Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Guidelines for Research Mentorship: Development and Implementation

The authors describe guidelines endorsed by the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision for research mentorship, including characteristics of mentors and mentees. Suggestions for implementing the guidelines at the individual, program, institution, and professional levels are focused on enhancing mentoring relationships as well as mentees’ research quality and productivity. Research on research mentoring, based on the guidelines, is encouraged.     

“Real-Time” Case Studies in Organizational Communication

Objective: This activity integrates theory and application by examining the multiple communication events affecting a single organization in “real time” over the course of an academic term

Course: Advanced-Level Organizational Communication Course     

Bridging Realty to Virtual Reality: Investigating gender effect and student engagement on learning through video game play in an elementary school classroom

The purpose of this study was to examine students' learning of simple machines, a fifth‐grade (ages 10–11) forces and motion unit, and student engagement using a teacher‐created Multiplayer Educational Gaming Application. This mixed‐method study collected pre‐test/post‐test results to determine student knowledge about simple machines. A survey ascertained the time spent using the computer for general purposes, and the time spent playing computer games as a function of gender. The pre‐test and post‐test design involved 74 students, 31 males and 43 females, who played the Dr. Friction Multiplayer Educational Gaming Application for several days in the middle of the unit. Results showed the females averaged using the computer more than their male counterparts and males played video games more than females. Analysis of covariance suggested no significant difference between the factor gender (p > .05) but statistically significant differences in gain scores (p = .001). Observations and qualitative focus groups suggested high student engagement and how video game technology can scaffold learning of simple machines.     

Improving quick writing performance of middle-school struggling learners

Writing performanceperformance of 279 seventh- and eighth-grade students in four urban charter schools was evaluated in comparison group pretest/posttest quasi-experimental study. Thirty-three students, identified by cut scores on a standardized fluency measure, received supplemental one-to-one Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) instruction for persuasive quick writing. Fifty-one students with scores below the cut participated as an eligible non-treatment comparison; 195 students with scores above the cut participated as a non-eligible comparison group. All students’ written responses were evaluated before and after the intervention. Results of repeated measures analysis indicated that students in treatment (additional instruction time + SRSD + planned practice-testing) significantly improved quick writing performance after instruction when compared to pretest performance, and when compared to eligible comparison, with large effect sizes for number of persuasive elements and organizational quality and medium effects for persuasive quality. When compared to non-eligible comparison, students in treatment had significantly higher scores for organizational quality (large effects) and persuasive quality (small effects).     

Perceptions of a Military Social Work Specialization Certificate Program: Implications for Future Programs

Military social work certificates, courses, and specializations have emerged to address the need for competent and culturally aware practitioners to serve military and veteran clients. This study evaluates one of these certificate programs surveying 27 previous graduate students and 11 field supervisors affiliated with this program. The majority of the participants endorsed this certificate as a viable means to prepare for practice with these clients. Findings highlight the importance of participants understanding military culture and common psychiatric conditions. Results point to the benefits of future programs teaching this material using real-life case scenarios and addressing veteran benefits, different periods of service, macro content, and complex ethical challenges.     

Classcraft: from gamification to ludicization of classroom management

In this article, we discuss the concept of gamification, based on a literature review and preliminary feedback from teachers using Classcraft, a role-playing game supported by a digital platform and a mobile application that were developed to answer high school teachers’ classroom management needs. Our results come from two experiments in France and Quebec and also from an online survey that was made available on the Classcraft platform. These results promote a model of gamification that consists of considering the experience of the students, rather than the game itself, and they confirm that a game is consubstantial to its player. Therefore, we argue for the use of the term “ludicization” to emphasize that transforming a situation into a game does not consist of using elements that have a game-like aspect, but rather of a non-essentialistic vision of play, generating a metaphor around the situation to build a reflexive space where the nature and meaning of interactions are modified.     

Understanding Candidates’ Learning Relationships with their Cooperating Teachers: A call to Reframe my Pedagogy

Abstract

This self-study frames the influences of cooperating (or mentor) teachers on teacher candidates in my teacher education classroom as an action-at-a-distance on my pedagogy of teacher education; that is, a tacit set of influences and expectations that teacher candidates develop about my course before it even begins. Interviews with teacher candidates enabled me to develop two conceptual metaphors to think about the relationships candidates develop with cooperating teachers on practicum. The first, freedom with foundation, reflects the fact that teacher candidates hope to have considerable autonomy in their practicum placements while simultaneously having the support from their cooperating teacher to receive meaningful, regular, feedback. The second, power and performance, names the tensions teacher candidates feel in experiencing the practicum as a site of performance rather than as a site of learning. I offer some specific pedagogical ways in which I have responded to these issues before making a turn to self. I examined journal entries from my own experiences as a teacher candidate 20 years ago with a view to understanding the ways in which the two metaphors may have played a role in my own development as a teacher. This research compels me to attend explicitly to action-at-at-distance forces in my teacher education classroom, such as candidates’ relationship with cooperating teachers and my relationships with my former cooperating teachers.     

Reading and writing to learn science: Achieving scientific literacy

A key step in helping students to achieve scientific literacy is to ensure that each school's curriculum supports students' efforts to learn science meaningfully. Educational researchers play a vital role in this step by providing teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and policy makers with information about the creation of a curriculum that supports scientific literacy. In a scientific literacy curriculum, reading and writing can serve as dynamic vehicles for learning science meaningfully. The task of educational researchers is to show how reading and writing can be used most effectively to support science learning. Much of what is done now in schools is based on teacher intuition—good intuition—but intuition nonetheless. What is needed is school-based research to validate and build upon these intuitions. This article is intended to stimulate research on reading and writing to learn science.