International perspectives on student awareness,experiences and perceptions of research: implications for academic developers in implementing research‐based teaching and learning

This paper explores the implications of the effective integration of research, teaching and learning for academic development through the lens of an international multi‐institutional comparison of student perceptions of research and its impact on their learning environment. The study, with a sample of over 500 final‐year undergraduate students across three institutions in the UK and Canada, represents a spectrum of research and teaching intensive universities and is one of the largest exploring undergraduate student perceptions of research in the linking teaching and research literature. The results indicate a complex relationship between student perceptions and experiences of research and the type of institution, as well as the individual, institutional and national context. They also inform the discussion of particular issues that academic developers face and the strategies they use to improve the integration of research and teaching to benefit the undergraduate learning experience in their institution.

Cet article explore les implications, pour le développement pédagogique, de l’intégration effective de la recherche, de l’enseignement et de l’apprentissage à l’aide de la lentille d’une comparaison internationale multi institutionnelle des perceptions étudiantes à l’égard de la recherche et de leur impact sur l’environnement d’apprentissage. L’étude, reposant sur un échantillon de plus de 500 étudiants en dernière année de 1^er cycle, provenant de trois institutions au Royaume‐Uni et au Canada, représente un spectre d’universités centrées sur l’enseignement ou sur la recherche. L’étude constitue une des recherches les plus importantes au sujet des perceptions étudiantes à l’égard de la recherche dans la littérature portant sur le lien entre l’enseignement et la recherche. Les résultats indiquent une relation complexe entre les perceptions et les expériences des étudiants, et le type d’institution, de même qu’avec les contextes individuel, institutionnel et national. Les résultats contribuent aussi à la discussion de questions particulières auxquelles les conseillers pédagogiques font face ainsi que les stratégies que ceux‐ci utilisent en vue d’améliorer l’intégration de la recherche et de l’enseignement de façon à en faire bénéficier l’expérience d’apprentissage au 1^er cycle au sein de leur institution.     

Mentoring in the virtual organization: keys to building successful schools and businesses

Mentoring can take on a whole new perspective when people have a common goal but are in different physical locations. The benefits of virtual mentoring, in other words, mentoring when the mentor and mentee are not geographically co‐located, and which occurs mainly by electronic communication, can be substantial. They include lowered costs, increased access to mentors, and no limitations on space, time, and location. There are also disadvantages to virtual mentoring. Notable among these is the lack of face‐to‐face communication, something that adds another dimension to understanding the tone and attitude of messages between mentors and mentees. This article not only defines and analyzes the concept of mentoring as performed in the virtual organization but also deals with phases of mentoring and types of mentors used in this relatively new work environment. The synthesis of the literature and the authors’ experience results in a list of keys to successful mentoring in the virtual organization. These are: trust, self‐motivation, flexibility, communication skills, and technological skills. In addition, implications for worldwide mentoring are discussed.     

Assessing mentoring in organizations: an evaluation of commercial mentoring instruments

The purpose of this article is to inform readers about the types of instruments available for assessing and improving mentoring in organizations. Extensive review of the psychological, business and medical literature was conducted to identify commercially published, practitioner‐oriented instruments. All of the instruments that were identified – including the Alleman mentoring activities questionnaire, Mentoring in the moment, Mentoring skills assessment, and Principles of adult mentoring scale – are evaluated herein. Each instrument’s target audience, raters, subscales, response options, psychometric properties, and relative strengths and weaknesses are described. Although these instruments are reported to be used extensively, evidence of their validity is not always available. This review presents information that, in combination with first‐hand inspection of the instruments, should enable practitioners to differentiate between instruments that may be a fit for their needs from those that are not. Furthermore, it may introduce academic readers to instruments that are not covered in the scholarly literature in spite of their common use for non‐research purposes.     

Connecting to the Good Life through outdoor adventure leadership experiences designed for Indigenous youth

Indigenous voices are largely silent in the outdoor education and adventure therapy literature. The purpose of this research collaboration was to understand how a 10-day outdoor adventure leadership experience (OALE) may promote resilience and well-being for Indigenous youth through their participation in the program. The process was examined through a community-based participatory research project that sought insight from the perspectives of one First Nations community in Canada. The OALE was implemented with six different groups for a total of 43 youth participants (ages 11.9–18.7 years) from Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve in northeastern Ontario. Field data were collected from multiple sources including participant interviews, journals, focus groups, and talking circles. Using a critical ethnographic lens, we analyzed the data inductively to understand how the OALE promoted resilience and well-being. We listened to Indigenous voices, adhered to principles of Indigenous coding for thematic content and respected Indigenous ways of knowing for interpreting results. The process of connecting to the Good Life (Anishinaabe Bimaadziwin) or waking up (nsidwaaswok) to the Good Life emerged as the dominant theme. Connecting to the Good Life may offer a simple yet compelling way to understand the net impact of the OALE.     

The application of cognitive learning theory to criminal justice education

Most criminal justice programs began as extensions of vocational technical training courses, but within the last decade they have begun to parallel the liberal arts programs originally proposed. As a result of this reorientation, criminal justice instructors lack many of the instructional methods used by colleagues in other fields. In addition, the dual nature of criminal justice instruction, requiring both experience and theory, places demands on criminal justice instructors that their colleagues may not experience. The field needs an instructional approach that blends the best of the vocational aspects and the theoretical underpinnings. This paper reviews cognitive learning theory, specifically Kolb's experiential learning model. Recommendations are offered for the application of this model to instruction in criminal justice courses.     

Examining the Validity of Standards-Based Assessments for Initially Fluent Students and Former English Language Learners

To date, assessment validity research on non-native English speaking students in the United States has focused exclusively on those who are presently English language learners (ELLs). However, little, if any, research has been conducted on two other sizable groups of language minority students: (a) bilingual or multilingual students who were already English proficient when they entered the school system (IFEPs), and (b) former English language learners, those students who were once classified as ELLs but are now reclassified as being English proficient (RFEPs). This study investigated the validity of several standards-based assessments in mathematics and science for these two student groups and found a very high degree of score comparability, when compared with native English speakers, for the IFEPs, whereas a moderate to high degree of score comparability was observed for the RFEPs. Thus, test scores for these two groups on the assessments we studied appear to be valid indicators of their content knowledge, to a degree similar to that of native English speakers.     

FROM PERSUASION TO ACCOMMODATION IN PUBLIC TWO-YEAR COLLEGE DEVELOPMENT

This was the first of a series of papers presented February 20, 2001 at a national conference sponsored by North Texas State University held in the Omni Hotel Dallas, TX. The author relates the 1950 status of two-year college development, numbers and locations of university professors specializing in the field, and the need to persuade citizens they should have a public two-year college in their midst. Events are traced which led up to the overwhelming demand by the public in the late 1960s and early 1970s to have their own two-year college. This condition precipitated the untiring work of university faculty specialized in this field to accommodate the need for assistance at both the state level planning and for local college establishment. The citizens participatory comprehensive study involvement developed initially as a way of overcoming resistance and persuading citizens they needed a college is a viable approach today for periodically evaluating and future planning to meet changing societal manpower needs. The author urges continued use of action research tools to accommodate evolving local area educational needs.     

Direct Behavioral Consultation in Head Start to Increase Teacher Use of Praise and Effective Instruction Delivery

Chronic disruptive behaviors during early childhood are associated with many poor developmental outcomes including, but not limited to, school dropout and conduct disorder during adolescence. Much is known regarding effective intervention procedures for disruptive classroom behaviors by preschool children. Unfortunately, evidence-based intervention procedures may not be implemented with integrity in applied settings. Direct behavioral consultation may increase teacher intervention integrity because of direct training procedures used with teachers and students during routine classroom activities. This study evaluated a nondisruptive direct training method for increasing Head Start teachers' use of praise and effective instruction delivery. Results indicated that the direct training procedure implemented during routine instructional activities resulted in increased use of praise and effective instruction delivery that maintained following training. Additionally, increased use of praise and effective instruction delivery resulted in reductions in children's disruptive classroom behavior.