The Competencies and Characteristics Required of an Effective Project Manager: A Web-Based Delphi Study

In this study, we explore the competencies required for a project manager to be effective in the workplace. We used a Web-based Delphi method to lead experienced project managers through an anonymous consensus-building process consisting of two rounds of surveys. The Round I analysis of 147 respondents, all with 20 or more years of project management experience, yielded 117 project management success factors, 78 of which were identified as trainable competencies. The Round II analysis confirmed 42 of the 78 competencies (53.8%) as very important to extremely important to project manager success. Important contributions of this study include: (a) reporting on project manager competencies that can inform the literature and guide the development of educational programs for instructional designers and other professionals, and (b) demonstrating the Web-based Delphi technique to be an efficient methodology for conducting afront-end analysis, a core process of instructional design (ID) work.     

Dealing with Data: Instructing with Infographics in an Undergraduate Sociology Course

As the collection and dissemination of “big data” become easier, we are exposed to increasing numbers of visuals, or infographics, that convey this data. Students are likely to interact with infographics through news, advertising, and social media platforms, but they may not have the skills in quantitative reasoning or visual literacy to effectively understand how data is employed or framed to tell particular stories. Teaching students about the tools, available data, and communication styles that infographics offer early in their coursework can provide them a basis on which to better develop a variety of analytic and communication tools throughout additional courses in their major field of study. Through the process of learning to locate, evaluate, and use data in infographics, students also become better consumers of data visualization. A series of scaffolded assignments that help accomplish this are detailed here.     

Sensitivity of Four Subtests of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA‐Ch) to Stimulant Medication in Children with ADHD

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were examined on four subtests of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA‐Ch) when on and off stimulant medication. Performance was assessed relative to 18 individually age‐matched controls. Children with ADHD performed significantly worse on TEA‐Ch measures when off compared to when on stimulant medication. This was found in both predominantly inattentive (n = 6) and combined inattentive and hyperactive‐impulsive (n = 12) subtypes. The age‐matched controls significantly improved with repeated testing on most TEA‐Ch measures. Significant differences were found between the unmedicated children with ADHD and age‐matched controls on sustained attention (Score! and Walk Don’t Walk) and attention control measures (Same and Opposite Worlds). When the ADHD group was on stimulant medication, with the exception of the Walk Don’t Walk subtest, no significant differences were found between them and the age‐matched controls. Unlike the TEA‐Ch subtests, the significant differences between the two groups on the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE) subtests remained when attentional status was altered in the children with ADHD. The study supports further investigations of the TEA‐Ch as a measure sensitive to changes in stimulant medication in children with ADHD.     

Protecting seriously mistreated children: time delays in a court sample.

The study examined the progress through the child protective system of a sample of 206 severely abused and/or neglected children brought before the Boston Juvenile Court (BJC) on Care and Protection (C & P) petitions. Overall, children were in the system an average of 5 years from the filing of the first official report of mistreatment to the resolution of their cases. The families had been known to the state child protective service agency for an average of more than 2.5 years before the current court involvement. Once arraigned in juvenile court on the C & P, the average case took almost 1.5 years to reach a disposition. After disposition, children permanently removed from parental custody required, on average, an additional year and a half in Probate Court to reach a permanent placement. Of the more than twenty variables examined, including severity of mistreatment, protective service history, and parental mental illness, no meaningful pattern emerged which could predict delays. Our findings characterize the delays experienced by many abused and neglected children, and highlight the necessity of closer monitoring of the progress of cases through the protective and court systems.     

Principals and vice-principals: exploring the history of leading and managing public schools in Ontario,Canada

ABSTRACT

For teachers seeking formal school leadership roles the key choices have been either the vice- principalship or the principalship. In Ontario, Canada, however, the principalship has traditionally been considered the premier leadership goal with the vice-principalship regarded as merely a necessary transitional step toward achieving the principalship. In this article, we consider the enactments of principals and vice-principals plus the common and unique work typically demanded of each position by examining how both roles came to fruition from a historical context. How principals and vice-principals’ work came to be what it currently is in Canada’s most populace province is a reflection of the prevailing economic, social, political, historical, and educational contexts and particular interests being advanced. Both engage in complex, purposeful work that requires excellent interpersonal strengths, strategic thinking, an inclusive leadership disposition and values, organisational change capacities, and the ability to make evidence-based decisions. As well, both are expected to work in complementary ways to advance students’ academic and social learning, yet despite the need for leadership synergies, principals often ‘lead’ while vice-principals are left to ‘manage’. While the principal’s role is expansive and more clearly defined, the role of the vice-principal has broadened over decades. We will investigate the history for preparing and developing vice principals in this context to learn about why they continue to be reactive, situationally contingent, and dependent on task delegation from the principal. Such role-based differences can contribute to high job satisfaction and role clarity for principals, but disappointment for vice-principals who wish to exercise greater leadership.     

How to use television to publicize your organization

As speech communication instruction is offered in an increasing number of secondary schools, academic courses are changing to include study of a broader spectrum of communication behavior. Paralleling this transition is increased concern among language arts educators for students’ personal and intellectual development through talk and drama. This article describes each of these developments and suggests an expanded role of speech communication in the secondary school curriculum through a blending of both movements.     

The Indirect Influence of Educational Attainment on Loneliness among Unmarried Older Adults

This investigation examined the indirect influence of past educational attainment on current feelings of loneliness across a sample of unmarried older adults. Participants in this study included 227 community-dwelling individuals, age 65 to 94, who were never-married, divorced, or widowed. The developmental adaptation model (Martin & Martin, 2002 Martin , P. & Martin , M. ( 2002 ). Proximal and distal influences on development: The model of developmental adaptation. Developmental Review , 22 , 78 – 96 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) was used as a conceptual framework in the evaluation of an integrated path model of loneliness. In particular, this model was used to assess how proximal influences including neuroticism, stress, and social support mediate the association between past educational attainment and loneliness. Results suggest that greater educational attainment in the past appears was directly associated with less neuroticism and stress. Furthermore, neuroticism directly influenced greater loneliness, whereas social support was directly associated with feeling less lonely. Stress only had a weak direct influence on loneliness. Finally, the model supports an indirect link between past educational attainment and loneliness through neuroticism and stress. This influence appeared to be most salient among widowed older adults. Recent experiences associated with greater feelings of anxiety and lower provisions of support increased loneliness among persons who remain unmarried in later life. However, education remains an important resource that may reduce this vulnerability in older unmarried populations. This has implications for providing educational opportunities and learning experiences for older persons who are ever-single or formerly married.     

The Act that never was: the Conservative Education Bill of 1868

In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe, the age of the governess coincided with the age of nationalism. This paper explores the connection between them in the specific context of intercultural education by foreign governesses. It argues that nationalism, with its focus on the identification and projection of a distinct national character, led to the stereotyping of European countries and, by extension, the stereotyping of foreign governesses. It further contends that the clichéd images of the English Miss, German Fräulein and French Mademoiselle, which were international, powerful and largely negative, had, on the whole, a detrimental effect on governesses and their working relationships with employers and pupils. It concludes that stereotyping along national lines adversely affected both visitor and host by promoting formulaic and prejudicial attitudes one to the other.