What are Students Being Taught about Ethics in Public Speaking Textbooks?

Current conceptions of communication and ethics were investigated in the top ten public speaking textbooks in the communication discipline. Content analysis was used to examine eight ethical topic areas within each textbook. Results indicate the textbooks by Lucas, Jaffe, Beebe and Beebe, and Brydon and Scott provide the most overall coverage to ethics. In addition, plagiarism, ethnical listening, honesty, and ethical research are discussed most frequently while freedom of speech, hate words, and codes of ethics are least discussed among the top ten selling public speaking books. Each author references different philosophers, defines ethics, and describes the consequences of cheating in diverse ways. The implications of how ethics is not given the same amount of space in the top ten best-selling public speaking textbooks are discussed.     

Conceptualizations of writing in early years curricula and standards documents: international perspectives

Abstract

In this article, researchers in the field of early writing identify underlying beliefs and values about writing and learning to write for the beginning years of formal schooling in four jurisdictions: the American state of Connecticut, New Zealand, the Canadian province of Ontario, and Sweden, as reflected in the respective curricula and standards documents that guide instruction. Using Ivani?’s Discourses of Writing and Learning to Write to guide our text analysis, we found that curriculum developers have primarily been influenced by views of writing as a set of skills, processes, and genres. We found few references to the sociopolitical discourse which indicates a view among curriculum developers that sociopolitical literacy is not suitable for this age group. We argue, with support in previous research, that young children’s writing does not have to be politically neutral and that it can be developed under age-appropriate circumstances. Implications for policy and curriculum development include a need for greater consideration of the complexities of writing shown in research conducted across five decades. We propose a change to the model for early years, recognising that young children’s socio-political understandings lie within their home and school lives, rather than the broader community.     

Exploring Saudi Computer Science Teachers’ Conceptual Mastery Level of Computational Thinking Skills

The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia implemented a new computer science curriculum in 2008. There was speculation that many computer science teachers did not possess sufficient knowledge of computational thinking needed to teach this subject. To investigate this topic, a quantitative research study was conducted with 55 male computer science teachers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Results of the study revealed that most of the computer science teachers had a low conceptual level of computational thinking, and some of the teachers had misconceptions about the exact nature of computational thinking. Findings indicated that computer science teachers did indeed need more training in what computational thinking means and how to teach this subject.     

Teacher Leadership: Rationale,strategy and impact

This article presents arguments for teacher leadership. It challenges the current orthodoxy of school organisation and seeks to extend the current debate about distributed leadership. It offers a view of teacher leadership which is inclusive rather than limited to those with management responsibility or specific change agent roles. It focuses on learning-centred development work in which teachers act strategically to improve the quality of teaching and learning. The article includes illustrative cases and proposals for strategies to support teacher leadership. It also offers a framework for planning and evaluating the impact of teacher-led development work.     

Language Education in English Education: Grammar instruction,grammar plus,or critical social analysis?

I consider the difficulty of deciding what to include in a one-semester course on language education in English education for preservice teachers. While it is imperative to prepare teachers to talk about language in written texts, other concerns of the English classroom, from classroom talk to reflections on self, can be illuminated by knowledge about language. I describe different representations of the language system: one proposed in a scope and sequence document prepared by a group of linguists and educators in the United States; and the other Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), which, while relatively unknown and unsupported in the United States, has influenced education in Australia. While I admire the advances in language education being made in the United States, in my view, SFG offers a conceptual advantage to those who want to make the link between grammar and broader concerns. I believe it is possible to use SFG conceptually in the design of classroom activities, while also relying on non-SFG methods to make visible, for instance, the operations of talk in the classroom. In the end, I advocate linking language to issues that matter, focusing above the language system to meaning-making more broadly, and using knowledge about language in the service of social analysis as well as the interpretation of texts.     

EFFECT OF CLASS SIZE,GRADES GIVEN,AND ACADEMIC FIELD ON STUDENT OPINION OF INSTRUCTION

This study reviewed the effect of class size, grades given, and academic field on student opinion of instruction. Data analysis showed that there were no significant correlations between variables of the three groups: (a) class size and student opinion of instruction; (b) grades given and student opinion of instruction, and (c) college and national academic field rankings and student opinion of instruction. These results leave teacher effectiveness as the most likely variable to explain ratings of student opinion of instruction.     

Broadcasting

Kas Kalba's City Meets the Cable: A Case Study in Technoloqical Innovation and Community Decision-Making.

Anthony Piepe, Miles Emerson, and Judy Lannon's Television and the Working Class (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books/D.C. Heath, 1975—$14.50).

Lawrence W. Lichty's Broadcast program and Audience Analysis and its related Workbook (American Printing and Publishing Inc., 2909 Syene Road, Madison, Wisc. 53713— about $13.50, paper, two loose-leaf volumes without binders).

Robert L. Hilliard's Writing for Television and Radio (New York: Hastings House, 1976—$16.50 with a paperback text edition available for which no price was given).

Robert L. Hilliard and Hyman H. Field's Television and the Teacher: A Handbook for Classroom Use (New York: Hastings House, 1976—$5.95 paper).

Chuck Anderson's Video Power: Grassroots Television (New York: Praeger, 1975— $7.95).     

Practical Guides

NAB ENGINEERING HANDBOOK edited by E.B. Crutchfield (National Association of Broadcasters, 1771 N St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20036---$210 including shipping/$150 for NAB/BEA members)

REPORT WRITING FOR BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY by Steven P. Golen, et al. (New York: Wiley, 1985---$29.95)

TELEVISION PRODUCTION WORKBOOK by Herbert Zettl (Belmont, Ca.: Wadsworth, 1985---price not given, paper)

COPY-TO-PRESS HANDBOOK by Judy Pickens (New York: Wiley, 1985---$41.00)

THE NEWSPAPER SURVIVAL BOOK: AN EDITOR'S GUIDE TO MARKETING RESEARCH by Philip Meyer (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985---$20.00)

PROFESSIONAL NEWSWRITING by Hiley Ward (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985---price not given)

Contributor Bob Roberts writes of six recent titles

PROFESSIONAL VIDEO PRODUCTION by Ingrid Wiegand (White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge Industry Publications, 1985---price not given, available in both cloth and paper)

DIRECTING TELEVISION AND FILM by Alan Armer (1986 [yes, that is 1986, believe it or not]---$22.95)

MODERN RADIO PRODUCTION by Lewis O'Donnell et al (1986---$21.95)     

The Medical Library Association's Master Guide to Authoritative Information Resources in the Health Sciences. Thompson,Laurie L., ed.; Higa,Mori Lou,Carrigan, Esther,and Tobia,Rajia, Assoc. eds.

The Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Practice Database offers systematic reviews, practice recommendations, and consumer information designed to support evidence-based practice. A sample search was conducted within the Ovid platform to demonstrate functionality and available tools.