Creating a responsive curriculum for postgraduates: lessons from a case in Ghana

A responsive curriculum addresses the changing needs of students, bridging the gap between universal knowledge and theories on one hand and contextual, continuously changing realities of everyday life and the world of work, on the other. Though several higher education institutions appreciate the value of making curriculum responsive, how to do this remains a challenge. This paper first identified unique attributes of responsive curriculum development based on literature and assessed their manifestation in the creation of a new Masters curriculum in natural resource and environmental governance in Ghana. The role of actors within and outside academia and its implications, were also investigated. The study was designed as participatory action research. Key process attributes identified include, among others, iteration, built-in learning within the curriculum development process, and the contribution of actors from outside academia to curriculum design and implementation. The study also shows the important role of the so-called champion of the process and the expert facilitators. The paper does not seek to provide a blue-print but rather provides a valuable example for future initiatives at creating curriculum that better responds to current needs of students.     

Clusters of second and third grade dysfluent urban readers

This study examined the heterogeneity within a sample of 140 urban second and third graders identified as at-risk for reading failure due to inefficient word and/or nonword reading. Cluster analyses were conducted using standardized factor scores from a four-factor structural equation model characterizing reading performance in this sample. These standardized factor scores represented performance on four distinct factors: efficiency of word-level skills, text level skills, decoding, and vocabulary. Results identified four clusters of children who show distinctive patterns of performance on the four factors of reading. These understudied groups show different compositions along demographic categories and reading disability categories. Additionally, they have unique instructional needs that call for differentiated instruction in the domains of phonological decoding, fluency, text reading, and vocabulary.     

The K-12 educational technology value chain: Apps for kids,tools for teachers and levers for reform

Historically implementing, maintaining and managing educational technology has been difficult for K-12 educational systems. Consequently, opportunities for significant advances in K-12 education have often gone unrealized. With the maturation of Internet delivered services along with K-12 institutional trends, educational technologies are poised to help support the transformation K-12 education by providing student access to educational resources on an anywhere, anytime, any device basis. In addition, an emerging body of empirical research shows that when implemented systematically, technology can support a wide range of potential education innovations including inverted classrooms, peer-to-peer teaching and customized learning as well as increased academic achievement.A major public policy question is how best to insure educational technology resources reach all K-12 students in the shortest time and most equitable way possible. In response, this paper adopted an educational technology value chain model to assess potential avenues and barriers to implementing educational technology inK-12 systems. We find that a fully implemented educational technology value chain would directly benefit students, teachers, school systems and society. However, the analysis also finds that efforts to implement educational technology in K-12 systems still must overcome challenges and risks.     

A case study of early career secondary teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness for teaching: lessons from Australia and Spain

This paper presents an international comparison of Australian and Spanish secondary teachers’ perceptions about the effectiveness of their pre-service education and their learning as in-service teachers. It aims to identify, firstly, the extent to which beginning teachers believe they are prepared for their careers through their teacher training and, secondly, what teachers have learned as practicing teachers. A qualitative case study was conducted to uncover whether similar issues raised by early career teachers were identified in different contexts. Data were collected through interviews with secondary teachers (N = 11) from Australia and Spain in their third year of full-time teaching. Findings suggest similar positive perceptions towards their practicum experiences, transition to beginning teachers and professional development. However, differences were found in their early career experiences regarding professional learning and their development of identity. Implications of the study are discussed by identifying strategies to improve pre-service education for secondary teachers.     

Fraction Instruction for Students with Mathematics Disabilities: Comparing Two Teaching Sequences

Abstract. This study investigated the effects of teaching middle school students with mathematics disabilities equivalent fraction concepts and procedures using the concrete‐representational‐abstract (CRA) instructional sequence or the representational‐abstract (RA) instructional sequence. Twenty‐six students formed the CRA group, and 24 students formed the RA group. The two treatment groups received carefully sequenced instruction over 10 lessons. The only difference between the two treatment groups was that the CRA group used concrete manipulative devices for the first three lessons while the RA group used representational drawings. Analyses of the data indicated that students in both treatment groups improved overall in their understanding of fraction equivalency from pretest to posttest. On all achievement measures, students in the CRA group had overall higher mean scores than did students in the RA group. Implications for classroom instruction and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

On communication among “unequals”

This analysis was stimulated by the problem in international development of communication between development personnel and members of the populations with whom they work. Building on the work of Bateson and the Ardeners, I propose a theoretical framework that incorporates the “inarticulateness of women” (as discussed by Ardener) and a similar phenomenon I have observed in situations of contact between people of unequal status, in general. Three ethnographic examples of the dynamics of communication between “unequals”¹ and the resulting “inarticulateness” are then provided: one between rural and urban dwellers in Iran: one between women and men from two subcultures in rural America; and one among male and female scientists from different countries and different scientific paradigms. I conclude with a set of policy recommendations, that follow from the proposed theory.