The Use of Computers in the Education of Open University Students with Disabilities

Abstract

In 1988 the Open University is implementing a major new policy on the use of computers in its courses; students taking certain courses will be obliged to have access to a microcomputer. This new policy has many far‐reaching consequences, not least for students who are disabled. In the past most computing in Open University courses has been done by students using terminals in local study centres, linked to the University's mainframe computers. Also, a number of students who are disabled have used computers in their studies, principally for word‐processing written work. By interviewing disabled students who have taken such courses, and surveying other disabled students, it has been possible to anticipate to some extent the likely impact of the home‐computing (HC) policy. Results suggest that for many disabled‐ students the HC policy represents an improvement in their opportunities; now they will be able to study courses involving computers entirely at home. However, a number of problems have also been identified. Hopefully, as many of these have been recognised at an early stage, it will be possible to address them before they affect students directly.     

The relationship between teacher’s autonomy support and students’ autonomy and vitality

Abstract

Within education, some teachers’ interpretation of professionalism emphasizes conformity to the perceived norms of collective associations. Unprofessional behaviour, often equated with ‘unethical’ behaviour, is seen by many to be that which threatens solidarity and loyalty to colleagues. Informal norms typified by casual collegial relations as well as more formal attachments to organized unions or teachers’ federations exert a significant influence on individuals’ behaviour within the group. Professional ethics, in this sense, become concerned primarily with how one relates to colleagues rather than how one fulfils moral responsibilities to students. Qualitative findings from interviews with elementary and secondary school teachers suggest that, as a result of an ethic of collegial loyalty, some teachers experience personal moral and ethical dilemmas that they find difficult to resolve. Some respondents acknowledged that this can enable serious situations to be ignored or ‘covered up’. This paper examines some of the tensions and dilemmas experienced by teachers and raises questions about the ethical adequacy of defining professionalism in terms of inter‐colleague behaviour.     

Development of students’ conceptual thinking by means of video analysis and interactive simulations at technical universities

Video analysis, using the program Tracker (Open Source Physics), in the educational process introduces a new creative method of teaching physics and makes natural sciences more interesting for students. This way of exploring the laws of nature can amaze students because this illustrative and interactive educational software inspires them to think creatively, improves their performance and helps them in studying physics. This paper deals with increasing the key competencies in engineering by analysing real-life situation videos – physical problems – by means of video analysis and the modelling tools using the program Tracker and simulations of physical phenomena from The Physics Education Technology (PhET?) Project (VAS method of problem tasks). The statistical testing using the t-test confirmed the significance of the differences in the knowledge of the experimental and control groups, which were the result of interactive method application.     

“Why Give Up Something That Works So Well?”: Retirement Expectations Among Academic Physicians

For individuals with strong work identities, the decision to retire can be particularly challenging. For academic physicians, retirement is an important personal decision that also has far-reaching implications for the healthcare system. This is because academic physicians are responsible for producing the research from which key medical decisions are made, for training future healthcare providers, and for providing specialized care for patients. For this study, we conducted focus groups with academic physicians from a large research university in Canada and then performed inductive thematic analyses to examine perceptions and concerns about later life career transitions. This study highlights tensions between professional experiences for the next generation of physicians and individual struggles with personal identity. Findings suggest improvements to institutional programs that support flexible, agentive, and respectful retirement transitions will not only be beneficial but necessary as medical and university systems continue to grapple with issues of balanced recruitment and succession.     

Self-organization of mother-child instructional dyads and later attention disorder

Instructor-learner interactions are viewed from the perspective of dynamically self-organizing, coordinated systems. Mothers were asked to instruct their preterm and full-term 24-month-old children to sort blocks according to size and color (a challenging task for children of this age). Dyads were observed for their ability to find a mutual and stable instructional relationship. Dyads in which the child was later identified as having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were marked by significantly less stable organization, less mutuality, and greater perturbations in the system. Mothers of children later found to have ADHD tended to apply stronger constraints than those whose children grew up to have no identified school problems. Implications are drawn for optimal instruction of children who are at risk for central nervous system disorders.     

The Role of Text Memory in Inferencing and in Comprehension Deficits

Comprehension tests often compare accuracy on inferential versus literal questions and find inferential harder than literal, and poor comprehenders performing worse than controls. Difficulties in integration are assumed to be the reason. This research explores another reason—differences in memory for the passage information underlying the questions. Thirty-nine poor comprehenders and 39 controls were given multiple-paragraph passages, which they retold before answering questions. Retellings permitted assessing question accuracy as a function of memory for the text underlying each question. Inferential accuracy was poorer than literal, and the expected group effect was obtained. However, when text memory was perfect, group differences disappeared, indicating that poor comprehenders can generate inferences as well as controls, if they have the relevant information in memory. These findings show that text memory is crucial in distinguishing poor comprehension.     

Work–Life Balance Among Community College Faculty Members: Generational and Life Course Theory Lenses

Generational and life course theory lenses were placed upon one finding of a large-scale qualitative interview-based study focused on if and how community college faculty members construct work–life balance. Twenty-eight interviews with faculty members at a midwestern community college were conducted. Differences regarding to work-life balance approaches between Baby Boomer (n = 15) and Generation X (n = 13) faculty and as mediated by position within the life course are elucidated. We termed this finding tides of life, which is comprised of three subfindings: roles, tenure, and gender performance. Practical implications of this finding are put forward. Better understanding of the nuanced ways in which community college faculty construct work–life balance can inform policy decisions that impact faculty work. Moreover, better understanding of faculty life in a general sense is critical as community college leaders craft policies and refine practices related to faculty employment contracts, work environments, support mechanisms, professional development, and mentoring.     

Career coping styles: differences in career attitudes among secondary school students

The types of difficulties associated with career attitudes were studied using Super’s model of career maturity (1990) in a group of 620 Portuguese students from grades 9 and 12. A cluster analysis identified four styles with different patterns of association between time perspective, attributional beliefs, self-esteem and career attitudes. The adaptive style showed more committed career attitudes, and the other three styles—superficial, insecure and pessimistic—showed lower levels of career maturity. Implications for career counselling are further discussed.     

Motorische Leistungsfähigkeit von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland

Motor performance is an important health resource. Review articles revealed a decline of motor performance of approximately 10?% between 1975 and 2006. In the past most of the data available for such comparisons came from ad hoc studies with non-standardized methods. Within the framework of the ”Motorik-Modul“ (MoMo) study as part of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS), it is possible for the first time to directly compare two cohorts in the ages of 4–17 years in a nationally representative database for Germany. The aim of this article is to report changes in motor performance of children and adolescents in the time period 2003–2006 (cohort baseline n = 4528) compared to 2009–2012 (cohort wave 1, n = 2820). Overall, it is clearly shown that the motor performance of children and adolescents in Germany did not decrease within the observational period of 6 years. The comparison of mean values of the baseline cohort compared to those of wave 1 showed that 28 out of 52 mean values of the two cohorts with a high probability did not differ based on 95?% confidence intervals (CI). In 24 out of the 52 mean values positive changes could be noted based on the individual 95?% CI values. There were more positive changes in primary school aged children than in other age groups. Within these positive changes, most effect sizes were small to medium. The results indicate that recent activities aiming at elevating motor performance levels may have started to make an impact and should be expanded, also in secondary schools. The comparative cohort study presented in this article is currently being checked by the ongoing MoMo wave 2 survey of 2014–2017.