Using faculty publication rates for comparing “peer” institutions

This paper reports the results of a study of faculty publication productivity at five major research universities. Data on publication rates were gathered for two years from theCorporate Indexes published by the Institute for Scientific Information, while numbers of faculty by academic discipline were computed using standard reports generated annually by the participating universities. The primary conclusion drawn from the study is that institutional publication rates can be estimated from references in theCorporate Indexes and provide one, albeit imperfect, measure of relative university research productivity.     

Characteristics of Successful Collaborations to Produce Educated Software Engineering Professionals

Currently, a large gap exists between the number of open software engineering positions and the number of qualified software engineers to fill those positions. The Industry/University (I/U) subgroup of the Working Group on Software Engineering Education and Training (WGSEET) is investigating active collaborations between companies and universities in which non-software professionals and practitioners without formal software education are reeducated to become software engineers. This paper describes the current status of work performed by the I/U subgroup in the investigation of reeducation collaborations. It is our goal to identify the common characteristics of successful collaborations in order to provide guidance to universities and companies when constructing a collaborative program, as well as to promote future collaborations. In this paper, we report on the current activity of the I/U subgroup, describe the features of successful collaborations identified so far in our research, and provide some conclusions as to the usefulness of such collaborations.     

Will the Introduction of Teaching Standards in Professional Values and Practice Put the Heart Back into Primary Teacher Education?

In the light of the introduction of teaching standards in professional values and practice in September 2002, this study compares two sets of data from B.Ed. and PGCE primary courses, in order to examine the existing opportunities for values education within teacher education in one institution. The findings highlight a qualitative difference in the process of personal and professional development experienced by the two groups of students. Implications of the findings for university training partnerships, university tutors and professional studies programmes are then considered. The conclusion reached is that the introduction of teaching standards in professional values and practice may be the next landmark in the process vs. competence debate about teacher education, and may provide the opportunity to put human development back into the heart of teacher education.     

The Management and Impact of a Student Led Iraq War Protest in a Fresh Start School

A student led Iraq war protest in a Fresh Start school provides a case study for examining the relationship between political literacy and institutional change. Pragmatic and creative management of the protest encourages a democratic problem-solving process, which contributes to mutual respect and sustained trust between pupils, and staff and pupils. There is evidence to suggest that this democratic experience within the school has the potential to bring a democratic problem solving ethos into the classroom, where learning may increasingly become characterized by individuals achieving autonomy with and for each other.     

The Genetic Drift Inventory: A Tool for Measuring What Advanced Undergraduates Have Mastered about Genetic Drift

Understanding genetic drift is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of biology, yet it is difficult to learn because it combines the conceptual challenges of both evolution and randomness. To help assess strategies for teaching genetic drift, we have developed and evaluated the Genetic Drift Inventory (GeDI), a concept inventory that measures upper-division students’ understanding of this concept. We used an iterative approach that included extensive interviews and field tests involving 1723 students across five different undergraduate campuses. The GeDI consists of 22 agree–disagree statements that assess four key concepts and six misconceptions. Student scores ranged from 4/22 to 22/22. Statements ranged in mean difficulty from 0.29 to 0.80 and in discrimination from 0.09 to 0.46. The internal consistency, as measured with Cronbach''s alpha, ranged from 0.58 to 0.88 across five iterations. Test–retest analysis resulted in a coefficient of stability of 0.82. The true–false format means that the GeDI can test how well students grasp key concepts central to understanding genetic drift, while simultaneously testing for the presence of misconceptions that indicate an incomplete understanding of genetic drift. The insights gained from this testing will, over time, allow us to improve instruction about this key component of evolution.