College/University Counseling Centers Supporting Study Away: Challenges and Opportunities

Research points to significant numbers of students on college campuses experiencing mental health distress and an ever increasing number of college students who are choosing to make an off-campus educational experience a part of their college careers. When we consider both of these trends together, it is quite apparent that a significant number of students with mental health concerns will spend periods of time studying away from campus, with converging concerns among college mental health and study away professionals about how to best support these students. This article seeks to outline both challenges and opportunities inherent in the collaboration between campus professionals in supporting students with mental health issues before and during their study away experiences.     

Teacher professional development in Teaching and Teacher Education over ten years

A review of publications in Teaching and Teacher Education over ten years (2000-2010) on teacher professional development is the subject of the paper. The first part synthesises production referred to learning, facilitation and collaboration, factors influencing professional development, effectiveness of professional development and issues around the themes. The second part, selects from the production nine articles for closer examination. The paper concludes by noting how the production brings out the complexities of teacher professional learning and how research and development have taken cognisance of these factors and provided food for optimism about their effects, although not yet about their sustainability in time.     

A quality of interrelating: describing a form of meaningful experience on a wilderness river journey

In this paper I identify the components of ‘meaningful experiences’ for participants on a wilderness river rafting journey. The research is phenomenologically informed, and includes interviews, journals, observations and follow-up emails from 32 participants on eight Franklin River (Tasmania) 10-day trips. It elicits individual perceptions of meaningful experiences and combines recollections to reveal the commonalities within those experiences. The research identifies two key recurrent ‘streams of experience’ that provide meaning. The two recurrent streams of experience involved, firstly, a feeling of humility and, secondly, being alive to the present. In this paper I focus on the stream of experience surrounding a feeling of humility, highlighting the qualities of the ways in which participants interrelated with their surrounding environments and the structure of such experiences. Additionally, I consider some unique elements of the wilderness river journey that contributed to the experiences that participants valued as meaningful.     

Standardization of search methods for guideline development: an international survey of evidence-based guideline development groups

BACKGROUND: Effective literature searching is particularly important for clinical practice guideline development. Sophisticated searching and filtering mechanisms are needed to help ensure that all relevant research is reviewed. PURPOSE: To assess the methods used for the selection of evidence for guideline development by evidence-based guideline development organizations. METHODS: A semistructured questionnaire assessing the databases, search filters and evaluation methods used for literature retrieval was distributed to eight major organizations involved in evidence-based guideline development. RESULTS: All of the organizations used search filters as part of guideline development. The medline database was the primary source accessed for literature retrieval. The OVID or SilverPlatter interfaces were used in preference to the freely accessed PubMed interface. The Cochrane Library, embase, cinahl and psycinfo databases were also frequently used by the organizations. All organizations reported the intention to improve and validate their filters for finding literature specifically relevant for guidelines. DISCUSSION: In the first international survey of its kind, eight major guideline development organizations indicated a strong interest in identifying, improving and standardizing search filters to improve guideline development. It is to be hoped that this will result in the standardization of, and open access to, search filters, an improvement in literature searching outcomes and greater collaboration among guideline development organizations.     

Differentiation In Elementary School Counselor Preparation Programs Among ACES Regions

A national survey, reported by ACES regions, examined the differentiation of counselor education programs for the preparation of elementary school counselors. While the study, based on usable questionnaire returns from 225 counselor education programs, provides evidence of many efforts toward program differentiation, there remains a substantial lack of uniformity in preparation background of elementary school counselors graduating from preparation programs across the country.     

WhatsApp use among African international distance education (IDE) students: transferring,translating and transforming educational experiences

ABSTRACT

Much of the research on how social media is embedded into the educational practices of higher education students has a Western orientation. In concentrating on a case study of the varied ways in which African International Distance Education (IDE) students actively use social media to shape their learning experiences, we discuss an under-researched group. The paper draws on analysis of 1295 online questionnaires and 165 in-depth interviews with IDE students at UNISA, South Africa, one of the largest providers of IDE globally. WhatsApp emerges as ‘the’ key social media tool that opens up opportunities for IDE students to transfer, translate and transform their educational journey when studying ‘at a distance’. Although WhatsApp does provide a ‘space of opportunity’ for some students, this is framed through socio-technical marginalisation, itself a reflection of demographic legacies of inequality. Exploring social media practices though the case of African IDE students places these students centre stage and adds to the awareness of the multiple centres from which international education is practiced.