Energy Conversion and Control at Berkeley

The recent developments in this area in terms of curricular changes in the Electrical Engineering program have been described and evaluated. A previous required course, which covered electric machinery in some detail, has been replaced by a more general course which studies the principles of electromechanical energy conversion and the control of the flow of electrical energy by both static and motional devices. In addition, a new experimental two-semester course has been developed which integrates the study of energy conversion and control devices into a study of systems and the role of these devices in meeting system specifications.     

Don't they teach that in high school? Examining the high school to college information literacy gap

College librarians express concern over incoming students' information literacy skills and lack of skills preparing them for college-level research. However, it is unclear whether information literacy skills are not being taught at the high school level, whether they are not being retained or transferred as students move on to college, or whether there is a disconnect between the skills taught in high school and those expected of incoming college students. This study explores these questions through a set of parallel surveys sent to a national sample of high school and college librarians. Findings suggest that high school and college librarians agree on the importance of most skills though they vary in their emphasis on their importance, and that information literacy skills are being taught in high school but do not seem to transfer to college. The paper concludes with suggestions for increased communication and collaboration to bridge the high school to college transition.     

Against ‘teaching excellence’: ideology,commodification, and enabling the neoliberalization of postsecondary education

ABSTRACT

In this article, the notion of excellence in relation to teaching is removed from its privileged place in order to render it, and its implications, for analysis. We argue that teaching excellence needs to be understood in the larger context of the neoliberal university in which competition is taken for granted, and therefore, metrics for comparison are evermore necessary. Following this argument, we explore excellence as an instrument of neoliberal ideology in higher education. We explore different manifestations of teaching excellence enacted in policies that that are illustrative of five different countries. Implications for further analysis, and for resistance to the expansion of neoliberal ideology through teaching excellence, are presented.     

An investigation in evaluation issues for a simulation training programme

Rolfe (1991) and Parasuraman (1981) are critical of previous efforts by researchers to evaluate simulations given that very few authors in the field of simulation are actually considering validity, reliability or utility of simulations as training or educational methods.
The Rank Ordering Exercise is designed as an activity which highlights evaluation issues. It was explained to 26 participants divided into 13 pairs. Each pair were asked to order 26 cards into a preferred chronological sequence—from the early stages of planning to the final stages of the project. Participants were given a scenario outlining a company which is experiencing complaints about the quality and standard of its customer care. A brief set of instructions asked participants to develop a training programme which incorporates a simulation, with the aim of building in evaluation components.
The Rank Ordering Exercise raised awareness of internal and more importantly external validity issues. The authors noted an overall agreement about a preferred sequence of events and the exercise was effective in highlighting the need for the evaluation "checks" to be made during the planning stages of any research or consultancy project.     

Elements of improvement in secondary science teacher preparation

Conclusion There are strong indications that the courses developed under the Teacher Preparation Project at Utah State University are providing new dimensions to the education of prospective science teachers and liberal art students who select a science emphasis at the undergraduate level. To date, the courses have institutional support in both staffing and funding that should keep them in place in the coming years. Clearly, the project made adjustments along the way, learning from early mistakes, and building team rapport and commitment required to bring about the completion of the project. Certain issues have been raised and resolved to some extent. Mixing liberal arts majors with secondary science teaching majors appears to be good for the integrative course, bringing diversity of background and viewpoint into the class. The kinds of teaching behaviors in evidence in these classes require high expectations for student performance but also a willingness on the part of the professor to stand back and let the student explore or to allow a discussion to run. This is clearly a more facilitative and less directive teaching role than is expected for most undergraduate courses. Finally, one can expect to get mixed reactions from students, positive about their newfound independence but, for some at least, a lack of tolerance for ambiguity and some discomfort at having a new (and sometimes threatening) set of grading procedures thrust upon them. In the USU Teacher Preparation Project, these decisions have charted a course of action for the future-a course derived from cognitive psychology principles requiring growth on the part of both faculty and students. This material is based upon work supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. TPE-8850642). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations exprtessed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

Improving Literacy Achievement for English Learners in Transitional Bilingual Programs

This article reports the results of an ongoing effort to design, implement, and evaluate an effective transitional bilingual program. The program developed spans grades 2–5, and employs a specific language arts model. Evaluation results, based on comparisons of randomly selected matched samples of project and nonproject students (n = 42, 42), indicate the program is demonstrably more effective than the transition program students typically receive, producing higher levels of Spanish literacy, significantly higher levels of English literacy, and important literacy-related practices and attitudes for significantly larger numbers of students. Results have direct implications for educators seeking to improve programs for English learners. Questions regarding large-scale program implementation, however, remain.     

The role of teacher emotions in change: Experiences, patterns and implications for professional development

Research literature in the field of teacher emotions and change broadly accepts that behaviour and cognition are inseparable from perception and emotion. Despite this, educational reform efforts tend to focus predominantly on changing individual behaviours and beliefs and largely neglect or at best pay token attention to the emotional dimensions of the change process. This study examines teacher emotions in the context of educational reform and focuses on the role emotions play when teachers transfer new instructional processes into their practice. The teachers involved in this study took part in a four year systemic change professional development program designed to refine and extend their instructional practice. A sequential mixed methods research design consisting of the administration of a quantitative questionnaire followed by in-depth qualitative narrative interview analysis was used to gain insight into this complex area of educational change. Findings revealed that the teachers involved in this study experienced a range of emotions when participating in professional development and their emotional responses directly impacted their use of new instructional processes. A cyclical pattern of emotions emerged influenced by time, place and interpersonal relationships. Implications for the future design and implementation of professional development change initiatives are discussed.