Creating environments which nurture development: Messages from research into academics’ experiences

Abstract

In this discussion I map a process through which academic developers might become players rather than pawns in their work within changing universities. In doing so, I draw on recent research into the way academics respond to the pressures on them to adopt more flexible teaching practices, including the use of information and communication technologies in those practices (Taylor, Lopez & Quadrelli, 1996). Four themes are reflected in the findings of that research: tribalism; community; the need for refuges (for safety); and the value of guiding principles to the development of new practices. I explain the origin and meaning of these themes, and explore the relationships between them and their implications. My argument is for the development of communities in which university staff can innovate in contexts which provide constructive, as distinct from judgemental, feedback and support. That is, communities which are sources of both safety and challenge. Before moving to discuss those four themes I locate the discussion within a set of ideas concerning the relationship between educational reform and professional development.     

Life at university with Asperger syndrome: a comparison of student and staff perspectives

Although increasing numbers of students with disabilities are accessing higher education, there is relatively little information about the needs of students with Asperger syndrome (AS). Crucially, students themselves have rarely been included in research examining their needs or the supports they might find helpful. Three focus groups, one with students with AS and two with staff were conducted to explore the challenges, barriers and supports to students' successful progress through one university in the UK. Thematic analysis revealed some key differences between staff and student perspectives, particularly with regard to impact of sensory sensitivities and daily life difficulties on academic progress. Students and staff also held differing views about what is helpful, relating to disclosure of diagnosis and the value of formal social supports. The study highlights the importance of developing services beyond traditional academic supports that students with AS themselves feel are valuable.     

Roots and Wings Community Mentoring: An Evaluation of the Manchester Pilot

This article is a continuation of the exploration started by Sylvia Ashley in Mentoring and Tutoring, Autumn 1994, of the ‘Roots and Wings' mentoring initiative. The Roots and Wings programme is a Business in the Community initiative using the principles of community group mentoring. Sylvia Astley reported on the London and Bristol pilots. We follow this through with a digest of the evaluation of the Manchester pilot. In this pilot the British Telecom Personal Communications division offered mentoring support to the pupils from a Manchester high school. The evaluation attempted to capture the experiences of the mentors and mentees and the perspectives of the teaching staff involved. Recommendations were made with a view to expanding the scheme into other schools and businesses.     

Education for Integrated Rural Development: transformative learning in a complex and uncertain world

A key question addressed in this article is: How does the increased pressure for expertise in IRD translate itself into the demand for educational services and the design of appropriate curricula on a European-wide basis? This article examines these issues and generates a number of stepping stones for the development of Education and Training for Integrated Rural Development (ETIRD) in tertiary education, based on a two-year inter-institutional curriculum development project carried out under the umbrella of the AFANetⁱ.     

Integrating ICT in Kenyan secondary schools: an exploratory case study of a professional development programme

This study explores the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Kenyan secondary schools. Specifically, it is a case study of four schools with no previous access to ICT. The professional development programme from which data for this study were drawn was designed to support teachers learning to integrate ICT in the curriculum. Using a mixed-method research approach, the authors collected data from multiple sources and triangulated the views of various stakeholders: questionnaires with teachers, focus groups with teachers, school leaders and ICT coordinators, field observations and document analysis. While the broader programme focused on the use of ICT, the results highlighted in this study focus on the development of the four schools with respect to 1) vision building, 2) leadership, 3) collaboration, 4) expertise and 5) access to adequate resources. The discussion centres on the challenges and opportunities inherent in understanding how to prepare schools in developing countries to integrate ICT in education.     

Alcohol's Getting a Bit More Social: When Alcohol Marketing Messages on Facebook Increase Young Adults’ Intentions to Imbibe

This study investigates the effects of social media marketing of alcoholic beverages using a 2 (likes: low vs. high) × 2 (shares: low vs. high) × 3 (display ad type: alcohol ad vs. antibinge drinking PSA vs. local bank) × 6 (status update repetitions) experimental design. The study examines how evaluations of alcohol marketing status updates and display advertisements predict social media users’ intentions to consume alcohol, as a function of message virality and display ad type. Participants’ viral behavioral intentions (intentions to like, share, and comment on) for status updates were strongest in predicting intentions to consume alcohol, and this relationship was strongest when the Facebook status update had high likes and shares. The article argues that alcohol marketing on social media reflects a social norm of alcohol consumption, which leads users to consume more alcoholic drinks. Findings are discussed within the framework of persuasion theories and policy changes regarding regulation of alcohol marketing on social media.     

Minutes of the executive committee,central states speech association December 29, 1969

In the aftermath of the 1960's riots, President Lyndon Johnson appealed to the value of law and order, balanced this call with a call for support of civil rights, stressed that the preservation of peace was a local responsibility, and appointed a study commission to search for solutions. Each of these rhetorical appeals was flawed, but the constellation reveals the value system of American liberalism at a time of impasse.