Higher Education 23: 335-344, 1992.

Book reviews

J. M. Pieters, P. R. J. Simons and L. de Leeuw (eds.) (1990). Research on Computer- Based Instruction. Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger. 173 pp. 48.50 Dutch Guilders. Paperback.

This is a collection of eleven articles by Dutch researchers who are primarily concerned with the use of computer-based learning (CAL) programs in schools. Nevertheless the book has a wider relevance and will be of interest to those who follow developments in the psychology of learning, educational technology or instructional design.

The articles have a pleasing coherence. Whether this is due to assiduous editorial work or reflects an orthodoxy in Dutch educational research is hard to say. The large majority of the articles report empirical studies of CAL programs in use - studies which typically involve controlled experiments intended to test some particular design feature. Readers will doubtless have their own views on the general utility of controlled experimental studies, whether as a method of advancing scientific knowledge about learning or as a guide to practice. It is good to see such a sizeable engagement in serious empirical research, which stands in contrast to the anecdotal evidence that forms much of the writing about CAL in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, at the end of the book one is left with an uneasy feeling that not much new has been learned. A not unfair caricature of the studies might run as follows:

A researcher starts by taking some theoretical idea, or some notion derived from intuition or educational practice, and subjects it to testing through its implementa- tion in a computer program. For example, the theory might say 'X should help with learning outcome Y' (where X may be a particular kind of feedback, for instance). An experiment is designed, with two conditions in it (X and not-X). The treatments (X and not-X) are administered to two groups of learners, through implementing some appropriate mechanism in a computer program. Analysis of the results reveals no significant difference. The temptation is to say 'the theory/intuition/accepted practice must be wrong'. But more often than not it's the instantiation of the theory in the computer program that's at fault and tittle new, in fact, can be said about the original theory. To their credit, the authors are not shy about admitting such weaknesses in the execution of their studies. But one is left wondering whether this is a sensible way to do science.

Most of the strengths in this book are at a theoretical level. The research is consistent with contemporary information-processing models of cognition. Con- sequently there is an emphasis on individual differences - particularly individual differences in prior knowledge - and their marked effect on the determination of learning outcomes. Individualised teaching is uncommon and difficult and this

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creates a niche for individualised learning using computers. CAL actually plays a dual role here. Firstly, the implementation of alternative teaching strategies in a computer program demands that each is specified unambiguously. That done, the computer program will execute the teaching strategy more consistently than a human teacher and the research results will not be Confounded by inter-teacher variations. Secondly, it is a relatively trivial matter to develop the experimental CAL program into a robust enough state to disseminate for classroom use. Dissemination of new teaching approaches among (human) teachers is a far bigger problem.

As a last general point before turning to individual contributions, it is noteworthy that many of the studies involve CAL using drill-and-practice methods. This is quite reasonable. Our best theories of cognitive skill acquisition- applicable at all levels of education and training- emphasize the crucial role of practice, it is relatively easy to program a computer so that it can offer large or infinite numbers of problems on which to practise. It is possible to vary the nature of such problems in order to match individually varying needs or abilities. It seems a very sensible use for an automaton. Of course, there are uses which are more exciting to the educational computing specialist, but the easy dismissal of the drill-and-practice software genre in English education is a matter for concern.

Of the individual articles, I found the following of particular interest. Barnard and colleagues investigate collaborative learning and offer a nice counter-example to the prevailing controlled experiment paradigm. Their method is common in information-processing studies of learning and consists of taking detailed protocols of learners' utterances. Analysis of the protocols feeds the design of a computer simulation program which is, in essence, a computational theory about the processes that generate the learners' dialogue. Their computer program is both a scientific explanatory device and a prototype for a knowledge-based CAL system that can act as a 'co-learner', solving problems adn 'thinking along' in parallel with its student user.

Hasselerharm and Leemkuil investigate aspects of'learner control'. This is a very active and ideologically riven area for research. The authors replicate a common enough set of findings. When students have a high level of control over the quantity and type of instructional material the more able do well and the less able flounder. Students given a high level of control report a greater level of satisfaction with the experience than do more constrained students (irrespective of learning outcomes). Similar results are reported in the book's last article (van der Linden and Assink). Learner control is closely associated with ideas about the self-regulation of learning, and issue well covered by de Jong and Simons who offer both theoretical analyses of self-regulation, active learning and metacognition, and an evaluation of a CAL program designed to enhance self-regulatory abilities.

Several of the articles draw on methods from Artificial Intelligence (AI). That by Pijls et al. stands out for two reasons. Firstly it demonstrates that the painstaking, fine-grained analysis of subject-matter that is a prerequisite for construction of an AI-based teaching system can have valuable educational spin-offs even if the system itself is never implemented. The authors discover several important lacunae in Dutch grammar teaching. Secondly, it shows how AI tools, or components of an

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AI-based teaching system, can also be educationally valuable. They report on interesting applications of graphical syntactic parsers (which display and allow the transformation of the grammatical structure of sentences) and of semantic networks (which allow the definition of a curriculum for Dutch grammar that reveals much of its conceptual structure).

My final remarks concern the editing of the book. It is not clear what contribution the editors made to this collection. There are points of common interest which an editorial intervention could have made more explicit. Some of the articles are not well titled. There is no index. The editors' preface is distinctly unhelpful since it offers an advance organiser for the book which is at odds with its actual content.

Nevertheless this is a useful volume. If your institution can afford an interest in computer assisted learning, get your library to buy a copy.

Peter Goodyear Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University

Thomas G. Jordan (1989). Measurement and Evaluation in Higher Education: Issues and Illustrations. London: The Falmer Press. ISBN 185000 576 1. 180 pp. NP. Paperback.

I confess to being one of these reviewers who likes receiving books for review but does not like writing the review, especially when they impinge on one's specialist interests.

In this case I am glad of the resulting procrastination, since I have now had more first hand experience of the issues. I am also glad to review this book because, although it was written in 1989, it describes with great accuracy and clarity how higher education works in the United States, its present relations with schools and the world beyond, and more especially problems and practice in the evaluation of institutions and their courses. Anyone who wishes to understand the system of higher education in the United States and how it works will find no better introduction to its diversity than in the first chapter.

Traditionally in educational circles we would expect to find in a book which has 'measurement' as the first word in its title content oriented toward the explanation of and justification for a variety of mathematical techniques. This is not the case, although some are necessarily used in the illustrative study which makes up Chapter 7. The book is about the quest for accountability, the problems wich it poses and the approaches which might be used in support of the view that 'Assessment of the university on a timely, periodic basis can be a way to preserve the best while preparing for new challenges and opportunities'.

There are two complaints. First, the author does not really convey to the foreign reader that what he describes, the questions posed, the inventories illustrated, are 'for real'. Multiple-strategy assessment, as it was called by the Governor's, has come into the life of American education in a very big way.

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These uses of the term assessment show how in American Higher Education it has acquired a much broader meaning than simply the assessment of students by tests. It has come to embrace all those factors which contribute to retention and drop-out and the value that students ascribe to their college study. Thus it is, that the illustrative study (Chapter 7) may come as a surprise to those readers who have a more traditional perspective on assessment, for it is a description of the value ascribed for their education by immediately graduating students and graduates of five and ten years standing.

In years gone by, we would probably have called this a partial evaluation. Nowadays the terms are interchangeable, not only with each other, but also with accountability. Thus the annual accountability report which I saw in one American College was a statement of the assessment objectives in each course. The other things, and there were many, like student numbers and staffing ratios, were contained in what is called a programme review. The two together comprise the components of evaluation and it is in this all-embracing sense that 'Evaluation' is used in the title of the book.

My second complaint relates to his comments on the work of Alverno College. This college is probably the most cited for its work in the area of assessment. Almost all commentators on Alverno make the same remark about its assessment led curriculum, and Jordan is no exception. It is to the effect that Alverno is able to achieve its goals because of its small size and relatively personalised style. While I admit that part of its success is due to the total commitment of its staff, there is no reason why the model cannot be adapted either to a faculty or to a department or to a course. Indeed, I have done this with one of my courses with some success but with more limited criteria. But as soon as you write a mission statement which says, as the one from Metropolitan State College, Denver does, that a key factor in all courses will be the development of critical thinking abilities in all courses, then that is to admit the Alverno model.

Measurement and Evaluation in Higher Education is an introduction to the topic. The ideas in it are readily transferable to the higher education scene in the British Isles. It would be a useful handbook for those persons beginning a career of one kind or another in college government, for many of the ideas which have been thrust on unsuspecting academics during the last decade have been thrust on unsuspecting academics during the last decade have their origin in the United States. Many of my friends will be delighted to see that a section on the evaluation of administration is included in the chapter on Evaluating the Academic Program!

John Heywood Department of Teacher Education

University of Dublin

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Peter W. G. Wright (ed.)(1990). Industry and Higher Education: Collaboration to Improve Students' Learning and Teaching. Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press. 93 pp. NP..

Twenty years ago, the progressive businessman seeking to forge links with higher education would have had difficulty in finding apoint of entry. Today, the same person is swamped with possibilities. As Peter Wright points out in his opening paragraph, the view that industry and higher education should work more closely together has become 'an all but unshakeable part of the dominant conventional wisdom'.

Much of the growth in higher education/industry relations has been adhoc in nature. The arrival of any publication, therefore, which invites the reader to step back and analyse the extent of change, is welcome. This is precisely the aim of this collection of papers, each taken from the 1990 S.R.H.E. conference on industry and higher education.

Although the authors confine themselves to student based activity, rather than research or technology transfer, the menu is a broad one, embracing the historical development, the level of industrial support, the needs of graduates and changes in the culture and organisation of institutions.

The danger is that a collection of this type can become too broad in its outlook, leaving the reader a great deal of work in order to reach a conclusion. This charge could be levied at the present book, although Wright himself provides a model for further analysis in his introduction and Peter Slee reminds us, in a challenging conclusion, that the expansion of enterprise and instrumentation against more conventional post- Robbins values of education and research, is by no means inevitable.

If a conclusion does emerge from the papers, it is that, although well established, industrial links have not yet reached the core of the system. Thus we hear from Williams and Loder, in one of the few chapters to present genuinely new evidence, that the extent of industrial funding remains small in percentage terms. Meanwhile Keith Tribe reminds us, in an article which covers the structure and demography of U.S. higher education, that British unviersities are well behind their American counterparts in attracting private funding.

Since the book sets out to provide an overview of the relationship, practical advice for those working at the interface is limited, although the contributions of two employers, Peter Meyer-Dohm and Ann Bailey, provide useful checklists for those contemplating the expansion of employment related skills in the curriculum. Anne Jones also gives a clear, if uncritical, guide to recent government initiatives in the field.

In short, the book is successful in its aim of providing a thought provoking background, from which the reader can draw his own conclusions. The hard- pressed businessman might also find this a useful read although, as ever, it will not offer him instant solution.

John Kirkland Research Services Bureau

Brunel University

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William W. May (ed.) (1990). Ethics andHigher Education. New York: Macmillan for the American Council on Education. $27.95.

Few will argue that there is not a need for a full and comprehensive discussion of the ethical issues facing American higher education. From college classrooms to the halls of the nation's capital, the ethical standards of institutions of higher education are in question. Congress is conducting hearings on the appropriateness of including personal items in indirect costs charged to the government on research contracts, while federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, are investigating the appropriateness of faculty conduct.

Ethics andHigher Education is a comprehensive review of the ethical issues facing higher education today. The book begins with three chapters that serve as a 'framework' for the ensuing topical chapters, which cover the full gamut of ethical issues in higher education: from the role of the president as ethical leader, to proprietary and classified research, to decisions made on the everyday levels of administration (admissions, academic planning, institutional advancement, etc.).

The greatest strengths of the book are the two chapters by Smith and Reynolds on 'Institutional Culture and Ethics' and 'Academic Principles of Responsibility.' In the first chapter they present the reader with five major ethical themes which rise as a framework from the institution's culture and against which the institution's ethical issues should be viewed. Understanding of an institution's culture, its particular strengths and weaknesses, must be a goal for ethical leaders and the community, since ethical issues cannot provide generic prescriptions but only a forum for discussion.

In the second chapter Smith and Reynolds provide a set of principles of responsibility, a draft code of professional ethics, by which educators as individuals and the academy should govern their behavior. I find these principles - personal, professional, systematic, public, and political - highly commendable guides for conduct.

The rest of the chapters represent topics identified at the 1986 annual meeting of the Western College Association, supplemented by a number of other major themes. Some of the essays in the collection are stronger than others, perhaps the strongest being Chesler and Crowfoot's comprehensive discussion of 'Racism on Campus.' They end with a superb analysis of the characteristics of institutional racism and provide the reader with two excellent figures - one summarizing institutional racism in higher education and the other, keys to potential reduction of racism in higher education. Also included is a list of nine issues which must be addressed if educators are to be successful in reducing campus racism.

Lapidus and Miskin provide an excellent analysis of a number of principles and assumptions taken for granted in the graduate education of scientists. This discussion is especially timely in light of the controversy over conflict of interest and 'cooking' data. Regarding the need to teach ethics to scientists, our authors refer to John Ziman's belief that an education in science does not guarantee professional

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integrity. However, 'it does, in its best sense, produce a scientist with 'very high internal critical standards for arguments within the context of his discipline.' (pp. 288)

A number of the other chapters, although not of the same high quality, provide the reader with valuable insights and information. For example, Lenn and Lenn, in their chapter on 'Institutional Educational Assessment', deal with an emerging contentious issue in higher education, the relations between accrediting agencies and institutions. Claiming that the attitude of the institution largely determines the assessment it will receive, they argue that accreditation review should be seen as an opportunity rather than as an onerous task. However, they fail to acknowledge that the accreditation is only as good as the quality of the review team. If colleges are to take the process seriously, and they must, so must accrediting agencies. Rather than being made up of retired administrators seeking extra income, teams should be made up of leaders of institutions from the aspiration group of the institution to be accredited.

Perlman, in his chapter on 'Ethical Challenges of the College and University Presidencey,' makes the excellent suggestion that presidents consider initiating college - and university - wide 'ethical audit[s],' to measure the suitability and efficacy of current ethical standards. It seems a sensible suggestion, and an ethical audit could easily be incorported into the institution's accreditation review.

There are a few chapters which could be improved. One is Stelmach and Holman's chapter on 'Institutional Advancement,' which sould more properly be entitled 'Instituional Development.' While it offered a good discussion of ethical dilemmas in fundraising, it failed to recognize ethical problems faced by institution- al advancement beyond fundraising. Ethical dilemmas arise almost daily in the areas of alumni relations, news bureaux, publications, and image management, to name a few.

Although the absence of a comprehensive discussion of the ethicalissues involved in faculty rights and responsibility, such as academic freedom, competence, conflict of interest, and professional obligation, is regrettable, this book on whole, presents an excellent discussion of a wide range of ethical issues in higher education. The publishers suggest that the volume would be of value to policymakers, administra- tors, and faculty. I would only add that those who teach in higher education programs would find it a valuable text for a course on the ethical issues in higher education.

Ronald H. Stein Vice President for University Relations

State University of New York at Buffalo

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Barrie Brennan (ed.) (1990). 'Continuing professional education: promise and performance', Australian Educational Review 30. 147 pp. NP.

This volume consists of three parts in which, after the context of continuing professional education (CPE) has been discussed, a series of essays discuss CPE in practice in the legal, accounting, engineering, occupational therapy and teaching professions. The editor concludes with a summary and a discussion of emerging issues.

Each of the professions discussed accept the importance and potential of CPE but there are variations in the understanding of what CPE is designed to achieve and how programmes should be delivered and assessed. The question of mandatory versus voluntary CPE emerges as a crucial issue (Chapter 3). A number of the professions discussed have moved towards mandatory CPE while occupational therapists are striving to maintain the voluntary principle and teachers appear to be unable to resolve more fundamental issues. The editor asks whether the adoption of mandatory CPE is not a comment on the failure of initial training to develop a positive attitude to lifelong learning. On the Australian evidence the adoption of mandatory CPE is based on the assumption that voluntary CPE does not work and that mandatory CPE would solve the problem. Brennan suggests, however, that although mandatory CPE may solve immediate problems in the longer term it will create, perhaps, as many as it solves.

CPE appears to be a central activity in the professional associations of those professions discussed. In complete contrast with the other professions discussed in this book, teachers have little ownership of their professional development activities. It would appear that the priorities are determined by federal and state governments.

In all the professions discussed, there is no overarching view as to what was an appropriate CPE programme in a profession. There is a great deal of activity, the use of distance learning, computer assisted learning and even satellite communications but there is a tendency for much of the provision to be provider rather than user-led. The extent to which training needs analyses have been conducted has varied and Brennan asserts that the task should not be contracted out to consultants or HEIs since the process by which the information is gained should underpin the development of programme delivery.

It would appear that evaluation was not a high priority in the overall management of CPE programmes. Where it is carried out it is related closely to financial accountability. In the accountancy profession, there is a movement towards an evaluation of the outputs of the programme as distinct from the inputs and some work had been done in the evaluation of outcomes of the College of Laws Practical Legal Training Course. Brennan insists that evaluation, preferably in relation to overall objectives, should be carried out at the macro and micro level: at the macro level the overall programme and its impact should be investigated; while at the micro level those involved as organizers, facilitators and participants should be

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asked to comment on the activities in which they are engaged in relation to each activity.

The author concludes by remarking that there appears to be a lack of clarity in the purposes of CPE programmes for the professions in Australia. The full potential of CPE remains to be recognized and the possibilities have yet to become integrated into professional policy let alone the operationalization of these policies into professional programmes. As a final point, Brennan comments on the number of people involved in CPE in Australia. The time has come, he asserts, for the development of CPE programmes for CPE professionals. It seems, he says, unreasonable - perhaps even irresponsible - to require lawyers, doctors, accountants and other professionals to participate in CPE if the planners and provides of CPE do not themselves undergo it. The author suggests that the quality of CPE in Australia will be a direct function of the rate at which it is developed for the CPE professionals themselves. Amen to that, and the lessons to Britain are clear.

Jennifer Tann The University of Birmingham

Peter A. M. Maassen and Frans A. van Vught (eds.) (1989). Dutch Higher Education in Transition. Policy-issues in Higher Education in the Netherlands. Den Haag: Uitgeverij Lemma. U.K.: Jessica Kingsley. 195 pp. s Paperback.

This collection of articles is published to mark the fifth anniversary of the foundation of the Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) at the University of Twente, Enschede, and all of the chapters are written by academics from that research centre. Such a motive for publishing a book and the restriction of contributors to those from a single institution raises initial fears about lack of coherence, uneven coverage and variable academic quality. Luckily, none of these fears was justified.

After a clear and informative general introduction to the Dutch higher education system by van Vught, the following eight substantive chapters consider a variety of aspects of change within government policyt and higher education during the late 1970s and 1980s. There are eight authors in all, but four of the chapters are co-authored, which helps to achieve coherence within the volume. Three of these eight chapters are revised versions of articles already published elsewhere.

The topics discussed and analyzed include: the 1982 reduction of the standard length of first degree course to four years and the introduction of a two tier structure; the process by which funding reductions were allocated to universities in 1982; the reconstruction of the vocational higher education system through institutional mergers and system changes; the funding of university research; overall govern- mental fundign and control strategies towards higher education; assessment of quality in higher education; the relationship between higher education and the

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labour market; and trend in efficiency within teacher and research. In each of the chapters policy issues are given prominence. Moreover, they do not

simply report and describe changes that have occurred, but are based upon and engage with theories of social change and decision-making. However, the collection as a whole does not present a single coherent theoretical perspective, but draws upon a variety of frameworks. This diversity perhaps indicates the liveliness of debate within the Centre, but I found models where macro and micro political activity was considered more convincing than those premised on collective rationality.

The book is primarily designed for an academic readership outside the Netherlands itself, and the tight editorship and firm relationship between the authors means that there is little repetition of material between chapters beyond that necessary to remind the reader of the basic facts. The accounts and arguments presented are of interest to readers elsewhere not simply because an up-to-date analysis is presented of the situation in the Netherlands, but also because the pressures for change, government policy initiatives and responses from the higher education institutions have clear echoes in many other countries. The social pressures to increase the number of student places in higher education at a time of economic downturn, and to increase efficiency, accountability and flexibility are themes which are common in many higher education systems. A realisation of the similarities and differences of responses between various countries gives us a greater understanding of the range of possibilities for our own country.

As a whole, the book is a fitting indication of some of the high quality work that has been conducted by CHEPS during its short existence, and of the significance of CHEPS' likely future role in developing research on higher education.

Geoffrey Walford Aston Business School, Aston University