The Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI) was administered to entering freshmen at 13 small colleges (N = 91-703) and again after the first year (N = 19-75) and the second (N = 18-101). Institutional differences were revealed by a College Goals Rating Sheet, the College and University Environment Scales, and campus visits. Institutional means for entering students ranged across two standard deviations for several OPI scales and factors. Test-retest data indicated (a) most change in autonomy, impulse expression, estheticism, and practical orientation, and least change in intellectual interests, social extroversion, and altruism, (b) for both men and women, (c) irrespective of mean score at entrance, (d) for all colleges. More detailed analyses of subgroups (commuters versus residents) and of more particular variablen (college role orientation) revealed differential change related to characteristics of colleges and entering students.Higher education cherishes two major assumptions: First, that significant personality development occurs during the college years, the period from Age 16-17 to Age 26-30; and, second, that colleges influence that development-that differences in general climate, in rules and regulations, in student-faculty relationships, in curriculum, teaching, and evaluation make for differential impact. Numerous studies have examined these two assumptions.

Against a backdrop of increasingly vocation-focussed course provision within higher education, of widening participation initiatives intended to promote greater inclusion for learners affected by learning difficulties, and of moves towards greater use of social and collaborative forms of learning, this paper discusses the case of an undergraduate Computing student affected by Asperger’s Syndrome (AS).While there is recognition in the literature of problems associated with face-to-face dialogue for persons affected by AS, there is a paucity of research both into the experience of students in higher education, and around the issue of participation in group-work activities increasingly found in creative aspects of computing. This paper highlights a tension between moves towards collaborative learning and UK disabilities legislation in relation to learners with AS. Employing a qualitative case-study methodology, the investigation revealed how a technology-enhanced learning intervention afforded an AS-diagnosed learner greater opportunities to participate in group-work in a higher education context. The findings suggest that not only can computer-mediated communications afford AS-diagnosed learners opportunities to participate meaningfully in group-work, but also that the learner demonstrated higher levels of collective-inclusive versus individual-exclusive phraseology than neurotypical peers, thereby challenging assumptions around participation in collaborative learning activities and assimilation of peer-feedback.

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Evaluating the impact on the student experience of the integrated model of video-enhanced learning, assessment, and feedback discussed in the previous chapter, qualitative data collection employed anonymous online questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and dialogic interviewing techniques, drawing on summative results data to inform methodological triangulation of the findings. Data analysis combined thematic analysis, constant comparison, and direct interpretation within a grounded theory framework. Illustrative cases present the findings as thick descriptions of the influence of video-based interventions on the experience of six purposively and representatively selected participants. The chapter concludes that an integrated model of asynchronous video-enhanced learning, assessment, and feedback can promote increased reflexivity, enhance learner autonomy, and encourage meta-cognitive self-awareness, while affording greater inclusivity for students affected by dyslexia or Asperger's Syndrome.

Article type Full paper, double-blind peer review. Special issue Debating the status of 'theory' in technology enhanced learning research | More at