Creating sustainable societies: developing emerging professionals through transforming current mindsets

Future professionals will bear the brunt of creating sustainable societies. Equipping them for the task is the challenge of current educators. Educational experiences facilitating the development of sustainable habits of mind are needed. This research reports on the experiences of developing scientists and engineers engaged in a sustainable energy research program. Its focus is the learners’ changing conceptions about sustainability and their role in creating sustainable societies. It is an exploratory, multi-strand, case-oriented study, utilizing mixed methods to analyze qualitative and quantitative data. The research was grounded in the literature of education for sustainability and situated learning in communities, highlighting the common threads supporting the development of a new generation of scientists and engineers with sustainable mindsets. Findings indicated learners’ concepts of sustainability were broadened from narrow, discipline-specific definitions to an understanding of sustainability as a multidisciplinary field. Learners’ developing identities from budding scientists and engineers to citizens invested in and capable of creating sustainable societies is discussed. The development of learning communities was an integral mechanism for facilitating perspective changes; however, field trips and seminars focused on exploring sustainability were identified as key influences in developing multifaceted and more complex conceptions of sustainability.     

Emerging: the impact of the Artist Teacher Scheme MA on students’ pedagogical and artistic practices

The United Kingdom Artist Teacher Scheme (ATS) commissioned a study of the artistic and pedagogical practices of students on a recently established Artist Teacher Scheme MA (ATS MA). The aims of this study were to: investigate the motives and objectives teachers/educators have for undertaking this ATS MA programme, the impact the programme had on their artistic and pedagogical practices and their pupils’ learning; and make recommendations for future development of ATS MA programmes. Through the analysis of questionnaires it was found that the ATS MA’s strength lies in the development of communities of practice and peer support, artist teachers’ renewed confidence in their extended artistic and pedagogical practices, the professional development of artist teachers, and significant development of the art and design curriculum.     

Beyond the local/general divide: English for academic purposes and process approaches to cross disciplinary,doctoral writing support

One of the outcomes of the policy emphasis upon skills formation in countries like Australia and the UK has been an increase in cross-disciplinary structured programs for higher research degrees raising implicit, but often unexamined, questions about the curriculum and expertise that should inform them. Key insights from applied linguistics and composition studies about disciplinary similarities and differences and writing pedagogy for the development of university-wide structured programs are discussed in the article. In addition, student evaluations of two ‘social sciences, humanities and business' writing programs that were developed to reflect these insights are reported. The findings are read to suggest that the framework within which research training is conceptualized must consider not only the diversity of domains and activities that characterise higher degree research, but the communicative purposes against which research texts are evaluated and differentiated. The overlapping and contrasting nature of these purposes suggests collaborations among specific discipline groups in structured program provision within the research degree cohort, rather than the local/general research training split that is often assumed.     

Attitudes about Group Work among Criminal Justice Students: The Influence of Participation in Group Projects

Past research has considered factors that contribute to students’ attitudes about group projects. Much of this research has focused on the influence of demographic characteristics such as gender, race, and age. This study extends that past research and considers whether participating in group projects potentially changes students’ attitudes about group projects. Surveys were conducted with 85 students, 48 of whom had just completed a group project. Results showed that students who just completed a group project had slightly different attitudes about group projects than those who did not. Attention was also given to the total number of group projects to which students were exposed. Analyses showed that those who were exposed to more group projects held different attitudes about group projects than those who had fewer group projects. Implications are provided.     

Every Week Counts

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education discusses implications for reducing the incidence of nonmedically indicated deliveries before full-term. The editor also describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote, support, and protect natural, safe, and healthy birth.     

Vicarious Birth Experiences and Childbirth Fear: Does It Matter How Young Canadian Women Learn About Birth?

In our secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey, we explored predictors of childbirth fear for young women (n = 2,676). Young women whose attitudes toward pregnancy and birth were shaped by the media were 1.5 times more likely to report childbirth fear. Three factors that were associated with reduced fear of birth were women’s confidence in reproductive knowledge, witnessing a birth, and learning about pregnancy and birth through friends. Offering age-appropriate birth education during primary and secondary education, as an alternative to mass-mediated information about birth, can be evaluated as an approach to reduce young women’s childbirth fear.     

Strategies for Improving Vertical Alignment: Implementation of a College-Readiness Collaborative of Secondary and Post-Secondary Educators

This article describes how one community college and region service center developed a collaborative of secondary and post-secondary English/Language Arts educational professionals to promote college readiness. Challenged by state mandates to test college readiness and by concerns about student performance in high school and college English classes, the collaborative examined standards and testing practices, high school and college cultures, college placement policies, course content, assessment practices, syllabi and sample assignments, and college preparation programs. The results of the two-year collaboration include a list of nine specific practices that educators can use to enhance students’ success in college Composition I. In addition, the collaborative implemented these recommendations in several area high schools.     

A Professional Learning Experience for Pre‐service and In‐service Teachers and One Teacher Educator: reflections and lessons learned

Abstract

In this paper we reflect on our efforts during the 1992–93 academic school year to create a different type of teacher education experience — one based on active learning, and collegiality and mutuality. Drawing on a model for classroom‐based teacher development described by Thiessen (1992), we begin with an overview of how we worked to (a) improve the quality of learning for all participants; (b) create a supportive learning environment for all the stakeholders; (c) leant in the complex and changing situation of classroom life; (d) combine personally meaningful, educationally defensible and socially justifiable evaluation practices; and (e) engage in reflective, interactive and transformative experiences. After this we. describe tension we experienced, which resulted from a lack of shared vision among us and from our efforts to examine our own practice. We also explore how we tried to deal with the tension. We conclude with lessons learned from our experience which have led to new questions about teacher education reform.     

Resisting cultural imperialism,or welcoming cultural globalization? China's extensive debate on Hollywood cinema from 1994 to 2007

This article provides a historical and critical review of the extensive debate in China over the government's policy of importing Hollywood blockbusters from 1994 to 2007. The debate suggests a fundamental divide in China along the different ideological lines. I argue that China's debate over Hollywood cinema actually serves as a site for the Chinese people to make sense of their own modernization process and national identity. The debate, in a large sense, has little to do with the connotation of Hollywood cinemas in the US context, but has much to do with their implications for China. The whole debate is in fact China's quest for a new, modern national identity, and how the Chinese could draw on the American experience to build a modern China. Therefore, China's case foregrounds the fundamental issue of globalization theories regarding cultural homogenization versus heterogenization, or modernity versus alternative modernities. The debate not only speaks to the complexity of the global–local dialectic, but also reflects China's contradictory perspective on globalization.     

Use of Mobile Devices to Access Resources Among Health Professions Students: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

This systematic review examines types of mobile devices used by health professions students, kinds of resources and tools accessed via mobile devices, and reasons for using the devices to access the resources and tools. The review included 20 studies selected from articles published in English between January 2010 and April 2015, retrieved from PubMed and other sources. Data extracted included participants, study designs, mobile devices used, mobile resources/apps accessed, outcome measures, and advantages of and barriers to using mobile devices. The review indicates significant variability across the studies in terms of research methods, types of mobile programs implemented, resources accessed, and outcomes. There were beneficial effects of using mobile devices to access resources as well as conspicuous challenges or barriers in using mobile devices.