Online vs. offline course evaluation revisited: testing the invariance of a course evaluation questionnaire using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis framework

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Survey-based formats of assessing teaching quality in higher education are widely used and will likely continue to be used by higher...     

Other ways of being: challenging dominant financial literacy discourses in Aboriginal Context

Financial literacy education (FLE) continues to gain momentum on a global scale. FLE is often described as essential learning for all citizens, despite the bulk of initiatives outside the compulsory school classrooms focussed on educating economically disadvantaged individuals. Informed by Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing a critical discourse analysis of FLE facilitators resources used in train-the-trainer workshops in/for a Canadian Aboriginal community was conducted to identify dominant discourses. An uncomfortable space was uncovered as the ubiquitous focus on individual wealth accumulation contradicted Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, underscoring the challenges of embedding Indigenous epistemologies in highly institutionalised charitable organisations’ attempts to help Indigenous (and non-Indigenous) peoples in poverty. Although this research is based on a Canadian program, the explosion of FLE as a “solution” to collective problems such as poverty lends itself to other—including Australian—contexts.     

Critical modeling principles when testing for gender equity in faculty salary

Multiple regression procedures are commonly used to investigate gender equity in faculty salary. However, a review of 19 case studies indicates that many of them fail to (a) adequately develop a regression model that examines the linear and nonlinear (i.e., interactive and curvilinear) relations between predictors and the criterion and (b) appropriately apply regression diagnostic statistics throughout salary model development. A seven-step process is presented as a comprehensive framework for testing allegations of gender discrimination in faculty salary. Steps include (a) identifying predictors of faculty salary, (b) identifying and establishing criteria for interpreting statistical tests and diagnostic procedures, (c) determining the criterion variable used in the salary model, (d) developing a salary model, (e) testing for gender discrimination in pay, (f) conducting diagnostic procedures to confirm the appropriateness of the final salary model, and (g) testing the assumptions of the regression model. An application of this model is presented using a case study (N = 725 faculty).     

Transferable competences of young people with a high dropout risk in vocational training in Germany

This paper examines whether the subjective beliefs on their competences of 409 trainees in machinery, sales, and logistics constitute a reliable and valid way to measure transferable competences. The analysis of results attributes satisfactory to good reliability values to the assessment procedure. Furthermore, it could be shown that young people with a higher dropout risk evaluated their methodological and social competences lower than those trainees with a lower dropout risk. Therefore it may be possible to prevent early dropout from vocational training through specific strengthening of these competences as well as through individual competence-based counselling during training.     

A praxis approach to financial literacy education

Financial literacy education (FLE) typically focuses on teaching skills and capabilities that promote individual wealth accumulation—for example, the importance of working, budgeting and saving. In this article, we argue the need to move from an individual wealth accumulation focus in FLE to a praxis approach to FLE. We outline the shortcomings of the conventional approach to FLE and develop a conceptual framework for a praxis approach to FLE. We view praxis as the moral, ethical and caring aspect of teaching. Using the conceptual framework, we argue that a praxis approach to FLE includes full attention to: how financial decision-making affects others and self; acknowledging that some life decisions are not financially rewarding; understanding that improving financial mathematics skills and capabilities may not equate to an increase in income; how SES affects an individual’s ability to save and maintain long-term saving; and the ways in which gender, culture, values, psychological state, socioeconomic class and ethics shape identity and their impact on financial decision-making.     

Increasing Content Knowledge and Self‐Efficacy of High School Educators through an Online Course in Food Science

Purdue Univ.'s College of Agriculture developed an Advanced Life Sciences (ALS) program in partnership with several high schools across Indiana. As part of ALS, secondary educators take an introductory food science (FS) course (ALS‐Foods) and teach it at their high school. High school students taking the ALS‐Foods receive dual credit for an introductory course required for all FS majors at Purdue. The goal of this project was to develop an online course to improve content knowledge and self‐efficacy of secondary educators in the field of FS. The course was offered over a 3‐wk period and consisted of 3 learning modules focused on food chemistry, food microbiology, and food processing. Modules included class activities, videos, study questions, and teaching tools. Participants were assessed on content knowledge through written assignments, quizzes, and a final examination. Twenty secondary educators from several states were enrolled. Overall, content knowledge increased significantly (P < 0.05) across all 3 modules after completing the course. Highest scores were in food microbiology/safety (84%), followed by food processing (76%) and food chemistry (70%). A precourse survey indicated that the majority (>80%) of participants felt they had “no‐confidence” to “little‐confidence” in teaching FS concepts related to the 3 modules. Upon completing the course, the confidence level of all participants increased to “some‐confidence” or “complete confidence.” By strengthening the knowledge level of secondary educators, they will be better prepared to teach FS and subsequently, more high school students could be exposed to FS and consider it as a career.     

Should Faculty Rank Be Included as a Predictor Variable in Studies of Gender Equity in University Faculty Salaries?

Many different approaches, almost all of which use some form of regression, have been used to study the issue of gender equity in university faculty salaries. One major point of contention in ail of these approaches is whether faculty rank, which is university conferred, should be included as a predictor variable. Two illustrations are presented to demonstrate how omitting faculty rank as a predictor variable from gender equity studies of university faculty salaries can lead to incorrect conclusions concerning gender discrimination. The first illustration uses hypothetical data constructed so that there is no difference in salary due to gender. However, when faculty rank is not included as a predictor variable in the regression model, there is a significant difference in salary due to gender. The second illustration uses actual data from a study of gender equity in pay at Bowling Green State University. This data set is used to construct a new data set that is totally free of gender bias. When a regression model omitting faculty rank is fit to this gender bias-free data, again a significant difference in salary due to gender is present. Therefore, it is recommended that faculty rank be included as a predictor variable in any model used to study gender equity relating to salary.     

Pushing the entrepreneurial prodigy: Canadian Aboriginal entrepreneurship education initiatives

Globally, neoliberal education policy touts youth entrepreneurship education as a solution for staggering youth unemployment, a means to bolster economically depressed regions, and solution to the ill-defined changing marketplace. Many jurisdictions have emphasized a need for K-12 entrepreneurial education for the general population, and targeted to youth labeled ‘at risk’. The Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative’s Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Program (AYEP) has been enacted across Canada. This paper applies critical discourse analysis to a corpus of texts, exposing how colonial practices, deficit discourse, and discursive neoliberalism are embedded and perpetuated though entrepreneurial education targeted at Aboriginal students via AYEP.