War Veterans’ Memoirs as Narrated to Students: An Intergenerational Service-learning Project for Interpersonal Communication

Objective: To increase understanding of interpersonal communication theories and concepts, to apply interpersonal skills studied in class, and to develop an intergenerational relationship by means of an interview project

Course: Interpersonal Communication     

The social tasks of learning to become a physical education teacher: considering the HPE subject department as a community of practice

Initial teacher education (ITE) students participate in various workplaces within schools and in doing so, form understandings about the numerous, and at times competing, expectations of teachers’ work. Through these experiences they form understandings about themselves as health and physical education (HPE) teachers.

This paper examines the ways communities of practice within HPE subject department offices function as sites of workplace learning for student teachers. In particular this research focused on how ITE students negotiate tacit and contradictory expectations as well as social tasks during the practicum and the ways in which their understandings are mediated through participation in the workspace.

Qualitative methods of survey and semi-structured interview were used to collect data on a cohort of student teachers during and following their major (10 week) practicum experience. Analysis was informed by theories of communities of practice (Wenger, 1998 Wenger, E. 1998. Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), workplace learning (Billett, 2001 Billett, S. 2001. Learning in the workplace: strategies for effective practice, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.  [Google Scholar]), and social task systems (Doyle, 1977 Doyle, W. 1977. Learning in the classroom environment: an ecological analysis. Journal of Teacher Education, 28(6): 51–55. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).

It was evident that considerable effort, attention, and energy was expended on various interrelated social tasks aimed at building positive relationships with their supervisor and other HPE teachers at the school. The social dynamics were highly nuanced and required a game-like approach. In our view the complexity that student teachers must negotiate in striving for an excellent evaluation warrants specific attention in physical education teacher education (PETE) programs. This study raises questions regarding our responsibilities in sending student teachers into contexts that might even be described as toxic. We offer some suggestions for how PETE might better support students going into practicum contexts that might be regarded as problematic workplaces.     

We Ning-ed a Virtual Pre-Workshop: Now What?

In 2009, a group of instruction-minded librarians in Oklahoma added unconference-like elements to their usual workshop structure and agenda to make their workshop more participatory and attendee-driven. The result was a virtual pre-workshop hosted on a Ning social networking site. The virtual pre-workshop enhanced the actual physical workshop in several ways. The group's new challenge: where to host its new pre-workshop format without Ning and how to gear the new format to be more mobile friendly while not excluding non-mobile interested workshop participants.     

Measuring the potential for child maltreatment: the reliability and validity of the Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory--2

OBJECTIVE: The field of child protection needs reliable and valid methods of assessing the potential for child abuse and neglect. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory--2 (AAPI-2), Form B, using a sample of 309 low-income, rural families in a southern state. METHOD: The AAPI-2 is a 40-item survey designed to assess the parenting and child rearing attitudes of adult and adolescent parent and pre-parent populations. Each of the five AAPI-2 scales was (a) examined using factor analysis in order to determine the unidimensionality of the scale, (b) evaluated based on estimates of the scales reliability in order to determine the consistency with which the construct was measured, and (c) when possible, examined to determine if it is related to other constructs in meaningful and expected ways. RESULTS: While the factor structure reported by the developer was not fully confirmed in this sample, there is some evidence that the instrument is measuring at least two of the constructs it purports to measure and that the total score may be useful. Correlations with other instruments measuring parenting behavior and child behavior were significant, and in the expected direction, offering some support for the validity of the AAPI-2. CONCLUSIONS: While the AAPI-2 appears to measure attitudes related to harsh or neglectful parenting, caution should be used in the interpretation of the individual AAPI-2 scales.     

The World Café: An innovative method to facilitate reflections on internationalisation in higher education

This article provides an example of how the World Café method can be used as a platform to encourage reflection on internationalisation in higher education. The World Café is a community engagement method that encourages participants to engage in reflection and dialogue in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. It promotes the use of multiple methods in capturing insights that recognise individual and cultural preferences in communication. It values respect for diversity of perspectives, which resonates with the principles of internationalisation. This article focuses primarily on how this method can be used in practice and provides a step-by-step guide on how to organise and facilitate such an event.