BACKGROUND AND TRAINING OF TEACHERS IN JEWISH SCHOOLS: CURRENT STATUS AND LEVERS FOR CHANGE

Abstract

This paper presents a secondary analysis of data from a survey of teachers in the Jewish schools of three communities. Previous findings had shown that only 19% of teachers have professional training in both Jewish content areas and in the field of education, and despite incomplete professional backgrounds, little professional growth was required of teachers. What can be done to enhance and expand professional growth activities for teachers in Jewish schools? Analyses reported in this paper examine three possible “levers” for changing standards for professional growth: state licensing requirements for pre‐schools, state requirements for continuing education among professionally‐trained teachers, and community incentives for training of supplementary school teachers. Results indicate that pre‐school teachers in state‐licensed pre‐schools and supplementary school teachers who were paid for meeting a professional growth standard reported that they were required to attend more in‐service workshops, compared to other teachers who were not subject to these conditions. In addition, standards for the quantity of in‐service were higher among teachers who have stronger Judaic backgrounds and who are committed to a career in Jewish education.     

Revitalising assessment design: what is holding new lecturers back?

This paper reports on a survey study exploring new lecturers’ views on assessment design (using a questionnaire called the Assessment Design Inventory) with 586 newly qualified or still qualifying lecturers from UK universities. A factor analysis established two factors labelled ‘desirable practice’ and ‘constraints’. Participants felt that their university teaching programmes had changed their views on assessment design and that assessment practices could be improved. Over 50 % agreed that there were practical restrictions on assessment design. Findings revealed a perception that there is little incentive to innovate in assessment and that students may not welcome such innovation in any case. Further statistical analysis specified the ‘external’ variables of institution and discipline to be important in shaping desirable practice and perception of constraints. ‘Individual’ variables of gender, length of teaching experience and qualification status showed a statistically significant effect. These analyses demonstrate some key influences on new lecturers’ views of assessment design and suggest reasons why they do not always feel able to put what they learn about assessment into practice.     

Instructor Privacy Management in the Classroom: Exploring Instructors’ Ineffective Communication and Student Communication Satisfaction

The aim of this investigation was twofold: (a) drawing from communication privacy management theory, we wanted to examine the associations between instructors’ ineffective communication (i.e., inappropriate conversations, amount of disclosures) and student communication satisfaction; and (b) we wanted to determine if students’ positive perceptions of instructor nonverbal immediacy mediated the negative influences of instructors’ inappropriate conversations and amount of disclosures on student communication satisfaction. Overall, students reported lower levels of communication satisfaction when instructors engage in inappropriate conversations and frequent disclosures. Based on results, we also concluded that instructor nonverbal immediacy maintains students’ communication satisfaction even when instructors engage in inappropriate conversations or disclose too frequently.     

Value Chain Adjustments in Educational Publishing

This paper looks at at the impacts and implications of new technology for educational publishing in the context of major growth in e-Learning. Although it acknowledges the continuing influence of textbooks both on how emerging technologies will drive changes to courses and the pace at which courses evolve, the major focus is upon the impact of technological and organisational change upon the value chains for e-Learning and educational publishing. It reviews relevant developments in technology, e-Learning and educational publishing and the connections between them, using recent examples. Fundamental to the nexus between technology, e-Learning and publishing is the search for value and for new means of creating and leveraging value in a turbulent higher education marketplace. The subjective nature of value is recognised in the context of different stakeholders. The paper then links changing perceptions of value to a perceived shift within educational publishing, which entails moving from the more or less homogeneous delivery of packaged content towards the provision of truly customised learning services combining use of the latest technologies with access to high quality content. The kinds of value, old and new, provided by educational publishers are compared in a table. This shift in value is then explained in the context of value chains for e-Learning and for educational publishing. So far as educational publishing is concern there are signs of both disintermediation and reintermediation in the value chain. Amidst these changes, the position of educational publishing appears set to improve through its potential to provide a new range of integrated technology and content services.     

One Hundred Strong: A Colloquium on Transforming Natural History Museums in the Twenty‐first Century

In February 2012, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) convened 100 colleagues from 43 organizations to initiate a collaborative learning research agenda focused on examining important areas for innovation to better serve twenty‐first‐century audiences. The conference organizers anticipated that scientists, educators, exhibit professionals, and other members of the natural history community would identify and prioritize research questions about what, how, why, when, and where people learn about natural history. We prepared to engage in a conversation about how natural history museums could change what they do. The participants' overwhelming passion for their work, and for natural history museums and their transformative potential for society, quickly turned the conversation toward how natural history museums should change what they are. The result was an emergent learning research agenda situated within a broader vision for natural history museums.     

Language Difference and Communication Policy in the Information Age

This study argues that language difference is an important, though often neglected, element in contemporary flows of audiovisual media and organizations' efforts to influence them through policy. Because linguistic issues overlap a number of policy areas, including trade, culture, language, and communication, this study advocates for increased attention to language-related concerns within and across those areas by policymakers and researchers alike. Various developments associated with globalization have contributed to the significance of the transnational media trade, and are discussed in light of language difference. Special emphasis is given the handling of language in media by the European Union and North American Free Trade Agreement, two trade regimes that have treated language difference distinctly. The probable expansion of both trade regimes is likely to increase the salience of linguistic diversity among participant societies in the future.     

How Many Rs are there in Statistics?

The basic principles involved in the collection and analysis of data in a regression situation are discussed.