Juggling competing activities: academic staff as doctoral candidates

ABSTRACT

This article explores the experiences of a group of established academic staff in New Zealand and the UK, as they undertake a doctorate in their home institutions. Our interest is in how individuals negotiate this dual status from a cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) stance that explores how rules, tools, community and divisions of labour, and interacting activity systems, shape doctoral experiences. The focus in this article, having analysed their detailed narrative accounts, is on how academics experience three interdependent activity systems: those surrounding the thesis, the institutional context, and the home-life spheres. Issues related to time, workload and supervision issues, variability in collegial support and impact on personal priorities and time emerged. There is a range of particularities – from easy access to resources/supervisors to inflexible institutional regulations – applicable to this group of doctoral candidates. Negotiating life as an academic with concurrent doctoral candidature provides positive outcomes in terms of teaching, research confidence and general personal and professional development. However, a range of difficulties can also be encountered, particularly in relation to personal and professional relationships, and workload management.     

The impact of a professional development programme on teachers' attitudes towards inclusion

This article describes a study that aimed to answer the following question: ‘Will a programme of professional development in the area of special and inclusive education be effective in achieving attitudinal shift in teachers?’ Forty‐eight teachers who were enrolled on a Master's programme in Special and Inclusive Education were surveyed via a questionnaire at the beginning and end of a ten‐week introductory module. The results indicated overall attitudinal shift and attitudinal shift for four categories of inclusion to suggest more positive attitudes at the end of the module, compared with at the beginning. The implications for providers of pre‐ and in‐service education and training courses for teachers are discussed.     

浅析高职公共英语教师的职业发展

近年来,为了适应新形势的需要,各大高职院校都在进行教学改革。公共英语的教学改革也是大势所趋。公共英语教师面临着巨大的压力和挑战,必须迅速更新教育理念,充分发挥自己的主动性和积极性,主动思考和创新,不断充实完善自我来实现自身的职业发展。     

重视学生特性,实现思想政治课教育功能最大化

促进人的个性发展是教育长期追求的重要目标。思想政治课在学校的课程体系中居于首要位置,在提高学生的文化素养、道德修养及促进学生的个性发展等方面发挥着不可替代的作用。而艺术院校的学生在个性及其专业特性上具有明显的特点,因而,在思想政治课教育中,重视和利用教育对象的特殊性并将其与教育活动紧密联系,使教育活动自觉反映并符合学生身心发展的需求、学生的个性发展与教育活动趋向良性互动的状态,实现艺术院校思想政治课教育功能最大化的目标。     

农科院校无机及分析化学课程分层教学方法的应用

针对扩招后学生水平差异的显著,根据最近发展区理论,在我校《无机及分析化学》基础课教学中进行分层教学法的实践,按能力对学生进行分组,同时设计多层次的教学目标,有针对有区别地设计教学内容,控制教学进度,促进每个学生在最适合自己的目标层次中求得最佳发展,从而改进传统的大班"一刀切"的授课方式,强化学生的主体地位,有效地提高《无机及分析化学》大班教学的质量,更好地实现扩招后"大众化""多元化"的教育目标。     

硼酸盐发光材料的研究进展

近年来,硼酸盐发光材料研究是一个比较活跃的领域,学者们在此方面进行了大量的研究。本文对国内外硼酸盐发光材料的总体研究状况进行了简述,并着重从无水硼酸盐及水合硼酸盐两大体系介绍了纳米硼酸盐发光材料的研究现状,同时对硼酸盐发光材料研究的发展方向提出了展望。     

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese Version of the Life Skills Scale for Sport

ABSTRACT

This research adapted the Life Skills Scale for Sport (LSSS) into Portuguese and provided evidence for its construct validity. Study 1 included four translators and five academics who developed a Portuguese version of the LSSS (P-LSSS). During this study, evidence for the content and substantive aspects of construct validity was provided using an expert panel and 25 sports participants. Study 2 included 413 participants that completed the P-LSSS. Within this study, evidence for the structural aspect of construct validity was provided via factor analyses. Study 3 included 134 participants who completed the P-LSSS and a measure of motivation. This study provided evidence for the external aspect of construct validity, with results showing more self-determined motivation had positive relationships with participant’s life skills development. Overall, our findings provided evidence for the construct validity of P-LSSS scores. Researchers and practitioners can use the P-LSSS to assess life skills development within sports participants.     

Blended learning in higher education: professional development in a Hong Kong university

ABSTRACT

Online learning has become a ubiquitous part of the educational landscape and how teachers are supported in developing approaches to teaching online is a fundamental aspect of the students’ learning experience. Based on the implementation of a professional development course on becoming an online teacher offered in a blended learning mode at one university in Hong Kong, this article proposes that offering this type of professional development in a blended mode is very effective in facilitating enhanced usage of the university’s learning management system. In a blended mode, teachers are actively engaged with blended learning and were found to make more extensive use of features/tools in Blackboard after they attended the professional development course. Results support that offering professional development in a blended mode provides teachers with an authentic student perspective, at the same time as they take guided steps in the teacher’s role in blended learning.     

关于社会发展评价标准的理性思考

当今我国处于转型发展的多元化社会过程中，面临着多方面的挑战，我们应从社会发展的价值取向、社会评价尺度等方面综合考虑影响我国社会发展的因素，从而使社会既合规律又合目的地向前发展。