Objectives—Are they useful? A quick assessment

Most people understand the importance of objectives and the link between having objectives and accomplishing results. However, there is a difference between a well‐defined objective and a poorly developed objective both in how they are constructed and in what they ultimately lead to. In this article, we explore three levels of objectives, provide examples of good objectives at each level, and put forth a 7‐point inspection any objective should meet if it is to be a useful objective.     

“Everything inside me was silenced”: (Re)defining rape through visceral counterpublicity

This essay advances a theory of visceral counterpublicity through two case studies of recent high-profile rape crimes in the United States – the cases of Emily Doe and Emma Sulkowicz. Both cases garnered considerable public attention, yet neither perpetrator was convicted of rape. This essay analyzes how Doe and Sulkowicz performed public responses to these outcomes, using their bodies to argue what happened to them was indeed rape. These embodied forms constitute what I call visceral counterpublicity: modes of public engagement that (1) proceed when discursive frameworks understood through liberal subjectivity fall short; (2) expose the body's threatened boundaries to incite an affective response, or bodily intensity, in audiences; and (3) illuminate a subjugated position within the public sphere. Together, these cases call into question how mainstream publics define and discuss rape and suggest a potential shift in public opinion over rape to include visceral frameworks. This theory provides utility for rhetorical theorists and critics attempting to make sense of a range of embodied protests by drawing attention to how legal structures appear in and create larger public discourse about the body and violence.     

Podcasting in higher education: What are the implications for teaching and learning?

A podcast is any digital media file, or series of files, distributed over the Internet for playback on portable media players and personal computers. This study explored the attitudes, perceptions, and use of podcasting as reported by instructors and students at a large American Midwestern university. The results of two online surveys were examined, focusing specifically on items related to teaching and learning. Findings suggest that students use podcast materials largely for reviewing concepts and issues raised in lectures that they have previously attended. While instructors and students agree that podcasts help students learn, students are less sure about whether podcasts improve instructors' teaching. The authors argue that podcasts can help instructors change face-to-face instruction from traditional didactic lectures to more constructivist learning practices.     

A longitudinal study of effects of a developmental teacher preparation program on elementary prospective teachers’ mathematics beliefs

The universal emphasis in mathematics education on teaching and learning for understanding can require substantial paradigmatic shifts for many elementary school teachers. Consequently, a pressing goal of teacher preparation programs should be the facilitation of these changes during program experiences. This longitudinal, mixed methods study presents a thorough investigation of the effects of a distinctive teacher preparation program on important constructs related to prospective teacher preparedness to teach mathematics for understanding, including mathematics pedagogical and teaching efficacy beliefs, mathematics anxiety, and specialized content knowledge for teaching mathematics. The results indicate that the programmatic features experienced by the prospective teachers in this study, including a developmental two-course mathematics methods sequence and coordinated developmental field placements, provided a context supporting teacher change. These shifts are interpreted through the nature and timing of the experiences in the program and a model of teacher change processes. The findings provide insights for mathematics educators as to the outcomes of these programmatic features.     

An Exploration of Organizational Assimilation Among State-Owned,Private-Owned,and Foreign-Invested Enterprises in China

This study explores organizational assimilation in Chinese organizations. To reflect the Chinese context more accurately, the present study compared employees working in three different kinds of organizations: state-owned enterprises (SOEs), private-owned enterprises (POEs), and foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). Data collected from 220 full-time employees were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Regression analyses demonstrated that employees’ level of organizational assimilation was significantly influenced by organizational type: Employees in SOEs reported the highest level and employees in FIEs reported the lowest level of organizational assimilation.     

Instructor Clarity,Humor, Immediacy,and Student Learning: Replication and Extension

This study replicates and extends three widely cited instructional communication research studies regarding instructor clarity, humor, immediacy, and students’ learning: Richmond, Gorham, and McCroskey (1987), Wanzer and Frymier (1999), and Chesebro and McCroskey (2001). Students across four diverse institutions of higher education (N = 1,109) completed survey measures. Replication results suggest that findings from the original studies (clarity, humor, immediacy, and student learning) persist, and extension results, exploring verbal immediacy and perceived immediacy, reveal statistically significant correlations with the original studies’ variables. However, results of the replication and extension reveal measurement validity uncertainties that require further investigation.     

Finding possibilities in the impossible: a celebratory narrative of trans youth experiences in the Southeastern USA

Abstract

Using collective biographical narrative, this paper examines the ways in which school spaces – even in socioculturally and politically conservative locations – might serve to empower trans youth. The authors explore the ways that teacher, peer and curricular interactions enabled them to navigate a range of cultural spaces and arrive at authentic selves who advocate on behalf of trans youth.