Impediments to Partnership: A literature review of school‐university links

Partnership innovations between teacher educators on school and university sites have become ubiquitous. Calls for bridging the theory/practice gap have been answered with reappraisal and restructuring of programs. The literature on the rationale and implementation of a partnership approach has grown steadily since the early 1980s. Praise for measures that promote increased and meaningful interaction between the key players is now almost universal. Ironically, simultaneously, this documentation reveals the challenges as well as the promises of partnership. Clear impediments to the creation and nurturing of partnership have emerged. This paper takes as its principal focus an exploration of the literature that examines the range of barriers encountered by teachers of future teachers.     

Factors Influencing Military Police Officers in Their Decision in Selecting Higher Educational Institutions

The active duty personnel in the United States Armed Forces exceed 1,411,932. When combined with reserve units and auxiliary units, the number of personnel surpasses 2 million. Due to the nature of worldwide urban conflict, a great number of military personnel are subjected to, assigned to, or affiliated with some type of criminal‐justice‐related duty. These urban situations and associated policing‐type experiences have captured the interest of many active duty personnel. Countless military members are currently planning honorable discharge and re‐entry into civilian life and seeking educational degrees as a resource for access into a criminal justice career. Educational benefits for veterans offer an enormous advantage to the military personnel. On 1 August 2009, these benefits, which include tuition, books, and housing, were expanded to veterans with at least 90 days of aggregate service on or after the September 11th terrorist attacks. Little is known about this vast group of potential students and what factors play a role in their selecting a college or university. Based on a survey of over 300 active duty military personnel currently assigned to criminal justice duty, the authors were able to extract some important findings on this subject. The factors obtained include, among others, preferred type of course delivery and the importance of official statements of military support. Based on the evidence collected and analyzed, this research exposed and examined several important findings.     

Changing academic identities in changing academic workplaces: learning from academics’ everyday professional writing practices

In this article we examine issues of academic identity through the lens of academics’ everyday workplace writing, offering a complementary perspective to those already evident in the higher education research literature. Motivated by an interest in the relationship between routine writing and aspects of professional practice, we draw on data from interviews with 30 academics across three different universities. Our discussion is illustrated with excerpts from interview data, and is organised around three emerging themes: ‘reconstructing academic identities in a shifting academic workplace’, ‘considering new articulations of disciplinarity’, and ‘moving on from the golden age’. We conclude that the reconstruction of academic identities, through engagement with established and emerging workplace documents, may well be enabling academics to build new identities within the changing university.     

Understanding the information and resource needs of UK health and social care placement students

Background: Students on health and social care degree programmes spend 50% of their time on practice placements. Because of the diversity of settings and the need to evidence their work, it is vital to understand the information and resource needs of placement students. Objectives: The aim of this investigation was to understand the needs of placement students in terms of accessing resources whilst they are in the field in order to inform a guide to meet these needs. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with students on midwifery, social work and post‐registration health professions degree programmes on three different sites across the region. Data were analysed using Thematic Content Analysis. Results: Three themes emerged from the data: inequality, user education needs and students’ solutions and strategies. Conclusions: It is essential to speak to placement students in order to understand their needs in terms of accessing and using library resources. The timing and content of information skills training is key to meeting student needs while on placement.     

Casting the assessment net wide: Capturing all student learning

North Georgia College and State University has joined a national effort to move away from the isolated approach to measuring student learning. Educators from three divisions offer their perspectives.     

Multimethod assessment of self-regulated learning in college students: different methods for different components?

Instructional Science - Although self-regulated learning (SRL) is seen as highly relevant for successful college learning, college students oftentimes show a lack in SRL abilities. Therefore, it...