Assessing the relative performance of U.K. university technology transfer offices: parametric and non-parametric evidence

We present evidence on the relative performance of U.K. university technology transfer offices (TTOs) using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier estimation (SFE). U.K. TTOs are found to exhibit low-levels of absolute efficiency. There also appear to be decreasing returns to scale, implying that TTOs may need to be reconfigured into smaller units. The development of regionally-based sector focused TTOs is also advised. Consistent with qualitative evidence from U.S. TTOs, we find that there is a need to upgrade the business skills and capabilities of U.K. TTO managers and licensing officers.     

Nurturing identity formation in adolescence through narrative learning: a dialogue between the pedagogies of media literacy and religious education

ABSTRACT

In these last four decades or so, adolescence became understood as the time when young people ask fundamental questions about themselves, each other, the world, and one’s past, present and future life that seek unity of purpose and coherence. For most young people the digital media are popular modalities through which they seek, consciously or unconsciously, meaningful answers to such questions. Multimodal spaces are sites for adolescent identity construction, a reality that prompted media educators to focus more on youth as authors of multimodal productions that provide opportunities to create narratives of self. RE has been increasingly justified by the support it provides students to become subjects of life, and the potential to provide opportunities for meaning-making. This essay explores how these functions of RE become more possible through the creative pedagogy of MLE and the digital technologies it utilizes for storytelling, especially photography and film-making which can engage the processes of interpretation and meaning-making, imagination and critical reflection. The creativity of MLE can be positively utilized in RE for meaning-making and identity formation. This paper draws upon the Maltese context in which RE is more of a confessional nature (CRE). This model could significantly benefit from such an endeavour.     

Equity in access? The number of the books available in grade 1, 3 and 5 classroom libraries

Learning Environments Research - In this study, we examined students’ access to text, defined as the number of texts freely available to children in their classrooms. From 60 elementary...     

Erratum to: Urban High School Student Engagement through CincySTEM iTEST Projects

Journal of Science Education and Technology -     

Effectiveness of Equating at the Passing Score for Exams With Small Sample Sizes

This article explores the amount of equating error at a passing score when equating scores from exams with small samples sizes. This article focuses on equating using classical test theory methods of Tucker linear, Levine linear, frequency estimation, and chained equipercentile equating. Both simulation and real data studies were used in the investigation. The results of the study supported past findings that as the sample sizes increase, the amount of bias in the equating at the passing score decreases. The research also highlights the importance for practitioners to understand the data, to have an informed expectation of the results, and to have a documented rationale for an acceptable amount of equating error.     

Regression methods for estimating cut scores

Many education policies require estimating whether students in different grades are on track for achieving certain educational standards. One approach for constructing these cut scores is to estimate the values on tests that predict reaching targets on subsequent tests. Whether a student is deemed on target can affect the student’s course counselling and aggregate statistics can affect school closures and funding and teacher employment. Seven different regression procedures for estimating cut scores are compared with 15 different data scenarios. In some situations, all the methods provided fairly accurate estimates, but in other situations, some estimates were poor. The choice of which regression procedure to use can make a difference. Overall, a method based on a loess regression performed well.     

Prospective Teachers' Perspectives of Physical Education and Sport

Occupational socialisation research within the teaching profession is typically divided into three separate stages: recruitment, professional education, and entry into the work place. The beginning phase, also known as anticipatory socialisation, assumes that people who choose to enter teaching have already formed a perspective about the profession. Teaching is particularly susceptible to such perspectives as students spend at least 12 years of their lives observing and interacting with teachers before they enter a tertiary institution. The recruitment phase of socialisation is considered important because it affects the rest of the socialisation process. It is important to know what perceptions and experiences prospective physical education teachers have about physical education and sport before they start their professional training. This study examines the perspectives that recruits joining a training programme bring with them and compares the results with previous research findings in the area of anticipatory socialisation.     

The struggle for legitimacy: language provision in two ‘residual’ comprehensive high schools in Australia

Despite the contemporary policy rhetoric of global citizenry and the importance of languages and intercultural capabilities, language learning in Australian schools struggles for recognition and support. The curriculum marginalisation of languages, however, is uneven, affecting some school sectors more than others. In this article, we examine the provision of languages in two government comprehensive high schools, both low socio-economic status, located in urban areas in New South Wales, Australia’s largest state. They are termed ‘residual’ high schools because they cater for the students remaining in the local schools while others attend either private or selective government high schools. We provide a qualitative picture of language provision in these two schools from the perspectives of key stakeholders – school principals, teachers, students and parents. We also draw on observational data of language classes. The aim is to provide, within a largely social class framework, an understanding of the state of language provision in these schools. We argue that currently students in these schools are experiencing unequal access to the linguistic and cultural capital associated with language learning relative to students in more privileged communities and schools.     

Consulting stakeholders in the development of an environmental policy implementation plan: a Delphi study at Dalhousie University

This paper reports on a Delphi Study undertaken at Dalhousie University in which a multi‐stakeholder panel was consulted in order to generate ideas that could be incorporated into an Implementation Plan for the University Environmental Policy (UEP). The objectives of the study were twofold. First, the study endeavored to develop ideas as to the most desirable and feasible ways in which to incorporate the UEP into the activities and structure of the university. Second, the study sought to assess the applicability of the Delphi Technique for consulting with stakeholders in the development of an implementation plan. The final analyses confirm the literature on the challenges, barriers and opportunities encountered for institutional environmental change in higher education. The study also confirms the findings of existing research that promotes the Delphi Technique as an excellent tool to inform the creation of educational and social policy. Specifically, this study illustrates the benefits of applying the Policy Delphi Technique to the development of an Environmental Policy Implementation Plan in higher education.     

Re/producing the global middle class: International Baccalaureate alumni at ‘world-class’ universities in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This research investigated educational pathways into a Global Middle Class characterised by professional or managerial careers and cosmopolitan sensibilities. The focus was International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) alumni with upper-middle-class backgrounds at ‘world-class’ universities in Hong Kong. The first objective was to investigate if and how the education of IBDP alumni at Hong Kong universities shapes self-perceptions of cosmopolitan sensibilities, university experiences, and economic futures. The second objective was to investigate how the IBDP and Hong Kong universities offer an educational pathway for the existing Global Middle Class to reproduce their social position and for local families to enter the Global Middle Class. Interview findings illuminated how cosmopolitan sensibilities meant that the students may be well-positioned for careers and lifestyles of the Global Middle Class. Nevertheless, there were paradoxes of cosmopolitan sensibilities as the students perceived a lack of belonging to their universities and a disconnection with the local society.