Future Oriented Colleges and Universities

The AIR model we describe in this article is a practical framework for cultivating reflective inquiry into ethical issues that students, faculty, and administrators experience in the midst of busy daily lives and encounter in classroom discussions in a discipline field. The model is highly adaptable to academic and workplace settings and enables students to clarify and refine their ethical thinking and make more caring, compassionate, and respectful choices. Quantitative and qualitative assessment indicates that students who use AIR as an organizing framework become more empowered and competent to engage in reflective ethical inquiry.     

A beautiful house built on sand. what makes e-communication Projects Succeed – and why are they still so rare?

Abstract

Case studies of email and video conferencing projects between partners in educational institutions in England and France are presented as a means of identifying the key issues that lead to the success of such activities. The writers, all of whom have a long history of being involved in such projects with schoolchildren and teachers, then consider the continuing failure of most educational institutions to make appropriate use of such technologies and practices despite the growing evidence for their efficacy. They suggest that key issues to be addressed include access to technology, support for teachers, understanding of pedagogical potential and the structuring of projects.     

Beliefs and Practices of In-Service Preschool Teachers in Inclusive Settings: Implications for Personnel Preparation

This study examined the beliefs of in-service teachers working in inclusive classrooms regarding developmentally appropriate practices and how those beliefs affected their attitudes toward, knowledge of, and comfort levels regarding working with children with disabilities. A mixed-method approach was utilized and data were collected through the use of three survey instruments: Teacher Belief Scale and Instructional Activities Scale (Hart et al., 1990 Hart, C., Burts, D., Charlesworth, P., Fleege, P., Ickes, M. and Durland, M. 1990. The teachers Questionnaire: Preschool version, Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University, School of Human Ecology.  [Google Scholar]) and the In-service Teacher Self-Report Survey (Mitchell, 2002 Mitchell, L. C. 2002. Blending practices in regular education: A mixed method design study on course practicum and training experiences in relation to preservice teacher attitudes and knowledge about inclusion. Dissertation Abstracts International, 5: A63 (UMI No. 726467131). [Google Scholar]). Data were also collected through open-ended questions to assess Teachers' perceived level of preparation for the inclusive classroom. This study also examined whether education or experience levels had an influence on Teachers' perceptions regarding inclusive practices. Results of the study indicate that there is not a significant relationship between in-service Teachers' beliefs regarding developmentally appropriate practices and their attitudes toward, knowledge of, and comfort levels regarding inclusion. Additionally, results indicate that the Teachers' levels of education or experience do not necessarily indicate that they are prepared to meet the needs of the inclusive classroom environment. Implications regarding the preparation of and ongoing training needs of teachers are discussed.     

Mature Graduates II: Occupational attainment and the effects of social class

This paper compares occupational attainment among mature graduates, both male and female, from working-class origins with outcomes for mature graduates from middle-class origins. Data from the General Household Survey, (1982-1992) was used yielding 4265 male and 2869 female early graduates, 700 male, and 448 female, mature graduates. It was found that proportionately more people from working-class than middle-class origins study as adults than at the school leaving stage. Nonetheless, mature graduates from middle-class origins still outnumber those from working-class origins. However, it was found that people from working-class origins had increased their take-up of higher education as mature students over time and are reaching parity with people from middle-class origins. Working-class mature graduates are more likely to have studied in less prestigious institutions and at an older age than middle-class mature graduates, although the effects are small. These characteristics were associated with lesser occupational attainment. Working-class mature graduates are similar to middle-class mature graduates in appearing to have the faster promotion rates than early graduates, thus making up some initial career disadvantage.     

“Communicate Through the Roof”: A Case Study Analysis of the Communicative Rules and Resources of an Effective Global Virtual Team

Challenges to effective collaboration are magnified when work teams are composed of geographically distributed members. Team members separated by time, distance, and culture often struggle with issues of trust, conflict, and potentially divisive subgroups. With global virtual teams becoming increasingly common in organizations, it is important to understand how to minimize such interactional difficulties. This study examines rules and resources that members of a corporate global team draw on to structure their interactions. In this case study, team members draw on highly ritualized actions prescribed by their software development process and their enacted values to mitigate their communication challenges.     

The palette of the Macchia Italian artist Giovanni Fattori in the second half of the xixth century

Giovanni Fattori (Livorno 1825–Firenze 1908) is the most representative artist of the Macchiaioli's current, an early group of Italian plein-air artists, whose work anticipates, in the xixth century, that of their younger contemporaries, the French Impressionists. The study, performed by a multidisciplinary team made up of scientists and conservators, presents the results of the scientific characterization carried out on a group of 10 paintings made by Fattori between 1854 and 1893 and shows the way he used complex mixtures of a large variety of traditional and synthetic pigments, ranging from lead white, found pure and also extended with calcium carbonate, natural barite and gypsum to zinc white, from red ochre to cinnabar and vermilion, from yellow ochre and Naples yellow to chrome yellow, cadmium yellow and zinc yellow, combined with many other ones reported in details. This paper highlights the evolution of his painting technique during a time of great technological and social innovations and puts forward some hypothesis on his awareness about manufactured pigments, i.e. tube paints recently introduced into the artists’ circles. The wide range of pigments and their different quality among the same synthetic products suggest that the artist used all the available materials, and that picking out the pigments he retained the early xixth century artists techniques, such as the use of mineral earths and Prussian blue, similarly to his contemporary Italian artists Federico Zandomeneghi and Telemaco Signorini, but he also experimented new and peculiar pigment mixtures in the making of “colored darks” and an innovative use of the grounds in the final composition, that are also distinctive features of the French Impressionists. This work is aimed at contributing to overcome the lack of a comprehensive overview on the widespread historical and scientific data collected up to now on the Italian paintings in the xixth century, which has been severely underestimated with respect to previous art movements.     

Reading problems worldwide

Conclusion In every country surveyed, there was an awareness of both the existence and the needs of intelligent children with specific reading and learning disabilities. In those nations where no special educational provisions are as yet made to assist these children, many people are attempting to bring this matter to the attention of the appropriate educational or governmental authorities. Most of the industrialized nations now have at least some special programs for these children and it appears that there is a rapidly growing movement to develop similar programs in other countries. There is reason to feel optimistic about future developments in helping children with reading problems worldwide. This paper was presented at the 27th Annual National Conference of The Orton Society, New York City, November 1976.