Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the role of technical communicators

In this article, we build on arguments in risk communication that the predominant linear risk communication models are problematic for their failure to consider audience and additional contextual issues. The “failure”; of these risk communication models has led, some scholars argue, to a number of ethical and communicative problems. We seek to extend the critique, arguing that “risk”; is socially constructed. The claim for the social construction of risk has significant implications for both risk communication and the roles of technical communicators in risk situations. We frame these implications as a “critical rhetoric”; of risk communication that (1) dissolves the separation of risk assessment from risk communication to locate epistemology within communicative processes; (2) foregrounds power in risk communication as a way to frame ethical audience involvement; (3) argues for the technical communicator as one possessing the research and writing skills necessary for the complex processes of constructing and communicating risk.     

Preparing Teachers for Diversity: Examination of Teacher Certification and Program Accreditation Standards in the 50 States and Washington,DC

State departments of education can play an important role in preparing teachers for effectively teaching diverse learners in our schools through state policies and standards on teacher certification and teacher education program accreditation. We conducted a content analysis of state standards on teacher certification and program accreditation in the 50 states and the District of Columbia to understand the type and characteristics of diversity-related requirements. We found that while all states addressed diversity in their standards, the type and characteristics of requirements varied across the states. The diversity requirements are ambiguous in most states, and only a small number of states utilize a “social reconstructionist” approach that focuses on preparing teachers to identify social inequality and take an active role to achieve educational and social equity.     

Telecommunications and an Alternative Practicum: collaborative entrepreneurship in teacher education

ABSTRACT

As in many schools of education, the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta has initiated a number of collaborative projects with partnership schools in an attempt to remove the gap between the traditional, university‐based component of practicum courses, and the practice of the school‐based component. One model, described in this paper, uses telecommunications technology to deliver field‐based experiences. Technology‐based, inter‐institutional collaborative projects contain elements of innovation, that are usually managed with reference to change strategy processes described by Fullan (1982), Havelock (1973), Rogers (1983, 1986) ‐and others. However, these processes take time and planning and may actually mitigate against adoption and implementation of rapidly evolving technologies. In this paper, we argue that telecommunications technology‐based, collaboratively developed models of teacher education may be better served by entrepreneurial thinking than by carefully planned change strategies. One such project is described from initiation through implementation, and components of entrepreneurial partnering are suggested.     

BLENDED LEARNING IN ACTION: THE INFOSKILLS PROGRAMME AT MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY'S LIBRARY SERVICE

This paper describes the development of online information skills tutorials, using WebCT, within Manchester Metropolitan University's Infoskills Programme.     

The direct and indirect effects of word reading and vocabulary on adolescents’ reading comprehension: Comparing struggling and adequate comprehenders

The current study examined statistically significant differences between struggling and adequate readers using a multicomponent model of reading comprehension in 796 sixth through eighth graders, with a primary focus on word reading and vocabulary. Path analyses and Wald tests were used to investigate the direct and indirect relations of word identification, vocabulary, silent reading efficiency, and inference-making on reading comprehension. Comparing struggling versus adequate comprehenders revealed statistically significant differences in path coefficients. In both groups, vocabulary had the largest total effect when considering its direct and indirect effects. Word identification was the strongest direct predictor for struggling comprehenders (β = .18 for struggling vs. β = ? .03 for adequate), while vocabulary was the strongest predictor for adequate comprehenders (β = .40 for adequate vs. β = .14 for struggling). Findings reinforce (a) vocabulary knowledge plays a primary role in explaining individual differences in adolescent reading comprehension, (b) the need to differentiate intervention to address underlying difficulties of struggling readers, and (c) the relations of reading component skills (e.g., word reading and silent reading efficiency) to reading comprehension may be different based on reader proficiency.     

Parents,quality, and school choice: why parents in Nairobi choose low-cost private schools over public schools in Kenya’s free primary education era

Low-cost private schools (LCPS) are widespread in Kenya, particularly in urban areas. This study examines the reasons that parents send children to fee-charging schools in a context of free public primary education. Drawing on parent survey and interview data, as well as interviews with national policy makers, we found that parents who chose LCPS for their children were more driven by quality concerns than were public school parents. We also present data on the costs of the school types, compared to household income. Despite being termed ‘low cost’, the fees charged by schools primarily serving the poor were often a heavy burden on families. We conclude with recommendations for maximising the impact of LCPS on educational access and quality.     

Distance higher education for women in Saudi Arabia: Present and proposed

This paper describes the recent history of distance higher education in Saudi Arabia with particular reference to the education of women. It compares the contribution to external study for women of the General Presidency of Girls' Education (GPGE) with the introduction of intisab (a system which allows individuals to pursue higher education without attending lectures) in three universities founded for men. It records the growing numbers of women wishing to enter higher education and the withdrawal of intisab from two universities in Riyadh. It identifies the limitations placed on women's higher education as compared with men's and notes the generally conservative attitudes to the role of women found in Saudi Arabia. It oudines discussions over the last 15 years, concerning an Arab open university, which have yet to result in action. Finally, it reports a recent survey which reveals strong support for an open university for women in Saudi Arabia. Such an institution would gready increase access for women to higher education while, at the same time, be compatible with Islamic custom concerning the segregation of the sexes and a woman's primary role as wife and mother.     

‘There is no free education nowadays’: youth explanations for school dropout in Indonesia

Indonesia has dramatically increased school enrolment at the secondary level over the past several decades, as reflected in national statistics. However, significant variation in enrolment rates remains across regions and genders. In some areas, nearly all youth complete secondary school; in others fewer than half attend. This study investigates the reasons for secondary school dropout in Banten and Aceh, two provinces of Indonesia with lower-than-average secondary school enrolment rates. We interviewed 28 out-of-school youth and conducted focus groups and observations at non-formal education programs serving dropouts. We find that high costs for secondary school were the overwhelming reason for dropout, with a subset of boys also reporting behavioural issues as a contributing factor. While costs affected adolescent boys and girls equally, the options facing them after dropout differed sharply. The findings point to the need for easier paths back into formal education for youth who have dropped out.     

Research Off limits and Underground: Street Corner Methods for Finding Invisible Students

This paper investigates research methods for studies of school drop-outs and push-outs, populations that are very difficult to find since they no longer have an institutional affiliation. The work argues that street corner research, which was in favor among the early urban researchers of the Chicago school, may have a renewed role in these investigations. The details of street corner research are presented with a case study of a school at a prison serving non-criminal African American youth. Though no official access was granted for research at this site, street corner research methods enabled fieldwork and revealed the lives of youth who were otherwise inaccessible and consequently invisible. Lizbet Simmons is an Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice Studies at San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA. She teaches courses on research methods and juvenile justice. This article emerges from doctoral research conducted while in school at the University of California, Berkeley in the Social and Cultural Studies in Education program. Her research interests include school-to-prison pipeline studies, school discipline, school security, and mixed methods research. In each of these areas she focuses on issues of race and inequality.