Assessing a Holistic Trait and Factor Approach to Career Development of College Students

To assess the impact of a holistic career and life planning course on college students, the authors asked 209 students in treatment and control groups to complete measures of career development. Results indicate that the course significantly increases vocational identity and career decision‐making self‐efficacy and decreases career indecision.     

Developing Research Skills for Civil Engineers: A Library Contribution

A cowse‐integrated programme of library instruction has been developed for the School of Civil Engineering at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia; library instruction being one of the means selected to improve the research efforts of fourth year project students. The programme has been developed through consultation between the Civil Engineering Research Project Coordinator and the Civil Engineering Reference Librarian. Its aims are derived from those established for the fourth year research projects. Attention is focussed on the nature of the programme and the impact of instruction on fourth year research project students. Students who had received extended library instruction were compared with students from the previous year. Evidence suggests that the instruction has improved the information seeking behaviour of the students and their literature reviews.     

Challenges and Opportunities in Religious Education: Re-Considering Practitioners’ Approaches in Scottish Secondary Schools

Abstract

In Scotland, and particularly with regards to non-denominational RE, known as Religious and Moral Education (RME), a current focus of debates is on how and why practitioners are implementing or deviating from legal and curricular expectations. Using the findings of a small-scale qualitative practitioner enquiry centered on one local education authority in Scotland, this article advances recent discussions and engages with comparative international scholarship by identifying the challenges and opportunities in relation to the provision of RME and arguing that practitioners are motivated by the demands of learners and the priorities of school leaders, rather than official expectations.     

Teacher Efficacy Research 1998–2009: Signs of Progress or Unfulfilled Promise?

This review investigates the state of teacher self- and collective efficacy research conducted from 1998 to 2009. Two hundred and eighteen empirical articles published in 1998–2009 were examined for key characteristics and compared to research published in the previous 12 years (i.e., 1986–1997). Results from the review show increases in overall teacher efficacy research, methodological diversity, domain specificity, internationalization, and focus on collective efficacy. Continuing problem areas were a lack of attention to the sources of teacher efficacy, continued measurement and conceptual problems, a lack of evidence for the links between teacher efficacy and student outcomes, and uncertain relevance of teacher efficacy research to educational practice. An outline of directions for future teacher efficacy research is provided.     

How do instructional designers evaluate? A qualitative study of evaluation in practice

This study employed a qualitative research design to investigate how instructional designers use evaluation in everyday design practice. While past research has examined how designers spend their time, how they generally make decisions, and expert-novice differences, little attention has been paid to use of context, input, process, or product evaluation, from the perspective of practicing designers. Based on interviews of practitioners, our findings included ten themes regarding how designers use evaluation to improve their products. While these results substantiate to some degree the claim that practitioners believe clients will not pay for formal evaluations, they also suggest that practitioners use evaluation in important but less formal ways. Other conclusions regarding the role of evaluation in design are provided and future directions for training and research are discussed.     

Factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding 2 to 4 weeks following discharge from a large, urban, academic medical center striving for baby-friendly designation

Substantial evidence documents the superiority of breastfeeding for mothers and breastmilk for babies. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Healthy People 2010 initiative promote breastfeeding, current breastfeeding rates often fall short of recommendations. This study determined factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding 2 to 4 weeks following discharge from a large, urban, academic medical center striving for Baby-Friendly designation. Results indicated that mothers who breastfed within the first hour of birth (61%) were significantly more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding 2 to 4 weeks after discharge. Incorporating care practices that include a number of the "Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding," as recommended by the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, may increase the duration of exclusive breastfeeding after discharge.     

Effect of postsecondary education on the economic status of persons who are deaf or hard of hearing

This article examines the effect that postsecondary education has on earnings and the duration of time spent in the Social Security disability programs for young persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. Our hypothesis is that investments in postsecondary training increase the likelihood of employment for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and thus reduce dependency on disability-related income support programs. A longitudinal data set based upon records from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and Social Security administrative records is used for this analysis. We find that those who graduate, even those who graduate with vocational degrees, experience significant earnings benefits and reductions in the duration of time spent on federal disability programs when compared with those who do not graduate with a degree. This finding suggests that reductions in the duration of time spent on Social Security programs are not limited to those with the highest level of scholastic aptitude and that investments in post-secondary education can benefit a broad group of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons. In addition, the data show that individuals who attend college, but withdraw before graduation, fair no better economically than individuals who never attended college.