Linking a community of learners with a community of scholars

Florida International University, a new upper level public university established in 1972, implemented a philosophical and programmatic objective of service to the community and fostering international understanding through the education of students. The University's primary clientele is composed of adult graduates of community colleges and older continuing education adults who are self-supporting. The changing student population demanded non-traditional methods for the delivery of the educational services. An External Degree mechanism was developed to deliver the educational services to the adult learner. The impact of this community of learners determined the values and assumptions of the External Degree Program. The adult role became a key factor in the development of the University. This role was manifested in programs as well as in administration of the University and it caused changes in the roles of the learners and the scholars in putting major emphasis on processes related to assessment of prior learning and development of an educational contract. The community of students helped define new roles for the community of scholars, especially the faculty adviser, content consultants, and adjunct professors. The major educational process that developed from this linking of the community of learners and a community of scholars was the educational contract. The challenge that faces this linkage is the development of and the support for quality standards that determine the learning outcome and are embodied in the learning contract process.

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Zusammenfassung Die Internationale Universität von Florida, eine neuere Universität, die 1972 gegründet wurde, hat die philosophische und programmatische Absicht in die Tat umgesetzt, den Dienst an der Gemeinschaft und die internationale Verständigung durch die Erziehung von Studenten zu fördern. Die hauptsächliche Zielgruppe der Universität sind erwachsene Absolventen von community-colleges und ältre, Erwachsene, die sich weiterbilden und das Studium selbst bezahlen. Die sich verändernde Studentenschaft verlangte auch nach untraditioneller Darbietung der Bildungsdienste. Ein Mechanismus wurde geschaffen, der über einen Externen Grad die Bildungsdienste an den erwachsenen Lernenden weitergeben sollte. Der Einfluss dieser Gemeinschaft von Lernenden bestimmte auch das Wertsystem und die allgemeinen Grundlagen des Externen Grad-Programms. Die Erwachsenenrolle wurde zum Schlüsselfaktor in der Entwicklung der Universität. Dies zeigte sich sowohl in den Programmen als auch in der Verwaltung der Universität, und führte zu Veränderungen sowohl in der der Lernenden als auch der Lehrenden durch die Betonung von Prozessen, die sich auf die Beurteilung bereits vorhandenen Wissens und die Entwicklung eines Bildungsvertrages. Die Gemeinschaft der Studenten half mit in der Definition neuer Rollen für die Gemeinschaft der Forschenden und Lehrenden, insbesondere für die Berater der Studenten, die Curriculumberater, und Professoren. Der hauptsächliche Bildungsprozess, der sich aus dieser Gemeinschaft von Lernenden und Lehrenden entwickelte, war der Bildungsvertrag. Der Test, den diese Verbindung noch bestehen muss, ist die Entwicklung und Unterstützung von Qualitätsansprüchen, die ihrerseits die Resultate bestimmen, und in den Bildungsvertrag mit eingeschlossen sind.

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Résumé L'Université Internationale de la Floride, une nouvelle université publique d'un niveau supérieur établie en 1972, a mis en oeuvre un objectif philosophique et programmatique de service vis-à-vis de la communauté et encourageant la compréhension internationale par l'éducation des étudiants. La clientèle principale de l'Université se compose d'adultes diplômés dans les collèges de la communauté et d'adultes plus âgés poursuivant leur éducation à leurs propres frais. Le changement dans la population qui étudie a exigé des méthodes non-traditionnelles pour la mise à disposition de services pédagogiques. Un mécanisme de Grade Externe a été élaboré pour mettre les services pédagogiques à la disposition de l'adulte qui apprend. L'influence de cette communauté de ceux qui apprennent a déterminé les valeurs et les présomptions du programme du Grade Externe. Le rôle de l'adulte est devenu un facteur clé dans le développement de l'Université. Ce rôle s'est manifesté dans des programmes ainsi que dans l'administration de l'Université et a causé des changements dans les rôles de ceux qui apprennent et des écoliers, en posant une accentuation majeure sur les processus ayant trait à l'évaluation de l'apprentissage précédent et du développement d'un contrat éducatif. La communauté des étudiants a aidé à définir les nouveaux rôles pour la communauté des écoliers, en particulier pour le conseiller de la faculté, les conseillers concernant le contenu et les professeurs adjoints. Le processus principal éducatif qui s'est développé à la suite de cette liaison de la communauté de ceux qui apprennent et d'une communauté d'écoliers a été le contrat prédagogique. Le défi, auquel fait face cette liaison, est le développement de et le soutien de degrés de qualité qui déterminent le résultat de l'apprentissage et qui sont incorporés dans le processus de contrat d'apprentissage.

     

Which males or females are most at risk and on what? An analysis of gender differentials within the primary school system of Trinidad and Tobago

This paper reviews the work on gendered achievement in the English‐speaking Caribbean, with its often explicit focus on underachieving males. However, patterns of gendered achievement are more likely region‐specific and variegated in some contexts. In Trinidad and Tobago, the full‐scale implementation of national assessments in 2004 provided an opportunity to evaluate mathematics and language performance across the entire pupil population at standards 1 (7‐ to 8‐year‐olds) and 3 (9‐ to 10‐year‐olds). Census data from the high‐stakes 2003 Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) administered at standard 5 (ages: 10–11+) were also included in the analysis. Therefore the entire dataset consisted of 52,284 primary school students (26,574 males and 25,710 females). The findings confirmed that female pupils had a statistically significant advantage on all assessments. However, in terms of practical significance, most differentials were negligible to small. Medium‐sized differentials were obtained for pupils of low ability, living in rural educational districts, and on language arts. Male achievement scores were also more variable for lower grade levels, low ability groups and language arts. Paradoxically, in some educational districts secondary school placement opportunities still favoured males. These variegated patterns of gendered achievement may be associated with differences in institutional effectiveness and variations in male socialization practices that are especially evident across the urban–rural divide.     

MAKING THE ISRAEL EXPERIENCE EFFECTIVE

If I recall my first teaching experience, it is only to suggest that perhaps, in many congregations, the situation has not materially improved. It was the season of 1923–1924. I was a freshman student at Columbia College, and I was invited to assist the backward students at Temple Anshe Chesed (in Harlem, New York) in their reading of Hebrew, and to serve as substitute for any teachers who might be absent on any particular day. I had as much right to serve as anything at all in any classroom as I had to perform surgery in a hospital. But to Cantor Marcel Katz z”I who doubled as principal of the school (Dr. Jacob Kohn was the Rabbi) no further credentials were necessary besides my willingness to do my best — which was not, clearly, very good.     

Essential Characteristics for a Professional Development Program for Promoting the Implementation of a Multidisciplinary Science Module

Teachers involved in the implementation of a curriculum innovation can be prepared for this task through a professional development program. In this paper, we describe essential characteristics (identified empirically and theoretically) for such a professional development program that promotes the acquisition of competences by these teachers. The innovation deals with the introduction of modules from a new multidisciplinary subject, in which elements from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and physical geography are integrated. A 3-step approach was used to identify the essential characteristics: (a) evidence from classroom practice, (b) characteristics of the new subject, and (c) theoretical and empirical evidence from curriculum implementation studies. Analysis of the data showed that 5 characteristics need particular attention in a professional development program.     

New histories for a new state: a study of history textbook content in Northern Ireland

Curriculum implementation often falls short because of a lack of cultural understanding by curriculum developers and aid organizations. This paper describes a single-case study of a professional development programme for polytechnic Heads of Department in Ghana, which aimed at identifying how curriculum development activities were sensitive to culture. A conceptual framework for culturally sensitive curriculum development was applied to facilitate the identification of culture in the curriculum development process. Two curriculum specialists and various project members from Ghana and the Netherlands participated in the data collection by means of interviews, documents, and a researcher’s logbook. Results showed that the conducted curriculum development activities were strongly impacted by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions—High-Low Power Distance and Collectivism–Individualism and to a limited extent by Hall’s cultural dimensions—High-Low Context and Polytime-Monotime. The outcomes of this study strengthen the relevance of Context analyses, iterations of design–implementation–evaluation activities, and additional implementation support. Through the conduction of these activities, culture can be taken into account in curriculum development processes and a good fit between the developed curriculum and the local context can be ensured. Furthermore, this study encourages curriculum developers and project teams working in international cooperation contexts to create more cultural understanding by using the framework and by intensively collaborating with informed experts.     

Harmony and disharmony in an educational reform concert: towards a Parsons’ inspired dynamic model of tuning

In large-scale educational reforms, many actors play their roles. The diversity of contributions and lack of harmonization prove to be frequently found to cause educational reform failures. Many explanations for these failures focus on differences between the actors and on differences in their contributions to the reform process. In this article, we examine the effects of these differences and emphasize on the need to harmonize these contributions to the reform process. Contributions by several actors to a large-scale curriculum reform undertaken in the Netherlands in the 1990s are mapped for this purpose. This curriculum reform is part of a larger educational reform aimed to introduce a constructivist approach. Education is conceptualised as a social system, and educational reform as the manner in which this social system adapts to immanent and emmanent changes. The actors in the education system are distributed across functional subsystems. In the present analyses, teacher acting within a particular subsystem stands central. The results show adequate exchange and harmonization of the contributions from the different subsystems to be a necessary condition for successful educational reform. To achieve a good exchange and harmonization, the use of an Educational Impact Assessment is recommended.     

Daily steps in midlife and older adults: relationship with demographic, self-rated health, and self-reported physical activity

The relationship between average daily step counts and age, body mass index (BMI), self-reported physical activity (PA) level, and perceived health was determined in 85 middle-aged and older adults who wore a pedometer for 7 consecutive days. Average daily steps were significantly (p < .05) correlated with BMI (r = -.26), age (r = -.44) and perceived health (r = .53) but not with self-reported PA level (r = .19). The adjusted percentage of participants classified as meeting the PA recommendation in < or = 5,000, 5,001-9,999, and > or = 10,000 steps/day categories ranged from 53 to 61%. These findings support previous evidence in younger populations suggesting that the recommended minimal level of health-related PA may be achieved despite not accumulating 10,000 steps/day.