Lessons Our BSW Students Taught Us About Teaching Social Work in a Reservation Community

ABSTRACT

American Indians and Alaska Natives are underrepresented as social work students, social work educators, and within the profession in general. In addition, many historical and socioeconomic factors have contributed to disproportionality in higher education attainment between these students and those within other ethnic groups. Compounding the challenges, many students in reservation communities lack access to programs that provide social work degrees. Faculty based in a small university in the upper Midwest delivered a BSW program to students in a tribal community over a 3-year period and share pedagogical lessons learned from their students and the literature.     

Schulformwechsel im zweigliedrigen Schulsystem

This study focuses on students who change from the academic to the non-academic school track after grade 7 (probationary year) in Berlin. We examined which individual student characteristics (e.?g., performance, school biography, family background) predict school change after the probationary year. We were particularly interested as to whether there are secondary effects of social background, after controlling for differences in performance. Our analyses were based on data from a study which included a whole cohort of school track changers (N?=?754) who were compared with students that remained at the academic track (N?=?1470). In order to predict the change of school type, multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results revealed significant differences between both groups regarding all observed characteristics. Performance-related characteristics were the best predictors of track change. After controlling for these characteristics, no further significant effects for other predictors were observable (i.?e., no secondary effects of social background were present).     

Processing procedural documents: A cognitive model for following written directions

This paper reviews empirical literature on how people use documents to perform tasks. We examine studies that have been published under the topics of: following written directions, reading maps, following instructions, using job performance aids, and processing procedural texts. Documents that contain a procedure, such as a set of directions, require transformation of information. Such transformation frequently requires converting a procedure represented verbally in a text into a procedure represented behaviorally in a performance. To accomplish this transformation, we propose that students must: (a) form a conceptual model of the performance; (b) encode procedures from the document; (c) engage in self-testing; and (d) conduct self-corrections to repair mistakes. We further propose that these operations are performed most efficiently with distinctive information resources. An overview of the task is likely to be most effective in facilitating conceptual model formation. Procedural information that emphasizes temporal characteristics of the performance will facilitate the encoding of procedures. A representation of the outcome (usually graphic) improves self-testing, and the comparison of the outcome with progress in the workspace leads to most effective self-correction. This process-resource interaction minimizes the number and complexity of transformations required to process procedural documents.     

Effect of group size on avoidance learning in zebra fish,Brachydanio rerio (Pisces: Cyprinidae)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of density of fish on the rate of avoidance learning in a schooling fish. Naive adult zebra fish (Brachydanio rerio) were trained in a two-way aquatic shuttlebox, in isolation, in groups of two, or in groups of five. The number of trials to reach progressively more exacting levels of performance (1, 2, 3, … ,9 consecutive correct avoidance responses on 2 successive days), was used to quantify the rate of learning for individuals in the three groups. Using this measure, individuals in groups of five reached any given level of performance in fewer trials than individuals tested alone, which in turn reached the progressive criteria in fewer trials than individuals tested in pairs. In addition, the mean latency of response to the conditioned stimulus for individuals in groups of five was significantly lower than for individuals tested alone or in groups of two by Day 3 of the experiment. The rate of learning in zebra fish schools at these densities may be due to either a balance between imitation learning and conflict-inhibition among the fish or the elicitation of different behavioral responses by shock, depending upon environmental stimuli.     

What does it look like and what can it do? Category structure influences how infants categorize

Despite a large body of research demonstrating the kinds of categories to which infants respond, few studies have directly assessed how infants' categorization unfolds over time. Four experiments used a visual familiarization task to evaluate 10-month-old infants' (N = 98) learning of exemplars characterized by commonalities in appearance or function. When learning exemplars with a common function, infants initially responded to the common feature, apparently forming a category, and only learned the individual features with more extensive familiarization. When learning exemplars with a common appearance, infants initially learned the individual features and apparently only formed a category with more extensive familiarization. The results are discussed in terms of models of category learning.     

Praxisleitfaden zur Betreuung von Diplomarbeiten

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt erfolgskritische Faktoren des bei der Erstellung von Diplomarbeiten zwischen Studenten und Gutachter bestehenden Betreuungsverh?ltnisses und soll praktische Hinweise zu dessen Optimierung liefern.     

Probleme und Konzepte software-ergonomischer Beratung am Beispiel eines Informationssystems im World Wide Web (WWW)

Zusammenfassung. Die vorliegende Arbeit gibt Einblick in ein software- ergonomisches Beratungsprojekt zur Entwicklung eines internetbasierten Informationssystems. Sie beschreibt projektspezifische Probleme und die darauf aufbauende Konzeption des Beratungsprojekts. Es galt, insbesondere drei Problembereiche zu berücksichtigen: (1) Zusammenarbeit von Software-Entwicklern und Ergonomen, (2) Integration von Grundprinzipien software-ergonomischer Gestaltung in ein klassisches Vorgehensmodell der Software-Entwicklung (V-Modell) und (3) Wahl des Zeitpunkts für den Beginn der Beratung. Der konkrete Beratungsproze? unterteilte sich in drei Phasen: Analyse, Gestaltung und Bewertung des Informationssystems. In jeder dieser Phasen kamen verschiedene software-ergonomische Methoden (Schriftliche Benutzerbefragung, Gebrauchstauglichkeitsstudien etc.) zum Einsatz, die an die Bedingungen des Projektes angepa?t wurden. Der besondere Schwerpunkt lag dabei auf der Analysephase. Eingegangen am 23. November 1998 / Angenommen am 25. M?rz 1999     

Methodik und Ergebnisse einer Experimentreihe über Entwurfsmuster

Zusammenfassung.   Software-Entwurfsmuster sind eine intuitiv einleuchtende Idee, die viele Befürworter hat. Als Forscher dürfen wir die behaupteten Wirkungen von Entwurfsmustern jedoch nicht einfach glauben, sondern müssen sie gründlich prüfen. Dieser Artikel beschreibt die wichtigsten Behauptungen und entwickelt daraus zugeh?rige Forschungsfragen. Wir diskutieren die Methodik für ein Forschungsprogramm, das die Fragen beantworten soll, und skizzieren praktische Beschr?nkungen, unter denen diese Forschung ablaufen mu?. Es folgt eine kurze Beschreibung von drei kontrollierten Experimenten und den Hauptfolgerungen aus ihren Ergebnissen. So sollte man zum Beispiel die Benutzung von Entwurfsmustern in einem Entwurf genau dokumentieren und Entwurfsmuster nicht einsetzen, ohne alternative Entwürfe zu prüfen. Abschlie?end diskutieren wir ein im Rahmen des Forschungsprogramms geplantes viertes Experiment. Der Beitrag dieses Artikels liegt vorrangig in einer Beschreibung und Diskussion wichtiger methodischer Aspekte kontrollierter Experimente in der Softwaretechnik. Eingegangen am 27. Oktober 1998 / Angenommen am 13. M?rz 1999