Practising empathy: enacting alternative perspectives through imaginative play

This article reports on a collaborative study using an innovative methodology, based on ‘insiders’ who are Steiner practitioners knowledgeable and practised in Steiner philosophy and ‘outsiders’ from UK mainstream early years and primary perspectives. Although the study as a whole focused on assessment and observation used in Steiner kindergartens, it yielded a rich data source on imaginative play that offers practice in empathy. We contextualise the data presented from a Steiner perspective in the wider literature on the imagination and affect in order to theorise how such play develops empathy through its links to feelings and prosocial behaviour. We critically examine how empathy and the imagination are nurtured in the context of eight kindergarten classes in five Steiner schools in England in order to illustrate how these conditions might also help other early years and primary schooling to foster long-term benefits for ethical and fulfilling lives through encouraging empathic understanding.     

The Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS): A New Instrument to Characterize University STEM Classroom Practices

Instructors and the teaching practices they employ play a critical role in improving student learning in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. Consequently, there is increasing interest in collecting information on the range and frequency of teaching practices at department-wide and institution-wide scales. To help facilitate this process, we present a new classroom observation protocol known as the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM or COPUS. This protocol allows STEM faculty, after a short 1.5-hour training period, to reliably characterize how faculty and students are spending their time in the classroom. We present the protocol, discuss how it differs from existing classroom observation protocols, and describe the process by which it was developed and validated. We also discuss how the observation data can be used to guide individual and institutional change.     

‘You just try to find your own way’: the experience of newcomers to academia

The purpose of the research reported on in this article was to explore how newcomer staff members to the academy experience their entry into the academic discourse community. To this end, a generic qualitative research design was implemented to understand the meaning newcomers have constructed about academia and how they make sense of their experience of, and participation in, the academic environment. A purposeful sample of 20 newcomers to a South African university was selected to be interviewed. Within this university newly‐appointed academics are introduced to the academic environment via a two to three‐day general induction seminar. The data‐generating method used was in‐depth, recursive interviews, in which participants were prompted to narrate and reflect on their experiences. Data was analysed inductively by seeking core consistencies and meanings (themes) within the data linked to the purpose of the research. The inquiry revealed three main findings: (1) Newcomers had to change their existing perceptions and expectations about what it means to be an academic; (2) They experienced their entry into the academic context as a highly individualised process; and (3) Most newcomers initially operated ignorantly of many of the features of the community, its discourse and the complexity of its rules of interaction. The article proposes a three‐tier mentoring model that is conceptualised from a dialogic perspective as a means to assisting novice academics in entering and progressing within academia. We argue that the proposed model could also serve as a powerful transformation agent in the university, helping to build a diverse and strong academy.     

Confronting dominant whiteness in the primary classroom: progressive student teachers' dilemmas and constraints

Concerns about new teachers' capacity to address diversity in their classrooms are growing in many parts of the West, and there is some consensus that one aspect of the problem is the narrow range of cultural and social backgrounds from which teacher candidates are drawn. Yet a minority of socially aware teachers, from all backgrounds, continue to join the profession, and attempt to teach in ways that address diversity and confront racism. Drawing on data from an on-going longitudinal study of progressive teachers in their early careers, this article explores the dilemmas and constraints faced by four student teachers on their final teaching practice. Focusing on the curriculum, it examines their different responses to the unexamined white norms and priorities in the material they are expected to teach. It concludes that while there is cause for optimism about some new teachers' understanding of and commitment to race equality and ethnic diversity, more attention needs to be paid to how schools respond to teachers who offer a challenge to hegemonic norms and practices. This work takes on a new significance in the context of recent government proposals to shift responsibility for initial teacher education in the UK from higher education institutions to the schools themselves.     

Personality, assessment methods and academic performance

This study examines the relationship between personality and two different academic performance (AP) assessment methods, namely exams and coursework. It aimed to examine whether the relationship between traits and AP was consistent across self-reported versus documented exam results, two different assessment techniques and across different faculties. There were 1,013 (622 female) university students from four British Universities in four faculties namely arts/humanities, social sciences, life/biological sciences and mathematical sciences. Participants completed a brief version of the Big Five inventory and a self-report measure of AP. Conscientiousness and Agreeableness were the strongest personality predictors of AP. Structural equation model showed that sex and personality effects on AP were invariant across different areas of study or degree types (humanities, social sciences, life sciences and hard sciences). Personality variables are stable, robust and predictable correlates and determinants of AP. Conscientiousness, Openness and Agreeableness were positive predictors as measured by good grades whilst Neuroticism and Extraversion were correlates of weaker performance. Implications of these results refer how teachers choose to examine their pupils and to what extent students choose courses because of their known examination procedures.     

School Board Leadership and Policymaking in Changing Political Environments

As the demographic make-up of public schools (and neighborhoods) shift and schools become increasingly segregated, the role of school boards becomes critically important in maintaining policies designed to remedy segregation and promote equal opportunity, policies which may challenge the status quo. Specifically, in school districts and communities where politics are fluctuating, longstanding diversity policies that have assisted in creating integrated learning environments can be overturned by a single school board election. Further, as suburbanization within countywide school districts creates distinct enclaves—where student populations are significantly whiter and more affluent than the district as a whole and political fragmentation is perpetuated—school board members representing elite enclaves may be less supportive of policies that would lessen the privilege of these residents. This paper explores school board leadership and policymaking in two Southern school districts where politics are currently in flux: Jefferson County (Louisville), Kentucky and Wake County (Raleigh), North Carolina. Specifically, we seek to: (1) understand how demographic change—particularly the creation of suburban enclaves—influences public support for and implementation of integration policies; (2) examine the politics of diversity in a larger environment skeptical of race-conscious policies; and (3) analyze local policymaking and leadership.     

Movies in Public Libraries: A Checklist Comparison with Internet Movie Database Recommendations

This research compares the fifty top-rated movies for 2000–2009 recommended by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) with the holdings of ten medium-sized public libraries. The study shows that there was no relation between a movie's rank in the IMDb listing and the number of copies held. Relationships appeared between number of library holdings and country of production (U.S. productions favored), genre (family, sci-fi, animation, adventure favored), and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating (G, PG, PG-13 preferred). Library holdings seem to reflect preferences of IMDb raters aged 30 and older, not popular movie tastes.     

Combined Use of Online Tutorials and Hands-On Group Exercises in Bibliographic Instruction for Pharmacy Students

This study describes the new blended learning methodology implemented in a Drug Literature Evaluation course for pharmacy students that involves combined use of online tutorials and in-class group exercises. Assignment grades earned by 909 students enrolled in the course before and after the new methods were implemented (2008–2010) were studied to measure student performance. Course evaluations were analyzed in order to ascertain students’ perceptions. The hybrid approach used to deliver the course content allowed students to perform at the same level as traditional didactic teaching. Students’ evaluations reported a positive educational experience and favorable perceptions of the new course design.     

Using the ADDIE Model in Designing Library Instruction

Librarians are increasingly placed in the role of instructor and are required to design and deliver effective instruction. This article highlights ADDIE, an instructional design model that librarians at Weill Cornell Medical College used to redesign an evidence-based medicine course taken by first-year medical students. The ADDIE model incorporates the five phases of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. It was found that the application of ADDIE can result in instruction that focuses on learning outcomes relevant to students, meets students' needs, and facilitates active learning.     

Collaboration and Organization for Successful Serials Cancellation

Serials cancellations are dreaded equally by librarians and faculty. Previously, faculty reviewed title lists, and librarians canceled what they recommended. Today's cancellation process is more complex; there has to be a context and a timetable. Reports must include at least data about historical pricing and titles associated with e-packages that are not cancellable. Although libraries' workflows differ, there are basic steps necessary to carry out a successful cancellation process. This joint presentation demonstrated how integrated planning and the use of serials management tools are used to organize complex information into useable data. It takes early and collaborative planning between Collection Development, teaching faculty, and Serials Technical Services to make a dreaded process less painful and more effective. This tactics session was delivered in parts by Susanne Clement and Gaele Gillespie, Head of Collection Development and Serials Librarian, respectively, at Watson Library, University of Kansas, and by Sarah Tusa, Coordinator of Collection Development and Acquisitions at the Mary and John Gray Library, Lamar University.