The effect of blended instruction on accelerated learning

While online instructional technologies are becoming more popular in higher education, educators’ opinions about online learning tend to be generally negative. Furthermore, many studies have failed to systematically examine the features that distinguish one instructional mode from another, which weakens possible explanations for why online instructional technology can be beneficial. The current study isolates three benefits of the authors’ particular online instructional technology: (1) providing flexibility in how students learn, (2) offering immediate and targeted feedback and (3) increasing student participation and engagement with instructional material. Maximum benefits were observed when students used the online instructional technology to prepare for their face-to-face class – that is, students with this blended instruction learned twice as much content in the same amount of time in comparison to students with face-to-face instruction alone, without creating an atypically high workload.     

How do teachers support their students on the autism spectrum in Australian primary schools?

This study investigated the supports and modifications made available to students on the autism spectrum in Australian schools. Teachers rated the importance of several factors in determining the grades of their students and reported on the frequency of student engagement with a range of instructional materials. Eighty‐seven teachers identified the modifications, accommodations and additional assistance provide to primary school students on the autism spectrum. Teachers also compared the frequency of class engagement and methods of evaluating outcomes for students with and without autism. A range of modifications and adjustments were implemented to support students on the spectrum. There were no significant differences in the frequency of instructional material use of students on the autism spectrum compared to their classmates. However, teachers did report differences in their methods of determining the grades of their students with and without autism. This is an important first step in understanding the experiences of teachers who are educating students on the autism spectrum in Australian schools. The findings reveal that teachers are working to support the diverse learning needs of their students on the autism spectrum. Further investigation of the factors that are driving teachers’ use of school‐based supports is warranted.     

The role of hybrid learning spaces in enhancing higher education students’ employability

Graduate employment rates and self-reported employability are increasingly a feature of higher education funding measures. However, graduate outcomes do not denote the whole learning experience of the student nor is the student experience reducible to a single statistic. This paper discusses a design-centric approach to employability development which was enacted within a hybrid learning space. The study engaged 52 final-year speech pathology students, their lecturer, the lead researcher and a career practitioner (advisor) at an Australian university. Students first created personalized employability profiles using an established online self-reflection tool. The online tool produced a personalized report and enabled students to access developmental resources relating to employability and student success. The project team used anonymized student data to transform a previously generic “careers” workshop into a targeted workshop in which students explored individual and cohort findings and participated in developmental activities informed by the data. The initiative’s contribution to learning space research is in its composition as a hybrid learning space in which educators and students engaged as learners and developers of their online learning spaces, and educators collaborated to analyze student data and inform learning and teaching enhancements within the same study period. It is anticipated that the data from subsequent years will inform the curricular review, particularly if subsequent student cohorts express similar concerns. Implications for higher education policy and practice are discussed.     

Professional Development of Multi-experienced Educators through a Book Study: Fostering Mentoring Relationships

A mentorship professional development model was provided to a group of educators at various stages in their career paths, ranging from pre-service teachers to in-service teachers to teacher leaders. We were interested in exploring how participants’ interactions during a book study influenced their perceptions of practice, with a specific aim at understanding what they noticed from these interactions and how they conceptualized their thoughts from the mentorship experience. Findings indicated that participants situated themselves with a receiver, neutral, or giver perspective, which influenced how they interacted with others. In the process, participants valued the security fostered from the relationships, generated new relationships with others with varying experiences, engaged in reflective practice, and considered exposure to other perspectives to be beneficial.     

Centered but not Caught in the Middle: Stepchildren's Perceptions of Dialectical Contradictions in the Communication of Co-Parents

The researchers adopted a dialectical perspective to study how stepchildren experience and communicatively manage the perception of feeling caught in the middle between their parents who are living in different households. The metaphor of being caught in the middle is powerful for stepchildren and this metaphor animated their discourse. A central contribution of the present study was to understand the alternative to being caught in the middle and what this alternative means to stepchildren. Reflected in the discourse of stepchildren is that to feel not caught in the middle is to feel centered in the family. Stepchildren's desire to be centered in the family was animated by the dialectic of freedom–constraint, which co-existed within the contradictions of openness–closedness and control–restraint. These contradictions are detailed in the analysis, along with advice to parents from the perspective of stepchildren. Implications for the interaction of stepchildren and their parents are discussed.     

An Examination of Privacy Rules for Academic Advisors and College Student-Athletes: A Communication Privacy Management Perspective

HOW TO MAKE BETTER SPEECHES. By William G. Hoffman. New York: Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1948; pp. 266. $3.00.

YOU AND YOUR SPEECHES. By E. C. Buehler. (Revised edition) . Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press, 1949; pp. 266. $3.00.

ESSENTIALS OF COMMUNICATIVE SPEECH. By Robert T. Oliver, Dallas C. Dickey, and Harold P. Zelko. New York: The Dryden Press, 1949.

FUNDAMENTALS OF SPEECH. A Text‐Handbook of Principles and Methods. By Roy C. McCall. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1949; pp. 240. $12.50.

PRACTICAL DEBATING. By Luther W. Courtney and Glenn R. Capp. New York: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1949; pp. xii: 308.

THE ART OF ACTING. By John Dolman, Jr. New York: Harper &; Brothers, 1949; pp. xx + 313. $3.50.

LIVING LITERATURE FOR ORAL INTERPRETATION. By Moiree Compere. New York: Appleton‐Century‐Crofts, Inc., 1949; pp. xii + 451. $3.00.

HANDBOOK OF RADIO PRODUCTION. By Erik Barnouw. Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1949; pp. xii + 324. $3.25.

VOICE AND DICTION. By Victor A. Fields and James F. Bender. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1949; pp. ix + 368. $4.00.

SPEECH METHODS IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. By Carrie Rasmussen. New York: The Ronald Press, 1949; pp. 340. $3.50.

SPEECH IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. By Lorna Shogren Werner. Evanston, Illinois: Row, Peterson and Co., 1947; pp. 222. $2.00.     

Supporting Academic Health Centers with Knowledge Management: Learning from the Web

In a 2003 publication, the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) made explicit the many ways in which a library might contribute to an academic health center's success through knowledge management (KM). Building on Success: Charting the Future of Knowledge Management within the Academic Health Center elucidated the ways in which a library can serve as the center of an organization's KM initiatives. The study and application of knowledge management tools is formidable; unlike information management (IM), the field of knowledge management has roots in a seemingly infinite and wide-ranging number of professional and academic disciplines. The planning of institutional KM initiatives is not commonly discussed, and history shows knowledge management projects often fail to thrive. This column introduces the topic of knowledge management and includes suggested Web-based resources for further understanding and project planning.     

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES IN THE ILLINOIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM

In a time of declining resources and restricted faculty mobility, faculty mobility, faculty development has become increasingly important. This study addressed faculty development activities, their evaluation, and their perceived impact on the improvement of instruction in the community colleges of Illinois. Data gathered through the use of a questionnaire mailed to the chief academic officer of each of the state's community colleges were analyzed and interpreted. It was found that a wide variety of activities — orientation, inservice, professional, individual, and group — are available to faculty members. Orientation activities were viewed as being moderately useful for the improvement of instruction. Respondents saw professional activities as somewhat more useful than inservice activities. With some qualifications, group activities were perceived as being more useful than individual activities. Evaluation efforts, for the most part, are as yet sporadic and unsophisticated.

The results of this study suggest that perhaps the traditional inservice‐type activities may not be the “one best way” to deliver quality faculty development aimed at the improvement of instruction. Faculty‐development planners may want to examine more closely the needs of their faculty in relation to the activities available. In addition to continuing the most useful of the group and inservice activities, attention should be directed toward those individual and professional activities not frequently offered but rated as highly effective in improving instruction.     

What's in a Name? A Comparison of Instructional Systems Design,Organization Development,and Human Performance Technology/Improvement and Their Contributions to Performance Improvement

What are the similarities and differences between instructional systems design, organization development, and human performance technology/improvement (HPT/HPI)? This article defines these fields and highlights how they contribute to the performance improvement domain. With Rossett's view of HPT as a “perspective, or habit of mind, that inclines us towards data, analysis, systems, alignment and partnerships” (A. Rossett, personal communication, October 28, 2012), HPT/HPI will be presented as the overarching framework for selecting and measuring instructional systems design or organization development interventions.     

Students' Learning of a Generalized Theory of Sound Transmission from a Teaching–Learning Sequence about Sound,Hearing and Health

Learning abstract concepts such as sound often involves an ontological shift because to conceptualize sound transmission as a process of motion demands abandoning sound transmission as a transfer of matter. Thus, for students to be able to grasp and use a generalized model of sound transmission poses great challenges for them. This study involved 199 students aged 10–14. Their views about sound transmission were investigated before and after teaching by comparing their written answers about sound transfer in different media. The teaching was built on a research-based teaching–learning sequence (TLS), which was developed within a framework of design research. The analysis involved interpreting students' underlying theories of sound transmission, including the different conceptual categories that were found in their answers. The results indicated a shift in students' understandings from the use of a theory of matter before the intervention to embracing a theory of process afterwards. The described pattern was found in all groups of students irrespective of age. Thus, teaching about sound and sound transmission is fruitful already at the ages of 10–11. However, the older the students, the more advanced is their understanding of the process of motion. In conclusion, the use of a TLS about sound, hearing and auditory health promotes students' conceptualization of sound transmission as a process in all grades. The results also imply some crucial points in teaching and learning about the scientific content of sound.