Ideals of ITE students at the University of Glasgow

Analysis of a questionnaire completed by initial teacher education (ITE) students at the University of Glasgow shows a clear divergence between their personal and professional ideals. The students define their own ideals predominantly in terms of situations, like being married, having children or being happy. Their professional ideals, which comprise the ideals they want to pass on to pupils and their views about the ideal teacher, are mainly defined in terms of character traits, like being kind, honest and hard working. Another outcome that was different from our expectations was that, though the ITE has a Catholic mission, only a small number of students mention religious ideals.     

Research in Science Education at the University of Glasgow

The purpose of this study was to examine how prior knowledge of cellular transport influenced how high school students in the USA viewed and interpreted graphic representations of this topic. The participants were Advanced Placement Biology students (n = 65); each participant had previously taken a biology course in high school. After assessing prior knowledge using the Diffusion and Osmosis Diagnostic Test, two graphical representations of cellular transport processes were selected for analysis. Three different methods of data collection—eye tracking, interviews, and questionnaires—were used to investigate differences in perceived salient features of the graphics, interpretations of the graphics, and processing difficulty experienced while attending to and interpreting the graphics. The results from the eye tracking data, interviews, and instructional representation questionnaires were triangulated and revealed differences in how high and low prior knowledge students attended to and interpreted particle differences, concentration gradient, the role of adenosine triphosphate , endocytosis and exocytosis, and text labels and captions. Without adequate domain knowledge, low prior knowledge students focused on the surface features of the graphics (ex. differences in particle colour) to build an understanding of the concepts represented. On the other hand, with more abundant and better‐organised domain knowledge, high prior knowledge students were more likely to attend to the thematically relevant content in the graphics, which enhanced their understanding. The findings of this study offer a more complete understanding of how differentially prepared learners view and interpret graphics and have the potential to inform instructional design.     

The Distance Education Programme of Verkmenntaskolinn at Akureyri (VMA)

Abstract

This article details the distance education (DE) courses that have been set up and run by the Verkmenntaskolinn at #atAkureyri (VMA) in Iceland. It describes how students are led into their course, how contacts are maintained and assignments dealt with using the net. It looks to future expansion, even in a country with a population of only 250,000.

Abstract français: Cet article donne des informations sur les cours d'enseignement à distance qui one été créés et donnés par le Verkmenntaskolinn a Akureyri (VMA) en Islande. Il décrit comment les élèves sont guides dans leurs coins, comment les contacts sont maintenus et les exercices faits en utilisant le réseau. On cherche à étendre ce système même pour une population de seulement 250,000 habitants.     

基于同轴电缆的以太网技术进行多住户单元接人方案的实现

利用调制解调技术将以太网信号合成在同轴电缆中和CATV信号一同传输,实现包括视频点播(VOD)、网络电视(IPTV)、宽带上网及数字音频(VOIP)等,能够承载多种业务的双向宽带网络功能.     

Developing ethics competencies among science students at the University of Copenhagen

Many philosophers and sociologists of science have tried to understand the profound changes that have occurred in science, engineering and technology. In the first part of this paper, I present the work of one such scholar: Jerome Ravetz who, in collaboration with Silvio Funtowicz, has characterised what he calls ‘postnormal science’. The purpose of this theoretical part of the paper is to describe what characterises contemporary science and to formulate which competencies contemporary scientists need to act ethically. In the second part of the paper, I present and analyse the course ‘Philosophy of Science and Ethics’ that I have taught since 2005 to biochemistry, chemistry and nanotechnology students at the University of Copenhagen. The course is intended to prepare its participants for postnormal knowledge production that is scientific work that is embedded in a societal context characterised by uncertainty and conflicting values systems. With this in mind, I analyse the course by relating its content to the concepts that describe postnormal science, and I discuss how the course develops the ethics competencies that contemporary scientists need to work in postnormal science. I will also briefly discuss the relevance of the course for engineering students.     

Full time adult credential students?instructional preferences at California State University, Long Beach: pedagogy or andragogy?

INTRODUCTIONTheimplementationofandradogy,theartandscienceofhelpingadultslearn,toenhanceadultlearninghasbeenakeyissueintheeducationandtrainingofadultsinthe21stcentury.Thesignifi-canceofthestudywastodeterminehowadultlearningprofessionalspracticeandragogyafter30yearsofitspurposefulimplementation.Andragogy,accordingtoNuckles(2000),isaconceptinadulteducationthatflowsdirectlyfromhumanisticedu-cationalphilosophy.TheandragogicalmodelwasfirstdevelopedbyEdwardLindeman(1926).MalcolmKnowles,develop…     

Entrepreneurship education: Enhancing or discouraging graduate start-up at the University of Pretoria

In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of BCom Entrepreneurship graduates, as well as a control group to determine whether the exposure to entrepreneurship education can enhance actual business start-up. Information was collected on how they experienced the learning approaches, and the value which they had derived from the degree. This was done as a case study at the University of Pretoria. More entrepreneurship graduates started businesses than the control group. Findings of the various constraints to start-up ? of the entrepreneurship graduates’ group ? focused on the lack of a viable business idea and know-how, as compared with the other graduate groups, who indicated that fear of failure and aversion to taking risks were their main constraints. The entrepreneurship graduates were less risk averse than the control group.     

Conceptualising Lifelong Learning: a reflection on lifelong learning at Lund University (Sweden) and Middlesex University (UK)

Lifelong Learning has in recent years become a fundamental element of many educational policy strategies aimed at achieving the goal of socio‐economic development. The role of universities in this is viewed by some as crucial and requires some attention. This article examines the concept of lifelong learning and suggests another way in which it could be conceptualised. It further reflects on how two European universities understand and implement lifelong learning and the implications for European regional educational policies in view of the knowledge society.     

Access and Equity: A Case Analysis of Local Implementation under the Higher Education Equity Programme

The Access and Equity Programme at the University of Southern Queensland is an example of a program supported by the Commonwealth Government's Higher Education Equity Programme. The characteristics of this program are discussed in terms of its context, focus and rationale, structure and components, and outcomes. The program is seen to be successful in fulfilling the aim of such programs to promote greater access to higher education from disadvantaged groups. However, it is also concluded that: the required focus on defined target groups can itself be inequitable by ignoring cases of individual disadvantage; the need for quota selection leaves the least capable without any support for their aspirations; and the almost exclusive concentration on prerequisite academic knowledge leaves some without sufficient awareness and adaptability to cope with the demands of higher education.     

Assessing value beliefs among university students: Validation of the Value Beliefs Questionnaire for University Students (VBQU)

The present study with 353 students aimed to examine the validity of a questionnaire called the Value Beliefs Questionnaire for University Students (VBQU) measuring five value beliefs among university students, namely: intrinsic value, attainment value, cost, utility for daily life, and utility for career. Furthermore, this study strived to explore the situated expectancy-value theory by linking those five value beliefs to multiple individual characteristics of university students (i.e., academic self-concept, procrastination, test anxiety, academic achievement). Results of CFA provided strong support for a 5-factor structure and a hierarchical structure of four major value factors (i.e., intrinsic, attainment, cost, utility) and two utility factors. Significant intercorrelations among the five value beliefs and correlations of the five value beliefs with the other individual characteristics of university students also established validity evidence of the VBQU. In line with (S)EVT, academic self-concept and intrinsic value significantly interacted with each other in predicting academic achievement.     

Barriers and coping strategies among female students at the Technical University of Norway

Some of the domination techniques which female engineering students encounter in the masculine milieu at the Technical University of Norway are discussed. The different types of coping strategies they adopt when facing these social barriers are presented.     

Being altruistically motivated: the postgraduate and career motivational orientations of access students at an Irish University

The relative lack of research about postgraduate education, and especially from a widening participation (WP) perspective, is noteworthy in a context of an increasingly expanding and important postgraduate sector internationally. This paper draws on the findings of a study about the ‘impact’ of WP initiatives at an Irish university, exploring the undergraduate, postgraduate, and employment experiences of two groups of former access students. A mixed-methods research design (employing a self-completion questionnaire sent to all relevant individuals (N=195), and 26 in-depth semi-structured interviews) was employed. This paper examines these individuals’ postgraduate progression in relation to a number of factors, with a particular focus on their views about progression, the programmes pursued, and their related motivational orientations. Many of the research participants were altruistically motivated in their selection of postgraduate programmes and related careers, and this motivational orientation is explored in terms of its genesis and implications in a WP context.     

The Institute for Educational Technology (IET) at the University of Surrey

This paper first takes a brief look at the school system and the teaching of biology in Germany. Then a research project is described which is aimed at improving methods of teaching biology. Within the framework of this project, several teaching models are examined and their effectiveness, in both cognitive and affective terms, analysed. This research project includes empirical studies in which more than 2000 school students have been involved. The results of four of these studies will be looked at in detail. The following models were studied and compared: Lab work completed by students compared with lab work demonstrated by the teacher and with pencil and paper lessons. Classroom instruction on the identification of plants compared with outdoor instruction. Lessons using living invertebrates compared with lessons using models, slides and pictures. The effect on the attitudes of students towards AIDS infected children and on their knowledge about AIDS after lessons showing films on the subject compared with lessons on the same subject with no films.     

体育专业大学生英语学习现状调查分析

采用问卷调查法、数理统计法和逻辑分析法对黄冈师范学院体育专业学生的英语学习现状进行了调查,分析存在的问题并提出了合理化的建议,为搞好高校体育专业学生英语教学和提高其英语学习水平提供客观依据。研究表明:体育专业学生总体英语学习基础较差,英语水平较低,大部分学生能充分认识到英语学习的重要性,英语学习动机端正,但对英语学习表现出信心不足,兴趣不浓等。     

Placing Students at the Centre of the Decolonizing Education Imperative: Engaging the (Mis)Recognition Struggles of Students at the Postapartheid University

Misrecognition of South African university students is at the heart of this article. Misrecognition refers in this article to the exclusionary institutional discourses and practices of this country’s universities, which continue to prevent the majority of their (Black) students’ from achieving a successful education. It is a conceptual account of the ways in which these misrecognized students develop a complex educational life in their quest for a university education. The article argues that at the heart of students’ university experiences is an essential misrecognition of who they are, and how they access and encounter their university studies. I suggest that gaining greater purchase on their (mis)recognition struggles may place the university in a position to establish an engaging recognition platform to facilitate their educational success. Divided into four sections, the article starts with a rationale for bringing the institutional misrecognition of students into view. This is followed by a theoretical consideration of the notion of recognition, which opens space for what I call the recognitive agency of the education subject, who remains largely unknown to the university. The third section provides an account of the nature and extent of Black students’ survivalist educational navigations and practices in their family, community, school, and university contexts. The final and concluding section of the article presents a normative argument for developing an education platform for facilitating a productive encounter aimed at animating students’ educational becoming. This, I argue, should proceed on the basis of a decolonizing knowledge approach, involving curriculum recognition, which would accord students the conceptual tools for developing the epistemic virtues necessary for complex decolonized living.