Filipino Arts Among Elders in Institutionalized Care Settings

The use of traditional art in recreational therapies is unexplored. This paper, thus, attempts to surface the unique power of traditional Filipino arts (TFA) as synergizing lens in capturing the individual and the collective experiences of a select group of Filipino elderly in an institutionalized care setting relative to their feelings of depression and self-esteem. Three Filipino elderly housed in an institutionalized care setting were chosen for this phenomenological study, a robotfoto and a series of semistructured interviews constitute the main data gathering tool. Field texts were subjected to phenomenological reduction via the repertory grid analysis. Emerged themes were subjected to a series of member checking procedures to ensure the trustworthiness of the reported data. Depression and self-esteem were interpreted via two emerged themes. The themes were Me, Myself, and Melancholy and Will Not Let My Worth Wither. Through recreational therapies in the form of traditional Filipino arts, participants found novel psychological crutches that overcame the challenges of depression and give them hope toward more positive views of themselves and life.     

Collaborative teaching at the university level: Practicing what is preached

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe the development and implementation of a co‐teaching model at a small state university in the northeast. In addition, this article will share lessons learned from this experience by two professors, as well as describe the impact on the beliefs and teaching behaviors of their students. One of the professors is a member of the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation, and the second is from the Department of Professional and Secondary Education. The co‐teaching initiative began in 1996 and continues until the present, with a graduate course on inclusionary practices taught collaboratively each fall. The impetus for the initiative came from an identified need for general education and special education teachers to co‐teach in classrooms where students with disabilities are included. Given that co‐teaching is an expected teacher behavior, the practice must be taught with intent and modeled by professors to increase the likelihood that it will be implemented successfully in P‐12 classrooms.     

Technical Communication and the World Wide Web. Edited by Carol Lipson and Michael Day. Mahwah,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005. 355 pp

Computers and Technical Communication: Pedagogical and Programmatic Perspectives. Ed. Stuart Selber. Greenwich, CT: Ablex. 415 pages.     

Make or break: the role and support needs of academic advisors in work-integrated learning courses

ABSTRACT

The role of academic advisors in work-integrated learning courses is crucial to student success, yet poorly understood. This research aimed to understand the role and support needs of academic advisors by conducting interviews, a survey, and a focus group within a service learning program in Queensland, Australia. Participants identified rewards in observing student transformation and supporting students to contribute to social justice causes. However, the role had high demands in terms of pastoral support. Although academic advisors reported strong support mechanisms, they identified gaps in supporting them to meet the needs of international students and students with mental health issues. Academic advisors need strong mentoring or supervisory support to deal with diverse student issues, clear processes for tracking and managing students, training and resources to deal with special needs students, and opportunities for team building and bonding. Supporting academic advisors could help to better support students to successfully complete internships.     

Evaluating test validity: reprise and progress

The AERA, APA, NCME Standards define validity as ‘the degree to which evidence and theory support the interpretations of test scores for proposed uses of tests’. A century of disagreement about validity does not mean that there has not been substantial progress. This consensus definition brings together interpretations and use so that it is one idea, not a sequence of steps. Just as test design is framed by a particular context of use, so too must validation research focus on the adequacy of tests for specific purposes. The consensus definition also carries forward major reforms in validity theory begun in the 1970s that rejected separate types of validity evidence for different types of tests, e.g. content validity for achievement tests and predictive correlations for employment tests. When the current definition refers to both ‘evidence and theory’ the Standards are requiring not just that a test be well designed based on theory but that evidence be collected to verify that the test device is working as intended. Having taught policy-makers, citizens, and the courts to use the word validity, especially in high-stakes applications, we cannot after the fact substitute a more limited, technical definition of validity. An official definition provides clarity even for those who disagree, because it serves as a touchstone and obliges them to acknowledge when they are departing from it.     

The Nazi symbiosis: politics and human genetics at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute

The case of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics (KWIA), from its inception in Weimar Republic Germany to its apogee under the rule of the Third Reich, is an example of how politics and human heredity can function as mutually beneficial resources. Whether it was a result of the Nazi bureaucrats' desire to legitimize their racial policy through science, or the KWIA personnel's desire to secure more funding for their research, the symbiotic relationship that developed between human genetics and Nazi politics could help explain why many scientists in the Third Reich undertook research projects that wholly transgressed the boundaries of morally acceptable science.