Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

Reconceptualising The Professional Development Of In-Service Science Teachers In Pakistan, Nelofer Halai

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

Pakistan is a society in transition in more ways than one: politically it is still trying to find its place in the democratic nations of the world; economically it is taking steps to move closer to a market-based economy; and socially it is nurturing a more liberal and just society by reining in the religious extremists. In the aftermath of 9/11 stress has been on educational reform in a number of areas including – updating curriculum, improving access to schooling and developing teacher education. Teacher as the agent of reform is slowly gaining currency in Pakistan. The Institute for Educational …

Key Themes And Issues In Educational Development: A Critical Perspective On The Ied Model, Iffat Farah, Barbara Jaworski

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Subject Studies In Teacher Education, Barbara Jaworski, Bernadette L. Dean, Rana Hussain

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Partnerships In Educational Development, Iffat Farah, Barbara Jawrski

Books

This book is about the development of one institution and its developmental work in education in South and Central Asia and in East Africa: The Institute for Educational Development (IED) at the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi, Pakistan.

It's a product of the 10 years of development. It had been hoped to complete it for the 10-year celebrations, but as with other aspects of the IED, it kept on growing. This volume tries to provide an account of development from a number of perspectives, such as historical, chronological, issues-based and honestly critical.

Practice Tests: A Practical Teaching Method, Margaret K. Snooks

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Learn about the development, implementation and evaluation of short daily practice tests. Student response is overwhelmingly positive, and learning improvement is evidenced by higher semester averages.

The Establishment Of Aga Khan University-Institute For Educational Development, Sadrudin Pardhan, Dennish Thiessen

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Comparative Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Online Vs Paper Based Post Graduate Courses In Occupational And Environmental Safety And Health At Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Suzanna Paul

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Although online / e-learning is shifting the teaching paradigm at tertiary institutions, there are limited studies that assess the effectiveness of online courses, particularly in the occupational and environmental health field and among mature aged students. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of online "Blackboard" units as compared to traditional "paper based" units taught as part of the Professional Masters in Occupational and Environmental Health at the Edith Cowan University. Unit commencement and completion questionnaires were designed and distributed over two academic semesters (in 2004 and 2005) to evaluate students' perceptions of the effectiveness of …

Why Does Policy Fail? Understanding The Problems Of Policy Implementation In Pakistan - A Neuro-Cognitive Perspective, Sajid Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Education policy in Pakistan, as in other developing countries, faces the challenge of poor implementation. The article explores the history of education policy in Pakistan and describes the conventional accounts of policy failures. It particularly highlights the issues of unclear goals, political commitment, governance, centralisation, resources and foreign aid. Generally, it is assumed that overcoming these conventional challenges will result in better policy outcomes. Although this is partially true, Spillane, Reiser and Reimer (2002) direct our attention to the cognitive factors that play a critical role in policy implementation. They argued that implementing agents try to make sense of policy …

Continuing Professional Development And The Relevance Of The Ied Model In East Africa, Jane Rarieya, Fred Tukahirwa

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Faculty Attitudes Toward International Education: A Campus Experience, Susan Carley, Sutham Cheurprakobkit, Daniel Paracka

Faculty Articles

Because of the important role of the faculty in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and curriculum development, a crucial component in internationalizing the campus is the internationalization of the faculty itself. Despite the important role played by faculty, little is known about their current support for and interest in internationalization, and available information is largely qualitative and anecdotal. To learn more about faculty views, the authors conducted an empirical study on faculty attitudes about international learning, perceptions of institutional support, perceived benefits of international learning, and the impact of demographic factors and prior international experience on faculty perceptions. Policy implications …

Special Issue: Introduction Future Directions For Service Learning In Higher Education, Dan W. Butin

Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Disciplining Service Learning: Institutionalization And The Case For Community Studies, Dan W. Butin

Education Faculty Publications

This article argues that the service-learning field has been pursuing the wrong revolution. Namely, service learning has been envisioned as a transformative pedagogical practice and philosophical orientation that would change the fundamental policies and practices of the academy. However, its attempted institutionalization faces substantial barriers and positions service learning in an uncomfortable double-bind that ultimately co-opts and neutralizes its agenda. This article argues that a truly transformative agenda may be to create a parallel movement to develop an “academic home” for service learning within academic “community studies” programs. This “disciplining” of service learning is the truly revolutionary potential of institutionalizing …

Evaluation Of A Livestock Ethics Curriculum For High School Youth, Clinton P. Rusk, Keli M. Brubaker, Mark Balschweid, Edmond A. Pajor

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a livestock ethics curriculum developed for high school students in Agricultural Education classes. The three hour curriculum was taught by Keli Brubaker to 305 students enrolled in eight Indiana High School Agriculture programs. Data were collected using a pre-test/post-test experimental design and both tests were administered by the researcher to ensure consistent and detailed instructions were given to students. The McNemar test in SPSS was used to evaluate pre-test/post-test responses. Participants increased their awareness and knowledge of the overall principles involved in making ethical choices when faced with decisions …

Identifying Content For An Open Courseware Pre-Service Agricultural Education Program Planning Course, Elizabeth B. Wilson, William G. Camp, Mark Balschweid

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

This study focused on the development of a pre-service agricultural education “Program Planning” course that could be utilized nationally for preparing high school agricultural science and business teachers. The researchers created a course that would meet the needs of agricultural education students, teachers, and faculty across the United States in the form of open courseware. Using the Tyler Rationale, the subjects of the study were teachers (learners), teacher educators (subject specialists), and 22 university program planning course syllabi collected from agricultural education teacher preparation programs. A collective list of content items was derived from the course syllabi. Outstanding high school …

Career Aspirations Of Selected Ffa Members, B. Allen Talbert, Mark Balschweid

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

This descriptive study conducted in 2003 utilized random sampling techniques for accessing the 450,000 members of the National FFA Organization. The purpose of the study was to describe career aspirations of FFA members within, and related to, USDE career clusters, Supervised Agricultural Experiences, Career Development Event participation and career related demographic indicators. The study compared results to a similar study conducted in 1999. The data revealed that FFA members are busy with involvement in multiple sports and multiple clubs within their school and that a majority hold a job. FFA members across the nation consistently connect to agriculture with over …

Parent Resources And High School Quality In The Context Of The Rural Gap In Postsecondary Educational Attainment, Edward B. Reeves

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The goal of the present study is to explain the effects of parent resources and secondary school quality in bringing about these patterns in the context of the rural gap in higher educational attainment. Using a nationally representative data set that tracks individual student careers in high school and beyond (which NELS provides) lays a strong empirical foundation for the investigation of this topic.

Engineering Education Through Service-Learning In Developing Communities: Two Case Studies, Evan A. Thomas, Andrew Azman

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper provides case studies of two service learning projects that University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) students are integrating into their academic experience. The projects focus on developing communities and are managed under the auspices of Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA), a group founded by Dr. Bernard Amadei, Professor of Civil Engineering at CU-Boulder. These projects expand students? understanding of the social value of their chosen profession, and expose them to a type of engineering significantly different than what is presented in most of their classes. Specifically, focusing on developing communities provides students with the opportunity to design solutions to …

About The Authors, Volume 24 (2006)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

About the editors and authors of volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

Preface, Volume 24 (2006), Sandra Chadwick Blossey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Preface to volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Sandra Chadwick Blossey of Rollins College.

Monster At The Foot Of The Bed: Surviving The Challenge Of Marketplace Forces On Higher Education, Raoul A. Arreola

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The impact of technology on society has caused a paradigm shift in the basic support for higher education. Where higher education was traditionally supported as a function of government, the knowledge explosion and global economy resulting from the impact of computer and other technologies is moving the underlying support of higher education to the marketplace. There is evidence that traditional academic strategies and practices that were successful under the old paradigm may no longer be working. Twelve suggestions are offered for revolutionary changes that the academy must make in order to survive, even thrive, in the new paradigm.

A Different Way To Approach The Future: Using Chaos Theory To Improve Planning, Marc Cutright

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Strategic planning is a good idea that gets a bad name from dubious efforts carrying the title. Much of this rap comes from half-hearted exercises, but some of it comes from efforts that founder due to faulty or limited conceptions of how the future “works.” Chaos theory is an alternative approach and metaphor with potential to let us see the future and its dynamics in new ways. Cognizance of chaos’s nature and underlying structure might help us do planning in new, nonintuitive, and more successful ways.

Perceptions Of Faculty Developers About The Present And Future Of Faculty Development At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, Andrea L. Beach, Stephen L. Rozman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The development of faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has been a challenge and commitment since their inception before and after the civil war. Historically, faculty have assumed many roles, but they primarily sought to address the needs of black students. The HBCU Faculty Development Network, founded in 1994, has been instrumental in providing a platform to showcase accomplishments and challenges in education at this unique group of colleges and universities. To address future needs, we surveyed the membership to explore current program goals and influences, practices, and new directions. The results are compared with data for the …

Preparing Faculty For Pedagogical Change: Helping Faculty Deal With Fear, Linda C. Hodges

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

How receptive faculty are to changing their pedagogical approach is a complex issue, but one factor that impedes change is the fear of taking a risk. Underlying this fear may be the fear of loss, fear of embarrassment, or fear of failure. Addressing these issues can empower faculty to be more innovative in their teaching. Drawing on research literature, personal teaching narratives, and my own work in faculty development, I discuss some of these underlying fears. I then offer concrete strategies for working with faculty to enable them to overcome these emotional barriers and embrace change.

An Electronic Advice Column To Foster Teaching Culture Change, Donna M. Qualters, Thomas C. Sheahan, Jacqueline A. Isaacs

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

First-year engineering students receive most of their teaching from instructors outside of engineering. As a result, these instructors are typically not a teaching community with a shared commitment to engineering student learning. Retention of engineering students is strongly tied to the quality of teaching, thus addressing collective teaching quality is important. This chapter describes the development of a carefully crafted, electronically distributed advice column on teaching developed by an interdisciplinary editorial team, written under the pseudonym Jonas Chalk. Surveys of Chalk Talk readers indicate that this is an effective means to promote teaching culture change.

Practicing What We Preach: Transforming The Ta Orientation, Patricia Armstrong, Peter Felten, Jeffrey Johnston, Allison Pingree

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Brookfield (1995), Schön (1983), and others articulate the necessity and complexity of being critically reflective in our work. Indeed, the value of critical reflection is inherent to educational development as a field in that we frequently encourage such thinking in our consultations with instructors. But practicing what we preach can be difficult. This chapter reflects on an experiment in the transformation of a teaching assistant orientation, a central event of our teaching center. We not only describe and assess the process of revising this orientation, but we also reflect on the implicatiom of this case for broader programming issues in …

Faculty Competency By Design: A Model For Institutional Transformation, Helen M. Clarke, Philip E. Bishop

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

For a decade, Valencia Community College has striven for a faculty development program with direct impact on student learning. The college succeeded by designing faculty learning with the same logic we apply to student learning. Valencia’s program for new tenure-track faculty focuses on significant faculty learning outcomes, a learning-centered pedagogy, high standards of scholarship, and continuous program assessment. The college’s Teaching/Learning Academy and a coordinated tenure process have cultivated new learning leaders and created a fresh partnership among deans and faculty members. This developing process of new-hire faculty development has been pivotal to Valencia’s learning-centered transformation.

Bibliography, Volume 24 (2006)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Bibliography for volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

Angela Johnson: Award-Winning Novels And The Search For Self, Kaavonia M. Hinton-Johnson, Angela Johnson

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

It was over a decade ago when Rudine Sims Bishop (1992) prophetically dubbed Angela Johnson as possibly one of "the most prominent AfricanAmerican literary artists of the next generation" (616). At the time she had four picture books to her credit, but the following year she would publish her debut young adult novel, Toning the Sweep. From there, a number of other award-winners would follow and the total of young adult books would increase to eleven and counting. To date, Johnson has three Coretta Scott King Awards, a Michael L. Printz award, and the "Genius Grant" on her list of …