Independent study: Continuing professional development in distance education

Abstract

The Universidad Estatal a Distancia (UNED) of Costa Rica has admitted over 80,000 students in its seventeen‐year history. However, total enrollment figures are an insufficient measure of the institution's success in achieving its mission of democratizing higher education in Costa Rica. This article examines the issue of student drop‐out in an attempt to determine ways in which UNED can best and most realistically achieve the goal of increased access to higher education.     

Continuing professional development in the Greek early childhood education system

Over the past years, Greece has been undergoing a severe financial crisis. The main purpose of this study was to examine how early childhood teachers perceive continuing professional development (CPD) under such societal turmoil. More specifically, this study examined the perceptions of 45 in-service kindergarten teachers attending the ‘Didaskaleio’ training institute. Results showed that although Greek early educators express a positive attitude towards CPD, there are certain contradictions in their views regarding the way they perceive CPD and their expectations regarding CPD activities. Results indirectly reflect the changing context, the systemic weaknesses and the antinomies of Greek early childhood education.     

Contextual career education for urban youth: A new look at experience based career education

This article describes a model career education program for urban youth. The program exemplified promising practices in career education by providing all career education experiences in the context of real life experiences. Work site supervisors' ratings of youths' initiative and responsibility significantly increased over the course of the seven week program.     

管窥英国专业博士学位教育

首先分析了英国专业博士学位教育发展的特点,然后从招生要求、课程设置、培养模式和评估等四个方面论述英国专业博士学位的总体要求,随后对英国五种主要的专业博士学位进行了简要介绍,最后提出了对中国发展专业博士学位教育的借鉴意义。     

Blended learning in higher education: professional development in a Hong Kong university

ABSTRACT

Online learning has become a ubiquitous part of the educational landscape and how teachers are supported in developing approaches to teaching online is a fundamental aspect of the students’ learning experience. Based on the implementation of a professional development course on becoming an online teacher offered in a blended learning mode at one university in Hong Kong, this article proposes that offering this type of professional development in a blended mode is very effective in facilitating enhanced usage of the university’s learning management system. In a blended mode, teachers are actively engaged with blended learning and were found to make more extensive use of features/tools in Blackboard after they attended the professional development course. Results support that offering professional development in a blended mode provides teachers with an authentic student perspective, at the same time as they take guided steps in the teacher’s role in blended learning.     

Continuing professional education and the discipline reviews

Continuing professional education (CPE) is an emerging area of educational provision in Australia for which there is no national policy. However, four single discipline reviews focusing on the law, medicine, engineering and teachers of mathematics and science, have been commissioned at the national level to examine, among other issues, CPE. The four reviews are discussed, using the same five headings relating to the importance given to CPE and its purpose, the relationship between CPE and pre‐service training, the mandatory and voluntary options and the delivery of CPE. General statements about CPE in Australia and possible policy developments in the field are drawn from the review reports.     

Questions and positions on education for sustainable development at university in France: example of short professional cycles

The questions focus on the emergence of education for sustainable development in the French university. The case study discusses the curricular examination of the Bachelor of Territory Professional Planning in 17 universities and the diachronic evolution, between 2001 and 2011, of their educational content around sustainable development. The analysis leads to a reflection on the specificity of French contexts, compared to international positions. Indeed, the legitimacy of the education provided is queried against the economization of the educational sphere. Didactic problems are posed by the reduction of distances between social practices and knowledge mobilized for the teachings. The evolution of the ‘school form’ and the specific place of ‘educations for’ in the framework of the institution are questioned.     

Growth and diversity in doctoral education: assessing the Australian experience

The major growth of doctoral education in recent decades has attracted attention from policy makers and researchers. In this article we explore the growth of doctoral education in Australia, its impact on diversity in respect of the doctoral population, shifts in disciplinary strengths, institutional concentration and award programs. We conclude that there has been both change and continuity in the provision of doctoral education with extensive variation at the level of practice in what is a reasonably stable system featuring continuing hierarchical institutional diversification. The limitations of available data and issues for further research, policy and practice are discussed.

大学教师专业发展的文化桎梏及其破解

大学教师专业发展是当酋高等教育研究领域中的一个热点问题,大学教师文化对大学教师专业发展起着导向、规范、凝聚、激励和创新的作用,是大学教师专业发展的生态环境.不良的教师文化可能成为大学教师专业发展的桎梏;针对大学教师专业发展中出现的突出问题,从文化本源扫除制约大学教师专业发展的障碍,革新不适合当代大学教师专业发展的传统文化,将会极大地促进大学教师专业的良性发展.当前主要是要建立以专业为导向的职业文化、促进大学教师的文化自觉、提倡和构建教学学术文化、推动教师间的自然合作.     

职业社会学视域下我国大学生职业发展教育研究

当前,我国大学生的就业形式非常的严峻,高校也认识到了此种就业形式,因此有针对性的开展了大学生职业发展教育,旨在帮助大学生毕业之后更好的进行就业。然而,当前各个高校的职业发展教育体系还不完善,在对大学生进行教育时还存在着一些问题,制约了职业发展教育的发展,因此,本文在介绍职业发展教育的概念和内容的基础上,分析了职业发展教育存在的问题,并提出了具体的改进措施。     

Continuing professional development of EMI teachers: a Chinese case study

This brief article reports on a professional development programme aiming to provide professional training and support to EMI teachers in a university in China. Drawing on interview data with five participants, the findings show that the programme improved the teachers’ self-efficacy by guiding teachers to think about the nature of EMI and its role in content learning, and providing modelling and microteaching practice in a learning community. The study concludes with some implications for university teacher development.     

Characteristics of alumni donors and nondonors at a Research I,public university

This study was an investigation of selected attitudinal, demographic, involvement, and philanthropic characteristics of alumni donors and nondonors from a Research I, public university. A random sample of 500 alumni (250 donors and 250 nondonors) was selected from a population of 37,691. There were 371 (74%) usable surveys returned. A discriminant function analysis was used to predict group membership of donors versus nondonors, and high donors versus low donors. Using the classification step, 65 percent of the alumni were correctly classified as donors or nondonors, and 87 percent of the alumni high donors and low donors were correctly classified.     

论辅导员的专业化培养和职业化发展

加强高校辅导员队伍建设是新时期推进大学生思想政治教育的重要保证。新形势下高校辅导员应走专业化培养和职业化发展之路。要在认清辅导员专业化、职业化的内涵和相互关系,以及重要性、必要性的基础上,制定辅导员的职业标准体系,研究专业化的知识体系,建设专业化的课程体系和教材,建设专业化的培训机构和师资队伍,建设专业化的评价标准和管理机构,切实推进辅导员的专业化培养和职业化发展。     

Career education and career guidance: Strategies for implementing career development

Dedmond is Supervisor, Career Education and Career Guidance, Virginia Department of Education.     

Student motivation: an experience of inservice education as a context for professional development of teachers

This article focuses on an inservice education experience conducted in a constructivist perspective. The experience was aimed at fostering elementary, middle and high school teachers’ professional development regarding student motivation. Thirty-six teachers from these school levels reflected on their professional experience and practical knowledge in groups conducted and supervised by university researchers. In group work, the participants analyzed and discussed materials and situations from their professional experience, re-elaborated in the light of a constructivist framework. At the end of the intervention, they showed an increased ability and interest in reflecting with colleagues and researchers on their students’ motivational problems, and collaborative planning of educational interventions. The results of the intervention are presented and the possibility of carrying out similar education experiences in the Italian school system is discussed.     

面向校友需求的大学校友会功能与机构设置

大学校友会是由校友组成的一种非营利性社团,虽形式上可登记为独立法人实体,但无法脱离大学而独立运营,本质上属于大学内部的职能机构。为让大学获得校友资源的支持,校友会须通过积极的行动,将基于事实层面的学缘关系建构成蕴含社会资本的校友网络。校友会的功能定位与机构建设,可遵循“需求—功能—结构”范式,以满足校友需求为导向,确定校友会主要功能并设置对应的执行机构,通过有针对性的满足校友需求的持续性互动参与,在校友网络中建立起互惠和互信的承诺和期望,让校友网络中的校友资源成为大学可获得的社会资本。     

Student-teachers as researchers: towards a professional development orientation in teacher education. Possibilities and limitations in the Greek university

In this paper we present and discuss the action research we conducted with the main purpose to investigate the proper ways to introduce action research to our student-teachers in the university so as to empower them in a lifelong professional development perspective. Although the obstacles we faced were many, it seemed possible and beneficial for our students to get involved in real action research projects in the framework of an undergraduate course. They had the chance to appreciate the theory and practice link, to investigate their implicit theory, to construct collective knowledge and to participate in reflective practices.