Questions and positions on education for sustainable development at university in France: example of short professional cycles

The questions focus on the emergence of education for sustainable development in the French university. The case study discusses the curricular examination of the Bachelor of Territory Professional Planning in 17 universities and the diachronic evolution, between 2001 and 2011, of their educational content around sustainable development. The analysis leads to a reflection on the specificity of French contexts, compared to international positions. Indeed, the legitimacy of the education provided is queried against the economization of the educational sphere. Didactic problems are posed by the reduction of distances between social practices and knowledge mobilized for the teachings. The evolution of the ‘school form’ and the specific place of ‘educations for’ in the framework of the institution are questioned.     

Lived meanings: what teachers mean when they say they are learner‐centered

While the term ‘learner‐centered’ is invoked in many curriculum standards documents, packaged curriculum materials, mission statements and criticisms of educational practice, there is little agreement on its meaning. Shallow understandings and conflicting practices abound. And rarely do the meanings ascribed to the term take into account the meanings of thoughtful teachers who live learner‐centered approaches daily in their work. Here we introduce lived meanings of learner‐centeredness found in the personal and professional histories of experienced teachers. Data were gathered in interviews that took the form of focused conversations which yielded elaborated stories and reflections that suggest that learner‐centeredness is a concept that cannot be captured in finite, static, unquestioned definitions. The teachers’ lived meanings are expressed in fine‐grained detail, are embedded in particular settings and the teachers’ own personal and professional histories, go beyond surface features of practice and are in motion and unfinished. Taken together, these lived meanings have the potential to challenge and deepen current understandings of learner‐centered practices. Further, they have the potential to bring humanity, humility and integrity to the work of those who engage in these practices and of those who would support or criticize them.     

Creating a Teaching and Learning Environment in Criminal Justice Courses that Promotes Higher Order Thinking∗

Active learning techniques have long been shown to increase the extent to which students are able to think critically about problems and solutions to them. The extant research suggests that efforts to engage students in higher order thinking should extend beyond the typical setting in which the more advanced students are introduced to active learning techniques. White and Frederiksen (2000 White, B. Y. and Frederiksen, J. R. 2000. “Metacognitive Facilitation: An Approach To Making Scientific Inquiry Accessible to All.”. In Inquiry into Learning and Teaching in Science, Edited by: Minstrell, J. L. and Van‐Zee, E. H. 331–70. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science.  [Google Scholar]) have found that most students, regardless of achievement levels, can reach a higher order thinking level when they are encouraged to do so. This paper explores several issues associated with active learning techniques in the general sense and then uses examples to demonstrate how such techniques can and are being used on the criminal justice classroom. The pros and cons of using active learning techniques are also discussed.     

Considerations for Faculty Preparing to Develop and Teach Online Criminal Justice Courses at Traditional Institutions of Higher Learning

Criminal justice programs at traditional institutions of higher learning have been moving toward offering courses online and, in some cases, placing entire programs online for the better part of the past decade. In competition with for‐profit institutions, many traditional colleges and universities have expanded their distance education programming to include online courses and programs to attract students. As a result, the number of criminal justice students has increased, as have the profits for home institutions. With this growth in the online education market, the criminal justice faculty member has been thrust, willingly or unwillingly, into the world of online teaching—a method of instruction foreign to many instructors. From the authors’ experience at their current (and in the case of the lead author a second) institution, this paper addresses many issues that must be considered by faculty members before embarking on this type of time‐intensive initiative.     

Ethical Issues Affecting Human Participants in Community College Research

Reverse transfer students, those students who matriculated at four-year colleges and then transferred to two-year colleges, have been enrolling in community colleges since at least the 1960s. Consisting of both undergraduate reverse transfers and post-baccalaureate reverse transfers (individuals who already have at least a bachelor s degree), these students represent at least 16 % of community college enrollments nation-wide. A concern about the admission of reverse transfers is that they may take enrollment spaces, particularly in selective programs, at the expense of potential students with no previous college experience and with weaker academic backgrounds. Analysis of documents written about reverse transfers indicates that their enrollment has been justified under a variety of rationales, including providing a second chance for these individuals in school and in the job market.     

Building as We Go: Secondary Schools,Community Colleges,and Universities in Partnership – The Early College High School Initiative

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of key informants about the processes of institutional change and collaboration involved in the development of three early college high schools (ECHS)s over a 4-year period. The 15 study participants were members of early college high school councils and included high school principals, counselors, community college administrators, and school district administrators. Participants were located at two early college high schools located on community college campuses, and one was located on a school district site. This mixed methods study used a survey and structured interviews, both based loosely on case studies from Not so easy going: The policy environments of small urban schools and schools-within-schools (Raywid & Schmerler, 2003) and factors identified by the Wilder Collaboration Inventory (Mattessich & Monsey, 1992) as critical to successful collaboration. The findings of the study showed that the ECHS partnership, according to the majority of its members, exhibited (a) indicators of institutional change in policy and attitude toward collaboration; and (b) the success factors of history of collaboration, favorable political climate, appropriate cross section of members, collaboration seen in self interest, sharing a stake in process and outcome, shared decision making, concrete attainable goals and objectives, and shared vision. Success factors not showing a majority response were adequate resources, mutual respect, open and frequent communication, clear roles and policy guidelines, and sufficient funds.     

Graduate teaching assistants: motives,difficulties and professional interactions and their relationship to perceived benefits

ABSTRACT

Graduate students play a major role in teaching in higher education, particularly in undergraduate programs. The purpose of the present study was two-fold: first, to identify graduate students’ motives for working as graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), describe some aspects of their work, and ascertain their perceived benefits; second, to predict GTAs’ benefits as a function of their individual background characteristics, motives, job difficulties, and richness of professional interactions with the course instructor. Data were collected from 189 GTAs who led discussion groups at a large research university in Israel by means of an internet questionnaire. Findings revealed that graduate students accepted the position of GTA mainly for extrinsic reasons, such as salary and convenience. They claimed to have faced few difficulties and that their professional interactions with the course instructors focused more on job responsibilities and less on pedagogical issues. They reported having gained a greater understanding of course content and improved teaching skills due to their experience as GTAs. Richness of contact with the course instructor, motives, difficulties, and faculty match significantly contributed to predicting perceived benefits. The implications of the results are discussed.