Peer partnership to enhance scholarship of teaching: a case study

This paper reports on the outcomes of a peer partnership program trialled at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. The program was designed based on a community of practice methodology to bring together academic staff for the purpose of advancing teaching practice. The program encouraged professional and supportive environments for the purpose of critical reflection and personal development. The belief was that quality teaching is core business and vital to university organisational goals. Peer partnership programs support improvement in teaching and learning. Participants in the program reported the program enhanced their commitment and insight into teaching and that there is willingness to be involved if supported by colleagues and an organisation. Feedback from participants in the program was positive and outcomes arising from the QUT Peer Partnership Project were the development of an online peer partner tool-kit, staff development training, an instructional DVD and integration of the project goals within QUT staff development programs.     

Online Faculty Development in the Canary Islands: A Study of E‐mentoring

This article reports on a six‐week online capacity learning and telementoring program at the Universities of the Canary Islands. Firstly, the authors give their view of online training and mentorship perspectives. They structure the argument introducing concepts about the mentor method. Simultaneously, the empirical project is illustrated with a case study: the University Teaching Professional Development (UTPD), a University training program for the development of curriculum and teaching capacities with reference to change within university teaching programs. Finally, the authors discuss the results, which lead to improvement, focusing on the difficulties of learning and practice of capacities within an online training course.     

农村中小学教师“送培上门”项目机制研究

“城乡二元结构”体制造成农村教育发展明显滞后,而农村中小学教师职后培训的低效性又使农村教育质量问题更是“雪上加霜”.实践表明,“送培上门”项目是破解当前农村教师专业发展困境的利器.文章旨在通过对“送培上门”运行机制（包括专家团队遴选机制、培训课程资源生成机制、项目管理机制、参训教师选拔机制、项目评价机制和项目推进的“后效应”机制等）的研究,寻求该项目长效的制度机制,开辟农村教师专业发展的新路径.     

Transfer Evaluation of Knowledge and Skill Development: A Case Study of an Instructional Systems Development Training Program

Program evaluation involves a systematic process to collect and convert data into information which is used to improve programs, measure their effects, track quality, act on results, and improve decision making. Beginning in 1992, the LG Group of Korea was involved in an instructional systems development (ISD) training program for its human resource development professionals in cooperation with Indiana University. The LG ISD training program stressed that learning instructional design theories and practices would make LG more effective in global competition. The purposes of the research reported in this article were to evaluate the effectiveness of the ISD training program in terms of transfer of training and to gain information on how to improve future training programs. The findings of the study support the goals that were established for the ISD training program. The program participants are more confident and competent in using the ISD process for analyzing needs for performance improvement and designing and developing quality training products. The article suggests ways of solving barriers to transfer training and evaluation and improving future programs.     

Developing a family-centered, hospital-based perinatal education program

The development of a family-centered, comprehensive perinatal education program for a large, urban hospital system is described. This program was developed in conjunction with the building of a new women's center and, although the authors were fortunate that several opportunities for educational program development were linked to this project, many of the steps taken and the lessons learned can be helpful to anyone desiring to develop a similar program. This article relates perinatal education to the principles of family-centered maternity care, outlines the criteria for a quality educational program, gives rationale for this type of program development, and offers practical suggestions for starting or enhancing a perinatal education program within a hospital system.     

以大学生创新训练计划项目为平台的本科创新型人才培养实践

文章结合指导大学生创新训练计划项目的多年实践,从项目申报与创新型人才选拔、项目实施过程中的教与学以及本科生创新能力的提升三个方面剖析了开展大学生创新训练计划项目对本科生创新型人才培养的重要作用,旨在为全面提升高等院校本科生人才培养质量、推行创新型本科人才培养模式提供理论和实践参考。     

A case study of an implementation of the ‘new literacy’ paradigm

Within this article, the authors discuss a research project which entailed using teacher journals as a source of program development, assessment and change. Over the course of one year, teachers from the West Deptford school system voluntarily participated in a professional development program entitled the PENN Literacy Network. This training program was led by a member of the West Deptford school district, and its aim was to promote new ways of integrating reading, writing and talking into language arts classrooms and across the curriculum. During the course of this training year, teachers were asked to keep journals detailing their experiences and understanding of the critical experiences which they were presented with, and these journals were responded to by the facilitator of the course and were read by researchers associated with the PENN Literacy Network in order to answer questions and identify emergent themes. This paper addresses some findings, analysis and interpretation of the qualitative evaluation research project which grew out of a university/school district collaboration. It describes the Pennsylvania Framework and the critical learning experiences associated with this Framework and details, using journal citations, teachers’ reactions to the changes taking place within their classrooms and their teaching philosophies as they adapt such critical experiences to their own daily practice. The changes which occur in the program due to teacher feedback and concerns are discussed. Throughout this case study, the authors seek to answer the following questions:‘In what ways have teachers who participated in the professional development program utilized the concepts and practices of the new literacy effort in their classrooms?’ and ‘How do these teachers feel about these changes?’ They believe that using such questions to analyze the journals helps to provide validation data supporting the assumption that the PENN Literacy Network does facilitate change and this data helps the facilitator of the course, the organizers of the Network and the university researchers to integrate teacher voices into the program itself. In addition, teachers are able to use the journals to experiment and learn while sharing their thoughts and feelings with their colleagues as a form of teacher research.     

油气储运工程专业双体系人才培养方案建设进展

广东石油化工学院油气储运工程专业积极开展双体系人才培养模式改革建设,旨在提升学生的培养质量、提高毕业生的综合素质.在课程教育体系建设方面,充分贯彻双体系人才培养方案的理念,对课程教育体系进行深度改革,提高学生的人文素养、丰富学生的理论知识、增强学生的应用能力及工程实践能力.在素拓教育体系建设方面,共制定了16个素拓项目,其中包含12个必修素拓项目、4个选修素拓项目,每个素拓项目均制定了详细的执行方案.通过双体系培养方案的建设,为本专业培养高素质应用型工程技术人才打下坚实基础.     

English language teaching in public primary schools in Mexico: the practices and challenges of implementing a national language education program

Over the past 15?years, many state governments in Mexico have initiated local programs to introduce English at the primary school level. In 2009, the Mexican Ministry of Education formalized the Programa Nacional de Inglés en Educación Básica (PNIEB) as part of the national curriculum, based on the argument that increasing the number of English speakers in Mexico is necessary for the country to be globally competitive and to follow the trend in other developing economies of augmenting English instruction in public education. This paper focuses on the implementation of PNIEB and the state programs that preceded it. The authors document the practices and challenges associated with the program based on data collected from interviews with the main stakeholders involved (students and parents, teachers, school principals, and program coordinators) and from classroom observations. The total data-set consisted of over 200 interviews and classroom observations spread over several years from 2008 to 2012. Several challenges are described, including the development of materials, the role of English in relation to other subject areas, and the training of teachers who often speak English but have uneven formal preparation. The status of the teachers, both as second-class citizens within the schools and the instability and irregularities with their contracts, was identified as the most significant challenge to the successful implementation of the programs.     

EVALUATION OF A MEDICINE INFORMATION TRAINING PROGRAM FOR OLDER PEOPLE

This article describes a medicine information training project initiated through concerns of older people in Australia about the inappropriate use of medicines and adverse consequences on their health. The training program uses experiential and adult learning strategies to train older people to act as advocates and peer role models to inform their peers on the wise use of medicines. The process evaluation conducted established the high quality of the training program's content, staff, documentation, and other resources. However, feedback from graduates indicated the difficulties experienced by older learners when the training is too concentrated. The wide reach of the program, as assessed through the extensive recorded activities of the program's graduates in the community, was positive. The immediate impact evaluation on those completing initial training identified an increase in self‐reported self‐esteem, whereas the intermediate evaluation on experienced graduates showed that growth in personal development had been sustained several years post‐graduation. None regretted volunteering to be trained and all reported deriving great satisfaction from assisting their peers. They would recommend the training to others, but only if they are willing to listen and invest the time needed during and after training. Relatively high rates of attrition due to death, ill‐health, and family commitments were recorded and implications noted. This project successfully mounted a community‐based program to train older people to act as peer educators, with noticeable benefits to program participants. The procedures used, and the insights obtained through participants’ feedback, have relevance for planning other training programs for older learners.     

老年服务业人才培养方案初探

我国已经进入老龄化社会,要发展社区为老服务和社会化养老事业,就必须培养大量的老年服务与管理人才,而我国在这方面的人才培养还非常薄弱。要建设和谐老龄化社会,离不开高素质、专业化的老年服务业人才。老年服务业人才必须具有复合的知识结构和多元的学科背景。     

加强全程监控与管理 提高毕业设计(论文)质量

毕业设计(论文)是实现人才培养目标的重要教学环节,在提高人才质量上其它教学环节是无法替代的.针对毕业设计(论文)教学过程中存在的问题,建立健全了毕业设计(论文)专项检查的管理和监控制度,经过多年的实践,取得了明显效果,使毕业设计(论文)质量呈现稳步上升趋势.     

关于高职计算机专业毕业设计的思考

毕业设计是高职院校人才培养方案重要一环。然而学生毕业设计常常与就业求职发生矛盾,在考核压力面前,毕业设计质量被迫做出让步。该文分析了毕业设计与学生就业求职冲突成因,从学生职业生涯角度重新审视毕业设计,围绕选题、评价和管理三个层面提出了改进建议。     

Hopes and challenges for the new civic education in Mexico: toward a democratic citizen without adjectives

This paper presents the main goals and themes, as well as a critical analysis, of an ambitious new reform of Mexico’s secondary-level program for civic education. It begins with a brief historical review of the modern Mexican secondary school, as well as a thematic analysis of the new published curriculum and study program, which puts heavy emphasis on the development of democratic citizenship skills and habits. The paper then draws on interview research to highlight some of the challenges that national and local actors have identified for the program’s successful implementation. Because the new program espouses a progressive democratic pedagogy in the absence of a supportive democratic political culture, an appropriate structure of school governance, or adequate training for in-service teachers, many actors expressed skepticism about whether the reform could meaningfully take hold.     

网络教育专业培养方案制定的原则和思路

目前,网络教育的专业培养方案并未真正体现网络教育的功能和特点,无论是从培养方案所应涵盖的内容项目,还是从培养方案的制定原则和具体思路方面,均需要科学的方法和指导。本文通过访谈,对网络教育专业培养方案及制定进行了充分的实地调研,分析了目前网络教育专业培养方案及制定中存在的突出问题,并针对这些问题,结合作者的相关研究及文献调研的结果,提出制定网络教育专业培养方案的主要内容、原则、关键环节及主要方法,以期为我国高校网络教育专业培养方案的制定提供参考。     

UCLA教学训练营项目的启发与思考

高素质的大学教师队伍建设需要教师发展项目的支持,海外培训项目给教师带来诸多有益的反思。本文通过对UCLA暑期教学训练营项目的具体剖析,从教育主体的基本情况和观念、教师的教学理念、教学效益的认知、教学效果的测量方式、教学方法及策略五个方面比较了中美大学课程教学的异同。在目前教育部大力提倡高校要打造"金课"、拒绝"水课"的目标下,结合UCLA教学训练营的学习心得和体会,提出笔者的思考,给出几点具体的建议。     

Pre-service teachers’ greater power to act in the classroom: analysis of the circumstances for professional development

This case study analysed the circumstances during a one-year work placement in which a pre-service teacher showed professional development, with a focus on the impact of her interactions with various interlocutors. The study was conducted within the framework of the cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and of activity theory with its methods for the clinical study of activity. The results showed intra-psychic conflicts. produced by interactions with trainers, peers, experienced colleagues, and students. These conflicts prompted the development of the pre-service teacher’s professional activity through the construction of new goals and new motives for action (development through sense), and the construction of new operations to reach these goals (development through efficiency). This study thus opens the way for creating training programmes that favour the development of teachers’ power to act. It provides a source for transforming traditional mentoring methods in teacher training.     

三本院校计算机专业毕业设计问题与对策研究

本科生毕业设计是高等教育人才培养方案中重要的实践教学环节,是高等院校毕业生完成学业的标志性作业。分析三本院校计算机专业学生毕业设计中存在的主要问题,有针对性地提出加强和改进三本院校计算机专业学生毕业设计质量的意见和对策,对促进三本院校计算机专业人才培养质量具有重要意义。     

A Preliminary Evaluation of REACH: Training Early Childhood Teachers to Support Children’s Social and Emotional Development

This paper describes the development, implementation and preliminary evaluation of the Reaching Educators and Children (REACH) program, a training and coaching intervention designed to increase the capacity of early childhood teachers to support children’s social and emotional development. We evaluated REACH with 139 teachers of toddler and preschool classrooms. Teacher attendance and survey results suggest that teachers were highly satisfied with the training and materials. Data from classroom observation scales conducted pre- and post-REACH implementation suggest significant improvements in the sensitivity of teachers’ interactions with children in the classroom, and increased teacher use of targeted social and emotional supports (such as teaching children to resolve conflicts). Further, data from observations of children’s classroom behavior suggest increases in children’s prosocial behaviors and small but significant decreases in verbal aggression. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the REACH program may be effective in building teachers’ capacity to support social–emotional development of young children, and point to the need for additional research.     

Information and communication technologies: transforming views of literacies in early childhood settings

This paper reports on an early childhood technology project that has been conducted in Australia since 2000. The background to the project is that IBM extended their international KidSmart Early Learning program to the Asia‐Pacific region. A partnership with the Australian National Schools Network was formed to implement the program in Australia. This organisation took responsibility for identification of early childhood centres (preschool and day care) serving low socio‐economic status communities across Australia (approximately 100 centres per year), the design and facilitation of professional development for teachers and research and evaluation in conjunction with the program. Whilst this was a national project, this paper deals only with the research conducted in Western Australia with the first round of centres involved in the project. The paper highlights themes emerging from teacher action research based in early childhood centres. The pedagogical considerations, challenges and dilemmas emerging from teachers' use of ICT in early childhood settings are also discussed.