Quality assurance for distance learning: a case study at Brunel University

Brunel University currently has four distance learning MSc courses, with over 500 students registered, and one undergraduate distance learning course. Some have been running for over five years, and well‐established practices have been developed and provide a basis of support for the university. Quality assurance in the university has always been considered in three, equally important, ways: the curriculum and its assessment; the handling of coursework and assignments; and the liaison with students. The lesson we have learned is that a distance learning programme must be based on an existing full‐time MSc programme, which is the gold standard for curriculum and its assessment, and where possible, common examinations and assessment be used. This can be further assured by scrutinisation by the associated research council. This is going to become ever more important with the increasing scrutiny by overseas governments on the academic quality of distance learning courses, which seek assurance on the comparability and quality of degrees. Quality assurance for the handling of coursework and assignments must be secure and demands a high overhead of paperwork. Detailed feedback to students on their assignments is essential, but this can, at the same time, form a quality assurance check for later progression decisions. We also copy and retain approximately 10% of the assignments for the same purpose. Rapid turnaround is essential if feedback is to be timely and therefore useful, and quality checks on processing time should be standard. Quality assurance for the procedures for liaison with distance learning students are somewhat harder to measure quantitatively. The mark of good distance learning must be its tutorial support. This demands good communications. Our own course, entitled Data Communications Systems, benefits from the high proportion of use of electronic communications, namely email, which allows fast turnaround of questions, yet is not intrusive. However, it is deemed essential that hard copy of all such correspondence is kept. Migration to other Internet support services, such as the World Wide Web, videoconferencing and groupware, is inevitable.     

The detection and correction of bias in student ratings of instruction

With the use of surveys of instructional effectiveness that use Likert rating scales, bias is a potential threat to the validity of interpretations. Simple summation of ratings or the use of larger samples are not methods for removing bias. In this study, a new model for scaling ratings is examined. The method both identifies and corrects for bias. Working with a database of student ratings of college instruction, the model was tested in terms of a variety of criteria. Results indicated that bias was detected and that it was large enough to warrant our concern. The statistical corrections were significant both in terms of order and magnitude of class means. Implications for future studies include the specification of more potential sources of bias, the interaction of some of these factors, and the development of more systematic evidence supporting the need to be attentive to bias. The many-faceted Rasch model used in this study needs more evaluation before we are convinced of its utility to study and correct for bias, but preliminary evidence is encouraging. Recommendations were offered for a theoretical rationale for studying bias in student ratings of instructional effectiveness and a program of research leading to the use of this model for reporting results for use in improving instruction and for promotion, tenure, and merit decisions. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta April 1993.     

Do Children with Autism Use the Speaker's Direction of Gaze Strategy to Crack the Code of Language?

Normal toddlers infer the referent of a novel word by consulting the Speaker's direction of Gaze. That is, they use the Speaker's Direction of Gaze (SDG) strategy. This is a far more powerful strategy than the alternative, the Listener's Direction of Gaze (LDG) strategy. In Study 1 we tested if children with autism, who have well-documented impairments in joint attention, used the SDG or the LDG strategy to learn a novel word for a novel object. Results showed that although 70.6% of children with mental handicap passed the test by making the correct mapping between a novel word and a novel object, via the SDG strategy, only 29.4% of children with autism did so. Instead, their reliance on the LDG strategy led to mapping errors. In Study 2 a group of normal children, whose chronological age (24 months old) was eqated with the verbal mental age of the 2 clinical groups in Study I, was tested using a similar procedure. Results showed that 79% of this normal group passed the test by making the correct mapping between a novel word and a novel object using the SDG strategy. Taken together, the results from both studies suggest that children with autism are relatively insensitive to a speaker's gaze direction as an index of the speaker's intention to refer . This result is consistent with previous findings showing that children with autism are relatively "blind" to the mentalistic significance of the eyes. Discussion centers on how the absence of an SDG strategy might disrupt specific aspects of language development in autism.     

Whose Citizenship Education? Hong Kong from a spatial and cultural politics perspective

Citizenship (education) is de facto a political and spatial concept and should be considered in local, national, and global contexts. Adopting a spatial and cultural politics perspective and with the dynamic formation of Hong Kong's citizenship education as a case study, this article tries to illustrate the politics at three different levels. It shows how citizenship and identity are hotly contested, with the result that, while the official civic education programme is oriented towards “national education”, a pluralistic and vibrant civil society allows the hybridization and cross-fertilization of multiple discourses and practices to run parallel with the state project, either in a complementary or competitive way. Civic education launched by the democratic camp in civil society may be viewed as empowerment struggles for human rights and democracy vis-à-vis the domestication efforts made by the government and the pro-Beijing camp, as well as the tyranny of global capitalism.     

The effects of conditioned taste aversions on schedule-induced polydipsia: An analysis of the initiation and postpellet temporal distribution of licking

Animals poisoned following the schedule-induced consumption of saccharin initially continued to drink following spaced pellet deliveries. Neither the initiation of postpellet drinking (i.e., bout, initiation) nor the size and duration of the bouts was effected by the conditioned aversion procedure. With repeated conditioning trials (i.e., repeated pairings of saccharin and LiCl), schedule induced drinking was eventually reduced. The specific components underlying schedule-induced consumption, however, were differentially affected by the aversion training. Specifically, the decrease in schedule-induced drinking was effected primarily by a decrease in licking occurring between 10 and 60 sec after pellet delivery. Bout initiation and licking immediately postpellet (i.e., within the first 10 sec following pellet delivery) were most resistant to suppression and appeared to be responsible for the relative insensitivity of schedule-induced drinking to conditioned taste aversions. The differential effects of taste aversion conditioning on individual components of elicited behavior are discussed.     

My system of career influences: responding to challenges facing career education

The present article explores major challenges facing career psychology, specifically within the field of career education. Several issues are identified including the need for more effective links between theory and practice, the movement towards constructivist theories and the related challenges of applying such theories. These issues are explored within the context of the reformulation of career education and through the lens of the constructivist Systems Theory Framework of career development and its applied activity, the My Systems of Career Influences.

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Zusammenfassung “My System of Career Influences”: Eine Antwort auf Herausforderungen für den Berufswahlunterricht. Dieser Artikel untersucht wesentliche Herausforderungen für die Berufspsychologie, insbesondere auf dem Gebiet des Berufswahlunterrichts. Mehrere Aspekte werden angesprochen, unter anderem der Bedarf für wirkungsvollere Verknüpfungen von Theorie und Praxis, den Trend zu konstruktivistischen Theorien und der Anwendung solcher Theorien. Diese Aspekte werden untersucht vor dem Hintergrund einer Neuformulierung der Berufswahlvorbereitung, sowie aus dem Blickwinkel des konstruktivistischen System-Theorie-Modell (Systems Theory Framework) und dessen Anwendungskonzept, dem ″My Systems of Career Influences” (Meine Systematik für Berufswahl-Einflüsse).

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Resumen Mi Sistema de Influencias sobre la Carrera: Respuesta a los Retos que afronta la Educación para la Carrera. El presente artículo explora los principales retos a los que se enfrenta la psicología de la carrera, en concreto dentro del campo de la educación para la carera. Se identifican varias cuestiones tales como la necesidad de vínculos más efectivos entre la teoría y la práctica, el movimiento hacia teorías constructivistas y los retos derivados de la aplicación de dichas teorías. Estas cuestiones se abordan dentro del contexto de reformulación de la educación para la carrera y a través del lente del marco constructivista de la Teoría de Sistemas del desarrollo de la carrera y su aplicación práctica, Mi Sistema de Influencias sobre la Carrera.

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Résumé Mon Système d’Influences sur la Trajectoire Vocationnelle: une réponse aux défis lancés à l’éducation au choix vocationnel. Le présent article explore les défis majeurs lancés à la psychologie vocationnelle, en particulier dans le champ de l’éducation au choix vocationnel. On identifie plusieurs questions comme la nécessité de liens plus fermes entre théorie et pratique, l’expansion des théories constructivistes et les défis que leur application implique. Ces questions sont explorées dans le contexte de la reformulation de l’éducation au choix professionnel et sous l’angle de la structure constructiviste de la Théorie des Systèmes du développement vocationnel et de son application “Mes Systèmes d’Influences sur la Trajectoire Vocationnelle”.

     

Attention and curiosity in museums

Two hundred and thirty-four museum visitors of all ages were observed as they entered the Object Gallery area of the Florida State Museum. Visitors were observed under conditions where objects were available for close inspection but could not be manipulated (baseline data) and later when the same objects were placed on tables and were available for visitors to touch, move, and use a variety of senses to inspect them (intervention data). Data were recorded on the sex, age, and number of subjects in these areas under each of the above conditions. The results obtained show a significant increase in the number of visitors entering this section of the museum when manipulatable objects were available. Baseline data showed that 58.5% of the people who entered the Object Gallery went into the drawer section. However, when manipulatable objects were made available this increased to 82.3%. Chi-square analysis was used to determine whether the presence of manipulatable objects in the area increased the number of people who entered the area. It did (p < 0.05). Chi-square analysis was also used to determine whether entering the drawer section depended on age or sex. It was found that more children entered the drawer section than adults (p < 0.05) and significantly more female children and female adults entered as a result of intervention (p < 0.05). At the same time, more male children than adults entered after intervention (p < 0.05) than before. These data are supported by considerable curiosity research indicating that both children and adults are attracted to novel as well as complex stimuli which can be manipulated in both formal and free-choice environments. The data also support the growing movement to hands-on exhibits in natural history museums and science centers around the country, as well as hands-on classroom activities from the perspective of their attention attracting and holding power and their curiosity evoking characteristics. Whether these positive factors also lead to increased knowledge or skill development is a question yet to be explored.