Entering and exiting a teacher preparation program: What happens in between?

In determining whether graduates of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Program at Southern Oregon University were developing the necessary knowledge, skills, and dispositions to teach, faculty members found themselves examining their own practice. This is just what Goodlad (1988) suggested we do: clarify our own beliefs in order to better understand our teacher preparation program. We discovered that the development of the MAT program is primarily shaped by the people who teach within the program. Who we are as people, influences who we are as teachers and, who we are as teachers influences the nature of the teacher preparation program. This discovery underscored the importance of our efforts to steward the development of our students’ personhood as well as their knowledge and skills.     

Learning to compose digitally: the effect of prior computer use and keyboard activity on NAEP writing

Writing is critical for college and career readiness, yet secondary students in America are not good writers (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). Unfortunately, researchers know relatively little about secondary students’ writing skills, and even less about their digital writing. In this study, we explored prior computer use, keyboard activity during writing, and their relations to writing achievement using the 8th grade 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress writing assessment, the first national computer-based writing assessment for U.S. secondary students. We found that prior computer use predicted students’ writing skills directly (0.08) and indirectly (e.g., keypresses, 0.14) via keyboard activity during the test. We found differential effects for certain groups including current English learners and disadvantaged students. We also found a small positive interaction effect of prior use and keypresses on writing. That is, the benefits of prior computer use for school writing and the value of students’ additional keypresses on writing achievement were amplified when both were present.

     

Co‐Design Education Based on the Changing Designer's Role and Changing Creativity

The field of fashion design relies on the originality of fashion designers and information on design trends, and design education also focuses on the creative ideas of designers; in this field, design through co‐design is a very limited area. However, with the proliferation of participatory culture, the need to diversify fashion design education methods has also emerged. The purpose of this study is to present an educational framework and an instructional strategy for co‐design based on the changing role of the designer and to obtain educational insight through the implementation of an actual education prototype. To do this, we developed an educational prototype and implemented it with six undergraduate students. Through this study, the participants engaged in the process of design development with the consumer and analysed the instructional insight. As a result, this study redefines the roles and design methods of designers for co‐design and identifies creativity characteristics through the co‐design process. The results of this study can be used as basic data for co‐design education and can contribute to the expansion of fashion design educational methods.     

An ‘appropriate’ test taker: the everyday classroom during the national testing period in school year three in Sweden

This article draws on data from a bigger project where we explore what is taking place in the daily life of classrooms during the national testing period in mathematics for 9–10-year-old children in Sweden. Data were produced by observations, video-recordings and interviews with children. The article shows on a micro level how assessment trends, on a macro level, affect children. It further focuses how children through different repertoires of time position themselves as ‘appropriate’ test takers.     

Social Acceptance of Children with Intellectual Disabilities in an Integrated School Setting in Zambia: a pilot study

The social acceptance of a group of Zambian primary school children with intellectual disabilities by two groups of nondisabled children was examined. One group were in direct contact with the children with disabilities over a period of six months while the other was not. Nondisabled boys who had been in contact with children with disabilities had more positive attitudes than boys who had no direct contact, while no exposure effects were observed amongst girls. Gender differences amongst nondisabled children who had contact with peers with disabilities were not significant. Amongst the nondisabled children who had no contact with children with disabilities, girls had more positive attitudes than boys. The findings are preliminary, but offer directions for further research and have some implications for integrating children with disabilities into mainstream schools.     

U.S. and Israeli young women’s future perceptions

The current study investigated the content of future perceptions among 47 U.S. women and 48 Israeli women. Thematic analysis was used to explore participants’ qualitative responses. Women’s responses covered a wide range of topics, and were categorized into ten key themes: (a) work, (b) family/relationships, (c) property, (d) residence, (e) education, (f) general quality of life, (g) leisure, (h) pro-social activities, (i) multiple role management, and (j) religion. Results demonstrated the role of nationality in the process of exploration and future perceptions. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Implications of facilitated work-based learning implemented as an approach to continuing engineering education

ABSTRACT

The development of employees’ skills and competences has become a key driver of economic growth in the developed world. It is widely recognised that enhancing people’s skills and competences will be a major cause of future competitive advantage. Consequently, companies need to be able to identify precise areas where they have, or can build, distinctive competences. To meet these needs, various models and approaches for continuing engineering education have emerged. One such approach is the facilitated work-based learning (FWBL) model, the aim of which is to introduce an approach to tailor-made courses built on work-based learning (WBL) and problem-based learning (PBL). This paper addresses the implementation of tailor-made continuing engineering education in company settings through the use of FWBL. It draws on a huge amount of documentation produced within the Via Nord project, which was supported by the European Social Fund and engaged various companies in northern Denmark. The aim is to investigate how the FWBL model worked in practice when implemented as a means for tailor-made continuing engineering education applied in a company setting.     

Mentoring and the Retention of Newly Qualified Language Teachers

Much of the recent literature on mentoring has focused on generic issues. This paper looks at subject-specific issues in mentoring from the perspective of newly qualified modern language teachers in their first year of teaching. While the majority of teachers in the sample expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of the mentoring they received, most progressed successfully into their second year of teaching. The findings suggest that conventional conceptions of mentoring may only be a marginal factor in the survival of these teachers in their first year. Conflicts over language teaching methodology, in particular, emerge as a contributory factor in the breakdown of relationships between these teachers and their mentors. Equally, it is in terms of their own pedagogical skills and of a clearly established rationale for their practice in the language classroom that these newly qualified teachers express their confidence and their ability to survive without formal support. The implications of these findings are discussed in the light of the introduction of new requirements for induction of newly qualified teachers and in particular with reference to the selection of induction tutors in school.     

The developmental directions and tasks of the school based curriculum management system in Korea

The purpose of this paper is to inquire into the developmental directions and tasks of the School Based Curriculum Management(SBCM) system. The concept of the School Based Curriculum Management can be considered as a subsystem to School Based Management. The logics behind the SBCM system are autonomy, accountability, effectiveness, creativity, professionalism, and participation. The developmental directions of SBCM are to establish and implement the highly autonomous and participative SBCM, the diverse creative SBCM, the highly accountable SBCM, and the professional SBCM. The developmental tasks of SBCM suggested in this study are to establish the School Based Staff Development system, to practice the evaluation system that can control the quality of SBCM, to be managed by a strategic-layer management system, and to constitute the committee of school curriculum.