Correction to: Plotting Academic Innovation: A Content Analysis of Twenty Institutional Websites

Innovative Higher Education -     

3D printing as an educational technology: theoretical perspectives,learning outcomes,and recommendations for practice

Education and Information Technologies - 3D printing is an emerging educational technology that is said to prepare learners for a more technologically designed world. In this review, 3D printing...     

What Does a Modern Anatomist Look like? Current Trends in the Training of Anatomy Educators

Anatomical sciences are foundational to the health professions, yet little is known about the qualifications of anatomy educators at the graduate and professional level in the United States. Moreover, there is concern that the number of qualified anatomy educators being trained may be insufficient to meet the growing demand posed by new and expanded programs in medicine and allied health specialties. The authors surveyed anatomists from across the country to (i) characterize the educational credentials of current anatomy educators and (ii) assess the perceived need for education-focused postdoctoral positions or formal mentorships to prepare anatomists for teaching-intensive faculty positions. To probe the survey responses more deeply, one-on-one interviews were conducted with eight individuals selected to represent a diverse sample of respondents in terms of institution, gender, and academic rank. Results indicate that 30–40% of educators at the graduate level and approximately 60% of those at the undergraduate level lack graduate coursework in histology, embryology, and neuroanatomy. Forty-five percent of respondents had completed a postdoctoral fellowship. Eighty-six percent replied “yes/maybe” to the question of whether an anatomy education postdoctoral fellowship would benefit doctoral graduates. The top 3 reasons for this recommendation were to (i) establish independent educational research, (ii) improve a publication record, and (iii) gain additional teaching experience. Notable weaknesses of education-focused postdoctoral training were related to finances, fear of exploitation, and undervaluing of teaching. Moving forward, postdoctoral fellowships and other forms of postgraduate training may represent a key strategy for training anatomists in the current educational climate. Anat Sci Educ 00: 000–000. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Examining Teachers’ Attitudes and Experiences with Coaching to Inform Research-Based Practice: An Iterative Developmental Design Study

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine teachers’ attitudes and experiences with coaching. This study was conducted in advance of a planned randomized controlled trial of a coaching intervention to better align the model with teachers’ needs and goals. Thirty-four K–5 general (n = 26), special education (n = 6), and educational support staff (n = 2) working in two high-poverty schools participated in focus groups. Interrater reliability between independent coders was high (К = 0.92; range: 0.76–1.0). Thematic analyses identified facilitators and barriers to teacher participation in the planned intervention and were used to improve upon the existing coaching model. Themes focused on advantages and disadvantages to coaching and characteristics of effective coaches and coaching models. Implications of findings for research and practice are discussed.     

“Seeing Their Eyes in the Rearview Mirror”: Identifying and Responding to Students' Challenging Experiences

There is a noticeable gap in the educational research literature specifically focused on trauma and documenting effective educator practices. This case study captures the voice and perspectives of Mr. Sellers, an effective Black, male educator who, through making sense of the impact of his students' ecological realities, provides insight about trauma, traumatic experiences, and the ways in which he supports them. I conceptualize and name the experiences of these students as traumatic because this is the language that Mr. Sellers himself used to make sense of his students' situations. It is important to note that I focus on these occurrences not to highlight the negatives or deficits of this community; my point in naming these ecological situations is to point out how structural challenges can influence communities and, ultimately, the people (including students) in those contexts. Despite what established literature suggests about the unpreparedness of educators to respond to student trauma, this study documents effective practices of a successful educator in an urban school setting. In particular, the findings in this study offer three takeaways for educators to more adequately identify and respond to students grappling with trauma: (1) context-specific recognition, (2) trauma-conscious approaches, and (3) holistic responsiveness. The findings of this study also suggest that there is a need for broadening educators' capacity, adequately preparing them, and shifting the ways in which schools and policies understand an educator's role.     

Reflecting on Functioning in Trigger Happy America

Trigger warnings are posing serious threats to the ways that English educators can teach at the university level. If Aristotle – and Hillis-Miller years later – argue that literature must arouse and bring about catharsis, then proponents of trigger warnings are anaesthetising the power of words and watering down their ability to incite emotional responses and promote healing. By examining the relationship between proponents of the trigger warning and reflective functioning – a psychoanalytic concept that emerged out of the British psychoanalytic school – this article argues that English students and English educators who support the use of trigger warnings may suffer from poor reflective functioning. Individuals with poor reflective functioning have difficulty coping with their emotions as well as practising mentalisation during times of acute stress, which can be triggered in response to arousing interactions with texts. Finally, the article offers some suggestions for how English educators might use empathy, intentional self-disclosure and vulnerability as a means for enhancing reflective functioning in students and encouraging them to journey more freely and courageously into controversial, charged, and dramatic literary moments.     

Privacy,speech, and values: what we have no business knowing

In the United States the ascendancy of speech protection is due to an expansive and unjustified view of the value or primacy of free expression and access to information. This is perhaps understandable, given that privacy has been understood as a mere interest, whereas speech rights have been seen as more fundamental. I have argued elsewhere that the “mere interest” view of privacy is false. Privacy, properly defined, is a necessary condition for human well-being or flourishing. The opening section of this article will provide an overview of this theory. Next, after a few remarks on speech absolutism, privacy absolutism, and balancing theories, I will sketch several of the dominant argument strands that have been offered in support of presumptively weighty speech rights. While these arguments, taken together, establish that free speech is important, they do not support the view that speech should nearly always trump privacy. In final section I will present and defend a way to balance free speech and privacy claims.