Policy-Practice Proximity: The Scope for College-Based Higher Education and Cross-Sector Collaboration in Wales     

Miriam Griffiths 《Higher Education Quarterly》2003,57(4):355-375

In relation to the size of its population, Wales has a relatively large number of higher education institutions, several of which are small and located in rural areas. Compared with other parts of the United Kingdom, only a small number of higher education students are taught in Welsh further education colleges. Nevertheless, efforts have been made to increase higher education provision in the colleges, beginning in the late 1980s with the encouragement of franchising arrangements by the Wales Advisory Body and later with a joint initiative by the Higher and Further Education Funding Councils for Wales to expand some sub‐degree higher education in the colleges by direct funding. These developments represent just one strand of activity linking the higher and further education sectors in Wales and have not been a subject of major or regular policy attention. For reasons of scale and geography, and through the enabling structures and processes serving both funding councils, cross‐sector initiatives and collaboration have generally been given high priority in strategies to widen access and build progression. The administrative devolution reflected in these arrangements has been increased by political devolution since 1999, with as yet unclear implications for the future development of higher education in the colleges.  相似文献   

Quality and relevance of domain-specific search: A case study in mental health     

Thanh Tin Tang  Nick Craswell  David Hawking  Kathy Griffiths  Helen Christensen 《Information Retrieval》2006,9(2):207-225

When searching for health information, results quality can be judged against available scientific evidence: Do search engines return advice consistent with evidence based medicine? We compared the performance of domain-specific health and depression search engines against a general-purpose engine (Google) on both relevance of results and quality of advice. Over 101 queries, to which the term ‘depression’ was added if not already present, Google returned more relevant results than those of the domain-specific engines. However, over the 50 treatment-related queries, Google returned 70 pages recommending for or against a well studied treatment, of which 19 strongly disagreed with the scientific evidence. A domain-specific index of 4 sites selected by domain experts was only wrong in 5 of 50 recommendations. Analysis suggests a tension between relevance and quality. Indexing more pages can give a greater number of relevant results, but selective inclusion can give better quality.  相似文献   

Mental Rotation of Tactical Instruction Displays Affects Information Processing Demand and Execution Accuracy in Basketball     

Till Koopmann  Yvonne Steggemann-Weinrich  Jochen Baumeister 《Research quarterly for exercise and sport》2017,88(3):365-370

Purpose: In sports games, coaches often use tactic boards to present tactical instructions during time-outs (e.g., 20 s to 60 s in basketball). Instructions should be presented in a way that enables fast and errorless information processing for the players. The aim of this study was to test the effect of different orientations of visual tactical displays on observation time and execution performance. High affordances in visual-spatial transformation (e.g., mental rotation processes) might impede information processing and might decrease execution performance with regard to the instructed playing patterns. Method: In a within-subjects design with 1 factor, 10 novice students were instructed with visual tactical instructions of basketball playing patterns with different orientations either showing the playing pattern with low spatial disparity to the players’ on-court perspective (basket on top) or upside down (basket on bottom). Results: The self-chosen time for watching the pattern before execution was significantly shorter and spatial accuracy in pattern execution was significantly higher when the instructional perspective and the real perspective on the basketball court had a congruent orientation. Conclusion: The effects might be explained by interfering mental rotation processes that are necessary to transform the instructional perspective into the players’ actual perspective while standing on the court or imagining themselves standing on the court. According to these results, coaches should align their tactic boards to their players’ on-court viewing perspective.  相似文献   

Hong Kong University and Polytechnic Grants Committee     

R. C. Griffiths 《Higher Education》1984,13(5):545-552

The political uncertainties surrounding Hong Kong's future as a British Crown Colony have not inhibited either the Hong Kong Government or its particular version of a University Grants Committee (UGC) system from devising and planning a continuing expansion of higher education at a time when most other countries are levelling off or contracting their own.This article deals with the many unique features of the Hong Kong situation of which perhaps the most important is the nature of the Hong Kong Government - traditionally colonial and potentially authoritarian, not elected yet highly sensitive to Chinese opinion both internally and externally, and highly efficient in most of its management activities in spite of a strongly laisser faire tradition.The Hong Kong UGC system is charged with much wider planning functions throughout higher education than elsewhere and is responsible for the polytechnic as well as the two universities - hence its trans-binary designation as the University and Polytechnic Grants Committee. While this has helped its overall planning and academic guidance roles, it has involved it in severe difficulties in relation to its basic financial role which requires it to develop methodologies of financial assessment of Polytechnic costs for which no overseas models exist. Its academic membership is still entirely from overseas, with inevitable repercussions on its ability to arrange adequate collective discussion and its reliance on its local secretariat who act as the Government's de facto Department of Higher Education.  相似文献   

The Effectiveness of a Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention for College Freshmen Who Have Aged out of Foster Care     

Lori Gray  Sarah Font  Yvonne Unrau  Ann Dawson 《Innovative Higher Education》2018,43(5):339-352

This study investigated the effects of a brief meditation intervention on perceived stress, mindfulness, and sleep quality for college freshmen who have aged out of foster care. Thirty-six youth who had aged out of foster care and enrolled at a large midwestern 4-year university (n?=?16 experimental group, n?=?20 control group) participated in a study in which they were assessed three times on the dependent variables. Students also participated in a focus group after the intervention ended. Four sessions of the brief mindfulness intervention resulted in significant short-term reductions in stress levels and increases in sleep quality. Finding effective personal interventions to increase chances for college success for students with histories in foster care can also offer potential insight toward the development of educational models and resources for other vulnerable college student populations.  相似文献   

The Birthday Problem Revisited     

Jonny Griffiths 《Teaching Statistics》1999,21(3):78-80

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Translating Policy into Practice: the teaching and learning experience     

Yvonne Farr‐Wharton 《Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education》1997,22(2):211-224

Student diversity has increased within Australian universities. This has changed the teaching and learning needs of students. The implementation of quality was aimed at enhancing the quality of the higher educational product. However, the policy, while providing an accountability framework at the institution level, failed to provide the structural mechanisms needed to achieve quality in the teaching and learning the students receive, that is the sub‐faculty level. Other factors, such as the potential growth of non‐government resources in the form of more international students have perhaps a greater chance of improving the quality of teaching and learning within the faculties, because they provide both the funds and an incentive for more funds as a reward for implementing quality assurance within the teaching and learning function of universities.  相似文献   

Contingency Awareness in Infants and Children with Severe and Profound Learning Disabilities     

Yvonne O'Brien  Sheila Glenn  Cliff Cunningham 《International Journal of Disability, Development & Education》1994,41(3):231-243

Seven infants and children with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties (CA 3 months to 4 years, MA 2 months to 12 months, mean MA 4.5 months) were presented with a contingency situation where they could control the onset of a visually and auditorily attractive toy. In this situation their responding increased and some positive emotional effects were seen. When they were subsequently unable to control stimulation, negative effects were seen on a range of emotional, motivational and self‐stimulation measures. These results suggest that from a mental age level of 2 months children are equipped to detect cause and effect relationships and build up a picture of their world based on expectancies about such relationships; and that violations of these expectancies can lead to negative effects.  相似文献   

Depressed skull fractures: a pattern of abusive head injury in three older children     

Lee AC  Ou Y  Fong D 《Child abuse & neglect》2003,27(11):1323-1329

OBJECTIVE: To describe a pattern of abusive head injury in a series of children older than 4 years of age. METHODS: A hospital chart review of abused children with skull fractures from 1999 to 2001 was carried out. The clinical features, social background, and subsequent outcome and management are described. RESULTS: An 11-year-old girl and a pair of brothers of ages 7 and 9 were identified. The girl was attacked with a hammer during sleep by her stepmother, who committed suicide shortly afterwards. After craniotomy and intensive care, the child survived her multiple depressed fractures, intracranial bleeding, and brain contusion. Two brothers from a second family were attacked from behind with a hammer by their biological father, who was subsequently found to have undiagnosed schizophrenia. A depressed occipital fracture, without intracranial injury, was found in each child. The elder brother also had metacarpal fractures. Both children recovered without surgical intervention. CONCLUSION: A pattern of abusive head injury was described in older children with depressed skull fractures from blunt injury. The abusing parents were seriously mentally disturbed, and the abusive acts closely resembled child homicide.  相似文献   

A tale of 804.573 horses: Arithmetic teaching in Victoria 1860–1914     

Rachel Griffiths 《Educational Studies in Mathematics》1987,18(2):191-207

Between 1860 and 1902, the arithmetic curriculum in government elementary schools in Victoria, Australia changed little. It was based on British models and valued highly computational skills, speed and accuracy. Teaching practice was dominated by the payment by results examination, and was mechanical, rules-based and often ineffective. By the end of the nineteenth century, dissatisfaction with both the principles and practice of this instrumental form of education was widespread; and the ideas of the New Education were incorporated into the courses of 1902 and 1911. However, teaching practice lagged behind the new aims, and continued to be largely mechanical, rules-based and abstract. The inspectors continued to demand the computational skills of the old courses, and the education and training of teachers did not keep pace with the new demands.  相似文献