Collaborative teaching at the university level: Practicing what is preached

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe the development and implementation of a co‐teaching model at a small state university in the northeast. In addition, this article will share lessons learned from this experience by two professors, as well as describe the impact on the beliefs and teaching behaviors of their students. One of the professors is a member of the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation, and the second is from the Department of Professional and Secondary Education. The co‐teaching initiative began in 1996 and continues until the present, with a graduate course on inclusionary practices taught collaboratively each fall. The impetus for the initiative came from an identified need for general education and special education teachers to co‐teach in classrooms where students with disabilities are included. Given that co‐teaching is an expected teacher behavior, the practice must be taught with intent and modeled by professors to increase the likelihood that it will be implemented successfully in P‐12 classrooms.     

Technical Communication and the World Wide Web. Edited by Carol Lipson and Michael Day. Mahwah,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005. 355 pp

Computers and Technical Communication: Pedagogical and Programmatic Perspectives. Ed. Stuart Selber. Greenwich, CT: Ablex. 415 pages.     

Making visible teacher reports of their teaching experiences: The Early Childhood Teacher Experiences Scale

The study developed multiple independent scales of early childhood teacher experiences (ECTES). ECTES was co‐constructed with preschool, kindergarten, and first grade teachers in a large urban school district. Demographic, ECTES, and teaching practices data were collected from 584 teachers. Factor analyses documented three teacher experience constructs: Teacher Efficacy, Job Stress, and School Support. Findings showed differences in teaching practices based on ECTES dimensions in hypothesized directions. Teachers experiencing higher levels of stress spent less time teaching literacy and numeracy and interacting with parents, whereas teachers experiencing higher levels of efficacy spent increased time teaching both cognitive skills and social‐emotional skills and communicating with parents. Analyses of program differences in these measures showed that first grade teachers reported the highest level of stress and that kindergarten and Head Start teachers were more likely to feel efficacious than were first grade teachers or other preschool teachers in child care settings. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Filipino Arts Among Elders in Institutionalized Care Settings

The use of traditional art in recreational therapies is unexplored. This paper, thus, attempts to surface the unique power of traditional Filipino arts (TFA) as synergizing lens in capturing the individual and the collective experiences of a select group of Filipino elderly in an institutionalized care setting relative to their feelings of depression and self-esteem. Three Filipino elderly housed in an institutionalized care setting were chosen for this phenomenological study, a robotfoto and a series of semistructured interviews constitute the main data gathering tool. Field texts were subjected to phenomenological reduction via the repertory grid analysis. Emerged themes were subjected to a series of member checking procedures to ensure the trustworthiness of the reported data. Depression and self-esteem were interpreted via two emerged themes. The themes were Me, Myself, and Melancholy and Will Not Let My Worth Wither. Through recreational therapies in the form of traditional Filipino arts, participants found novel psychological crutches that overcame the challenges of depression and give them hope toward more positive views of themselves and life.     

Effective conditioning of female soccer players

We compared the efficacy of three physical conditioning programmes provided over a 12 week period (24?h in total) on selected anthropometric and physical fitness parameters in female soccer players. Two of the groups received physical conditioning training in accordance with speed, agility and quickness (SAQ); one group used specialized resistance and speed development SAQ equipment (equipment group; n?=?12), while the other group used traditional soccer coaching equipment (non-equipment group; n?=?12). A third group received their regular fitness sessions (active control group; n?=?12). All three interventions decreased (P?<0.001) the participants' body mass index (?3.7%) and fat percentage (?1.7%), and increased their flexibility (+14.7%) and maximal aerobic capacity ([Vdot]O_2max) (+18.4%). The participants in the equipment and non-equipment conditioning groups showed significantly (P?<0.005) greater benefits from their training programme than those in the active control group by performing significantly better on the sprint to fatigue (?11.6% for both the equipment and non-equipment groups versus ?6.2% for the active control group), 25?m sprint (?4.4% vs ?0.7%), left (?4.5% vs ?1.0%) and right (?4.0% vs ?1.4%) side agility, and vertical (+18.5% vs +4.8%) and horizontal (+7.7% vs +1.6%) power tests. Some of these differences in improvements in physical fitness between the equipment and non-equipment conditioning groups on the one hand and the active control group on the other hand were probably due to the specificity of the training programmes. It was concluded that SAQ training principles appear to be effective in the physical conditioning of female soccer players. Moreover, these principles can be implemented during whole team training sessions without the need for specialized SAQ equipment. Finally, more research is required to establish the relationship between physical fitness and soccer performance as well as the principles underlying the improvements seen through the implementation of SAQ training programmes.     

Make or break: the role and support needs of academic advisors in work-integrated learning courses

ABSTRACT

The role of academic advisors in work-integrated learning courses is crucial to student success, yet poorly understood. This research aimed to understand the role and support needs of academic advisors by conducting interviews, a survey, and a focus group within a service learning program in Queensland, Australia. Participants identified rewards in observing student transformation and supporting students to contribute to social justice causes. However, the role had high demands in terms of pastoral support. Although academic advisors reported strong support mechanisms, they identified gaps in supporting them to meet the needs of international students and students with mental health issues. Academic advisors need strong mentoring or supervisory support to deal with diverse student issues, clear processes for tracking and managing students, training and resources to deal with special needs students, and opportunities for team building and bonding. Supporting academic advisors could help to better support students to successfully complete internships.     

The Nazi symbiosis: politics and human genetics at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute

The case of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics (KWIA), from its inception in Weimar Republic Germany to its apogee under the rule of the Third Reich, is an example of how politics and human heredity can function as mutually beneficial resources. Whether it was a result of the Nazi bureaucrats' desire to legitimize their racial policy through science, or the KWIA personnel's desire to secure more funding for their research, the symbiotic relationship that developed between human genetics and Nazi politics could help explain why many scientists in the Third Reich undertook research projects that wholly transgressed the boundaries of morally acceptable science.