘what to teach’, ‘how to teach’ and ‘where to teach’ and the evolution of concepts over time.