International graduates’ cross-cultural adjustment: experiences,coping strategies,and suggested programmatic responses

The purpose of the study was to examine the experiences of international graduates to find out how they perceived their new learning environment in Singapore, and to explore the strategies they employed to adjust to, manage and construct meaning out of their learning situation. A qualitative, critical incidents methodology was used in the research. It was found that adjustment for students was most difficult in the first 6 to 12 months from entry into the new cultural context, largely due to the influence of previous educational and cultural experiences on expectations. Four major themes were identified in the student experiences those of marginalisation: student/supervisory relationship, academic/organisational marginalisation, social marginalisation and advantaging. The coping strategies identified were those of self-determination, collegial support and examination strategies. The importance of collegial support as a key coping strategy for international student adjustment was confirmed in the study. Implications arising from the study may inform intervention programmes that are directed to the points of tension identified in students’ experiences.     

Assessment in higher education in the professions: action research as an authentic assessment task

The argument of this article is that assessment in higher education in the professions can benefit from quality assessment tasks linked to professional practice. Such an assessment task would need to be authentic requiring considerable intellectual skill as well as attending to the realities of professional demands. The idea of authentic assessment is developed by using five of Boud et al.'s propositions in higher educational assessment. This idea is illustrated by the use of action research in a teaching internship, that is, data driven learning in the workplace which also serves as an assessment task in the final year of a professional Bachelor degree. Some difficulties and some illustrative, positive student reactions are presented.     

Roles,Risks, and Benefits of Peer Mentoring Relationships in Higher Education

Successful peer mentoring in university settings is the result of relationships among students, mentors, and instructors. Findings from this study indicate that even in programs where training is ongoing and established, assumptions cannot be made about the understanding of the roles, risks, and benefits involved in such relationships. This study demonstrates that students, instructors, and mentors all have different perspectives about a mentor’s role and how that role should be enacted. Connecting link, peer leader, learning coach, student advocate, and trusted friend were identified as predominant roles enacted by mentors. Also described are risks and benefits for being or having a peer mentor.     

Book review

Gender & Technology: Empowering Women, Engendering Development** London and New York: Zed Books Ltd. . By Everts, Saskia (1998)

Privatising Agricultural Extension in India** Policy Paper 10, National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, P.O. Box 11305, New Delhi 110 012, India, February 2000. 95 p. 64 . By Rasheed Sulaiman V and V.V. Sadamate.     

Agricultural development; Opportunities and threats for farmers and implications for extension organisations

Abstract

In many countries agriculture is in a process of rapid change,

• - it has to meet a growing demand for food in a sustainable way,

• - the international competition is increasing,

• - the increase in labour productivity is decreasing the employment opportunities in agriculture,

• - agricultural research is offering many new opportunities to increase productivity,

• - government price support for agricultural products in industrial countries is decreasing.

These changes have many implications for agricultural extension, such as:

• - the knowledge and capabilities of farmers has become a major factor in their ability to compete in national and international markets,

• - advice is not only needed on the adoption of new technologies, but also on many other decisions farmers have to make, such as the choice of their farming system and the decision whether or not to earn an income from outside agriculture,

• - this requires a change in extension methods and in the information sources extension agents use,

• - agricultural development demands painful changes in the way of farming and of living for many farm families. It is a challenge for extension agencies to help farm families to realise this,

• - a major task for leaders of extension organisations is to manage a process of change in agricultural extension. Often the role extension has to play in agricultural development can not be performed by one extension organisation, but only by a pluralistic extension system.

Agricultural extension is often expected to contribute to a reduction of poverty among farmers and farm labourers. One has to think seriously how one can realise this objective.     

Research and evaluation in sexuality education: an allegorical exploration of complexities and possibilities

Defining ‘success’ in sexuality education solely in terms of quantitative outcome measures is woefully inadequate. All too often, such measures presuppose and perpetuate a narrow and overly instrumental view of sexuality and education. Research and evaluation favouring quantitative measures of effectiveness tend to amplify short‐term results and mediocre ends at the expense of more substantive insight into the complexities and nuances of human action and good practice. The paper begins with a true story involving a teenager and high‐risk behaviours. This story serves as a basis for an allegorical exploration of programme development, goals and vision. The allegory offers a context for thinking about the importance of research and evaluation methods that focus on expressive action, agency and symbolic metaphorical thinking as opposed to measurable behaviours and linear logical thinking.     

THE PRIVATE SCHOOL IN THE AMERICAN SCHEME OF EDUCATION

This article explores the possible contribution to Jewish education found in the resources of Judaica scholarship. It begins by exploring the complex and often uneasy connection between the world of the university and the world of education and then offers an alternative to this tension by suggesting ways that Jewish subject matter scholarship might both help expand Jewish educational research and improve the actual practice of education. Four models are offered as means of implementing these ideas. These models are explored through specific examples and analysis of the potential advantages and challenges embedded in each.     

Teaching as Theater

As new media proliferate, professors need to be particularly attentive to the ways by which students learn—in and out of the classroom—and how scarce classroom time can be organized. This article argues that professors' comparative advantage lies as an exemplar of discipline‐based thinking. Effective training in how to think about problems (the essence of any discipline) demands that professors embrace the classroom as theater, where business drama and the story it tells can capture the hearts and minds of the student participants. The article talks through a case as theater.     

伦理学、经济学与高等教育——作为一种公共物品的大学

本文探讨了大学教育的经济学与公共物品的功利主义概念.笔者认为,现代大学的发展与演变是与物品这一概念的变化相伴随的.早期的自由主义经济学理论(代表人物如穆勒)认为,一种物品能够被供给,要么是因为它作为一个整体对社区有益,要么是因为它不能或者不应该通过私人的方式供给,比如国防.正如国家和社会在规则制定与福利供给方面变得越来越复杂,物品的定义也日益复杂.政策的合理性往往是通过它有助于公共财富的积累而得到证明的,具体来讲,政策应该要么满足社会受众的某种具体利益(这种福利是需要政府提供的,如学生的受教育经费),要么增进社会作为一个整体的利益(比如受教育人口的增长).这与现代大学的成长和进步是并行不悖且相互砥砺的.新自由主义的观点是对以上观点的一种挑战,它认为私人的投资与供给所产生的回报要远高于公共的投资与供给,而且从道义上来讲,个人与社会对于供给何种物品应该具有选择权;同时,由经济效能与个人选择所带来的混合的社会利益可以获致更多的集体公共物品.然而,这种观点没有考虑到规范的议题(如公平与社会正义)的影响.因此,本文旨在思考上述几重张力对于以下问题的影响,这些问题包括现代大学与公共物品的当代意涵之间的联系,以及大学占统治地位的经济功能能否与其在知识和文化方面的使命相协调.     

La interacción familiar como educación moral

Sin lugar a dudas, el estilo de comunicación de los padres influye en el desanollo del razonamiento moral de sus hijos. En este artículo se presentan las conclusiones de diversas investigaciones realizadas al respecto, mostrando cómo las pautas de comunicación familiar reflejan el «estadio» familiar de razonamiento moral y desarrollando, además, un modelo de tratamiento de temas morales entre compañeros de clase denominado discusión transactiva.