Making a positive impact in rural places: Change agency in the context of school–university–community collaboration in education

International Review of Education -     

Measure Twice,Cut Once: The Temporality of Communication Design

The familiar folk saying, “Measure twice, cut once,” with origins in carpentry design certainly indicates that the issue of measurement is central to good design work. The equally important—if implicit—wisdom to which it points is that it takes more time, or a careful pace of action, to do so properly. To develop our central arguments about the temporality of communication design, we first describe how the consideration of varying time scales offers great utility in the communication design enterprise and elaborate on the designable features of temporality for human interaction. Next, we draw on Ballard's typology of work-based activity cycles to offer some temporally based design principles for the design of work. We then apply these insights to various work activities that unfold at various time scales and illustrate how concern with temporality (rather than only time) may lead to a redesign of communication. In the conclusion, we attend to an underlying issue implicated throughout the preceding discussion: the pace at which the designer proceeds.     

Mystery of the Toxic Flea Dip: An Interactive Approach to Teaching Aerobic Cellular Respiration

We designed an interrupted case study to teach aerobic cellular respiration to major and nonmajor biology students. The case is based loosely on a real-life incident of rotenone poisoning. It places students in the role of a coroner who must determine the cause of death of the victim. The case is presented to the students in four parts. Each part is followed by discussion questions that the students answer in small groups prior to a classwide discussion. Successive parts of the case provide additional clues to the mystery and help the students focus on the physiological processes involved in aerobic respiration. Students learn the information required to solve the mystery by reading the course textbook prior to class, listening to short lectures interspersed throughout the case, and discussing the case in small groups. The case ends with small group discussions in which the students are given the names and specific molecular targets of other poisons of aerobic respiration and asked to determine which process (i.e., glycolysis, citric acid cycle, or the electron transport chain) the toxin disrupts.     

Transformational Journey of Educators in Technology: A Study of Tenured Business Faculty

ABSTRACT

Recent statistics show faculty in higher education question the value and legitimacy of online education as a viable educational format and are, therefore, less accepting of online degrees. The focus of this study was on business faculty and online education through the theoretical framework of transformative learning. Specifically, tenured faculty members who were initially resistant to teaching online – changed their perspective – and came to value and teach online business curriculum. To examine this phenomenon, a survey was distributed to business faculty worldwide. Qualified responses were received from 206 survey participants. The findings suggest that while business faculty, including those tenured, are resistant to teaching online and prefer to teach in a face-to-face environment, a perspective change toward teaching online resulted after spending time reflecting on various factors considered key to a successful entry to online teaching.