From early career researcher to research leader: survival of the fittest?

The higher education sector is a dynamic environment where universities compete on a global basis for resources, students, and high-quality staff. The impending retirement of the baby boomer generation will create increased competition for research leaders. One way to address this is to develop research leaders from existing researchers. However, little is known about what it takes to transition from a leading researcher to a research leader, so there is much to be learned from the experiences of those who have successfully navigated those transitions. To explore the transition from early career researcher to leading researcher to research leader, we undertook a mixed methods study involving 30 senior research leaders and administrators from a range of organisations across Australia. In this paper, we describe how the career paths of these research leaders developed in a highly competitive research environment and discuss how universities can attract, retain, develop, and promote their researchers.     

Addressing the Global Digital Divide and its Impact on Educational Opportunity

This article examines the global digital divide, with tables of data that document the wide disparity between the world's information-rich and information-deprived. Its fundamental causes and ramifications for the world's poor are examined, with an emphasis upon how it affects educational opportunity. Critical challenges associated with addressing this problem are discussed, and some misguided past efforts to introduce instructional technology into developing regions are reviewed. Then, some potentially successful strategies for utilising educational technologies in developing settings are explored, including appropriate project design, funding issues, skill development programs for schools, new forms of distance education, and the establishment of tele-centres that can expand educational opportunities in a variety of ways. Considérations sur la fracture numérique globale et son impact sur les possibilités d'éducation. Cet article examine la fracture numérique globale À l'aide de tableaux de données qui illustrent le large fossé qui sépare les pays riches en informations et ceux qui en sont dénumis. Les causes Fondamentales et les ramifications pour les e pauvres f sont examinées, l'accent étant mis sur la facon dont elles affectent les possibilités d'éducation. On étudie et discute les challenges critiques associés À ce problème ainsi que les efforts mal concus dans le passé pour introduire la technologie de l'éducation dans les pays en voie de développement. Ensuite, on explore des stratégies potentiellement réussies pour élever le niveau de la technologie dans l'éducation y compris des projets soigneusement planifiés, des suggestions pour le financement des programmes de développement des aptitudes, de nouvelles formes d'éducation À distance et la prolifération des centres de Téléenseignement qui peuvent offrir des communications, des formations et des occasions de développement. Betrachtungen zur globalen digitalen Kluft und ihren Auswirkungen auf Bildungschancen. Dieser Artikel untersucht die globale digitale Kluft auf der Basis von Datentabellen, die die grosse Ungleichheit zwischen dem gut informierten Teil der Welt und jenem Teil der Welt ohne Zugang zu Informationen dokumentieren. Es werden die wesentlichen Gründe und ihre Auswirkungen auf die Armen dieser Welt untersucht, besondern hinsichtlich ihrer Chancen auf Bildung. Kritische Herausforderungen bei der Behebung dieses Problems werden besprochen und frühere fehlgeschlagene Versuche, Lerntechnologien in den Entwicklungsländern einzuführen, werden neu überdacht. Darüber hinaus werden potentiell erfolgreiche Strategien zur Verbesserung der Bildungstechnologie erörtert im Zusammenhang mit einer vorsichtigen Projektplanung, Möglichkeiten der Finanzierung und der Errichtung von Telezentren, die Kommunikations-, Trainings- und Weiterbildungsmöglichkeiten anbieten.     

Practical issues in field based testing of oral reading fluency at upper elementary grades

In this series of studies, we explore the ideal frequency, duration, and relative effectiveness of measuring oral reading fluency. In study one, a sample of 389 fifth graders read out loud for 1 min and then took a traditional state-level standardized reading test. Results suggest administering three passages and using the median yields the highest predictive validity. Study two compared oral reading fluency rates at 30 and 60 s for 815 elementary and middle school students on the same passage. Results indicate that the 30 s measures yield a comparable score. Study three found relatively similar predictive validity of oral reading fluency for 67 fourth- and 125 sixth-grade students on Aimsweb, EasyCBM, and DIBELS. Implications for practice are discussed.     

A Participatory Outcome Evaluation on the Impact of BSW Interns on Agencies

This article reviews the findings of an exploratory study investigating the perceived benefits and costs of BSW interns for host agencies. The qualitative study included surveys from over 100 agency student supervisors, colleagues, and administrative personnel assessing the perceived effects students had on a range of categories. It also included a quantitative assessment of financial savings derived through student contributions. Benefits of using student work included increased quality and quantity of services available to clients as well as generic positive effects on the outlook and attitudes of supervisors and agency staff. Minimal negative effects included student turnover and occasional instances of unprofessional attitudes.     

T4 MAP™: A Scholar‐Practitioner Model for Performance Improvement

The world of work is changing and we must adapt how we apply human performance technology (HPT) expertise to address our 21st century challenges. This is a formidable challenge. The scholar‐practitioner model seems ideally suited to this high‐speed world by combining the ability to apply theory and rigorous processes to solve practical problems. The T⁴ MAP (T⁴) models a new action research process grounded in human and organizational development (HOD) theory. It incorporates quantitative and qualitative data and so equips scholar‐practitioners and practitioners to address workplace problems and advance theory by enabling a deeper contextual understanding of people in the organization. A T⁴ pilot demonstrated the ability to generate salient data that helped teams identify performance improvement opportunities and enabled participants to take accountability for implementation. It offered a basis for grounded theory and presented opportunities for future research.     

Key Skills Computerised Assessments. Guiding Principles

The paper is based on research and evaluation carried out in relation to the development of online Key Skills resources (Key Skills Online). Initial research identified guiding principles on which to base the design of computerised self assessments, and the evaluation findings supported these principles. The principles have relevance for the design of computerised diagnostic assessments more generally.     

How Does Ongoing Task-Focused Mathematics Professional Development Influence Elementary School Teachers’ Knowledge, Beliefs and Enacted Pedagogies?

This study examined how a task-focused, year-long mathematics professional development program influenced elementary school teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices. Participants completed 84 h of professional development over 13 months that were focused on exploring, modifying and implementing cognitively-demanding mathematical tasks. Using a multi-methods approach, teacher-participants completed pre- and post-measures of mathematical knowledge for teaching, teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics, and teachers’ self-reports of enacted instructional practices. Further, three teacher-participants were randomly selected to be observed 3 times over the course of the school year. Data analyses indicated that the professional development had a statistically significant positive impact on participants’ mathematical knowledge for teaching, use of student-centered instructional practices, and beliefs towards mathematics as a subject area. Further, the observed teachers enacted some high-level mathematical tasks and questions, but these were more visible at the end of the study compared to the beginning of the study. Implications for future work are also shared.     

Elementary School Teachers’ Use of Technology During Mathematics Teaching

Various educational technologies have been advanced as potential vehicles to transform teaching and learning. Still, research studies have documented that primary school teachers struggle to integrate technology in meaningful ways. This article presents the findings of a year-long study in which the author frequently observed three primary school teachers’ enactments of technology into their mathematics teaching. Each teacher was observed between 25 and 30 times during the school year. The types of technologies used as well as the types of mathematical tasks and problems that participants posed while teaching with technology were inductively analyzed. Inductive qualitative analyses indicated that participants’ technology use focused on presentation technologies such as the document camera or interactive whiteboard more than computer-based technologies or interactive activities. Further, teachers varied widely in their enacted pedagogies while integrating technology, and two participants demonstrated more frequent enactments of learner-centered pedagogies toward the end of the school year. Implications for researching teachers’ use of technology in the future are also shared.     

Predicting Media Use in Very Young Children: The Role of Demographics and Parent Attitudes

This study used a survey design (N = 168) to examine how parent and child demographics, parental media-use motives, parental subjective norms, and parental attitudes toward preschool media use (PMU) are all related to actual media exposure among children 6 months to 5 years in age. Results indicate that, in accordance with the theory of reasoned action, parents’ perceived subjective norms regarding various categories of media were significantly related to actual child consumption. Further, positive attitudes toward media were significantly related to higher rates of child consumption. Interestingly, parental worries about media were only negatively related to television consumption and unrelated to child exposure to other kinds of media.     

Developmental changes in students' use of dimensional comparisons to form ability self-concepts in math and verbal domains

Dimensional comparisons (i.e., comparing own performances across domains) may drive an increasing differentiation in students' math and verbal self-concepts over time, but little longitudinal research has directly tested this assumption. Using cross-sequential data spanning Grades 1–12 (N = 1069, ages 6–18, 92% White, 2% Black, 51% female, collected 1987–1996), this study charted age-related changes in the role of dimensional comparisons in students' ability self-concept formation. It used three types of self-concept measures: peer comparisons, cross-domain comparisons, and no comparisons. Results indicated that the increase in students' use of dimensional comparisons in self-evaluations substantially contributed to the increasing differentiation in students' math and verbal self-concepts over time. Findings highlight the importance of dimensional comparisons in the development of students' ability self-concepts.