Teachers Anonymous

ABSTRACT

The role of emotions in learning and teaching has largely been neglected in educational literature, particularly in higher education. Yet there are signs of increased interest in emotions in recent literature. This paper argues that emotions are a vital aspect of relationships. How we feel with and about others is central to the quality of those relationships. Thus, emotions matter in college teaching and learning as an aspect of enriching social and relational experiences that support student development. This paper discusses four key relationships in higher education: students with subject matter; students with teachers; students with other students; and students with their developing selves. For each key relationship, key literature is referenced, and suggestions for enhancing practice are offered.     

Optimized and corrected peak power output during friction‐braked cycle ergometry

Assessments of maximal intensity exercise which determine peak power output on friction‐baked cycle ergometers have fallen into two categories: correction procedures which account for changes in momentum of the ergometer's flywheel and optimization procedures which attempt to satisfy muscle force‐velocity relationships. The aim of this study was to compare performance in each procedure and so investigate assumptions which underpin the tests. Nineteen males aged 20.9 ± 0.4 years and 18 females aged 22.2 ± 0.7 years (mean ± S.E.M.), who were fully accustomed to the procedures, participated in a single experimental protocol. After a 5 min warm‐up, the subjects performed four bouts of all‐out exercise on a Monark 814E cycle ergometer against randomly assigned loads. The loads were selected to produce peak pedalling rates in the range 100–200 rev min^?1 and each bout lasted 10 s. From the inverse linear relationship between applied load and peak pedalling rate, optimized peak power output (PP _opt) and the accompanying pedalling rate (RPM _opt) were calculated. One of the bouts used a loading equivalent to 7.5% of body weight and for this bout corrected peak power output (PP _corr) and its corresponding pedalling rate (RPM _corr) were calculated. The PP _opt was less than PP _corr in the males (915 ± 35 vs 1005 ± 32 W) and females (673 ± 33 vs 777 ± 39 W) (both P < 0.001). Similarly, RPM _opt was less than RPM _corr (111 ± 1 vs 128 ± 2 rev min^?1 and 101 ± 1 vs 111 ± 2 rev min^?1 in the males and females, respectively; P < 0.001). The results demonstrate that optimization and correction procedures produce different values of performance. These differences are probably attributable to the mechanical principles which underpin the tests.     

Work‐based Learning and Quality Assurance in Higher Education

The debate concerning quality assurance in higher education is frequently conducted in terms originating outside the culture of academic institutions, such as ‘fitness for purpose’ and ‘meeting customer expectations’, which are often experienced as jarring with traditional conceptions of higher education. However, quality assurance issues surrounding the accreditation of work‐based learning within academic awards suggest how these terms may serve to pose some useful general challenges to current modes of assessment. In particular, the recognition of the need to be as precise as possible about anticipated learning outcomes, characteristic of procedures for accrediting work‐based learning, offers some useful lessons in managing the quality of traditionally taught courses.     

Informationssysteme in der Medizin

Die Medizin ist gepr?gt sowohl durch ihren besonderen unmittelbaren und existenziellen Bezug zu Menschen als auch durch ihre zunehmende ?konomische Bedeutung. Ein Medizinisches Informationssystem ist das umfassende System aller Informationsverarbeitung einer medizinischen Einrichtung oder Region. W?hrend die Architekturprinzipien des rechnerbasierten Teils solcher Informationssysteme wenige Besonderheiten aufweist, bündelt das Management dieser Informationssysteme viele Herausforderungen und Probleme, die wegen der besonderen Bedeutung der Medizin besondere Priorit?t bei der L?sung haben müssen.     

Getting to know nature: evaluating the effects of the Get to Know Program on children’s connectedness with nature

People in industrialized countries may be losing their connection with nature. The Get to Know Program (Get to Know) is a multi-faceted program aimed at encouraging direct connection with nature through a variety of activities (observations of wildlife, hiking, creative arts, and special events), specifically among youth. Three studies assessed the effects of three Get to Know program activities on youth’s implicit connectedness with nature (measured using a computer based game). Participants were youth recruited from southern California schools or youth organizations. Participation in the Get to Know Program’s Creative Arts Contest was associated with increased implicit connectedness with nature. However, participation in the Get to Know Natural Treasure Adventure and Virtual Hike did not have an effect on connectedness with nature. Implications of these findings are important for agencies seeking to find effective tools for outreach focused on connecting participants with nature.     

Education for sustainable development and the secondary curriculum in English schools: rhetoric or reality?

Can education for sustainable development (ESD) policies help to create a more sustainable society? In the article I argue that contemporary secondary school curriculum policies relating to ESD are rhetorical devices that will achieve little towards resolving global problems. I suggest that the conceptualization of SD is itself fundamentally flawed and inevitably restricts the scope of possible policy solutions. I analyse three ESD curriculum policy texts to reveal their concealments, silences and blocks to enquiry, demonstrating how their rhetorical forms make them readily assimilable into dominant economic discourse. I then introduce a recent UK Government Report explaining the failure in implementing ESD policies in the school curriculum and I expose how this analysis is a further demonstration of the problems in the prevailing policy perspective. In conclusion, I propose a new direction for progress in curriculum policy regarding sustainability.     

Biological Principles and Threshold Concepts for Understanding Natural Selection

Modern evolutionary theory is both a central theory and an integrative framework of the life sciences. This is reflected in the common references to evolution in modern science education curricula and contexts. In fact, evolution is a core idea that is supposed to support biology learning by facilitating the organization of relevant knowledge. In addition, evolution can function as a pivotal link between concepts and highlight similarities in the complexity of biological concepts. However, empirical studies in many countries have for decades identified deficiencies in students’ scientific understanding of evolution mainly focusing on natural selection. Clearly, there are major obstacles to learning natural selection, and we argue that to overcome them, it is essential to address explicitly the general abstract concepts that underlie the biological processes, e.g., randomness or probability. Hence, we propose a two-dimensional framework for analyzing and structuring teaching of natural selection. The first—purely biological—dimension embraces the three main principles variation, heredity, and selection structured in nine key concepts that form the core idea of natural selection. The second dimension encompasses four so-called thresholds, i.e., general abstract and/or non-perceptual concepts: randomness, probability, spatial scales, and temporal scales. We claim that both of these dimensions must be continuously considered, in tandem, when teaching evolution in order to allow development of a meaningful understanding of the process. Further, we suggest that making the thresholds tangible with the aid of appropriate kinds of visualizations will facilitate grasping of the threshold concepts, and thus, help learners to overcome the difficulties in understanding the central theory of life.     

Globalisierung im Hochschulwesen — ein Abschied von etablierten Werten der Internationalisierung?

Gibt es Anzeichen dafür, dass der Trend zum grenzübergreifenden Angebot von Hochschulbildung und zur Gründung hochschulischer Au?enstellen im Ausland die auf gegenseitigem Verst?ndnis und Vertrauen beruhende internationale Hochschulkooperation obsolet macht und sie durch einen internationalen Hochschulwettbewerb ersetzt? Diese Frage wird aus empirisch-deskriptiver Perspektive behandelt. Die Autoren verstehen Globalisierung nicht als eine notwendigerweise mit einem bestimmten Wertesystem verknüpfte kausale Kraft hinter jüngeren Entwicklungstrends, sondern als ein zun?chst lediglich beschreibendes Konzept, dessen Diskussion die sorgf?ltige Analyse der ihm zugrunde liegenden empirischen Prozesse voraussetzt. Unter dieser Grundannahme werten sie erste vorliegende Studien zur Struktur und Ausbreitung der Transnational Education aus und erg?nzen sie um eine Analyse aktueller Entwicklungen hinsichtlich Studienimport und-export in Deutschland. Zudem werden überblicksartig die Implikationen des internationalen Dienstleistungsabkommens GATS für das Hochschulwesen er?rtert. Auf diese Weise kann eine Reihe von Bezügen zwischen etablierten Werten der Internationalisierung und globalisierungstypischen Ph?nomenen im Hochschulwesen ausgemacht werden.