A completed research and development work project in school: The teachers’ learning and possibilities, premises and challenges for further development

The article is based on a follow-up study of a research and development work project with school leaders and teachers conducted in a Norwegian lower secondary school. The purpose is to present an understanding of what the practitioners find they have learned during the project and how they experience the situation with regard to development about two years after the project has ended. The study concludes that continuity in both leadership and the teaching staff means that the involved practitioners can develop an identity with a common objective over time, and that development can then be seen as improvement.     

写得大声点儿

“你是按照我说的给爷爷写感谢信吗？”“是的,妈妈。”珍妮回答说。     

Mixing methods in randomized controlled trials (RCTs): Validation, contextualization, triangulation, and control

In this paper we described how we mixed research approaches in a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) of a school principal professional development program. Using examples from our study we illustrate how combining qualitative and quantitative data can address some key challenges from validating instruments and measures of mediator variables to examining how contextual factors interact with the treatment. Describing how we transformed our qualitative and quantitative data, we consider how mixing methods enabled us to deal with the two core RCT challenges of random assignment and treatment control critical. Our account offers insights into ways of maximizing the potential of mixing research methods in RCTs.     

Information adequacy, job satisfaction and organizational culture in a dispersed-network organization

This investigation examined the relationship of information adequacy to job satisfaction and organizational culture in a healthcare organization with both office and field personnel. Information adequacy was assessed in four areas: personal performance, organizational policies, organizational performance, and organizational objectives. Comparisons of field and office personnel indicated that they did not differ on information adequacy or job satisfaction; they did, however, differ on several dimensions of organizational culture. Also, the relationship of information inadequacy to job satisfaction and organizational culture differed for employees depending on whether they worked primarily in the field or primarily in the office. Implications of the findings are drawn for organizations with a dispersed-network structure.     

Seeking the Passionate Career: First‐in‐Family Enabling Students and the Idea of the Australian University

This paper examines the idea of the university from the first‐in‐family enabling students’ perspective. It provides an overview of the current crisis of meaning in scholarly commentary that points to a spectrum of meanings about the university. This spectrum ranges from the ancient imaginary of the monastic university as ‘ivory tower’ to the instrumental idea of the entrepreneurial university. The analysis then reports on the idea of the university in over 40 interviews and surveys of first‐in‐family enabling students who attended two large regional Australian universities in 2014. Their metaphorical understandings of the university constitute a powerful imaginary about what a university is and can do for individuals and the wider society. For many, the resolution of the individualistic passion for knowledge of ‘ivory tower’ studies and the commitment to the social and economic usefulness of the fully engaged entrepreneurial university can be found in the pursuit of the passionate career.