Leading higher education professionals: local,connected, and artful

In this paper, we explore the work life of a scholar new to academia in her methods of leading informally. We discuss five vignettes that offer moments of learning and reflection, including reducing performance anxiety, privileging financial accountability, the rise of the virtual world, the impact of silence, and the potential for confrontation to strengthen working relationships. We offer suggestions as to how contemporary leaders may adapt to the freedom that artful action offers.     

Enhancement and reduction of associative retroactive cue interference by training in multiple contexts

Retroactive cue interference refers to situations in which a target cue X is paired with an outcome in phase 1 and a nontarget cue Z is paired with the same outcome in phase 2, with less subsequent responding to X being seen as a result of the phase 2 training. Two conditioned suppression experiments with rats were conducted to determine whether retroactive cue interference is similarly modulated by a manipulation that influences retroactive outcome interference (e.g., extinction). Both experiments used an ABC renewal-like design in which phase 1 training, phase 2 training, and testing each occurred in different contexts. Experiment 1 found that training the target association in multiple contexts without altering the number of training trials during phase 1 decreased retroactive cue interference (i.e., increased responding consistent with the target association). Experiment 2 found that training the interfering association in multiple contexts without altering the number of interference trials during phase 2 increased retroactive cue interference (i.e., decreased responding consistent with the target association). The possibility of similar mechanisms underlying cue interference and outcome interference is discussed.     

Internet Learning in the United States: Where It is and Where It is Going

The author briefly describes the activity of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in support of asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) in universities, an activity that goes back to 1992. These networks can provide the essentials of the traditional learning experience electronically, delivering the same ultimate result at roughly the same cost as traditional classroom delivery. However, asynchronous learning networks can assemble a diversity of students and teaching staffs and offer a flexibility of delivery and of outreach that permit a vast extension of educational possibilities.     

College courses and changes in dogmatism

To observe the impact of an experimental human relations course and to compare changes occurring in students in this course with changes in students having other University experiences, most University of Minnesota entering freshmen were asked to complete the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale before the beginning of the school year in 1970, and selected groups were retested at the end of the first quarter. Mean dogmatism scores for all groups, including the experimental group, declined. In terms of dogmatism, the results did not suggest that the experimental course had a unique effect on students. Students selecting varying college experiences differed extensively at both times of testing and retesting.The author expresses his appreciation to James Rounds, who assumed much responsibility for the collection and analysis of the data.     

Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative: Pinellas County,Florida

The Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative in Pinellas County, FL, emerged as a part of a broader local effort to implement creative educational and mental health programs to support children and families. This initiative focused on capacity building, prevention, and intervention efforts and comprehensive evaluation to address the barriers to learning and enhance healthy development. This article describes Pinellas County's plan, and highlights the instrumental roles played by school psychologists, which included grant writing, program and resource coordination, clinical services, program evaluation, staff training, parent advocacy, and steering committee membership. Promising outcomes and generalization of these findings to other communities is also discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 489–501, 2003.