Developing curriculum evaluation research in higher education: Process, politics and practicalities

Demands for greater accountability, globalcompetition, and concern about standards have allcontributed to the increasing interest in evaluationin universities in the UK. At the same time, bothpedagogic research and teacher development in highereducation are gaining prominence.This paper describes the initial development of aprogramme of systematic curriculum evaluation researchwithin a `new' university. The focus of the research is a newundergraduate curriculum which emphasises graduateoutcomes and incorporates the development of core`capabilities' within the subject context. Our taskhas been to develop a longitudinal programme ofresearch that will combine both a summative evaluationof educational outcomes with formative evaluation oflearning processes to inform continued curriculumdevelopment.Questions of performance indicators, measurement, andeducational outcomes all come under scrutiny in acontext of multiple purposes and stakeholders, themicropolitics of the university and wider debatesabout the purpose and effectiveness of undergraduateeducation. This paper explores these issues and theirimplications for the development of a curriculumevaluation strategy, describing the initial stages ofthe multi-level longitudinal design that is emerging.     

Engineering ethics education in the USA: Content,pedagogy and curriculum

Interest in engineering ethics education developed significant momentum in the USA as the 20th century drew to a close. Nevertheless, nearly 80% of engineering graduates are not required to take ethics-related courses. The content of engineering ethics education consists of 'microethical' issues focusing on individual professional responsibility and 'macroethical' issues dealing with the development of technology. The pedagogical framework of engineering ethics education has evolved primarily toward utilization of case studies and codes of ethics, in some instances supplemented by an introduction to moral theory. Substantial progress has been made in the development of case materials, including highprofile cases, everyday cases, quantitative cases and cases highlighting 'good works'. Cases are widely disseminated in textbooks and online. Online resources include interactive case studies and a rich variety of other ethics-related materials. Prominent curriculum models in the USA include a required course in engineering ethics, ethics-across-the-curriculum projects, and integration of engineering ethics and science, technology and society material. Changes in accreditation criteria for US engineering schools will potentially elevate the prominence of instruction in engineering ethics and the societal context of engineering. Many challenges remain, most notably the need for US engineering faculty to accept greater responsibility for engineering ethics education.     

Developing civic leaders through an experiential learning programme for Holocaust education

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact that involvement in an experiential learning programme for Holocaust education had on college and university participants’ worldviews and civic leadership development. Results indicate that involvement in specific elements of the programme did have an impact. The student-focused, experiential learning programme addressed in this study was established in 2000. In 2001, the inaugural group of nearly 270 participants from 22 nations traveled to Poland to familiarize themselves with the Holocaust. Students were exposed to programming on the Holocaust as a means to raise their awareness and understanding of the events and to encourage their involvement in related programmes. The ultimate aim was to develop future civic leaders who would become involved in educating their peers and communities about the tragedy of genocide.     

Development of action research in China: review and reflection

Action research in China during late 1970s and 1980s was influenced by positivist scientific research, believing the purpose of doing action research is to explore the general law of education. It was carried out through educational experimentations emphasizing the control of the experimental conditions. Starting from 1990s, action research in China followed the positivist model of hypothesis verification on the one hand, while on the other hand, it introduced the notion of hermeneutics: finding and solving problems in real teaching situations and thereby understanding the real situation. Entering the new millennium, action research in China has further followed hermeneutics, accompanied by the emergence of “grassroots” action research.     

The use of ideal types in comparative education: a personal reflection

This essay focuses on the use of ideal types within different theoretical frameworks for the comparative analysis of culture and values. It emphasizes the importance of cultural agency, and the potential for enhanced understanding and the anticipation of future developments through exploring deep‐level cultural patterns. The essay is written as a personal narrative, illustrating the way the author has used ideal types in three distinct phases of her work, and the insights that have resulted. It closes with an example of the use of ideal types for envisaging preferred futures in the context of globalization.     

Developing pathic sensibilities: A critical priority for teacher education programmes

This paper reports on a hermeneutic phenomenological research inquiry which explored ‘lived experiences’ of the teacher–student relationship in teacher education. An essential understanding from this research is that teachers and students experience their relationship as a play that is uncertain and lived beyond the rules of engagement. Teachers who are attuned to this play show phronesis in the way they relate. This research questions instrumental models of teacher education underpinned by a dominant neoliberal ideology. This research calls for the re-educating of teacher educators and teachers towards essential understandings of relationship and the pathic sensibilities associated with being-in-relationship.     

高校特殊体育课程开发实证调查研究

高校特殊群体学生是大学体育中的健康弱势群体,大学体育必须关注特殊体育课程的健康发展.采用问卷调查和专家访谈法对河南省高校特殊体育课程开设现状进行探讨.研究结果表明,河南省高校特殊体育教育观念滞后、支持力度薄弱,高校特殊群体学生的体育活动开展情况不理想.从特殊体育支持系统、课程内容和评价方法等方面提出开发设想,为高校特殊体育的健康持续发展提供理论支持.     

中英警察教育比较研究

我国同英国由于政治法律制度和历史化传统上的差异，在警察教育制度、模式、内容和方法等方面有着许多不同之处。我国的公安警察正规化教育起步较晚，学习和借鉴各国警察教育，特别是学习和借鉴英国警察教育成功的经验和做法。对促进我国公安警察教育的改革和发展有着重要的意义。     

Anatomy education in Namibia: balancing facility design and curriculum development

The anatomy curriculum at Namibia's first, and currently only, medical school is clinically oriented, outcome-based, and includes all of the components of modern anatomical sciences i.e., histology, embryology, neuroanatomy, gross, and clinical anatomy. The design of the facilities and the equipment incorporated into these facilities were directed toward simplification of work flow and ease of use by faculty, staff, and students. From the onset, the integration of state of the art technology was pursued to facilitate teaching and promote a student-centered pedagogical approach to dissections. The program, as realized, is comprised of three 16-week semesters with seven hours of contact time per week, namely three hours of lectures and four hours of dissection laboratory and microscopy time. Set outcomes were established, each revolving around clinical cases with integrated medical imaging. The design of the facility itself was not constrained by a legacy structure, allowing the School of Medicine, in collaboration with architects and contractors, to design the building from scratch. A design was implemented that allows for the sequential processing of cadaveric material in a unidirectional flow from reception, to preparation, embalming, storage, dissection, and maceration. Importantly, the odor of formaldehyde typically associated with anatomy facilities was eliminated outside of the dissection areas and minimized within via a high-performance ventilation system. By holistically incorporating an integrated curriculum, facility design, and teaching at an early stage, the authors believe they have created a system that might serve as a model for new anatomy programs.     

高校通识教育课程设计与管理策略研究

大学目标是培养全面发展的人才,这需要以健全人格、和谐身心和全面发展的"人"为目标的通识教育来实现。本文认为,通识教育课程建设目标应设计为人文艺术、社会科学、自然科学、生命科学、创新创业和中华文化六大类,文章从教学内容、教学方法等方面提出建设内容与教学要求,并对通识教育课程管理提出若干建议。     

Towards a Language of Possibility: critical reflection and mentorship in initial teacher education

Abstract

This paper examines a programme which aimed at creating alternative school‐based experiences for postgraduate students following a 1‐year higher diploma of education course at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. The programme was premised on the belief that critical reflection is necessary for educational transformation, and that teacher educators increasingly will be expected to raise the quality of teaching in schools. The background to the Mentor Programme is described and the underlying rationale is discussed. Whilst the evidence from the study reflects mentor satisfaction at the quality and range of teaching skills developed by students during the programme, the investigators express disappointment at their lack of success in attaining critical reflection by their students. Students generally did not look critically, as they had been encouraged to do, at the institutional or societal context of their teaching. The discussion identifies three possible reasons for this, but concludes that any approach to teacher education which does not encourage teachers to reflect critically on their own educational views and on the nature of education as it is realised in the institutional setting of schools will be inherently flawed.     

Distance education for managers: an international perspective

The last few years have seen an enormous expansion, in different countries, of distance education for managers. Paul Northcott, of Deakin University, Australia, has first‐hand experience of several of these developments and charts their key features.     

Animating critical action learning: process-based leadership and management development

Increasing attention is focusing on the value of critical approaches to enhancing leadership and management development processes. This paper examines how a critical action learning perspectives can be harnessed to produce valuable learning and development through critically reflective practise. Critical action learning approaches not only explore underlying power and control issues, but actively engage in an examination of political and cultural processes affecting leadership development. The aims of this paper are to explore approaches to critical action learning, to elucidate its principal features, to highlight how it can be applied in leadership and management development contexts and, finally, to illuminate some of the complexities and challenges of working with critical action learning in practice.     

From rhetoric to action: Implementing sts education through action research

This article outlines the arguments for an action research approach to the implementation of STS education, and describes some of the experiences and outcomes of an action research group of six teachers (one elementary, five secondary) based at The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto. The teachers' initial views, and their changing perceptions throughout the duration of the project (the 1992-93 academic year), are presented in terms of four categories: the nature of STS education; the development of curriculum materials; personal/professional development; collaborative work. The emergence of an additional complex theme involving reinforcement, extending horizons, and building professional confidence, is considered the most significant outcome of the project.     

Toward inclusive mathematics education: a metatheoretical reflection about countering ableism in mathematics standards and curriculum

This article documents efforts to advance inclusive mathematics education practices involving the introduction of equity-oriented resources in state-level mathematics standards guidance documents in a Midwestern United States jurisdiction. We adopt a critical stance by looking at ways to interrogate available metatheories for these kinds of change-making processes. The guiding resources documented in the present article center on issues of difference. These issues are related to dis/ability in mathematics education standards and curriculum to not only raise teachers' awareness of constructions of difference in order to foster inclusive education, but also to promote critical self-reflections around ableism. Guiding resources are a means to support recognition of dis/ability difference as a source of multiple mathematical knowledge bases from which to learn and advance mathematics thinking. Yet, we also recognize the need to be vigilant about the complex interpretative contours and the relational dynamics at work throughout their various layers of implementation, assessment, and anti-ableist realignment. Accordingly, we reflect metatheoretically about three questions: How might concepts of access, achievement, identity, and power support teachers of mathematics in advancing inclusive practices? How do word choices in mathematics standards, curriculum, and practices dis/able students in classroom practices? What may we learn from the mathematics education experiences of individuals with dis/abilities and their families in the broad configuration of change-making dynamics of educational policies and teaching practices?     

Developing critical reflection as a part of teaching training and teaching practice

Academics in universities can no longer teach in the ways that have been appropriate in the past. The paradigm has shifted from the dissemination of knowledge to a focus on the students and how to facilitate the best learning outcomes for them. This paper proposes that critical reflection is at the heart of being an effective teacher. It invites teachers to evaluate their own philosophies about teaching and to be critically reflective of their own practice. It is suggested that teachers need to learn how to be reflective practitioners through both self-evaluation and the use of collaborative strategies. It is no longer appropriate to focus solely on the 'what', but also on the 'how' and 'why'.     

Combined research and curriculum development of nontraditional manufacturing

Nontraditional manufacturing (NTM) is becoming increasingly important in modern engineering. Therefore, it is important to develop up-to-date pedagogic materials for the area. This paper reports collaborative efforts among three universities in such a development sponsored by National Science Foundation of USA. The features of the development include systematic introduction, recent research results, and web implementation with interactive capabilities. This paper is based on an extensive web based course with animations, including Java applets, Shockwave animations, VRML animations, and QuickTime movies. The development is aimed at upper level undergraduate and introductory graduate students. Areas of focus include Laser Material Processing, Electrical Discharge Machining, Electro-Chemical Machining, and Abrasive Water Jet Machining. Cross process innovation are also presented. Needs for further pedagogic developments are discussed.