COLLABORATION AMONG EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS AND FACULTY THROUGH A REGGIO INSPIRED LONG‐TERM PROJECT

To effectively teach young children, early childhood teachers must be prepared to collaborate with families of diverse backgrounds. Studying the unique cultural contexts of children and families in American early care and education programs and communities will offer early educators information needed to develop empathy for the families with whom they wish to partner. This study investigated the attitudes of Chinese graduate students in the United States toward American early care and education programs. Chinese graduate students are a unique and growing population of approximately 189,000, 40% of whom have at least one child attending American early care and education programs. Chinese graduate students’ educational expectations for their young children and reasons behind these expectations were also explored. Findings showed that participants’ views of American early care and education reflected Chinese culture and life experience. In terms of American education, these Chinese graduate students compared the American programs’ curricula to the Chinese national curriculum, a curriculum they successfully mastered. Implications for early childhood teacher education programs are discussed.     

瞄准学科前沿 培养拔尖创新型研究生

研究生是人才培养的最高层次。本文分析了培养研究生创新思维的方法,探讨了培养研究生创新素质和科研素养的途径,提出了提高学生创新思维能力、营造良好创新学术氛围等培养创新型研究生的措施,并分析了这些措施的典型案例和初步成果。希望这些探索对于工程学科的拔尖创新人才培养具有借鉴意义。     

自费政策下研究生学术观调查研究

研究生自费政策从2014年秋季开始实施,2014级研究生在自费政策下已经生活、学习了一年多。通过对江苏和上海几所高校的2014级全日制在校研究生的学术观问卷调查发现:研究生的学术观总体状况良好、自费政策对研究生具有一定的筛选作用,研究生的学术观呈多样性和相对统一性的特点,研究生的学术观在性别上存在显著性差异,兼职是影响研究生学术观的一个重要因素,多数研究生不认同自费政策。     

On transitional space,unresolved conflicts,and an uncertain teacher education

This research project began as an effort to redesign a learning theory course as transitional space and evolved into an analysis of how unresolved conflict from younger learning selves influence graduate preservice teachers’ acquisition of teacher identity. The study draws upon work by Elizabeth Ellsworth on transitional space and Deborah P. Britzman’s work that deconstructs teacher education development. The data for the study were collected throughout a three‐semester graduate teacher education program and include narrative and formal writing using theoretical discourses. Foucauldian concepts of discourse analysis were used to interpret the initial data set; discourse analysis maps were then employed to further develop data interpretation. Two case study illustrations of preservice teachers resulted from this work. These illustrations demonstrate how transitional space is troubled space and the unevenness of teacher development. The study raises the question, ‘What will teacher education do with uncertainty?’     

建设有利于提升学生职业素养的毕业实训体系

从社会对专业人才的实际需求出发,根据用人单位对人才职业素养的要求,对毕业论文(设计)环节进行有针对性的改革和建设。分析了当前毕业论文(设计)在学生的培养方面存在的问题,提出了有利于培养学生职业素养的毕业实训体系建设的宗旨,并从选题、调研、指导、答辩、管理五个环节实施了创新举措,旨在培养既具备专业知识,又富有职业素养的毕业生。     

Academic hardiness and academic self-efficacy in graduate studies

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to measure graduate students’ academic hardiness (GSAH) and academic self-efficacy (GSASE) and to examine the relationships between the two. A total of 202 graduate students across disciplines were recruited to complete two questionnaires (GSAH and GSASE). Results of exploratory factor analyses showed that the GSAH and GSASE were reliable for assessing graduate students’ academic hardiness and academic self-efficacy. Comparing master’s and doctoral students’ scores in the GSAH and GSASE scales, we found that doctoral students outperformed master’s students. The findings also revealed that three dimensions of GSAH (commitment, control of affect, and challenge) were strong predictors of graduate students’ academic self-efficacy. These results confirm and strengthen the relation between graduate students’ academic hardiness and academic self-efficacy. This study calls attention to graduate students’ ability to recognize and appraise causes of their failure and to learn how to overcome academic difficulties.     

Positioning people with intellectual disabilities as the experts: enhancing pre-service teachers’ competencies in teaching for diversity

The need for graduate teachers to own their professional responsibilities to engage successfully with students with special educational needs (SENs) in mainstream classrooms has been recognised in educational policies and programmes in many countries for well over two decades. Despite wide-ranging research, questions remain as to how pre-service education courses can help beginning teachers to develop the required commitment, knowledge and pedagogies to feel confident in teaching students with disabilities. Challenges to find new ways to enhance pre-service teachers’ familiarity with special needs children, overcome resistance from some towards including SEN students in mainstream classrooms and develop a sense of efficacy in teaching are common to many programmes. In this paper, we report on a pilot study where adults with intellectual disabilities, as members of a community theatre, were positioned as the experts and explored their schooling experiences and personal biographies with soon-to-be graduate teachers in a 3 h workshop. Taking the lead and working collaboratively with the workshop participants, members of Fusion Theatre used drama activities to develop understandings of strategies that helped them to learn. By challenging the traditional power relationships between those labelled as ‘disabled’ and those who would be teachers, the workshop helped the participants to engage on many levels. Here, we report on the data, analyse the findings and discuss implications for other pre-service programmes.     

网络环境下加强高校研究生德育工作的思考

通过对广西6所高校研究生德育工作的调查研究,表明高校研究生德育工作取得了一定成绩,但是现状不容乐观,仍存在许多亟待解决的问题,需要重视网络环境下研究生德育工作,采取积极构建研究生网络德育体系,研究开发研究生德育管理信息系统,壮大专兼德育工作队伍,加强对网络活跃群体的重点引导等对策和措施。     

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of self as inclusive educators

Teacher education institutions play a key role in preparing pre-service teachers to graduate as competent and confident inclusive educators. Seeking to understand pre-service teachers’ current perceptions of diversity and inclusion, and how they perceived themselves as future inclusive educators, this qualitative study employed inductive analysis to explore pre-service teachers’ self-perceptions as inclusive teachers, utilising the theory of possible selves. Forty-six (n?=?46) of 292 pre-service teachers enrolled in an inclusive education subject in a graduate entry teacher education programme in eastern Australia participated in this study. Findings revealed that pre-service teachers had developed good theoretical understanding of inclusive education through their coursework. However, their development of possible selves as inclusive educators was less well-defined in that they had difficulty extending their understandings of who they might be as inclusive teachers beyond their coursework samples. This difficulty in identifying their cultural selves beyond a stereotypical norm of who a ‘classroom teacher’ is indicates a need for more and extensive time for pre-service teachers to develop their professional identities as inclusive educators.     

Working on a dream: educational returns from off-campus paid work

Helping students develop the employability skills and professional capabilities they will need to transition into graduate roles is one of the most important mandates for university study. With this context in mind, this paper analyses the nature and implications of Australian university students’ participation in paid work during study. The paper looks at the incidence with which students participate in paid work, and follows this with an analysis of the influence such participation has on academic engagement and outcomes. There are disjuncts, the data shows, between student activity and the support received from institutions. It is suggested that institutions need to embrace students’ off-campus paid work. The findings shed light on practices that institutions can use to support students’ participation and outcomes.     

新一轮研究生教育改革下我国研究生奖助体系及其人才培养研究

研究生奖助体系作为研究生教育中的重要组成部分,保障在读研究生生活、引领研究生教育发展、提升研究生教育质量方面起着至关重要的作用,其激励导向与研究生人才培养的质量也具有重要关系。文章梳理新中国成立后研究生奖助体系发展的七个阶段,分析新时期研究生奖助体系与人才培养的特点,揭示新一轮研究生教育改革中研究生奖助体系与人才培养在价值理念、评价标准与培养策略、发展互动方面的有效衔接,提出未来中国研究生奖助体系与人才培养将向注重产学研协同创新、激发研究生发展潜力等方面转变。     

我国省域研究生教育的学科布局

我国研究生教育虽然规模扩张较快,但学科、区域结构变化较小,体现了“存量决定增量”的发展模式.反映在省域研究生教育方面,各省域之间不但存在数量的差异,也存在学科布局的不均衡,特别是研究生教育薄弱省域的工学与专业硕士学位尤为薄弱.因此,研究生教育薄弱省份亟待发展工学与专业硕士学位,培养经济社会发展需要的人才;同时,改变博士研究生教育主要集中于北京的地域格局.     

学术自律性培养是研究生学术道德与学风建设的切入点

研究生是我国高等教育培养的高层次人才,其学术道德和学术能力对实现人才强国战略、加快创新型国家建设至关重要。针对目前研究生学术道德失范行为屡有发生的现象,本文以分析影响和制约研究生学术道德和学风建设的因素为突破口,提出注重对研究生学术道德的培养,增强其学术自律性,是研究生学术道德与学风建设的切入点,并提出了加强研究生学术自律性培养的对策。     

城市流动人口子女教育与“城市梦”的实现

城市流动人口子女教育问题是流动人口“城市梦”实现的重要内容。采用文献研究、调查问卷和综合分析的方法,指出流动人口子女教育存在如下问题:未能全面适龄入学、教育经费“真空”、管理缺位、家庭教育缺失等问题,提出建立技能培训制度,提升城市流动人口素质;主动适应城市化趋势,深化户籍制度改革;扩大社会保障覆盖范围,将城市流动人口纳入社会保障体系;发挥政府主导作用,强化流动人口子女教育服务和管理等建议。     

高等院校各级各类毕业生供需状况的调查报告

通过对全国高校毕业生就业率等权威数据的解读以及毕业生供需情况的分析，提出21世纪我国高等教育的发展方向，即重点高校加速发展研究生规模；普通高等学校适度发展社会急需专业本科规模，严加控制与本科专业雷同的专科专业，大力发展培养高级技工的职业技术专科。     

Simulation Modeling of Lakes in Undergraduate and Graduate Classrooms Increases Comprehension of Climate Change Concepts and Experience with Computational Tools

Ecosystem modeling is a critically important tool for environmental scientists, yet is rarely taught in undergraduate and graduate classrooms. To address this gap, we developed a teaching module that exposes students to a suite of modeling skills and tools (including computer programming, numerical simulation modeling, and distributed computing) that students apply to study how lakes around the globe are experiencing the effects of climate change. In the module, students develop hypotheses about the effects of different climate scenarios on lakes and then test their hypotheses using hundreds of model simulations. We taught the module in a 4-hour workshop and found that participation in the module significantly increased both undergraduate and graduate students’ understanding about climate change effects on lakes. Moreover, participation in the module also significantly increased students’ perceived experience level in using different software, technologies, and modeling tools. By embedding modeling in an environmental science context, non-computer science students were able to successfully use and master technologies that they had previously never been exposed to. Overall, our findings suggest that modeling is a powerful tool for catalyzing student learning on the effects of climate change.     

What aspects should be evaluated when evaluating graduate curriculum: Analysis based on student interview

With the rapid expansion of graduate education in China, graduate curriculum evaluation has aroused great concern from the administrators and researchers. Many colleges and universities have developed their graduate curriculum evaluation system based on educational policy, job analysis or discussions of school administrators. To date, very few systemic studies in this field have been done in China, and little is known about students’ view on the evaluation system. In this study, 30 second-year graduate students from a comprehensive university were selected to participate in a semi-structured interview. It was found that graduate students attached more importance to the following 5 aspects: 1) The curriculum objectives should be employment-oriented and in line with students’ need of future employment and long-term development; 2) The curriculum content should be up to date and its breadth and depth of coverage are appropriate; 3) The instructor's teaching approaches should be flexible and varied, emphasizing student participation and teacher-student interaction; 4) The learning evaluation should be conducted fairly and reasonably in various ways; 5) The curriculum should be able to effectively promote students’ mastery of knowledge and capacities. This study will provide the evidence for rethinking and improving graduate curriculum evaluation system.     

Factors influencing students’ perceptions of graduate attribute acquisition in a multidisciplinary honours track in a Dutch university

This article studies the relationship between students’ perceptions of teaching and learning in a multidisciplinary honours programme and their impact on graduate attributes acquisition. The study, conducted among 73 honours students in a Dutch research university, evaluates perceived improvement in graduate attributes through annually collected survey data pertaining to student motivation, perception of the teaching and learning environment, engagement in the programme and registered course marks. The evaluation study reveals that to the extent of the perceived development of graduate attributes, three factors play crucial roles: students’ performance motivation, the amount of teacher support in creative and critical thinking, and students’ inclination to approach the honours track as a learning community.     

Researching graduate destinations using LinkedIn: an exploratory analysis of South African chemical engineering graduates

Surveys of graduate destinations typically suffer from relatively low response rates and therefore this study sought to develop a new methodology for tracking graduate destinations using LinkedIn. Research in this area with engineering graduates has also been limited, and thus this study, focusing on chemical engineering graduates from the University of Cape Town, brings new insights to a debate usually characterised by untested assumptions. Following the graduating cohorts from 2006 to 2012, it was shown that about a quarter go on to postgraduate studies. Of those that proceed to the workplace, the vast majority go into traditional graduate chemical engineering jobs in operations, mostly in the petrochemical and mining sectors in this South African context. The study sought to determine the potential impact of the 2008 recession on these graduate destinations but the results are inconclusive in that regard.