What Professionalism Skills Should Be Taught In Community College Health Fields?

The United States Department of Labor predicts the demand in healthcare sector careers to soar as patient demographics continue to change with the aging population of adults (Henderson, 2012). To meet this demand, community colleges will continue to play a vital role in the education of healthcare occupations, as nearly 60% of all healthcare workers are educated in these institutions. Furthermore, student demographics within community colleges are becoming more ethnically diverse. The dramatic changes in population and labor force composition suggest a more robust approach be taken when teaching professionalism skills. In order to promote student completion rates and recognize the evolving changes within the healthcare system, a health and public safety division within a large community college surveyed its faculty members and their clinical affiliates to determine what professional skills should be taught within an entry-level healthcare course. This brief paper describes the survey findings and implications for the development of a future healthcare professionalism course.     

Leadership without imposition

Community colleges require speech communication teachers with special competencies—competencies dictated by the educational goals, the student characteristics, and the community orientation of junior colleges. These teacher competencies should be taught through special master's degree programs and in‐service training provided by teacher education institutions and professional speech communication associations. Based on her experience as a teacher at community colleges in Texas and Illinois and as a director of teacher training in speech, the author suggests that community colleges are basically different than four‐year institutions, and need teachers with different skills.     

Assessing alignment between information technology educational opportunities,professional requirements,and industry demands

Information technology (IT) and computing are growing fields, offering far more job opportunities than applicants. Yet, little data are available to indicate how course content, employer needs, and additional learning opportunities work together the prepare graduates to enter the IT workforce. To understand the extent to which learners were prepared to for these highly technical careers, we used text analysis to examine the extent to which course syllabi, job postings, internship postings, and industry certifications from information technology preparation programs at state college and two universities commonly reflected national IT curriculum knowledge areas. Integrated data suggested that while the two-year and four-year programs imparted key technical skills, to qualify employers sought applied, or “soft,” skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and written and verbal communication. These soft skills were more difficult to detect as learning outcomes, but the determination of the extent to which the examined programs foster these skills presents a fertile area for subsequent research.     

Electronic Communication Training: Reconciling Gaps Created by the Virtual Office

The virtual organization is one result of the rapid advances of technology. These advances, however, bring about setbacks when communicating electronically—primarily a loss of face‐to‐face interaction. Yet interpersonal skills are still deemed one of the most desirable communication skills in today's workplace. A gap analysis of the traditional versus the virtual office reveals that voids exist when communicating solely electronically. Electronic communication training is essential in order to eliminate these voids and lessen the chance for unclear messages, enhance “faceless” interactions, and avoid communication overload. Therefore, it is incumbent upon educators and trainers to augment development programs with electronic communication training in order for employees to be prepared for the challenges of the virtual office.     

Perceived Level of Personal Control Over the Work Environment and Employee Satisfaction and Work Performance

The purpose of this article is to provide a review of background information regarding perceived level of personal control over the physical features of the work environment and its impact on individual satisfaction and outcomes. In today's business with the fast growth of technology, e‐market development, and innovative methods of communication, the workplace will continue to change rapidly. To control and accommodate these fast changes while sustaining or enhancing outcomes, organizations have increasingly turned to a model of work teams; therefore, employees’ skills in working within team environments has been emphasized. To guarantee that the work environment itself supports these new approaches of working, flexible workplaces are often suggested. Open‐plan offices offer more flexibility when compared to completely closed and private ones and they are considered to have more capabilities and are, therefore, highly valued in today's industry. Apart from its advantages, open‐plan office design does create some problems due to lack of personal control over the work environment, which can negatively affect employees’ satisfaction and performance. It is, therefore, important to emphasize the significance of personal control over the physical work environment and the impact of that on employees’ satisfaction and outcome.     

DETERMINING THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF OCCUPATIONAL COURSES

Administrators, instructors, students, and employers need to know the essential concepts taught in occupational courses. In particular, instructors require this information in order to avoid some common teaching traps and to avoid establishing a series of cumulative deficiencies for their students. To provide this information, community college accounting instructors performed a forced Q‐sort of 56 accounting concepts. The high level of agreement on the Q‐sort was evidence for a “community of preference.” Lists of the essential and least important concepts were developed from this community of preference. The Q‐sort appears to be an efficient and effective “method” for determining what emphasis instructors should place on course content items.     

The Reflective Self

ABSTRACT

The following paper will apply a social constructionist paradigm to the concepts of the reflective self, creativity and intuition as valuable skills in social work practice education. The students' learning process and their integration of self-reflective, intuitive and creative knowledge and skills will be illustrated through excerpts from their final papers in an advanced social work practice course taught by this instructor. A qualitative analysis will focus on three main themes that emerged from these final papers: learning from the client, the use of intuition, and helplessness and omnipotence. The author's underlying thesis is that on-going self-examination, intuitive knowledge and a creative use of self are not only crucial skills in clinical practice in general but should continue to be emphasized in social work practice education.     

Faculty work in developing and teaching web‐based distance courses: A case study of time and effort

Abstract

Using an experiential case approach, this study explores the conventional wisdom that distance education courses require greater faculty work effort and time commitment than traditionally taught courses. The study's basis for analysis is an instructor's time and effort in developing and delivering a graduate‐level course in public administration, for both a distance course (a modality with which he had no previous experience) and his traditional classroom courses. The study finds support for the conventional wisdom. But it also suggests hypotheses for future comparative analysis that development and delivery time and effort may partially depend on the accumulation of instructor experience and the level of institutional support. This article also identifies some implications for future research and faculty participation in distance education.     

聚焦软技能的英语教学改革探索--以“十三五”职业教育国家规划教材《职程英语》为例

基于访谈和问卷调查的需求分析发现:用人单位看重的是“软技能”和“语言应用能力”;学生喜欢贴近生活的教学内容和“learning by doing(做中学)”的学习方式。基于此,《职程英语》将软技能的培养作为首要目标,着重培养沟通能力、协作能力、学习能力、问题解决和人际关系处理能力等核心职业技能;设计基于生活、有交际意义、有支架支持的互动式仿真任务作为主要教学手段,使学习者通过“用语言做事”的途径发展语言应用能力,解决生活中的现实问题;将生活中用得着英语的领域作为教学内容,包括学习方法、人际关系、出国旅游、跨境商务、就业准备五个主题;问卷调查显示《职程英语》的教学理念得到学生的认可。     

The Virtual Office: A Behavior Engineering Model (BEM) Perspective

Information technology (IT) has become a powerful tool in today's business world. One specific impact of IT has been the development of the virtual office and organization. This paper discusses some issues associated with the virtual office. Some advantages and disadvantages of the virtual office are summarized from both employees' and employers' perspectives. The behavior engineering model (BEM) developed by Thomas Gilbert (1996) is used as a framework to analyze the different factors related to performance in the virtual office. Additionally, the application of other concepts from human performance technology (HPT) and organizational behavior management (OBM) perspectives are suggested. Some future research guidelines are discussed and the need to further develop experimental and more controlled data-based studies are pointed out.     

THE PAST AS AWKWARD PROLOGUE: TEACHER EDUCATION AND THE JUNIOR COLLEGE

Until as recently as the mid-1970s, historians of education paid little attention to teachers and teacher education. This article examines the role of junior and community colleges in the preparation of teachers, with emphasis on the 1920s, and into the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The article concludes by connecting today's interest in alternative teacher certification at community colleges with the challenges of the past.     

Selection of Technical Communication Concepts for Integration into an Accounting Information Systems Course: A WAC Case Study

A project in writing-across-the curriculum was launched within a nationally ranked baccalaureate degree program in accountancy at a Boston area college. The project team, which comprised faculty from accountancy and technical communication, attempted to integrate technical communication skills, principally writing, into an accounting information systems course. To improve student writing in this way, the team had to determine what kinds of writing activities would successfully introduce accounting students to the discourse of their profession, and had to select, from all the communication skills that might be taught, only those that should be taught to complement the specialized content of the accounting information systems course. The team's collaborative process produced three critical planning decisions that greatly simplified the integration: 1) establishing Joseph Juran's TQM notion of fitness-for-use for evaluating the quality of student communications; 2) selecting only those forms of communication used in the profession's discourse community in assignments; and 3) teaching only those communication skills that support and enrich the principal technical skills taught in the accounting course. This strategy demonstrates that communication skills can be integrated within a technical course so as to enhance the students' understanding of technical content while improving the students' proficiency in written communication.     

The Laboratory

Creative thinking skills are essential for today's workplace. Three faculty members from different professional schools (business, higher education administration, teacher education) examined student responses to the creative assignments in their courses. The assignments exemplify the following criteria: invited taking risks, encouraged innovative thinking, stressed connecting, demonstrated synthesis and transformation of course content. The study examined student responses to creative projects via a Likert-scale survey, open-ended narrative responses, and then scores on a rubric on creativity and integrative learning. Fifty-seven students were surveyed across all three courses. Overall, results indicate that students not only found these assignments worthwhile but also found that they furthered their learning of course content. Implications for practice are included.     

Science for employment and higher education

The results of a survey of the views of employers and tutors in higher education on the scientific curriculum for 16‐ to 19‐year‐olds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is reported. The results show that a limited range of scientific ideas are seen as essential by representatives of all areas. Both employers and tutors in higher education believe that developing a student's capability in a wide range of generic skills (including mathematics skills) should be an aim of courses leading to advanced science qualifications. Higher education tutors tend to require higher levels of thinking in the use of the ideas than do employers. The implications of taking note of employmnent and higher education needs for secondary science education are discussed.     

Plugging a gap? Soft skills courses and learning for work

Governments across Europe have been encouraged by the European Union (EU) to take measures to upskill their workforce to ensure growth and social inclusion. Low-skilled workers are particular targets and learning providers and employers are expected to provide learning opportunities for them. However, research shows that those with low skills often lack confidence and require support to engage in learning. This paper examines an European Structural Funds (ESF)-funded course aimed at developing soft skills in low-skilled employees through a course developed by a Scottish college. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with learners from two cohorts of the course to examine their experiences and gains from the course. Learners’ accounts demonstrate benefits from the course but workplace culture impacted on the level of gains. The paper questions the ability of one-off courses to deliver the aims of policy and suggests more coordinated and sustained effort is required.     

Excel功能在人事工作中的一些应用

高职院校的学习重在学以致用。为此,应着重教授学生实用性强的知识和技能。在计算机基础课程中补充教授Excel常用函数及数据透视表的使用,并利用人事工作中考勤补贴数据相应处理进行讲解,帮助学生掌握Excel基本功能,着力培养学生动手能力,为学生将来步入社会奠定坚实基础。     

Using conjoint analysis to estimate employers preferences for key competencies of master level Dutch graduates entering the public health field

This paper uses an experimental design to estimate preferences of employers for key competencies during the transition from initial education to the labor market. The study is restricted to employers of entry-level academic graduates entering public health organizations in the Netherlands. Given the changing and complex demands in public health, we study the relative importance of generic and field-specific competencies during the transition from education to the public health field. A self-explicated approach and a choice-based conjoint analysis were used to elicit preferences of employers for key competencies. The results show that employers value generic competencies relatively higher than field-specific competencies for master level graduates entering the public health field. The results are relevant for the adjustment of training in public health. Universities should continue to train master level graduates in public health with high-level cognitive skills.     

Development of Graduates’ Attributes in Chemistry within an Open Distance Learning (ODL) Environment: Unisa’s Experience

Discipline-specific knowledge and associated technical skills as well as generic skills have represented distinct and separate aspects of chemical sciences in university studies (linear training). In addition to technical skills gained through laboratory training, employers now require a soft skill set such as strengths in analytical thinking, problem-solving, written and oral communication, and collaboration. These skills require further integration with the human qualities needed to remain resilient to changing conditions and they do not come naturally, but through training. Since community engagement forms an integral part of tuition or learning and research, the the Department of Chemistry at the University of South Africa (UNISA) needed to blend these components to enhance and strengthen the requisite graduate attributes. The authors discuss the strategies employed by the department on how to inculcate these graduate attributes into modern-day chemistry students within an open distance learning (ODL) context.     

Using Standardized Clients in the Classroom: An Evaluation of a Training Module to Teach Active Listening Skills to Social Work Students

This article describes the implementation of a module that utilizes drama students to teach social work students how to use active listening skills in an interview environment. The module was implemented during a semester‐long micro skills practice course taught to 13 undergraduate social work seniors in a western liberal arts university. Four drama students attending the same university served as clients. Clients evaluated the social work students' active listening skills at the end of the interview, and social work students completed self evaluations and evaluations on the module. Results indicated that the module was effective in helping students to learn interviewing skills and identify strengths and weakness regarding use of skills. Implications for social work education are discussed.     

INTEGRATING RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND INSTITUTIONAL PLANNING

Fundraising has long been a central activity in four‐year institutions, whereas community colleges have only recently begun to see the necessity for such efforts. Resource development and private fundraising as a community college function have only been marginally understood and often are only instigated in times of financial crises. In today's educational arena, development needs to become a long‐term core function in order to maximize the funding base of community colleges. This article gives a brief look at the historical background of fundraising in community colleges, contrasts such efforts with the four‐year institutions, and discusses the matter of integrating resource development with institutional planning processes. Several examples of successful community college development efforts are given, along with a discussion of several planning models that might be used as guides for integrating resource development efforts with institutional planning.