The Teacher Research Update Experience: Perceptions of Practicing Science, Mathematics, and Technology Teachers

The purpose of this study was to examine how the practicing science and mathematics teachers participating in the University of Florida's Teacher Research Update Experience (TRUE) perceived their experiences in Summer 2000. We conducted in-depth interviews and collected data from survey questionnaires and addressed research in the following areas: How do participants perceive their experiences during the 7-week program designed to enhance science, mathematics, and technology knowledge and skills? How have these experiences contributed to their professional and personal growth and development, and how will they influence teaching and student learning? Findings from interviews provided insights into the thoughts, motivations, and, in some cases, insecurities of these adult learners. Follow-up studies are indicated on long-term impact of immersion professional development programs.     

Alterations in the memory code for temporal events induced by differential outcome expectancies in pigeons

The effect of differential outcome expectancies on memory for temporal and nontemporal information was examined. Pigeons were trained to match short (2-sec) and long (8-sec) sample durations to red and green comparison stimuli, and vertical and horizontal lines to vertical and horizontal comparison stimuli. In Experiment 1, one differential outcome (DO) group received food for correct choices on short-sample trials, whereas another received food for correct choices on long-sample trials. On line-orientation trials, half of each DO group received food for correct responses following vertical samples, whereas the other half received food for correct responses following horizontal samples. Overall retention was greater in the DO groups than in a nondifferential (NDO) group that received either food or no food for correct responses on a random half of all trials. Furthermore, although the NDO group displayed a choose-short bias for temporal samples, both DO groups displayed equivalent biases to select the comparison stimulus associated with food. In Experiment 2, differential outcome expectancies were extinguished off-baseline. Subsequently, in the first nondifferential outcome test session, the. DO groups performed less, accurately than the NDO group. These findings indicate that temporal samples are not retrospectively and analogically coded when they are differentially associated with food and no food. Instead, they are remembered in terms of the corresponding outcome expectancies.     

Quality criteria for conceptual technology integration models in education: bridging research and practice

Educational technology research and development - In order to effectively use technology in education, appropriate conceptual understandings are needed to guide the integration process. Today,...     

Voluntary turnover and women administrators in higher education

A salient characteristic about the U.S. workforce is the continual process of voluntary employee turnover, which can be problematic for employers who invest a substantial amount of time and money in recruiting and training employees. This paper discusses the effects of workplace policies and practices on the voluntary turnover of women administrators in higher education. According to the results from in-depth interviews with ex-administrators of one Ivy League university, the top three reasons were conflict with supervisor, inadequate advancement opportunities, and incompatible work schedule. The results from this study revealed several interesting findings which add to our understanding of the staff turnover process for midlevel administrators in institutions of higher education. The findings could offer important insight into implementing cost-effective retention programs to help reduce unwanted turnover among women administrators in colleges and universities.     

Embedding CETLs in a performance‐oriented culture in higher education: Reflections on finding creative space

This article offers insight into the realization of the Higher Education Funding Council for England's vision for Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs) as catalysts for change. Two CETLs, the Centre for Interprofessional e‐Learning (CIPeL) and the Surrey Centre for Excellence in Professional Training and Education (SCEPTrE), provide illustrative cases of two similar but different change initiatives. CETLs might be expected to embody and inspire creativity in teaching and learning yet they are embedded in institutions where activities are increasingly shaped by the discourse of performativity. Findings from the two case studies, which focus on similar schemes designed to promote staff involvement in creative projects, challenge the suggestion that creativity is stifled in a performative context.     

Rationalizing teacher roles in developing and assessing physical literacy in children

PROSPECTS - Physical literacy serves as the foundation for several skills or attributes needed for lifelong physical activity participation. Based on its connection to physical activity, physical...     

The manipulation of scholarly rating and measurement systems: constructing excellence in an era of academic stardom

ABSTRACT

Higher education institutions are joining many other social entities in shifting how participants are evaluated; work is undergoing increasing analysis through metrics, big data analytics, and related methodologies. As applications of academic metrics expand, new formulations of what is considered as ‘excellence’ in teaching and research are being constructed and new kinds of academic ‘star’ faculty and journals determined. Academic participation is being tightly coupled with specific, manipulable quantitative measures, providing formidable lessons about how intellectual endeavors are valued. This paper presents analyses of ‘performative metrics’ approaches: metrics-related methodologies are being manipulated at levels including faculty member, department, publisher, and university, often in ways well described by game and drama theory (Howard 1994 Howard, Nigel. 1994. “Drama Theory and its Relation to Game Theory. Part 1: Dramatic Resolution vs. Rational Solution.” Group Decision and Negotiation 3 (2): 187–206. doi: 10.1007/BF01384354[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Academic life is often associated with potentials for unbiased pursuits of knowledge; as discourse intensifies concerning metric manipulation, identities and reputations of academic participants could shift, providing challenges to those who desire trust and impartial merit rewards.     

The reaction of managers to the pre- acquisition stage of a corporate merger: A qualitative study

Conclusion The study in this article provided insights into the emotional needs of managers during the Preacquisition Stage of a potential acquisition. One manager claimed that mergers are the wave of the future. If one of six managers believes this in the retail industry, then we might assume that one out of every six employees has thought this at some time in his/her working life or at least thought about how mergers in general affect his/her working life. Therefore, it seems vital that retail employees have the attitude that Acquisitions, of course, produce stress, but they are not always bad experiences that end up hurting the employees. With the opposite attitude, the Preacquisition Stage will most likely be fraught with low employee morale, increased stress, resistance to change, higher turnover, and lower productivity.The managers in the current study shared their reactions to the announcement of a potential merger. As can be expected, much stress and uneasiness was occurring. The suggested interventions in this article will help the EAP counselor respond to the stress through crisis, preventive, and educational methods. The employee assistance counselor can no longer wait for the merger to occur; rather, he/she must be involved early in the merger process, during the Preacquisition Stage. If employee assistance counselors do not begin insisting on early involvement, business mergers may remain on a contractual level only. The contractual level allows Hunsaker and Coombs (1988) to conclude that the psychological needs of the merging work forces are not typically considered, and people issues are mishandled as the acquirer improvises instead of following a strategically designed, systematically conducted program for corporate integration (p. 57). A systematically conducted program may help managers and employees feel more secure about their own careers; thus, about mergers in general.     

Evaluating student allocation in the Portuguese public higher education system

This paper characterizes and evaluates the student allocation in the Portuguese public higher education system. It describes the supply and demand sides of the system by looking at the numerus clausus across areas of study and institutions, institutions’ degree of diversity, and performance and adjustment indicators based on students’ revealed preferences. Performance indicators quantify the adequacy between demand and supply, across institutions and fields of study, and gauge the performance of public higher education institutions in the competition for candidates. Adjustment indicators allow us to predict the potential impact of changes in higher education regulations on student allocation and its stability. According to these indicators, such changes could result in an expansion for some institutions and fields of study, whereas other institutions might face a reduction.