Dimensions of teachers’ attitudes toward instructional television

Summary Responses were obtained from 50 fourth and ninth grade teachers on a 55-item test of their attitudes toward television in the classroom after 33 of them had been involved and 17 not involved in television series which introduced new ways of teaching mathematics. Intercorrelations were computed, and factors were analyzed. The resulting factor structure indicated 10 unique factors of the attitudes expressed. No general factor was found. The ten factors were tentatively identified as follows: challenge-threat, economy, instructional side-benefits, partnership between TV and classroom teachers, responsiveness, parental influences, security of the classroom teacher, invidious comparison, experimental attitude, and in-service training. On the whole the teachers’ attitudes were highly favorable to instructional television, and consistently rejected the idea that the TV teacher represents a threat to the classroom teacher.     

S.C.A.L.E.--spiritual care at life's end: a multi-disciplinary approach to end-of-life issues in a hospital setting

End-of-life care is a hot topic in many hospitals of late, in part due to an aging society, which is forcing health care professionals to address the issue. A culture that places enormous value on youth and avoids the topic of death also contributes to the discomfort many health care professionals feel discussing this topic with their patients and family members. Inpatient satisfaction survey scores at Thunderbird Samaritan Medical Center (TSMC) were very inconsistent on the question of how the institution was meeting the emotional and/or spiritual needs of patients. A staff survey and needs assessment was also conducted regarding end-of-life care, which pointed out communication issues among staff members. All of these factors led to the development of an inter-disciplinary team to examine the issue of end-of-life care at TSMC.     

The Development of an Instrument for the Evaluation of Some Aspects of the Taught Component of an Advanced Courses Module for Teachers in International Schools

A scheme of professional development for teachers, leading to the award of Advanced Certificate, Advanced Diploma or degree of Master of Education, has been in operation at the University of Bath School of Education for some years. Recently this modular scheme has been extended to become more accessible to teachers in international and overseas schools around the world, with modules taught in a range of locations internationally including a Summer School held annually in July at the University of Bath. The Methods of Educational Enquiry (MEE) module provides an introduction to aspects of educational research and is recommended to participants as an early module for study: between 1992 and 1993 this module has thus been taught on more occasions than any other, in a number of different locations and by a number of different tutors. This paper considers issues arising from the implementation of an instrument for the evaluation of some aspects of the taught component of the MEE module in a wide range of contexts, and describes the development of two related measures of participants' satisfaction with respect to this component. A further paper will consider a wider range of issues across a number of different modules in a range of locations.     

The last step: Adding theory to practice

Colleges and universities have not adequately dealt with the education of the experienced adult student. Currently these students are forced to choose between traditional courses and independent studies and the assessment of learning. Courses and independent studies force students to spend time re-learning that which they've learned through experience. Even worse, students don't learn to integrate theoretical knowledge with practical knowledge. Assessment, on the other hand, places little emphasis on theoretical knowledge and provides little opportunity for interaction with other experts in the field. This paper outlines the problems inherent in those options and presents another alternative: educational workshops which focus on the theories in a field and the relationships between those theories and practical experience. In these workshops students gain the theoretical knowledge so often not gained through experience, and have the opportunity to interact with and learn from other experienced adults without being forced into the traditional classroom geared toward younger less experienced students.     

Shrinking selves in synthetic sites: On personhood in a Walt Disney World

In this essay we show how certain tendencies of theself are enhanced and hindered by technologicallyorganized places. We coordinate a cognitive andbehavioral technology for the control of personalidentity with the technologically totalizedenvironments that we call synthetic sites. Weproceed by describing Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi'sstrategy for intensifying experience and organizingthe self. Walt Disney World is then considered as theexample, par excellence, of a synthetic sitethat promotes ordered experience via self-shrinkage. Finally, we reflect briefly on problems andpossibilities of human life lived in a world that canbe described with increasing accuracy as anarchipelago of synthetic sites.