Family patterns and child abuse in a nationally representative American sample

Data on 1, 146 families with a child age 3 through 17 at home are presented. Child abuse information was obtained for a randomly selected child in each family. Child abuse was defined as an attack by a parent involving punching, kicking, biting, hitting with an object, “beating up,” or using a knife or gun. Over 14 out of every 100 American children 3–17 are subjected to abusive violence each year. These figures are at least 26 times greater than those of the National Center For Child Abuse and Neglect. Even so, for reasons outlined in the paper, they are underestimates. Families in which child abuse occurred are compared with other families. The results suggest that child abuse is brought about by the very nature of the society and its family system. This has profound implications for the prevention and treatment of child abuse. Although psychotherapy may be appropriate in some cases, a more fundamental approach lies in such things as a more equal sharing of the burdens of child care, replacement of physical punishment with non-violent methods of child care and training, eliminating the stresses and insecurity which now characterize our economic system, and strengthening the ties of individual families to the extended family and the community.     

What’s in a name: dimensions of social learning in teacher groups

Induced by a literature review, this paper presents a framework of dimensions and indicators highlighting the underpinning aspects and values of social learning within teacher groups. Notions of social networks, communities of practice and learning teams were taken as the main perspectives to influence this social learning framework. The review exercise resulted in four dimensions: (1) practice, (2) domain and value creation, (3) collective identity and (4) organization. The indicators corresponding to these dimensions serve as the foundation for understanding social learning in practice. The framework of dimensions and indicators can be of assistance for researchers as well as teacher groups that aim to assess their views on social learning and analyse whether these views fit the learning goals of the group or that adjustments are required. In this way, learning processes within groups of teachers can be improved.     

The impact of collaborative online reading on summarizing skills

The aim of this study was to determine whether, as a result of collaborative-online reading of a chapter from a book of an academic nature, the quality of the collaborative summary that the readers would write would be higher than that written by readers who would both read the same chapter and write a summary in a face-to-face setting. In this study we examined the difference between the summaries written by participants from two groups, each group was divided into subgroups of 3 participants who had read collaboratively a chapter of a book, and collaborated on writing a summary. The participants of the experimental group read the chapter as it appeared in a website for collaborative reading built especially for this study and the participants were asked to summarize the chapter on a shared online digital document. The participants of the control group were asked to read the chapter face-to-face and to collaboratively summarize it in hand writing. The quality of the summaries was evaluated with a tool developed by Rivard (2001). This tool was developed to measure the quality of the summaries. In our study the main and secondary ideas that were supposed to be included in the participants’ summaries were identified by three literature teachers using ten different criteria and the summaries were analyzed by two other judges based on these criteria. The findings indicated that there were significant differences in the majority of the writing indicators being measured with the tool. The findings indicated that collaborative-online reading and writing produce a summary of a higher quality than one read and hand written collaboratively face-to-face.     

Where do educational technologists really publish? An examination of successful emerging scholars’ publication outlets

This study engages the question of where successful emerging (pretenure) scholars are most likely to publish their research. Spurred on by findings of a survey of leaders in the field of educational technology/instructional design and technology (ET/IDT) to determine the advisability of a rank‐ordered list of journals for the purposes of decision making about tenure and promotion, this document analysis presents the results of measuring the conventional wisdom against the actual practices of emerging scholars. Findings suggest that pretenure scholars publish in a wide variety of outlets including some, but not all of those identified in earlier surveys. While it is understood that the tenure decision is a complicated one—based on many criteria (eg, teaching, service, grantsmanship, etc), research and scholarship remain primary determinants. Therefore, these findings will be useful to emerging scholars and to those decision makers seeking direction regarding research outlets. The study is limited by a focus from an original survey conducted in 2003 to primarily North American scholars as participants, however, international considerations are included. The findings indicate that a list of journals for tenure decision making may not be advisable at this point in the development of the field of ET/IDT.     

Curricular Differences and Unidimensionality of Achievement Test Data: An Exploratory Analysis

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a linear factor analytic method commonly used to investigate violation of the item response theory (IRT) unidimensionality assumption is sensitive to measurable curricular differences within a school district and to examine the possibility of differential item performance for groups of students receiving different instruction. For grades 3 and 6 in reading and mathematics, personnel from two midwestern school systems that regularly administer standardized achievement tests identified the formal textbook series used and provided ratings of test-instructional match for each school building (classroom). For both districts, the factor analysis results suggested no differences in percentages of variance for large first factors and relatively small second factors across ratings or series groups. The IRT analyses indicated little, if any, differential item performance for curricular subgroups. Thus, the impact of factors that might be related to curricular differences was judged to be minor.     

Social Work Intervention with White Collared Employees and Their Families

This investigation presents a framework for understanding and also to test the efficacy of Social Work intervention on the well being of the white collared employee (industrial employee) and his/her family. A comprehensive and intensive personal- family exploration was done to uncover the relatedness of seemingly disparate areas of the clients lives. A total of 80 executives (industrial employees) served as subjects. A baseline assessment was done using structured, standardized interview-schedules/questionnaires. The results of the study can be enumerated as follows: After the Social Work intervention, the executives in occupational profile, there were significant changes in Role perception, overload, role conflict, low status and poor peer relations. In coping strategies there was significant improvement in sub-scales like problem solving and unproductive coping. Significant reduction was noticed in their proneness to heart disease, depression, inadequate mental mastery, and perceived ill health. There was significant improvement in their family group support, and in their expressiveness, achievement, orientation, active-recreational and organizational characteristics.     

Gender differences in the academic career

This study examines sources of satisfaction, indicators of stress, academic performance, and reward structure in the academic careers of male and female faculty at a major midwestern state university. Faculty pairs were selected from five academic divisions. A total of 58 matched pairs were identified. Of these, 63 faculty responded, yielding data for 23 matched pairs. Subjects were mailed the Academic Career Development Survey, consisting of 144 items. Results indicated that self-reported physical and mental health, and professional and personal life satisfaction were high for both males and females. Both males and females placed high importance on their career and on marriage/other intimate relationships; however, both reported high levels of dissatisfaction with these factors. Gender differences were found in both satisfaction and type of stress reported; no gender differences were found in composite teaching and research performance indices. Salary data, obtained for 42 matched pairs, indicated similar salary levels for men and women. Results were discussed with respect to prior research on gender differences and the academic career.     

Distance education plans: Course planning for online adult learners

TechTrends - There can be an untethered excitement connected with ever-expanding technologies and the vastness of educational opportunities that online learning generates. Yet, these new and...     

Using Film to Increase Counselor Empathic Experiences

The early stages of empathy in counseling—emotional reaction, role-taking, and cognitive suspension—have all been largely ignored in the counselor education/psychological literature. This article describes these stages from the perspective of the aesthetic/film literatures. Emotional reaction is an internal, unobservable state of being. Role-taking involves cognitive understanding and entering the perceptual world of another. Cognitive suspension means letting go of personal beliefs and values. The film literature describes how audience emotional states are created by directors, writers, actors, and editors. This article explains how counselor educators and supervisors can use this information to help counselors increase their empathic experiences.     

Death education--where is thy sting?

We are not free to choose whether anyone will learn about death, though we have some choice about how they will learn. The author discusses the basic questions that need to be answered in planning death education at any level, and the possible goals, in terms of cognitive gain, skills, and attitudinal objectives. Some principles in regard to teaching methods and evaluation are described, with illustrations from the experiences of medical students and others. It is important that the teacher should be able to deal with the problems that such programs may arouse. Cheap emotional arousal is easy to produce, but trivial, unless creatively used for a valued purpose and adequately resolved. Death is infinitely exploitable, and the growth of death voyeurism via "education" is alarming. The capacity to recognize and avoid being exploited or exploiting others must be one of our principle educational objectives.