Seeing education through the prism of PISA

International comparisons are never easy and they are not perfect. But PISA shows what is possible in education and it helps countries to see themselves in the mirror of student performance and educational possibilities in other countries. This article summarises key policy insights from PISA. It highlights how excellence and improving equity need not be conflicting policy objectives, but that they tend to be jointly achieved only when deliberate policies are in place that match resources with needs and when stratification and grade repetition are contained. The article also shows how a number of countries have been able to raise learning outcomes and moderate the impact of social background in the last decade and highlights some of the policies and practices that characterise these countries.     

二元对称循环矩阵的逆矩阵

首先介绍求二元对称循环矩阵逆矩阵的简便方法，然后用这种方法给出两类二元对称循环矩阵的求逆公式。     

Complex Questions,Evolving Answers

SUMMARY

Since 2001, librarians at Oregon State University's Valley Library have been working to build a “teaching library” supported by a clearly articulated instruction program. From the start, we believed that we needed to assess the teaching library's impact, not only to determine the success or failure of our efforts but also to demonstrate the need for intentional, proactive information literacy instruction on our campus. No single assessment tool or method proved adequate to effectively measure student learning happening both inside and outside the library. We describe our evolving, multi-pronged approach to measuring the impact of the library on student learning in the context of current assessment practices in academic libraries and higher education.     

Reinventing the public value of libraries

ABSTRACT

Libraries worldwide have had to re-think their purpose and adapt to changing community needs and expectations. They are no longer simply repositories for old books. Rather, they are vital components of a community’s social and economic infrastructure that connects communities and fosters creativity and innovation. This paper explores the changing role of libraries—and public value organizations more broadly—in creating positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes for individuals and communities.     

国外高校图书馆成效评估研究及对我国的启示

我国高校图书馆成效评估的理论和实践落后于西方发达国家,在明确成效评估等相关概念的基础上,通过梳理国外高校图书馆成效评估的理论体系形成过程及相关实践的发展脉络可以看出,高校图书馆评价理论发展是以实证研究为支撑,不断向高等教育等相关学科借鉴学习的过程。国外的发展经验对我国图书馆评价理论及实践发展具有一定的借鉴意义。     

The Effects of Game Design on Learning Outcomes

This article details the administration and results of an experiment conducted to assess the impact of three video game design concepts upon learning outcomes. The principles tested include game aesthetics, player choice, and player competition. The experiment participants were asked to play a serious game over the course of a week, and the learning outcomes were measured by comparing their pretest and posttest scores. The results of a one-tailed t test indicated, with a p value of 0.043, that there was a statistically significant effect of the aesthetic presentation of the game upon the learning outcome. There was no indication of a significant effect by the player choice or player competition conditions, but the results from these experiment groups point to some potentially interesting interactions between the conditions and learning, as well as possible future lines of experimental inquiry.     

快速城市化地区耕地流失的时空特征及其驱动机制综合分析——以江苏省苏锡常地区为例

基于遥感影像、社会经济统计数据及地理空间数据,以耕地流失显著的江苏省苏锡常地区为例,在分析耕地流失时空特征的基础上,不仅剖析了驱动耕地数量减少的宏观政策与社会经济因素,还重点研究了影响耕地流失格局的微观空间因子。研究结果表明:①研究区耕地数量经历了快速减少-缓慢减少-加速减少的变化轨迹,这与不同时期国家宏观政策的重大调整紧密相关;1990-2010年间耕地流失总量为24.46万hm2,主要流向为建设用地与水库坑塘;②城镇人口的激增和区域经济的飞速发展,是驱动研究区耕地数量锐减的主要社会经济因素;③高程因子、距离与交通通达因子、邻域因子均不同程度影响耕地流失的空间格局,其中占主导的是到中心城区的距离、交通便利性以及邻域效应的驱动作用;④未来区域规划应考虑通过产业布局调整和区域整体规划以促进城乡社会经济的协调发展,同时还应重视提高工矿用地以及与三产相关的建设用地的集约利用水平,促进耕地资源开发的合理、有序。     

Learning to engage: how positive attitudes about the news,media literacy,and video production contribute to adolescent civic engagement

Many students enroll in video production courses in high school as part of a vocational, career, or technical program. While there has been an explosion of scholarly work in digital literacy in informal settings, less is known about how digital and media literacy competencies are developed through school-based video production courses. This study explores the relationship between civic engagement and the various multimedia instructional practices used in a high school video production course with a single-school convenience sample and an ethnically diverse population of students. Findings reveal that the best predictors of the intent to participate in civic engagement are having positive attitudes about news, current events, reporting, and journalism. Media literacy attitudes and a range of in-classroom learning experiences with video production are also associated with civic engagement.     

Transforming evaluation thinking and behaviour: programmes develop,teachers learn and student learning outcomes improve

This article examines evaluation intervention influence on programme performance through surveys, qualitative evaluation, questionnaires, interviews and test scores. The study uses quantitative (SPANOVA and MANOVA) and qualitative (the constant comparative method) data analysis, together with examining practical significance through effect size and power analysis. Major findings show positive contributions of evaluation intervention to quality management, teacher pedagogical skills and student learning outcomes (SLOs). Quantitative and qualitative findings, however, diverge regarding evaluation impact on programme research. A positive transfer of evaluation ownership discourse from decision-maker to implementer stakeholders has been observed. The study recommends evaluation intervention for programme, institutional and individual development alongside quality improvement.     

《周易》计数法的两个问题

为了符合《周易》的原义,在用二进制数表示《周易》八卦图时,应该以三爻卦的最上一爻作为个位数,而对六十四卦图中的六爻卦则应该用八进制数来表示。