Government Workers Adding Societal Value: The Ohio Workforce Development Program

ABSTRACT This case study illustrates the application of Mega—adding measurable value for all stakeholders including society—as the central and ultimate focus for needs assessment. In this case, two needs assessment studies were conducted within a five‐year period (1999–2003) with the State of Ohio's Workforce Development (WD) program. An initial needs assessment based on Mega outcomes—high quality of life for Ohio taxpayers and public employees though the services they provide—was conducted in 1999, identifying shared strategic goals to focus management‐labor partnership initiatives. A Mega‐centered data collection matrix was used as the basis for discussions with stakeholders in order to determine the key areas of Ohio's Workforce Development to be included in the study. In 2003, a follow‐up needs assessment based on the same data collection matrix was designed to determine the improvements made since that time, the areas with the most critical performance gaps, demographic changes, and future trends affecting Workforce Development beneficiaries and stakeholders.     

Hyperlab: A universal provider system and an interactive test bench for distance learning

This project describes the development of a universal student friendly distance learning (DL) provider system via the Internet and in particular the development of a lab environment for engineering students in ICT. Application of most DL courses is still hampered by the need for high-speed links, unrealistic computer and software resources at the student site and the impossibility to run Windows or Unix applications over the Internet. The described solution solves practically all of these problems. Moreover, since courses, (simulation) programs, databases, etc. can be added or changed, the system is not only teacher friendly but also costeffective. The major part of the work concerns the design of an electronic lab environment at the university that can be remotely used via the Internet. The main aim is to provide the student with meta-cognitive knowledge as can be provided only by real lab exercises. In this case the student must work him/herself through a course on passive filters. After choosing the right topology for the particular filter-lab task, he/she must design the correct circuit diagram and verify it with a standard circuit simulation program. Next, with a matrix shown on screen, he/she interconnects the circuit components and measuring equipment. The results of the measurements performed at the lab in the university are sent back to the student (via the Internet). The lab report is automatically generated. Simultaneously, the set up and the different instruments can be visualized via a web camera. Thus, the design of the electronic lab environment is user, student and teacher friendly.     

Inter‐professional work and expertise: New roles at the boundaries of schools

The findings discussed here are based on five case studies and a small survey (n = 46) of how secondary schools are responding to demands that they collaborate with other services to intervene to prevent the social exclusion of children and young people. The case studies revealed a new space of action opening up around schools where practices were being shaped by ‘welfare managers’ who were employed by schools and were undertaking responsive work with vulnerable children and young people and the other services who were also supporting them. At the same time heads of year and/or heads of school and form tutors were increasingly focusing on children's achievement in school. The changes in roles and responsibilities were encouraged by workforce remodelling and changes in criteria for teachers’ salaries. However, focusing primarily on the work undertaken by the welfare managers, the article draws on cultural‐historical activity theory analyses of relational agency and distributed expertise to question whether welfare managers can undertake the work required in the new space of action without attention to the development of their core expertise.     

Creating Citizens

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the content of citizenship education in Swedish schools during the twentieth century. Its origin and content is analysed in relation to predominant ideas in society at different times and is seen as the outcome of a struggle between social forces representing different power groups. The shift of meaning of democracy and equality is related to changes in political and economic conditions. Recent trends and changes in the Swedish educational system are discussed in relation to changing power groups in society and considerations made for the implications of citizenships, democracy and equality.     

Skiing, Cheese Fondue and Swiss Watches: Analogical Discourse in Vocational Training Interactions

When trainers or teachers in the field of initial vocational education explain abstract notions, refer to technical objects or emphasize the specificities of technical skills, they often call forth concepts and practices different from those that are directly salient in the training situations in which they engage. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the empirical realities associated with such phenomena by promoting a discursive and interactional approach of what we propose to term “analogical discourse”. Considering that analogies are performed and shared trough language and speech, we propose that concepts and methodological tools borrowed from the field of linguistics can be profitably applied to the analysis of analogical discourse. Not only can they reveal the dynamic and collective nature of analogies as they are performed, disseminated and sometimes negotiated amongst participants, but they can also help reflect about the complexities of vocational learning as it takes place in specific material, practical and socio-cultural environments. From that standpoint, the paper proposes to see analogies not only as related to conceptual development and cognitive dimensions of learning, but as a substantial contribution to the social, cultural and relational dimensions of it.     

Environmental education professional development for teachers: A study of the impact and influence of mentoring

Rivers2Lake helps teachers learn to provide watershed educational experiences for students through a summer institute followed by mentoring. Teacher focus groups were conducted to investigate the impact of mentoring, as well as toward understanding what was influential in bringing about those impacts. Mentoring impacted teachers in affective ways and helped them use what they learned at the institute. The influential nature of the mentoring may be due to the mentors providing a sense of accountability, personalized support, as well as encouragement of reflection and assistance with navigating barriers. Teachers also articulated qualities of effective mentors: invested, flexible, and responsive. With teachers varying in the degree to which they felt they could continue R2L implementation without the support of mentors, implications are discussed.