Lecturers on teaching within the ‘supercomplexity’ of Higher Education

While a vast literature exists on students and their learning, work on lecturers and their teaching continues to lag some way behind. This paper explores the notion that the complexity of Higher Education (HE) today significantly impacts upon what goes on in the classroom through a two-tiered study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore lecturers’ perceptions and experiences of teaching a specific module. Interviewees raised issues pertaining to the wider departmental, institutional and socio-political context. Consequently, focus groups were run with key people in the University to explore their perceptions of teaching and learning within the current HE climate. The findings suggest that lecturers perceive numerous external factors to impinge upon their teaching and attempt to militate against these in various ways in order to achieve ongoing enhancement of learning for students.

The effects of college students’ positive thinking,learning motivation and self-regulation through a self-reflection intervention in Taiwan

This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of a self-reflection intervention on college (college in this article refers to university-level education) students’ positive thinking, learning motivation and self-regulation in Taiwan. One hundred and two college students were selected to participate in an 18-week intervention forming the experimental group (EG) which emphasized providing main lecture, role-play, self-reflection activity, group discussion and group work. Another 179 college students from two other courses were selected as a comparison group. This study showed that supportive, resourced discussion with peers and instructor, self-reflection activities and assignment as a facilitative agent improved the EG students’ positive thinking, learning motivation and self-regulation. In addition, three structural equation models revealed that positive thinking had a strong and direct relation to Taiwanese college students’ pretest learning motivation (β?=?.85) and self-regulation (β?=?.77); learning motivation had a strong and direct relation to students’ pretest positive thinking (β?=?.86) and self-regulation (β?=?.81); and self-regulation had a strong and direct relation to students’ pretest positive thinking (β?=?.83) and learning motivation (β?=?.86). Instructional implications and research recommendations are discussed.     

EWB软件在电专业基础课程教学中的应用

通过以EWB软件的功能特点分析及基本操作方法的介绍，探讨EWB软件在高职电专业基础课程教学中的应用。     

高职非英语专业新生英语词汇学习策略运用的研究

笔者从学生默写、作业和试卷中发现高职学生在词汇记忆和运用上存在不少问题,本文试采用问卷和采访两种方式,对高职某班非英语专业新生的英语词汇学习策略的运用进行了调查。在此基础上,本文提出了培养和提高学生词汇记忆能力和词汇运用能力的建议。     

高职人才培养目标定位的新思考

大众化高等教育背景下,单一的精英型技能人才目标不仅不切实际,也不能满足学生多样化成才需要,应将高职人才培养目标定位为人力资源开发。在技术日新月异的新时代,高职应适当拓宽人才培养基础,加强学生的通识能力培养,并树立大市场观念,不仅考虑行业企业用人单位的需要,还应考虑学生的需要,摒弃单一的技术理性思维,激发学生自我成才动机,培养学生的创造性。随着企业生产组织方式的变迁,高职人才培养目标应作出相应调整。     

澳大利亚全国统一数学课程标准评析

澳大利亚于2010年12月正式公布了第一个全国统一课程标准.其中,数学统一课程标准设置了数与代数、度量与几何、统计与概率三部分内容和理解、熟练程度、问题解决、推理四种精通程度.澳大利亚数学课程标准在组织结构、基本理念、内容标准、成就等方面的特点为中国课程改革带来了诸多启示.     

Gender differences in performance in mathematics at the end of lower secondary school in Italy

The paper deals with the investigation of gender differences in performances in mathematics for Italian students at the end of lower secondary school. The study is based on a new large-scale assessment test developed and administered by the National Evaluation Institute for the School System. Given the evidence in the literature which favors males, performances of female and male students are compared using different approaches. Scores proposed by educational experts based on item subgroups were considered, while a model-based approach was used within item response theory. The results revealed a significant advantage to males in overall performance, while no meaningful differences were observed with respect to item domain and type. An interpretable item map was developed crossing expert opinions with IRT abilities, and plausible proficiency levels were defined. According to the map-based student classification, a relatively lower percentage of females fell into the highest proficiency groups with respect to males.     

对五年制高职生学生管理工作的思考

五年制高职生是一个特殊的群体,他们有着高职生的共性,但又存在自己独特的个性。针对他们心理上和行为上的特点,加强以学生为本,实施精细化的常规管理,建设一支强有力的管理队伍以及开展系统化的主题教育,可以有效的提高管理效力。     

依托自学考试制度构建国家继续教育学分银行

要改变我国继续教育领域整体薄弱、各种教育形式自成体系、互不沟通的状况,惟有不断深化改革、创新机制和体制.文章首先对我国继续教育发展状况和主要问题进行简要概述,接着提出国家学分银行的理论框架以及国际经验借鉴,继而重点分析了依托自学考试制度构建国家学分银行的基础条件及不足,最后对国家继续教育学分银行制度的建设思路提出了一些建议.