Commentary: School reform,teaching and learning

This commentary on the papers starts with the view that reform policies are additive, layered and unpredictable. Given this nature of reforms, the author suggests certain lessons for policymakers and policy researchers to learn. First, that a theory of learning should underlie policymakers’ implementation decisions. Second, that the multiplicity of reforms may block genuine learning. Third, that understanding the relationship between policy and practice requires an ‘inside‐out’ perspective which takes the changing of educational practice as the central concern rather than the policy environment.     

Evaluating multi-institutional partnership sustainability: a case study of collaborative workforce development in renewable energy assessment

Partnership evaluation typically occurs during the final stages either to assess why a collaborative effort did not work or to identify the indicators of success. Partnerships are rarely evaluated at their incipient stage, which is a critical time to assess their potential for long-term sustainability. In this paper, we present an early-stage evaluative framework for assessing multi-institutional academic partnerships’ sustainability based on 3 dimensions: decision processes, problem orientation, and social capital. We apply the evaluative framework using case study research to the Renewable Energy Assessment (REA) Program, a workforce enhancement academic partnership that focuses on facilities and lands viability assessment. Using the evaluative framework, we identified critical elements present within and missing from the REA Program that could influence the partnership's long-term sustainability. This study demonstrates the need to conduct incipient stage and ongoing evaluations to foster partnership sustainability, and provides a framework for conducting such assessments.     

From teaching from the heart to teaching with a heart: Segmenting filipino college students’ views of their teachers’ caring behavior and their orientations as cared-for individuals

Caring, as a universal human phenomenon, should permeate elementary, secondary and tertiary level instruction. The practice of teaching, especially at the tertiary level, is not only substantial and procedural but relational as well. To teach with a heart is the essence that makes teaching a form of caring. When teaching is viewed as a form of caring, teachers become relational geniuses in their own right. This study is an attempt to segment Filipino college students’ views (n=1000) of their teachers’ caring behavior and their orientations as cared-for individuals. The identified clusters of teacher roles that indicate caring behavior imply that acts of teaching become acts of caring depending on how the teachers, theefficient cause of education, perform their ordinary tasks in the context ofextraordinariness. Such extraordinariness spells out a big difference in the way teachers practice the so-calledsingle loop caring or caring visibility anddouble- loop caring or caring presence. The former refers to teaching from the heart while the latter pertains to teaching with a heart. Interestingly, the extent to which teachers’ caring behavior is felt and experienced by the students positively shapes their orientations as cared-for individuals.     

伦敦塔里的鬼魂

也许你知道伦敦塔藏有无数文物珍宝,保存着英国历代王冠和王室珠宝;也许你听说过这里是全英国闹鬼传闻最多的地方,但你知道个中原因吗?这里曾经被用作监狱,无数皇亲国戚命丧于此。伦敦塔里到底藏着怎样的史实和谜题?住在这样一个地方又是怎样的感觉?想知道答案,伦敦塔守卫将为你一一道来。     

Adolescents' satisfaction with school experiences: Relationships with demographics,attachment relationships,and school engagement behavior

This study investigated the relationships among demographics, parent and peer attachment, school satisfaction, and student engagement behavior in a 1‐year longitudinal study of secondary‐school students. Statistically significant cross‐sectional differences in school satisfaction were observed, based on grade, but not on race, gender, or socioeconomic status. Level of school satisfaction did not moderate the relationships between parent and peer satisfaction and negative student engagement behaviors at Time 2 (controlling for Time 1). School satisfaction did account for significant incremental variance across all levels of parent and peer attachment relationships, although predicting a larger proportion of variance for withdrawal behavior than for resistance/aggression behavior. Adolescents' appraisals of their school satisfaction appear to be an independent predictor of their school engagement behaviors, regardless of the quality of their parent or peer attachment relationships. Limitations of the study as well as implications for future research and educational practice are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Student evaluation of audience response technology in large lecture classes

In the past few years, audience response technology (ART) has been widely adopted on college campuses, and is especially popular among instructors of large lecture classes. Claims regarding ART’s benefits to students have received only limited empirical evaluation, and prior studies exhibit methodological limitations. The current study provides a multi-dimensional evaluation, utilizing a newly-developed measure, the Audience Response Technology Questionnaire (ART-Q). Data were provided at three points during a semester by undergraduate students (n = 854) who used ART in three large lecture university courses. Results indicate moderately positive evaluations of ART on some dimensions (e.g., ease of use, impact on attendance), with less positive evaluations on others (e.g., influence on preparation for class). These evaluations showed some variability across time of semester and course, but were not substantially affected by gender, ethnicity, or year in school. Findings are discussed with respect to the need for future research on instructors’ techniques for using ART and their influence on student perceptions and outcomes.

An econometric estimate of the demand for MBA enrollment

A demand equation for MBA enrollment was estimated to test the theory of human capital as an explanation of enrollment decisions in higher education. Three of four variables associated with a human capital interpretation were found to be significant. The functional form of the demand equation (log-reciprocal) was of importance in establishing these results. Although the failure of the interest rate to be significant might suggest imperfections in access to capital for potential students, we could not find support for the alternative view that students relied on subsidization by family. Several elasticities proved to be large enough to imply that feasible changes in the rates of change of underlying economic variables could produce noticeable changes in MBA enrollment.