Development and evaluation of an intervention to improve further education students' understanding of higher education assessment criteria: three studies

Three studies about helping Further Education students prepare for study at universityThis paper reports three studies about preparing Further Education (FE) students for the transition to Higher Education (HE) by improving their understanding of HE assessment criteria. In study 1, students and tutors in both FE and HE were interviewed for a qualitative analysis of their understandings and expectations about assessment criteria. In study 2, students in FE and HE completed questionnaires measuring self-rated understanding and ability about assessment criteria, and beliefs about essay writing. Studies 1 and 2 both showed that FE students were more confident than HE students about their understanding and ability in relation to assessment criteria, but FE students’ understandings suggested more surface approaches to learning and more naïve epistemological beliefs. In study 3, a workshop intervention to improve FE students’ understandings of HE assessment criteria was evaluated in a comparative longitudinal trial. The intervention reduced FE students’ self-rated understanding and ability, and promoted more sophisticated beliefs about essay writing, by comparison with students who received standard tuition. We concluded that interventions to develop more realistic understandings of what is required in academic writing could be used to prepare FE students more effectively for the transition to HE

Toward Greater Clarity in Defining and Understanding Nonattachment

Nonattachment is a key positive element of several psychotherapeutic approaches, including mindfulness-based interventions. However, it has been defined in the academic literature largely as a construct of negation, whereby one should not become attached to objects, people, or experiences. This approach may foster resistance to nonattachment in general through confusion associated with what it means along with uncertainty in how to practise it as there are currently no evidence-based courses or clear guidelines. Furthermore, there is currently no empirical exploration of interventions that are specifically nonattachment-based in terms of their value in applied settings. The purpose of this paper is to propose an affirmative, action-based definition of nonattachment in order to improve understanding and implementation. A further objective is to provide examples of exercises within existing therapeutic modalities through which nonattachment may already be cultivated and to use the example of post-traumatic stress (PTS) as a focus area to discuss the potential value and implications of using nonattachment in a clinical context. Four psychotherapeutic approaches currently applying nonattachment-based concepts including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, Compassion-Focussed Therapy, and Mindfulness are critically assessed for ways in which they cultivate nonattachment, using symptoms of PTS as an example. Based on existing therapeutic and contemplative practices that embody nonattachment principles, as an affirmative definition we propose that nonattachment involves the intentional practices of acceptance, letting go, deep presence, opening to a universally interconnected self-schema, and perceptual distancing from stimuli and response. An affirmative understanding of what nonattachment is, along with a targeted approach to its cultivation, may facilitate a clearer pathway toward the predictive and intervention outcome value of nonattachment in applied settings

Solving the Coulomb scattering problem using the complex scaling method

Based on the work of Nuttall and Cohen [Phys. Rev. {\bf 188} (1969) 1542] and Resigno et al{} [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 55} (1997) 4253] we present a rigorous formalism for solving the scattering problem for long-range interactions without using exact asymptotic boundary conditions. The long-range interaction may contain both Coulomb and short-range potentials. The exterior complex scaling method, applied to a specially constructed inhomogeneous Schr\"odinger equation, transforms the scattering problem into a boundary problem with zero boundary conditions. The local and integral representations for the scattering amplitudes have been derived. The formalism is illustrated with numerical examples.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Development and validation of the student attitudes and beliefs about authorship scale: a psychometrically robust measure of authorial identity

One approach to plagiarism prevention focuses on improving students’ authorial identity, but work in this area depends on robust measures. This paper presents the development of a psychometrically robust measure of authorial identity - the Student Attitudes and Beliefs about Authorship Scale. In the item generation phase, a pool of items was developed and assessed for content validity by subject matter experts. In the exploratory phase, data from 439 higher education students were used to identify a latent variable model with three factors: ‘authorial confidence’, ‘valuing writing’ and ‘identification with author’. In the confirmatory phase, data from 306 higher education students were used to test the three-factor model's reliability and validity. The three-factor structure was confirmed, and the results showed the SABAS has a stronger psychometric basis than previously available measures. This measure of authorial identity can be used with confidence in research and pedagogy to help students improve their authorial identity

Analytic structure and power-series expansion of the Jost function for the two-dimensional problem

For a two-dimensional quantum mechanical problem, we obtain a generalized power-series expansion of the S-matrix that can be done near an arbitrary point on the Riemann surface of the energy, similarly to the standard effective range expansion. In order to do this, we consider the Jost-function and analytically factorize its momentum dependence that causes the Jost function to be a multi-valued function. The remaining single-valued function of the energy is then expanded in the power-series near an arbitrary point in the complex energy plane. A systematic and accurate procedure has been developed for calculating the expansion coefficients. This makes it possible to obtain a semi-analytic expression for the Jost-function (and therefore for the S-matrix) near an arbitrary point on the Riemann surface and use it, for example, to locate the spectral points (bound and resonant states) as the S-matrix poles. The method is applied to a model simlar to those used in the theory of quantum dots.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figures, submitted to J.Phys.