A quality improvement apprenticeship: Gross anatomy in the time of Covid-19

The study of anatomy is a team-driven field in which anatomy instruction occurs in small groups in the laboratory with one faculty member guiding students through each anatomical region. One laboratory experience may include several small group instructors in one simultaneous learning session. In comparison, the education of future gross anatomists often happens in an apprenticeship model, where the optimal learning outcomes are met through training with an experienced mentor. It was the vision of the authors to further their education through initiating an inter-institutional exchange to apprentice with innovative mentors in order to bring new ideas back to their own gross anatomy courses. The Southeastern Conference, a consortium of the Universities in the Southern region of the United States often associated with intercollegiate sports, has a host of academic initiatives in addition to the athletic emphasis. The Southeastern Conference Faculty Travel Program is one mechanism by which the organization promotes scholarly excellence. In this case, the Faculty Travel Program provided a way for authors from the University of Kentucky to visit a nearby institution, Vanderbilt University, and learn from like-minded anatomy educators, with the goal of incorporating changes in their courses geared toward quality improvement. After this implementation, positive themes emerged in the student feedback on course evaluations. However, the collaboration was interrupted by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. This article examines the strengths of interinstitutional apprenticeship and the benefits of such practices in a time of accelerated change in anatomical instruction.     

Complicating the World of Reading Assessment: Toward Better Assessments for Better Teaching

In this article, we share with readers our hopes, fears, and predictions for reading assessment in American schools at a critical policy juncture—the production of new assessments to measure achievement of the Common Core State Standards. It isn't just Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium in play. There is a new stream of progressive-minded pedagogical reform rekindling the fire for higher-order thinking, project-based learning, and learning that transfers to new and different situations and problems. This is a perfect storm—a genuine opportunity to change the course of assessment for accountability and classroom decision-making. Our hope is that readers will find our perspectives useful as we collectively avail ourselves of this unique opportunity.     

Growth and diversity in doctoral education: assessing the Australian experience

The major growth of doctoral education in recent decades has attracted attention from policy makers and researchers. In this article we explore the growth of doctoral education in Australia, its impact on diversity in respect of the doctoral population, shifts in disciplinary strengths, institutional concentration and award programs. We conclude that there has been both change and continuity in the provision of doctoral education with extensive variation at the level of practice in what is a reasonably stable system featuring continuing hierarchical institutional diversification. The limitations of available data and issues for further research, policy and practice are discussed.

Did you learn something useful today? An analysis of how perceived utility relates to perceived learning and their predictiveness of satisfaction with training

A popular taxonomy for categorizing outcomes of training is the four‐level model formulated by Kirkpatrick (1959). The first level in the model consists of reactions to training. Kirkpatrick recognized only affective reactions, but more recent reformulations of the model posit other types of reactions, including utility and perceptions of learning. We studied the relationship between three types of reaction measures (Kirkpatrick level 1) in six cohorts of first‐year college students participating in an evaluation of an orientation training program. The assessed reactions were amount learned, the usability of the information, and satisfaction with the training program. A substantial correlation (.6 to .7) exists between self‐assessed learning and the perceived usefulness of the information. Usefulness was almost as good as amount learned in predicting satisfaction with the training. The findings underscore the importance of using relevance strategies to make information appear useful.