Using social media to facilitate knowledge transfer in complex engineering environments: a primer for educators

While highly cohesive groups are potentially advantageous they are also often correlated with the emergence of knowledge and information silos based around those same functional or occupational clusters. Consequently, an essential challenge for engineering organisations wishing to overcome informational silos is to implement mechanisms that facilitate, encourage and sustain interactions between otherwise disconnected groups. This paper acts as a primer for those seeking to gain an understanding of the design, functionality and utility of a suite of software tools generically termed social media technologies in the context of optimising the management of tacit engineering knowledge. Underpinned by knowledge management theory and using detailed case examples, this paper explores how social media technologies achieve such goals, allowing for the transfer of knowledge by tapping into the tacit and explicit knowledge of disparate groups in complex engineering environments.     

Maxine Greene and the democratic project in education: signposts for the Irish educational system

This paper considers the work of philosopher Maxine Greene as it pertains to the democratic project in education, with a particular focus on the Irish educational context. The author considers the extent to which specific aspects of the educational concerns raised by Greene, with respect to the realisation of the democratic project in the context of post-industrial hi-tech societies, might help to illuminate certain educational challenges that are currently being faced in hi-tech post-modern societies. Greene has been regarded as a luminary in the educational field, both within the United States and beyond. She is principally concerned with espousing a conception of the educational project that allows for the flourishing of human freedom. It is anticipated that aspects of the Irish reality, especially in the wake of the Celtic tiger, might be able to resonate with certain aspects of the concerns raised by Greene.     

Authoring oneself and being authored as a competent teacher

What kind of self is being made available and denied to student teachers as they participate in life in their teaching practice schools? In addressing this question empirically, the article seeks to show the forms of meaning being made and experienced by student teachers and the identities that are authored, authorised and constrained. A sociocultural perspective on professional learning, with its emphasis on participation agency and identity, illuminates aspects of the process of becoming a teacher and highlights the tension that is there for students within available meanings. Having to opt to be a teacher at the expense of a learner identity constrains what is available to be appropriated in professional settings with potential consequences for how beginner teachers frame themselves, their learners and their colleagues.     

Reading comprehension instruction in Irish primary classrooms: key insights into teachers' perspectives on classroom practices

Despite a wealth of international research indicating the importance but also the dearth of explicit reading comprehension instruction in classrooms, current classroom reading pedagogy does not appear to have acknowledged and addressed this shortcoming to any significant degree. This is cause for some considerable concern, as today's students require effective, metacognitive reading comprehension strategies in order to succeed in a vastly expanding multi-literate textual environment. This paper will discuss a recent study, involving a survey (n=278) and interviews (n=12), which examined current beliefs and understandings regarding reading, as well as reading pedagogy and practice among teachers at primary level in Ireland. The findings revealed that current reading pedagogy, as indicated by the surveyed teachers, relies heavily on decoding instruction and an affective approach to reading while explicit comprehension instruction practice remains secondary and more the exception rather than the rule. The paper will attempt to examine possible reasons as to why current reading pedagogy remains ‘un-balanced’ in this manner while also exploring possible avenues for improvement.     

INTERGENERATIONAL SERVICE‐LEARNING: CONTRIBUTIONS TO CURRICULA

This article reports some findings from a national demonstration project involving the National Council on the Aging (NCOA) and thirteen colleges and universities. We studied 39 courses in which students were involved in service‐learning in aging. We describe and discuss (1) the range of demonstrably feasible adaptions, (2) what faculty say their students learned from the experiences, and (3) faculty perceptions of personal benefits and costs associated with developing and directing these projects.     

Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias: An Organizational Approach to Identifying and Addressing Practices and Learning Needs of Family Physicians

ABSTRACT

Caring for patients with dementia is complex and demanding. Since family physicians (FPs) provide much of this care, we examined their practices, learning needs, and barriers to care concerning Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. We surveyed 392 (approximately 50%) Nova Scotia FPs and conducted focus groups and interviews with: FPs; staff of long-term care facilities; health professionals in home care; patients and their caregivers; FPs with advanced geriatric training; geriatricians; and psychiatrists. Results suggest that many FPs do not perform assessment and management practices as frequently as they ideally should. However, systemic factors, not only inadequate knowledge, affect care.     

Teaching An Interactive Television Course On Adulthood and Aging: Making It Happen

This article describes the design, development, and successful implementation of a hybrid distance education course on adulthood and aging. The focus is on the pedagogical and technological transitions made in converting a traditional course into an interactive television course (iTV). The course was taught a total of three times, first as a traditional one-site course and twice as an iTV course delivered to three sites. Details are provided on the development of a core team, design of a teaching platform, unexpected challenges and benefits, and implemented changes. Student feedback and lessons learned are also provided.     

Evaluating Doctoral Education in Physical Activity: Role of the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education

This paper summarizes recent events concerning the evaluation of doctoral programs in kinesiology and physical education. An overview is provided of issues related to the evaluation process used by the National Research Council (NRC). The American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education (AAKPE) has developed a proposal to have our field included in the upcoming evaluation of doctoral programs conducted by the NRC currently scheduled for 2007. Also described is an overview of the plan by the AAKPE to conduct its own evaluation of doctoral programs in 2005. Finally, a listing of the 62 identified doctoral programs in our field is presented along with some program characteristics.