Lifelong learners: in their own words

This paper draws on research that utilized principles of grounded theory to inquire into the most significant learning relationships throughout the lives of individuals. The partners in this informal learning alliance are defined as ‘learner’ and ‘mentor’. The structure of these alliances is described and the learners' perspective of the alliance is presented. Some meaningful relationships are ascribed to formal settings of schools and colleges, but most take place in social, familial, and community settings, with learning outcomes reported as important for personal development and citizenship. Traditional mentor partnerships are primarily learning relationships and as such are valuable sources of data for those interested in the process of lifelong learning, and what learners value in learning alliances. Traditional mentoring should be considered as valuable as more formal teaching, as it promotes sustainable learning by means of reflection and reflexivity, and appears to be self-perpetuating.     

Healthcare needs of older adults: in their own words

Community-based health and human services professionals can play an important role in bolstering wellness through offering education to elderly residents and healthcare providers on how to address the unique needs of this population. The purpose of this study was to examine the healthcare needs of the elderly living in two metropolitan counties in Georgia that have experienced an increase in the number of elderly residents. Utilizing qualitative data garnered through focus groups, two main themes were identified: the role of exercise as a means of personal power and feelings of powerlessness. Participants’ narratives reflected opportunities and situations fostering good health through exerting their personal power to alter or improve individual health. On the other hand, negative pathways leading away from optimal health were realized when participants felt powerless to change their health status. For health and human services professionals working with the elderly, these findings should be considered as population, personal well-being, and power changes overtime.     

Humanitarian engineering placements in our own communities

There is an increasing interest in the humanitarian engineering curriculum, and a service-learning placement could be an important component of such a curriculum. International placements offer some important pedagogical advantages, but also have some practical and ethical limitations. Local community-based placements have the potential to be transformative for both the student and the community, although this potential is not always seen. In order to investigate the role of local placements, qualitative research interviews were conducted. Thirty-two semi-structured research interviews were conducted and analysed, resulting in a distinct outcome space. It is concluded that local humanitarian engineering placements greatly complement international placements and are strongly recommended if international placements are conducted. More importantly it is seen that we are better suited to address the marginalised in our own community, although it is often easier to see the needs of an outside populace.     

为我们的中国梦而学习

无论是在国内还是国外,每个学生都希望有一天能拥有一个更广阔的领域以实现他或她的学术抱负。我们中国学生也一样。中国学生总是被问到这样一个发人深省的问题:当你开始大学学习的时候,你认为什么是最重要的事情?国外的一流大学在知道我们中国学生的答案之前,列出了八个以上的预测答案,包括开阔的视野、完善的想象力、独创性的能力等。然而,我     

Reclaiming professionalism for geography education: Defending our own territory

In a world where governments increasingly attempt to impose regulation on all professional activities, this paper advocates that professional standards for teachers be developed ‘by the profession for the profession’. Foucauldian archaeology is applied to two teacher standards documents recently published in Australia, one developed at national governmental level and the other by geography teachers through their professional associations. The excavation reveals that both students and geography teachers themselves are better served when teachers assert their own definition of professionalism and thus reclaim their professional territory, rather than being compliant with generic governmental agendas. Whilst we use Australia as an illustrative example, our findings are applicable to all other countries where governments attempt to impose external professional standards on the teaching profession.     

Schooled in our own minds: mind-wandering and mindfulness in the makings of the curriculum

Curriculum discourse focuses understandably, on the formal and enacted curriculum; however, studies demonstrate that much of individuals’ waking hours are spent in task-unrelated thinking and mind-wandering. No less, this pervasive phenomenon has been shown to affect us in many ways that can be linked to education. This paper examines this null-hidden inner curriculum that is enacted within students’ minds when they are not attentive to the formal/enacted curriculum. Drawing on a review of research in cognitive science, the paper develops a theory of ‘the mind as a curriculum deliberator’ and explains how the mind can be seen as ‘schooling itself’. Different states of mind such as mind-wandering, rumination and mindfulness are discussed in terms of their educational effects and a systematic framework that renders them in curricular terms is suggested. Based on this analysis, the paper aims to mobilize this inner curriculum from opaqueness and absence to a more explicit presence in curricular discourse, in an attempt to broaden our understanding of how the mind can both enhance and hinder education.     

Innovation,research and professional development in higher education: Learning from our own experience

This paper describes and analyses an innovative experience carried out by a group of lecturers from the Psychopedagogy Faculty of the University of Alcala, involved in an action research process with the purpose of reflecting about our own practice and constructing alternative teaching strategies to facilitate students’ reflective, autonomous and critic learning. The experience consists of a didactical proposal through which we intend to establish connections and interdisciplinary relationships among courses, in order to break down the isolation that usually characterizes the work of university teachers, and move towards a more global and complex formula for curriculum development. We also propose the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as tools to support the learning process and expand opportunities for reflection, dialogue and collaboration beyond the classroom activities. The results of this experience show a dialectic interaction amongst innovation, research and professional development processes.     

建立适合我国的证券监管体制

我国证券市场经过十余年的发展,已在国民经济中占据重要地位。但是我国证券市场也存在着许多问题,特别是证券监管有待进一步加强。加入WTO为我国证券市场的发展提供了契机,这就要求建立适合我国的证券监管新体制。文章对此进行了探讨。     

Angles on Developing Consultation: First steps to making consultation our own

This article provides an outline of some of the thinking and processes that Buckinghamshire Educational Psychology Service went through in making the move from a referral system to a consultation approach to service delivery. The article sets these changes in the Buckinghamshire context and raises issues for future consideration and planning by other educational psychology services.     

Pds verses campus preparation: Through the eyes of the students

Abstract

Researchers interviewed 22 teacher education students prepared in an experimental high school professional development school (PDS) and 20 teacher education students simultaneously prepared in the campus‐based traditional program (TP). The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of program location on preservice teachers' program‐related beliefs and experiences. Results demonstrated that those preservice teachers prepared in the PDS participated in a greater variety of experiences, became more involved with the public school classes, interacted more with teachers and students, and were more satisfied with their preparation than were the TP students. Additionally, PDS‐prepared students made more frequent connections between theory and practice and exhibited greater confidence in their readiness to student teach. Campus‐based students voiced more dissatisfaction with the relevancy and currency of their courses and also with the quality and amount of their field experiences.     

Australasian 1 academic developers: Entry into the profession and our own professional development

Abstract

In academic/educational/teaching development circles, at least in the United Kingdom, North America and Australasia, there is increasing debate as to the credibility of professionals in the field. Coinciding with the recent discussions about the value and need to accredit university teachers and teaching, questions are being asked about the need to accredit academic developers. Academic developers themselves are asking questions such as: do we need to have studied specific disciplines?; do we need to be accredited by a national or an international body?; and in what ongoing professional development do we need to engage in order to keep up to date? To begin to collect background data relevant to these issues, I surveyed 71 developers from a wide range of Australasian institutions. From that sample I interviewed 22 developers. In this paper I report on issues of career paths, qualifications and the professional development of academic developers.

     

Prisoners of our own perspectives: recasting action research in modern/postmodern times

The case that contemporary social theories such as postmodernism can be used in the reflection stage of Action research is the central theme of this paper. Using the modern/ postmodern couplet, the paper attempts to challenge the Action researcher who is prepared to acknowledge the value of alternative views.     

In their own words: a qualitative study of the reasons Australian university students plagiarize

The ways in which universities and individual academics attempt to deter and respond to student plagiarism may be based on untested assumptions about particular or primary reasons for this behaviour. Using a series of group interviews, this qualitative study gathered the views of 56 Australian university students on the possible reasons for plagiarism within their institution. The results indicate a wide and disparate range of possible contributing reasons for plagiarism, including: institutional admission criteria; student understanding of plagiarism; poor academic skills; a range of teaching and learning factors; personality factors; and external pressures. These findings are compared with other findings about reasons for student plagiarism in Australasia. The implications of these findings are considered for universities and individual academics seeking to better engage with their students to minimize or marginalize plagiarism.