The reality of living with AD/HD: children's concern about educational and medical support

A diagnosis of AD/HD may tell us that the child has the core characteristics of inattentiveness, impulsivity and or hyperactivity, but it fails to convey the extent to which the social context of the child's environment manipulates these characteristics. This article reports on how children with a diagnosis of AD/HD view the impact their social environment has on their behaviour; providing us with insight into how educational and medical intervention strategies are failing to achieve their potential. The findings suggest that if children with AD/HD and their families are to benefit from educational and medical intervention then stakeholders need to work together to provide coordinated and consistent support.     

Challenges to Institutionalizing Participatory Extension: The Case of Farmer Livestock Schools in Vietnam

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this article is to analyze the introduction of participatory extension approaches (PEA) in the predominantly supply-driven, hierarchical Vietnamese extension system. Drawing on the case of the so-called Farmer Livestock School (FLS) concept, the authors investigate the potential and challenges of scaling up and out the FLS/PEA principles of participatory training methods, encompassing intensive and interactive training sessions, group-based sharing of experience, practical learning, and learning-by-doing processes.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The article is based on data collected and synthesized from 36 pilot communes from 2000 to 2007 and draws on the extensive insider experience of two of its authors during their work for a DANIDA-funded livestock project.

Findings: At the micro-scale and with external support, FLS has been a successful experiment of using participatory extension approaches in farmer training and extension in the livestock sector. Yet, possibilities of scaling up and institutionalizing FLS remain a challenge given the capacity and resource limitations and the resistance at various levels within the Vietnamese extension system.

Practical Implications: The starting point for successfully institutionalizing participatory extension approaches should be to assess the existing system's root problems and capacities and then gradually and systematically introduce institutional innovations rather than aiming at a complete overhaul of a system that may result in the creation of a parallel universe.

Originality/Value: The FLS project provided a unique opportunity to study the enabling and constraining factors of institutionalizing participatory extension approaches in a traditionally top-down oriented extension system beyond the immediate duration of an externally orchestrated project.     

Three Levels of Goal Orientation in Learning

Sixteen adult volunteers provided thinking-aloud protocols while undergoing a 10-hr individually administered course in BASIC (beginner's all-purpose symbolic instruction code) programming. Three levels of goals were identified as operative in the learning situation: task-completion goals, instructional goals, and personal knowledge-building goals. Although protocol statements indicating knowledge-building goals were infrequent, students exhibiting a relatively high proportion of them were distinctive in several ways. They did significantly better on a posttest. Their performance in goal cue selections differed from that of other participants in ways consistent with their orientation: They responded more often to learning goal cues than to task goal cues. They actively related new learning to prior knowledge and they posed and tried to solve problems and questions. Students oriented toward instructional goals tended to focus on what was explicitly taught. Students oriented toward task-completion goals tended to equate learning with successful completion of assigned tasks. Level of goal orientation and posttest performance were unrelated to level of education and prior computer experience but were positively related to previous experience of independent learning.     

REDUCING TRANSFER SHOCK THROUGH FACULTY COLLABORATION: A CASE STUDY

This study examined the teaching techniques used by community college faculty and the student learning outcomes that faculty sought to accomplish. Data were collected through a survey designed to assess the degree to which a variety of techniques were used and the related student learning outcomes that were intended. Participants (N = 197) were career and transfer faculty at a large metropolitan community college in the midwestern United States. Analysis of the data included determining the frequency of use of each technique and examining the relationships between frequency of use, intended learning outcomes and four independent variables (gender, years of experience, rank, and teaching area). Results indicated that the lecture was the predominant technique used, although a majority of the faculty also used other techniques. When faculty used techniques other than lecture a majority of the time, they did so to accomplish higher order learning outcomes. Significant relationships were found between frequency of use, intended learning outcomes, and teaching area. Faculty teaching in the transfer curriculum were more likely to lecture a majority of the time and to intend higher order learning outcomes than career faculty who lectured to impart information.     

IMPACT OF FULL-TIME VERSUS PART-TIME INSTRUCTOR STATUS ON COLLEGE STUDENT RETENTION AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SEQUENTIAL COURSES

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relation between full - time or part - time instructor status and college student retention and academic performance in sequential courses . Results indicate that for either developmental or regular courses, college students who take the first course in a sequence from a part - time instructor , and who take the second course in the sequence from a full - time instructor seem underprepared for the second course. By contrast to students experiencing other instructor status combinations (part - time / part - time , full - time / part - time , or full - time / full - time), these students are significantly less likely to either complete or achieve a grade of "C" or better in the second course. Sequential course instructor status, therefore, seems to be a predictor of college student success. Implications for practice pertaining to further research, college students, and institutions are discussed.     

The Early Development Instrument as an Evaluation and Improvement Tool for School-Based,Integrated Services for Young Children and Parents: The Toronto First Duty Project

Research Findings: Integrated services for young children and families are part of the new policy landscape in early childhood, but there is limited evidence of the effectiveness of these programs and how they develop on the ground. This study examined the use of the Early Development Instrument (EDI) as both a summative program evaluation tool and as a formative program improvement tool supporting practitioners in Toronto First Duty, an integrated services demonstration project that combined kindergarten, child care, and parenting supports in public schools. Pre-post comparisons at community demonstration sites and comparisons with matched community sites using the EDI suggested that the demonstration program was associated with modest improvements in emotional and social domains of children's development. Mixed methods and multiple measures were used to contextualize summative findings in case studies across demonstration sites. The case studies explored how integration was implemented at different sites and how dimensions of enacted integration might contribute to positive outcomes for children and families. A case study of one site showed how an integrated staff team used EDI school-level profiles, along with formative feedback on program quality, to target and improve programming. Over the course of implementation, the integrated program environment quality ratings and EDI scores improved in relevant areas assessing quality of interaction and social–emotional development. Practice or Policy: Findings are discussed in terms of the role of the EDI in program evaluation and in improvement of practice. The potential value of integrated early childhood services and the challenges of evaluating complex community initiatives are also discussed.     

The perceived value of work placements and part-time work and its diminution with time

This paper explores the perceptions of degree students at two UK universities regarding their work placement and part-time working activities, to assess if the two activities converge. The research comprises three stages: interviews for preliminary exploration of students’ perceptions towards work placement and part-time work; interviews to examine how placement opportunities link with career aspirations; a survey of students who had completed a placement, and those currently on placement. Students acknowledged part-time working helped their placement activity, providing transferable skills beneficial to both study and career aspirations. A significant finding was with respect to time: the closer to the placement activity the data was collected, the stronger the impact of appreciating the value of placement. The paper therefore highlights the value of timing in the assessment of work placement. It also offers value for universities’ by providing insight into students’ perceptions regarding embedded external work activities that can enhance graduate employability and career prospects.     

Monoculturalism in transition: The educational implications and opportunities of finnish internationalization

A lecturer in English language at the Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyv?skyl? (Finland). His fields of interest include the use of computers in language teaching, Canadian studies, global education and citizenship. He has published several articles and textbooks, includingA handbook of classroom English.