Supervising cohorts of higher degree research students: design catalysts for industry and innovation

Higher degree research students and their contributions to society and the economy are well known. However, the recognition of the increasing numbers of such students and the decreasing availability of supervisors implies that traditional individual modes of research supervision are no longer sufficient, while models of cohort supervision have led to successful outcomes. This paper uses the notion of threshold crossing to reflect upon a case study of higher degree research (HDR) supervision in an action research program, where students are immersed in industry projects to investigate company issues, innovate and transform the organisation. The action research model balances structure and flexibility, with set tasks and embedded reflexivity; the responsiveness of the model ensures timely project completion and the development of critical thinking skills. Balancing the proximity and distance between the supervisors, student, cohort and industry partner ensures that students are socialised into both academic and industry settings, developing self-efficacy to succeed in both worlds. Analysis of interviews with students and firm partners reveals that the cohort model valorises the higher research degree, developing research students. Three trends in HDR supervision are reconciled in the pedagogical approach outlined: bridging industry and academia, enculturation and emancipation and communities of learning and practice.

     

The design process for PLATO®

Conclusion The final product, PLATOMath Problem Solving, was the result of many months of design, iteration, learner trials, and hard work. Each activity has enough depth to promote exploration, but enough coaching to provide structure and establish a strategic-level dialog with the learner. The result is courseware that truly promotes strategic approaches to math problem solving. For more information, visit us atwww.plato.com. You might also be interested in the following : Hall, E. P., Gott, S. P., & Pokorny, R. A. (1995). Aprocedural guide to cognitive task analysis: The PARI methodology. Report AL/HR-TR-1995-0108. Brooks Air Force Base, TX: Human Resources Directorate. Foshay, R., & Kirkley, J. (1998).Principles for teaching problem solving. Technical Paper #4. Bloomington, MN: PLATO Learning, Inc.     

Explaining Long-Term Exercise Adherence in Women Who Complete a Structured Exercise Program

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine factors related to physical activity adherence to understand why women continue to participate in long-term exercise after completing a structured exercise program. Data were collected from focus groups, interviews, and e-mails, and analysis used grounded theory. The central category related to physical activity adherence was self-worth. Motivation, activity enjoyment, priorities, body image, ability to access support, and self-regulation skills had an impact on the self-worth of nonadherers and adherers. Women must value themselves enough to continue to participate in physical activity once they start. Exercise and fitness professionals are encouraged to use strategies to increase self-worth and long-term adherence to physical activity. Some recommended strategies include (a) increasing motivation and enjoyment relative to activity, (b) making activity a high priority in a woman's life, (c) improving or deemphasizing body image, (d) increasing a woman's ability to access support, and (e) facilitating the use of self-regulation strategies. This study is the first to examine qualitative perspectives of exercise adherence among women who completed a structured exercise program. Several concepts related to adherence presented in the quantitative literature are confirmed and enhanced in this study.     

Discovering Plate Boundaries in Data-integrated Environments: Preservice Teachers' Conceptualization and Implementation of Scientific Practices

Drawn from the norms and rules of their fields, scientists use variety of practices, such as asking questions and arguing based on evidence, to engage in research that will contribute to our understanding of Earth and beyond. In this study, we explore how preservice teachers' learn to teach scientific practices while teaching plate tectonic theory. In particular, our aim is to observe which scientific practices preservice teachers use while teaching an earth science unit, how do they integrate these practices into their lessons, and what challenges do they face during their first time teaching of an earth science content area integrated with scientific practices. The study is designed as a qualitative, exploratory case study of seven preservice teachers while they were learning to teach plate tectonic theory to a group of middle school students. The data were driven from the video records and artifacts of the preservice teachers' learning and teaching processes as well as written reflections on the teaching. Intertextual discourse analysis was used to understand what scientific practices preservice teachers choose to integrate into their teaching experience. Our results showed that preservice teachers chose to focus on four aspects of scientific practices: (1) employing historical understanding of how the theory emerged, (2) encouraging the use of evidence to build up a theory, (3) observation and interpretation of data maps, and (4) collaborative practices in making up the theory. For each of these practices, we also looked at the common challenges faced by preservice teachers by using constant comparative analysis. We observed the practices that preservice teachers decided to use and the challenges they faced, which were determined by what might have come as in their personal history as learners. Therefore, in order to strengthen preservice teachers' background, college courses should be arranged to teach important scientific ideas through scientific practices. In addition, such practices should also reflect the authentic practices of earth scientists such as use of historical record and differentiating observation versus interpretation.     

Managing spaces: (re)working relations of strategy and spatiality in vocational education and training

The adoption of a more ‘open’ national training market in vocational education and training (VET) in Australia has led to considerable changes in VET organizations and considerable challenges for VET managers. Recent research has established the critical role that ‘strategy’ plays in leading and managing these organizations and the significance of strategic management as a field of managerial practice within VET. In this article, I further examine the role of strategy in the management of VET organizations by giving attention to issues of space and spatiality. Deploying concepts from actor-network theory and drawing on case data collected from VET organizations, I address strategy as a spatializing project. The argument is made that strategy is an accomplishment of a network of relations rather than an individual manager or an individual organization and can take radically different forms (‘Big S’ strategy; ‘small s’ strategy) and produce radically different effects (economic, educational). More specifically, spatial relations play a constitutive role in strategy formation in VET. Relations of spatiality and strategy are created and sustained together, and where this complex relationship is understood space can serve as a ground for critique. The paper promotes a theoretical and empirical imperative to look keenly to the spaces filled by frontline managers. Essentially interrogatory, these spaces open up the possibility of the negotiation of managerial and organizational identities across differences of strategic management and operational management and, more broadly, of enterprise and education.     

Engaging with parents: the relationship between school engagement efforts,social class,and learning

Using data from the U.S. Department of Education's (2000) Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K), this study investigates the relationship between school efforts to engage parents, average socioeconomic status (SES) of families within a school, and kindergarteners' end-of-year reading and mathematics achievement. Drawing from Epstein's (2001 Epstein, J.L. 2001. School, family, and community partnerships: Preparing educators and improving schools, Boulder, CO: Westview Press.  [Google Scholar]) parent involvement framework, the 4 types of engagement efforts explored are intended to promote communication, parent volunteering, parent influence in school decision making, and parenting skills. We apply multilevel methods to explore the impact of schools' efforts to engage parents on student achievement. Our findings indicate certain types of school efforts to engage parents influence achievement. Depending on average school SES, efforts to promote volunteering has a differential impact on reading achievement, efforts to involve parents in school decision making has a differential impact on mathematics achievement, and efforts to increase communication and promote parenting skills have a differential impact on reading and mathematics achievement.