Preparing Teachers to Support Inclusion: The benefits of interaction between a group of preservice teachers and a teaching assistant who is disabled

This qualitative study investigates the development of preservice teachers' attitudes toward people with disabilities during a semester-long unit. Ten students enrolled in a special education teaching elective were interviewed before and after they were engaged in a teaching program designed to expose them to direct, structured interactions with a teaching assistant who was physically disabled. The teaching assistant interacted with students in both small and large group tutorial discussions throughout the semester. Also, students kept a reflective journal on their experiences with people with disabilities throughout the teaching program. Data were collected through the use of semi-structured interviews and journals, and analysis indicated that: (i) students developed a more positive attitude and became more comfortable in interacting with the teaching assistant during the semester, and (ii) learning experience improved their knowledge about disability issues.     

PERSONAL COUNSELING AS A FUNCTION OF THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE COUNSELING EXPERIENCE

The roles and responsibilities of community college counselors have altered over the last 40 years as a result of profound social, cultural, economic, and political changes. A compounding factor is the dramatic demographic shifts that have occurred across the United States. Although academic and career-related issues traditionally have been the cornerstones of the work of community college counselors, this too is changing. Reports of the escalating frequency and severity of mental health concerns of community college students have prompted counselors to increasingly emphasize personal counseling. This article summarizes some personal issues that counselors are now likely to encounter with community college students. Recommendations for community college counselors working with students experiencing personal difficulties are also included.     

GOAL CLARIFICATION THROUGH AIM UNDERSTANDING OF WORK VALUES

Abstract

A survey of 400 senior colleges and universities in the United States revealed that community college relations committees are not the primary organizational structures through which interinstitutional relations are maintained between 2-year and 4-year schools. Of the 304 responding institutions, only 48 reported having a community college relations committee. This number was surprisingly small considering that community college transfers account for an average of 24% of their total enrollments. Such committees were found more frequently in public than in private 4-year institutions. The lack of adequate funding inhibited the success of most of the committees surveyed. Only 27% reported that they were highly successful in achieving their stated purposes. In most instances in which a high degree of committee effectiveness was perceived, well-developed programs were in operation, and adequate funds for sustaining their activities were available. The articulation of transfer policies and the promotion of informational exchanges between senior and 2-year institutions were the most common committee purposes reported. Although most committees were not highly research oriented, several provided examples of innovative and constructive projects.     

THE LEVELS OF DECISION MAKING IN MULTI‐UNIT COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEMS

This study advances a foundation for future exploration of applied understandings of factors that influence decision levels in multi‐unit community college systems. The purposes of the study were to examine the levels at which decisions were made in nine selected decision areas, and to determine the relationship between (a) the levels at which decisions were made in systems, (b) the factors of institutional size and history, and (c) the number of system‐level personnel. The data for analysis were collected from 26 community college systems that were responsible for only a portion of higher education in the state, had a system‐level president or chancellor as the chief executive officer, and had a central office separate from the campuses in the system. The Aston method of collecting data from formal organizations was utilized to identify the formal structure and context of the systems. The major findings are that faculty‐ and student‐related matters are generally decided at the campus level and that major managerial matters are generally decided at the central‐office level.     

Students' Perceptions of Teaching and Learning: The influence of students' approaches to learning and teachers' approaches to teaching

Nearly 500 secondary students in 24 classes were surveyed and four students in each class interviewed concerning their approaches to learning and perceptions of their classroom environment. While interviewed students with deep approaches to learning generally demonstrated a more sophisticated understanding of the learning opportunities offered to them than did students with surface approaches, teaching strategies also influenced students' perceptions. When teachers focused strongly on actively engaging students and creating a supportive environment, students with both deep and surface approaches focused on student-centred aspects of the class. In contrast, when traditional expository teaching methods were used exclusively, students with deep and surface approaches both focused on transmission and reproduction.     

Achievers,confidence-builders,advocates, relationship-developers and system-changers: what ‘making a difference’ means to those who work with children with special educational needs – a typology of rewards

Previous research on the rewards found that teachers gain satisfaction in a sense of vocation, ‘making a difference’, and the emotional rewards of ‘care’ and ‘love’, especially in whole-class teaching. The meaning of ‘making a difference’ often remains unexplored however, and this article is an attempt to rectify this gap in the literature and aims to construct a typology of the rewards that staff find in working with children with special educational needs (SEN). SEN co-ordinators and teachers of children with SEN were studied using four focus groups (n?=?20) and 12 semi-structured interviews (total sample, n?=?32). A narrative, life-history approach was taken to analyse the rewards over time of working with children. Making a difference was mentioned as a phrase 47 times across the sample of 32. A typology of the kinds of rewards experienced by teachers was constructed and the rewards were found in improving attainment, being an advocate, confidence-building and ‘system changing’. Some respondents defined ‘making a difference’ in disparate ways. The article found that those having the longest career in school found that being an advocate for parents was the most rewarding aspect of their job. The study concludes by drawing out the implications for the retention of staff in a time of policy change.     

(1) The Training of Hospital Librarians in the U.S.A.

Copyright, a legal discipline concerned with the protection of the moral and economic rights of the creators of literary, scientific and artistic works, is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 27.2), as are the rights to information and culture. This intellectual right amounts to a monopoly on exploitation for authors, which is the subject of national legislation and international conventions designed to ensure its worldwide harmonization. Since the invention of printing, which brought it into being, copyright has been adapted to the various technologies for disseminating and communicating works of the mind that have subsequently developed. Because respect for copyright is a fundamental requirement for the full development of the creative work for which it provides remuneration, copyright today is faced with the difficulty of maintaining the delicate balance among the legitimate interests of authors, successors-in-title and the general public in the digital environment. This paper illustrates a highly topical international debate, analyses international agreements adopted under the aegis of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) last December and describes UNESCO's doctrine on the subject.     

Freedom of information spreads to Europe

Europe is gradually embracing freedom of information principles while at the same time restricting dissemination of information generated by public agencies through electronic databases. Both Britain and Germany are moving to adopt freedom of information laws, and the European Commission has published a regulation allowing access to European institution materials. These developments are important for the rest of the world, including the United States, because the Internet is already becoming a vast virtual library facilitating global access to statutes, court decisions, and administrative agency decisions that make up the raw ingredients of a rule of law. Meanwhile, however, the European Commission issued a directive limiting certain uses of electronic databases, broadly enough drafted to include electronic repositories of primary legal information. This kind of state-sponsored monopoly over public information is inimical to a rule of law and democratic values. Europeans and Americans should work to realize the increased transparency promised by the freedom of information developments, and work to minimize the extent to which the database directive and similar proposals on this side of the Atlantic restrict redissemination of primary legal information.     

Acute effects of static stretching on characteristics of the isokinetic angle – torque relationship,surface electromyography,and mechanomyography

Abstract

The aims of this study were to examine the acute effects of static stretching on peak torque, work, the joint angle at peak torque, acceleration time, isokinetic range of motion, mechanomyographic amplitude, and electromyographic amplitude of the rectus femoris during maximal concentric isokinetic leg extensions at 1.04 and 5.23 rad · s^?1 in men and women. Ten women (mean ± s: age 23.0 ± 2.9 years, stature 1.61 ± 0.12 m, mass 63.3 ± 9.9 kg) and eight men (age 21.4 ± 3.0 years, stature 1.83 ± 0.11 m, mass 83.1 ± 15.2 kg) performed maximal voluntary concentric isokinetic leg extensions at 1.04 and 5.23 rad · s^?1. Following the initial isokinetic tests, the dominant leg extensors were stretched using four static stretching exercises. After the stretching, the isokinetic tests were repeated. Peak torque, acceleration time, and electromyographic amplitude decreased (P≤ 0.05) from pre- to post-stretching at 1.04 and 5.23 rad · s^?1; there were no changes (P > 0.05) in work, joint angle at peak torque, isokinetic range of motion, or mechanomyographic amplitude. These findings indicate no stretching-related changes in the area under the angle – torque curve (work), but a significant decrease in peak torque, which suggests that static stretching may cause a “flattening” of the angle – torque curve that reduces peak strength but allows for greater force production at other joint angles. These findings, in conjunction with the increased limb acceleration rates (decreased acceleration time) observed in the present study, provide tentative support for the hypothesis that static stretching alters the angle – torque relationship and/or sarcomere shortening velocity.