Nurturing moments of transformation in teachers – comparative perspectives on the challenges of professional development

This article discusses teachers' views of their own learning. Two groups of teachers attending graduate programmes in Seattle, Washington in the United States of America (USA) and Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom (UK), participated in a project that encouraged them to discuss examples of effective professional development. The teachers from the UK were enrolled on a Masters degree course for staff working with pupils with autism. The teachers from the USA were enrolled on a Masters degree course specifically focused upon working with children who have moderate to severe difficulties. Both groups of teachers were working, at least for a portion of their timetables, with pupils who had low incidence disabilities. Phyllis Jones, of the University of South Florida, Elizabeth West, from the Department of Special Education at Boise State University, and Dana Stevens, who is working on her PhD in special education at the University of Washington, analysed the critical moments of professional development identified by the teachers in both contexts. Four themes emerged: seeing the relationship between theory and practice, the role of the professor or lecturer in mediating learning, learning from others and reflecting in action. In this article, the authors analyse the themes in relation to the subtle differences that occurred within, and across, the two contexts. This analysis will assist in the design of quality professional development opportunities that reflect teachers' voices. Teachers make meaning of their learning in highly personal ways and, although it is possible to nurture formalised learning opportunities, teacher educators need to be constantly aware of the contextual and personal meaning making that is at play.     

Departmental Dialogues: Facilitating Positive Academic Climates to Improve Equity in STEM Disciplines

This exploratory qualitative study examined faculty responses to a collegiality-building process called Dialogues. The process used a series of discussions and activities to guide faculty members toward a common, mutually beneficially goal, while changing patterns of interaction. The responses revealed how faculty members experienced collegiality-building practices, including individual reflection, small group discussions, idea generation and prioritization, and consensus-building. The study examined faculty responses within STEM departments. We conclude with recommendations for encouraging inclusive and participatory departmental norms and behaviors in order to promote a positive departmental climate, which is crucial to achieving equity in all disciplines of the academia.     

Student feedback to improved retention: using a mixed-methods approach to extend specific feedback to a generalisable concept

ABSTRACT

Across the Higher Education (HE) sector student feedback is used to feed into university processes and guide decision making. In this study, data gathered allowed the authors to investigate a hitherto neglected, but important, cohort of successful students – those who succeeded when all the odds were stacked against them. The identified group of students had relatively low predictive probabilities of passing their module, and yet despite all the odds passed. These identified students were interviewed by phone which yielded a much richer data set than is often available from student surveys. The advice they considered to be important to future students included specific guidance to get ahead, to plan and to contact their own academic tutor. Based on this advice an opportunity for future students to have a flexible early start on a specific module was created. A 4% increase in the number of registered students who subsequently started the module was maintained through to module completion.     

Coat of arms: Dovetailing the needs of outdoor sculpture and military assets to develop more durable and adaptable paint systems

The requirements for paints used on outdoor sculpture and military vehicles are similar: overall protection for the underlying substrate, and the ability to withstand prolonged outdoor exposure and recurring physical contact. Aesthetic requirements are different but stringent for both categories of coatings and include maintaining appearance over time. Building on prior work undertaken by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Army Research Laboratory (ARL) to modify military coating systems into a matte black paint suitable for outdoor sculpture, a long-term interdisciplinary collaboration is under way between the ARL, the Getty Conservation Institute, Mack Art Conservation, and NCP Coatings, that aims to develop and evaluate a wider range of robust paint systems with novel attributes for both the DoD and outdoor painted sculptures. For the latter, this includes coatings with a broader range of gloss, formulated with a much more varied palette. New low-gloss coatings used on military assets were used to paint sculptures by Alexander Calder, Tony Smith, and Louise Nevelson, designed to an aesthetic standard based on approved colour and gloss levels by the relevant artists’ foundations and estates, and formulated to enhance durability. These new coatings offer the ability to match or meet a range of artists’ aesthetic preferences, and to use a variety of polymeric flattening agents to control gloss levels, reduce marring, and eliminate volatile and hazardous pollutants. The use of low molecular weight (LMW) resins provides 4–8 hour pot life to assist in the application process. Compared to current resins, the LMW systems reduce organic solvent levels, are low viscosity, and permit far easier application. In addition, the replacement of typical pigments with low solar absorbing (LSA) pigmentation provides higher reflection which ‘shields’ the resin/binder system and reduces degradation. A particular advantage to conservators from this collaboration is that the coatings on DoD assets provide a convenient indicator of the paint's performance and durability. The outcome will be a unique coating system to provide enhanced durability and maintain the original coating properties for a period of 6–10 years.     

Beyond Control: Accessioning Practices for Extensible Archival Management

Accessioning has long been one of our profession’s least visible, discussed, and critically examined activities. This article analyzes our scholarly literature on the subject, revealing an absent theoretical framework and a marked over-reliance on static assumptions about what accessioning entails, to the detriment of both archivists and our collections. The case study that follows describes the creation of an accessioning program at New York University and posits a model of accessioning situated in the context of holistic archival administration, based on both theory and practice, and informed by access-driven workflows and iterative processing strategies.