Topological metrics in academic genealogy graphs

Academic genealogy aims to structure and analyze the mentoring relationships between advisor and advisee. The representation of this structure results in academic genealogy graphs. For the analysis and characterization of these graphs, we present a set of metrics and their corresponding mirror metrics that capture the characteristics of its topological structure and represent them as quantitative attributes. The metrics of fecundity, fertility, descendants, cousins, generations, and relationships consider the descendants of the academics represented in the graph. The mirror metric of these topological metrics considers the ascendancy of academics. Individually, the metrics have strong semantic intuition and define characteristics regarding the performance in the mentoring of an academic. Together, the metrics are useful for the identification, characterization, and classification of communities and their members. The genealogical data available through the platforms of the Mathematics Genealogy Project and the Academic Family Tree were used as case studies. Two hundred thirteen thousand and 675,000 academic records were obtained for each project. We analyze the capacity of characterization of the metrics using the structuring of a similarity graph and through the distribution of the nodes in principal components. We observed that the set of metrics is capable of capturing the configuration pattern existing in genealogy graphs independently of its scale.     

A tale of two students: Building a culture of engagement in the community college

Enrolling in a community college may be as intimidating for those students who eventually succeed as it is for those who don't. Why, then, do some persevere while others leave before they meet their goals? Institutional practice can tip the balance.     

Why Teach? Motives for Teaching Revisited

The 1960s saw a rapid expansion of teacher education in Singapore. This was followed by an attempt to ensure quality teacher education, beginning with the establishment of the Institute of Education in 1973. The Institute was established to take over the responsibilities of teacher preparation and educational research, functions which were performed by the Teachers' Training College, the School of Education of the University of Singapore and the Research Unit of the Ministry of Education. Since its establishment, the Institute has provided pre-service training for some 6000 teachers, both non-graduates and graduates. In addition to these, some fifteen thousand teachers have gone through in-service courses of one kind or another at the Institute over the past decade (Lun and Chan, 1983). The above facts show the concern with and effort dedicated to the improvement of teacher quality in Singapore.