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In this study, we explored the experiences of preservice teachers as they learned about and experienced personalized learning in a one-credit class designed to introduce students to four core competency areas in K-12 blended teaching contexts: online integration, data practices, personalization, and online interactions. The course included online synchronous, online asynchronous, and in-person class meetings. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we examined students' pre and post readiness surveys, activity data, and reflections on their experiences in the course. We found that through course readings; creation of an online module based on blended learning pedagogies, which included personalized learning experiences; and participating in parts of the course that were personalized, preservice teachers felt more prepared to engage in personalized learning at the end of the course than they did at the beginning. Their attitudes generally became more positive and confident as they learned about and experienced personalized learning in the course. They felt they had tools they could use in personalizing their future classrooms and had learned to value the role personalization could play in student growth and motivation.

Drawing from original and best practice research, this article proposes a model for teaching social work students how to practice with refugees using Bronfenbrenner's ecological model as a guide. Social workers globally must be prepared across the social work curriculum with best practice research and recommendations that keep pace with the largest refugee crisis the world has ever known. This article proposes a teaching framework based on empirical data, social work scholarship, and information on refugee needs and best practice approaches.

This is a semester-long study of the development of first-person biofunctional understanding in educational psychology for teacher education majors. We defined biofunctional understanding as a spontaneous intellectual capacity. To reach its deep biological levels, sculpted by countless evolutionary millennia, students identified and dwelled in writing on their biggest idea of every week for a semester. They stated the idea in a simple sentence and followed by writing a concise paragraph to contemplate on it. Control sections equated their biggest idea with one most important to learn through the conventional learning-testing cycle of deliberate knowledge internalization or construction. Experimental sections fought the learning-testing-cycle urge and sought by hindsight the biggest idea of the most striking revelation (MSR) delivered to their awareness spontaneously by the biofunctional<>psychologyical spiral of their intuition>revelation<>reflection cycle. Results showed that experimental condition outperformed the control in the development of their insightful understanding measured by a Levels of Revelatory Strikingness Scale (LRSS) suggesting that learners change their understanding as a function of their 1st-person revelations than 2nd/3rd-person evidence.

Strategies to institutionalize service-learning are well documented (Furco 1996; Holland, 2000). Using Kecskes (2009) Community-Engaged Department Rubric we evaluated service-learning institutionalization within a school at a metropolitan campus. As a result, we propose adding an additional dimension, social return on investment. This added dimension helps academic leaders to understand the benefits, for a variety of stakeholders, of investing in service-learning and more broadly in campus-community partnerships. Implications and recommendations are offered to replicate this analysis.

Since the enrolment of its first cohort of students in 2009, the University of Botswana School of Medicine (UB SoM) has employed elearning as a key element to support and strengthen its model of decentralised medical education. Significant investments have been made in setting up the physical infrastructure, and in acquiring relevant expertise to develop and implement an elearning agenda in a context with practical challenges associated with medical education in decentralised setup. Following the enrolment of its first cohorts of medical students, and residents in Paediatrics and Internal Medicine between 2009 and 2010, the School also launched a Family Medicine training programme in 2011 at two rural sites. With the expectation of contributing to a positive teaching and learning environment for faculty, residents, and medical students in these remote areas, elearning is also seen as important for their retention, and thus for improved access to quality health care in rural Botswana. In this paper, the authors critically reflect on the strategies used to implement elearning at UB SoM over the past 18 months, and highlight challenges experienced while implementing elearning in a new medical school situated within an older university context. Strong relationships with partners were identified as a critical foundation for the long-term sustainability beyond the initial procurement and installation infrastructure. While confirming the obvious technical challenges in a setting like Botswana, the authors emphasise the need not to underestimate associated broader challenges in engaging a diverse range of users, partners and stakeholders; not to lose sight of the pedagogical goals that are meant to drive the choice and use of technology (rather than vice versa); and to ensure that the expected benefits of the technology can and will be shared and sustained by a range of partners in the long run.

Associate deans serve critical leadership roles in the functioning and management in higher education administration, but there is little professional preparation for the role. This study surveyed the perceptions of a random sample of 527 associate deans in colleges of arts and sciences, business, and education at US research-extensive and -intensive universities. There was a nearly equal portion of men and women in the sample, but little racial diversity. The majority of associate deans were appointed to their position internally, rising through the faculty ranks, and most had served in the role for five or fewer years. Most were responsible for academics, administrative services, and curricular issues. Many associate deans rely upon their personal professional networks to learn more about administrative functioning. A majority of respondents indicated that their research and scholarly productivity had declined. The principal administrative challenge was, for the majority, centered on budgetary concerns at their respective institutions.

A conceptual foundation for the Statement of Cash Flows based on the ten elements of financial statements provides students with a deep understanding of core accounting concepts. Traditional methods of teaching the statement of cash flows tend to focus on statement preparation rules, masking the effect of business events on the change in cash. Accounting majors and non-majors alike both benefit from a clear understanding of the direct relationship between economic events and financial statement elements. This teaching note provides a conceptual illustration of the Statement of Cash Flows based on the ten elements of financial statements. The teaching method used is based on the belief that "keeping it simple" results in deeper understanding. This paper develops an equation for the Statement of Cash Flows directly from the Balance Sheet focusing on ten elements of financial statements. The equation analysis is followed by a flowchart illustrating the process and a simple numeric example.

A Complete Your Manuscript Workshop has been provided to tenure track faculty members in the college over the past two and one-half years. The workshop is a low-cost/high payoff opportunity for the college and participating faculty members, as the workshop requires few resources and the time commitment for participants is easily managed. Organization and delivery of the workshop are described, and outcomes are analyzed. A majority of participants have been successful in completing and submitting manuscripts for publication review, including the coauthor who describes her participation and outcomes. Recommended practices for a manuscript completion workshop include scheduling the workshop when most convenient to faculty schedules, limiting the number of participants, and conducting periodic follow-up contacts with participants to further provide support.

This paper describes several strategies for organizing, collaborating on, persisting in, and funding professional writing activities that can benefit new tenure track faculty members. Establishing and maintaining a regular program of academic writing is essential to a successful career in higher education, but initiating and maintaining a program of consistent writing activity is very challenging because of the competing responsibilities new faculty members face. The better prepared the new faculty member is for academic scholarship, the greater their likelihood of success.

This article illustrates how literature can bring models to life in undergraduate courses on labor market economics. The authors argue that economics instructors and students can benefit from even small doses of literature. The authors examine excerpts from five American novels: "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Drieser (1900/2005); "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck (1939/1967); "McTeague: A Story of San Francisco" by Frank Norris (1899/2006); "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville (1852/2003); and "Seraph on the Suwanee" by Zora Neale Hurston (1948). Examples from these works cover five labor market themes: (1) reservation wages and the supply of labor, (2) surplus labor and low wages, (3) demand for labor and marginal productivity, (4) the economic model of discrimination, and (5) search versus random matching in labor markets (a critique of neoclassical labor theory). (Contains 3 notes.)

School psychology is a professional practice specialty in the broader field of the profession of psychology. As such, the discipline of school psychology must meet certain standards and criteria to retain its identity and official designation as a professional specialty. Likewise, practitioners of school psychology are professionals themselves and must meet standards and criteria of preparation and continuing education to maintain their professional status. The growth of knowledge and the demands being made on school psychologists to acquire a broad range of knowledge and skills in sufficient depth to allow competent practice is outstripping the reasonableness of training in the field, which assumes that school psychologists should be competent to practice in all areas of practice demand. Specialization within the field of school psychology, a de facto but officially unrecognized occurrence in many areas for at least several decades, offers a solution to this dilemma of training and practice and should be formally recognized and promoted by the profession. (Contains 2 figures.)

My first semester as a tenure-track faculty member at a mid-size university began ignominiously and suggested that my academic career might be short-lived. It began with a blistering memo that was stridently critical of the academic dean's policy which led to being taken to the proverbial woodshed. Other less serious episodes followed which put me at odds with the "administration." Yet I have spent more than a third of my career in administrative positions, including a stint in the provost's office (as an assistant vice chancellor), and only recently returned to faculty status. Over the course of my academic career I have noticed that a large number of academic sociologists have taken administrative positions in academia beyond that of the department chair. This paper will explore this phenomenon and discuss the reasons members of the "debunking" discipline assume administrative roles. I will address this issue within the context of my personal odyssey in administration and how the sociological perspective and imagination has contributed to working in the "dark side" of academia. Finally, I will discuss lessons learned and recommendations for the aspirant administrators among the ranks of academic sociologists.

The diffusion coefficient of polymers is a critical parameter in biomedicine, catalysis, chemical separations, nanotechnology, and other industrial applications. Here, measurement of macromolecular diffusion in solutions is described using a visually instructive, undergraduate-level optical refraction experiment based on Weiner's method. To reinforce concepts in polymer science, synthetic polymers and natural biopolymers are used for diffusion-coefficient measurements. The role of molecular size and conformation on the transport properties of polymers is illustrated. By changing the pH of the solution to influence the protein shape, the impact of solution environment is also demonstrated. In addition, features such as digital capture of data using a webcam, data digitization, and multivariable data regression are incorporated into the experiment to broaden the learning opportunities for students in physical chemistry, chemical engineering, and environmental and biological sciences. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)

Diffusion is a fundamental phenomenon that is vital in many chemical processes such as mass transport in living cells, corrosion, and separations. We describe a simple undergraduate-level experiment based on Weiner's Method to probe diffusion in a ternary aqueous mixture of small molecular-weight molecules. As an illustration, the experiment described here uses potassium chloride salt (KCl) and sucrose in water. The simple and inexpensive laboratory setup relies on the deflection of a laser beam across a sharp interface between the aqueous mixture and pure water. The refractive index gradient that results from a change in the concentration of the solute species causes refraction of the laser light. As diffusion occurs, the sharpness of this concentration gradient declines and is manifested in a decreased bending of the laser light. Experimental measurements of binary diffusivities for KCl in water and sucrose in water using this setup are combined with a simple data fitting algorithm to determine the relative fractions of KCl and sucrose in a ternary mixture with water. The experimental setup is easy to assemble and visually informative for instruction of diffusional mass transfer in engineering or physical chemistry. In addition, we show that it is relatively simple and inexpensive to incorporate concepts such as digital capture of the laser deflection using a web camera, digitization of the concentration profiles, and multi-variable, non-linear curve fitting. The laboratory experiment can also be extended to reinforce a variety of concepts ranging from simple statistical and error analysis to more advanced concepts of mass transfer such as the importance of cross-diffusional contributions in mixtures.

One leading version of hope theory posits hope to be a general disposition for goal-directed agency and pathways thinking. Domain-specific hope theory suggests that hope operates within context and measures of hope should reflect that context. This study examined three measures of hope to test the predictive, construct, and convergent validity of general and domain-specific measures of hope with a convenience sample of undergraduate students in introductory educational psychology courses (n = 227). Results demonstrated that the domain-specific measures of hope yielded scores that were reliable, factorially distinct, and more predictive of academic achievement than a general measure of hope. These findings provide support for domain-specific hope theory. Implications and future research are discussed. (Contains 6 tables.)

The study provides information on African American accounting majors' views regarding 150-hr issues. The authors collected data from 152 students at two schools. Students at one school supported the requirement while those at the other school did not. However, students believed that the 150-hr requirement enhances the quality of certified public accountants (CPAs) and results in better prepared CPA candidates. On the other hand, many students were concerned with the opportunity cost associated with securing additional hours. Students were most interested in additional undergraduate courses in accounting and business, preferably offered via a double major or minor, to meet the requirement. Students rated the Master's in Accountancy as the preferred graduate degree. (Contains 7 tables and 10 notes.)

Objective: The authors review the more than 30-year history of the academic affiliation between the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and the Mental Health Service at the Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System. Methods: The authors interviewed individuals involved at various stages in developing this affiliation about decisions and challenges. Results: The academic association has been very successful on the whole, though not consistently so. At this time, a flourishing educational and research program is in place and seems stable. Conclusion: It is not clear how generalizable the Dallas experience is. Both sides of this affiliation have overcome obstacles. Persistence and patience have been crucial, especially when one or the other side produced temporarily insurmountable obstacles. It appears that the decision to pursue the recruitment of both researchers and educators to the North Texas Veterans Health Care System from the beginning may have been crucial in developing a fuller academic collaboration.

This article describes recent trends that have led to an emphasis on a learner-centered approach to gerontology and geriatrics education especially in distance-based education. A learner-centered approach to education has combined with technological advances to stimulate distance-enhanced education for students in geriatric and gerontology programs. The technological advances, especially the Internet, that have enhanced the capacity of educational programs to involve students in the learning process even though separated from the instructor by time and distance, are discussed. In response to the needs of health care professionals who were seeking to enhance their skills in research, education, and leadership in their respective professions, including gerontology, the learner-centered Doctoral Program in Health-Related Sciences (DPHRS) was established in the School of Allied Health Professions of Virginia Commonwealth University. The specifics of this distance-enhanced, learner-centered program are described. The article ends with strategies for encouraging a learner-centered experience with special focus on distance-based education. (Contains 1 table.)

In this article, the author examines a number of issues in colleges of commerce in their formative period from 1900 to 1930. He discusses 4 areas: content of business curriculum, professional nature of business and business schools, social responsibility of corporate managers, and integration of the business curriculum. Many of the topics are still important today and can arguably be considered persistent themes in colleges of business.

Service learning is one of the most pervasive education innovations of the past generation and has demonstrated much success in connecting schooling with community service. Service learning is designed to be integrated into, and enhance, the academic curriculum. It is believed, and there is growing evidence to show, that participation in service learning can foster civic responsibility on the part of children, youth, and college students. Also, a number of investigations have shown positive academic benefits for child, youth, and college service learning participants. In fact, participation in service learning as part of a college course has been found to have more positive benefits for students than does participating in typical volunteer community service. What about those nontraditional college students who are older adult learners? Does participation in service learning afford any benefits to these individuals, in terms of greater community participation, altruism, academic performance and skill development, personal growth, or leadership ability? This article considers service learning outcomes in three domains of adult development: (1) cognitive growth, in terms of adults' ability to think in more complex ways and to consider a variety of perspectives; (2) moral development, in terms of individuals developing an ethic of care (in other words, the ability to balance care of the self with the care of others); and (3) psychosocial development, in terms of generativity (adults' ability to support and nurture the succeeding generation). It also discusses implications from three theoretical models: (1) Robert Kegan's constructive-developmental theory of adult meaning making (1994); (2) Carol Gilligan's care perspective on moral development (1982); and (3) Erik Erikson's psychosocial perspective on generativity in middle adulthood (1982). Finally, suggestions for research on the impact of service learning in adult development are offered. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper considers how one teacher educator, Dr. Gomez, took up revisionist history and inquiry in her social studies methods classroom. The concepts of figured worlds (Holland et al., 1998) [Holland, D., Lachicotte, W. Jr., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (1998). "Identity and agency in cultural worlds." Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press], and artifacts and mediation (Holland & Cole, 1995; Vygotsky 1978, 1986) [Holland, D., & Cole, M. (1995). "Anthropology & Education Quarterly," 26(4), 465-490; Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). "Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes." Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). "Thought and language." Boston: The MIT Press] are used to present a case study. The study focuses on the artifacts that made up the figured world of history learning in Dr. Gomez's social studies methods class and the learner identities afforded by this context. The purpose of this study is two-fold: (a) explore how teacher education classes can recruit primarily white, middle class students into a figured world of history learning that is culturally congruent with urban settings, and (b) demonstrate the application of the figured worlds framework to the study of learning in a teacher preparation program.

A sample of 79 individuals participated in the present study to evaluate the test score stability (8-week test-retest interval) and construct validity of the scores of the Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale-College Version, a new measure used to assess anxiety in college students, for application to graduate-level students. Results of the study indicated for a sample of graduate students that the AMAS-C test scores have adequate to good temporal stability (rs = 0.70 to 0.87). Evidence supporting the construct validity of the AMAS-C test scores was found. Validity coefficients ranged from -0.67 to 0.88. Implications of the findings are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

The purpose of this study was to determine if a case-based reasoning tool would improve a student's understanding of the complex concepts in a Java programming course. Subjects for the study were randomly assigned from two sections of an introductory Java programming course. Posttests were used to measure the effects of the case-based reasoning tool (CBJava) on learner competency. Results of the study using a Mann-Whitney U test indicated a significant difference between the group who used CBJava on complex questions and the group who did not "(m rank = 11.50; U = 3.500, p less than 0.05, M = 22.71 vs. M = 17.88)". No significant difference was indicated between the groups on simple questions. Recommendations from this study include supporting complex content through examples, providing a case-based instructional aid for complex topics, and extending CBJava's framework to support other courses and disciplines. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

Circular dichroism spectroscopy was used to measure the thermal unfolding of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A (RNase A) with various concentrations of guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl). A red shift in transition midpoint temperatures, T[subscript m], occurred with increasing concentration of the strong protein denaturant. van Hoff enthalpy changes, [delta]H[degree], were calculated and plotted as a function of T[subscript m] to determine the heat capacity change, [delta]C[subscript p], for denaturation. A value of 4.02 plus or minus 0.02 kJ mol[superscript -1] K[superscript -1] was calculated from d([delta]H)/d([delta]T[subscript m]). Reported values for [delta]C[subscript p] range from 4.2 to 9.6 kJ mol[superscript -1] K[superscript -1]. The shift in T[subscript m] for RNase A with increasing concentration of GuHCl suggests that the protein is undergoing substantial changes in its secondary structure.(Contains 6 figures and 1 table.)

Many counting problems can be modeled as "colorings" and solved by considering symmetries and Polya's cycle index polynomial. This paper presents a "Maple 7" program link http://users.tamuk.edu/kfdrc00/ that, given Polya's cycle index polynomial, determines all possible associated colorings and their partitioning into equivalence classes. These ideas are suitable for high-school seniors and college students.

Efforts were undertaken to increase students' interactivity in an online course in adult development. The purpose was to increase students' engagement with the course materials, heighten their online discussions, and deepen their thinking about course-related concepts, theoretical principles, and research findings. Several strategies were used towards this end. Analyses of students' discussions showed that they relied frequently upon personal anecdotes to make meaning of the theories and developmental principles covered in the course. The instructional strategies did not, however, bear a direct relationship to students' participation, learning, or course performance. Rendering the course materials sensible in light of their personal experiences is a critical indicator of students' understanding and learning. Instructors may want to redirect their attention from assessing students' knowledge of factual contents in online courses where ability to discuss and analyze concepts and principles is a critical indicator of learning.

Reforms in the functioning and purpose of higher education during the past 2 decades have created profound changes in the expectations and values of university students worldwide. Indeed, the values of entrepreneurship, vocational relevance, and commercial success have considerably displaced the traditional expectations of knowledge acquisition and dissemination. These sea changes in the role and functioning of universities have brought about significant stress at the classroom level, where the expectation gap between instructors and students has been widening. This article explores the expectations and value gaps of students in an Australian university during a period of 2 years in two different cycles by gathering evidence in an auto-reflective postcourse narrative survey. The key findings of the study indicate an overwhelming indication toward utilitarian and pragmatic outcomes. The article suggests some pedagogical reconceptualizations in response to the inevitable conflict between what is delivered and what is valued and expected. (Contains 3 tables.)

Nurse educators in English universities (543 responses from 1,612) expressed their predictions and preferences for nursing education in 2008. There were concerns about parity with other disciplines, resources, faculty workload, and cohesiveness of the profession. Many preferred options were not considered likely to happen. (Contains 15 references.) (SK)

Presents the background to the standards movement in U.S. education, asserting that it has had a negative impact on teacher education and teacher education accreditation. The article describes a recent accreditation review of the application of an overly narrow understanding of standards and legitimate evidence, and it suggests a possible alternative and more responsive and responsible view of assessment. (SM)

This article describes development and implementation of the Western Carolina University Teacher Support Program, a multi-component Web-based special education teacher development course. The program is intended to reduce stress and burnout, improve retention, develop problem solving strategies, and improve the effectiveness of teachers. Evaluation suggests Web-based courses can be effective and comparable to tradition courses. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Examined a partnership and a single-placement model of early field experience, using mentor and preservice teacher interviews, preservice teacher ime logs, and planning session transcripts. All respondents valued their experiences, but those in partnership placements felt better supported and engaged in greater instructional risks within the classroom. Mentors in partnership placements were more flexible in planning with preservice teachers. (SM)

Explored gaps between changing student expectations and innovative pedagogical responses in an international Australian business management classroom. Used autoreflective narrative analysis to explore convergences in outcome expectations of a classroom pedagogy against a theoretical model. Findings suggest that student expectations increasingly emphasize practical relevance of the outcome, displacing knowledge acquisition. Pedagogical preferences, in turn, are shifting toward experiential learning. (SM)

Presents five educators' ideas about what the demands of literacy in the workplace in the next millennium will be. Notes increased expansion of multiple literacies and considers electronic performance support systems and expert systems. Considers how future workplace literacy is dependent on adult literacy skills. (SC)

Describes the rigors of institutionalized Professional Development Schools (PDS), demonstrating the symbiotic, difficult nature of the relationship. Researchers evaluated one elementary partnership program via interviews with all PDS participants. Results provided information on the changing roles of teacher educators, cooperating teacher perspectives, and faculty spouses' concerns and highlighted the difficulty of sustaining a PDS over a long period of time. (SM)

Studied strategies facilitating the learning of 1,329 international students making the transition to an Australian university during a 7-year period. Findings support the idea that curriculum redesign and a collaborative program integrating language and learning skills development with course content can benefit all students, and especially transitional students. (SLD)