Raising the Bar: Using Coaching Conversations to Address Issues of Low Expectations for Students in Urban Settings

Abstract

Two instructional coaches explore the effectiveness of targeted coaching conversations to address teachers' perceptions of their students' capacities. In this study, the researchers focus on how specific questions can promote teachers' metacognition of underlying biases held toward their students. Researchers also explore the implications for curricular practices when teachers are prompted to address conceptions of ability.     

Mobile Chinese students navigating between fields: (Trans)forming habitus in transnational articulation programmes?

Abstract

Transnational articulation programmes are one way China is attempting to advance its higher education (HE) system. We report a study of twelve Chinese students’ experiences in two China-Australia 2?+?2 articulation programmes. In our analysis of semi-structured interviews, we use Bourdieu’s concepts of field and habitus to understand the impact on the habitus of the students. We report the experiences of the Chinese students in the HE sub-field in Australia. Students were like fish in water with the logics of practice of Chinese HE. In the new sub-field of HE in Australia, their habitus was out of place. This field/habitus mismatch created a field-habitus dissonance that can be productive of change to the habitus. Some in the study strategised to overcome this field-habitus mismatch and to adjust to the logics of the new field. We designate this emergent habitus as an in-between, diasporic cosmopolitan habitus, while others were able to ‘compartmentalise’ the demands of the new field, indicating durability of habitus.     

Effect of ocimum flavonoids as a radioprotector on the erythrocyte antioxidants in oral cancer

Flavonoids extracted from the leaves of Indian holy basil, Ocimum sanctum showed promising results as radioprotector in rodents. Hence it was thought pertinent to analyze the antioxidants of erythrocytes in oral cancer patients who were concurrently treated with radiation and ocimum flavonoids. Oral cancer patients consisted of 2 groups. Group A (n=17) received radiation alone while Group B(n=17) received radiation and ocimum flavonoids(OF). Samples of heparinised blood were collected prior to treatment, 15 and 30 days respectively after treatment. Blood from normal healthy volunteers were taken as controls (n=25). Erythrocytes were analyzed for the antioxidants viz. glutathione, glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase by the standard methods. Results of analysis indicated that erythrocytes from cancer patients (Group A and B) had significantly high glutathione levels before as well as after treatment compared to controls. It was observed that Group B which received OF showed a significant reduction in glutathione levels in comparison with Group A. All the other parameters showed no statistical significant changes. Results of the study suggest that erythrocytes from cancer patients responded to oxidative stress by elevating glutathione levels, while a decrease in glutathione levels observed in Group B, could be due to the free radical scavenging effect of OF, sparing the glutathione. However OF did not seem to exert its effect on other antioxidants of erythrocytes.     

亚太地区教育质量保障注册制（APQR）评审研究

亚太地区教育质量保障注册制（APQR）作为对教育质量保障机构的一种国际性、非政府、自律性的约束和规制活动,在评估质量保障方面起到了重要作用。根据8家教育质量保障机构对APQR评审满意度的分析,发现APQR评审符合“第四代评估理论”的理念。从评审依据来看,APQR是建构主义的动态化评审;从评审重点来看,APQR重点审视质量保障机构开放、包容以及公信力三大方面;从评审结果来看,APQR灵活运用四个等级来进行综合判断。APQR具有可供借鉴的评审经验,但仍存在需要改进之处以更好实现可持续发展。     

Gender,teaching and academic promotions in higher education

Teaching is increasingly being considered for inclusion in academic promotions in a number of universities. This raises questions about how teaching is appraised in relation to research; and which teaching criteria contribute to promotions outcomes. This article investigates these questions from a gender perspective by statistically analysing the actual promotions outcomes by rank levels at a South African university where teaching and research have been equally evaluated in academic promotions. The findings show that, overall, there was no statistically significant difference in promotions success rates between males and females and that more females achieved excellence in teaching with higher scores than males. Two of the 10 teaching criteria analysed – ‘ongoing study of tertiary education’ and ‘special recognition of teaching’ showed statistically significantly higher scores for females with high effect sizes, pointing to the importance of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in academic promotions for women. This study has implications for closing the gender gap in the senior ranks of universities.     

Teaching criteria that matter in university academic promotions

While many universities have taken steps to recognise teaching in academic promotions, debate continues on the teaching criteria to be used and their evaluation. This article analyses the 10 criteria that inform the evaluation of teaching and eventual promotion decisions at a South African university: rationale for teaching, teaching methods, postgraduate supervision, assessment, student evaluations, peer evaluations, ongoing study of higher education, developing courses, sharing teaching experiences and special recognition of teaching. The study investigated which criteria, if any, were significant in the overall evaluation of teaching and in academic promotion outcomes for different rank levels. The unexpected key finding was that each of the criteria demonstrated statistically significant correlations and differences with both teaching evaluations and promotion outcomes. While all 10 teaching criteria mattered in the evaluation of teaching and academic promotion outcomes, postgraduate supervision and sharing teaching experiences were especially important for those who were successful at the rank of full professor. A multidimensional approach that rigorously assesses multiple criteria in evaluating teaching at all rank levels, including the professoriate, contributes to its credence and currency in academic promotions. Analyses of actual assessments of teaching criteria and their relation to promotion outcomes can contribute to consensus on evaluating teaching.     

Evaluation of Flow Rate,pH, Buffering Capacity,Calcium, Total Proteins and Total Antioxidant Capacity Levels of Saliva in Caries Free and Caries Active Children: An In Vivo Study

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the physicochemical properties of saliva such as flow rate, pH, buffering capacity, calcium level, total protein and total antioxidant levels in caries free and caries active children. The present study included one hundred and twenty healthy children who were divided into two groups; group I and group II comprising of age groups 7–10 and 11–14 years, respectively. Both the groups were then sub-divided equally according to gender. They were further divided into caries free and caries active with 15 children in each group. Unstimulated saliva was collected by suction method and flow rates were determined. The samples were then analyzed for pH, buffering capacity, total protein, calcium and total antioxidant capacity. The data was statistically analyzed using student t test (unpaired). The results revealed that when all these parameters were compared among the caries free and caries active children, flow rate, pH, buffering capacity were slightly reduced in caries active children, but total protein and total antioxidant capacity of saliva increased significantly in caries active children and the total calcium decreased significantly in caries active children. Within the limitation of this study, we conclude that, the physicochemical properties of saliva play a major role in the development of caries.     

Radioprotective effects of ocimum flavonoids on leukocyte oxidants and antioxidants in oral cancer

Oxidants (NADPH oxidase and myeloperoxidase) and antioxidants (GSH,GSH peroxidase, SOD and glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase, that provides NADPH for antioxidants) were assayed in the neutrophils from oral cancer patients, in three stages viz, baseline samples,15 days after radiation and 30 days following radiation. These samples were obtained from 2 groups of patients. Group A that received radiation alone and Group B that received radiation and ocimum flavonoids,a radioprotector. The results showed a significant fall in the SOD levels in the second follow up of group B.Glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase showed significant increase only in the first follow up of patients who received Ocimum flavonoids. Except for these findings all other parameters remained statistically nonsignificant.