Student and teacher co-navigation of a course: following the natural lines of academic enquiry

Using the mountaineering metaphor of ‘natural lines’ this article describes the co-navigation of an honours course by students and teachers. It suggests the benefits and possibilities of going beyond the confines of conventional teaching and learning wisdom (as canonised in the notion of constructive alignment) and offering just and joyful ways for students to explore disciplinary knowledge. We openly explore issues of power between students and teachers in the construction of so-called partnerships, recognising the inherent challenges in moving beyond the prevailing mainstream. We suggest that a natural lines approach enables students to act as genuine co-navigators and to experience disciplinary knowledge in authentic ways and provides rich opportunities for personal reflection and development.     

Investigating Feedback on Practice Among Teachers: Coherence of Observed and Perceived Feedback

Despite that benefits of feedback in student learning are reported in much research, little has been reported regarding the use of feedback from teachers to other teachers—a key tool in professional development. In this study, we triangulated data from videotaped peer coaching sessions, questionnaires, and interviews regarding 12 primary school teachers in four peer groups in the Netherlands. We focused our research on two issues: the interplay of observed feedback dimensions and elements and perceptions of that feedback. Feedback dimensions were generally effective and the influence of the elements on the dimensions mostly aligned with the expectations. Teachers generally perceived feedback as effective. Moreover, effective observed feedback was perceived as effective. Findings indicate that peer coaches should stimulate coached teachers to become goal directed, specific, detailed, and neutral (neither positive nor negative) by using feedback elements so as to optimize feedback processes.     

如何提高网络环境下形成性评价的反馈质量——北外网院的实践

形成性评价在远程教学中发挥了重要的作用。科学的形成性评价不仅可以帮助学生理清课程学习重点,还可有效地督促学生学习。反馈是形成性评价的重要环节,及时有效的反馈对于远程学习者尤为重要。本文介绍并评估在北京外国语大学网络教育学院(以下简称"北外网院")开展的一项旨在提高形成性评价反馈质量的教学实验。结果表明,实验教师认识到反馈的重要性并能够提供有效反馈。研究提出的基于网络的教师反馈监控机制对于保证和提高远程教学质量的探索将有重要的启示作用。     

句酷批改网英语作文评分的信度和效度研究

作文批改与反馈是英语写作教学的一个重要环节,对提高学生的写作能力有着不可低估的作用,句酷批改网以其优势而深受广大师生的喜爱。句酷批改网的作文评分有很高的信度,但评分显著地高于教师的评分,尚不能反映学生英语作文的真实水平。从效度上看,以句子为单位,在词汇和语法等方面进行详细的评价,但在篇章结构、文体修辞、内容逻辑性和连贯性方面不能给学生充分的反馈。在运用批改网的同时,我们还要同其他的评估方式结合起来。     

大学英语课堂教师提问策略研究

从提问类型、问题修正和教师反馈三方面入手,分析了大学英语课堂提问策略的应用现状及成因,并提出具体建议。     

英语口语机考对教学的反拨作用——以海南师范大学为例

大学英语口语机考是一种标准化计算机网络辅助英语教学考试方式,考试设计充分体现计算机辅助测试原则,人机交际性口语交流特点。英语口语机考具有一定的效度,考题设计者在评分标准上也保证口语机考的信度。本文以海南师范大学进行大学英语口语机考的尝试为例,对口语机考结果、教师对机考的态度和考试的公平性进行客观全面分析,指出机考的利弊,探讨英语口语机考对英语教学的反拨作用,为我校以及其他高校今后大学英语口语教学和测试提供有效的建议。     

农村中学留守儿童的特点及学校教育策略

留守儿童的概念应该定义为：因为母亲长期外出打工而留在农村生活和就学的未成年人。“留守状态”可以分为“励志型”、“平常型”、“困苦型”和“颓废型”,这四种类型对留守儿童具有极不相同的影响;留守儿童的特征应作为制定教育策略的主要依据之一;应该把“留守状态”当作一种特殊的教育资源加以开发利用,让它在农村中小学教育中发挥独特的作用。加强在学习方法和生活自理方法方面的指导、提高家长学校工作的科学化水平及有计划地为学生创设同伴交流场景等应是留守儿童学校教育的有效策略。     

Radiating Emergency: The Perils and Promise of the Broadcast Signal in the Atomic Age

This essay argues that the development of CONELRAD marked a pivotal—and often overlooked—moment in the history of media and communications in the United States. As the nation's first coast-to-coast emergency broadcast system, CONELRAD established a new paradigm of networked communications for a new world order. Through close critical examination of the institutional events and discursive controversies surrounding CONELRAD's development, I show how those events and controversies were inflected by both contemporaneous atomic anxieties and older hopes and fears associated with over-the-air communications. I also suggest how they articulated, in the domain of electronic mass media, the politico-legal theory and practice of the state of exception.     

Globalizing Librarianship: A Study-Abroad Class in Russia

This article reports on a study-abroad class to St. Petersburg, Russia, for students in library and information sciences, which took place in May–June 2012. The development of this class has led to other partnership opportunities between the University of Maryland Libraries and libraries and institutions in St. Petersburg.     

The Jewish Archival Survey: Tracing Jewish Records in the Former Soviet Archives

SUMMARY

As the rigors of the Soviet-era prohibitions in the post-Soviet archives were eased in the early 1990s, students of Russian-Jewish history in the former Soviet Union, as well as from abroad, have been using this opportunity to search for records of the Russian-Jewish past. The Jewish Archival Survey, a joint program of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and the Russian State University for the Humanities has been among the earliest initiatives in this field.