Hippy in a pinstripe

The professional development of a facilitator is a neglected area in the action learning literature. This article presents one example of such development. It is divided into three sections: firstly it describes the author's experience of being a set member on a newly-introduced Masters programme at a British university; secondly, it describes frameworks that are outside the usual action learning texts that enabled the author to articulate the politics of learning. The final section shows how the previous experience and theory were combined to influence the development of a facilitator style that was commensurate with the working environment.     

Joseph Schwab,self-study of teaching and teacher education practices proponent? A personal perspective

The field of self-study of teaching and teacher education practices, like a number of other areas of inquiry, appears negligent in paying intellectual debt to Joseph Schwab who revolutionalized the fields of curriculum and teaching in the 1970s with his ideas about the practical. In this article, I trace my personal journey of coming to know Schwab's contributions and how I came to vicariously know Schwab as a professor who not only paved the scholarly way to self-study, but also appeared to practice a form of self-study by making his personal teaching an object of inquiry. To my way of thinking, Schwab practically and theoretically blazed a trail for the self-study of teaching and teacher education practices long before the line of research became recognized as a legitimate strand of inquiry. Furthermore, Schwab's thinking provides, for me and others, a possible plotline that could lead to renewal in the field of teaching and teacher education.     

Faculty members’ perceptions of online program community and their efforts to sustain it

This study investigated faculty members’ perceptions of program community and what they do to support it in online graduate programs. Researchers developed and administered an online survey to ascertain perceptions of program community among education and engineering faculty members at United States, land-grant, research-extensive universities. Three hundred forty-four faculty members responded. Most participants thought that fostering community beyond courses was important. Faculty members used a variety of strategies to accomplish this task, including social media, synchronous communication and advising, face-to-face socials and orientations, and cohort models. Yet, many also relied on classroom strategies. Several participants indicated that they and their students lacked the time, resources or interest to pursue program community and that geographical distance and university reward policies complicated its establishment. Differences via discipline, gender and years of online teaching experience were also reported.     

Hypermedia and instruction

Hypermedia and its educational applications are discussed in this article. Background information is provided, and software, knowledge representation, navigation, and authoring issues are described. Issues about hypermedia's role in learning also are examined, and hypotheses are advanced about when it may be an effective teaching approach. One conclusion is that hypermedia has strengths and weaknesses and that it may become merely hyped media unless good teaching applications are developed.     

Effects of Early Intervention on Intellectual and Academic Achievement: A Follow-up Study of Children from Low-Income Families

Follow-up data, obtained 4–7 years after intervention ended, are presented for the Carolina Abecedarian Project, an experimental study of early childhood educational intervention for children from poverty families. Subjects were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 intervention conditions: educational treatment from infancy through 3 years in public school (up to age 8); preschool treatment only (infancy to age 5); primary school treatment only (age 5–8 years), or an untreated control group. Positive effects of preschool treatment on intellectual development and academic achievement were maintained through age 12. School-age treatment alone was less effective. Results generally supported an intensity hypothesis in that scores on cognitive and academic achievement measures increased as duration of treatment increased.     

Communication and successful aging: Testing alternative conceptualizations of uncertainty

The communicative ecology model of successful aging (CEMSA), which theorizes how people’s communication can influence their experiences of successful aging, takes as axiomatic that aging involves uncertainty. In two studies, with data from the U.S. and the U.K., we compared the viability of two conceptualizations of uncertainty about aging in the CEMSA: the model’s original operationalization, uncertainty discrepancy, and an alternative, the perceived probability of negative experiences (PPNE) associated with aging. In both studies, uncertainty discrepancy and PPNE contributed independently to attitudes toward aging; PPNE emerged as a stronger predictor of people’s affective reactions to aging. These findings underscore the importance of multifaceted views of uncertainty for scholars of communication and aging.     

Pregnant students in the gross anatomy laboratory: policies and practices at chiropractic colleges

Chiropractic and medical colleges have experienced a significant increase in the number of female applicants in recent years, a percentage of whom are pregnant or become pregnant following admission. It is therefore important to ask the question: How do institutions that educate future health care providers address the issue of pregnancy and the gross anatomy laboratory? A survey instrument was developed and pretested. IRB approval was obtained. The administrators charged with overseeing the policies and practices for the gross anatomy laboratory at each of the 16 chiropractic colleges in the USA were identified and contacted. An email containing a link to the Web based survey was sent to each, using SurveyMonkey. The survey response rate was 100%. A majority of colleges (69%) have a written policy regarding pregnancy and the gross laboratory. Of these, 36% allow pregnant students to take the laboratory if a waiver is signed, 18% do not allow them to take the laboratory, 18% allow them to take it without a waiver, and 27% have other policies. In cases where students do not take the gross laboratory while pregnant, 64% of colleges require them to take the laboratory after completion of their pregnancy, 27% require them to complete an alternative (dry) laboratory, and 9% have other policies. Considerable diversity exists in the way colleges address this issue. It is at present unknown whether pregnant students or their fetuses are at any risk from laboratory chemicals. Risk assessment research is needed before consistent policies can be developed. Anat Sci Educ. © 2011 American Association of Anatomists.