Accessing ICLAS Network Log Data to Study Student Computer Usage,Course Performance,and Attitude Change

ABSTRACT

This study demonstrated how network usage logs such as those generated by the IBM Classroom Local Area Network Administration System (ICLAS) can be used to study student use of software available on a local area network. Software instrumentation was developed to convert ICLAS log files to a format (?.DIF) usable by spreadsheet and statistics software. Data on 163 students enrolled in an ‘Introduction to Computers in Education’ course during the Summer, 1992 session at the University of South Florida were compiled for exploratory analysis. Correlations of lab use time to course grade, change in knowledge, and change in attitude were performed. It was found that amount of lab use correlated significantly to general attitude toward computers, but that it did not correlate significantly to change in attitude toward school uses of computers or to change in knowledge of course topics.     

Weighing opposing positions: Examining the effects of intratextual persuasive messages on students’ knowledge and beliefs

The proliferation of new forms of media has given way to a multitude of new text structures, particularly texts designed to alter the receiver’s perspectives. Yet, little is known about the ways in which these novel text structures alter the characteristics of the receiver including one’s knowledge and beliefs. As such, the purpose of this multi-phase investigation was to explore the persuasion process when students read a persuasive message with an intratextual structure. Intratextual persuasion refers to a text structure in which two one-sided texts are presented together as a single message. As a result of reading an intratextual persuasive message, students’ perceived knowledge increased, and their topic beliefs strengthened differentially based upon students’ position on the controversial issue. Moreover, participants judged the characteristics of the overall commentary similarly, but they rated the characteristics of the two opposing texts differentially based on their position. Implications for research and instruction pertaining to persuasive texts with complex argument structure are forwarded.     

文化社会学转向与大学文化研究范式变革

伴随着文化社会学的转向,大学文化研究必须突破原有的学术话语和研究范式的局限,实现新的变革.从Cultural Sociology的视角出发,大学文化研究可以而且应当成为社会文化分析与批判的契入点,通过大学文化的研究与分析来把握我们身处其中的社会生活.     

Orienting Attention Within Visual Short‐Term Memory: Development and Mechanisms

How does developing attentional control operate within visual short‐term memory (VSTM)? Seven‐year‐olds, 11‐year‐olds, and adults (total n = 205) were asked to report whether probe items were part of preceding visual arrays. In Experiment 1, central or peripheral cues oriented attention to the location of to‐be‐probed items either prior to encoding or during maintenance. Cues improved memory regardless of their position, but younger children benefited less from cues presented during maintenance, and these benefits related to VSTM span over and above basic memory in uncued trials. In Experiment 2, cues of low validity eliminated benefits, suggesting that even the youngest children use cues voluntarily, rather than automatically. These findings elucidate the close coupling between developing visuospatial attentional control and VSTM.     

Improving quality and equity in schools in socially disadvantaged areas

Background: Recent effectiveness studies have investigated the relationship between two dimensions of effectiveness – namely, quality and equity. Specifically, the question of whether effective schools can also reduce the initial differences in student outcomes attributed to student background factors has been examined. In this context, the Dynamic Approach to School Improvement (DASI) makes use of theory and the research findings of effectiveness studies to try to improve school effectiveness in terms of quality and equity.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine whether the implementation of DASI in primary schools in socially disadvantaged areas in four European countries (Cyprus, England, Greece and Ireland) was able to promote student learning outcomes in mathematics and to reduce the impact of student background factors on student achievement in mathematics.

Design and methods: A sample of 72 primary schools across the four countries was randomly split into experimental and control groups. At the beginning and at the end of the school year, mathematics tests were administered to all students of Grades 4–6 (n = 5560; student ages 9–12 years). The experimental group made use of DASI. Within-country multilevel regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the impact of the intervention and search for interaction effects between the use of DASI and student background factors on final achievement.

Results: In each country, the experimental group achieved better results in mathematics than the control group. At the beginning of the intervention, the achievement gap based on socio-economic status (SES) was equally large in the experimental and the control groups. Only in the experimental group did the achievement gap based on SES become smaller. However, DASI was not found to have an effect on equity when the equity dimension was examined by focusing on the achievement gap based on either gender or ethnicity.

Conclusions: Implications of findings are drawn and the importance of measuring equity in terms of student achievement gaps based on different background factors, rather than only on SES, is emphasised. We propose the evaluation of the impact of interventions on promoting equity by the use of various criteria.     

Transgender women in sport

This paper considers whether transgender (trans*) women should be permitted to compete in female categories in sports. Trans* women are often criticized for competing in female categories because they are seen as having an unfair advantage. Specifically, they are seen as having high levels of testosterone that unfairly enhance their performance in comparison to cisgender competitors. In this paper, I argue that trans* women should be permitted to compete in female categories. I suggest that if we want to maintain the skill thesis as a guiding principle of sports and allow trans* women to compete in female categories, then we need to take relevant genetic advantages into consideration by introducing a handicap system. I claim that a handicap system should consider both cisgender and transgender women’s effective testosterone levels.     

Data Collection Strategies and Measurement Tools for Assessing Academic and Therapeutic Outcomes in Recovery Schools

Accurate evaluation and documentation of the efficacy of recovery schools can be vital to the continuation and expansion of these beneficial resources. A very limited data set currently exists that examines the value of specific schools established to support adolescents and young adults in recovery; additional research is necessary. The following article outlines the methodology utilized in a current quasi-experimental study evaluating both academic and therapeutic outcomes of adolescents attending recovery high schools as compared to traditional (non-recovery-based) high schools. The developmental considerations in assessing adolescents in recovery and their parents is delineated in this article, which underscores the need for extensive knowledge of adolescent substance abuse and other mental health issues. In addition, sensitivity around privacy among adolescents, parents, schools, and health providers is highlighted, as well as the validity of assessment. Key assessment strategies, including protocol of recruitment and interviewing techniques, are also presented along with a list of parent and adolescent assessment instruments and their corresponding interpretive variables. Protocol recommendations for future research are also outlined.     

中法综合性大学出版教育比较研究

以出版高等教育相对发达的国家——法国为参照对象,运用文献调查和比较研究的方法,从培养目标、培养模式和课程设置三个方面对当前中法两国综合性大学的出版教育进行比较研究。     

Mentoring partnerships in science education

The authors use an action research (AR) approach in a collegiate studio physics class to investigate the power of partnerships via conferences as they relate to issues of establishing a student/mentor rapport, empowering students to reduce inequity, and the successes and barriers to hearing students’ voices. The graduate teaching assistant (TA, Author 1) conducted one-on-one conferences with 29 students, elicited student opinions about the progress of the course, and talked with faculty, TAs, and an undergraduate supplemental instructor for other sections of the course. At the end of the semester, the students reported increased knowledge of the TA as a person and as an instructor, and vice versa. Sixty-five percent of students reported no interest in changing circumstances to make it easier to talk about personal concerns with the TA. College students reluctantly voiced their opinions about the course, possibly due to the power structure of the classroom. Other TAs in the department expressed mostly disinterest in the project, while faculty members were interested in student learning but skeptical of student empowerment. A case study of one student is presented, wherein his attendance improved in the course and he received additional help outside class, both possibly as a result of the student/TA conferences. Students in this studio physics section were more likely to interact directly with faculty or TAs during lectures, but less likely to do so during lab sessions, than were students in a non-studio physics section.