Participatory concepts of multidisciplinary/professional working on an Early Childhood Studies degree course in the UK

This paper aims to explore democratic values in higher education pedagogies, as related to an Early Childhood Studies (ECS) degree course in an English university. It seeks to find out what constitutes a multi-disciplinary course from both student and tutor perspectives. It is contextualised by the concepts of participation embedded in the idea of multi-professional team work, in order to establish how these ideas could contribute a strong ethical focus to the concept of multidisciplinary study. The study was designed within the paradigm of participatory action research and findings suggest that, although students make links between different disciplinary discourses, tutors feel that their professional identity and knowledge can be constrained by the course structure. The paper suggests that more work needs to be done on the validation of early childhood courses to allow opportunities for multi-professional working to be modelled.     

Evaluation of a networked staff development strategy for departmental tutor trainers: benefits,limitations and future directions

As part of the 1997–1999 Teaching and Learning Enhancement Plan, the University of Queensland mandated that all its academic departments should conduct tutor training. The University's academic development unit, TEDI (the Teaching and Educational Development Institute) designed a network‐based staff development strategy for the development of departmental staff designated as tutor trainers. The strategy was known as the Tutor Training Network (TTN). This paper describes the strategy and reports on an evaluation of the Network programme. The data show that although it was very successful, the network‐based strategy has a limited lifespan. Nonetheless it is an effective strategy for wholesale staff development to support institution‐wide implementations of policy or changes in practice.     

论中国古代宇宙观与传统武术之哲学基础

摘要：宇宙观是影响一个思想体系及社会制度的重要因素,传统武术体系的形成与发展也离不开对古代宇宙观的认识。为丰富武术哲学体系,揭示中国古代宇宙观与传统武术形成之间的哲学基础,主要采用文献资料法,在古文献史料的基础上阐述古人从对宇宙认识,从中提取传统武术哲学之精华,认为传统武术哲学的形成前提是对宇宙的认识,并超越了神论限制,走向发展的正途;中国古代气论、道论、太极发生论、宇宙生命整体论影响着传统武术哲学的本质观、修炼境界观、平衡观和武术哲学的基本理念。该研究不仅说明武学产生的思想基础,丰富了武学的认识论体系,而且揭示了传统武术哲学的发展过程与规律,对我们认识武学体系的内在精髓提供启示和借鉴。     

Studying health information from a distance: refining an e-learning case study in the crucible of student evaluation

Purpose: To present a formative evaluation of the impact of a multimedia case study as a component of a masters course in health informatics delivered by distance learning. Setting/Participants/Resources: First and second year health informatics students undertaking four core modules of a masters programme at the University of Sheffield. Methodology: Individual qualitative user surveys and interviews. Results/Outcomes: Formative evaluation has played a significant role in refining the case study through its text‐based, intermediate and CD‐ROM based stages. Feedback from students has resulted in clarification of case study tasks, clearer definition of teaching roles and a revised approach to assessment. At the same time it has highlighted the importance of ongoing revision and maintenance in keeping the scenarios realistic and current. Discussion/Conclusion: The multimedia case study has met many of its original aims in providing greater cohesion for core modules and encouraging greater levels of interaction and multidisciplinary collaboration.     

The Use of Internet,Quasi-multimedial and Multimedial Educational Systems at the Technical University KoŠice

Electronic mail entered the Technical University Ko?ice in 1990. Now, instead of the few tens of users at the beginning, the system hosts thousands of them. Interactive teaching programmes as well as teaching programmes that are supported by audio and visual channels have also been used since 1990. The paper presents a short account of past development, the present situation and perspectives within the area of Internet use and of tuition that employs multimedia related means of teaching.     

Developing and evaluating authentic integration between research and coursework in professional doctorate programs

Integration has always been a prominent issue debated in the burgeoning literature on professional doctorate programs. This focus on integration, however, has largely involved the integration between theoretical and practical understandings of various professions. Exploring the integration between research and coursework components of professional doctorate programs has received less attention. This article explores the character of the integration between coursework and research in several professional doctorate programs at a number of Australian research‐intensive universities and universities of technology. Using a content analysis methodology, this research charted the various models for sequencing research and coursework and established whether integration was an explicit or implicit goal of the espoused curriculum. It also sought to explore whether there were differences in the levels of integration in professional doctorate programs across different types of universities or patterns of variation across disciplines.     

Changing attitudes and emotions toward coyotes with experiential education

ABSTRACT

An experiential education program was designed to target risk perceptions and preventative measures that make people feel comfortable in human-coyote interactions. The research was conducted in a Canadian national park where a coyote caused a human fatality in 2009. Based on previous research, we explored the effects of an experience-based coyote education program on people's (a) attitudes toward, (b) fear of, (c) likelihood of, and (d) control over coming into contact with coyotes. A pre-post-test experiment (n = 150; 96% completion rate) was conducted. The experiential education approach to wildlife safety and coexistence communication had a significant positive effect on people's attitudes, significantly decreased their sense of fear toward coyotes, significantly decreased their sense of likelihood, and increased their sense of control in human-coyote interactions.     

The pirate in the pump: children's views of objects as imaginary friends at the start of school

The main aim of this paper is to use a phenomenological approach (Merleau-Ponty, 1962. Phenomenology of Perception. Evanston: Northwestern University Press; Merleau-Ponty. 1968. The Visible and the Invisible: Followed by Working Notes. Evanston: Northern University Press) to contribute a new theoretical understanding of what imaginary friends mean for children in the context of starting school. The paper addresses the specific area of ‘object-friends’ and draws on examples from an empirical and consultative study of a small sample of five and six-year-old children’s everyday experiences of friendship in school. The paper argues that if practitioners consider embodiment approaches and listen attentively to the knowledge and information that children share about their imaginary friends, this could be used to nurture children’s early learning.     

Academic developers: an academic tribe claiming their territory in higher education

In this paper we review the current debate regarding the work of academic developers in higher education and their rightful “place” in higher education, particularly with regard to notions of the discipline, research and scholarship of teaching. We describe and compare the work of discipline academics and academic developers and argue that the two are more similar to each other than different. We acknowledge the challenges and tensions that exist in the overlap between the domains of expertise of discipline academics and academic developers, and attempt to articulate sources of these tensions in a conceptual model. Ultimately we defend two propositions: (1) that academic developers are, by the nature of their work, academics, and (2) that the discipline that academic development is a part of, namely the discipline of higher education, is a legitimate academic discipline in its own right. The consequences of these two propositions are explored.