Evidencing the impact of teaching-related CPD: beyond the ‘Happy Sheets’

Abstract

In this paper we report the outcomes of a national survey of academic development staff in a range of UK HE Institutions to consider the approaches adopted to evaluate teaching-related continual professional development (CPD). Despite the increasing drive towards accountability, the majority of respondents undertook no benchmarking to establish existing knowledge, there was minimal use of existing data sets, and few evaluated provision longitudinally. We argue that in order to arrive at an evidence-informed approach, evaluation and teaching-related CPD must be clearly conceptualised, and aligned with institutional priorities. The involvement of students with staff CPD could also be usefully explored.     

Understanding How Families Use Magnifiers During Nature Center Walks

This analysis uses a sociocultural learning theory and parent–child interaction framework to understand families’ interactions with one type of scientific tool, the magnifier, during nature walks offered by a nature center. Families were video recorded to observe how they organized their activities where they used magnifiers to explore in the outdoors. Findings include that families used magnifiers for scientific inquiry as well as for playful exploration. Using the concept of guided facilitation where families develop roles to support their joint endeavor, three roles to support family thinking were found to be: (a) tool suggester, (b) teacher, and (c) exploration ender. Some families struggled to use magnifiers and often, parents and older siblings provided support for younger children in using magnifying lenses. Implications to informal science learning theory are drawn and suggestions for future family learning research are offered: (a) inclusion of sociocultural and situated perspectives as theories to study informal learning in outdoor spaces, (b) further study on the role of siblings in family interactions, (c) design-based research is needed to encourage family role-taking when engaging in science practices, and (d) new conceptualizations on how to design informal programs that support science learning while leaving space for visitors’ personal agendas and interests that can guide the families’ activities.     

Merging Academics and Police Training: Washington State University’s Department of Police Science and Administration and the Law Enforcement Assistance Act of 1965

The Law Enforcement Assistance Act of 1965 prompted a nationwide movement to create and expand police education programs at colleges and universities across America. This paper details the actions of the well-established Washington State University Department of Police Science and Administration program in response to the passage of the 1965 Act. Among the actions taken, the program’s leaders responded to calls for their expert advice in setting up new programs, increased the number of undergraduates in their program to answer greater demands for college training opportunities for current and future police officers, and admitted more students to their graduate program so as to provide qualified teachers for new academic programs being created through the Act’s funding.     

Pictures are necessary but not sufficient: Using a range of visual methods to engage users about school design

It has been argued by both educationalists and social researchers that visual methods are particularly appropriate for the investigation of people’s experiences of the school environment. The current and expected building work taking place in British schools provides an opportunity for exploration of methods, as well as a need to establish ways to achieve this involvement of a range of school users, including students. This article describes a consultation that was undertaken in a UK secondary school as part of a participatory design process centred on the rebuilding of the school. A range of visual methods, based on photographs and maps, was used to investigate the views of a diverse sample of school users, including students, teachers, technical and support staff and the wider community. Reported here is the experience of using these tools, considering the success of different visually-based methods in engaging a broad cross section of the school community and revealing useful information. Using a range of visual methods allows a complex, but coherent, understanding of the particular school environment to be constructed and developed. It is further argued that such a range of visual and spatial methods is needed to develop appropriate understanding. The study, therefore, contributes to knowledge about specific visual research methods, appreciation of the relationship between tools, and a general methodological understanding of visual methods’ utility for developing understanding of the learning environment.     

Teaching with animals: Goals and guidelines

Conclusion In summary, teaching with animals does not require keeping animals confined. No longer need teachers feel obligated to accept the gerbils and hamsters parents don’t want at home. No longer must they feel guilty when the third rabbit and the dozenth baby turtle dies in the classroom. By adopting respect for life as their goal, and the Golden Rule as their guide in teaching with animals, child caregivers can be liberated from their old role as animal caretakers. Teachers, children-and, certainly, the animals—all benefit from the change.