Technical Education and the Humanities

“And the shoemaker was not allowed by us to be a husbandman or a weaver, or a builder–in order that we might have our shoes well made.”

Plato, Republic, Book II.     

Evolution and Diffusion of the Michigan State University Tradition of Organizational Communication Network Research

This article documents the 30‐year history of communication network research at Michigan State University (M.S.U.), providing a case study of the evolution and diffusion of an academic innovation. Three past and continuing issues for network scholars are identified: a lack of professional reward for developing user‐friendly computer programs, unresolved methodological problems, and a need for better theoretical and conceptual frameworks. The narrative also illustrates the difficulty communication as a discipline has in impacting broader intellectual traditions. The story begins with the first doctoral dissertation (Schwartz, 1968 Richards, W. D. and Barnett, G., eds. 1993. Progress in communication sciences: Advances in communication network analysis, Norwood, NJ: Ablex.  [Google Scholar]) and the first network analysis software program in 1970 (Richards’ Negopy), continuing to the last dissertation (Susskind, 1996 Susskind, A. M. 1996. The impact of an organizational downsizing effort on survivors’ communication network relationships and attitudes, East Lansing: Department of Communication, Michigan State University. Unpublished doctoral dissertation [Google Scholar]), and ending in 1998 when J. David Johnson left the M.S.U. faculty. Other major players in the M.S.U. network tradition included David K. Berlo, Eugene Jacobson, Everett M. Rogers, Vincent Farace, Peter Monge, and Erwin Bettinghaus. Ironically, Schwartz and Susskind met in 1998 while Schwartz was preparing to retire from Cornell University and Susskind was starting as an Assistant Professor in a different department, thus providing closure to the M.S.U. network.     

Understanding the Realities of School Life: Recommendations for the Preparation of Physical Education Teachers

While quality physical education teacher education requires recruits to be trained in the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for effective teaching, research stemming from socialization theory and role theory indicates that this may not be adequate. Pre-service teachers also need to be made aware of organizational challenges they will face when transitioning into their first teaching position. These challenges stem from the ways in which recruits are socialized into physical education, and are related to the complex, sociopolitical structure of schooling. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the organizational challenges faced by beginning physical education teachers and to present recommendations for how teacher training programs can better prepare pre-service teachers to meet these challenges. The discussion includes both general and specific strategies that can be implemented to provide pre-service teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to enhance their ability to navigate life in the sociopolitical contexts of schools. Preparing students for the realities of school life should correspond with a decrease in reality shock and the washout effect.     

Historical mathematics in the French eighteenth century

At least since the seventeenth century, the strange combination of epistemological certainty and ontological power that characterizes mathematics has made it a major focus of philosophical, social, and cultural negotiation. In the eighteenth century, all of these factors were at play as mathematical thinkers struggled to assimilate and extend the analysis they had inherited from the seventeenth century. A combination of educational convictions and historical assumptions supported a humanistic mathematics essentially defined by its flexibility and breadth. This mathematics was an expression of l'esprit humain, which was unfolding in a progressive historical narrative. The French Revolution dramatically altered the historical and educational landscapes that had supported this eighteenth-century approach, and within thirty years Augustin Louis Cauchy had radically reconceptualized and restructured mathematics to be rigorous rather than narrative.     

Counsellor supervision In Zimbabwe: A new direction

This paper examines theneed for a new paradigm of counsellor supervision in Zimbabwe andprovides components for a new paradigm. The article identifiesissues that need to be considered in order to develop counsellorsupervision practice in an appropriate cultural and social contextfor the country. The issues that are examined are: counsellortraining in Zimbabwe; sociohistoric and present racial themes inZimbabwe; the impact of Eurocentric counselling theory, research andpractice in Zimbabwe; and the basic tenets of indigenous culture inZimbabwe that impact on the counsellor supervision process.     

Making a Difference: Women in management in Australian and Canadian faculties of education

This article reports a study of Australian and Canadian women in management positions in university faculties of education. It provides a perspective on the contradictory and multilayered experiences of the first cohort of academic women to reach management positions in any significant numbers in education. The article explores the way in which women are positioned as different but at the same time negotiate their place by using marginality and difference as strengths. Many of the women continue to hold to feminist agendas that were forged in relation to the university of a quarter of a century ago. They have strong commitments to 'making a difference'. The authors raise the question of how these agendas will operate in the years to come and whether we can anticipate a new feminist politics of leadership.     

Decorative Color as a Rhetorical Enhancement on the World Wide Web

Professional communication scholars have defined the decorative narrowly and subordinated it to informational text. Yet, current psychological research indicates that decorative elements elicit emotion-laden reactions that may precede cognitive awareness and influence interpretation of images. We conceive the decorative in design, and specifically color, as a complex rhetorical phenomenon. Applying decorative and color theory and analyzing design examples illustrating aesthetic, ethical, and logical appeals, we present a range of potential uses for color in electronic media.     

The Interaction of Issue and Image Frames on Political Candidate Assessment

This study examined the combined effect of character and policy coverage about a political candidate in news media on voters’ evaluations and thoughts about the candidate. A 2 (issue coverage: present/absent) × 2 (image coverage: present/absent) between-subject factorial experiment was conducted whereby participants (N = 134) read a version of an editorial article that varied in the coverage of a candidate’s character and policy positions. Results indicated that issue and image coverage, each in isolation, enhanced perceptions of the candidate’s image strength and issue strength. However, issue and image coverage when presented in combination compared to in isolation did not enhance perceptions of the candidate and in some cases hindered perceptions of candidate strength. When both coverage types were present, issue coverage dominated image coverage when participants formed image evaluations, whereas image coverage dominated issue coverage when they formed issue evaluations. Similar findings resulted for issue- and image-relevant thoughts. Implications about the effects of multicoverage political messages are discussed.