Education Commons^™

Assessing Higher Education Learning Outcomes In Civil Engineering: The Oecd Ahelo Feasibility Study, Roger Hadgraft, Jacob Pearce, Daniel Edwards, Julian Fraillon, Hamish Coates

Julian Fraillon

BACKGROUND

Higher education is increasingly a global business. At present, university ranking schemes are heavily reliant on research indicators, while students are likely looking for an excellent teaching and learning environment. Aware of this discrepancy, the OECD has funded the AHELO project.

PURPOSE

AHELO was designed to test the feasibility of an international assessment of higher education learning outcomes. The two test disciplines are civil engineering and economics, together with an assessment of generic skills. The civil engineering test will be reported in this paper.

More than a ranking, AHELO is a direct evaluation of student performance. It is intended …

Academics’ Attitudes Towards Phd Students’ Teaching: Preparing Research Higher Degree Students For An Academic Career, Denise Jepsen, Melinda Varhegyi, Daniel Edwards

Dr Daniel Edwards

An exploratory study of 473 academics in a metropolitan university investigated the attitudes of academic spervisors towards training for university teaching for doctoral students. The study investigated academic supervisors’ levels of awareness and knowledge of teacher training opportunities, the relative importance of teaching – both lecturing and tutoring – compared with research in the academic selection process, and the academics’ own entry into and attitudes about PhD students teaching during their candidature. Results indicate that academic supervisors are more aware of short courses and workshops than in-depth teaching certificates and diplomas. In terms of the relative value of aspects of …

Assessing Higher Education Learning Outcomes In Civil Engineering: The Oecd Ahelo Feasibility Study, Roger Hadgraft, Jacob Pearce, Daniel Edwards, Julian Fraillon, Hamish Coates

Dr Daniel Edwards

BACKGROUND

Higher education is increasingly a global business. At present, university ranking schemes are heavily reliant on research indicators, while students are likely looking for an excellent teaching and learning environment. Aware of this discrepancy, the OECD has funded the AHELO project.

PURPOSE

AHELO was designed to test the feasibility of an international assessment of higher education learning outcomes. The two test disciplines are civil engineering and economics, together with an assessment of generic skills. The civil engineering test will be reported in this paper.

More than a ranking, AHELO is a direct evaluation of student performance. It is intended …

Six Questions For Entrepreneurial Leadership And Innovation In Distance Education, Connie Reimers-Hild, James King

Connie I Reimers-Hild, PhD, CPC

Institutions offering distance education courses and programs may benefit by encouraging administrators, faculty, staff and students to be more entrepreneurial. Organizational cultures designed to support this type of environment are characterized by entrepreneurial leadership, innovation and change. This article provides information on how distance education institutions can incorporate entrepreneurial leadership and innovation into their organizations. Six questions for administrators of distance education to consider are presented in an effort to provoke discussion and thought on the importance of incorporating entrepreneurial leadership and innovation throughout distance education organizations.

Did Teachers’ Race And Verbal Ability Matter In The 1960’S? Coleman Revisited, Ronald Ehrenberg, Dominic Brewer

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Our paper reanalyzes data from the classic 1966 study Equality of Educational Opportunity, or Coleman Report. It addresses whether teacher characteristics, including race and verbal ability, influenced "synthetic gain scores" of students (mean test scores of upper grade students in a school minus mean test scores of lower grade students in a school), in the context of an econometric model that allows for the possibility that teacher characteristics in a school are endogenously determined. We find that verbal aptitude scores of teachers influenced synthetic gain scores for both black and white students. Verbal aptitude mattered as much for black teachers …

Graduate Pathways: Insights From Australian Graduates In The First Five Years After Completion, Daniel Edwards

Dr Daniel Edwards

This presentation explores the outcomes of higher education graduates based on data collected through the Graduate Pathways Survey (GPS) that was conducted in 2008 to gain insight into the pathways of Australian university graduates in the first five years after completion of their undergraduate degree. The presentation explores two key issues: the advancement of people from disadvantaged backgrounds and the net impact of gender on future salary. The findings from this detailed study of 10,000 Australian students provides valuable insight and lessons that are transferable across higher education systems, and helps to better understand the role of universities in the …

An Interactive Exploration Of Gender And Engineering: Unpacking The Experience, Debbie Chachra, Lynn Stein, Alisha Sarang-Sieminski, Caitrin Lynch, Yevgeniya Zastavker

Debbie Chachra

The engineering student experience is understood to differ for male and female students; gendered interactions affect the development of academic and professional role confidence, as well as engineering identity. The purpose of this session is twofold. First, we aim to introduce participants to concepts of gender schemas, privilege, and identity using a range of interactive activities, including brainstorming and structured discussion. Second, we intend to share information about and obtain feedback on a Gender Discussion Exploration Kit, which the participants will be encouraged to review, use, and share at their home institutions.

An Interactive Exploration Of Gender And Engineering: Unpacking The Experience, Debbie Chachra, Lynn Stein, Alisha Sarang-Sieminski, Caitrin Lynch, Yevgeniya Zastavker

Caitrin Lynch

The engineering student experience is understood to differ for male and female students; gendered interactions affect the development of academic and professional role confidence, as well as engineering identity. The purpose of this session is twofold. First, we aim to introduce participants to concepts of gender schemas, privilege, and identity using a range of interactive activities, including brainstorming and structured discussion. Second, we intend to share information about and obtain feedback on a Gender Discussion Exploration Kit, which the participants will be encouraged to review, use, and share at their home institutions.

An Interactive Exploration Of Gender And Engineering: Unpacking The Experience, Debbie Chachra, Lynn Stein, Alisha Sarang-Sieminski, Caitrin Lynch, Yevgeniya Zastavker

Yevgeniya V. Zastavker

The engineering student experience is understood to differ for male and female students; gendered interactions affect the development of academic and professional role confidence, as well as engineering identity. The purpose of this session is twofold. First, we aim to introduce participants to concepts of gender schemas, privilege, and identity using a range of interactive activities, including brainstorming and structured discussion. Second, we intend to share information about and obtain feedback on a Gender Discussion Exploration Kit, which the participants will be encouraged to review, use, and share at their home institutions.

An Interactive Exploration Of Gender And Engineering: Unpacking The Experience, Debbie Chachra, Lynn Stein, Alisha Sarang-Sieminski, Caitrin Lynch, Yevgeniya Zastavker

Lynn Andrea Stein

The engineering student experience is understood to differ for male and female students; gendered interactions affect the development of academic and professional role confidence, as well as engineering identity. The purpose of this session is twofold. First, we aim to introduce participants to concepts of gender schemas, privilege, and identity using a range of interactive activities, including brainstorming and structured discussion. Second, we intend to share information about and obtain feedback on a Gender Discussion Exploration Kit, which the participants will be encouraged to review, use, and share at their home institutions.

A Survey Of International Practice In University Admissions Testing, Daniel Edwards, Hamish Coates, Tim Friedman

Dr Tim Friedman

This paper explores how admissions tests are used in different higher education systems around the world. This is a relatively new area of research, despite the fact that admissions processes are a key component of university practices and given the ever-increasing globalisation of higher education. This paper shows that aptitude and achievement tests, for example, are used in many developed countries. In some of them, a specific test is nationally instituted and generalised; consequently, the function of the test is well embedded in the education landscape of the country. Elsewhere, tests exist but are administered in an ad hoc fashion …

Foreword, Sherry Penney

Sherry Penney

The author of the foreword speaks about how this issue touches on the subjects of women's rights and how their struggle to break through the glass ceiling has given them more empowerment than ever. The article also speaks about the works within the issue and how each one talks about the struggle, the progress, and success of women in today's working and educational world.

Where Are The Academics Of Tomorrow?, Daniel Edwards

Dr Daniel Edwards

No abstract provided.

A Survey Of International Practice In University Admissions Testing, Daniel Edwards, Hamish Coates, Tim Friedman

Dr Daniel Edwards

This paper explores how admissions tests are used in different higher education systems around the world. This is a relatively new area of research, despite the fact that admissions processes are a key component of university practices and given the ever-increasing globalisation of higher education. This paper shows that aptitude and achievement tests, for example, are used in many developed countries. In some of them, a specific test is nationally instituted and generalised; consequently, the function of the test is well embedded in the education landscape of the country. Elsewhere, tests exist but are administered in an ad hoc fashion …

Latino Students In Lawrence: An Educational Profile, Lorna Rivera

Lorna Rivera

With financial support from the National Council of La Raza, the Gastón Institute is developing "Educational Profiles" for the sixteen Massachusetts public school districts with the highest Latino student enrollments: Boston, Springfield, Lawrence, Worcester, Holyoke, Lowell, Lynn, Chelsea, New Bedford, Brockton, Fitchburg, Salem, Chicopee, Framingham, Haverhill, and Somerville. The profiles present basic data provided by the Massachusetts Department of Education including information on student enrollment, MCAS results, dropout rates, and student aspirations. We hope this information will be used by Latino students, parents, educators, and policy-makers to make informed decisions and improve public education for Latino students in Massachusetts.

Balancing Yin And Yang, Roger Clark, Angela Lang

Roger D. Clark

The first three-quarters of the semester flew by. We learned about quantitative data analysis and I loved it. I really enjoyed the numerical manipulations and seeing how it all related to people. Everything was there in front of me. Not too much imagination on my part was really needed. Then it all ended. Professor Clark introduced qualitative methods and the anxiety began. I soon realized I had to reinvent my creative side, which is something that as an undergraduate I am not required to do very often. I was nervous that I would discover that I was not creative at …

Economic Dependency And Gender Differences In Labor Force Sectoral Change In Non-Core Nations, Roger Clark

Roger D. Clark

This study examines two versions of how economic dependency has affected relative gender positioning in non-core nations' labor forces since the 1960s. A "new dependency" version asserts that multinational corporate investment in manufacturing has transformed the labor forces of such nations, permitting women unusual access to relatively high-paying, if ephemeral, light manufacturing positions. A "traditional trade dependency" version suggests that, despite the aforementioned transformation in some non-core nations, the dominant form of dependency in most remains traditional: they export primary goods in return for manufactured imports. This version claims that some structures not only deter women's entry into the labor …

The Face Of Society, Roger Clark, Alex Nunes

Roger D. Clark

We have updated Ferree and Hall's (1990) study of the way gender and race are constructed through pictures in introductory sociology textbooks. Ferree and Hall looked at 33 textbooks published between 1982 and 1988. We replicated their study by examining 3,085 illustrations in a sample of 27 textbooks, most of which were published between 2002 and 2006. We found important areas of progress in the presentation of both gender and race as well as significant areas of stasis. The face of society we found depicted in contemporary textbooks was distinctly less likely to be that of a white man, very …

Contrasting Perspectives On Women's Access To Prestigious Occupations, Roger Clark

Roger D. Clark

This paper identifies three theoretical perspectives on women's relative access to relatively prestigious, influential occupations: a modernization perspective, an economic discrimination perspective, and a dependency/world system perspective. It draws a set of contrasting hypotheses from these perspectives and tests them, through panel regression, with data from 57 nations. The empirical evidence offers support for the dependency/world system and the modernization views, but contradicts the economic discrimination perspective.

Open Adoption Of Infants, Deborah Siegel

Deborah H Siegel

Adoptions today increasingly include contact between adoptive and birth families. What do these "open adoptions" look like? How do the participants feel about them? This article, based on part of a longitudinal study that first examined adoptive parents' perceptions of their infants' open adoptions seven years ago, explores the parents' reactions now that their children are school age. This qualitative descriptive research revealed changes in the openness in the adoptions over time and identified four dimensions along which open adoptions vary. Findings showed parents' enthusiasm for the openness in their adoptions, regardless of the type and extent of openness. Implications …

Predicting Residential Treatment Outcomes For Emotionally And Behaviorally Disordered Youth: The Role Of Pretreatment Factors, Wendy Den Dunnen, Jeff St. Pierre, Shannon Stewart, Andrew Johnson, Steven Cook, Alan Leschied

Andrew M. Johnson

This study examined outcomes with 170 children and youth admitted to residential treatment with complex mental health problems. Overall, outcomes at 2 years post-treatment was predicted by children and youth's behavioral pretreatment status reflected in lower internalizing and externalizing behavior at admission. These findings recognize a cluster of variables upon admission that are differentially predictive of specific outcomes. Higher school participation/achievement and an absence of witnessing interparental abuse predicted educational status. Family status was predicted at admission by higher family functioning, being younger in the family, and children and youth who had poor community behavior. The results are discussed as …

Black Men In College: Implications For Hbcus And Beyond, Robert T. Palmer, Phd, J. Luke Wood, Phd

Robert T. Palmer, PhD

Black Men in College provides vital information about how to effectively support, retain, and graduate Black male undergraduates. This edited collection centers on the notion that Black male collegians are not a homogenous group; rather, they are representative of rarely acknowledged differences that exist among them. This valuable text suggests that understanding these differences is critical to making true in-roads in serving Black men. Chapter contributors describe the diverse challenges Black men in HBCUs face and discuss how to support and retain high-achieving men, gay men, academically unprepared men, low-income men, men in STEM, American immigrants, millennials, collegiate fathers, those …