Rate my attitude: research agendas and RateMyProfessor scores

The literature on student evaluations of teaching (SETs) generally presents two opposing camps: those who believe in the validity and usefulness of SETs, and those who do not. Some researchers have suggested that ‘SET deniers’ resist SETs because of their own poor SET results. To test this hypothesis, I analysed essays by 230 SET researchers (170 lead authors) and classified the researchers as having negative, neutral or positive attitudes towards SETs. I retrieved their RateMyProfessors.com (RMP) scores and, using logistic regression, found that lead authors with negative attitudes towards SETs were 14 times more likely to score below an estimated RMP average than lead authors with positive attitudes towards SETs. Co-authors and researchers with neutral attitudes, on the other hand, did not significantly differ from the RMP average. These results suggest that personal attitudes towards SETs may drive research findings.     

Ethical dilemmas of youth participatory action research in a democratic setting

ABSTRACT

This article discusses ethical issues involved in facilitating the research of young people on controversial issues. This article considers the potential ethical dilemmas of teachers facilitating a particular form of activism – youth participatory action research (YPAR). We consider how teachers foster school-wide conversations on difficult issues and support students who wish to take a critical stand on issues of race, class and gender. The article also discusses how to scaffold the exploration of topics that require emotional maturity and might lead to shifts in beliefs that run counter to the values of one’s family.     

Balancing the priorities of the classroom teacher with the imperatives of high stakes assessment of reading: An English perspective

The question underpinning this paper, and the international symposium on reading assessment at the University of Nottingham which preceded it, is this: “In what ways can we learn from each other how to improve reading assessment, at the personal, classroom, local and national levels?” This paper will attempt to answer the question “How can we learn from each other?” in the following ways: first some background information on the New Paradigms in Reading Assessment (NPRA) seminar will be presented; second, an account will be offered about what has been happening in language arts assessment (the subject termed ‘English’) in the United Kingdom, which goes some way to explaining why in England there has been a particularly urgent need to learn from the experiences of other countries; third, some examples will be given of new approaches to assessment in other countries, particularly the United States, Australia, and Scotland (which has the same government, but a different education system from that in England and Wales) from which those of us in England might learn; fourth, some principles which might underpin new assessment approaches within the English system will be put forward; and finally, an indication will be given of how some of these principles are being put into practice in classrooms in England, as pilot work on an international collaborative study.     

Teaching socioscientific issues: classroom culture and students’ performances

The “Treasures in the Sea: Use and Abuse” unit that deals with authentic socioscientific issues related to the Mediterranean was developed as part of a national effort to increase scientific literacy. The unit aimed to enhance active participation of the learners and encourage higher order thinking in class by applying teaching methods that reduce the unfamiliarity felt by students. This was expected through an explicit use of a variety of teaching and assessment-for-learning methods, suitable for Science for All students. Our main goal was to examine the culture of Science for All classes in which the unit was enacted. In order to address the main learning objectives, we monitored students’ performances in tasks that required the higher order thinking skills of argumentation and value judgment, which are central constituents of decision-making processes. We show that while socioscientific issues were discussed in whole class and small group sessions, and students’ argumentation improved, there is still a long way to go in applying a thinking culture in non-science major classes. We suggest that science teachers should shift from traditional content-based and value-free approach, to a sociocultural approach that views science as a community practice and the students as active participants in decision-making processes.     

公司制企业应实行预算管理

预算管理被引入企业后，坚持以人为本，分解企业的各项指标，强调资金统一管理，强化考核机制，对企业的生产经营管理具有重大的作用。     

关于完善"大学生村官"计划的思考

近几年推行的"大学生村官"计划在提高提高农村干部队伍整体素质、推动农村经济社会发展和农村基层政权建设,以及拓宽大学生就业渠道等方面都有重大意义。但是在实施过程中却也遇到了种种问题,为此必须完善该计划。为此,政府应该努力实现"大学生村官"角色的合法化,建立严格的选拔机制,实施科学的管理制度,创造良好的"大学生村官"成长环境。     

Forum: structure, agency, and the development of students’ identities as learners

In this forum, we discuss the ways in which the culture of science has become conflated with categorical groupings of students according to race, class, and gender – so as to better understand how Black female students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds may become alienated from dominant school discourses that emphasize college and non-college bound trajectories. In addition, we examine the power and limitations of creating spaces inside and outside of science classrooms that value student discourses, goals, and ways of being. Specifically, we debate whether cogenerative dialogues can allow for (a) conscious critical conversations that cut across student, teacher and administration levels, (b) expanded possibilities for local action, and (c) the building of solidarity and respect amongst stakeholders.     

提高高校办学质量要注重四个"研究"

为切实保证办学质量的提高,高校教育教学质量建设应该注重四个"研究"——研究社会:高校要面向社会,顺应社会发展需要;研究教师:高校要关注教师队伍建设,加强师德师风建设,提高师资队伍教学水平;研究学生:高校要针对不断变化的学生实际,因材施教;研究教材:高校教学应源于教材,高于教材。     

Getting in,getting on: fragility in student and graduate identity

ABSTRACT

Over a period of three years this longitudinal study explored new approaches to consider student identity during the transition from university to employment. Students were followed through a new portfolio-based final year course and beyond university into the workplace. With universities increasingly recognising the employment aspirations of their students, facilitating self-awareness of graduate attributes and the development of employability skills are becoming integral to the higher education proposition; however the impact of employability initiatives is not well understood. The aim of the study was to examine changes in self-identification through the development of a portfolio of work using Holmes’ Claim Affirmation Model of Emergent Identity as the conceptual framework. Data were collected through student questionnaires and graduate interviews. The study uncovered the ways in which role models, developmental networks, and imaginings of a possible self were used in identity work. A fragile reconstruction of identity was observed as graduates faced the labour market, with this fragility continuing to be experienced while navigating an uncertain work landscape. We used these findings to allow us to refine Holmes’ Model by (a) adding a dynamic element and (b) grounding it on longitudinal data.     

在多媒体远程教学中如何正确理解教师与学生的关系

多媒体远程教育是一个全新的教学模式和过程.在这个过程中,既要强调学生的主体因素,又要正确认识教师的地位和作用,加强教师的主导作用,以实现远程教育的最佳效果.