Editorial

Initial teacher training courses throughout the United Kingdom at present have been or are being changed in various ways which enlarge the role of schools and make new demands on the school teachers who act as mentors to student teachers in the schools. Despite the size of this change, it can be quite difficult to find evidence about its effects. Edwards (1994) suggested that one reason for this lack of evidence is that there has been little government support for obtaining it. As Edwards points out, however, the government in one part of the United Kingdom, namely Scotland, did ensure that evidence about the mentor teacher idea was obtained before there was a decision about applying the scheme across the country. The decision that it should be nationally applied was reported in this journal's ‘Notes and News’ section in Spring 1995, under the heading of ‘Introduction of a mentor scheme in Scotland’. This paper summarises the main outcomes of the pilot study which informed that decision. The paper concentrates on the pilot's second and final year (Cameron‐Jones and O'Hara 1994).     

Achieving agri-environmental policy outcomes using models of institutional change

Abstract

Institutions involved in public policy and technological innovation are concerned with processes that influence the behaviour of people. This paper reports on research in the New Zealand dairy industry that is seeking to develop improved process models for managing change in a range of policy, industry and business contexts. The Practice Interplay Model was used to evaluate mediating methods for negotiating environmental and production outcomes within the context of a farm dairy effluent management case study. Significant misalignments between research, farming, extension and policy practitioners' expectations and perceptions of factors required for effective farm dairy effluent management were found. The combination of interactive workshops linked to quantitative verification and testing and follow-up interviews enabled a depth of investigation that was rich in information yet cost-effective in terms of research resources. The process used identified opportunities to change the actions of system participants and alignment between them. It enabled strategies to be agreed that would continually improve and strengthen the process of change. Further development and application of the Practice Interplay Model to policy problems, including the ongoing development of tools and techniques used within the methodology, has the potential to break though into a new policy-development paradigm in New Zealand.     

Context,Participation and Discourse: The Role of the Communities of Practice Concept in Understanding Farmer Decision-Making

Abstract

This article contributes to the study of decision-making processes both at a farm systems level and at the level of agricultural research in partnership with commercial farms. It also highlights the way in which adoption and adaptation of innovation occurs in a socially rich context with information, group formation and connectivity converging to create a complex learning environment.

Design/methodology/approach. The methodology used in this research centres on the Communities of Practice (CoP) theoretical framework augmented by Gramsci's notion of Intellectual Communities and discursive analysis. A dairy farming systems project operating in Australia (3030 Project) provided the context for our study.

Findings. The group structures within the 3030 Project constitute CoP in which innovation is evolved, adopted and adapted. This process involves socially negotiated learning which is both processual and highly contextual. Discursive dialects are formed and interact within these CoP at the level of decision-making and can be analysed in context to further our understanding of the way in which farmers participate in learning opportunities and negotiate innovation.

Practical implications. This theoretical framework can be used to enhance the learning capabilities of these groups by developing a better understanding of how discourse is used to successfully transfer knowledge effectively and with authority.

Originality/value. The 3030 Project provided a unique opportunity for a comparative analysis of on-farm and research-based decision-making processes in a ‘real time’ situation from a multi-scale perspective.     

Embedding General Education Competencies into an Online Information Literacy Course

ABSTRACT

Assessing core competencies for students who are enrolled in purely online programs poses a challenge to colleges and universities. Our institution has chosen an existing online information literacy course to incorporate and assess general education competencies for an overseas cohort of transfer students. This article presents a brief overview of the course and describes the way in which the course was redesigned to embed and assess the five general education competencies (critical thinking, information literacy, critical reading, quantitative reasoning, and writing).     

Advocating for controversial issues: The effect of activism on compliance‐gaining strategy likelihood of use

Previous research has demonstrated that compliance‐gaining strategies can he arrayed on an unidimensional continuum, anchored by positive, pro‐social strategies and negative, antisocial strategies (Hunter & Boster, 1987; Rolojf & Barnicott, 1978, 1979). Individual differences, including argumentativeness and verbal aggression (Boster & Levine, 1988), have been shown to affect one's ethical threshold. This ethical threshold is consistent with a Guttman simplex and determines both how many, as well as how antisocial, compliance‐gaining strategies individuals may consider using. Activists, who are highly involved and committed to their cause and who tend to be less verbally aggressive and more argumentative than the general public (Campo, 1999), are likely to have a lower threshold and to use more strategies. This study examines to what extent activism predicts one's ethical threshold, when controlling for the known effects of argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, and sex. Participants (N = 454) at two separate universities completed a repeated measures questionnaire that asked them to indicate their likelihood of use of 25 separate compliance‐gaining strategies. Based on respondents’ likelihood of use of these 25 strategies, the data were consistent with a Guttman simplex. A multiple regression model was tested, and indicated that one's ethical threshold is directly predicted by level of activism and verbal aggressiveness. Sex and argumentativeness were not found to be significant predictors in this revised model. In addition, activists used more strategies than non‐activists. Implications for advancing research related to activism and compliance‐gaining strategy selection are discussed.     

What Do We Know About Online Coursetaking,Persistence, Transfer,and Degree Completion Among Community College Students?

ABSTRACT

Surprisingly, and despite the vast literature on the subject, there is little agreement on the most vital issues surrounding online learning in community colleges. While some studies report that community college students are hampered by online course enrollment, others have found that community college students who take online courses are more likely to persist and succeed in the long term. With this in mind, the present essay will review and synthesize the empirical research literature in order to establish what is known about online coursetaking and the effects on community college students with regard to course completion, persistence, transfer, and degree completion.     

Fine motor skills and executive function both contribute to kindergarten achievement

This study examined the contribution of executive function (EF) and multiple aspects of fine motor skills to achievement on 6 standardized assessments in a sample of middle-socioeconomic status kindergarteners. Three- and 4-year-olds' (n=213) fine and gross motor skills were assessed in a home visit before kindergarten, EF was measured at fall of kindergarten, and Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Academic Achievement were administered at fall and spring. Correlations indicated that EF and fine motor skills appeared distinct. Further, controlling for background variables, higher levels of both EF and fine motor skills, specifically design copy, predicted higher achievement on multiple subtests at kindergarten entry, as well as improvement from fall to spring. Implications for research on school readiness are discussed.     

A New Perspective: The Common Factors Model as a Foundation for Social Work Practice Education

Foundation social work practice education is critical to the preparation of BSW practitioners for professional practice and the establishment of a theoretical and skill base upon which graduate students may build competencies in the advanced curriculum. Issues in the foundation practice curriculum may hinder this development. The common factors model holds promise as an organizing framework for foundation social work practice education. This model may help to resolve some key issues in social work and social work education, and may provide a useful, coherent, and empirical base for the foundation practice curriculum.