The Freedom to Teach

Maintaining that academic freedom is necessary if schools are to function effectively, Dr. Dahl presents lucid arguments to support his position.     

The Roles of Parental Support and Family Stress in Adolescent Sleep

The current study examines the association between parental support and adolescent sleep under varying levels of family stress. Participants included 316 adolescents (M_age = 16.40 years, 43% male) and their parents (M_age = 45.67 years, 91% mothers) from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Both adolescents and parents completed questionnaires and adolescents wore wrist actigraphs and completed self‐reports on their sleep for 7 consecutive days. Results indicated that under contexts of family stress, more parental support was linked to longer sleep duration, less sleep variability, and less time spent awake during the night. Findings suggest that under contexts of family stress, cohesive family relationships may provide a sense of stability and security that is necessary for healthful sleep.     

Intentionally designed thinking and experience spaces: What we learned at summer camp

How do young people experience camp, and how might that experience help us expand our understanding of what is possible in non-formal learning environments? In-depth interviews consisting of forced-choice and open-ended questions were conducted with 59 Concordia Language Villages residential camp participants who partake in a linguistically and culturally enriched grand simulation. This study focused on (1) quantitative assessments of their sense of safety and belonging, and (2) open-ended questions about the nature of the camp environment in general and as a learning place. From the qualitative data, we distilled participants’ sense of camp as a learning place by analysing their responses in terms of theoretically-driven categories of thinking space qualities and data-driven categories of experience space qualities. As a thinking space, participants described the camp environment as a safe space characterized by support for thinking and development, room for identity-supportive interactions, room to experiment, and a place with mentoring adults and a second-home feeling. As an experience space, they emphasized the centrality of the program’s daily activities (particularly simulations), the qualities of the people around them (diverse and community-focused), the physical setting of the program (particularly its aesthetics) and the instructional methods used (particularly language and cultural immersion). The relationship of these findings to our understanding of the nature of the thinking and experience spaces as program-specific and program-general phenomena is discussed.     

Open-ended Cases in Agroecology: Farming and Food Systems in the Nordic Region and the US Midwest

Abstract

Our aim is to describe open-ended case studies for learning real-life problem solving skills, and relate this approach to conventional, closed-ended decision case studies. Teaching methods are open-ended cases in agroecology, an alternative to traditional strategies that lead students through prepared materials and structured discussions to determine an outcome already known to the instructor. Our method promotes a culture of curiosity. Multiple evaluation criteria show how this learning strategy provides students with practice in researching, envisioning and designing potential scenarios for clients in the field. In agroecology case studies, students and instructors are co-learners in a discovery process that includes gathering information from key clients, interviewing major stakeholders, and building an understanding of the current context of the local farming and food systems. Two agroecology courses in Norway, a field course in the US Midwest, and an experimental course in Sweden and Vietnam illustrate this learning strategy. Student evaluations of learning have been highly positive, and skills and methods from courses have been applied in their thesis projects and professional careers.

Practical results reveal that students are well prepared for an uncertain, complex, multi-dimensional and dynamic future, have the capacity to develop alternative future scenarios, and have practiced methods to evaluate options based on production, economic, environmental and social criteria and impacts. This innovative strategy is offered as a complement or alternative to conventional decision case studies and evaluated as an approach to experiential learning, an important and effective method for adult learners.     

Examining the Psychometric Properties of a New Integrative Learning Scale

Research in Higher Education - Integrative learning is the ability to connect, apply, and/or synthesize. A highly valued skill for the knowledge economy and combating false narratives, integrative...     

A validational study of the structured interview of symptoms associated with sexual abuse (SASA) using three samples of sexually abused, allegedly abused, and nonabused boys

Objective: With the rapid rise of sexual abuse allegations, there is a growing need to develop instruments to help clinicians determine the likelihood that sexual abuse has occurred.Method: This study evaluated the discriminant validity of a structured parent interview regarding emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms by comparing results among three subsamples of age matched boys: 22 sexually abused boys whose perpetrator confessed, 47 boys evaluated in a sexual abuse clinic but without a history of perpetrator confession and 52 nonabused boys selected after rigorous screening.Results: In comparison with the nonabused (NA) boys, the sexually abused boys were significantly more likely to demonstrate sudden emotional and behavioral changes, frequent stomachaches, more knowledge about sex and sexual activities than expected for age, unusual agressiveness toward playmate or toy's private parts, crying easily, difficulty getting to sleep, and a change to poor school performance. The internal reliability of the SASA was determined to be .83 and scoring of an abbreviated 12-item scale demonstrated a sensitivity of 90.9% and a specificity of 88.5%.Conclusions: The findings suggest that Structured Interview of Symptoms Associated with Sexual Abuse (SASA) is an effective tool which may help in the comprehensive assessment of boys who may have been sexually abused.     

Innovating strategically in information and knowledge management: Applications of organizational behavior theory

A business school declares its strategy as becoming a leading European institution. As main vehicle for achieving recognition is the implementation of a top-down strategy naming five academic fields as key – (a) finance, (b) economics, (c) marketing, (d) law, accounting, and auditing, and (e) organizational behavior (OB). Top management allocates resources for research, academic activities, and positions to these five strategically chosen areas. Academic areas that are not strategically named must generate their own income through educational programs and research grants. Can OB serve as the platform to ensure the survival of IS/KMS? In our analysis, we found no other business school formulating a strategy along these lines; dominating strategic themes are internationalization, research excellence, and student environment. No academic field is singled out as strategic. We argue that selecting a few academic areas as a strategy is dysfunctional. We also found that OB is not very actively employed in research, be it positioning, theory, research model, analysis, or discussion. Hence, we do not find that OB offers any theorizing help to IS/KMS – this in contrast to innovation and change theories, for which we propose an framework as a means of defining IS/KMS research projects.