Making a difference: using action research to explore our educational practice

This paper describes and discusses an action research collaboration between a multi-disciplinary team of practice educators, a practice development nurse and a university lecturer in order to explore, evaluate and improve a dementia care training package developed for a range of staff providing care for people with dementia. Whilst it is recognised that the findings of this small evaluation study are only of local interest, we believe the approach we took to be of general use for other teams of practice educators as a way of exploring and evaluating their own practice. This paper will therefore focus mostly on the philosophy, methodology and conduct of the study, including our own reflections and learning as novice action researchers.     

Making a difference for maltreated children

Joey, age two and a half, spends most of his day sitting in a corner sucking his thumb. He doesn't seem to find interest in the toys or activities available to him. Sandy is three years old. Most of the time, she seems oblivious to the rules and routines of her care center. When she arrives in the morning, she throws her coat on the floor instead of hanging it in her cubby. She refuses to respond appropriately to the cleanup signal. She rarely smiles or laughs, nor does she make eye contact with her teachers or peers. She is unusually attached, however, to one caregiver and attempts to stay close to that person whenever she can. However, the social interaction between the two is limited by Sandy's reluctance to communicate despite the efforts of the caregiver. Laurie, age four and a half, has a violent temper. She solves any personal conflict by using physical aggression. She often strikes out without apparent provocation. She is delayed in her speech development and lacks curiosity about her physical world.Shirley Shaw is Assistant Professor in the Department of Child Development, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.     

Making a difference with evidence

In this column, the editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education describes how, despite the many challenges confronting childbirth educators today in our complex health-care environment, there is still a ray of hope that committed individuals translating evidence into practice can make a difference. The editor also describes the contents of this special issue, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of Lamaze International and offers a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote natural, safe, and healthy birth.     

Computers for Literacy: Making the difference?

Starting from the premise that literacy is a set of practices situated within particular contexts, and that any practice of literacy always involves technologies which affect its forms and use, this paper draws on three diverse examples of classroom and curricular practice, in order to explore how particular forms of cultural difference are being produced through different practices of literacy pedagogy. One form of literacy pedagogy uses drill-forskill programs via information and communication technologies (ICTs) for reasons of efficiency. Where such programs are used, they may promote assimilation in several overlapping forms. In a second form of pedagogy ICTs are used for enhancement or amplification. But even a liberal constructivist environment may lead to the reproduction of a schooled sameness - of information, types of text, and the literacy practices that teachers and students accept as the norm. A third pedagogical approach encourages transformation through new genres and new hypermedia literacy practices. Where a curriculum is driven by teachers' intentions to negotiate difference explicitly, they and their students may use ICTs to manipulate texts, knowledge and positions for comprehending and composing. Nonetheless, given the complex relationships among teachers, students, classrooms and ICTs, no practice is likely to be 'pure' or certain in its effects. Partly for these reasons teacher educators need to help pre- and in-service teachers to be scrupulous in analysing the role of ICTs in pedagogic work with least-advantaged groups of students.     

Making a world of difference: Collaboration.Excellence for intercultural teams

Cultural awareness training that emphasizes communication delivers only a partial solution to the challenges that intercultural work teams face. Improving collaboration requires a strong foundation of performance management before a work team can determine how they will cooperate to perform to excellence. Against the backdrop of the authors' experiences, the program Collaboration.Excellence offers a three‐phase approach that performance improvement professionals can take to build effective intercultural work teams.     

Conceptualizing educational leadership in an academic development program

Promoting the development of educational leadership in higher education is essential for strengthening the quality of teaching and learning. Additional research is needed to conceptualize educational leadership, especially within informal roles. We analysed how faculty members in an academic development program conceptualized educational leadership. Five key characteristics emerged that inform the development of educational leadership capacity in postsecondary contexts: affective qualities, mentoring and empowering, action-orientation, teaching excellence, and research and scholarship. Three characteristics of academic programs aimed at developing educational leadership were also identified: funding and resources to implement a change initiative, building interdisciplinary communities, and embracing identity.     

Making the difference with active parenting; forming educational partnerships between parents and schools

Although parental involvement is often a priority on the quality agenda of schools for primary and secondary education, it is still not usual to involve parents as an educational partner in the actual learning process of their child. Rather than adopting an open approach, teachers tend to tell parents what they should do or keep them at a safe distance. At the same time, parents are increasingly becoming better informed, more critical and thus are more strongly positioned towards school. They address teachers more directly in case of problems or disappointing results of their child. Clearly, this might lead to a negative impact on the mutual relationship especially when parents’ emotional involvement conflicts with a professional and detached attitude of teachers. Based on the results of several studies that provide ample evidence that parental involvement in the learning process can improve learning outcomes, it is argued that there is much to be gained in forming educational partnerships between parents and schools. Different dimensions of active parenting are discussed, as well as prerequisites for successful implementation.     

Technology and educational choices: Evidence from a one-laptop-per-child program

This paper provides the first causal estimates of the effect of children’s access to computers and the internet on educational outcomes in early adulthood, such as schooling and choice of major. I exploit cross-cohort variation in access to technology among primary and middle school students in Uruguay, the first country to implement a nationwide one-laptop-per-child program. Despite a notable increase in computer access, educational attainment has not increased; the schooling gap between private and public school students has persisted, despite closing the technology gap. Among college students, those who had been exposed to the program as children were less likely to enroll in science and technology.     

Changes in students' educational attitudes: A study of an experimental living-learning program

This study highlights the longitudinal changes in educational attitudes of students during the freshman year of college, with the prime focus on comparisons between students in a living-learning program (N=95) and students in the regular curriculum (N=89) at the University of California, Davis. The Student Orientations Survey was used in a pre-post design, and major results were (1) students who selected the experimental program held somewhat different attitudes from their peers in the regular curriculum prior to the start of the academic year and (2) compared to changes in attitudes of their peers, the experimental-program students, by the end of the academic year, had significantly decreased their desire for lectures and formalized education, expressed greater interest in self-directed independent study, desired a more significant role in educational decision-making, and viewed education more as a way of exploring various academic areas rather than solely preparing for a vocational future. Coupled with findings from student interviews, various implications of the results were discussed.     

Evaluation of the science enrichment activities (SEA) program: A decision oriented model

This study examined three questions of interest to decision-makers. Results revealed that subjects made some cognitive gains and chose different types of activities. The most striking finding relates to the third question. Groups who chose different activities made similar gains in learning. Older subjects perform fewer activities but make gains similar to those made by younger subjects. These results suggest that either eighth graders learn in less time or more activities are not proportionately more instructive. A question for future studies is whether subjects who choose more challenging activities make proportionately greater gains in understanding how to control variables. Of particular importance, it was found that subjects who are more sophisticated on the basis of age or ability to control variables choose proportionately more difficult activities (those with larger numbers of variables or with unfamiliar variables). This supports Hunt's (1965) suggestion that the learner is able to select experiences which help him to learn. The decision-makers concluded that open education programs might succeed, in part, because students are able to choose experiences which help them learn. These results do not, however, imply that student selection of educational activities is the most appropriate form of instruction.This study combined with earlier studies (Linn, Chen & Thier, 1977) strongly suggests that the most one can expect students to learn in the SEA program is to criticize experiments. Even for eighth graders who are presumably more likely to learn to control variables, the SEA is not sufficient to teach controlling variables. A different approach is needed to teach this (e.g., Linn, in press).Several research and evaluation studies are consistent with the findings of this evaluation (e.g., Shann et al., 1975; Atkinson, 1976). Many educators interested in “open” education have suggested that interactive learning experiences teach children to be autonomous, curious, and able to plan investigations. These questions were suggested by the evaluators as meriting further study.The decision-making model employed in this evaluation succeeded in influencing decision-makers and also in suggesting some implications for future studies. Rather than focusing on program objectives the evaluation focused on program decisions. Setting priorities in evaluation studies is a multivariate process not fully discussed in this paper. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on the potential benifit of an evaluation plan rather than on a set of program objectives.     

Leadership challenges in an educational program at a UAE juvenile detention center: A contextual analysis

Effective school leadership is a vital component of successful educational organizations, and the increasing complexity of schools requires leaders to employ contingent skills and contextualized approaches. We examined administrative approaches and challenges at an educational center of a juvenile detention facility in Abu Dhabi. Qualitative data for analysis were collected through interviews from administrators, a social worker, and teachers. Specific challenges encountered by the leaders of the juvenile center included support and communication issues with parents, discontinuity in juvenile students’ education, organizational and systemic problems, policy constraints, managerial pitfalls following early releases, curriculum suitability and delivery issues, problems involving follow-up and progress management of students, and difficulties regarding the general motivation and rehabilitation of juvenile students. The findings illustrated the significance of leaders’ roles in juvenile education and the staff relationships that influenced the fulfillment of leaders’ roles.     

Making a difference online: Facilitating service-learning through distance education

Development in the understanding and education of responsible citizenship is an important priority for higher education institutions. Evidence of this importance is expressed in the mission statements of many colleges and universities throughout the United States. As increasing numbers of students take advantage of distance education, it is essential to consider both the ways students can engage in experientially based learning environments that promote civic engagement as well as the manner by which institutions can fulfill this aspect of their missions. This article explores service-learning pedagogy delivered in an online format, specifically a case study describing the way one institution, University of Illinois at Springfield, successfully uses the Internet to provide such instruction.     

Effectiveness of a satellite educational television program for Ethiopian secondary education

This study examined the actual practice and effectiveness of a satellite educational TV program in Ethiopian secondary schools. Participants in the survey were 228 students and 63 teachers from secondary schools. The results of the data analysis indicate that Ethiopian students and teachers scored highly in the evaluation areas. Levels of students’ general satisfaction with the satellite educational TV program were not equal for the variables of location and gender. It was also found that for students, learning demand, learning content, and class management were factors affecting their satisfaction with the satellite educational TV programs. For teachers, learning content and class management were the factors. The statistical mean difference in the satisfaction with the satellite educational TV program was between students and teachers. These findings suggest that the satellite educational TV program has the possibility of improving the quality of education in Ethiopian secondary schools.